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[JohnCenaFan28]

Interesting...thanks for the story, I'll want to read more of this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Finally! I've been wanting them to test cloned food for a long while now! Thanks for this read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the story.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Scientists have identified genetic variations that raise the risk of lung cancer for smokers and former smokers.

There is some evidence to suggest that they may make carriers more addicted to tobacco.

Three research teams, writing in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics, each pinpointed two key areas of variation on chromosome 15.

The variants are common in the population - but they only raise lung cancer risk in those who have smoked.

Current or former smokers who carry two copies of both variants, one from each parent - about 15% of the total - have a raised risk of 70-80%.

Those who carry one copy of each variant have a raised risk of around 28%.


LUNG CANCER
Second most common form of cancer in the UK after breast cancer
Smoking and passive smoking cause nine out of ten lung cancers
Half of all smokers eventually die from lung cancer or another smoking-related illness. And a quarter of smokers die in middle age - between 35 and 69.
There are over 38,300 new cases, and more than 33,000 deaths from lung cancer in the UK each year
Men are more likely to be affected, although the number of women with lung cancer has been increasing

The researchers differ on exactly how the key variants influence lung cancer risk.

A team from Icelandic company deCODE Genetics - which carried out the largest of the studies - say their work suggests that carrying the variants makes people more addicted to tobacco once they start smoking.

But an international team, including scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research, the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, believe it is more likely that the variants interact directly with tobacco to cause lung cancer.

This may be by increasing the likelihood that nicotine will trigger the uncontrolled cell division associated with cancer.

All the researchers agree the work is a major stop forward in identifying people at risk for non-small cell lung cancer - which makes up 80% of all lung cancer cases.

Thousands studied

Each of the research groups studied the DNA of thousands of current and former smokers, but each worked with a different sample, atlhough all were people of European descent.

However, they all found that a particular pattern of gene variation at two points of chromosome 15 was more common among people who developed lung cancer, than among those who remained healthy.

It is unclear whether the key set of variations affect just one gene, or three closely connected genes.

Dr Lesley Walker, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "We know that smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer - causing nine out of ten cases of the disease.

"This research tells us there are some smokers who are even more vulnerable to lung cancer because of their genetic profile."

Professor Chris Amos, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and lead author of one of the studies, warned that lung cancer was a complex condition.

"There are so many different cancer-causing compounds in tobacco smoke that it is hard to separate them and we don't fully understand the mechanisms that cause lung cancer."

Smokers who do not have the variants are still more than 10 times more likely to get lung cancer than people who have never smoked, whose risk is less than 1%.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Ecuadorian lawmakers have approved a constitutional change that would outlaw foreign military bases on its soil.

The approval throws into doubt the future of a key US base in the South American country.

The US has its only South American base in the town of Manta but its 10-year lease is up for renewal next year.

The lawmakers' decision, if given final approval in a public vote, could signal the end of joint Ecuadorean and US efforts to fight drug cartels.

"Ecuador is a land of peace; foreign military bases or foreign installations with military purpose will not be allowed," read the amendment approved by the assembly, which is controlled by President Rafael Correa's Alianza Pais party.

Strained relations

The air base at Manta has great strategic value for the US military.

American officials say surveillance flights from Manta have led to more than half the illegal drug seizures in the region.

The coastal town also doubles up as a strategic look-out post for US forces monitoring warships heading north from the Middle East and Asia.

But Ecuador's left-wing president Rafael Correa, a political ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has said he would rather "cut off his arm" than allow the Americans to stay on at Manta.

The move to ban foreign bases in Ecuador was first proposed by the country's constituent assembly last month.

It is one of several constitutional changes to be put to a national vote later in the year.

The dispute over the base comes during a period of strained relations between Ecuador and its neighbour Colombia - the US's closest ally in the region.

Tension almost boiled over last month following a Colombian military raid inside Ecuador in which a top commander of the Colombian rebel group, Farc, was killed.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The Pentagon has declassified a legal memo from March 2003 which approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques for terror suspects held abroad.

The US Justice Department memo, since overruled, said President George W Bush's war-time authority superseded international laws on interrogation.

It gave legal justification for aggressive methods, so long as interrogators did not intend torture.

Its release follows a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

It is the first time the 14 March 2003 document has been released in full to the public. It was rescinded nine months after it was issued.

An update to the army field manual published in 2006 prohibited the use of many aggressive interrogation methods. However, Mr Bush recently vetoed legislation that would have limited the techniques used by the CIA.

'Shove or slap'

The 81-page Justice Department memo was written by John Yoo, then deputy assistant general for the Office of Legal Counsel, to the Pentagon's general counsel, William Hayes.

Mr Yoo wrote: "Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion."

The memo also offered a defence in case interrogators were charged with breaking US or international laws, saying "necessity or self-defence could provide justifications for any criminal liability".

The document defines torture as "the sum" of a variety of acts and suggests that so long as torture is not the intent of prosecutors' questioning, they cannot be prosecuted.

Mr Yoo included legal arguments that some interrogation methods, such as sleep deprivation and hooding detainees, are not considered torture.

"This standard permits some physical contact," the memo said. "Employing a shove or a slap as part of an interrogation would not run afoul of this standard."

'No limit'

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee, described the memo's declassification - requested by him four months ago - as "a small step forward".

He said the document reflected "the expansive view of executive power that has been the hallmark of this administration".

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project, told the Associated Press that Mr Yoo's legal argument put "literally no limit at all to the kinds of interrogation methods that the president can authorise".

The memo formed part of a debate among civilian and military leaders about the kinds of interrogation methods that could be used by US forces at overseas facilities.

