Hershey to invest $10 million in Ivory Coast (AP)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast ? The Hershey Company says it will invest $10 million in Ivory Coast to reduce child labor and improve the cocoa supply in the West African nation.

Spokesman Andy McCormick says the measure will bring higher productivity for farmers and will increase supply to meet the demand of a growing middle class in countries like China and India.

Ivory Coast produces 35 percent of the world's cocoa. Combined with coffee, the cocoa sector accounts for 15 percent of GDP. Cocoa production hit a record 1.48 million tons in 2010 despite a political crisis.

UNICEF estimates 600,000 children work on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast and that 35,000 are victims of trafficking.

McCormick says that Hershey is already trying to address child labor issues, "but we all recognize that more needs to be done."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120201/ap_on_bi_ge/af_ivory_coast_cocoa

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Bill Murray fires up Letterman's 30th anniversary show (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Bill Murray was so fired up about David Letterman's 30th anniversary of the "Late Show" Tuesday that he nearly started a blaze lighting a cupcake in honor of the big day.

Murray, who was Letterman's first guest on "Late Night With David Letterman" on February 1, 1982, brought out a gift-wrapped box, which, when Letterman lifted it, revealed a cupcake with 30 candles.

The "Groundhog Day" star, wearing a football uniform he'd sported to kick field goals outside the Ed Sullivan Theater with Letterman and fellow guest Regis Philbin earlier in the show, told Letterman he made it himself, though the Crumbs bakery wrapper gave him away.

Murray then proceeded to light all 30 candles with matches and a lighter, which sparked up a blaze that nearly spread out of control when he accidentally dropped lit matches on the floor.

You can check out the video clip here to see why kids -- or comedians approaching retirement age -- should not play with matches:

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/bill-murray-gives-letterman-cupcake-his-30th-late-night-anniversary-video-34986

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120201/tv_nm/us_davidletterman_billmurray

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My Picks for an Organic Valentine's Day

Whenever holidays come around, it doesn?t mean that I take a holiday from eating organic.

Since the majority of the world is not yet on the organic bandwagon (including most of my friends and family), it requires that we plan in advance and get resourceful. But it also presents a great opportunity to expose people to some excellent organic products.

Here are a few ideas for an organic Valentine?s Day.

- Equal Exchange is selling a fantastic box called My Fair Valentine Cards & Candy.

Each set includes 24 Valentine?s Day cards and 24 fairly traded, organic dark chocolate minis. The colorful cards are illustrated with animals, and the informative bookmark explains where fairly traded chocolate comes from.

The My Fair Valentine Cards & Candy box is one of the most creative organic Valentine?s Day gifts I have seen. It can be purchased online and at select retail locations.

- One of my favorite organic restaurants in NYC, One Lucky Duck, is selling organic chocolate hearts. They are raw, dark chocolate and can be purchased individually or in a pack of 5.

Anything that is made in the kitchen of One Lucky Duck is absolutely top-notch.

- If you?re looking for something unusual while still keeping with a chocolate theme, consider Tisano?s Cacao Tea. I profiled Tisano several months ago and it remains one of the most unique organic products I have ever come across.

- In the hunt for some chocolate whose red, purple and black wrapper matches the holiday theme?

If so, consider Lulu?s Chocolate. This organic chocolate is rich, smooth tasting, raw, and is made with coconut sugar, one of my favorite sweeteners.

Lulu?s has a special Valentine?s Day box of all 6 of its bars for $19, and it can be purchased online.

- Lastly, for those of who eat organic, it is vitally important to buy organic flowers as well.

The flower industry is a massive, massive industry in Latin America, most of which is non-organic.? As a result, a TON of pesticides is sprayed on the flowers and eventually makes its way into the water supply.? Furthermore, the chemicals sicken the workers.

The NY Times reported on this several years ago, and it did not paint a pretty picture.

I?ve ordered from Organic Bouquet several times before and have always had a very positive experience.

Have a fantastic organic Valentine?s Day!!

Source: http://livingmaxwell.com/organic-valentines-day-ideas

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Mozambique storm death toll reaches 32 people (AP)

MAPUTO, Mozambique ? Mozambique's chief disaster management official says 32 people have died in recent storms and flooding.

Joao Ribeiro, director of the National Disasters Management Institute, gave the toll to reporters in Maputo Tuesday. He also says thousands remained stranded by high waters across southern and central Mozambique.

Two tropical depressions that have hit since mid-January have brought heavy rains and high winds. Some victims have drowned, and others have been electrocuted by downed power lines.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_af/af_mozambique_floods

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China's concern grows over 29 abducted in Sudan (AP)

BEIJING ? China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned a leading Sudanese diplomat to express "deep shock" over the abduction of 29 Chinese workers after an attack in a volatile region of the country.

The summons is a sign of growing Chinese concern over the fate of the workers, three days after they were taken by militants in the South Kordofan region.

Sudanese state media reported Monday that 14 of them had been freed, but the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said all 29 were still being held.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting overseas Chinese nationals. We felt deep shock over this abduction incident and are deeply concerned over the safety of the 29 Chinese," Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

China hopes Sudan will "keep in mind the overall situation of bilateral friendship" and ensure their swift release, Xie told Sudanese Charge d'Affaires Omer Eisa Ahmed, according to the statement.

