IMF approves $2.1bn Iceland loan

IMF approves $2.1bn Iceland loan
<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45183000/jpg/_45183544_iceland226b.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”A bank customer holds a handful of Icelandic crowns” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan for Iceland, after the country’s banking system collapsed in October.

The two-year loan was designed to help the country cope with what the IMF described as “a banking crisis of extraordinary proportions”.

The loan aimed to help the country “to restore confidence and stabilise the economy”, the IMF said in a statement.

Iceland is the first Western European nation to get an IMF loan since 1976.

The two-year loan, which is subject to quarterly review, allows the country to withdraw about$827m now, and the rest in eight instalments of some $155m.

Iceland’s government had expressed frustration last week at delays in the loan’s approval.

Contracting economy

Iceland was forced to take over three of its biggest, debt-laden banks last month.

The Nordic nation’s troubles have had severe repercussions elsewhere in Europe.

In the UK, individual savers and local councils have been unable to access funds deposited in Icelandic banks.

Iceland’s currency, the krona, has almost halved in value this year and banking transactions with other countries have almost completely frozen.

The IMF has warned the country’s economy could contract by as much as 10% next year.

Iceland has said the IMF funds will be used to stabilise its currency, reintroduce a flexible interest rate regime and to overhaul its financial regulation system, especially insolvency laws.

Before going to the IMF, it had been in talks with Russia for a $4bn loan, but discussions broke down

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Miliband holds meeting in Lebanon

Miliband holds meeting in Lebanon
<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45219000/jpg/_45219207_milibandlebanon_afp226b.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has held talks with his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salloukh over the future of the Middle East.

Arriving in Beirut, Mr Miliband said it was “time to push for a comprehensive resolution” to the region’s troubles.

On Wednesday, he is due to hold talks Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Earlier, he met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus – the first British politician to do so since 2001.

Speaking afterwards at a joint news conference, Mr Miliband said Syria could play a “constructive role” in bringing stability to the Middle East.

Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Mua’allim said that Iran also had an important contribution to make.

“We believe that good ties with Iran will help the bring security and stability to the region,” he said.

Mr Miliband told reporters gathered at Beirut’s international airport that the UK was “very committed” to the “vision of a peaceful Middle East”.

“Now is the time to push for a comprehensive resolution,” he said.

The foreign secretary also announced that Lebanon’s president would visit the UK next spring.

Earlier in his tour, Mr Miliband travelled to Israel and the West Bank, holding meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. <P

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Jerry Yang to quit as Yahoo boss

Jerry Yang to quit as Yahoo boss
Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45215000/jpg/_45215556_6654d3ee-e44e-4f19-bee3-fa520276a964.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”Jerry Yang” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo, is to stand down as the internet portal’s chief executive officer.

His departure follows lengthy criticism of his stewardship of the company, which has seen its share price collapse to about $10.

Earlier in the year he fought off a hostile takeover bid from Microsoft which offered $33 a share.

Mr Yang also told the workforce that he would be participating in the search for his successor.

“I will always do what is right for this great company,” Mr Yang wrote in an e-mail to employees.

The BBC was told that Mr Yang made the decision to leave as chief executive officer last month. No names were given as to who will succeed him.

The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, said it is interviewing candidates inside and outside Yahoo in a search led by chairman Roy Bostock.

“Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level,” said Mr Bostock.

low shares

Earlier this month at the recent Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Mr Yang surprised the industry when he told conference attendees that Microsoft should still buy the company.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all, at the right price whatever that price is. We’re willing to sell the company,” he told a packed audience.

The declaration came hours after Google had pulled out of an internet advertising deal with Yahoo amid increasing scrutiny from the Department of Justice.

Mr Yang said he was “disappointed” Google had pulled out of the partnership.

Mr Yang’s e-mail to employees ended with the words: “All of you know that I have always and will always bleed purple” – in reference to the predominant colour on the company’s logo.

