“2 N. Koreans held in assassination plot” plus 1 more |
| 2 N. Koreans held in assassination plot Posted: 21 Apr 2010 07:36 AM PDT SEOUL (AP) -- Posing as refugees, a pair of North Korean spies made their way to South Korea with a mission to assassinate the regime's most high-profile defector -- a man who once mentored leader Kim Jong-Il, authorities said Wednesday. Hwang Jang-yop, chief architect of North Korea's guiding "juche" philosophy of self-reliance, was one of North Korea's most powerful officials when he fled the impoverished nation 13 years ago in a defection that reportedly enraged Mr. Kim. This week, two North Korean army majors were arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill the 87-year-old Mr. Hwang, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Wednesday. The two, both 36, confessed to investigators that they were ordered to report back on Mr. Hwang's activities and to prepare to "slit the betrayer's throat," a senior prosecutor said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. The arrests Tuesday come as tensions escalate over the sinking of a South Korean warship that mysteriously exploded last month near the North Korean border. Speculation is mounting that Pyongyang may have been behind the blast. Mr. Hwang, who lives with around-the-clock police protection because of concerns about North Korean attempts on his life, shrugged off the arrests and said they did not intimidate him, the Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified acquaintance. "I called Hwang after watching news of the agents' arrest, but he told me, 'Why are you concerned about such a thing?'" the report quoted the friend as saying. The arrests of the North Koreans are the first in connection with a plot against the man who once was a close confidant of Mr. Kim's, the prosecutor said. Mr. Hwang worked as Mr. Kim's private tutor on his "juche" philosophy, according to South Korean media reports. The men, identified as Kim Myong-ho and Dong Myong-kwan, made their way from Yanji, China, to Thailand posing as defectors. Thai authorities deported one to South Korea in January, the other in February, the prosecutor said. The two were arrested after their mission emerged during questioning about their motives for defecting, he said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Doctor groups set new policy to curb industry sway Posted: 21 Apr 2010 07:41 AM PDT (04-21) 07:18 PDT , (AP) -- No more letting industry help pay for developing medical guidelines. Restrictions on consulting deals. And no more pens with drug company names or other swag at conferences. These are part of a new ethics code that dozens of leading medical groups announced Wednesday, aimed at limiting the influence that drug and device makers have over patient care. It's the most sweeping move ever taken by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies to curb conflict of interest — a growing concern as private industry bankrolls a greater share of medical research. The council includes 32 medical societies with 650,000 members, from neurologists and obstetricians to family doctors and pediatricians. They include the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest group of cancer specialists in the world. "We take very seriously the trust that is placed in us by physicians and patients to be authoritative, independent voices in cancer care," ASCO's chief, Dr. Allen Lichter, said in a statement. He led the panel that developed the code. One of its most controversial rules: requiring top leaders of any medical society and top editors of its journals to have no consulting deals or financial ties to industry. "When a physician stands up to represent medicine and his or her specialty, there shouldn't be any confusion as to who they're speaking for," said Dr. Norman Kahn, the council's chief executive and a former rural medicine doctor from California. The code requires groups to: _Publicly post any industry support the group receives, such as money for continuing education sessions. _Decline industry funding for developing medical practice guidelines, such as who should get a drug, a test or treatment. Require that most members of a guidelines panel be free of financial ties to industry. _Disclose any financial ties that leaders and board members have with companies. _Ban company or product names and logos from pens, bags and other giveaways at conferences. Fourteen groups in the council, including ASCO and the College of Physicians, have already adopted the code. Most of the rest plan to by the end of the year. Last year, leading medical journals agreed to use a uniform conflict-of-interest disclosure form for researchers publishing in their journals. The new ethics code the council is adopting should make financial ties more transparent to patients and breed professionalism and trust in doctors, Kahn said. ___ On the Net: Ethics code: www.cmss.org/codeforinteractions.aspx Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Yahoo! News Search Results for Philosophy To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment