Reuters.com
Thu Jun 29, 2006. BERLIN (Reuters) - A woman living in Germany is auctioning off her red Ferrari Enzo sports car and including a little extra in the package -- herself.
The 26-year-old has invited bids on Internet auction site ebay starting at 1.25 million euros ($1.6 million). She said she was rich herself, liked her car and was looking for a man who could foot the bill for such a luxury.
"Only a millionaire could afford such a car," said the woman, who gave her name as Leila and said she once worked as a singer in Syria. "I want a man who doesn't like me just for my money."
Leila said she would meet with interested bidders but would need to see the bidder's passport and proof of capital. No bids have been made yet in the auction which ends in a week.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Operation removes lightbulb from anus...
Reuters.com
Thu Jun 29, 2006. MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Fateh Mohammad, a prison inmate in Pakistan, says he woke up last weekend with a glass lightbulb in his anus.
Wednesday night, doctors brought Mohammad's misery to an end after a one-and-a-half hour operation to remove the object.
"Thanks Allah, now I feel comfort. Today, I had my breakfast. I was just drinking water, nothing else," Mohammad, a grey-beared man in his mid-40s, told Reuters from a hospital bed in the southern central city of Multan.
"We had to take it out intact," said Dr. Farrukh Aftab at Nishtar Hospital. "Had it been broken inside, it would be a very very complicated situation."
Mohammad, who is serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn't know the bulb was there.
"When I woke up I felt a pain in my lower abdomen, but later in hospital, they told me this," Mohammad said.
"I don't know who did this to me. Police or other prisoners."
The doctor treating Mohammad said he'd never encountered anything like it before, and doubted the felon's story that someone had drugged him and inserted the bulb while he was comatose.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Thu Jun 29, 2006. MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Fateh Mohammad, a prison inmate in Pakistan, says he woke up last weekend with a glass lightbulb in his anus.Wednesday night, doctors brought Mohammad's misery to an end after a one-and-a-half hour operation to remove the object.
"Thanks Allah, now I feel comfort. Today, I had my breakfast. I was just drinking water, nothing else," Mohammad, a grey-beared man in his mid-40s, told Reuters from a hospital bed in the southern central city of Multan.
"We had to take it out intact," said Dr. Farrukh Aftab at Nishtar Hospital. "Had it been broken inside, it would be a very very complicated situation."
Mohammad, who is serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn't know the bulb was there.
"When I woke up I felt a pain in my lower abdomen, but later in hospital, they told me this," Mohammad said.
"I don't know who did this to me. Police or other prisoners."
The doctor treating Mohammad said he'd never encountered anything like it before, and doubted the felon's story that someone had drugged him and inserted the bulb while he was comatose.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Google Checkout to make debut...
Internet News-Reuters.com By Lisa Baertlein
Thu Jun 29, 2006. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Google Inc. on Thursday will launch a long-awaited service called Google Checkout, which some analysts said could help online merchants boost sales and convince them to commit more advertising money to the Web search leader.
Analysts were mixed on whether the product, initially available only in the United States, puts eBay Inc.'s PayPal online payment system in Google's competitive sights.
The new offering, referred to in news and analyst reports as GBuy or Google Wallet, promises online sellers an easy way to add a checkout to their sites and can be used in addition to other options such as PayPal or a merchant's own pay system.
Google said Checkout stores names, shipping and credit card information and eliminates the need for consumers to resubmit that data with each purchase. Google is responsible for processing the credit card payments and keeping data safe.
"We think we're making e-commerce a lot more efficient and easier to use," Salar Kamangar, Google's vice president of product management, told Reuters.
Google charges merchants 2 percent of the value of each sale plus 20 cents per transaction -- a fee that early users said was in line with other options. The company rewards its advertisers by offering them $10 in free sales processing for every dollar they spend on its advertising program, AdWords.
"There is a clear revenue opportunity here," said Greg Sterling, an independent analyst, who noted that Google built its massive business on lots of tiny transactions.
While Sterling said eBay and financial analysts will likely view the product as a PayPal competitor, Forrester analyst Charlene Li and early users such as Buy.com said it will expand the market by giving consumers another way to pay.
"I don't think this was created to compete with eBay. (Google) did this to create more search advertising," Li said.
Li said search ads have become so popular that merchants -- especially sellers of sought-after products like digital cameras -- have seen key word ads become prohibitively pricey.
If Google helps Web retailers sell more, they could be persuaded to spend more money on AdWords, Li said. It's a win, win, win all around."
"Google is looking at exactly the right problem," said John Bresee, president of Backcountry.com, which specializes in high-end outdoor gear and had $52 million in revenue in 2005.
The company, along with online stores run by Starbucks Corp., Timberland, Levi Strauss & Co. and underwear seller Jockey, is among the first to try Checkout.
Users will be shown in search results next to a shopping cart icon, and Bresee hopes it can convert a higher percentage of shoppers into buyers.
"What we may discover is that Google knows a lot about search, but they don't know a lot about the way consumers are shopping. We just don't know," Bresee said.
In storing personal data, Google Checkout is reminiscent of Passport, Microsoft's online wallet, which bumped into security and privacy issues and failed to live up to the software titan's expectations after its launch about seven years ago.
While Google is popular, it angered privacy advocates with an e-mail product that delivers ads based on message content.
Li predicted an eventual backlash as Google pushes ahead with its goal to be the world's information clearinghouse and encounters inevitable customer service problems.
"Whereas Microsoft wanted to own the desktop, Google wants the monopoly on your information," she said, noting Checkout also provides buyers with a purchase history that shows where they spend their money. "I'm concerned that they could fall into a situation where they're the next Microsoft."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Thu Jun 29, 2006. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Google Inc. on Thursday will launch a long-awaited service called Google Checkout, which some analysts said could help online merchants boost sales and convince them to commit more advertising money to the Web search leader.Analysts were mixed on whether the product, initially available only in the United States, puts eBay Inc.'s PayPal online payment system in Google's competitive sights.
The new offering, referred to in news and analyst reports as GBuy or Google Wallet, promises online sellers an easy way to add a checkout to their sites and can be used in addition to other options such as PayPal or a merchant's own pay system.
Google said Checkout stores names, shipping and credit card information and eliminates the need for consumers to resubmit that data with each purchase. Google is responsible for processing the credit card payments and keeping data safe.
"We think we're making e-commerce a lot more efficient and easier to use," Salar Kamangar, Google's vice president of product management, told Reuters.
Google charges merchants 2 percent of the value of each sale plus 20 cents per transaction -- a fee that early users said was in line with other options. The company rewards its advertisers by offering them $10 in free sales processing for every dollar they spend on its advertising program, AdWords.
"There is a clear revenue opportunity here," said Greg Sterling, an independent analyst, who noted that Google built its massive business on lots of tiny transactions.
While Sterling said eBay and financial analysts will likely view the product as a PayPal competitor, Forrester analyst Charlene Li and early users such as Buy.com said it will expand the market by giving consumers another way to pay.
"I don't think this was created to compete with eBay. (Google) did this to create more search advertising," Li said.
Li said search ads have become so popular that merchants -- especially sellers of sought-after products like digital cameras -- have seen key word ads become prohibitively pricey.
If Google helps Web retailers sell more, they could be persuaded to spend more money on AdWords, Li said. It's a win, win, win all around."
"Google is looking at exactly the right problem," said John Bresee, president of Backcountry.com, which specializes in high-end outdoor gear and had $52 million in revenue in 2005.
The company, along with online stores run by Starbucks Corp., Timberland, Levi Strauss & Co. and underwear seller Jockey, is among the first to try Checkout.
Users will be shown in search results next to a shopping cart icon, and Bresee hopes it can convert a higher percentage of shoppers into buyers.
"What we may discover is that Google knows a lot about search, but they don't know a lot about the way consumers are shopping. We just don't know," Bresee said.
In storing personal data, Google Checkout is reminiscent of Passport, Microsoft's online wallet, which bumped into security and privacy issues and failed to live up to the software titan's expectations after its launch about seven years ago.
While Google is popular, it angered privacy advocates with an e-mail product that delivers ads based on message content.
Li predicted an eventual backlash as Google pushes ahead with its goal to be the world's information clearinghouse and encounters inevitable customer service problems.
"Whereas Microsoft wanted to own the desktop, Google wants the monopoly on your information," she said, noting Checkout also provides buyers with a purchase history that shows where they spend their money. "I'm concerned that they could fall into a situation where they're the next Microsoft."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Hot flashes often followed by insomnia...
Health News Reuters.com
Wed Jun 28, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who suffer hot flashes, especially severe hot flashes, often have trouble sleeping, a new study confirms. And, according to study author Maurice M. Ohayon, "hot flashes are linked with insomnia regardless of the menopausal status of women."
"A woman can be in her pre-menopause and have hot flashes during the day and/or the night that may impair sleep quality," Ohayon, from the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center in Palo Alto, California told Reuters Health. As the severity of hot flashes increases, so does the insomnia.
As many as 85 percent of women going through menopause experience hot flashes, which may last well beyond a woman's last menstrual cycle. Because these unpleasant sensations of intense heat and sweating can occur at night, their presence has been frequently linked to insomnia in menopausal women.
However, because many factors other than hot flashes or menopause can also lead to sleep problems, the exact link between hot flashes and insomnia has been hard to establish.
In Ohayon's study, 982 women were interviewed regarding hot flashes, insomnia and other ailments that might impact sleep. Of these women, 562 (57.2 percent) were premenopausal; 219 (22.3 percent) were perimenopausal, defined as having irregular menstrual bleeding in the previous year; and 201 (20.5 percent) were postmenopausal, defined as no menstrual bleeding in the previous year.
Information gleaned from these interviews shows that insomnia is "mostly secondary to hot flashes," Ohayon said. "More importantly, the association between hot flashes and insomnia remains very strong even when we controlled for other factors that could explain insomnia for example, depression, anxiety, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome" Ohayon said.
Overall, about 33 percent of women said they suffered from hot flashes, according to the report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. This included 12 percent of premenopausal women, 79 percent of perimenopausal women, and 39 percent of postmenopausal women.
About half of the women with hot flashes said these episodes were usually mild and did not involve sweating; about one third said their hot flashes were moderate, meaning the hot flash involved sweating but did not require a woman to stop an activity; and 15 percent reported severe hot flashes, meaning she experienced sweating and had to stop what she was doing.
More than 80 percent of women with regular severe hot flashes had chronic insomnia, defined as having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, "non-restful" sleep, or overall dissatisfaction with sleep quality or quantity for at least 6 months.
"Hot flashes remain an important factor in insomnia in women in midlife, independent of their menopausal status," Ohayon concluded in his report.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, June 26, 2006.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Wed Jun 28, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who suffer hot flashes, especially severe hot flashes, often have trouble sleeping, a new study confirms. And, according to study author Maurice M. Ohayon, "hot flashes are linked with insomnia regardless of the menopausal status of women."
"A woman can be in her pre-menopause and have hot flashes during the day and/or the night that may impair sleep quality," Ohayon, from the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center in Palo Alto, California told Reuters Health. As the severity of hot flashes increases, so does the insomnia.
As many as 85 percent of women going through menopause experience hot flashes, which may last well beyond a woman's last menstrual cycle. Because these unpleasant sensations of intense heat and sweating can occur at night, their presence has been frequently linked to insomnia in menopausal women.
However, because many factors other than hot flashes or menopause can also lead to sleep problems, the exact link between hot flashes and insomnia has been hard to establish.
In Ohayon's study, 982 women were interviewed regarding hot flashes, insomnia and other ailments that might impact sleep. Of these women, 562 (57.2 percent) were premenopausal; 219 (22.3 percent) were perimenopausal, defined as having irregular menstrual bleeding in the previous year; and 201 (20.5 percent) were postmenopausal, defined as no menstrual bleeding in the previous year.
Information gleaned from these interviews shows that insomnia is "mostly secondary to hot flashes," Ohayon said. "More importantly, the association between hot flashes and insomnia remains very strong even when we controlled for other factors that could explain insomnia for example, depression, anxiety, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome" Ohayon said.
Overall, about 33 percent of women said they suffered from hot flashes, according to the report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. This included 12 percent of premenopausal women, 79 percent of perimenopausal women, and 39 percent of postmenopausal women.
About half of the women with hot flashes said these episodes were usually mild and did not involve sweating; about one third said their hot flashes were moderate, meaning the hot flash involved sweating but did not require a woman to stop an activity; and 15 percent reported severe hot flashes, meaning she experienced sweating and had to stop what she was doing.
More than 80 percent of women with regular severe hot flashes had chronic insomnia, defined as having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, "non-restful" sleep, or overall dissatisfaction with sleep quality or quantity for at least 6 months.
"Hot flashes remain an important factor in insomnia in women in midlife, independent of their menopausal status," Ohayon concluded in his report.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, June 26, 2006.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Sleep loss, air conditioning may be making us fat...
Yahoo! News By Amy Norton
Tue Jun 27, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - "Super-sized" fast food meals and TV time shouldn't take all the blame for the U.S. obesity problem, according to a research review published Tuesday.
In fact, a group of researchers contend, a number of aspects of modern living -- from lack of sleep to exposure to environmental chemicals to living with air conditioning -- may be feeding Americans' weight woes.
Writing in the International Journal of Obesity, they argue that obesity research and prevention efforts need to look beyond the "Big Two" -- food industry practices, like beefed-up portion sizes and added sugar; and reduced physical activity from factors such as cuts in school gym classes.
That's not to say that diet and exercise aren't important, said report co-author Dr. David B. Allison of the University of Alabama at Birmingham
However, he told Reuters Health, the evidence linking obesity to food industry marketing and lack of gym class is circumstantial.
It's equally plausible that a range of other factors are also involved, Allison and his colleagues point out.
Lack of sleep is one, they say. Research in animals and humans suggests that chronic sleep deprivation boosts appetite and eating, and studies also show that U.S. adults and children are sleeping less than they used to. In recent decades, adults have gone from sleeping for an average of 9 hours to about 7 hours, the researchers point out.
There is also evidence that industrial chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors may increase body fat. These chemicals, which are used in products such as pesticides and plastics, alter hormonal activity when they get into the body. Studies suggest that people have been increasingly exposed to these chemicals through the food chain in recent decades.
Another factor potentially weighing Americans down is air conditioning. The body burns calories when forced to regulate its own temperature and, Allison noted, people tend to eat less in hot, humid weather.
He and his colleagues cite 10 potential obesity risk factors in all, including: increased rates of older mothers, whose children may be more prone to excess weight gain; a range of medications, such as antidepressants, which can promote weight gain; and a decrease in smoking rates, because people often gain weight when they quit and the absence of nicotine, an appetite suppressant.
No one is suggesting that people should stop taking their prescriptions, keep smoking or swelter in the July sun, according to Allison. When it comes to any one person's weight, he said, "what ultimately matters is calorie intake and calorie expenditure."
That means diet and exercise is still key.
But, Allison argued, researchers and policymakers should be "open-minded" about the potential contributors to the obesity problem and not assume that the answer lies in simple fixes like ridding schools of vending machines or installing sidewalks in the suburbs to encourage walking.
SOURCE: International Journal of Obesity, June 27, 2006 online.
Tue Jun 27, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - "Super-sized" fast food meals and TV time shouldn't take all the blame for the U.S. obesity problem, according to a research review published Tuesday.
In fact, a group of researchers contend, a number of aspects of modern living -- from lack of sleep to exposure to environmental chemicals to living with air conditioning -- may be feeding Americans' weight woes.
Writing in the International Journal of Obesity, they argue that obesity research and prevention efforts need to look beyond the "Big Two" -- food industry practices, like beefed-up portion sizes and added sugar; and reduced physical activity from factors such as cuts in school gym classes.
That's not to say that diet and exercise aren't important, said report co-author Dr. David B. Allison of the University of Alabama at Birmingham
However, he told Reuters Health, the evidence linking obesity to food industry marketing and lack of gym class is circumstantial.
It's equally plausible that a range of other factors are also involved, Allison and his colleagues point out.
Lack of sleep is one, they say. Research in animals and humans suggests that chronic sleep deprivation boosts appetite and eating, and studies also show that U.S. adults and children are sleeping less than they used to. In recent decades, adults have gone from sleeping for an average of 9 hours to about 7 hours, the researchers point out.
There is also evidence that industrial chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors may increase body fat. These chemicals, which are used in products such as pesticides and plastics, alter hormonal activity when they get into the body. Studies suggest that people have been increasingly exposed to these chemicals through the food chain in recent decades.
Another factor potentially weighing Americans down is air conditioning. The body burns calories when forced to regulate its own temperature and, Allison noted, people tend to eat less in hot, humid weather.
He and his colleagues cite 10 potential obesity risk factors in all, including: increased rates of older mothers, whose children may be more prone to excess weight gain; a range of medications, such as antidepressants, which can promote weight gain; and a decrease in smoking rates, because people often gain weight when they quit and the absence of nicotine, an appetite suppressant.
No one is suggesting that people should stop taking their prescriptions, keep smoking or swelter in the July sun, according to Allison. When it comes to any one person's weight, he said, "what ultimately matters is calorie intake and calorie expenditure."
That means diet and exercise is still key.
But, Allison argued, researchers and policymakers should be "open-minded" about the potential contributors to the obesity problem and not assume that the answer lies in simple fixes like ridding schools of vending machines or installing sidewalks in the suburbs to encourage walking.
SOURCE: International Journal of Obesity, June 27, 2006 online.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
France unveils national rival to Google Earth...
Technology News-Reuters.com
Fri Jun 23, 2006. PARIS (Reuters) - A clear view of your favorite French beach or monument is only a click away.
France unveiled a Web site (www.geoportail.fr) on Friday that allows people to access detailed satellite images of the country and said it offered more detail of its territory than Google Earth (www.earth.google.com).
Google Earth, which allows Internet users to zoom in on locations around the world, caused concern when it was launched last year among governments who feared terrorists might use the service to help plot attacks.
But President Jacques Chirac stressed the need for France to have such a site, which will allow Internet users to view aerial photos and maps, saying the state had to be at the cutting edge of modern technology.
"It is also a case of economics," Chirac was quoted by his office as saying during a presentation of the new portal, which is a joint project by the National Geographic Institute and the Office of Geological and Mineral Research.
"With Galileo (the European Union satellite navigation system), with the mobile telephone, services linked to global positioning will develop a lot. It is also about democracy because our citizens have the right to know all the facts about the environment."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Fri Jun 23, 2006. PARIS (Reuters) - A clear view of your favorite French beach or monument is only a click away.
France unveiled a Web site (www.geoportail.fr) on Friday that allows people to access detailed satellite images of the country and said it offered more detail of its territory than Google Earth (www.earth.google.com).
Google Earth, which allows Internet users to zoom in on locations around the world, caused concern when it was launched last year among governments who feared terrorists might use the service to help plot attacks.
But President Jacques Chirac stressed the need for France to have such a site, which will allow Internet users to view aerial photos and maps, saying the state had to be at the cutting edge of modern technology.
"It is also a case of economics," Chirac was quoted by his office as saying during a presentation of the new portal, which is a joint project by the National Geographic Institute and the Office of Geological and Mineral Research.
"With Galileo (the European Union satellite navigation system), with the mobile telephone, services linked to global positioning will develop a lot. It is also about democracy because our citizens have the right to know all the facts about the environment."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Saddam ends hunger strike after missing one meal...
Reuters.com
Fri Jun 23, 2006. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein ended a brief hunger strike after missing just one meal in his U.S.-run prison, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.
The former Iraqi leader had refused lunch Thursday in protest at the killing of one of his lawyers by gunmen, but the spokesman said he ate his evening meal.
Former Saddam aides being held in the same prison had refused to eat three meals since Wednesday evening but ended their fast with the ex-president.
"They all took their dinner meal," the spokesman told Reuters.
Saddam is on trial for crimes against humanity for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 Shi'ites in Dujail. His lead counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, has blamed pro-government Shi'ite militias for the murder of his deputy Khamis al-Obaidi Wednesday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Fri Jun 23, 2006. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein ended a brief hunger strike after missing just one meal in his U.S.-run prison, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.
The former Iraqi leader had refused lunch Thursday in protest at the killing of one of his lawyers by gunmen, but the spokesman said he ate his evening meal.
Former Saddam aides being held in the same prison had refused to eat three meals since Wednesday evening but ended their fast with the ex-president.
"They all took their dinner meal," the spokesman told Reuters.
Saddam is on trial for crimes against humanity for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 Shi'ites in Dujail. His lead counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, has blamed pro-government Shi'ite militias for the murder of his deputy Khamis al-Obaidi Wednesday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Fan forgets hotel location in six-hour ordeal...
Reuters.com
Fri Jun 23, 2006. BERLIN (Reuters) - German police rescued an American soccer fan lost in Hanover and unable to find his hotel again after helplessly wandering around the city for more than six hours after a match, federal police said Friday.
The 25-year-old Boston man had checked into his hotel in the afternoon before going to see a match between Poland and Costa Rica but could not remember his hotel's name, its address or anything else about it, police spokesman Holger Jureczko said.
"He came into the police station at 3 a.m. and asked for help," Jureczko said.
"The only thing he could remember was paying 10 euros for a taxi ride to the city center and that he went past a park and a Mercedes dealer. There are a lot of Mercedes dealers in Hanover but we were able to find the one in the vicinity of a park."
Police took the American to the area that matched his vague description in the city of 500,000 and spent an hour driving up and down streets in that quarter until he recognized his hotel just before dawn Wednesday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Fri Jun 23, 2006. BERLIN (Reuters) - German police rescued an American soccer fan lost in Hanover and unable to find his hotel again after helplessly wandering around the city for more than six hours after a match, federal police said Friday.
The 25-year-old Boston man had checked into his hotel in the afternoon before going to see a match between Poland and Costa Rica but could not remember his hotel's name, its address or anything else about it, police spokesman Holger Jureczko said.
"He came into the police station at 3 a.m. and asked for help," Jureczko said.
"The only thing he could remember was paying 10 euros for a taxi ride to the city center and that he went past a park and a Mercedes dealer. There are a lot of Mercedes dealers in Hanover but we were able to find the one in the vicinity of a park."
Police took the American to the area that matched his vague description in the city of 500,000 and spent an hour driving up and down streets in that quarter until he recognized his hotel just before dawn Wednesday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Men advised to freeze sperm before vasectomy...
Health News-Reuters.com
Wed Jun 21, 2006. PRAGUE (Reuters) - Men should freeze their sperm before having a vasectomy in case they change their mind about having children because the procedure may damage sperm, a fertility expert said on Wednesday.
A vasectomy can be reversed and men have fathered children afterwards. But Professor Nares Sukcharoen, of the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, said men who have had a reversal may have an increased risk of damaged sperm.
In a small study of men who had a vasectomy reversal, Sukcharoen and his team found a higher number of chromosome abnormalities in sperm than in men who had not had the surgery.
"The conclusion of the study is that the vasectomy seemed to be the cause of the abnormal sperm," he told a press conference at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
"It is advisable to freeze sperm before a vasectomy," he added.
Vasectomy is a short, minor surgical procedure done under local anesthetic. It involves sealing the tubes, or vas deferens, that carry sperm. It does not affect a man's sex drive or performance.
In a vasectomy reversal the tubes are rejoined but the operation is not always successful. Only a small percentage of men seek to have the surgery reversed.
Sukcharoen said more research and larger studies are needed to confirm his results and to answer questions such as whether the problem can be reversed, how long it would take and if babies born after a reversal may have problems.
"We need a lot more evidence and research on this issue before we can be certain of avoiding the dangers," he added.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Wed Jun 21, 2006. PRAGUE (Reuters) - Men should freeze their sperm before having a vasectomy in case they change their mind about having children because the procedure may damage sperm, a fertility expert said on Wednesday.
A vasectomy can be reversed and men have fathered children afterwards. But Professor Nares Sukcharoen, of the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, said men who have had a reversal may have an increased risk of damaged sperm.
In a small study of men who had a vasectomy reversal, Sukcharoen and his team found a higher number of chromosome abnormalities in sperm than in men who had not had the surgery.
"The conclusion of the study is that the vasectomy seemed to be the cause of the abnormal sperm," he told a press conference at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
"It is advisable to freeze sperm before a vasectomy," he added.
Vasectomy is a short, minor surgical procedure done under local anesthetic. It involves sealing the tubes, or vas deferens, that carry sperm. It does not affect a man's sex drive or performance.
In a vasectomy reversal the tubes are rejoined but the operation is not always successful. Only a small percentage of men seek to have the surgery reversed.
Sukcharoen said more research and larger studies are needed to confirm his results and to answer questions such as whether the problem can be reversed, how long it would take and if babies born after a reversal may have problems.
"We need a lot more evidence and research on this issue before we can be certain of avoiding the dangers," he added.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Parents pinch pennies from piggy banks...
Reuters.com
Wed Jun 21, 2006. SYDNEY (Reuters) - One in four Australian parents regularly "borrow" money from their children's piggy banks to pay for anything from bread to luxury holidays, a survey said Wednesday.
