Computerworld Matt Hamblen
31/10/2007 09:11:17 The Google phone is inching closer to reality, with wireless handhelds running Google applications and operating software expected in the first half of 2008, several industry analysts said this week.
Some see Google's model as revolutionary in the U.S., where nearly all customers buy their mobile phones from a wireless carrier and are locked into a contract with that carrier. But Google's entry could signal a more open system where a customer buys the Google phone and then chooses a carrier, they noted.
The Wall Street Journal today cited unnamed sources and said that Google is expected to announce software within two weeks that would run on hardware from other vendors. The Google phone is expected to be available by mid-2008. The company did not comment.
Last week at the semiannual CTIA show in San Francisco, several analysts said they had heard rumors that Google would be offering software to Taiwan-based device maker High Tech Computer (HTC) for the Google phone.
Today, Gartner analysts Phillip Redman said the rumor was still that the Google phone "is coming from HTC for next year, [with] 50,000 devices initially."
HTC could not be reached for immediate comment.
Lewis Ward, an analyst at market research company IDC, said Google is clearly working on software for a phone, but after making a presentation at CTIA on emerging markets last week, he said, "It didn't sound like it was on HTC after all."
Unlike several analysts who said that Google could face a fight from carriers opposed to open networks and open devices, Ward and Redman said some carriers will cooperate with Google. "It's possible some carriers will work with Google," Ward said. "AT&T seems to be more open already with its iPhone support and other things, while T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel may be more open than Verizon Wireless."
Redman said that Google's "brand is attractive, so I think there will be takers" for building hardware and for providing network support.
At CTIA, Ward said a Google phone would make a wireless portal out of what Google already provides on a wired network to a PC, such as maps, social networking and even video sharing.
"This is about Google as a portal," Ward said last week. "This is fundamentally about wireless and wire-line converging."
Ward said Google's plans for its phone software are still up in the air. "What's unclear also is whether it will be a Linux free and open [operating system] running on top of the hardware, with applets and widgets and search and all the advanced stuff that Google has done in the past."
Jeffrey Kagan, an independent wireless analyst, said many questions are raised by Google's proposition, including what the phone could be named. "Will it be a regular phone, or will it be more like the Apple iPhone? How will customers pay for it? Will it be different from the traditional way we use and pay for wireless phones? There are so many questions," Kagan said.
Like Apple with the iPhone, "Google could be very successful if they crack the code." Kagan added. "The cell phone industry ... is going through enormous change and expansion. Many ideas will be tried. Some will work, and some will fail."
Computerworld Buyer's Guide
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Australia to wait till December for Skype 3 mobile...
Software - ZDNet Australia
30 October 2007 10:49 AM Skype and mobile phone group 3 will launch a 3G mobile phone in Australia in December, which will allow Skype users to make free Internet calls to each other while on the move.
The companies said today the new 3 Skypephone could also send free Skype instant messages, and that they hoped to sell "several hundred thousand" units worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.
In the UK, the phone will be available at the end of this week for the equivalent of about AU$120. Local pricing has not yet been announced and a Skype spokesperson told ZDNet Australia that the handset is unlikely to be available in Australia till December.
"We are optimistic that if you look at one or two years, (we will sell) millions rather than hundreds of thousands, but in the fourth quarter (2007) we are looking at several hundred thousand worldwide," Frank Sixt, finance director of 3-owner Hutchison Whampoa, told reporters.
The phone is being launched in nine markets including Australia, Britain and Italy, with a roll-out into other countries under consideration.
Sixt said the phone's non-Skype tariffs were the same as on its other phones, with call minutes and texts priced the same way, and the phone will have a special Skype button.
"Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset lets you make free mobile Skype calls when you are on the move to other Skype users all over the world," Skype acting CEO Michael van Swaaij said in a statement.
He added on a conference call that he expected the launch to boost the group's 246 million-strong registered user base, as the service was now available to people without computers.
"We think there will be significant interest from those who aren't on Skype as it is so easy to set up. You don't have to have a laptop," he added.
Skype was bought by EBay for up to US$4.3 billion in 2005 as the online auction site gambled on the fast-growing popularity of the Web-based call service, although it wrote down US$1.2 billion from the value at the start of this month.
Munir Kotadia contributed to this story.
30 October 2007 10:49 AM Skype and mobile phone group 3 will launch a 3G mobile phone in Australia in December, which will allow Skype users to make free Internet calls to each other while on the move.
The companies said today the new 3 Skypephone could also send free Skype instant messages, and that they hoped to sell "several hundred thousand" units worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.
In the UK, the phone will be available at the end of this week for the equivalent of about AU$120. Local pricing has not yet been announced and a Skype spokesperson told ZDNet Australia that the handset is unlikely to be available in Australia till December.
"We are optimistic that if you look at one or two years, (we will sell) millions rather than hundreds of thousands, but in the fourth quarter (2007) we are looking at several hundred thousand worldwide," Frank Sixt, finance director of 3-owner Hutchison Whampoa, told reporters.
The phone is being launched in nine markets including Australia, Britain and Italy, with a roll-out into other countries under consideration.
Sixt said the phone's non-Skype tariffs were the same as on its other phones, with call minutes and texts priced the same way, and the phone will have a special Skype button.
"Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset lets you make free mobile Skype calls when you are on the move to other Skype users all over the world," Skype acting CEO Michael van Swaaij said in a statement.
He added on a conference call that he expected the launch to boost the group's 246 million-strong registered user base, as the service was now available to people without computers.
"We think there will be significant interest from those who aren't on Skype as it is so easy to set up. You don't have to have a laptop," he added.
Skype was bought by EBay for up to US$4.3 billion in 2005 as the online auction site gambled on the fast-growing popularity of the Web-based call service, although it wrote down US$1.2 billion from the value at the start of this month.
Munir Kotadia contributed to this story.
Photos: Airbus A380 lands in Sydney...
ZDNet Australia Luke Anderson, ZDNet Australia
26 October 2007 05:25 PM. Singapore Airlines, the first carrier to take ownership of the world's largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, has flown its inaugural commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney.
ZDNet Australia visited Sydney Airport to see what customers can expect from what's been dubbed the "big fella" by air traffic controllers.
Singapore took delivery of its first A380-800 aircraft on 15 October at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France. The second, third and fourth planes will be delivered between January, February and April 2008, respectively. They are planned to be used on Singapore to London flights.
The A380 is a massive aircraft. With a wingspan of 79.8m, 72 cars could park on each of them. The plane also measures 73m long and 24.1m high.
Credit: Airbus
26 October 2007 05:25 PM. Singapore Airlines, the first carrier to take ownership of the world's largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, has flown its inaugural commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney.ZDNet Australia visited Sydney Airport to see what customers can expect from what's been dubbed the "big fella" by air traffic controllers.
Singapore took delivery of its first A380-800 aircraft on 15 October at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France. The second, third and fourth planes will be delivered between January, February and April 2008, respectively. They are planned to be used on Singapore to London flights.
The A380 is a massive aircraft. With a wingspan of 79.8m, 72 cars could park on each of them. The plane also measures 73m long and 24.1m high.
Credit: Airbus
Friday, October 26, 2007
Mystery of RealPlayer exploit, hijacked ad server unfolds...
Computerworld By Ellen Messmer (Network World)
26/10/2007. A week after Symantec security researchers traced the elaborate course of a malware exploit -- apparently devised in the Netherlands -- to what may be a compromised ad server belonging to Internet advertising company 24/7 Real Media, the attack method isn't fully understood.
The investigation started publicly late last week when Symantec issued a 10-page DeepSight Threat Management System Threat Analysis written by Aaron Adams, Raymond Ball and Anthony Roe. The report accurately detailed the discovery of a zero-day attack based on a buffer overflow vulnerability in an ActiveX control in the popular desktop media player, RealPlayer from RealNetworks.
"It's an ActiveX vulnerability, and this RealPlayer exploit runs JavaScript," said Oliver Friedrichs, director of Symantec's security response division. "The ActiveX control allows the malicious code to run, and it downloads a Trojan, one called Zonebac, which can disable security applications, modify the registry and perhaps later download more code. Just having RealPlayer on the desktop was enough."
Its seriousness was understood well enough that the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued a national security advisory this week about it, RealNetworks issued a patch to fix RealPlayer, and Symantec updated its desktop products to shield against the exploit on unpatched computers. Nevertheless, an aura of mystery still surrounds what role 24/7 Real Media's ad-serving network inadvertently may have played in the RealPlayer ActiveX exploit being disseminated across the Internet.
When Symantec researchers looked at logs and other data accumulated through its DeepSight honeypot network, they traced the path of the exploit back to 24/7 Real Media.
"What's most interesting about the exploit is where it is hosted," the Symantec researchers stated in their report. "The exploit itself is embedded in advertisements that were being served by 247realmedia.com. The redirection to the exploit page '83.149.65.105' was accomplished through an IFrame embedded in each advertisement."
According to the researchers, the iFrame in the Web ads silently loads an exploit located elsewhere on the Internet into victims' browsers without their knowledge. "This is a dangerous compromise in and of itself, however, the overall severity of the attack is revealed when the maze of URLs that lead to this advertisement is explored," they stated..
Symantec's report stated that the Web site Tripod.com was one place an ad could be found last week triggering the exploit. As far as the ultimate source of the payload, Symantec's report stated it was still being analyzed, but researchers were certain it was downloading and executing a file from a newagetimes.am in the Netherlands, owned by an Amsterdam-based company.
The Trojan itself left on a victim's machine is probably the least exciting aspect of the malware distribution design, says Friedrichs, who says Zonebac is an older, well-known piece of malware. "The Trojan itself is not sophisticated, though it can disable security applications and modifies the registry."
While it's not known precisely why the attacker went through so much trouble to craft this complex a zero-day attack, it may have been simply to spread a spam relay. The larger mystery that remains a week later is how 24/7 Real Media's ads may have been a carrier or not.
24/7 Real Media says it's working with Symantec now to try to understand what happened. While Symantec's report originally stated the 24/7 Real Media ad server was compromised, Friedrichs says it's possible the exploit may have been carried out by someone paying for a Web ad that was tainted and purposely designed to play a role in the attack method.
"It looks like something occurred," said a 24/7 Real Media spokesman. "How it worked is the big question. We're working closely with Symantec to figure out what happened." The spokesman said 24/7 Real Media isn't completely sure its own ad-serving operations played any role at all but is making an effort to determine that.
In the DeepSight research report, Symantec says it sees evidence the exploit perpetrated by the attackers may have extended over the past year.
26/10/2007. A week after Symantec security researchers traced the elaborate course of a malware exploit -- apparently devised in the Netherlands -- to what may be a compromised ad server belonging to Internet advertising company 24/7 Real Media, the attack method isn't fully understood.
The investigation started publicly late last week when Symantec issued a 10-page DeepSight Threat Management System Threat Analysis written by Aaron Adams, Raymond Ball and Anthony Roe. The report accurately detailed the discovery of a zero-day attack based on a buffer overflow vulnerability in an ActiveX control in the popular desktop media player, RealPlayer from RealNetworks.
"It's an ActiveX vulnerability, and this RealPlayer exploit runs JavaScript," said Oliver Friedrichs, director of Symantec's security response division. "The ActiveX control allows the malicious code to run, and it downloads a Trojan, one called Zonebac, which can disable security applications, modify the registry and perhaps later download more code. Just having RealPlayer on the desktop was enough."
Its seriousness was understood well enough that the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued a national security advisory this week about it, RealNetworks issued a patch to fix RealPlayer, and Symantec updated its desktop products to shield against the exploit on unpatched computers. Nevertheless, an aura of mystery still surrounds what role 24/7 Real Media's ad-serving network inadvertently may have played in the RealPlayer ActiveX exploit being disseminated across the Internet.
When Symantec researchers looked at logs and other data accumulated through its DeepSight honeypot network, they traced the path of the exploit back to 24/7 Real Media.
"What's most interesting about the exploit is where it is hosted," the Symantec researchers stated in their report. "The exploit itself is embedded in advertisements that were being served by 247realmedia.com. The redirection to the exploit page '83.149.65.105' was accomplished through an IFrame embedded in each advertisement."
According to the researchers, the iFrame in the Web ads silently loads an exploit located elsewhere on the Internet into victims' browsers without their knowledge. "This is a dangerous compromise in and of itself, however, the overall severity of the attack is revealed when the maze of URLs that lead to this advertisement is explored," they stated..
Symantec's report stated that the Web site Tripod.com was one place an ad could be found last week triggering the exploit. As far as the ultimate source of the payload, Symantec's report stated it was still being analyzed, but researchers were certain it was downloading and executing a file from a newagetimes.am in the Netherlands, owned by an Amsterdam-based company.
