...this Day...

The Pub
204

#140

June 1st

Belated..

Coca-Cola to replace vending machines in Japan to go eco-friendly

Fri May 27,10:38 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - The emblematic US firm Coca-Cola said it will replace all its 980,000 drink vending machines across Japan in a bid to reduce gas emissions in line with the landmark.

It will take the US beverage giant’s Japanese unit at least 15 years to install vending machines without hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, across all the streets and lobbies of Japan.

http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/s/afp/200505…ny_050527143804

 

205

#141

June 1st

Europe in crisis after Dutch, French reject treaty

Reuter, Wed Jun 1, 2005 6:41 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The European Union was in disarray on Thursday after the Netherlands followed France in resoundingly rejecting the bloc’s new constitution, possibly stalling future expansion and disrupting decision making.

 

The votes also cast doubt on the EU’s hopes for a stronger foreign policy and its plans to expand further to the western Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, and raised questions about its appetite for economic reform amid mounting global competition.

The Dutch “No” vote of 61.6 percent was even more decisive than the nearly 55 percent scored by French opponents of the treaty. Turnout was also a strong 62.8 percent, well above the 39 percent in last year’s European parliament election.

 

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on member states to proceed with ratification and not preempt their summit meeting with “unilateral decisions” before then.

Britain faces a decision next week on whether to suspend or go ahead with legislation to pave the way for a referendum. Continued …

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle…TITUTION-DC.XML

 

Dutch Voters Reject EU Constitution

By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo News, 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Dutch voters worried about social benefits and immigration overwhelmingly rejected the European Union constitution Wednesday in what could be a knockout blow for a charter meant to create a power rivaling the United States.

 

Dutch liberals worried a more united EU could weaken the country’s liberal social policies, such as tolerating marijuana use, prostitution and euthanasia. Conservatives feared losing control of immigration rules that have been tightened to stem an influx from Muslim countries amid ethnic clashes.

 

At an Amsterdam school, where about a dozen people waited to vote, a reporter had difficulty finding anyone in favor of the constitution. One said the charter would bolster Europe: “I think it’s a good thing if there’s a strong Europe,” said Jaena Padberg. “It’s good that our rights will be secured.”

…

Others were clearly leery of the constitution. They feared that the Netherlands, a nation of 16 million people, would be overwhelmed by a European superstate even though the Dutch pay more per capita than any other country into the collective EU kitty. …

Nicolas Ilaria, an immigrant from Suriname, said he was voting no. “In principle, I’m against bureaucracy and I don’t believe everything is working well now,” he said. …

Like many others, Ilaria voiced an underlying mistrust of Dutch politicians. “The government is not telling the truth about what is in the treaty,” he said.

…“Things are going too fast,” said Maarten Pijnenburg, in the “no” camp. “There’s not enough control over the power of European politicians” under the new constitution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050601/ap_on_…TFjBHNlYwN0cw–

206

#142

June 2th

NSAIDs may raise breast cancer risk

The Washington Times, Los Angeles, CA, Jun. 1 (UPI) –

Taking aspirin or ibuprofen daily for at least five years may increase women’s risk of breast cancer, a California teacher study indicates.

However, the research team said it was not certain if the risk is merely “casual,” particularly since its massive study found no increased risk of breast cancer for shorter-term, less frequent use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs.

For the long-term use, women who took aspirin were 80 percent more likely to develop breast cancer while women who took ibuprofen were 50 percent more likely to develop the disease. http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050601-033718-3452r.htm

207

#143

June 2nd

Plan to train kids about eating healthy

AP, Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Posted: 6:39 PM EDT (2239 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) – Choose food portions no larger than your fist. Eat “go foods” – like lowfat milk, oatmeal and veggies – every day and save chips and other “whoa foods” for special occasions.

Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, chief of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, “It suggests that kids who learn to eat healthy during their adolescence will continue to eat healthy.”

One key: Don’t forbid the foods that children find yummy, but teach balance.

…Overweight children usually grow into overweight adults, at increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other disorders – not to mention the childhood turmoil of being teased and left out of sports and other fun activities.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitnes…s.ap/index.html

208

#144

June 2nd

Potent new shingles vaccine

5-year trial shows shot for older adults reduces cases, pain

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?..MNGUOD27791.DTL

SanFranciscoChronicle,Thursday, June 2, 2005

A beefed-up version of the childhood chickenpox vaccine – given to adult volunteers over the age of 60 – significantly reduced cases of shingles, one of the most common and painful afflictions of old age.

The experimental vaccine made by New Jersey drugmaker Merck & Co. was tested in a five-year clinical trial. The results published today in the New England Journal of Medicine show it cut the number of shingles cases in half and reduced by two-thirds the most serious long-term complications of the illness.

Shingles is caused by a reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus – the virus that causes chickenpox. It can afflict people at almost any age, but of the 1 million cases that occur each year in the United States, more than half strike those older than 60, and the elderly appear to suffer the most severe outbreaks.

Among elderly shingles patients, about 1 in 8 suffers serious and debilitating pain for at least three months. Some shingles patients can suffer pain for more than a year and are prescribed narcotics to treat it.

