h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

potential eradication of Dengue Fever?

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/02/10/dengue050210.html

A win-win scenerio for post-secondary education:

'A French-language university in Nova Scotia is offering its graduates free tuition to return to school if they can't find a job in their field.'

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/02/11/university-guarantee050211.html

I don't know. This one strikes me as good news:

'Russia is fed up with being lectured by the West on democracy but is willing to discuss the issue frankly at a summit with the United States this month, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday.'

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/13/russia.ivanov.reut/index.html

From the U.N. News Organization:

'Annan welcomes Iraqi poll results, pledges continued UN involvement' http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13339&Cr=iraq&Cr1= (Strikes me as cautiously good news)

'Observance of Afghan women's rights improves, but backlash always threatens – UN' http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13337&Cr=afghan&Cr1= (cautious again, but good)

Let's all pull together, now:

'The Kyoto treaty against global warming came into force today with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging the world to save the planet by adding to the limits on greenhouse gases and the UN environment chief stressing that many in the United States, the world’s top polluter, support the protocol despite the US Government’s opposition.'

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13359&Cr=&Cr1=

This looks like fairly good news to me:

'otswana is third in global rankings in terms of investment risk in the mineral sector, according to Resourcestocks' Annual World Risk Survey of the global mining industry during 2004. This is likely to boost investor confidence in the country's mineral sector.

The internationally authoritative report indicates that Botswana has now overtaken the United States to occupy third position in the global rankings, just below Australia and Canada. The United States has now dropped to fifth position, which was previously occupied by Botswana, while Chile has held on to its fourth spot for the second year in a row.


In addition to Botswana, for the first time this year's survey also has two other African countries, Ghana and Tanzania, in its global top 10. The annual World Risk Survey is conducted among resource sector leaders located around the world who allocate scores of between "0", or "no risk", to "5" or "maximum risk", in 10 different categories: Sovereign risk, land access, green tape, land claims, red tape, social risk, infrastructure, civil unrest, natural disasters, and labour relations.'

http://allafrica.com/stories/200502160467.html

The Third World is shaking off some of its negative image in the First World (provided anyone in the First World hears about it).

This is kind of cool:

'Archaeologists are showing off a treasure trove they call one of the most significant discoveries of Mi'kmaq artifacts in Nova Scotia.

Hundreds of arrowheads and tools, some 8,000 years old, were discovered last summer along the Mersey River, near Kejimkujik National Park in the southwest region of the province.'

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/02/17/artifacts050217.html

Here's a follow up to something that was in the bad news file:

'Brazil's president ordered the creation of two massive new rain forest reserves Thursday amid increasing pressure to protect a lawless Amazon region from violent loggers and ranchers after the killing last weekend of an American nun who fought to protect the jungle. '

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7167

Well, it strikes me as good news:

'n Tuesday, the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, to overturn the landmark case she won in 1973 that legalized abortion. The justices rejected McCorvey’s bid to reopen Roe v. Wade without comment or recorded dissent'

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=8918

' The first international treaty aimed at reducing smoking-related deaths and illness came into effect Sunday, the World Health Organization said.

Fifty-seven countries . . . have ratified the treaty, formally known as WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Member countries promise to crack down on advertising, sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products. The treaty also pushes for tougher tobacco labelling laws.

WHO says smoking is the world's second leading cause of preventable deaths. Hypertension is the first.

The UN body estimates nearly five million people die prematurely each year from tobacco-related diseases.'

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/02/27/un-tobacco050227.html



Having watched an eleven year old girl spend half of her life incapacitated by second-hand smoke triggered migraines, I say an outright ban on tobacco and a programme of irradication of illicit tobacco fields cannot come too soon.

and, of course:

'WHO officials and activists say the powerful tobacco industry is lobbying intensively to restrict the number of countries applying the treaty, including the United States which has signed up but not yet sent it to the Senate.

