Taco Bell's new $2 Meal

Fast food's value-menu war hits a new low today: the $2 combo meal.
Taco Bell will announce plans to roll out $2 Meal Deals that include a taco or burrito, a medium soft drink and a bag of Doritos. It is the only national chain selling an entree, side dish and drink for $2 — a penny more than an iTunes video download.

"This is certainly thinking outside the bun," says Bob Sandelman, CEO of the restaurant research firm Sandelman & Associates. "I'm sure McDonald's will be watching with interest."


COUPONS: Group-buying sites offer deals in your area
BARGAINS: Retailers, restaurants offer deals as more of us pinch pennies

The restaurant industry has struggled throughout the recession and recovery to respond to consumer demands for cheap eats. Pizza Hut is selling $10 any-size pizzas. T.G.I. Friday's briefly offered $5 sandwiches last year. Denny's recently rolled out $4 all-you-can eat pancakes.

Taco Bell's $2 combo meals lower the bar for McDonald's Dollar Menu, where three items cost $3.

"If we just tossed a pebble into the pond, the ripple wouldn't find its way to shore," explains Greg Creed, president of Taco Bell. "We're throwing a boulder into the pond. This will be a disrupter in the marketplace."

Besides a medium drink and Doritos chips, consumers choose from four items: Chicken Burrito, Double Decker Taco, Gordita Supreme or 5-Layer Burrito.

Taco Bell will begin TV ads on Sunday with Taco Bell workers and customers pondering how the chain can sell three items for $2. The actors make the assumption that one of the items must be "free" — then argue over which item is the freebie.

With unemployment hovering around 10% nationally and the prospect of foreclosures still haunting many folks, "Our customers really need us now," says David Ovens, marketing chief. "They love the fact that we're doing this — even if they can't understand how."

Here's how: The 150 million bags of Doritos it expects to sell this year will come from former parent and current supplier PepsiCo. Beverages typically cost chains pennies on the retail dollar.

Taco Bell will continue to offer its 79-cent, 89-cent and 99-cent value menu, Creed says. "This is a way to reframe another point of value," he says.

It's also a way to boost sales. Taco Bell's same-store sales were down 2% in the first quarter. More serious, sales of its combo meals — which peaked at 31% of all sales in 2008 — are now down to 24% of all sales, Creed says.

McDonald's says it isn't impressed.

"Our research shows that we consistently rank among the best in the industry in consumers' perceptions of value," says spokeswoman Ashlee Yingling.

Thanks to Face Book-Father and Son reunited after 37 yrs.

London, May 11 (IANS) A man in Britain was united with his long-lost father after 37 years with the help of the social networking site Facebook.

Andy Spiers-Corbett, 39, who had lost contact with his father Graham Corbett when his parents separated, typed his father's name into Facebook and instantly picked out his photo from a long list of Graham Corbetts, The Daily Mail reported on its site Tuesday.

'There were about 15 Graham Corbett that came up but I saw this picture and my heart just started pounding. I knew it was him. It was like looking at a picture of me when I'm older,' the report said quoting Andy.

'I just sent a message and a day or two later got one back saying, 'Hello son'. I couldn't believe it,' he added.

The report said the pair later had an emotional reunion at Graham's home and were now 'making up for lost time'.

'I was in bits when he came over to see me. There were a few tears shed. There's been a big part missing for so long but now everything is all right. The Internet is an amazing invention,' said Andy.

'early menopause,???' it's primary ovarian insufficiency

Recently graduated from college and living in Los Angeles, Christine Eads went from doctor to doctor, hoping someone could figure out why her periods had stopped and why she often awoke in the middle of the night drenched in sweat.
They provided lots of possible explanations but no answers:

She was too skinny.

She suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
She should start taking the pill.

She should stop taking the pill.

But they pretty much agreed that there was no way a woman who hadn't menstruated in five years could conceive a baby.

Finally, her then-boyfriend learned of a National Institutes of Health doctor who studied women with her symptoms.

Eads moved back to her native Northern Virginia and went to see Lawrence Nelson, an obstetrician/ gynecologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md.

Nelson immediately recognized that Eads had an uncommon condition called primary ovarian insufficiency, or POI. It affects fertility and leads to osteoporosis and other conditions related to inadequate estrogen production.

Once known as "premature menopause," the name change reflects how research has changed the way doctors think about the condition.

"We need to divorce this from menopause," Nelson says, not to raise false hopes but to erase POI's stigma: A diagnosis of premature menopause affects women's self-image and emotional health.

"Menopause is defined as the permanent cessation of menstrual cycles and the permanent cessation of fertility," Nelson notes. "The word implies that there aren't any eggs left in the ovary that work."

Sure, occasionally there's a report in a medical journal about a POI patient who got pregnant, he says, but "everybody assumed it was a really rare thing, a fluke."

Maybe not.

In primary ovarian insufficiency, "there probably is a period of time where there is less-than-optimal ovarian function but not absence of ovarian function," says Paula Hillard, a Stanford University OB/GYN and board member of Rachel's Well, a POI advocacy group.

"We don't completely understand that, and that's one of the reasons why Larry Nelson's studies are so very, very important," Hillard says.

A long shot but possible

In fact, Nelson and Hillard say, probably 5% to 10% of women with primary ovarian insufficiency are able to conceive.

Eads' diagnosis at 30 sent her reeling. "I was so devastated," says Eads, now 40 and co-host of Broadminded on SiriusXM Radio.

Hoping to help save other women from a similar fate, Eads enrolled in one of Nelson's studies. All the participants were given estrogen patches to wear.

Several months into it, she was asked to come in so the researchers could repeat a blood draw. Something about her hormone levels had looked odd.

Nelson himself called her with the news. "I thought something was wrong," she recalls.

"Are you sitting down?" she says Nelson asked her. "You're not going to believe this. I've got some great news." The reason her hormone levels had looked out of whack? She was pregnant.

When she heard the news, "I was in shock, but I didn't want to tell anybody," Eads says. "I didn't really believe him. I thought maybe they made a mistake."

Eads' son, Aidan, a soccer- and math-loving second-grader, celebrated his 8th birthday this month. Maybe it was the estrogen patch, says Eads, a single mother. Definitely, though, "it was an act of God," she says. "I think he's a total miracle."

Aidan's conception, and a few others in women in his studies, spurred Nelson to study further the fertility potential in POI patients. In research posted online last month by the journal Fertility and Sterility, Nelson and his coauthors compared the ovaries and hormone levels of 97 primary ovarian insufficiency patients and 47 women with normal periods.

FSH isn't the main problem

Using ultrasound, the researchers were surprised to find that three-fourths of the POI patients had follicles — the fluid-filled sacs in the ovary that give rise to egg cells — capable of producing ovarian hormones.

This was the problem, though: While the patients' pituitary glands were releasing plenty of follicle-stimulating hormone, or FSH, which causes follicles to grow, the glands also were releasing excessively high levels of luteinizing hormone, or LH.

LH normally surges once a month, signaling a follicle to break open and release an egg.

Those constantly high LH levels in women with POI cause follicles to try to break open and release an egg too soon. "These women are getting the signal to ovulate all the time," before their follicles are mature enough, Nelson says.

