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  • The radio ‘saved my little girl’s life’

    Little girl, Marieta, in rural Burkina Faso Symbol copyright DMI Image caption Marieta used to be only one while she fell into a coma with severe malaria

    Whilst Marieta used to be just a 12 months antique she evolved a prime fever and have become actually unwell.

    Her circle of relatives thought she had fallen underneath a curse that during parts of rural Burkina Faso is assumed to occur whilst a fowl flies over a kid asleep outside.

    Her father, Tibandiba Lankoande, spent so much of his money on traditional therapies however this did not work and on the sixth day she fell into a coma.

    “That Is whilst I heard a message on the radio explaining how you can understand the signs and signs of malaria,” he recalled.

    “If I hadn’t heard that radio message she wouldn’t be alive these days.”

    Image copyright DMI Symbol caption Radio is the dominant medium in Burkina Faso

    The Consequences, revealed within the magazine BMJ International Well Being, show that in the primary year of the trial the selection of consultations at local health clinics for symptoms of malaria went up by way of 56% compared with areas the place the messages were not broadcast.

    Consultations for pneumonia increased by means of 39% and diarrhoea by way of SEVENTY THREE%.

    And though the researchers weren’t in a position to turn out this immediately, they used pc modelling to estimate that their challenge saved 3,000 lives – all of kids aged beneath 5.

    Local and interactive

    Social psychologist, Dr Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington, of the London School of Economics and Political Science, who seems on the psychology in the back of behaviour modification, mentioned she was surprised at how marked the amendment in behaviour was.

    She told the BBC: “People were increasing by means of an enormous quantity the likelihood that they have been going to get these signs checked out.”

    She feels part of the success is as a result of instead of simply relying on one-approach verbal exchange, researchers developed common interactive shows that allowed folks to discuss their questions and considerations.

    Dr Sheehy-Skeffington added: “They Also labored with area people in growing scripts, dramas and tales which might be actually enticing and get other folks’s emotions going and make it much more most probably that people are going to modify behaviour according to listening, as opposed to simply considering that it is just knowledge given to them from a few professional.”

    Image copyright Admi Symbol caption Other People concerned in the trial needed to stroll an average of 6km to their nearest health sanatorium

    Media-utilization behavior in Burkina Faso are reasonably peculiar.

    consistent with DMI’s analysis a lot of its rural inhabitants listen to neighborhood radio stations of their own local languages.

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    The nationwide station, on the different hand, pronounces mainly in French.

    And get right of entry to to TV in rural areas is unusual, because of this the trial had a reasonably captive radio audience.

    ‘Child of the radio’

    The massive question is whether this sort of health messaging could have the similar luck in different parts of the globe the place more than one radio and tv stations and the internet all compete for folks’s consideration.

    And it is clear that the media can not do it on my own. Good public healthcare, sanitation and nutrients are an important to kid health.

    That stated, whilst millions of youngsters are still loss of life of illnesses that may be avoided or cured, tuning into the proper message, at the right time, may just assist shop a lifestyles.

    As for Marieta, everybody in her village now calls her “the kid of the radio”.

  • I Will Be Able To not hand over as MP, says DUP’s Ian Paisley

    Symbol copyright PA Image caption The keep in mind petition that Ian Paisley is facing is the first in UK parliamentary history

    Mr Paisley went on 3 luxurious holidays to Sri Lanka in 2013 at the expense of the country’s government.

    The next year he wrote to the top minister to lobby in opposition to helping a UN answer on Sri Lanka approximately alleged human rights abuses within the country.

    A Westminster standards committee discovered that Mr Paisley had breached the rule of thumb in opposition to paid advocacy by way of failing to claim his trips.

    It additionally concluded that the price of the vacations was “much upper” than the £50,000 that Mr Paisley estimated.

    He was suspended from the Commons for 30 sitting days – it is one in all the longest bans ever to be handed down at Westminster.

    Mr Paisley has insisted he will struggle a through-election to save lots of his Commons seat if voters force him to stand down.

    On Monday, he apologised to a few DUP supporters at a gathering in North Antrim.

