Small British Start Up Company May Have Found Cure for Cancer

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Photo Credit: independent.co.ukA single-storey workshop on a nondescript business park in Oxfordshire is not the sort of place where you would expect scientific revolutions to take place. But behind the white-painted walls of this small start-up company, scientists are talking about the impossible – a potential cure for cancer.

For the past 20 years, the former academics who set up Immunocore have worked hard on realising their dream of developing a totally new approach to cancer treatment, and finally it looks as if their endeavours are beginning to pay off. In the past three weeks, the company has signed contracts with two of the biggest players in the pharmaceuticals industry which could lead to hundreds of millions of pounds flowing into the firm’s unique research on cancer immunotherapy – using the body’s own immune system to fight tumour cells.

Immunocore is probably the only company in the world that has developed a way of harnessing the power of the immune system’s natural-born killer cells: the T-cells of the blood which nature has designed over millions of years of evolution to seek out and kill invading pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. T-cells are not nearly as good at finding and killing cancer cells, but the hard-nosed executives of the drugs industry – who are notoriously cautious when it comes to investments – believe Immunocore may have found a way around this so that cancer patients in future are able to fend off their disease with their own immune defences.

“Immunotherapy is radically different,” said Bent Jakobsen, the Danish-born chief scientific officer of Immunocore who started to study T-cells 20 years ago while working at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. “It doesn’t do away with the other cancer treatments by any means, but it adds something to the arsenal that has one unique feature – it may have the potency to actually cure cancer,” Dr Jakobsen said.

It is this potency that has attracted the attention of Genentech in California, owned by the Swiss giant Roche, and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline. Both companies have independently signed deals with Immunocore that could result in up to half a billion pounds being invested in new cancer treatments based on its unique T-cell therapy.

Read more from this story HERE.

Teachers Denied Schoolboy, 10, Water on the Hottest Day of the Year to Avoid Upsetting Muslim Pupils During Ramadan’

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Photo Credit: Matt Scott-JoyntAn angry mother has accused a primary school of denying her child water on one of the hottest days of the year for fear of upsetting pupils observing Ramadan.

Kora Blagden, 32, claimed a teacher at her son Luke’s school refused to let the 10-year old drink from his water bottle because it was unfair to fasting classmates.

Many pupils at Charles Dickens Primary School, Portsmouth, Hampshire, are fasting during Ramadan, which means they refrain from taking food or water between sunrise and sunset for around 30 days, depending on the moon.

Mother-of-four Kora said: ‘Just before bedtime me and my sons Luke, ten, and Alfie, eight, were talking about Ramadan as we had seen it on the news.

‘Luke said to me he was told he wasn’t allowed to drink in class by his teacher.

‘The reason being, a child who is fasting had a headache and the teacher said it would be unfair if the other children drank in front of the pupil.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ex-Knick Davis Says He Was ‘Actually Abducted by Aliens Two Weeks Ago,’ and it Turned Out Pretty Good

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Photo Credit: Anthony J. CausiBy Justin Terranova. Former Knick guard Baron Davis said he was recently scouted — by a bunch of ETs!

“I was actually abducted by aliens like two weeks ago,” the two-time NBA All-Star announced on this week’s “The Champs” podcast…

Davis then launches into a several-minute-long description of driving from Vegas to L.A. and suddenly finding himself getting poked in the eyes by “f—ing ugly mother f—ers” in a steel spaceship.

“I’m a little tired and s—,” he begins. “And I see this light and I think it’s a big ass truck, you know, like, aww, f—. Like it’s gonna be traffic.

“And I was driving, driving, then next thing you know, dude, like, I was in this f—ing like steel thing and these f—ing crazy looking peole, like half-human, half, like, f—ing ugly motherf—ers,” he tells the podcast hosts. read more from this story HERE.

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NY Knicks player Baron Davis claims he was abducted by aliens

By Taylor Biggler. The pro basketball player told the West Coast Rydaz podcast Friday that he was driving from Las Vegas to Los Angeles when he was allegedly probed by “half-human” aliens.

“[I was] driving, driving and the next thing you know there’s a steel thing and these crazy-looking people — half-human, half ugly-looking motherfuckers,” he said. ”I see this light and it’s a big ass truck. And I said, oh fuck, this is going to be traffic,” he said.

According to Davis, “They were poking me on the nose, looking at my eyes, they had my hands tied and the next thing you know I was in Montebello,dude, burning rubber on the way back to L.A. at 4 o’clock in the morning.” Read more from this story HERE.

Horrific Scenes From the Bloodiest Day Yet of This Year’s Running of the Bulls (+video)

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Photo Credit: Reuters He was running excitedly for his life with 1,200lb of raging bull on his tail. And then he tripped.

