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Obama and Romney clash in spiky debate

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:03:00 +0000

US President Barack Obama has hit out at Republican Mitt Romney during a feisty 90-minute encounter in the second of three pre-election debates.

Mr Obama - widely perceived to have lost their first encounter - came out swinging in New York on the economy, tax and foreign policy.
But the former Massachusetts governor accused Mr Obama of broken promises and a record of failure.

Candidates exchange barbs on jobs plans

The pair meet for a final pre-election debate in Florida on 22 October.
As he battles for a second term, the Democratic president has been trying to hold on to dwindling leads in the nine key swing states that are expected to decide the election on 6 November.
In the town hall-style forum at Hofstra University on Long Island, both men freely roamed the stage, circling, interrupting and at times heckling one another as they took questions from an audience of 80 undecided voters.
The moderator, CNN's Candy Crowley, often had to intervene to keep order between the rivals as each fought to make his point.

Bickering

Mr Obama set the tone from his first answer, when he contrasted his own bailout of the US car industry with Mr Romney's position that auto-makers should have been allowed to go bankrupt.

The president forcefully accused Mr Romney of inconsistent positions, while claiming that his challenger could only offer a "one-point plan... to make sure the folks at the top play by a different set of rules".
Mr Romney meanwhile hammered away at the president's record on the economy, blaming him for unemployment of 20 million Americans and bloated federal deficits, insisting the country could not afford another four years with Mr Obama at the helm.
In one of the most scathing exchanges, they bickered over last month's attack on the US Libya consulate that left four Americans dead.
Mr Romney suggested the Obama administration may have attempted to mislead Americans over whether it was a terrorist attack.
But the president said it was "offensive" to suggest that he had played politics on such a grave issue.
He countered that it was the Republican who had tried to turn a national tragedy to his advantage by releasing a partisan press release about the deadly assault.
As the debate progressed, both candidates made repeated and impassioned pitches to America's middle class.
Mr Obama said he had cut taxes for middle class families and small businesses over the last four years.

But he said that if America was serious about reducing the deficit, the wealthy would have to pay a little bit more.

"Governor Romney and his allies in Congress have held the 98% hostage because they want tax breaks for the 2%," said Mr Obama.
In his final answer he responded to an assertion by Mr Romney that the Republican would represent "100% of Americans" by bringing up Mr Romney's secretly recorded remarks at a fundraiser in May.
In those remarks the challenger dismissed 47% of Americans as government-dependent tax avoiders who take no responsibility for their lives.
"When he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country considers themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility - think about who he was talking about," the president said.

'Policies haven't worked'

Mr Obama said voters had heard no specifics on Mr Romney's "sketchy" tax plan apart from eliminating Sesame Street's Big Bird and cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, a family planning organisation Republicans say promotes abortion.

Barack Obama: ''I don't look at my pension, it's not as big as yours"

"Of course it adds up," Mr Romney said of his tax plan. He cited his experience balancing budgets in business, while running the 2002 Olympics and as governor of Massachusetts.
Mr Obama ticked off a list of achievements over the last four years: tax cuts for the middle class; ending the war in Iraq, killing Osama Bin Laden; helping the auto industry, as well as healthcare reform.
But Mr Romney said the last four years had not been as rosy as the president would like to portray, saying the the president had made pledges to deliver unemployment of 5.4%, an immigration plan, and to cut in half the deficit, but had met none of them.
"The president's tried, but his policies haven't worked," said Mr Romney.
One of the sharpest exchanges of the debate came when the pair clashed over former private equity chief Mr Romney's wealth.
Mr Romney was defending his investments in China through a blind trust when he asked Mr Obama if he had looked at his own pension. He said Mr Obama would find investments in China in his retirement plan, too.
Mr Obama countered that he did not check his pension that often, adding: "Because it's not as big as yours."
Another fragment of the debate prompted a flurry of social media comment.
Arguing that he supports equal opportunities for women, Mr Romney said he once had "binders full of women" candidates for cabinet jobs when he was Massachusetts governor.
The third and final presidential debate is scheduled for 22 October in Boca Raton, Florida.

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to European Union

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:27:00 +0000

Thorbjoern Jagland, Norwegian Nobel Committee: "Since 1945 reconciliation has become a reality"

The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of work in advancing peace in Europe.

The committee said the EU had helped to transform Europe "from a continent of war to a continent of peace".
The award comes as the EU faces the biggest crisis of its history, with recession and social unrest rocking many of its member states.
The last organisation to be given the award outright was Medecins Sans Frontieres, which won in 1999.
Announcing the award, Nobel committee president Thorbjoern Jagland acknowledged the EU's current financial problems and social unrest.
But he said the committee wanted to concentrate on the body's work over six decades of advancing "peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights".
'Biggest peacemaker'

Mr Jagland highlighted the EU's work in sealing the reconciliation between France and Germany in the decades after World War II.

And he praised the organisation for incorporating Spain, Portugal and Greece after their authoritarian regimes collapsed in the 1970s.
The EU's reconciliation work had now moved to Balkan countries, pointing out that Croatia is on the verge of membership.
Senior EU figures were overjoyed with the award.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on his Twitter feed: "It is a great honour for the whole of the EU, all 500 million citizens, to be awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace prize."
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the award was recognition for the work of "the biggest peacemaker in history".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she regarded the Nobel as a "personal incentive" to build on six decades of peace in Europe.

"We must never forget that in order to keep this peace, democracy and freedom, we have to work hard over and over again," she said.

The BBC's Europe correspondent Matthew Price says the EU's achievements are clear, but the committee has picked a strange time to highlight them.
The eurozone crisis has made the EU look more divided and fragile than it has for decades, he says.
EU 'like Yugoslavia' Alongside the chorus of praise, several eurosceptic politicians were quick to deride the award.
Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) likened the EU project to the former Yugoslavia.
"Rather than bring peace and harmony, the EU will cause insurgency and violence," he said.

Jose Manuel Barroso: "It is justified recognition for a unique project"

Dutch eurosceptic Geert Wilders questioned the timing of the award.
"A Nobel prize for the EU at a time Brussels and all of Europe is collapsing in misery. What next? An Oscar for Van Rompuy," he said.
The Nobel committee has rarely shied away from controversy with its choice of winner.
US President Barack Obama won the award in 2009 despite leading a country that was fighting two separate wars.
And the choice of detained Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010 enraged China, which made an official complaint to Norway.
This year's Nobel Prize for literature winner, Chinese writer Mo Yan, said on Friday he hoped Mr Liu would be freed as soon as possible.

The Inner Six create the European Coal and Steel Community, meant to tie the countries together and make war between them "materially impossible"

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The Big Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:27:00 +0000

Australian-born, London-based artist Ralph Heimans' new official portrait of Her Majesty The Queen, has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia. The painting depicts Her Majesty in the Sacrarium of Westminster Abbey, also known as The Coronation Theatre. "Through the narrative of the portrait I wanted to produce a work of particular significance for the Diamond Jubilee," said Heimans. "By representing The Queen as she reflects on this incredible milestone in her life, I wanted to explore the dynamic between her public role and the personal, emotional dimension."

Amy Jackson: From Liverpool to Bollywood

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:23:00 +0000

Amy Jackson stars alongside actor Vikram in the Tamil film Thaandavam

Liverpool model Amy Jackson had never acted professionally nor visited India when she was spotted online and cast in an Indian film.

Now she has moved to Mumbai, appeared on the cover of Indian Vogue and is making a name for herself on the big screen.

Amy Jackson was not quite your average Liverpool schoolgirl when she received the offer that would take her 4,500 miles and change her life.
She had already been crowned Teen Miss World at the age of 16 - but playing Indian characters in Indian films, requiring her to speak Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, is still not what this all-English beauty queen expected to happen next.
The opportunity arose when director AL Vijay saw her photo and asked Jackson to play an English governor's daughter in his Tamil film Madrasapattinam, set against the backdrop of Indian independence in 1947.
"He said I had a really good look for his movie, for this particular role," says Jackson during a trip home between film shoots, her Liverpool accent now delivered with an Indian rhythm.
"It went on to be one of the biggest hits of 2010 in India so that obviously opened other doors. I never had any expectations of it doing so, but that's what happened."
Amy is Caucasian, but her long dark hair has allowed her to pass for a local in her subsequent films.
The daughter of BBC Radio Merseyside sport presenter Alan Jackson, she won her first lead role as an Indian character in Ekk Deewana Tha - a Bollywood love story that went down less well with audiences.

Jackson has faced a backlash for playing Indian characters

Her dialogue in that film was dubbed by a Hindi actress. But Jackson has worked to become fluent enough in three languages to deliver the lines in her next films herself.
"That's going to be a challenge because I really have to get the diction right," she says. "They're very difficult.
"There are no similarities to English whatsoever and the formation of the sentences is very different."
Diving head first into Indian life, Amy has moved to Mumbai, the home of Bollywood.
The Indian industry is split along regional and linguistic lines. As well as making her Bollywood debut, Jackson has also made or is making pictures in Kollywood (Tamil language, based in Chennai in the south-east) and Tollywood (Telugu language, based in the central city of Hyderabad).
Thaandavam, a Tamil action film in which she plays an Indian woman living in London, comes out in India on Friday and she is currently filming lead roles in two more movies.
She is keen to stress she is "a newcomer" and that it is "a privilege" to act with the likes of Thaandavam star Vikram, an established Tamil favourite.
"I'm getting good exposure because of the movies I'm picking and the people I'm working with," Jackson says.
She is also a fixture on red carpets and on the covers of magazines like Indian Vogue Beauty, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan, while she has a modelling deal with Armani in the country.
A romance with her Ekk Deewana Tha co-star Prateik Babbar has also seen her in the gossip columns, meaning she is better known to many as a model and celebrity girlfriend than an actress.

Large parts of Thaandavam were filmed in London

Her rising fame has led to enthusiastic stories in the British press about being "mobbed in the street", though Jackson, slightly embarassed, says they are wide of the mark.

"You get people coming up to you and asking about movies, especially in Chennai, which is nice," she adds.
Yet Jackson has not been universally accepted.
She is not the first foreign actress to appear in Indian films and the idea of white stars playing Indian roles has led to complaints that native actresses are being sidelined and that Indian audiences are being sold an unrealistic, westernised notion of beauty.
Director Abhishek Kapoor summed up the sentiment when he wrote earlier this year of a "Caucasian invasion".
"I have no prob[lem] with a Caucasian girl playing a Caucasian," he wrote, according to the Times of India.
"But selling her as a Punjabi or an Indian is deluding the audience and also making the Indian naive woman feel inadequate."
Jackson acknowledges there has been a backlash but is keen to shrug off criticism. "I think whenever you're in the public eye you're never going to be loved by everybody," she says.
"It's very hard not to listen to people I suppose, but at the same time there are so many good points compared to the bad points.
"The negativity will always be there. I think that's for any actress or actor. But I think you've got to take it with a pinch of salt."
After establishing herself in India, has Amy had offers to appear in films back in the UK or in Hollywood? She replies that she is "looking at different options" and it would be "nice to be able to maybe in the future".
But she insists she is "really concentrating on India" and her two current films - a non-committal answer worthy of the most media-savvy star.
As well as the languages, it seems that she has also mastered the art of diplomacy.

Why male Japanese wage-earners have only 'pocket money'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:55:00 +0000

The 15th of each month is a big day for 36-year-old Yoshihiro Nozawa: it is the day he gets paid.

But every month, he hands over his entire salary to his wife Masami.
She controls the household budget and gives him a monthly pocket money of 30,000 yen ($381; £243). Despite being the breadwinner, that is all the money he can spend on himself over the next 30 days.
"The last five days from the 10th of each month are usually the toughest," says Yoshihiro.
To put the amount of his pocket money into context, the Nozawa family of four could easily spend 30,000 yen at Tokyo Disneyland in a day.
Yoshihiro and Masami have two children, Rino aged 6 and Ren aged 8, and they are the reason his wife decided to put him on a fixed allowance.

"I started controlling the household budget when I became a housewife after having children," says Masami.

"Suddenly, there was only one income and their educations and private lessons cost a lot."

Under the thumb

Yoshihiro nods but he says 30,000 yen doesn't go far in the world's most expensive city, Tokyo.
"She makes me a lunch box every morning so that helps a lot," he says as he eats his lunch alone in a nearby park from his office.
His only luxury is cigarettes, which he spends one third of his monthly allowance on.
"I think I may have to quit if the price goes up again," he says.
Yoshihiro may be eating his lunch alone but he is not unique.
According to a survey conducted by research firm Softbrain Field, 74% of Japanese household budgets are controlled by women and it is not just couples with young children.

47-year-old Taisaku Kubo has been getting 50,000 yen a month from his wife Yuriko for the past 15 years.

He has tried to negotiate a pay rise each year but his wife makes a presentation to explain why it cannot be done.
"She draws a pie chart of our household budget to explain why I cannot get more pocket money," says Taisaku.
On the hand drawn chart, his pocket money is stated as 8.8% of the monthly budget.
"The biggest expenditures are home loan and taxes," says his wife Yuriko. "We don't have children so I want to make sure that we'll have enough money after his retirement."
Just like that, Taisaku loses his argument for a pay rise.
"I've given up my car, motorbike and many expensive hobbies," he laughs.

Shrinking budget

But his monthly allowance of 50,000 yen is in fact higher than the national average.
According to Shinsei Bank which has been researching the trend since 1979, the average monthly pocket money was 39,600 yen last year.
And to make things harder for the men, that compares with 76,000 yen in 1990 when people thought that Japan's economy was at its peak. That was one year after the nation's benchmark stock index, the Nikkei 225, reached a record high of 38,916.
But share prices fell sharply in the 1990s and have never since come close to that level.

And just as the performance of Japanese companies deteriorated, businessmen's pocket money fell with it.
So today, those whose wives don't make lunch boxes try to cap their daily lunch budget to one coin: 500 yen - about $6.50.
As in most cities, prices vary wildly according to location, decor and the standard of food and drink on offer.

