Reuters
Wed Jan 27, 2010 WARSAW (Reuters) - A dog had a lucky escape when a Polish boat rescued him from an ice floe that had carried him more than 100 miles up a river and out onto the icy waters of the Baltic Sea.
"My crew saw... a shape moving on the water and we immediately decided to get closer to check if it was a dog or maybe a seal relaxing on the ice," Jan Joachim, senior officer aboard the Baltica, told Reuters Television.
"As we got closer to the ice floe we saw that it was a dog struggling not to fall into the water."
Ship engineer Adam Buczynski managed to scoop the dog off the floe onto an inflatable dinghy and wrapped him in a blanket.
"He didn't even squeal. There was just fear in his big eyes," said Buczynski.
The dog was first seen on the ice floe some 100 km (70 miles) inland to the south on the Vistula river but firemen were unable to rescue him. When the Baltica crew found him, he had already drifted some 24 km (18 miles) out to sea.
"We were in the right place at the right time," said Joachim, noting that they rescued him shortly before night fall.
The crew are now trying to locate the dog's owner.
Poland is in the grip of bitterly cold weather, with night temperatures in some areas falling as low as -34 Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit).
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Pork better for sex than Viagra?
Reuters
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's president recommended pork as an alternative to Viagra Wednesday, saying she spent a satisfying weekend with her husband after eating barbecued pork.
"I've just been told something I didn't know; that eating pork improves your sex life ... I'd say it's a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra," President Cristina Fernandez said to leaders of the pig farming industry.
She said she recently ate pork and "things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true."
Argentines are the world's biggest per capita consumers of beef, but the government has sought to promote pork as an alternative in recent years due to rising steak prices and as a way to diversify the meat industry.
"Trying it doesn't cost anything, so let's give it a go," Fernandez said in the televised speech.
(Reporting by Karina Grazina; Writing by Helen Popper)
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's president recommended pork as an alternative to Viagra Wednesday, saying she spent a satisfying weekend with her husband after eating barbecued pork.
"I've just been told something I didn't know; that eating pork improves your sex life ... I'd say it's a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra," President Cristina Fernandez said to leaders of the pig farming industry.
She said she recently ate pork and "things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true."
Argentines are the world's biggest per capita consumers of beef, but the government has sought to promote pork as an alternative in recent years due to rising steak prices and as a way to diversify the meat industry.
"Trying it doesn't cost anything, so let's give it a go," Fernandez said in the televised speech.
(Reporting by Karina Grazina; Writing by Helen Popper)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Teen pregnancy rate up after 10-year decline...
Reuters - Health By Jo-Anne Allen
WASHINGTON Tue Jan 26, 2010. Pot smoking during pregnancy may stunt fetal growth. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate rose in 2006 for the first time in more than a decade, reversing a long slide, a U.S. think tank reported on Tuesday.
The overall teen pregnancy rate was up 3 percent in 2006, with a 4 percent rise in the rate of births and a 1 percent rise in the rate of abortions, according to the report by the Guttmacher Institute.
The United States has higher rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion than in other Western industrialized countries.
There were 71 pregnancies per 1,000 U.S. girls aged 15-19. In 2006, 7 percent of all teenage girls got pregnant, according to the report.
Fewer black teenage girls got pregnant, closing a gap with Hispanic teens. But rates among both groups were still significantly higher than for white teens, the report said, and rates went up for all ethnic groups.
"We're not quite sure yet whether this is just a blip or whether it's the beginning of a longer upward trend," Larry Finer, Guttmacher's director for domestic research, said in a telephone interview.
"It's interesting to note that this flattening out of the rate and the increase in the rate is happening at the same time that we've seen substantial increases in funding for abstinence-only programs," Finer said.
"We do know that when we saw the big decline in the '90s, that a lot of that decline was due to improved contraceptive use among teens."
The abstinence-only programs, backed by many social conservatives who oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in U.S. schools, received about $1.3 billion in federal funds since the late 1990s.
The Obama administration's 2010 budget eliminated spending for abstinence-only, shifting funds to pregnancy prevention education that include abstinence along with "medically accurate and age-appropriate" information.
New Mexico led the states with the highest teenage pregnancy rate with nine percent, followed by Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi.
New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota had the lowest rates of teen pregnancies.
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
WASHINGTON Tue Jan 26, 2010. Pot smoking during pregnancy may stunt fetal growth. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate rose in 2006 for the first time in more than a decade, reversing a long slide, a U.S. think tank reported on Tuesday.
The overall teen pregnancy rate was up 3 percent in 2006, with a 4 percent rise in the rate of births and a 1 percent rise in the rate of abortions, according to the report by the Guttmacher Institute.
The United States has higher rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion than in other Western industrialized countries.
There were 71 pregnancies per 1,000 U.S. girls aged 15-19. In 2006, 7 percent of all teenage girls got pregnant, according to the report.
Fewer black teenage girls got pregnant, closing a gap with Hispanic teens. But rates among both groups were still significantly higher than for white teens, the report said, and rates went up for all ethnic groups.
"We're not quite sure yet whether this is just a blip or whether it's the beginning of a longer upward trend," Larry Finer, Guttmacher's director for domestic research, said in a telephone interview.
"It's interesting to note that this flattening out of the rate and the increase in the rate is happening at the same time that we've seen substantial increases in funding for abstinence-only programs," Finer said.
"We do know that when we saw the big decline in the '90s, that a lot of that decline was due to improved contraceptive use among teens."
The abstinence-only programs, backed by many social conservatives who oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in U.S. schools, received about $1.3 billion in federal funds since the late 1990s.
The Obama administration's 2010 budget eliminated spending for abstinence-only, shifting funds to pregnancy prevention education that include abstinence along with "medically accurate and age-appropriate" information.
New Mexico led the states with the highest teenage pregnancy rate with nine percent, followed by Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi.
New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota had the lowest rates of teen pregnancies.
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Haiti cruises cause controversy...
Telstra BigPond News
Saturday, January 23, 2010. Tourists holidaying near quake hit Port-au-Prince have caused controversy among online critics. Tourists stretched out on beach chairs in the sun, sipped pina coladas with pineapple slices and listened to Haitian folk music.
The beach resort of Labadee is just 100 kilometres from Port-au-Prince, but it's a world away from the devastation of the Haitian capital, where as many as 200,000 people are believed dead.
The cruise ships that stop here have become the centre of a controversy: Should vacationers relax and have fun with so much suffering elsewhere on the island? Or would it be worse to halt the port calls and deprive locals of what they earn from tourism?
James Charitable, 20, stood near the pier with a sign offering tours.
'Without this we don't eat,' he said, motioning toward the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship anchored just offshore of a beautiful expanse of white sand on Friday.
Charitable says he makes US$15 (AUS$16.60) every time a ship comes in. About 200 people work here, and a few hundred more vendors and service providers are allowed in whenever ships arrive.
The resort enclave, which has a beach, a zipline in the mountains and other activities, is leased by the Haitian government to Royal Caribbean International, which also owns the Celebrity cruise line.
Royal Caribbean allowed a team of journalists from The Associated Press to visit Labadee on Friday, but the cruise company's spokeswoman, Tracy Quan, would not allow them to interview or photograph cruise passengers.
Carol Myers, 53, a nurse from New Jersey, was not on the cruise ship but was enjoying the beach. She had spent an intense week tending to earthquake victims in a hospital in the nearby town of Milo, and was decompressing for a few hours before her scheduled return to the US on Saturday.
'I almost feel guilty for being here after what happened,' Myers said, sitting in a beach chair in blue scrubs. 'But the people need a job, the people need to eat.'
Royal Caribbean president and chief executive Adam Goldstein said the decision to continue with scheduled stops in Labadee was an easy one. The site sustained no damage, and he said the Haitian government welcomed the ship.
The country reaps a fixed cost per passenger, plus annual fees and the cash tourists spend on local goods at a marketplace where artisans and artists sell trinkets and crafts.
Royal Caribbean is also donating US$1 million (AUS$1.11 million), delivering food and water on every call and pledging net revenue from Labadee to the relief effort.