"The tobacco industry wants to be free to sell and market their deadly products in such a way that they have more and more profits. This is the only language the tobacco industry knows," Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, director of the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, told journalists.

"In Brazil, my country, the tobacco industry is furiously lobbying the Congress and the Senate in order not to get the treaty ratified. They are using the tobacco farmers to make the case, saying that they will lose their jobs."

Activists accuse the Bush administration, which signed the pact last May, of having worked hard to dilute it.

"U.S. ratification of the treaty would send a strong message to the rest of the world that we will not support these efforts and instead put protection of public health ahead of tobacco industry interests," the U.S.-based Tobacco Free Kids lobby group said.'

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/02/27/global.smoking.reut/index.html

And, on the subject of industrial tobacco addiction:

'As part of the Justice Department's historic lawsuit against the tobacco industry (US v. Philip Morris, et al.), a Justice attorney examined Frederick Gulson under oath in Australia. Gulson used to be legal counsel for Australian tobacco company W.D. & H.O. Wills, a subsidiary of BATCo [British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited]. In the testimony, the Justice attorney repeatedly quotes an Australian court decision that contains extracts of the "Foyle memorandum," an extremely sensitive internal document concerning Wills' policy of destroying potentially damaging documents so that they cannot be uncovered during court cases.

Attorneys for the industry argue that the Foyle memorandum can't be introduced - directly or indirectly, in whole or in part - into the proceedings, so they asked Judge Gladys Kessler to seal Gulson's testimony. Kessler has complied, at least temporarily, by sealing the testimony until all the legal questions can be answered, at which point the testimony may be unsealed or may stay sealed permanently.

Gulson's testimony was also removed from the Justice Dept's website, but not before The Memory Hole grabbed a copy. It's posted at the link at the top of this page. It's worth reading not just for the Foyle quotes but because the whole thing is so damning.'

http://www.thememoryhole.org/corp/tobacco/sealed_gulson_testimony.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4308881.stm

"The US Supreme Court has abolished the death penalty for those who commit murder when aged less than 18."

But only just! 5-4 i think it was.

'Two human rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on behalf of eight men allegedly tortured by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility" because he "personally signed off" on policies guiding prisoner treatment, said American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero.

A number of other lawsuits also are pending against Rumsfeld, military commanders and civilian contractors in the abuse scandal, which broke last spring with the disclosure of photographs showing American military men and women abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

An independent commission agreed in August 2004 that Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon leaders contributed to an environment in which prisoners suffered sadistic abuse at Abu Ghraib. The members also concluded that the officials could be faulted for failed leadership and oversight. '

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/01/terror/main677278.shtml

Something positive from central Asia:

'The United Nations is pushing ahead with a major regional initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road aimed at renewing economic and cultural links bridging China and Central Asian countries by promoting modern forms of cooperation supported by advanced technologies and achieving "new miracles" of enhanced tourism.'

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13538&Cr=Silk&Cr1=Road

News of a noble memorial event:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/03/12/ghandi-salt050312.html

In praise of the ordinary American again:

'Most Americans surveyed in a poll say they do not think any country, including the United States, should have nuclear weapons.'

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NUCLEAR_FEARS?SITE=CAHAY&SECTION


wouldn't it be great if democracy suddenly broke out?

This is a big good news story:

'Indonesian health authorities are set to ban doctors and paramedics performing female circumcisions.'

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/06/02/circumcision050602.html


About time.

Here's a good bit of news:

'The government of Zambia today introduced free health care for people living in rural areas, scrapping fees which for years had made health care inaccessible for millions.

The move was made possible using money from the debt cancellation and aid increases agreed at the G8 in Gleneagles last July, when Zambia received $4 billion of debt relief; money it is now investing in health and education.'


Of course, it is important to remember:

'User fees were introduced in Zambia under IMF and World Bank pressure in the early 1990s.'

http://allafrica.com/stories/200603310782.html


That old IMF sure was a disasterously failed experiment.