Regular exercise from an early age is one key to reducing obesity
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A group of universities, including EPFL in Lausanne, is behind one of the latest encouraging signs of new treatments for diabetes, obesity and possibly several cancers. Their research into the cell metabolism action of a group of cancer drugs called Paribs indicates that the drugs do more than repair the DNA in cancer cells, the work for which they are now used.
At the same time, the UK has just published the results of an audit on the effectiveness of bariatric (weight loss) surgery at reducing Type 2 diabetes, which shows that 85 percent of patients who had the surgery showed significant improvement in their diabetes a year later.
The rapid increase in the rate of diabetes in the developed world has encouraged more research into solutions, often linked to obesity and excess weight. Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 220 million people worldwide have diabetes type 2, but in 2005 it forecast that the number could double by 2030.
EPFL’s press release on the university researchers’ findings, published 6 April in journal Cell Metabolism, explains how Paribs might help:
“Cancer cells have the property of using glucose as an energy source instead of burning fatty acids. The scientists have noticed that Paribs enable their metabolism to be modified so that they begin to use them. This has the effect of weakening them and therefore stopping the progression of the cancer. The cells of patients suffering from type 2 diabetes, obesity or oxidation disorders share this characteristic of running on glucose.”
New UK study shows that diabetes risk is greatly reduced by weight-loss surgery
Two countries who lost money now suing Iceland
Iceland’s citizens voted by more than 60 percent 10 April not to pay back Britain and The Netherlands for losses incurred when Landsbanki went under in 2008. The bank’s failure was part of the country’s economic failure, an early victim to the global economic crisis. British and Dutch investors were covered by domestic deposit insurance for the money they had in the bank’s Icesave unit, under European Union rules. The two governments are out $5.8 billion and have now vowed to take Iceland to court to collect the money.
The three came to an agreement on repayment, in December 2010, but Iceland’s President Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson ordered a national vote on the agreement, soundly rejected, just as a first one was. The no vote, The Netherlands has suggested, could put at risk Iceland’s application to join the European Union.
Links to other sites: BBC, Financial Times (registration), The Netherlands.com
Police in London have brought charges against 149 of 201 people arrested Sunday 27 March part of a violent group that spun off from a massive, peaceful rally in the British capital. At least 250,000 people took part in a march organized by the TUC, trade unions organization, to protest government spending cuts.
Police have told UK media that while there were advance indications on the Internet that violence was planned, virtually the entire city was targeted, making it difficult for the 4,450 police officers on duty to protect property. A luxury shop in Piccadilly, where a sit-in was staged, was one of the more visible targets.
The UK government says it is pushing ahead with its plans to make £81 billion in budget cuts.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, Telegraph
Guardian video, March for the Alternative, Fortnum & Mason occupied
We will all know who Kate and William are by the end of April, even if we don’t now, thanks to the expected heavy media coverage of the million and one ways the British will celebrate the 29 April 2011 wedding of their likely next king. William is not first in line to the throne, but with his father nearing retirement age by non-royal standards, the son remains a good candidate for the job once Queen Elizabeth steps down or dies. The hoopla surrounding the wedding of Diana and Charles in 1981 is not what the couple reportedly want, but the mugs and more are already planned, and the national party was given a send-off Thursday 24 March with the first wedding cake.
The 4ft medieval wedding cake replicating the steeple and spire of St Bride’s Church in London was made for Visit London, the city’s tourism office, by royal cake maker, Dawn Blunden of Sophisticake. The city so far has a dozen tourist attractions planned around the wedding. You can visit Kate’s favourite haunts or take part in what is described as “a cheesy 80s-themed royal wedding party”.
The city says that “the famous landmark known as ‘The Cathedral of Fleet Street’ provided the inspiration for the traditional tiered wedding cake whose origin hails back to 18th Century London.” The St Bride’s Wedding Cake “took over 200 hours to create, 200 eggs, 120lb dried fruit and 18lb butter, was positioned on a rooftop overlooking the church and will be donated to St Bride’s Church to share with its parish and support their charitable causes.”