Maryse Kedar, president of Royal Caribbean's Haitian subsidiary, SOLANO, said the cruise visits are 'the only substantial commerce taking place in northern Haiti'.
But the cruise line found itself on the defensive after criticism spread online. Melissa Bacchus, a Brooklyn, New York, teacher, was among several veteran cruisers to dominate message boards on sites like Cruisecritic.com with the debate.
'I do think morally it is wrong to go (to Labadee), where less than 60 miles away people are suffering,' Bacchus said in an interview. 'And because we have the resources, we have the wealth, we can frolic using the beauty of their island?'
Bacchus suggested Royal Caribbean pay Haiti its regular port fees, but not actually stop there. She said they could also give local artisans money to go back home and assist in the relief effort.
Public relations experts quoted by AdAge.com said Royal Caribbean had made a mistake by mixing leisure business with humanitarian efforts.
'The brand will take a hit,' Paul Gallagher, managing director of WPP's Burson Marsteller's issues and advocacy practice, was quoted as saying.
Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic suffered no damage from the earthquake, but the government is clearly worried that vacationers may cancel trips there because of the disaster on the other side of the border.
The Dominican Ministry of Tourism has issued repeated statements that it was unaffected by the quake, including pointing out that Port-au-Prince is hundreds of kilometres and several mountain ranges away.
That message was lost on travellers like Debbie Ulin, a 39-year-old mother of two in Hillsdale, New Jersey, whose family and two others cancelled a group trip planned to the Dominican beach resort of Punta Cana for February.
'With everything happening as it did, we sort of all came to the realisation that it's probably not the best time to be travelling to the Dominican right now,' Ulin said.
'As selfish as I feel when I say that, it's not so important, my vacation. We didn't feel like it would be the safe place to go with the families this soon after the devastation has occurred.'
Arthur Applbaum, a Harvard University professor of ethics and public policy, said that while it shows 'moral sensitivity to be disturbed by the thought that one is vacationing on the beach when others are suffering nearby, it also shows insufficient moral reflection to think that proximity makes a moral difference.
'The people of Haiti are suffering whether you take your beach vacation in the Dominican Republic or in Hawaii, and it is a failure of the moral imagination not to be equally troubled in Waikiki,' he said.
Saturday, January 23, 2010. Tourists holidaying near quake hit Port-au-Prince have caused controversy among online critics. Tourists stretched out on beach chairs in the sun, sipped pina coladas with pineapple slices and listened to Haitian folk music.The beach resort of Labadee is just 100 kilometres from Port-au-Prince, but it's a world away from the devastation of the Haitian capital, where as many as 200,000 people are believed dead.
The cruise ships that stop here have become the centre of a controversy: Should vacationers relax and have fun with so much suffering elsewhere on the island? Or would it be worse to halt the port calls and deprive locals of what they earn from tourism?
James Charitable, 20, stood near the pier with a sign offering tours.
'Without this we don't eat,' he said, motioning toward the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship anchored just offshore of a beautiful expanse of white sand on Friday.
Charitable says he makes US$15 (AUS$16.60) every time a ship comes in. About 200 people work here, and a few hundred more vendors and service providers are allowed in whenever ships arrive.
The resort enclave, which has a beach, a zipline in the mountains and other activities, is leased by the Haitian government to Royal Caribbean International, which also owns the Celebrity cruise line.
Royal Caribbean allowed a team of journalists from The Associated Press to visit Labadee on Friday, but the cruise company's spokeswoman, Tracy Quan, would not allow them to interview or photograph cruise passengers.
Carol Myers, 53, a nurse from New Jersey, was not on the cruise ship but was enjoying the beach. She had spent an intense week tending to earthquake victims in a hospital in the nearby town of Milo, and was decompressing for a few hours before her scheduled return to the US on Saturday.
'I almost feel guilty for being here after what happened,' Myers said, sitting in a beach chair in blue scrubs. 'But the people need a job, the people need to eat.'
Royal Caribbean president and chief executive Adam Goldstein said the decision to continue with scheduled stops in Labadee was an easy one. The site sustained no damage, and he said the Haitian government welcomed the ship.
The country reaps a fixed cost per passenger, plus annual fees and the cash tourists spend on local goods at a marketplace where artisans and artists sell trinkets and crafts.
Royal Caribbean is also donating US$1 million (AUS$1.11 million), delivering food and water on every call and pledging net revenue from Labadee to the relief effort.
Maryse Kedar, president of Royal Caribbean's Haitian subsidiary, SOLANO, said the cruise visits are 'the only substantial commerce taking place in northern Haiti'.
But the cruise line found itself on the defensive after criticism spread online. Melissa Bacchus, a Brooklyn, New York, teacher, was among several veteran cruisers to dominate message boards on sites like Cruisecritic.com with the debate.
'I do think morally it is wrong to go (to Labadee), where less than 60 miles away people are suffering,' Bacchus said in an interview. 'And because we have the resources, we have the wealth, we can frolic using the beauty of their island?'
Bacchus suggested Royal Caribbean pay Haiti its regular port fees, but not actually stop there. She said they could also give local artisans money to go back home and assist in the relief effort.
Public relations experts quoted by AdAge.com said Royal Caribbean had made a mistake by mixing leisure business with humanitarian efforts.
'The brand will take a hit,' Paul Gallagher, managing director of WPP's Burson Marsteller's issues and advocacy practice, was quoted as saying.
Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic suffered no damage from the earthquake, but the government is clearly worried that vacationers may cancel trips there because of the disaster on the other side of the border.
The Dominican Ministry of Tourism has issued repeated statements that it was unaffected by the quake, including pointing out that Port-au-Prince is hundreds of kilometres and several mountain ranges away.
That message was lost on travellers like Debbie Ulin, a 39-year-old mother of two in Hillsdale, New Jersey, whose family and two others cancelled a group trip planned to the Dominican beach resort of Punta Cana for February.
'With everything happening as it did, we sort of all came to the realisation that it's probably not the best time to be travelling to the Dominican right now,' Ulin said.
'As selfish as I feel when I say that, it's not so important, my vacation. We didn't feel like it would be the safe place to go with the families this soon after the devastation has occurred.'
Arthur Applbaum, a Harvard University professor of ethics and public policy, said that while it shows 'moral sensitivity to be disturbed by the thought that one is vacationing on the beach when others are suffering nearby, it also shows insufficient moral reflection to think that proximity makes a moral difference.
'The people of Haiti are suffering whether you take your beach vacation in the Dominican Republic or in Hawaii, and it is a failure of the moral imagination not to be equally troubled in Waikiki,' he said.
Expert finds vulnerabilities in Microsoft browser...
Reuters
BOSTON (Reuters)Fri Jan 22,2010 - A security research firm said it discovered another set of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, a day after Microsoft Corp patched the Web browser following a high-profile cyber attack on Google in China.
The software maker issued a patch on Thursday to fight malicious software that was used in the attack on Google Inc and dozens of other companies which operate in China.
Research firm Core Security Technologies said on Friday that it discovered another set of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer that hackers can link together and exploit, to remotely access all of the data on a personal computer.
"There are three or four ways to conduct this type of attack," said Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina, a security consultant with Boston-based Core, who will demonstrate the vulnerability at the Black Hat security conference in Washington, which begins February 2.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft said she could not immediately comment on the matter.
Alvarez Medina said hackers can exploit a string of four or five minor vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, which is used on hundreds of millions of PCs around the world.
Although none of the vulnerabilities are serious enough to compromise a machine, a hacker could take control of a PC by exploiting all of them at once, he said.
The combination would overwhelm the browser, giving a hacker access to all data on the PC after a user clicks on a malicious link, he said.
Alvarez Medina added that he was uncertain whether any hackers had already exploited the weaknesses, which Microsoft has yet to patch.
He said that Core was working with Microsoft to find a way to mitigate the risk, but added that he believed other vulnerabilities would crop up even after a solution to these.
"It is likely that people will come up with new ones over time," he said.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
BOSTON (Reuters)Fri Jan 22,2010 - A security research firm said it discovered another set of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, a day after Microsoft Corp patched the Web browser following a high-profile cyber attack on Google in China.
The software maker issued a patch on Thursday to fight malicious software that was used in the attack on Google Inc and dozens of other companies which operate in China.
