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GOOD NEWS	
Humanist Electronic Press Agency
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Publishes only news on the social, 
scientific, cultural progress of the human being.

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N.26 - September 1999
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(translation of italian issue n. 68)

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EDITORIAL
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Welcome back from vacation and well found. We were glad to take in the review on  "Venerdi'" (supplement of the daily paper La Republicca, on July 31. That was a piece of good news, another one is that we will publish the press releases we receive on our web page, which is always newer and richer, thanks to an always larger and more active team of supporters. Not bad for being on vacation!!! We wanted to remind you that the great campaign in favor of Karl Guillen is picking up again, (his trial was postponed). His campaign is also promoted by Good News.
you can find the latest news at:
http:// www.pegacity.it/ culture/sistampi/karl
or by contacting the editors.

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SUMMARY
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Europe: solidarity towards the Turkish earthquake victims
East Timor: referendum takes place
Colombia: general strike against neo-liberal provisions
Brazil: protests against austerity measures
USA: progress in the understanding of proteins
Guatemala: the military are convicted
USA: first measures against arms
Israel: an Arabic minister in the Israeli government
Italy: Silvia Baraldini returns
USA: the phases involved in the formation of cancer are reproduced
Russia: discovered Bach music sheets
Internet: XML, a new web language
Spain: video games that help handicapped children
USA: new medicine improves the treatment of arthritis 
Mexico: the biggest exposition on the Mayan people
USA: discovery a protein that regulates sleep
Germany: an African fruit against the Ebola virus
USA: computer solution for tumor operations

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NEWS
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Where: Europe
About: solidarity with Turkish earthquake victims 
Date: 08/99
Source: agencies, Humanist Movement, Good News 
A big wave of solidarity has started after the earthquake that struck, on August 17, the Northwest of the country. Volunteers come from all of the neighboring countries have distinguished themselves in the rescue mission, even those, like Greece, considered traditionally hostile to Turkey. The Movement Humanist has launched a campaign to gather materials, answering an appeal of the Turkish humanists, in partnership with an independent consortium in support of the population. The rescue materials, at this moment consisting of goods to help set camps for the homeless, are gathered and sent to the humanist centers. For more information in Italy: 
 http://www.partitoumanista.org

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Where: East Timor
About: referendum takes place
Date: 30/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
98.6 per cent of the inhabitants of Timor have voted in the August 30 referendum on the autonomy plan proposed by the Indonesian government for East Timor, the ex Portuguese colony invaded by Jakarta in 1975 and assimilated the year after. The voting results will be made public only on September 6, but the massive attendance to the voting urns signals that the plan has been rejected. According to the accords 
concluded between Indonesia and Portugal with the mediation of the United Nations, the 
refusal of Jakarta’s plan will mean the withdrawal of the Indonesian troops and independence for East Timor after a period of transitory administration by the UN.

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Where: Colombia
About: general strike against neo-liberal provisions
Date: 31/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
A million and half Colombian workers have supported the general strike called for August 31 from the main labor unions of the country. Thousands of farmers and representatives of society have also participated. The labor unions have expressed 41 claims, most of which are contrary to the neo-liberal macroeconomic reforms and to the government’s austerity measures.

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Where: Brazil
About: protests against the austerity
Date: 26/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
Between 60 to 120 thousand people have participated, in Brasilia, to a protest against the measures of austerity and the increases of taxes announced by the government of the president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The demonstration, organized by labor unions, parties of the opposition and Movement of the “landless” is the most important demonstration against Cardoso since his election, in 1995.

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Where: USA
About: progress in the understanding of proteins
Date: 25/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
A giant step ahead has been made in the comprehension of the synthesis of proteins. Two studies published on Natures describe the structure of 30s and 50s, two different under units of ribosome- the particles formed by and ribonucleic acid (RNA) which intervene in protein synthesis. These studies could bring to the completion of new antibiotics, that would inhibit the ribosome production in the bacterial cells.

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Where: Guatemala
About: the military convicted 
Date: 13/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
The Court of Coban has condemned 25 soldiers to sentences from four to five years of imprisonment for having participated in the massacre of eleven farmers in Xaman, situated in the Tall Verapaz, in 1995. This is  the first time that the military are convicted of crimes committed during the civil war.

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Where: USA
About: first measures against firearms
Date: 24/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
After the latest episodes of violence, the State administrations have decided to intervene to limit the sale of firearms. The California Assembly has passed a law that forbids the production and sale of the cheaper firearms, the “Saturday Night Specials”, and of those that have not been tested for safety. The governor, Gray Davis, has approved a law that forbids the police of sell  private citizens used or surplus firearms. The County of Los Angeles has prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition in the buildings on its property. These measures particularly affect fair known as the Great Western Gun Show, that greets a hundred thousand visitors four times a year. During this fair, the sale of firearms brings in more than 9 million dollars. The Washington police is launching a program to get back its firearms by paying a hundred dollars for each weapon returned.

