1.4.05

BBC NEWS | Health | Viagra linked to blindness risk

BBC NEWS | Health | Viagra linked to blindness risk: "Anti-impotence drug Viagra increases the risk of blindness, doctors believe.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School in the US identified seven men who developed vision problems after taking Viagra.

The team, writing in the Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology,said it brought the total number of reported cases to 14.

But Pfizer, the makers of the drug which has been used by more than 20m men since its launch in 1998, said the cases were a coincidence."

31.3.05

Yahoo! News - The unsung role of Kung Fu in the Kyrgyz revolution

Yahoo! News - The unsung role of Kung Fu in the Kyrgyz revolution: "KARA SUU, Kyrgyzstan (AFP) - Many say people power brought down the regime in Kyrgyzstan last week. But Bayaman Erkinbayev, a lawmaker, martial arts champ and one of the Central Asian nation's richest men, says it was his small army of Kung Fu-style fighters."

ABC News: Mega-Churches Offer Prayer, Play, Shopping

ABC News: Mega-Churches Offer Prayer, Play, ShoppingAmericans are known for their love of "super-sizing" — from French fries to cars to houses — and on this Easter Sunday, many Americans are celebrating on a much larger scale, in huge congregations known as "mega-churches," where people can do much more than just worship.

These mega-churches are places where members can not only pray, but work out in a gym, eat at a food court or browse in a bookstore. And they are becoming more popular across the country.
CHINA supplied Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's autocratic president, with a military-strength radio jammer to block opposition broadcasts ahead of today's poll in the country, diplomatic sources confirmed.

30.3.05

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up': "The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure.

The study contains what its authors call 'a stark warning' for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself."

29.3.05

Curing Obesity through Sterility: California 's Controversial Program Under the Microscope

Curing Obesity through Sterility: California 's Controversial Program Under the Microscope: "Beginning last November, the city of San Francisco began a program whereupon clinically obese men between the ages of 18 and 55 could undergo a procedure whereupon approximately 1/2 an inch is removed from each vas and the ends are sealed - commonly referred to as a vasectomy - completely free of charge. The overwhelming turnout led the State of California to follow suit, and now California is the first state in the Union to offer state-funded vasectomies to men who have been diagnosed as obese.

Why would a state adopt such a controversial program? The basis is simple: vasectomy is a popular method of birth control (in 1983, figures showed that approximately 10 million men had been sterilized in the U.S. since 1969). By offering such a highly effective form of birth control freely to men who, by clinical diagnosis, have been deemed genetically inferior to the normalized median of homo sapien development, such a gene line would effectively be eliminated.

The program's roots began in countries such as India and China , where the respective governments of those countries are attempting to stem the tide of overpopulation. Sums of money are paid to men who submit to voluntary vasectomy."

27.3.05

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.co.uk

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "Nearly a quarter of western Germans and 12 percent of easterners want the Berlin Wall back -- more than 15 years after the fall of the barrier that split Germany during the Cold War, according to a survey."

25.3.05

Daily Times - Site Edition

Daily Times - Site EditionSwiss authorities are planning to wrap mountain glaciers with tin foil this summer in an effort to stop them melting.

Carlo Danioth, head of mountain rescue services in Andermatt, said: “We will initially cover around 30,000 square feet on the upper Gurschen glacier at the beginning of May as a test.”

GOP adviser died of overdose - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - March 23, 2005

GOP adviser died of overdose - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - March 23, 2005: "Republican media adviser R. Gregory Stevens, who was found dead in the Beverly Hills, Calif., home of actress Carrie Fisher on Feb. 26, died of an overdose of cocaine and the painkiller OxyContin, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office... Mr. Stevens, with strong ties to the Hollywood entertainment community, served as the head of the Bush-Cheney Entertainment Task Force for President Bush's recent inaugural. Barbour Griffith & Rogers, one of the co-founders of which was chairman of the Republican National Committee, held a memorial service for Mr. Stevens earlier this month. "

24.3.05

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Fake Lawyer Sentenced to 12 Years

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Fake Lawyer Sentenced to 12 Years: "SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A convicted felon who posed as a lawyer and represented hundreds of clients has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Harold David Goldstein told the federal judge at his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he made sincere efforts to represent his clients despite his lack of a law license.

Goldstein, 59, told U.S. District Judge David Carter that he won 25 cases in the eight months that he operated a busy Newport Beach law practice.

``I lied about being a lawyer but other than the lie, everything else was totally legit,'' Goldstein said."

23.3.05

Technology News Article | Reuters.com

Technology News Article | Reuters.com: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hacker attacks on Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Macintosh OS X operating system, thought by many who use the Mac to be virtually immune to attack, are on the rise, according to a report from anti-virus software vendor Symantec Corp (SYMC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) .

'Contrary to popular belief, the Macintosh operating system has not always been a safe haven from malicious code,' said the report, which was issued on Monday.

'It is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft and various Unix-based operating systems.'"

22.3.05

THE HEAD of MI6 told Tony Blair that the case for war against Iraq was being “fixed” by the Americans to suit the policy, according to a BBC documentary that will reignite its battle with the government.

Blair followed the US lead by failing to reveal publicly doubts about the quality of intelligence that he had requested to support the case for war, the programme claims.

Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6, briefed Blair and a select group of ministers on America’s determination to press ahead with the war nine months before hostilities began.

After attending a briefing in Washington, he told the meeting that war was “inevitable”. Dearlove said “the facts and intelligence” were being “fixed round the policy” by George W Bush’s administration.

