World News Info

Nokia X6 and Nokia X3

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:24:00 +0000

The first two members of a new Nokia X-series also got revealed. The Nokia X6 is a spiritual successor of the popular 5800 XpressMusic packing 3.2-inch (640x360) capacitive touchscreen, 32 GB internal storage, a 5 megapixel camera (Carl Zeiss optics) with VGA@30fps video recording and dual LED flash and FM radio. Yes, that's right - there is no card slot, but the 13.8 mm thickness and the 32 gigs memory should compensate that.

The connectivity options are as full as the N97 mini and there is nothing missed. Even more, the Nokia X6 comes with the Nokia WH-500 - a headband-style stereo headset with all kind of control options and integrated handsfree. The X6 will launch in the end of this year on 459 euro price before taxes and subsidies and will be a Comes-With-Music device only, allowing you to download as many music track you want for free.

Both Nokia N97 mini and X6 are powered by the latest Symbian S60 5th edition with all kind of social networks integration.

Finally, the Nokia X3 is an S40 6th edition slider with smallish 2.2-inch QVGA screen and dedicated music keys. It has a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, quad-band GSM support with GPRS and EDGE, Bluetooth, FM radio, 3.5mm audio jack, microSD slot and integrated stereo speakers.

No place for Owen

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Michael Owen's chances of playing in the World Cup finals suffered another blow on Sunday when coach Fabio Capello snubbed the striker for next month's qualifier with Croatia.

The 29-year-old Manchester United player, who scored his first competitive goal for the English champions in last week's Premier League defeat of Wigan, is his country's fourth-highest goalscorer.

But Capello was not convinced enough by the striker's form to include him the squad which faces Slovenia in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday or the Group Six qualifier with Croatia on September 9 where victory would guarantee England's place in the finals in South Africa.

Capello has instead decided to keep faith with Tottenham star Jermain Defoe, who has been in fine form this season.

Goalkeeper David James misses out for the third squad running after being forced to sit out Portsmouth's home defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

In defence, the absence of Rio Ferdinand with a thigh strain has provided Manchester United teammate Wes Brown with a surprise return.

SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ben Foster (Man Utd), Robert Green (West Ham), Paul Robinson (Blackburn)

Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Wes Brown (Man Utd), Matthew Upson (West Ham), John Terry (Chelsea, capt), Joleon Lescott (Man City), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Wayne Bridge (Man City)

Midfielders: Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy/USA), Gareth Barry (Man City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Man Utd), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), James Milner (Aston Villa)

Attackers: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Tottenham).

34 new swine flu cases detected

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Thirty-four fresh cases of swine flu detected today, bringing the toll to 247 across the country.

Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) this morning tested 34 people positive for the H1N1 virus.

After investigating huge new cases, IEDCR has stopped testing people rushed there with flu-like symptoms.

Now, it is giving treatment to the patients based on the symptoms, IEDCR sources said.

Earlier yesterday, the government confirmed the first death from swine flu in the country.

The authorities concerned said, as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, people need not waste time with testing for A (H1N1) since the virus has already spread widely. Rather, they should start symptom management treatments and isolating the patients with symptoms.

However, different hospitals, including some of the hospitals provided with special training by the government, are sending patients to test and confirm swine flu without giving them any cautionary messages or treatment.

The government said 15 government and private hospitals have been prepared to manage swine flu patients.

All New Nokia N900 tablet

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Move over, Nokia n97. Your bigger, badder, unannounced brother is on the way - and one of our sources at Nokia has just clued us in on all of the details, from worldwide launch targets to hardware specs.

While it should be noted that our source on this scoop is new to our tipster family, we’re very confident in the details they’ve provided. All materials they’ve shared seem positively legit, having a number of indicators we’ve come to look for in Nokia documents (though, for the sake of not opening our inbox to a landslide of real looking fakes, we can’t say what these are.) Included in these materials were a number of renders and product shots; unfortunately, we’ve got reason to believe that these images have tough-to-detect security watermarks. For the sake of our source, we can only release the above recreation of one of the product renders - apologies for our artistic shortcomings.

Nokia’s next tablet device is designed in the same vein as their N810, albeit significantly more polished. Though it doesn’t appear to have an official name as of yet, it’s referred to internally as “N900″, “Rover”, or “Maemo Flagship”. We’ll be referring to this device as the N900 for the rest of this post, though it’s quite possible that this name will change.

The N900 is very similar to the Nokia N97 aesthetically, having a 3.5″ touchscreen above a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and many of the same design features. However, the screen of the N900 is significantly higher resolution (800×480 as opposed to 360×640) and, unlike that of the N97, does not tilt up. Additionally, the N900 does not appear to feature the navi-keys found on the slide-out layer of the N97. And, of course, it runs Maemo rather than S60.

Now, on to the meat.

Hardware Specs:

Update: A few comments inquired about GPS. Our source has since verified that the N900 does indeed have GPS, along with an accelerometer.
Dimensions: 59.7mmx111mmx18.2mm
Weight: 180g
3.5″ 800×480 (WVGA) touchscreen
OMAP3430 500/600 Mhz processor (Fun Trivia: Same CPU as the Palm Pre)
Bands: GSM Quad-Band 850, 900, 1800, 1900. WCDMA 900, 1700/2100, 2100
5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, autofocus, and sliding cover
Though the renders we’ve seen show two lens-like circles near the screen, we’ve got no word on what’s behind them. However, we feel safe in assuming that its a proximity sensor and a front-facing camera.
1GB total virtual runtime memory (256MB physical RAM, 768MB virtual memory)
Wi-Fi, HSPA
32GB internal storage, expandable up to 48GB via external memory
Keyboard variants: English, Scandinavian, French, German, South European, Italian, Russia
In the box: Connectivity cable, headset, charger, battery (1320 mAh), Video-out cable, microUSB adaptor, cleaning cloth

Some of the mentioned software features:

In all of the renders we’ve seen, it appears to be running Maemo 5.
Multitasking: “Run all of your favorite applications simultaneously”
Live Dashboard allows all open tasks and unread messages to be displayed in one view
Browser: Firefox 3 with support for Flash 9.4
Built-in automatic update software
Contacts has some sort of status sharing built in, allowing you to share your status, location, and mood. Support for Contacts on Ovi and Google Talk.
All SMS and IMs accessible from one view
Cellular voice or VOIP both supported
Captures video at 800×480 in AVC/H.264
Image tagging and geo-tagging support
Nokia intends to have at least a dozen add-on apps available at launch, including a game called “Bounce”, a Jaiku/Twitter app called “Mauku”, and a few widgets.

If you’re not drooling yet, you should probably get your salivary glands checked. If you are, you’re probably getting curious about availability. Don’t worry, we’ve got details on that, too.

This documents all specifically and repeatedly mention “TMO” launch targets. We’ve never seen this stand for anything besides T-Mobile in this context, and everything still makes perfect sense after swapping out every instance of “TMO” for “T-Mobile”. As such, we assume that is what they mean.

This mobile going to lunch in October.

Suicidal planet seems on death spiral into star

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:37:00 +0000

WASHINGTON – Astronomers have found what appears to be a gigantic suicidal planet.

The odd, fiery planet is so close to its star and so large that it is triggering tremendous plasma tides on the star. Those powerful tides are in turn warping the planet's zippy less-than-a-day orbit around its star.

The result: an ever-closer tango of death, with the planet eventually spiraling into the star.

It's a slow death. The planet WASP-18b has maybe a million years to live, said planet discoverer Coel Hellier, a professor of astrophysics at the Keele University in England. Hellier's report on the suicidal planet is in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

"It's causing its own destruction by creating these tides," Hellier said.

