Positive News Weekly
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All Positive News, All the Time...News You Can Really Use!
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Positive News Weekly
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US NEWS
GATES DOUBLES FUNDS FOR DISEASE RESEARCH
Microsoft founder Bill Gates more than doubled his financing for key health research to $450 million Monday after telling assembled health ministers the world had a "historic chance" to tame killer diseases.
In a speech to the opening session of the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual assembly, the world's richest man said a combination of "astonishing" scientific advances and rising global awareness of the suffering caused by disease gave real hope for progress.
"We are on the verge of taking historic steps to reduce disease in the developing world ...(if) we match these accelerating capacities of science with the emerging moral awareness of global health inequities," he said.
The Gates Foundation pledge increases its funding commitment to unearthing solutions for 14 major health "challenges" to $450 million from an initial $200 million at the project's launch in late 2003.
"I am optimistic," Gates said. "I'm convinced that we will see more ground breaking scientific advances for health in the developing world in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 50."
NJ SCHOOL TEACHES PRESCHOOLERS HEALTHY EATING
At one preschool, the ABC's stand for apples, broccoli and carrots. As schools nationwide contend with an epidemic of obese youngsters, the Nutritional Sciences Preschool at Rutgers University has been teaching children as young as 3 to choose fruit and vegetables over junk food.
And the kids seem to like it.
"We love broccoli!" 3-year-old sisters Sara and Molly Balsamo of Milltown told preschool director, Harriet Worobey, one day last week.
Founded in 1991, the half-day preschool's curriculum focuses on nutrition. While there is the standard preschool fare such as reading readiness, art and science, each day includes at least 30 minutes of nutrition lessons — some prepared by the dozens of Rutgers education and nutrition students who earn credits for helping out.
The teachers and student helpers incorporate the lessons into story time, sing-alongs, puzzles, art projects and puppet shows. The children also play "cook" or "restaurant" using the classroom's pretend kitchen and menus and help the adults prepare snacks in a real kitchen.
"I'm telling you, they love fruit, they will eat vegetables," said Worobey. "They're very interested in their bodies. They want to grow up healthy."
A study Rutgers did in 2000 on 35 preschoolers found that by semester's end, the group that was taught only standard preschool lessons was eating twice as much processed food as the group that learned about nutrition.
The latter group also sharply cut fast-food meals, a sign they might be influencing parents.
Mark Ginsberg, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, said considerable research shows what children learn young can set lifelong patterns.
"Teaching people behaviors that are health-promoting early in life, I think has the potential for enormous payoffs in time," he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
KUWAITI WOMEN GAIN RIGHT TO VOTE
KUWAIT CITY - Parliament extended political rights to Kuwaiti women Monday, but religious fundamentalists who opposed women's suffrage succeeded in attaching a clause requiring future female politicians and voters to abide by Islamic law.
It was not clear whether that meant a strict dress code or just separate polling stations and election campaigns.
Some of the women activists who ululated and sang the national anthem after the 35-23 vote enacting the law expressed concern about the vague restriction, but others refused to let it dampen their joy.
"I am overexcited. I can't believe this," said Rola Dashti, who said she would run in the next parliamentary elections, in 2007.
Women can now vote in all Middle Eastern nations where elections are held except Saudi Arabia. The Persian Gulf nations of Bahrain, Qatar and Oman all have held their first elections in recent years and have allowed women to cast ballots.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the development "an important step forward for the women of Kuwait and for the nation as a whole."
Kuwaiti women have reached high positions in the oil industry, education and the diplomatic corps, but few have demanded political rights.
ETHIOPIA 90% of REGISTERED VOTERS TURN OUT AT THE POLLS
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The government of Ethiopia said late Monday it had won a majority of seats in parliament, while acknowledging that the opposition had won in the capital, Addis Ababa.
About 90 percent of voters turned out for a parliamentary election seen as a test of Ethiopian leaders' commitment to democracy.
The main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy — claimed earlier Monday that, by their count, they had won at least 185 seats across the country, including 23 seats in the capital.
More than 500 foreign observers, including European Union teams, monitored the polls.
Kemal Bedri, chairman of the National Electoral Board, said 90 percent of the more than 25 million who had registered voted. Polling stations were overwhelmed.
Those still in line after polls officially closed at 6 p.m. Sunday were allowed to vote, and polling in Addis Ababa lasted until 5 a.m. Monday.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, known as one of the continent's more progressive leaders, has pledged his sometimes authoritarian government would introduce greater democracy. Many had pointed to Sunday's race as a test of his commitment to reform.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
CUSTOMER TACKLES DEER IN WAL-MART
NORFOLK, Neb. - So exactly how do you stop a charging deer in Wal-Mart? You take away its credit card.
Shoppers at the Wal-Mart here wish they would have thought of that. It would have been a whole lot easier.
A deer without a grocery list entered through the doors of the supermarket part of the store Thursday.
The store's greeter didn't see the deer enter through the exit, but she did see the critter when it hit the slick floor and fell. It quickly recovered and went scurrying down the aisles.
After doing a little looking around, the deer was tackled by a customer. Others of the human persuasion then tied the deer's legs so it couldn't kick, placed it in a shopping cart and pushed it outside.
Officials took the animal to nearby Ta-ha-zouka Park and released it, unharmed.
All Positive News, All the Time...News You Can Really Use!
