An old herbal remedy for treating smallpox that is thought to have been used by native Americans in the late 1800s has been rediscovered and found to kill the poxvirus. Smallpox has been eradicated, but the finding offers a possible treatment for poxvirus in the unlikely event of a bioterror attack or increased incidence of similar poxviruses such as monkey pox.

It was well past Isha, the Muslim night-time prayer, Peer Jalal-u-Din, a noted faith-healer in Srinagar, was crossing the lane leading his home at Batamaloo. He was a few steps from his gate when he heard a loud bang and a sharp pain in his leg stunned him. A bullet had pierced his right thigh, he turned around to face his assailants and was shot twice.

The Arizona Indian tribe on whose ancestral land the Grand Canyon Skywalk was built is locked in a bitter feud with the developer who pumped at least $30 million into its construction.
The tiny Hualapai nation last month exercised its right of eminent domain to take over the management of the site and kick out the non-Indian developer.

KLAMATH, Calif. — From a forested bluff, Willard Carlson Jr. stands watch over Blue Creek where its indigo eddies meet the gray-green riffles of the Klamath River. The creek is sacred to Yurok Indians like himself: it flows into high country, a pilgrimage point and a source of curative power for tribal healers. The Yurok consider it their “golden stairway” and weave its stepped pattern into their basketry.

The Tagbanua people may be obscure and small, but their indigenous practices could pull Irrawaddy dolphins in Malampaya Sound in Palawan back from the brink of extinction.