Positive News Update

US studies show how fruits and vegetables reduce cancer

A growing body of research that shows fruits and vegetables,
especially richly colored varieties, can reduce the risk of cancer.

Just three servings a month of raw broccoli or cabbage can
reduce the risk of bladder cancer by as much as 40 percent,
researchers reported this week.

Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo,
New York, surveyed 275 people who had bladder cancer and
825 people without cancer.

They asked especially about cruciferous vegetables such as
broccoli and cabbage. These foods are rich in compounds called
isothiocyanates, which are known to lower cancer risk.

The effects were most striking in nonsmokers, the researchers
told a meeting being held this week of the American Association
of Cancer Research in Philadelphia.

US: Solid job gains, wage growth in November

Employers added a solid 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in
November, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 per cent,
and wages grew briskly, encouraging signs the nation's
employment climate is holding up in the face of turbulence in
the housing and credit markets.

US President Bush celebrates peace
with Northern Ireland leaders

Northern Ireland leaders Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness,
bitter enemies turned partners in government, concluded their
first joint visit to Washington with a celebration of peace with
President Bush at the White House.

Paisley and McGuinness, who formed an alliance in May after
decades of turmoil in Northern Ireland, smiled and chuckled
with Bush during their meeting in the Oval Office.

``I congratulate you for seizing the moment and writing a
hopeful chapter,'' Bush told them.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UK: All homes could be wind powered by 2020

Every home in the country could be supplied by wind power alone
in 2020 by making full use of the wind-swept seas around the
country, Energy Secretary John Hutton said on Monday. Britain
has some of the best wind conditions for generating electricity
in the world.

Iran, IAEA in new talks to clear nuclear doubts

Iran and a team from the UN nuclear watchdog started a fresh
round of talks on Monday in Tehran to resolve doubts about the
Islamic Republic's nuclear work. The International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) delegation arrived in Iran's capital on Sunday,
less than a week after a US intelligence report said Iran halted its
nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Iran denies ever having had such a military program but
welcomed the report that contradicted the US
administration's assertions that Tehran was actively
working on a nuclear bomb.

European Union, Africa open first summit in seven years

Leaders from the European Union and Africa met on Saturday to
forge a new strategic partnership at their first summit in seven
years. The call for a fresh start comes at a time when many African
countries' economies are growing more rapidly than in several
decades, thanks to a commodities-fuelled boom.

Pressured by China's growing investment and influence in Africa,
the Europeans aim to agree an ambitious action plan with the
world's poorest continent to revitalise trade—but also to improve
cooperation in areas like immigration and peacekeeping.

These are all signs of Positive progress that we are making
toward health, peace and sustainability!