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WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people have been killed amid 84 sickened in 19 states in listeria outbreak traced to Colorado cantaloupes, making it the most deadly U.S. outbreak of food-borne infection since 1998, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday.Of the 15 victims, five were in New Mexico, three in Colorado, two in Texas, and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Health departments in Wyoming and Kansas have said they are investigating additional deaths that may be connected to the outbreak.The previous toll announced on Tuesday was 13 dead and 72 sick.The Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 14 warned consumers not to eat cantaloupes from Colorado's Rocky Ford region shipped by Jensen Farms. The cantaloupes with the brand name Rocky Ford were distributed from July 29 to Sept. 10 in at least 17 states."Even if some of the cantaloupe has been eaten without becoming ill, dispose of the rest of the cantaloupe immediately. Listeria bacteria can grow in the cantaloupe at room and refrigerator temperatures," the CDC said.Listeria is a common bacterium that typically causes mild illness in healthy people, but can cause severe illness in older people and those with compromised immune systems. It also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women and severe infections in new babies.Listeria infections lead to about 1,600 serious illnesses each year and about 260 people die, according to the CDC.The CDC estimates that about 48 million people in the U.S. each year get sick from tainted food, with about 128,000 hospitalized and 3,000 deaths.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A new study examining weather patterns around the worldwide pandemics of influenza, which caused widespread death and illness in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009, finds that each of them was preceded by La Nina conditions in the equatorial Pacific. The study findings are published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.The study's authors -- Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard School of Public Health -- note that the La Nina pattern is known to alter the migratory patterns of birds, which are thought to be a primary reservoir of human influenza. The scientists theorize that altered migration patterns promote the development of dangerous new strains of influenza.To examine the relationship between weather patterns and influenza pandemics, the researchers studied records of ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific in the fall and winter before the four most recent flu pandemics emerged. They found that all four pandemics were preceded by below-normal sea surface temperatures -- consistent with the La Nina phase of the El Nino- Southern Oscillation.The authors cite other research showing that the La Nina pattern alters the migration, stopover time, fitness and interspecies mixing of migratory birds. These conditions could favor the kind of gene swapping or genetic reassortment that creates novel and therefore potentially more variations of the influenza virus."We know that pandemics arise from dramatic changes in the influenza genome. Our hypothesis is that La Nina sets the stage for these changes by reshuffling the mixing patterns of migratory birds, which are a major reservoir for influenza," says Shaman.Changes in migration not only alter the pattern of contact among bird species, they could also change the ways that birds come into contact with domestic animals like pigs. Gene-swapping between avian and pig influenza viruses was a factor in the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kfir Damari, a communication systems engineer, has a dream: to land a miniature spacecraft on the moon sometime in 2013.Damari is one of the founders of Team SpaceIL, a non-profit organization representing Israel in the Google Lunar X Competition. The prize: 20 million U.S. dollars to the first of the 26 international teams currently registered that lands an unmanned craft on the moon, moves it a minimum of 500 meters across the lunar surface and transmits live high-resolution images back to earth."It's a tough mission, but I believe that if everyone in Israel joins hands it's possible," Damari told Xinhua.It is exactly the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that Israel, a country largely void of natural resources, counts on to make it a global leader in technological innovation.The two other men behind the initiative are Yonatan Winetraub, 25, a systems engineer at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and a graduate of NASA's International Space University, and Yariv Bash, 31, a computer scientist and electronics engineer. The three first met at an innovation conference held by IAI a year ago.They describe the lander as a nano-satellite, whose design was revealed at the project's official inauguration ceremony on Thursday. The vessel weighs 100 kg, 80 percent of which are fuel, and is outfitted with rocket boosters and a panoramic camera."It's somewhat of a cellular phone sitting on a large fuel tank. All the technology that we require is basically contained in a typical smartphone with its communication and imaging features," Damari said.Launched in 2007, the Lunar X Prize aims to encourage space enthusiasts and engineers worldwide to develop cheap technologies for robotic space exploration.The Israelis have slated a modest 15 million U.S. dollars for the endeavor, 90 percent of which must come from private contributions according to the competition's rules. They have already raised 3.5 million dollars.The fact that they have formed a non-profit NGO in itself is worthy of praise. Most other teams have obtained the patronage of private corporations for whom money is not a problem, with some reportedly allotting up to 100 million U.S. dollars.To compensate for the disparities in funding, Damari and his partners have enlisted the support of 120 local volunteers, many of them engineers holding top positions in the technological and scientific community as well as the country's leading defense industries.Rona Ramon, the widow of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon killed aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle in 2003, was one of the sponsors too.In a bid to keep costs down, SpaceIL is heavily relying on the existing knowledge accumulated by Israel's defense industries over the past decades in building and launching mainly small, lightweight communications and military surveillance satellites into space.The challenge, Damari said, is to take that know-how a step further. The professionals who have volunteered for the project, among them some of Israel's most revered space experts, are currently grappling with several issues, including the ignition system, optic-visual navigation, beaming imagery to earth and the intricacies of enabling the nano-satellite a smooth lunar landing.SpaceIL is still searching for a third party that they will lease to launch their vehicle into space. Once there, they will have to navigate it to the moon on their own.While 20 million U.S. dollars is a major motivator for anyone, the Israelis said they're not seeking personal gain, but rather plan to invest the prize money in the vision that originally prompted their registration in December last year: inspiring the country's younger generation to pursue engineering and the sciences and to dream big, just like Neil Armstrong did when he disembarked from the Apollo 11 and took the first step on the moon in 1969.The funds, they said, will be funneled to educational programs that seek to rejuvenate youths' interest in science disciplines, which have been on the decline in the country's high schools in recent decades."We hope to attract the next generation of kids, to enable them to be engineers and scientists and to make sure that we have more people that can build spaceships in Israel in the future," said Damari.He and the other men behind the initiative also acknowledge that their motives are no less driven by patriotism. Winning the Lunar X has the potential to create national pride and put Israel "on the map as a start-up nation" by accomplishing a feat reserved for superpowers."The moon is something you see every day. I think that for me personally, space exploration is the way to enlist the nation to do something that has not yet been done," said Damari, who started programming aged six and wrote his first computer virus aged 11."It's also about exploring new borders, going the distance. (The project) will leverage Israel's space industry. I'm sure that all the industries that will partner with us will learn a lot and develop new applications, especially for the civilian market," he said.On Thursday, Israeli President Shimon Peres, whose name has become synonymous with the nation's hi-tech industries, honored the trio by unveiling their model at the ceremony held at MABAT -- IAI's missiles and space division near Tel Aviv."More than Israel is leading technology, it is likely to lead Israel. It's the key to our economy ... If they win the prize, and I'm sure they will, it will also reward Israel with the deepest appreciation and the best deterrence," Peres told a crowd of senior executives from local defense industries."I admire your audacity and vision," he complimented the three scientists.Will they realize their ambition? Damari expressed humble optimism, "It's not easy, but certainly possible ... We believe we can win."

