Icetruck

Reformation: Four things about the 500th anniversary celebrations

A special religious service is being held in the German town of Wittenberg to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther is said to have nailed 95 theses to the door of All Saints' Church in the town.

The theologian said Christians could not buy or earn their way into heaven but only enter by the grace of God.

His criticism led to a split with the Roman Catholic Church and the birth of Protestantism.

The Reformation caused lasting change in Europe, leading to wars and persecution, but also to greater freedom of religion and expression.

Here are four things to know about Tuesday's events:

1. German leaders attending ceremonies

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are attending several ceremonies in Wittenberg, starting with a service at All Saints' Church (Schlosskirche) – where Luther is said to have first displayed his list of criticisms in 1517.

It marks the end of year-long celebrations by Protestants in hundreds of German towns and cities.

• The young man who shook the Catholic Church to its core
• How Martin Luther's ideas lasted 500 years

Ahead of the anniversary, Mrs Merkel said the ceremonies provided "the opportunity to reflect on what changes resulted from the Reformation".

2. Re-enactments in historical city

The centre of Wittenberg has been transformed to recreate the medieval era in which Luther lived, with performances taking place throughout the day.

Thousands of visitors from around the world have visited the town – about 100km (60 miles) south-west of Berlin – in recent months as it forms the focus of the anniversary celebrations.

Germany is also marking 31 October with a national public holiday.

What was the Reformation?

• A religious movement which challenged the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church

• Began in Germany in 1517 but soon spread throughout much of northern Europe

• Held that salvation came by grace through faith alone, not by good works or payment

• Led to the creation of Protestant churches separate from the Roman Catholic Church

• The Church of England broke from the Roman Catholic Church later in the 16th Century

3. Catholics and Lutherans beg 'forgiveness'

As the Reformation spread through Europe, it was marked by bloody episodes of warfare and violence.

Wars were waged in central, western and northern Europe from 1524 to 1649, fuelled by the religious rivalry that Luther had unwittingly inspired.

Eventually, the Protestant and Catholic Churches would co-exist peacefully, but without any formal links.

On Tuesday, Catholic and Lutheran leaders issued a joint statement saying they begged forgiveness for the violence waged.

"We begged forgiveness for our failures and for the ways in which Christians have wounded the Body of the Lord and offended each other during the 500 years since the beginning of the Reformation until today," the Vatican and Lutheran World Federation said.

They added that, while the past could not be changed, its influence could be transformed to become a sign of hope for the world to overcome division.

4. Row over anti-Semitic carving

After Luther realised that he would not be able to convert Jews to his version of Christianity, he unleashed a tirade of anti-Semitic writings.

He argued that Jewish synagogues, schools and homes should be set on fire, that Jews should have their assets confiscated and that they should be used as forced labour and expelled.

His texts, such as On the Jews and Their Lies, were used extensively by the Nazis.

Amid ceremonies marking Luther's legacy 500 years on, there have also been protests about an anti-Semitic sculpture (Judensau) which remains on the facade of another church in Wittenberg.

There have been calls to remove the offensive stone image, which shows Jews suckling the teats of a sow as a rabbi looks intently under its leg and tail.

Source – bbc.com

US sailors' rescue: Doubts emerge over survival story

Doubts have emerged about the survival story told by two US women who said their lives had been saved when they were rescued by the navy after spending five months adrift in the Pacific.

The US Coast Guard said that neither Jennifer Appel nor Tasha Fuiava activated an emergency beacon onboard.

There appear to be inconsistencies in other details of their story as well.

The pair said they became adrift in May when their boat's engine failed as they headed to Tahiti from Hawaii.

They said the boat was without power or communications in the open seas about 1,500km (930 miles) south-east of Japan before a fishing vessel alerted US authorities to rescue them last week.

The pair, travelling with two dogs, had strayed significantly from their planned course.

Ms Appel later said that she and Ms Fuiava were "incredibly lucky" to survive because they were running out of food and had endured a tiger shark attack.