(Many Japanese household budgets are tightly controlled by housewives)

But in many places 500 yen would barely be enough for a bowl of noodles or a McDonald's burger.
Their drinking budget has also shrunk to a record low.
On average, they only spend 2,860 yen on a night of drinking which is almost half of what they used to spend just three years ago.
That does not allow for a great many half litre bottles of Asahi - the average price is around 700 yen.

Double income

So why don't men start controlling the household budgets themselves?
"I don't think many men hand over their entire salaries happily," says career consultant Takao Maekawa of FeelWorks.
"But they feel it's their obligation to earn money for the family even if it means they have to suffer themselves."
Traditionally, it was a combination of hardworking salarymen, as white-collar businessmen are called in Japan, and stay-at-home mothers or housewives which supported Japan's economic growth after World War II.
"He actually tried to handle the household budget once," says Masami Nozawa whose husband Yoshihiro lives on 30,000 yen a month.
"But he said it was too time consuming so returned the task back to me," she says.
Yoshihiro agrees: "I know how much I make and I now understand how difficult it is to allocate the money".
"Even if I get a pay rise at work, I am not too hopeful that my pocket money will go up."
Today, more families are seeking out a double income simply because they cannot afford not to.
But for now, Yoshihiro and Taisaku look for cheap enough bars where they can still have some drinks without blowing all of their monthly pocket money at once.

Kenya says AU forces storm Somali rebel city of Kismayo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:42:00 +0000

The Somali government has had success with the recent surrender of al-Shabab militants

African Union (AU) forces have launched a beach assault and taken control of parts of Kismayo, the last major stronghold in Somalia held by Islamist militants, Kenya's military says.

The port city has been a bastion of the al-Qaeda-aligned group al-Shabab.
Al-Shabab spokesmen told news agencies that fierce fighting was now under way.
The Kenyan troops are part of the AU's Amisom force, which is trying to wrest control of the country for the newly elected UN-backed president.
Kenyan military spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna confirmed to the BBC that parts of Kismayo had been captured and the rest was expected to fall soon.

Col Oguna said the joint operation of Kenyan Defence Forces and Somali government troops had begun at 02:00 local time (23:00 GMT Thursday) and was "basically amphibious".

Col Oguna said: "We cannot give casualty figures at the moment, the damage has not been assessed, but I can tell you our forces are already in Kismayo."
He told the BBC: "There are some parts that still will be under the control of al-Shabab because we only got there a couple of hours ago, and Kismayo is a big city."
Amisom released a statement saying it had "successfully inserted" troops "to liberate the people of Kismayo to enable them to lead their lives in peace, stability and security".
It urged "all fighters remaining in Kismayo to lay down their arms".

Reinforcements were being sent, the statement said.

Checkpoints Al-Shabab spokesmen said fierce clashes were taking place.
Al-Shabab commander in Kismayo, Sheik Mohamed Abu-Fatuma, told Agence France-Presse news agency: "The enemy using military boats have deployed hundreds of soldiers in the coast late last night and the mujahideen fighters are engaging heavy fighting now with them. God willing they will be defeated."
Mohamed Mohamed, of the BBC's Somalia Service, has spoken to residents of Kismayo, who said four military ships had approached from the north, landed and captured territory around the university.
Checkpoints were set up, with one eyewitness reporting that the AU forces appeared to include American or European troops. There have been numerous reports of US special forces operating against the Islamist militants in Somalia.

However, the US Africa command said on Friday it was "not participating in Kenya's military activities in the region".
The Kismayo residents told the BBC they had seen no Kenyan or Somali government forces inside the city proper.
Other residents told Reuters news agency they could hear fighting outside the city.
One, Ismail Suglow, told the agency: "Al-Shabab have gone towards the beach. Many residents have taken their guns. The ships poured many AU troops on the beach."
There are also reports that helicopters are attacking the town.
The al-Shabab-controlled radio station is still said to be on air.
Al-Shabab also used a Twitter account to say its forces were still in control of the city.
Earlier this week, Kenyan military jets had bombed the airport in Kismayo, destroying an armoury and warehouse used by Islamist militants.
Some 10,000 people have fled Kismayo in the past week, the United Nations refugee agency has estimated.
On Thursday, leaflets were dropped urging remaining civilians to evacuate.

BBC World Service News Africa editor, Martin Plaut, says al-Shabab has tried to halt the exodus and has urged civilians to join their fight.

He says the advance by Kenyan forces, Somali government troops and the pro-government Ras Kambone militia has been delayed as all roads into the city had to be swept inch by inch for mines. This, our correspondent says, explains the attack from the sea.
Kismayo has helped al-Shabab generate millions of dollars from charcoal exports, the UN says, despite a Security Council ban on countries buying such goods from Somalia.
African Union troops pushed al-Shabab from the capital, Mogadishu, in August 2011 and have been slowly taking control of other towns since.
However, the militants are still highly active in much of the countryside in south and central Somalia.
Kenya began its intervention in Somalia nearly a year ago after a spate of cross-border attacks blamed on al-Shabab.
Since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has seen clan-based warlords, Islamist militants and its neighbours all battling for control.

China's Bo Xilai 'expelled from party to face charges'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:36:00 +0000

Bo Xilai (C) with convicted wife Gu Kailai and son Bo Guagua

Top Chinese politician Bo Xilai is to be expelled from the Communist Party and will face prosecution, state media have said.

Mr Bo was the former Communist Party leader in the city of Chongqing.
His wife, Gu Kailai, was convicted in August of killing UK national Neil Heywood and given a suspended death sentence.
Mr Bo has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted and was said to be under investigation.
Mr Bo was suspended from his party posts in April.
The state media, Xinhua, said Mr Bo would face charges relating to alleged corruption, abuse of power, bribetaking and improper relations with women, Associated Press reported.
In addition to the sentence passed on Gu Kailai, former police chief Wang Lijun has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for ''bending the law, defection, abuse of power and bribetaking".
Xinhua has also announced the party congress that will herald a once-in-a-decade change of China's leadership will begin on 8 November.

Hong Kong backs down over Chinese patriotism classes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:13:00 +0000

Protests against the classes brought tens of thousands of people out onto the streets

The Hong Kong government has backed down over plans to make schoolchildren take Chinese patriotism classes, after weeks of protests.

City leader Leung Chun-ying said the classes would be optional for schools.
"The schools are given the authority to decide when and how they would like to introduce the moral and national education," he said.
Critics said the plans were an attempt to brainwash the city's children by the Chinese government in Beijing.
The government had said the subject was important to foster a sense of national belonging and identity. Anti-Beijing sentiment has been on the rise in semi-autonomous Hong Kong, a city of seven million people.

The decision comes ahead of elections on Sunday, when voters will elect just over half the members of a legislative assembly that is expanding from 60 to 70 seats.

The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says the protests had given a boost to pro-democracy legislators hoping to win a landmark election on Sunday.
The government's surprise announcement has led some to speculate it is a move directly timed to influence that election in favour of pro-government legislators, our correspondent says.
Mr Leung, who was sworn in as Hong Kong's chief executive in July, cancelled his trip to the Apec regional summit this weekend because of the furore.