The next step: See if estrogen therapy might suppress LH in POI patients and improve their ovulation rate, says Nelson, who's ready to start such a study as soon as he finds a company that will provide the estrogen and a placebo.

One must read this <> :: Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia

An extract from :::
1876 Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia
May 10th, 2010 by Donna Scanlon
Our guest author today is Gulnar Nagashybayeva, Business Reference Specialist, with another “Favorite from the Fifth Floor.”
( this msg is posted to my friends to know better about this)

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Historical Register of the Centennial Exposition. 1876
May 10, 1876 was the opening date of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia where industrial exhibits of 37 nations were displayed in over 250 pavilions for six months until its formal closure on November 10, 1876. It was the first major international exhibition to be held in the U.S. and a significant event in the history of the young republic as an opportunity to display to the world the technological and industrial progress it had made in its first hundred years of being.

I discovered some interesting publications on the Centennial Exhibition in the Adams stacks when I looked for answers to a couple of questions related to the event. Some of them offer valuable information on the history of American business and industry.

Available online from the Internet Archive Important events of the century: containing historical and important events during the last hundred years; illustrations and descriptions of the Great Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia… 1876 covers: significant events that happened in the United States from 1776 to 1877; Centennial program where you can find what day of the Exhibition the parade of butchers was held; a lengthy listing of fictitious names of states, cities, noted persons; facts about important inventions and improvements; sketches of Presidents, etc. The section Leading business houses can serve as a business directory of the time as it lists company names, the nature of business and dates of establishment for various U.S. cities.

Another book that I found most fascinating is Frank Leslie’s illustrated historical register of the Centennial Exposition, 1876. With about 800 fabulous illustrations of the Centennial drawn by prominent artists of the time this book is more than just the register of the Centennial Exhibition. You can find interesting historical facts in the sections on: all the previous world fairs; early history of American industry; illustrations and descriptions of various exhibition halls of the Centennial with information on each of the major participating countries; agricultural statistics by country; industrial progress of States and statistics of the exhibition.

The Library has over 300 items on the Centennial in its collections including prints and photographs and many titles from other countries such as Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Germany, etc. You can view and download images from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. A search for “Centennial Exhibition 1876” on the Library of Congress American Memory site brings up close to 100 digitized items including photographs, illustrations, books and letters for your enjoyment.

Fire crew saves old woman from sinking car

Firefighter Knud Bucholt feared the worst as he dived into the Whanganui River to free an elderly woman, trapped in a sinking car. "I thought I was looking at a body," he said.

But Hillary Guilford, 83, was still alive – just.

She was in intensive care last night, after almost drowning when her Mazda plunged into the Whanganui River just after 6am yesterday.

Firefighters say it appears she drove off the Wharf St boat ramp.

Police have praised the efforts of two fishermen who tried in vain to free her from her sinking car, before calling emergency services.

Fire service senior station officer Craig Gardiner said the car was fully submerged by the time his crew arrived about 6.20am.

Firefighter Shaun Wooller used a large metal pick, known as a "Hooligan tool", to smash the car windows, before Mr Bucholt and firefighter Lindsay Taylor dived underwater, cut Mrs Guilford free of her seatbelt and pulled her to safety.

The quick-thinking of his four-man crew, who "had her in the ambulance within minutes", proved the difference between life and death, he said.

But for Mr Bucholt, time was moving much more slowly.

"What was probably just minutes felt a lot longer," he said.

"Every time you dive into the water to unlock a door or cut a seatbelt, it felt like we were losing seconds – and they were vital seconds."

Dawn was only just breaking and the water was extremely dark.

"It was pretty hazy. When I pulled her out she was pale white and completely limp."

Mr Gardiner said he rode with Mrs Guildford in the ambulance, and it was not until then that he realised she still had a pulse.

Firefighters attended about two river rescues a year in Whanganui, he said.

Senior Sergeant Dave Kirby, of Whanganui, said the fishermen who were first on the scene deserved special praise.

"They heard someone screaming and rushed over.

"I don't know exactly how long the woman was under for ... we're talking minutes."

A resident living near the boat ramp said she did not see the fishermen who had rushed to Mrs Guilford's aid but they were the only people using the boat ramp that early.

The weather was quite foggy yesterday morning.

Mr Kirby said police were still investigating how the car ended up in the river

Sources : Stuff.co.nz. The Dominian Post

Freekish find shoks southland woman

Southland woman Wendy McMahon reckons she will never look at canned pears the same way.

The latest can she opened contained a demonic face carved into one of its contents.

However, Mrs McMahon said the shock of the find is nothing compared with the trial she has had trying to get answers out of the pears' supplier.

She bought the Budget brand can of pears from Invercargill Pak'N Save a fortnight ago and feeling "a bit peckish", she opened it, late on May 1.

She said it was when she returned to the can for a second helping that she scooped the freakish piece of fruit out.

"I thought `oh my God, is that a face'... it really kind of shocked me."

Inspecting the can, she found an 0800 number and called it.

That call went through to voicemail and, despite feeling "embarrassed", she left a message, Mrs McMahon said.

She took photos of the pear, posted them to websites, including TV3 and Facebook and listed it on Trade Me before going to bed.

Last Monday, her call was returned by a woman from Safeway Traders Ltd in Auckland.

Mrs McMahon said the woman was reluctant to accept the find was genuine, became angry she had "gone public" online with the find, assured her the manufacturing process was automated and there was no way this could have happened.

Forwarding the photos to the woman made her change her tune.

On Thursday she received a letter and a $15 voucher.

Mrs McMahon said because no-one had phoned her back, she called the woman, who assured her the "technical adviser" would call her after lunch.

The woman then phoned, demanding the pear and its can be sent to Auckland so its manufacturer Heinz-Wattie's could investigate, Mrs McMahon said.

She sent the pear, along with the voucher, by courier the same day and pulled the Trade Me listing.

On Friday, the woman phoned again, read her a letter that conceded that during production the pear halves were checked by people at the Chinese plant as a quality control measure and offered her a $30 voucher, Mrs McMahon said. "I said that wasn't good enough, then she turned on me and got nasty again – she said `you're just after money aren't you?' – I asked her to send the pear back."

Last night she was still waiting, but said rather than the satanic slice of fruit, it is her treatment by the company she takes exception to.

sources:"Stuff.co.nz news

nudist hotel plan hits hitch

Turkey's first nudist hotel plan hits hitch


What was billed as the Muslim world's first nudist hotel has been forced to close, just six days after it opened.
It was shut after a local authority inspection which found that one of the balconies did not conform to the architect's drawings.
The first 12 sparsely-clad guests at the 64-room resort in Datca on the Turkish Riviera have had to be moved to more conventional accommodation.

The hotel owner said he hoped to modify the balcony and re-open by Wednesday.
Entrepreneur Ahmed Kosar, a 15-year veteran of the Turkish tourism industry, told the BBC that he was always looking for new niches to exploit in the $20bn (£13.6bn) business, and that a number of European clients at his other hotels had expressed an interest in nudism.
The resort was constructed in a quiet spot on the Datca peninsula, east of the popular resort of Marmaris.

It offers guests the opportunity to bare all around the pool, or to take a special shuttle bus to a private beach where nudity is tolerated.
Mr Kosar said he was campaigning to re-open the hotel, and argued that many other hotels in the area have been allowed to continue operating despite not getting some of the many different licences required in Turkey.
It took him two years to build, and he said there were no objections from the local inhabitants, provided the naked tourists confined themselves to the grounds of the resort and the private beach.

The hotel is only open to foreigners - Turks are not allowed to stay - and the staff, nearly all male, keep their clothes on.

Mr Kosar would not be drawn on the subject of whether officials from the governing AK Party were behind the closure - the party is frequently accused of quietly implementing a conservative Muslim agenda in many parts of Turkey.
But he said that if his project continued to be blocked, he would consider moving it to another country like Croatia or northern Cyprus.

'Growth hormone stopped the bullying'

When Hayley Cowan was 14 she was barely five foot tall.
Some children at her secondary school bullied her badly, constantly referring to her size.
"I hated going to school because people kept making comments about my height.

"They called me very unoriginal names, like 'midget'," she said.

I had much lower self-esteem than my friends, which probably was not helped by the continual questioning of my age by people at cinemas, shops and restaurants

Hayley Cowan
"You start to think your height is your defining feature.
"I was always short, but I got progressively lower than average as my friends grew taller so the difference between me and my friends grew."
Hayley, now aged 18 from Hertfordshire, was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.
Doctors started her on a growth hormone and within four years she had grown four inches.
But not all children are as lucky as Hayley and medics worry that some are slipping through the net.
Hormone controversy
Now Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry have launched an appeal to fund a new child health research centre to look into diseases like abnormal growth.
Adrian Clark, Professor of Medicine at Barts, said: "New research is urgently needed to increase our understanding of these serious health problems as, if they are not treated early, they can cause even greater difficulties in later life.
"Our aim is to raise £2.4 million to fund a team of researchers which will translate into better care for sick children and improvements in their long-term health."
In the past there has been controversy surrounding the use of growth hormone, with suspected links to Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) - or so-called "mad cow disease" - low IQ and an increase in tumours.

But Dr Helen Storr, consultant in paediatric endocrinology at William Harvey Research Institute, Barts, said that these studies were old and no longer relevant.
This is particularly the case with the CJD link, as the hormone used is synthetic rather than taken from a pituitary gland as in the past.
And growth hormone was not linked with an increase in tumour risk - unless a child has a tumour already - Dr Storr added. Nor was there a link with a decrease in intelligence.
She said children reaching a normal height tended to have better health with stronger bones and better muscle tone, as well as an increase in confidence.
"Hayley was helped and many children like her do have a positive outcome," she said.
Borrow clothes
Hayley said she had no qualms taking a growth hormone and that it had transformed her life.
"They did consult me about the side effects, but I really wanted to try it because I was so unhappy I have would tried anything. But I didn't really have any problems.
"I am happy with my height now.
"My body has become more adult. I used to think I was quite fat. I hated the way I looked, now I am much happier.
"Now I can buy clothes and can borrow my friends' clothes because they are the same size."
And best of all Hayley, who has been offered a place at Oxford to study maths, said the bullying has stopped.
"The difference in my attitude towards school now and six years ago is unimaginable.
"I used to dread going to school and count down the time until I could leave.
"I had much lower self-esteem than my friends, which probably was not helped by the continual questioning of my age by people at cinemas, shops and restaurants.
"But now, thanks to the growth hormones, I look the same age as my friends and can match them in self-assurance."


HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE
Human growth hormone (HGH) has been helping stunted children in the UK to grow normally since 1959
Concerns about the transmission of CJD mean that all supplies of HGH are now manufactured using artificial techniques
Human growth hormone is made naturally in the pituitary gland of humans, deep inside the brain just behind the eyes. It is a microscopic protein substance that is secreted in short pulses during the first hours of sleep and after exercise

new record, creating a huge 10-tonne vat of the chickpea-based dip in Fanar.

Lebanon has claimed the latest victory in the continuing battle with Israel over which country can make the largest serving of hummus.

Some 300 chefs set the new record, creating a huge 10-tonne vat of the chickpea-based dip in Fanar.

That more than doubles the previous record of about four tonnes, set in January by cooks in the Israeli-Arab town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem.

Both Lebanese and Israelis claim hummus as a national dish.

A Guinness World Records adjudicator confirmed that Lebanon now held the record.

Hummus is a dip made of chickpeas, olive oil, sesame paste, lemon juice and garlic. The chefs mixed the ingredients together in a giant plate which itself claimed a record for the largest earthenware dish.

'Historic' day as first non-Latin web addresses go live

Arab nations are leading a "historic" charge to make the world wide web live up to its name.

Net regulator Icann has switched on a system that allows full web addresses that contain no Latin characters.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to have so-called "country codes" written in Arabic scripts.

The move is the first step to allow web addresses in many scripts including Chinese, Thai and Tamil.

More than 20 countries have requested approval for international domains from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

It said the new domains were "available for use now" although it admitted there was still some work to do before they worked correctly for everyone. However, it said these were "mostly formalities".

Icann's senior director for internationalised domain names, Tina Dam, told BBC News that this has been "the most significant day" since the launch of the internet, adding that "it's been a very big day for Icann, more so for the three Arabic countries that were the first to be introduced".

Icann president Rod Beckstrom described the change as "historic".

Read right

The introduction of the first web names using so-called country code top-level domains (CCTLDs) is the culmination of several years of work by the organisation.

Previously, websites could use some non-Latin letters, but the country codes such as .eg for Egypt had to be written in Latin script.

The three new suffixes will allow web addresses to be completely written in native characters.

One of the first websites with a full Arabic address is the Egyptian Ministry of Communications.

Egypt's communication and information technology minister Tarek Kamal told the Associated Press that three Egyptian companies were the first to receive registrar licences for the '.masr' domain, written in Arabic.

Mr Kamal described the development as a "milestone in internet history".

Masr means Egypt in Arabic.

Some countries, such as China and Thailand, had already introduced workarounds that allow computer users to enter web addresses in their own language.

However, these were not internationally approved and do not necessarily work on all computers.

Ms Dam explained that the change was "not about shutting non-Arabic or non-Chinese speakers out of the internet.

"It's about including that large part of our world into the internet today."

She said there had previously been a risk the internet might have started to split.

"The chances are people would start creating their own internets, where it was only in Chinese, Arabic, Thai or whatever," she said.

Icann warned that the internationalised domain names (IDNs), as they are known, would also not work on all PCs immediately.

"You may see a mangled string of letters and numbers, and perhaps some percent signs or a couple of "xn--"s mixed into the address bar," said Mr Davies. "Or it may not work at all."

Previously, Icann has said that people would have to update the software on their computers to view the domains.

"Computers never come with the complete set of fonts that will allow it to show every possible IDN in the world.

"Often this is fixed by downloading additional language packs for the missing languages, or specifically finding and installing fonts that support the wanted languages."

Global access

When Icann first announced its plans for non-Latin web names it said it was the "biggest change" to the net "since it was invented 40 years ago".

"Over half the internet users around the world don't use a Latin-based script as their native language," said Mr Beckstrom at the time.

"IDNs are about making the internet more global and accessible for everyone."

Icann said it had received 21 requests for IDNs in 11 different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Tamil and Thai.

Website owners in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will now be able to apply for web addresses using the new country codes.

Death threats leave Jharkand politicians in fear (India)

There has been a surge in Maoist violence in recent months
Senior politicians in the Indian state of Jharkand say they are living in fear and hardly dare venture from their own homes.

In recent weeks Maoist rebels have begun issuing death threats against local Congress Party leaders - demanding they oppose the government's latest military offensive against the guerrillas.

These are not empty threats.

Earlier this month the Maoists gunned down Congress leader Govardhan Mahli in the East Singhbhum district of the state.

The Indian government recently launched a major offensive against the rebels. In Jharkand, government and state security forces want to flush the Maoists out of the remote swathes of forest they occupy.

But Jharkand is at the centre of the Maoists' "red corridor" - they have a heavy presence in 18 of the state's 24 districts and call strikes, blow up train tracks and lay landmines.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the insurgency in Jharkhand.

Poster campaign

Around the same time of the assassination of Mr Mahli, 24 Congress leaders in the district of Palamu resigned in fear of the Maoist diktat.

We have advised party leaders to take the utmost precautions

Radha Krishna Kishore
And in late April the rebels issued a fresh ultimatum through a poster campaign exhorting 38 Congress leaders in Palamu to quit the party or face the consequences.

Seventeen of them quit last week.

Congress politicians say they feel helpless in the face of the threat.

"It's a question of life. We're not able to come out of our homes or go outside the state capital. The state government has completely surrendered before the Maoists," a Congress leader told the BBC on condition of anonymity.

Congress legislator Radha Krishna Kishore described the atmosphere among the political elite in Jharkand.

"They [the Maoists] have already been executing their threat and the situation is even more alarming and grave than it appears," he said.

Security plea

He says there is a very real fear that Jharkhand could go the same way as the state of Punjab during the height of its insurgency in the 1970s - when he says that more than 36,000 Congress party members and their families were killed by militants.

Mr Kishore says that his colleagues in Jharkhand have been pleading with the chief minister and police chief for better security.

They have also established a five-member committee to take stock of the situation and suggest possible ways the party can escape the wrath of the Maoists.

Mr Kishore is convener of the committee as is Jharkhand Congress President Pradeep Balmuchu.

"Now the committee has submitted its report we'll put it before our party chief Sonia Gandhi, the prime minister and home minister to make them aware of the threat," Mr Balmuchu told the BBC.

"Until then we're keeping our fingers crossed and have advised party leaders to take the utmost precautions when moving out from their houses or constituencies."

Congress party members are being subjected to a campaign of intimidation
But the Maoist influence in Jharkand extends beyond the remote jungles of the state.

Their presence is so strong that in the latest elections to the state assembly, their representatives - in different political parties - won nine seats.

The Maoists contend they are fighting for the rights of poor, marginal farmers and the oppressed classes.

But the authorities are sceptical about their dedication to the cause.

Police say that since they have stepped up operations, many top Maoist leaders have fled into neighbouring Bihar state.

Some Congress leaders may do likewise. As the Indian government forges ahead with the biggest anti-Maoist offensive on record, the ramifications in individual states across India are far-reaching and potentially deadly.

Sources::: Amarnath Tewary
Patna, Bihar - India

IT CAN BE ONLY IN CHINA ???

In order to attract more customers, a Chinese hair-stylist, trained in the art of kung-fu, cuts hair, while standing upside down, on his head.

36-year-old Wang Xiaoyu first attracted media attention,in May of last year, when local papers reported a man cutting his customers’ hair, while doing a headstand. The wacky barber has been cutting hair, in the city of Changsha, Hunan Province, for 16 years, and is now using his 18 years of kung-fu training to boost up his business.

What can I say, his customers better pray Wang doesn’t get dizzy while using a sharp razor. Someone could literally lose their heads over this. But, on the other hand, if you’ve ever doubted the power of kung-fu martial arts, now’s the time to stop.

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Do We Push Kids Too Hard ???

Do too many parents and grandparents try to live through their kids and put too much pressure on them?

At a young age, kids are often pushed into playing sports or music or other activities. While there are some great benefits that can come from these activities like learning teamwork and gaining self-confidence, there are also dangers, none the least of which comes from the parents themselves.

The Gazette reports that “More than half of Canadian adults who attend children’s sporting events say they’ve witnessed verbal or physical abuse against officials and coaches by parents, according to a new survey.”

In the article Peter Crocker, chair of the Canadian Psychological Associations’ sports and exercise section and professor at the University of British Columbia explains that “there’s a lot of pressure at these games because they want their kids to do well and there’s this dream of the college scholarship, or in Canada of (a hockey player) getting drafted and going through the system.”

As important and beneficial as sports can be, I wonder how much these kids would benefit if instead of being so passionate about sports, parents were instead as passionate about God’s word, and teaching them to chase hard after righteousness instead of athletic success?

Were you ever pressured by a parent in extracurricular activities? Have you witnessed an instance of angry parents at kids sporting events or unfairly trying to live out their dreams through their children? Share your experiences with us in the comments!

If you are struggling with issues relating to anger in your marriage or relationship, you may want to try our online interactive life lesson “Lovebusters: Angry Outbursts“.
Sources ::>> Women Today Magazine

Goan Civil Code
Did you know that the state of Goa (South West of India) has one of those legal rarities- the pre-nuptial agreement?

The Goan civil code

Goa has had a uniform civil code for the last 500 years.
Though written in Portuguese, it has been translated into English. The Goan government has realised that these old laws may need to be changed or altered to some extent. Especially the laws concerning property distribution during marriage and divorce.

Marriage

The uniform civil code insists that all couples must register their intent to marry as well as the marriage itself. The code supersedes religious rules. If a marriage is not registered, the court does not recognize it.

Pre- Nuptial Agreement

In a pre- nuptial agreement, the couple should choose any of the three available systems which deal with property distribution. This contract cannot be changed after the marriage has taken place.

Property

If no contract has been signed, it is custom of the country that governs by default. It is assumed that the couple married under communion of property.

Properties that belong separately to each of the spouses need to be registered. Otherwise it will be assumed to be community property. All property acquired during the marriage is considered joint property - to be equally divided in case of divorce.

Couples who choose to marry under separate property regime must necessarily reject the communion of property. Each of the property acquired even after marriage can only be registered in the name of one of the spouses. There is no dual ownership.

The third system is dotal regime, which has couples specifying the property included in the endowment.

Though these contracts have a lot of flexibility, they must be drawn up before the marriage. Not a single clause can be changed after the wedding.

These family laws in Goa aim to protect both the parties. But like any other law, ignorance of these laws render them less effective. Women should be made aware of these laws and their rights to prefer separate property regimes.

Divorce Laws

The divorce laws in Goa aim to be fair to both parties. Both the families have three of their members to represent them. They play a significant role in granting a separation and maintenance to be allotted to the needy spouse.

If the divorce is not mutually sought but contested, the children's custody usually goes to the person who wants to keep the marriage intact and avoid divorce.

