Thursday, 22 September 2011

THE NEWS ON ONE CLICK




1. Julian Assange Press Statement on the Unauthorised 'Autobiography'



Julian Assange: "All memoir is prostitution."
(Caption & pic courtesy of One Click)

I have learned today through an article in The Independent that my publisher, Canongate, has secretly distributed an unauthorised 70,000 word first draft of what was going to be my autobiography. According to The Independent, Canongate “enacted a huge security operation to secretly ship books out to thousands of stores nationwide without tipping anyone off as to the content of the book”. I am not “the writer” of this book. I own the copyright of the manuscript, which was written by Andrew O’Hagan. By publishing this draft against my wishes Canongate has acted in breach of contract, in breach of confidence, in breach of my creative rights and in breach of personal assurances. The US publisher, Knopf, withdrew from the deal when it learned of Canongate’s intentions to publish without my consent. This book was meant to be about my life’s struggle for justice through access to knowledge. It has turned i nto something else. The events surrounding its unauthorised publication by Canongate are not about freedom of information — they are about old-fashioned opportunism and duplicity—screwing people over to make a buck. One Click Note: The Independent newspaper is assiduously covering the contents of this book that is a snapshot of life with Assange, ending last November before the US Embassy cables were published. Law firm Finers Stephens Innocent (FSI) do not appear to be coming out of this media release well.
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Press Statement
Related Links:
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Julian Assange: 'I did not rape those women'
The Independent

2.
Pharmaceutical Industry Bisexual Effluent Damages Ecosystem

In recent years, studies have shown that active pharmaceutical ingredients were found in effluent coming from waste-water treatment plants near manufacturing plants. Now, a new study indicates that APIs were linked to changes in sexual characteristics of a type of fish in a river in France and, therefore, may have further damaging consequences on the larger ecosystem. The study, which was commissioned by the French environment ministry, examined wild gudgeon in a river near a Sanofi facility that makes steroid compounds. Downstream of the discharge, researchers found that, on average, 60 percent of the fish had both male and female sexual characteristics. But upstream, only 5 percent of the fish exhibited such traits. “People thought this could not happen in a country that has high environmental standards and good manufacturing practices,” Patrick Phillips, head of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program at the US Geologica l Survey in Troy, New York, tells Nature. He was the lead author of a 2009 study that found high levels of APIs from wastewater-treatment plants receiving discharges from pharmaceutical plants. “The evidence from the United States and now from France shows that this is not the case.”
Ed Silverman, Pharmalot

3.
Law Firm Faces Legal Action Over Handling Of MMR Vaccine Case

Three families who claim their children suffered injury from the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine are suing a law firm they say grouped them with a now discredited case over a link between the jab and autism. A case was brought against the manufacturers of the MMR jab - Smithkline Beecham, Smith Kline & French Laboratories, Merck & Co and Sanofi Pasteur MDF - starting in 1999 and ending in 2007, over claims that the jab caused autism in children. However three families who say the vaccine caused neurological injury in their children, not autism, believe they were unable to claim compensation because of the way the case was dealt with. The families claim the MMR vaccine brought neurological injury and are suing the law firm that brought the original litigation against the vaccine's manufacturer. Muddying the waters, Alexander Harris, the law firm that brought the original case has since merged with another firm, Irwin Mitchell. It is Irwin Mitchell that the families are now planning to sue.
The Huffington Post

4.
Local scientist aims to unlock medical potential of marijuana

Cannabis is a fascinating plant — and no, not necessarily for the reasons you're thinking. We all know about THC, the chemical compound that produces the "high," but it's the plant's other 80-or-so compounds that have researchers and the pharmaceutical industry feeling euphoric. "The science has been stigmatized and silenced over the years," says 38-year-old Kevin McKernan, a Marblehead resident on the forefront of the medicinal marijuana scientific revolution. "When people learn about this (medical potential), their first reaction is surprise; their second reaction is anger" that more is not being done. Two months ago, Kevin McKernan founded Medicinal Genomics out of his house in Marblehead. The company is so new and so small that it still doesn't have an office. Even so, McKernan made a huge splash last month by announcing he had successfully sequenced the genome of two cannabis strains. He quickly posted one of the sequences online, for the first time giving scientists all over the world access to genetic information that could lead to the development of drugs that help with diabetes, obesity, multiple sclerosis, depression, cancer, pain management and much more. Early research indicates that certain compounds in the plant can actually shrink tumors and that other compounds are effective in combating at least 20 separate diseases.
Jesse Roman, The Salem News

5.
Try different tactic in useless drug war

Those of you who follow the war on drugs would notice that Sir Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin group, and a member of the UN Global Commission on Drug policy has publicly come out in favour of ending the war on drugs by decriminalising the use of illegal substances. Now some of you would naturally be thinking what Sir Richard has been smoking himself to come out with such a radical stance. Well, if you read his latest article on the matter "End the war on drugs- Crime shouldn't pay", he clearly points that apart from being very expensive the global war has not been very effective. As Sir Richard says, "This is an industry that earns more than US $300 billion each year and with that sort of money at stake, criminals will do anything to evade the police: move their drug manufacturing operations to countries where the authorities can't pursue them, buy heavy weapons (as in the case of Mexico), infiltrate Government agencies (as has ha ppened in many nations in West Africa), kidnap and intimidate police, politicians and civilians." This global war on drugs has been going on for over 30 years and if anything, today the cartels are stronger than ever.
Gregory Wight & Diego Martin, Trinidad Express Newspapers
Related Links:
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New FBI Numbers Reveal Failure Of 'War On Drugs'
Mark Perry, Daily Markets
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Ending the War on Drugs would help to fix the budget
E.D. Kain, Forbes
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War On Drugs
Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy

6.
Feral Overclass UK ConDem Government cuts off support for terminally ill

The Government is writing to some terminally ill people to tell them their benefit will be ended in six months. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) began writing to people affected this week to say that, under Welfare Reform Bill plans, ‘contributory-Employment and Support Allowance’ (c-ESA) will be time-limited to one year from April 2012. Terminally ill people who have accessed c-ESA since April 2011 may lose all out of work help in just six months as a result. Neil Coyle, Disability Alliance Director of Policy, says: ‘The impact of cutting support will be devastating for people already told they only have a limited time left to live. Many will have worked for years and will feel they deserve a little support in return till they pass away. The Government has time to change plans before terminally ill people and their families have this avoidable and quite nasty cut imposed.’ Cancer charities estimate 7,000 c ancer patients could lose help and when people with other conditions are included the total number of people with terminal conditions affected will be higher. 400,000 people must lose all support if the Government’s targeted cut of £2 billion is to be met .
Information Release, Disability Alliance
Related Links:
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Norman Lamb MP, ATOS Healthcare & UNUM Insurance
Black Triangle Campaign
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Bent ATOS Britain and UNUM Insurance, A Country of Second Chances
Information Release, Black Triangle Campaign
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Al Jazeera Exposes ATOS Healthcare
Al Jazeera, The Stream
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New wave of protests launched to target detested ATOS
Chill4UsCarers
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ATOS Worker - Sick and disabled are 'Parasitical Wankers'
IndyMedia UK
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Documentary Film Maker requires help on project about Atos & Benefit reform
Paul Smith, Atos Register of Shame
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ATOS Healthcare bludgeons its UK critics
Will Stone, Morning Star

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http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk