2008: Feb 16-17th Good News (save your pennies and license plates...)

Headlines:

My Top 5:
1. Cent Collection Earns a Pretty Penny at Auction
2. '1' License Plate Fetches $14 Million
3. Kosovo Prepares for First Independence Day
4. Scot Smashes (Around the) World Cycle Record
5. Spinal Injury Regeneration Hope

Honorable Mention:
Kitten Found After 25 Days in NYC Subway


Cent collection earns a pretty penny at auction
updated 5:06 p.m. EST, Sat February 16, 2008
LONG BEACH, California (AP) -- A penny saved is not necessarily just a penny earned. One man's collection of rare American cents has turned into a $10.7 million auction windfall.
The collection of 301 cents featured some of the rarest and earliest examples of the American penny.
It included a cent that was minted for two weeks in 1793 but was abandoned because Congress thought Lady Liberty looked frightened.
That coin and a 1794 cent with tiny stars added to prevent counterfeiting each raised $632,500, according to the Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auction Galleries, which held the sale in Long Beach on Friday night.
The coins came from the collection of Burbank resident Walter J. Husak, the owner of an aerospace-part manufacturing company.


'1' license plate fetches $14 million
updated 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A license plate with nothing but the number "1" on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday
Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn't say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.
The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May. Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here -- and even most other vanity series plates -- carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country.
Proceeds from the auctions, which are held in a lavish hotel here, go to a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents.
On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, raising a total of $24 million. The previous five such events raised more than $50



Kosovo prepares for first independence day
updated 36 minutes ago
PRISTINA, Kosovo (CNN) -- Kosovo's parliament meets Sunday afternoon to officially declare the province's independence from Serbia, a move opposed by Serbia and Russia but supported by many western governments.

CNN's Alessio Vinci, reporting from the Kosovar capital Pristina, said that the plan is for Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci to read out the independence declaration, which is written in Albanian, Serbian and English, to parliament before lawmakers pass it unanimously.
Vinci added that Kosovo's Albanian population were already singing and dancing in the streets as well as lighting firecrackers ahead of the much anticipated vote. "It's been like this for several hours now," he said.
President George Bush said Sunday that Kosovo's status must be resolved before the Balkans can become stable and that the United States supports the Ahtisaari plan which calls for a form of supervised independence.
The European Union decided Saturday to launch a mission of about 2,000 police and judicial officers to replace the United Nations mission that has been controlling the province since the end of the war with Serbia in 1999.
Kosovo has been under U.N. supervision and patrolled by a NATO-led peacekeeping force since the end of the three-month war, in which NATO warplanes pounded Serbia to roll back a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" of the province's Albanian population under former then-President Slobodan Milosevic.
The disputed province is dear to the Serbs, Orthodox Christians who regard it as Serbian territory. But it is equally coveted by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, Muslims who have a 90 percent majority, and two years of talks on its final status ended in failure last December.

"Its status must be resolved in order for the Balkans to be stable," President Bush told reporters during a news conference in Tanzania Sunday.
Bush said the Ahtisaari plan -- named after former Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari -- is the best option. The proposal would give Kosovo limited statehood under international supervision.
President Bush added that "it's in Serbia's interest to be aligned with Europe and the Serbian people can know that they have a friend in America."»
"We are heartened by the fact that the Kosovo government has clearly proclaimed its willingness and its desire to support Serbian rights in Kosovo," Bush said.
Thaci said Thursday he would establish a new government office for minorities and it would protect the rights of minorities after the province declares independence.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has promised his country will refrain from using force against Kosovo after independence, though he has warned that Serbia will take punitive diplomatic, political, and economic measures against the province.

Russia -- Serbia's historic ally -- has remain opposed to Kosovo's independence. Russia, which has fought two wars against separatist rebels in its southwestern republic of Chechnya, has Monday that U.S. and European support for Kosovo's independence could lead to an "uncontrollable crisis" in the Balkans.
The EU said Saturday that "around 1,900 international police officers, judges, prosecutors and customs officials and approximately 1,100 local staff will be based in headquarters in Pristina or located throughout the judicial and police system in Kosovo."
The EU mission's objective is "to support the Kosovo authorities by monitoring, mentoring and advising on all areas related to the rule of law, in particular in the police, judiciary, customs and correctional services," it said.
In 1999 the international, NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) began providing security for the Serbian province.
"KFOR is fully determined to maintain a safe and secure environment for the times to come. KFOR is almost fully deployed and we will still increase our level of activities for the next couple of days," said Lt. Gen. Xavier Bout de Marnhac, KFOR commander.
"I just want to state very strongly that KFOR will react and will oppose any kind of provocation that might happen during these days, wherever they come from -- either from the Albanian or the Serbian side. And we will react very strongly to any kind of those provocations," he said Saturday.

