United Nations
Birth-control deal to save 300,000 lives
Prices for long-acting contraception will be halved for 27 million women in the developing world through a new partnership, former President Bill Clinton and other world leaders announced Wednesday.
The deal will help avoid almost 30 million unwanted pregnancies and save an estimated $250 million in health-care costs, the partnership said. By slowing down the pace of births and avoiding medical problems such as premature births, the partnership said about 30,000 maternal deaths and 280,000 child deaths can be avoided.
Bayer HealthCare, the maker of the Jadelle progestogen implants, agreed to reduce their price by more than half in exchange for a six-year purchasing commitment from a coalition made up of the Norwegian, British, U.S. and Swedish governments, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and The Children's Investment Fund Foundation.
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The implants are inserted into the inner side of the upper arm and last five years.
Switzerland
Group claims to ID earlier 'Mona Lisa'
GENEVA - A Zurich-based foundation says it will prove to the world today that Leonardo Da Vinci painted an earlier version of the Mona Lisa - a claim doubted by at least one expert on the multifaceted Renaissance artist.
The Mona Lisa Foundation, which has been working with the anonymous owners of the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," says that after 35 years of research, experts believe it predates the famed 16th-century masterpiece by some 11 or 12 years.
"So far, not one scientific test has been able to disprove that the painting is by Leonardo," said art historian Stanley Feldman, a foundation member and principal author of a foundation book entitled "Mona Lisa: Leonardo's Earlier Version" to be released today.
The Isleworth painting - likewise a portrait of a young woman with an enigmatic smile - is slightly larger, was painted on canvas and has brighter colors than the famed Louvre Museum masterpiece painted on wood.
The foundation says the painting turned up in the home of an English nobleman in the late 1800s - thus the connection to Isleworth - and was shipped to the United States for safekeeping during World War I.
After the war, it was analyzed in Italy, and eventually taken to Switzerland where it remained in a bank vault for the last 40 years, the group said.
Britain
Court halts extradition of terrorism suspect
LONDON - A British court issued an injunction Wednesday blocking the extradition of a radical cleric to the United States on terror charges, granting a court hearing for an appeal.
Mustafa Kamal Mustafa - better known as Abu Hamza al-Masri - challenged his extradition on charges that include helping set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon. The appeal marked yet another legal twist in a case that has wound its way through the courts for eight years.
Khaled Al-Fawwaz, a second terror suspect, has also mounted a legal challenge before Britain's High Court.
Britain's Home Office immediately challenged the appeals.
Authorities said a hearing would be held Tuesday to consider the two men's applications.
Sonn Macmillan Walker, a London law firm representing al-Masri, declined to provide details "given the sensitive nature of this matter."
The Associated Press