In that split second yesterday, this young thrill-seeker’s carnival adventure turned into a horror show that put him inches from death.

Before screaming crowds and live on TV, he was trampled, tossed and crushed, gored in the groin and impaled at one stage on the bull’s horn.

He spent 40 seconds at the mercy of the massive black beast before helpers managed to drag him to safety.

Incredibly, he survived. But yesterday the incident reignited controversy over this year’s Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain, on what became its bloodiest day.

Three people were gored and at least six badly injured in the run, celebrated annually by participants from all over the world and universally condemned by campaigners against animal cruelty.

Video: (WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT)

Read more from this story HERE.

Wal-Mart Says No To Living Wage, Could Leave Washington DC

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Photo Credit: APThe country’s largest private employer dared Washington D.C. lawmakers to call its bluff. Just 24 hours before a key vote, executives and lobbyists from Wal-Mart issued the following threat to D.C. council members “try to force us to pay our employees a living wage, and we will not build stores in the District.”

The council was voting to pass a living wage bill, which would require retailers such as Wal-Mart, Lowes, Costco and Home Depot to pay higher wages to their employees. Wal-Mart’s plan was to pack up and leave, promising to cancel plans for at least three of the six Wal-Mart stores if the proposal becomes law. One lawmaker said it felt like Wal-Mart was “sticking guns to council members’ heads.”

Still D.C. council members held their ground and voted 8-5 this afternoon to require retailers with corporate sales of $one billion or more and operating space of 75,000 sq ft or larger to pay their employees no less than $12.50 an hour.

That would equate to a $26,000 annual salary in a town listed as number nine on a list of most expensive places to live in the country.

But the eight votes still leaves the council one vote shy of being able to override a potential veto from D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, who has pushed Wal-Mart to plan stores in the city in underserved neighborhoods.

Read more from this story HERE.

Political Activism Causes Obama’s Spiritual Adviser to Lose 10 Percent of His Congregation

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Photo Credit: APPresident Barack Obama’s spiritual adviser, Joel Hunter, may be losing his footing in conservative evangelical circles where he was once supported. His continued connection to the commander in chief, despite major social and political rifts, may be a driving reason for the loss of support that Hunter, 65, is experiencing.

Most recently, it was reported that the preacher has paid the price for his move away from conservative politics: His house of worship, Northland Church in Longwood, Fla., has lost an estimated 10 percent of its congregants.

Looking back at Hunter’s history, it may be understandable why his more moderate stances and his work with Obama would create some angst among more conservative church members.

…Christianity Today reported about his overt and official severance from the GOP. The reason, Hunter claimed, was an uneasiness he felt about identifying with any particular political Party, which often leads to partisanship and fosters division. After four decades as a Republican, he decidedly left the party; interestingly, this unfolded after he began advising Obama.

Since his decision to become one of the primary religious voices for the Obama White House, Hunter has been listed as one of Orlando Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful” citizens for three consecutive years (2009 to 2011). His escalating public influence has landed him appearances on shows like CBS’ “The Early Show,” PBS’ “Religion & Ethics” and CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.” And parishioners have taken notice…His shift from right to center-right has led some to believe that Hunter is too willing to compromise his beliefs and succumb to a spirit of tolerance and passivism.

Read more from this story HERE.

Of Democratic Rats and Sinking Ships

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Photo Credit: David C. FosterAccording to legend, seafaring rats may possess an almost supernatural psychic ability to predict the future or to interpret natural lore such that they would have foreknowledge of the doom of the ship. They would leave, swim away, and take their chances in the open water rather than going down with the ship.

Absent scientific data to confirm the legend, the metaphor “like rats leaving a sinking ship” seems to have taken on a life of its own that may be used to describe certain committed leftists who have interpreted the proverbial tealeaves or seen the “handwriting on the wall” regarding the Affordable Health Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare.

To wit: Montana Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and one of the architects of Obamacare, expressed his sense of hopelessness concerning the financial implementation of Obamacare in a harangue directed at Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius in which he characterized the (not so) Affordable Healthcare Act as a “huge train wreck.”

On April 23 the former chairman of the miscarried super-committee announced that he is bowing out of politics and will not seek re-election in 2014. That’s one Democrat rat that has abandoned the Obamacare ship.

After suffering immense political damage from her “What difference does it make?” remark regarding the cause of the tragic deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the author of failed 1990s “Hillarycare,” once more abandoned public life. Some have suggested it was former presidential candidate Clinton who coined the word Obamacare.” For whatever reasons, the once Obamacare sycophant has fallen silent from shilling for the Affordable Healthcare Act. That is two metaphorical Democratic rats off the sinking ship of state.

Read more from this story HERE.

Brazilian Man Dies After Cow Falls Through His Roof On Top of Him

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Photo Credit: AlamyJoao Maria de Souza, 45, had been in bed with his wife Leni when the animal fell through the ceiling of their home in Caratinga, southeast Brazil.

