xFruits – Test 1 – 22 new items

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• 1. Cartoons | guardian.co.uk

• 2. Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis | Politics …

• 3. Working with, not against, the European Research Council (ERC)

• 4. European Court of Auditors’ (CoA) report: “Networks of Excellence (NoEs) and Integrated Projects (IPs) in Community research policy: did they achieve their objectives?”

• 5. Damian Green wins fight to destroy personal data held by Met police | Politics | The Guardian

• 6. Pressure mounts for ERC reorganisation in order to cut red tape

• 7. More on the Lund Declaration

• 8. On the Lund Declaration

• 9. New evidence casts light on Tory EU ally’s attitude to Jews | Politics | guardian.co.uk

• 10. Cameron’s EU alliance hit by split over Lisbon Treaty | Politics | The Observer

• 11. Tories vow to give patients online access to health records | Politics | guardian.co.uk

• 12. Red tape blights European Union research programme

• 13. Hail Lund!

• 14. The DNA database betrays the racism of those behind it | Matilda MacAttram | Society | guardian.co.uk

• 15. International Cooperation in Research: activities of the European Commission

• 16. European research by country: 2004-2009

• 17. Fury as Commons denied DNA vote | Politics | The Observer

• 18. Few ‘new’ EU members applying for research funds | EU – European Information on Science & Research

• 19. ‘Mixed results’ from EU R&D funds | BBC NEWS | Science & Environment |

• 20. INCO-Wiki

• 21. Modernisation of EU research funding on the right track

• 22. Police to destroy DNA profiles of 800,000 innocent people | Politics | The Observer

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Cartoons | guardian.co.uk

2009-10-16 23:49

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Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis | Politics…

2009-10-16 23:16

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Working with, not against, the European Research Council (ERC)

2009-10-16 08:34

Says Research Europe; “The idea of the ERC emerged in a unique window of opportunity. As yet the member states have failed to match the initial dreams set out in the Lisbon strategy and Barcelona targets. European competitiveness is decreasing and demography is not helping. The danger of a two-speed Europe, east and west, has become quite real. Meanwhile the critics of the Framework Programme have become louder and more persuasive as it has become clear that European industry’s interest in the programme has continued to fade at a worrying pace.”
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European Court of Auditors’ (CoA) report: “Networks of Excellence…

2009-10-15 12:06

The CoA found: “NoEs and IPs were successful in promoting research collaboration and projects of reasonable quality. However these instruments operated in the absence of an explicit intervention logic, as well as of SMART objectives and performance indicators. The specific objectives of the new instruments were only partially achieved. NoEs promoted a good level of research collaboration, but often did not achieve progressive, self-sustainable integration of the research activities between network partners. IPs promoted high-quality research collaboration, but did not attract more resources from individual participants nor additional sources of public and private financing. As compared to FP5, FP6 did not succeed in generating a significant increase in terms of participants’ RTD investment. The participation of the private sector even diminished in relative terms. The target of 15% of the budget of FP6 thematic priorities for SME participation was not achieved.”
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Damian Green wins fight to destroy personal data held by Met police |…

2009-08-20 10:25

Green’s application to have his DNA removed was made under the “exceptional cases procedure” which gives chief constables the discretion to destroy samples and profiles in individual cases. The decision by Commander Simon Pountain follows a landmark ruling at the European Court of Human Rightslast December that blanket retention of the DNA and fingerprints of 850,000 people arrested but not charged in Britain was unlawful. The Met said yesterday the service had received requests from 231 people to have their DNA removed from the database since 1 January. Only 31 requests have been granted. The human rights’ group Liberty said that a decision in their favour should not be based on whether the person was in Who’s Who. The Association of Chief Police Officers told chief constables three weeks ago that it was “vitally important” they resisted individual requests to delete DNA profiles based on the Strasbourg ruling. Chief constables should wait for the government response.
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Pressure mounts for ERC reorganisation in order to cut red tape

2009-08-18 16:04

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More on the Lund Declaration

2009-08-18 15:55

“European research, it declares, should “move beyond current, rigid, thematic approaches” to focus on “the grand challenges of our time”. Doing this, the document continues, will require “a new deal among European institutions and member states, in which European and national instruments are well aligned and cooperation builds on transparency and trust”. The shortcomings of the Framework Programme can be summed up under four headings: transparency, dialogue, flexibility and coordination.”
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On the Lund Declaration

