U.S. flagged as hub for Web child abuse
July 21, 2006 2:23 PM PDT
The United States is reportedly the worst nation for hosting child-abuse images online, according to a BBC news story this week.
The article cited a survey from the Internet Watch Foundation, a U.K.-based digital "hotline" for reporting illegal material posted to the Web, including images of child abuse, obscene content and pages that incite racial hatred. Of 14,000 sites reported to the IWF in the first six months of the year, 5,000 contained images that depicted child abuse. Of those images, 51 percent originated from a source in the United States, according to the IWF survey. Countries that followed included Russia at 14.9 percent, and Japan at 11.7 percent.
The reason the U.S. ranked so high, according to the IWF, is because it is home to the most Web traffic and the most Internet service providers in the world. And while these ISPs are acutely aware of mounting concern about child abuse online--in June, Microsoft, Yahoo and others announced plans to address the issue--their efforts may not circumvent new laws. The U.S. attorney general has proposed legislation that ups the ante for ISPs to report images of child abuse.
For example, a bill now in the U.S. Senate stipulates fines of $150,000-plus to providers of electronic communication service that do not report an instance of child abuse images.
On a positive note, if the United States is the largest source of Web traffic, it also likely plays host to the most sites advocating child protections.
http://news.com.com/2061-12645_3-6097220.html
haring bed makes men dull
Vijay Dutt
London, July 21, 2006
Advertisement
If you are a man and are not feeling very bright today, blame your wife or partner.
According to a new study, sharing a bed with a partner temporarily confuses men’s brains and reduces their ability to think clearly.
Of course, women who share their bed don’t have that problem. In fact, they fare much better because they sleep more deeply.
Research at the University of Vienna, led by Professor Gerhard Kloesch, said men, who spend the night with a bed mate, have disturbed sleep, whether they make love or not. This impairs their mental ability the next day and increases their stress hormone levels, the scientists reported in New Scientist magazine.
In their study of eight unmarried, childless couples in their 20s, the scientists discovered that sharing the bed reduced men’s ability to perform simple cognitive tests. Comparatively, women were fresher than men even when both slept the same number of hours. They concluded that women sleep more deeply. Turning, tossing and snoring and hogging the duvet were cited as indicators of disturbed sleep.
The study also found that both sexes were equally to blame for keeping each other awake.
Professor Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert at the University of Surrey said, “It’s not surprising that people are disturbed by sleeping together. Historically, we have never been meant to sleep in the same bed. It’s a bizarre thing to do.”
He also agreed with the Austrian scientists that women are pre-programmed to cope better with broken sleep: “A lot of life events that women have disturb sleep -- bringing up children, the menopause and even the menstrual cycle.”
“Sleep is the most selfish thing you can do and it’s vital for good physical and mental health. Sharing the bed space with someone who is making noises is not sensible. If you are happy sleeping together that’s great, but if not there is no shame in separate beds,” Stanley said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1749280,001100020006.htm
Travel agency offering spacewalk for $15 million
Business has already sent a trio of voyagers into space as tourists
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
It's all about the view.
Space Adventures Ltd., the Virginia-based travel agency that arranged for the first spaceflight by a paying tourist, made a new offering Friday to its well-heeled clients: a spacewalk.
The company will charge $15 million for a 90-minute stroll outside the Russian segments of the orbiting international space station. The outings will last long enough for one eye-popping orbit of the Earth. The fee is in addition to the $20 million Space Adventures would charge for a 10-day round trip to the space outpost.
"It's the next logical step and one of the premier experiences of spaceflight," said Eric Anderson, the travel agency's president and chief executive officer. "We've had several potential clients, and previous clients express an interest in doing a spacewalk. It was really only a matter of time."
In 2001, Space Adventures arranged for Dennis Tito, a wealthy California investor, to become the first space tourist. Tito trained in Russia and accompanied two cosmonauts to the space station on a 10-day mission to exchange one Soyuz capsule, the Russian spacecraft that serve as life boats, for another.
The company's business arrangement with the Federal Space Agency of Russia enabled it to arrange similar trips in 2002 for South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth and in 2005 for American scientist Greg Olsen. Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto is training for a September round trip.
"No one has actually signed up and agreed to it yet, but there are several who are interested," said Anderson, who expects his first spacewalking client within two years.
