Edwards Takes Early Lead In Iowa
Poll Shows Former N.C. Senator With Narrow Lead Over Clinton
(AP) Former Sen. John Edwards has a narrow lead in Iowa over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a new poll.
In a survey measuring the strength of potential Democratic presidential candidates, Edwards received 30 percent. Clinton was close benind with 26 percent. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was third with at 12 percent.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack finished a disappointing fourth in his home state with 10 percent.
Other potential candidates, including Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, former General Wesley Clark, former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold were all in single digits in the poll, which was published by the Des Moines Register.
When Edwards sought the Democratic nomination in the last cycle, Edwards worked overtime to help Iowa Democrats in the 2002 midterm election, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the parties voter turnout operation.
That will be the model for his efforts in the 2006 midterm.
"I think these races are very important and this is a great opportunity," Edwards said. "I'm here to do everything I can."
Edwards focused heavily on retail politics during his last campaign and was rewarded with a surprising second place showing in Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/12/politics/main1702679.shtml
U.S. Distances Itself From Gitmo Remarks
By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration distanced itself Monday from remarks by a U.S. diplomat that the weekend suicides of three Arab detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison were a "good P.R. move."
"I would just point out in public that we would not say that it was a P.R. stunt," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, using the abbreviation for public relations. "We have serious concerns anytime anybody takes their own life."
Colleen Graffy, deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the deaths at the U.S.-run camp in Cuba were a "good P.R. move to draw attention."
Graffy also told the BBC the deaths were "a tactic to further the jihadi cause."
Graffy's unscripted remarks threw a monkey wrench in the administration's careful plan to demonstrate concern over the deaths and respond to rising criticism of the U.S. operation of the prison.
Bush expressed "serious concern" Saturday over the suicides, and he directed an aggressive effort by his administration to reach out diplomatically while it investigates.
"He wants to make sure that this thing is done right from all points of view," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Saturday evening.
Graffy's boss, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, is charged with improving the U.S. image in the Arab world. The former White House communications adviser and longtime Bush aide heads an office at the State Department that monitors and quickly responds to inaccurate or distorted portrayals of U.S. views and actions in the Arab media.
Graffy's remarks were quickly picked up in the Arab press.
"Her comments quickly appeared to be bad P.R. moves for the U.S. administration," an article on the Web site of Lebanon's The Daily Star newspaper said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3963436.html
U.S. Defends Warrantless Domestic Spying
By SARAH KARUSH , 06.12.2006, 03:16 PM
The government's warrantless domestic spying faced its first courtroom test Monday, with the Bush administration arguing that the program is well within the president's authority but that proving it would require revealing state secrets.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor heard arguments in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the National Security Agency. The ACLU wants the program halted immediately, arguing that it violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
The judge gave no indication of when she might rule.
The ACLU said the state-secrets argument is irrelevant because the Bush administration already has publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule.
But government attorney Anthony J. Coppolino told the judge that the case cannot be decided based on a "scant public record."
"This case does not involve easy questions," he said. "It's a case that requires a robust factual record."
Coppolino alluded several times to a classified court filing, which Taylor indicated she had not yet reviewed. In that brief, he said, the government has demonstrated that the program "is narrowly and specifically focused on al-Qaida."
The plaintiffs do not have access to the classified brief, and even the judge would have to make a special request and travel to Washington to read it, said Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
Monday's hearing was the first time the constitutionality of the eavesdropping was argued in court. A similar lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights, but no hearings have been held there yet.
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/06/12/ap2810080.html
Beer Ingredient May Fight Prostate Cancer
06.12.2006, 06:18 PM
For many men, a finding by Oregon researchers sounds too good to be true: an ingredient in beer seems to help prevent prostate cancer, at least in lab experiments. The trouble is you'd theoretically have to drink about 17 beers a day for any potential benefit. And no one's advising that.
Researchers at Oregon State University say that the compound xanthohumol, found in hops, inhibits a protein in the cells along the surface of the prostate gland. The protein acts like a switch that turns on a variety cancers, including prostate cancer.
Dr. Richard N. Atkins, CEO of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, said the experiments are encouraging and "perhaps men could take it in pill form someday."
He noted an ingredient in tomatoes, lycopene, has previously been linked to prostate cancer prevention.
http://www.forbes.com/business/manufacturing/feeds/ap/2006/06/12/ap2810607.html
FDA Approves First Drug for SAD
Wellbutrin XL Approved for Seasonal Affective Disorder By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
on Monday, June 12, 2006
June 12, 2006 -- The FDA has approved the first drug to treat seasonal affective depressiondepression (SAD), a form of depression that strikes during the year's darker seasons (autumn and winter).