Freedom

The proposed curriculum, which consisted of general civics education as well as more controversial lessons on appreciating mainland China, was due to be introduced in primary schools in September and secondary schools in 2013.
According to AFP news agency, course material funded by the government extolled the benefits of one-party rule, equated multi-party democracy to chaos, and glossed over events like the Tiananmen Square crackdown and the mass starvation of Mao Zedong's regime.
A survey released last week suggested 69% of students opposed the classes.
The climbdown came a day after activists said more than 100,000 protesters had rallied at government headquarters. Police put the turnout at 36,000.
Unlike the rest of China, Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of freedom, including a free press, the right to assemble and transparent, accountable institutions.
Our correspondent says the row is the latest example of the cultural, social and political gap that exists between Hong Kong and its mainland masters.
It also highlights the deep suspicion with which many Hong Kong people continue to regard the Chinese government, she adds.
2012 events on this day dec.21,2012

South Korean town struggles to shake whaling tradition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:11:00 +0000

7 September 2012 Last updated at 08:44 GMT

A major four-yearly conservation conference is taking place in South Korea this month, with a fresh focus on the country's commitment to the whaling ban.
South Korea has faced criticism by the conference for failing to observe the International ban, which was imposed in 1986.
As Lucy Williamson reports there are some areas of South Korea where the ban seems to have never existed.

Google autocomplete: The internet where you are

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:08:00 +0000

Google search's "autocomplete" function fills in the search box after the user types just a single character.

The search results - even those after entering just "a" or "b" - are influenced in large part by what other users in your geographic area are looking for, according to Mark Paskin, a software engineer on Google's search team.
And what users want in the US may not be what users want elsewhere - in Britain, Hong Kong or in any of the 178 other international domains served by Google.
In search of the A-to-Z of the internet, we checked what Google autocomplete recommends in Britain, the US, India, Hong Kong and Nigeria.
The results of our experiment show how differently people use the web across the world, and sheds some light on their interests.

Apec summit: Clinton says US wants better Russia trade ties

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:45:00 +0000

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the US administration wants to normalise trade relations with Russia this month.

She said the government was working closely with the US Congress to get the necessary legislation passed.
Mrs Clinton was speaking ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Vladivostok.

Hillary Clinton: "We hope that the Congress will act"

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged a fight against protectionism to turn the global economy around.
And Chinese President Hu Jintao promised his country would try to help the world's economy by increasing the demand in China for imported goods.

'Bridges not walls'

Although Russia is now a member of the World Trade Organisation, there is still a piece of legislation that prevents US companies trading normally with Russia - the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment which, although suspended, remains in place.

In her speech to the Apec summit in the Russian port city, Mrs Clinton - who is standing in for President Barack Obama - said she welcomed Russia's commitment to playing a greater role in the Asia-Pacific region.

She added: "To make sure our companies get to compete here in Russia, we are working closely with the United States Congress to terminate the application to Jackson-Vanik to Russia and grant Russia permanent normalised trade relations.
"We hope that the Congress will act on this important piece of legislation this month."
However there are concerns in the US Congress about Moscow's support for Iran and Syria, as well as its broader human rights record, so the timing of a vote on the issue remains unclear.
Mr Putin, who is hosting the summit, expressed concern about the world economy, and particularly Europe's debt crisis.
"The priority goal is to fight protectionism in all its forms. It is important to build bridges not walls," he said.
President Hu said: "The world economy today is recovering slowly, and there are still some destabilising factors and uncertainties.
"The underlying impact of the international financial crisis is far from over.
"We will work to maintain the balance between keeping steady and robust growth, adjusting the economic structure and managing inflation expectations. We will boost domestic demand and maintain steady and robust growth as well as basic price stability."
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has left the talks early to return home after her father died.

Kabul attack: Bomber kills children near Nato base

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:40:00 +0000

Afghan security forces guarded the site of the attack

A suicide bomber has killed at least six people near the headquarters of the Nato-led international coalition (Isaf) in Kabul.

A number of children are among the dead. There were no reports of casualties among Isaf troops.
An attacker on a motorbike blew himself up near the entrance, an Isaf spokeswoman told Reuters news agency.
Kabul security has been tightened as supporters of an anti-Taliban warlord mark 11 years since his assassination.
Ahmad Shah Massoud - a hero of the 1980s war against Soviet occupiers, and later of opposition to the Taliban - was killed by al-Qaeda suicide bombers on 9 September 2001.
Following Saturday's explosion, the Isaf HQ at Camp Eggers, which is home to some 2,500 personnel, was placed "on lockdown", the Isaf spokeswoman said.

'Child hawkers'

Afghan police confirmed a suicide bomber had struck.
Child street hawkers are believed to have been caught in the blast and witnesses quoted by Reuters said small bodies could be seen being carried to ambulances.
A police official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP news agency: "Most of the victims are young children who gather around Isaf to sell small items to soldiers leaving or getting into the base."
The US embassy, the Italian embassy and the presidential palace are also located near the site of the attack.
A Taliban spokesman named Zabihullah Mujahid said the militant group had carried out the attack, targeting US intelligence.
Scores of dignitaries are due to attend commemorations of Massoud's death in Kabul on Saturday, which is a national public holiday in his honour.

One Direction win three MTV Video Music Awards in LA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Highlights from the 2012 VMAs - Video courtesy MTV

One Direction have topped the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) picking up three trophies for What Makes You Beautiful.

The group took home best new artist, best pop video and most share-worthy video.
They also performed their latest song, One Thing, for fans at the ceremony in Los Angeles.

"Thank you so much! We have grown up watching this show and to collect one of these [awards] straight away is incredible," said Niall Horan.
Simon Cowell, the band's manager tweeted the group saying: "Congratulations 1D. I'm very proud of you. Celebrate!"
One Direction, who got together on the X Factor, became the first UK pop group to debut at number one on the US album chart earlier this year with Up All Night.
More than 10,000 fans are estimated to have turned up to see the stars' first live TV performance in the US when they appeared on NBC's Today Show in New York.
They sold 176,000 copies of the album in the US in a week and it topped the digital charts minutes after its release.
Winners
Rihanna had the most nominations going in to the event with five although she only won one award in the end, for video of the year.

Taylor Swift crowd surfs after closing the award ceremony with Never Ever

"I love you guys! This is awesome," said Rihanna, as she collected her trophy.
On her way from collecting the prize she was congratulated by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who previously pleaded guilty to assaulting the pop star before the Grammy music awards in 2009.
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong also appeared at the ceremony, where he was mobbed after inviting fans to come up on stage.
He looked fully recovered after being taken to hospital earlier in the week.
Alicia Keys was joined on stage by US Olympic gymnast Gabby Ross, who back-flipped while the singer performed her new single Girl On Fire.
Performers also took the opportunity to crowd surf, with Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne and host Kevin Hart all diving off the stage.

Pakistan blasphemy case girl granted bail

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 06:20:00 +0000

The girl was covered with a white sheet when seen on August 31

A Christian girl who has been detained on blasphemy charges for three weeks in Pakistan has been granted bail.

The girl, named as Rimsha, is thought to be about 14 years old. She was arrested in Islamabad after a mob accused her of burning pages of the Koran and demanded her punishment.
Last week a Pakistani imam was remanded in custody, accused of planting burned pages of the Koran in her bag.
The case has sparked international condemnation.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan ordered her release and set bail at about $10,500 (£6,200).
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Rimsha is the first person accused of blasphemy to have been granted bail by a trial court.

Blasphemy is not a bailable offence but her lawyers pleaded that she was a juvenile.

Safety fears Rimsha has been held at a high-security prison since 16 August. Since her arrest there have been conflicting reports about her age and mental capacity.
Doctors who examined her last month said she appeared to be about 14 and that her "mental age appears below her chronological age".
Rimsha's safety upon her release is likely to be a key concern for campaigners. Her father has previously said that he fears for his daughter's life and for the safety of his family.
Her parents were taken into protective custody at an undisclosed location following threats, and many other Christian families fled the neighbourhood after her arrest.
If her bail payment is met, Rimsha is likely to be reunited with her parents, correspondents say.
There have been cases in Pakistan where people accused of blasphemy have been killed by vigilante mobs.
Indeed Rimsha was arrested by police on 16 August in a poor neighbourhood of Islamabad only after a crowd demanded her punishment, enraged by accusations that she had burned pages of the Koran.
But in an unusual development just weeks later on 2 September, police arrested a Muslim cleric from her neighbourhood after his own deputy accused him of planting pages of the Koran in a bag belonging to Rimsha.

Imam Khalid Chishti denies the allegation but prosecutors say he will be charged with tampering with evidence as well as blasphemy.

Blasphemy controversy Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws are a highly sensitive subject in the country, but they are also often used to settle personal vendettas, correspondents say.
This case has only served to intensify concerns over the misuse of Pakistan's blasphemy laws.
Rights activists have long urged Pakistan to reform the laws, under which a person can be jailed for life for desecrating the Koran.
In March 2011 Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs, was killed after calling for the repeal of the blasphemy law.
His death came just two months after the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who also spoke out about the issue.

Paralympics: The perils of being a blind athlete

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 05:58:00 +0000

My first experiences of disability sport were pretty confusing, not to mention painful and slightly humiliating.

I lost my sight very suddenly aged 13 in 1984 and, before I could blink, or think, I was whisked away to a "special" boarding school for blind children in Worcester - 200 miles away from my home.
I was told it would be good for me, especially as the school had a history of high achievers. In particular I was sold the benefits of their leisure and sporting facilities.
Braille books were put in front of me, a white cane was stuffed in my hand, and the hard rehabilitation work began.
After weeks of not being able to feel the difference between an S and a T in this annoying dotty feelable alphabet, I was pretty relieved, and intrigued, when it came to having my first PE lesson.

So, how does sports work with one teacher and 10 blind kids in a class?

I'm still not quite sure actually but we all trooped out onto the running track, with everyone cracking jokes and pushing each other, all seeing it as an entirely normal lesson - except me.
We were going to do a 100m sprint, I learned. But how do you run if you can't see? A fairly basic question which, seemingly, I was a bit too embarrassed to ask at that tender age. So I didn't.
We all lined up at the top of the track, and, as new boy, I was chosen to go first.
The teacher stood at the other end with a very loud megaphone. "OK Damon. On your marks, get set, go... "
I ran as hard and as fast as I could but something weird was happening. The teacher started shouting "five, five, five!".

Threes and fours: Paralympics athletes running left

I didn't get it. Was he adding maths into our leisure curriculum?
"Five, five, five, six, six, six, seven!"
I must have been going impressively fast because I could no longer feel the track under my trainers.
"Eight, eight, eight, nine!" It was all happening at a dizzying pace and, was it my imagination or was I going slightly downhill?
"Nine, nine, nine, 10, 11, ditch, long grass, brambles... Whittington Road".
Everyone laughed loudly and, as the teacher unravelled me from the bushes, he explained his number shouting system.
"Did you not know? Five means you're running straight towards me, four means you've gone a little to the left, six means you're erring right." I'd gone off the scale.
In the build up to the Paralympics, we've been hearing about all sorts of rehabilitation in the form of sport.

Sixes and sevens: Damon Rose tries his hand at Paralympics goalball

Stoke Mandeville hospital has its own stadium. Who would have imagined a hospital, of all places, would have one of those? The man who founded the Paralympics, Dr Ludwig Guttmann, forced his spinally injured patients to do sport for their own good.
Table tennis and archery were compulsory at one stage and some got so involved with it, they took it to another level.
In the 80s, back at my school, we played football with ball-bearings in it, goalball and a version of cricket - again with a rattling football, where the bowler had to bounce the ball twice so that a blind batsman would have a fair chance of working out where it was.
Having played regular sports when I could see, I was none too impressed at these adapted sports. They were slow and I thought them a bit "special".

Guttman's work increased life expectancy for patients at Stoke Mandeville

Then everyone started talking about the Paralympics. It seemed that blind people could go in for them, not just the paralysed.
Having seen the once yearly special edition of We Are the Champions children's programme where disabled kids had a go at sports too, I remember feeling a bit embarrassed by it all.
As it had a pool, the school became a training camp for Paralympic swimmers. In our boarding house on the edge of campus, Sharon Davies's dad, one of the British swimming coaches, would come and stay to co-ordinate efforts and get the kids out of bed early to train.
By the Seoul games of 1988, I knew at least four of the Paralympians and, as the 1988-89 school year began, I had a bronze medalist in my class, a Paralympian with two silvers and a bronze in the class above me, and a couple of others competing.
"Let's have a look at your medal," we'd say to our classmates. They didn't make a fuss about it and nor did we really.

The Games weren't on the television back then and I still rather imagined Ron Pickering officiating over it all with the athletes all jumping in the pool and bouncing on inflatables afterwards.

It was very hard to take it all seriously when a significant percentage of my pals in the school coffee bar were Paralympians. From where I was looking on, it felt like any old disabled person could have a go.
But, of course, it wasn't me getting up at 05:00 to train and also trying to juggle my homework.
And it wasn't me trying to bulk up and remain healthy in order to gain a significant advantage over my Norweigian nemesis, who was always trying to pip me to the post.
I started to become aware of a disabled athlete called Tanni Grey who everyone was beginning to make a lot of fuss about. She kept appearing on TV and it felt like maybe she deserved the fame a bit. A decade later, I would find myself working with her for a little while.
When I left school, I rather left Paralympics and disability sport behind - except for an ill-fated attempt at getting a bunch of lads to play blind-folded football on a beach in Greece during a summer holiday. Two of them ended up in hospital with stitches.
Practice and training helps, I was beginning to realise. I wondered if I should have given my school pals a little more credit.
The 1988 to 1992 period, Seoul to Barcelona, is the point at which the Paralympic Games started to really get serious.

