From 18 December 1995, this is the last issue containing the UK Sports News with, of course, the cricket scores.

<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 3454               Monday 18-Dec-1995            Circulation :  4510 

        VNS MAIN NEWS .....................................  190 Lines
        VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH ..............................   49   "
        VNS UK SPORTS NEWS ................................   10   "

    For information on subscribing to VNS, backissues, contacting VNS staff
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VNS MAIN NEWS:                            [Kevin Bowen-Nellthorp, VNS News Desk]
==============                            [Nijmegen, Netherlands               ]

Major plays Euro-sceptic card

    Writing in The Daily Telegraph today on his return from the Madrid
    summit - where Continental leaders agreed to call the single currency
    the Euro - he says: "Time is short, but it is still not too late for
    Europe to think this through." He flatly rules out Britain's return to
    any form of exchange rate mechanism.

Lottery chief defiant as resignation calls grow

    PETER DAVIS, regulator of the National Lottery, remained defiant last
    night in the face of demands for his resignation.

Portillo plan for Japanese forces

    MICHAEL Portillo is preparing to risk the wrath of war veterans by
    trying to persuade the Japanese to allow their forces to join United
    Nations peacekeeping duties.
	(He denied this on Radio 4 this morning, saying he's going to Japan
	 to talk about security for British interests in the Far East. - KBN)

Hooligans fear after European Championship draw

    THE DRAW for next year's European soccer championship brought together
    the sport's oldest rivals yesterday, but promised a headache for police
    trying to prevent hooliganism from ruining the event.
    (Draw below - KBN)

Vicar says sorry for spoiling mystery of Father Christmas

    A VICAR who told children that Father Christmas and the tooth fairy were
    not real apologised yesterday.

Sinn Fein leaders insist there is 'no hope' of arms surrender before talks

    SINN FEIN leaders will today tell the international disarmament body
    that there is "not the remotest possibility" of IRA weapons being handed
    over before any political settlement in Northern Ireland.

Two die in police chase crash

    A MOTORIST and a policeman in a marked patrol car died yesterday when
    their vehicles collided during a high-speed police chase.

Major faces revolt over European fishing quota cuts

    THE Government faces an embarrassing defeat over European fishing policy
    tomorrow with more than a dozen Tory MPs threatening to rebel in the
    Commons amid fears that fishermen will face huge cuts in the size of
    their catches next year.

British QCs win Death Row hearing

    TWO London-based barristers have been granted the right to appear in the
    Florida Supreme Court on behalf of a British citizen sentenced to death
    for a double murder nine years ago.

NHS 'forced to employ more locums'

    A SHORTAGE of specialist doctors is forcing some hospitals to rely on
    locums for up to 10 per cent of their staff, according to Department of
    Health figures obtained by Labour from Parliamentary questions.

Father 'critical' after attack by gang of youths

    A FATHER was in a critical condition in hospital last night after
    challenging a gang of youths who threw a beer can through the bathroom
    window of his home.

Lottery cuts High Street spending by #2.6bn

    BRITAIN'S National Lottery has permanently altered the spending habits
    of 30 million people, resulting in a #2.6 billion fall in expenditure on
    other gaming, leisure and food in its first year, according to a report
    published today.

Bar Council launches aid scheme

    A SCHEME to encourage senior barristers to provide free legal advice or
    representation to those denied legal aid but unable to afford normal
    legal fees, is being launched by the Bar Council.

Service chiefs reject changes in the ranks

    DEFENCE chiefs have rejected radical proposals to simplify rank
    structures and bring personnel management into line with civilian
    practice.

Husband wins #23,000 for loss of housewife

    A HUSBAND has been awarded #23,000 for "loss of domestic services",
    including three-course breakfasts, after a court heard that his second
    wife did not measure up to her predecessor.

Schism over a lavatory in the vestry

    A DISPUTE over a lavatory for a Norman church has reached the Lord
    Chancellor. A former churchwarden of St Peter and St Paul, Oxton, Notts,
    has asked Lord Mackay to intervene in a five-year battle over plans to
    build a lavatory in the vestry.

McCartney's wife has breast surgery

    LINDA McCartney has had an operation to remove a small lump from her
    breast and is now recovering at home.

St Paul's virger wins her unfair sacking case

    STAFF at St Paul's Cathedral have been criticised for using language
    "affecting the dignity" of working women in an industrial tribunal
    ruling that the only female virger was unfairly dismissed.

Angler lands 1,963 fish

    STEVE Thomas's haul of small silver fish called bleak weighed 54lb 8oz,
    three times that of his nearest rival who concentrated on larger roach.

TV spotlight falls on Royal Opera

    JEREMY Isaacs, the Opera House's director, is understood to be unhappy
    with the way the opera company is portrayed in the six-part BBC2 series,
    which shows its management divided.

If this is a reservoir in winter, what will it be like in June?