The cow is believed to have escaped from a nearby farm and climbed onto the roof of the couple’s house, which backs onto a steep hill on Wednesday night.

The corrugated roof immediately gave way and the one-and-a-half-ton animal fell eight feet onto Mr de Souza’s side of the bed.

His wife, and the cow, both reportedly escaped unharmed.

Rescuers took Mr de Souza to hospital with a fractured left leg but no other obvious injuries, reporting that he was conscious and talking normally.

Read more from this story HERE.

South Florida Prepares For Zimmerman Verdict (+video)

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBy Lauren Pastrana. The Miami-Dade Police Department is partnering with local pastors in anticipation of the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.

From the pulpit of the Peaceful Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Miami-Dade Police Director JD Patterson preached peace Thursday evening.

“Riots are not acceptable and riots are not expected,” Patterson said.

MDPD’s motto for the outcome of the case is “Be vocal, not violent.”

“We don’t have anything to give us any indication otherwise, so we expect a peaceful event as a result of the verdict,” Patterson told CBS 4′s Lauren Pastrana. Read more from this story HERE.

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Zimmerman jury adjourns deliberations for the day

By Mike Schneider and Kyle Hightower. With police and civic leaders urging calm, a jury began deliberating George Zimmerman’s fate Friday after hearing dueling portraits of the neighborhood watch captain: a cop wannabe who took the law into his own hands or a well-meaning volunteer who shot Trayvon Martin because he feared for his life.

As the jury got the murder case, police in this Orlando suburb went on national television to plead for peace in Sanford and across the country, no matter what the verdict.

“There is no party in this case who wants to see any violence,” Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said. “We have an expectation upon this announcement that our community will continue to act peacefully.”

During closing arguments, Zimmerman’s lawyers put a concrete slab and two life-size cardboard cutouts in front of the jury box in one last attempt to convince the panel Zimmerman shot the unarmed black 17-year-old in self-defense while his head was being slammed against the pavement.

Attorney Mark O’Mara used the slab to make the point that it could serve as a weapon. He showed the cutouts of Zimmerman and Martin to demonstrate that the teenager was considerably taller. And he displayed a computer-animated depiction of the fight based on Zimmerman’s account. Read more from this story HERE.

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MSNBC host regrets this ‘awful mistake’ in network’s Zimmerman trial coverage

By Jason Howerton. MSNBC on Thursday afternoon aired a graphic and disturbing photograph of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s dead body while covering the George Zimmerman murder trial. The image flashed on the screen for about one second.

The shocking image was aired during “News Nation” with Tamron Hall. After being confronted on Twitter, including by some of her “avid” fans, over the “disrespectful” image, Hall claimed it was an “awful mistake.”

“I didn’t see it flash.. an awful mistake,” she tweeted.

The provocative blog Gawker took notice of MSNBC’s move to air the photo and published it as well. It went with a controversial headline that clearly intends to incite rage about the Zimmerman case. Read more from this story HERE.

Texas Passes Historic Abortion Restrictions While Protesters Attempt to Bring Feces, Urine into Capitol

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Photo Credit: APBy Fox News. The Texas Senate late Friday passed tough new abortion restrictions after weeks of protests, sending them to Gov. Rick Perry to sign into law.

The vote came after weeks of protests and rallies drew thousands to the Capitol and made Texas the focus of the national abortion debate.

Republicans used their majority to pass the bill nearly three weeks after a filibuster by Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis and an outburst by abortion-rights supporters in the Senate gallery disrupted a deadline vote.

Called back for a new special session by Perry, lawmakers took up the bill again as thousands of supporters and opponents held rallies and jammed the Capitol to testify at public hearings.

In a statement released just after the vote, Perry said, “Today the Texas Legislature took its final step in our historic effort to protect life. This legislation builds on the strong and unwavering commitment we have made to defend life and protect women’s health.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Texas Department of Public Safety Press Release Confirms Feces, Urine Taken from Pro-Abortion Protesters Trying to Gain Entrance to Capitol

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) today received information that individuals planned to use a variety of items or props to disrupt legislative proceedings at the Texas Capitol.

Therefore for safety purposes, DPS recommended to the Texas Senate that all bags be inspected prior to allowing individuals to enter the Senate gallery, which the Texas Senate authorized.

During these inspections, DPS officers have thus far discovered one jar suspected to contain urine, 18 jars suspected to contain feces, and three bottles suspected to contain paint. All of these items – as well as significant quantities of feminine hygiene products, glitter and confetti possessed by individuals – were required to be discarded; otherwise those individuals were denied entry into the gallery.

In the interest of the safety and security of Texas legislators and the general public, these inspections will continue until the conclusion of Senate business.