Why are there doubts?

US Coast Guard spokesman Lt Scott Carr said that interviews with the two women – coupled with a Coast Guard review of the incident – revealed that the pair had an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) aboard, but did not turn it on.

Such devices emit a distress signal to help rescuers find vessels in an emergency.

It is unclear why the women did not do this if they were in distress, and there is no suggestion they did not know how to work the EPIRB – or that it was faulty.

The women later said that they chose not to activate the EPIRB because they never feared their lives were in imminent danger.

Moreover, Lt Carr told the Associated Press (AP) news agency that when the Coast Guard made contact with the Sea Nymph – the name of the women's boat – in June near Tahiti, the captain said that they were not in distress and expected to return to land soon.

He said that contact was made after the pair claimed they had lost use of their engines and sustained damage to their rigging and mast because of a storm.

It is also not clear if the women tested their radio equipment before they embarked on their voyage – last week they said they had six forms of communication on board but all went dead.

Retired Coast Guard officer Phillip Johnson told AP that the emergency beacons rarely fail and are designed to be suddenly dropped in the ocean.

What other parts of the women's story have been questioned?

The pair said the tropical storm they encountered took place on their first night at sea in early May, and lasted for three days.

But National Weather Service records reportedly show there were no such storms in the region during that time.

There have also been questions as to why the two dogs travelling with the women were in such good health if they were really engaged in a struggle to survive.

In addition critics have asked why the women did not use distress flares or stop at various islands on their route – including Maui, Lanai and Christmas Island – to get help. The Coast Guard is continuing to review the case.

You may also be interested in…

• Sailors rescued from remote Norwegian island
• Hogwarts Express rescues stranded family
• SOS in the sand saves couple

What do the women say?

On arrival in Japan, Ms Appel said that they owed their lives to the US Navy.

In a statement released last week they said that their engine broke at the end of May. They originally thought they would be able to reach land by relying on wind and their sails.

But two months into their journey – and long past their estimated arrival time in Tahiti – they began to issue distress calls, the statement said.

Ms Appel said they issued distress signals daily for nearly 100 days but received no response.

They said they managed to survive the ordeal thanks to a water purifier and more than a year's worth of dry goods such as oatmeal and pasta.

On 24 October, a Taiwanese fishing vessel spotted the 50ft (15m) Sea Nymph bobbing in the ocean and contacted authorities on the US territory of Guam.

The USS Ashland, which was in the area, arrived early the following day to rescue the sailors – both from Honolulu, Hawaii – and their canine companions Valentine and Zeus.

Sailors rescued after five months adrift in Pacific

Source – bbc.com

Russians' DNA taken by foreign agents, Kremlin says

The Kremlin says foreign agents are collecting DNA samples from Russians of different ethnicities and sending the data abroad for scientific analysis.

The agents were often working for foreign NGOs, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr Putin told a Russian human rights committee that the DNA collection was "systematic and professional".

Some scientists quoted in the Russian media speculated that the data could be used in US biological warfare research.

A Russian MP close to the Kremlin, Gennady Onishchenko, said new "biological security" legislation to control access to Russians' DNA "should be introduced in December" in parliament.

Mr Onishchenko formerly headed a state agency – Rospotrebnadzor – that conducts sanitary checks on imported food and drink. The agency imposed temporary bans on certain produce from Georgia and Moldova, at times of political tension with Russia.

He said foreign labs were analysing Russians' DNA and restrictions on such research were necessary.

'Military programme'

"The fact that our citizens' fluids, organs and tissues are being collected is evidence that the US has not stopped its aggressive military programme," he alleged.

Earlier Mr Putin avoided such speculation about the DNA analysis, and simply asked "why are they doing this?"

Deadly germ warfare island abandoned by Soviets

Inside the UK's secret weapons research facility

Cold War fake news: Why Russia lied over Aids and JFK

At the height of the Cold War both the US and Soviet Union researched lethal biological agents that could be weaponised.