Mr Bush has repeatedly said that the US does not torture prisoners.

The US military has banned the use of water-boarding - a technique which simulates drowning and has been condemned as torture by rights groups - and other harsh methods.

The CIA, which admitted for the first time in February that it had used water-boarding in the interrogation of three high-profile al-Qaeda detainees, has not prohibited use of such techniques.

BBC News

[OMEN]

Alliance's pledge fulfils requirement outlined in Manley report
NATO members have agreed to Canada's demand for 1,000 more troops in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the military alliance says, in a move that secures Canada's participation in the mission for at least three more years.

Spokesman James Appathurai said French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered a battalion — normally about 700 to 800 troops — for the volatile eastern region of Afghanistan, which will free up U.S. forces to move to the southern region of Kandahar where Canadian soldiers are operating.

Appathurai made the comments late Wednesday after NATO leaders met for dinner in Bucharest, Romania, ahead of a two-day summit.

The CBC's Keith Boag confirmed the details with spokespeople for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office, with an official announcement on Thursday.

The privilege of announcing the troop commitment traditionally goes to the country providing the soldiers, Boag told the CBC's Don Newman on Wednesday from Bucharest.

Last month, the Conservative government, with support from the Liberals, passed a motion that would keep Canadian soldiers in Kandahar until 2011.

The motion was contingent on two recommendations of the Manley report on Canada's role in Afghanistan:

* NATO allies provide 1,000 extra troops.
* Ottawa secure access to unmanned surveillance drones and large helicopters to transport Canadian troops around the region.

Earlier in the day, in Bucharest, Harper would neither confirm nor deny a report that U.S. President George W. Bush made a personal pledge to Harper to provide the 1,000 extra combat troops.
Better 'political optics' if troops weren't Americans: Manley

Harper spoke during a panel discussion Wednesday with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

"I make it a habit never to speak on behalf of other people," Harper said. "We've had good discussions with our allies, and I am convinced that we will achieve our objectives and achieve it in a way that causes the overall level of troop commitment to Afghanistan to be increased, not merely shifted laterally."

Asked again about the report, Harper responded: "You'll have to ask Mr. Bush what his position is," but added, "we're very confident we'll get a commitment."

Speaking to CBC News, former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley said the additional troops could come from any NATO country. But he said that politically, it would look better for Canada if they didn't come from the U.S.

"A lot of Canadians are still confused between the mission in Afghanistan and what the Americans were doing in Iraq which is totally different situations. I think for political optics, I'd guess the prime minister would prefer that they be from somewhere else."

Canada has about 2,500 soldiers operating in and around Kandahar province, many of whom will be watching the NATO summit discussions with interest, the CBC's David McGuffin said.

"Certainly, there is a keen awareness of what's going on in Bucharest and a real hope that the promise that seems to be out there of more troops for Kandahar province and to help Canadians, that this will come through," he said.

Canadian soldiers interviewed by the CBC said that additional troop support would allow them to push out the security perimeter around Kandahar City, and the province as a whole.

Associated Press

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Thanks for the news.

[OMEN]

Romanian President Traian Basescu welcomes Prime Minister Stephen Harper during an arrival ceremony for NATO leaders at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace in Bucharest on Wednesday before the start of the NATO summit.
A number of countries are expected to offer additional troops for the war in Afghanistan Thursday as NATO leaders hash out the details of France's promise to send a battalion to the eastern part of the country.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to formally announce the decision later in the day, although there were questions Thursday morning about the number of soldiers his country intends to commit. A battalion often consists of between 700 and 800 troops, but a copy of Sarkozy's speech released by his office did not indicate how many France will offer.

"France will play its full part in this collective action," Sarkozy's speech reads.

"I decided to ramp up France's military presence with a battalion to be deployed to the eastern region."

France likely not be the only nation, however, to come forward with extra troops during this week's NATO summit in Bucharest, according to a senior American official.

"There were also a number of countries who made very clear that they are going to increase their own contribution, whether in terms of military forces, in terms of training forces, in terms of further funds for reconstruction, further commitment on the civilian side," said the official, speaking to the Canadian Press on background.

He did not name the countries, but said they were expected to make formal announcements Thursday.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai gave news of Sarkozy's decision Wednesday evening in the Romanian capital after leaders met for dinner on the eve of summit talks.
French troops to allow shift in deployment

The additional French troops are expected to allow U.S. forces operating in the east to move to the southern region, including Kandahar province, where about 2,500 Canadian forces are stationed and in need of assistance.

When it happens, the soldier shuffle will at least partially meet conditions set by Canada to extend its mission past 2009.

The House of Commons passed a motion last month that would keep Canadian soldiers in Kandahar until 2011 on two conditions recommended by the Manley report on Canada's role in Afghanistan:

* NATO allies provide 1,000 extra troops.
* Ottawa secures access to unmanned surveillance drones and large helicopters to transport Canadian troops around the region.

There's no word yet on whether any of Canada's equipment requirements will be included in the deal.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper would neither confirm nor deny earlier on Wednesday suggestions that American troops were headed to southern Afghanistan.

Harper is slated to meet Thursday with the British and Australian prime ministers, as well as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

About 47,000 NATO soldiers are currently dispatched across Afghanistan, while the U.S. sent 3,500 soldiers to Kandahar earlier this year for a seven-month deployment aimed at fighting back a resurgent Taliban offensive.

There is no plan to replace those American soldiers when their tour expires, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen.

Mullen suggested the U.S. would find it difficult to maintain its front in Iraq and increase troop commitments in Afghanistan.

CBC