NEW YORK, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- For the 34-year-old Alexis Steinman, Oct. 3 would have been a great day, because her father Ralph Steinman was announced winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.But as she talked to Xinhua at the Rockefeller University where his father worked, she said the day was rather "bittersweet"."This is the moment, but my Dad was not here," said Alexis, trying to hold her tears.The Canadian-born cell biologist Ralph Steinman died of pancreatic cancer on Friday at the age of 68, three days before he was announced the joint winner along with Prof. Bruce Beutler and Prof. Jules Hoffman for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine."We even talked about the Nobel Prize days before his death," Alexis added."We were like 'OK Dad, I know things aren't going well but the Nobel, they are going to announce it next Monday'. And he was like 'I know I have got to hold out for that. They don't give it to you if you have passed away,'" she said."It's really impossible to describe how our family is feeling right now. We're devastated to have lost Ralph,"Steinman' s son Adam Steinman told reporters at the press conference at Rockefeller University. "We're so incredibly proud of Dad for receiving this wonderful honor ... We know he will live on through his scientific contributions," he said.Rockefeller University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne told reporters during Monday's press conference that the university only heard of Steinman's death from the family about half an hour after news of the Nobel prize came out from Sweden."We are all deeply saddened by his death, " said Tessier- Lavigne , adding that Steinman had been treating himself with a groundbreaking therapy based on his research into the body's immune system.He said Steinman's research has laid the foundation for numerous discoveries in the critically important field of immunology, and it has led to innovative new approaches in how people treat cancer, infectious diseases and disorders of the immune system.Steinman's first student and close colleague Michel Nussenzweig told the press conference packed with reporters, students and professors that "one of the interesting things about Ralph and his discovery is that no one believes it for a really long time.""What was amazing about Ralph was that he just knew that, even though nobody else believed it, this was really important, and he persisted, and finally after a very long time, everyone just found out it was true," Nussenzweig said."Ralph worked until last week. His dream was to use his discovery to make vaccines and it is a dream that is pretty close, and we are all continuing to work to make that come true," he added.The Nobel Foundation made a statement after learning Steinman's death, saying that the decision to award the prize to the Canadian scientist would remain unchanged despite his death, and the prize money will be transferred to his estate.

CANNES, France, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday delivered a speech at the G20 Summit in the French resort city of Cannes. The following is the full text of Hu's speech.Promote Growth Through Win-Win CooperationRemarks by H.E. Hu JintaoPresident of the People's Republic of ChinaAt the Sixth G20 SummitCannes, 3 November 2011President Nicolas Sarkozy,Dear Colleagues,I am glad to come to Cannes to attend the sixth G20 Summit and explore with you ways to counter risks and challenges and promote global development. First of all, I wish to express sincere thanks to you, President Sarkozy, and the French government for the active efforts and thoughtful arrangements you have made for the summit.Currently, the world economic situation needs our high attention. Some major economies are experiencing economic slowdown, and some countries are facing acute sovereign debt problems. Volatility in the international financial markets persists. High inflationary pressure confronts emerging markets. The turbulence in west Asia and north Africa continues. And extreme weather and frequent natural disasters have also exerted negative impact on the world economy. As a result, the global economic recovery is fraught with instability and uncertainty and encounters growing risks and challenges.What has happened since the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008 shows that we are facing not just an economic and financial crisis. It is a crisis that has exposed certain deficiencies in the existing institutions and mechanisms, policies and approaches, and ways of development. The world economy is now at a crossroads and global economic governance faces arduous tasks. It is imperative that we stand on a higher plane, transcend differences on specific issues, move beyond short-term considerations, and jointly seek ways to overcome the crisis and sustain development. As the premier forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 must continue to demonstrate the spirit of standing together in times of adversity and pursuing win-win cooperation. At this critical moment, the G20 must work to address the key problems, boost market confidence, defuse risks and meet challenges, and promote global economic growth and financial stability. I wish to make the following proposals in this connection.