Russian geneticist Valery Ilyinsky, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency, said biological warfare specialists might be able to exploit genetic differences between ethnic groups.

He said that, for example, about 1% of Europeans had natural resistance to HIV, the virus that triggers Aids.

Source – bbc.com

Big net firms invest in trans-Pacific cable project

Facebook and Amazon are putting cash into a project to lay a new submarine cable that will link Asia and the US.

Once completed in 2020, the Jupiter cable will stretch for more than 14,000km and will be able to carry more than 60 terabits of data a second.

The two firms have joined Jupiter as part of plans to build their own global networks and cut data transport costs.

The cable is one of many in which the net's biggest firms, including Google and Microsoft, have recently invested.

Network edges

"There's a bit of a boom in terms of the internet content providers taking a leading role in the development of new submarine cable systems," said Alan Mauldin, research director at analyst firm Telegeography.

The big net firms were involved in about 16 separate cabling ventures, he said, and used the capacity to handle the massive amounts of data their users generate. Some projects have already been completed but most are due to start carrying data sometime in the next few years.

The net firms were most interested in joining projects that lay cables across the Pacific, the Atlantic and Asia, he said. They have acquired capacity on many other cables around the world as well.

"They started years ago building their own networks because the scale that they need is bigger than a carrier can provide," he added. "Having a global backbone network is a big cost for them."

By running their own networks, big net firms gain control over the system, keep costs low and get some redundancy in case of problems, he said.

"Cables do break sometimes so you need multiple paths and alternatives," he said.

Net giants are involved in lots of cable-laying projects

• Google – Unity, SJC, Faster, Monet, Tannat, Junior, PLCN, Indigo-West, Indigo-Central

• Facebook – AEConnect, APG, Marea, PLCN, Jupiter

• Microsoft – Hibernia Express, AEConnect, New Cross Pacific, Marea

• Amazon – Hawaiki, Jupiter

Traditional telecoms firms were also investing in the cable-laying projects to help boost their own trans-ocean bandwidth, he said. Although the big net firms have colossal data needs, they could not use all the bandwidth available on the submarine cables.

Mr Mauldin said the data needs of search firms, social networks and cloud providers were growing rapidly while some others, such as Netflix, did not have to splash out on large networks to handle their traffic.

Netflix avoided high bandwidth costs by pushing all its content out to the edges of the network where it is stored ready for use.

This worked, he said, because an episode of a TV show or a film would not change much once it was made and shipped out to media servers. By contrast, he said, the dynamic content seen on Facebook had to be updated constantly feeding a demand for more bandwidth.

Source – bbc.com

Catalan independence: Sacked leader Puigdemont 'not seeking asylum'

Catalonia's sacked President Carles Puigdemont says he has not travelled to Belgium to seek asylum.

He has appeared in public in Brussels with several colleagues after declaring independence from Spain last week.

Spain's central government has taken direct control of Catalonia and sacked officials, following the region's banned independence referendum.

Mr Puigdemont said he was not trying to escape justice but wanted to be able to speak freely.

He was speaking at a press conference as Spain's constitutional court suspended the declaration of independence made by the Catalan leader on Friday.

• Catalonia crisis in 300 words
• Madrid's enforcer for Catalonia
• What next for Spain?

Mr Puigdemont also said he would accept the result of snap Catalonia elections on 21 December, which were called by Spain's central government after it invoked Article 155 of the constitution, temporarily suspending the region's autonomy.

The move will see as many as 150 of the region's top officials replaced.

"I want a clear commitment from the state. Will the state respect the results that could give separatist forces a majority?" Mr Puigdemont asked reporters.

The Spanish government has previously said he was welcome to take part in the fresh polls.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

The ousted Catalan leader did not clarify how long he would stay in Belgium, but said he would return once he was given "guarantees" by the Spanish government.

He said moves by the Spanish chief prosecutor to charge him and a number of other cabinet members with offences that carry up to 30 years in prison showed the extent of the central authorities' aggression.

