UNICEF: Child mortality worldwide hits record low
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:47am (Mla time) 09/13/2007

UNITED NATIONS -- Deaths of children under age five around the world dropped below 10 million for the first time last year, according to United Nations Children’s Fund figures released Thursday.

UNICEF said deaths in that category hit a record low of 9.7 million from almost 13 million in 1990, and hailed what it called "solid progress on child survival."

There were rapid declines in annual under-five deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean, central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, East Asia and the Pacific as well as many parts of Africa, it said.

"This is an historic moment," said UNICEF executive director Ann Veneman. "More children are surviving today than ever before. Now we must build on this public health success to push for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

The poverty-reduction MDGs include a commitment to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate between 1990 and 2015.

UNICEF attributed the gains to the widespread adoption of basic health measures, including early and exclusive breast feeding, measles immunization, Vitamin A supplements and use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria.

Abducted girls returned to Africa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/6991835.stm
Published: 2007/09/12 16:30:02 GMT
© BBC MMVII

A mother who abducted her two daughters from Zimbabwe to bring them to a new life in Yorkshire has been ordered to return the girls to their homeland.

Lawyers for Vimbai Mutebuka had argued at the Court of Appeal that Zimbabwe's "chaotic state" made it unsafe to return the girls, aged 13 and 10.

But three judges ruled the girls should go back to live with their father.

They said Mrs Mutebuka, 31, who has been living in Huddersfield, had shown "deceit" by abducting the children. 

Tangerine peel 'kills cancer'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6987200.stm
Published: 2007/09/12 09:42:20 GMT
© BBC MMVII

A compound extracted from tangerine peel can kill certain human cancer cells, research shows.

A team from Leicester School of Pharmacy found Salvestrol Q40 was turned into a toxic compound in cancer cells, destroying them.

Salvestrol Q40 is found at higher concentrations in tangerine peel, than in the flesh of the fruit.

The researchers suggest the modern trend to throw away peel may have contributed to a rise in some cancers.

Lead researcher Dr Hoon Tan said his work was still at an early stage, but together with his colleagues he has formed a company to investigate further the potential to develop natural anti-cancer therapies.

He said: "It is very exciting to find a compound in food that can target cancers specifically." -End-

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