It quoted Eisa as pledging Sudan's full support.

The summons was a rare public sign of tension in China's close political and economic relations with Sudan, which center on exchanging Chinese infrastructure projects for access to Sudanese oil.

That followed the dispatch earlier Tuesday of a group of Chinese security experts to assist in the rescue work.

A statement from the workers' company, Sinohydro Corp., said that it and the Chinese Embassy would "spare no effort in ensuring the personal safety of those abducted and rescuing them."

Xinhua said 47 Chinese workers were caught in the attack in the South Kordofan region of Sudan. It said 29 were captured and the other 18 fled, and that one of those who fled remains missing.

Sudan's state-run SUNA news agency said the attack took place near Abbasiya town, 390 miles (630 kilometers) south of Khartoum.

Sudanese officials have blamed the attack on the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, a branch of a guerrilla movement that has fought various regimes in Khartoum for decades. Its members hail from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world's newest country only six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan says the accusations are a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.

China has sent large numbers of workers to potentially unstable regions such as Sudan. Last year it was forced to send ships and planes to help with the emergency evacuation of 30,000 of its citizens from the fighting in Libya.

China has used its diplomatic clout to defend Sudan and its longtime leader, Omar al-Bashir. Recently, it has also sought to build good relations with leaders from the south.

South Sudan and Sudan are in bitter dispute over oil, which is produced primarily in South Sudan but runs through Sudanese pipelines for export.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_sudan

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Alcohol and your heart: Friend or foe?

Monday, January 30, 2012

A meta-analysis done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) into the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease provides new insight into the long-held belief that drinking a glass of red wine a day can help protect against heart disease.

"It's complicated," says Dr. Juergen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at CAMH. Dr. Rehm's paper, co-authored by Michael Roerecke, was recently published in the journal Addiction. "While a cardioprotective association between alcohol use and ischaemic heart disease exists, it cannot be assumed for all drinkers, even at low levels of intake," says Dr. Rehm.

Ischaemic heart disease is a common cause of illness and death in the Western world. Symptoms are angina, heart pain, and heart failure. Based on 44 studies, the analyses used 38,627 ischaemic heart disease events (including deaths) among 957,684 people.

"We see substantial variation across studies, in particular for an average consumption of one to two drinks a day," says Dr. Rehm. The protective association may vary by gender, drinking patterns, and the specific health effects of interest. Differential risk curves were found by sex, with higher risk for morbidity and mortality in women.

Moreover, for any particular individual, the relationship between alcohol consumption and ischemic heart disease should not be isolated from other disease outcomes. Even at low levels, alcohol intake can have a detrimental effect on many other disease outcomes, including on several cancers.

"Even one drink a day increases risk of breast cancer, for example," says Dr. Rehm. "However, with as little as one drink a day, the net effect on mortality is still beneficial. After this, the net risk increases with every drink."

"If someone binge drinks even once a month, any health benefits from light to moderate drinking disappear." Binge drinking is defined more than four drinks on one occasion for women, and more than five for men.

Given the complex, potentially beneficial or detrimental effects of alcohol on ischaemic heart disease in addition to the detrimental effects on other disease categories, any advice by physicians on individual drinking has to take the individual risk constellation (such as familial predisposition for certain diseases and behavior with respect to other risk factors) into consideration.

"More evidence on the overall benefit-risk ratio of average alcohol consumption in relation to ischaemic heart disease and other diseases is needed in order to inform the general public or physicians about safe or low-risk drinking levels," the study concludes. "Findings from this study support current low-risk drinking guidelines, if these recognize lower drinking limits for women."

###

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: http://www.camh.net

Thanks to Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117182/Alcohol_and_your_heart__Friend_or_foe_

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Study Looks at Possible HIV Drugs-Birth Defect Link (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women with HIV can prevent passing the AIDS-causing virus to their babies by taking antiretroviral drugs, but there remains a possibility that some of these medications might cause birth defects, such as cleft lip and palate, according to a new study.

Antiretroviral drugs have been found to reduce the risk of mothers passing HIV on to their children from between 15 and 25 percent to less than 1 percent. These drugs, however, are still under investigation and not considered safe during pregnancy, the study authors noted.

To analyze the possible association between antiretroviral drugs and birth defects, Vassiliki Cartsos, an associate professor and director of graduate orthodontics at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, and colleagues examined five years of adverse events compiled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Their findings are published in the January issue of Cleft Palate--Craniofacial Journal.

The investigators found seven antiretroviral drugs were associated with 26 incidents of cleft lip and palate. However, the authors noted, uncovering an association does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

In other words, although the study findings should serve as a red flag, the researchers pointed out that the findings do not confirm that the antiretroviral drugs caused the birth defects.

Those drugs included lamivudine (Epivir); efavirenz (known as EFV); nelfinavir (Viracept); and the combination of abacavir (Ziagen), sulfate, lamivudine and zidovudine (Retrovir).

The study authors concluded in a journal news release that more research is needed to determine if there is a link between antiretroviral drugs and cleft lip and palate, a congenital malformation believed to have several causes, including genetic and environmental factors.

More information

The World Health Organization has more about antiretroviral therapy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120130/hl_hsn/studylooksatpossiblehivdrugsbirthdefectlink

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