CNET News.com By Dawn Kawamoto Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 24, 2007. Would you like some extra support with that software? That's what Microsoft is now offering buyers of Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition. The company announced on Wednesday that it is adding five-year customer support for the operating systems, marking the first time that such extended service has been offered with a Microsoft consumer product.
The "extended" support, which kicks in after April 2009, will bring the two products on par with Microsoft's Windows XP Professional for businesses. Microsoft previously reserved its five-year extended support feature to only enterprise-grade products.
Under Microsoft's Support Lifecyle Policy, consumers and businesses both receive "mainstream" support for their products. XP Home Edition and XP Media Center will see mainstream support end in April 2009, which includes paid support, security updates, design changes and feature requests.
Once mainstream support expires, the five-year extended support is due to kick in. Previously, XP Home and XP Media Center consumers would migrate to self-help support for eight years, after their mainstream support ended.
The extended-support level includes roughly half of the eight features included in mainstream support. Those not included are design changes and feature requests, warranty claims, no-charge incident reports and nonsecurity hot-fix support, unless a user purchases an extended agreement within 90 days of the mainstream support expiring.
The phase for additional software support will provide consumers with service until 2014, Microsoft said.
For the software giant, extending its help window is nothing new. Microsoft extended support for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows ME by two years, with assistance ending last summer.
And although Microsoft is expanding its support for its two consumer XP products, the move comes as it is gearing up to release its Windows Vista operating system to consumers next week. Vista, which is currently available to computer makers to load on their boxes, is expected to ultimately replace XP, though market watchers note that it might take some time.
"Microsoft has listened to customer feedback and realized that providing security patches for Windows XP Professional, and not extending that support to the XP Home and XP Media Center Editions, was not a consistent approach," a company representative said. "Microsoft is currently making the change for Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition only, and (it is) taking additional time to evaluate a permanent policy change that would apply to all consumer operating system versions."
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Men arrested for murdering "ghost" brides...
Reuters.comThu Jan 25, 2007. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested three men for killing two young women to sell their corpses as "ghost brides" for dead single men, a Chinese newspaper reported, warning the dark custom might have claimed many other victims.
A bride in Western style wedding attire walks along the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, in a file photo. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV
Yang Donghai, a 35-year-old farmer in western China's Shaanxi province, confessed to killing a woman bought from a poor family for 12,000 yuan ($1,545) last year.
She thought she was being sold into an arranged marriage, but Yang killed her in a gully and sold her corpse for 16,000 yuan, the Legal Daily reported Thursday. He and two accomplices then killed a prostitute and sold her for 8,000 yuan before police caught them.
"I did it for the money; it was a quick buck," Yang said, according to the paper. "If I hadn't slipped up early, I planned to do a few more."
The women were victims of an old belief, still alive in the yellow-earth highlands of western China, that young men who die unmarried should go to their graves accompanied by deceased women who will be their wives in the afterlife. Often these women die natural deaths.
Police in Yanan, the poor and dusty corner of Shaanxi where Chairman Mao Zedong nurtured his Communist revolution, said the dark trade went beyond these cases.
"The actual number is far from just these," the paper said.
Yang and two helpers sold the bodies to Li Longsheng, an undertaker who police said specialized in buying and selling the dead women for "ghost weddings." It was unclear what happened to Li.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Monthly Microsoft Patch Hides Tricky IE 7 Download...
eWEEK.com
By John Pallatto
January 22, 2007 Opinion: Microsoft used the January 2007 security update to induce users to try Internet Explorer 7.0 whether they wanted to or not. But after discovering they had been involuntarily upgraded to the new browser, they next found that application incompatibility effectively cut them off from the Internet.
For some people who ran Microsoft's January 2007 security and products updates, including me, clicking on the familiar gold shield icon was not much different from getting suckered into opening an e-mail message infected with a virus or a worm Trojan.
