Lincoln Tribune |  |
- Canadian scientist wins Nobel prize, days after unexpected death
- Online music store Rhapsody acquires Napster
- UN: Thousands who disappeared during 1990s conflict in Congo remain missing
- Anti-Wall Street Protest Movement Spreading
- Indonesia pays $28.5 million debt to U.S. through forest protection deal
| Canadian scientist wins Nobel prize, days after unexpected death Posted: 03 Oct 2011 09:08 PM PDT STOCKHOLM (BNO NEWS) -- Canadian scientist Ralph Steinman was among three people who were honored with a Nobel prize on Monday, but the event was thrown into chaos when news emerged that Steinman had died last week. Steinman was awarded the Nobel Physiology/Medicine Prize for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity. American Bruce Beutler and France's Jules Hoffmann were both awarded the other half of the prize for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity. "This year's Nobel Laureates have revolutionized our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation," the Nobel Foundation said in a statement. "Scientists have long been searching for the gatekeepers of the immune response by which man and other animals defend themselves against attack by bacteria and other microorganisms. Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann discovered receptor proteins that can recognize such microorganisms and activate innate immunity, the first step in the body's immune response. Ralph Steinman discovered the dendritic cells of the immune system and their unique capacity to activate and regulate adaptive immunity, the later stage of the immune response during which microorganisms are cleared from the body." But the day took an unexpected turn when Rockefeller University in the United States announced that Steinman had died on Friday at the age of 68. "The Rockefeller University is delighted that the Nobel Foundation has recognized Ralph Steinman for his seminal discoveries concerning the body's immune responses," said University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. "But the news is bittersweet, as we also learned this morning from Ralph's family that he passed a few days ago after a long battle with cancer." The unexpected turn of events put the Nobel Foundation in a difficult position as its statutes say that the work produced by a person since deceased cannot be given an award, unless the person dies after being awarded the prize but before being able to receive it. Annika Pontikis, a spokeswoman for the Foundation, said Steinman was already dead when he was awarded the prize. "The decision by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Instiutet was made today, October 3, just before the announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine," she said. However, the Board of the Nobel Foundation decided during an emergency meeting that it would not change its decision. "The purpose of the above-mentioned rule is to make it clear that the Nobel Prize shall not deliberately be awarded posthumously," Pontikis said in a statement. She added: "However, the decision to award the Nobel Prize to Ralph Steinman was made in good faith, based on the assumption that the Nobel Laureate was alive. This was true - though not at the time of the decision - only a day or so previously. The Nobel Foundation thus believes that what has occurred is more reminiscent of the example in the statutes concerning a person who has been named as a Nobel Laureate and has died before the actual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony." Pontikis said "the events that have occurred are unique and, to the best of our knowledge, are unprecedented in the history of the Nobel Prize." Last year the prize went to British physiologist Robert Geoffrey Edwards for the development of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy. His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity including more than 10% of all couples worldwide. The Nobel Physics Prize will be announced on Tuesday. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| Online music store Rhapsody acquires Napster Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:14 PM PDT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON (BNO NEWS) -- Online music store Rhapsody on Monday announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Napster, a unit of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. Rhapsody is expected to further expand the company's capacity in the growing on-demand music market as it already stands as one of the most important online music stores in the United States. "There's substantial value in bringing Napster's subscribers and robust IP portfolio to Rhapsody as we execute on our strategy to expand our business via direct acquisition of members and distribution deals," said Jon Irwin, president of Rhapsody. Under the terms of the agreement, Rhapsody will acquire Napster subscribers and certain other assets while Best Buy will receive a minority stake in Rhapsody. The transaction is expected to close around November 30. The transaction will combine the subscriber bases of the two largest premium on-demand music services in the United States and will allow Rhapsody to further enhance its product line. Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of entertainment for Best Buy, expressed confidence that the deal will offer Napster's existing subscriber base an improved service. Rhapsody allows subscribers to access their more than 13 million songs through a number of services. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| UN: Thousands who disappeared during 1990s conflict in Congo remain missing Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:07 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Monday said that the fate of thousands of people who disappeared during the 1990s conflict in the Republic of the Congo remains a mystery. A human rights panel, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, said that the harm caused to civilians by the conflict which affected the country during the 1990s is far from being healed, despite the fighting taking place more than a decade ago. Thousands of Congolese civilians fled during the 1990s, seeking safety and peace elsewhere within the country or beyond the borders of their State. In 1999, enforced disappearances were reportedly perpetrated against refugees returning home. UN experts Olivier de Frouville and Osman El-Hajjé recently ended a nine-day visit to the former French colony, which lies across the Congo River from its much larger neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their mission was to learn how the country is addressing cases of enforced disappearances. "In particular, families still want to know the truth about what happened to their relatives, victims of enforced disappearances," the experts said. "The right to know the truth about the fate of a victim of enforced disappearance is an absolute right. During the visit, the Working Group visited the capital of Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, a major port and commercial center, and met with local authorities, civil society organizations, relatives of disappeared persons and representatives of UN agencies and other international organizations. A detailed report, based on the group's findings during their visit, is expected to be presented to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council next year. One episode cited, known as 'the disappeared of the Beach,' occurred at the river port of Brazzaville and was the object in 2005 of a trial after which the defendants, senior officials with various State security services, were acquitted. The incident happened in May 1999 when several hundred Congolese used a human corridor, placed under the auspices of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to return to their country after having taken refuge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the 1998-1999 civil war. They were kidnapped at the Brazzaville Beach river port by members of the presidential guard and executed within the presidential palace of Sassou Nguesso. The experts regretted that the judicial process could not lead to the identification and punishment of those responsible for enforced disappearances and the executions. However, Congo, recognizing it was responsible for not ensuring the safety of its citizens, awarded the families of the disappeared compensation during the trial. "This compensation should be supplemented by other forms of reparation, including psychological and social assistance to families often plunged into serious difficulties due to the disappearance of their relatives," they added. The Group, set up by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives, endeavors to establish communications between families and the governments concerned to ensure that individual cases are investigated until they are resolved. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| Anti-Wall Street Protest Movement Spreading Posted: 03 Oct 2011 05:47 PM PDT What began in New York City more than two weeks ago has spawned similar demonstrations in several major US citiesA protest movement is growing in the United States, decrying corporate greed, social inequality and the poor state of the economy.
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| Indonesia pays $28.5 million debt to U.S. through forest protection deal Posted: 03 Oct 2011 05:44 PM PDT JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- The government of Indonesia on Monday agreed to pay the United States $28.5 million in debt by protecting its own rich forests which are continuously threatened by illegal logging. Under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) of 1998, Indonesia will be able to reduce its debt by $28.5 million during the upcoming eight years by committing these funds to protect its own forests, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said. In partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Indonesia (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the debt-for-nature swap agreement will provide support grants to these organizations which aim to better protect and restore the country's tropical forests. Indonesia and the U.S. signed their first debt-for-nature swap in 2009 to support forest conservation efforts on the Island of Sumatra, where recent studies have shown that the Sumatran Tiger population has dramatically decreased to about 400. In this second agreement, Indonesia will focus on the country's tropical forests in Kalimantan where a significant population of orangutans exists. Kalimantan, which is also known as Indonesian Borneo, has contained throughout history some of the world's most remote and biologically-rich forests. Currently, there are up to 15,000 different flowering plants on Borneo and the island is home to a large number of treasured animal species such as clouded leopards and "pygmy" elephants, in addition to the orangutans and many others. The second Indonesia TFCA marks the 18th TFCA deal following agreements with Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica (two agreements), El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama (two agreements), Paraguay, Peru (two agreements), and the Philippines. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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