• Puigdemont: The man who wants to break up Spain

Earlier comments from a lawyer hired by Mr Puigdemont in Brussels had fuelled speculation that he was investigating asylum processes there.

When asked on Flemish public radio whether he was seeking asylum, Paul Bekaert said: "We're keeping all options open – nothing has been decided."

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis has expressed scepticism about an asylum bid, saying Mr Puigdemont was yet to be charged and therefore still "free to move around".

But he added: "We believe that among EU member states, there is a level of reciprocal trust over the fact that we are states governed by the rule of law."

Five of Mr Puigdemont's sacked ministers have joined him in Belgium:

• Meritxell Serret, agriculture minister
• Antoni Comín, health minister
• Dolors Bassa, labour minister
• Meritxell Borrás, governance minister
• Joaquim Forn, interior minister

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Mr Puigdemont would be "treated like any other European citizen" .

"Mr Puigdemont has the same rights and responsibilities as any European citizen – no more, no less," he said.

"Freedom of movement within the Schengen zone allows him to be in Belgium without any other formalities."

'Failing to help'

In a separate development on Tuesday, Spain's Guardia Civil – a paramilitary force charged with police duties – raided the offices of the Catalan police force.

According to media reports, they searched eight offices for communications relating to the referendum on 1 October.

The Catalan police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, has already been accused of failing to help Guardia Civil officers tackle thousands of pro-independence protesters during the run up to the banned vote.

The crisis began when the Catalan government held an independence referendum, despite a Constitutional Court ruling declaring it illegal.

The Catalan authorities said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part, 90% were in favour of independence. Others boycotted the vote after the court ruling.

Catalonia is one of Spain's richest, most distinctive regions with a high degree of autonomy.

But many Catalans feel they pay more to Madrid than they get back, and there are historical grievances, too, in particular Catalonia's treatment under the dictatorship of General Franco.

Source – bbc.com

Las Vegas shooting survivors die in car crash fireball

A husband and wife from California who survived this month's massacre at a concert in Las Vegas have died together near their home in a fiery car crash.

Dennis and Lorraine Carver's vehicle careered off the road on 16 October and hit a brick wall, exploding into flames, said California Highway Patrol.

The crash came less than two weeks after they ran from a hail of bullets in America's worst mass shooting.

The couple were dancing at a concert when shots rang out on 1 October.

Mr Carver jumped on top of his wife to shield her from the bullets, the couple's adult daughter said, as a gunman opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival, killing 59 people and wounding nearly 500.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

"That's just the kind of love they had for each other," Brooke Carver told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Their love was selfless."

After about three or four volleys of gunfire, they stood and ran through a hail of bullets, ultimately escaping unharmed.

• Veterans and teachers among Vegas dead
• Vegas shooting timeline raises questions

The couple seemed to emerge from the shooting even deeper in love, their daughter said.

"The last two weeks of their lives were really just spent living in the moment," said Brooke Carver.

"After the shooting, they heard from all of the people they cared about most. They were so happy."

Three days after the shooting, Mr Carver bought roses for his wife to cheer her up.

"He just wanted to give my mom a reason to smile after the shooting," said Brooke Carver.

"I swear they were more in love those two weeks than the last 20 years."

Mr Carver, 52, and Mrs Carver, 53, are survived by their two daughters.

They had been together for 22 years.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Source – bbc.com

In a city ravaged by heroin, a needle exchange stalls

As she pressed down on the plunger of an empty syringe, a drop of blood oozed from the crooked tip of its needle — a test, Denise Brown said, that she uses on unpackaged syringes she now buys on the street.

She got in the routine after a program that allowed people who use heroin to get sterile injection equipment was shuttered more than a year ago.

The closure of the needle exchange in Camden, a struggling New Jersey city across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, and a place where drugs are dealt openly on streets lined with abandoned storefronts and homes, has left many people there without a resource intended to stop the spread of blood-borne illnesses.