That's because unless you checked before you clicked, you were unwittingly giving permission for Microsoft to install Internet Explorer 7.0. And in too many cases, users are experiencing application crashes or Web site incompatibilities that are rendering IE 7 and your computer useless for Web browsing.
I found that IE 7 totally refused to work on my machine. It crashed every time I launched it, without a single message or word on what caused the problem. I was left angry and frustrated, thinking that I was effectively cut off from the Web and all my favorite links unless I could figure out a quick way to dump IE 7 and safely restore version 6.
Since as far as I knew, IE 7 had permanently overwritten my IE 6 installation, I felt no initial confidence that I could restore my machine to its previous configuration.
As a result, Microsoft's misguided attempt to get people to upgrade to IE 7, whether they wanted to or not, has likely caused lasting mistrust of the latest version of the browser. It certainly has for me.
Microsoft Watch Editor Joe Wilcox covered the positive and negative experiences people reported they had with IE 7.
Clicking on that gold shield patch icon has become a monthly chore for millions of PC users around the world who are assured that doing so will reduce the chance that their machines will be compromised by malware attacks.
Many of them, being trusting (or gullible) souls like myself, will click on that update without checking the inventory of what will actually be loaded on our machines.
When you click on that icon you are presented with two options, the standard, automated update, which Microsoft tells you, is the "recommended" choice, or the customized update, which actually gives you a chance to choose which updates you want to install on your machine.
Unless you click on the customized update, Microsoft gives you no obvious notice that you are installing IE 7. If you run the "recommended" automated update and then reboot, you will discover to your surprise, if not horror, that Microsoft has installed IE 7.
Click here to read eWEEK Labs' review on the new security features in IE 7.
My reaction, after serious irritation at the effrontery of being suckered into installing IE 7 against my will, was strong apprehension about how it would perform on my PC. I was not in a rush to try IE 7 on my personal machine because I had heard that some users were reporting incompatibility problems.
I was generally happy with the reliable performance of IE 6 with all my related bookmarks and applications. I had pretty much resolved, as I usually do in these cases, to take my time upgrading to the new browser until Microsoft had more time to work the kinks out of it.
It's quite likely that I would have never voluntarily upgraded to IE 7 until the long distant day when I decided to upgrade to Vista. That might not happen until the usual cycle of planned obsolescence forced me to buy a new home PC. I can be a real Luddite when it comes to technology upgrades.
By John Pallatto
January 22, 2007 Opinion: Microsoft used the January 2007 security update to induce users to try Internet Explorer 7.0 whether they wanted to or not. But after discovering they had been involuntarily upgraded to the new browser, they next found that application incompatibility effectively cut them off from the Internet.
For some people who ran Microsoft's January 2007 security and products updates, including me, clicking on the familiar gold shield icon was not much different from getting suckered into opening an e-mail message infected with a virus or a worm Trojan.
That's because unless you checked before you clicked, you were unwittingly giving permission for Microsoft to install Internet Explorer 7.0. And in too many cases, users are experiencing application crashes or Web site incompatibilities that are rendering IE 7 and your computer useless for Web browsing.
I found that IE 7 totally refused to work on my machine. It crashed every time I launched it, without a single message or word on what caused the problem. I was left angry and frustrated, thinking that I was effectively cut off from the Web and all my favorite links unless I could figure out a quick way to dump IE 7 and safely restore version 6.
Since as far as I knew, IE 7 had permanently overwritten my IE 6 installation, I felt no initial confidence that I could restore my machine to its previous configuration.
As a result, Microsoft's misguided attempt to get people to upgrade to IE 7, whether they wanted to or not, has likely caused lasting mistrust of the latest version of the browser. It certainly has for me.
Microsoft Watch Editor Joe Wilcox covered the positive and negative experiences people reported they had with IE 7.
Clicking on that gold shield patch icon has become a monthly chore for millions of PC users around the world who are assured that doing so will reduce the chance that their machines will be compromised by malware attacks.
Many of them, being trusting (or gullible) souls like myself, will click on that update without checking the inventory of what will actually be loaded on our machines.
When you click on that icon you are presented with two options, the standard, automated update, which Microsoft tells you, is the "recommended" choice, or the customized update, which actually gives you a chance to choose which updates you want to install on your machine.
Unless you click on the customized update, Microsoft gives you no obvious notice that you are installing IE 7. If you run the "recommended" automated update and then reboot, you will discover to your surprise, if not horror, that Microsoft has installed IE 7.
Click here to read eWEEK Labs' review on the new security features in IE 7.
My reaction, after serious irritation at the effrontery of being suckered into installing IE 7 against my will, was strong apprehension about how it would perform on my PC. I was not in a rush to try IE 7 on my personal machine because I had heard that some users were reporting incompatibility problems.
I was generally happy with the reliable performance of IE 6 with all my related bookmarks and applications. I had pretty much resolved, as I usually do in these cases, to take my time upgrading to the new browser until Microsoft had more time to work the kinks out of it.
It's quite likely that I would have never voluntarily upgraded to IE 7 until the long distant day when I decided to upgrade to Vista. That might not happen until the usual cycle of planned obsolescence forced me to buy a new home PC. I can be a real Luddite when it comes to technology upgrades.
Microwave zaps germs on sponges, study finds...
Reuters.comTue Jan 23, 2007. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two minutes in a microwave oven can sterilize most household sponges, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
A shopper looks at microwave ovens on display in a file photo. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
A team of engineering researchers at the University of Florida found that two minutes of microwaving on full power killed or inactivated more than 99 percent of bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as spores, on a kitchen sponge.
"People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave," said Gabriel Bitton, a professor of environmental engineering who led the study.
Writing in the Journal of Environmental Health, Bitton and colleagues said they soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater containing fecal bacteria such as E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores.
Then they used a common household microwave oven to heat up the sponges. It took four to 10 minutes to kill all the spores but everything else was killed after two, they said.
"The microwave is a very powerful and an inexpensive tool for sterilization," Bitton said.
At least 76 million Americans get sick from food borne microbes every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 5,000 people die from them.
Kitchens are a common source of these illnesses.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Drought drives snakes to the cities...
Reuters News By Rod Taylor
Mon Jan 22, 2007. CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - Australians are facing an increasing snake menace as searing weather bites and the country's worst drought in a generation rolls on.
A 16-year-old boy died in Sydney a week ago after being bitten by an Eastern Brown snake -- one of the world's deadliest -- while in Darwin another brown snake killed a man in his suburban garden.
"As areas are drying up and snakes are having to travel more for water, they are being driven into urban areas," Australian Reptile Park General Manager Mary Rayner told Reuters on Monday. "They just need to remember they are just looking for food and water, mostly just passing through," she said.
"Snakes do drink water and we are seeing a lot more brown snakes than we are other snakes, because they really like the open and cleared land in towns," Rayner said.
"The problem is they are also more defensive, so they will actually stand their ground and do multiple bites rather than slither away, like Tiger Snakes and Red Belly Blacks."
Australia has some of the world's deadliest snakes, with at least 12 capable of killing humans among 100 venomous varieties. Several are more venomous than cobras, but unlike brown snakes are shy and will retreat if faced by humans.
Opening the door last week on his farmhouse north of Australia's capital Canberra, John Taylor was met on the mat inside by a six-foot (1.8 meter) brown snake.
I just bolted. When I looked back in a few minutes later the snake had gone, which was good, but it was dark and now I don't know where it is," he said.
A 59-year-old man was bitten on the knee on Monday north of the city as he walked close by his home and a 60-year-old man was bitten on the wrist at a seaside town in Victoria state.
Between 500 and 3000 snake bites occur each year, mostly inflicted by brown snakes.
Rayner said Australians needed to remember that warm weather increased the body metabolism of the snakes, making them both faster and hungrier.
©Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Mon Jan 22, 2007. CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - Australians are facing an increasing snake menace as searing weather bites and the country's worst drought in a generation rolls on.A 16-year-old boy died in Sydney a week ago after being bitten by an Eastern Brown snake -- one of the world's deadliest -- while in Darwin another brown snake killed a man in his suburban garden.
"As areas are drying up and snakes are having to travel more for water, they are being driven into urban areas," Australian Reptile Park General Manager Mary Rayner told Reuters on Monday. "They just need to remember they are just looking for food and water, mostly just passing through," she said.
"Snakes do drink water and we are seeing a lot more brown snakes than we are other snakes, because they really like the open and cleared land in towns," Rayner said.
"The problem is they are also more defensive, so they will actually stand their ground and do multiple bites rather than slither away, like Tiger Snakes and Red Belly Blacks."
Australia has some of the world's deadliest snakes, with at least 12 capable of killing humans among 100 venomous varieties. Several are more venomous than cobras, but unlike brown snakes are shy and will retreat if faced by humans.
Opening the door last week on his farmhouse north of Australia's capital Canberra, John Taylor was met on the mat inside by a six-foot (1.8 meter) brown snake.
I just bolted. When I looked back in a few minutes later the snake had gone, which was good, but it was dark and now I don't know where it is," he said.
A 59-year-old man was bitten on the knee on Monday north of the city as he walked close by his home and a 60-year-old man was bitten on the wrist at a seaside town in Victoria state.
Between 500 and 3000 snake bites occur each year, mostly inflicted by brown snakes.
Rayner said Australians needed to remember that warm weather increased the body metabolism of the snakes, making them both faster and hungrier.
©Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Storm Worm hits computers around the world
Reuters.comA woman fights against stormy wind in Dortmund,
Fri Jan 19, 2007. HELSINKI (Reuters) - Computer virus writers attacked thousands of computers on Friday using an unusually topical email citing raging European storms, a security company said.
The virus, which the company named "Storm Worm," was emailed to hundreds of thousands of addresses globally with the subject line "230 dead as storm batters Europe."
An attached file contained so-called malware that can infiltrate computer systems.
"What makes this exceptional is the timely nature of the attack," Mikko Hypponen, head of research at Finnish data security firm F-Secure, told Reuters. . Hypponen said thousands of computers, most in private use, had been affected.
He said most users would not notice the malware, or trojan, which creates a back door to the computer that can be exploited later to steal data or to use the computer to post spam.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Carbs may explain ethnic variations in cholesterol...
Reuters.comFri Jan 19, 2007. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ethnic differences in levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol, may be due, at least in part, to diet, a new study from Canada suggests.
Different bread rolls are pictured at "Zwieback Fischer", the eldest bakery in Dortmund, Germany May 22, 2006. Ethnic differences in levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol, may be due, at least in part, to diet, a new study from Canada suggests. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender
South Asians ate the most carbohydrate and had the lowest HDL cholesterol levels, while Chinese individuals ate the least carbohydrate and had the highest levels of the beneficial blood fat, Dr. Anwar T. Merchant of the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario and colleagues found.
Previous research has identified ethnic differences in cholesterol and other blood fat levels that couldn't be explained by genes, obesity, lifestyle factors or diet, Merchant and his team note, but these analyses usually looked at dietary fat, not carbohydrate consumption. When calories from carbohydrates replace energy from fat in a person's diet, both LDL and HDL cholesterol levels fall while triacylglycerol levels rise, the researchers explain.
To investigate the role of carbohydrate and HDL levels in a population containing a variety of ethnic groups, Merchant and his colleagues analyzed the diet and blood fats of 619 Canadians of Native American, South Asian, Chinese and European descent. The researchers report their findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
As mentioned, South Asians ate the most carbohydrates, followed by Europeans, Native Americans, and Chinese. After adjustment for several factors including age, ethnicity, body mass index and alcohol intake, the association between carbohydrates and lower HDL cholesterol remained, with people consuming the most carbs having an average level of 1.08 mmol/L, compared to 1.21 mmol/L for those who ate the fewest carbohydrates.
Each additional 100 gram per day of carbohydrates was tied to a 0.15 mmol/L drop in HDL cholesterol. Triacylglycerol levels also rose in tandem with carbohydrate intake.
The researchers also found that consuming more sugar-sweetened soft drinks, juices and snacks was tied to a lower HDL level.
"Differences in HDL and triacylglycerols observed in different ethnic groups may be due in part to carbohydrate intake," the researchers write. "Reducing the frequency of intake of sugar-containing soft drinks, juices and snacks may be beneficial."
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2007
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Skype founders unveil global online TV service...
Reuters.comTue Jan 16, 2007. LONDON (Reuters) - Two Scandinavian entrepreneurs behind free online Skype telephone calls on Tuesday launched a new global broadband television service.
The initiative marks the third start up by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, who helped revolutionize the market for free telephone calls over the Internet before selling Skype to eBay Inc. for around $2.5 billion in 2005.
Their new TV business Joost -- initially dubbed The Venice Project -- has been funded using part of the money they made from Skype's sale.
The Internet television start-up is still being tested with visitors to the site (www.joost.com) being asked to sign up and test the new service and report problems.
Joost is billing itself as the first free global TV distribution platform, uniting advertisers, content owners and viewers in a piracy-free interactive service.
"People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content," said Joost Chief Executive Fredrik de Wahl.
Joost has yet to reveal the number of channels which will be available.
Friis and Zennstrom also co-founded the popular file-sharing service Kazaa, which they sold
to Australian company Sharman Networks in 2001.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Skype founders unveil global online TV service...
Reuters.com
Tue Jan 16, 2007. LONDON (Reuters) - Two Scandinavian entrepreneurs behind free online Skype telephone calls on Tuesday launched a new global broadband television service.
The initiative marks the third start up by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, who helped revolutionize the market for free telephone calls over the Internet before selling Skype to eBay Inc. for around $2.5 billion in 2005.
Their new TV business Joost -- initially dubbed The Venice Project -- has been funded using part of the money they made from Skype's sale.
The Internet television start-up is still being tested with visitors to the site (www.joost.com) being asked to sign up and test the new service and report problems.
Joost is billing itself as the first free global TV distribution platform, uniting advertisers, content owners and viewers in a piracy-free interactive service.
"People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content," said Joost Chief Executive Fredrik de Wahl.
Joost has yet to reveal the number of channels which will be available.
Friis and Zennstrom also co-founded the popular file-sharing service Kazaa, which they sold
to Australian company Sharman Networks in 2001.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Tue Jan 16, 2007. LONDON (Reuters) - Two Scandinavian entrepreneurs behind free online Skype telephone calls on Tuesday launched a new global broadband television service.
The initiative marks the third start up by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, who helped revolutionize the market for free telephone calls over the Internet before selling Skype to eBay Inc. for around $2.5 billion in 2005.
Their new TV business Joost -- initially dubbed The Venice Project -- has been funded using part of the money they made from Skype's sale.
The Internet television start-up is still being tested with visitors to the site (www.joost.com) being asked to sign up and test the new service and report problems.
Joost is billing itself as the first free global TV distribution platform, uniting advertisers, content owners and viewers in a piracy-free interactive service.
"People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content," said Joost Chief Executive Fredrik de Wahl.
Joost has yet to reveal the number of channels which will be available.
Friis and Zennstrom also co-founded the popular file-sharing service Kazaa, which they sold
to Australian company Sharman Networks in 2001.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Renewed evidence suggests statin/Parkinson's link...
Reuters.com
Mon Jan 15, 2007. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New research showing a strong link between Parkinson's disease and low levels of "bad" cholesterol are so worrying that U.S. researchers are launching a study to look into it.