Scot smashes world cycle record
Posted at 6:59pm on 16 Feb 2008

A Scottish man has smashed the record for cycling round the world.
Mark Beaumont, from Fife, completed the journey in 195 days - beating the previous record of 276 days.
He crossed the finish line at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris at 1430 GMT after a
28,968km journey which began on 5 August last year.
Beaumont, 25, passed through 20 countries on his way, including New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Malaysia and the United States.
His solo journey has been dramatic at times. He endured floods and road rage, and was knocked off his bike in the American state of Louisiana by an elderly motorist who drove through a red light.
Beaumont also had his wallet and camera stolen from a motel. However, he is now celebrating.
"I'm delighted, although I think it will take a while for it to sink in," he said.
"It's great to see my friends and family and now I'm looking forward to getting some sleep."


Spinal injury regeneration hope
Sunday, 17 February 2008, 00:01 GMT
Spinal injuries are very difficult to treatScientists believe they are close to a significant breakthrough in the treatment of spinal injuries.
The University of Cambridge team is developing a treatment which could potentially allow damaged nerve fibres to regenerate within the spinal cord.
It may also encourage the remaining undamaged nerve fibres to work more effectively.
Spinal injuries are difficult to treat because the body cannot repair damage to the brain or spinal cord.
We are very hopeful that at last we may be able to offer paralysed patients a treatment to improve their condition
Professor James FawcettUniversity of Cambridge
Although it is possible for nerves to regenerate, they are blocked by the scar tissue that forms at the site of the spinal injury.
The Cambridge team has identified a bacteria enzyme called chondroitinase which is capable of digesting molecules within scar tissue to allow some nerve fibres to regrow.
The enzyme also promotes nerve plasticity, which potentially means that remaining undamaged nerve fibres have an increased likelihood of making new connections that could bypass the area of damage.
In preliminary tests, the researchers have shown that combining chondroitinase with rehabilitation produces better results than using either technique alone.
What often happens in a clinical setting is that you don't get to see the results you would have liked
Paul SmithSpinal Injuries Association
However, trials have yet to begin in patients.
Lead researcher Professor James Fawcett said: "It is rare to find that a spinal cord is completely severed, generally there are still some nerve fibres that are undamaged.
"Chondroitinase offers us hope in two ways; firstly it allows some nerve fibres to regenerate and secondly it enables other nerves to take on the role of those fibres that cannot be repaired.
"Along with rehabilitation we are very hopeful that at last we may be able to offer paralysed patients a treatment to improve their condition."
Dr Yolande Harley, of the charity Action Medical Research which funded the work, said: "This is incredibly exciting, ground-breaking work, which will give new hope to people with recent spinal injuries."
Paul Smith, of the Spinal Injuries Association, said medical advances meant that spinal injuries had ceased to be the terminal conditions that they often once were, but they still had a huge impact on quality of life.
However, he warned against raising expectation before the treatment was fully tested on patients.
He said: "What often happens in a clinical setting is that you don't get to see the results you would have liked."
In the UK there are more than 40,000 people suffering from injuries to their spine, which can take the form of anything from loss of sensation to full paralysis.
The average age at the time of injury is just 19.


Kitten Found After 25 Days in NYC Subway
Feb 17, 6:57 AM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- A skittish kitten that scampered out of its carrier on a subway platform has been found after 25 days in the underground tunnels.
Transit workers tracked down 6-month old Georgia under midtown Manhattan Saturday. Police reunited her with owner Ashley Phillips, a 24-year-old Bronx librarian.
After hearing that the black cat might have been spotted below Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street, track workers Mark Dalessio and Efrain LaPorte went through the area making "meow" sounds.
Georgia responded, and they found her cowering in a drain between two tracks.
Georgia had lost some weight and scratched her nose but was otherwise unhurt. She had disappeared while Phillips was bringing her home from a veterinarian visit last month.