The venture will encounter obstacles. The tourist and the plans for the spacewalk must win the approval of NASA and the space station's 14 other international partners.
In a carefully worded statement, Russia's space agency said potential spacewalking tourists would have to meet training and medical requirements.
For those with the money and a lust for adventure, a spacewalk is not to be missed, according to Pierre Thuot, a former NASA astronaut who serves as an adviser to Space Adventures.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4064266.html
US discusses peacekeeping force for Lebanon, rules out US troops
(AFP)
22 July 2006
WASHINGTON - The United States says it will not contribute troops to a possible international force in Lebanon, as world powers weigh the precise mandate and design of a proposed peacekeeping mission there.
To defuse an escalating crisis, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and others have called for a “robust” force much larger than the 2,000-strong UN observer mission already in Lebanon.
Whatever force takes shape, Washington made clear that US troops will not be on the ground.
“We are looking at what kind of international assistance force makes sense, but I do not think that it is anticipated that US ground forces are expected for that force,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters Friday.
Rice said she had spoken with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan about a possible multinational force and discussions were underway with US allies to resolve key issues.
“The questions about what kind of force it is, what its command structure is, is it a UN force, is it an international assistance force, those are the discussions that are going on and I think are going to go on over the next few days,” Rice said.
Any UN or international force would have to be strong enough to prevent the Shiite Hezbollah militia from operating out of southern Lebanon, she said.
“That’s going to take a robust force.”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/July/theworld_July559.xml§ion=theworld
MP3 Generation 'Risk Going Deaf'
Thursday, 20th July 2006, 08:59
The MP3 generation are at risk of going deaf 30 years earlier than their parents because they listen to music too loud and for too long, a charity has warned.
Deafness Research UK said young people who constantly have music blasting out through the headphones of their iPods or other personal stereos are permanently damaging their hearing - but most are unaware of the danger.
A survey for the charity showed that more than half (54 per cent) of 16 to 24-year-olds listen to their MP3 player for more than an hour a day, and almost 20 per cent spend more than 21 hours a week plugged in.
But two-thirds (68 per cent) of 16 to 24-year-olds do not realise that listening to a music player at loud volume can permanently damage their hearing.
Vivienne Michael, chief executive of Deafness Research UK, said: "A generation ago we would see people going deaf in their 60s or 70s, but we're now seeing more people going deaf in their 40s, which is very worrying.
"Many young people are regularly using MP3 players for long periods and are frighteningly unaware of the fact that loud noise can permanently damage your hearing."
She said loud noises kill off hair cells in the ears that pick up sounds and allow hearing. These cells gradually die anyway in old age but exposure to loud noises accelerates hearing loss - which is irreversible.
The louder the noise and the longer the exposure, the more hair cells are destroyed, she said.
She added: "People don't take it seriously enough. The Health and Safety Executive says any noise above 105 decibels can permanently damage you hearing, but the maximum volume on many MP3 players is up to 120 decibels - as loud as an ambulance siren.
"We advise a 60-60 rule - don't listen at more than 60 per cent of the maximum volume and don't listen for more than an hour.
"Another rule of thumb is if your music is so loud that other people can hear it then it's too loud - turn it down.
"Hearing loss can make life unbearable. We want people to realise that their hearing is as important as their sight and protect their ears against any potential damage.
"We don't want the MP3 generation to go deaf in their 30s or 40s."
The survey also revealed that 46.5 per cent of all 16-24 year olds visit a nightclub at least once a week, and that four-fifths (82 per cent) of people who have experienced ringing in the ears - a sign of hearing damage - after listening to loud music also go to nightclubs.
The Royal National Institute for the Deaf echoed the warning about MP3 players.
Chief executive Dr John Low said: "This survey shows very clearly that young people are frighteningly unaware of the dangers of listening to their MP3 players too loudly. If young people don't heed our warnings about safer listening, they could end up facing premature hearing damage."
"New technology and ever-increasing storage capacity enables people to listen non-stop for hours – and at louder volumes than ever before. If you are regularly plugged in, it is only too easy to clock up noise doses that could damage your hearing forever."
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CA1927283U&news_headline=mp3_generation_risk_going_deaf
Gates spends $287 million on AIDS research
Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:55 AM BST
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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $287 million (156 million pounds) in grants on Wednesday to create an international network of 16 labs to try new approaches to making a vaccine against AIDS.
The foundation says it wants the program to transform the so-far unsuccessful AIDS vaccine effort by rewarding individual labs that come up with innovative ideas and helping them develop those ideas, but also ensuring that they collaborate with other researchers, who under ordinary circumstances would often be considered rivals.
"This is the foundation's largest-ever investment in HIV vaccine development. In fact, it's our largest-ever package of grants for HIV and AIDS," Dr. Nicholas Hellmann, acting director of the Gates Foundation's HIV, TB, and Reproductive Health program, told reporters in a telephone briefing.
AIDS was first described in 1981 and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS was found soon after -- but it has proven extremely difficult to find a way to make an effective vaccine.
The virus attacks the very immune cells that are usually stimulated by a vaccine, and mutates quickly to evade back-up immune responses. More than 30 vaccines are being tested in people now, but no scientists expect that any of them will prevent HIV infection in large numbers of people.
The best hope with current approaches is to perhaps delay infection, or make the infection less destructive, in some people.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-20T075451Z_01_N19236352_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AIDS-GATES.xml
Is your salary giving you wrinkles?
2006-07-21 15:40 Source : Moneycontrol.com
London: Women who are underpaid, overworked and doing manual jobs may age faster than those who are well paid and on non-manual jobs, says a study.
Tim Spector of St Thomas' Hospital in London and his colleagues estimated the cell ageing of 1,552 female twins.
The researchers measured the lengths of telomeres, a region of highly repetitive DNA at the end of a linear chromosome that functions as a disposable buffer.
Telomeres grow shorter each time a cell divides, so the shorter the telomeres in a cell, the more times it has divided and the more stress it is likely to have been under, reported the online edition of New Scientist.
They found that telomeres were on average 140 DNA base pairs shorter in manual workers than in non-manual workers of the same age.
Since around 20 base pairs of telomere DNA are lost on average each year, this makes the cells from the manual workers about seven years older.
In 17 pairs of twin sisters who married men at opposite ends of the social scale, their telomeres showed an average age difference of nine years, despite the women being genetically very similar, it said.
Spector suggests that low status might drive cellular ageing because such people are under greater psychological stress. This could have subtle metabolic effects, exposing their cells to more oxidative damage, he says.
Researchers expect to see the same effect in men. People from lower socio-economic groups are more likely to die earlier than people in non-manual jobs from heart attacks, strokes and cancer, the study said.
Unhealthy habits such as lack of exercise, excess weight, smoking and poor diet account for around a third of these deaths, he said.
(IANS)
http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/health/underpaidoverworked/isyoursalarygivingyouwrinkles/market/stocks/article/229314
Jury recommends no punishment for Navy midshipman
By DERRILL HOLLY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Naval Academy quarterback acquitted of raping a female midshipman but convicted of two lesser charges should not face any punishment, a military jury recommended today.
Lamar S. Owens Jr. could have received anything from a written reprimand to dismissal on the two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and disobeying a lawful order. Prosecutors recommended a two-year sentence.
Owens' mother burst into tears when the decision was announced. His father leaned over a dividing wall and hugged him.
The 22-year-old senior from Savannah, Ga., did not speak to reporters, but his civilian attorney Reid Weingarten said the team was "thankful to God that justice was done."
The five Naval Academy officers that served as his jury on Thursday found that Owens had consensual sex with a junior midshipman in her room at the academy's Bancroft Hall on Jan. 29. His accuser had claimed Owens entered her room uninvited and raped her after she blacked out.
Both Owens and his accuser testified that they had several drinks at separate locations in Baltimore and Annapolis in the hours before their early morning encounter, but other witnesses have said the young woman was seen having as many as nine drinks at a restaurant and later at an Annapolis bar favored by midshipmen.
Now, academy superintendent Vice Admiral Rodney Rempt will decide whether to discipline Owens for violating academy rules, including prohibitions against having sex on campus, fraternizing with a member of his company and violating a written order that he stay away from his accuser.
"We're going to have a discussion, and the admiral will evaluate this case anew," Weingarten said.
Owens expected to enter the Navy as an ensign assigned to surface warfare duties, but he was not allowed to graduate or receive a commission in May, and remains a midshipman. He has the credits to qualify for an economics degree.
