International aid agencies fear that the levels of death and starvation last seen 24 years ago are set to return
The spectre of famine has returned to the Horn of Africa nearly a quarter of a century after the world’s pop stars gathered to banish it at Live Aid, raising £150m for relief efforts in 1985. [...]
Category archive for “Independent on Sunday”
Millions facing famine in Ethiopia as rains fail
30 August, 2009 – 00:00
The secret life of sperm is unlocked
2 August, 2009 – 00:00
Infertile couples may be spared years of fruitless treatment with the discovery that the human egg can read the father’s genetic key and screen out failures
Thousands of infertile couples could be spared the pain, anguish and expense of fruitless IVF treatments, thanks to the discovery of a lock-and-key mechanism between sperm and egg cells.
The research [...]
Juries return to Japanese courts after 66 years
19 April, 2009 – 00:00
But 99.5 per cent conviction rate may take time to alter
(Co-written with Kyoko Nishimoto)
Japanese popular culture has few courtroom dramas. There is no Rumpole of the Tokyo Bailey, no Perry Mason in Osaka. Juninin no yasashii nihonjin, a 1991 remake of Henry Fonda’s jury-room classic Twelve Angry Men, is a comedy, its title translating as [...]
From heaven to hell: 18 die as drugs war rages on streets of Vancouver
5 April, 2009 – 10:45
The Canadian city has been named the best place in the world to live. But those halcyon days are over
Once upon a very recent time, Vancouver had a clean, safe image. Nestled between a spectacular bay and snow-capped mountains, this Canadian city, which is twice the size of Birmingham, was described by The Economist as [...]
Fantastic voyage: new-generation imaging heralds revolution in medical treatment
8 February, 2009 – 00:00
From a cluster of Chiltern villages, GE Healthcare is leading the way in detecting and treating diseases
For the lucky, a check-up at the GP consists of nothing more sophisticated than a blood-pressure cuff, an icy stethoscope and a jar to pee in. For those with bigger problems, it can involve medicine’s heavy artillery, from bedside [...]
Aegate steals a march in war against counterfeit drugs
23 November, 2008 – 00:00
Aegate, the drug authentication business, will move into Ireland in January, strengthening its position ahead of expected EU legislation to fight the growing threat of counterfeit drugs.
Millions at risk from fake medicines smuggled into UK
2 November, 2008 – 00:00
Packets of fake pills are being smuggled into high-street chemists and sold as real medicines that prevent heart attacks or fight cancer, putting the lives of millions of British patients at risk.
It took 20-20 vision to see nothing sells like specs
3 August, 2008 – 00:00
Dame Mary Perkins tells how special deals and stylish frames have made Specsavers an unlikely high-street star
Dame Mary Perkins adamantly denies she’s the Imelda Marcos of spectacles. Unlike the former first lady of the Philippines, who had 1,060 pairs of shoes in her wardrobe by the time her husband was deposed, Dame Mary insists she [...]
The beating heart of the hi-tech world in hospitals
1 June, 2008 – 00:00
The computerisation of the NHS is not on its sickbed – it’s alive and kicking, explains the boss of GE Healthcare
Nigel Mason is apologetic when he arrives at GE’s British head office in Berkeley Square, central London. This isn’t his building, explains the boss of GE Healthcare UK as we wait for security to sign [...]
Goggles return as TV and film go 3-D
13 April, 2008 – 10:42
A whole range of new films are being made as the new wave of 3D cinema allows such realism to be created on much lower budgets than in the past
Once 3D entertainment meant fumbling aroundwith a pair of multi-coloured spectacles that made you dizzy, before settling down in the cinema to watch a plotless film [...]
