NYMHM: Virtual water, Yemen upheavals, cell phone cancer, Ghana's oil 'curse'

Wed Apr 23 15:29:22 PDT 2008

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   NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * April 23, 2008 * Vol. 7, No. 17

   Important but overlooked news from around the world.
   NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org.

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QUOTED:

     "This unique population has given us an indication that cell
     phone use is associated with cancer."

     -- Dr. Siegal Sadetzki of the University of Tel Aviv, on cell
     phones and salivary gland tumors (see "Public Health," below).

CONTENTS:

     *Top Stories*
       Ghana's oil -- blessing or curse?
       Broadband: BBC calls for market 'intervention'
       Yemen steps, uneasy, from past to future

     *Public Health*
       Callbacks on the cell phone cancer story

     *Water*
       Virtual water and real thirst

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  TOP STORIES
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  > Ghana's Oil -- Blessing or Curse?

    With the discovery that Ghana is sitting atop an estimated
    three billion barrels of oil, the impoverished West African
    nation is facing not just a flood of new wealth, but also
    its potential "undoing."

    So said President John Kufuor at an extractive industries
    forum in March. His words echo widespread concerns that the
    unrelenting poverty and corruption that plagues other African
    oil nations could easily take hold in Ghana.

    According to the United Nations news service, Ghanian officials
    say managing the flow of oil and revenue, expected to kick off
    in 2010 at 100,000 barrels a day, is the country's greatest
    challenge since ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004620.html

  > Broadband: BBC calls for Market 'Intervention'

    Citing inclusion and civic participation as trumping private
    profit, the British Broadcasting Corporation is making a case
    for government "intervention" in the broadband market to
    ensure universal access to affordable, high-speed Internet
    services.

    In doing so, the BBC wades into the increasingly heated
    waters of the "Net Neutrality" debate.

    At issue is whether the commercial owners of the telecom
    networks that propagate the Internet worldwide should be
    able to influence what is transmitted, and charge ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004622.html

  > Yemen Steps, Uneasy, From Past to Future

    The poorest nation in the Middle East is also proving to
    be one of the most potentially volatile.

    Yemen -- the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, bordered by
    Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea -- is opening up culturally as
    the Internet and wireless technologies knock down barriers
    to communication.

    Yet water shortages, civil war, semi-autonomous tribal
    militias, drug trafficking, an al Qaeda presence and
    state-owned media add up to an uncertain future.

    Most recently, the Yemen Post reported that a Pakistani ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004623.html

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  PUBLIC HEALTH
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  > Callbacks on the Cell Phone Cancer Story

    The long running debate over whether cell phones cause cancer
    is heating up again.

    The latest round of press came after the release of two studies
    suggesting a link between cell phone use and cancer, and one
    that denies such a link altogether.

    Australia's Dr. Vini Khurana made waves recently with research
    finding that using cell phones for more than 10 years could
    more than double the risk of developing malignant ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004624.html

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  WATER
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  > Virtual Water and Real Thirst

    The recent hike in the price of food worldwide is usually
    blamed on the price of oil or the conversion of food
    crops to biofuels.

    But a handful of experts have pointed to a simpler cause: a
    shortage of water.

    "The two underlying causes of the world food crisis are falling
    supplies and rising demand on the international market," writes
    environmental consultant and author Fred Pearce in the London
    Telegraph. "Why falling supplies? Because of major droughts in
    Australia, one of the world's big three suppliers, and ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004625.html

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Editors: Will Crain, Josh Wilson
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