Earlier today, he told the court he hoped to remain in the service.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4063905.html
Judge Denies Government's Motion to Dismiss AT&T Case
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - July 20, 2006 10:14 PM
Print article Email article 36 comment(s) - last comment armand dupless.. on Jul 21, 2006 at 10:58 PM
The EFF has won what it considers to be a "huge victory"
A federal judge has rejected a motion by the US government and AT&T to dismiss a lawsuit against AT&T, which was accused by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of assisting the National Security Agency in eavesdropping on Americans. The lawsuit was originally filed against AT&T on January 31, 2006. The US government attempted to have the lawsuit thrown out because it potentially jeopardized the war on terror and may unintentionally reveal state secrets. The decision by a US District Court Judge in San Francisco will allow the EFF's class action lawsuit against AT&T to continue.
Free speech and privacy issues arose when it was disclosed that AT&T apparently opened up its telecommunications facilties so that the NSA could use them while spying on phone conversations and e-mails of millions of American citizens.
In AT&T's defense, company lawyers argued that corporations are protected from lawsuits that claim that companies helped with and/or turned over information to law enforcement agencies. "AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believe that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal," US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said. Even though a dismissal is still not out of the question, Walker wants to see further evidence that solidifies the argument that the lawsuit would be bad for national security. "The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one...but dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security."
AT&T is currently looking over possible next steps that it can take in the case. To read the full decision, click here.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3433&ref=y
Mid-East faces uncertain future
By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East Analyst
Diplomats, officials and experts around the world are anxiously debating what the Greater Middle East will look like when this current crisis finally draws to a close.
Crises like these often inflame anti-American and anti-Israeli feeling
Will it make it easier or harder to resolve the pressing problems of Palestine and Iraq - and the much bigger battle against Islamic extremism?
The more immediate question is: Who will emerge with what?
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, says he wants three things: to secure the release of Israeli soldiers, to clear Hezbollah fighters from south Lebanon and to see Hezbollah disarmed and dismantled.
He wants some form of guarantee that Israel will be free from rocket attacks, whether from Gaza or from south Lebanon.
Some believe he would also like to see the collapse of the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
Israel's dilemma
Few experts think Mr Olmert will secure all these goals, even if the fighting continues for some days.
Israel may be able to weaken Hamas and Hezbollah in military terms, but it is unlikely to force them out of business.
[For Israel] there needs to be in place a Lebanese government and a Palestinian Authority strong enough to prevent rocket or other cross-border attacks. Air strikes coupled with limited military incursions in both territories have made this less, rather than more, likely
Both enjoy a significant level of grass-roots support.
Israel's actions may indeed be counter-productive, by boosting support for these groups beyond the immediate circle of their core Islamist constituencies.
Israel's underlying dilemma remains unchanged.
If it does not wish to re-occupy either Gaza or southern Lebanon, then there needs to be in place a Lebanese government and a Palestinian Authority strong enough to prevent rocket or other cross-border attacks.
Air strikes coupled with limited military incursions in both territories have made this less, rather than more, likely.
Mr Olmert needs to emerge from this conflict with something he can call victory.
If he does not, that will weaken his own political position and jeopardise his ambitious plan to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank by 2010.
Underlying problems
It is unlikely this crisis will leave the underlying problems of the Palestinian territories and Lebanon any nearer a solution.
As Arab rulers are only too well aware, the current conflict has inflamed anti-Israeli and anti-American feeling to a new pitch. In this sense its impact extends well beyond the Middle East
At the same time it is making the West's closest allies in the Arab world distinctly nervous.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have taken the unusual step of pinning the blame for the conflict on Hezbollah and Hamas and their regional backers, Syria and Iran.
This reflects a genuine fear of where the crisis is heading, together with annoyance at what they see as an Iranian attempt to hijack the Palestinian cause.
As Arab rulers are only too well aware, the current conflict has inflamed anti-Israeli and anti-American feeling to a new pitch.
In this sense its impact extends well beyond the Middle East.
Hearts and minds
The issue of Israel and the Palestinians still has the power to mobilise Muslims as far away as Indonesia - or for that matter Muslims living in the West.
