55 years of - you decide

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31 May 2011 Last updated at 13:54 Share this page Email Print Q&A: Contaminated vegetables By Helen Briggs Health editor, BBC News website The bacteria produces a toxin that can be fatal An outbreak of E. coli in Germany linked to contaminated imported vegetables, has caused at least 14 deaths and hundreds of infections. What is E coli? E. coli is short for Escherichia coli. It is a type of bacteria present in the gut of humans and other animals. Most strains are harmless but some are able to produce a toxin that can cause symptoms such as severe cramps and diarrhoea. What do we know about this outbreak? The outbreak in Germany is causing severe infections, affecting the blood, kidneys and sometimes the central nervous system. The condition - haemolytic uraemic syndrome - is an unusual c...

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The Sustainability Lie – A film about the dirty palm oil business 10.11.2010   The film team at work in Indonesia Rainforest Rescue/                                         Rettet den Regenwald e.V.   Press Release for immediate release The Sustainability Lie A film about the dirty palm oil business Hamburg, 10th N ovember 2010 – Currently the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is holding its Annual General Assembly in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Europe wants to import ever more cheap palm oil and RSPO-certificates are buying producers and customers a good conscience. However, sustainable palm oil production is a myth, not a reality. Today, the NGO Rainforest Rescue is...

© RIA Novosti. Iliya Pitalev 'Censored' poets invited to meet Putin by Andy Potts ,  Anna Arutunyan at 28/04/2011 11:22   Their poetry was too risqué for television, but Dmitry Bykov and Mikhail Yefremov, pictured above, have been invited to meet Vladimir Putin after hitting the headlines for their criticism of the ruling tandem. Last month the TV channel Dozhd pulled Yefremov’s planned performance of Bykov’s verse from it’s “The Poet and the Citizen” show, fearing that it went beyond political satire and became a personal attack on Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev. But the controversial pair have since been invited to join the PM at a gathering with other artists and performers in Penza on Friday.   Making their excuses Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said that about 15 cultural figures would take part in the meeting, but added he does not have a full list. Bykov and Yefremov had been invited, he told journalists following a gove...

Adunok-M robot can hit targets at 800 meters The Adunok-M, a remote-controlled observation and weapon system on display at the MILEX-2011 show in Minsk, was developed in Belarus. According to the design engineers, the system is intended to replace a soldier on the battlefield. The Adunok-M is a package of weapons and special devices mounted on a mobile six-wheel platform controlled by an operator from a distance. The system is capable of engaging and infantry at a distance of up to 800 meters. The robot is controlled by a trackball and a joystick. The former is used to lay out a general course, while the latter serves to make slight adjustments to its movement. via en.rian.ru

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100 things that you did not know about Africa   By Robin Walker © 2006   1. The human race is of African origin. The oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans (or homo sapiens sapiens) were excavated at sites in East Africa. Human remains were discovered at Omo in Ethiopia that were dated at 195,000 years old, the oldest known in the world.   2. Skeletons of pre-humans have been found in Africa that date back between 4 and 5 million years. The oldest known ancestral type of humanity is thought to have been the australopithecus ramidus, who lived at least 4.4 million years ago.   3. Africans were the first to organise fishing expeditions 90,000 years ago. At Katanda, a region in northeastern Zaïre (now Congo), was recovered a finely wrought series of harpoon points, all elaborately polished and barbed. Also uncovered was a tool, equally well crafted, believed to be a dagger. The discoveries suggested the existence of an early aq...

410,089 have signed already! Help reach  500,000 In 72 hours, we could finally see the beginning of the end of the ‘war on drugs’ . This expensive war has completely failed to curb the plague of drug addiction, while costing countless lives, devastating communities, and funneling trillions of dollars into violent organized crime networks. Experts all agree that the most sensible policy is to regulate, but politicians are afraid to touch the issue. In days, a global commission including former heads of state and foreign policy chiefs of the UN, EU, US, Brazil, Mexico and more will break the taboo and publicly call for new approaches including decriminalization and regulation of drugs. This could be a once-in-a-generation tipping-point moment -- if enough of us call for an end to this madness. Politicians say they understand that the war on drugs has failed, but claim the public isn't ready for an alternative. Let's show them we not only accept a ...

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This week we will be focusing on how integrating content management with accounts payable can result in a tremendous savings and a fast return on investment. Organizations often see as much as a 90% savings by automating invoice processing. And by using an enterprise content management system to automate those processes, organizations can leverage the implementation to address other use cases. As we go through the week we’ll see how customers often begin by automating invoice processing, and then address use cases like employee on-boarding, travel and expense processing, and student admissions. This single investment pays for itself quickly and then continues to offer greater and greater returns. Oracle Enterprise Content Management is pre-integrated to address automating accounts payable processing for Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle PeopleSoft. These integrations enable your organization to quickly get up and running, capturing paper invoices and automating their entry in...

31 May 2011 Last updated at 11:07 Share this page Email Print Rising food prices increase squeeze on poor - Oxfam Comments (282) The price of key crops could rise by up to 180%, Oxfam says Continue reading the main story Related Stories Q&A: Rising food and fuel prices Food prices 'threaten millions' More food market regulation urged Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on populations already struggling to buy adequate food, demanding radical reform of the global food system, Oxfam has warned. By 2030, the average cost of key crops could increase by between 120% and 180%, the charity forecasts. It is the acceleration of a trend which has already seen food prices double in the last 20 years. Half of the rise to come will be caused by climate change, Oxfam predicts. It calls...