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Where: Israel
About: an Arabic minister in the Israeli government
Date: 5/ 08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
For the first time in history, the Labor Party, Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, has given an Israeli Arab, Nawaf Masallha, a place in the government, appointing him Vice Minister of the Foreign Office. Barak has announced he wants to respect the calendar agreed upon in the of Wye Plantation accords, which foresaw the return of 13.1 per cent of the Upper Jordan to the Palestinians, which had been stalled by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Where: Italy
About: Silvia Baraldini returns
Date: 26/08/ 99
Source: agencies
Silvia Baraldini will finish serving the rest of her sentence in the Roman jail of Rebibbia; after years of battle by associations and justice committees justice 
in the United States, the American government has agreed to transfer seriously ill woman, , back to her country. Baraldini was condemned in the USA for allegedly collaborating with a terrorist group.

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Where: USA
About: the phases of cancer formation are reproduced in a lab
Date: 29/ 7/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
For the first time ever, a team of researchers has been able to reproduce in human cells, the phases of cancer formation. A discovery which has been judged fundamental, since it allows us to understand how a normal cells becomes cancerous. The study’s results , directed by Robert Weinberg, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were published on Nature magazine.
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Where: Russia
About: discovered music sheets belonging to Bach
Date: 5/08/ 99
Source: agencies, Internazionale
An important music discovery in Kiev: a great collection of music sheets belonging to Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, the second son of Johann Sebastian, was made by the researchers of Harvard University and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. The collection includes around five thousand music sheets, at least five hundred of which should be works of the Bach family. Many of the compositions of Johann Sebastian, are verified and authorized by the “maestro”. The search for the collection, which was believed to have been destroyed during World War II, began twenty years ago. 
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Where: Internet
About: XML, a new language for the web
Date: 23/ 08/ 99
Source: Rivista Investigacion y Ciencia, Buenas Nuevas
The XML language has been called forth to widen the possibilities of HTML, now used in the description of web pages. XML defines a new way of creating Web pages in which the information comes labeled in a way that as the machine comes to the page it will “know” what type of 
information is contained in the page. With this language it will be possible to find information much quicker. Besides, it will reduce the necessary traffic thus increasing the output of the net.

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Where: Spain
About: video games that help handicapped children
Date: 23/08/99
Source: Ciberpais Buenas Nuevas
For an hour and half a day, children bearing different handicaps stimulate their self-esteem and develop their reflexes and their mobility. This is done by playing, observing and learning computer games specifically developed by the child specialists and psychologists of the Tenerife Centro de Investigacion y Atencion Psicologica.

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Where: USA
About: new medicine improves the treatment of arthritis
Date: 9/08/99
Source: The Vanguardia, Buenas Nuevas
The medicine Celebrex, belonging to the new family of the so-called specific inhibitors of the ciclo-ossigenase-2, can be used against the chronic pain caused by this illness (arthritis) without causing gastric damage. Accordingly, the treatment could be longer, since this medicine does not cause the side effects damaging to the stomach that are characteristic in other medicines.

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Where: Mexico
About: the biggest Mayan exposition
Date: 9/08/99
Source: La Vanguardia, Buenas Nuevas
Despite the boycotting of the European and American museums, the Colegio de St. Ildefonso, in Mexico D.C., has inaugurated the biggest exposition ever presented on the Mayas. The exposition embraces themes such as the relationship between these cultures and nature and the bond between man and divinity.

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Where: USA
About: discovery a protein that regulates sleep
Date: 23/07/99
Source: La Razon, Buenas Nuevas
A photosensitive protein, Criptocroma, regulates sleep exactly, programming the signal which makes us fall asleep or awaken. The discovery made by the scientists of the Laboratory for Cronobiological Development of the Massachusetts General Hospital, was published in The Journal Cell magazine. The researchers agree that it will be very important for those who suffer from sleep problems, drivers and those who travel often with different time habits, but also for Alzheimer patients.
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Where: Germany 
About: an African fruit against the Ebola virus
Date: 04/08/99
Source: Las Dos Noticias, Buenas Nuevas
The "Gracinia Cola," component of a fruit found in the African forest, could become the solution against the Ebola virus. According to the latest studies, published by German researchers, this virus stops reproducing when it enters in contact with the Gracinia.

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Where: USA
About: computer solution for tumor operations
Date: 5/08/99
Source: Investigacion y Ciencia, Buenas Nuevas
Through a sophisticated system that mixes magnetic resonance with the treatment computer images, operating a tumor becomes easier and safer for the specialists of this practice.

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