"They say they're doing this to keep us safe, keep us clean. Then they take it away," Brown, 41, said of the exchange program that she frequented for years during her nearly two decades of heroin addiction. "What does that say?"

And even with President Donald Trump declaring a public health emergency amid the national opioid crisis and Republican Gov. Chris Christie making addiction services a priority in his final year in office, the ending of the Camden program makes clear the tenuous position in which some of these services operate.

The city of about 74,000 needs to approve a permanent location for the health services van that once distributed the needles, but that decision has been held up in the office of outgoing Democratic Mayor Dana Redd, according to Martha Chavis, executive director of the Camden Area Health Education Center, which operated the program.

"I don't get it," said Chavis, noting positive dealings with the city from when the exchange started about a decade ago until private development forced them to shut down, although the van is still used to provide HIV tests, water and condoms.

"I'm just trying to get an answer," Chavis said, calling Redd's office the "roadblock" to why the program hasn't given out a syringe since August 2016 and recently had to forfeit nearly $93,000 in state grant funding.

She said her team began trying to find a replacement location in 2015 after announcements that a campus for the energy company Holtec International would be built along the Delaware River in Camden. Holtec official Ed Mayer said it was unsafe to have the van on the property.

Vincent F. Basara, a spokesman for Redd, said officials haven't agreed on a new place "that does not negatively impact our Camden residents or the quality of life in the surrounding area."

For people who used to get sterile syringes from Chavis' organization, it doesn't make sense that a city with so many vacant properties and fatal heroin overdoses — health officials linked 115 deaths in Camden County to heroin in 2015, the highest in the state — is struggling to find a permanent space for the program.

"Put your child in our place," said Joanna Greene, 31, who said she starting using heroin in 2008. "We're sick. So who cares if we get sicker? Because you don't even have a legitimate reason on why you took the needle exchange away."

Nationally, the programs can be hampered by neighborhood pushback, shoestring budgets or bureaucratic hurdles, advocates said, but statistics show they are becoming more prevalent.

According to AmfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, there are 263 syringe programs in 37 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., roughly 60 more than in 2012.

Congress approved the use of federal funds toward the programs in 2015 but stipulated that the money can't go toward buying syringes.

Twenty-six states, including New Jersey, and six select counties have been identified as experiencing or being at risk of significant increases in hepatitis infection or an HIV outbreak because of injection drug use after consulting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a necessary step in using federal money for syringe programs.

The programs have been shown to decrease needle sharing. The CDC said in a report released last year that only about 1 in 10 people who used exchanges shared syringes, compared with more than 40 percent who didn't use the programs. But it's difficult to link them directly to decreased rates of blood-borne illnesses because data aren't typically collected in controlled clinical trials.

In New Jersey, Christie has committed about $200 million to programs aimed at addiction prevention in his final year in office, including $2.1 million for syringe access programs in the state.

Christie has also signed legislation that would allow any municipality to operate a syringe access program and has approved a law authorizing syringe sales in pharmacies without prescriptions.

In Camden, Brown, with splotchy scars on her neck from injections with dulled needles, wondered why officials would allow such a long time to pass without allowing the exchange to operate.

"When people are desperate, they'll pick needles up off the ground," she said, her shaky hands lighting a cigarette. "They're worried about AIDS and hepatitis C. This is one easy way to keep it down."

• Star

Source – abcnews.go.com

Airbnb customer allegedly murdered in Melbourne

A man has allegedly been murdered while staying in an Airbnb-listed property in Melbourne, Australia.

Ramis Jonuzi, 36, had rented a room in the house in Brighton East, Melbourne, paying less than A$30 (£18) a night.

As he was trying to leave the property after a week on Wednesday 25 October, he was allegedly attacked and later died in hospital.

Three men who also lived in the property have been charged with murder, and one has also been accused of rape.

Craig Levy, 36, Ryan Smart, 37, and Jason Colton, 41, did not apply for bail when they appeared at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Friday.