Yahoo’s shares closed on Monday at $10.63, giving the company a valuation of only $14.7bn

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UK minister set for Syria talks

UK minister set for Syria talks
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has arrived in Syria for a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad.

His visit, the first by a top-level British official since 2001, is part of a regional tour that also includes Israel, the West Bank and Lebanon.

Mr Miliband told the BBC that Syria had a role to play as a force for stability in the Middle East.

The visit is the latest in a run of exchanges between Syria and European nations aimed at easing tense ties.

It comes a month after Mr Miliband met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in London for talks.

Building mutual understanding between the UK and Syria was important, Mr Miliband told the BBC.

“Syria has a big potential role to play in stability in the Middle East – it can be a force for stability or it can be a force for instability,” he said.

“Over the last 18 months I’ve been talking with the Syrian foreign minister about her (Syria’s) responsibilities in the region, in respect of terrorism, in respect of Iraq, in respect of the Middle East peace process, and we’ve got the chance now to take those discussions further forward.”

Mr Miliband will meet the Syrian president and other top officials on Tuesday morning, before flying on to Lebanon.

Syria has faced diplomatic isolation since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, even though it denies any role in the killing.

It has also been shunned by the US because of its ties with Iran, the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese Shia political and militant movement Hezbollah.

But European nations, led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are now initiating steps to bring Syria back into the international fold, arguing that engagement is the way forward.

On Monday David Milliband visited Israel and the West Bank for talks with top leaders.

He called on both Israelis and Palestinians to maintain the five-month-old ceasefire in Gaza, following recent outbreaks of violence that have triggered an Israeli blockade of the territory.

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Shark-cam captures motion passed by the world’s biggest fish

Shark-cam captures motion passed by the world’s biggest fish
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

It is as thick as your arm, gloopy and smells disgusting – and it has just been caught on camera for what is thought to be the first time.

A crew has managed to record a whale shark – the world’s biggest fish – expelling food waste, which was then scooped up for research.

Biologist Mark Meekan said the sample had helped him to discover more about the giant creature’s feeding habits.

The footage forms part of a BBC Natural World wildlife programme: Whale Shark.

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are related to great whites, but are far less fearsome – they are filter feeders, swimming about with their enormous mouths open to scoop up tasty morsels floating in their paths.

"One way to work out what is going in one end is to look at what is coming out of the other"
Dr Mark Meekan

<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45203000/jpg/_45203479_whaleshark2_226.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”Mark Meekan” border=”0″ vspace=”0″ hspace=”4″>

They can grow up to 12m long; yet, despite their staggering size, very little is known about these ocean giants.

Dr Meekan, who is based at the Darwin office of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, was followed by the Natural World team as he has carried out his research on these mysterious fish.

He said: “It does seem rather weird, someone being so excited about seeing whale shark poo. And I’m pretty certain that this is the first time it has been filmed.

“But it is pretty rare – they are usually doing their business down in much deeper water.”

He described the faeces that the team collected as “scientific gold”.

“One way to work out what is going in one end is to look at what is coming out of the other.<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45203000/jpg/_45203481_whaleshark_226.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”Whale shark ” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

“By seeing one of these animals poo and getting hold of some of that stuff, we can use sophisticated genetic techniques to look at the DNA in that sample to find out exactly what those animals have been eating.”

Genetic analysis revealed that the whale shark had been feasting on red crab larvae – and this could be why the fish are attracted to Ningaloo Reef in Australia, which has plenty of this foodstuff available.

Dr Meekan said: “This is something we suspected, but now it has been confirmed.

“It has been really exciting to nail that one.”

Dr Meekan and his team have also been using technology to find out more about the fish.

He told the BBC: “The study of whale sharks is a fairly young science. People have only really been studying these things since the late 1980s.”

But now, he said, advances in tagging technology over the last decade have really helped to improve understanding.

Satellite tags, which relay GPS data every time the fish surface, have already helped researchers to discover the vast distances the creatures travel.

But the team is also now taking advantage of other tagging systems.

Dr Meekan said: “Now we are taking another step forward and instead of just acquiring location, we are now also using tags to look at water temperature and salinity, to make a physical description of the waters they are inhabiting.

“They have also got an accelerometer on board which shows the position of the animal in 3D. It’s pretty cool.”

The tags also contain video cameras to get a whale-shark’s-eye view of its underwater terrain.

The marine biologist said: “There has recently been a rapid evolution of technology. These tags are becoming more and more sophisticated; we are learning more and more things about the animal, its environment and what it is doing.

“We have gone from saying: ‘Oh, there the animal is!’ to really understanding it, what it is doing out there.”

Whale Shark is on BBC Two on Tuesday 18 November at 2000 GMT.</i

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Anger at ‘missed TB opportunity’

Anger at ‘missed TB opportunity’

London has become Europe’s TB capital because primary care trusts are failing to adopt measures drawn up four years ago, MPs and health campaigners say.

Just 55% of PCTs in England routinely screen new immigrants, according to a poll by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Tuberculosis.

One PCT with a very high TB rate had even scrapped its screening programme.

PCT representatives argued resources were finite and that decisions were taken on the basis of local needs.

TB is continuing to rise in the UK, and last week the first case of a form resistant to many drugs was diagnosed.

Globally, drug resistant TB is becoming a major problem.

Some 101 PCTs out of 152 responded to the survey sent out by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Tuberculosis (APPG) and British Thoracic Society, the body which represents specialists in respiratory disease.

Only half had appointed an individual to be responsible for leading action on TB, while 41% said they were not actively raising awareness of the disease.

Both measures are laid out in the “TB Toolkit”, which was drawn up by the Department of Health.

The picture of the disease varies across the country, with cities with large immigrant populations much more likely to see a multitude of cases.

London, now Europe’s TB capital, accounts for half of the cases nationwide.

Rising numbers

Levels of TB have been increasing year-on-year in the UK since the late 1980s and the latest available figures from 2006 showed the number of cases increased 17% from three years previously.

KEY POINTS OF 2004 ACTION PLAN

• Better screening programmes
• Multi-lingual and culturally sensitive information
• Higher vaccination coverage of babies in high-risk groups
• Stronger TB surveillance in prisons
• DNA bacterial screening to track the disease
• More research into drugs and vaccines

Last week, doctors in Glasgow confirmed they were treating Scotland’s first diagnosed case of the drug-resistant XDR strain in an man who had come to the UK from Somalia.

The majority of PCTs predict that the number of TB cases in their region is set to rise.

Julie Morgan, chairman of the AAPG, said: “Our findings are deeply worrying.

“The Action Plan was published almost four years ago, and yet clearly very little has been achieved.”

She added: “TB is clearly not getting the attention it deserves. There should therefore be a properly-funded national TB awareness campaign, tailored to local circumstances, aimed at healthcare professionals as well as the general public.”

Professor John Macfarlane, chairman of the British Thoracic Society, said: “This report confirms the experience of our members trying to tackle TB in hospitals, who are not being provided with the tools and resources they need to effectively manage TB.”

“It clearly shows that PCTs must as a matter of urgency identify and commission TB services. Action one needs to be the appointment of a TB lead in every PCT.”

David Stout, director of the PCT Network, which is part of the NHS Confederation, said:”PCTs have the difficult job with finite resources of making decisions on local priorities.

“All PCTs are currently undertaking local needs assessments which will include an assessment of local rates of TB and will prioritise action accordingly.”

<P
Source: news.bbc.co.uk

School-gate junk food ban urged

School-gate junk food ban urged
Schools and councils are being urged to make it harder for children to swap their school meal for a takeaway.

Rising levels of obesity are being fuelled by the ready availability of junk food, said the School Food Trust.

It wants schools to close their gates at lunchtime and councils to stop new fast food outlets opening nearby.

But the Local Government Association said it could not force schools to shut their gates and that food retailers could challenge licence refusals.

Dinner money

The trust has issued a “league table” of the local education authority areas with the most takeaway and sweet shops per secondary school.