"Shingles rarely takes a life, but it commonly takes away the quality of life’’

The experimental shingles shot is 17 times as potent as Merck’s Varivax, which was approved as a pediatric vaccine in 1995 and today sells for $69 per dose. Based on the results of this study, Merck on April 25 filed for Food and Drug Administration approval to market the vaccine under the name Zostavax.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?..MNGUOD27791.DTL

 

Experimental Vaccine Helps Reduce Shingles

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050602/ap_on_…DI0BHNlYwNobA–

By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo News, 54 minutes ago

…In the VA test, volunteers got the vaccine or a dummy shot and were followed for about three years. There were 315 cases of shingles in the group that got the vaccine, about half the 642 shingles cases in the group that didn’t, the researchers said.

The vaccine also reduced pain and discomfort by 61 percent and reduced long-term severe nerve pain, a serious complication, by two-thirds…

…“We will be evaluating how long the vaccine benefit lasts and … whether subsequent doses would be needed, and if so, when,” said Dr. Jeffrey L. Silber, who headed Merck’s research team for the study. …

 

Vaccine reduces cases of shingles

BBC News, Thursday, 2 June, 2005, 00:29 GMT 01:29 UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4598929.stm

An “extra strong” chickenpox vaccine has cut cases of shingles in adults, US research has found.

Shingles is caused by a reactivation of the herpes zoster virus which causes the childhood illness.

It is most common in older people. The Herpes Virus Association estimates that by the age of 85, around 60% will have had shingles.

Many continue to suffer chronic nerve pain once the rash has subsided.

Professor Liz Miller, head of the Health Protection Agency’s immunisation department, said: “These results are very encouraging as they show that the vaccine can prevent shingles and reduce the severity of an attack”.

Judy Breuer, professor of virology at Barts and the London NHS Trust, told the BBC News website: “I would be very keen to see this vaccine used widely in the elderly, maybe in combination with the pneumonia or influenza vaccines.”

209

June 3rd 1987 Phil was born, in Shorham hospital in West Sussex, England!

210

#145

june 3nd

 

Bolivian president offers vote as protests continue

 

 

The streets of the Bolivian capital, La Paz, continue to fill with protesters, despite promises from the president to rewrite the country’s constitution. In recent weeks Bolivia has experienced its worst social upheaval since Carlos Mesa took office 19 months ago. Mesa has fixed October 16 as the day the country will elect an assembly to…

 

 

http://www.euronews.net/create_html.php?ln…ge=accueil_info

 

 

211

#146

june 3nd

 

Ivory Coast bloodshed raises fears of civil war fighting

 

Thousands of people have been fleeing a town in western Ivory Coast after at least 70 people were killed in a massacre and revenge slayings. In Wednesday’s raid on a village on the outskirts of Duekoue, scores of men, women and children from the local Guere tribe were killed. The army says at least 41 people were either shot, knifed or burnt…

 

 

http://www.euronews.net/create_html.php?ln…ge=accueil_info

212

#147

june 3nd

 

Jury to be sent out for deliberations in Jackson trial

 

The jury in Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial is expected to be sent out to deliberate today after final arguments conclude. The pop star is charged with 10 counts including plying a 13-year old boy with alcohol and sexually abusing him at his Neverland Valley Ranch two years ago. Jackson, who has always claimed he is innocent, faces…

 

 

http://www.euronews.net/create_html.php?ln…ge=accueil_info

 

213

June 3rd 1987 Phil was born, in Shorham hospital in West Sussex, England!

214

#148

June 3rd

Today in history

On this date:

? In 1621, the Dutch West India Co. received a charter for New Netherlands – now known as New York.

 

? In 1935, the French liner Normandie set a record on its maiden voyage, arriving in New York after crossing the Atlantic in just four days, 11 hours and 42 minutes.

 

? In 1937, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the British throne, married Wallis Warfield Simpson in Monts, France.

 

? In 1948, the 200-inch reflecting telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California was dedicated.

 

? In 1963, Pope John XXIII died at age 81. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI.

 

? In 1965, astronaut Edward White became the first American to “walk” in space, during the flight of Gemini Four.

 

? In 1981, Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital and returned to the Vatican three weeks after the attempt on his life.

 

? In 1985, Jerry A. Whitworth was arrested by the FBI, accused of being part of a spy ring headed by John A. Walker Jr. (Whitworth was later sentenced to 365 years in prison.)

 

? In 1987 Phil was born, in Shorham hospital in West Sussex, England!

 

? In 1989, Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died; Chinese army troops began their sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations.

215

#149

June 3rd

In Many Parts of the World, AIDS Is Winning

http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/000955/31/

03 June, 2005 15:56 GMT

The AIDS pandemic is outpacing many countries’ efforts at prevention, U.N. officials said, acknowledging that a landmark goal of containing the disease by 2015 may no longer be realistic.

The daylong conference noted some progress, including signs of success in hard-hit Africa and a vast increase worldwide in the number of people receiving AIDS counseling and testing.