The team at the University of North Carolina is planning clinical trials involving thousands of people to see whether statin drugs, which lower low density lipoprotein, or LDL, might actually cause Parkinson's in some people.
Other research has for several years suggested that people with abnormally low levels of LDL might be at higher risk of Parkinson's.
Xuemei Huang and colleagues found that patients with low levels of LDL cholesterol are at least three and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those with higher LDL levels.
Writing in the journal Chemistry & Industry, they said they plan a bigger study of patients taking statins, the biggest-selling drugs in the world.
"I am very concerned, which is why I am planning a 16,000-patient prospective study to examine the possible role of statins," Huang said in a statement.
Prospective study means the patients are watched for a period of time to see what diseases or conditions develop.
Huang noted some other studies showed that people with APOE2, a gene that causes naturally low cholesterol, have a higher risk of Parkinson's. Another variation of the gene, APOE4, is associated with a risk of Alzheimer's disease.
British heart experts expressed alarm about the report and said heart patients should not stop taking statins.
"We are concerned that any suggestion of a link between statins and Parkinson's disease would unnecessarily scare the millions of people benefiting from statins in the U.K.," said Dr. Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation.
"There is no evidence to suggest that statins cause Parkinson's disease. There is, however, overwhelming evidence that statins save lives by preventing heart attacks and strokes."
Parkinson's is an incurable brain illness that can paralyze patients. Patients may also have difficulty walking and talking and may shake uncontrollably at times.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson's affects at least 500,000 people in the United States alone. But heart disease affects 70 million Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and kills more than 910,000 each year.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Mon Jan 15, 2007. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New research showing a strong link between Parkinson's disease and low levels of "bad" cholesterol are so worrying that U.S. researchers are launching a study to look into it.
The team at the University of North Carolina is planning clinical trials involving thousands of people to see whether statin drugs, which lower low density lipoprotein, or LDL, might actually cause Parkinson's in some people.
Other research has for several years suggested that people with abnormally low levels of LDL might be at higher risk of Parkinson's.
Xuemei Huang and colleagues found that patients with low levels of LDL cholesterol are at least three and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those with higher LDL levels.
Writing in the journal Chemistry & Industry, they said they plan a bigger study of patients taking statins, the biggest-selling drugs in the world.
"I am very concerned, which is why I am planning a 16,000-patient prospective study to examine the possible role of statins," Huang said in a statement.
Prospective study means the patients are watched for a period of time to see what diseases or conditions develop.
Huang noted some other studies showed that people with APOE2, a gene that causes naturally low cholesterol, have a higher risk of Parkinson's. Another variation of the gene, APOE4, is associated with a risk of Alzheimer's disease.
British heart experts expressed alarm about the report and said heart patients should not stop taking statins.
"We are concerned that any suggestion of a link between statins and Parkinson's disease would unnecessarily scare the millions of people benefiting from statins in the U.K.," said Dr. Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation.
"There is no evidence to suggest that statins cause Parkinson's disease. There is, however, overwhelming evidence that statins save lives by preventing heart attacks and strokes."
Parkinson's is an incurable brain illness that can paralyze patients. Patients may also have difficulty walking and talking and may shake uncontrollably at times.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson's affects at least 500,000 people in the United States alone. But heart disease affects 70 million Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and kills more than 910,000 each year.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
China teens casual about one-night stands...
Reuters.com
BEIJING, Jan 12, 2007. (Reuters Life!) - More than half of China's high school students find nothing wrong with one-night stands and an overwhelming majority of girls would not reject a boyfriend's demands for sex, a poll suggests.
Some 6.2 percent of the survey's 2,300 high school students in Xuanwu, a downtown district in the Chinese capital of Beijing, had already had a sexual experience and the average age of students losing their virginity was 15, the China Daily said on Thursday.
The results surprised educators, the newspaper said.
"The new generation is open-minded about sex," Zhang Meimei, a professor at Capital Normal University who was involved in the survey conducted last year, was quoted as saying.
"We can only conclude that it is a result of a fast-changing society."