Moreover the conflict comes against a backdrop of other events which have aggravated tensions between Islam and the West.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5204346.stm
July 21, 2006 2:23 PM PDT
The United States is reportedly the worst nation for hosting child-abuse images online, according to a BBC news story this week.
The article cited a survey from the Internet Watch Foundation, a U.K.-based digital "hotline" for reporting illegal material posted to the Web, including images of child abuse, obscene content and pages that incite racial hatred. Of 14,000 sites reported to the IWF in the first six months of the year, 5,000 contained images that depicted child abuse. Of those images, 51 percent originated from a source in the United States, according to the IWF survey. Countries that followed included Russia at 14.9 percent, and Japan at 11.7 percent.
The reason the U.S. ranked so high, according to the IWF, is because it is home to the most Web traffic and the most Internet service providers in the world. And while these ISPs are acutely aware of mounting concern about child abuse online--in June, Microsoft, Yahoo and others announced plans to address the issue--their efforts may not circumvent new laws. The U.S. attorney general has proposed legislation that ups the ante for ISPs to report images of child abuse.
For example, a bill now in the U.S. Senate stipulates fines of $150,000-plus to providers of electronic communication service that do not report an instance of child abuse images.
On a positive note, if the United States is the largest source of Web traffic, it also likely plays host to the most sites advocating child protections.
http://news.com.com/2061-12645_3-6097220.html
haring bed makes men dull
Vijay Dutt
London, July 21, 2006
Advertisement
If you are a man and are not feeling very bright today, blame your wife or partner.
According to a new study, sharing a bed with a partner temporarily confuses men’s brains and reduces their ability to think clearly.
Of course, women who share their bed don’t have that problem. In fact, they fare much better because they sleep more deeply.
Research at the University of Vienna, led by Professor Gerhard Kloesch, said men, who spend the night with a bed mate, have disturbed sleep, whether they make love or not. This impairs their mental ability the next day and increases their stress hormone levels, the scientists reported in New Scientist magazine.
In their study of eight unmarried, childless couples in their 20s, the scientists discovered that sharing the bed reduced men’s ability to perform simple cognitive tests. Comparatively, women were fresher than men even when both slept the same number of hours. They concluded that women sleep more deeply. Turning, tossing and snoring and hogging the duvet were cited as indicators of disturbed sleep.
The study also found that both sexes were equally to blame for keeping each other awake.
Professor Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert at the University of Surrey said, “It’s not surprising that people are disturbed by sleeping together. Historically, we have never been meant to sleep in the same bed. It’s a bizarre thing to do.”
He also agreed with the Austrian scientists that women are pre-programmed to cope better with broken sleep: “A lot of life events that women have disturb sleep -- bringing up children, the menopause and even the menstrual cycle.”
“Sleep is the most selfish thing you can do and it’s vital for good physical and mental health. Sharing the bed space with someone who is making noises is not sensible. If you are happy sleeping together that’s great, but if not there is no shame in separate beds,” Stanley said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1749280,001100020006.htm
Travel agency offering spacewalk for $15 million
Business has already sent a trio of voyagers into space as tourists
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
It's all about the view.
Space Adventures Ltd., the Virginia-based travel agency that arranged for the first spaceflight by a paying tourist, made a new offering Friday to its well-heeled clients: a spacewalk.
The company will charge $15 million for a 90-minute stroll outside the Russian segments of the orbiting international space station. The outings will last long enough for one eye-popping orbit of the Earth. The fee is in addition to the $20 million Space Adventures would charge for a 10-day round trip to the space outpost.
"It's the next logical step and one of the premier experiences of spaceflight," said Eric Anderson, the travel agency's president and chief executive officer. "We've had several potential clients, and previous clients express an interest in doing a spacewalk. It was really only a matter of time."
In 2001, Space Adventures arranged for Dennis Tito, a wealthy California investor, to become the first space tourist. Tito trained in Russia and accompanied two cosmonauts to the space station on a 10-day mission to exchange one Soyuz capsule, the Russian spacecraft that serve as life boats, for another.
The company's business arrangement with the Federal Space Agency of Russia enabled it to arrange similar trips in 2002 for South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth and in 2005 for American scientist Greg Olsen. Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto is training for a September round trip.
"No one has actually signed up and agreed to it yet, but there are several who are interested," said Anderson, who expects his first spacewalking client within two years.