The star is called WASP-18 and the planet is WASP-18b because of the Wide Angle Search for Planets team that found them.

The planet circles a star that is in the constellation Phoenix and is about 325 light-years away from Earth, which means it is in our galactic neighborhood. A light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles.

The planet is 1.9 million miles from its star, 1/50th of the distance between Earth and the sun, our star. And because of that the temperature is about 3,800 degrees.

Its size — 10 times bigger than Jupiter — and its proximity to its star make it likely to die, Hellier said.

Think of how the distant moon pulls Earth's oceans to form twice-daily tides. The effect the odd planet has on its star is thousands of times stronger, Hellier said. The star's tidal bulge of plasma may extend hundreds of miles, he said.

Like most planets outside our solar system, this planet was not seen directly by a telescope. Astronomers found it by seeing dips in light from the star every time the planet came between the star and Earth.

So far astronomers have found more than 370 planets outside the solar system. This one is "yet another weird one in the exoplanet menagerie," said planet specialist Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

It's so unusual to find a suicidal planet that University of Maryland astronomer Douglas Hamilton questioned whether there was another explanation. While it is likely that this is a suicidal planet, Hamilton said it is also possible that some basic physics calculations that all astronomers rely on could be dead wrong.

The answer will become apparent in less than a decade if the planet seems to be further in a death spiral, he said.

Obama breaks vacation, keeps Bernanke at Fed

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:20:00 +0000

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. – President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he wants to keep Ben Bernanke on as Fed chairman, saying he shepherded America through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

"Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and out-of-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall," said Obama, with Bernanke standing by his side. "Almost none of the decisions he or any of us made have been easy."

Obama made the announcement while on vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts after aides said initially that the president intended a news-free week there. Both he and Bernanke sported the open-collar look.

Bernanke, 55, is credited with turning the economy away from its deepest and longest recession since the 1930s. Now he faces the challenge of meeting White House expectations to chart the full economic recovery considered critical to Obama's legacy.

In sticking with a Republican for the nation's top banker, the Democratic president was aiming for stability at a time of continuing, though easing, crisis. The move was designed to reassure the U.S. financial sector as well as foreign central banks that the Obama administration isn't changing course on its largely well-received approaches to the financial meltdown and overall monetary policy.

The announcement also came nearly concurrently with a piece of bad economic news. Obama interrupted his vacation to telegraph his decision just ahead of a White House report that gave more bleak assessments of the nation's deficit picture.

Figures released by the White House budget office on Monday foresee a cumulative $9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, $2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May. Moreover, the figures show the public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three quarters the size of the entire national economy. Also Monday, analysts with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected a cumulative $7 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, more in line with the administration's May estimate.

The White House said Obama decided on the last-minute schedule addition to help "put him more in `vacation mode." "There's been a lot of speculation out there, and the president wanted to put it to rest," Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters as the presidential entourage headed from the site of the announcement to a golf course.

Bernanke's early tenure was as complicated as the crisis facing the banks he sought to save.

The Fed chairman's successful, although unconventional, strategy to move the economy away from recession, unlock frozen credit and stabilize spiraling financial markets depended in large part on creating radical and unprecedented lending programs. But he's not without his detractors, and the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Connecticut's Chris Dodd, immediately warned of a thorough hearing before Bernanke would be confirmed for a second four-year term.

With such controversy surrounding some of his decisions, Bernanke's fate had been the subject of speculation for months.

Many on Wall Street and in academic circles had viewed Bernanke as the best choice to tackle continued high unemployment, fight off any threat of inflation and take on the next set of risky, difficult decisions.

Announcing his decision to bypass prominent Democratic economic figures for the job, Obama had nothing but praise for Bernanke.

The president also put in a plug for his own administration's actions to stabilize the financial system, restructure the auto industry and approve $787 billion in stimulus spending.

Appearing in makeshift press workspace on the island, Bernanke said that if confirmed by the Senate, he'd work to provide "a strong foundation for growth and stability" in the economy.

"The Federal Reserve, like other economic policy makers, has been challenged by the unprecedented events of the past few years," Bernanke said. "We have been bold or deliberate as circumstances demanded, but our objective remains constant: to restore a more stable financial and economic environment in which opportunity can again flourish and in which Americans hard work and creativity can receive their proper rewards."

The economy is emerging from recession and is poised for growth. However, it will be slow-going and the unemployment rate, now at 9.4 percent, is likely to top 10 percent this year before it starts going down.

For Obama, there was little political downside in choosing to nominate Bernanke. The move displays bipartisanship and a steady, unchanging hand on the economic tiller. Fully occupied with an attempted health care overhaul, Obama's team could little afford the distraction of changing the head of the Fed.

Bernanke was appointed Fed chairman by President George W. Bush and sworn in Feb. 1, 2006, following Alan Greenspan's 18-year tenure.

Microsoft, Yahoo brace for probe

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Ap, Washington

Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp hope that by joining forces, they can tilt the balance of power in internet search away from Google Inc. First, however, Yahoo and Microsoft have to convince regulators that their plan won't hurt online advertisers and consumers.

As the US Justice Department reviews the proposed partnership, approval figures to hinge on this question: Will the online ad market be healthier if Google's dominance is challenged by a single, more muscular rival instead of two scrawnier foes?

The first step toward getting an answer came this month when Microsoft and Yahoo filed paperwork with federal regulators to comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, an antitrust law governing mergers and alliances between competitors. The Justice Department has until early September to approve the agreement or -- as is likely in this case -- request additional information.

European regulators are also expected to review the deal. Microsoft and Yahoo are bracing for the probes to extend into early next year, and the outcome is far from certain.

Just nine months ago, Google abandoned its own proposed partnership with Yahoo to avoid a showdown with the government, which had concluded that Google was already too powerful in the lucrative market for selling ads alongside search results.

Google had hoped to extend its reach even further by selling ads next to some of Yahoo's search results, and in the process, keep Yahoo out of Microsoft's clutches. Microsoft aggressively lobbied against the partnership.

With the Google-Yahoo inquiry behind them, US antitrust regulators are likely to enter this examination with a clearer definition of the Internet search landscape and a better understanding of how it affects the steadily growing online advertising market.

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona would not comment on the antitrust review, whose existence was confirmed by Microsoft and Yahoo.

Microsoft is counting on the Yahoo partnership to close the wide gap separating the software maker from Google in search. Under the 10-year agreement announced last month, Microsoft's Bing search engine would process all search requests and steer search-related ads on Yahoo.

Analysts believe the move will free Yahoo to phase out of the search business so it can focus on other products. Yahoo would keep 88 percent of advertising revenue generated by searches on its site for the first five years of the deal, and as much as 93 percent in the final five years.

The Microsoft-Yahoo alliance may stand a better chance of winning antitrust approval than the Google-Yahoo pact because it would combine the second and third players in the search market instead of the top two, said Melissa Maxman, head of the antitrust practice group at Baker & Hostetler LLP. In fact, a combination of Microsoft and Yahoo would still lag far behind Google.

Google handled 64.7 percent of all US Web searches in July, while Yahoo processed 19.3 percent and Microsoft 8.9 percent, according to comScore Inc.

The lopsided competition means neither Yahoo nor Microsoft has a large enough audience on its own to lure a significant amount of search advertising dollars away from Google, argues Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith.

"Advertisers want scale," Smith said in an interview, "so we need to increase our scale to offer something compelling to advertisers."

Already, one large group of advertisers that opposed the Google deal is supporting the Microsoft marriage.

Last year, the Association of National Advertisers feared Google would gain too much pricing leverage over advertisers through a Yahoo alliance. But Microsoft still won't be in the driver's seat if it teams with Yahoo, said Bob Liodice, president of the trade group. Its members include such big marketers as Procter & Gamble Co, Johnson & Johnson and General Motors Corp.

"This is a whole different ball game," Liodice said. "We are not concerned about monopolisation of the market as a result of two weaker competitors coming together. We would still have a very competitive marketplace."

Maxman said regulators will have to consider another factor as well: Yahoo may need Microsoft to survive. Although it remains profitable, Yahoo might not be able to afford to keep spending so much money on search -- where it has been losing ground to Google for years --while its hold on its audience is threatened by rapidly growing Internet hubs such as Facebook and Twitter.

Nevertheless, Maxman said, antitrust regulators could still conclude that Microsoft and Yahoo don't absolutely need each other to compete effectively with Google. Microsoft has deep pockets and plenty of brainpower. And while Yahoo's profits have been slipping for the past three years, the company is now run by a chief executive, Carol Bartz, who has been trying to instill more discipline and focus during the first seven months of her tenure.

"There is no reason that with the right management and right strategy that it can't remain a viable third alternative in the search market," said Matthew Cantor, a New York attorney specialising in antitrust law.

Antitrust regulators generally frown on deals that create duopolies, unless one of the players can show it needs to bow out of a cutthroat competition to stay alive, Cantor said.

"The Justice Department's goal is to prevent the market from becoming too concentrated," Maxman said.

The real challenge for antitrust regulators, she said, is that it can be difficult to predict how a rapidly changing technology market will evolve.

A decade ago, Microsoft's stranglehold on PC software triggered an antitrust case that led regulators to conclude the company had abused its control over PC operating systems. Now, Google has emerged as the industry's fearsome giant -- a transformation underscored by the Justice Department's decision to block Google's proposed deal with Yahoo last year. Antitrust regulators are also reviewing the potential effects of a legal settlement that would give Google the digital rights over millions of copyright-protected books.

Swine Flu Vaccine - H1N1 Vaccine

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:26:00 +0000

As the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is a new virus, no swine flu vaccine is available to prevent infections.

And unfortunately, the seasonal flu vaccine that many of us receive will not provide any protection against the swine flu virus.

Experts are already working on a swine flu vaccine though. The CDC has already provided a candidate vaccine virus to several laboratories and manufacturers so that they can produce pilot lots of swine flu vaccines that can be tested to make sure they are safe and effective.

It is important to note that the decision to make a swine flu vaccine is separate from the decision as to whether or not to recommend that people actually receive the vaccine. Experts will likely still have to see what happens throughout the rest of the summer to see if they will recommend that people get a swine flu vaccine.

Swine Flu Vaccine

It is estimated that the swine flu vaccine won't be ready until sometime around September to November 2009. In addition to the time required to actually make a new vaccine, the likely need to make seasonal flu vaccine for next year may delay things a little.

Can the swine flu vaccine be combined with the seasonal flu vaccine? No, as vaccine companies will be done making seasonal flu vaccine before they can likely even get started on the swine flu vaccine.

Once the swine flu is ready, who will get it?

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that swine flu vaccine should first go to:

Pregnant women
Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age
Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel
All children and young adults from 6 months through 24 years of age, and
Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza

That will take up about 159 million doses of swine flu vaccine. If supplies of swine flu vaccine are limited, priority should go to:

Pregnant women
Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age
Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel
Children 6 months through 4 years of age, and
Children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions

Next, as swine flu vaccine improves to the point that all priority groups have gotten vaccinated, everyone from the ages of 25 through 64 years will get vaccinated too. Lastly, people 65 or older, who have the least risk from the swine flu will be offered the swine flu vaccine.

Swine Flu Vaccine Trials

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, will soon start swine flu clinical trials to make sure the new swine flu vaccines are safe and effective. They are to be conducted at eight university research hospitals and medical organizations across the United States, including Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, and Emory University in Atlanta.

The first clinical trail will test whether one or two doses are needed and will test both 15mcg and 30mcg doses of vaccine. Although the trials will start in adults, if the vaccines are safe, they will also be tested in children.

1976 Swine Flu Vaccine

Although it is true that we don't currently have a swine flu vaccine, there once was a swine flu vaccine that was made to target the swine flu H1N1 strain that was found at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Because of fears that this swine flu strain was similar to the flu strain that caused the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, a vaccination program immunized more than 40 million people in the United States between October 1976 to December 1976.

The immunization program was stopped early because the swine flu pandemic didn't occur, and the swine flu vaccine was thought to cause many side effects, including GBS.

How many cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome were there? About 40, or 1 per million people vaccinated. Even that was considered too high though in light of the fact that there didn't seem to be any cases of swine flu that season.

Wigan 0 United 5

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Wigan 0 Man United 5 Rooney (56, 67), Berbatov (63), Owen (86), Nani (93)
United returned to winning ways in style as Wayne Rooney reached and embellished a century of United goals, while Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen - with his maiden Reds strike - and Nani sealed a handsome victory at the DW Stadium.An end-to-end first half failed to yield any goals, but a glut of second half goals sealed a 10th successive victory over Wigan - with the undoubted highlight coming as substitute Owen got off the mark with a sublime finish as United reacted positively to Wednesday's embarrassing defeat at Burnley.After the lacklustre reverse at Turf Moor, Sir Alex Ferguson sought to freshen his side with seven changes of personnel, drafting in Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic for their first appearances of the season, and putting together a completely new midfield four of Nani, Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes and former Latic Antonio Valencia. Berbatov replaced Owen as Rooney’s strike partner.
It immediately became apparent that there was more zip and purpose in United than there had been at Turf Moor. Only an heroic goal-line block from Titus Bramble prevented Darren Fletcher from turning home Nani’s neat pull-back after just four minutes.
It took only another four minutes for another good opening to come and go. Fletcher was again involved, slipping the ball through for Berbatov, and the Bulgarian instantly teed up Scholes with a delightful back-heel, only for the veteran midfielder to fire over from just inside the area.
Rooney then chanced his arm twice in a minute, hitting the target with one while the other was deflected wide, but Wigan grew in stature as the half reached its midway point. Vidic and Patrice Evra had to be alert to make blocks deep inside their own box, and Ben Foster was forced into a full-length diving save from a curling Jason Koumas effort.
A long ball from Jonny Evans released Rooney through the centre, but his powerful low shot was well saved by Chris Kirkland. Although there was far greater menace in United than there had been three days earlier, the failing was the same – profligacy in front of goal.Bramble performed more heroics in the latter stages of the half, deflecting a Rooney effort wide and making a superb challenge to rob Berbatov, ensuring that an entertaining first half had ended goalless. Within 15 minutes of the restart, however, the game was buried.Valencia, whose reception from his former fans had switched from respectful applause to ceaseless catcalls after a clash with Maynor Figueroa, played a huge part. The Ecuadorian steered a superb cross into the box, where Rooney was waiting to powerfully head United into the lead.Relief reigned for the 5,000 jubilant travelling supporters, who were quickly cheering events at the opposite end as Foster made a superb back-pedalling save from Hugo Rodallega's looping header. It proved a pivotal moment, as United's lead was doubled within a minute.Neat interplay ended with Scholes lobbing a delightful ball over Wigan's backline for Berbatov, who craftily nicked the ball over Kirkland and completed the finish from close range. The contest seemed over, and three points were sealed by United's third goal on 65 minutes.Another wave of United attack culminated in Rooney picking the ball up on the left edge of opening, but required a large slice of fortune as his shot took a heavy deflection off Mario Melchiot and spun inside Kirkland's near post.Game safe, Sir Alex opted to ring the changes again - sending on Owen, Darron Gibson and John O'Shea for Rooney, Scholes and Jonny Evans - and with four minutes remaining Owen notched his first United goal in style. The England international raced onto Nani's through-ball and sent an unerring left-footed effort in off Kirkland's far post.United's delighted away support hailed their new hero with some gentle ribbing about his affiliation with former club Liverpool, and the upbeat mood was further lifted in injury-time as Nani, a pest all afternoon for the hosts, curled a 25-yard free kick over the wall and past the motionless Kirkland.

Burnley stun MU

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:43:00 +0000

Manchester United's defence of the Premier League title suffered an early blow as the champions slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at promoted Burnley on Wednesday.

Sir Alex Ferguson's team were beaten for the first time this season as Robbie Blake scored the first half winner for Burnley, who were indebted to goalkeeper Brian Jensen for saving Michael Carrick's second half penalty.

Burnley were playing their first home match as a top-flight club for 33 years and marked the occasion with a dynamic display that was too much for the champions.

Ferguson made three changes to the team that beat Birmingham on Sunday with Michael Owen handed a first start after his close-season move from Newcastle.

But it was Burnley, promoted via the Championship play-offs last season, who seized the initiative in the 19th minute at Turf Moor when Blake pounced on a half-cleared cross and lashed a ferocious volley past Ben Foster.

United had a chance to level when Blake hauled down Patrice Evra, but Jensen, the giant Burnley keeper nicknamed "the beast" by fans, kept his side ahead by turning away Carrick's penalty.

Ferguson sent on Dimitar Berbatov for Owen, who is still waiting for his first goal since January - a drought stretching over 12 hours of playing time - but United were unable to avoid their first defeat against the Clarets since 1968.

"I thought we gave an awful lot to the game in terms of attacking play," said Burnley manager Owen Coyle, whose team lost their first match at Stoke on Saturday. "Our players went toe-to-toe and tried to match up with them.

"The goal was terrific and it was fitting to win any game. We're delighted to have points on the board."

Liverpool gave the perfect response to Sunday's defeat at Tottenham as Rafael Benitez's team claimed a 4-0 victory over Stoke at Anfield.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring early on and Glen Johnson's first goal for Liverpool made it two before Dirk Kuyt and David Ngog struck late on.

Torres took just four minutes to put Liverpool ahead as he met Steven Gerrard's cross with a fine finish.

Benitez's team took complete control in the 45th minute when James Beattie cleared Kuyt's header off the line and the ball fell for Johnson, who volleyed home from close-range.

Kuyt added the third in the 78th minute before Ngog's stoppage time strike sealed the rout.

Tottenham maintained their impressive start to the campaign as England striker Jermain Defoe scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win at Hull.

Harry Redknapp's team caught the eye with victory over Liverpool on Sunday and they showed that was no flash in the pan by moving to the top of the table.

Defoe and Wilson Palacios gave them a two-goal lead before Stephen Hunt got one back, but Defoe completed his hat-trick either side of a goal from Robbie Keane.

Redknapp's team took the lead in the 10th minute when Defoe, who scored twice in England's friendly against Holland last week, took Tom Huddlestone's pass on the edge of the penalty area and worked space to drive home a fine finish.

Honduras midfielder Palacios increased Tottenham's lead four minutes later when he finished Keane's pass for his first goal in English football.

Hull winger Hunt reduced the deficit when he curled in a long-range free-kick in the 25th minute.

But Defoe restored Tottenham's two-goal advantage on the stroke of half-time.

Keane got on the scoresheet in the 78th minute and Defoe's treble arrived in the 90th minute.

Birmingham claimed their first win of the season as James McFadden's stoppage time penalty sealed a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth at St Andrews.

Alex McLeish's side, promoted as Championship runners-up last season, were awarded the spot-kick when Portsmouth goalkeeper David James collided with Sebastian Larsson

WHO predicts 'explosion' of swine flu cases

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:37:00 +0000

The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response, the World Health Organization said Friday.There will soon be a period of further global spread of the virus, and most countries may see swine flu cases double every three to four days for several months until peak transmission is reached, said WHO's Western Pacific director, Shin Young-soo.

"At a certain point, there will seem to be an explosion in case numbers," Shin told a symposium of health officials and experts in Beijing. "It is certain there will be more cases and more deaths."WHO has declared the swine flu strain a pandemic, and it has killed almost 1,800 people worldwide through last week. International attention has focused on how the pandemic is progressing in southern hemisphere countries such as Australia, which are experiencing winter and their flu season.

But it is in developing countries where the accelerated spread of swine flu poses the greatest threat as it places underequipped and underfunded health systems under severe strain, Shin said.Governments must act quickly to educate the public, prepare their health systems to care for severe cases and protect those deemed more vulnerable to prevent unnecessary deaths, he said."We only have a short time period to reach the state of preparedness deemed necessary," Shin said. "Communities must be aware before a pandemic strikes as to what they can do to reduce the spread of the virus, and how to obtain early treatment of severe cases."

Pregnant women face a higher risk of complications, and the virus also has more severe effects on people with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disorders and diabetes, WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a video address.

WHO earlier estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years — nearly one-third of the world's population.

Health officials and drug makers, meanwhile, are looking into ways to speed up production of a vaccine before the northern hemisphere enters its flu season in coming months. Estimates for when a vaccine will be available range from September to December.

WHO has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities, especially in poorer countries.
The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient

Chelsea outclass Sunderland

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:55:00 +0000

Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack celebrates scoring the equalising goal against Sunderland during their Premiership encounter at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.Photo: AFPAfp, Sunderland

Chelsea dug deep again to maintain new manager Carlo Ancelotti's 100 per cent start with a classy 3-1 victory at Sunderland on Tuesday.

On Saturday, a miscued Didier Drogba cross deep into injury time dipped into the net to give Ancelotti's side a narrow 2-1 home win against Hull City after the Blues had fallen behind.

The west London club found themselves in trouble again at the Stadium of Light as record signing Darren Bent gave Sunderland an early lead.

But thereafter it was all Chelsea as Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard from the spot and Deco produced second-half goals that eased the visitors to a deserved victory.

Having themselves won on the opening day - 1-0 at Bolton - Sunderland were reminded of the class gap in this league.

It was art against graft in the engine room, where Bruce trusted in the workrate and strength of former Marseille captain Lorik Cana alongside Lee Cattermole - both of them close-season signings - against the quality of Lampard, Ballack and Deco.

It was still a bright start from the home side and Bent, who had taken only five minutes to claim his first Sunderland goal at Bolton, threatened but lashed wide inside three minutes with Kieran Richardson better placed in the middle.

Chelsea could not break through the home side's determined early rearguard, their best moments coming from a string of early corners, and were behind in the 18th minute as Bent, ridiculed by Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp last season for missing a chance he reckoned his wife could have put away, finished with cool precision.

He started the move with a ball over from the left that broke for Jones 18 yards out. The Trinidad and Tobago striker's shot was blocked, but the ball squirted out to the left for Bent, who steadied himself before firing under Petr Cech.

Ballack ballooned a shot over when teed-up by Lampard inside the box and Jordan Henderson had to head clear Jose Bosingwa's cross from under his own bar before Sunderland's goal survived an almighty scare in the 37th minute, Cattermole hooking Ballack's shot off the line following Deco's corner from the left.

Five minutes after interval, Marton Fulop clawed away Branislav Ivanovic's header from a Lampard centre and the Hungarian was relieved seconds later to see Drogba's bullet header skim the roof of his net.

Henderson conceded a corner when he hooked Lampard's cross from the head of Ashley Cole, but there were to be no more let-offs for Sunderland as Lampard's flag kick took a touch on at the near post for Ballack to force the ball home at the far post in the 52nd minute.

