kiwipete

Was the Kiwi SAS trooper killed in a family feud in Afghanistan...

Lance Corporal Leon Smith was flown by helicopter to a hospital 10 minutes away, but died on the operating table soon after he arrived there. Photo / New Zealand Defence Force

A New Zealand SAS soldier who was shot dead in Afghanistan yesterday may have been caught up in family feud, it has been alleged.

Lance Corporal Leon Smith was shot in the head during an operation in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, at a compound suspected of housing Taleban bomb-makers preparing for an attack in the capital.

An Afghan Crisis Response Unit of about 50 men went to the compound with an Interior Ministry arrest warrant.

They were accompanied by legal officers and about 15 of the 38 SAS troops in Afghanistan.

At 1.30 pm, when Prime Minister John Key, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp and Defence chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones announced Lance Corporal Smith's death - without naming him - the operation was continuing. It ended later in the afternoon
.
General Jones said he had reports that two civilians, a child and a man, had been injured.
He said insurgents shot Lance Corporal Smith as coalition forces set up a cordon around the compound.

He was flown to a medical base about 10 minutes away where a neurosurgeon was available, but died on the operating table.

However Dutch investigative journalist, Bette Dam, told Radio New Zealand Afghan authorities had told her the soldiers may have been caught up in a family feud.

She said she was told the SAS and the Afghan allies were incorrectly told by one family that the home was occupied by Taleban bomb-makers.

The governor of Warduk told her the Afghan man who was killed, Younus Khan, was innocent, as were nine others who were injured.

"The governor's office told me that the people actually in the house that got raided were unarmed," she said.

"A lot of things are not clear yet, but for me, from he governor's office and even from the head of the response unit, there seems to be a different situation than you expect, like a Taleban being in the house, trying to Kabul, here at a hotel or whatsever - that seems not the case."

She understood the bullet that killed Lance Corporal Smith "came from in or around" that house.
Ms Dam said it was a possibility the victims were related to the government in some way and the governor's office were attempting to cover this up.

Late last night, Defence Force officials refused to give any other details about Corporal Smith.
Aged in his early 30s, Lance Corporal Smith is the fourth New Zealand soldier to die in just over a year.

The Defence Force and the Government still describe the SAS troops' role as "mentoring" the Afghan Crisis Response Unit (CRU), despite two New Zealand deaths in two months.

Last month, Corporal Douglas Grant died after he was shot through a gap in his armoured vest during a Taleban raid in the capital, Kabul.

Prime Minister John Key said Lance Corporal Smith had "paid the highest price for his service to this country and we will mourn his death".

"His death, however, does not alter our commitment to helping Afghanistan. It continues to be the Government's intention to keep the SAS in Afghanistan until March as planned."

The PM said he deeply regretted Lance Corporal Smith's death, "but I don't regret the decision that we made to commit the SAS to Afghanistan".

"I think they are playing their critical part to free the world from global terrorism."
The SAS is on its fourth deployment to Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

A foreign policy analyst at the University of Auckland says the SAS soldiers appear to have moved from their mentoring role.

Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley said two deaths in two months showed the unit was involved in frontline combat.

"The two deaths is certainly an indication that the SAS is no longer leading from behind, but is now leading from in front."

Professor Hoadley said there was a "slight disjunction" between what the public was being told and what the SAS was doing in Afghanistan.

"It appears that the SAS is doing a bit more than mentoring and training - and that may lead some to question whether the Government is telling the whole story."

Earlier, General Jones said the operations involving the SAS were led by the CRU, but the New Zealanders could be drawn on.

"Their primary role, though, is to train and assist in the decision-making and the execution that the Afghanis do in conducting that operation.

"To provide the level of advice and support and reassurance that the Afghans need, our people need to be quite close to the operation."

The death forced a change in Mr Key's plans. He cancelled arrangements to host Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri at his country's World Cup match against Romania last night in Palmerston North.

Mr Key said he would still have dinner with Mr Gilauri, but "I think it would be insensitive for me to go to the game"

Kiwipete says: The second death of a NZ SAS trooper in Afghanistan in just over a month, is beginning to create some opposition in New Zealand just a couple of months out from the general elections in November. The NZ Government plans to withdraw remaining SAS soldiers from Afghanistan in March, 2012, next year. They will not be replaced.

It could also be said that other countries involved militarily in Afghanistan should consider their future involvement there as well. They need to ask themselves a question: Just what are they doing there? Are they fighting for the Afghan people, or those in power there who support fundamental Islamic practices?

http://news.msn.co.nz/video.aspx?videoid=0ede9481-c880-4036-97e7-040e8e7987f7

http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10755249&ref=rss

http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com

English rugby player Mike Tindall, the blonde in a Queenstown downtown bar, the media and...wife Zara Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter. Zara has come down to New Zealand to see hubby Mike, a member of the England Rugby World Cup playing squad. Whats up?

1/ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/video.cfm?c_id=522&gal_objectid=10754247&gallery_id=121686

2/ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=121680

3/ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=121686

Veiled French Muslim women flout ban in freedom bid...

News from PARIS – A Frenchwoman who wears an Islamic face veil, despite a nationwide ban, wants to run for president in next year's elections.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kenza Drider said she wants to defend the rights of all French women.

She is among a group of women mounting an attack on the law that has banned Muslim face veils from the streets of France since April. They want to prove the measure contravenes fundamental rights.

The law's backers, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, say the veils imprison women.

Drider said she plans to declare her candidacy Thursday in Meaux, a city east of Paris run by top conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the veil ban.

Two other women stopped for wearing veils are facing trial Thursday, also in Meaux.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/12/french-veil-ban-woman-niqab-fined

Accused priest Monsignor Ian Dempsey denies his guilt - claims not guilty of male rape...

Accused Catholic clergyman Ian Dempsey, with members of his parish in Adelaide's Brighton, makes a statement to the media yesterday. Picture: Kelly Barnes Source: The Australian

FLANKED by his parishioners, the senior Catholic clergyman accused in parliament of raping another priest has denied the allegations and said he may seek to make a statement in the Senate to clear his name.

Monsignor Ian Dempsey fronted the media outside his Brighton parish in Adelaide's southern suburbs yesterday to deny having raped the leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, more than 40 years ago.

"I am aware of John Hepworth's unsubstantiated allegations against me through an inquiry instigated by the archbishop," Monsignor Dempsey said yesterday.

"I have made it clear in writing to the inquiry that I categorically deny the allegations, which I note are said to relate to events that occurred some 45 years ago and have nothing at all to do with under-age people."

He later told The Australian that he was relieved to have finally spoken about the allegations, before going on a month of annual leave. Monsignor Dempsey said he would consider applying to the president of the Senate to address the allegations levelled against him by South Australian senator Nick Xenophon. "If they are the same privileges as the senator used last night, it could be an avenue whereby I could be able to correct some of the things he said which were inaccurate," Monsignor Dempsey said.

On Tuesday night, Senator Xenophon named Monsignor Dempsey as Archbishop Hepworth's last surviving alleged abuser, after the Adelaide Archdiocese ignored the independent MP's demands that Monsignor Dempsey be stood down during an investigation into the claims.

Senator Xenophon told the Senate that people of the parish had a right to know that the allegations had been outstanding for four years, and that the church leadership had failed to make "appropriate inquires" or stand the priest down.

The Archbishop of the Adelaide Diocese, Philip Wilson, yesterday attacked Senator Xenophon for naming Monsignor Dempsey and saying the church had not responded properly.

"We have shown Archbishop Hepworth every courtesy, sensitivity and care in the process," Archbishop Wilson said.

Senator Xenophon also questioned the appropriateness of the federal government's appointment of David Cappo, the vicar-general of the Adelaide Archdiocese, as chairman of Julia Gillard's new Mental Health Commission, due to the alleged delay in investigating Archbishop Hepworth's complaint.

Archbishop Wilson said he was "fully supportive of the manner in which Monsignor Cappo has given priority to this matter and the sensitive way in which he has dealt with it".

"I am deeply distressed that Senator Xenophon has named the priest in parliament," Archbishop Wilson said. "The damage to the priest's reputation is obvious and severe and -- in my opinion -- this serves to undermine the presumption of innocence which all of us are entitled to enjoy."

Archbishop Wilson said Monsignor Cappo had met Archbishop Hepworth on at least eight occasions between the time the issue was first raised in 2007 and February this year.

"On my behalf, Monsignor Cappo urged Archbishop Hepworth, at the end of each meeting, to give his permission to proceed with an investigation into the allegations," Archbishop Wilson said.

"On each occasion Archbishop Hepworth declined, indicating that he was not in a proper emotional state to deal with an investigation.

"He was also informed that if he was alleging any form of abuse, including rape, that this is a criminal allegation and he should go to the police."

Archbishop Hepworth said yesterday he had been encouraged to go to police only twice.

Archbishop Hepworth raised allegations on the weekend that he had been raped and sexually abused by Melbourne priest Ronald Pickering and father John Stockdale, who have both since died, while studying at the seminary in Adelaide aged 15. He also alleged he had been raped later by another priest, who Senator Xenophon named in parliament as Monsignor Dempsey.

Archbishop Hepworth did not regret Senator Xenophon naming Monsignor Dempsey in parliament.

"I have a sense of peacefulness now because I've done the best I could," he said.

Monsignor Dempsey has a right of reply in the Senate if he feels he has been defamed. He can write to the Senate president to have a formal right of reply, which is then referred to the Senate privileges committee. The committee can then decide on whether to release the statement and publish it in Hansard.

Senator Xenophon was yesterday criticised from all sides of politics for using parliamentary privilege to name Monsignor Dempsey.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said members of parliament needed to tread carefully when airing allegations under privilege.

"If you are a member of parliament and have the benefit of parliamentary privilege you need to use that very carefully," Mr Smith said. "And when you name an individual or individuals in the parliament you firstly have to be sure and clear of your ground and you have to have made a considered and deliberate judgment as to why that's necessary."

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said parliamentary privilege should be used "cautiously, judiciously, sparingly".

"It's not the role of politicians to play police, prosecutor, judge and jury," Senator Birmingham said.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said that using parliamentary privilege circumvented rights and liberties.

"We've got to make sure that everybody has got a certain presumption of innocence until proven otherwise," Senator Joyce said.

"If you have got the story wrong, then you've done an incredible injustice to the person."

Senator Xenophon told The Australian he did not regret his actions but said he was baffled by the church's decision not to tell him that the priest was being sent on leave.

"All this could have been avoided (on Tuesday)," Senator Xenophon said.

"I just want to make it clear that all I was asking for was a proper investigation and if they had told me the priest in question was going on leave it could have changed the course of action."

Acknowledgements: Additional reporting: Milanda Rout

http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com

Australian Senator Nick Xenophon names and shames rapist priest...

Nick Xenophon has used parliamentary privilege to name a priest accused of raping an Archbishop.

Senator Nick Xenophon has named a Catholic priest who is at the centre of recent male rape allegations

UPDATE 6.50pm: THE Catholic priest who was last night named by Senator Nick Xenophon over sex abuse claims has today denied any wrongdoing.

The priest had previously categorically denied raping Adelaide-based Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth decades ago.

He further denied the claims in a brief statement read to journalists this afternoon.

Flanked by a supportive parishioner and chair of the parish council, the priest reiterated his denial.

"Firstly I wish to state I am aware of John Hepworth's unsubstantiated allegations against me through an inquiry instigated by the Archbishop of Adelaide.

"As the inquiry is ongoing I have nothing further to say apart from denying the allegations."

He said he was going on holiday this weekend, as arranged before the allegations surfaced over the weekend.

The independent SA Senator last night lobbed a grenade at the Adelaide archdiocese, naming the respected local priest that he claims is at the centre of rape allegations.

Senator Xenophon said the church only "has itself to blame''.

Naming the priest in the Senate, Senator Xenophon said: "This creates a serious moral dilemma for me. It has put me as a representative of the people of SA in a situation where I have privileged information.

"And the problem with privileged information is that it can be misused to benefit only a select few.

"The question is do the people that attend this priest's parish have a right to know that serious allegations of sexual assault have been levelled at their priest?

"If my family attended this church and if church leadership had refused to stand this priest down pending a proper investigation would I believe I had a right to know?'

Senate president John Hogg warned Senator Xenophon about the purposes of parliamentary privilege before he spoke.

Senator Xenophon said: "I don't provide this information to the Senate lightly.