These laws apply equally to every one in Goa. Personal law plays no role here. Goan laws are an example of how uniform civil codes treat every member of the society impartially.

Ruby Dickinson - World's

Ruby Dickinson - World's
youngest tattoos Artist.

3 year old Ruby Dickinson, from Wales, is preparing to ink a small tattoo,
on her father's body, and become the youngest tattoo artist on Earth.

Ruby has been living in a tattoo-filled environment,
ever since
she was born. Her father, Blane, has his own tattoo shop,
set up right in their home.
Tattooing has already become part of
Ruby's life, and she always talks to her father's customers,
about what they are planning to ink on their bodies, and
repeats whatever her father tells them, on the matter.

Blane has already ordered a special tattooing tool, from the States,
one that fits Ruby's small hands. Right now, she is practicing
her favorite design, a spider, about the size of a 2 p coin.
Since her father already has 70% of his body covered with tattoos,
he's not worried Ruby might mess up the spider.

Brent says this will set her off on a fantastic career, and
a tattoo machine is a lot cheaper than university fees.

New pizza recipe did wonders

Just four months after a desperate Domino's (DPZ) tossed its much-mocked pizza recipe out the window and rolled out a spicy new one, the chain reported on Tuesday what CEO J. Patrick Doyle calls a "historic" leap in sales at locations open at least one year.
That gain of 14.3%, Doyle says, ranks as one of the largest quarterly same-store sales jumps ever recorded by a major fast-food chain. Even more impressive, the turnaround is taking place at a time when the $22 billion pizza-delivery business — quashed by the recession and vastly improved frozen-pizza technologies — fell 3%, researcher Technomic estimates.

Domino's was painfully aware of its old pizza recipe's bottom-of-the-barrel reputation. It even ran a self-flogging ad campaign earlier this year in which it let a consumer rant about its former crust tasting like cardboard and its sauce tasting like ketchup.

Domino's instant turnaround is almost without precedent in the fast-food industry, says Christopher Muller, hospitality professor at Orlando's University of Central Florida. "No one in the industry thought it was going to be this successful," Muller says. "This changes the pizza landscape."

Rolling out all-new crust, sauce and cheese, Muller says, "was like the world poker championship. Domino's put everything on the table."

The move was made in the midst of a CEO change, as well. Doyle was named CEO in January, just days after the new recipe began to roll out. He says the recipe was a needed move. "It proves that if you do the right thing, then look people in the eye and tell them the truth about what you've done, they'll respond."

Jeremy White, editor of trade magazine Pizza Today, agrees: "Domino's is really kicking it right now."

But not all is perfect. Domino's stock rose more than 70% over the past year, but it took a hit Tuesday, closing down $2.04 at $14.02, a drop of 12.7%. Some had expected Domino's numbers to be even stronger after the massive amount it spent promoting the new recipe and the discounting it has offered over the past quarter.

Meanwhile, Papa John's, which likes to brag about being the pizza taste leader — and whose domestic same-store sales fell 0.4% in the first quarter — is unimpressed with Domino's gains. "It's not surprising that they drove trial on a new product," says spokesman Chris Sternberg.

But Doyle believes it's much more than trial. "Not only did folks try the pizza — they're coming back," he says.

Doyle concedes, however, this kind of same-store sales results can't continue forever. "If we did this every quarter for seven years, we'd be bigger than U.S gross domestic product."

Nano-tech for faster Net

Washington, May 4 (ANI): Communication devices will soon turn smaller, more flexible and more powerful, thanks to a nano-based technology that can make computers and the Internet hundreds of times faster.

Currently being creataed by Dr. Koby Scheuer of Tel Aviv University's School of Electrical Engineering, the communications technology "enabler" could only be used in five or ten years in the future.

Scheuer has developed a new plastic-based technology for the nano-photonics market, which manufactures optical devices and components.

The plastic-based "filter" is made from nanometer-sized grooves embedded into the plastic.

When used in fibre optics cable switches, the new device will make our communication devices smaller, more flexible and more powerful, he said.

"Once Americans have a fibre optics cable coming into every home, all communication will go through it - telephone, cable TV, the Internet. But to avoid bottlenecks of information, we need to separate the information coming through into different channels. Our polymeric devices can do that in the optical domain - at a speed, quality and cost that the semi-conductor industry can't even imagine," said Scheuer.

Every optical device used in today's communication tools has a filter.

Ten years from now, fibre optic cables that now run from city to city will feed directly into every individual home.

When that technology comes to light, the new plastic-based switches could revolutionize the way we communicate.

"Right now, we could transmit all of the written text of the world though a single fiber in a fiber optics cable in just a few seconds. But in order to handle these massive amounts of communication data, we need filters to make sense of the incoming information. Ours uses a plastic-based switch, replacing hard-to-fabricate and expensive semi-conductors," said Scheuer.

Semi-conductors, grown on crystals in sterile labs and processed in special ovens, take days and sometimes months to manufacture. They are delicate and inflexible as well, said Scheuer.

"Our plastic polymer switches come in an easy-to-work-with liquid solution. Using a method called 'stamping,' almost any laboratory can make optical devices out of the silicon rubber mold we've developed," he added.

The silicon rubber mould is scored with nano-sized grooves, invisible to the eye and each less than a millionth of a meter in width.

A plastic solution can be poured over the mould to replicate the optical switch in minutes.

When in place in a fibre-optic network, the grooves on the switch modulate light coming in through the cables, and the data is filtered and encoded into usable information.

The device can also be used in the gyros of planes, ships and rockets; inserted into cell phones; and made a part of flexible virtual reality gloves so doctors could "operate" on computer networks over large distances.

The study has been published in the journal Optics Express.

repair is on @ New Jersey's beaches

BELMAR, N.J. — Up and down New Jersey's coast, shore towns are racing to repair damage to their beaches from a series of winter storms before the tourists arrive on Memorial Day weekend.
Erosion shrank some beaches as much as 75 feet over the winter, but experts expect at least some of that to gradually return to the shore.

To speed things up, a brigade of bulldozers, front-end loaders and dump trucks has been pushing, scooping and dumping sand to shore up dunes and beaches that lost sand to the storms.

When the hordes of vacationers descend on the area on Memorial Day weekend, May 29-30, they will find plenty of room to frolic, said Stewart Farrell, director of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Coastal Research Center.

"The beach is still going to be there, but it's going to be a little narrower," he said. "But it will come back."

It had better. Tourism is a $39 billion industry in New Jersey, and the shore accounts for a large portion of that total.

Jon Miller, a coastal scientist with the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium/New Jersey Sea Grant, said this past winter was the worst on record for beach erosion and storm wave energy.

"It was bad — really bad — but it could have been worse," he said.

Miller said a November storm was the most powerful to hit New Jersey beaches since the December 1992 nor'easter, a famously destructive storm that washed away beaches, wrecked boardwalks, smashed sea walls and flooded homes.

But the two worst storms last winter affected different parts of the coast. The November storm pounded southern beaches, while the March storm did more damage along the northern coast.

In Belmar, public works employee Rod McCann spent the past three weeks using a front-end loader to move tons of sand back onto the beaches from where it had piled up 3 to 4 feet high along a dune fence and the boardwalk.

