Miscellaneous News

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CNN, Telegraph examine global food security, food price volatility

In advance of Friday's special meeting, convened by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), CNN examines the current state of food security around the world and the outlook over the next few years.

24 Sep 2010

Asbestos found in Queensland schools

Asbestos, known to be the cause of malignant mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer for which there currently is no cure, is still found in the playground of Tewantin State School in Tewantin, Queensland, Australia. Since the beginning of 2009 asbestos has been reported numerous times at the school. Repeated exposures to the toxic material over 20 to 50 years may lead to this cancer.

24 Sep 2010

Tobacco taxes help kick the habit

The hike in Australia’s tobacco tax has had an expected effect with almost 300,000 people quitting the habit. The tax increase arrived this April with a 25% rise in tobacco taxes. Polls now confirm that the cost of cigarettes are a powerful lever for improving public health, with only 16 per cent of smokers stating they would “continue to smoke at any price”.

23 Sep 2010

Kim Hames says case was not euthanasia

Western Australia has been debating euthanasia for a while and in a new development, Health Minister and Deputy Premier Kim Hames has admitted that as a GP he administered the painkiller morphine to hasten a cancer patient's death. He said in his statement that what he had done was legal and not euthanasia – which he opposed. His reasoning was that the pain relieving medication was intended to ease a patient's suffering rather than end their life.

23 Sep 2010

e-IRG workshop to focus on e-Infrastructure governance

The e-IRG workshop organized in the frame of the Belgian Presidency of the EU will have a strong focus on e-Infrastructure governance, also addressing other important topics such as e-Infrastructure services, Energy and Green It, Exascale computing and Data Infrastructures.

22 Sep 2010

ACT people live longer but may have more mental health issues: Report

Chief Health Officer Charles Guest's report on the health and wellbeing of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) population between July 2006 and June 2008 was presented in the Legislative Assembly. It showed that life expectancy rate at birth in the ACT was 80.3 years for males and 84 for women. This was despite the fact that most are overweight and only a minority eats enough fruit and vegetables.

22 Sep 2010

Addicts, hackers stealing identifications and more on the internet

The annual National Identity Crime Symposium is being held this week in Brisbane, Australia. The symposium heard evidence of some drug addicts stealing people's identities and selling them to make money.

21 Sep 2010

Jayant Patel appeal delayed on account of funds shortage

The former surgeon Jayant Patel, at the centre of a 2005 scandal in which he was accused of gross incompetence while working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia faces a delay in his appeal against his criminal convictions.

21 Sep 2010

Drowning deaths rise in Australia

The Royal Life Saving Society, Australia is alarmed at the rise in drownings in waterways around the country. With 314 people dying in a year the figures are at a seven year high. 80% of these were males. The Society noted a 27% rise in the numbers since 2002.

21 Sep 2010

Financial Times analyzes increasing pressures on aid groups to demonstrate accomplishments with donor money

Ahead of the U.N. Millennium Development Summit, the Financial Times' Alan Beattie analyzes the effects of tightening aid budgets on development program funding, emphasizing how such changes are resulting in a push for increased measures to assess the effectiveness of aid.

18 Sep 2010

BRAVADA expands Women's Athletica stores

BRAVADA International announced today expansion plans of its BRAVADA Women's Athletica stores through high traffic commercial shopping malls across North America.

17 Sep 2010

Teenagers devote more time to sedentary behaviour at weekend: European study

The new school year has started and the school routine is back. A European study led by Spanish researchers has shown how the proportion of young people who watch television and play on the computer for more than two hours per day doubles at the weekend. And while boys opt for video games, teenage girls prefer to surf the net.

17 Sep 2010

Investigators uncover new insights on adolescent fighting

UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators have uncovered new insights on adolescent fighting: what triggers it, and how to stem it. Varied real-life factors pile on daily to put teens on edge: destructive behaviors like drug abuse, drinking or high-risk sexual encounters; poverty; academic troubles; and even depression. Data analyzed by researchers at UT Southwestern suggests that when teens perceive support from their families and/or schools, it can help mitigate violence.

17 Sep 2010

U.S. special envoy to Pakistan highlights U.S. flood relief efforts

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Pakistan, sought to highlight Washington's aid efforts Wednesday during his first visit to the country since the severe floods hit, the Associated Press reports.

17 Sep 2010

Lofty altitudes increase prevalence of suicides

The Intermountain West is renowned for the beauty of its towering mountains and high deserts, but according to new research from an investigator with the University of Utah Brain Institute the region's lofty altitudes significantly influence a deadly problem: the high prevalence of suicides in this part of the country.

16 Sep 2010

U.N. Secretary-General taps former Chilean president to head U.N. Agency for Women

Michelle Bachelet, famous for breaking gender barriers by becoming the first woman elected president of Chile, will head the new global United Nations agency created to advance women's rights, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Tuesday.

16 Sep 2010

U.N. report: Number of hungry people worldwide drops, but 925 million still mlnourished

U.N. officials on Tuesday said that the number of hungry people worldwide dropped for the first time in 15 years, but warned that the number is still too large, the New York Times reports (MacFarquhar, 9/14).

16 Sep 2010

Australians young at heart: Survey

According to a new survey that included more than 1,200 people nationwide and 12,000 globally by healthcare company Bupa, Australians when compared to other countries felt younger at heart.

16 Sep 2010

Computer game addicted mom punished for child neglect

In a bizarre incident, a British mother’s addiction to a computer game made her negligent towards her children and pets. The 33 year old mother of three (aged 9, 10 and 13), has not been named for legal reasons. She got addicted to an online game so much, that she didn’t feed her children and dogs properly.

15 Sep 2010

Population-specific identification criteria helps determine human remains in Chile earthquake

New research from North Carolina State University will help medical examiners and others identify human remains of those killed during the recent earthquake in Chile, as well as the bodies of the "disappeared" who were killed during the Pinochet administration.

15 Sep 2010