++++++++++++++++++
Positive News Weekly
++++++++++++++++++
US NEWS
GATES DOUBLES FUNDS FOR DISEASE RESEARCH
Microsoft founder Bill Gates more than doubled his financing for key health research to $450 million Monday after telling assembled health ministers the world had a "historic chance" to tame killer diseases.
In a speech to the opening session of the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual assembly, the world's richest man said a combination of "astonishing" scientific advances and rising global awareness of the suffering caused by disease gave real hope for progress.
"We are on the verge of taking historic steps to reduce disease in the developing world ...(if) we match these accelerating capacities of science with the emerging moral awareness of global health inequities," he said.
The Gates Foundation pledge increases its funding commitment to unearthing solutions for 14 major health "challenges" to $450 million from an initial $200 million at the project's launch in late 2003.
"I am optimistic," Gates said. "I'm convinced that we will see more ground breaking scientific advances for health in the developing world in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 50."
NJ SCHOOL TEACHES PRESCHOOLERS HEALTHY EATING
At one preschool, the ABC's stand for apples, broccoli and carrots. As schools nationwide contend with an epidemic of obese youngsters, the Nutritional Sciences Preschool at Rutgers University has been teaching children as young as 3 to choose fruit and vegetables over junk food.
And the kids seem to like it.
"We love broccoli!" 3-year-old sisters Sara and Molly Balsamo of Milltown told preschool director, Harriet Worobey, one day last week.
Founded in 1991, the half-day preschool's curriculum focuses on nutrition. While there is the standard preschool fare such as reading readiness, art and science, each day includes at least 30 minutes of nutrition lessons — some prepared by the dozens of Rutgers education and nutrition students who earn credits for helping out.
The teachers and student helpers incorporate the lessons into story time, sing-alongs, puzzles, art projects and puppet shows. The children also play "cook" or "restaurant" using the classroom's pretend kitchen and menus and help the adults prepare snacks in a real kitchen.
"I'm telling you, they love fruit, they will eat vegetables," said Worobey. "They're very interested in their bodies. They want to grow up healthy."
A study Rutgers did in 2000 on 35 preschoolers found that by semester's end, the group that was taught only standard preschool lessons was eating twice as much processed food as the group that learned about nutrition.
The latter group also sharply cut fast-food meals, a sign they might be influencing parents.
Mark Ginsberg, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, said considerable research shows what children learn young can set lifelong patterns.
"Teaching people behaviors that are health-promoting early in life, I think has the potential for enormous payoffs in time," he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
KUWAITI WOMEN GAIN RIGHT TO VOTE
KUWAIT CITY - Parliament extended political rights to Kuwaiti women Monday, but religious fundamentalists who opposed women's suffrage succeeded in attaching a clause requiring future female politicians and voters to abide by Islamic law.
It was not clear whether that meant a strict dress code or just separate polling stations and election campaigns.
Some of the women activists who ululated and sang the national anthem after the 35-23 vote enacting the law expressed concern about the vague restriction, but others refused to let it dampen their joy.
"I am overexcited. I can't believe this," said Rola Dashti, who said she would run in the next parliamentary elections, in 2007.
Women can now vote in all Middle Eastern nations where elections are held except Saudi Arabia. The Persian Gulf nations of Bahrain, Qatar and Oman all have held their first elections in recent years and have allowed women to cast ballots.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the development "an important step forward for the women of Kuwait and for the nation as a whole."
Kuwaiti women have reached high positions in the oil industry, education and the diplomatic corps, but few have demanded political rights.
ETHIOPIA 90% of REGISTERED VOTERS TURN OUT AT THE POLLS
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The government of Ethiopia said late Monday it had won a majority of seats in parliament, while acknowledging that the opposition had won in the capital, Addis Ababa.
About 90 percent of voters turned out for a parliamentary election seen as a test of Ethiopian leaders' commitment to democracy.
The main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy — claimed earlier Monday that, by their count, they had won at least 185 seats across the country, including 23 seats in the capital.
More than 500 foreign observers, including European Union teams, monitored the polls.
Kemal Bedri, chairman of the National Electoral Board, said 90 percent of the more than 25 million who had registered voted. Polling stations were overwhelmed.
Those still in line after polls officially closed at 6 p.m. Sunday were allowed to vote, and polling in Addis Ababa lasted until 5 a.m. Monday.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, known as one of the continent's more progressive leaders, has pledged his sometimes authoritarian government would introduce greater democracy. Many had pointed to Sunday's race as a test of his commitment to reform.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
CUSTOMER TACKLES DEER IN WAL-MART
NORFOLK, Neb. - So exactly how do you stop a charging deer in Wal-Mart? You take away its credit card.
Shoppers at the Wal-Mart here wish they would have thought of that. It would have been a whole lot easier.
A deer without a grocery list entered through the doors of the supermarket part of the store Thursday.
The store's greeter didn't see the deer enter through the exit, but she did see the critter when it hit the slick floor and fell. It quickly recovered and went scurrying down the aisles.
After doing a little looking around, the deer was tackled by a customer. Others of the human persuasion then tied the deer's legs so it couldn't kick, placed it in a shopping cart and pushed it outside.
Officials took the animal to nearby Ta-ha-zouka Park and released it, unharmed.
posted by Mr. Positive! at 9:07 AM
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