Many countries also still seem capable of halting the spread of the disease over the next decade, but efforts to control it are failing in regions including Eastern Europe and Central America, Peter Piot, head of the U.N. campaign to combat AIDS, said Thursday.

216

#150

June 3rd

Microsoft Let?s The Other Kids Play With XML

Microsoft softened its heart a bit by announcing it will adopt an “industry standard XML” for the forthcoming Office 12 release, opening up the playing field to other popular office programs.

Office XML Open Format, to be released with Office 12 in 2006, will be published on a royalty-free basis, opening up the format for interoperability from third parties.

XML allows users to grab text and other information, use it for other purposes and uses however they like. This will save a lot of re-keying of information, improving data-flow throughout an organization.

http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessne…layWithXML.html

217

#151

June 4th

– Today is Saturday, June 4, the 155th day of 2005. There are 210 days left in the year.

On this date:

 

In 1812, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory.

 

In 1878, Turkey turned Cyprus over to the British.

 

In 1896, Henry Ford made a successful pre-dawn test run of his horseless carriage, called a “quadricycle,” through the streets of Detroit.

 

In 1940, the Allied military evacuation from Dunkirk, France, ended.

 

In 1944, the U.S. Fifth Army began liberating Rome during World War II.

 

In 1954, French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc initialed treaties in Paris according “complete independence” to Vietnam.

 

In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to spying for Israel. (He is serving a life prison term.)

 

In 1989, hundreds, possibly thousands of people died as Chinese army troops stormed Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement.

218

#152

June 4th

Obesity Research Shows 3 Crucial Periods

By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer

Fri Jun 3, 8:29 PM ET

ATHENS, Greece - Evidence is growing that people’s weight at three periods of childhood may be critical in setting them up to be fat in adulthood, scientists said Thursday.

Being born either too big or too small and the early appearance of puppy fat and tubbiness in teenagehood seem to be emerging as important factors influencing how much of a struggle with weight people have as adults, according to experts gathered this week at Europe’s annual conference on obesity research.

 

Identifying these critical periods, they say, could help public health experts determine where best to intervene.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050604/ap_on_…DI0BHNlYwNobA–

219

#153

June 4th

Is Europe’s passion for the euro fading?

Analysis By Jon Cronin, BBC News business reporter

It was an idea that could barely be whispered inside Europe’s corridors of power - might the European Union lose its appetite for the euro?

 

Most experts agree that the euro’s recent downward tumble against the dollar owes far more to interest rate hikes in the US than to the crisis currently engulfing the European Constitution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4606963.stm

220

#154

June 4th

Biggest simulation of Universe?s evolution unveiled

18:20 01 June 2005 (belated)

The biggest and most detailed supercomputer simulation of the evolution of the Universe has been performed. The simulation mimics the Universe?s growth from a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang to the present day.

A key highlight was the production of quasars, which no previous model has been detailed enough to generate. The results of the so-called Millennium Simulation were released by the international group, the Virgo Consortium, on Wednesday.

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/d…n-unveiled.html

221

#155

June 4th

Secret to long life in lower protein and fat

NewScientist.com, 04 June 2005

It has been known for some time that “calorie restriction” significantly lengthens the lifespan of many non-primate species, from worms to fleas to mice. Linda Partridge at University College London and her colleagues wanted to see if the effect was simply due to the reduction in total calorie intake or if particular elements of the diet were responsible. …

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18625023.500

222

#156

June 5th

Med Schools Focus on Alternative Medicine

By JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press Writer, 2 hours, 26 minutes ago

PHILADELPHIA - Once largely dismissed as a leftover fad from the Age of Aquarius, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other forms of alternative medicine are finding their way into curriculums at traditional medical schools ? most recently the University of Pennsylvania.

Doctors at Penn are working with Tai Sophia Institute, an alternative medicine school in Maryland, on a program to teach medical students about herbal therapies, meditation and other approaches that are increasingly popular with the public but largely exist outside the realm of mainstream medicine. It will start in August.

 

“We’re not going to turn great surgeons into acupuncturists or herbalists; that’s not the idea,” said Robert Duggan, co-founder of Tai Sophia. “The goal is that Penn medical school graduates will be highly able to speak with patients about how to guide these things into their overall care.”

More than a third of American adults have tried alternative therapies ? including yoga, meditation, herbs and the Atkins diet ? according to a 2002 government survey of 31,000 people, the largest study of its kind in the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050605/ap_on_…DI0BHNlYwNobA–

223

#157

June 5th

On this date:

In 1783, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier publicly demonstrated their hot-air balloon in a ten-minute flight over Annonay, France.

 

In 1794, Congress passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibited Americans from enlisting in the service of a foreign power.

 

In 1917, about 10 million American men began registering for the draft in World War One.

 

In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.

 

In 1940, the Battle of France began during World War II.

 

In 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as The Marshall Plan.

 

In 1967, war erupted in the Mideast as Israel raided Egyptian military targets. Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict.

 

In 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was immediately arrested.

 

In 1975, Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.

 

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five homosexuals in Los Angeles had come down with a rare kind of pneumonia; they were the first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS.