WORLD

2011-10-09T13:43:00.003+05:30

Air pollution fueling respiratory diseases in cities: WHO

Geneva:Developing countries in the southeast Asian region with expanding urbanisation are now at a greater risk of respiratory diseases triggered by air pollution, warned the World Health Organisation (WHO).

'In both developed and developing countries, the largest contributors to urban outdoor air pollution include motor transport, small-scale manufacturers and other industries, burning of biomass and coal for cooking and heating, as well as coal-fired power plants,' a compilation of air quality data released by the WHO said.

Residential wood and coal burning for space heating is an important contributor to air pollution, especially in rural areas during colder months, it said.

According to statistics collected from 2003 to 2010, the southeast Asia region, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh among other countries, ranked third for levels of fine particulate matter (PM)-- a way to represent air quality.

With 97 PM10 (particles smaller than 10 microns), the region followed eastern Mediterranean countries such as Israel, Cyprus, and Syria among others.

The WHO monitored urban outdoor air pollution levels from almost 1,100 cities across 91 countries. This included capitals and cities with more than 1 lakh population.

According to the global health body, around 1.34 million premature deaths were reported due to respiratory diseases and cancers due to polluted air in 2008.

'If the WHO guidelines had been universally met, an estimated 1.09 million deaths could have been prevented in 2008,' said Maria Neira, WHO director for public health and environment

2011-10-09T13:43:00.001+05:30

Protein behind Alzheimer's patients loss of smell?

Washington: A protein may explain why Alzheimer's patients often lose their sense of smell, say scientists.

'Deficits in odour detection and discrimination are among the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's disease...,' said Leonardo Belluscio from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who led the study.

Researchers believed that protein plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer's victims were responsible for killing off nerve cells, causing memory disruptions - a hallmark of the disease, reports The Journal of Neuroscience, citing a statement from the institute.

The plaques are derived from a protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). The new study suggests that APP alone - in the absence of the plaques - may be to blame for nerve cells' death.

Belluscio and colleagues genetically manipulated mice to produce high levels of a mutated version of human APP in olfactory nerve cells.

Researchers found that mice making mutant APP had four times as much olfactory nerve cell death by three weeks of age compared with normal mice.

Although the cells that produced mutant APP died, the neighbouring cells - that did not have mutant APP - survived.

2011-10-09T13:42:00.005+05:30

Smoking, chronic pain linked in women

Washington: Women who puff heavily are likely to undergo more chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Over 6,000 women aged over 18 years were surveyed on their smoking habits and symptoms of chronic pain by University of Kentucky researchers.

Results showed that women who smoke, or who were former smokers, had a greater chance of reporting at least one chronic pain syndrome in comparison to non-smokers, according to a Kentucky statement.

'This study shows a strong relationship between heavy smoking and chronic pain in women,' said study co-author David Mannino, pulmonary physician in the UK College of Public Health.

Mannino describes acute pain as a 'protective response' and theorises that perhaps female smokers experience acute pain that develops into chronic pain because their normal protection and mechanisms are damaged by exposure to smoke.

Former smokers showed a 20 percent increase, occasional smokers showed a 68 percent increase, and in daily smokers the odds more than doubled (104 percent).

Besides, daily smoking was associated more strongly with chronic pain than older age, lower educational attainment, obesity.

'It's possible that patients experiencing chronic pain could benefit from smoking cessation treatment in addition to the treatment for their pain,' said Leslie Crofford, director of the UK Centre for the Advancement of Women's Health and study co-author.

The study was conducted through the Kentucky Women's Health Registry, a database created by the UK centre and run by Crofford.

2011-10-09T13:42:00.003+05:30

Early to bed, early to rise makes you fit

Sydney: 'Early to bed and early to rise' could be the key to staying lean and more active than night-owls during one's youth, even though both groups may be getting the same amount of sleep, new research says.

The study recorded the bed times and wake times of 2,200 participants, aged nine to 16 years, and compared their weight and use of free time over four days.

Children who went to bed late and got up late were 1.5 times more likely to become obese than those who went to bed early and got up early, reports the journal SLEEP.

Late-night owls were almost twice as likely to be physically inactive and 2.9 times more likely to be glued to TV and computer screens or play video games for more hours than recommended guidelines.

'The children who went to bed late and woke up late, and the children who went to bed early and woke up early got virtually the same amount of sleep in total,' said co-author Carol Maher, postdoctoral fellow with the University of South Australia.

'Scientists have realized in recent years that children who get less sleep tend to do worse on a variety of health outcomes, including the risk of being overweight and obese,' said Maher, according to a South Australia statement.

Mornings are more conducive to physical activity for young people than nights, which offer prime-time TV programming and social networking opportunities, Maher said.

At a time when research is showing that teenagers have a natural tendency to stay up late and wake up late, the results of this study could stand as a warning, Maher said.

2011-10-09T13:42:00.001+05:30

Trio wins Nobel Medicine Prize for immune system research

Stockholm; Three scientists on Monday shared the Nobel Medicine Prize for their ground-breaking work on the immune system which the jury said opened up new prospects for curing cancer and other diseases. The laureates are Bruce Beutler of the United States, Jules Hoffmann of Luxembourg and Ralph Steinman of Canada. 'This year's Nobel laureates have revolutionised our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation,' the jury said in a statement. The three were lauded for their work on immunology -- the body's complex defence system in which signalling molecules unleash antibodies and killer cells in response to invading germs and viruses.Understanding this is a key to new drugs and also to easing immune disorders, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.

'Their work has opened up new avenues for the development of prevention and therapy against infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases,' the jury said. Beutler and Hoffmann, who shared one half of the 10 million Swedish kronor (USD 1.48 million) prize, discovered receptor proteins that activate the first step in the body's immune response system.Steinman, who won the other half, discovered the dendritic cells, allowing the immune system to identify and attack the harmful micro-organisms while staying clear of the body's own endogenous molecules. They will receive their prize at a formal ceremony inStockholm on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896. (AFP)

2011-10-09T13:41:00.003+05:30

New drug to stop hair going grey

London: A wonder pill which is being developed can stop hair from turning grey, a media report said Monday.

Experts at beauty firm L'Oreal claim it will keep your barnet - the hair - the same natural colour forever, The Sun reported.

They promise the daily drug will not be expensive - and is totally natural because it uses a fruit extract.

Bruno Bernard, head of hair biology at the cosmetics giant, said: 'People will take it like a dietary supplement. They need to start using the pill before their hair goes grey.'

L'Oreal - which has been developing the drug for more than a decade - says it won't be available until 2015. And it will take 10 more years before they can prove it works - because it takes that long for grey hairs to sprout, the newspaper said.

2011-10-09T13:39:00.003+05:30

US unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent

Washington: US nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 jobs in September, but unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent for the third straight month, the Labour Department said Friday.

The increase in employment partially reflected the return to payrolls of about 45,000 telecommunications workers who had been on strike since August, the department said.

In September, job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and construction, Xinhua reported.

Employment in professional and business services added 48,000 jobs across different sectors over the month and has grown by 897,000 since a recent low in September 2009.

Health care employment continued to expand last month, with an increase of 44,000. Construction employment increased by 26,000, after showing little movement since February.

Manufacturing employment trimmed 13,000 in September and has been essentially flat for the past two months.

However, governments continue to cut 34,000 jobs last month due to spending cuts. The US Postal Service lost another 5,000 jobs. Local government employment declined by 35,000 and has fallen by 535,000 since September 2008.

The US unemployment rate edged down to 9.1 percent in July from 9.2 percent in June, after ticking up for three consecutive months through June.

The total number of unemployed Americans slightly increased to 14 million from 13.967 million in August, almost double the level prior to the recession.

In September, the number of long-term unemployed who have been jobless for at least 27 weeks rose to 6.2 million from 6 million in August, accounting for 44.6 percent of the total unemployed, not far off a record high of 45.6 percent in May 2010, evidence of a still bleak job market.

2011-10-09T13:39:00.001+05:30

US looks to India, China to attract investment

Washington: With the share of foreign investment coming into the US falling down dramatically, officials and business leaders are looking at ways to attract investments from India, China, Brazil and other emerging economies.

Hosting a discussion of the President's Jobs Council here Friday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the body will make recommendations to President Barack Obama on ways to make the US more attractive to foreign companies.

Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of the General Electric Company who heads the jobs council, underlined the US concerns before the gathering of top US executives and those from US affiliates of firms based in other countries.

'Our direct investment from places like China, India, Brazil, the people that really have a hot hand today, are minuscule, almost non-existent,' Immelt said.

Antonio Perez, chairman and chief executive officer of the Eastman Kodak Company and a member of the council, also underlined the 'troubling' trend in the US declining share of global investments.

'Even more troubling than that is the fact that out of the 12 per cent, only two and a half per cent comes from the combination of Brazil, India and China,' he said, adding that 'does not bode well for the future of this country.'

Obama's Job Council met as new report out Friday sponsored by the Organization for International Investment revealed that investment to US fell to 18 percent of world flows in 2009, down from 41 percent in 1999.

Noting that the United States has a total of $2.3 trillion in foreign direct investment, acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said: 'In the face of increased competition, we need to step up our game.'

Clinton said: 'We need to show not only that we are open for business, but to use every tool in our tool box to attract it.'

2011-10-09T13:38:00.001+05:30

Tonnes of oil leak from ship aground off New Zealand

Several tonnes of oil have leaked from a cargo ship which has run aground close to one of New Zealand's top tourist destinations, officials say.

The maritime authorities in New Zealand believe at least 10 tonnes of oil have already seeped from the Rena.

This has created a 5km-long (3 miles) oil slick from the 47,000-tonne container ship.

Several Naval vessels have been sent to assist the salvage operation which has been hampered by poor weather.

If the ship breaks up, it could release 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the Bay of Plenty, home to whales, dolphins, seals, penguins and a variety of other birds.

The Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef about 12 nautical miles from Tauranga Harbour on Wednesday.

Svitzer Salvage, the company handling the ship's rescue, said the oil needs to be secured then removed before any refloat attempt is possible.

A spokesperson, Matthew Watson, said the outlook for the ship had improved but more oil could end up in the water.

'The vessel is damaged in the hull. There could be residual oil flushing around and that could be influenced by waves lapping against it or by tidal movements. So, while it is certainly looking better today (Saturday), no-one should be complacent,' he said.
'Disastrous'

Transport Minister Steven Joyce said on Friday that salvage teams were working hard to remove oil from the stricken ship to protect the bay.

'The difficulty is that the situation is deteriorating and according to the advice I've received, there's the possibility it could break up and sink,' Mr Joyce told the New Zealand Herald.

Officials said on Saturday that pumping oil from the stricken vessel could start on Sunday, depending on the damage of the ship and the weather.

The Department of Conservation has established two wildlife rescue centres and dispatched teams to scour the beaches and islands of the Bay of Plenty looking for oil-covered animals and birds.

Four seabirds were found dead in the oil slick on Thursday, and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said more birds covered in oil were discovered on Friday.

MNZ said it was preparing for the possibility the existing slick would hit the coast in the coming days after dispersants sprayed from aircraft proved ineffective.

'It has the potential to be very, very serious indeed, simply because of the age of the ship, the damage she's sustained, and the 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel on board,' Andrew Berry of MNZ told Radio New Zealand.

MNZ has established a one-kilometre maritime exclusion zone around the ship and warned that the fuel oil is toxic.

The animal welfare group Forest and Bird said the timing of the accident, in the middle of the breeding season for birds, was 'disastrous'.

Australia is sending experts to New Zealand to help mop up the spill.

Three officials from the Sydney Ports Corporation are leaving for New Zealand on Saturday, along with more staff from New South Wales (NSW) Maritime and other agencies. The Australian state of New South Wales is also sending a large oil skimmer to assist the New Zealand authorities.

It is not known why the Liberian-flagged ship ran aground on the reef. None of the 25 crew was injured.

2011-10-09T13:37:00.002+05:30

World writes, reads odes to Steve Jobs on Twitter

The people's obituary of Steve Jobs in Twitter.

The death of Apple Inc's visionary leader prompted an outpouring by Apple fans and customers that appeared to dwarf any news ever chronicled on the micro-blogging site.

Twitter users from around the world contributed eulogies of 140 characters or less, supplementing obituaries from nearly every major media outlet.

Whether it was a direct quotation on the musings of Jobs or a misquote with the message intact, thousands of people, if not more, used Jobs' own words to philosophize on death.

'No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there & yet it is the destination we all share-Steve Jobs,' quoted @SeanABennett on the site.

'Proud to share the same beliefs as steve jobs-follow ur heart&intuition, dream big, love what u do&stay driven.don't let anything stop u,' wrote @MarissaNemes, using Twitter's abbreviated argot to fit the Tweet into the limited space.

Others quoted President Barack Obama, who testified to Jobs' role in building the world's biggest technology empire that brought people the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

'There may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented,' Obama said.

Tweets came from all corners of the world, celebrating Jobs' sleek designs.

