Rossnowlagh hosts annual Twelfth of July Orange Order parade
Thousands of Orange Order members have taken part in the annual parade in the County Donegal village of Rossnowlagh.
The march comes before the annual 12 July celebrations in Northern Ireland, marking the 1690 Battle of the Boyne.
Orangemen from Northern Ireland took part, along with visitors from throughout the UK and Canada.
They were joined by lodges from Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan and the host county, all in the Republic of Ireland.
The demonstration made its way along a one-mile route starting just outside the village, before a religious service at the field.
In the past year, one million euros have been spent refurbishing five Orange Halls. The majority of funding has come from the Irish government.
Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Edward Stevenson, told those present that the Orangemen and women of Donegal, and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, would not be forgotten by the rest of the institution.
“You are key members of this great institution. You have our support and respect,” he said.
“This week I was honoured to lead a delegation to visit the Irish Senate in Dublin.
“When our grand secretary Drew Nelson stood to speak on the floor of the Senate it was an historic occasion.”
Mr Stevenson said the meeting was only the latest in a “long line” of meetings on behalf of Orangemen in Dublin.
The Orange Order met the Republic’s deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore earlier this year and presented a paper to him on issues affecting Orangemen in the Republic of Ireland.
“Over the past five or six years we have built up strong relationships in the corridors of power in Dublin. We intend to use those relationships to work on your behalf,” he said.
“The Orange institution and its members want to play a full role in the civic society of this country. At Grand Lodge level we will do everything we can to make that aim a reality.”
Former Adam Clayton personal assistant Carol Hawkins jailed for seven years
Carol Hawkins 48 on left was convicted on 181 counts of theft & Adam Clayton of U2 fame.
The former personal assistant of U2 star Adam Clayton has been jailed for seven years for embezzling 2.8m euros (£2.2m) of his money to fund a lavish lifestyle.
Carol Hawkins, 48, was last week convicted on 181 counts of theft from the bassist’s bank accounts over a four-year period.
Clayton was not in court for the sentencing. The judge said Hawkins’ crimes were “rooted in greed and nothing else”.
Judge Patrick McCartan said: “Nothing, frankly, could explain away the scale of this dishonesty other than the greed in pursuit of a lavish lifestyle that was no responsibility of Mr Clayton’s.”
He said the fact Ms Hawkins had maintained her innocence throughout the trial was a factor in his sentencing and suggested if given an opportunity to commit a similar crime in the future, he was not entirely confident she would resist.
“Whether she was a fool or clever person really matters very little,” he said.
The jury at the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin returned an unanimous verdict on each individual count after deliberating for more than five hours last week.
Ms Hawkins, who has always protested her innocence, had been freed on bail until sentencing.
Speaking after the verdict was delivered, Mr Clayton said he was pleased with the verdict and thanked his legal team.
The simple sea urchin could hold key to cure for cancers & Alzheimer’s
Sea urchins could hold the genetic key to curing diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s
The simple sea urchin could contain the genetic key to curing diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer.
They may look like a cross between a squash ball and a hedgehog, but experts believe sea urchins could hold the key to new treatments for a range of illnesses.
The spiky creatures are believed to contain the genetic key to curing Alzheimer’s, heart disease and some cancers.
Scientists at St Andrews University found the purple variety of sea urchins have a special genetic sequence previously only thought to be used by viruses.
They will now use the creatures to try and produce a therapeutic response to human cells, potentially leading to breakthrough treatments for some of the most chronic conditions.
This latest finding builds on a previous discovery of a short genetic sequence, known as 2A, caused by viruses, which can be used to return cells to a stem cell-like state.
Stem cells are cells with the potential to develop into many different types of cells and serve as a repair system for the body.
Experts hope to use the cells from sea urchins to look for, and test, new treatments.
Lead researcher Martin Ryan, professor of translational virology at the university, said: “It is now possible to take cells from a patient and drive them back into a stem cell state. This is a massive step forward.
“These patient-specific stem cells could be used to treat a wide range of diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.”
Originally, the research team thought the 2A sequence was part of a trick played on the host cell by viruses that infected the body. Discovering the same sequence in creatures such as sea urchins shows the sequence is created by cells themselves, and experts now believe they could be found in many different types of animal.
Prof Ryan said: “Studying these sequences in creatures such as the sea urchin will provide more tools in the fight against disease and for use in biotechnology.”
“This sequence was first discovered in foot-and-mouth disease virus, but we now know it is found in many other types of virus.
“The sequence has been used in human gene therapy clinical trials to treat a number of cancers including melanoma.
“It has also been used to produce human stem cells, a very important step in regenerative medicine”.
Sea urchins are marine animals found all over the world in all oceans, warm or cold water, and live in a variety of environments in many different parts of the world.
They are often found in rock pools and mud, on wave-exposed rocks, on coral reefs in kelp forests and in sea-grass beds.
Like starfish, sea urchins have a certain regenerative ability, so if its spine is damaged a sea urchin can re-build itself.
Sea urchins’ roe – the edible portion inside the shell – is a substitute for caviar in high-class restaurants, with a 100g serving selling for at least £10.
In the deep-sea lochs of north-west Sutherland, fish farmers and scientists have already discovered new breeding techniques to cultivate the common spiky green urchin in sufficient sustainable quantities.
Urchins have been considered a delicacy since Roman times and until about 100 years ago they were a common food source for coastal communities around Britain
India to give its poor & half of its population free medicine
The Indian government is planning to give free medicine to more than half of its 1.2 billion citizens as part of an initiative to improve regular access to drugs in a country where two out of three people are estimated to lack it.
The scheme will expand the number and type of generic drugs that can be prescribed freely in rural areas and will ban doctors from issuing branded drugs.
The policy, thought to be a priority of prime minister Manmohan Singh, could be set up by the end of this year if the planning commission approves the full programme.
It is budgeted at 266.7 billion rupees (€3.93 billion) for the period 2012-17, by which time the ministry of health and family welfare estimates that 52 per cent of Indians will be covered by the programme.
Charan Wadhwa, an economist at Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research, says the scheme could prove popular with voters when the Congress Party-led government faces national elections in 2014.
But it raises questions for an economy facing an estimated 5.9 per cent fiscal deficit.
“It’s an important step and it can win them votes also,” Prof Wadhwa says. “The issue is whether they can sustain the fiscal deficit it may create – one should first have the resources, then talk of allocation.”
More than 800 million Indians live on less than $2 a day. But India has plenty of initiatives targeted at its many poor. The problem, says Dr George Mathew, chairman of Delhi’s Institute of Social Sciences, is in the implementation.
“Very often what happens is that there are excellent programmes with great intentions . but the target group are deprived of the benefit,” he says. “These billions of rupees worth of medicine can [easily] be diverted to the black market, or diverted through middle men to some other sources.”
As an example of a troubled health programme, Dr Mathew cited the National Rural Health Mission, which has been plagued by corruption allegations.
Still, Rana Vikas, manager of two rural hospitals in the western state of Jharkhand for the Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra, a development charity, says rural doctors are optimistic about the latest scheme. It will expand the drugs government clinics can provide for free, from simple antibiotics to a potential list of 348 products, including antiretrovirals and cardiovascular drugs.
The programme will require doctors at government hospitals and clinics to prescribe generic rather than branded drugs,
But analysts say it is unlikely to affect pharmaceutical companies: their target customers are rich and urban, not poor and rural.
The central government will pay three-quarters of the costs, with states making up the rest, according to the health ministry.
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