Mums are more than twice as likely to raid their children's savings than dad, with 35 percent of mothers confessing to the crime compared with 16 percent of fathers.
But almost 9 out of 10 still believed they were setting a good example of financial management for their tiny tycoons.
Fund management firm Bankwest surveyed almost 400 parents or guardians of children aged 17 or under.
"I am guilty of the crime myself," Paul Vivian, Bankwest's head of retail deposits, told Reuters.
"If you can't find any money, you know the one place you can always rely on is the kids' piggy banks. But my wife always makes sure I put it back -- with interest," he said.
Of those who admitted to raiding piggy banks, more than half said they used the money to buy essentials such as petrol, milk and bread.
Another 20 per cent said they needed the money to pay off water and electricity bills and other utilities. But 16 per cent put their children's savings toward such extravagances as holidays or new cars.
The survey follows Reserve Bank of Australia findings that many Australians spent more than they earned in the past three years. On average, Australians saved only 2.9 percent of their annual income.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Wed Jun 21, 2006. SYDNEY (Reuters) - One in four Australian parents regularly "borrow" money from their children's piggy banks to pay for anything from bread to luxury holidays, a survey said Wednesday.
Mums are more than twice as likely to raid their children's savings than dad, with 35 percent of mothers confessing to the crime compared with 16 percent of fathers.
But almost 9 out of 10 still believed they were setting a good example of financial management for their tiny tycoons.
Fund management firm Bankwest surveyed almost 400 parents or guardians of children aged 17 or under.
"I am guilty of the crime myself," Paul Vivian, Bankwest's head of retail deposits, told Reuters.
"If you can't find any money, you know the one place you can always rely on is the kids' piggy banks. But my wife always makes sure I put it back -- with interest," he said.
Of those who admitted to raiding piggy banks, more than half said they used the money to buy essentials such as petrol, milk and bread.
Another 20 per cent said they needed the money to pay off water and electricity bills and other utilities. But 16 per cent put their children's savings toward such extravagances as holidays or new cars.
The survey follows Reserve Bank of Australia findings that many Australians spent more than they earned in the past three years. On average, Australians saved only 2.9 percent of their annual income.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Dutch report second "mad cow" human case...
World Crises Reuters.com
Thu 22 Jun 2006. AMSTERDAM, June 22 (Reuters) - A second Dutch person has been diagnosed with the human variant of mad cow disease after a woman died from the disease last year, Dutch health authorities said on Thursday.
The Dutch Institute for Health and Environment (RIVM) did not disclose any further details to protect the privacy of the patient. It said in a statement that the person most probably got infected by eating contaminated meat products. A 26-year-old Dutch woman, who had been diagnosed with the brain wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) disease -- the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- died in May 2005.
Over 150 cases of vCJD have been reported around the world, mostly in Britain, but also in France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States.
The disease is fatal and incurable. It is thought to be caused by eating food tainted with material from cattle with BSE, a progressive neurological disorder.
The Netherlands has imposed stricter restrictions on blood donation over concerns about the transmission of vCJD.
Mad cow disease first emerged in Britain in the 1980s and forced the destruction of millions of cattle.
The Netherlands is one of the world's biggest exporters of meat and dairy products and its livestock sector has undergone major intensification in the past few years, with most animals raised on specialised farms.
The country has suffered a series of animal disease crises in the past decade, including swine fever, foot-and-mouth and bird flu, leading to the culling of millions of animals.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Thu 22 Jun 2006. AMSTERDAM, June 22 (Reuters) - A second Dutch person has been diagnosed with the human variant of mad cow disease after a woman died from the disease last year, Dutch health authorities said on Thursday.
The Dutch Institute for Health and Environment (RIVM) did not disclose any further details to protect the privacy of the patient. It said in a statement that the person most probably got infected by eating contaminated meat products. A 26-year-old Dutch woman, who had been diagnosed with the brain wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) disease -- the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- died in May 2005.
Over 150 cases of vCJD have been reported around the world, mostly in Britain, but also in France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States.
The disease is fatal and incurable. It is thought to be caused by eating food tainted with material from cattle with BSE, a progressive neurological disorder.
The Netherlands has imposed stricter restrictions on blood donation over concerns about the transmission of vCJD.
Mad cow disease first emerged in Britain in the 1980s and forced the destruction of millions of cattle.
The Netherlands is one of the world's biggest exporters of meat and dairy products and its livestock sector has undergone major intensification in the past few years, with most animals raised on specialised farms.
The country has suffered a series of animal disease crises in the past decade, including swine fever, foot-and-mouth and bird flu, leading to the culling of millions of animals.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Well, there's your problem right there, more sex!
Reuters.com
<---More sex...
Thu Jun 22, 2006. TOKYO (Reuters) - More sex.
That's what one expert says is needed to solve Japan's baby shortage.
"Japanese people simply aren't having sex," Dr. Kunio Kitamura, director of the Japan Family Planning Association, was quoted as saying by the Japan Times, an English language daily.
An association survey of 936 people between the ages of 16 and 49 showed 31 percent had not had sex for more than a month "for no particular reason" -- a condition known as "sexless."
"As much as subsidies and welfare programs are important, sexlessness is also a critical issue in this problem."
Japan's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- fell to an all-time low of 1.25 last year. Demographers say a rate of 2.1 is needed to keep a population from declining.
Japan came last among 41 nations in a poll last year by condom manufacturer Durex, with lovers there having sex just 45 times a year compared to a global average of 103 times a year.
Kitamura said that while many men in workaholic Japan are simply too "stressed out" from their jobs to have enough energy for sex, many other couples simply do not have sex regularly.
In the association's survey, 44 percent of the people who said they weren't having much sex felt that having a relationship with the opposite sex was "very tiresome" or "tiresome."
Kitamura's advice? Couples should talk to each other.
"Ultimately, it's these interactions with the opposite sex that bring out the inevitable animal instinct in us -- to reproduce," he said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
<---More sex... Thu Jun 22, 2006. TOKYO (Reuters) - More sex.
That's what one expert says is needed to solve Japan's baby shortage.
"Japanese people simply aren't having sex," Dr. Kunio Kitamura, director of the Japan Family Planning Association, was quoted as saying by the Japan Times, an English language daily.
An association survey of 936 people between the ages of 16 and 49 showed 31 percent had not had sex for more than a month "for no particular reason" -- a condition known as "sexless."
"As much as subsidies and welfare programs are important, sexlessness is also a critical issue in this problem."
Japan's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- fell to an all-time low of 1.25 last year. Demographers say a rate of 2.1 is needed to keep a population from declining.
Japan came last among 41 nations in a poll last year by condom manufacturer Durex, with lovers there having sex just 45 times a year compared to a global average of 103 times a year.
Kitamura said that while many men in workaholic Japan are simply too "stressed out" from their jobs to have enough energy for sex, many other couples simply do not have sex regularly.
In the association's survey, 44 percent of the people who said they weren't having much sex felt that having a relationship with the opposite sex was "very tiresome" or "tiresome."
Kitamura's advice? Couples should talk to each other.
"Ultimately, it's these interactions with the opposite sex that bring out the inevitable animal instinct in us -- to reproduce," he said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
IBM develops speedier transistor...
Technology News-Reuters.com
Tue Jun 20, 2006. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM has built a transistor that runs about 100 times faster than current chips, a development that could pave the way for ultra-fast computers and wireless networks, the computing giant said on Monday.
Transistors are the basic building blocks of the processors found in everything from supercomputers to digital music players, and IBM achieved the record speeds by building one from silicon laced with exotic chemical element germanium.
"What we've been doing in the last several years is pushing the absolute limits of silicon technology," said Bernie Meyerson, head of semiconductor research for International Business Machines (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) .
"What we've done in demonstrating this is that we're nowhere near having tapped the limits of silicon performance, and that's very encouraging," Meyerson said.
The transistor achieved a speed of 500 gigahertz, which is more than 100 times speedier than the fastest PC chips sold today, and about 250 times faster than the typical mobile telephone chip, Meyerson said.
That speed was hit only when IBM researchers, working with counterparts from the Georgia Institute of Technology, cooled the transistor to near absolute zero, but Meyerson said the device still ran at 300 gigahertz at room temperature.
Clay Ryder, president of Sageza Group, a technology market research firm, said the breakthrough should lead to faster processors, but ones that will run far below the top speed demonstrated by IBM.
"We can build a (race car) that can go 240 miles per hour, but is that what you're going to drive to work? No, but you learn things that you can put in mass-produced cars," Ryder said.