Research firm Core Security Technologies said on Friday that it discovered another set of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer that hackers can link together and exploit, to remotely access all of the data on a personal computer.
"There are three or four ways to conduct this type of attack," said Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina, a security consultant with Boston-based Core, who will demonstrate the vulnerability at the Black Hat security conference in Washington, which begins February 2.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft said she could not immediately comment on the matter.
Alvarez Medina said hackers can exploit a string of four or five minor vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, which is used on hundreds of millions of PCs around the world.
Although none of the vulnerabilities are serious enough to compromise a machine, a hacker could take control of a PC by exploiting all of them at once, he said.
The combination would overwhelm the browser, giving a hacker access to all data on the PC after a user clicks on a malicious link, he said.
Alvarez Medina added that he was uncertain whether any hackers had already exploited the weaknesses, which Microsoft has yet to patch.
He said that Core was working with Microsoft to find a way to mitigate the risk, but added that he believed other vulnerabilities would crop up even after a solution to these.
"It is likely that people will come up with new ones over time," he said.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
'Noisy sex' woman spared prison...
BBC News
<--The Cartwrights' noisy love-making went on for 'hours at a time' !!!!!!
Friday, 22 January 2010 A woman who breached an Asbo banning her from having noisy sex has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Caroline and Steve Cartwright's "unnatural" love-making prompted complaints from neighbours, a postman and a woman taking her child to school.
The 48-year-old, from Washington on Wearside, had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching the Asbo.
At Newcastle Crown Court, she was given eight weeks suspended for 12 months and a 12-month supervision order.
During a previous hearing, next door neighbour Rachel O'Connor told the court she was frequently late for work because she overslept having been kept awake most of the night.
She said: "The noise sounds like they are both in considerable pain. I cannot describe the noise. I have never ever heard anything like it."
I've heard a very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that your neighbours would be upset and distressed
In December, Cartwright, of Hall Road, lost an appeal against the Asbo and an earlier noise abatement order.
Passing sentence, Judge Beatrice Bolton said: "I've heard a very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that your neighbours would be upset and distressed by this.
"The difficulty here is that the first occurrence was the day following the order. Then three days later you breached it again.
"In addition it's quite clear from the small extract I heard that you made no attempt to silence yourself."
Ms Bolton warned Cartwright that if she committed further offences of the same nature, she would be sent to prison.
<--The Cartwrights' noisy love-making went on for 'hours at a time' !!!!!!Friday, 22 January 2010 A woman who breached an Asbo banning her from having noisy sex has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Caroline and Steve Cartwright's "unnatural" love-making prompted complaints from neighbours, a postman and a woman taking her child to school.
The 48-year-old, from Washington on Wearside, had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching the Asbo.
At Newcastle Crown Court, she was given eight weeks suspended for 12 months and a 12-month supervision order.
During a previous hearing, next door neighbour Rachel O'Connor told the court she was frequently late for work because she overslept having been kept awake most of the night.
She said: "The noise sounds like they are both in considerable pain. I cannot describe the noise. I have never ever heard anything like it."
I've heard a very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that your neighbours would be upset and distressed
In December, Cartwright, of Hall Road, lost an appeal against the Asbo and an earlier noise abatement order.
Passing sentence, Judge Beatrice Bolton said: "I've heard a very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that your neighbours would be upset and distressed by this.
"The difficulty here is that the first occurrence was the day following the order. Then three days later you breached it again.
"In addition it's quite clear from the small extract I heard that you made no attempt to silence yourself."
Ms Bolton warned Cartwright that if she committed further offences of the same nature, she would be sent to prison.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Greg Norman still leader of earnings pack...
The Australian - News From: The Courier-Mail January 20, 2010
Golfer Greg Norman again tops the rich for top Australian sports earners.
January 20, 2010.THE prize money has slowed to a trickle, but golfer Greg Norman is still Australia's top sports earner, with an annual income of about $15 million.
Twice-divorced Norman emerged as the top earner on the BRW Top 50 Sports Earners list thanks mainly to sponsorships, endorsements and his golf course-design company.
Basketballer Andrew Bogut has closed the gap on Norman, making $14 million last year.
In his second year, Bogut makes $US60.5 million ($66 million)in contract extension with US NBA outfit the Milwaukee Bucks.
Soccer star Harry Kewell is third on the BRW list, with a $9.5 million pay packet, mostly from his Turkish club Galatasaray.
Most of Australia's top sports earners make their money overseas, although Test cricket captain Ricky Ponting ($4.26 million) makes the list at number 12. Other cricketers on the list are Brett Lee (15th, $3.52 million), Michael Clarke (21st, $2.54 million), Michael Hussey (41st, $1.39 million) and Andrew Symonds (50th, $1.22 million).
Former V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose rocketed on to the list for the first time, at number seven.
Ambrose collected $5.44 million in earnings from his first full year of driving for the JTG Daugherty Racing team in the US NASCAR series.
Motorsport provided four of the top 10, led by F1 ace Mark Webber in fourth spot with $9 million in earnings, followed by motocross star Chad Reed (fifth, $8.8 million), Ambrose and MotoGP rider Casey Stoner (eighth, $5 million).
Australia's top tennis players, Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur, made the list at 18th and 35th place respectively, with earnings of $2.88 million and $1.53 million.
Golfer Greg Norman again tops the rich for top Australian sports earners.January 20, 2010.THE prize money has slowed to a trickle, but golfer Greg Norman is still Australia's top sports earner, with an annual income of about $15 million.
Twice-divorced Norman emerged as the top earner on the BRW Top 50 Sports Earners list thanks mainly to sponsorships, endorsements and his golf course-design company.
Basketballer Andrew Bogut has closed the gap on Norman, making $14 million last year.
In his second year, Bogut makes $US60.5 million ($66 million)in contract extension with US NBA outfit the Milwaukee Bucks.
Soccer star Harry Kewell is third on the BRW list, with a $9.5 million pay packet, mostly from his Turkish club Galatasaray.
Most of Australia's top sports earners make their money overseas, although Test cricket captain Ricky Ponting ($4.26 million) makes the list at number 12. Other cricketers on the list are Brett Lee (15th, $3.52 million), Michael Clarke (21st, $2.54 million), Michael Hussey (41st, $1.39 million) and Andrew Symonds (50th, $1.22 million).
Former V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose rocketed on to the list for the first time, at number seven.
Ambrose collected $5.44 million in earnings from his first full year of driving for the JTG Daugherty Racing team in the US NASCAR series.
Motorsport provided four of the top 10, led by F1 ace Mark Webber in fourth spot with $9 million in earnings, followed by motocross star Chad Reed (fifth, $8.8 million), Ambrose and MotoGP rider Casey Stoner (eighth, $5 million).
Australia's top tennis players, Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur, made the list at 18th and 35th place respectively, with earnings of $2.88 million and $1.53 million.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
China: We are biggest victim of cyberattacks...
PC World By Owen Fletcher
(IDG News Service) 20/01/2010. China on Tuesday denied any role in alleged cyberattacks on Indian government offices, calling China itself the biggest victim of hackers.
When asked about Google's allegation that cyberattacks launched from China hit the U.S. search giant, foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Chinese companies were also often hit by cyberattacks.
"China is the biggest victim of hacking attacks," Ma said, citing the example of top Chinese search engine Baidu.com being hacked last week.
Google last week said it might exit China after being hit by recent hacking attempts largely aimed at accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. It also said it planned to hold talks with Chinese authorities about whether it could offer an uncensored version of its local search engine.
Ma said he did not know if Chinese authorities had started talks with Google. A Google spokeswoman did not confirm a Bloomberg news report that Google and China had already started the talks. "That's not what we've been saying," she said in an e-mail.
An Indian official has reportedly said local government offices including that of India's National Security Advisor were also targeted last month by hackers believed to be from China.
Ma said the allegation was baseless.
(IDG News Service) 20/01/2010. China on Tuesday denied any role in alleged cyberattacks on Indian government offices, calling China itself the biggest victim of hackers.
When asked about Google's allegation that cyberattacks launched from China hit the U.S. search giant, foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Chinese companies were also often hit by cyberattacks.
"China is the biggest victim of hacking attacks," Ma said, citing the example of top Chinese search engine Baidu.com being hacked last week.
Google last week said it might exit China after being hit by recent hacking attempts largely aimed at accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. It also said it planned to hold talks with Chinese authorities about whether it could offer an uncensored version of its local search engine.
Ma said he did not know if Chinese authorities had started talks with Google. A Google spokeswoman did not confirm a Bloomberg news report that Google and China had already started the talks. "That's not what we've been saying," she said in an e-mail.
An Indian official has reportedly said local government offices including that of India's National Security Advisor were also targeted last month by hackers believed to be from China.
Ma said the allegation was baseless.
BBC Sport - Golf - Roger Federer backs Tiger Woods to return to golf soon
BBC Sport - Golf
Saturday, 16 January 2010 Tennis star Roger Federer has revealed he has been in touch with Tiger Woods and hopes the world's number one golfer will be back competing soon.
Woods has announced he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf after admitting to "infidelities".
Federer is one of the few to speak to Woods since the media furore over the American's private life erupted.
"I wish him all the best getting back, hopefully on the golf course, resolving his problems," said the 28-year-old.
The 15-time Grand Slam winner, who has appeared with his friend Woods in TV commercials, refused to be drawn further on the scandal surrounding the American, saying he had only followed events "from afar".
Woods's personal life hit the headlines last November when he crashed a car into a tree outside his Florida home.
After weeks of press speculation, the 14-times golf major winner then released a statement on his website admitting to "infidelity" and has not been seen in public since the car accident.
Federer said he did not feel any added pressure to lead an unblemished life, revealing it was important for him to uphold the principles of fair play, respect for the game and his rivals.
"I just try to be myself, not change for the press or the public or the fans," he added.
"If they like me, that's great. If they don't, that's too bad.
"Sure, I'm doing a lot of press conferences, and not being able to hide on the tennis court is not an easy thing sometimes. But I think I've done well over the years."
Woods has lost a number of endorsements since the infamous car crash, with Gillette announcing on 12 December that it would limit Woods's role in its marketing while the champion took time off to deal with his personal life.
Two days later the giant management consultancy firm Accenture ended its sponsorship with Woods, saying the golfer was "no longer the right representative".
Telecoms giant AT&T and the watchmaker Tag Heuer have scaled down its use of the star, while drinks manufacturer Gatorade discontinued a line of Tiger Woods-branded energy drinks.
A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Woods incident to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.
Tiger Woods has not been seen in public since his car accident
In an interview published on Friday by French sports daily L'Equipe, Federer said Woods "needs calm".
"The tabloids are going crazy, sponsor contracts are falling apart ... I've always been aware that the image you patiently construct for an entire career can be ruined in a minute," stated Federer. "It scares you a bit, but that's the way things are.
SAYS ROGER FEDERER: "Tiger needs calm. And soon he'll become the wonderful golfer that we know again."
Saturday, 16 January 2010 Tennis star Roger Federer has revealed he has been in touch with Tiger Woods and hopes the world's number one golfer will be back competing soon.Woods has announced he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf after admitting to "infidelities".
Federer is one of the few to speak to Woods since the media furore over the American's private life erupted.
"I wish him all the best getting back, hopefully on the golf course, resolving his problems," said the 28-year-old.
The 15-time Grand Slam winner, who has appeared with his friend Woods in TV commercials, refused to be drawn further on the scandal surrounding the American, saying he had only followed events "from afar".
Woods's personal life hit the headlines last November when he crashed a car into a tree outside his Florida home.
After weeks of press speculation, the 14-times golf major winner then released a statement on his website admitting to "infidelity" and has not been seen in public since the car accident.
Federer said he did not feel any added pressure to lead an unblemished life, revealing it was important for him to uphold the principles of fair play, respect for the game and his rivals.
"I just try to be myself, not change for the press or the public or the fans," he added.
"If they like me, that's great. If they don't, that's too bad.
"Sure, I'm doing a lot of press conferences, and not being able to hide on the tennis court is not an easy thing sometimes. But I think I've done well over the years."
Woods has lost a number of endorsements since the infamous car crash, with Gillette announcing on 12 December that it would limit Woods's role in its marketing while the champion took time off to deal with his personal life.
Two days later the giant management consultancy firm Accenture ended its sponsorship with Woods, saying the golfer was "no longer the right representative".
Telecoms giant AT&T and the watchmaker Tag Heuer have scaled down its use of the star, while drinks manufacturer Gatorade discontinued a line of Tiger Woods-branded energy drinks.
A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Woods incident to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.
Tiger Woods has not been seen in public since his car accident
In an interview published on Friday by French sports daily L'Equipe, Federer said Woods "needs calm".
"The tabloids are going crazy, sponsor contracts are falling apart ... I've always been aware that the image you patiently construct for an entire career can be ruined in a minute," stated Federer. "It scares you a bit, but that's the way things are.
SAYS ROGER FEDERER: "Tiger needs calm. And soon he'll become the wonderful golfer that we know again."
Golf - Jack Nicklaus says Tiger Woods needs to return in 2010.
BBC Sport - Golf
Nicklaus (left) currently leads Woods by four majors
Jack Nicklaus believes world number one Tiger Woods will find it harder to break his record of 18 majors if he does not compete this year.
Woods, who has 14 majors, has not played since admitting infidelity.
"If Tiger is going to pass my record I think this is a big year - if he doesn't play obviously the chore will be a little tougher", said Nicklaus.
But Woods's former coach Butch Harmon believes he will return to action in March, before the Masters in April.
He expects Woods, 34, to return at one of four tournaments scheduled for March - the Honda Classic, the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, the Transitions Championship or the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
All four tournaments are in Florida, Woods's home state, and the American has regularly competed in the last two in previous years.
But Harmon told the Observer newspaper that the world number one must face a humiliation and embarrassing news conference over his infidelities before he can get on with his life.
"The golfing public would like to see Tiger Woods do a press conference," he said.
"To stand there in front of everybody, take his medicine, be humble, be embarrassed, be humiliated and answer the questions.
"If he wants to rekindle the image of who he is, this would be the best way to do it, to do the press conference because then he looks human.
Tiger is a big influence and probably the largest we have ever had and I certainly hope he comes back and plays but the tour is not all about one person
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus
"He is going to look ridiculous really, with the questions that are going to be asked. But the average person would appreciate that side of him because they've never seen that.
"The difficult part, in my opinion, is going to be the heckling from the galleries. He is going to get it.
"If he plays in the Ryder Cup (in Wales in October) which I happen to think he will, that is going to be very interesting.
"But he is the strongest person mentally that's ever played our game. If there is anyone who can block out this extra stuff that is going on around him, he is probably the guy."
Nicklaus said only Woods knew when he would be ready to return but added that the locations of three of this year's majors - the Masters, US Open and The Open - are among Woods's favourite courses.
"Certainly this year where (three of the four) majors are, he loves Augusta, Pebble Beach and St Andrews... he 'owns' all three of those places," said Nicklaus.
Woods has won the Masters at Augusta four times, the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach and The Open at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005.
Nicklaus, who celebrates his 70th birthday on 21 January, said the game would prosper regardless of Woods's future.
"There was golf after Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, the game has always survived us and the game will continue to go forward," he said.
"Tiger is a big influence and probably the largest we have ever had and I certainly hope he comes back and plays. But the tour is not all about one person."
Nicklaus (left) currently leads Woods by four majorsJack Nicklaus believes world number one Tiger Woods will find it harder to break his record of 18 majors if he does not compete this year.
Woods, who has 14 majors, has not played since admitting infidelity.
"If Tiger is going to pass my record I think this is a big year - if he doesn't play obviously the chore will be a little tougher", said Nicklaus.
But Woods's former coach Butch Harmon believes he will return to action in March, before the Masters in April.
He expects Woods, 34, to return at one of four tournaments scheduled for March - the Honda Classic, the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, the Transitions Championship or the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
All four tournaments are in Florida, Woods's home state, and the American has regularly competed in the last two in previous years.
But Harmon told the Observer newspaper that the world number one must face a humiliation and embarrassing news conference over his infidelities before he can get on with his life.
"The golfing public would like to see Tiger Woods do a press conference," he said.
"To stand there in front of everybody, take his medicine, be humble, be embarrassed, be humiliated and answer the questions.
"If he wants to rekindle the image of who he is, this would be the best way to do it, to do the press conference because then he looks human.
Tiger is a big influence and probably the largest we have ever had and I certainly hope he comes back and plays but the tour is not all about one person
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus
"He is going to look ridiculous really, with the questions that are going to be asked. But the average person would appreciate that side of him because they've never seen that.
"The difficult part, in my opinion, is going to be the heckling from the galleries. He is going to get it.
"If he plays in the Ryder Cup (in Wales in October) which I happen to think he will, that is going to be very interesting.
"But he is the strongest person mentally that's ever played our game. If there is anyone who can block out this extra stuff that is going on around him, he is probably the guy."
Nicklaus said only Woods knew when he would be ready to return but added that the locations of three of this year's majors - the Masters, US Open and The Open - are among Woods's favourite courses.
"Certainly this year where (three of the four) majors are, he loves Augusta, Pebble Beach and St Andrews... he 'owns' all three of those places," said Nicklaus.
Woods has won the Masters at Augusta four times, the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach and The Open at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005.
Nicklaus, who celebrates his 70th birthday on 21 January, said the game would prosper regardless of Woods's future.
"There was golf after Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, the game has always survived us and the game will continue to go forward," he said.
"Tiger is a big influence and probably the largest we have ever had and I certainly hope he comes back and plays. But the tour is not all about one person."
Users spurn traditional calls for Skype...
Reuters
FRANKFURT (Reuters) Tue 19 Jan 2009.- Users wanting to call home form abroad are increasingly turning to Skype's Internet telephony service to the detriment of international carriers, new data showed.
"Skype is now the largest provider of cross border communications in the world, by far," said Stephan Beckert, analyst at research firm TeleGeography on Tuesday.
Skype's technology allows consumers to make practically free long-distance calls over the Internet on fixed lines. It is mostly used on desktops but Skype has made the move into mobile too and it now comes pre-installed on some cellphones.
According to the firm's data, over the past 25 years, international call volume from telephones have grown at a compounded annual rate of 15 percent.
In the past two years this growth has however slowed to only 8 percent, rising from 376 billion minutes in 2008 to an estimated 406 billion minutes last year.
By comparison, Skype's on-net international traffic between two Skype users grew 51 percent in 2008, and is projected to grow 63 percent in 2009, to 54 billion minutes.
"The volume of traffic routed via Skype is tremendous," said Beckert.
In general, TeleGeography said, "demand for international voice has been remarkably robust, but it's clearly not recession-proof."
Traffic to Mexico, the world's largest calling destination, declined 4 percent in 2008 for example, and aggregate traffic to Central America declined 5 percent, data showed.
Established in 2003 and based in Luxembourg, privately owned Skype has more than 520 million registered customers who use the free Web service for voice, video or text communication.
But despite its size, its revenue is relatively modest -- at about $551 million in 2008 -- as the company has had a difficult time getting users to pay for its largely free services.
Skype aims to nearly double its annual revenue to $1 billion in two years.
(Reporting by Nicola Leske)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) Tue 19 Jan 2009.- Users wanting to call home form abroad are increasingly turning to Skype's Internet telephony service to the detriment of international carriers, new data showed."Skype is now the largest provider of cross border communications in the world, by far," said Stephan Beckert, analyst at research firm TeleGeography on Tuesday.
Skype's technology allows consumers to make practically free long-distance calls over the Internet on fixed lines. It is mostly used on desktops but Skype has made the move into mobile too and it now comes pre-installed on some cellphones.
According to the firm's data, over the past 25 years, international call volume from telephones have grown at a compounded annual rate of 15 percent.
In the past two years this growth has however slowed to only 8 percent, rising from 376 billion minutes in 2008 to an estimated 406 billion minutes last year.
By comparison, Skype's on-net international traffic between two Skype users grew 51 percent in 2008, and is projected to grow 63 percent in 2009, to 54 billion minutes.
"The volume of traffic routed via Skype is tremendous," said Beckert.
In general, TeleGeography said, "demand for international voice has been remarkably robust, but it's clearly not recession-proof."
Traffic to Mexico, the world's largest calling destination, declined 4 percent in 2008 for example, and aggregate traffic to Central America declined 5 percent, data showed.
Established in 2003 and based in Luxembourg, privately owned Skype has more than 520 million registered customers who use the free Web service for voice, video or text communication.
But despite its size, its revenue is relatively modest -- at about $551 million in 2008 -- as the company has had a difficult time getting users to pay for its largely free services.
Skype aims to nearly double its annual revenue to $1 billion in two years.
(Reporting by Nicola Leske)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Impromptu billboard porn film stops traffic...
Reuters
Fri Jan 15, 2010.MOSCOW (Reuters) - An enormous television screen showing a pornographic film caused a midnight traffic jam in central Moscow Thursday as stunned motorists slammed on the brakes to gawk at the writhing naked bodies.
The owner of the advertising screen, which sits atop a main road about two km (1.2 miles) south of the Kremlin, told the state-run RIA news agency that hackers had broken into the screen's computer system and turned on the porn.
"They were either acting out of hooliganism or were from a rival company," Viktor Laptev, commercial director of advertising firm Panno.ru, told RIA.
A short clip showing cars slowing to a halt to look at the screen sprung up on youtube.com and internet sites Friday across Russia, a country which banned nudity on television before the Soviet Union fell in 1991.
Authorities said they are investigating, RIA added.
(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Denis Dyomkin, editing by Paul Casciato)
Fri Jan 15, 2010.MOSCOW (Reuters) - An enormous television screen showing a pornographic film caused a midnight traffic jam in central Moscow Thursday as stunned motorists slammed on the brakes to gawk at the writhing naked bodies.
The owner of the advertising screen, which sits atop a main road about two km (1.2 miles) south of the Kremlin, told the state-run RIA news agency that hackers had broken into the screen's computer system and turned on the porn.
"They were either acting out of hooliganism or were from a rival company," Viktor Laptev, commercial director of advertising firm Panno.ru, told RIA.
A short clip showing cars slowing to a halt to look at the screen sprung up on youtube.com and internet sites Friday across Russia, a country which banned nudity on television before the Soviet Union fell in 1991.
Authorities said they are investigating, RIA added.
(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Denis Dyomkin, editing by Paul Casciato)
Friday, January 15, 2010
Prostitute fined $820,000 for unpaid tax...
Reuters
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's tax office has levied a fine of 2.3 million zlotys ($820,000) on an unemployed woman for failing to pay tax on income worth at least 13.7 million zlotys she said she had earned as a prostitute.
The woman told the tax office in the southern city of Katowice that she had very "generous" customers, the website gazeta.pl, which is linked to leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, reported Tuesday.
One of her clients paid the woman 5 million zlotys during the 1997-2002 period, she was quoted as saying.
The website gave no further details.
(Reporting by Kuba Jaworowski)
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's tax office has levied a fine of 2.3 million zlotys ($820,000) on an unemployed woman for failing to pay tax on income worth at least 13.7 million zlotys she said she had earned as a prostitute.The woman told the tax office in the southern city of Katowice that she had very "generous" customers, the website gazeta.pl, which is linked to leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, reported Tuesday.
One of her clients paid the woman 5 million zlotys during the 1997-2002 period, she was quoted as saying.
The website gave no further details.
(Reporting by Kuba Jaworowski)
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Culemborg geteisterd door groep Marokkanen....
Elsevier.nl - Nederland
Zaterdag 9 januari 2010 09:53. Een groep van zo’n 21 jonge Marokkanen veroorzaakt een groot deel van de problemen in Culemborg. Niet alleen de rellen in probleemwijk Terweijde, maar ook een aanzienlijk deel van de criminaliteit in de stad kan aan deze groep toegeschreven worden.
Intimiderend
De groep, met een harde kern van zo’n 21 Marokkaanse jongens van tussen de 15 en 31 jaar oud is zo intimiderend dat maar weinig Culemborgers aangifte durven doen. Ook zouden zij hun criminele activiteiten zo goed aanpakken dat zij voor de politie bijna ongrijpbaar zijn. Er zwermt nog een groep van 29 potentiële criminelen rond de groep, jongeren die net beginnen met criminele handelingen.Volgens het rapport houdt de politie de groep 'scherp in de gaten'.
In de probleemwijk Terweijde hadden op oudejaarsavond rellen plaats. Een groep jonge Marokkanen reed opzettelijk op een groep Molukse feestvierders in. Naar verluidt zou een van die feestvierders een 15-jarig meisje zijn dat aangifte had gedaan tegen een stel Marokaanse jongeren die een auto in brand hadden gestoken. Bij de ongeregeldheden van een paar dagen later werd een steen door de ruit van haar huis gegooid.
Familieruzie
Een vertegenwoordiger van de Marokkaanse gemeenschap in Culemborg verklaarde aan de Volkskrant dat de ruzies in Terweijde door een uit de hand gelopen familievete veroorzaakt zouden zijn. Ook in september liep het al eens uit de hand in Terweijde, ook destijds moest de ME er aan te pas komen om beide bevolkingsgroepen uit elkaar te houden.
Door Marlou Visser
Zaterdag 9 januari 2010 09:53. Een groep van zo’n 21 jonge Marokkanen veroorzaakt een groot deel van de problemen in Culemborg. Niet alleen de rellen in probleemwijk Terweijde, maar ook een aanzienlijk deel van de criminaliteit in de stad kan aan deze groep toegeschreven worden.
Intimiderend
De groep, met een harde kern van zo’n 21 Marokkaanse jongens van tussen de 15 en 31 jaar oud is zo intimiderend dat maar weinig Culemborgers aangifte durven doen. Ook zouden zij hun criminele activiteiten zo goed aanpakken dat zij voor de politie bijna ongrijpbaar zijn. Er zwermt nog een groep van 29 potentiële criminelen rond de groep, jongeren die net beginnen met criminele handelingen.Volgens het rapport houdt de politie de groep 'scherp in de gaten'.
In de probleemwijk Terweijde hadden op oudejaarsavond rellen plaats. Een groep jonge Marokkanen reed opzettelijk op een groep Molukse feestvierders in. Naar verluidt zou een van die feestvierders een 15-jarig meisje zijn dat aangifte had gedaan tegen een stel Marokaanse jongeren die een auto in brand hadden gestoken. Bij de ongeregeldheden van een paar dagen later werd een steen door de ruit van haar huis gegooid.
Familieruzie
Een vertegenwoordiger van de Marokkaanse gemeenschap in Culemborg verklaarde aan de Volkskrant dat de ruzies in Terweijde door een uit de hand gelopen familievete veroorzaakt zouden zijn. Ook in september liep het al eens uit de hand in Terweijde, ook destijds moest de ME er aan te pas komen om beide bevolkingsgroepen uit elkaar te houden.
Door Marlou Visser
Friday, January 08, 2010
Tiger talk a hot topic at PGA Tour's season opener...
Reuters Mark Lamport-Stokes
Hawaii. Tue, Jan 5 2010 - The absence of Tiger Woods from the PGA Tour has been a major talking point ahead of this week's SBS Championship with most of the players eager to see the American world number one back as soon as possible.
Although the chance of winning tournaments is always more likely when the game's leading player is not in the field, his peers agree the return of Woods to the U.S. circuit is urgently needed in these tough economic times.
"The Tour is better and sports are better when he is here," U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover told reporters on the eve of Thursday's opening round at the Kapalua Resort.
"I hope he comes back tomorrow as soon as possible because we need him and sport needs him."
Woods, the most popular and bankable player of his generation, announced last month he was taking an indefinite break from the game in the wake of embarrassing revelations about his personal life.
The 14-times major winner has been in hiding since admitting he had cheated on his wife and has given no timetable for his return to competition.
"You could say, man this is a great opportunity," American Glover said.
"But at the same time say somebody goes out and wins four tournaments and they happen to be four that Tiger usually plays.
"Do they still get the credit because he wasn't there? I wish he would come back as soon as possible.
"It makes us play better, makes the Tour look better, makes the sponsors happier and all of that stuff."
TIGER'S TIME
World number three Steve Stricker, the highest-ranked player in this week's elite field of 28, agreed.
"We need him out here and the Tour wants him out here," the 42-year-old American said. "Corporate sponsors want him out here but it's got to be on his time when he gets everything right at home."
Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who romped to victory by six shots at Kapalua last year, felt the absence of Woods from competition could pave the way for someone else to take over as world number one this year.
"It's an interesting time right now," Ogilvy said. "Number one in the world might be up for realistic grabs this year, depending on how it all takes shape.
"Even if he does come back (this year), I imagine it will be a very limited schedule. A lot of guys will be thinking here is my year."
While Pat Perez was among those players wishing Woods would return to the game as soon as possible, he also hoped the focus of the golfing media would be stretched a little wider.
"I would like to see him come back," said Perez who booked his place in this week's winners-only field with victory at last year's Bob Hope Classic.
"It's definitely going to hurt the Tour because obviously people want to see him.
"But it also could be a good thing for the Tour because I think people could maybe see a lot more players that they don't know about, or they haven't heard about.
"I hope the people can see there is more to the Tour than just Tiger. We know how great he is. No one is questioning that.
"Maybe people will have a chance to say: 'We are not watching Tiger all the time. We have to watch somebody else now while Tiger cleans up this mess'.
"There are some really good guys out there."
(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
SportsLifestyle
Hawaii. Tue, Jan 5 2010 - The absence of Tiger Woods from the PGA Tour has been a major talking point ahead of this week's SBS Championship with most of the players eager to see the American world number one back as soon as possible.Although the chance of winning tournaments is always more likely when the game's leading player is not in the field, his peers agree the return of Woods to the U.S. circuit is urgently needed in these tough economic times.
"The Tour is better and sports are better when he is here," U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover told reporters on the eve of Thursday's opening round at the Kapalua Resort.
"I hope he comes back tomorrow as soon as possible because we need him and sport needs him."
Woods, the most popular and bankable player of his generation, announced last month he was taking an indefinite break from the game in the wake of embarrassing revelations about his personal life.
The 14-times major winner has been in hiding since admitting he had cheated on his wife and has given no timetable for his return to competition.
"You could say, man this is a great opportunity," American Glover said.
"But at the same time say somebody goes out and wins four tournaments and they happen to be four that Tiger usually plays.
"Do they still get the credit because he wasn't there? I wish he would come back as soon as possible.
"It makes us play better, makes the Tour look better, makes the sponsors happier and all of that stuff."
TIGER'S TIME
World number three Steve Stricker, the highest-ranked player in this week's elite field of 28, agreed.
"We need him out here and the Tour wants him out here," the 42-year-old American said. "Corporate sponsors want him out here but it's got to be on his time when he gets everything right at home."
Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who romped to victory by six shots at Kapalua last year, felt the absence of Woods from competition could pave the way for someone else to take over as world number one this year.
"It's an interesting time right now," Ogilvy said. "Number one in the world might be up for realistic grabs this year, depending on how it all takes shape.
"Even if he does come back (this year), I imagine it will be a very limited schedule. A lot of guys will be thinking here is my year."
While Pat Perez was among those players wishing Woods would return to the game as soon as possible, he also hoped the focus of the golfing media would be stretched a little wider.
"I would like to see him come back," said Perez who booked his place in this week's winners-only field with victory at last year's Bob Hope Classic.
"It's definitely going to hurt the Tour because obviously people want to see him.
"But it also could be a good thing for the Tour because I think people could maybe see a lot more players that they don't know about, or they haven't heard about.
"I hope the people can see there is more to the Tour than just Tiger. We know how great he is. No one is questioning that.
"Maybe people will have a chance to say: 'We are not watching Tiger all the time. We have to watch somebody else now while Tiger cleans up this mess'.
"There are some really good guys out there."
(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
SportsLifestyle
Thursday, January 07, 2010
United Airlines pilot admits being over drink limit...
Reuters
1. LONDON. Tue Jan 5, 2010. Related News. United Airlines pilot charged with being drunk.
2. Wed, Nov 11 2009. United Airlines suspends allegedly drunken pilot.
3. Tue, Nov 10 2009. LONDON (Reuters) - A United Airlines pilot admitted in court on Tuesday that he had turned up at London's Heathrow Airport to fly a plane to Chicago while three times over the alcohol limit.
Erwin Washington, 51, of Lakewood, Colorado, had been due to captain a Boeing 767 bound for Chicago last November with 124 passengers and 11 crew members when a colleague smelled alcohol on his breath.
The flight was "imminent" when police arrived and arrested him. A breath test recorded a reading of 31 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath. The legal limit is nine micrograms.
When arrested Washington, who has a military background, replied: "Okay, fine."
He pleaded guilty at London's Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to being above the alcohol limit for flying a plane, the Press Association reported. His lawyer Chris Humphreys said the pilot was "remorseful."
Humphreys told the court that legislation relating to airline staff over the legal alcohol limit for flying had only been used seven times. "There are, thankfully, very few cases of this sort," he said.
Washington will be sentenced on February 5 and was released on unconditional bail.
United Airlines said he had been suspended pending a full investigation.
(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Tim Pearce)
1. LONDON. Tue Jan 5, 2010. Related News. United Airlines pilot charged with being drunk.
2. Wed, Nov 11 2009. United Airlines suspends allegedly drunken pilot.
3. Tue, Nov 10 2009. LONDON (Reuters) - A United Airlines pilot admitted in court on Tuesday that he had turned up at London's Heathrow Airport to fly a plane to Chicago while three times over the alcohol limit.
Erwin Washington, 51, of Lakewood, Colorado, had been due to captain a Boeing 767 bound for Chicago last November with 124 passengers and 11 crew members when a colleague smelled alcohol on his breath.
The flight was "imminent" when police arrived and arrested him. A breath test recorded a reading of 31 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath. The legal limit is nine micrograms.
When arrested Washington, who has a military background, replied: "Okay, fine."
He pleaded guilty at London's Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to being above the alcohol limit for flying a plane, the Press Association reported. His lawyer Chris Humphreys said the pilot was "remorseful."
Humphreys told the court that legislation relating to airline staff over the legal alcohol limit for flying had only been used seven times. "There are, thankfully, very few cases of this sort," he said.
Washington will be sentenced on February 5 and was released on unconditional bail.
United Airlines said he had been suspended pending a full investigation.
(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Tim Pearce)
Study turns up 10 autism clusters in California...
Reuters Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO Tue Jan 5, 2010. Another study finds no MMR-autism link.
1. Mon, Jan 4 2010. One percent of U.S. children have autism: study
2. Fri, Dec 18 2009. Mercury levels similar in autistic, normal kids
3. Mon, Oct 19 2009. More kids have autism than thought: U.S. study
Mon, Oct 5 2009. CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have identified 10 locations in California that have double the rates of autism found in surrounding areas, and these clusters were located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of white, highly educated parents.
Researchers at the University of California Davis had hoped to uncover pockets of autism that might reveal clues about triggers in the environment that could explain rising rates of autism, which affects as many as one in 110 U.S. children.
But the findings likely say more about the U.S. healthcare system than the causes of autism, said researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto of UC Davis' MIND Institute, whose study will be released online Wednesday in the journal Autism Research.
Advocacy groups have been clamoring for treatment options and for better research to show what might be causing an apparent increase in autism cases.
Hertz-Picciotto and colleagues used a research technique that has been effective at identifying cancer clusters.
"This kind of analysis sometimes turns up clues about environmental factors," she said in a telephone interview.
The researchers looked at about 2.5 million births recorded in California from 1996 through 2000. About 10,000 of those children were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to the state's department of developmental services.
Using data from birth records, the team found a strong link between parental education and the high rates of autism.
"In this particular case, we found 10 clusters of autism across the state of California. When we looked further, we discovered virtually all of them were areas where there was a higher level of education among the parents who were giving birth in those years," Hertz-Picciotto said.
"We already know that people with a higher education in the United States are more likely to get a diagnosis of autism for their child. It doesn't necessarily mean that autism occurs more frequently in those families," she said.
"It was also a greater likelihood to be white, non-Hispanic, and for the parents to be a little bit older."
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
Hertz-Picciotto said studies in Denmark, which offers universal access to healthcare, have found no link between autism and race or socioeconomic status.
"In this country, we have a lot of people who are uninsured. They may not have someone to go to if they have suspicions about their child," she said.
She said some communities with lower education levels and fewer resources may have higher rates of undiagnosed autism. But the study did offer new clues about autism.
"What it tells us is if we want to go looking for environmental factors, they are not going to be these focused fixed points of contamination, for example," she said.
"It is probably going to be something much more widespread -- common sorts of exposures that are more across the board."
Hertz-Picciotto said her team is now undertaking two different kinds of studies to look for environmental causes of autism, a spectrum of diseases ranging from severe and profound inability to communicate and mental retardation to relatively mild symptoms called Asperger's syndrome.
In one, her team plans to collect dust samples from the homes of 1,300 families with autistic children to look for common chemicals, such as flame retardants, that might be playing a role.
In another, the researchers are following pregnant women who have already given birth to a child with autism, to see if there are any common exposures that might be a factor in developing autism.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
U.S.ScienceHealthLifestyle
CHICAGO Tue Jan 5, 2010. Another study finds no MMR-autism link.
1. Mon, Jan 4 2010. One percent of U.S. children have autism: study
2. Fri, Dec 18 2009. Mercury levels similar in autistic, normal kids
3. Mon, Oct 19 2009. More kids have autism than thought: U.S. study
Mon, Oct 5 2009. CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have identified 10 locations in California that have double the rates of autism found in surrounding areas, and these clusters were located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of white, highly educated parents.
Researchers at the University of California Davis had hoped to uncover pockets of autism that might reveal clues about triggers in the environment that could explain rising rates of autism, which affects as many as one in 110 U.S. children.
But the findings likely say more about the U.S. healthcare system than the causes of autism, said researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto of UC Davis' MIND Institute, whose study will be released online Wednesday in the journal Autism Research.
Advocacy groups have been clamoring for treatment options and for better research to show what might be causing an apparent increase in autism cases.
Hertz-Picciotto and colleagues used a research technique that has been effective at identifying cancer clusters.
"This kind of analysis sometimes turns up clues about environmental factors," she said in a telephone interview.
The researchers looked at about 2.5 million births recorded in California from 1996 through 2000. About 10,000 of those children were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to the state's department of developmental services.
Using data from birth records, the team found a strong link between parental education and the high rates of autism.
"In this particular case, we found 10 clusters of autism across the state of California. When we looked further, we discovered virtually all of them were areas where there was a higher level of education among the parents who were giving birth in those years," Hertz-Picciotto said.
"We already know that people with a higher education in the United States are more likely to get a diagnosis of autism for their child. It doesn't necessarily mean that autism occurs more frequently in those families," she said.
"It was also a greater likelihood to be white, non-Hispanic, and for the parents to be a little bit older."
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
Hertz-Picciotto said studies in Denmark, which offers universal access to healthcare, have found no link between autism and race or socioeconomic status.
"In this country, we have a lot of people who are uninsured. They may not have someone to go to if they have suspicions about their child," she said.
She said some communities with lower education levels and fewer resources may have higher rates of undiagnosed autism. But the study did offer new clues about autism.
"What it tells us is if we want to go looking for environmental factors, they are not going to be these focused fixed points of contamination, for example," she said.
"It is probably going to be something much more widespread -- common sorts of exposures that are more across the board."
Hertz-Picciotto said her team is now undertaking two different kinds of studies to look for environmental causes of autism, a spectrum of diseases ranging from severe and profound inability to communicate and mental retardation to relatively mild symptoms called Asperger's syndrome.
In one, her team plans to collect dust samples from the homes of 1,300 families with autistic children to look for common chemicals, such as flame retardants, that might be playing a role.
In another, the researchers are following pregnant women who have already given birth to a child with autism, to see if there are any common exposures that might be a factor in developing autism.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
U.S.ScienceHealthLifestyle
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Google's Nexus One skips Australia...
ZDNet Australia By Reai LeMay and AAP
06 January 2010. Search giant Google has left Australia off the list of countries whose residents will be able to order its self-branded mobile handset based on its Android platform.
Announcing the product overnight, Google said it would ship Nexus One devices to buyers in the Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain and the US.
The launch of the device is seen as a direct challenge to heavyweight Apple's iPhone handsets, and was billed by Google as a "superphone" and the next step in the evolution of its Android software.
The internet giant worked with Taiwanese electronics titan HTC to make the Nexus One.
"I think you will see it pushes the limits of what's possible on a smart phone," HTC chief executive Peter Chou said on Tuesday as the smartphone was unveiled at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.
"It is very thin and feels good in your hand," he added.
Nexus One handsets are no thicker than pencils and no heavier than keychain Swiss Army knives, Google engineer Erick Tseng said while demonstrating one of the smartphones. "It is a great marriage of form and function," Tseng said. "It is really light."
Nexus One smartphones are built on the same Android 2.1 software that runs Droid smartphones that recently hit the market but feature innovations including 3D graphics, according to Tseng.
Google has launched its own online store at which the Nexus One will be sold.
Nexus One smartphones will be sold at the Google-hosted web store for $US529 ($A578) "unlocked," without ties to a telecom carrier. Nexus One handsets will be offered at prices starting at $US179 ($A196) if paired with T-Mobile service contracts in the US.
Google has made "strategic partnerships" with telecom firm Verizon in the United States and Vodafone in Europe.
Nexus One devices linked to service from Verizon in the US and Vodafone in Europe should be available by mid-year, according to Google.
AAP
06 January 2010. Search giant Google has left Australia off the list of countries whose residents will be able to order its self-branded mobile handset based on its Android platform.
Announcing the product overnight, Google said it would ship Nexus One devices to buyers in the Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain and the US.
The launch of the device is seen as a direct challenge to heavyweight Apple's iPhone handsets, and was billed by Google as a "superphone" and the next step in the evolution of its Android software.
The internet giant worked with Taiwanese electronics titan HTC to make the Nexus One.
"I think you will see it pushes the limits of what's possible on a smart phone," HTC chief executive Peter Chou said on Tuesday as the smartphone was unveiled at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.
"It is very thin and feels good in your hand," he added.
Nexus One handsets are no thicker than pencils and no heavier than keychain Swiss Army knives, Google engineer Erick Tseng said while demonstrating one of the smartphones. "It is a great marriage of form and function," Tseng said. "It is really light."
Nexus One smartphones are built on the same Android 2.1 software that runs Droid smartphones that recently hit the market but feature innovations including 3D graphics, according to Tseng.
Google has launched its own online store at which the Nexus One will be sold.
Nexus One smartphones will be sold at the Google-hosted web store for $US529 ($A578) "unlocked," without ties to a telecom carrier. Nexus One handsets will be offered at prices starting at $US179 ($A196) if paired with T-Mobile service contracts in the US.
Google has made "strategic partnerships" with telecom firm Verizon in the United States and Vodafone in Europe.
Nexus One devices linked to service from Verizon in the US and Vodafone in Europe should be available by mid-year, according to Google.
AAP
Elsevier.nl - Lifestyle - Nieuwe barkruk: haar om op te zitten...
Elsevier.nl - Lifestyle
Dinsdag 5 januari 2010.De Kroatische ontwerper Dejana Kabiljo komt met een wel heel aparte stoel. In haar lijn PRETTYPRETTY heads to sit on, presenteert ze een aantal stoelen bekleed met haren.
De harige stoelen van Kabiljo zijn in veel coupes verkrijgbaar.
De collectie bestaat uit barkrukken, stoelen en poeven gedecoreerd met haren. Ze zijn verkrijgbaar in de kleuren blond, zwart en brunette.
Kabiljo studeerde onder meer architectuur aan de Universiteit van Belgrado. In 2001 begon ze haar bedrijf Kabiljo Inc.
Materialen
'Met de Kabiljo Inc. producten zoekt ze naar innovatie op het gebied van menselijk gedrag. De materialen waarmee we werken worden grondig onderzocht en ondergaan verschillende experimentele processen, totdat alles past. Simpele dingen worden ontworpen voor deze ingewikkelde tijden,' aldus Kabiljo.
Onlangs werden haar barkrukken in gebruik genomen door het SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Door Roseline Lemoine
Dinsdag 5 januari 2010.De Kroatische ontwerper Dejana Kabiljo komt met een wel heel aparte stoel. In haar lijn PRETTYPRETTY heads to sit on, presenteert ze een aantal stoelen bekleed met haren.De harige stoelen van Kabiljo zijn in veel coupes verkrijgbaar.
De collectie bestaat uit barkrukken, stoelen en poeven gedecoreerd met haren. Ze zijn verkrijgbaar in de kleuren blond, zwart en brunette.
Kabiljo studeerde onder meer architectuur aan de Universiteit van Belgrado. In 2001 begon ze haar bedrijf Kabiljo Inc.
Materialen
'Met de Kabiljo Inc. producten zoekt ze naar innovatie op het gebied van menselijk gedrag. De materialen waarmee we werken worden grondig onderzocht en ondergaan verschillende experimentele processen, totdat alles past. Simpele dingen worden ontworpen voor deze ingewikkelde tijden,' aldus Kabiljo.
Onlangs werden haar barkrukken in gebruik genomen door het SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Door Roseline Lemoine
Friday, January 01, 2010
BBC News - Tiger Woods in new sponsorship loss as AT&T drops deal
BBC News
Thursday, 31 December 2009. Tiger Woods in new sponsorship loss as AT&T drops deal.Tiger Woods' sponsors continue to drop him. AT&T says it will no longer sponsor top golfer Tiger Woods, who announced earlier this month that he would take an indefinite break from the sport.
The company joins Accenture and Gillette in dropping support for the golfer after he admitted to "infidelity" to his wife.
AT&T's logo appeared on the golfer's bag. The company did not comment on its reasons for dropping Woods.
AT&T said it would continue to sponsor the AT&T National PGA event in July.
In a terse statement, AT&T said: "We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future."
The deal had been billed as a "multi-year" agreement when it was announced at the beginning of 2009.
Severed ties
The golfer became the first sportsman to earn more than $1bn from sponsorship deals and endorsements.
But a whole list of them have now loosened or severed their ties with him.
Apart from consulting firm Accenture and razor maker Gillette, the watchmaker Tag Heuer has scaled down its use of the star, while drinks manufacturer Gatorade discontinued a line of Tiger Woods-branded energy drinks.
It is not clear how much these deals separately brought in. AT&T also has not said how much its contract was worth.
A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Tiger Woods affair to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.
Soul searching
Tiger Woods announced in December that he would take a break from his sport, after allegations from a string of women that they had sexual relations with him.
He said at the time: "After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."
Woods is married with two children.
Thursday, 31 December 2009. Tiger Woods in new sponsorship loss as AT&T drops deal.Tiger Woods' sponsors continue to drop him. AT&T says it will no longer sponsor top golfer Tiger Woods, who announced earlier this month that he would take an indefinite break from the sport.The company joins Accenture and Gillette in dropping support for the golfer after he admitted to "infidelity" to his wife.
AT&T's logo appeared on the golfer's bag. The company did not comment on its reasons for dropping Woods.
AT&T said it would continue to sponsor the AT&T National PGA event in July.
In a terse statement, AT&T said: "We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future."
The deal had been billed as a "multi-year" agreement when it was announced at the beginning of 2009.
Severed ties
The golfer became the first sportsman to earn more than $1bn from sponsorship deals and endorsements.
But a whole list of them have now loosened or severed their ties with him.
Apart from consulting firm Accenture and razor maker Gillette, the watchmaker Tag Heuer has scaled down its use of the star, while drinks manufacturer Gatorade discontinued a line of Tiger Woods-branded energy drinks.
It is not clear how much these deals separately brought in. AT&T also has not said how much its contract was worth.
A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Tiger Woods affair to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.
Soul searching
Tiger Woods announced in December that he would take a break from his sport, after allegations from a string of women that they had sexual relations with him.
He said at the time: "After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."
Woods is married with two children.
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