"A lot of the beach got pushed up to the dunes, and we had to push it back," he said. "It was piled up pretty big."

The sand is now spread evenly along the beaches, filling in large sections that had washed out over the winter. A bit to the south in Sea Girt, bulldozers have restored an artificial dune line along wooden fencing, and crews turned their attention last week to repainting the weathered boardwalk benches a dazzling white.

Ocean City, which lost virtually its entire beach in a northern section of town in the November storm, neared completion of repairs on Friday, and is wrapping up a beach replenishment program, as well. Other beach replenishment is due to conclude in Harvey Cedars, on Long Beach Island, by early June.

Upper Township and North Wildwood are undertaking beach repairs without a guarantee the federal government will reimburse them for 75% of the multimillion-dollar cost, Farrell said.

And Avalon trucked in tons of sand from a quarry to repair a section of its beach between 17th and 21st streets.

Beyond what public works crews can accomplish from the shoreline, some beaches should eventually recover on their own, because large amounts of sand washed out to sea gradually return to the beaches with the summer tides. But that takes time.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to complete beach recovery, the process can be agonizingly slow," Miller said.

He added that the beaches will undoubtedly look different from last summer.

"The important lesson that we can take away from this past winter is that the coastline is a dynamic landscape, and we can be lulled into a false sense of security that the way it looks today is the way it will look tomorrow."

குஷ்பு மீதான வழக்குகள்

திருமணத்துக்கு முன்னர் பெண்கள் பாலியல் உறவு வைத்துக் கொள்வது தவறில்லை என்று அவர் கூறியிருந்தார்.

படித்த இளைஞர்கள் தமக்கு மனைவியாக வருபவர்கள் கன்னித் தன்மையுடன் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று எதிர்பார்ப்பது நியாமில்லை என்றும் குஷ்பு கருத்து வெளியிட்டிருந்தார்

2005 ஆம் ஆண்டு பத்திரிகை பேட்டி ஒன்றில் அவர் வெளியிட்டிருந்த இந்த கருத்துக்களுக்கு எதிராக அவர் மீது 22 வழக்குகள் தமிழ்நாட்டின் வெவ்வேறு நீதிமன்றங்களில் தொடுக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது.

இந்திய தண்டனைச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் பல்வேறு நீதிமன்றங்களில் குஷ்பு மீது வழக்கு தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்டது.

இதை எதிர்த்து குஷ்பு தாக்கல் செய்த மேல்முறையீட்டு மனுவை சென்னை உயர்நீதிமன்றம் நிராகரித்தது.

சென்னை உயர்நீத்மன்ற தீர்ப்பை எதிர்த்து இந்திய உச்சநீதிமன்றத்தில் குஷ்பு மேல்முறையீடு செய்தார்.

அந்த வழக்கில் தீர்பளித்த உச்சநீதிமன்ற நீதிபதிகள், குஷ்புவின் மனுவை ஏற்று, இது தொடர்பாக அவர் மீது தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்ட 22 வழக்குகளையும் தள்ளுபடி செய்து இன்று(புதன்கிழமை) உத்தரவிட்டனர்.

THE FATE OF ELEPHANTS IN INDIA

Wildlife experts in India are looking for a bull elephant accused of killing 10 female elephants.

A 15-member task force has been formed to keep an eye on the elephant's every move through the Periyar reserve forest in the state of Kerala.

An official told the BBC that the elephant's behaviour was because of a testosterone surge which leads to more aggression in bull elephants.

Eight females were killed last year and two others were found dead last month.

"Looking at the post-mortem reports of the dead females and other evidence that our team has gathered, we are sure that they were all killed by the same tusker [bull elephant]," Kerala's Chief Wildlife Warden KK Srivastava told the BBC.

He said one of the tusks of the elephant is damaged and had become "very sharp" which "pierces the female body", resulting in the deaths.

The animal is a "young male" between "20 and 30 years of age" and is 2.74m (9ft) high.

Getting better

Officials say they would like to tranquilise and catch the animal so that its tusk can be trimmed. But before they do that, they say that they want to make sure that the animal does not come to any harm.

"The terrain in the reserve is hilly and there is a reservoir. Once the animal is hit by the tranquiliser, it begins to run. We are worried it might get killed. So we cannot take a risk," Mr Srivastava said.

He said the fact that the elephant has killed only two females this year may mean that he is getting better.

"We'll watch him for this year before we decide to do anything. Maybe he'll just get better on his own," he said.

Periyar has about 800 elephants, but the gender ratio is skewed - there are 79 females for each male in the park.

CHECK OVER WEIGHT -WARNING

Rising rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, two retired generals have warned.

More than a quarter of young Americans are now too fat to fight, they said.

Writing in the Washington Post, the ex-commanders said the fat crisis ruled out more potential military service recruits than any other medical factor.

They want Congress to introduce laws to give US children better nutrition in schools, with less sugar, salt and fat.

John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairmen of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote: "Obesity rates threaten the overall health of America and the future strength of our military."

"We consider this problem so serious from a national security perspective that we have joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military leaders in calling on Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation," the commanders added.

The warning comes amid mounting fears that childhood obesity has turned into an "epidemic" affecting an astonishing one in three young American people.

Mr Shalikashvili and Mr Shelton pointed to post-school lunch laws from 1946, which recognised that poor nutrition reduced the pool of military recruits.

"We must act, as we did after World War II, to ensure that our children can one day defend our country, if need be."

Obesity rates in the US have surged over the last year, according to one report .

The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found adult obesity rates rose in 23 of the 50 states, but fell in none.

Tunick tribute to Lowry with nudes in Manchester

Hundreds of volunteers have stripped naked for a public photo shoot marking the 10th anniversary of the Lowry art gallery in Salford.

Spencer Tunick is photographing the models in eight different locations across Manchester and Salford.

Tunick's aim was to capture the movement of everyday people and reflect the work of artist LS Lowry.

The photographs will be part of an exhibition at The Lowry gallery - which is named after the Salford artist.

Tunick has photographed thousands of nude volunteers across the world, most recently at the Sydney Opera House last month.

But this project, involving a total of 1,000 naked people, will be the New York-based photographer's first multiple site installation.

'Gained trust'

He told BBC Radio 5 Live that he had been inundated with requests to join the project.

"I think I have done enough works in England where there's sort of acceptance of my work as an art form and people really want to pose," he said.


All you had to was look around and realise you were part of something really special

Sean Hayes, Participant
"I mean, we had people signing up to do this, and so we had to get that number down to 1,000. It's taken me about 10 years to gain the trust of the English public."

Victoria Denning, from Birmingham, said taking part was a "great experience".

"It's wonderful how many different shapes and sizes of bodies there are," she said.

"You get so used to seeing a certain shape of body in magazines, and not one single person looked like that.

"Even the first time it felt normal because everyone was doing it and nobody was looking. It was just amazing."

Sean Hayes, 28, from Cheshire, said he volunteered after seeing Tunick's work in Sydney.

"I'm normally very shy but I wanted to come to this. You've just got to take the plunge.

"All you had to was look around and realise you were part of something really special."



Spencer Tunick carried out a similar project in Sydney earlier this month
Over Saturday and Sunday, 500 volunteers will be taken each day - via heated buses - to the eight secret locations and asked to pose naked while Tunick creates his piece of work.