The venture will encounter obstacles. The tourist and the plans for the spacewalk must win the approval of NASA and the space station's 14 other international partners.
In a carefully worded statement, Russia's space agency said potential spacewalking tourists would have to meet training and medical requirements.
For those with the money and a lust for adventure, a spacewalk is not to be missed, according to Pierre Thuot, a former NASA astronaut who serves as an adviser to Space Adventures.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4064266.html
US discusses peacekeeping force for Lebanon, rules out US troops
(AFP)
22 July 2006
WASHINGTON - The United States says it will not contribute troops to a possible international force in Lebanon, as world powers weigh the precise mandate and design of a proposed peacekeeping mission there.
To defuse an escalating crisis, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and others have called for a “robust” force much larger than the 2,000-strong UN observer mission already in Lebanon.
Whatever force takes shape, Washington made clear that US troops will not be on the ground.
“We are looking at what kind of international assistance force makes sense, but I do not think that it is anticipated that US ground forces are expected for that force,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters Friday.
Rice said she had spoken with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan about a possible multinational force and discussions were underway with US allies to resolve key issues.
“The questions about what kind of force it is, what its command structure is, is it a UN force, is it an international assistance force, those are the discussions that are going on and I think are going to go on over the next few days,” Rice said.
Any UN or international force would have to be strong enough to prevent the Shiite Hezbollah militia from operating out of southern Lebanon, she said.
“That’s going to take a robust force.”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/July/theworld_July559.xml§ion=theworld
MP3 Generation 'Risk Going Deaf'
Thursday, 20th July 2006, 08:59
The MP3 generation are at risk of going deaf 30 years earlier than their parents because they listen to music too loud and for too long, a charity has warned.
Deafness Research UK said young people who constantly have music blasting out through the headphones of their iPods or other personal stereos are permanently damaging their hearing - but most are unaware of the danger.
A survey for the charity showed that more than half (54 per cent) of 16 to 24-year-olds listen to their MP3 player for more than an hour a day, and almost 20 per cent spend more than 21 hours a week plugged in.
But two-thirds (68 per cent) of 16 to 24-year-olds do not realise that listening to a music player at loud volume can permanently damage their hearing.
Vivienne Michael, chief executive of Deafness Research UK, said: "A generation ago we would see people going deaf in their 60s or 70s, but we're now seeing more people going deaf in their 40s, which is very worrying.
"Many young people are regularly using MP3 players for long periods and are frighteningly unaware of the fact that loud noise can permanently damage your hearing."
She said loud noises kill off hair cells in the ears that pick up sounds and allow hearing. These cells gradually die anyway in old age but exposure to loud noises accelerates hearing loss - which is irreversible.
The louder the noise and the longer the exposure, the more hair cells are destroyed, she said.
She added: "People don't take it seriously enough. The Health and Safety Executive says any noise above 105 decibels can permanently damage you hearing, but the maximum volume on many MP3 players is up to 120 decibels - as loud as an ambulance siren.
"We advise a 60-60 rule - don't listen at more than 60 per cent of the maximum volume and don't listen for more than an hour.
"Another rule of thumb is if your music is so loud that other people can hear it then it's too loud - turn it down.
"Hearing loss can make life unbearable. We want people to realise that their hearing is as important as their sight and protect their ears against any potential damage.
"We don't want the MP3 generation to go deaf in their 30s or 40s."
The survey also revealed that 46.5 per cent of all 16-24 year olds visit a nightclub at least once a week, and that four-fifths (82 per cent) of people who have experienced ringing in the ears - a sign of hearing damage - after listening to loud music also go to nightclubs.
The Royal National Institute for the Deaf echoed the warning about MP3 players.
Chief executive Dr John Low said: "This survey shows very clearly that young people are frighteningly unaware of the dangers of listening to their MP3 players too loudly. If young people don't heed our warnings about safer listening, they could end up facing premature hearing damage."
"New technology and ever-increasing storage capacity enables people to listen non-stop for hours – and at louder volumes than ever before. If you are regularly plugged in, it is only too easy to clock up noise doses that could damage your hearing forever."
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CA1927283U&news_headline=mp3_generation_risk_going_deaf
Gates spends $287 million on AIDS research
Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:55 AM BST
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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $287 million (156 million pounds) in grants on Wednesday to create an international network of 16 labs to try new approaches to making a vaccine against AIDS.