Most improvements in chip speeds over the years have come from shrinking the size of transistors, but IBM's approach is to tweak the silicon on the atomic level, meaning that transistors can be designed from the ground up with very specific applications in mind.
"That means you can have Babe Ruth-style scenarios where you step up and point the bat to left field and nail a shot there," Meyerson said.
Meyerson forecasts that the advances will show up in real products within a couple years, probably in chips to power super-fast wireless networks capable of moving a DVD-quality movie in as little as 5 seconds.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Tue Jun 20, 2006. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM has built a transistor that runs about 100 times faster than current chips, a development that could pave the way for ultra-fast computers and wireless networks, the computing giant said on Monday.
Transistors are the basic building blocks of the processors found in everything from supercomputers to digital music players, and IBM achieved the record speeds by building one from silicon laced with exotic chemical element germanium.
"What we've been doing in the last several years is pushing the absolute limits of silicon technology," said Bernie Meyerson, head of semiconductor research for International Business Machines (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) .
"What we've done in demonstrating this is that we're nowhere near having tapped the limits of silicon performance, and that's very encouraging," Meyerson said.
The transistor achieved a speed of 500 gigahertz, which is more than 100 times speedier than the fastest PC chips sold today, and about 250 times faster than the typical mobile telephone chip, Meyerson said.
That speed was hit only when IBM researchers, working with counterparts from the Georgia Institute of Technology, cooled the transistor to near absolute zero, but Meyerson said the device still ran at 300 gigahertz at room temperature.
Clay Ryder, president of Sageza Group, a technology market research firm, said the breakthrough should lead to faster processors, but ones that will run far below the top speed demonstrated by IBM.
"We can build a (race car) that can go 240 miles per hour, but is that what you're going to drive to work? No, but you learn things that you can put in mass-produced cars," Ryder said.
Most improvements in chip speeds over the years have come from shrinking the size of transistors, but IBM's approach is to tweak the silicon on the atomic level, meaning that transistors can be designed from the ground up with very specific applications in mind.
"That means you can have Babe Ruth-style scenarios where you step up and point the bat to left field and nail a shot there," Meyerson said.
Meyerson forecasts that the advances will show up in real products within a couple years, probably in chips to power super-fast wireless networks capable of moving a DVD-quality movie in as little as 5 seconds.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Cheaters score high marks for ingenuity...
Reuters.com
Tue Jun 20, 2006. BEIJING (Reuters) - Using microscopic earphones and wireless devices, Chinese students upped the ante in the high-tech battle to counter cheating during university entrance exams this month, putting some in hospital as a result.
With 9.5 million students competing for only 2.6 million vacancies, some universities installed cameras and mobile-phone blocking technology at exam halls to foil the cheats.
But students "racked their brains" and in some cases injured themselves with "low-quality devices" to come up with new ways to cheat, state media reported Tuesday, underlining the highly competitive nature of education in China.
A student in Wuhan, capital of China's central province of Hubei, used earphones so small that they slipped into his aural canal and perforated his eardrum, the China Daily newspaper said.
Another student's earphones required an operation for their removal, the paper said, while an electronic device connected to headphones and strapped to a third student's body exploded, leaving a bleeding hole in his abdomen.
Supervisors at an exam hall in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, found over 100 "cheating tools" including earphones hidden in vests, wallets and waistbands, the paper said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Tue Jun 20, 2006. BEIJING (Reuters) - Using microscopic earphones and wireless devices, Chinese students upped the ante in the high-tech battle to counter cheating during university entrance exams this month, putting some in hospital as a result.With 9.5 million students competing for only 2.6 million vacancies, some universities installed cameras and mobile-phone blocking technology at exam halls to foil the cheats.
But students "racked their brains" and in some cases injured themselves with "low-quality devices" to come up with new ways to cheat, state media reported Tuesday, underlining the highly competitive nature of education in China.
A student in Wuhan, capital of China's central province of Hubei, used earphones so small that they slipped into his aural canal and perforated his eardrum, the China Daily newspaper said.
Another student's earphones required an operation for their removal, the paper said, while an electronic device connected to headphones and strapped to a third student's body exploded, leaving a bleeding hole in his abdomen.
Supervisors at an exam hall in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, found over 100 "cheating tools" including earphones hidden in vests, wallets and waistbands, the paper said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Pregnant pause as Moms wait for baby bonus...
Reuters.com
Mon Jun 19, 2006. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian hospitals are bracing for a baby boom in July as expectant mothers try to delay imminent births to take advantage of a new welfare payment, researchers said Monday.
From July 1, a baby bonus paid to the parents for every newborn child will increase by A$1,000 ($740) to A$4,000.
Economists said that after the baby bonus was introduced in July 2004 about 700 births were delayed by a week to take advantage of the new payment.
Melbourne Business School economist Professor Joshua Gans and Australian National University colleague Andrew Leigh said that around 300 births were moved by more than two weeks.
Most of those births involved caesarean sections or induced deliveries, they said.
In a bid to overcome Australia's low fertility rate and aging population, Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government has urged couples to have more children.
Treasurer Peter Costello suggested two years ago that Australian couples should have "one for mum, one for dad and one for the country."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Mon Jun 19, 2006. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian hospitals are bracing for a baby boom in July as expectant mothers try to delay imminent births to take advantage of a new welfare payment, researchers said Monday.
From July 1, a baby bonus paid to the parents for every newborn child will increase by A$1,000 ($740) to A$4,000.
Economists said that after the baby bonus was introduced in July 2004 about 700 births were delayed by a week to take advantage of the new payment.
Melbourne Business School economist Professor Joshua Gans and Australian National University colleague Andrew Leigh said that around 300 births were moved by more than two weeks.
Most of those births involved caesarean sections or induced deliveries, they said.
In a bid to overcome Australia's low fertility rate and aging population, Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government has urged couples to have more children.
Treasurer Peter Costello suggested two years ago that Australian couples should have "one for mum, one for dad and one for the country."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Vegetables may help arteries stay clear...
Health News-Reuters.com By Amy Norton
Mon Jun 19, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A healthy dose of vegetables every day may help keep the heart arteries clear, a study in mice suggests. Researchers found that lab mice given a diet full of broccoli, carrots, green beans, corn and peas developed far less artery narrowing than those reared on a veggie-free diet.
For humans, the findings offer more support for the advice health experts and mothers have long given: eat your vegetables.
Discounting French fries, most Americans aren't adequately heeding that advice, noted the study's lead author, Dr. Michael R. Adams of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The new research, he explained in an interview, adds to what's known about the health benefits of vegetables by showing that they may thwart the progression of atherosclerosis, a hardening and narrowing of arteries that can lead to heart disease and stroke.
Some studies have found that people who eat more vegetables tend to have fewer heart attacks, but studies such as those are not definitive. The current study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, appears to be the first to look at whether vegetable consumption can interfere with the process of atherosclerosis.
Adams and his colleagues studied mice that were genetically altered and bred to quickly develop the artery-clogging plaques that mark atherosclerosis. Starting at 6 weeks of age, half of the mice went on the veggie-rich diet -- with 30 percent of calories coming from freeze-dried vegetables -- while the other half followed a vegetable-free regimen.
Sixteen weeks later, the researchers found, the extent of atherosclerosis was 38 percent less in the vegetable-fed mice.
The animals also had somewhat lower cholesterol and much lower levels of a protein involved in inflammation -- which may help explain the clearer arteries, according to Adams.
Chronic inflammation in the blood vessels is believed to contribute to atherosclerosis, and research shows that plant compounds called polyphenols have both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant powers. Vegetables are also rich in vitamins that act as antioxidants, which means they neutralize cell-damaging molecules called oxygen free radicals.
The study focused on broccoli, green beans, peas, corn and carrots in part because they are among the most commonly consumed vegetables in the U.S. It's entirely possible, Adams said, that other vegetables have similar benefits against atherosclerosis, but they have yet to be studied.
General Mills Co., maker of the Green Giant brand of canned and frozen vegetables, funded the study.
SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, July/August 2006.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Mon Jun 19, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A healthy dose of vegetables every day may help keep the heart arteries clear, a study in mice suggests. Researchers found that lab mice given a diet full of broccoli, carrots, green beans, corn and peas developed far less artery narrowing than those reared on a veggie-free diet.
For humans, the findings offer more support for the advice health experts and mothers have long given: eat your vegetables.
Discounting French fries, most Americans aren't adequately heeding that advice, noted the study's lead author, Dr. Michael R. Adams of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The new research, he explained in an interview, adds to what's known about the health benefits of vegetables by showing that they may thwart the progression of atherosclerosis, a hardening and narrowing of arteries that can lead to heart disease and stroke.