    The DUP councillor John Finlay, who organised the assembly, mentioned folks who attended it have been “very courteous and supportive to him”.

    (more…)

  • Hunt clarifies no-deal comments: UNITED KINGDOM ‘would survive’

    Jeremy Hunt Image copyright AFP Image caption The foreign secretary has been traveling Denmark, Latvia and Finland

    Jeremy Hunt has clarified his comments a couple of no-deal Brexit, announcing Britain “would continue to exist and prosper” – however it can be a “big mistake for Europe”.

    On Thursday he informed ITV Information a “messy” no-deal Brexit “can be a mistake we would regret for generations”.

    However he later tweeted that his phrases “cannot be misrepresented” and the uk may only “join to a deal that respects the referendum result”.

    Tory MP Nigel Evans said: “We Don’t want any lectures from Remainers.”

    The backbencher, who campaigned for Brexit, instructed the BBC: “He Is were given his personal perspectives. He voted remain. The prime minister needs to be sure that, as she promised, that Brexiteers are accountable of our leaving the european Union.”

    Image copyright AFP Image caption Theresa May and ministers have been assembly EUROPEAN opposite numbers over the summer season

    On Friday, Danish finance minister Kristian Jensen told BBC Radio 4’s These Days programme that Theresa Might’s Brexit plan drawn up at Chequers was a “practical suggestion for good negotiations”.

    But requested approximately comments via Latvia’s foreign minister, that the risk of a no-deal Brexit was “50-50”, he said: “I also consider that 50-50 is an overly just right evaluation as a result of time is operating out and we’d like to move in point of fact fast if we now have to strike a deal that is sure both for the united kingdom and ECU.”

    Mr Hunt told ITV on Thursday that he believed the executive’s Chequers plan used to be the “framework on which i believe the ultimate deal can be primarily based”.

    However he stated, despite the fact that the united kingdom must be “ready for all results”, if the uk have been to leave without a negotiated deal: “It can be a mistake we would feel sorry about for generations, if we have been to look a fissure, if we had a messy, unpleasant divorce.

    “Unavoidably that would modification British attitudes towards Europe.”

    At-a-glance: the new UK Brexit plan

    On Friday, he tweeted: “Essential to not misrepresent my words. Britain might survive and prosper with no deal… nevertheless it can be a large mistake for Europe because of inevitable affect on long-time period partnership with UNITED KINGDOM. we will be able to simplest sign up to deal that respects referendum end result.”

    Industry Secretary Greg Clarke, who has been meeting opposite numbers in Austria and Finland, mentioned on Thursday he was “confident” a “at the same time beneficial deal” may well be reached.

    Media playback is unsupported in your tool

    Media caption”People need assurances that leaving the ecu and not using a negotiated agreement is not going to be the end of the sector” says David Jones

    However he mentioned that if the european Commission did not “respond positively and constructively” to the united kingdom’s thought, “the disruption and impact on our continent’s businesses, economies, and hundreds of thousands of hard-operating households across the united kingdom and ECU can be significant and lasting”.

    the federal government has been touting its plans for Brexit agreed in July at Chequers – the high minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire – to the eu and its leaders over the summer time.

    However the ecu’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has gave the impression to rule out a key UNITED KINGDOM concept – allowing the uk to gather EUROPEAN customs duties on its behalf – in July.

    Meanwhile, Buzzfeed Information is reporting that it has seen an inventory of 84 areas of British Life – from natural meals production to vacationing with pets – which could be affected, must the united kingdom depart the ecu with out a negotiated withdrawal.

    the government is anticipated to post a number of technical files at the consequences of leaving with out a deal within the coming weeks.

    Former Brexit minister David Jones instructed the BBC’s Global at One it was a “great disgrace” they’d not been published in advance as “people do need assurance that leaving the eu Union with no negotiated settlement isn’t necessarily going to be the end of the world – in reality, far from it.”

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    He added: “I Think that what we need to do is to look those technical notices introduced in impartial terms so that each businesses and the wider united states can take into account what the effects can be.”

    Brexit talks resumed in Brussels this week between UNITED KINGDOM and ECU officials, with the point of interest on the Irish border – a key sticking element – and future relations.