"But ultimately I believe given the inaction of the Catholic Church in SA, by not setting up a proper process or standing the priest down, they have created a situation where an appropriate duty of care has not been shown to the parish.''

The South Australian Catholic Church had earlier asked Mr Xenophon not to name the priest.

“The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegations and has been a person of good standing in the archdiocese for a very long time,” the church said.

Senator Xenophon said he had received overwhelming public support for his decision to name the priest. He said he would continue his push for action by the Church.

“Today I have received a large volume of correspondence from constituents expressing serious concern about the way their claims of abuse have been processed by the Catholic Church in South Australia, and I will be working with those people in the coming days,” he said.

Victorian laws 'out of touch'

Senator Xenophon also said laws that gagged and detained "name them and shame them" crusader Derryn Hinch should be reformed.

Senator Xenophon told news.com.au Victorian laws "were demonstrably out of touch with community views and community concerns”.

Hinch, serving five months home detention, cannot praise the maverick Senator for naming the accused rapist – but his wife Chanel Hinch did just a few hours ago exclusively to news.com.au

“What this does is highlight the ludicrousness of the law currently in place in Victoria. This has to change soon," she said.

“I applaud Senator Xenophon for naming in Parliament last night a Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse.’’

News.com.au sought permission to interview Hinch from the Attorney General but this was denied.

A spokesperson for Victorian Attorney General said Hinch could not be spoken to and another for the Melbourne Magistrate’s court said this would not change unless a legal challenge was mounted to the existing court order banning him from speaking publicly.

Hinch was placed under home detention in July this year and gagged from working as a journalist or speaking to the media after he named two convicted sex offenders at a public rally and then again on his personal blog in 2008.

Lawyers acting for Mr Hinch fought all the matter way to the High Court, arguing that Victoria’s Sex Offenders Monitoring Act was unconstitutional because court proceedings must be conducted publicly but lost the case.

Hinch, who is currently recovering from a life-saving liver transplant, was sentenced to five months house arrest and banned from carrying out any media-related work including blogging, tweeting or giving interviews.

The court also banned others from carrying out media work for him.

Senator Xenophon said he had received overwhelming public support for his decision to name a priest accused of raping Adelaide-based Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth about 40 years ago. He would continue his push for action by the Church.

“Today I have received a large volume of correspondence from constituents expressing serious concern about the way their claims of abuse have been processed by the Catholic Church in South Australia, and I will be working with those people in the coming days,” he said.

http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com

Obesity cure? "Skinny gene" found...

Ever wanted to know why some women can eat whatever they want and still not gain any weight? New research has found it might be due to having an 'overdose' of a certain gene.
Scientists at Britain's Imperial College London and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland discovered that a duplication of a part of chromosome 16 is associated with being underweight, Reuters reported.

Previously, researchers found that people with a missing copy of this gene are 43 times more likely to be morbidly obese but this study was the first to identify a cause of extreme thinness.

"This is the first genetic cause of extreme thinness that has been identified," said Professor Philippe Froguel from Imperial's school of public health, who led the study. "It's also the first example of a deletion and a duplication of one part of the genome having opposite effects."

DNA of more than 95,000 children were analysed and half of those with the duplication of the chromosome had previously been diagnosed with a "failure to thrive", which means their rate of weight gain is significantly slower.

Researchers said that a duplication of chromosome makes men 23 times and women five times more likely to be underweight.

Professor Froguel said that while more research is needed, this may lead to new treatments of obesity and eating disorders.

"We now plan to sequence these genes and find out what they do, so we can get an idea of which ones are involved in regulating appetite," he said.

The study was published in the journal Nature

http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com

http://health.msn.co.nz/blog.aspx?blogentryid=894953&showcomments=true

As a young priest he was abused - now forty years later he is breaking his silence...

A story from Australia: As a young priest he was subjected to years of sexual abuse by other senior clerics.

Archbishop John Hepworth has broken his silence. The Church of England primate of the traditional Anglican Communion, a breakaway faction that is seeking unity with Rome, has broken his forty year silence after the Catholic church apologised to him for the abuse he suffered as a youth. He said that four decades on, he was still scared of going near a Catholic church. He said he had fled the church in fear, and was still afraid. He was irrational,scared of the hurt and scared of the organisation.