A spokesman for Airbnb told Australian daily newspaper the Age that the room-rental service was "deeply saddened and outraged" by the tragedy.

"The family will have our full support and our hearts go out to them and all of his friends," the spokesman said.

"We have removed this listing from our platform and will fully co-operate with law enforcement on their investigation.

"There is no place on Airbnb for such an abhorrent act, which violates everything our global community stands for."

Mr Jonuzi, a bricklayer, had rented the room because he wanted cheap and stable accommodation while he dealt with some "personal issues", according to the Age.

However, not long into his stay, he told a friend that he planned to move out early, because he didn't like the "energy" in the house.

He allegedly argued with his three housemates over money, and then decided to cut his stay short.

On Wednesday night, he packed his belongings, loaded them into his car and was about to leave when he was allegedly attacked on the front lawn of the property.

Paramedics failed to revive him and he was taken to hospital suffering from heart failure, where he died.

Mr Levy, the Airbnb host, and Mr Smart were charged with murder. Mr Colton was charged with murder and rape.

The accused men have been remanded into custody and are next due to appear in court on 22 March 2018.

Source – bbc.com

Fixed-odds maximum bet 'could drop to £2'

The maximum stake for fixed-odds betting terminals could drop to as little as £2 under a government review.

Currently, people can bet up to £100 every 20 seconds on electronic casino games, but ministers are considering a new limit somewhere between £2 and £50.

The consultation aims to reduce the risk of people suffering large losses and to tighten up advertising rules.

The Association of British Bookmakers said problem gamblers would find somewhere else to continue their habit.

Changes would hit UK gambling company revenue, put at £1.8bn last year, but problem gamblers say action must be taken – including, but not only, lessening the amount they can lose in one hit.

• A good bet? The fixed-odds controversy
• 'I lost £5k in 48 hours on betting machines'

Gambling vlogger Andrew Margett told BBC Radio 5live how the machines, also known as FOBTs, proved addictive: "I was just in a trance, in a complete bubble, playing it. Hitting the button, hitting the button, hitting the button."

Former addict Jason Haddigan told the Victoria Derbyshire programme how he lost £300,000 on FOBTs and was eventually banned from all UK bookmakers in 2014.

"I was conning the bookmakers to fuel my addiction. That's why a crown court judge banned me for five years," he said.

He described how he had gambled "since the age of nine" and used to bet on racing. But bookmakers set a limit on what he could put on a horse and suggested he used the fixed-odds machine to gamble instead.

As part of the government review:

• The Gambling Commission – the industry's regulator – will consult on changes to protect online players.
• Broadcasters, advertisers, industry and support groups will draw up an advertising campaign to promote responsible gambling, with an annual budget of up to £7m.
• New advertising guidelines will be drafted to protect problem gamblers, children and young people.
• Access by under-18s to gambling content and channels on social media will be restricted.
• Gambling companies are being told to step up funding for research, education and treatment. If they don't, operators may face a levy.

Culture minister Tracey Crouch said current laws on gaming machines – which critics have called the "crack cocaine of gambling" – were "inappropriate".

"It is vital that we strike the right balance between socially responsible growth and protecting the most vulnerable, including children, from gambling-related harm," she said.

"We have seen online gambling grow rapidly and we need to protect players in this space, while also making sure those experiencing harm relating to gambling receive the help they need," she said.

But in an urgent question session in the Commons, shadow culture secretary Tom Watson said the government was kicking the issue into "the long grass" and added that action, rather than a consultation, was needed.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

"There's an old maxim that the bookies always win, and they've won again today," he said.

• 'I lost £150k on betting machines'

Mr Watson, who is also Labour's deputy leader, claimed that 450,000 children are gambling on a weekly basis.

Labour wants a new gambling bill to look at the explosion of digital and online products – to stop children gambling on phones and to protect vulnerable people.

Carolyn Harris MP, who chairs an all-party parliamentary group on the issues involved, said there was overwhelming evidence people's lives were being destroyed by the machines.

