Monday, November 21, 2016 UK Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn both spoke at the annual Confederation of British Industry conference today, talking about Britain after its planned ‘Brexit’ from the European Union, and future plans for business. May formally announced plans to cut corporation tax from 20%, without giving details, in order to discourage businesses from leaving the UK post-Brexit. Corbyn said in his speech he believes investment by the government…

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Sunday, August 21, 2005 A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample. If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for…

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Saturday, August 6, 2005 A U.S. lobbyist group, the United Seniors Association, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston to recover Medicare expenses related to tobacco smoking. The suit says there is a link between nicotine addiction and smoking-related diseases. The first of its kind lawsuit seeks to recover as much as $60 billion in estimated Medicare expenses outlaid for treatment of lung cancer and emphysema patients. The Medicare Secondary Payer Statute (MSP)…

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Saturday, July 18, 2009 A ‘giant black mystery blob‘ in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska has been identified as marine algae. Initially speculated to be an oil spill, the mass was discovered by a group of hunters earlier this month near Wainwright. The blob is reported to be stringy and hairy, and is tangled with jellyfish, among other debris. The “thick, dark gunk” stretches for as much as 15 miles, and is…

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Wednesday, November 17, 2004 ENGLAND — UK Health Secretary John Reid has proposed widespread legislative and health care changes in a new white paper on public health released Tuesday. Titled “Choosing Health”, the paper details government plans to restrict smoking in public places, limit ‘junk food‘ advertisements to children, make available “lifestyle trainers”, campaign against sexually transmitted diseases and tobacco, and improve food labelling. The white paper comes after extensive public comment that involved 150,000…

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Friday, August 14, 2009 According to official records, Hong Kong’s economy has left a year-long recession, recording a growth of 3.3% in the second quarter ended in June. The figures, which were seasonally adjusted, were higher than forecast by economists. As a result, the government has increased its growth predictions for 2009. Previous estimates suggested the economy would contract by 5.5% to 6.5%. Now, the contraction is only predicted to be between 3.5% and 4.5%.…

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Thursday, February 8, 2007 A new version of Canada’s Food Guide was announced by Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement on Feb. 5, 2007. The guide has helped Canadians with healthy eating habits since 1942 but was last updated in 1992. It is the Canadian government’s most-requested publication after income tax forms. Changes to the Food Guide include: a first-time recommendation to include a small amount of unsaturated fat in regular diets; physical activity to complement…

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