China's traditional culture sanctifies abstinence and the ruling Communist Party is also officially puritanical, but three decades of market reforms have brought forth an ever more rebellious and diverse urban youth culture.
Of the 1,300 girls asked if they would agree to sex when asked by a boyfriend, only six gave a definite "no."
"The typical answer: 'As long as he loves me, it's OK'," the newspaper said.
About 200 respondents of both sexes said they would have a one-night stand if the opportunity arose, it added.
Such liberal attitudes to sex have sparked concerns over safe sex, with more than 40 percent of respondents who had had sex saying they did not use contraceptives for their first time, the China Daily said.
Underage girls accounted for about a quarter of the 1.5 million abortions in mainland China every year, and teenage pregnancies were on the rise, the newspaper said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
BEIJING, Jan 12, 2007. (Reuters Life!) - More than half of China's high school students find nothing wrong with one-night stands and an overwhelming majority of girls would not reject a boyfriend's demands for sex, a poll suggests.
Some 6.2 percent of the survey's 2,300 high school students in Xuanwu, a downtown district in the Chinese capital of Beijing, had already had a sexual experience and the average age of students losing their virginity was 15, the China Daily said on Thursday.
The results surprised educators, the newspaper said.
"The new generation is open-minded about sex," Zhang Meimei, a professor at Capital Normal University who was involved in the survey conducted last year, was quoted as saying.
"We can only conclude that it is a result of a fast-changing society."
China's traditional culture sanctifies abstinence and the ruling Communist Party is also officially puritanical, but three decades of market reforms have brought forth an ever more rebellious and diverse urban youth culture.
Of the 1,300 girls asked if they would agree to sex when asked by a boyfriend, only six gave a definite "no."
"The typical answer: 'As long as he loves me, it's OK'," the newspaper said.
About 200 respondents of both sexes said they would have a one-night stand if the opportunity arose, it added.
Such liberal attitudes to sex have sparked concerns over safe sex, with more than 40 percent of respondents who had had sex saying they did not use contraceptives for their first time, the China Daily said.
Underage girls accounted for about a quarter of the 1.5 million abortions in mainland China every year, and teenage pregnancies were on the rise, the newspaper said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Roadside rest-stop costs jeweler....
Reuters.com
Tue Jan 16, 2007. VIENNA (Reuters) - Thieves snatched one million euros ($1.3 million) worth of jewelry from the trunk of a German designer's car when he left it to relieve himself.
Jeweler Harald Hardy Herzmann, his security guard and a dog were all on the way to meet customers in the Austrian winter sports resort of Hochgurgl when Herzmann stopped nearby, according to local media.
"We all needed to go for a pee," Herzmann told daily Kronenzeitung.
The thieves smashed the back window of the car shortly after the two men left it and two suitcases full of necklaces, watches, bracelets and rings were taken, police said. A witness saw two young men running away.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Tue Jan 16, 2007. VIENNA (Reuters) - Thieves snatched one million euros ($1.3 million) worth of jewelry from the trunk of a German designer's car when he left it to relieve himself.
Jeweler Harald Hardy Herzmann, his security guard and a dog were all on the way to meet customers in the Austrian winter sports resort of Hochgurgl when Herzmann stopped nearby, according to local media.
"We all needed to go for a pee," Herzmann told daily Kronenzeitung.
The thieves smashed the back window of the car shortly after the two men left it and two suitcases full of necklaces, watches, bracelets and rings were taken, police said. A witness saw two young men running away.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
New toilet is flush with fish...
Reuters.comThu Jan 11, 2007.(Reuters Life!) - Home renovators looking to bring life to the smallest room in their home now have the chance -- with a toilet that doubles as an aquarium.
The Fish 'n Flush is a clear two-piece toilet tank that replaces a standard toilet tank, with a see-through aquarium wrapping itself around a conventional toilet tank.
"We wanted to develop a product that had a dual purpose - to serve as a proper, fully functional toilet and also as a source of entertainment and conversation," said Devon Niccole, marketing director of California-based designer AquaOne Technologies Inc. which has just started to selling the tank.
He said the company, which specializes in water conservation equipment for home appliance, had worked with a marine biologist to design a tank that ensured the fish were not harmed when the toilet was flushed.
The aquarium toilet tank, which sells for $299, fits most toilets with the 2.2-gallon aquarium piece able to be easily removed for cleaning. The toilet tank itself holds 2.5 gallons which gives sufficient pressure for flushing.
"Some people think we're nuts but other just love it and parents are using it to help their children with potty training. One thing you can guarantee is that people will be talking about it after seeing it in your home," said Niccole.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
China teens casual about one-night stands...
Reuters News
Fri Jan 12, 2007. (Reuters Life!) - More than half of China's high school students find nothing wrong with one-night stands and an overwhelming majority of girls would not reject a boyfriend's demands for sex, a poll suggests.
Some 6.2 percent of the survey's 2,300 high school students in Xuanwu, a downtown district in the Chinese capital of Beijing, had already had a sexual experience and the average age of students losing their virginity was 15, the China Daily said on Thursday.
The results surprised educators, the newspaper said.
"The new generation is open-minded about sex," Zhang Meimei, a professor at Capital Normal University who was involved in the survey conducted last year, was quoted as saying.
"We can only conclude that it is a result of a fast-changing society."
China's traditional culture sanctifies abstinence and the ruling Communist Party is also officially puritanical, but three decades of market reforms have brought forth an ever more rebellious and diverse urban youth culture.
Of the 1,300 girls asked if they would agree to sex when asked by a boyfriend, only six gave a definite "no."
"The typical answer: 'As long as he loves me, it's OK'," the newspaper said.
About 200 respondents of both sexes said they would have a one-night stand if the opportunity arose, it added.
Such liberal attitudes to sex have sparked concerns over safe sex, with more than 40 percent of respondents who had had sex saying they did not use contraceptives for their first time, the China Daily said.
Underage girls accounted for about a quarter of the 1.5 million abortions in mainland China every year, and teenage pregnancies were on the rise, the newspaper said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Fri Jan 12, 2007. (Reuters Life!) - More than half of China's high school students find nothing wrong with one-night stands and an overwhelming majority of girls would not reject a boyfriend's demands for sex, a poll suggests.
Some 6.2 percent of the survey's 2,300 high school students in Xuanwu, a downtown district in the Chinese capital of Beijing, had already had a sexual experience and the average age of students losing their virginity was 15, the China Daily said on Thursday.
The results surprised educators, the newspaper said.
"The new generation is open-minded about sex," Zhang Meimei, a professor at Capital Normal University who was involved in the survey conducted last year, was quoted as saying.
"We can only conclude that it is a result of a fast-changing society."
China's traditional culture sanctifies abstinence and the ruling Communist Party is also officially puritanical, but three decades of market reforms have brought forth an ever more rebellious and diverse urban youth culture.
Of the 1,300 girls asked if they would agree to sex when asked by a boyfriend, only six gave a definite "no."
"The typical answer: 'As long as he loves me, it's OK'," the newspaper said.
About 200 respondents of both sexes said they would have a one-night stand if the opportunity arose, it added.
Such liberal attitudes to sex have sparked concerns over safe sex, with more than 40 percent of respondents who had had sex saying they did not use contraceptives for their first time, the China Daily said.
Underage girls accounted for about a quarter of the 1.5 million abortions in mainland China every year, and teenage pregnancies were on the rise, the newspaper said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, January 01, 2007
A tale of two cities for confused tourist...
Reuters NewsA Qantas passenger plane takes off from Sydney airport December 14, 2006.
Fri Dec 29, 2006. BERLIN (Reuters) - A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometres away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.
Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany Saturday for a four-week holiday.
Instead of arriving "down under," Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.
"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."
Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.
The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.
"I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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