    A European Commission spokesman mentioned: “As this week’s round is at technical stage, there may not be a meeting among Michel Barnier and Dominic Raab.

    “we can confirm in due course whether or not a subsequent assembly has been arranged.”

    (more…)

  • Labour Birthday Party suspends former MP Jim Sheridan

    Jim Sheridan Image copyright Labour Celebration

    The Former MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North Jim Sheridan has been suspended by means of the Labour Birthday Celebration.

    The transfer adopted posts Mr Sheridan was purported to have been accountable for on social media in regards to the celebration and the Jewish community.

    Mr Sheridan lost his parliamentary seat in the 2015 General Election.

    The Labour Party has stated it cannot comment on particular person cases, but that lawsuits of anti-Semitism are all “fully investigated”.

    A statement from the birthday party said: “The Labour Celebration takes all complaints of anti-Semitism extremely critically and we’re dedicated to difficult and campaigning against it in all its forms.

    “All court cases approximately anti-Semitism are totally investigated in line with our regulations and strategies and any suitable disciplinary action is taken.”

    A put up on Facebook – which seems to be now not available – talked about his loss of “admire and empathy” for the Jewish neighborhood amid the row about anti-Semitism.

  • Public ‘back’ taxes to tackle single-use plastic waste

    Plastic bottles Image copyright PA

    There May Be high public make stronger for the use of the tax device to reduce waste from unmarried-use plastics, the Treasury says.

    A consultation on how taxes may take on the rising problem and advertise recycling attracted 162,000 responses.

    Treasury Minister Robert Jenrick said the government used to be taking a look at “good, shrewd incentives” to get plastic manufacturers to take responsibility.

    Reports suggest a levy on producers and a few disposable plastic merchandise may be offered within the Budget.

    It could include measures reminiscent of a tax on unmarried-use coffee cups.

    What are the choices to plastic? -thirds of plastic meals pots unrecyclable 50 countries ‘curbing plastic pollution’

    Responding to the session, the Treasury mentioned it desired to promote the greater use of recycled plastic in manufacturing, discourage plastics that are tricky to recycle – like carbon black plastic – and decrease call for for single-use items, including coffee cups and takeaway containers.

    Mr Jenrick said: “I’ve Been beaten by the general public support and the responses we have received shall be beneficial as we strengthen our plans for the usage of the tax gadget to combat this.

    Media playback is unsupported to your software

    Media captionFive how one can break up with plastic

    “Our responsibility to leave the environment in a better state than we discovered it’s completely transparent and what we’ve got set out as of late is every other necessary step to ensuring a purifier, greener long term for Britain.”

    In January, MPs at the Environmental Audit Committee referred to as for thus-called latte levy on disposable cups, after the Environmental Audit Committee revealed approximately 2.5bn were thrown away every year.

    Committee chairwomen Mary Creagh said: “Almost none are recycled and half 1,000,000 an afternoon are littered. Coffee cup manufacturers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this and govt has sat on its hands.”

    But ministers later puzzled the convenience of charging customers themselves for using throwaway cups.

    It was also just lately revealed that almost all plastic meals containers in stores can’t be recycled.

    Friends of the Earth welcomed the public’s response, pronouncing it “highlights the overpowering call for for tougher action to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution”.

    Campaigner Emma Priestland mentioned: “Ministers now have an enormous mandate to use the entire gear at their disposal, including taxation and rules, to force outlets and manufacturers to stem the tide of plastic air pollution flowing into our rivers and seas.”

    Hugo Tagholm, from the marketing campaign workforce Surfers Against Sewage, mentioned: “This Is a transparent indication of the general public appetite for more economic interventions to help cut back plastic air pollution littering the environment, from internal-town streets and countryside to our oceans.”

    (more…)

  • UNITED KINGDOM investigates WW2 shipwreck looting claims

    HMS Repulse pictured in 1939 Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption The spoil of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Repulse was once suggested to have been damaged or destroyed through thieves

    the united kingdom will look into allegations that British International Warfare wrecks in Asia were centered by scavengers, the defence secretary says.

    Gavin Williamson stated he was “very involved” to hear claims that four shipwrecks off the Malaysian and Indonesian coasts were looted.

