| Home insurance could be kept intact by DIY-shy Brits
The majority of Britons are fed up with watching DIY programmes, a study has shown, which may mean good news for their home insurance premiums.Research conducted by financial provider Woolwich has highlighted that 75 per cent of householders may be less inclined to damage their homes and their home insurance premiums this Easter, stating that they are bored of makeover shows.In addition, almost half of those surveyed said they were not keen on carrying out DIY tasks.Some 70 per cent stated that they would rather get professionals in than carry out improvements themselves, which may reduce the chance of householders having to claim on their home insurance after botching a job they were not qualified to carry out."People think their own time is precious and with the added concern that they are not going to do a good job, people are increasingly turning to experts to get the job done," said Andy Gray, head of mortgages for Woolwich.Insurer Cornhill Direct recently urged Britons to make sure their home insurance policies offered accidental damage cover for DIY jobs which go wrong.Home insurance customers are covered for accidental damage to their TV, home computer and hi-fi with a policy from Kwik-Fit Insurance.© Adfero Ltd
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Analysis: Medical technology gets personal
WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- While the future for personalized medicine has far exceeded expectations, funding is critical in order to continue taking the necessary steps, health experts said Monday. "We are on a real roll here in terms of the ability to discover things that we previously thought would take us a decade or more, which are in fact turning out at remarkable speed," said Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Collins emphasized the April 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project, which incorporated more than 2,000 scientists from six different countries to achieve the common goal of mapping out all the letters of the "human DNA instruction book." That research created a platform to launch new applications of the technology that predict medical problems in people via personalized medicine.
St. Jude named a Center of Excellence in flu research
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has been designated one of six Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID will award $23 million per year for seven years to establish the consortium of centers, which includes St. Jude, according to Robert Webster, Ph.D., a member of the Infectious Diseases department and holder of the Rose Marie Thomas Chair at St. Jude. Webster, the principal investigator for the NIAID contract at St. Jude, also directs the WHO Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza Viruses in Lower Animals and Birds, one of only five such collaborating centers in the world. The mission of the centers is to expand NIAIDs influenza surveillance program in the United States and internationally to determine how these viruses cause disease as well as how the human immune system responds to them.
Easter on ice: Record cold damages crops
Record-breaking cold may be an inconvenience for ladies who bought short-sleeved Easter outfits with matching sandals, but its havoc on farmers. Saturday mornings temperature dipped to 25 degrees, breaking a 27-degree record for that day set in 1950. The all-time record for the coldest day in April is 24 degrees, set on April 1, 1923. Meteorologist Dave Nadler with the National Weather Service in Huntsville said the area was likely to experience another record-breaking cold Sunday morning. Nadler said North Alabama will contend with subfreezing temperatures through Monday morning. Ill be glad when global warming gets here, said Wes Isom of Isoms Orchard in Athens. I dont care what Al Gore says. Isom referred to the former vice presidents crusade to halt global warming, captured in the movie An Inconvenient Truth.
Cheap - but not so cheerful?
With more than 400 stores in the UK - and plans to open another 40 this year - Lidl is becoming the supermarket of choice for foodies in search of a bargain, as well as families on a tight budget. Yet while Tesco comes under fire for its aggressive expansion, no one seems to care what Lidl does - even if some staff suffer in the rush for profits. Helen Pidd investigates
Wednesday March 14, 2007
The Guardian
The Lidl supermarket in Tottenham Hale retail park, north London. Photograph: Graham Turner
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Texas fights financial records-keeping rules
NEW YORK -- The implosion of Enron Corp. rocked the state of Texas more than anywhere else, but some lawmakers in its home state still don't seem to get the lessons learned from that mess: The crucial need for financial transparency. Proposed legislation there seeks to block new national accounting rules that require state and local governments to disclose for the first time the projected costs of future retiree health care and other benefits. It's a potentially super-sized obligation the public deserves to know. But at least in Texas and potentially elsewhere, they might not get it if some politicians have their way. In addition to traditional monthly pension payments, governments across the nation long have promised their workers what are known as other post-employment benefits, covering at least part of the cost of retirees' medical, dental, disability and life insurance.
NeoStem Announces Launch of Government Affairs Initiative
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 3, 2007 - NeoStem, Inc. (OTCBB:NEOI), the first company to specialize in the collection, processing and storage of stem cells from healthy adult donors for personal use in times of critical medical need, announced today the launch of a "Government Affairs" initiative to lobby key members of the federal government on the growing threat to the thousands of first responders from radiation exposure following a possible nuclear assault. NeoStem's "Government Affairs" initiative is a concerted effort to leverage the Company's next generation services to allow the thousands of first responders, including firemen, police officers and National Guardsmen, across the nation to store their own, genetically-matched adult stem cells to treat bone marrow failure caused by nuclear radiation, a common cause of death following exposure.
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