Tanni Grey-Thompson (right) celebrates success at the Athens Paralympics, 2004

Seoul was the first Games to officially share the same city and venues as the Olympic Games, an arrangement which is due to continue until 2020 under the current agreement between the two organising committees, the IOC and IPC.
Nowadays, professional money is on the table. Compared with the Olympic athletes, there is less corporate sponsorship, but lottery funding is distributed and can allow for a lot of the Paralympic hopefuls to concentrate their efforts full time on their chosen sport.
GB's flag-bearer for 2012, quad tennis champ Peter Norfolk, spends some of his time running a wheelchair business and the blind football captain David Clarke is a senior partner in a London bank.
When I was at school, the Paralympics weren't nearly so glossy, shiny, visible and attractive as they are at London 2012.
At roughly the same time I left my institutionalised disability education bubble, the Paralympics drew a line under what is now loosely referred to by some as the "old era" of the Games.
Nowadays I'm not only incredibly impressed by the sportsmen and women, but I have been thinking about taking up sports myself. It no longer seems daft, it feels like a pretty cool thing to do.

How to Follow the 2012 Olympics Online

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:25:00 +0000

After months and months of anticipation by athletes and fans alike, the 2012 Olympic Games officially begin this Friday. For most fans, however, the world’s most global sporting event can be tricky to catch — many of the competitions will take place during the workday, when posting up in front of a TV is tough. Not to worry, the modern surfeit of online info is more clutch than ever.
Above, Mashable details the best ways to access quality social and editorial content online from now through the closing ceremony on Aug. 12.
Social media will play a bigger role than ever for this year’s Olympics, thanks largely to its eye-popping growth since the last summer games in 2008. In that span of time, Facebook‘s user base has grown from about 100 million to more than 900 million since then, and the number of posts per day by Twitter users worldwide has exploded from about 300,000 to 400 million.
SEE ALSO: 2012 Olympics: The Must-Follow Athletes on Twitter Making sense of social networks’ deluge of information from fans, media and athletes can be tough, so we’ve got some tools and tips to get you started.
But while we love social media, it alone isn’t enough to follow an event as massive and multifaceted as the Olympics. That’s why we’ve got a range of sources for top-notch editorial content, from columnists to reporters on the ground.
Scroll through the gallery above discover 10 ways to follow the 2012 Olympics online, then add your own suggestions in the comments.

Chirp app sends smartphone data via 'digital birdsong'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Rory Cellan-Jones tries out the new chirping method of communication

An app that transmits data via a burst of "digital birdsong" aims to simplify the way users share images and other files between smartphones.

Chirp plays a two-second long noise that sounds as if it was made by a robotic bird. When heard by other devices it triggers a download.
The software was developed by Animal Systems, a spin-off business from University College London (UCL).
It is free to use, but companies will be charged a fee for add-on services.
At the moment users are limited to sending pictures, website links or 140-character text messages. These appear in a feed similar to Facebook's timeline.
Other applications such as Android Beam, Bump, Datasync and Dropbox allow users to swap material via bluetooth, wi-fi or links to cloud-based storage.
But Chirp has the advantage that it can quickly send data to multiple devices at once without them needing to be either paired or have a wireless connection.
If recipients are offline their devices will remember the "chirp" and download associated content later.
"We are pretty sure this is unique," the firm's chief executive Patrick Bergel told the BBC.

"We solve the problem of having to pair devices to move data. It's fairly novel to be able to transmit information to anyone who is in earshot - a large number of devices can share the same information at the same time using sound.

"You can also use it as a device shifting mechanism. In the future you will be able chirp yourself a link to a map from your laptop."
Mr Bergel says Chirp's distinctive sound allows it to work at low volumes in relatively noisy locations such as pubs, clubs or busy streets.
It can also work over public address systems or radio transmissions - potentially allowing broadcasters a way to send up-to-date pictures or links to background information; or an advertiser to send coupons or snippets of a song or promotional video.
Animal Systems subscribes to a "blacklist" service to prevent users transmitting known pornographic or illegal-content website links. However, it does not plan to moderate other material.
The application works by uploading a user's material to the firm's servers. The data is then identified with a 50-bit address space: one of trillions of available identifiers.
This location is then sent to the sender's device. When the user presses a button in the app it plays an audio-encoded version of the address.

Copy-protected

Data has long been passed between machines in the form of sound, including recordings on tapes used to load programs into 1980s home computers and early modems dialling into networks.
Even so, Mr Bergel said he had taken steps to prevent others copying his product.

A feed of messaged material appears beneath a visualised sound-wave

"We have a systems patent on moving short codes over the air," he said.
"We have [also] solved a lot of difficult problems. There's a lot of technical issues around moving data and making it robust against noise and echoes."
Having launched the app the five-man team behind it will now focus on offering premium services to marketers and other businesses.
Mr Bergel said these could include:

A guarantee that uploaded content would be permanently kept on the firm's servers.
Access to analytical data letting firms track whose devices have "listened" to their chirp.
The ability to send video messages that play within the Chirp app.

Mr Bergel said the ultimate goals was to see manufacturers pre-install Chirp on handsets.
However, he must first convince users that they need the service at a time when wi-fi, 4G data and advanced bluetooth connectivity are becoming increasingly common.
For now Chirp is only available as an iPhone app. An Android version is promised "soon".

Penn State blamed over Jerry Sandusky sex abuse

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:16:00 +0000

The leaders of US university Penn State showed a "total disregard" for the safety of victims of sex abuser Jerry Sandusky, a report says.

Former FBI chief Louis Freeh said: "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps... to protect the children who Sandusky victimised."
Mr Freeh cited the former university president and legendary football coach Joe Paterno, who died last year.
Both were sacked during the probe into assistant coach Sandusky's abuses.
Sandusky, who worked on Paterno's nationally lauded football team, was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse in a trial in June.
He is expected to serve a life sentence.
'Most powerful people' Louis Freeh's report, released on Wednesday, laid much blame in the hands of four of Penn State's "most powerful people": President Graham Spanier, Vice-President Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley and head football coach Joe Paterno.

They "failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade," Mr Freeh wrote.

The four men knew that Sandusky was under investigation by university police for allegations of child sex abuse on campus as early as 1998.
Sandusky retired from the university a year later, gaining emeritus status, which allowed him unfettered access to campus buildings.
Three years after the first allegations, the report found that officials did not take any action to identify a victim seen being abused by Sandusky in the Penn State showers in 2001.
In fact, Mr Curley informed Sandusky that another coach, Mike McQueary, had reported seeing the incident. That move further endangered the victim, Mr Freeh concluded.
According to emails uncovered by the report, Mr Curley, Mr Schultz and Mr Spanier had initially planned to report the incident to child welfare services, but decided against it.
Instead, offering Sandusky professional help and telling him "guests" were not permitted to use campus facilities was deemed a "more humane and upfront way to handle this", as Mr Schultz wrote in an email.
"Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky's victims," Mr Freeh said in prepared remarks on Thursday.

The report also faults the university's board of trustees for failing to press Mr Spanier for details about the 2011 grand jury investigation of Sandusky.

