The UN’s oil-for-food programme was designed to ease some of the humanitarian side effects of the international sanctions that were then in force against Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein’s leadership, the country was allowed to sell limited quantities of oil in order to buy in some food and medicines. But it’s known that the system was mired in corruption. Iraqi officials selected preferred foreign partners, who then used a variety of dodges to channel money either to their own accounts or back to Iraq. It was claimed that the oil group Total was involved in the scam as well as the 86-year-old former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua. But in its judgement, the court ruled that the evidence was unconvincing.
Fertility doctors in Belgium say they’ve devised a simplified form of IVF that could make the treatment affordable for childless couples around the world. Researchers in the city of Genk say 12 children have already been born using the technique costing less than $300. James Gallagher reports.
One of the main barriers to fertility treatment is the price. The Genk Institute for Fertility Technology tried to simplify the process to make it cheaper. They used bicarbonate of soda to replace expensive ways of controlling carbon dioxide levels around the embryo. The researchers’ aim is to bring IVF to the developing world. Fertility doctors said the findings needed to be tested further, but that the implications of the study could be truly enormous.