The home side was in danger of being overwhelmed and Chelsea made their dominance tell in the 61st minute as Drogba was upended by George McCartney for a clear penalty, which Lampard drilled home.

Drogba somehow headed Cole's cross over the bar from close range, but victory was in the bag for Chelsea when Deco eluded substitute Grant Leadbitter to angle home a delicious right-foot shot from 20 yards.

Subsitute Daniel Sturridge tested Fulop with a curling effort at the death. A fourth would have been cruel on Sunderland, but little more than Chelsea would have deserved from a fine display.

Panna tigers give clue to Sundarbans tigers' deaths?

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:54:00 +0000

The tiger being tranquillised, bottom, for the second time for taking off collar (notice the neck and the dart stuck on its hind leg). One of the darted tigers, top left, walks weak and famished. The tiger lies unconscious for a long time after being tranquillised. Photo: TV grab from BBC documentary GangesInam Ahmed

Those in Bangladesh who argue that the death four years ago of two Sundarbans tigers was due to reckless research have found support for their contention in the findings of an official Indian investigation into the deaths of Panna tigers in Madhya Pradesh.

It is now thought increasingly likely that the deaths four years ago of two Sundarbans tigers were the result of foreign researchers using radio collars as a way of tracking tigers in the forest. The researchers - a university of Minnesota professor James LD Smith and a PhD candidate Adam Barlow - were, at the time, working alongside the forest department as part of the Sundarbans Tiger Project.

The researchers had tranquilised and then collared two tigers one in 2005 and the other in 2006.The first tiger died within six months of radio-collaring. The second one died soon after being tranquilised to remove the collar.

Soon after the tigers had died, Sirajul Hossain and other naturalists began to question the practice of collaring and the use of tranquillisers. He argued that there was evidence that collaring was too risky for wild tigers, and that the tranquilliser Telazol was not recommended as safe for wild tigers.

It was reported that the collars disorientated the tigers and caused them to hallucinate - making it difficult for them to hunt and avoid poachers.

A video made by a BBC TV crew just before their deaths seemed to give support for this view as it showed the tigers very weak and famished. It showed that they could barely move and even wild boars were not afraid to be within a few feet of them.

Following the deaths, the forest department had prohibited putting collars on the tigers. The researchers had initially planned to collar eight tigers.

Although these criticisms were not supported by a number of Indian tiger researchers, support for these claims has now come from last month's findings of the National Wildlife Crime Control Bureau investigation into the deaths of dozens of tigers in the Panna reserve of Madhya Pradesh which had been considered one of the oldest homes for tigers in India.

Like the Sundarbans tigers, the Panna tigers had also been the subject of collaring and the use of tranquillisers.

The Bureau's report found that radio collaring was to blame for the deaths of most of these tigers. It concluded that 80 percent of the tigers killed in Panna had died at the hands of poachers after they were radio-collared. It criticized the lack of standard operating procedures in using radio-collaring and the weight of the heavy collars which caused neck infections. The report also said that the dose of tranquiliser given to the tigers had robbed them of their agility.

Following this revelation, Bangladeshi naturalists are now demanding that the deaths of the two Sundarbans tigers should also be thoroughly investigated.

Naturalist and wildlife photographer Sirajul Hossain points out that both the tigers tranquilised and radio-collared in Bangladesh were residents of the eastern Sundarbans where tourists and fishermen crisscross tigers' path without any incident or abnormal tiger behavior.

“It is interesting that after the tigers were tranquilised, they both showed odd behaviour - perhaps because of the result of hunger and the effect of the drug,” he said.

“They became weak, were unable to hunt, and attacked people, a number of times. In my view the effect of using Telazol and the process of radio collaring may make the Panna tigers vulnerable to poachers."

Ronald Haldar, another naturalist criticized the decision to experiment on an old tiger, and points to discrepancies in the explanations for the deaths given by the researchers. "Why was such an old tiger selected for such a stressful exercise? And why were we told that the collar of the other tiger was found abandoned in the jungle when this was not true," he asks.

Dr Reza Khan, a zoologist, said the tigers must have died from the result of overstress from excessive tranquilisation - which was done not by a vet but by a biologist.

Manchester Starts win

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Wayne Rooney gave United the perfect start in the search for an unprecedented fourth league title in a row.

The Reds’ number ten scored the decisive goal, made life difficult for Birmingham all afternoon and might have had a hat-trick against a lesser goalkeeper than Joe Hart.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the champions, however, and had Hart’s opposite number Ben Foster not pulled off a wonderful save of his own from Christian Benitez, the game might have ended all-square – just like the opening days of 2007 and 2008.

Sir Alex Ferguson fielded new signing Antonio Valencia on the right and the Ecuadorian made a confident start on United’s right flank, not least when he vaulted over a lunge by Birmingham left-back Gregory Vignal and whipped in an early cross.

The home fans were on their feet when Dimitar Berbatov was wrestled to the ground by Stephen Carr on the edge of the box – unpunished by referee Lee Mason. At the other end, James McFadden almost made matters worse with a curling shot just past the post as United’s defenders backed off.

Berbatov almost gained his revenge with a shot that Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart just managed to divert and when the ball broke to Nani from Rooney tussling with the centre-halves, the Blues managed to block the Portuguese’s shot and eventually clear their lines.

Hart, hailed as England’s number one by the away fans, pulled off a

picture-book save
to thwart the next attack as Rooney tried to beat him with an exquisite chip. The Blues keeper, on loan from Manchester City, flicked the ball over the bar and then completed his work by comfortably plucking Nani’s resulting corner out of the air.

Foster reminded us of his international credentials when he courageously snatched McFadden’s menacing low cross from the left with Larsson closing in for the kill. But Hart remained the busier keeper, even if he was well protected on the whole by former Spurs and Liverpool full-backs Stephen Carr and Gregory Vignal and a new centre-back pairing of ex-Middlesbrough man Franck Queudrue and summer signing from Cardiff City, Roger Johnson.

Those same defenders were napping however, when Nani delivered a peach of a cross from the left and Rooney leaped perfectly between two defenders to head against the base of the right-hand post and then react quickest to knock home the loose ball.

Finally breached after 34 minutes, Birmingham were forced to come out of their shell and they did so boldly. First, their isolated front man Cameron Jerome weaved his way across the edge of United’s area and struck a thunderous shot that just nicked off Scholes for a corner. From Larsson’s setpiece, Queudrue came even close to an undeserved equaliser when his header was nodded off the line acrobatically by Evra.

Spanish League Fixture

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:13:00 +0000

First Division Fixtures 09/10

The home team is shown first, the away team second.

