A European Union funded project is seeking to find new antibiotics using previously unknown bacteria from the ocean floor.
The project has ships in the Lyngen Fjord of northern Norway collecting soil and animals from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean hoping to find new bacteria that could be used for a new generation of antibiotics.
“If no one finds new antibiotics for common infections, what will happen is we will go back to the pre-antibiotic age in which a simple cut could turn into an infection that becomes deadly,” Marcel Jaspars told CNN.
Major drug manufacturers are not creating new antibiotics despite the rise of anti-biotic resistant bacteria because of the prohibitive costs for bringing a new drug to the marketplace. Jaspars says that while bacteria have developed resistance to the antibiotics of the last 30 years, they can’t defend against something they’ve never seen.
“In the past, bacteria and fungi have been the main sources for new antibiotics,” Jaspars explained. “In fact, about 70% of our antibiotics still come from nature, normally from sediment samples and soil samples from land. But now, by looking at the ocean, we hope to find new life forms which give us new chemistry that might be able to treat bacterial infections.”
Researchers say that several of the new bacteria discovered on the ocean floor have shown promise for creating new antibiotics.
The European Commission is warning the Spanish and Italian governments that their draft budgets for 2014 do not comply with new debt and deficit rules. The Commission also said that France and the Netherlands barely qualified for the new standards.
According to the European Union’s charter, countries that do not comply will likely have to revise their tax and spending plans before they can be submitted to national parliaments. The warning marks the first time the EC has taken this step.
Eurozone members states are required to cut deficits until they reach a balanced budget. They also have to reduce levels of public debt. The Commission usually gives countries flexibility if their deficit is below the EU ceiling of 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product.
The Commission said that France, while just below the 3% threshold, was making only “limited progress” in reforms.
The Eurozone economy grew by .1% from July to September in data released Thursday, down from .3% growth in the previous quarter.
The members of the European Union have agreed to suspend sales of weapons to the Egyptian military.
However, humanitarian aid to the country will continue to be provided. Continue reading →
Spain’s record unemployment rate finally fell in the second quarter of the year although one in four Spaniards are still without a job.
The unemployment rate of 26.3% is almost a percentage point below the record high of 27.2% The rate fell amid news of an increase in tourism in the second quarter. Tourism accounts for about 10% of the Spanish GDP. Continue reading →
The European Union reached a unanimous agreement to list the Lebanese group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah, backed by the Iranian government, has been playing a role in helping Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad fight against the rebels attempting to overthrow his government. Continue reading →
In a major sign that the European Union is going to vacate a position of neutrality and side with Palestine in their ongoing campaign against Israel, the EU has issued new guidelines that starting in 2014 banning any funding of Israeli projects in disputed territories.
EU members will be banned from any Israeli project in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Continue reading →
British Prime Minister David Cameron held a press conference just before the G8 summit in Northern Ireland to announce a groundbreaking trade deal between the European Union and United States.
Cameron called the deal the “biggest bilateral trade deal in history” and said that a successful agreement would have more impact on world finance than all other world trade deals put together. Continue reading →
The head of anti-terrorism in the European Union is sounding concern regarding the number of Europeans fighting with extremists in Syria.
Gilles de Kerchove estimated the number of Europeans involved directly in the fighting at 500. He showed concern that these people would become radicalized during their time with Islamic rebels and then would pose a threat to Europe upon their return. Continue reading →
Portugal’s prime minister is warning that unless deep cuts are made to social security, health, education and public programs the nation could be facing a second bailout from the European Union.
Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said the country is facing a “national emergency” and that because the Portuguese Constitutional Court struck down 1 billion euros in savings that were required to meet existing bailout conditions there was no choice but to cut in areas like welfare. Continue reading →
Despite reservations by a European Commission report regarding corruption and organized crime in Croatia, the EC has given permission to the nation to join the EU on July 1st.
Croatia would become the EU’s 28th member state and the first to join since Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. Croatia has been trying to negotiate membership in the EU for a decade. Continue reading →