EU health chief proposes stricter laws on smoking

(SMOKING, PUBLIC, WORKPLACES, TOBACCO, SMOKE, VASSILIOU)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union`s health chief proposed on Tuesday that uniform laws be drafted for all 27 countries in the bloc to regulate smoking more strictly in public areas and workplaces.
Many EU countries have laws limiting exposure to second-hand, or passive, smoking. The rules are strictest in Britain and Ireland, where smoking is banned in enclosed public places, public transport and workplaces, including restaurants and bars.
"Each and every European should be entitled to full protection from tobacco smoke," EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told a news conference.
The recommendation calls on all member states to implement laws that will limit exposure to tobacco smoke in public places, workplaces and public transport, and aims to protect children.
"We have come a long way from the days when smoking was considered glamorous," Vassiliou said.
She said in countries with looser regulations on smoking, nearly one in five people were exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace.
Second-hand, or passive, smoke has been linked to heart disease and lung cancer. According to estimates given by Vassiliou, 19,000 non-smokers in the EU died due to second-hand smoke at home and in workplaces in 2002.
Member states decide the level of their smoking restrictions. In Belgium, for example, smoking is allowed in restaurants in separate rooms where no food is served, and smoking is banned in all enclosed workplaces.
Greece, Europe`s heaviest smoking nation, is to introduce a ban on tobacco in indoor public places from Wednesday. The country breaks all European records, with more than 40 percent of the population smoking and six out of 10 being exposed to smoking at work, according to an EU poll.
Only 10 member states have comprehensive laws, Vassiliou said.
A poll last year by EU survey group Eurobarometer said 84 percent of respondents supported smoke-free offices and other indoor workplaces, 77 percent were in favor of smoke-free restaurants, and 61 percent supported smoke-free bars and pubs.
(Reporting by Caroline Linton, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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"One, two, three...": Queen orders count of swans

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Quiet please -- Queen Elizabeth is preparing to have her swans counted.
Buckingham Palace has announced that the annual Swan Upping, a tradition dating back to the 12th century which involves a census of the swan population on the River Thames, will be conducted by the queen`s official Swan Marker from July 20-24.
"With the assistance of the Queen`s Swan Warden, Professor Christopher Perrins of the University of Oxford, the swans and young cygnets are also assessed for any signs of injury or disease," Buckingham Palace said in announcing the count.
The process involves the Swan Marker, David Barber, rowing up the Thames for five days with the Swan Warden in traditional skiffs while wearing special scarlet uniforms and counting, weighing and measuring swans and cygnets.
It may seem eccentric, but it is very important to the queen.
According to custom, Britain`s sovereign owns all unmarked, mute swans in open water, but the queen now exercises the right only on stretches of the Thames and its nearby tributaries.
In medieval times, the Swan Marker would not only travel up the river counting the swans, but would catch as many as possible as they were sought-after for banquets and feasts.
This year, the Swan Marker and the Swan Warden are particularly keen to discover how much damage is being caused to swans and cygnets by attacks from dogs and from discarded fishing tackle.
It is also an important year because the Queen has decided to join her team of Swan Uppers for part of the census.
She will follow them up the river and visit a local school project on the whole subject of swans, cygnets and the Thames.
"Education and conservation are essential to the role of Swan Upping and the involvement of school children is always a rewarding experience," Buckingham Palace said.
(Reporting by Luke Baker)
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Henry VIII`s flagship secures new hi-tech home

By Stefano Ambrogi
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - King Henry VIII`s flagship the Mary Rose, a Tudor time capsule likened to a British Pompeii, has won crucial funding for a hi-tech museum to house the fabled warship and its previously unseen treasures.
One of the first vessels capable of firing a broadside, it went down in the Solent in 1545 during an engagement with the French fleet, with the loss of more than 400 crew.
The sinking is thought to have been an accident, but exactly what happened has vexed British naval historians for years.
Did the ship capsize during a sharp turn when water entered the open gun ports? Was there a fatal lack of understanding between the English officers and the largely foreign crew?
The vessel was spectacularly raised from its watery grave in front of a global audience of some 60 million people in 1982.
What remains of the hull has been on public view behind glass ever since, along with a selection of perfectly preserved artifacts at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on England`s southern coast.
It is the only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world, according to the Mary Rose Trust.
Now the Trust has secured 21 million pounds ($35 million) from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the body which distributes a share of the income from Britain`s national lottery to heritage projects.
The money will go toward conservation and to the 35 million-pound planned museum which will display all the 19,000 finds raised with the ship.
"When better to celebrate than during the month which marks the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII`s accession? We think he would have been delighted," said Trust chief executive John Lippiett.
The new museum will resemble a finely crafted, wooden jewelry box, clad in timber planks invoking the structure of the original ship, its designers say.
Some of the money will also be used to continue spraying the hull with a special water-based wax preservative -- polyethylene glycol -- until 2011 before it is carefully dried for full open-air display in 2016.
Funding for the museum, which should open in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, was coincidentally announced 500 years to the day since Henry was crowned in 1509.
Items recovered from the wreck site and which will be on permanent display include Tudor tankards, wooden and pewter plates, nit combs, longbows and arrows, musical instruments and even bleeding bowls.
These were used to collect blood during bloodletting -- a practice once carried out to treat a wide range of diseases and medical conditions.  Continued...
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