R Madrid		Deportivo
Athletic		Espanyol
Mallorca		Xerez
Osasuna		Villarreal
Zaragoza		Tenerife
Valencia		Sevilla
Almería		Valladolid
Barcelona		Sporting
Racing		Getafe
Málaga		Atlético
Day 1 - Aug 30

Deportivo		Málaga
Espanyol		R Madrid
Xerez		Athletic
Villarreal		Mallorca
Tenerife		Osasuna
Sevilla		Zaragoza
Valladolid		Valencia
Sporting		Almería
Getafe		Barcelona
Atlético		Racing
Day 2 - Sept 13

Deportivo		Espanyol
R Madrid		Xerez
Athletic		Villarreal
Mallorca		Tenerife
Osasuna		Sevilla
Zaragoza		Valladolid
Valencia		Sporting
Almería		Getafe
Barcelona		Atlético
Málaga		Racing
Day 3 - Sept 20

Espanyol		Málaga
Xerez		Deportivo
Villarreal		R Madrid
Tenerife		Athletic
Sevilla		Mallorca
Valladolid		Osasuna
Sporting		Zaragoza
Getafe		Valencia
Atlético		Almería
Racing		Barcelona
Day 4 - Sept 23

Espanyol		Xerez
Deportivo		Villarreal
R Madrid		Tenerife
Athletic		Sevilla
Mallorca		Valladolid
Osasuna		Sporting
Zaragoza		Getafe
Valencia		Atlético
Almería		Racing
Málaga		Barcelona
Day 5 - Sept 27

Xerez		Málaga
Villarreal		Espanyol
Tenerife		Deportivo
Sevilla		R Madrid
Valladolid		Athletic
Sporting		Mallorca
Getafe		Osasuna
Atlético		Zaragoza
Racing		Valencia
Barcelona		Almería
Day 6 - Oct 4

Xerez		Villarreal
Espanyol		Tenerife
Deportivo		Sevilla
R Madrid		Valladolid
Athletic		Sporting
Mallorca		Getafe
Osasuna		Atlético
Zaragoza		Racing
Valencia		Barcelona
Málaga		Almería
Day 7 - Oct 18

Villarreal		Málaga
Tenerife		Xerez
Sevilla		Espanyol
Valladolid		Deportivo
Sporting		R Madrid
Getafe		Athletic
Atlético		Mallorca
Racing		Osasuna
Barcelona		Zaragoza
Almería		Valencia
Day 8 - Oct 25

Villarreal		Tenerife
Xerez		Sevilla
Espanyol		Valladolid
Deportivo		Sporting
R Madrid		Getafe
Athletic		Atlético
Mallorca		Racing
Osasuna		Barcelona
Zaragoza		Almería
Málaga		Valencia
Day 9 - Nov 1

Tenerife		Málaga
Sevilla		Villarreal
Valladolid		Xerez
Sporting		Espanyol
Getafe		Deportivo
Atlético		R Madrid
Racing		Athletic
Barcelona		Mallorca
Almería		Osasuna
Valencia		Zaragoza
Day 10 - Nov 8

Tenerife		Sevilla
Villarreal		Valladolid
Xerez		Sporting
Espanyol		Getafe
Deportivo		Atlético
R Madrid		Racing
Athletic		Barcelona
Mallorca		Almería
Osasuna		Valencia
Málaga		Zaragoza
Day 11 - Nov 22

Sevilla		Málaga
Valladolid		Tenerife
Sporting		Villarreal
Getafe		Xerez
Atlético		Espanyol
Racing		Deportivo
Barcelona		R Madrid
Almería		Athletic
Valencia		Mallorca
Zaragoza		Osasuna
Day 12 - Nov 29

Sevilla		Valladolid
Tenerife		Sporting
Villarreal		Getafe
Xerez		Atlético
Espanyol		Racing
Deportivo		Barcelona
R Madrid		Almería
Athletic		Valencia
Mallorca		Zaragoza
Málaga		Osasuna
Day 13 - Dec 6

Valladolid		Málaga
Sporting		Sevilla
Getafe		Tenerife
Atlético		Villarreal
Racing		Xerez
Barcelona		Espanyol
Almería		Deportivo
Valencia		R Madrid
Zaragoza		Athletic
Osasuna		Mallorca
Day 14 - Dec 13

Valladolid		Sporting
Sevilla		Getafe
Tenerife		Atlético
Villarreal		Racing
Xerez		Barcelona
Espanyol		Almería
Deportivo		Valencia
R Madrid		Zaragoza
Athletic		Osasuna
Málaga		Mallorca
Day 15 - Dec 20

Sporting		Málaga
Getafe		Valladolid
Atlético		Sevilla
Racing		Tenerife
Barcelona		Villarreal
Almería		Xerez
Valencia		Espanyol
Zaragoza		Deportivo
Osasuna		R Madrid
Mallorca		Athletic
Day 16 - Jan 3

Sporting		Getafe
Valladolid		Atlético
Sevilla		Racing
Tenerife		Barcelona
Villarreal		Almería
Xerez		Valencia
Espanyol		Zaragoza
Deportivo		Osasuna
R Madrid		Mallorca
Málaga		Athletic
Day 17 - Jan 10

Málaga		Getafe
Atlético		Sporting
Racing		Valladolid
Barcelona		Sevilla
Almería		Tenerife
Valencia		Villarreal
Zaragoza		Xerez
Osasuna		Espanyol
Mallorca		Deportivo
Athletic		R Madrid
Day 18 - Jan 17

Getafe		Atlético
Sporting		Racing
Valladolid		Barcelona
Sevilla		Almería
Tenerife		Valencia
Villarreal		Zaragoza
Xerez		Osasuna
Espanyol		Mallorca
Deportivo		Athletic
R Madrid		Málaga
Day 19 - Jan 24

Premier league FIXTURES

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:02:00 +0000

FIXTURES

Sat 15th August 2009
Chelsea	v	Hull City	12:45	Preview >
Aston Villa	v	Wigan Athletic	15:00	Preview >
Blackburn	v	Manchester City	15:00	Preview >
Bolton	v	Sunderland	15:00	Preview >
Portsmouth	v	Fulham	15:00	Preview >
Stoke City	v	Burnley	15:00	Preview >
Wolves	v	West Ham Utd	15:00	Preview >
Everton	v	Arsenal	17:30	Preview >
Sun 16th August 2009
Man Utd	v	Birmingham	13:30	Preview >
Tottenham	v	Liverpool	16:00

Barclays English Premier League Torres eyes title

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:57:00 +0000

Liverpool's new signing Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani (R) poses with manager Rafa Benitez at the club's Melwood training ground on Thursday.Photo: AFPAfp, Liverpool

Fernando Torres signed a new contract with Liverpool on Friday and then told his team-mates they have a golden opportunity to end the club's 19-year wait to win the English title this season.

Spain striker Torres agreed an improved deal that will keep him at Anfield until 2013 with the option of a further year's extension and he insists there are no excuses for not winning the title.

"Fernando Torres has put pen to paper on a new and improved contract at Anfield," a statement on Liverpool's website confirmed.

"The 25-year old striker agreed the terms of the deal back in May and has now completed the formalities of signing the new contract."

Rafa Benitez's runners-up finished just four points behind Manchester United in the Premier League last season and Torres is confident Liverpool can hold their own against the top four rivals.

He believes landing wins rather than draws in some of the other tricky fixtures, like Sunday's Premier League opener at Tottenham, will be enough to overhaul United.

"We have no problem beating Manchester United or Chelsea but it is games like Sunday's at Tottenham where we need to show our real title intentions," Torres told The Sun.

"Tottenham is not an easy place to go but these are games we must be winning if this is to finally be our year.

"I am not thinking can we win the title, I am thinking we have to win the title."

After several seasons on the fringes of the title race, Torres believes the experience of going so close last term will stand them in good stead this year.

"We came so close last season but for many of the players it was their first time experiencing the pressure of a Premier League title race," Torres said.

"We have experience and if we don't bring the title back to Anfield I won't be offering up any excuses at the end of the season.

"We don't need to improve a lot on last season to win the title. There is only a slight improvement needed to give the fans and players the title they have wanted for so many years now.

"This is the best Liverpool team there has been in years, that is what many of the experienced players are saying.

"Now is our time. Second best is just not going to cut it with me any more."

Typhoon claims 500 lives in Taiwan: President

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:56:00 +0000

Floods and mudslides unleashed by Typhoon Morakot last weekend have killed about 500 people on the island, Taiwan's president said yesterday as he called on rescue crews to step up their efforts.