"When you see the statistics that 31% per cent of people who use these machines are earning less than £10,000… Where do they get the money? Because they are not earning it," she told the Victoria Derbyshire programme.

The government began to look again at gambling in October 2016, when it made a "call for evidence" on the number and location of gaming machines and the measures in place to protect players.

Fixed-odds terminals were introduced in casinos and betting shops from 1999, and offer computerised games including roulette and blackjack at the touch of a button.

Each machine accepts bets up to a pre-set maximum and pays out according to fixed odds on the simulated outcomes of games.

Two categories of games are available, including B3 games with a maximum stake of £2 and a top prize of £500 and the more contentious B2 games, which allow for bets of up to £100 every 20 seconds.

'Reducing FOBT odds is a matter of principle', by Amol Rajan, media editor

Like every other industry, gambling has been radically transformed by technology. The advent of smartphones has made gambling much easier, more convenient, and constantly present than it was before. For centuries, gambling was for the most part an activity or habit that you had to move towards. Now, thanks to the internet, the gambling comes to you.

It is dangerous to reduce the debate of FOBTs to one about economics: how much is raised in tax revenue; potential job losses; the impact on our high streets and so on. It is rather also a question of principle.

In a free or liberal society, is it reasonable to let fully informed adults of sound mind make their own decisions about how to spend – and yes, waste – their money? Perhaps it is; but it becomes intolerable when this freedom harms others.

It seems that public opinion has moved to the view that negative social consequences and harm have flowed from the gambling industry's tendency to cluster in areas of deprivation and high unemployment.

Malcolm George, of the Association of British Bookmakers, said the government shared its wish to identify problem gamblers and get them help.

But restricting terminals in betting shops would redirect problem gamblers to other avenues where there were fewer controls on the amount of gambling, he said.

"Just as alcohol policy in this country is not solely determined by alcoholics" he added, there needs to be an environment for the "vast majority who gamble responsibly".

The British Amusement Catering Trade Association's John White said the government needed to "strike the right balance", but stakes should be "quite substantially" reduced, he said.

Asked about job loss fears, he said half of high street adult gaming centres had disappearing since FOBTs were introduced.

Tax law changes in 2001 led to a vast increase in the number of terminals.

By 2005, about 20,000 terminals were in use and more than 34,000 are now found across the UK, according to the Gambling Commission.

Source – bbc.com

AstraZeneca wins US approval for lymphoma drug

U.S. regulators have approved a new treatment for people with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday granted accelerated approval to AstraZeneca PLC's Calquence for people with mantle cell lymphoma after chemotherapy or other treatments fail. The British drugmaker is now conducting further testing required by the FDA to confirm the drug's benefits and risks.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a blood cancer that usually strikes middle-aged people and the elderly. By the time it's diagnosed, it usually has spread to the lymph nodes, bone marrow and other organs, according to the FDA.

About 4,200 Americans are diagnosed with the cancer each year. Median survival is about five to seven years, according to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. But treatment has been improving in recent years with the addition of targeted drugs and stem cell therapy to chemotherapy.

"Mantle cell lymphoma is a particularly aggressive cancer," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's oncology center of excellence, said in a statement.

Calquence, also known as acalabrutinib, works by blocking an enzyme needed by the cancer to multiply and spread.

Patients take two capsules a day. The drug will cost about $14,260 per month without insurance, according to AstraZeneca.

The drugmaker said it will offer patients financial assistance, including copayment cards that it said will cover out-of-pocket costs for some patients.

The FDA based its approval on a company-sponsored study of 124 patients who had received at least one prior treatment. After taking Calquence, 40 percent went into remission and another 41 percent saw their tumors shrink, the agency said.

The study did not include a comparison group, as is standard in bigger studies.

Serious side effects included bleeding, infections and irregular heartbeat, and some study participants developed a second type of cancer.

———

Follow Linda A. Johnson on Twitter at @LindaJ—onPharma.

• Star

Source – abcnews.go.com