'I have been in love with the world Steve Jobs made ever since my first Apple Mac. He was one of the great architects of the real. RIP,' wrote Salman Rushdie, the Indian author of 'The Satanic Verses' and the Booker Prize-winning 'Midnight's Children.'

Multiple Twitter users reported seeing the dreaded 'Fail Whale,' an image of a sperm whale that means Twitter was not able to handle the amount of messages it received.

Though this happens in many major news events, the amount of 140-character eulogies to Jobs appeared to dwarf many of those incidents.

'You know that somebody important has died when you keep getting the #FailWhale,' wrote Mike Shaw, or '@zax2000' on Twitter. 'It's the new measure of somebody's influence.'

Shortly after the news of Jobs' death, 'RIP Steve Jobs' was the top trending topic on Twitter in the San Francisco and New York regions.

As with many big events on Twitter, the love and respect sometimes moved into the realm of the odd and sarcastic.

'You left your mark on our desks, on our ears & in our hands,' wrote @darrenrovell, while @_UncleSam replied, 'Funny you're tweeting from a blackberry,' a device made by Apple competitor Research in Motion.

The deluge of praise at times crested into realms of questionable taste. @supreetkay wrote, 'Apparently an apple a day couldn't keep the doctor away,' followed by '#isad

2011-10-09T13:36:00.002+05:30

Fully Reusable spaceship?

The problem with space travel is that the vehicles are a one time affair. Even the space shuttle, the so-called reusable launch vehicle, had to use huge disposable rockets to take it to space. So the hopes of a space vehicle which could be used again and again like a car or an air plane are dead? Not for the time being, at least. Elon Musk, the co founder of SpaceX, is on an attempt to develop a completely reusable space vehicle. To read about it in Scientific American click here.

2011-10-03T10:52:00.002+05:30

Thinnest nanowire will make computing super fast

Sydney: World's thinnest nanowires will drive computers super fast in the near future using light, a new research claims.

Nanowires will use a 'photonic chip' at its core to perform functions in computing and electronics.

Researchers from Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian National University engineered a nanowire thousand times thinner than a human hair in a special type of glass known as chalcogenide.

The photonic chip is the primary goal of the Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), involving six universities, says doctoral student Elisa Nicoletti, who led the study.

The internet is connected by miles of optic fibre cables and electronic routers. However, these routers work at much slower speeds than the optic cables, slowing the system down, according to a Swinburne statement.

Photonic chip would solve this problem, powering ultra-fast telecom networks that transfer information at the speed of light.

The realization of the chip will rely on a range of factors, including the fabrication of extremely tiny materials and the researchers' ability to harness a unique optical property known as the 'non-linear effect'.

Chalcogenide exhibits non-linearity, which means its optical density changes according to the applied light intensity. Simply told, it can handle the passage of greater or lesser intensity of light, without breaking down.

2011-10-03T10:51:00.002+05:30

Now, check who has 'unfriended' you on Facebook

London:Social network Facebook has launched a new feature that will allow users to know who does not like them and has thus removed them from their friend list.

Using the website's new 'Timeline' feature, users will be able to see all their entire Facebook history - including their changing friends lists, the Daily Mail reported.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg introduced the feature along with new entertainment and media company partnerships earlier this week in San Francisco, at the annual 'f8' conference attended by 2,000 entrepreneurs, developers and journalists.

The timeline will eventually replace users' profile pages. It will be filled with the most important photos and text that they have shared on Facebook over the years.

Till now, users have not been able to check who has removed them. Facebook has around 800 million users.

Meghan Peters, community manager at news blog Mashable, said: 'I think people will definitely be upset by it. I mean, it always hurts to know that someone isn't your friend anymore.'

2011-10-03T10:47:00.002+05:30

Red wine compound can halt breast cancer

London: A compound found in red wine and grape skin, known to stave off heart attacks, also halts breast cancer in its tracks.

Lab tests have shown that resveratrol blocks the growth of the hormone oestrogen and aborts the growth of breast cancer.

Study leader Sebastiano Ando, from the University of Calabria in Italy, said: 'Resveratrol is a potential pharmacological tool to be exploited when breast cancer become resistant to the hormonal therapy.'

Resveratrol is also found in blueberries, peanuts and cranberries. It works by blocking the way oestrogen combines with DNA in a woman's body to spread tumour cells, according to the Daily Mail.

Ando and colleagues found that they could cut the growth of breast cancer cells dramatically with resveratrol, while it left normal cells unharmed.

Additional experiments revealed the effect was related to a drastic reduction of oestrogen receptor levels caused by resveratrol itself.

2011-09-10T13:35:00.001+05:30

Britain lagging behind in digital age: Google chief

London:Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has warned that Britain would fall behind in the digital age unless it makes drastic changes in its education system.

Schmidt said something had to be done to 'reignite' children's passion for science and technology, Sky News reported.

He praised British television as a success story but warned 'everything' could still go wrong.

'If I may be so impolite, your track record isn't great. Britain is home of so many media-related inventions. You invented photography. You invented TV. You invented computers in both concept and practice. It's not widely known, but the world's first office computer was built in 1951 by Lyon's chain of tea shops,' he said.

'Yet today, none of the world's leading exponents in these fields are from Britain,' he lamented.

'Think back to the glory days of the Victorian era. It was a time when the same people wrote poetry and built bridges,' Schmidt said, asking science and language teaching to be brought together.

He said he was 'flabbergasted' that computer science was not taught as standard in British schools.

'Your curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it's made. That is just throwing away your great computing heritage,' he said.

2011-09-10T13:34:00.005+05:30

Astronomers find supermassive black holes

Washington: Astronomers have discovered a pair of supermassive black holes in a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way, NASA said Wednesday.

Approximately 160 million light years from Earth, the pair is the nearest known such phenomenon, said scientists at NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole in a galaxy, in the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses.

The black holes are located near the centre of the spiral galaxy NGC 3393. Separated by only 490 light years, the black holes are likely the remnant of a merger of two galaxies of unequal mass a billion or more years ago.

Both the black holes are heavily obscured by dust and gas, which makes them difficult to observe in optical light.

Sine X-rays are more energetic, they can penetrate this obscuring material, Xinhua reported quoting the experts.

They said that Chandra's X-ray spectra show clear signatures of a pair of supermassive black holes.

'If this galaxy weren't so close, we'd have no chance of separating the two black holes the way we have,' said Pepi Fabbiano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, who led the study published in the online edition of the journal Nature Wednesday.

'Since this galaxy was right under our noses by cosmic standards, it makes us wonder how many of these black hole pairs we've been missing,' he said.

Previous observations in X-rays and at other wavelengths indicated that a single supermassive black hole existed in the centre of NGC 3393.

However, a long look by Chandra allowed the researchers to detect and separate the dual black holes. Both black holes are actively growing and emitting X-rays as gas falls towards them and becomes hotter.

When two equal-sized spiral galaxies merge, astronomers think it should result in the formation of a black hole pair and a galaxy with a disrupted appearance and intense star formation.

A well-known example is the pair of supermassive black holes in NGC 6240, which is located about 330 million light years from Earth.

However, NGC 3393 is a well-organized spiral galaxy, and its central bulge is dominated by old stars. These are unusual properties for a galaxy containing a pair of black holes, said the experts.

2011-09-10T13:34:00.002+05:30

Baloon like airships to transport goods by 2020

London: Gigantic balloon-like objects floating in the sky, the successors to the Zeppelins of yore, are set to revolutionise the way cargo is transported around the globe by the end of this decade.

America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing the new generation of airships, to replace lorries, trains and ships to carry freight. The first prototype is likely to make its voyage next year.

Scientists overseeing the project predict airships that carry hundreds of tonnes of cargo, will be airborne by 2020.

It comes more than 70 years after the Hindenburg disaster, which brought an end to the earlier airship era, according to the Telegraph.

Airships had been widely used in the 1920s and 1930s, but a number of accidents, including the 1937 Hindenburg disaster in New Jersey that killed 36 people, saw them lose popularity.

Simon Worden, director of the Nasa Ames Research Centre in California, said: 'Currently the majority of goods are put on trucks and trains to be transported around the country.

'That is a very expensive and time consuming process. You could imagine an airship landing in a field, loading produce directly and then delivering it anywhere in the world for much cheaper than we can today. Those sorts of things look very promising,' he added.

The prototype airship is being built with California-based company Aeros. The old cigar shaped Zeppelin design is being changed into a flatter and more aerodynamic shape.

2011-09-10T13:32:00.002+05:30

Ronaldo hopes to end his career at Madrid

Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo has expressed a desire to stay at Real Madrid for the rest of his career.

The former Manchester United striker has only won one major trophy in two years at the club, but speaking to British television station, Sky Sports, Tuesday he insisted he would be delighted to end his career at the club.

'I would sign for another 10 years, until the end of my career,' said Ronaldo, adding a rider.

'Nobody knows what will happen in the future, I can't lie and say I will be here another 10 years with Madrid, or that I will never play for United again. We will have to see what the future holds in store for me,' he clarified.

'I am not going to close the door on a possible return to the English Premier League, as I know it well, the players and the atmosphere. I most like Manchester United, but I can't guarantee that I will return, because I am happy at Madrid,' said the striker.

Ronaldo admitted he had a close relationship with Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson who, he said, had helped him develop as a player. He also added that he remained in contact with some of his former teammates at the club.

'I am not going to stop speaking to old friends and when I have the chance I speak to Alex Ferguson. He was important for me and it is good to speak to him,' said Ronaldo, who explained why he had moved to Real Madrid in 2009

'There is a beginning and an end for everything, what I did at Manchester closed a chapter. I won nearly everything there and I am always looking for new challenges. I didn't join Madrid for money but for the challenge and also to be closer to my family, for questions of language and for the climate,' said Ronaldo.

2011-09-10T13:31:00.002+05:30

Obama unveils $447 bn new job plan

Washington: US President Barack Obama launched his widely expected new job plan Thursday night at a joint session of the Congress to stimulate recovery and strengthen the country's struggling employment situation, Xinhua reported.

'Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country,' Obama said to the legislators. 'We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbours jobless, and a political crisis that has made things worse.'

The president called on the Congress to stop 'political circus' and pass the job plan immediately.

'The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy,' Obama said.

The $447-billion plan, which is called the American Jobs Act, is the third major stimulus package.

'It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long- term unemployed,' he said.

'It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business,' he noted, urging legislators 'You should pass this jobs plan right away.'

The US economy, which grew at only 0.7 percent in the first half year, is expected to remain on a sluggish growing track in the near term.

However, unemployment which currently stands at 9.1 percent, is widely projected to stay at a high level through the presidential election year in 2012.

2011-09-10T13:30:00.000+05:30

India now has 858.4 million mobile phone subscribers

New Delhi: India now has 858.4 million mobile phone subscribers, with 6.67 million connections added in July, according to official data released Friday.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the wireless user base grew 0.78 percent, from 581.7 million in June.

Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 562.12 million in June 2011 to 565.71 million at the end of July and rural subscription increased from 289.57 million to 292.65 million during the same period.

Overall teledensity in India reached 71.59.

However, of the total 858.4 million wireless subscribers in June, only 601.73 million were active subscribers on the date of peak visitor location register (VLR) - a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area which it serves.

Each base station in the network is served by exactly one VLR, hence a subscriber cannot be present in more than one VLR at a time.

The growth in this category was led by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications, which added 1.52 million users to take its subscriber base to 144.79 million users.

Bharti Airtel followed next with an addition of 1.5 million new subscribers, taking its subscriber base to 170.7 million.

Vodafone added 1.49 million subscribers to take its total number of customers to 143 million, while state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited added 1.42 million subscribers to take its total subscribers base to 95.15 million subscribers.

Uninor added 1.1 million subscribers to have 27.39 million subscribers while Idea Cellular added 1 million subscribers increasing its subscribers count to have 96.1 million.

According to the data, the broadband subscriber base grew 1.46 percent from 12.32 million in June 2011 to 12.5 million in July 2011.

However, the wireline segment declined marginally from 34.29 million in June to 34.18 million at the end of July.

2011-06-22T14:17:00.003+05:30

Google to digitise 250,000 British Library books

London: Internet giant Google will digitise 250,000 books from the British Library, said a joint statement from the two organisations.

In the statement, the British Library and Google said they will work in partnership to deliver the content free through Google Books and the library website. Full text search, download and reading options will be made available.Google will cover all digitisation costs, Xinhua reported.The project is going to cover a huge range of books, pamphlets and periodicals dated 1700 to 1870. This covers a period from the Industrial Revolution to the French Revolution, from the introduction of income tax in Britain and the invention of the telegraph and railway.It will include material in a variety of European languages and will focus on books that are not yet freely available in digital form online, said the statement.The British Library contains 150 million reading items, including 14 million books in printed form.

2011-06-22T14:15:00.003+05:30

India, Canada to deepen educational ties

Ottawa : The first-ever Education Summit between India and Canada ended at Carleton University here with the two sides committing themselves to deepening ties in research and higher education.