    The Mail on Sunday stated HMS Tien Kwang, HMS Kuala, HMS Banka and SS Loch Ranza had been targeted for his or her metal.

    They are concept to be the graves of Royal Navy sailors and civilians.

    It comes after six wrecks, including Royal Military battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse, had been pronounced to have been damaged or destroyed through thieves.

    Symbol copyright PA Symbol caption Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson stated he was once “very involved” to hear the claims

    The HMS Prince of Wales, where Churchill and Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Constitution, which defined the Allied aims for the arena after the conflict, and HMS Repulse both sank off the Malaysian coast, on 10 December 1941 and are the last resting places of greater than 830 Royal Military sailors.

    The ships were discovered to had been damaged via scavengers in 2014.

  • Results of psychedelic DMT ‘similar to close-dying experiences’

    Ayahuasca brew Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Image caption DMT is the foremost psychoactive compound in ayahuasca, a drink constituted of vines

    the results of an impressive psychedelic drug are similar to a close to-demise experience, research suggests.

    Answers to a questionnaire confirmed a “striking similarity” between people describing a near-loss of life enjoy and volunteers given DMT.

    The Imperial College London researchers concluded the near-death or “advanced subjective” stories have been because of bodily changes in the brain.

    They now hope DMT can help them better be mindful the psychology of death.

    Can psychedelics become psychological health? Magic mushrooms ‘reset’ depressed brain May Just psychedelic drug ayahuasca have health benefits?

    DMT is the key psychoactive compound in ayahuasca, a drink made from vines and utilized in some tribal ceremonies in South and Imperative The Us.

    The 13 volunteers – who took DMT or a placebo – and the SIXTY SEVEN who had stated having a near-dying experience were requested questions including:

    “Did you notice, or feel surrounded by way of, a brilliant mild?” “Did scenes out of your previous come back to you?”

    Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, who oversaw the examine as part of the Beckley-Imperial psychedelic research group, mentioned: “These findings are vital as they remind us that near-loss of life reports happen because of significant changes in the method the mind is operating, no longer on account of something past the mind.

    “DMT is a exceptional instrument that can permit us to check and thus higher be mindful the psychology and biology of demise.”

    Making Improvements To figuring out of the neurobiology of dying “may have implications for a way we view this so much inevitable and common phenomenon, potentially selling a greater familiarity with and wholesome popularity of it”, the authors added.

    There were some delicate but vital variations among the DMT and the near-demise experience responses, then again.

    DMT used to be much more likely to be related to feelings of “getting into an unearthly realm”, while the the close to-loss of life reports brought stronger emotions of “coming to some extent of no return”.

    The authors caution that whilst the preliminary findings are attention-grabbing, they suggest in opposition to self-medicine with ayahuasca.

    All volunteers were screened and overseen by means of clinical group of workers throughout the study, revealed in Frontiers in Psychology.

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  • Former Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell dies elderly 88

    Sir Peter Tapsell Symbol caption Sir Peter Tapsell served as an MP for more than part a century

    Former Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell has died aged 88.

    Sir Peter was once “Father of the home” when he stood down as MP for Louth and Horncastle in 2015.

    He had served ceaselessly in Parliament given that 1966, and also spent 5 years as Nottingham West MP ahead of shedding his seat in 1964.

    Sir Peter did not serve in any Conservative governments, however used to be an opposition spokesman in the 1970s.

    Craig Leyland, chairman of Louth and Horncastle Conservative Association, stated Sir Peter had served the constituency loyally and had by no means been afraid to talk his mind.

    Sir Peter served below 9 Conservative leaders.

    He served on the frontbench as a foreign affairs and then Treasury spokesman but resigned in 1978 in protest at Margaret Thatcher’s monetarist policies.

    A Eurosceptic, Sir Peter was once one in every of the rebels who antagonistic the 1993 Maastricht Treaty.

    He had a worthwhile second profession as a stockbroker, claiming to were earning £500,000 a yr within the 1970s.

    Described as “the grandest of grandees” by way of the overdue sketch author Simon Hoggart, in 2011 he used to be appointed to the Privy Council – a rare honour for a backbencher.

