International Briefs

Jan 26, 11:14 PM

Study: Pill protects against cancer

LONDON - Women on the birth control pill are protected from ovarian cancer, even decades after they stop taking it, scientists said.

British researchers found that women taking the pill for 15 years halved their chances of developing ovarian cancer, and that the risk remained low more than 30 years later, though protection weakened over time. The findings were published Friday in The Lancet.

The study was paid for by Cancer Research UK and Britain's Medical Research Council.

Beral and colleagues analyzed data from 45 studies worldwide, covering 23,257 women with ovarian cancer, of whom 31 percent were on the pill. They also looked at 87,303 women without ovarian cancer, of whom 37 percent were on the pill.

India could soon have deal with U.N.

NEW DELHI - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog and India appear to be within weeks of an agreement on oversight of New Delhi's civilian nuclear program - a deal that is key to a U.S. atomic deal with the South Asian country.

The announcement came on the first day of Sarkozy's two-day visit to India aimed at cementing French-Indian diplomatic and political links. Notably absent was Sarkozy's girlfriend, model-singer Carla Bruni, who declined to accompany him, reportedly because they were not yet married.

China suspends coal exports due to shortage

SHANGHAI, China - The coldest, snowiest winter in decades has left millions of Chinese without heating and running water, leading the government on Friday to order a suspension of coal exports as the country struggles to meet its power needs.

The Transport Ministry's emergency notice, posted on its Web site, warned of "severe" consequences for failing to comply with the order, which will stay in effect through the Lunar New Year holiday in February and the annual session of the national legislature in early March.

Power shortages shut down South Africa mine

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Leading South African gold, diamond and platinum mines stopped production Friday in the face of power outages that threaten to choke economic growth.

The government said there was no foreseeable end to the electricity shortages that have spilled over the nation's borders into Botswana and Namibia, which rely heavily on South African energy exports.

Italians await word

on new elections

ROME - Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi hit the campaign trail Friday without waiting to find out if the country faces early elections as a result of Premier Romano Prodi's resignation, which followed a humiliating defeat in a Senate vote.

"I realized I have opened the electoral campaign of the People's Freedom" party, the media mogul said in Naples after delivering a speech that heavily criticized Prodi's 20-month-long government, which collapsed on Thursday night.

Last German World War I veteran dies

BERLIN - A German believed to have been the country's last World War I veteran has died at the age of 107, a death that almost went unnoticed in a nation that lost both world wars and doesn't track its remaining veterans.

Erich Kaestner, who was sent to the Western Front to fight in France, died Jan. 1 in a nursing home in Cologne, his son said Friday.

Suspect says collector wanted stolen paintings

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A suspect in last month's brazen theft of two paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari told detectives the paintings were to be delivered to a Saudi collector, authorities said Friday.

The framed paintings were found Jan 8., covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city.

(c) 2008 Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. International Briefs
Back to Current Headlines