Daggubati Purandeswari, India's minister of state for human resource development, said the summit will further deepen the India-Canada relationship in education and research which received a major boost with the signing a higher education accord by the countries last year during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here for the G20 summit.'The relationship between the two countries has come so far over the past five years. We look forward to accelerating deliverables as part of the Canada-India Memorandum of Understanding in higher education cooperation,'' said Purandeswari who headed the Indian delegation in the absence of HRD minister Kapil Sibal.She said the Indian government has introduced various legislative measures, including the Right to Education, to take education to the masses.In his plenary address, Canadian foreign minister John Baird said the Education Summit is 'an important step in developing bilateral academic relations after the signing of the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Education during PM Manmohan Singh's visit in June last year.''He said the newly created Canada-India Centre for Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy will raise awareness about bilateral studies and public diplomacy, and develop initiatives to build a better understanding of both countries.Indian High Commissioner S. M. Gavai highlighted India's thrust on education to sustain its high levels of development.'I strongly believe that foreign universities can add enormous value to what we would be doing in India.'' the Indian envoy said.Prominent participants from India included 'Green Revolution' pioneer M.S. Swaminathan, UGC chairman Ved Prakash, IGNOU vice chancellor V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Delhi University vice chancellor Dinesh Singh,Calcutta University vice chancellor Suranjan Das, Panjab University vice chancellor R.C. Sobti and Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute president Sunaina Singh.The summit was held jointly by the Indian high commission, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute that promotes educational ties between India and Canada.

2011-06-22T14:14:00.000+05:30

New Swiss law makes bank account info easier to get

GENEVA: The Swiss parliament on Friday gave approval to amendments to tax treaties with countries, including India, that makes it easier for them to access information about the illegal funds held by their nationals in Swiss private banks.

The upper house of the Swiss parliament endorsed amendments to double-taxation agreements (DTAAs) in line with internationally applicable standards.Governments, which have signed DTAAs can now secure easy legal assistance and information as well as identify an account holder from their territories by providing an IBAN number or social security number. The new amendments to Swiss banking secrecy laws can still be challenged by a popular referendum within 100 days, analysts said.The beneficiaries from the new amendments include India, Germany, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Greece, Turkey, Uruguay, Kazakhstan, and Poland.The Swiss parliament approval comes at a time when the Indian government is facing intense pressure from the opposition, the Supreme Court and the civil society to bring back black money stashed away in tax havens.In January this year, a Swiss parliamentary panel had given a go-ahead to revised tax treaty with India, as per which, India can get information on secret bank accounts from Swiss authorities for cases dating from 2011.Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Swiss Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey signed a 'protocol' to amend the double taxation agreement in the area of taxes on income on August 30, 2010.Meanwhile in Bangalore, ambassador of Switzerland to India Philippe Welti said that India could get banking details of its citizens in tax frauds and evasion cases once the Swiss parliament ratifies the revised DTAAs between the two countries.In April 2010, the House of Representatives had agreed to enter into double-taxation treaties with these countries.Until now, it remained a Herculean task for these governments to identify the illegal depositors because of marathon legal processes.Coming under intense pressure from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the G-20 leaders, the Swiss authorities have begun a process of simplifying their tax laws. Switzerland, which was initially included in the OECD's black list of countries for following banking secrecy and client-confidentiality rules, agreed to adopt its tax code, agreeing to share information in cases involving tax which is not a crime under Swiss law. PTI

2011-06-22T14:11:00.002+05:30

Thailand tourism woos industry, travellers with tax-breaks, freebies

Phuket : In a bid to promote direct flights to its tourist hubs, Thailand is providing tax breaks to airlines to attract more flights to these areas and freebies to passengers like complimentary SIM cards.

'Our plan is to promote direct travel to regional tourist hubs like Phuket. Earlier, travellers had to stop at major cities like Bangkok to come to a place like Phuket,' Bangornrat Chinaprayoon, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand, told IANS in this southern island province of Thailand.According to Chinaprayoon, the programme under which incentives are being churned out was started in late 2010 and has resulted in substantial increase in tourist inflow in Phuket from countries like India, Indonesia and the Middle East.Last year, 30,000 Indians visited Phuket, while Thailand as a whole received nearly a million tourists. Both figures were a 25 percent increase year-on-year.Travellers arriving at the scenic Phuket International Airport can take a visa on arrival and get complimentary SIM cards which has enough balance to make an international call and talk for a minute. It can then be recharged for a bigger amount.'Bangkok, Pattaya are big cities with a lot of facilities. But to promote tourism here we needed to provide something extra. And that is what we are doing,' said Chinaprayoon.Aditi Singh, 25, from New Delhi said the free SIM card facility is unique and tourist friendly.'This is wonderful and unique. I was so stressed on how to contact back home. With a free SIM card at least one of my apprehensions was solved,' she said.Apart from passengers, the other major beneficiary of the incentive mechanism are the airlines. Carriers flying to smaller airports like Phuket can get discounts on parking, housing and landing charges.'This programme is called Regional Airports Marketing Incentive Programme and was started in late 2010. This is an incentive-based programme for regional airports under AOT's management,' Chinaprayoon said.Under it, incentives are provided to international scheduled airlines, international charters on operating direct flights to regional destinations by reducing landing and parking fees.Hailing the initiative, aviation experts said Indian airport operators needed to take lessons from the Thai model to increase passenger traffic.'These are international practices to promote airlines to fly to these places. Indian airports should also take a cue from these initiatives,' said Amber Dubey, director (aerospace & defence) at consultancy firm KPMG.The initiative recently managed to attract one collaboration with Indian online travel trade major MakeMyTrip.com, which launched packages to Thailand on chartered flights.According to the company, the twice-a-week flight service to Phuket and Bangkok from New Delhi on all Saturdays and Tuesdays on hired Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320 aircraft has attracted 100 percent bookings till mid-June.'Well, these initiatives attracted us. I hope they also attract Indian carriers to fly here. They (airlines) should take this advantage because Indians travelling here would increase by leaps and bounds in the coming time,' said Keyur Joshi, chief operating officer and co-founder of MakeMyTrip.com.Currently no Indian scheduled carrier flies to Phuket.'Why should Indians pay such astronomical prices by flying on international carriers, when we have some of the best airlines with most affordable prices in the world,' Joshi queried.

2011-06-22T14:10:00.002+05:30

Facebook to launch music service

New York: Social network Facebook will launch a new music service on its website in partnership with other online music services, a media report said.

The launch is likely to be announced at a conference in August, Xinhua reported citing US media.Technology blog GigaOM said users will find a new tab called Music in the left-hand column on their pages, right where Facebook lists Photos, Friends, Deals etc., and clicking on the new tab will open a page called Music Dashboard.The dashboard will feature friends' recommended songs, top songs, top albums and a 'happening now' ticker that shows songs friends are playing.The blog said Facebook had reached a partnership with European music streaming service Spotify, which is gearing up to enter the US market.

2011-06-22T14:08:00.002+05:30

Aishwarya pregnant, says Big B

New Delhi: Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai is in the family way, says her father-in-law and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan.'NEWS NEWS NEWS !! I AM GOING TO BECOME A GRANDFATHER .. AISHWARYA EXPECTING .. SO HAPPY AND THRILLED, (sic)' Amitabh posted on his Twitter account.Ever since Amitabh posted the message on the microblogging site, congratulatory messages have started pouring in.Aishwarya, 37, and Abhishek, 35, were married in 2007 and as soon as they tied the knot, the rumours of Aishwarya getting pregnant have been making the news. And finally she is expecting.'Yes, it is true,' Ash's spokesperson told IANS, confirming the news.

2011-06-13T10:20:00.002+05:30

Tamarind derivative repairs damaged brain cells

Sydney : A compound from tamarind tree could help spur the growth of damaged brain and spinal cord nerve cells, which characterises diseases such as Parkinson's.

Doctoral student Andrew Rodda from Monash University's materials engineering team investigated xyloglucan, a compound from tamarind seeds and how it affects animals with damaged nerves.The derivative that Rodda developed from xyloglucan can be injected into an injury site as a liquid, before becoming a gel as it reaches body temperature.Once in place, it acts as a support structure through which healthy cells can migrate and potentially reattach themselves to the nervous system.Until now, all damage to the nerve cells of the central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord - had been considered irreparable, according to a Monash statement.Rodda said the lack of repair or regrowth is due mainly to the toxic environment left behind after nerve death. 'Nerve cells are sensitive, and will only grow in the most supportive of environments.''After injury, new cells cannot normally penetrate into the empty space left after mass cell death. Cells clump at the edges, forming an impenetrable barrier. This leaves the centre of the wound as a lesion, which contains chemicals that kill growing nerves.'Rodda said the new compound works by providing a temporary scaffold on which new cells can grow and penetrate the lesion.Significantly, it was the helper cells, known as astrocytes, which were the first to move into the implanted gel. These cells secrete beneficial chemicals, which may have helped create an environment in which the delicate nerve cells can survive.

2011-06-13T10:19:00.004+05:30

Candy packets in Britain to carry health warnings

London: Like danger signs on cigarette packets, candy and lollipops in Britain would now also need to carry health warnings.

The warnings are related to artificial food colouring, The Sun reported.One warning says: 'May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.'The colour additives in candy often include tartrazine-E102 and cochineal red-E122.A recent study by the University of Southampton showed children were likely to display hyperactive behaviour if they had candy with one of the two colourings.The children were more likely to behave badly, their attention div was reduced and they were less likely to concentrate.In 2008, the European Parliament had told companies to warn of risks associated with the colourings.

2011-06-13T10:19:00.002+05:30

Fathers,not mothers, influence what children eat

Washington:A man's choice of where to eat could literally tip the scales on his child's health as his perceptions of family meals carry more weight, so to speak, than mothers', according to a new study

Men who have no trouble eating food in a fast food restaurant are going to be more likely to have kids who do so, said Texas AgriLife Research sociologist Alex McIntosh, who led the study, reports The Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour. New research indicates that fathers are more likely than mothers to have an impact on childhood obesity. This study showed that lenient fathers allow their children more trips to fast food restaurants which have been linked to obesity in children, according to an AgriLife statement. The study began as a 15-month look at parents' use of time and how that impacted meal choices. It aimed at the difference between fast food and full-service restaurants because numerous studies have shown a correlation between fast food consumption and weight gain. Of particular interest for the research, funded by the US Department of Agriculture, was parental choice of restaurants as a connection to childhood obesity, McIntosh said. McIntosh said the message to fathers should be that they have some responsibility just like mothers to raise healthy, well-adjusted children. Also, fathers need to know more about nutritional content of fast food. The only instances of mothers being more lax on the use of fast food restaurants are those who are neglectful and those who are highly committed to their work, McIntosh said. 'So mothers are not unimportant when it comes to eating out choices,' he said, 'but in terms of statistical findings, the father findings are stronger'. 'Traditionally, academics have blamed mothers for everything that goes wrong with children, especially when it comes to food,' he added.'But I think it's pretty clear that fathers have a substantial influence over what children are eating. And if that's the case, then they need to be the target of education just like mothers

2011-06-13T10:18:00.002+05:30

Android to capture 49 percent of market by 2012

New York: Google's Android will become the most popular smartphone operating system and will account for 49 percent of the market by 2012, a research firm has said.

According to projections by information-technology firm Gartner, worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7 percent increase from 2010, Xinhua reported.The company predicts that Apple's iOS will remain the second biggest platform worldwide through 2014 although its share will decrease slightly after 2011.Microsoft's Windows, driven by its partnership with Nokia, is expected to become the third largest in the worldwide ranking by 2013.

2011-06-13T10:17:00.002+05:30

Gagarin, a disciplined man with a passion for poetry

London: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who became the first human to fly into space 50 years ago, was a 'mentally and physically disciplined' man with a passion for poetry, his daughter has revealed.

The cosmonaut was so disciplined that he would take naps of exactly 40 minutes and wake up 'on the dot' without an alarm clock, Elena Gagarina told Andrea Rose from the British Council.'Very often, as he was working hard during the day and came back late at night, he would gather up some friends and they'd go to play hockey in the nearby stadium. They'd play through the night, and sometimes ended up sleeping only about three to four hours. But it didn't affect his health: he was always extremely physically fit,' she said.'He didn't even really understand what it meant to have any internal pain. He would say to us that he couldn't actually imagine what it must feel like to have something wrong inside.''And then, he was also phenomenally calm, and mentally disciplined. For example, if he came home during the day and said he was tired, he would say 'I have 40 minutes to sleep, I am very tired.' He then slept for 40 minutes and woke up on the dot, without needing an alarm clock or anyone to wake him.'Gagarin had a passion for literature, his daughter said in the interview reproduced in The Guardian.'He liked to talk to us about books and literature, and he liked to recite poetry to us. He knew a lot of poetry by heart, and he liked to teach us to recite it too.''He knew Pushkin very well, and Tvardovsky and Ivakovsky - poetry connected with the war. He liked a great deal of literature - Lermontov, and Saint-Exupery, for example. He liked to read to us in a very loud voice. It was too difficult for us to understand at the time, but he still liked doing it.''He was curious and interested in everything,' remembers his daughter. 'He was part of a generation that had had so few opportunities open to them and then, after the war, they were avid for everything.'Before boarding the Vostok 1 flight April 12, 1961, for the journey that would propel him into history, Gagarin lied to his wife so that she would not be worried.'She knew what he wanted to do, and when he was leaving for Baikonur he told her what he was doing,' Gagarina said.'But he didn't tell her the actual date. He told her the flight would take place a few days after the real date, so she wouldn't be worried.'Gagarin himself was not under any illusion about his mission.'He wrote a letter for my mother saying that it was likely he wouldn't return, because the flight was extremely dangerous, and that he wanted her not to remain on her own in that case. But he didn't give her the letter. She found it by chance among his things when he came back. He hadn't wanted her to find it, and told her that she should throw it away. But of course, she kept it.'

2011-06-13T10:16:00.002+05:30

Reverse brain drain to rule global trends in coming years: Study

NEW DELHI: One of the top mega trends that will influence and shape the world in the coming years would be reverse brain drain, with a steady flow of foreign nationals and migrants returning home to fill vacancies for the senior level positions, says a study.

According to a new report by Frost and Sullivan one of the top global mega trends the world will witness reverse brain drain, wherein the vast vacancies for CXOs in countries like India will be filled not only by returning Indians, but also by Americans and Europeans seeking better prospects.There will be as many as two million BPO- KPO jobs for foreign nationals from China, Poland, Philippines, besides, salary given by the BRIC nations would be at par with developed countries (in terms of purchasing power) and even more benefits.The objective of the report titled -- World's Top Global Mega Trends to 2020 and Implications to Business, Society and Cultures -- was to provide companies with special reports to focus on the evolution of these global trends to help them drive growth and innovation in a rapidly changing environment.'Frost & Sullivan defines Mega Trends as global, sustained and macroeconomic forces of development that impact business, economy, cultures, careers and personal lives, thereby defining our future world and its increasing pace of change,' Frost & Sullivan Partner, Sarwant Singh said.Besides, reverse brain drain, some of the other top mega trends include urbanisation as there will be emergence of 30 mega-cities, 15 mega-regions and at least 10 mega-corridors with over 20 million people by 2020 forcing organisations to re-think their 'Urban' business model.Second most striking trend would be e-mobility. There would be over 40 million electric vehicles, including electric pedal cycles, scooters, four-wheelers and buses will be sold annually around the globe in 2020.The next level of social networking will focus on geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging to enable additional social dynamics. This type of geo-networking will drive markets, businesses and individuals to interact, advertise and promote in real time.Another trend identified by Frost & Sullivan is Innovating to Zero, which means a world of zero emissions, zero accidents, zero fatalities, zero defects, zero breaches of security and carbon-neutral factories.Interestingly, women empowerment will reach new heights, with one in three workers being a woman and up to 40 per cent of boardrooms in some nations comprising women by 2020, the report said.

2011-06-13T10:15:00.002+05:30

Facebook selling your data to advertisers: Report

LOS ANGELES: Social networking site Facebook is using its users' profile, status updates, messages and other information to help advertisers find exactly who they want to reach out to.

Facebook is now tracking this activity, shooting online ads to users based on their demographics, interests, even what they say to friends on the site sometimes within minutes of them typing a key word or phrase.For example, women who have changed their relationship status to 'engaged' on their Facebook profiles will receive ads from local wedding planners and caterers when they log in.Middle-aged men who list motorcycling as one of their hobbies could get pitches from Victory Motorcycles.According to the Los Angeles Times, some analysts believe that Facebook's unique trove of consumer behaviour could transform it into one of the most powerful marketing tools ever invented.However, privacy watchdogs say Facebook's unique ability to mine data and sell advertising based on what its members voluntarily share amounts to electronic eavesdropping on personal updates, posts and messages that many users intended to share only with friends.Facebook's first experiment with paid ads was a flop. In 2007 it rolled out Beacon, which broadcast information on Facebook about users' activities and purchases elsewhere on the Web without their permission.Facebook pulled the program after settling a lawsuit brought on behalf of Facebook users. This time around, company officials appear to be proceeding more cautiously. David Fischer, Facebook's vice president of advertising and global operations, says Facebook delivers ads that are relevant to users' lives.

2011-06-13T10:14:00.005+05:30

e-book boom in China: Survey

Beijing: Chinese people between the ages of 18 and 70 read 613 million electronic books in 2010, according to a survey.

The survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication covered over 19,000 people in 51 cities in 29 Chinese provinces, Xinhua reported.At least 23 percent of Chinese people read e-books via mobile phones, up eight percentage points from 2009. Another 3.9 percent read books on e-book readers and over 18 percent read books on the internet, it said.The survey said only 16.4 percent of the e-book readers bought paper books after reading the electronic versions.It said the 'acceptable price' to download an e-book from the internet was 1.33 yuan ($0.2), and nearly 54 percent of readers said they would pay an average of 3.45 yuan to download e-books.

2011-06-13T10:14:00.002+05:30

Iran announces new Islamic internet

Tehran: Iran has announced it would launch an Islamic internet to counter the influence of the US-dominated world wide web.

'Iran will soon create an internet that conforms to Islamic principles, to improve its communication and trade links with the world,' Ali Aqamohammadi, head of economic affairs with the Iranian presidency, told state news agency IRNA.Aqamohammadi said Iran's new network will operate parallel to the world wide web and will replace it in Muslim countries in the region.'We can describe it as a genuinely 'halal' network aimed at Muslims on a ethical and moral level.''The aim of this network is to increase Iran and the Farsi language's presence in what has become the most important source of international communication,' Aqamohammadi said.

2011-06-13T10:13:00.002+05:30

Melting ice in Canadian Arctic bigger player in sea-level rise

Washington: Melting glaciers and ice caps on Canadian Arctic islands play a much greater role in sea-level rise than scientists previously suspected,

For instance, the 550,000-square-mile Canadian Arctic Archipelago contains some 30,000 islands. Between 2004 and 2009, the region lost the equivalent of three-quarters of the water in Lake Erie, found a study led by the University of Michigan. Warmer-than-usual temperatures in those years caused a rapid increase in the melting of glacier ice and snow, said Alex Gardner, research fellow in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences at Michigan, who led the project, reports the journal Nature.'This is a region that we previously didn't think was contributing much to sea-level rise,' Gardner said. 'Now we realize that outside of Antarctica and Greenland, it was the largest contributor for the years 2007 through 2009,' a Michigan statement quoted him as saying. 'This area is highly sensitive and if temperatures continue to increase, we will see much more melting,' added Gardner.Ninety-nine percent of all the world's land ice is trapped in the massive ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland. Despite their size, they currently only account for about half of the land-ice being lost to oceans. This is partly because they are cold enough that ice only melts at their edges.The other half of the ice melt adding to sea-level rise comes from smaller mountain glaciers and ice caps such as those in the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, and Patagonia. The study underscores the importance of these many smaller, often overlooked regions, Gardner said.During the first three years of the study, from 2004 through 2006, the region lost an average of seven cubic miles of water per year. That increased dramatically to 22 cubic miles of water -- roughly 24 trillion gallons -- per year during the latter part of the study. Over the entire six years, this added a total of one mm to the level of the world's oceans. While that might not sound like much, Gardner says that small amounts can make big differences.In the study, a one-degree increase in average air temperature resulted in 15 cubic miles of additional melting. Because the study took place over just six years, the results don't signify a trend.The United Nations projects that the oceans will rise by a full meter by the end of the century. This could have ramifications for tens of millions of people who live in coastal cities and low-lying areas across the globe.

2011-06-13T10:12:00.005+05:30

Earth can recover faster from CO2 emissions

Washington:Cheer up -- the earth may yet be able to recover faster from rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than previously thought.

When faced with high levels of atmospheric CO2 and rising temperatures 56 million years ago, our planet increased its ability to pull carbon from the air. This led to a recovery that was quicker than anticipated by many models of the carbon cycle, though still on the order of tens of thousands of years, said Gabriel Bowen, associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Purdue University, who led the study.'We found that more than half of the added carbon dioxide was pulled from the atmosphere within 30,000 to 40,000 years, which is one-third of the time div previously thought,' said Bowen, the journal Nature Geoscience reports. 'We still don't know exactly where this carbon went, but the evidence suggests it was a much more dynamic response than traditional models represent,' a Purdue statement quoted him as saying.Bowen worked with James Zachos, professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to study the end of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a 170,000-year-period of global warming having many paralles with the world's current situation, he said.'During this prehistoric event, billions of tonnes of carbon were released into the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere, causing warming of about five degrees Celsius,' Bowen said. 'This is a good analog for the carbon being released from fossil fuels today,' Bowen said.Scientists have known of this prehistoric event for 20 years, but how the system recovered and returned to normal atmospheric levels has remained a mystery.

2011-06-13T10:12:00.002+05:30

Scientists create synthetic brain cell

Washington:Researchers have for the first time created a synthetic synapse circuit whose behaviour duplicates the function of a brain cell.

A synapse is a junction that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another nerve or brain cell.The team, led by professors Alice Parker and Chongwu Zhou at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering, combined circuit design with nanotechnology to address the complex problem of capturing brain function.Carbon nanotubes are molecular carbon structures a million times smaller than a pencil point. These nanotubes can be used in electronic circuits, acting as metallic conductors or semiconductors, according to a California statement.'This is a necessary first step in the process,' said Parker, who began looking at the possibility of developing a synthetic brain in 2006. 'We wanted to answer the question: Can you build a circuit that would act like a neuron? The next step is even more complex.' 'How can we build structures out of these circuits that mimic the function of the brain, which has 100 billion neurons and 10,000 synapses per neuron?'Parker emphasized that the actual development of a synthetic brain, or even a functional brain area is decades away.The human brain continually produces new neurons, makes new connections and adapts throughout life, and creating this process through analog circuits will be a monumental task, according to Parker.She believes the breakthrough could have long-term implications for everything -- from developing prosthetic nanotechnology to heal traumatic brain injuries to developing intelligent, safe cars that would protect drivers in bold new ways.These findings were presented at the IEEE/NIH 2011 Life Science Systems and Applications Workshop in the US.

2011-06-13T10:11:00.003+05:30

China acts tough on websites with illegal download offers

Beijing: At least 14 Chinese websites that offer music downloads without having the permission to do so will be 'punished', the cultural ministry has said.

The illegal music providers includes the Baidu website that offers many services like a Chinese search engine, audio files, images and an online collaborative encyclopaedia.BaiduMP3 and 13 other sites continued to provide download services for unregistered 'illicit' music, even after repeated warnings not to do so, a ministry official was quoted as saying by China Daily.The ministry previously punished 54 music websites in March 'in line with the country's internet regulations', the official said.The ministry also announced it would punish 20 online gaming companies, which use 'vulgar' promotional methods.

2011-06-13T10:11:00.000+05:30

Russia hit by internet addiction

Moscow: Psychologists in Russia say addiction to the world wide web has begun affecting the teenaged population in the country.

This obsession with the internet could be on the same level as other social problems such as drug and alcohol dependency, Russian psychologists say.The country is in danger of being overwhelmed by internet addiction, Moscow News reported citing gzt.ru.Recent data suggests that between five and 14 percent of Russians show symptoms of internet addiction.A typical case would be a troubled teenager - who logs on to the internet - but finds it difficult to form real-life relationships.

2011-06-13T10:10:00.000+05:30

77 mn identities hacked from Sony PlayStation network

New York: A hacker stole the names, dates of birth and credit card numbers of 77 million people who play online games through the Sony PlayStation console, a media report said.

Sony, whose online game network has been offline for nearly a week, said an 'illegal and unauthorised intrusion' that took place between April 17 and 19 resulted in the loss of a significant amount of personal information that could be used in identity theft, the Wall Street Journal reported.The PlayStation network is used to play, chat online and watch movies streamed over the internet.Sony has warned users that intruders may have accessed their billing addresses and account information.It warned users of its PlayStation network and an allied service called Qriocity to watch their credit card statements for any unauthorised charges.It also told people to be on guard against email, telephone and postal scams.'While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility,' Sony said in a blog post.

2011-06-13T10:09:00.002+05:30

Stronger than steel 'paper' to make cars!

Sydney: A composite material based on paper thin graphite and 10 times stronger than steel is set to revolutionise the automotive, aviation, electrical and optical industries, experts predict.

Graphene paper or GP, developed by Guoxiu Wang's research team from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), can be processed, reshaped and reformed from its original raw material state.Compared to steel, the prepared GP is six times lighter, five to six times lower in density, two times harder with 10 times higher tensile strength and 13 times higher bending rigidity, the Journal of Applied Physics reports. Researchers have successfully milled the raw graphite by purifying and filtering it with chemicals to reshape and reform it into nano-structured configurations which are then processed into sheets as thin as paper, according to a university statement.Lead researcher Ali Reza Ranjbartoreh said: 'Not only is it lighter, stronger, harder and more flexible than steel, it is also a recyclable and sustainably manufacturable product that is eco-friendly and cost effective in its use.'Ranjbartoreh said the results would allow the development of lighter and stronger cars and planes that use less fuel, generate less pollution, are cheaper to run and ecologically sustainable.He said large aerospace companies such as Boeing have already started to replace metals with carbon fibres and carbon-based materials, and graphene paper with its incomparable mechanical properties would be the next material for them to explore.

