(MENAFN - AFP) Italian lawmakers on Wednesday gave their final approval to a law that allows limited use of a controversial type of stem cell therapy which has been condemned by many scientists but has given hope to families of terminally-ill children.

The law gives the go-ahead for therapy being carried out by the Stamina Foundation on dozens of patients to continue, ...

(MENAFN - AFP) A Japanese cancer specialist said Wednesday she has started the world's first clinical trial of a powerful, non-surgical, short-term radiation therapy for breast cancer.

The National Institute of Radiological Sciences has begun the trial using "heavy ion radiotherapy" which emits a pinpoint beam that can be accurately directed at malignant cells, said Kumiko ...

(MENAFN - AFP) A Japanese cancer specialist said Wednesday she has started the world's first clinical trial of a powerful, non-surgical, short-term radiation therapy for breast cancer.

The National Institute of Radiological Sciences has begun the trial using "heavy ion radiotherapy" which emits a pinpoint beam that can be accurately directed at malignant cells, said Kumiko ...

(MENAFN - AFP) World number one platinum producer Anglo American Platinum may cut fewer than the 6,000 jobs announced earlier after talks with the South African government and unions, it announced Wednesday.

The parties have "agreed on measures and mitigation plans that will preserve jobs," the firm said in a statement.

The company announced 6,000 lay-offs two weeks ...

(MENAFN - AFP) Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a leading microchip maker, Wednesday said it has spent $110 million setting up a research and development unit in Singapore.

The unit will undertake R&D collaborations with local research institutes, such as Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics, the company said in a statement.

UMC is the ...

(MENAFN - AFP) British retail sales slid unexpectedly last month amid cold spring weather, official data showed on Wednesday.

Retail sales sank by 1.3 percent in April from March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced in a statement.

Market expectations had been for a rise of 0.1 percent, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires.

Retail sales ...

(MENAFN - AFP) German software giant SAP has said it intended to employ hundreds of people globally with autism as software testers and programmers over the next seven years.

The company, which has already launched pilot projects in India and Ireland, said Tuesday that the move aimed to find workers "who think differently", leading to innovation.

By 2020, one percent ...

(MENAFN - AFP) Venezuela's National Assembly approved a $79 million credit to import toilet paper and other personal hygiene products to relieve shortages in the petroleum-rich state.

The South American OPEC member has the world's largest proven oil reserves but has wrestled with periodic shortages of several consumer goods since price controls were imposed in 2003 under ...

(MENAFN - AFP) EU leaders, desperate to give growth a boost, target energy policy Wednesday amid concerns a US-led revolution in shale oil and gas development will reshape the global economy and leave Europe far behind.

Stuck in the doldrums, Europe has lost nearly all momentum as the debt crisis bites deeper and sends unemployment soaring, with governments scrambling ...