Some studies have found that people who eat more vegetables tend to have fewer heart attacks, but studies such as those are not definitive. The current study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, appears to be the first to look at whether vegetable consumption can interfere with the process of atherosclerosis.
Adams and his colleagues studied mice that were genetically altered and bred to quickly develop the artery-clogging plaques that mark atherosclerosis. Starting at 6 weeks of age, half of the mice went on the veggie-rich diet -- with 30 percent of calories coming from freeze-dried vegetables -- while the other half followed a vegetable-free regimen.
Sixteen weeks later, the researchers found, the extent of atherosclerosis was 38 percent less in the vegetable-fed mice.
The animals also had somewhat lower cholesterol and much lower levels of a protein involved in inflammation -- which may help explain the clearer arteries, according to Adams.
Chronic inflammation in the blood vessels is believed to contribute to atherosclerosis, and research shows that plant compounds called polyphenols have both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant powers. Vegetables are also rich in vitamins that act as antioxidants, which means they neutralize cell-damaging molecules called oxygen free radicals.
The study focused on broccoli, green beans, peas, corn and carrots in part because they are among the most commonly consumed vegetables in the U.S. It's entirely possible, Adams said, that other vegetables have similar benefits against atherosclerosis, but they have yet to be studied.
General Mills Co., maker of the Green Giant brand of canned and frozen vegetables, funded the study.
SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, July/August 2006.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
School coursework being scanned for plagiarism...
Reuters.com
Fri Jun 16, 2006. LONDON (Reuters) - A new computer program, sensitive enough to detect even small fragments of copied work, is scanning school coursework this Summer, to see whether candidates have been lifting essays wholesale from the Internet.
Exam board Edexcel is using the Turnitin program on coursework submitted for GCSEs and A-levels.
Students accused of plagiarism will receive no grade for the module or possibly for the whole exam.
"We are determined to ensure that those who cheat are caught," said John Black, Edexcel's Head of Compliance and Quality Management.
"Additionally, this software will also benefit head teachers by providing detailed information and evidence, which they can use when discussing plagiarism with colleagues and candidates."
The Turnitin program scans billions of pages from the Internet, checking for match-ups between submitted coursework and previously published work.
Concerns about plagiarism resurfaced earlier this month after a study revealed the phenomenon of "contract cheating" in which students use legitimate out-sourcing Web sites to employ others to write essays for them.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Fri Jun 16, 2006. LONDON (Reuters) - A new computer program, sensitive enough to detect even small fragments of copied work, is scanning school coursework this Summer, to see whether candidates have been lifting essays wholesale from the Internet.
Exam board Edexcel is using the Turnitin program on coursework submitted for GCSEs and A-levels.
Students accused of plagiarism will receive no grade for the module or possibly for the whole exam.
"We are determined to ensure that those who cheat are caught," said John Black, Edexcel's Head of Compliance and Quality Management.
"Additionally, this software will also benefit head teachers by providing detailed information and evidence, which they can use when discussing plagiarism with colleagues and candidates."
The Turnitin program scans billions of pages from the Internet, checking for match-ups between submitted coursework and previously published work.
Concerns about plagiarism resurfaced earlier this month after a study revealed the phenomenon of "contract cheating" in which students use legitimate out-sourcing Web sites to employ others to write essays for them.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Commonwealth and Australian Medals Stolen
Athletics Australia - News Release
19 June 2006 3.33pm Manchester 1500m bronze medallist and dual Australian Champion Youcef Abdi has had his three medals stolen from his home in Sydney’s Cronulla.
Abdi, who is in Paris presently racing on the European Tour, received a call from Sydney over the weekend informing him that thieves had broken into his Cronulla home and stolen a number of items including his medals.
"The medals don’t have a market value, they cannot sell them, but they do have an irreplaceable sentimental value that doesn’t belong to anybody but the athlete who won it", Abdi said today from the French Capital.
"I am pleading to this person to understand and send back the medals, I wouldn’t ask this if I they could sell them and get money for them but in this case they can’t sell those medals. Please I hope you have a heart to understand the value of the medals and send them back to the Cronulla Police".
Abdi, born in Algeria, moved to Australia in 1996 and has consistently represented his adopted country internationally. The medals have extra significance for him given that they were won at the national titles of his adopted homeland and whilst representing Australia.
Athletics Australia joins Youcef in calling for the return of the medals which can be left at any police station, or the offices of Athletics NSW at Wentworth Park Raceway in Ultimo.
19 June 2006 3.33pm Manchester 1500m bronze medallist and dual Australian Champion Youcef Abdi has had his three medals stolen from his home in Sydney’s Cronulla.
Abdi, who is in Paris presently racing on the European Tour, received a call from Sydney over the weekend informing him that thieves had broken into his Cronulla home and stolen a number of items including his medals.
"The medals don’t have a market value, they cannot sell them, but they do have an irreplaceable sentimental value that doesn’t belong to anybody but the athlete who won it", Abdi said today from the French Capital.
"I am pleading to this person to understand and send back the medals, I wouldn’t ask this if I they could sell them and get money for them but in this case they can’t sell those medals. Please I hope you have a heart to understand the value of the medals and send them back to the Cronulla Police".
Abdi, born in Algeria, moved to Australia in 1996 and has consistently represented his adopted country internationally. The medals have extra significance for him given that they were won at the national titles of his adopted homeland and whilst representing Australia.
Athletics Australia joins Youcef in calling for the return of the medals which can be left at any police station, or the offices of Athletics NSW at Wentworth Park Raceway in Ultimo.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Ogilvy the last man standing in historic US Open Golf...
iseekgolf.com By Bruce Young
<--- Geoff Ogilvy
19 June 2006. Geoff Ogilvy, at the age of just 29 years and 7 days has not only secured his future in the game and a place in golfing history by winning the US Open but he has also gone a long way creating a new level of interest in the game in his homeland of Australia.
Ogilvy has now created impetus and momentum for the growth of Australian golf at a time when there is a climate of change in the organisation and administration of the game in that country. He has done his part now it is up to others to capitalise on the increased profile his victory will bring.
The Adelaide born Victorian's narrow one shot victory over Phil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie and Jim Furyk was achieved in the most gripping and gut wrenching of finishes as both Mickelson and Montgomerie self destructed with double bogeys at the final hurdle, the 72nd hole.
Ogilvy had played a beautiful tournament for so long but four bogeys in seven holes from the 8th today threatened to destroy his chances. This is Winged Foot though and when the ultimate pressure was applied it was perhaps ironic that it was the more experienced Mickelson and Montgomerie who faltered.
As Ogilvy played the final hole he trailed by one and it appeared that he would need a birdie to force the issue with Mickelson, who was in the process of producing another Houdini act at the 17th to make par to stay one ahead. Ogilvy had himself made a miraculous par save at the 17th when he holed it from just off the green after a wild drive had forced him to struggle at the par four.
At the last Ogilvy drove it long along the left hand tree line and although he finished in the fairway, he was unlucky to find himself all but in a sand filled divot. From there he hit a very good short iron right on line but it failed to clear the false front of the green and fed back down the hill. He was left with a difficult pitch but he picked it beautifully and it came to rest just five feet behind the hole. He was faced with a tricky par saving putt. It was crucial that he would make that to force Mickelson to attack with his second if he wanted to win the tournament without the gamble of a playoff. He did just that and so it was over to Mickelson.
"I thought I was in a bit of trouble," said Ogilvy later referring to the situation he found himself in at the 17th. "Obviously I was way in the boonies, had a terrible lie, tried to go for a bit too much but thought I had to at that point. I thought 4 over was going to be the number because Monty just made birdie on 17, and I thought one of them was going to finish at about 3 or 4. Left it in the rough and then missed the green. Yeah, wow, chipped it in. Just scary. What do you say? I mean, a shot that you wait your whole life to chip it in in a situation like that when you need to, and then you do."
"Monty was on the fairway on 18, and I thought he's going to hit the green and make a 4 and I'll have to make a birdie. I hit the best drive I hit all week right there. It wasn't in a divot; it was my end of a divot, so it didn't really affect how I hit the ball. It might have slowed the ball down because of the sand, but in the air I thought it was going pretty close, I have to say. I was pretty happy with my second shot."
"The first time all week it kind of hits and spins back. There have been some big bounces out here so it's weird. If it flies another foot, it's right down the hill. I thought I'll get this up and down and I'll lose by a shot, that's what I thought. It was a tricky chip shot, and I hit a good shot and made the putt, and I thought 2nd in the Open is pretty good. That's a good spot."