Four locations have been chosen for each day.

The volunteers are all of different body shapes and sizes.

Michael Simpson, from The Lowry, said: "I think Lowry would really like it because his whole mission for him was to paint ordinary, everyday people going around their daily lives.

"The people who feature in this project are doing something extraordinary, with no clothes on, but they are just ordinary people, all different colours and shapes and sizes.

"He would like the fact that it is not high-brow or pretentious, just ordinary people. He would be amused, even a bit bemused probably."

Much of Laurence Stephen Lowry's art is characterised by matchstick figures and industrial landscapes and his work is often sold for millions at auction.

The gallery in Salford houses the world's largest public collection of his works and Tunick said he was inspired to begin this particular project after visiting the gallery.

His work will be on show as part of the Everyday People exhibition, on show between June and September.

Tunick said he was also looking for volunteers to take part in his next project at the Big Chill Festival in Herefordshire.

NRI knocks on Centre's door for cremation rights in UK

NRI knocks on Centre's door for cremation rights in UK

How a person dies may not be in his hand but how his last rites are performed can be a matter of personal choice. Fighting for this right for Hindus and Sikhs — to be able to choose cremation in open air, in accordance with religious beliefs — Devendra Ghai, a 71-year-old Non Resident Indian , fought in the UK courts for four years. And won.

He is now in India to press the Ministry of Social Justice and the Ministry of Environment give a no-clearance certificate so that the order can be implemented in Britain.

It all began in 2006, when the British police found the body of an Indian who had drowned. They found Ghai's business card on the body and contacted him.

Ghai, who did not know the person, decided to cremate him in accordance with the Hindu rites since the deceased's family could not come to UK. That was also when he realised that open pyres have been banned in Britain since 1902.

"In UK, all last rites are completed at a chapel where the Hindu bodies are placed in an electrical crematorium. At times, 3-4 bodies are placed in a single crematorium and burnt together. In such a case, the ashes get mixed. That, I thought, was unjust because Muslims and Jews are allowed to have their own burial site," Ghai said.

He then moved the courts of Britain. In February this year, after a four-year struggle, Ghai won the case. As per the order, a separate area in chapels can now be reserved for Hindus and Sikhs where the bodies can be cremated on open pyres.

Along with the monumental victory came the reality of existence, court cases require money and now Ghai, who has suffered two heart attacks, is in debt of Rs 27 lakh. His legal battle cost him Rs 63 lakh; he is now looking at the cost of getting the order implemented.

The British court has passed the order but according to its law, the no-clearance certificates by the Indian government are required before the order can be implemented.

As elections in Britain are going to happen soon, the ministries, Ghai said, are dilly-dallying with the orders. "Even after the court passed its order, the authorities are not taking it seriously. Once I am dead, there is no one to champion the cause."

Ghai is now meeting political leaders in India to ensure implementation of the verdict. He found a willing ear in Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Jolly, who held a press meet on Thursday to highlight the issue.

In his address, Jolly said he will take up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs and also request the Indian Embassy in UK to help.

Seized violin to be loaned again to virtuoso: Austrian central bank

Seized violin to be loaned again to virtuoso: Austrian central bank

Released on - Thursday,29 April , 2010 -18:20 Star musician Patricia Kopatchinskaja is to get her violin back after it was seized by Swiss customs officers last weekend, the instrument's owners, the Austrian central bank OeNB, said Thursday.

The rare 1741 Italian-made Guarnerius del Gesu violin called the "ex-Carrodus" is now in Vienna after being recovered from Zurich airport on Wednesday, OeNB spokesman Oliver Huber told AFP.

"And there is nothing to stop it being loaned back" to the Moldova-born virtuoso who lives in Switzerland, Huber said.

Kopatchinskaja, 33, was questioned by Swiss border guards about the 4.5 million euros (6.0 million dollar) instrument when she flew into Zurich airport on Saturday.

As she had not declared the violin upon entry into Swiss territory, the instrument was confiscated by guards and Kopatchinskaja risked a fine of up to 700,000 Swiss francs (488,000 euros, 651,000 dollars).

Swiss residents are required to declare purchases abroad of above 300 Swiss francs in order to pay duty and tax.

The "ex-Carrodus" is one of 36 priceless violins -- including a number of Stradivari -- that the Austrian central bank owns and lends to promising young musicians.

Kopatchinskaja, who also has Austrian nationality, has garnered international awards and critical acclaim in recent years.

Saudi king photo with women spices mixing debate

Saudi newspapers ran front page pictures on Friday of King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz in a crowd of women with their faces bared, adding fuel to the growing fight over mixing in the kingdom.

The undated photograph showed the kingdom's two most powerful men together with more than three dozen smiling women at a seminar on health and the community in the southwestern city of Najran held several weeks ago.

The photograph was published in several leading newspapers including Okaz, Ashahrq al-Awsat and Al-Watan, each with a close link to senior members of the ruling royal family.

No reason was given for why the picture was published only now; accompanying text gave a routine description of the theme of the conference.

But the photo appeared amid a mounting and increasingly open debate over the country's harsh ban on unrelated women and men mixing together enforced by ultra-conservative Saudi Muslim clerics.

In the past 10 days the outspoken head of the Mecca branch of the Saudi religious police, who enforce official Islamic morality, was fired and then mysteriously reinstated after he broke ranks to say that there was nothing in Islamic tradition and law banning mixing.

Newspapers reported vaguely that a high-level figure had intervened to save Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamdi, after the president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police, signed and published an order naming his replacement.

Most of the women in the photograph on Friday were also baring their faces, against leading clerics' insistence, often enforced by the religious police, that women's faces must be covered in public.

King Abdullah has not publicly spoken out on the debate. But last year he opened a new science university named after himself that permits the international body of students and faculty to freely mix together.

When a senior cleric criticised the university, he was summarily fired by order of the king himself.

Russia cuts key interest rate to new historic low

Russia cuts key interest rate to new historic low

Released on - Thursday,29 April , 2010 -10:03 36
Russia's Central Bank announced Thursday it was cutting its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to a historic low of 8.00 percent in order to boost economic recovery.

The move, effective from Friday, marked the thirteenth cut in a row since April 2009. In October, the rate was reduced to below 10 percent for the first time ever.

The bank said in a statement that the recovery in Russia "remains unstable and the need remains to support the dynamic of internal demand."

The cut is aimed "above all at further stimulating an increase in credit activity in the banking sector and, in the end, an increase in the accessibility of credit for the real (manufacturing) sector of the economy," it added

5-min colon cancer test could save thousands

5-min colon cancer test could save thousands


London: A five-minute colon cancer test could reduce the number of deaths from the disease by about 40%, a new study says.
British researchers followed more than 170,000 people for about 11 years. Of those, more than 40,000 had a “flexiscope” test, an exam that removes polyps, small growths that could become cancerous.
The test involves having a pen-sized tube inserted into the colon so doctors can identify and remove small polyps. Experts used the test on people in their 50s. In the UK, government-funded colon cancer screening doesn’t start until 60.
Researchers compared those results to more than 113,000 people who were not screened. They found the flexiscope test reduced peoples’ chances of getting colon cancer by one third. It also cut their chances of dying by 43%. Researchers said the test needed to be done just once in a person’s lifetime.
The results were published online on Wednesday in Lancet. Experts said the findings could make some authorities reconsider how they look for colon cancer. Colon cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed form of the disease worldwide , accounting for more than one million cases and 600,000 deaths annually.