The allegations against Blair just weeks before a general election are likely to reopen the feud between the government and the BBC that came to a head over the death of Dr David Kelly, the former weapons inspector. It led to the resignations of Gavyn Davies, its chairman, and Greg Dyke, its director-general.

The documentary — to be shown on BBC1’s Panorama tonight — reveals that Britain and America were anxious to present a united front on Iraq despite a paucity of new data on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Independent News

Independent News: "Specialists have just met in Perth to discuss the secrets of rock dust, a quarrying by-product that is at the heart of government-sponsored scientific trials and which, it is claimed, could revitalise barren soil and reverse climate change.

The recognition of the healing powers of rock dust comes after a 20-year campaign by two former schoolteachers, Cameron and Moira Thomson. They have been battling to prove that rock dust can replace the minerals that have been lost to the earth over the past 10,000 years and, as a result, rejuvenate the land and halt climate change.

To prove their point, the couple have converted six acres of open, infertile land in the Grampian foothills near Pitlochry into a modern Eden. Using little more than rock dust mixed with compost, they have created rich, deep soils capable of producing cabbages the size of footballs, onions bigger than coconuts and gooseberries as big as plums."

: Thai monks protest listing of brewery on bourse

: Thai monks protest listing of brewery on bourse: "Thousands of chanting Buddhist monks assembled outside Thailand's stock market headquarters to protest the planned public listing of the brewer of the country's best-selling beer.

The 2,000 monks, draped in orange and brown robes, submitted a letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand opposing the listing of Thai Beverages Ltd, which produces Chang Beer and Mekhong Whisky among other products.

The letter lamented the ill effects that alcohol has on society, in particular the surging number of alcohol-related deaths from road accidents and the rising trend of under-age drinking, Thai television reported."

20.3.05

Vivre dans une maison �cologique!

LCN - R�gional - Vivre dans une maison �cologique!: "Michel Mass� et sa famille passent leur premier hiver dans la maison construite l'�t� dernier. Les 12 panneaux solaires fournissent jusqu'� 1800 wattheures quand le soleil brille; c'est donc beaucoup plus que ce que la maison peut consommer le jour. La nuit et les jours tr�s sombres, ce sont les batteries qui prennent la rel�ve.

Son installation est un prototype qui demande encore quelques ajustements. Le syst�me �lectronique qui g�re le d�placement des panneaux pour les garder constamment face au soleil n'est pas encore tout � fait au point.

Cette r�sidence est non seulement compl�tement ind�pendante en mati�re d'�nergie, c'est aussi un b�timent construit avec des mat�riaux recycl�s en grande partie, une maison dite �verte�.

La famille profite bien des p�riodes de soleil, sans regretter d'avoir eu l'audace de vouloir vivre sans avoir besoin des services d'Hydro-Qu�bec."

19.3.05

US troops shoot Iraqi general dead: police. 16/03/2005. ABC News Online

US troops shoot Iraqi general dead: police. 16/03/2005. ABC News Online: "The deputy commander of the Iraqi army in western Al-Anbar province was shot dead by US troops at a checkpoint Tuesday night, a police officer said.

'The US forces opened fire at 8:00 pm on Brigadier General Ismail Swayed al-Obeid, who had left his base in Baghdadi to head home,' police Captain Amin al-Hitti said.

'They spotted him on the road after the curfew, which goes into effect at 6pm,' the officer said in Baghdadi, 185 kilometres west of the capital."

End Of The Snow On Mount Kilimanjaro

Sky News : End Of The Snow On Mount Kilimanjaro: "The snow-capped summit of Mount Kilimanjaro has melted away to reveal the tip of the African peak for the first time in 11,000 years.

The glaciers and snow which kept the summit white have almost completely disappeared.

Although scientists had predicted the melt would happen, it is 15 years sooner than they had predicted."

18.3.05

Yahoo! News - Filmmakers Hawk New 3-D Technology

Yahoo! News - Filmmakers Hawk New 3-D Technology: "LAS VEGAS - After a brief incarnation in the early 1950s and a short-lived revival in the 1980s, 3-D movies are now getting serious consideration among filmmakers who want to send images leaping off the movie screen and into the audience.

'Star Wars' creator George Lucas and 'Titanic' director James Cameron were among those promoting a new digital alteration that converts two-dimensional movies into 3-D.

Theatergoers still have to wear those familiar cardboard glasses with red-and-blue cellophane, although backers of the new technology say it doesn't cause the eyestrain common with past 3-D efforts.

Lucas said he hopes eventually to release all six of his 'Star Wars' movies in 3-D format that can be shown in regular moviehouses, not specialty theaters such as IMAX."

TheNewOrleansChannel.com - Entertainment - Stolen Top Hat Returned To Guitarist Slash

TheNewOrleansChannel.com - Entertainment - Stolen Top Hat Returned To Guitarist Slash: "LOS ANGELES -- Slash has his top hat back -- four weeks after it was stolen from a limo after the Grammys.

AP
Slash
The metal guitarist said the Los Angeles Police Department recovered it.

Slash said it was 'a trip' to go sit in a room at the police station and they came in with the hat in a box so he could identify it."

17.3.05

BBC NEWS | Europe | Revolutionary bike 'too quiet'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Revolutionary bike 'too quiet': "The world's first purpose-built hydrogen-powered bike could be fitted with an artificial 'vroom' because of worries its silence might be dangerous.

A prototype of the motorbike, which could cost more than $8,300 (�4,500), was unveiled in London on Tuesday.

The problem with the 'fuel cell' bike, which produces no polluting emissions, is that it is too quiet."