"At the moment school canteens have to compete with a myriad of take-aways, chippies, and sweet shops for pupils’ dinner money"
Judy Hargaddon
School Food Trust

Seaside towns – with dozens of outlets aimed at tourists – and inner city areas, fare the worst.

Topping the list is Brighton and Hove, with 46 per school, closely followed by Blackpool and Hull.

School Food Trust chief executive Judy Hargaddon said: “At the moment school canteens have to compete with a myriad of take-aways, chippies, and sweet shops for pupils’ dinner money.

“We all know that some children will go for chips five times a week if they are allowed to.

“The problem is that this is damaging their long-term health, and is also threatening the viability of school lunch services.”

Burger ban

She is backed by a dietician from London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.

10 WORST LEA AREAS

• 1 Brighton and Hove 46.11 outlets per secondary school
• 2 Blackpool 40.63
• 3 Kingston upon Hull 40.00
• 4 Reading 39.17
• 5 Middlesbrough 38.33
• 6 Manchester 36.95
• 7 City of Bristol 36.94
• 8 Inner London 36.66
• 9 Newcastle upon Tyne 36.21
• 10 Gateshead 35.00

Source: School Food Trust

Paul Sacher said: “Children face daily temptation from junk foods and many find them hard to resist.

“These foods play a big part in weight gain, have little nutritional value and contribute to health problems later in life.”

Some councils and schools are taking steps to try to restrict the ability of children to buy fast food during school hours.

Leicester City Council is drawing up plans to ban mobile burger vans from areas around schools, and some schools already operate policies which stop children from leaving at lunchtime.

Licence fight

Dr Sacher encouraged other local authorities and schools to take steps to protect child health by restricting the number of new licences issued for fast food outlets in the areas around schools.

However, the Local Government Association said this could be hard to enforce, and any refusal to grant a licence could be challenged.

A spokesman said: “Councils are up for using all the powers at their disposal, including planning, to play their important part in tackling this weighty issue.

“It is wrong to imply that planning laws that ban junk food outlets around parks and schools are a potential ’silver bullet’.

“Local authorities have to base their decisions on good evidence of potential harmful impacts, and the matters they are allowed to take into account by law.”

She said that while education authorities could encourage schools to adopt “stay in” policies, they could not be compelled to do so.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Gay men risk of HIV ’still high’

Gay men risk of HIV ’still high’
Gay men are being urged to get HIV tests more regularly and practise safe sex in a bid to halt the high numbers of new cases in the UK.

The Health Protection Agency made the warning after new diagnoses among gay men topped 2,600 for the third year.

But the figures do seem to have begun to plateau after a surge at the turn of the century.

Overall, the number of new cases hit an estimated 6,840 in 2007 – a fall of 1,400 from the previous year.

"Gay men continue to be the group most at risk of acquiring HIV within the UK"
Dr Valerie Delpech

The HPA said this was mostly due to a decline in cases among those infected heterosexually in Africa.

But experts said the new cases among gay men was still at worrying levels.

There were 2,630 diagnoses – a slight fall on previous years, but much higher than the annual figures in the 1990s which tended to hover around 1,500.

HPA head of HIV surveillance Dr Valerie Delpech said: “Gay men continue to be the group most at risk of acquiring HIV within the UK.

“We need to reinforce the safe sex message for gay men that the best way to protect yourself from contracting HIV is practising safe sex by using a condom with all new and casual partners.”

She also urged more regular testing so treatment could be started earlier and to reduce the risk of transmission to partners.

The figures are only provisional as they also take into account the expected delays in diagnosis.

Genevieve Clark, of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said it was “good news” that the figures for gay men seemed to be levelling off.

But she warned the number of cases was still too high and called for easier access to testing as some places had long waits for access to sexual health clinics.<P
Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Caution call on pharmacist drugs

Caution call on pharmacist drugs
Raising the number of drugs that can be bought at pharmacies may affect safety and cut effectiveness, specialists say.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, two doctors say drugs such as statins could be less effective because over-the-counter doses are lower.

They warn some powerful painkillers available without prescription have potentially harmful side-effects.

But the National Pharmacy Association said its members treated newly classified medicines with caution.

Inquests

The government is keen to see some widely used drugs more easily available, to improve the health of people with long-term conditions and potentially cut the bill to the NHS.

"Given the concerns, it would be wise to avoid any wholesale rush to reclassify medicines"
Dr Robin Ferner
West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reactions

However, West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reactions director Robin Ferner and Keith Beard, from the Victoria Infirmary Glasgow, believe that the benefits need to be closely measured against the risks.

They highlighted two recent deaths in which codeine-based painkillers were implicated at inquests.

They said it was far more difficult for the potential side-effects to be explained to patients in their local pharmacy.

“Certainly, pharmacists can provide clinical advice to minimise the risk of misuse of pharmacy only drugs, but supervision by a busy community pharmacist in the UK may be perfunctory,” they wrote.

Patients who misdiagnose their symptoms then try to treat themselves using over-the-counter drugs could delay a vital trip to their GP surgery, they added.

‘Trusted profession’

The medicines safety watchdog – the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) relies on reports of side-effects, primarily from doctors, to alert them to any new concerns.

It recently extended its reporting scheme to make it easier for patients to contact them.

However, Dr Ferner and Dr Beard are not convinced that this is enough to ensure their safety.

“Given the concerns, it would be wise to avoid any wholesale rush to reclassify medicines,” they said.

“Whole communities might lose out in the long run if indiscriminate overuse of widely available medicines were to lead to large numbers of avoidable but irreversible adverse effects.”

A National Pharmacy Association spokesman, which represents community pharmacists, said that its members tended to err on the side of caution when handling newly reclassified medicines.

“When a medicine is available over the counter for the first time, it is generally only dispensed by the pharmacist themselves.

“In fact, when people were surveyed about sources of good quality health advise, as many said they would go to a pharmacist as said they would visit their GP.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk

TV crew denies giving flu to Peru

TV crew denies giving flu to Peru
A British TV production company has denied allegations that its researchers spread a fatal flu to an isolated indigenous tribe in Peru.

Indigenous rights activists, Peruvian government officials and a US scientist say four members of the tribe died after the TV producers visited.

A spokesman for the TV company, Cicada Films, said its team did not visit the isolated area in question.

Cicada was in Peru last year scouting locations for a new reality TV show.

The company makes a series called World’s Lost Tribes, which airs on the Disney Channel.

‘No evidence’

The production company said a producer and his guide had been given official permission to enter all the areas they visited in Manu National Park.

The team “travelled only a short distance from the large town Yomibato, and only at the invitation of local people,” Cicada said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the researcher introduced illness to the areas they visited.

“The researcher and his guide did not visit the area where the deaths are said to have occurred and no deaths occurred amongst the individuals they met.”

Furthermore, Cicada said, the groups lodging the complaint against them had the wrong dates for their visit.

‘Too Westernised’

But the Peruvian government’s protected areas department said: “The Cicada team entered [remote headwaters] which are part of the strictly protected zone.”

A regional rights organisation, Fenamad, also said the Cicada team ignored warnings and travelled upriver to very isolated villages.

An American anthropologist who met the TV team in Peru has also said they complained the first tribal area they visited was “too Westernised” and looked for a more remote location.

The Cicada team is said to have visited the Matsigenka people, who live in the isolated Amazonian Cumerjali area of south-eastern Peru.

Four members of the tribe are reported to have died and others have been seriously ill since the TV team’s alleged visit.

Anthropologists believe there are about 15 isolated groups of indigenous people living without contact with the outside world, says the BBC’s Dan Collyns in Peru’s capital, Lima.

Their isolation means their immune systems have not built up the capacity to deal with illnesses common in less remote regions.

Peru’s indigenous communities often complain that timber companies and oil prospectors encroach on their land and spread disease among their members
Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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