Sufferers from depression, who do not respond to existing treatments, could soon benefit from a new procedure in which electrodes are inserted into the core of the brain and used to alter the patient’s mood. Later this year, scientists at Bristol University in the United Kingdom will conduct the first trials of the so-called deep-brain stimulation method on sufferers from depression.
One month after the rebels chopped off both of Abubakr Kargbo’s hands with an axe, his son was born. ”I gave him my name,” said the father of four, gesturing towards the young Abubakr with a stump. ”I did not expect to live and I wanted my name to carry on.”
”I have observed, with a growing degree of trepidation, the slide of the Mail & Guardian down the slippery slope of sensationalism. Final proof of the dire levels to which this once-proud newspaper has sunk must surely be the article about the ”gravy plane” that the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, is supposed to have boarded,” writes Uriel Llewellyn Abrahamse, deputy general manager of the African National Congress.
Silvio Berlusconi is as famous for being a media magnate as he is for being Italy’s Prime Minister, and his final TV debate with Romano Prodi before the general election turned out to be a political version of It’s a Knockout — though without a clear result. The Forza Italia leader was deemed to have done marginally better than in the previous round against his rival from the centre-left alliance.
Recently, the United Nations General Assembly voted to abolish its discredited Human Rights Commission and replace it with a stronger Human Rights Council. Whether the council lives up to its promise depends on the political will of governments as they elect the first members of the new body.
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The United States wants to settle the Iran nuclear crisis through diplomacy, President George Bush said on Monday, describing reports of plans to attack Iran as ”wild speculation”. While the White House is still warning Iran about its uranium enrichment, the administration went out of its way on Monday to play down reports of planning for military strikes.
The City of Cape Town’s municipal council has revoked former Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo’s decision to extend city manager Wallace Mgoqi’s contract for a year, meaning that Mgoqi is no longer the city manager for Cape Town, new Mayor Helen Zille said in a statement on Monday.
Anti-poverty campaigner and Live 8 organiser Sir Bob Geldof accused China on Monday of being responsible for the continuing civil war in Sudan’s Darfur region. The Irish rock star said China was protecting the Sudanese government because it provides 6% of China’s oil.
A hundred and thirteen people were injured in a four-bus pile-up on the Moloto Road, north of Pretoria, on Monday. The accident happened at a depot where three of the buses were stopped when a fourth bus hit one bus from behind, causing each to ram the vehicle in front of it.