There was a lull for a few years after the British media bonanza years covering the country’s royal family, when Princess Di and her then sister-in-law “Fergie” made frequent headlines. Recent public debates over the role of Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth, as the nation’s trade representative, added to the hubbub over the summer wedding of Prince William, is putting the family back in the news on a regular basis.
This week’s crop of stories includes the £78,000 sale of a see-through dress worn by Kate Middleton for a fundraiser when she was a student at St. Andrew’s University, reportedly before she and William were a romantic couple. William is also in the news for taking part in memorial ceremonies in New Zealand for that country’s earthquake victims. The BBC’s royal correspondent writes “It was one of the most significant speeches he’s been called on to make. And to an extent that perhaps hasn’t been evident before, he both looked and sounded what he is, a future King.”
Britain and France are pushing harder for a no-fly zone over Libya as unconfirmed reports surface from Africa that Muammar Qaddafi is trying to negotiate a way to step down. Al Jazeera reports that attempts by the Libyan leader to negotiate with protesters have been rebuffed, while noting that Qaddafi’s state media say there have been no attempts to negotiate. The BBC reports that Nato defense ministers will debate, Tuesday 8 March, a flyover ban plan that France and the UK are drafting. The Gulf states are reportedly supporting such a plan after the Libyan government’s bombardment of its own cities this week.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, BBC, Reuters
Women who stay home will have their work recognized by the UK’s retirement system if the British Work and Pensions Secretary has his way, reports the Telegraph. Iain Duncan Smith is expected to unveil the outline of a government scheme that would simplify the basic state pension, possibly giving everyone £140 a week if one of the plans under study is accepted. The Telegraph notes that “under existing rules, eligibility for a state pension is based on the number of years of paid work someone does. Women often fail to qualify for a full pension because they take time out to raise children.”
Government figures suggest that women are, on average, £2,000 a year worse off than men once they retire.
US refuses to rule out any options, Britain says military intervention not an option
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s stranglehold on power appeared to be loosening even as he told television audiences that his people love him, in interviews he granted 28 February to international media. The number of refugees fleeing the country now includes thousands from some of the world’s poorest nations, who have had trouble getting out of Libya.
Qaddafi’s Ukrainian nurse, who has worked for him for several years, reportedly says she is leaving the country, according to the Wall St Journal: “Galyna Kolotnytska, described in a diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks as a “voluptuous blond” who “travel[s] everywhere” with Col. Gadhafi, called her family in Kiev on Friday to say she intends to return to Ukraine, her daughter told daily Segodnya.”
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice called Qaddafi’s remarks that his government has not used force against his people “delusional”.
Rebels holding the eastern oil city of Zawiya reportedly repelled government troops in overnight fighting, with many of the government forces joining the rebellion.
The US Treasury froze assets held by Qaddafi and his family Friday 25 February, which the Wall Street Journal estimates to be $30 billion, the largest single seizure in US history.
The Pentagon has ordered warships and planes to re-position to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and the delivery of humanitarian aid, should it be necessary. European leaders are reviewing all options, but Britain’s David Cameron says military force is not an option.
Links to other sites: Financial Times (registration required), Guardian, US Treasury asset freeze announcement, Wall Street Journal
Smaller crowds turned out for Julian Assange’s extradition judgement today in south London than have been present for his other recent appearances, the BBC notes 24 February. The judge’s decision to allow Assange to be extradited to Sweden to face investigations into sexual assault charges against the founder of WikiLeaks was a foregone conclusion, Assange said afterwards, and he intends to appeal.
Links to other sites: CS Monitor, CNN, Telegraph
A judge has ruled there is not enough evidence for the court to decide on a complex case in the UK that involves a request to sterilize without her agreement a mother who is referred to by the media as having “learning disabilities”. The mother, referred to only as “P”, age 21 in court cases, is scheduled to give birth by caesarean Wednesday 16 February to her second child. The mother of P has asked doctors to sterilize her daughter at the same time, because of her mental disabilities and her lack of understanding that any future children might have to be given up for adoption.
The Guardian notes that “In an unprecedented hearing – allowed in open court because of the ‘legitimate public interest’ in the case – Mrs P [P's mother] said: ‘I tried to explain that any future babies will go to a new mum and dad . . . She doesn’t understand that she won’t ever see them again. She says, “I’m the mummy”. She doesn’t understand they will get a new mum.’”
Links to other sites: Guardian, NPR (AP)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/15/forced-sterilisation-mother-court-plea
Sunrise: and the time is?
Russia’s nine time zones will leap forward an hour 27 March when daylight saving time starts in much of Europe, but this year, the Russians will not change back in the autumn. President Dmitry Medvedev 11 February signed a law moving the country an hour east, timewise. Daylight saving time, which has never been very popular in Russia, will no longer be observed, reports the Moscow Times. Medvedev’s move could send a signal to the UK and France, where similar moves have been proposed, but where there is stiff opposition. Scotland in particular has said it does not want the sun to rise at 10:00.
On a brighter note for Britain, LighterLater is proposing double summer time: move the clocks to benefit from daylight saving time, but also permanently move the clocks forward one hour.
A judge in the UK today begins hearing the case for extraditing Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, to Sweden. The hearing is expected to end Tuesday, but with judgement reserved until later in February. Assange’s lawyers argue that he should not be extradited because Sweden wants him for questioning in relationship to two charges of sexual misconduct, saying he has not been charged with a crime.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, AP/Chicago Tribune, Reuters
Tony Blair’s second appearance before a British government Iraq war inquiry committee is being followed closely by the UK but also the US, as the former British prime minister saying he told US President George Bush “you can count on us” before the war began. British media and politicians are particularly interested in the contents of a message from Blair to Bush in July 2002, which the government has ordered kept secret. US interest is focusing on Blair’s insistence on fighting Islamic extremism.
Links to other sites: BBC, CNN, New York Times, Telegraph
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Health Organization in Geneva insists that its 10-year-old worldwide guidelines encouraging mothers to exclusively breastfeed babies for six months still stand.
The WHO issued a statement after the BMJ (British Medical Journal) published a study 14 January questioning the wisdom of applying the guidelines in developed as well as developing countries.
Britain adoped the WHO guidelines in 2003 but two years later only 1 percent of parents were following the guidelines, according to the BMJ study authors.
They agree that “substantial evidence indicates that early nutrition has profound implications for long term health, by programming aspects of subsequent cognitive function, obesity, risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and atopy”, but they argue that the WHO guidelines should be reviewed again in the light of new evidence.
They point in particular to a December 2009 Scientific Opinion (review of current literature) published by the European Food Safety Authority Journal.
British workers will no longer have a default retirement age of 65, come April 2011 when a six-month phase-out period begins. Theoretically they can carry on working until they are no longer performing as their employers expect. The UK government’s announcement about lifting the default pension age has left companies and their workers asking numerous questions and giving mixed reactions. Companies are left with the difficulty of determining how and when they can retire employees, but Ed Davey, the Employment Relations minister, says that two-thirds of British companies currently have no mandatory retirement age, so fears are exaggerated.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, TAEN (The Age & Employment Network)
British police are now calling the death of Joanne Yeates in north Bristol “murder” and say she was strangled. The 25-year-old landscape architect’s death made headlines in the UK after 17 December, when she inexplicably disappeared on her way home at 20:00 from a pre-Christmas party with friends. Her body was found eight days later, on Christmas Day, by people out walking their dog. Her coat, keys and mobile phone were found in her home, but no sign of the pizza she bought at Tesco’s on her way home, or of its packaging.
Protestors strike Royals’ car
The UK Parliament’s lower house, the House of Commons, has approved, after a lengthy debate, a tuition fee increase for university students, from £3,000 to 9,000 a year. The vote came Thursday evening 9 December and student protestors promptly let their anger be known in London’s streets, striking, among other cars, one in which Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were riding, on Regent Street. Neither was hurt, but a window was broken and the car was sprayed with paint.
The vote now goes to the House of Lords and if approved, to the Queen for her signature before it becomes law.
Engaged in Britain: Kate Middleton and Prince William (photo: PA)
Eight years of being sweethearts will end in marriage in 2011 for Prince William, second in line to the British throne after his father the Prince of Wales, and Catherine Middleton, who met William while the two were students at St Andrews College.
The two became engaged during a trip to Kenya in October and the wedding will take place in spring or summer 2011, but details have not yet been announced. “Following the marriage, the couple will live in north Wales, where Prince William will continue to serve with the Royal Air Force”, according to the Clarence House statement. The Prince of Wales also announced it on Facebook but at noon Tuesday the news had still not made the Royal Family’s web page.
Middleton is from Berkshire, England. Prince William is the son of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, who was the Princess of Wales before her death in a Paris car crash in 1981.
The news was announced by Clarence House 16 November 2010.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, Telegraph
Video of Prince Williams graduation in September 2010 as a RAF search and rescue force pilot
A British court will be watched closely when it decides the case of a couple, Eunice and Owen Johns, who 1 November took the Darby City Council to court over its refusal to allow them to be foster parents because of their strong fundamentalist Christian beliefs and their insistence that foster children must attend church with them. Their beliefs do not allow them to accept homosexuality, and part of the city’s concern has been respecting gay human rights, so the case appears to be pitting sexual preference rights against religious belief rights. The couple’s case asks for a clarification of UK law.
An independent review mandated by the British government has concluded that universities should be allowed to charge more than the currrent limit of £3,290 a year per student. If Lord Browne of Madingley’s plan is adopted, the recommendation could prompt a major increase in fees, up to £36,000 for a three-year degree programme. The coalition government is likely to run up against stiff opposition if it allows higher fees: the Liberal Democrat party in the coalition made an election promise to ban the fees altogether.
The study also recommended that funding be provided for 10 percent more places to meet the rising demand for university degree-level education and that students be given a higher earning threshold before they are required to start paying back their loans, from the current £15,000 a year to $21,000.
David Cameron, the British prime minister, and his wife Samantha, were surprised by the early birth of a daughter Tuesday 24 August. The girl, who as yet has no name, was born a month early, during the family vacation in Cornwall. She is the first child in 20 years to be born to a prime minister in office and the previous such birth was in 1848, according to the Telegraph. The couple have two other children; their first-son, Ivan, died at the age of six in early 2009 from complications related to cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
The unpopular practice in British hospitals of putting men and women in the same wards will be stopped by the end of 2010, except in emergency and intensive care areas, the coalition government’s health minister is expected to announce this week, according to UK media. Despite complaints about the shared wards the Labour government struggled unsuccessfully for over 10 years to end the practice, and today it called the new government’s likely move an “empty gesture”.
Take your child abroad without the permission of the other parent, and you may be committing child abduction under UK law
The number of incidents of international parental child abduction—where a child is taken overseas without the other parent’s consent or contrary to a court order—are expected to peak over the summer, warns the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Child Abduction Section.
The problem is particularly acute during the summer months, and parents often do not realize they have committed an offense, according to the office.
A guideline for British parents travelling with children has been posted, to avoid child abduction, whether intentional or not.
Guidelines: British foreign office
Britain is getting back to work, judging by new unemployment rate figures, but they aren’t going back fulltime. Figures just released for June 2010 show the lowest rate of claimants since March 2009, for a rate of 4.5 percent for those claiming benefits and 7.8 percent for the larger jobless rate. The number of employed people has risen to the highest figure since August 2006, with 160,000 new people going to work. But of that number 148,000 are in part-time jobs, a 27 percent increase, the largest one-time increase since records were begun in 1992.
Links to other sites: UK Statistics Office, Reuters
The British government last week, and the French government earlier in June, have put the spotlight on a growing European financial problem: how to pay for pensions. Both governments have said they would like to raise the retirement age. Now the European Union will bring the debate centre stage, as part of a discussion paper to be published this week on the issue of public finances in the EU. The question will be raised of whether Europe can continue to let its workers retire earlier than people in other parts of the world even though life expectancies are similar, reports the Financial Times, which has seen the EU paper.
“The need for reform is underlined by the worsening ratio of people working to those in retirement. Currently in Europe, there are four people of working age for every person over 65: by 2060, there will be only two workers for every retiree,” according to the FT.