2011-06-13T10:08:00.005+05:30

ISRO builds India's fastest supercomputer

Bangalore: State-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has built a supercomputer which is fastest in terms of peak performance of 220 teraflops (220 trillion floating point operations per second), the space agency said Monday.

'The new graphic processing unit (GPU)-based supercomputer named 'Saga-220' at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthpuram in Kerala will be used by our scientists to solve complex aerospace problems,' ISRO said in a statement.The supercomputer was designed and built by VSSC using open source software, hardware and in-house developments at a cost of Rs.14 crore (Rs.140 million).'The GPU system offers advantage over the conventional CPU (central processing unit)-based system in terms of cost, power and space requirements. The eco-friendly system, which consumes about 150 kilowatt, can be scaled to many petaflops - 1,000 teraflops,' the statement noted.ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan unveiled the supercomputer facility named after Satish Dhawan, former head of the space agency.

2011-06-13T10:08:00.002+05:30

Motorola smartphone to recognise your fingerprint

London: It's a phone, a laptop, a PC and recognises its owner by his fingerprint. Motorola's ATRIX is being marketed as the world's most powerful smartphone packed full of tech wizardry 'any aspiring spy can be proud of'.

The ATRIX smartphone can be plugged into a range of docks that convert it into a laptop, personal computer, media centre, or a sat-nav, the Daily Mail reports.It is the first smartphone to operate with fingerprint recognition to ensure it can only be activated by the genuine owner.The owner swipes his finger on the touchscreen a number of times when the smartphone is fresh out of the box for it to identify him as the authorised user.From that point on, every time he touches the power button it will recognise the fingerprint and approve operation. Motorola spokeswoman Nicola Shenton said: 'This really is the ultimate smart phone for gadget fans packed full of tech wizardry and features that any aspiring spy would be proud of.'There is an eye-catching 'lapdock', which looks like a slimline laptop but has no computer processor. Here the phone sits in a cradle while the dock is used like a normal laptop.A second dock turns the phone into a home computer. It connects the handset to a screen via a cable, while it has a number of USB ports and Bluetooth wireless links to a full-size mouse and keyboard. The ATRIX software, called 'Webtop', then allows the keyboard, mouse and screen to be used as a full-size computer, including the sort of internet browser normally found on a home PC.The ATRIX has a dual core processor, which allows for fast operation, two antennae for simultaneous downloading and uploading from the web, plus a large on-board memory.Other benefits include a four-inch high-definition screen, a five mega-pixel camera and a video camera on the front for video calling.Jeremy Marks, of Spymaster, the leading professional suppliers of security equipment, said: 'This type of technology offers consumers a new level of security surpassing anything we have seen before on a smartphone.'Some websites are offering the handset only, without any Sim card, for 435 pounds.

2011-06-13T10:07:00.002+05:30

Apple beats Google in 'war of global brands'

Moscow: The strength of iPhone and iPad sales has pushed Apple ahead of Google for the first time as the most valuable brand in the world, global brands agency Millward Brown said in its annual report.

The value of the Apple brand rose by 84 percent to $153.3 billion, while the value of the Google brand, which has been on top of global rankings for four years, dropped by 2 percent to $111.5 billion, according to the annual BrandZ study of the world's top 100 brands.Overall, technology and telecom companies dominated this year's rankings with IBM (3rd place), Microsoft (5th), AT&T (7th) and China Mobile (9th) also being in the Top 10.Social network Facebook entered the top 100 at number 35 with the brand valued at $19.1 billion.'The Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands are collectively worth $2.4 trillion,' the study said.Developed by Millward Brown Optimor, the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking analyses the world's leading brands and the economic and competitive dynamics that influence value fluctuations.

2011-06-13T10:06:00.002+05:30

Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion

Washington: Microsoft Corp. Tuesday announced it would buy Skype Global for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition ever, a media report said.

The deal will give Microsoft a boost in voice and video communications, allowing the company to leverage Skype's technology on platforms, including Xbox 360, Kinect and Outlook, CNN reported.It may also help Microsoft's fledging mobile telephone offering, which lags far behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems. In 2010, Skype users had 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations, the broadcaster said.'Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,' Microsoft's chief executive Steven A. Ballmer said in a statement.'Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world,' CNN quoted Ballmer as saying.Since most of its services are free, Skype makes much of its income from a small group of users who pay for long distance calls to telephone numbers.In 2010, Skype recorded $859.8 million in revenue but reported a net loss of $7 million, according to a filing.The Microsoft acquisition is the second time a technology giant has acquired Skype. In 2005, eBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion with hopes of tightly integrating the service as a sales tool. But the deal never lived up to its promise and eBay took a $1.4 billion write-down on its investment, CNN said.Skype was sold in 2007 to a consortium of investors led by Silver Lake Partners, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.The Microsoft deal ends the speculation about the future of Skype. The boards of both companies have approved the deal

2011-06-13T10:05:00.002+05:30

Cell phones killing off global bee populations

London: The mobile phone may be a blessing for millions of people worldwide, but it has also become a deadly bane for bees, say experts.

Researchers say mobile phone signals may explain the sudden drop in the global population of bees, which play a significant role in propagating agriculture and horticulture, according to the journal Apidologie.Daniel Favre, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, concealed cell phones in hives under controlled conditions.When Favre and his team monitored the results, they found the phone signals bewildered the bees who began to fly in a zigzag manner and then collapsed, according to a Federal Institute statement.The researchers conducted more than 80 experiments in which they recorded the insects' reactions to mobile phones when they were switched off or making calls.Bees also produced a 10-fold greater noise whenever such a phone made or received a call. But they behaved normally once the phone was switched off or put on standby.Favre explained: 'The bees' noise drastically increases as soon as the phone rings. Rays from the phone and the noise clearly disturb the bees. This gives the bees the signal to leave the hive. But often they are so confused they fly to their death.'

2011-06-13T10:04:00.002+05:30

Hacking can now be made useless

Washington: Hackers can now be discouraged from hacking into user accounts despite having access to passwords, reveals a new Labanese research.

According to the Key-Pattern Analysis (KPA), a new approach developed by the American University of Beirut, the password stolen by hackers can become ineffective. KPA is an attempt to scrutinise the speed with which a user taps the keys as well as measuring the gaps between keystrokes, the beat of their typing.The result can be a biometric profile of the way individual users type in their password. If the biometric profile does not match the user, then the password fails even if it is 'correct,' reports the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions.However, Ravel Jabbour, Wes Masri and Ali El-Hajj at the university point out that a modified keyboard would be inconvenient for an organization or individual, according to a Beruit statement.So, the team instead has incorporated 'intra' timing that measures how long each key remains pressed, which gives them the beat of the typing and is a much more robust parameter.The programme gathers information about how the users type in their password by recording the electronic signals from a standard keyboard as keys are pressed and released.The programme then compares the pattern of the password typed with a pre-stored pattern recorded when the account is initially setup.Users would be expected to repeatedly type their password at the log-in registration stage to record a reproducible typing pattern for permitting a log-in.

2011-06-13T10:03:00.005+05:30

Cell phone use can wreck male fertility

Toronto: Men -- particularly those wishing to become fathers -- risk wrecking their fertility if they don't curb their cell phone use.

Researchers have found that while cell phone use appears to increase the level of testosterone circulating in the body, it may also lead to low sperm quality and a decrease in fertility.'Our findings were a little bit puzzling,' says Rany Shamloul, postdoctoral fellow in pharmacology and toxicology at the Queen's University, Canada, who led the study.'We were expecting to find different results, but the results we did find suggest that there could be some intriguing mechanisms at work,' said Shamloul, according to a Queen's statement.The research team discovered that men using cell phones reported higher levels of circulating testosterone but they also had lower levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), an important reproductive hormone that is secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain.The researchers hypothesize that electromagnetic waves (EMW) emitted by cell phones may have a dual action on male hormone levels and fertility.EMW may increase the number of cells in the testes that produce testosterone; however, by lowering the levels of LH excreted by the pituitary gland, EMW may also block the conversion of this basic circulating type of testosterone to the more active, potent form of testosterone associated with sperm production and fertility.

2011-06-13T10:03:00.002+05:30

Moon may have as much water as Earth has

London: Water may be as plentiful within the moon as on the Earth, reveals a study of lunar rocks brought by the Apollo mission.

Trapped water was found in tiny volcanic glass beads returned to the Earth in 1972 by the final manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17.Analysis of the samples suggests there could be 100 times more water in the lunar mantle, the thick rock layer beneath the surface crust, than was previously thought, the journal Science reports.In fact, there could be as much water in the lunar mantle as in the earth's mantle. If this is the case, it challenges a long-held theory about the moon's formation, according to the Daily Mail.Most experts believe a huge impact early in Earth's history ejected material into space that became the moon. But the force involved should have vaporised much of the future moon's water. Finding large amounts of water in the moon's interior casts doubt on this idea.Prof James van Orman, from Case Western Reserve University, US, who led the research, said: 'These samples provide the best window we have to the amount of water in the interior of the moon. The interior seems to be pretty similar to the interior of the Earth, from what we know about water abundance.'The rock samples were collected by astronauts during the Apollo 17 mission, which was the last manned mission to the Moon.

2011-06-13T10:02:00.002+05:30

Google Street View project in India, launched in Bangalore

Bangalore:Google launched its 'Street View' project in India by gathering data in the southern city of Bangalore aiming to collect panoramic images of the vast country ranging from its palaces to its slums.Google Thursday announced plans to offer street view of Indian cities on its maps platform. 'We are launching the street view project from Bangalore as it is the IT capital of India where IT-savvy users will be able to leverage the benefits of the facility optimally,' Google India product head Vinay Goel told reporters here at a preview of its latest product. As a user-friendly feature of Google Maps, the US-based global IT major has already uploaded street view of about 100 cities in 27 countries world over with a host of information for the benefit of users seeking specific details. 'Inspired by the success of the project in other cities, we will collect images of Bangalore streets by driving across the city in cars and trikes (three-wheeler rickshaws) that will have high resolution cameras mounted atop,' Goel said. To be made available on www.google.co.in/streetview in the coming months, the novel feature will enable users to virtually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through a panoramic view of its streets on their desktops or mobile handsets. 'The users will also be able to access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps or by dragging the orange 'pegman' icon on the left side of the map onto a blue highlighted street,' Goel pointed out. Images of faces, addresses of houses or offices and number plates of cars will be blurred to safeguard privacy. Detailed imagery of public or private properties and specific locations will also be blurred on request by the concerned or the affected party. 'Street view will also be useful for urban development planners, law enforcement agencies, house-hunters, travellers and diverse users looking for specific information on shops, offices, restaurants, hotels, etc, in a particular street, area or locality,' Goel said. The feature will enable businesses to upload their details on the imagery map for free by using the tools on the street view site. 'Street view is designed to comply with all local laws, including those related to security and privacy issues in India,' Goel added. Google India's development centre in this tech hub has been actively involved in the global street view project for developing application interface, associated tools and solutions for trouble-shooting.

2011-06-13T10:01:00.002+05:30

Mobile phones may make planes crash: Study

London: A mobile phone when kept on during a flight can actually disrupt the plane's electronic systems and eventually lead to a crash, a study says.

The study by the International Air Transport Association says pilots and engineers have linked electronic devices to at least 75 safety incidents over the past six years.One case involved a Boeing 747 flying at 4,500 feet whose automatic pilot disengaged by itself. When flight attendants went through the cabin, they found four passengers using electronic devices. Once they switched them off, the flight carried on without incident, the Daily Mail said.The study described how a clock spun backwards and a GPS in the cabin read incorrectly while two laptops were being used nearby.During another flight, the altitude control readings changed rapidly until a crew member asked passengers to turn off their electronic devices, it said.The study revealed 'older' planes were most at risk to mobiles, Blackberrys and iPads.The planes were not well shielded from the devices that radiate signals that can disrupt highly-sensitive sensors in the passenger cabin.Boeing says planes were vulnerable during take-off and in poor visibility.'It could tell you were left of the runway when in fact you were right of the runway. Or it could wipe out the signal completely so you had no indication where you were,' engineer David Carson told ABC.

2011-06-13T09:59:00.000+05:30

BlackBerry tablet to hit India within a month

Toronto : The BlackBerry tablet PlayBook will hit markets in India and 15 other countries within the next month, Research In Motion (RIM) said Friday.

