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/ 1 December 2004

Swallow this, it won’t hurt a bit

The world’s top endoscope maker Olympus has joined the race to develop a capsule camera, a disposable device the size of a fingertip that can be easily swallowed to scan the body from the inside. The Olympus group’s medical products arm said it had developed key technologies for the capsule endoscope, which would navigate through the body without batteries to take images and directly administer drugs.

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/ 1 December 2004

Japanese firm unveils robotic companion

Japan’s growing elderly population from Wednesday will be able to buy companionship in the form of a 45cm robot, programmed to provide just enough small talk to keep them from going senile. Snuggling Ifbot, who is dressed in an astronaut suit with a glowing face, has the conversation ability of a five-year-old, the language level needed to stimulate the brains of senior citizens.

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/ 1 December 2004

Islam, the West and dissent

”Since the World Economic Forum in Seattle, a debate has erupted. It’s fine to attack corporations — but they’re all part of the state system. So we have to go back to the nature of the state. ”A novelist, historian, movie-maker, geopolitical analyst and activist, Pakistan-born Tariq Ali is visiting South Africa, and remains at 61 as outspoken as ever. He spoke this week to the Mail & Guardian.

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/ 1 December 2004

‘Very late’ HIV survey in SA prisons

HIV/Aids in prisons can be better managed once its prevalence has been ascertained by a national survey, the Department of Correctional Services said on Wednesday. ”We have started and are in the preparation phases, with a task team and steering committee established,” said Gustav Wilson, director of HIV/Aids at Correctional Services.

  • Some fear HIV/Aids, others cancer
  • UN report on HIV/Aids
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    / 1 December 2004

    HIV/Aids ‘placing burden on elderly’

    <img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/142915/aids_icon.gif" align=left> The HIV/Aids pandemic has placed a heavy burden on the elderly, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) said on Wednesday, World Aids Day.
    "The elderly are the unsung heroes of the current pandemic", said Dr Monde Makiwane, a researcher at the HSRC, who conducted a study on the elderly in Mpumalanga.

    <li><a target="_blank" class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Regulars-HivAidsBarometer&ao=125723">Worldwide HIV infections: 60 094 374</a>

    <li> <a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=126369">’Very late’ HIV survey in SA prisons</a>
    <li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=126363">Some fear HIV/Aids, others cancer</a>
    <li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=126377">UN report on HIV/Aids</a>

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    / 1 December 2004

    South African wins young journalist of the year award

    South African journalist Benjamin Joffe-Walt was awarded the Foreign Press Association’s young journalist of the year award in London earlier this week. On assignment for ThisDay newspaper, Joffe-Walt and photographer Alexia Webster produced stories on the disposal of electronic waste in China, climate change in the Maldives, and genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

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    / 1 December 2004

    Soldiers ‘did not force violinist to play’

    An Israeli army investigation has concluded that a Palestinian filmed playing his violin at an army checkpoint, prompting outrage among Israelis who said it diminished the Holocaust, was not forced to do so by soldiers. But the violinist, Wissam Tayem, on Tuesday night disputed the army’s assertion that he started playing of his own accord.

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    / 1 December 2004

    HIV/Aids poses same threat as nuclear terrorism

    <img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/142915/aids_icon.gif" align=left>HIV/Aids is a global threat on a par with nuclear terrorism, according to a United Nations report that warned of the potential of viral infections to claim tens of millions of lives worldwide in a matter of months. The report, commissioned by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and released on Tuesday, warned wealthy nations that, in an age of globalisation and mass travel, they ignored the scourge of Aids and other infectious illnesses at their own peril.

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    / 1 December 2004

    Some regions fear HIV/Aids, others cancer

    A global survey has found that Africans, West Asians and Latin Americans believe that HIV/Aids is the most important disease confronting them — while people elsewhere fear cancer. The Gallup International/Markinor poll interviewed more than 50 000 people in over 60 countries between June and August for their annual Voice of the People survey.