Olympic champion Cheek donates prize money to Darfur

Fresh from the Olympic's
here's a Positive Story.

TURIN, Italy - US speedskater Joey Cheek
credited his decision to donate any prize
money from a Winter Olympic gold medal
to a Sudanese relief project with helping him
capture the 500m title Monday.

Cheek will donate the 25,000 dollars he will
receive from the US Olympic Committee for
his victory to "Right to Play", an athlete-driven
charity organization, with the money earmarked
for the battle-ravaged Darfur region.

"I knew if I ever did something like this, I wanted
to be able to give something back," Cheek said. "The
best way I can say thanks is to donate my money
to help somebody else."

Cheek, who will ask each of his handful of sponsors
to donate money as well, skated the two best 500m
races of his career to win gold in a combined time of
1:09.76, beating runner-up Dmitry Dorofeyev
by .65 of a second.

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur has claimed
between180,000 and 300,000 lives, and displaced
more than two million people.

Cheek's role model is former Norwegian speedskater
Johan-Olaf Koss, who made a similar contribution in
1994 when the program was called Olympic Aid.

"The things he has done for other people have been
an inspiration for me," Cheek said. "It's my hope that
I can assist some people and walk in his large shoes."

Positive News Update 2/9/06

Positive Helth News
from assorted wire reports

CANCER DEATHS HISTORIC DROP!

For the first time in more than 70 years,
annual cancer deaths in the United States
have fallen.

The number of cancer deaths dropped to
556,902 in 2003, down from 557,271 the
year before, according to a recently
completed review of U.S. death certificates
by the National Center for Health Statistics.

It's the first annual decrease in total
cancer deaths since 1930, when nationwide
data began to be compiled.

Now that's Positive News!

Positive News Update

These short summaries are of positive
stories that appeared over the last week
on the various news wire services.

Positive News offers these as proof that
not all the news is negative and there's
so much good happpening around the
world to celebrate. --Mr. Positive

US NEWS

African American's role in journalism
to be featured

African American's contributions to jorunalism
are on display in the US capitol as part of Black
History Month, which celebrates the positive
role that African Americans have had in the
development of the culture of the US.

Nutritionist campaigning against junk
food in schools

Nurse and diabetes educator Stephanie Rose,
a member of the Idaho Falls school wellness
committee, is campaigning to eliminate junk
food in schools.

Federal law has directed that all school districts
have a policy in place by the end of June, related
to getting rid of school junk food.

Vermont programme helps refugees
start companies

The US-based Vermont Refugee Micro Enterprise
programme has assisted nearly 40 refugees from
Africa, Vietnam, and Bosnia in getting their own
businesses started in their new homeland of
Vermont, USA.

The programme ass been very successful largely
because of agencies which supplied bilingual
counselors, many of whom are refugees themselves.

Jordan's King Abdullah visits New Orleans,
offers aid

King Abdullah II of Jordan toured some of the
city's most devastated neighbourhoods Friday
and discussed ways Jordan might help the city.

New Orleans' mayor, Ray Nagin, reported that
the King asked him why the support for rebuilding
is so slow. saying, 'I think the international
community may be poised to help us fill the gap.'

Rock star and activist Bono calls for
US to increase aid to poor

Quoting from Islamic, Jewish, and Christian texts,
rock star and activist Bono has called for the US
government to give an additional one per cent of
the federal budget to the world's poor.

One per cent of last year's budget would have been
about $26 billion. Bono spoke at the National Prayer
Breakfast, which was attended by President Bush
and members of Congress.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Northern Ireland negotiations resume

Negotiations to revive a Catholic-Protestant
administration for Northern Ireland have
resumed after a 14-month hiatus during which
the Irish Republican Army (IRA) pledged never
to resume 'armed struggle'.

The governments of Britain and Ireland jointly
oversaw the discussions.

Philippines holds new round of peace talks

The Philippine government and the Muslim
separatist rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) have begun a new round of peace talks.

Central to the discussion is the resolution of the
'ancestral domain' issue, i.e. of areas generally
considered by the Muslims to be their ancestral home.

Samsung Group apologetic over scandals,
offers US$800 million to charity

South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group said
today that it would donate more than US$800 million
in corporate and private assets to charity as part of
an apology for several scandals involving presidential
campaign donations and several internal financial irregularities.

Scottish and Southern Energy to invest
£2.4m in renewable energy

The utility corporation Scottish and Southern
Energy (SSE) has announced it will invest
£2.4 million in a fund devoted to renewable
energy projects in the east of Scotland.

The decision followed a report issued by the
government that emphasized the importance
of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and
securing alternative sources of energy.