$15 Million Donation Launches

There is going to be a new medical research centre at Vancouver General Hospital. Robert H.N. Ho had donated $15 million. The money had been spent to the establishment of the Robert H. N. Ho Research Centre. The facility will be as tall as seven stories and as big as 69,350 square feet. It will be used to carry out the functions of the Vancouver Prostate Centre, Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, and Ovarian Cancer Research Initiative. The facility is said to hold hundreds of scientists and clinicians researching for new and better treatments and cures for patients who have prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and also hip and mobility problems. The donation is also going towards new equipment and research to improve cardiac care.

Mr. Ho says that he is "proud to play a part in helping improve the lives of people from across B.C. and around the world." He expressed that, "before you receive, you must first give." The total cost of the new research facility is more than $60 million, including all equipment and construction. The provincial government had already contributed more than $22 million.

Mr. Ho is well-known for his world-wide philanthropic work. He is the chairman of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation and Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation. He has made numerous donations to Colgate University in New York, Hong Kong University, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Stanford University, and University of British Columbia. From this recent donation, he has received numerous thanks and acknowledgements. To name a few, from the president and CEO of the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation, the president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and of course, the Vancouver General Hospital.

How could this project be a good thing? How might this apply to the future?
- This project is a good thing because it is a huge contribution towards a worthy cause, medical research. Ovarian cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women. Prostate cancer death rates have been growing steadily in Canada. This can shape our future into one with more effective cancer cures, especially for ovarian and prostate cancers. The VGH is a world-leading medical facility. This will set a good example for other hospitals in the world to pay attention to.

Verdict awaited in Manitoba bus beheading trial

A man is waiting at the court as I write, waiting for the his verdict on Thursday morning. The man is accused of beheading a twenty-two year old guy named Timothy McLean in Winnipeg, on a bus in July. The body had been damaged in more than 100 places. The trial has been going on for two days, which ened on Wednesday. The man's name is name is Vince Weiguang Li. He was also accused of eating a small part of the victim's body.

Li pleaded not guilty of a second-degree murder. He alleged that he had killed Timothy from orders from God. The verdict is likely to send him to a provincial psychiatric facility rather than a prison. He would be freed when he is considered no longer a threat to those around him. However, the victim's uncle, Alex McLean wants Li to spend his life in prison for twenty five years instead of a hospital. Psychiatrists have said that Li was very mentally ill at that time, especailly suffering from schizophrenia.

The controversy now is where Li is going to go; a mental hospital or prison. My opinion is that he should be spending ten years at a decent mental hospital. He was not fully conscious of his actions, and he is extremely ill. Ill patients need medical treatment, not torture. In a sense, Li is also a victim in this case. Sorry for Alex McLean's family members and relatives, but I do not think that their own personal revenge should destroy another poor man's life.

Obama reaches out to Russia over nuclear Iran

President Obama finally acted on Iran's new nuclear program. He sent a letter to Russia that he will get rid of all the missile defense system in Europe if Iran drops plans for nuclear weapons. Why did he send this to Russia? He was asking them to help trying to end Iran's nuclear program. He wrote that Russia can have a role in Iran's new nuclear threat and stop the US from establishing a missile base in Poland and a radar facility in Czech Republic. The missile defence system is basically sending out a non-explosive interceptor if a hostile missle detected to elimintae the threat before it gets close to ground. Therfore, President Obama is asking Russia to be a cooperative partner rather than a threat.

Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Russia, said that the letter did not make any reference to a link between Russian assistance to limit Iran's nuclear program and the plans to construct missile defense facillities in Eastern Europe.

However, Iran is denying that it has a nuclear weapons program. Iran's foreign ministry stated that Iran's uranium stockpile is completely baseless. They continued to say that Iran is working towards peace, and that all this talk about them trying to make a bomb is just a propaganda.

I do not think that President Obama should be making hasty conclusions on the unproven fact that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb right now. I think Iran is trying to survive during this economic depression by saving fuel to export, and I applaud this idea because nuclear energy will save tons of natural gas that we can save up for the future. There are UN watchdogs and cameras all over the nuclear facility, and these have shown that there is not a single evidence of bomb-making yet.