In a statement, Paterno's family said he had made mistakes but had "never interfered with any investigation".
"The idea that any sane, responsible adult would knowingly cover up for a child predator is impossible to accept," the statement said. "The far more realistic conclusion is that many people didn't fully understand what was happening and underestimated or misinterpreted events."

University ethics officer

Mr Freeh also noted that Penn State's policy to comply with a national child abuse reporting act that was expanded in 1998, was still in draft form when Sandusky was arrested in 2011.
Travis Forney, a Penn state alumnus who played as a kicker on the football team, told the BBC he was glad the report spread blame among the many people who could have acted.
"I totally agree with coach Paterno that this was an university issue," he said. "I think everyone can agree that more could have be done, but in my opinion the ball was dropped by the four people and the 31 other people on the board of trustees."
Mr Forney said that this year - for the first time at his summer sports camp - the university has implemented a seminar for "anybody who is involved with children" focusing on reporting child abuse and protecting children.
The report includes several recommendations on what steps the university should take going forward:

create a stronger sense of accountability and transparency among leadership
evaluate security for campus buildings and track university programmes involving children
require all employees to provide training for abuse awareness and reporting
establish a university police policy to seek assistance during sensitive investigations or where there is a conflict of interest
appoint a university ethics officer and an ethics council.

In an initial response, the board of trustees of Penn State University said it was still considering the report, and would comment further in due course.
"We expect a comprehensive analysis of our policies, procedures and controls related to identifying and reporting crimes and misconduct, including failures or gaps that may have allowed alleged misconduct to go undetected or unreported," the board said in a statement.

Badger culling legal challenge fails

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:13:00 +0000

Bovine TB costs the UK economy more than £100m per year, mainly in farm payments

A legal bid to block badger culling in England has failed in the High Court.

The government says that culling will help combat cattle tuberculosis, which costs the UK more than £100m per year.
The Badger Trust argued that the cull was illegal, as it will at best make a small impact on the disease and could make it worse.
Culling is now likely to go ahead later this year in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset, with as many as 40 sites to be licensed eventually.
Badgers become infected with the bacteria that cause bovine TB, and can carry them from farm to farm, although more cattle contract the disease from contact with infected herds.
Plans to begin culling in Wales were recently abandoned in favour of a vaccination policy following the change of Welsh Assembly Government last year.
At the High Court hearing in London last month, the Badger Trust argued that the cull plans drawn up by the Department the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) were illegal on several grounds.
Badgers are generally protected under UK law, but exceptions are allowed for disease prevention.

David Williams Badger Trust

The trust's lawyers argued that that the small reduction in cattle TB incidence anticipated by government scientists did not qualify as "prevention".

The government does not set a specific target for the percentage reduction in cattle TB incidence it expects to see, but the latest evidence suggests that nine years after culling, incidence might fall by 9-16%.
Scientific evidence, stemming mainly from the UK Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), shows that culling can actually spread the disease, as it disturbs badgers' family groups and makes them roam further afield, coming into contact with more herds.
The government acknowledges this, but believes its culling strategy will get round the problem.

The trust also argued that the plan to have culling licences issued by Natural England was outside the law, and that the only person authorised to issue them was the Environment Secretary - currently Caroline Spelman MP.
In his judgement, Mr Justice Ouseley ruled against the trust on both counts.
"Although the Secretary of State has tried to interpret the science to her advantage, nothing has altered the basic finding that while badgers are implicated, killing them can make no meaningful contribution to tackling the disease, and cattle measures in themselves are sufficient if properly applied," said Badger Trust chairman David Williams.

Badgers (Meles meles) are protected by a number of UK and European laws

"We did not embark on this litigation lightly; and England now faces the prospect of 40,000 badgers being slaughtered over the next four years."
Costing the cull The trust also raised issues regarding cost.
The government says that cull areas must be at least 150 sq km in size, and the groups of landowners and farmers applying to cull must show they can access at least 70% of the land.

The groups will employ trained marksmen to shoot the badgers as they roam - so-called "free-shooting".

The effectiveness of free-shooting badgers has never been studied. In the RBCT, they were trapped in cages and then shot.
The trust pointed out that if free-shooting proves ineffective, farmers may have to resort to trapping - which would increase costs approximately 10-fold.
The government said it was pleased with the judgement.
"No one wants to cull badgers, but last year bovine TB led to the slaughter of over 26,000 cattle," said a Defra spokesman.
"To help eradicate the disease, it needs to be tackled in badgers.
"We will continue to work with the farming industry so badger control in two pilot areas can start as soon as is practical."
Natural England is currently processing the Somerset and Gloucestershire applications.
The judge left the option of a written appeal open to the trust, and it has a week in which to decide whether or not to pursue that avenue.
Humane Society International has mounted a parallel challenge through the EU, arguing that Defra's plans contravene the Bern Convention on protection of wildlife.

Academics say 'no truth' to lying eyes theory

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:05:00 +0000

New research says the lying eyes theory is a myth

Research by academics at two universities have concluded that the common belief of lying eyes is a myth.

Many psychologists think when a person looks up to their right they are likely to be telling a lie and glancing up to the left is said to indicate honesty.
However, the experts from Edinburgh University and Hertfordshire University carried out tests and found the theory to be wrong.
The research appeared in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.
The claimed link between eye movements and truth telling is a key element of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a method of enhancing people's lives using psychological techniques.

Five ways to detect a liar

Prof Richard Wiseman outlined other ways to spot a liar;

Me, myself I: Liars make up stories that never actually happened, and so tend to reduce the number of times they refer to themselves. Look out for any sudden drop in words like me, mine and I
Shifty: Lying is difficult and people tend not to move around when they are concentrating on something. Be wary if a person suddenly becomes very still
Umm ... err: Liars are far more hesitant than truth tellers and tend to stumble over their words. Listen out for tell-tale umms and errs.
Timing: Liars often have to think about what they are going to say before they speak. Be suspicious if someone suddenly pauses before starting to answer a question.
Token gesture: Liars tend to move their hands around more than truth tellers. Be wary if someone suddenly starts covering up their mouth or touching their hair as they chat.

One aspect of NLP involves teaching people about the relationship between eye movements and thought.

According to the theory, when right-handed people look up to their right they are likely to be visualising a "constructed" or imagined event.
In contrast when they look to their left they are likely to be visualising a "remembered" memory.
For this reason, when liars are constructing their own version of the truth, they tend to look to the right.
The idea was tested by filming volunteers and recording their eye movements as they told the truth or lied.
A second group of volunteers was then asked to watch the films and try to detect the lies by watching the eye movements.
Co-author Dr Caroline Watt, from Edinburgh University, said: "A large percentage of the public believes that certain eye movements are a sign of lying, and this idea is even taught in organisational training courses.
"Our research provides no support for the idea and so suggests that it is time to abandon this approach to detecting deceit."
Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, from Hertfordshire University, said: "The results of the first study revealed no relationship between lying and eye movements, and the second showed that telling people about the claims made by NLP practitioners did not improve their lie detection skills."
A follow-up study involved analysing videos of high-profile press conferences in which people appealed for help in finding missing relatives, or claimed to have been victims of crime.
While some were telling the truth, others turned out to be lying.
Again, there was no evidence of a correlation between lying and eye movements.