Obama Brings Relief To Haiti Victims

Obama Brings Relief To Haiti Victims
originally posted by "Natasha"
Obama Brings Relief To Haiti VictimsWednesday,
28 April, 2010 6:18 AM
From: "Natasha"

First Blood Bank for Dogs in Chennai-India

Veterinarians in the southern city of Chennai are looking for donors after opening India's first blood bank for dogs.

Dr P. Thangaraju from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University said 28 owners had already registered their dogs for donation and a black Labrador was the first through the doors when the facility opened on Monday.


"Our university has become the first university in Asia, after the US and UK, to start the blood bank," the vice chancellor said, adding that eight varieties of dog blood had been identified.

"We will need more donors to get blood in all eight varieties," he added.

Owning pets is a growing trend in India, but reserved exclusively for the middle classes and wealthy, who can afford animal food and veterinary bills.

Stray dogs are a common sight throughout India, feared by many because of the prevalence of rabies and viewed as a pest for their nocturnal barking.

Thangaraju said the university, which attends to nearly 200 dogs a day, needed the million-rupee (22,000-dollar) facility because lives were frequently lost for lack of blood.

Transfusions are needed during surgery to remove tumours, to treat dogs suffering from leukaemia, or after accidents -- a frequent problem on India's treacherous roads.

Nation-wide, hospitals in India face a lack of human donors.

"Most government hospitals across India face shortage of blood despite there being a compulsory rule that family members or friends of the patient have to volunteer to donate blood after a blood transfusion," Dr R.K. Jha, a medical officer at a top hospital in New Delhi, told AFP.

Dogs aged between one and eight years old will be eligible to donate a maximum of four times a year at the centre in Chennai.

Source-AFP
SRM

प्यार अतिरिक्त काली मिर्च के साथ अपने भोजन के लिए है?

प्यार अतिरिक्त काली मिर्च के साथ अपने भोजन के लिए है? Well, other than spicing up your taste buds, it will also help you lose those extra inches around the waist. खैर, अपने स्वाद कलियों spicing के अलावा, यह भी मदद से आप कमर के आसपास उन अतिरिक्त इंच खो देंगे.

Food scientists have said that hot peppers contain a substance called capsaicin that can actually cause your body to heat up. खाद्य वैज्ञानिकों ने कहा है कि गर्म मिर्च एक पदार्थ शामिल capsaicin कहा कि वास्तव में अपने शरीर को पैदा कर सकता है अप करने के लिए गर्मी.


However, now researchers have found growing evidence that the body-heat-generating power of peppers might even lend a hand in our quest to lose those extra inches accumulating around the waistline. हालांकि, अब शोधकर्ताओं बढ़ते सबूत है कि मिर्च के शरीर की गर्मी पैदा करने की शक्ति भी हमारे खोज में एक हाथ उधार दे सकता है के लिए उन अतिरिक्त कमर के आसपास जमा इंच खो मिल गया है.

And fortunately for those who do not appreciate the "burn" of hot peppers, there are plants that make a non-burning version of capsaicin called dihydrocapsiate (DCT) that could have the benefits of peppers without the pungency. और जो "गर्म मिर्च के" जलने की सराहना नहीं करते के लिए सौभाग्य से, वहाँ पौधों है कि capsaicin एक गैर जल संस्करण dihydrocapsiate (डीसीटी बुलाया बना रहे हैं) है कि तीव्रता के बिना मिर्च का लाभ हो सकता है.

In a study aimed to test the weight-loss potential of this DCT containing, non-spicy cousin of hot peppers, researchers at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition set out to document its ability to increase heat production in human subjects consuming a weight-loss diet. एक तरह से इस युक्त डीसीटी, गर्म मिर्च के गैर मसालेदार चचेरे भाई के वजन घटाने के उद्देश्य से क्षमता परीक्षण अध्ययन में, मानव पोषण के लिए UCLA केंद्र में शोधकर्ताओं के लिए बाहर सेट अपने लिए मानव विषयों में गर्मी का उत्पादन खपत एक वजन घटाने की क्षमता बढ़ाने के दस्तावेज़ आहार.

Led by David Heber, the researchers recruited 34 men and women who were willing to consume a very low-calorie liquid meal replacement product for 28 days. दाऊद हेबेर के नेतृत्व में शोधकर्ताओं ने 34 पुरुषों और महिलाओं को जो एक बहुत ही कम कैलोरी 28 दिनों के लिए तरल भोजन प्रतिस्थापन उत्पाद का उपभोग करने के लिए तैयार थे भर्ती किया था.

Love to have your food with extra pepper?

Love to have your food with extra pepper? Well, other than spicing up your taste buds, it will also help you lose those extra inches around the waist.

Food scientists have said that hot peppers contain a substance called capsaicin that can actually cause your body to heat up.


However, now researchers have found growing evidence that the body-heat-generating power of peppers might even lend a hand in our quest to lose those extra inches accumulating around the waistline.

And fortunately for those who do not appreciate the "burn" of hot peppers, there are plants that make a non-burning version of capsaicin called dihydrocapsiate (DCT) that could have the benefits of peppers without the pungency.

In a study aimed to test the weight-loss potential of this DCT containing, non-spicy cousin of hot peppers, researchers at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition set out to document its ability to increase heat production in human subjects consuming a weight-loss diet.

Led by David Heber, the researchers recruited 34 men and women who were willing to consume a very low-calorie liquid meal replacement product for 28 days.

DRUGS TO AVOID SEX CRIMES

Men with high sex drives in Australia are using testosterone-lowering drugs in order to avoid committing sex related crimes.

Health Department figures in Australia showed an increase of 1150 patients each year from 2004 to 2007, who have been undergoing the medication, cyproterone acetate, for sexual deviance.

However, Stephen Allnutt, a forensic psychiatrist in private practice and conjoint senior lecturer at the University of NSW, briefed, "a lot of people aren't comfortable taking them ... Clinicians aren't comfortable prescribing them."

Also he mentioned that it is under-prescribed.

The American Psychiatric Association describes sexual deviance, or paraphilia, as "recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviours generally involving non-human objects, or the suffering or humiliation of oneself or one's partner, or children, or non-consenting persons".

Allnutt said the testosterone-lowering treatment can help "separate personality from sex drive".

"Just because you have a sex drive that would be regarded as deviant, you don't necessarily have a bad personality. [But] if you've got an interest in children, sex drive is a strong thing and can sometimes overwhelm or influence your decision-making," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying.

John, a 44-year-old man with women's underwear fetish, who has served a three-year prison term, shared his experience with the drugs.

He said: "I've tried coming off. If I come off it leads to reoffending ... Freedom's better than jail, isn't it?

"It can make you light headed if you get up quickly. I'm a bit tender in the breasts but I wouldn't worry if I ended up staying on them indefinitely."

Source-ANI
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