The drug is Wellbutrin XL (bupropion HCL extended-release tablets), which is already approved to treat major depressive disorder.
"Seasonal affective disorder can significantly impair the quality of life of patients with this condition,” says the FDA's Steven Galson, MD, MPH, in an FDA news release. Galson directs the FDA's Center of Drugs and Research.
"Today's approval can help patients with this condition to avoid the depressive symptoms and impaired functioning that typically affect them in the fall and winter,” Galson says.
About SAD
SAD is characterized by recurrent episodes of major depression that usually coincide with the seasonal decrease of daylight during autumn and winter. The depressive episodes can last up to six months.
SAD patients may have depressive episodes during other times of the year. But the SAD diagnosis requires that the number of seasonal episodes substantially outnumber the nonseasonal episodes during the individual's lifetime.
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/123/115137.htm
UN/UK Delegation On Aids Mission
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Print This Page
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
June 12, 2006
Posted to the web June 12, 2006
Johannesburg
Senior UN and British officials will begin a three-day HIV/AIDS mission to Malawi, one of the Southern African countries hard hit by the pandemic, on Monday.
Malawi's life expectancy has dropped from about 60 years in the early 1990s to below 35 years at present as a result of AIDS, and the mission will appraise the emergency human resources effort in the health sector as a model for other African countries.
UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot and Suma Chakrabarti, of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) are part of the delegation.
"Malawi has an innovative six-year Emergency Human Resource Programme costing US$273 million that may be a model for other countries with human resource constraints in the health sector," UN spokeswoman Susan Muguro said in a statement.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
http://allafrica.com/stories/200606121022.html
Surrogate life on Mars
· European robot lander to do work of scientists
· Politicians' pledges beat €600m funding target
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Tuesday June 13, 2006
The Guardian
The human obsession with Mars goes on: British scientists yesterday unveiled a robot vehicle that will, in five years, lead the most advanced attempt to find life on the seemingly barren red planet.
The vehicle, the size of a snooker table, is a prototype lander for the European ExoMars project, and will be able to move across the Martian surface, acting as a surrogate for scientists on Earth. Using sophisticated digital cameras, it will detect targets of scientific interest and explore them in greater detail - without the need for constant supervision.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1796399,00.html
Poll Shows Former N.C. Senator With Narrow Lead Over Clinton
(AP) Former Sen. John Edwards has a narrow lead in Iowa over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a new poll.
In a survey measuring the strength of potential Democratic presidential candidates, Edwards received 30 percent. Clinton was close benind with 26 percent. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was third with at 12 percent.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack finished a disappointing fourth in his home state with 10 percent.
Other potential candidates, including Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, former General Wesley Clark, former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold were all in single digits in the poll, which was published by the Des Moines Register.
When Edwards sought the Democratic nomination in the last cycle, Edwards worked overtime to help Iowa Democrats in the 2002 midterm election, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the parties voter turnout operation.
That will be the model for his efforts in the 2006 midterm.
"I think these races are very important and this is a great opportunity," Edwards said. "I'm here to do everything I can."
Edwards focused heavily on retail politics during his last campaign and was rewarded with a surprising second place showing in Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/12/politics/main1702679.shtml
U.S. Distances Itself From Gitmo Remarks
By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration distanced itself Monday from remarks by a U.S. diplomat that the weekend suicides of three Arab detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison were a "good P.R. move."
"I would just point out in public that we would not say that it was a P.R. stunt," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, using the abbreviation for public relations. "We have serious concerns anytime anybody takes their own life."
Colleen Graffy, deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the deaths at the U.S.-run camp in Cuba were a "good P.R. move to draw attention."
Graffy also told the BBC the deaths were "a tactic to further the jihadi cause."
Graffy's unscripted remarks threw a monkey wrench in the administration's careful plan to demonstrate concern over the deaths and respond to rising criticism of the U.S. operation of the prison.
Bush expressed "serious concern" Saturday over the suicides, and he directed an aggressive effort by his administration to reach out diplomatically while it investigates.
"He wants to make sure that this thing is done right from all points of view," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Saturday evening.
Graffy's boss, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, is charged with improving the U.S. image in the Arab world. The former White House communications adviser and longtime Bush aide heads an office at the State Department that monitors and quickly responds to inaccurate or distorted portrayals of U.S. views and actions in the Arab media.
Graffy's remarks were quickly picked up in the Arab press.
"Her comments quickly appeared to be bad P.R. moves for the U.S. administration," an article on the Web site of Lebanon's The Daily Star newspaper said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3963436.html
U.S. Defends Warrantless Domestic Spying
By SARAH KARUSH , 06.12.2006, 03:16 PM
The government's warrantless domestic spying faced its first courtroom test Monday, with the Bush administration arguing that the program is well within the president's authority but that proving it would require revealing state secrets.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor heard arguments in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the National Security Agency. The ACLU wants the program halted immediately, arguing that it violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
The judge gave no indication of when she might rule.
The ACLU said the state-secrets argument is irrelevant because the Bush administration already has publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule.
But government attorney Anthony J. Coppolino told the judge that the case cannot be decided based on a "scant public record."
"This case does not involve easy questions," he said. "It's a case that requires a robust factual record."
Coppolino alluded several times to a classified court filing, which Taylor indicated she had not yet reviewed. In that brief, he said, the government has demonstrated that the program "is narrowly and specifically focused on al-Qaida."
The plaintiffs do not have access to the classified brief, and even the judge would have to make a special request and travel to Washington to read it, said Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
Monday's hearing was the first time the constitutionality of the eavesdropping was argued in court. A similar lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights, but no hearings have been held there yet.
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/06/12/ap2810080.html
Beer Ingredient May Fight Prostate Cancer
06.12.2006, 06:18 PM
For many men, a finding by Oregon researchers sounds too good to be true: an ingredient in beer seems to help prevent prostate cancer, at least in lab experiments. The trouble is you'd theoretically have to drink about 17 beers a day for any potential benefit. And no one's advising that.
Researchers at Oregon State University say that the compound xanthohumol, found in hops, inhibits a protein in the cells along the surface of the prostate gland. The protein acts like a switch that turns on a variety cancers, including prostate cancer.
Dr. Richard N. Atkins, CEO of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, said the experiments are encouraging and "perhaps men could take it in pill form someday."
He noted an ingredient in tomatoes, lycopene, has previously been linked to prostate cancer prevention.
http://www.forbes.com/business/manufacturing/feeds/ap/2006/06/12/ap2810607.html
FDA Approves First Drug for SAD
Wellbutrin XL Approved for Seasonal Affective Disorder By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
on Monday, June 12, 2006
June 12, 2006 -- The FDA has approved the first drug to treat seasonal affective depressiondepression (SAD), a form of depression that strikes during the year's darker seasons (autumn and winter).
The drug is Wellbutrin XL (bupropion HCL extended-release tablets), which is already approved to treat major depressive disorder.
"Seasonal affective disorder can significantly impair the quality of life of patients with this condition,” says the FDA's Steven Galson, MD, MPH, in an FDA news release. Galson directs the FDA's Center of Drugs and Research.
"Today's approval can help patients with this condition to avoid the depressive symptoms and impaired functioning that typically affect them in the fall and winter,” Galson says.
About SAD
SAD is characterized by recurrent episodes of major depression that usually coincide with the seasonal decrease of daylight during autumn and winter. The depressive episodes can last up to six months.
SAD patients may have depressive episodes during other times of the year. But the SAD diagnosis requires that the number of seasonal episodes substantially outnumber the nonseasonal episodes during the individual's lifetime.
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/123/115137.htm
UN/UK Delegation On Aids Mission
Email This Page
Print This Page
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
June 12, 2006
Posted to the web June 12, 2006
Johannesburg
Senior UN and British officials will begin a three-day HIV/AIDS mission to Malawi, one of the Southern African countries hard hit by the pandemic, on Monday.
Malawi's life expectancy has dropped from about 60 years in the early 1990s to below 35 years at present as a result of AIDS, and the mission will appraise the emergency human resources effort in the health sector as a model for other African countries.
UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot and Suma Chakrabarti, of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) are part of the delegation.
"Malawi has an innovative six-year Emergency Human Resource Programme costing US$273 million that may be a model for other countries with human resource constraints in the health sector," UN spokeswoman Susan Muguro said in a statement.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
http://allafrica.com/stories/200606121022.html
Surrogate life on Mars
· European robot lander to do work of scientists
· Politicians' pledges beat €600m funding target
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Tuesday June 13, 2006
The Guardian
The human obsession with Mars goes on: British scientists yesterday unveiled a robot vehicle that will, in five years, lead the most advanced attempt to find life on the seemingly barren red planet.
The vehicle, the size of a snooker table, is a prototype lander for the European ExoMars project, and will be able to move across the Martian surface, acting as a surrogate for scientists on Earth. Using sophisticated digital cameras, it will detect targets of scientific interest and explore them in greater detail - without the need for constant supervision.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1796399,00.html
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