The reality of what the budget cuts, put in place by the new coalition government in Britain, really mean is making headlines in the UK: the National Health Service and disability insurance are likely to see sharp cuts. Meanwhile, new measures agreed to by the G20 to increase bank capital requirements could mean £130 million less for banks to loan for home mortgages, writes the Telegraph.
Links to other sites: British Medical Association press release, The Scotsman
British media are describing the budget that Chancellor George Osborne is expected to unveil Tuesday 22 June as the most “austere” in a generation, with sharp tax increases and cuts in spending. The budget deficit is 11 percent of GDP. US President Barack Obama, in the runup to the G20 Toronto meeting in four days, has cautioned other countries not to move too quickly to remove economic stimulus packages, but Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesperson said Monday that “For some countries, such as our own, there is a need to get on and deal with the deficit more quickly,” reports Reuters UK. The tough budget cuts and tax increases, possibly including higher VAT (value-added tax) are being viewed as the first real test of the coalition government, with warnings from the left that the country should well until it is stronger before taking such strong measures or it risks falling back into recession. Nearly one million of the country’s lowest paid workers will no longer pay income tax under the new measures.
The G20 meeting 26-27 June in Toronto, where the contrast between sluggish growth in advanced economies and more robust growth in developing countries will play an important role in determining the agenda.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Guardian, Reuters, Telegraph, Xinhua
The Bank of England will likely be given new powers, in particular a stronger supervisory role for banks, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is expected to announce today in London. Reaction is advance is a mix of concern and relief over the measures to avoid another banking crisis. George Osborne will present the new coalition government’s programme for financial supervision, but he is not expected to take this as far as Prime Minister David Cameron would have liked, by dismantling the three-body system and getting rid of the Financial Services Authority, created in 1997 by the Labour government at the time.
The exchequer’s annual Mansion House speech is also expected to announce a new tax on banks and Osborne appears likely to warn banks that their retail and investment businesses will have to be split, say British media. Consumers could see home loans limited, reports the Telegraph, while most other media refer to caps on banks’ lending, with higher capital requirements.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Telegraph, Reuters, UK,
[Video] David Cameron, Britain’s new prime minister, apologized to Northern Ireland Tuesday 15 June for the deaths of 14 unarmed civilians in Londonderry, called Derry in Ireland, in 1972. His apology accompanied the long-awaited publication of the 5,000 Saville Report on the shootings. “What happened should never, ever have happened,” he said during a speech watched by a crowd assembled at Guildhall Square, where the unauthorized civil rights march was headed when British soldiers opened fire. Cameron said the report shows clearly that the military made mistakes and that those shot, including 13 who were injured in addition to the dead, were unarmed Catholics who in no way posed a threat to the soldiers. The march aimed to give Catholics more rights in the British province, but after the shootings it drove many of the more moderate Catholics into the secessionist camp.
The report, ordered in 1998 by then Prime Minister Tony Blair, was the costliest in British history, according to Reuters, at a cost of £200 million, with evidence taken from 2,500 people over a six year period. It reverses a 1972 report, now widely considered to have been a coverup, where soldiers said those shot were carrying arms.
Bloody Sunday was a turning point in Northern Ireland, with a hardening of the lines between Catholics and Protestants, and the IRA (Irish Republican Army) getting more support from a wider base. It became the bloodiest year in the long conflict’s recent years, with 500 deaths.
Links to other sites: BBC, Belfast Telegraph, Irish Times, Telegraph, UK, Reuters
Video, Telegraph, UK
Obama could meet with BP executive, UK prime minister defends BP
The US government has revised its estimate of the BP oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico last week, to twice its original figure: 20,000-40,000 instead of 12,000-19,000. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg was summoned to Washington by the head of the US oil spill response team, with no mention of the company’s CEO, Tony Hayward. In the UK, new Prime Minister David Cameron stepped in to defend BP for the first time, underscoring the importance to the US and UK economies of the oil multinational, but only after growing cries from the City in London, which has watched the company’s share prices slide.
Links to other sites: CNN, Financial Times, Telegraph
