SENATE PANEL OKS $13.8M IN FOREIGN AID.(Main)

Byline: Associated Press

A Senate subcommittee on Friday approved a $13.8 billion foreign aid bill for the coming year that includes authority for $10 billion in loan guarantees for Israel to help resettle Jewish emigres from the former Soviet Union.

While that provision is likely to sail through Congress, traditionally a bastion of support for Israel, the measure contains several other features that will be contentious.

Among them are an end to U.S. military aid to El Salvador; continued funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which operates family planning programs in China, and conversion of all military aid for Greece, Turkey and …

Serb lawmaker shot and wounded in north of Kosovo

Police say a Serb member of the Kosovan parliament, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, has been shot and wounded by unknown assailants.

Police spokesman Besim Hoti says 35-year old Petar Miletic was "hit above the knee by one of at least four bullets fired upon him from a handgun." Hoti said Monday's incident in Mitrovica, in the north of Kosovo, may have been …

Brett Ratner resigns as Academy Awards producer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Brett Ratner has resigned as producer of next year's Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says the 42-year-old filmmaker submitted his resignation Tuesday, one day after he apologized for using a gay slur at a screening of his latest movie.

Academy …

Study finds thalidomide overcomes drug resistance, is well tolerated.

2003 JAN 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a study of thalidomide for treatment of relapsed and refractory relapsed multiple myeloma suggest further assessment is warranted for treatment with the compound.

"Thalidomide (Thal) can overcome drug resistance in multiple myeloma (MM) but is associated with somnolence, constipation, and neuropathy," said P.G. Richardson and colleagues at Harvard University's School of Medicine.

They had shown, in vitro, "that the potent immunomodulatory derivative of thalidomide (IMID) CC-5013 induces apoptosis or growth arrest even in resistant MM cell lines and patient cells, decreases binding of MM cells to bone …

Structures of Important Plant Viruses Determined; Findings May Lead to New Ways to Protect Crops and Make Other Useful Products.

Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory

UPTON, N.Y., Oct. 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Flexible filamentous viruses make up a large fraction of known plant viruses and are responsible for more than half the viral damage to crop plants throughout the world. New details of their structures, which were poorly understood, have been revealed by scientists using a variety of sophisticated imaging techniques at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborating institutions.

These findings, just published in the October 1, 2008, issue of the Journal of Virology, may lead to new ways to protect crop plants from viruses and other forms of damage. The structural information may also benefit scientists interested in using viruses as agents of biotechnology to coax plants to produce other useful products, such as pharmaceuticals.

"These are very important viruses, and we knew almost nothing about their detailed structure …

DEMOLITION SLATED FOR DOT PROJECT.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: MARV CERMAK Staff writer

Demolition of State Street and Broadway buildings to make way for a new state Department of Transportation headquarters will begin Oct. 1, according to George Robertson, city Industrial Development Agency executive director.

During a Wednesday meeting, the agency awarded contracts to three firms to purchase the structures to be razed and to prepare the required environmental and archaeological studies.

In another move Wednesday, the agency recommended the City Council and Planning Commission consider rezoning Waldorf and Clifton place from residential to office park to prepare a tract for future light industrial …

HEALTH SECTOR PROGRAM MODERNIZATION.(Dominican Republic receives loan from Inter-American Development Bank)(Brief Article)

The Dominican Republic has received a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (No. 1047/OC-DR) For Modernization and Restructuring of the Health Sector Program. Part of the funds will be used to acquire and install data, voice and video networks. Deadline Dec. 18, 2003. Refer to: Licitacion Publica Internacional B-LPI-05-03/PMRSS. Also, funds will be used to acquire and …