As a 15 year old student at the St Francis Xavier Seminary in Adelaide, South Australia, his abuse began in 1960 and for the next decade he was raped repeatedly and regularly by three men. Two of these are now dead, but the third still runs a parish in South Australia. He had been at the Seminary for only a month before being taken by a prefect to the rooms of an older seminarian, John Stockdale.

Stockdale, now dead, had plied him with wine before forcing painful and vigorous anal sex on the 15 year old boy. The abuse continued for two years before he was 'passed on' to Ronald Pickering, a British priest who had moved to Melbourne and was visiting Adelaide. When father Pickering had later died, it was discovered that he had abused hundreds of boys over a 20 year period.

He remembers comments made at St Francis Xavier that such and such a priest had been sent back to Ireland because he was at the 'alter boys'.

Archbishop Hepworth spoke of the ruthless, cruel and effective way to ensure a victim's silence. After the abusive priest had repeatedly raped and subjected a teenage boy to years of abuse, the aging priest returned to his victim, by then an ordained priest himself, and admitted his crimes - in the confessional box itself.

The rapist priest knew as well as his victim that under the law of the Confessional Seal this meant he could never be exposed. But forty years later the victim is breaking his silence!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/abused-bishop-ready-to-forgive/story-e6frg6n6-1226133531732

Aussie politician to name and shame. http://au.news.yahoo.com/sa/latest/a/-/article/10246093/church-implores-senator-not-to-name-priest/

RT interviews Lawrence Wilkerson, ex-Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

A lot of lies told. US Executive and President too powerful. Iraq has 200 billion barrels of oil, larger than Saudi Arabia. Vice-President Dick Cheney told what he wanted to hear. Torture justified.

View video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQE8E4LeG6o

New Zealand's first people, the East Polynesian descended Maori, have long been known for the natural medicines they have derived by utilising certain native plants out in the New Zealand bush. They are known here as traditional Maori medicines.

Another traditional Maori medicine is being used to treat a drug resistant strain of tuberculosis (T

Researchers from Wellington's Victoria University have discovered that the bark from New Zealand's pukatea tree could eventually produce a new drug to fight potentially the deadly TB strains.

Victoria University senior lecturer Ronan O'Toole said researchers had been forced to seek new treatments as tuberculosis was becoming increasingly resistant to current drugs. He said about 300 new cases of the infectious disease are diagnosed here every year.

O'Toole's group found a variety of New Zealand native plants inhibited the growth of TB. But the most promising results came from the inner bark of the pukatea, which Maori traditionally used as a herbal pain reliever.

The bark extract fought against tuberculosis in test tube environments. Scientists plan more research to identity which compound in the bark is actually producing the positive results.

The findings of this research could ultimately offer help to millions of people worldwide who contract the deadly disease each year.

Acknowledgements: Sunday News(NZ)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurelia_novae-zelandiae

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/media/features/maori-culture/maori-culture_rongoa-maori-medicine_feature.cfm

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6882-10-25.pdf

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Robert Mugabe overthrew white supremist rule in Rhodesia, and now rules a basket case in Zimbabwe...

Gono and Mugabwe

Robet Mugabe is the onetime darling of Africa who overthrew the white supremist rule of Ian Smith in what was then known as Rhodesia, and was praised in the West for Zimbabwe's excellent education system and the country's relative prosperity. That must seem light years ago!

He has more recently become a total failure and an embarrassment. The economy has collapsed, unemployment runs at 80%, inflation is now 10,000%, and upwards of 3 million people have fled the country. Once described as the bread basket of Africa, Zimbabwe is now nothing more than a basket case. The powerful dictator is now nothing more than a pathetic old man with a terminal disease.

He has regularly attacked homosexuals, is obsessed with his fantasy that the West wants to recolonise Zimbabwe - but why would they? His regime is riven with corruption, senior figures have allotted themselves large tracts of once fertile farmland from white farmers under Mugabe's anti-white land reform process.

Wealth in Zimbabwe is dependant on political power, and in the run-up to the last elections, senior regime figures, including the heads of the army and prison service, ordered their officers to vote for Mugabe, and to continue supporting him even if he lost the elections.