  • Small Children in prams ‘exposed to more pollution’

    Woman crossing a road with a baby in the pram Image copyright Getty Images

    Young Children and small children in prams may also be exposed to as much as 60% extra pollution than adults, a take a look at suggests.

    Experts stated babies had been exposed to dirtier air in prams as a result of they have been lower to the bottom and closer to exhaust pipes.

    they are additionally extra at risk from the well being risks of grimy air because their bodies are small and developing.

    The have a look at’s authors said warding off busy roads and the use of pram covers had been ways to scale back pollution exposure.

    How bad is pollution in the UK? Even low pollution might injury heart

    Researchers at the World Centre for Clean Air Analysis, on the College of Surrey, carrying out a evaluate of existing proof, found that the respiring peak of infants in prams used to be between 0.55m and 0.85m (2ft) above ground level.

    Image copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Mavens say folks should avoid air pollution hotspots reminiscent of visitors lighting

    ‘Frank conversation’

    The researchers said the volume of extra pollution small children in prams breathed in can be lower in spaces with much less site visitors or where air pollution was dispersed in alternative ways, corresponding to with roadside hedges.

    The look at did not have a look at whether or not some prams were higher or worse for exposure to pollution.

    The authors referred to as for extra to be performed to cut back air pollution or reduce its results, reminiscent of decreasing the emissions of street automobiles and encouraging higher use of public transport.

    In the interim, Prof Kumar mentioned, oldsters may just reduce the danger to their babies and small children through the use of pram covers and warding off pollution hotspots, equivalent to busy roads, traffic lighting and bus stops.

    He introduced: “With the multitude of proof we set out in this assessment, it is essential that everybody around the u . s . starts a full and frank conversation approximately air pollution and the have an effect on it has on our most susceptible – from folks and community leaders, to government officials and industry.”

    Prof Jonathan Grigg, from the Royal School of Paediatrics and Kid Health, who was not involved in the research, stated the findings have been a “major concern”.

    “To Assist offer protection to children’s well being we will have to advertise possible choices to vehicles fuelled via petrol and diesel,” he delivered.

    The take a look at was once revealed within the Environment Global magazine.

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  • Usual Chartered chief caution over Brexit group of workers moves

    Standard Chartered's London office in 2012 Image copyright Getty Images

    A Standard Chartered bank govt says tough demands through ECU regulators may just imply more jobs being moved from the uk in another country than currently thought.

    Europe and Americas boss Tracy Clarke says the moderately small measurement of the financial institution within the EUROPEAN market way it might not “be shifting loads of individuals”.

    However she says the have an effect on on banks with large EU services and products could also be “significant”.

    Same Old Chartered is to spend approximately £15m turning its Frankfurt office into a European base because of Brexit.

    The bank plans to create a subsidiary at its German branch so as to keep up access to the eu marketplace after the uk withdraws from the european Union.

    ‘Empty shells’

    It has been waiting nearly nine months for ECU officials to approve the related banking licence, which it at the beginning anticipated to obtain by the spring.

    Ms Clarke instructed the press Association: “As A Result Of we were one in every of the first to apply for a licence there has been no precedent for us, or for them. it has been a learning process on all sides.”

    The European Imperative Bank has said it will not tolerate so-referred to as brass plate operations – that is the place firms have a presence in a host usa in title only.

    Mr Clarke says it method banks reminiscent of the uk-centered Same Old Chartered may end up transferring more jobs because of Brexit than initially deliberate, so as to satisfy Eu banking compliance regulations.

    “For us, it still would possibly not be hundreds extra other folks because of the scale and scale of our business, so that you might be talking a few more for us.

    “but if they are taking this approach with all different banks who are much bigger than we are in phrases of their European business, that might be extra important,” she warned.

    The ECB would not comment on Standard Chartered however said it’s “willing to prevent banks from creating empty shells whilst granting licences to global banks putting in place new subsidiaries in the euro space in the context of Brexit”.

    It brought there have been a bunch of criteria to be thought to be while assessing licence programs, together with that subsidiaries have good enough native control capabilities, and will provide correct information on their local activities.