Warning over 'low prescribing' for elderly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:02:00 +0000

Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs

More elderly patients should be prescribed drugs to tackle high blood pressure and cholesterol, experts say.

Oxford and Birmingham university researchers said older patients were "largely ignored" after looking at prescribing for nearly 37,000 people.
They found for blood pressure-lowering drugs prescribing dropped after the age of 85, while for treatment for high cholesterol the fall started at 75.
But other experts said there could be valid reasons for the findings.
The study, published on the British Medical Journal website, showed that prescribing of both types of drugs increased every five years after the ages of 40 to 44.
But by the age of 75 statin use had peaked at 29%, falling to 23% after that.
The use of blood pressure drugs peaked later at 57% at age 80 to 84 and then started declining afterwards.

'Good reasons'

The researchers said this should not be happening, pointing out that blood pressure drugs had been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease in the elderly, while there was nothing to suggest statins should not be used.
Writing for the BMJ, they said: "With continuing advances in healthcare, the elderly population is increasing and people are living to an older age. They should... not be ignored."
June Davison, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Available evidence would suggest that older people can benefit from heart protective drugs, but more research is needed.
"Sometimes there are good reasons for not prescribing certain medicines.
"An older person may be more vulnerable to particular side-effects or already be on multiple medicines for other health conditions, meaning it isn't always appropriate to prescribe additional medicines."

Breast cancer surgery women 'risk more operations'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Surgery to conserve the breast can cause scarring

One in five women with breast cancer who has part of the breast removed, rather than the whole breast, ends up having another operation, a BMJ study suggests.

The reoperation rate increases to one in three for women whose early-stage cancer is difficult to detect.
In England, 58% of women with breast cancer have breast-conserving surgery.
Women should be told of the risk of further operations when choosing surgery, researchers say.
The study, led by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published in the British Medical Journal, looked at data collected on 55,297 women with breast cancer in England.
They all underwent breast-conserving surgery, rather than a mastectomy, on the NHS between 2005 and 2008. All the women were aged 16 or over.
They then looked at procedures carried out in the three months following the first breast operation.
The researchers took tumour type, age, socio-economic deprivation and other health problems into account.

When combined with radiotherapy, the study says that breast-conserving surgery is as effective as mastectomy, particularly for patients with an obvious, invasive tumour.

'Emotional distress'

However, because some pre-invasive cancers called 'carcinoma in situ' are difficult to detect, because they don't form a lump, breast conserving-surgery may not remove the cancer completely.
This could result in another operation.
The study says that additional operations put women's lives on hold while they wait for more surgery. It can delay their return to work, cause emotional distress and result in the need for reconstructive surgery to the breast.
Out of the 55,297 women who underwent breast-conserving surgery, 45,793 (82%) were suffering from isolated invasive cancer, 6,622 (12%) had isolated carcinoma in situ (pre-cancerous disease), and 2,882 (6%) had both types of cancer.
Another operation was more likely among women with pre-cancerous disease (29.5%) compared with those with isolated invasive disease (18%).
Around 40% of women who had a reoperation underwent a mastectomy.
Further results suggest that reoperation is less likely in older women and women from more deprived areas.

'Empowering patients'

Prof Jerome Pereira, study author and consultant breast surgeon at James Paget University Hospitals in Great Yarmouth, said the findings would help women to make decisions about their treatment.
"Patients should feel reassured that clinicians can now advise them more clearly.
"We all have a different attitude to risk but this is empowering patients to make the right decision for themselves."
Prof Pereira said the study results would help surgeons too.
"This research focuses surgeons and challenges us to try and reduce reoperation rates.
"We need to refine imaging techniques to make this happen - and this opens up more areas for more research."

'Increase survival'

Ramsey Cutes, Cancer Research UK breast cancer surgeon at the University of Southampton, said it was standard practice to discuss the possibility of further surgery with patients.
"It's important for patients to fully understand the pros and cons of surgery. The ultimate aim of these repeat operations after breast-conserving surgery is to reduce the chance that breast cancer will return in the breast, and increase survival from the disease.
"Rates of breast cancer recurrence are also reduced by other treatments such as radiotherapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy where appropriate.
"There's an ongoing need to better identify those at high risk of breast cancer recurrence, and to carefully select those who would benefit the most from further surgery."

How algorithms shape our world

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:55:00 +0000

It takes you 500,000 microseconds just to click a mouse. But if you’re a Wall Street algorithm and you’re five microseconds behind, you’re a loser.

Synopsis

Kevin Slavin argues that we're living in a world designed for - and increasingly controlled by - algorithms. In this riveting talk from TEDGlobal, he shows how these complex computer programs determine: espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can't understand, with implications we can't control. Talk recorded 13 July 2011.

About the Speaker

Kevin Slavin navigates in the algoworld, the expanding space in our lives that’s determined and run by algorithms.
Are you addicted to the dead-simple numbers game Drop 7 or Facebook’s Parking Wars? Blame Kevin Slavin and the game development company he co-founded in 2005, Area/Code, which makes clever game entertainments that enter the fabric of reality.
All this fun is powered by algorithms - as, increasingly, is our daily life. From the algorithms used by Google, to those that give you “recommendations” online, to those that automatically play the stock markets (and sometimes crash them): we may not realize it, but we live in the algoworld.

T-shirts developed that could charge mobile phones

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:51:00 +0000

The researchers turned the t-shirt fabric into a 'supercapacitor'

Scientists at the University of South Carolina have found a way to use a cheap T-shirt to store electrical power.

It could pave the way for clothes that are able to charge phones and other devices.
Experts predict that new technologies including roll-up smartphones and laptops will be on the market soon.
These developments would spur on the need for "flexible energy storage", said the professor behind the project.
Xiaodong Li, a professor of mechanical engineering at the university teamed up with post-doctorate researcher Lihong Bao to find a solution.
The pair wrote up their findings for the Advanced Materials journal.
They used a T-shirt bought from a local discount store, which was soaked in a solution of fluoride, dried and then baked in an oxygen-free environment at high temperature.

Hybrid fabric

The fibres in the fabric converted from cellulose to activated carbon during the process, but the material remained flexible.
By using small parts of the fabric as an electrode, the researchers showed that the material could be made to act as a capacitor.
Capacitors store an electrical charge and are components of nearly every electronic device on the market.
By coating the individual fibres of the carbonised fabric with manganese oxide just a nanometre thick, the electrode performance of the fabric was further enhanced.

Tests on sections of the t-shirt suggested it was capable of being recharged thousands of time

"This created a stable, high-performing supercapacitor," said Prof Li.
The hybrid supercapacitors proved resilient - even after thousands of charge-discharge cycles their performance did not diminish more than 5%, the researchers said.
"By stacking these supercapacitors up, we should be able to charge portable electronic devices such as cell phones," Prof Li added.
"We wear fabric every day. One day our cotton T-shirts could have more functions; for example, a flexible energy storage device that could charge your cell phone or your iPad."

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Synopsis

About the Speaker

T-shirts developed that could charge mobile phones

Hybrid fabric