What now for Robert Mugabe? An open secret for years in Zimbabwe has now filtered through to the outside through Wikileaks. Mugabe is allegedly dying of prostate cancer and has five years to live. He is now looking frail in public, sometimes resorting to using a golf-cart to get around. His Zanu-PF denies this, and calls it propaganda. It is all political of course. Mugabe wants another election to ensure that Zanu-PF is in power when he dies in office. They are actually struggling at present and will rely on Mugabe's fading political skills and popularity to retain power.

And what happens after Robert Mugabe? The Governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank Gideon Gono has reportedly had an affair with Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe. Perhaps he thinks he's had the bosses wife and can now have his job as well? Interesting times ahead for Zimbabwe.

http://nehandaradio.com/2011/09/08/wikileaks-gideon-gono-on-mugabe-succession/

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110907/wl_time/08599209211200

Claims have been made that the Swedish furniture giant allegedly used East German political prisoners as 'slave labour' to make furniture, Stasi secret police files have revealed.

Ikea developed strong ties with the East German communist state in the 1970's, opening production facilities, including one that used political prisoners to make sofas. Stasi secret police files were unearthed by WDR, the German television company,show.

The factory in Waldheim stood next to a prison whose inmates were used as slave labour, it has been claimed.

The German Democratic Republic's jails housed significant numbers of political prisoners, with an estimate they made up at least 25% of the prison population.

Ingevar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, was quoted in a Stasi file as saying he had no official knowledge of the company using prison labour, but qualified it by insinuating that if it was in Ikea's opinion that using prison labour was in society's interests it was acceptable.

Former prisoners have made statements that they were forced into slave labour with Ikea.

Kamprad, then 17 years old, founded Ikea in 1943. It was disclosed he had briefly joined a Swedish pro-fascist New Sweden movement in 1942. A new book reveals his Far-Right sympathies.

Acknowledgements: Telegraph Group

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=131839

9/11 Anniversary "Ten Years later". How does a family carry on after the death of their hero? They follow in his footsteps!

http://radio.foxnews.com/tag/911-anniversary/

Hospital doctors are to treat patients with cannabis in a world first for Greater Manchester...

Experts believe the drug can relieve pain by numbing muscles – and say it does not give users a 'high'.

It is the first time the drug has been used in a hospital anywhere in the world

Patients at North Manchester General and Fairfield in Bury have been prescribed Sativex – a medication derived from marijuana plants. They will spray the medication under their tongue up to ten times a day.

People who are terminally ill with cancer will intiially take part in the trial but if successful, its use could be extended across the country and used as a painkiller for other conditions. Eight people have already been signed up, and 32 others will be recruited over the next two years.

The drug has been available on prescription in Britain as a treatment for Multiple Sclerosis since last summer – but it has not been used in hospitals before.

Sam Jole, senior research nurse at Pennine, the trust which runs North Manchester and Fairfield, has been involved in setting up the trials and identifying, recruiting and monitoring patients.

He said: “Research in palliative care, especially looking at new drug treatments is rare.

”The majority of cancer research is focused on curing disease. Palliative care is an under-researched medical speciality and the studies are genuinely ground-breaking. I’ve been a research nurse for years and have never come across anything like it.

“It is very important to point out that patients using the spray do not experience the euphoria associated with the illegal recreational use of cannabis. It has passed strict tests for quality, safety and efficacy and doctors are already prescribing it for Multiple Sclerosis patients."

Patients involved in the study will visit either North Manchester or Fairfield General for check-ups four times over a five-week period.

They will also be required to to report their pain scores and usage of painkillers. Every evening over the phone.

Around half of them will be prescribed the active drug and the rest will receive a placebo.

The treatment was the world's first cannabis medicine to win regulatory clearance when it was approved in Canada in 2005. It was approved for use in Britain last June.

The drug, created by GW Pharmaceuticals, is made from two cannabinoid substances found in the marijuana plant, THC and CBD. THC produces a high, but CBD counteracts it, and because Sativex is an oral spray, the drug is absorbed more slowly than if it was smoked so scientists say it is impossible to 'get high' from the treatment.

Dr Iain Lawrie, consultant and honorary clinical senior lecturer in palliative medicine at North Manchester General Hospital, said: “This study is an exciting development in the field of cancer pain management. Initial clinical observations suggest that Sativex will have an important role to play in this complex area of palliative care.”