The foundation says it wants the program to transform the so-far unsuccessful AIDS vaccine effort by rewarding individual labs that come up with innovative ideas and helping them develop those ideas, but also ensuring that they collaborate with other researchers, who under ordinary circumstances would often be considered rivals.
"This is the foundation's largest-ever investment in HIV vaccine development. In fact, it's our largest-ever package of grants for HIV and AIDS," Dr. Nicholas Hellmann, acting director of the Gates Foundation's HIV, TB, and Reproductive Health program, told reporters in a telephone briefing.
AIDS was first described in 1981 and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS was found soon after -- but it has proven extremely difficult to find a way to make an effective vaccine.
The virus attacks the very immune cells that are usually stimulated by a vaccine, and mutates quickly to evade back-up immune responses. More than 30 vaccines are being tested in people now, but no scientists expect that any of them will prevent HIV infection in large numbers of people.
The best hope with current approaches is to perhaps delay infection, or make the infection less destructive, in some people.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-20T075451Z_01_N19236352_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AIDS-GATES.xml
Is your salary giving you wrinkles?
2006-07-21 15:40 Source : Moneycontrol.com
London: Women who are underpaid, overworked and doing manual jobs may age faster than those who are well paid and on non-manual jobs, says a study.
Tim Spector of St Thomas' Hospital in London and his colleagues estimated the cell ageing of 1,552 female twins.
The researchers measured the lengths of telomeres, a region of highly repetitive DNA at the end of a linear chromosome that functions as a disposable buffer.
Telomeres grow shorter each time a cell divides, so the shorter the telomeres in a cell, the more times it has divided and the more stress it is likely to have been under, reported the online edition of New Scientist.
They found that telomeres were on average 140 DNA base pairs shorter in manual workers than in non-manual workers of the same age.
Since around 20 base pairs of telomere DNA are lost on average each year, this makes the cells from the manual workers about seven years older.
In 17 pairs of twin sisters who married men at opposite ends of the social scale, their telomeres showed an average age difference of nine years, despite the women being genetically very similar, it said.
Spector suggests that low status might drive cellular ageing because such people are under greater psychological stress. This could have subtle metabolic effects, exposing their cells to more oxidative damage, he says.
Researchers expect to see the same effect in men. People from lower socio-economic groups are more likely to die earlier than people in non-manual jobs from heart attacks, strokes and cancer, the study said.
Unhealthy habits such as lack of exercise, excess weight, smoking and poor diet account for around a third of these deaths, he said.
(IANS)
http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/health/underpaidoverworked/isyoursalarygivingyouwrinkles/market/stocks/article/229314
Jury recommends no punishment for Navy midshipman
By DERRILL HOLLY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Naval Academy quarterback acquitted of raping a female midshipman but convicted of two lesser charges should not face any punishment, a military jury recommended today.
Lamar S. Owens Jr. could have received anything from a written reprimand to dismissal on the two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and disobeying a lawful order. Prosecutors recommended a two-year sentence.
Owens' mother burst into tears when the decision was announced. His father leaned over a dividing wall and hugged him.
The 22-year-old senior from Savannah, Ga., did not speak to reporters, but his civilian attorney Reid Weingarten said the team was "thankful to God that justice was done."
The five Naval Academy officers that served as his jury on Thursday found that Owens had consensual sex with a junior midshipman in her room at the academy's Bancroft Hall on Jan. 29. His accuser had claimed Owens entered her room uninvited and raped her after she blacked out.
Both Owens and his accuser testified that they had several drinks at separate locations in Baltimore and Annapolis in the hours before their early morning encounter, but other witnesses have said the young woman was seen having as many as nine drinks at a restaurant and later at an Annapolis bar favored by midshipmen.
Now, academy superintendent Vice Admiral Rodney Rempt will decide whether to discipline Owens for violating academy rules, including prohibitions against having sex on campus, fraternizing with a member of his company and violating a written order that he stay away from his accuser.
"We're going to have a discussion, and the admiral will evaluate this case anew," Weingarten said.
Owens expected to enter the Navy as an ensign assigned to surface warfare duties, but he was not allowed to graduate or receive a commission in May, and remains a midshipman. He has the credits to qualify for an economics degree.