2009-08-18 15:54

“The thrust of the declaration reflects two long-standing concerns about the Framework Programme. The first is that most of the money is carved up between a wide range of application areas, years in advance, and that this doesn’t change much in response to urgent new challenges. The second is that EU programmes operate separately from national ones, with neither wishing to lose independence by cooperating. “When we prepared for the EU presidency it became clear that there was a desire for reform in policy making among the research community,” says Gunnel Gustafsson, the deputy director general of VR (Swedish research Council). “At the moment the political world, where politicians seek support from voters, is too different from the research communities, where people seek academic credentials. There is a need for a much more inclusive culture.” “
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New evidence casts light on Tory EU ally’s attitude to Jews |…

2009-08-10 17:08

This one is not so much an issue about antisemitism any more (though there is a genuine row going on about that) but about honesty and judgment. Kaminski’s honesty and Cameron’s judgment. This is after all the man who lead Tories in Europe under a Conservative government. I wonder too whether Kaminski will address the issue, when he does break cover, of why he has backed the Lisbon treaty as recently as last month in a meeting Brussels (as revealed in Sunday’s Observer). Killing Lisbon is one of Cameron’s big projects. Perhaps he will just say he forgot he said what he said and the Tories will conclude that that’s all fine then.
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Cameron’s EU alliance hit by split over Lisbon Treaty | Politics |…

2009-08-10 12:48

But inquiries by the Observer reveal that Kaminski, from the Polish Law and Justice party, has praised the treaty as a good deal for Poland and is not opposing its progress into law. In a further embarrassment for Cameron, Kaminski has also called for his party to unite with others in support of the common agricultural policy (Cap), which the Tories regard as the epitome of EU waste. Kaminski’s views are expressed on his party’s website. In an interview in May this year he stated: “President Kaczynski [the Polish president] has managed to negotiate such a shape of the Lisbon Treaty which guarantees Poland’s sovereignty.” He adds: “We must be allied with those EU countries that defend the Cap.” Last night an ECR spokesman was unable to say what Kaminski’s, or the ECR’s, views on Lisbon were. “I don’t think we have a position,” he said. Dr Rafal Pankowski, a political scientist at Warsaw’s Collegium Civitas, said: “The Lisbon Treaty is an awkward question for Kaminski. Lech Kaczynski,
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Tories vow to give patients online access to health records |…

2009-08-10 11:17

According to the Conservative review, patients could improve communications with their doctors by adding details or share experiences online with others facing similar health problems. Similar schemes are already used in the United States and Canada, where a local record is also held by the doctor overseeing a patient’s care. There would be consultation with patients and doctors over the extent to which records could be edited – including the possibility individuals could choose to delete information. O’Brien said: “Giving patients greater control over their health records is crucial if we are to make the NHS more patient-centred. “Labour’s attitude to our personal data is misguided. They seem to think they own it and, all too often, they have been appallingly careless in looking after it. “The government’s monolithic and costly IT system doesn’t involve patients at all. Yet in patients’ hands, health records could do so much more. “We would have a clearer picture of our health a
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Red tape blights European Union research programme

2009-08-04 09:43

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Hail Lund!

2009-07-14 07:20

As Research Europe says: “The Swedish presidency of the EU has got off to an auspicious start. The Lund Declaration, prepared by the Swedes for the New Worlds—New Solutions Research and Innovation meeting this week, succinctly diagnoses much of what’s wrong with the Framework programme (see Cover via link below). European research, it declares, should “move beyond current, rigid, thematic approaches” to focus on “the grand challenges of our time”. Doing this, the document continues, will require “a new deal among European institutions and member states, in which European and national instruments are well aligned and cooperation builds on transparency and trust”. The shortcomings of Framework can be summed up under four headings: transparency, dialogue, flexibility and co-ordination.”
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The DNA database betrays the racism of those behind it | Matilda…

