22 December 2006
Kenya - Scientists find link between AIDS, Malaria
A new study conducted in Africa suggests malaria makes people more likely to contract AIDS and vice versa. Researchers studied disease patterns in 200,000 adults in Kenya and reported that HIV makes people more vulnerable to malaria by weakening their immune system and malaria may worsen a patient's existing HIV infection, possibly increasing infectiousness. ...[more]
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United Kingdom - Athletes may use cannabis
Sports Minister for the UK, Richard Caborn, said that athletes at the London Olympics should not be banned for taking ‘recreational drugs’. He stunned MP’s by suggesting cannabis should be removed from the list of banned substances for competitors. He added that the police should be left to deal with athletes caught using social drugs. The Minister's intervention came despite a report from his own department and UK Sport detailing how the 2012 Olympics was under "significant threat" from designer drugs. ...[more]
USA - California vote to challenge controversial marijuana law
San Diego County supervisors voted to continue their legal challenge to overturn California's 10-year-old, voter-approved marijuana law. Chairman Bill Horn said the board voted in closed session to appeal a ruling that dismissed the county's argument that California's Compassionate Use Act should be pre-empted by the overruling federal law. The county's challenge has national implications because it marks the first time that any county has sued to overturn any of the marijuana laws that voters have approved in 11 states. ...[more]
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USA - Dr Death gets out of Jail
Jack Kevorkian, after serving about 3000 days in prison for euthanizing 130 people, will be paroled early next year. He will have served about three weeks per victim – some of which were not even ill. He is terminal and not expected to live much longer. He has promised not to assist any more suicides after his release. ...[more]
USA - Mercy-killing plea doesn’t work }
It took a jury less than an hour to convict Jesse Cayton of first-degree murder. Cayton testified that his wife had repeatedly begged him to kill her, but he had resisted until the morning of the murder, when he took a pistol and fired all five rounds at her. After killing his wife, Cayton went to a local convenience store and purchased a lighter before heading to his job as a custodian at a rest stop. Once there, he confessed to a co-worker that he'd shot his wife. The day before the killing, her son said he visited his mother. "She was getting around fairly well," he said. "Better than other days." During the closing arguments the prosecutor noted that the victim was sick and permanently hooked to oxygen, but called into question efforts to paint the death as a mercy killing. ...[more]
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USA - Pro-Same-Sex Marriage Lawmakers Sued
Massachusetts state lawmakers who support same-sex marriage are being sued for voting to recess before taking up an amendment to ban the practice. The federal suit filed Wednesday in Worcester , Mass. , named 109 state legislators who voted to recess without debating whether the issue should be placed on the 2008 ballot. It also seeks about $5 million in damages, which breaks down to about $46,000 from each of the lawmakers' own pockets. ...[more]
USA - Lawmakers OK Civil Unions, Not Same-Sex Marriage
Facing pressure from the state's top court, the New Jersey Legislature recently voted to give gay and lesbian couples the rights and privileges of marriage, while using the term "civil unions" to describe the partnerships. The vote in the General Assembly was 56-19. The Senate vote was 23-12. Gov. J. Corzine has said he would sign a civil unions bill into law. If Corzine, a Democrat, signs the measure into law, New Jersey will become the third state behind Vermont and Connecticut to OK civil unions. ...[more]
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United Kingdom - Government Proposals Approve Human/Animal Embryo Hybrids
British researchers would be permitted to create human/animal embryo hybrids using test tube technology, under sweeping new proposals to be introduced by government health officials this week, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Known as "chimeras", the embryos would be produced by combining human and animal genetic material within a laboratory setting. The North East England Stem Cell Institute has already requested permission to create an embryo that is part human and part cow. ...[more]
USA - Doctors Turn to Aborted Fetus to Save Boy's Life
Doctors in Portland, Oregon, for the first time transplanted stem cells from aborted fetuses into the head of a six-year-old boy suffering from a rare disorder called Batten disease. This so-far incurable condition normally results in blindness and paralysis before death. The fetal stem cells are not be embryonic stem cells, but still carry their own ethical baggage. ...[more]
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USA - Council approves porn zone ordinance
The township council unanimously approved an ordinance on Monday night to create four special zones in Cherry Hill for sexually-oriented businesses, despite opposition from people who live, work, worship and go to school in or near the areas. Every council member said they wished they could completely ban such businesses from the township, but explained the state and federal constitutions prevent them from doing that. ...[more]
South Africa - Protesters urge special sex cases court for Bay
A group of Nelson Mandela Bay residents yesterday marched to the New Law Courts in North End, calling for a sexual offences court to be established, the censure of “pornographic” material on television and cellphones, and an end to lengthy delays in rape cases. While the call for a specialised court and an end to lengthy delays was contained in a memorandum handed to a justice department official, the group publicly called on the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to censure eTV ‘s “flighting of pornographic movies”. ...[more]
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England - Has 'Jack the Ripper' returned to Ipswich?
To date, the bodies of 5 prostitutes have been positively identified, and another remains to be confirmed. Police have linked the murders of three of the prostitutes whose bodies have been found near Ipswich in 10 days. Suffolk Chief Constable Alastair McWhirter described the multiple murder inquiry as "unprecedented". "If you think of the Yorkshire Ripper, the murders took place over a long period of time," he said. ...[more]
United Kingdom - Managing prostitution in the UK
In light of the recent spate of killings in Ipswich , the UK is looking more intently into the construction and operation of 'management zones' for prostitutes. Sara Walker, a spokeswoman for the English Collective of Prostitutes, told BBC News: "Many want to keep their anonymity and come out of prostitution when they are ready. That is more difficult in managed zones because they are run by the police and council." ...[more]
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USA – “Abortion Advertisement” Raiders
When Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette stopped advertising this year in local high school newspapers to save money, another group popped up in those pages for the first time to promote free pregnancy tests, counselling services and nurse consultations to teenage girls. But what the ads for the Pregnancy Resource Centres of Greater Portland don't say is that the non-profit Christian group doesn't share the pro-choice views of Planned Parenthood. In fact, Pregnancy Resource Centre opposes abortions and is committed to steering girls toward parenting or adoption and that taking emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill could carry 'emotional risks.' ...[more]
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South Africa - AIDS Confusion Catches Up to Manto and Mbeki
Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala has criticized the government's shortcomings in tackling HIV and AIDS, saying both the President and Health Minister must bear some responsibility for confusion over the correct treatment for the virus. Madlala condemned those who promoted traditional medicines as an alternative to conventional drug treatment.
“It is irresponsible of leaders to say people have a choice... because how do those people choose when they don't have the knowledge that is backed up by science? It is absolutely irresponsible to say to people who are desperate, who want to live, should go to a traditional healer if they want, because what traditional healers do is to tell people that they can treat AIDS or they know of someone that knows how to treat it.” ...[more]
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