The Trojan itself left on a victim's machine is probably the least exciting aspect of the malware distribution design, says Friedrichs, who says Zonebac is an older, well-known piece of malware. "The Trojan itself is not sophisticated, though it can disable security applications and modifies the registry."
While it's not known precisely why the attacker went through so much trouble to craft this complex a zero-day attack, it may have been simply to spread a spam relay. The larger mystery that remains a week later is how 24/7 Real Media's ads may have been a carrier or not.
24/7 Real Media says it's working with Symantec now to try to understand what happened. While Symantec's report originally stated the 24/7 Real Media ad server was compromised, Friedrichs says it's possible the exploit may have been carried out by someone paying for a Web ad that was tainted and purposely designed to play a role in the attack method.
"It looks like something occurred," said a 24/7 Real Media spokesman. "How it worked is the big question. We're working closely with Symantec to figure out what happened." The spokesman said 24/7 Real Media isn't completely sure its own ad-serving operations played any role at all but is making an effort to determine that.
In the DeepSight research report, Symantec says it sees evidence the exploit perpetrated by the attackers may have extended over the past year.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Well, you don't see something like this every day...
Reuters
Wed Oct 24 2007. CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian barmaid has been fined for crushing beer cans between her bare breasts while an off-duty colleague has been fined for hanging spoons from her friend's nipples, police said Wednesday.
Police in Western Australia said the 31-year old barmaid pleaded guilty in the local magistrate's court to twice exposing her breasts to patrons at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of the state capital, Perth.
The woman "is alleged to have also crushed beer cans between her breasts during one of the offences," in breach of hotel licensing laws, police from the Peel district of Western Australia said in a statement.
The barmaid and the hotel manager were both fined A$1,000 ($900), while an off-duty barmaid was fined A$500 for helping to hang spoons from the woman's nipples, police said.
"It sends a clear message to all licensees in Peel that we will not tolerate this type of
behavior in our licensed premises," local police superintendent David Parkinson said.
Wed Oct 24 2007. CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian barmaid has been fined for crushing beer cans between her bare breasts while an off-duty colleague has been fined for hanging spoons from her friend's nipples, police said Wednesday.
Police in Western Australia said the 31-year old barmaid pleaded guilty in the local magistrate's court to twice exposing her breasts to patrons at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of the state capital, Perth.
The woman "is alleged to have also crushed beer cans between her breasts during one of the offences," in breach of hotel licensing laws, police from the Peel district of Western Australia said in a statement.
The barmaid and the hotel manager were both fined A$1,000 ($900), while an off-duty barmaid was fined A$500 for helping to hang spoons from the woman's nipples, police said.
"It sends a clear message to all licensees in Peel that we will not tolerate this type of
behavior in our licensed premises," local police superintendent David Parkinson said.
Microsoft pays $240 million for Facebook stake...
Reuters
Wed Oct 24, 2007 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it would pay $240 million for a minority equity stake in Facebook in a deal that values the social networking Web site at $15 billion.
The world's largest software maker was bidding against Google Inc. for a stake in Facebook and the right to sell advertising for Facebook outside of the United States.
Microsoft said it would be the exclusive third-party advertising platform for Facebook, one of the hottest properties on the Internet with more than 47 million users.
(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi
Wed Oct 24, 2007 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it would pay $240 million for a minority equity stake in Facebook in a deal that values the social networking Web site at $15 billion.
The world's largest software maker was bidding against Google Inc. for a stake in Facebook and the right to sell advertising for Facebook outside of the United States.
Microsoft said it would be the exclusive third-party advertising platform for Facebook, one of the hottest properties on the Internet with more than 47 million users.
(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
BigPond, portable wireless users 'most unhappy...
News - Communications - ZDNet Australia By Jo Best, ZDNet Australia
22 October 2007 02:55 PMTelstra user? Chances are you're the most unhappy with your ISP, according to a survey of over 3,000 Australian Internet users.
The research by Choice magazine found satisfaction among subscribers has plummeted since the last survey, conducted two years ago.
Today, 41 percent of users claimed they were satisfied with their Internet connection, compared to 29 percent for the last survey.
Choice found that users of Telstra's BigPond service are most likely to be fairly dissatisfied with the cost of their account, whether they connect over ADSL, ADSL2+ or cable.
By contrast, users of smaller ISPs are more likely to have better satisfaction ratings, with Internode leading the pack for ADSL2+ and Westnet, Internode, Chariot Netconnect, Netspace and AAPT reporting "very satisfied" customers in the ADSL category.
The survey also found that those on "higher speed" connections afforded by ADSL2 and ADSL2+ are more likely to be satisfied with their Internet access both in terms of speed and cost.
Of all the access technologies surveyed by Choice, users on portable wireless plans are the most likely to be displeased with their service, particularly on grounds of speed.
22 October 2007 02:55 PMTelstra user? Chances are you're the most unhappy with your ISP, according to a survey of over 3,000 Australian Internet users.
The research by Choice magazine found satisfaction among subscribers has plummeted since the last survey, conducted two years ago.
Today, 41 percent of users claimed they were satisfied with their Internet connection, compared to 29 percent for the last survey.
Choice found that users of Telstra's BigPond service are most likely to be fairly dissatisfied with the cost of their account, whether they connect over ADSL, ADSL2+ or cable.
By contrast, users of smaller ISPs are more likely to have better satisfaction ratings, with Internode leading the pack for ADSL2+ and Westnet, Internode, Chariot Netconnect, Netspace and AAPT reporting "very satisfied" customers in the ADSL category.
The survey also found that those on "higher speed" connections afforded by ADSL2 and ADSL2+ are more likely to be satisfied with their Internet access both in terms of speed and cost.
Of all the access technologies surveyed by Choice, users on portable wireless plans are the most likely to be displeased with their service, particularly on grounds of speed.
Trouw, Voorpagina
Trouw, Voorpagina
23 oktober 2007. Volgens mij wordt het zo langzamerhand kinderbedtijd.” Zo besloot dominee Deodaat van der Boon, predikant van de Dorpskerk Wassenaar, de doopplechtigheid van de op 10 april geboren prinses Ariane, derde dochter van erfprins Willem-Alexander en prinses Máxima.
De kerk, gevuld met 850 genodigden – burgemeesters, commissarissen der koningin, geestelijke leiders zoals kardinaal Simonis, familieleden, vrienden, premier Balkenende en minister Rouvoet – had zich in het halfuur daarvoor vermaakt met de capriolen van prinsesjes, graafjes en gravinnetjes: neefjes en nichtjes van de dopeling en een paar kinderen van vrienden van Máxima en Willem-Alexander.
Ze werden – na het binnendragen van Ariane door Inés Zorreguieta, de zus van Máxima en meter bij de doop – geacht plaats te nemen op rode kussentjes op de trappen van het koor, maar daar kwam hooguit even iets van terecht. Leuker was het om rond te rennen, bloempjes te plukken van de bloemstukken, elkaar met kussens om de oren te slaan of, zoals Ariane’s oudere zusjes Amalia en Alexia deden, aan de toga van de dominee te trekken.
Ariane werd, net als eerder haar zusjes, gedoopt met water uit de rivier de Jordaan, meegebracht door vrienden van Willem-Alexander en Máxima. Terwijl zonnestralen op de doopvont vielen en de dominee het water over haar hoofd sprenkelde, moest Ariane hard huilen. „Gezegend je mond, dat die lachen mag”, wenste de dominee haar toe. Daarna werd ze weer rustig.
Guillaume, erfgroothertog van Luxemburg, was een van de peters. Hij was de enige vertegenwoordiger van de Europese vorstenhuizen. Bij de doop van de twee eerste kinderen van het prinsenpaar waren de andere koningshuizen nog wel volop van de partij.
Naarmate een koninklijke telg lager staat in de rangorde van erfopvolging – Ariane is vierde na haar vader en twee zusjes – neemt kennelijk de status van zo’n doopplechtigheid af. De koninklijke familie was zelf ook niet compleet. Zo ontbrak een aantal vertegenwoordigers van de Apeldoornse tak.
Dominee Van der Boon hing zijn overdenking op aan ’De doop van de kamerling’, een schilderij van Rembrandt dat in de kerk tentoon werd gesteld, in bruikleen van het museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Máxima hield het niet droog toen Van der Boon haar drie kinderen ’drie klassedochters’ noemde, ’een drie sterren-stel, uw A-team’.
Bij aankomst en vertrek van de koninklijke stoet zorgde een kleine, maar felle groep demonstranten aan de overkant van de straat voor een pijnlijk moment. ’Zorreguieta moordenaar’, riepen ze, omdat de vader van Máxima, aanwezig bij de doop, ooit deel uitmaakte van een moorddadig militair regime in Argentinië Volgens een van de actievoerders heeft Zorreguieta hun kreet zeker gehoord. Hoe dan ook: „Maxima keek even in onze richting.”
23 oktober 2007. Volgens mij wordt het zo langzamerhand kinderbedtijd.” Zo besloot dominee Deodaat van der Boon, predikant van de Dorpskerk Wassenaar, de doopplechtigheid van de op 10 april geboren prinses Ariane, derde dochter van erfprins Willem-Alexander en prinses Máxima.De kerk, gevuld met 850 genodigden – burgemeesters, commissarissen der koningin, geestelijke leiders zoals kardinaal Simonis, familieleden, vrienden, premier Balkenende en minister Rouvoet – had zich in het halfuur daarvoor vermaakt met de capriolen van prinsesjes, graafjes en gravinnetjes: neefjes en nichtjes van de dopeling en een paar kinderen van vrienden van Máxima en Willem-Alexander.
Ze werden – na het binnendragen van Ariane door Inés Zorreguieta, de zus van Máxima en meter bij de doop – geacht plaats te nemen op rode kussentjes op de trappen van het koor, maar daar kwam hooguit even iets van terecht. Leuker was het om rond te rennen, bloempjes te plukken van de bloemstukken, elkaar met kussens om de oren te slaan of, zoals Ariane’s oudere zusjes Amalia en Alexia deden, aan de toga van de dominee te trekken.
Ariane werd, net als eerder haar zusjes, gedoopt met water uit de rivier de Jordaan, meegebracht door vrienden van Willem-Alexander en Máxima. Terwijl zonnestralen op de doopvont vielen en de dominee het water over haar hoofd sprenkelde, moest Ariane hard huilen. „Gezegend je mond, dat die lachen mag”, wenste de dominee haar toe. Daarna werd ze weer rustig.
Guillaume, erfgroothertog van Luxemburg, was een van de peters. Hij was de enige vertegenwoordiger van de Europese vorstenhuizen. Bij de doop van de twee eerste kinderen van het prinsenpaar waren de andere koningshuizen nog wel volop van de partij.
Naarmate een koninklijke telg lager staat in de rangorde van erfopvolging – Ariane is vierde na haar vader en twee zusjes – neemt kennelijk de status van zo’n doopplechtigheid af. De koninklijke familie was zelf ook niet compleet. Zo ontbrak een aantal vertegenwoordigers van de Apeldoornse tak.
Dominee Van der Boon hing zijn overdenking op aan ’De doop van de kamerling’, een schilderij van Rembrandt dat in de kerk tentoon werd gesteld, in bruikleen van het museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Máxima hield het niet droog toen Van der Boon haar drie kinderen ’drie klassedochters’ noemde, ’een drie sterren-stel, uw A-team’.
Bij aankomst en vertrek van de koninklijke stoet zorgde een kleine, maar felle groep demonstranten aan de overkant van de straat voor een pijnlijk moment. ’Zorreguieta moordenaar’, riepen ze, omdat de vader van Máxima, aanwezig bij de doop, ooit deel uitmaakte van een moorddadig militair regime in Argentinië Volgens een van de actievoerders heeft Zorreguieta hun kreet zeker gehoord. Hoe dan ook: „Maxima keek even in onze richting.”
Brits less popular after Europeans get to know them...
Reuters
Fri Oct 19, 2007 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A poll of Europeans showed people of different nationalities liked each other more after getting to know each other, except in the case of the British -- who became less popular.
A project organized by the Notre Europe think tank brought together 362 citizens from 27 EU states for two days of deliberations in Brussels last weekend.
They were asked their views on a range of issues before and after the event, including how much they liked or disliked German, French, Polish, Italian, British and Spanish people.
The Spaniards were most popular with 78.6 percent approval at the end of the weekend. The Poles the least with 67 percent.
But all nationalities gained in popularity, bar the British who went from a 70.3 percent approval rating at the start of the weekend to 68.1 percent by the end.
Professor James Fishkin of Stanford University in the United States, who developed the polling technique used, urged some caution about the findings.
"I would be careful about drawing too much inference about people disliking the British -- it's small and not significant, but you know, it is what it is, and it did happen that way."
Fishkin said he did not think France's defeat by England in the rugby World Cup semi-final in between the two polls had had an influence, even though the number of French participants in the survey was disproportionately high.
© Reuters2007All rights reserved
Fri Oct 19, 2007 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A poll of Europeans showed people of different nationalities liked each other more after getting to know each other, except in the case of the British -- who became less popular.
A project organized by the Notre Europe think tank brought together 362 citizens from 27 EU states for two days of deliberations in Brussels last weekend.
They were asked their views on a range of issues before and after the event, including how much they liked or disliked German, French, Polish, Italian, British and Spanish people.
The Spaniards were most popular with 78.6 percent approval at the end of the weekend. The Poles the least with 67 percent.
But all nationalities gained in popularity, bar the British who went from a 70.3 percent approval rating at the start of the weekend to 68.1 percent by the end.
Professor James Fishkin of Stanford University in the United States, who developed the polling technique used, urged some caution about the findings.
"I would be careful about drawing too much inference about people disliking the British -- it's small and not significant, but you know, it is what it is, and it did happen that way."
Fishkin said he did not think France's defeat by England in the rugby World Cup semi-final in between the two polls had had an influence, even though the number of French participants in the survey was disproportionately high.
© Reuters2007All rights reserved
Monday, October 22, 2007
Alabama's fierce death row battle...
BBC NEWS By Matt Wells
<--- Thomas Arthur came within hours of being executed last month.
Sunday, 21 October 2007, 11:10 GMT 12:10 UK If most politicians in Alabama had their way, Tommy Arthur would have been executed more than 20 years ago.
The 65-year-old, whose death sentence was overturned twice before a third jury convicted him in the early 1990s, is alive on the state's death row - but only just.
Although no physical evidence placed him at the scene, he was convicted of shooting Troy Wicker in his bed after being paid $10,000 by the victim's wife, with whom he had had an affair.
The twists and turns of the case, and the tangled relationships involved, are worthy of a grim detective novel. But ultimately the jury, and state law, dictated Arthur should die.
He missed his last appointment with a lethal-injection syringe by only a few hours at the end of last month.
Alabama's governor has made it clear he wants Arthur to die as soon as possible, and that the current furore over the chemicals used to deliver the ultimate punishment is an annoying distraction.
Although many death penalty abolitionists are viewing the US Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of the existing chemical cocktail with hope, the fact is that states like Alabama guard their rights very carefully - and few more so than the right to execution.
'I want justice'
The founder of Alabama victims' rights group VOCAL (Victims of Crime and Leniency), Miriam Shenane, is more than just irritated by Arthur's latest stay of execution.
Putting them to death, even with the electric chair, is not nearly as horrible as what they did to my daughter
She says the governor has traumatised the victim's family, and others all over the state.
"What do we have to do? Put a mask over them and just take away their oxygen? I want justice," she said, in her office in the state capital, Montgomery.
The white walls are covered in photographs of "angels" - the word she uses to describe all the innocent people who have been murdered in Alabama.
Her own daughter was raped and murdered by three men, one of whom has been executed.
She would feel much better if the other two followed him. "Putting them to death, even with the electric chair, is not nearly as horrible as what they did to my daughter."
'Murder my father'
Tommy Arthur's daughter, Sherrie Arthur Stone, was still a teenager when her father was first sentenced to death.
Sherrie Arthur Stone believes DNA evidence would clear her father
For years, she thought he was probably guilty, and deserved the jail time he spent earlier in his life.
But now she is convinced of his innocence, fuelled largely by her disillusionment with a judicial system she views as callous and incompetent in Alabama.
Articulate and earnest, but clearly scarred by years of legal and emotional battle, she stopped living in the state a long time ago.
"I was basically told by investigators, if I didn't leave the state, I'd be found dead on a back road," she told the BBC.
"They clearly want to murder my father, which is what this is going to be. It's not going to be an execution, it's going to be a murder."
Amnesty International supports her argument that DNA testing of the evidence - which has yet to take place - could exonerate Arthur.
Tool of justice
The state is equally adamant that they will not allow that to happen - even if Arthur's family pays for the DNA testing.
Clay Crenshaw believes there have been no miscarriages of justice
"There have been three federal judges now... they have all agreed that the results of DNA testing would not show that Arthur is innocent," said Clay Crenshaw, Alabama's deputy attorney general in charge of capital cases.
It might strike many as a paradox, but Mr Crenshaw believes that in a culture that values human life above all, the right to take that life away is an essential tool of justice.
"The reason to have the death penalty is to keep those people who commit these violent acts off of the street, and hopefully prevent other people from committing those type of crimes," he added.
He believes that the unofficial moratorium on executions in many states over the lethal injection issue is not the beginning of the end for the death penalty in states like Alabama.
"To me it appears the opposite is happening," he said, arguing that states that make use of the death penalty are determined to cling on to it by whatever means necessary.
Historic injustice
Less than a mile from the rather shabby state government buildings in downtown Montgomery is the office of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is home to a clutch of lawyers who are determined to close death row down.
Some death penalty critics say it is tied to a history of racial injustice
Executive director Bryan Stephenson says the entire prosecutorial system in his home state is riddled with incompetence and not-so-latent racism, that perpetuates an historic injustice between black and white in the entire Deep South.
Sitting on top of that system is the death penalty, he says.
"It's impossible to disconnect that history from this punishment," says the young black professor, who teaches for part of the week in New York.
"We've had, in Alabama, 25 cases reversed after proving intentional racial discrimination in jury selection... We have 19 appellate court judges in Alabama, all of whom are white."
Mr Crenshaw denies all of the charges levelled at the system he represents, and believes that no miscarriages of justice have occurred in any of the state's death row cases.
Mr Stephenson says politicians and officials are in denial - and that there is a larger price to pay.
"Alabama wants to be the place where every European business comes to invest, and build their companies and factories, but we have an horrific human rights record."
<--- Thomas Arthur came within hours of being executed last month. Sunday, 21 October 2007, 11:10 GMT 12:10 UK If most politicians in Alabama had their way, Tommy Arthur would have been executed more than 20 years ago.
The 65-year-old, whose death sentence was overturned twice before a third jury convicted him in the early 1990s, is alive on the state's death row - but only just.
Although no physical evidence placed him at the scene, he was convicted of shooting Troy Wicker in his bed after being paid $10,000 by the victim's wife, with whom he had had an affair.
The twists and turns of the case, and the tangled relationships involved, are worthy of a grim detective novel. But ultimately the jury, and state law, dictated Arthur should die.
He missed his last appointment with a lethal-injection syringe by only a few hours at the end of last month.
Alabama's governor has made it clear he wants Arthur to die as soon as possible, and that the current furore over the chemicals used to deliver the ultimate punishment is an annoying distraction.
Although many death penalty abolitionists are viewing the US Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of the existing chemical cocktail with hope, the fact is that states like Alabama guard their rights very carefully - and few more so than the right to execution.
'I want justice'
The founder of Alabama victims' rights group VOCAL (Victims of Crime and Leniency), Miriam Shenane, is more than just irritated by Arthur's latest stay of execution.
Putting them to death, even with the electric chair, is not nearly as horrible as what they did to my daughter
She says the governor has traumatised the victim's family, and others all over the state.
"What do we have to do? Put a mask over them and just take away their oxygen? I want justice," she said, in her office in the state capital, Montgomery.
The white walls are covered in photographs of "angels" - the word she uses to describe all the innocent people who have been murdered in Alabama.
Her own daughter was raped and murdered by three men, one of whom has been executed.
She would feel much better if the other two followed him. "Putting them to death, even with the electric chair, is not nearly as horrible as what they did to my daughter."
'Murder my father'
Tommy Arthur's daughter, Sherrie Arthur Stone, was still a teenager when her father was first sentenced to death.
Sherrie Arthur Stone believes DNA evidence would clear her father
For years, she thought he was probably guilty, and deserved the jail time he spent earlier in his life.
But now she is convinced of his innocence, fuelled largely by her disillusionment with a judicial system she views as callous and incompetent in Alabama.
Articulate and earnest, but clearly scarred by years of legal and emotional battle, she stopped living in the state a long time ago.
"I was basically told by investigators, if I didn't leave the state, I'd be found dead on a back road," she told the BBC.
"They clearly want to murder my father, which is what this is going to be. It's not going to be an execution, it's going to be a murder."
Amnesty International supports her argument that DNA testing of the evidence - which has yet to take place - could exonerate Arthur.
Tool of justice
The state is equally adamant that they will not allow that to happen - even if Arthur's family pays for the DNA testing.
Clay Crenshaw believes there have been no miscarriages of justice
"There have been three federal judges now... they have all agreed that the results of DNA testing would not show that Arthur is innocent," said Clay Crenshaw, Alabama's deputy attorney general in charge of capital cases.
It might strike many as a paradox, but Mr Crenshaw believes that in a culture that values human life above all, the right to take that life away is an essential tool of justice.
"The reason to have the death penalty is to keep those people who commit these violent acts off of the street, and hopefully prevent other people from committing those type of crimes," he added.
He believes that the unofficial moratorium on executions in many states over the lethal injection issue is not the beginning of the end for the death penalty in states like Alabama.
"To me it appears the opposite is happening," he said, arguing that states that make use of the death penalty are determined to cling on to it by whatever means necessary.
Historic injustice
Less than a mile from the rather shabby state government buildings in downtown Montgomery is the office of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is home to a clutch of lawyers who are determined to close death row down.
Some death penalty critics say it is tied to a history of racial injustice
Executive director Bryan Stephenson says the entire prosecutorial system in his home state is riddled with incompetence and not-so-latent racism, that perpetuates an historic injustice between black and white in the entire Deep South.
Sitting on top of that system is the death penalty, he says.
"It's impossible to disconnect that history from this punishment," says the young black professor, who teaches for part of the week in New York.
"We've had, in Alabama, 25 cases reversed after proving intentional racial discrimination in jury selection... We have 19 appellate court judges in Alabama, all of whom are white."
Mr Crenshaw denies all of the charges levelled at the system he represents, and believes that no miscarriages of justice have occurred in any of the state's death row cases.
Mr Stephenson says politicians and officials are in denial - and that there is a larger price to pay.
"Alabama wants to be the place where every European business comes to invest, and build their companies and factories, but we have an horrific human rights record."
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Biggetjes
Bron: Nu.nl
Een dierentuin in Thailand heeft een groepje biggen getraind om door een ring van vuur te springen. De biggen werden twaalf weken lang klaargestoomd voor hun hete stunt.
Een dierentuin in Thailand heeft een groepje biggen getraind om door een ring van vuur te springen. De biggen werden twaalf weken lang klaargestoomd voor hun hete stunt.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Scientist invents computer piltop snoring...
Technology Reuters.com
Wed Oct 3, 2007. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German scientist has come up with a solution for snoring -- a computerized pillow that shifts the head's sleeping position until the noise stops.
Daryoush Bazargani, professor of computer science at the University of Rostock and the pillow's inventor, was displaying a prototype of his pillow at a health conference in Germany on Wednesday.
"The pillow is attached to a computer, which is the size of a book, rests on a bedside table, and analyses snoring noises," Bazargani told Reuters.
"The computer then reduces or enlarges air compartments within the pillow to facilitate nasal airflow to minimize snoring as the user shifts during sleep," he said.
The ergonomic pillow can also be used for neck massages.
Bazargani said several U.S. firms were interested in manufacturing the pillow.
"I invented it because I snore," he said. "I tried all sorts of products, but nothing worked. I hope people who use it will sleep more peacefully."
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wed Oct 3, 2007. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German scientist has come up with a solution for snoring -- a computerized pillow that shifts the head's sleeping position until the noise stops.Daryoush Bazargani, professor of computer science at the University of Rostock and the pillow's inventor, was displaying a prototype of his pillow at a health conference in Germany on Wednesday.
"The pillow is attached to a computer, which is the size of a book, rests on a bedside table, and analyses snoring noises," Bazargani told Reuters.
"The computer then reduces or enlarges air compartments within the pillow to facilitate nasal airflow to minimize snoring as the user shifts during sleep," he said.
The ergonomic pillow can also be used for neck massages.
Bazargani said several U.S. firms were interested in manufacturing the pillow.
"I invented it because I snore," he said. "I tried all sorts of products, but nothing worked. I hope people who use it will sleep more peacefully."
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Canada to criminalize identity theft....
Tech News on ZDNet
Oct 3, 2007 The Canadian government plans to criminalize identity theft to give police the ability to stop such activity before any fraud has actually been carried out, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday.
He said he would introduce legislation targeting the actual gathering and trafficking in credit card, banking and other personal data for the purposes of using it deceptively.
Identity fraud is already a crime in Canada, but gathering and trafficking in identity information generally is not. "Our government will be giving police the tools to better protect Canadians by stopping identity theft activity before the damage is done," Nicholson said in a statement.
The misuse of such information can ruin a person's credit rating and reputation. Banks and credit card companies can be on the hook for fraud, and taxpayers can also end up paying if pensions or other government benefits are fraudulently drawn.
Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Oct 3, 2007 The Canadian government plans to criminalize identity theft to give police the ability to stop such activity before any fraud has actually been carried out, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday.
He said he would introduce legislation targeting the actual gathering and trafficking in credit card, banking and other personal data for the purposes of using it deceptively.
Identity fraud is already a crime in Canada, but gathering and trafficking in identity information generally is not. "Our government will be giving police the tools to better protect Canadians by stopping identity theft activity before the damage is done," Nicholson said in a statement.
The misuse of such information can ruin a person's credit rating and reputation. Banks and credit card companies can be on the hook for fraud, and taxpayers can also end up paying if pensions or other government benefits are fraudulently drawn.
Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
I'd like a car loan and 20 condoms, please...!
Reuters.com
Wed Oct 3, 2007 BANGKOK (Reuters Life!) - A Thai bank is pitching into the battle against HIV/AIDS and handing out condoms to customers too shy to get them at the shop.
Despite Bangkok's reputation as one of the world's sex industry centers, Thailand is a generally conservative country.
Kasikorn Bank launched the "Condoms for Confidence" campaign at 600 branches nationwide and said it would start giving out the sheaths, branded K-Condom and K-Excellence, later this month.
"HIV/AIDS is returning to Thailand since the government awareness campaign started 20 years ago has fizzled out," said a bank spokesman who declined to be identified.
"We want the teenagers to be aware of the problem."
Despite a tenfold plunge of overall new HIV/AIDS cases from 15 years ago, the health ministry has said it was concerned about the numbers of teenagers and homosexuals still being infected.
Disease Control Department chief Thawat Suntrajarn said embarrassment about buying condoms and ignorance in using them were the main causes of the new cases.
Research papers from all sorts of agencies have a consensus that many condom users are embarrassed to buy condoms from counters," Thawat told Reuters.
"Women who buy condoms from convenience stores always get a strange look from people, so condom handouts are a good way to avoid such embarrassment."
New HIV/AIDS cases in Thailand, once praised by international health agencies for its aggressive campaign to tackle the epidemic, had fallen to 13,000 in 2006 from more than 100,000 a year in early 1990s, Thawat said.
But the worrying sign was that many of the new patients were teenagers and homosexual men, not heterosexual men in their 30s and prostitutes as in the past, he added.
A Health Ministry-commissioned survey last year showed 48 percent of 5,712 male high school students used condoms.
About 43 percent of 7,712 female high school students said their sex partners used condoms, it said.
Spurred by the findings, Thawat's department is running a television advertisement encouraging people to buy condoms despite criticism from conservatives who argue it encourages teenagers to be sexually active.
"Even those bank customers who don't need to use the condoms, they can pass them on to their families or friends," he said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wed Oct 3, 2007 BANGKOK (Reuters Life!) - A Thai bank is pitching into the battle against HIV/AIDS and handing out condoms to customers too shy to get them at the shop.Despite Bangkok's reputation as one of the world's sex industry centers, Thailand is a generally conservative country.
Kasikorn Bank launched the "Condoms for Confidence" campaign at 600 branches nationwide and said it would start giving out the sheaths, branded K-Condom and K-Excellence, later this month.
"HIV/AIDS is returning to Thailand since the government awareness campaign started 20 years ago has fizzled out," said a bank spokesman who declined to be identified.
"We want the teenagers to be aware of the problem."
Despite a tenfold plunge of overall new HIV/AIDS cases from 15 years ago, the health ministry has said it was concerned about the numbers of teenagers and homosexuals still being infected.
Disease Control Department chief Thawat Suntrajarn said embarrassment about buying condoms and ignorance in using them were the main causes of the new cases.
Research papers from all sorts of agencies have a consensus that many condom users are embarrassed to buy condoms from counters," Thawat told Reuters.
"Women who buy condoms from convenience stores always get a strange look from people, so condom handouts are a good way to avoid such embarrassment."
New HIV/AIDS cases in Thailand, once praised by international health agencies for its aggressive campaign to tackle the epidemic, had fallen to 13,000 in 2006 from more than 100,000 a year in early 1990s, Thawat said.
But the worrying sign was that many of the new patients were teenagers and homosexual men, not heterosexual men in their 30s and prostitutes as in the past, he added.
A Health Ministry-commissioned survey last year showed 48 percent of 5,712 male high school students used condoms.
About 43 percent of 7,712 female high school students said their sex partners used condoms, it said.
Spurred by the findings, Thawat's department is running a television advertisement encouraging people to buy condoms despite criticism from conservatives who argue it encourages teenagers to be sexually active.
"Even those bank customers who don't need to use the condoms, they can pass them on to their families or friends," he said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Not all types of fat are harmful...
Reuters
Tue Oct 2, 2007. HONG KONG (Reuters) - While it has long been held that too much fat in the liver may result in diabetes, researchers appear to have discovered that not all types of fat are harmful.
Writing in the latest issue of Nature Medicine, a group of Japanese scientists described how they changed the fat composition in the livers of mutant mice and fed them exactly the same rich, fatty diet as other mice.
But while all the rodents became obese and the normal mice developed resistance to insulin and became prone to diabetes, the mutant group was free from those problems.
"Obesity is a matter of quantity of fats in the body, but it is our new message that the quality of fats could be a new determinant factor for diabetes," said Hitoshi Shimano of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences.
Excessive fat intake leads to obesity and overwhelms the storage capacity of fat cells, with surplus fat being stored in the liver. Development of fatty liver can result in insulin resistance and increased glucose levels -- hallmarks of diabetes.
"The absolute levels of fat in the liver do not therefore seem to be detrimental to maintaining normal glucose levels. Instead, the types of fat that are present seem to be a more important factor, with shorter fat molecules being healthier than longer ones," the researchers wrote.
OBESE BUT NOT DIABETIC
Shimano and his colleagues created a batch of mice lacking Elovl6, an enzyme that increases the length of the carbon chains of fatty acids.
That changed the fat composition in the liver of these mutant, or knock-out (KO) mice, which ended up with more short fatty acids than longer chains.
"Unlike normal mice that became insulin resistant and prone to diabetes after they became obese, the KO mice were free from insulin resistance and diabetes. In other words, we made mice that did not become diabetic even after they became obese."
Shimano held out hope that drugs could be made to inhibit this enzyme in people and change the fat composition in their livers so that the risk of diabetes could be reduced for those who are obese and who find it hard to lose weight.
"If what we found in these mice is applicable to humans, a drug that inhibits this enzyme could be a miracle anti-diabetic drug that does not require diet," Shimano wrote.
Tue Oct 2, 2007. HONG KONG (Reuters) - While it has long been held that too much fat in the liver may result in diabetes, researchers appear to have discovered that not all types of fat are harmful.
Writing in the latest issue of Nature Medicine, a group of Japanese scientists described how they changed the fat composition in the livers of mutant mice and fed them exactly the same rich, fatty diet as other mice.
But while all the rodents became obese and the normal mice developed resistance to insulin and became prone to diabetes, the mutant group was free from those problems.
"Obesity is a matter of quantity of fats in the body, but it is our new message that the quality of fats could be a new determinant factor for diabetes," said Hitoshi Shimano of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences.
Excessive fat intake leads to obesity and overwhelms the storage capacity of fat cells, with surplus fat being stored in the liver. Development of fatty liver can result in insulin resistance and increased glucose levels -- hallmarks of diabetes.
"The absolute levels of fat in the liver do not therefore seem to be detrimental to maintaining normal glucose levels. Instead, the types of fat that are present seem to be a more important factor, with shorter fat molecules being healthier than longer ones," the researchers wrote.
OBESE BUT NOT DIABETIC
Shimano and his colleagues created a batch of mice lacking Elovl6, an enzyme that increases the length of the carbon chains of fatty acids.
That changed the fat composition in the liver of these mutant, or knock-out (KO) mice, which ended up with more short fatty acids than longer chains.
"Unlike normal mice that became insulin resistant and prone to diabetes after they became obese, the KO mice were free from insulin resistance and diabetes. In other words, we made mice that did not become diabetic even after they became obese."
Shimano held out hope that drugs could be made to inhibit this enzyme in people and change the fat composition in their livers so that the risk of diabetes could be reduced for those who are obese and who find it hard to lose weight.
"If what we found in these mice is applicable to humans, a drug that inhibits this enzyme could be a miracle anti-diabetic drug that does not require diet," Shimano wrote.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Once-puritan South Africa holds its first sex fair...
Reuters.com
Mon Oct 1, 2007. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africans queued to learn about sex toys and pole-dancing this weekend, at the first sex fair ever held in a country founded by conservative Christians and still home to many sexual taboos.
<--Artist Tim Patch (L), who calls himself 'Pricasso', paints a picture of Olga Braude (R) using his penis at the Sexpo in Johannesburg, September 28, 2007. Patch has painted portraits of some of the worlds most famous people including George Bush and Queen of England. REUTERS/Antony Kaminju
The exhibition, modeled on a show running in Australia since 1996, would have been unthinkable 15 years ago when South Africa was still ruled by Afrikaners, the white descendants of the original, largely Puritan Dutch and French settlers.
During the apartheid era, customs officials not only confiscated pornography brought from abroad by travelers, but sometimes detained those trying to import it. Strip clubs did not exist and handcuffs, though abundant, were not fur-lined.
The end of white minority rule in 1994 and the establishment of a new constitution -- generally considered one of the most liberal in the world -- unleashed a torrent of hard-core porn. Sex shops and strip clubs blossomed.
Although authorities tolerate the lifestyle, it remains one that few South Africans openly discuss or admit to supporting.
Meanwhile, South Africa has one of the world's worst AIDS epidemics.
An estimated 12 percent of its 47 million people are infected with HIV, most of them black. Sex is the main channel of transmission in a culture where male dominance is rarely challenged and promiscuity often tolerated.
Each day about 1,000 people die from AIDS and another 1,500 contract the virus.
Amid the racy lingerie, pornographic DVDs and exotic sex toys, the Johannesburg "Sexpo SA" made room for a handful of health advocacy groups to set up stands, including the LoveLife Trust, the national HIV prevention program for young people.
Silas Howarth, the 28-year-old South African who organized the exhibition, said around 40,000 people paid the 89 rand ($13) admission to the fair. He said there were plans to hold similar events in coming months in Durban and Cape Town.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Mon Oct 1, 2007. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africans queued to learn about sex toys and pole-dancing this weekend, at the first sex fair ever held in a country founded by conservative Christians and still home to many sexual taboos.<--Artist Tim Patch (L), who calls himself 'Pricasso', paints a picture of Olga Braude (R) using his penis at the Sexpo in Johannesburg, September 28, 2007. Patch has painted portraits of some of the worlds most famous people including George Bush and Queen of England. REUTERS/Antony Kaminju
The exhibition, modeled on a show running in Australia since 1996, would have been unthinkable 15 years ago when South Africa was still ruled by Afrikaners, the white descendants of the original, largely Puritan Dutch and French settlers.
During the apartheid era, customs officials not only confiscated pornography brought from abroad by travelers, but sometimes detained those trying to import it. Strip clubs did not exist and handcuffs, though abundant, were not fur-lined.
The end of white minority rule in 1994 and the establishment of a new constitution -- generally considered one of the most liberal in the world -- unleashed a torrent of hard-core porn. Sex shops and strip clubs blossomed.
Although authorities tolerate the lifestyle, it remains one that few South Africans openly discuss or admit to supporting.
Meanwhile, South Africa has one of the world's worst AIDS epidemics.
An estimated 12 percent of its 47 million people are infected with HIV, most of them black. Sex is the main channel of transmission in a culture where male dominance is rarely challenged and promiscuity often tolerated.
Each day about 1,000 people die from AIDS and another 1,500 contract the virus.
Amid the racy lingerie, pornographic DVDs and exotic sex toys, the Johannesburg "Sexpo SA" made room for a handful of health advocacy groups to set up stands, including the LoveLife Trust, the national HIV prevention program for young people.
Silas Howarth, the 28-year-old South African who organized the exhibition, said around 40,000 people paid the 89 rand ($13) admission to the fair. He said there were plans to hold similar events in coming months in Durban and Cape Town.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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