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/health/s/1457775_hospitals-in-greater-manchester-to-treat-patients-with-cannabis

The dark side to Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel brought out into the sunlight...

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was feted around the world as a pioneering fashion icon who changed the way women dressed and thought about themselves. Many biographies have been written and movies made about her incredible career - but there is a dark side that was apparently hidden but has now come out into the sunlight and the gaze of the world media.

Does it matter now many decades later? Of course it does and she will have to accept it for what it was - a dark chapter in her life the world has a right to know, and has found out. Chanel had a German lover and more intrigue followed.

It was reportedly known during WW11 that in Paris Coco Chanel had a German lover - Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage, who was portrayed by many biographers as a blond, blue-eyed charmer - a kind of tennis-playing playboy type. But they didn't know the real von Dincklage, either!

He was actually a high-powered member of the Nazi Party, a third generation war hero and had been a German intelligence officer (the Abwehr) sinjce 1919, and had met top Nazi leaders Hitler and Goebbels in 1941.

He had been Coco Chanel's lover for 9 years, reportedly one of a long stream of rich men who had furthered her career.

And Dincklage was the reason Chanel was able to live at the "Ritz" - the Ritz Hotel in Paris, which the Nazis had requisitioned for their exclusive use. He was also the recruiter for her secret career - spying for the Abwehr, and ultimately going on two missions to Madrid.

When researching for his now published book, " Sleeping with the Enemy", American author, Hal Vaughan, was researching the activities of an American intelligence officer H. Gregory Thomas, when he came across an intriguing document showing that in 1940, he Thomas, had been sent to Paris by the Wertheimer Bros, 70% owners of Chanel's perfume business, to steal the formula for Chanel No 5. During this research he came across a document that proved Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel had spied for the Nazis - she was Agent F-7124 in the Abwehr's Berlin register. He soon realised that there were many reports about Chanel.

" One must not let oneself be forgotten, one must stay on the toboggan. The toboggan is what people who are talked about ride on. One must get a front seat and not let oneself be put out of it"

Coco Chanel

She once bragged that she was able to launch the House of Chanel "Because two gentlemen were outbidding each other for my hot little body."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-war-2/8704910/Coco-Chanel-was-a-Nazi-agent-during-Second-World-War.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3002772/coco_before_chanel_movie_trailer_1/

Still a price on Ned Kelly's head 130 years after he was hanged.

DNA has proven the skeleton found is actually that of Australia's most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly - but the skull that acompanies it is a fake.

So once again old Ned has a price on his head.

Scientists found Kelly's remains among the bones of 24 unidentified prisoners on the site of an old prison in Victoria, Australia.

They used DNA from a descendant 130 years after the scourge of Victorian lawmen was hanged for bush ranging.

The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine scientists led a 20 month investigation that combined DNA analysis, CT scanning, X-rays, pathology, odontology, anthropology and historical research.

But where is Ned kelly's head?

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/bushranger-ned-kelly-still-has-a-price-on-his-head/story-e6freuzr-1226127669703

A Michigan man claims skin cancer cure with medical marijuana - but dermatologist refutes claim...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis

A Ferndale, Michigan, resident Michael McShane claims he has found a cure for his skin cancer - medical marijuana. He has been using an oil made from the MM on a skin cancer on his forehead for a couple of months and it is nearly gone now.

He claims to have biopsies, chart notes and photographs and in three weeks should wrap this case up. He claims the oil is made the same way as fragrances and perfumes are made. After 10 weeks of application of this oil to the skin cancer on his forehead his cancer is gone. He freely admits to having smoked marijuana since his teens. "It went from a party to a cure for cancer." he said.

But not quite! A dermatologist, Ali Moin has refuted Mr McShane's claims he has been cured. His cancer cells have reduced by 60%, and certainly warrants further scientific study.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/08/29/skin-cancer-patient-says-oil-from-medical-marijuana-is-a-cure/#photo-1

http://www.medicalmarijuana.net/

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1011/S00198/nz-government-legalises-medical-marijuana.htm

http://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform/medical-marijuana-one-step-away-fda-development-process

Acknowledgements: http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com