"Phil is probably going to think about that one for a while because that's hard to swallow. I thought I would make a playoff because 18 is a hard hole, but I never thought that would happen."
"It's pretty scary, added Ogilvy referring to the fact that he is the first Australian to win a major in eleven years. "I knew it would come, and the Australian press has been starting to ask the question, when is it going to happen. I honestly didn't think it would be me. I thought Scottie (Adam Scott) or Stuey (Stuart Appleby) or a few other guys in front of me. Adam has been up there, and the last few years we've had some top 4 or 5s in probably every major every year, Hensby and Pamps (Pampling) had a good Open, and the British Open, we've always had someone there. At the PGA, we always seem to have a guy there, so it was only a matter of time. I didn't think it was going to be me, but you never think it's going to be you. It's kind of bizarre."
Mickelson, who had driven the ball so badly all day, was again under the gun on the last tee. His drive was left and came to rest in a clearing and in a reasonably good lie. As he contemplated his second shot Ogilvy made his par saving putt and it was apparent that if Mickelson was to win in regulation time he needed a par to do so. There was an option to hit back onto the fairway but the gambler in Mickelson felt the risk was worth it and so took on the trees between his ball and the green. He clearly mishit the shot and caught the trees. Now par was all but out of the question and bogey was looking to be a very good result. With an eight iron for his third, he cleared everything but the left hand greenside bunker and when it plugged, with only half the ball above the surface, the task was getting even greater. His fourth shot from the bunker careered across the green and into the rough beyond and in the end, with his mind no doubt in tatters, Mickelson somehow salvaged a double bogey to share second place with Colin Montgomerie.
"I still am in shock that I did that," said Mickelson at the post round press conference, referring to his demise. "I just can't believe that I did that. I am such an idiot. I just couldn't hit a fairway all day. I tried to go to my bread and butter shot, a baby carve slice on 18 and just get it in the fairway, and I missed it left. It was still okay, wasn't too bad. I just can't believe I couldn't par the last hole. It really stings."
"As a kid I dreamt of winning this tournament. I came out here and worked hard all four days, haven't made a bogey all week and then bogeyed the last hole. Even a bogey would have gotten me into a playoff. I just can't believe I did that."
This week Mickelson did away with his two driver policy which he had so successfully employed at the Bell South and at the Masters but there were not doubt many occasions both yesterday and today where he would have been ruing that decision.
His driving today was shocking and he seemed unable to control the shape of the ball all day. That he was able to hang onto his score as well as he had speaks volumes for his all round brilliance. It also speaks for his imaginative play but in the end if may well have been his imagination that got the better of him with some rather odd decision making late in the day.
Montgomerie too fell victim to the final hole when, after driving it in the fairway, he chunked his second short and right of the green and was left with an almost impossible task to save par. He spoke later of the indecision in club selection with that approach. He pitched it well past the flag and when he three putted for double bogey his challenge was all but gone. The Scot had played beautifully all day to keep himself in the mix and when he holed a 45 foot left to right putt at the 17th it seemed his time might have finally arrived. It was not to be and whether he will again have such a chance remains to be seen. This though was an opportunity too good to miss.
"This is as difficult as it gets," said Montgomerie referring to the pain he was feeling. "You wonder sometimes why you put yourself through this. I doubled the last there and Phil holed a very good putt to double the last. It's a very tricky hole, but it shouldn't be that tricky from the fairway. I did the hard thing, hit the fairway. That's my strength normally. I hit the wrong club for my second shot. We put ourselves into poor position after two shots, and then it was difficult from then on because that green is very fast."
"Geoff holed a great putt for a par to avoid a four way playoff there, and all credit to him. He was the last man standing, really. It was the last man in."
"At my age I've got to think positively. I'm 43 next week, and it's nice I can come back to this tournament and do well again, and I look forward to coming back here again next year and try another U.S. Open - Disaster (laughter)."
Furyk will also be thinking back to how might have better played the final hole. He found the left hand greenside trap with his approach and hit a brilliant bunker shot to four feet. If he could make that putt he likely knew he still had a chance. He missed it and his chance was gone. He will also look back on a horrible three putt at the 15th from 25 feet after leaving his first putt some eight feet short.
Padraig Harrington will look back on the blood he spilt over the final three holes on both Saturday and Sunday and wonder what might have been. It does not require a mathematician to work out what his triple bogey at the last on day three and his closing three bogeys today have cost him in terms of money and his chance at the title. That he finished just two shots out of the lead highlights just how costly that closing stretch was.
Nick O'Hern did what we have come to expect from the left hander, namely he ground it out on a golf course that required just that. His brilliant start today had him at four under though eight holes and at that stage he was at five over for the tournament and very much moving into contention. The golf course finally caught up with him but his performance highlights the amazing leaps he has made in his status in recent times. He finished in a share of sixth, his best ever finish in a major.
Of the other Australians Allenby played a solid last round to finish 16th, Adam Scott was 21st while Rod Pampling and Scott Hend were 32nd. Scott had a disappointing week after arriving here as perhaps Australia's hope but once he gain he has not impressed in a major. This was though a better showing for him in this tournament and 21st is never all that bad in a major.
Scott Hend had a great week considering his status in the game and although he battled over the weekend he stood up to the rigours of this event more than most would have given credit for.
<--- Geoff Ogilvy19 June 2006. Geoff Ogilvy, at the age of just 29 years and 7 days has not only secured his future in the game and a place in golfing history by winning the US Open but he has also gone a long way creating a new level of interest in the game in his homeland of Australia.
Ogilvy has now created impetus and momentum for the growth of Australian golf at a time when there is a climate of change in the organisation and administration of the game in that country. He has done his part now it is up to others to capitalise on the increased profile his victory will bring.
The Adelaide born Victorian's narrow one shot victory over Phil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie and Jim Furyk was achieved in the most gripping and gut wrenching of finishes as both Mickelson and Montgomerie self destructed with double bogeys at the final hurdle, the 72nd hole.
Ogilvy had played a beautiful tournament for so long but four bogeys in seven holes from the 8th today threatened to destroy his chances. This is Winged Foot though and when the ultimate pressure was applied it was perhaps ironic that it was the more experienced Mickelson and Montgomerie who faltered.
As Ogilvy played the final hole he trailed by one and it appeared that he would need a birdie to force the issue with Mickelson, who was in the process of producing another Houdini act at the 17th to make par to stay one ahead. Ogilvy had himself made a miraculous par save at the 17th when he holed it from just off the green after a wild drive had forced him to struggle at the par four.
At the last Ogilvy drove it long along the left hand tree line and although he finished in the fairway, he was unlucky to find himself all but in a sand filled divot. From there he hit a very good short iron right on line but it failed to clear the false front of the green and fed back down the hill. He was left with a difficult pitch but he picked it beautifully and it came to rest just five feet behind the hole. He was faced with a tricky par saving putt. It was crucial that he would make that to force Mickelson to attack with his second if he wanted to win the tournament without the gamble of a playoff. He did just that and so it was over to Mickelson.
"I thought I was in a bit of trouble," said Ogilvy later referring to the situation he found himself in at the 17th. "Obviously I was way in the boonies, had a terrible lie, tried to go for a bit too much but thought I had to at that point. I thought 4 over was going to be the number because Monty just made birdie on 17, and I thought one of them was going to finish at about 3 or 4. Left it in the rough and then missed the green. Yeah, wow, chipped it in. Just scary. What do you say? I mean, a shot that you wait your whole life to chip it in in a situation like that when you need to, and then you do."
"Monty was on the fairway on 18, and I thought he's going to hit the green and make a 4 and I'll have to make a birdie. I hit the best drive I hit all week right there. It wasn't in a divot; it was my end of a divot, so it didn't really affect how I hit the ball. It might have slowed the ball down because of the sand, but in the air I thought it was going pretty close, I have to say. I was pretty happy with my second shot."
"The first time all week it kind of hits and spins back. There have been some big bounces out here so it's weird. If it flies another foot, it's right down the hill. I thought I'll get this up and down and I'll lose by a shot, that's what I thought. It was a tricky chip shot, and I hit a good shot and made the putt, and I thought 2nd in the Open is pretty good. That's a good spot."
"Phil is probably going to think about that one for a while because that's hard to swallow. I thought I would make a playoff because 18 is a hard hole, but I never thought that would happen."
"It's pretty scary, added Ogilvy referring to the fact that he is the first Australian to win a major in eleven years. "I knew it would come, and the Australian press has been starting to ask the question, when is it going to happen. I honestly didn't think it would be me. I thought Scottie (Adam Scott) or Stuey (Stuart Appleby) or a few other guys in front of me. Adam has been up there, and the last few years we've had some top 4 or 5s in probably every major every year, Hensby and Pamps (Pampling) had a good Open, and the British Open, we've always had someone there. At the PGA, we always seem to have a guy there, so it was only a matter of time. I didn't think it was going to be me, but you never think it's going to be you. It's kind of bizarre."
Mickelson, who had driven the ball so badly all day, was again under the gun on the last tee. His drive was left and came to rest in a clearing and in a reasonably good lie. As he contemplated his second shot Ogilvy made his par saving putt and it was apparent that if Mickelson was to win in regulation time he needed a par to do so. There was an option to hit back onto the fairway but the gambler in Mickelson felt the risk was worth it and so took on the trees between his ball and the green. He clearly mishit the shot and caught the trees. Now par was all but out of the question and bogey was looking to be a very good result. With an eight iron for his third, he cleared everything but the left hand greenside bunker and when it plugged, with only half the ball above the surface, the task was getting even greater. His fourth shot from the bunker careered across the green and into the rough beyond and in the end, with his mind no doubt in tatters, Mickelson somehow salvaged a double bogey to share second place with Colin Montgomerie.
"I still am in shock that I did that," said Mickelson at the post round press conference, referring to his demise. "I just can't believe that I did that. I am such an idiot. I just couldn't hit a fairway all day. I tried to go to my bread and butter shot, a baby carve slice on 18 and just get it in the fairway, and I missed it left. It was still okay, wasn't too bad. I just can't believe I couldn't par the last hole. It really stings."
"As a kid I dreamt of winning this tournament. I came out here and worked hard all four days, haven't made a bogey all week and then bogeyed the last hole. Even a bogey would have gotten me into a playoff. I just can't believe I did that."
This week Mickelson did away with his two driver policy which he had so successfully employed at the Bell South and at the Masters but there were not doubt many occasions both yesterday and today where he would have been ruing that decision.
His driving today was shocking and he seemed unable to control the shape of the ball all day. That he was able to hang onto his score as well as he had speaks volumes for his all round brilliance. It also speaks for his imaginative play but in the end if may well have been his imagination that got the better of him with some rather odd decision making late in the day.
Montgomerie too fell victim to the final hole when, after driving it in the fairway, he chunked his second short and right of the green and was left with an almost impossible task to save par. He spoke later of the indecision in club selection with that approach. He pitched it well past the flag and when he three putted for double bogey his challenge was all but gone. The Scot had played beautifully all day to keep himself in the mix and when he holed a 45 foot left to right putt at the 17th it seemed his time might have finally arrived. It was not to be and whether he will again have such a chance remains to be seen. This though was an opportunity too good to miss.
"This is as difficult as it gets," said Montgomerie referring to the pain he was feeling. "You wonder sometimes why you put yourself through this. I doubled the last there and Phil holed a very good putt to double the last. It's a very tricky hole, but it shouldn't be that tricky from the fairway. I did the hard thing, hit the fairway. That's my strength normally. I hit the wrong club for my second shot. We put ourselves into poor position after two shots, and then it was difficult from then on because that green is very fast."
"Geoff holed a great putt for a par to avoid a four way playoff there, and all credit to him. He was the last man standing, really. It was the last man in."
"At my age I've got to think positively. I'm 43 next week, and it's nice I can come back to this tournament and do well again, and I look forward to coming back here again next year and try another U.S. Open - Disaster (laughter)."
Furyk will also be thinking back to how might have better played the final hole. He found the left hand greenside trap with his approach and hit a brilliant bunker shot to four feet. If he could make that putt he likely knew he still had a chance. He missed it and his chance was gone. He will also look back on a horrible three putt at the 15th from 25 feet after leaving his first putt some eight feet short.
Padraig Harrington will look back on the blood he spilt over the final three holes on both Saturday and Sunday and wonder what might have been. It does not require a mathematician to work out what his triple bogey at the last on day three and his closing three bogeys today have cost him in terms of money and his chance at the title. That he finished just two shots out of the lead highlights just how costly that closing stretch was.
Nick O'Hern did what we have come to expect from the left hander, namely he ground it out on a golf course that required just that. His brilliant start today had him at four under though eight holes and at that stage he was at five over for the tournament and very much moving into contention. The golf course finally caught up with him but his performance highlights the amazing leaps he has made in his status in recent times. He finished in a share of sixth, his best ever finish in a major.
Of the other Australians Allenby played a solid last round to finish 16th, Adam Scott was 21st while Rod Pampling and Scott Hend were 32nd. Scott had a disappointing week after arriving here as perhaps Australia's hope but once he gain he has not impressed in a major. This was though a better showing for him in this tournament and 21st is never all that bad in a major.
Scott Hend had a great week considering his status in the game and although he battled over the weekend he stood up to the rigours of this event more than most would have given credit for.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Americas | Doctors separate conjoined twins...
BBC NEWS
Thursday, 15 June 2006. Surgeons in California have successfully separated conjoined twin girls, in a highly complex operation which lasted more than 12 hours.
The 10-month-old girls, Regina and Renata Salinas Fierros, were joined from the lower chest to the pelvis and shared a number of organs.
A medical team of 80 began operating on the pair early on Wednesday in the operation at a hospital in Los Angeles.
The twins are expected to remain in hospital for several weeks.
Born of Mexican parents, the girls' liver, intestines and pelvis were among those organs which needed dividing.
"To see the girls beginning to wake up and move and respond is great excitement for us all," lead surgeon Dr James Stein told a news conference.
Regina is the weaker of the pair, with only one kidney.
Parents 'relaxed'
The scene in the operating theatre was described as orderly calm, as one of the twins was moved to an adjacent room after separation.
Doctors continued work through the night reconstructing the twins' chest walls and pelvis regions, and sewing up surgical wounds.
An 80-strong medical team took part in the operation
Surgical director Henri Ford told AP the girls "looked very healthy and quite good".
"Everything has been going impeccably as one could possibly imagine," he said.
Dr Ford said the twins' parents were "relaxed and pleased with the progress".
Lead surgeon James Stein and fellow senior medic Dominic Femino both participated in a successful operation to separate conjoined twins in 2003.
If twins have separate sets of organs, the chances for survival tend to be greater than if the organs are shared.
The two girls have US citizenship after being born in Los Angeles while their parents were visiting the country on a tourist visa.
Several hundred conjoined twins are born every year worldwide.
Conjoined twins originate from a single fertilised egg, so they are always identical and of the same sex.
The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5% and 25%.
Over the past 500 years, historical records show about 600 surviving sets of conjoined twins with more than 70% of the surviving pairs being female.
Thursday, 15 June 2006. Surgeons in California have successfully separated conjoined twin girls, in a highly complex operation which lasted more than 12 hours.The 10-month-old girls, Regina and Renata Salinas Fierros, were joined from the lower chest to the pelvis and shared a number of organs.
A medical team of 80 began operating on the pair early on Wednesday in the operation at a hospital in Los Angeles.
The twins are expected to remain in hospital for several weeks.
Born of Mexican parents, the girls' liver, intestines and pelvis were among those organs which needed dividing.
"To see the girls beginning to wake up and move and respond is great excitement for us all," lead surgeon Dr James Stein told a news conference.
Regina is the weaker of the pair, with only one kidney.
Parents 'relaxed'
The scene in the operating theatre was described as orderly calm, as one of the twins was moved to an adjacent room after separation.
Doctors continued work through the night reconstructing the twins' chest walls and pelvis regions, and sewing up surgical wounds.
An 80-strong medical team took part in the operationSurgical director Henri Ford told AP the girls "looked very healthy and quite good".
"Everything has been going impeccably as one could possibly imagine," he said.
Dr Ford said the twins' parents were "relaxed and pleased with the progress".
Lead surgeon James Stein and fellow senior medic Dominic Femino both participated in a successful operation to separate conjoined twins in 2003.
If twins have separate sets of organs, the chances for survival tend to be greater than if the organs are shared.
The two girls have US citizenship after being born in Los Angeles while their parents were visiting the country on a tourist visa.
Several hundred conjoined twins are born every year worldwide.
Conjoined twins originate from a single fertilised egg, so they are always identical and of the same sex.
The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5% and 25%.
Over the past 500 years, historical records show about 600 surviving sets of conjoined twins with more than 70% of the surviving pairs being female.
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