Morakot left 7,000 people homeless and caused agricultural and property damage in excess of 50 billion New Taiwan dollars ($1.5 billion), President Ma Ying-jeou said at a national security conference, the first called since he took office 15 months ago.

He called it the most severe damage to the island in 50 years.

"While the rescue operation is still going on, we have started rehabilitation and reconstruction work, which is just as imminent but might be even more difficult and cumbersome," Ma said.

Morakot dumped more than 80 inches (2 meters) of rain on the island last weekend and stranded thousands in villages in the mountainous south. A total of 15,400 villagers have been ferried to safety, and rescuers are working to save another 1,900 people still stuck.

Ma said the death toll includes 120 confirmed deaths, and about 380 people believed to be buried in the debris of a landslide in Shiao Lin, the hardest-hit village.

Swine Flu vaccine

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:10:00 +0000

The secretary of state for health has confirmed which priority groups will be given the first doses of swine flu vaccine, which is expected to arrive in October.

While the government has orderded enough vaccine for the entire population this will take time to produce, and so the most vulnerable groups will be given priority to receive initial stocks of the jab.

Andy Burnham said that the earliest doses of vaccine would be given to at-risk groups in the following order:

People aged between six months and 65 years in the clinically at-risk groups for seasonal flu
Pregnant women, subject to licensing by the European Medicines Agency, which will indicate whether it can be given throughout pregnancy or only at certain stages of pregnancy
Household contacts of people with compromised immune systems
People aged 65 and over in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups

The health secretary said: “Although the virus has so far proved to be mild in most people, for others it has been more serious. By vaccinating high-risk groups first, we aim to protect those most vulnerable to this virus”. He also confirmed that frontline health and social care workers will also begin to be vaccinated at the same time as the first at-risk group.

At-risk groups

At-risk groups will be the same as for seasonal flu vaccination, and include people with serious heart disease, diabetes, and those with weakened immune systems due to cancer treatment.

The list has been drawn up according to advice from independent experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which reviewed the evidence and advised the Department of Health on the crucial risk groups to be offered vaccination to help prevent serious illness.

A vaccination programme for the rest of the population will be based on the evolution of the pandemic as well as new clinical data on the use of the vaccine.

People in the priority groups outlined above do not need to take any action yet. Further announcements will be made as the vaccination strategy progresses, and those who need a vaccine will be contacted.

Weekly pandemic flu update

Other key points made at this week’s briefing by the chief medical officer (CMO) included:

There has been a further reduction in the rates of flu-like illness and related activity this week. There were an estimated 25,000 new cases last week compared to 110,000 new cases two weeks before.
Weekly GP consultation rates decreased over the last week in England.
There are 371 patients in hospital with swine flu, 39 of whom are in critical care.
There have been 44 confirmed deaths in England, bringing the UK total to 49.
There is still no sign of the virus mutating into a more dangerous form, or developing resistance to drugs.

Vaccine progress

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed last week that the first swine flu vaccines are likely to be licensed for use in the general population in September. Initial batches of an H1N1 vaccine have already been produced, and clinical trials are underway.

"The quality controls on today's vaccine are much better than they were 30 years ago," said the WHO, which also oversees the safety checks on the seasonal flu jab.

10 way be a rich

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:54:00 +0000

10 Tips On How To Get Rich Fast
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could get rich tomorrow? What would you do with all that money? Well believe it or not it can be done. Now I didn’t say it would be easy I just said you could do it. Here are 10 tips on how to get rich fast.

1. Invest - Start young. In fact start while you are in elementary school, kindergarten is even better. It’s the beauty of compound interest and over time your money will grow into a nice nest egg. Okay if you are reading this you are probably too old to start in elementary school but you can get your kids hooked. As for you the best plan of defense is to invest 50% of your salary in a high risk market fund or the penny stock market. You’ve got a 50-50 chance. You’ll either make a million or be broke in 90 days.

2. Marry Rich - Now how difficult can this be? All you need to do is find someone who has loads of money and marry them. Okay I didn’t say you’d be happy just rich. Perhaps not a solution for most of us but it apparently works for a few.

3. Win The Lottery - Ya ya I know the odds of getting struck by lightening are better than the odds of winning the lottery but you can’t win if you don’t try and it’s one of the few ways I know of that you can get rich fast.

4. Rich Parents - If you come from a wealthy family then you are half way there. All you have to do is stay in their good books and convince mom and dad to not spend their money and leave it to you when they pass. After all why should your parents get to enjoy the wealth they reaped?

5. Get An Education - Go to school for lots of years, accumulate plenty of debt, and choose a career that pays big bucks. After about 10 years in your profession you should be rolling in the dough and you might even be filthy rich before you get old.

6. Become A Star - Heck if Jennifer Aniston or Nicolas Cage can do it why can’t you. A couple of acting lessons and you should be set. All you need to do is head to Hollywood and strike it big. One good movie and you’ll be set for life.

7. Invest In Real Estate - Buy high sell low – whoops I think I got that backwards. Buy low, wait 10 years, 20 years, maybe even 30 years but inflation will have your investment growing by leaps and bounds and you could be filthy rich especially if you bought in an up and coming city while house prices were still low. Now if you bought in Hicksville USA you may have a problem. It might take more than your lifetime to see any dramatic increases. Oh well you can leave it to your kids who can leave it to their kids and in another 100 years or so someone’s going to be sitting pretty.

8. The Internet Way - Heck where have you been. A quick search on the Web will reveal plenty of sites that will teach you how to make $50,000 a day. Now I think most of us could live quite comfortably on that don’t you? All you need to do is part with about $500 and they’ll tell you the secrets of wealth in one page or less. If the first one doesn’t do it for you perhaps you might want to try a few more. Oh wait a minute. Perhaps what you need to do is set up one of these sights, then you’ll be the one getting rich off the other poor fools that part with their $500.

9. Bank Robbery - Okay highly illegal and could land you a lifetime in the slammer but desperate needs require desperate measures. After all if you get caught you might not be rich but you’ll have free room and board for the rest of your life and then you could write a book about what not to do when robbing a bank and well see you could get rich from your book. And even better, you’ll stay rich because there is really no place to spend it while in jail.

10. High Risk Work - Take on those high risk jobs no one else wants. You know counselor in Iraq, bean counter in Afghanistan, Oil tycoon in Iran. But hey if you live through it you’ll be rolling in the dough. What does it matter that 99% never live through it. You’ve got a 1% chance and when it comes to getting rich those are pretty good odds.Sure most of these ideas are pretty off the wall but if getting rich fast was easy wouldn’t we all be rich? Then what fun would there be in that? We’d all have too much money and probably be bored to tears. So why not aim for better life with good friends, love, happiness, and enough money to live comfortably but not so much that you stop dreaming about what you would do if you were rich.

Salman not invited to Katrina’s birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Bollywood Actors Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan managed to assure the world that they are still together after Katrina appeared on the latest episode of Dus Ka Dum and Salman sang and danced for her.

While on the one hand, it seems things are going well for the couple, Katrina Kaif recently decided that she will spend her 25th birthday without her beau.

Afterall, it isn’t just Kat’s 25th anniversary, but also the first anniversary of the Salman-SRK fight that had taken place during Katrina’s birthday celebrations.

Some might remember that an inebriated Salman Khan had asked SRK to come on his show Dus Ka Dum, and SRK had refused, leading to a heated exchange of words and reportedly also some violence.

It was Katrina and SRK WIFE's Gauri who had to intervene. Pictures of a crying Katrina were all over the media.

As a result, this year, Katrina is looking for some peace and quiet. She was quoted saying she is really looking forward to going home – London – to be with her family.

She said it will be the first time in nine years that her entire family, that is, her parents and their eight children will be together.