The Waterloo-based Canadian company announced it plans to roll out the Playbook 'in an additional 16 markets around the world over the next 30 days.''Launched in the US and Canada last April, the tablet will reach India, Britain, France, Australia, the UAE and 10 other countries in the next 30 days, RIM said.Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Mexico, Indonesia, Venezuela and Columbia will be the other countries to get the RIM tablet.The RIM announcement said, 'The BlackBerry PlayBook is the world's first professional-grade tablet, delivering industry leading performance, uncompromised web browsing, true multitasking, HD multimedia, advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a robust development environment.''Unlike the rival iPad which sold like hot cakes on its launch in April 2010, the BlackBerry tablet sold just 50,000 copies in the first week of its launch April 19. Sales at the end of its first month on the market were put at 250,000 units.According to analysts, RIM is expected to sell half a million tablets by the end of its current quarter.India has over a million BlackBerry users and RIM will target them as the Wi-Fi tablet can link with the BlackBerry smart phone through BlackBerry Bridge without the need to subscribe to a wireless carrier.Though Indian prices are not known at this stage, the seven-inch, Wi-Fi-only PlayBook comes in three models in the range of $499 to $699, featuring 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of storage capacity.RIM has said that it will launch 3G and 4G versions that run on wireless networks later this year. The new versions will also offer Android as well as native email.Meanwhile, there was no respite for the troubled Canadian wireless giant as its stock further slipped 2.26 percent to close at $35.82 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday.The stock is not even one-fourth of its value of $150 seen just before the onset of the global meltdown, fuelling rumours that RIM could be snapped up by Microsoft or Apple.

2011-06-13T09:21:00.002+05:30

Outsource to INDIA

'India' the world's choice when it comes to offshoring

India has been the hot spot for global companies to outsource their IT and IT related activities. There can be more than one reason attributed to this, though the key driver is 'cost benefits'. In this series we will see how India as a producer of software is able to create this significant and transferable cost difference as compared to its western counterparts. We will also discuss on the quality issues, whether or not these software produces of India equal-to or below that of the western standards. As a rewarding investment destination India has been attracting global investors, foreign direct investments and institutional investments. What makes them choose India? As the world knows, India is the second most populated country in the world next to China. India has been making tangible efforts to increase its economy, trade ties with global nations and self development that covers some of the key and other important areas. And over the last decade India has achieved considerable growth in many areas including Information Technology. Today Information Technology is one of the prime produces of the country. What brought them to this and how does software development works in India? We will take our discussion to answer some these above cited questions but before we do so, let us see how India is able to offer this cost advantage. This perhaps been the most frequently asked and most frequently answered question nevertheless for the benefit of our readers we will enumerate the reasons for the same in a simplified fashion. Foremost of all the reason stands 'availability of skilled labor'. Tens of thousands of engineers graduate from Indian universities and colleges every year. And the drive and aspiration in them to take up a career in Information System is generally high. English as one of the medium of education is another advantage of these graduates. In India each state has its own regional language and English as the medium of instruction. Legend has it that some the Indian languages have their origin prior to the western languages. These languages have their syllables spelt with stronger diction than the English syllables. While these native languages become part of their day-to-day conversation you will see this reflect in their usage of English as well. Perhaps this is the reason why most non-native speakers of English pronounce it differently from that of its native speakers. Nevertheless it gives Indians the advantage of communicating with the global audience, relate to their requirements like any other onshore player. The value of Indian currency as against US dollars, pounds or euros: The difference in the currency values puts the western companies take advantage of the products and services from India. The setting up cost, the cost for skilled labor and maintenance costs in India are phenomenally less compared to the US or UK. When a software development company develops an application here the cost would be literally 50% less than the one developed in the US or UK. There are numerous players in India ranging from small/individual, mid-sized to large players who have notable world-wide presence. You will find companies that stage their expertise in multiple technology platforms, companies which show candid expertise in a unique platform and more such combinations. The presence of multiple players has negated the possibility of monopolizing of the market by large players. In a bid to capture the potential offshore market they offer their services at competitive rates whereas mature players offer value-added benefits in addition to the obvious cost advantage. While most of these companies sport their resources for a plausible outcome, you may have to assess your offshore company before you entrust them with key projects to reap the best benefits of outsourcing to an Indian firm. Keep following the articles in this series for more insights into the facts and benefits of outsourcing to India and areas of caution pertaining to outsourcing.

2011-06-11T10:42:00.002+05:30

Microsoft finally loses Word patent battle

Toronto: Software giant Microsoft finally lost its battle over Word patent with Toronto's i4i Inc. Thursday.

Rejecting Microsoft's appeal, the US supreme court upheld the 2009 lower court order against Microsoft to pay $290 million in damages to the Toronto firm for infringing its patent.The Canadian company had taken the software giant to court in the US in 2007 over violations of its patent in Word applications and won the case and got $290 million in damages in December 2009.In its lawsuit, i4i had claimed that the world's biggest software company infringed on a patent granted to it in 1998.The patent pertained to i4i's technology that can open documents using the XML computer programming language and manipulate complex data in electronic documents.The technology allows users to sort out and manage tons of information by turning complex documents into more accessible databases.The Toronto company claimed that Microsoft violated its patent when it created Word 2003 and Word 2007 software.Later in 2009, the US court of appeals upheld the lower court order banning Microsoft from selling its patent-infringing Word processing software from January 2010.Though Microsoft complied with the court order by stopping selling versions of Word with the disputed technology from that date, it challenged the verdict in the US supreme court in August last year, arguing that the current system is disproportionately loaded in favor of patent holders.i4i chairman Loudon Owen called Thursday's court decision 'extremely gratifying'' for his small firm.'It has also become one of the most important business-law cases decided by the Supreme Court in decades,'' he told the local media.

2011-06-11T10:40:00.002+05:30

UFO seen over California?

London: A video posted on YouTube that shows three moving dots of light in the California sky is being claimed to be that of an unidentified flying object (UFO).

The lights were reportedly seen over Oakland, California, by a man who calls himself 'KevinMC360' online, says the Daily Mail.The three lights were reportedly seen moving in a triangular pattern May 26.KevinMC360 insisted in the website that the sighting was genuine.'For all you bird lovers out there you can call them geese, if you like, but I will only laugh at you,' he wrote.The video has attracted more than 2,500 viewings.KevinMC360 had earlier posted last year a video of 'a group of spacecraft' over Oakland.'I got them. There was a squadron of spacecraft,' he claimed in the earlier video that also shows five lights in a V-formation. The video was viewed more than 23,780 times.

2011-06-11T10:39:00.002+05:30

Top US officials' gmail hit by Chinese phishing

Chicago: Google says hundreds of personal gmail accounts, including those of some senior US government officials and military personnel, were hacked as a result of a massive phishing originating from China.

The account hijackings were a result of stolen passwords, likely by malware installed on victims' computers or through victims' responses to e-mails from malicious hackers posing as trusted sources, or what is known as phishing.Gmail's security systems themselves were not compromised, Google said.The company believes the phishing attack emanated from Jinan, China. In addition to the US government personnel, other targets included South Korean government officials and federal workers of several other Asian countries, Chinese political activists, military personnel and journalists.'The Department of Homeland Security is aware of Google's message to its customers,' CNN quoted Chris Ortman, a spokesman for the agency as saying.'We are working with Google and our federal partners to review the matter, offer analysis of any malicious activity, and develop solutions to mitigate further risk.'The news comes a little more than a year after a separate hack originating from China affected gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. In that case, attackers were able to break through Google's security systems, and two Gmail accounts were hacked.CNN said a Google spokesman declined to comment on how the company obtained the information about the most recent hack.Public information, user reports and a third-party hacking blog called Contagio was used to determine the scope, targets and source of the attack.

2011-06-11T10:38:00.002+05:30

Astronomers stumble on planet going the wrong way

Sydney: All planets move around their stars in the same direction as the star spins - but now astronomers have stumbled onto one that goes the wrong way.

Daniel Bayliss, astronomer from the Australian National University (ANU) and his team, using one of the world's largest telescopes in Chile, discovered that a distant planet WASP-17b is moving in the opposite direction to the spin of the star around which it orbits.The discovery throws planetary theories into doubt. Planets are formed from the same disk of rotating material that has given birth to the star around which they move.Until now it has been assumed that any planet orbiting a star would be moving in the same direction as the star's spin, which is true of our own solar system.However, WASP-17b is quite different, Bayliss said, and its backwards motion is somewhat of a mystery.'It is possible that the planet underwent a close encounter with another giant planet billions of years ago, which altered its orbit so much that it began orbiting backwards,' he said, according to an ANU statement.If it were common, this would not bode well for the chances of life around other stars. Close encounters between giant planets would most probably destroy any small earth-like planet in that system, and wipe out any chance of life arising.At present, only a handful of distant planets are known, but Bayliss is part of a project, called HAT-South, which is monitoring millions of stars in the southern hemisphere to see if they have orbiting planets.Bayliss runs a set of telescopes in Australia, the data from which is combined with those of identical sets of telescopes operated in Chile and Namibia.This global enterprise should uncover dozens of new planets, providing the necessary information on how common backward movement is in our galaxy.

2011-06-11T10:37:00.003+05:30

Can dogs read our minds?

Washington: How do dogs learn to beg for food or behave badly, particularly when they are not paid any attention? It's a combination of specific cues, context and previous experience, say researchers.

How your pet comes to respond to the level of people's attentiveness tells us something about the way dogs think and learn about human behaviour, says University of Florida's Monique Udell, who conducted the study with her team.

Their research suggests it is down to a combination of specific cues, context and previous experience, reports the journal Learning & Behaviour.

Recent work has identified a remarkable range of human-like social behaviours, including dogs' ability to respond to human body language, verbal commands, and to attentional states, according to a Florida statement.

Udell and team carried out two experiments comparing the performance of pet dogs, shelter dogs and wolves given the opportunity to beg for food from either an attentive person or from a person unable to see the animal.

They showed for the first time that wolves, like domestic dogs, are capable of begging successfully for food by approaching the attentive human.

This demonstrates that both species -- domesticated and non-domesticated -- have the capacity to behave in accordance with a human's attentional state.

Besides, both wolves and pet dogs were able to rapidly improve their performance with practice. The authors also found that dogs were not sensitive to all visual cues of a human's attention in the same way.

In particular, dogs from a home environment rather than a shelter were more sensitive to stimuli predicting attentive humans. Those dogs with less regular exposure to humans performed badly on the begging task.

These results suggest that dogs' ability to follow human actions stems from a willingness to accept humans as social companions, the researchers said.

2011-06-11T10:36:00.002+05:30

Tamarind derivative repairs damaged brain cells

Sydney : A compound from tamarind tree could help spur the growth of damaged brain and spinal cord nerve cells, which characterises diseases such as Parkinson's.

2011-06-11T10:34:00.000+05:30

UN nuclear watchdog refers Syria to Security Council

The UN nuclear watchdog is to report Syria to the Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to rebuke Syria on claims of an undeclared nuclear reactor.The structure, which Syria has maintained was a non-nuclear military site, was destroyed by Israel in 2007.The IAEA's move comes as international pressure mounts on the UN Security Council to censure Syria over its lethal crackdown on protests.European nations on Wednesday presented a separate draft resolution to the Council condemning Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.Desert siteAt the IAEA meeting at its headquarters in Vienna, 17 countries voted for and six against, including Russia and China.Diplomats said that overall 11 countries of the 35-member board of governors abstained and one country was absent from the vote.Israel bombed the desert site of the alleged reactor - near Deir Alzour in the country's remote north-east - in September 2007.The IAEA began investigating the allegations in June 2008, but Syria has refused to co-operate and, with the exception of a one-off visit, has not allowed UN inspectors to Deir Alzour or related sites to verify the US claims.Thursday's motion was proposed by the US and its Western allies who had asked the IAEA's governing body to find Syria in 'non-compliance' with its international obligations.'Syria's apparent attempt at constructing a covert, undeclared plutonium production reactor, a reactor with no credible peaceful purpose, represents one of the most serious safeguards violations possible,' said US Ambassador Glyn Davies.He said the intentions of the structure at Deir Alzour were clear and that a resolution was the only responsible course of action.'The reactor there was built for the express purpose of producing plutonium for possible use in nuclear weapons.''Regrettable'Syria's ambassador to the IAEA called the agency's move 'regrettable' but pledged that the country would honour its obligations.'I think Syria has always been committed to its obligations and to its duties and I think we will continue to do so,' Bassam Al-Sabbagh said after the meeting.Syria is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which gives it the right to enrich its own fuel for civil nuclear power, under inspection from the IAEA.But it has also signed a safeguards agreement with the IAEA under which it is obliged to notify the UN's nuclear watchdog of any plans to construct a new nuclear facility.The last country the IAEA referred to the Security Council was Iran, in February 2006.The Security Council has the power to impose sanctions, a move it has taken in the case of Iran no less than four times.However, diplomats are not convinced that this will happen in Syria's case due to opposition from both Russia and China.The diplomatic move at the IAEA came a day after Britain, France, Germany and Portugal proposed a draft resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protesters to the Security Council, despite the risk of a Russian veto.

