The News Review:

- Fundraiser held for ex-cop
- Vitamin Shortages Blamed for 15 Percent Drop in IQs Worldwide
- WASHINGTON IN BRIEF

Fundraiser held for ex-cop
NEWS.com.au – Mar 31, 2005
Peter Halloran, 56, a former head of Victoria’s Homicide Squad, was convicted in a Sierra Leone court on February 21 of the indecent assault of a girl, 13, and faces 18 months in the squalid Pademba Road jail in the capital, Freetown. He has consistently protested his innocence and said his conviction was the result of a corrupt legal system. Halloran, who was last month released on bail, went to Sierra Leone in January last year to serve with a United Nations task force investigating war crimes committed during the country’s 1991-2002 civil war. He was acquitted of three other more serious charges and has protested his innocence throughout. Halloran spoke to those attending tonight’s fundraiser via a telephone hook-up. "He thanked everyone for attending the fundraiser and supporting him, Mr McKenzie said. "He told us about the conditions in Sierra Leone where there is little running water and no electricity and the hardships he’s enduring over there…
Halloran spoke to those attending tonight’s fundraiser via a telephone hook-up. "He thanked everyone for attending the fundraiser and supporting him, Mr McKenzie said. "He told us about the conditions in Sierra Leone where there is little running water and no electricity and the hardships he’s enduring over there. " A legal team from Melbourne would represent Halloran at his appeal, Mr McKenzie said. He said he did not yet know how much money was raised at tonight’s function. Share this article.

Vitamin Shortages Blamed for 15 Percent Drop in IQs Worldwide
wtopnews.com – Mar 31, 2005
Iodine deficiency was “estimated to have lowered the intellectual capacity of almost all of the nations reviewed by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points”, the report said. Deficiency in another mineral, iron, in the 6-to-24 month age group impaired the mental development of approximately 40 to 60 per cent of children in developing countries, the report said. Countries worst hit by more than 80 per cent iron deficiencies in children under five years old included Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia and Guinea-Bissau. The report blamed losses in gross domestic product of up to 2. 7 per cent in Mali, and more than 2 per cent in Burundi, Burkina Faso, Angola and Afghanistan on the nutrient shortfalls of iron, iodine and Vitamin A. The report, entitled “Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency (VMD), a Global Progress Report,” also associated the death of 1 million young children each year on Vitamin A deficiency. “Everyone who cares about the future of children and the development of nations should heed this report,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.

WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Washington Post – Mar 31, 2005
ambassador under President Ronald Reagan, and John L. Hirsch, ambassador to Sierra Leone in the Clinton administration. inc –>.