Katrina Kaif says she has been working extra hard to be able to make time for this vacation, or as she call it, this necessity.

Saif apologizes to Shahid

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:05:00 +0000

Saif Ali Khan in the past went about bragging that he was offered the lead role in Kaminey before Shahid Kapoor, however he has apologized for making that irresponsible comment.

Saif says, “My film(Love Aaj Kal) has already worked. I don’t want to sound false, but now I realise that in the past I might have made an irresponsible comment of having been offered a role in Kaminey. But the fact is, I was not. Vishal (Bhardwaj) had just mentioned the film to me. I don’t want it to be a personal battle any longer. We are all not friends (him, Vishal and Shahid kapoor) for obvious reasons but I do think Vishal is a fantastic director. I have only heard good things about Shahid, from others and also from Kareena. He is a strong boy. I have learnt early in life that one cannot benefit from someone else’s failure.”

Saif apparently went through a stage when Kunal Kapoor did not take him for any of his flicks after Tara Rum Pum.

Oil prices dip

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:03:00 +0000

World crude oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday as traders awaited the release of a widely-monitored US government report on the country's energy reserves.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery retreated 48 cents to 70.94 dollars a barrel.

London Brent North Sea crude for September delivery was 30 cents weaker at 73.98 dollars.

32 firms to get IP telephony

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:03:00 +0000

Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, post and telecommunications minister, Zia Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, and Muneer Farooqui, chief executive officer of Warid Telecom, attend a programme to relaunch Warid with a new logo in Dhaka yesterday.Photo: STARStar Business Report

As many as 32 local internet service providers will be awarded IP telephony licences, opening up voice calls through internet protocol (VoIP), usage of which prohibited in Bangladesh just a few days back.

"We have issued 32 IP telephony licences, which will come into operation soon," said Zia Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), at the launch of new brand identity of a private mobile phone operator in Dhaka yesterday.

More IP telephony licences soon, the telecom watchdog chief told journalists at the function.

IP telephony is a general term used to describe the technology that uses the internet protocol's packet-switched connection to exchange voice, fax and other forms of information services.

The Warid Telecom's re-launch came with a changed logo and new brand promises reflecting and symbolising the strategic transformation of the company to become a telecom customer-centric organisation in the country.

The new logo reiterates the values Warid is known for: Simplicity, Honesty, Innovation, Quality, Dynamic and Friendly.

Speaking on the occasion, Post and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju praised the Warid network expansion plan.

He said, “This kind of step by Warid will accelerate the process of implementing a Digital Bangladesh.”

Warid CEO Muneer Farooqui said, “The new brand and logo, being the symbol of recognition, will portray a uniform brand image and identity of Warid Group.”

Launched in May 2007, Warid has more than 2.5 million active subscribers. The company has so far invested around $600 million on network and infrastructures, paid Tk 650 crore to the government exchequer in the form of taxes and took part in various social initiatives as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Talking to the Daily Star yesterday M A Salam, owner of Agni Systems, a IP licensee, said the introduction of IP telephony will provide cost effective voice facilities along with other unique features that are comparatively expensive to provide by mobile or landline operators.

Compared to other countries, Bangladesh is a late entrant to the world of IP telephony. Worldwide traditional phone technologies are being replaced with IP-based operations.

Salam said in the subcontinent, except Pakistan, all other nations are enjoying IP telephony facilities. "The main advantage of IP phone is that it offers low-cost phone service," he said.

The IP telephony market will be competitive, as customers have to pay a nominal charge to enjoy voice call services, Salam said.

He said the additional charge for use of the IP telephony would not matter as internet users are used to paying charges on a monthly basis.

In Bangladesh, around 10 lakh people are connected to the internet through members of the ISP association.

Licence owners will also be able to provide PC (personal computer) to phone, phone to PC, phone to phone or any other use to subscribers, based on the IP telephony voice service.

From a technical point of view, experts said, the VoIP is going to be partially open as IP and VoIP technologies have nearly same features.

By issuing IP licences, transmitting voice through the internet protocol will be allowed but the use of VSAT for routing voice for commercial use will still be treated as illegal.

According to the BTRC, a total of 200 ISP licences have so far been issued, whereas only 70 operators are providing services. Around a million people have internet access.

Asian terror suspect Noordin 'killed'

noreply@blogger.com (Street HackeR) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:58:00 +0000

A file picture reproduction created on July 31, 2009, shows a wanted poster of fugitive, Malaysian-born extremist Noordin Mohammed Top, posted at Ngurah Rai airport in Denpasar on the Indonesian report island of Bali. Photo: AFPAFP, Beji

Asian terror suspect Noordin Mohammed Top was killed during a raid on his hideout by heavily armed counter-terrorism police in Indonesia Saturday, local television reported.

The television station did not disclose its sources and police have not confirmed the report, which came as ambulances arrived at the suspected hideout following a 17-hour siege involving heavy gunfire and explosions.

A witness said that two body bags were taken from the house.

Elite police carrying assault rifles entered the house in Central Java after it had been besieged as part of investigations into last month's twin suicide bombings on hotels in the capital Jakarta.

Meanwhile, authorities said two would-be suicide bombers had been killed in a linked raid near Jakarta.

Police had earlier set off explosions at the house and fired repeated volleys from their assault rifles into the property in a dramatic conclusion to the standoff, which started at around 4:00 pm on Friday.

A police spokesman earlier said four or five people were believed to be in the house, but he would not confirm that they included Noordin.

In an operation linked to the ongoing counter-terror operation in Central Java, two would-be suicide bombers who were weeks away from launching a car bomb attack were killed during a police raid near Jakarta early Saturday, the Indonesian police chief said.

National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said the two men were shot dead as they were about to detonate hand-made bombs during the raid, which uncovered a cache of explosive material and a car rigged as a bomb.

He said the house in Bekasi, outside Jakarta, was being used as a base by a "cell of NMT," referring to Noordin, wanted over multiple suicide bombings in Indonesia.

"We had to shoot them because at the time of the raid they had hand-held bombs that were about to be thrown at the police," he said, identifying the suspects as Air Setiawan and Eko Gepeng.

"They were would-be bridegrooms (suicide bombers) with special targets for attacks to be carried out two weeks from now... This place was a cell of NMT."

Danuri said the raid was linked to the counter-terror operation in Central Java.

The would-be bombers had been "accomplices" in the Australian embassy attack of 2004, when a massive suicide car bomb was detonated outside the embassy in central Jakarta, killing 10 people and wounding scores more, he said.

The house had been booby-trapped and police found a 100-kilogram bomb inside as well as Tupperware containers used for bomb-making.

"There was also a vehicle that had been prepared as a mobile bomb to be used in the next two weeks. I can't disclose the target right now," he told reporters at a press conference.

Malaysian Islamist Noordin, 40, was one of the most wanted alleged terrorists in Asia.

He was blamed for multiple suicide bombings in Indonesia which have killed more than 40 people since 2003.

Noordin was a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror movement responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people, but split around 2003 to form his own militant group, analysts said.

He was wanted over suicide bombings on the JW Marriott in Jakarta in 2003, the Australian embassy in 2004 and tourist restaurants in Bali in 2005.

Friday's raid follows twin suicide attacks on the Marriott and the adjacent Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta on July 17, which killed seven people including three Australians, as well as the two bombers.

An Internet blog purportedly signed by Noordin has claimed responsibility for the hotel attacks, but the authenticity of the statement has not been confirmed.

Police have come close to arresting Noordin several times in the past and have captured or killed some of his closest associates during the six-year manhunt.

Days after the July 17 attacks a woman believed to be his third wife was arrested, also in Central Java.