2011-06-11T10:32:00.000+05:30

Sarah Palin e-mails: First details emerge

Details are emerging of Sarah Palin's life as governor of Alaska, following the release of 24,000 pages of her e-mails by officials in US state.

As well as the mundane matters of political office, the correspondence reveals her frustration over rumours about her family and marriage.Media organisations applied to see the e-mails in 2008 when she was picked as the Republican running mate.Mrs Palin is widely viewed as a potential 2012 presidential candidate.Alaska has released 24,199 printed pages of e-mails covering Mrs Palin's first 21 months as governor - from 2006 until she accepted the vice-presidential nomination.Praise for ObamaReporters from a number of news organisations descended on the Alaskan capital of Juneau on Friday to sift through the documents, which are only being released in paper form.Some of the correspondence is written in Mrs Palin's trademark folksy manner. The day after she was plucked from relative obscurity in 2008 for the presidential ticket of Republican nominee John McCain, she wrote to an associate: 'Can you flippinbelieveit?!'The e-mails reveal her irritation at the so-called Troopergate affair, when she was accused of pursuing a vendetta against her sister's ex-husband, an Alaska policeman.'I do applogize if I sound frustrated w this one. I guess I am. Its killing me to realize how misinformed leggies [legislators], reporter and others are on this issue,' she wrote to colleagues.Tanning bedThe state of Alaska's investigation into Troopergate found that Mrs Palin had abused her power by dismissing an official who had refused to sack her former brother-in-law.In another e-mail, Mrs Palin praises a speech on energy policy made by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, asking her aides to write a statement 'saying he's right on'.The cache of documents includes examples of some of the hate mail addressed to Mrs Palin.The e-mails also reveal:* A response in 2008 to a blog post alleging she had had an affair: 'I feel like I'm at the breaking point with the hurtful gossip… I hate this part of the job and many days I feel like it's not worth it'* A demand in January 2008 to know who had leaked an e-mail, telling a colleague: 'Hate to see you or anyone else being accused of purposefully setting me up with it being leaked, but that's what I'm hearing'* Her attempts in several e-mails to find the identity of someone who alleged that she had not buckled her son, Trig, properly into his car seat* Her frustration over state officials' access to a personal computer in her bedroom at the governor's mansion without her notice, in which she writes: 'Who, when, etc conducted this search of my bedroom's computer and the other house computer?'* A request to aides to set up a meeting with John McCain's team, several months before he chose Mrs Palin as his running mate* Her close relationship with her staff, praising them as 'awesome and encouraging'* Her attempt to install a tanning bed in the governor's mansion in JuneauThe media have been perusing the heavily redacted documents, with several news organisations seeking help from readers.The Washington Post appealed for '100 organised and diligent readers' to help reporters get through the e-mails, while the New York Times posted the e-mails on its website.The authorities withheld nearly 2,300 pages, citing executive privilege and privacy concerns.The treasurer of Mrs Palin's political action committee said on Friday that the e-mails show a 'very engaged Governor Sarah Palin being the CEO of her state'.'The e-mails detail a governor hard at work,' said Tim Crawford.'Out of context'The sheer volume of requests for the documents are said to be the cause for the nearly three-year delay in their release.Requests have also been made to release e-mails chronicling Mrs Palin's final 10 months in office. But officials have not yet begun reviewing those requests.Mrs Palin told Fox News last Sunday that 'a lot of those e-mails obviously weren't meant for public consumption', adding that some might take some of the messages 'out of context'.Elected governor of Alaska in 2006, Mrs Palin resigned in July 2009 and embarked on a career as a public political figure.This has included appearances on the Fox News Channel and a reality television programme about her family life in Alaska.Mrs Palin has a fiercely loyal base among conservative Republicans, but she is also a divisive figure, provoking disdain from many Democrats and liberals.She has kept political commentators guessing on whether she will declare her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.Mrs Palin recently embarked on a tour of national historic sites, with news media in pursuit.

2011-06-11T10:30:00.002+05:30

Prithvi-II test-fired

Balasore : India today test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near here as part of the user trial by the Army.

'The missile mounted on a mobile launcher was test-fired from the launch complex-3 in the ITR at around 0905hours', defence officials said.With a maximum striking range of 350 km, the missile is capable of carrying a pay-load of 500-1000 kg warhead.'Prithvi-II missile had proved its robustness and accuracy during many trials earlier,' an official of the Defence Research and development Organisation (DRDO) said. 'Taken from routine production lot during earlier user's trials by the Army, the missile had achieved single digit accuracy reaching close to zero circular error probability (CEP),' they said.The missile, which has features to deceive any anti ballistic missiles, had demonstrated flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak altitude of 43.5 km in 2008 user's trial.Similarly, as a part of the operational exercises by Armed forces, two Prithvi-II missiles, aimed at two differenttargets at 350 km from launch point of ITR, at Chandipur were successfully launched within minutes of each other on October12, 2009 and all the mission objectives were met.The sleek missile once again proved its accuracy when the user, tried it in a 'salvo mode' on March 27 and June 18,2010 from Chandipur. It was the fourth successful Prithvi-II flight within a period of eight months.

2011-06-11T10:28:00.002+05:30

Floods kill 50 in China

Beijing : After droughts, it is now turn for floods in China, wreaking havoc in major agricultural provinces that left at least 50 people dead and 40 missing.

The deluge follows a prolonged drought in central and southern provinces that caused a severe water crisis and destroyed thousands of hectares of crops.In the worst-hit Hubei province, at least 23 people were killed and 10 missing, said Zhang, a spokesman with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.'Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by collapsing buildings,' China Daily quoted the official as saying.Some 60,000 residents in the submerged Tongcheng county have been relocated by late Friday, he added.He said floods have affected 680,000 people and inundated over 630 sq km of farmlands in Hubei alone. Direct economic loss could reach 610 million yuan ($94 million), he said.In Tongcheng, a record 300 mm of rain fell in just four hours Thursday, inundating the entire county. However, the waters retreated by late Friday.'Floodwaters quickly rose to my chest and pushed the grocery store in front of my home about five meters forward,' a villager was quoted as saying by China Central Television.Traffic, electricity and telephone services that were cut in Tongcheng due to floods, resumed by late Friday.Three provinces adjoining Hubei were cut off after floodwaters submerged a national highway in Chongyang county.In neighbouring Hunan province, at least 19 people were killed and 28 missing in floods. Some 1.4 million people in 19 counties of the province were affected.About 26,000 people were evacuated in Jiangxi province where three people, including a child, died after landslides crushed their homes, Xinhua reported. Three more people were killed in the southwestern Guizhou province.Meanwhile, South China's Guangdong province is bracing for a major tropical storm over the weekend. As a result, landslides may occur in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, weather officials predict.The National Meteorological Centre has issued a blue rainstorm alert, the lightest in the country's four-level rainstorm alert system.Chief weatherman with the centre, Lin Jian, has attributed the sudden shift from drought to downpours to the interruption of the monsoon.The flooding will not adversely affect the country's grain production, Mao Liuxi, an agricultural expert with the centre, said, adding high temperatures in the south later this year would ensure normal production.

2011-06-09T19:16:00.006+05:30

Red colour makes people react faster, more forcefully

Washington:People react faster and more forcefully when they see red colour, says a study. 'Red enhances our physical reactions because it is seen as a danger cue,' explained study co-author Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, the US.

'Humans flush when they are angry or preparing for attack. People are acutely aware of such reddening in others and its implications.'The intensifying effect of red may have applications for sporting and other activities in which a brief burst of strength and speed is needed. But the authors caution that the colour energy boost is likely to be short-lived.The study found that when humans see red, their reactions become both faster and more forceful. And people were unaware of the colour's intensifying effect, reports the journal Emotion.The findings may have applications for sporting and other activities in which a brief burst of strength and speed is needed, such as weightlifting. But the authors caution that the colour energy boost is short-lived, according to a Rochester statement.But the threat is a double-edged sword, argued Elliot and co-author Henk Aarts, professor of psychology at Utrecht University, the Netherlands.Along with mobilising extra energy, 'threat also evokes worry, task distraction and self-preoccupation, all of which have been shown to tax mental resources', they wrote.In earlier colour research, exposure to red proved counterproductive for skilled motor and mental tasks: athletes competing against an opponent wearing red were more likely to lose and students exposed to red before a test performed worse.The study measured the reactions of students in two experiments. In the first, 30 fourth-through-10th graders pinched and held open a metal clasp. Right before doing so, they read aloud their participant number written in either red or grey crayon.In the second experiment, 46 undergraduates squeezed a handgrip with their dominant hand as hard as possible when they read the word 'squeeze' on a computer monitor. The word appeared on a red, blue or grey background.In both the scenarios, red significantly increased the force exerted, with participants in the red condition squeezing with greater maximum force than those in the grey or blue conditions.

2011-06-09T19:16:00.003+05:30

Stricter radiation norms soon for mobile handsets

New Delhi: Concerned by the latest World Health Organisations (WHO) study linking mobile phone usage with brain tumours, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology Sachin Pilot has said that the government will come out with stricter norms for mobile handsets and towers.

'While telecom is a huge success story in India, any possible health related effects of radiation emitted by mobile phones and towers are to be reflected and ensured in the guidelines. The final guidelines would take into account the best global benchmarks and scientific evidence on the subject,' Pilot said in a statement.The department of telecom (DoT) had set up an inter ministerial group in August 2010 to evaluate the evidence, revisit radiation guidelines for mobile towers and adopt guidelines for radiation by cell phones.The group, which consists of experts from DoT, ministry of health, department of biotechnology, ministry of environment and forests and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has proposed stricter norms for both mobile handsets and towers.

2011-06-09T19:15:00.003+05:30

Kirsten takes over as South Africa's coach

Johannesburg : Former India coach Gary Kirsten was Monday appointed the coach of the South African cricket team.

The 43-year-old South African has been given a two-year contract by Cricket South Africa (CSA).Kirsten was the coach of the World Cup-winning Indian team and will take over the South African team ahead of two home series against Australia and Sri Lanka.'Having filled the same position with the Indian national team for the past three years, I believe this is a natural progression as far as my coaching career is concerned.'My coaching philosophy will not be any different than it was for India. I always endeavour to influence players in a positive way and give them options so that they can grow both as cricketers and as people,' said Kirsten, who replaced Corrie van Zyl.Kirsten's three-year stint with the Indian team ended with the World Cup win in April after 28 years.Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola was happy to welcome Kirsten.'We are delighted to have Gary back as part of the CSA family. We have been through an exhaustive but rewarding process to find the best possible candidate for the job and we are totally confident that we have done just that. Gary's credentials and cricketing experiences speak for themselves and the board of CSA is confident that he will lead the Proteas to new heights in all formats of the game.'Gary will now make recommendations regarding his key support staff and these positions will be announced as soon as contractual negotiations have been completed,' Majola added.

2011-06-09T19:14:00.000+05:30

Ricky Martin to set up kids's centres across Latin America

Rio Grande : Pop star Ricky Martin has said he would expand institutions like his Child Development and Prevention Centre in Puerto Rico to the rest of Latin America.

The Ricky Martin Foundation Child Development and Prevention Centre, with a budget of $4 million, will begin construction this year and is expected to be completed by 2012. The centre will have 10 classrooms, a library and a recreation area.Martin conducted a golf tournament to collect fund for the children's centre that will combat exploitation and trafficking of kids in Puerto Rico.'This is just the start of a project that is going to spread across the rest of the island and on to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Latin America,' Martin said.Martin said the centre would promote arts, music, meditation, yoga, sports, martial arts, health, personalised education, culture and ethical values.The pop star will begin his European tour June 23 in Lisbon. He would also perform in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Britain, Holland and Finland.

2011-06-09T19:13:00.002+05:30

Will award contracts for 7,300 km of national highways: PM

New Delhi: The government will award contracts for 7,300 km of national highways during the current financial year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday.

'Roads are a vital infrastructure, and despite improvements, the sector still needs efforts to upgrade the quality as well as length of India's national highway network,' Manmohan Singh said at a meeting to review the roads sector.The government will also introduce e-tendering in August, and will launch project monitoring through satellite imagery from September this year.The prime minister also directed special attention to projects in areas with poor connectivity, especially Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast and Maoist affected areas.The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Minister for Road Transport and Highways C.P. Joshi and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, among others.

2011-06-08T18:30:00.002+05:30

E.coli cucumber scare in Germany

Germans have been warned not to eat cucumbers until tests identify the source of a deadly E.coli outbreak which local officials say has killed 13 people.

It is thought contaminated cucumbers were imported from Spain, but further tests are being carried out.Germany has registered 1,200 confirmed or suspected E.coli cases so far.With cases reported in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, Germany is set to hold crisis talks later.In many of the reported cases, the gastrointestinal infection has led to Hemolytic-uremic Syndrome (HUS), which causes kidney problems and is potentially fatal.Export chainOne woman was taken to hospital in Poland on Monday. She was said to be in a serious condition after returning from a trip to the northern German city of Hamburg, which has seen the majority of infections.Authorities in the Czech Republic, Austria and France have taken some Spanish-grown cucumbers off shop shelves amid contamination fears.Czech officials said contaminated cucumbers may also have been exported to Hungary and Luxembourg.Suspicion has fallen on organic cucumbers from Spain imported by Germany but then re-exported to other European countries, or exported directly by Spain.Austria has banned the sale of cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines imported via Germany, while Russia has banned the import of some vegetables from Germany and Spain.'If the situation does not change, then we will ban all European vegetable products,' Gennady Onishchenko, the head of Russia's consumer protection agency, was quoted as saying by Interfax.Two Spanish greenhouses identified as sources for the outbreak have been closed and are currently under investigation to see whether the outbreak originated there or elsewhere, said an EU spokesman.Spanish officials have said Europe should not be so quick to blame Spanish produce, and said they would seek a response from the EU for damages incurred by the claim.'You can't attribute the origin of this sickness to Spain,' said Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's Secretary of State for European Affairs.'There is no proof and that's why we are going to demand accountability from those who have blamed Spain for this matter,' he told reporters in Brussels.Contagious cucumbers?The Sweden-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has called the outbreak 'one of the largest described of HUS worldwide and the largest ever reported in Germany'.Twelve of the outbreak's 13 fatalities have been women. All but one of those deaths were recorded in northern Germany, but fears that the outbreak was spreading increased when a 91-year-old woman died in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.The head of Hamburg University's Eppendorf Clinic, Joerg Debatin, said more deaths were expected, as 30 people infected with HUS had lost kidney function.German authorities have warned the outbreak may get worse as its source may still be active.As German media reported the number of people infected had risen to 1,200, Health Minister Daniel Bahr was preparing to hold emergency talks with Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner and regional state representatives to discuss the outbreak, officials said.Meanwhile, the authorities in Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony expect the number of seriously ill patients to rise, because it can take up to 10 days for symptoms of infection to appear, the news website Spiegel reported.Doctors are pinning their hopes on Eculizumab, an antibody treatment that has worked in the past against HUS, correspondents say.The head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's national disease institute, has warned people to avoid eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce.But RKI President Reinhard Burger said the source of the contamination had not yet been clearly identified, AFP reported.The outbreak has baffled scientists because whereas HUS normally affects children under the age of five, in this instance nearly 90% are adults and two-thirds are women, says the BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin.One possibility is that they became infected after eating food for what they thought were health reasons, adds our correspondent.The DNA of the bacterium is to be analysed later to try to find ways of catching it early in people infected by it.The sickness is not directly contagious but it can be transferred between people if an infected person prepares food for others.

2011-06-08T18:29:00.002+05:30

WHO asks Asian governments to pass anti-tobacco laws

Manila:The World Health Organisation (WHO) Tuesday said that Asian governments should pass and implement laws that will prevent premature deaths from tobacco-related diseases, Xinhua reported.

In China, smoking accounts for about one million deaths per year. In South Korea, the total socio-economic cost of smoking in 2007 was estimated to have reached $6.1 billion.In a statement issued on World No Tobacco Day, senior WHO official Shin Young-soo said such laws are crucial given that smoking has put 900 million people in the region at risk for tobacco-related illness.'In our region, it is estimated that close to half of all men smoke and half of all women and children are regularly exposed to the deadly toxins of second-hand smoke at home and in public places,' he said.Of the World Health Organisation's six regions, the Western Pacific Region has the biggest number of smokers. Shin said the socio-economic cost of tobacco use in the region is a 'reason for alarm'.

2011-06-08T18:28:00.002+05:30

Blueberry found to lower cholesterol in lab study

Washington: Lab hamsters fed with rations spiked with blueberry peels and leftovers from the berry's juice had better cholesterol health than normal counterparts.

Hamsters are members of the rodent order of mammals, including guinea pigs, gerbils, mice, squirrels, and beavers used in lab studies.Wallace H. Yokoyama, chemist at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), under US Department of Agriculture (USDA), pointed out that more research is needed to confirm whether the effects would hold true for humans, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports.Researchers fed hamsters high-fat rations. Those rations were supplemented with one of three different kinds of juice byproducts: blueberry skins, peels left over when berries are pressed to make juice; fibre extracted from the peels; compounds known as polyphenols.Blueberry polyphenols give the fruit its purple, blue, and red colouration. Yokoyama and co-investigators reported that all the hamsters fed blueberry-enhanced rations had from 22 to 27 percent lower total plasma cholesterol than hamsters fed rations without blueberry byproducts.Levels of VLDL (very low density lipoprotein - a form of 'bad' cholesterol) were about 44 percent lower in the blueberry-fed hamsters, according to an ARS statement.Yokoyama and his team used real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, to learn about the genes responsible for these effects. This approach allowed the scientists to pinpoint differences in the level of activity of certain liver genes.In hamsters and in humans the liver both makes cholesterol and helps get rid of excessive levels of it. Results suggest that activity of some liver genes that either produce or use cholesterol resulted in the lower blood cholesterol levels.

2011-06-08T18:26:00.002+05:30

Eating dirt can be good for the gut

Washington:For many people all over the world, dining on dirt is nothing out of the ordinary. Now an extensive analysis helps explain why.

The most probable explanation for human geophagy, the eating of earth, is that it protects the stomach against toxins, parasites, and pathogens, the study suggests.The first written account of human geophagy came from Hippocrates more than 2,000 years ago, says Cornell University researcher Sera Young, who led the study, reports the journal The Quarterly Review of Biology.Since then, the eating of earth has been reported on every inhabited continent and in almost every country. Several hypotheses had been considered plausible. Some researchers think geophagy is simply a consequence of food shortage, according to a Cornell statement.Accordingly, Young and her colleagues analysed reports from missionaries, plantation doctors, explorers, and anthropologists to put together a database of more than 480 cultural accounts of geophagy.Overall, the protection hypothesis fits the data best, Cornell researchers found.The database shows that geophagy is documented most commonly in women in the early stages of pregnancy and in pre-adolescent children.Both categories of people are especially sensitive to parasites and pathogens, according to Young and her colleagues.In addition, geophagy is most common in tropical climates where foodborne microbes are abundant. Finally, the database shows that people often eat earth during episodes of gastrointestinal stress.

2011-06-08T18:25:00.000+05:30

Robert Pattinson Wins Early MTV Movie Award

The British are invading the MTV Movie Awards for the second year in a row.

English actors Robert Pattinson and Tom Felton picked up the first two popcorn-shaped trophies at Sunday's Gibson Amphitheater ceremony.

They won in the same categories as last year: Pattison for best male performance as vampire Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and Felton for best villain as Slytherin wizard Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.Team Jacob wasn't left out. Jason Sudeikis, the show's host, kicked off the hijinks-filled show by starring in his own version of The Hangover in which he was in search of Pattinson's Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner, who plays werewolf Jacob Black.Other categories expected to be awarded Sunday include best kiss and best fight.Here's the list of the winners -Best Male PerformanceRobert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: EclipseBest Female PerformanceKristen Stewart, The Twilight Saga: EclipseBest FightRobert Pattinson vs. Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel, The Twilight Saga: EclipseBest KissKristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: EclipseBest Jaw-Dropping MomentJustin Bieber, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Performance SpectacularBest VillainTom Felton, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1Best Line From A Movie (New Category)Alexys Nycole Sanchez, Grown Ups: I want to get chocolate wasted.Best Scared-As-Sh*t PerformanceEllen Page, InceptionBest MovieThe Twilight Saga: EclipseBest Comedic PerformanceEmma Stone, Easy ABest Breakout StarChloë Grace Moretz, Kick-AssBiggest Badass StarChloë Grace Moretz, Kick-Ass

2011-06-08T18:24:00.001+05:30

Katrina voted FHM's sexiest woman

New Delhi:Actress Katrina Kaif tops the Sexiest Women 2011 list of men's lifestyle magazine FHM, edging out Deepika Padukone who won the title last year. Katrina had won the title in 2008 and 2009 too.

The FHM 100 Sexiest Women list is based on online and SMS voting and saw a whopping 35,000 responses this year. 'We'd love to say 2011 was a close contest, only Sheila made sure it was far from. A feat that becomes even more significant because no woman in the world across all 28 editions of FHM has ever won the Sexiest Woman in the World title three times in the last 17 years that we've been making the list. Her average is higher than Sachin Tendulkar's and she replaces Deepika Padukone who won the crown in 2010,' said Kabeer Sharma, executive editor FHM India, in a statement.Katrina seems to be the toast of the season -- she was the only Bollywood actress to feature on the India Today's Elite Power list and is also the most Google-searched Indian celebrity.

2011-06-08T18:22:00.002+05:30

Saudi Arabia to create 66,000 jobs

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia, one of the world's largest oil exporters, would create 66,000 new jobs in the education and health sectors across the kingdom, the Al-Watan newspaper said.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz ordered the creation of the jobs, of which 52,000 will be in the education sector.The plan for the new jobs aims to quell any grievances over unemployment in the kingdom. There have been small protests by unemployed graduates and former teachers over jobs and better pay, officials said.Earlier this year, more than 200 unemployed graduates gathered outside the education ministry in the capital Riyadh to demand employment.In March, the king issued a host of royal decrees to ease economic and social pressure in the kingdom, including a monthly unemployment allowance of $533.

2011-06-08T18:20:00.000+05:30

Apple's Jobs unveils iCloud

Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled services for people to store more of their photos, music and other data online, giving the iPad and iPhone maker the lead in a fast-expanding new consumer market. Jobs entered to a standing ovation from more than 5,000 Apple faithful at its Worldwide Developers' Conference on Monday and showed off Apple products meant to help customers keep their iPhones, iPads and computers in sync.The Silicon Valley icon and pancreatic cancer survivor - animated but again looking very thin - unveiled remote computing services that for now at least push Apple ahead of rivals Google and Amazon.com, which recently launched their own moves into music storage and streaming.Jobs, whose decision to headline the event assuaged some concerns on Wall Street about his health, didn't say a word about his condition but strode briskly onstage after James Brown's soul classic I Got You (I Feel Good) blasted over the sound system.'We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud,' Jobs said.'Everything happens automatically and there's nothing new to learn. It just all works.'In cloud computing, data and software are stored on servers, and devices like smartphones or PCs access them through the Internet.With its knack for designing easy-to-use gadgets, Apple hopes to make cloud computing - right now a term tossed about mostly by corporate IT departments and Silicon Valley geeks - an everyday convenience for many people.As more and more people use smartphones and tablets with limited storage, demand for cloud-based services is growing, and technology companies from Amazon to Zynga are rushing to stake out their turf.Beyond storing music online, Apple's revamped operating systems for its Macs, iPhones and iPads integrate cloud storage in everything from word processing to calendars and to-do lists, going beyond what other companies have done.'For the average consumer it makes cloud computing real,' said Mike McGuire, a media analyst with Gartner.'What we saw from Amazon and Google were features, not services.'Apple's new iTunes Match service will also scan users' hard drives and automatically make the songs it finds available on the iCloud. In contrast, users of Google and Amazon cloud-based storage have to upload every song themselves.'This is potentially game-changing,' said Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu.'It's a whole new way of computing where you're less dependent on PCs and local storage.'Pie in the skyMonday was only Jobs' second public appearance since he went on medical leave in January. He shared the spotlight, letting his executive team showcase new features in Apple's mobile and computer operating software.'He is looking thin but as energetic as usual,' Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said, adding that Apple's expansion into remote computing 'is very powerful stuff.'Apple's iCloud service is not a huge revenue generator for right now and it is tough to quantify longer-term impact, but it lays the foundation for future products with the push into cloud computing, Wall Street analysts say.With that infrastructure in place, Apple can look to streaming video, a lucrative opportunity rivals also covet.But complex licensing requirements for distribution of video content mean that the business may be farther off than music cloud services.The most immediate impact might come from the iTunes Match feature that Jobs introduced with his signature 'one more thing' line.Costing $25 a year, it yields a fresh source of revenue for Apple and the music industry - and from songs that customers would be unlikely to buy again. Apple has been busy wrapping up negotiations with major record labels to secure licenses for its cloud service.Apple's move to cloud services could also ignite more demand for devices from the iPhone to the iPad, while helping sales of music through iTunes.'Relative to iCloud, Google and Amazon are far behind. Nobody else can do what Apple's doing today,' said Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Co.'They are doing music, they are doing photos, documents. The next will certainly be video,' Marshall said.Jobs' decision to headline such events often is news in itself, and his appearance likely heartened investors worried about his health after the pancreatic cancer survivor went on his third medical leave for an undisclosed condition.Apple's share price fell 1.6% to close at $338.04 on the Nasdaq stock market. The stock traditionally gains before a major event - of which there are only a handful through the year - before dipping on the day itself.'They telegraphed in advance what they were going to say and that Steve Jobs was going to show up,' said Daniel Ernst at Hudson Square Research.'It's pretty boring, which is, for Apple, bad. It's all good, but everybody always expects them to walk on water unfortunately.' Reuters