    THE drought still threatening water supplies in Yorkshire, the North and
    South West is likely to spread to southern and eastern areas next year
    if the winter remains dry, according to a report prepared for John
    Gummer, the Environment Secretary.

RAC in 'green box' call

    A 'GREEN box' fitted under the bonnets of new cars could cut exhaust
    emissions by up to half by alerting drivers to failures in their
    pollution control equipment, the RAC claims today.

Injection to make you slim is years away, say experts

    INJECTIONS to destroy fat and reduce appetites are years away at best,
    say scientists, and in any case unlikely to end the need for exercise
    and dieting.

TV farm is a 'classic' but cannot be restored

    YORKSHIRE Dales sheep farmer locked in a planning dispute is considering
    High Court action in a last attempt to be allowed to restore his
    family's ancestral home.

Call for warning on stereos

    POWERFUL music equipment can damage listeners' hearing and should carry
    a public health warning, an action group said yesterday.

Source: Electronic Telegraph - Monday December 18, 1995
Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Telegraph plc
For more details on any of the above headlines stories, visit the
Electronic Telegraph on the Web at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Here is the forecast for the United Kingdom until dawn tomorrow.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England will be rather
cloudy, although there will be bright intervals. scattered showers
in the north and east will be light at first but will become
heavier. tonight the showers will turn to sleet and snow over
scotland, especiallly on northern hills. 

Wales, central and southern England will be mostly cloudy and
misty with patchy light rain or drizzle. the best of any
cloud breaks will be in the south and west.

outlook for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cold in the north with heavy snow showers, and widespread frost
overnight. rather cloudy in the south with rain, sleet or snow at
times.  

Source: UK Met Office 'http://www.meto.govt.uk/sec3/sec3.html'
) Crown Copyright 1995


European Championship Draw:
GROUP A : England, Switzerland, Holland, Scotland
GROUP B : Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, France
GROUP C : Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Russia
GROUP D : Denmark, Portugal, Turkey, Croatia

Source: Electronic Telegraph - Monday December 18, 1995
Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Telegraph plc
For more details on any of the above headlines stories, visit the
Electronic Telegraph on the Web at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH:                     [W. Stuart Crippen, VNS Correspondent]
=====================                     [Hudson, MA, USA                     ]

		      Wine, beer, liquor benefit the heart
		      ------------------------------------

        From Science News, December 2, 1995, Vol. 148, No. 23, Pg 380
	Author - L. Seachrist

    They call it the French paradox: Despite a diet high in saturated fats, 
    the French suffer far less heart disease than do their U.S.
    counterparts. In studying the phenomenon, researchers noted that the
    French drink more red wine than people in the United States do. 

    Armed with that information, some scientists claimed that flavonoids in 
    the wine serve as antioxidants, which protect the heart.  Several recent
    studies have maintained that red wine is more healthful for the heart
    than other types of alcohol. 

    Now, scientists from Harvard Medical School in Boston report that a cold 
    beer provides the same heart benefits as the fruit of the vine.

    J. Michael Gaziano and his colleagues studied 340 men and women who had 
    suffered heart attacks and compared their drinking habits to those of an
    equal number of healthy people of the same ages.  The team found that
    drinking one-half drink to two drinks - regardless of the type of
    alcohol - per day reduces the risk of heart attack by 45 percent. 
    Moreover, beer, wine, and liquor all raised the concentrations of HDL,
    or "good" cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent. 

    Gaziano maintains that the increase in HDL explains the reduction in 
    heart attack risk.  "Two martinis is no different from two glasses of
    red wine," he says. 

    That's not to say that flavonoids don't benefit the heart.  John D. 
    Folts of the University of Wisconsin - Madison maintains that it takes a
    lot of alcohol - three times the legal limit for driving - to help the
    heart by reducing platelet activity. 

    He and his colleagues studied the effects of a capsule form of 
    flavonoids on blocked arteries in monkeys.  The flavonoids worked as
    well as, if not better than, aspirin at turning down the platelet
    activity and thus unblocking the monkeys' arteries. 

    There is an advantage to flavonoids.  "Adrenaline can completely wipe 
    our aspirin's beneficial effects," says Folts.  "But adrenaline doesn't
    affect the flavonoids." 

    Whether it's the alcohol alone or the flavonoids in the alcoholic 
    beverages, a drink a day may protect the heart.  But before you say,
    "Bottoms up!" Gaziano cautions, remember that drinking more than
    moderate amounts of alcohol damages the heart. 

VNS UK SPORTS NEWS:                                           [Tom Povey       ]
===================                                           [Reading, England]

Cricket
-------

In the third test in Durban, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.
After a good start, they lost their first wicket at 54 and then lost 4 more
to go 89 for 5. Rhodes and McMillan then stabilised the situation to take SA
to 139 for 5 when first bad light and then rain stopped play.  Peter Martin
had taken 3 wickets and Richard Illingworth 2.

{Source: BBC Teletext 14 Dec 1995}


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<><><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 3454      Monday 18-Dec-1995   <><><><><><><><>