2009-07-13 16:12

Perpetuating the wholly inaccurate stereotype that people from this group somehow have a higher propensity to break the law, the Home Office’s own figures published in the Minority Ethnic Groups Crime Justice Survey 2003 show that black people have lower offending rates than their white counterparts and are in fact less likely to commit a crime than someone from the host population. Race equality experts have pointed to the selective over-policing of people from black communities as a contributing factor to the high numbers of innocent African Caribbeans on the database. Black men are six times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts, even though this group have lower lifetime offending rates.
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International Cooperation in Research: activities of the European…

2009-06-08 10:33

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European research by country: 2004-2009

2009-06-03 13:00

Interested in learning about how a Member State has benefited from European research between 2004 and 2009? Click on that country on the map for a short brochure summarising EU achievements, participation in FP6 and FP7 and success stories in various fields.
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Fury as Commons denied DNA vote | Politics | The Observer

2009-05-24 21:11

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has been warned that the government risks further damaging the public’s faith in politics after it emerged that plans for the police to keep innocent people’s DNA profiles for up to 12 years will become law without a Commons vote. Opposition parties and civil liberty groups united to condemn plans that are being steered through parliament while MPs are distracted by the expenses row. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats claim the government is seeking to make controversial changes to the national DNA database via a “statutory instrument” because it fears losing a vote that would be required if they were introduced by the more conventional method of primary legislation.
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Few ‘new’ EU members applying for research funds | EU – European…

2009-05-14 07:58

The vast majority of applications for European research funds come from countries which were members of the EU before the major expansion of the Union in 2004, according to Janez Potočnik, European commissioner for science and research. Only one in ten requests for funds made under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) came from one of the 12 countries that have joined the EU since 2004. FP7 makes €50 billion available for major research projects and runs from 2007 to 2013. Speaking at the Research Connection Conference in Prague last week (7 May), Potočnik said research activity in new EU countries had increased since accession, but “the potential of the EU12 has not been fully tapped”.
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‘Mixed results’ from EU R&D funds | BBC NEWS | Science & Environment |

2009-05-11 12:33

The EU’s main R&D funding scheme has delivered mixed results, a report by the European Commission has concluded. Although the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) will have a 10% year-on-year increase until 2013, Some member states’ performances varied widely. Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik insisted that R&D funding would help ease the impact of the current financial crisis. He added that countries needed to raise their national research budgets. “It’s a cliche that is used too much, but a crisis is too good an opportunity to be missed,” he told delegates at the Research Connections 2009 conference in Prague. “We should not think only about how to deal with the crisis, we should definitely think about what shape we will come out of the crisis,” Mr Potočnik added. “Will we be able to compete globally at that moment, to address the major challenges of today?”
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INCO-Wiki

2009-05-11 10:28

The INCO-Wiki is an online encyclopaedia on international cooperation compiling all relevant information on international cooperation activities in the 7th Framework Programme of the EU.
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Modernisation of EU research funding on the right track

2009-05-04 09:06

On 29 April the Commission presented a progress report covering the first two years of FP7, which runs until 2013. The biggest EU R&D funding programme ever, with a €54bn budget over 7 years, proves to be well suited to answer the EU’s economic and societal needs. Its structure and new instruments help the EU to address its challenges. Priority areas such as environment, energy and nanotechn contribute to building a sustainable, low-carbon economy, with ETPs helping to define topics which meet industry’s long-term needs. The ERC supports the best researchers to globally compete on scientific excellence. JTIs embody new public–private ventures on an unprecedented technological and financial scale. FP7 is a strong asset in the EU’s fight against the current crisis, with its budget growing every year by 13% until 2013. The report underlines remaining challenges for the FP7 such as the mobilisation of new Member States, the participation of SMEs and administrative simplification.
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Police to destroy DNA profiles of 800,000 innocent people | Politics…

2009-05-03 17:40

DNA profiles of almost a million innocent people are to be destroyed as part of a major overhaul of the police national database. They include people who have been arrested and never charged, and those taken to court but found not guilty. Civil rights groups gave a cautious welcome to the proposals – which will be announced by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, this week – but said more needed to be done. An estimated 800,000 of the 5.1m DNA profiles on the database belong to people in England and Wales who have no criminal conviction. A Home Office consultation paper will also outline plans to delete all physical DNA samples on the database, including mouth swabs, hair and blood. The move follows widespread concerns that the samples could be shared with third parties.
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