Earlier today, he told the court he hoped to remain in the service.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4063905.html
Judge Denies Government's Motion to Dismiss AT&T Case
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - July 20, 2006 10:14 PM
Print article Email article 36 comment(s) - last comment armand dupless.. on Jul 21, 2006 at 10:58 PM
The EFF has won what it considers to be a "huge victory"
A federal judge has rejected a motion by the US government and AT&T to dismiss a lawsuit against AT&T, which was accused by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of assisting the National Security Agency in eavesdropping on Americans. The lawsuit was originally filed against AT&T on January 31, 2006. The US government attempted to have the lawsuit thrown out because it potentially jeopardized the war on terror and may unintentionally reveal state secrets. The decision by a US District Court Judge in San Francisco will allow the EFF's class action lawsuit against AT&T to continue.
Free speech and privacy issues arose when it was disclosed that AT&T apparently opened up its telecommunications facilties so that the NSA could use them while spying on phone conversations and e-mails of millions of American citizens.
In AT&T's defense, company lawyers argued that corporations are protected from lawsuits that claim that companies helped with and/or turned over information to law enforcement agencies. "AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believe that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal," US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said. Even though a dismissal is still not out of the question, Walker wants to see further evidence that solidifies the argument that the lawsuit would be bad for national security. "The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one...but dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security."
AT&T is currently looking over possible next steps that it can take in the case. To read the full decision, click here.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3433&ref=y
Mid-East faces uncertain future
By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East Analyst
Diplomats, officials and experts around the world are anxiously debating what the Greater Middle East will look like when this current crisis finally draws to a close.
Crises like these often inflame anti-American and anti-Israeli feeling
Will it make it easier or harder to resolve the pressing problems of Palestine and Iraq - and the much bigger battle against Islamic extremism?
The more immediate question is: Who will emerge with what?
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, says he wants three things: to secure the release of Israeli soldiers, to clear Hezbollah fighters from south Lebanon and to see Hezbollah disarmed and dismantled.
He wants some form of guarantee that Israel will be free from rocket attacks, whether from Gaza or from south Lebanon.
Some believe he would also like to see the collapse of the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
Israel's dilemma
Few experts think Mr Olmert will secure all these goals, even if the fighting continues for some days.
Israel may be able to weaken Hamas and Hezbollah in military terms, but it is unlikely to force them out of business.
[For Israel] there needs to be in place a Lebanese government and a Palestinian Authority strong enough to prevent rocket or other cross-border attacks. Air strikes coupled with limited military incursions in both territories have made this less, rather than more, likely
Both enjoy a significant level of grass-roots support.
Israel's actions may indeed be counter-productive, by boosting support for these groups beyond the immediate circle of their core Islamist constituencies.
Israel's underlying dilemma remains unchanged.
If it does not wish to re-occupy either Gaza or southern Lebanon, then there needs to be in place a Lebanese government and a Palestinian Authority strong enough to prevent rocket or other cross-border attacks.
Air strikes coupled with limited military incursions in both territories have made this less, rather than more, likely.
Mr Olmert needs to emerge from this conflict with something he can call victory.
If he does not, that will weaken his own political position and jeopardise his ambitious plan to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank by 2010.
Underlying problems
It is unlikely this crisis will leave the underlying problems of the Palestinian territories and Lebanon any nearer a solution.
As Arab rulers are only too well aware, the current conflict has inflamed anti-Israeli and anti-American feeling to a new pitch. In this sense its impact extends well beyond the Middle East
At the same time it is making the West's closest allies in the Arab world distinctly nervous.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have taken the unusual step of pinning the blame for the conflict on Hezbollah and Hamas and their regional backers, Syria and Iran.
This reflects a genuine fear of where the crisis is heading, together with annoyance at what they see as an Iranian attempt to hijack the Palestinian cause.
As Arab rulers are only too well aware, the current conflict has inflamed anti-Israeli and anti-American feeling to a new pitch.
In this sense its impact extends well beyond the Middle East.
Hearts and minds
The issue of Israel and the Palestinians still has the power to mobilise Muslims as far away as Indonesia - or for that matter Muslims living in the West.
Moreover the conflict comes against a backdrop of other events which have aggravated tensions between Islam and the West.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5204346.stm
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