Let's not fight! Peace psychology is a a relatively new field of study

For the sake of argument, imagine a world without conflict. That's the full-time job for members of a relatively new field called peace psychology who focus on problems like the genocide in Darfur, hatred in the Middle East, gang warfare in our cities, and rape everywhere. Wondering what lessons they've learned in the trenches that we could use in our daily lives, "O" asked five top peace psychologists for their best advice on waging harmony. "We often figure that other people see the world in the same way we do and overestimate the degree to which they understand our approach and actions. Rather than making assumptions, ask for clarification; even ask about their intention to harm you ('Did you realize when you did that, it affected me in this way?' They might not be aware of it). Be willing to take the first step in opening up such conversation. Also, when we think we'll be rejected, we tend not to smile, we make less eye contact and stand farther away. The other person may perceive these gestures as a brush-off. Go out of your way to say hello. Or smile or make eye contact. We have to take a deep breath and try to recognize that we all feel anxiety. Go in and learn."Sometimes, a difference runs so deep that talking about it just won't help. In this case, having a third person present may neutralize the tension and balance the bully's power. It can be a friend of both parties. Mediation is a possibility. When both parties need to maintain a working relationship...CNN

US 'takes seriously' reports of China human rights clampdown

United States is taking seriously reports that Chinese activists were subjected to a clampdown ahead of US-China talks this week on a range of human rights issues, a spokesman said Tuesday. "We take these reports seriously. And we're going to look into them," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. McCormack was responding to reporters' questions about information from the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), relayed to Washington through the US-based AIDS victim group Critical Path. CHRD reportedly said that Chinese authorities placed numerous activists under increased surveillance ahead of talks in Beijing this week between US and Chinese officials, the first such dialogue on human rights since 2002. Among the cases cited by Chinese activists was Zeng Jinyan, who is a blogger, activist and wife of jailed dissident Hu Jia. She reportedly was visited on Friday and Saturday by authorities who barred her from leaving the house. "They told her that she would not be allowed to leave her home and that they would watch her even more closely because 'a US delegation wants to meet you,'" CHRD said. Hu Jia, 34, is an AIDS activist and advocate of the environment and free speech. He was sentenced in April to three and a half years in prison for publishing online articles that were critical of the government and giving interviews to members of the foreign media...CNA

Huge Flying Reptiles Ate Dinosaurs

With a name like T. rex, you'd expect to be safe from even the fiercest paleo-bullies. Turns out, ancient, flying reptiles could have snacked on Tyrannosaurus Rex babies and other landlubbing runts of the dinosaur world. ADVERTISEMENT A new study reveals a group of flying reptiles that lived during the Age of Dinosaurs some 230 million to 65 million years ago did not catch prey in flight, but rather stalked them on land. Until now, paleontologists pictured the so-called "winged lizards" or pterosaurs as skim-feeders. In this vision, the creatures would have flown over lakes and oceans grabbing fish from the water's surface, much as gulls do today. The new findings, detailed this week online in the journal PLoS ONE, don't ground the animals totally. "In our hypothesis, flight is primarily a locomotive method," said co-researcher Mark Witton of the University of Portsmouth in England. "They're just using it to get from point A to point B. We think the majority of their lives, when they're feeding and reproducing, that's all being done on the ground rather than in the air." To uncover these feeding habits, Witton and Portsmouth colleague Darren Naish analyzed fossils of a group of toothless pterosaurs called azhdarchids, which are much larger on average than other pterosaurs. For example, one of the largest azhdarchids, Quetzalcoatlus, weighed about 550 pounds (250 kilograms) with a wingspan of more than 30 feet (10 meters) and a height comparable to a giraffe. Witton and Naish learned that more than 50 percent of the azhdarchid fossils had been found inland. Other skeletal features, including long hind limbs and a stiff neck, also didn't fit with a mud-prober or skim-feeder...LiveScience

Understanding liquidity is key

The current financial crisis has revolved around the drying up of markets that had been built on the presumption of ample liquidity. ADVERTISEMENT Massive leveraged positions were built up in instruments which, in spite of their triple A credit ratings, suffered from significant systemic liquidity risk and were difficult to value in the best of times. Current regulatory solutions focus on the liquidity position of institutions. But if liquidity positions are to be properly evaluated there needs to be better evaluation of the liquidity of instruments and how they change over time. Does this mean that we need a formalised liquidity rating system along the lines of the existing less than satisfactory credit rating system? Perhaps not, but we do need to better understand the drivers of liquidity and it's pricing. Investor mandates need to include liquidity factors and independent and bank research departments need to rate instruments. Liquidity risk is a difficult concept to grasp and is often confused with credit risk. One simple way of distinguishing the two is as follows. Credit risk is the probability that a counterparty will be unable to repay money due. Liquidity risk relates to a lender's future requirements to generate cash to meet its own obligations. A liquidity crisis, where lenders sell securities to meet their own cash requirements, will almost inevitably lead to a credit crisis as investors sell bonds because they are worried about the issuers' ability to repay. Similarly a credit crisis will lead to a liquidity crisis, but the causality differs. During the crisis, some central banks have moved quickly to expand the range of instruments against which they lend money. It seems probable that central banks will continue to lend against non-government collateral in the future, as the ECB has done in the past. Varying eligibility criteria and haircuts (the percentage of a security they will advance) would give central banks an enhanced range of instruments to manage market liquidity. The Institute of International Finance has proposed to explore alternative valuation techniques for assets in illiquid markets when market prices are clearly not reflective of fair, willing seller/ willing buyer, valuations - in other words where liquidity dries up. A liquidity rating could provide an objective measure of this as well as helping to determine, in the first place, whether instruments should be held in the banking book or the trading book. The following are some of the factors that contribute to the liquidity of an instrument: central bank repo eligibility and haircuts; issue size; time since issuance; market maker support; price volatility; complexity of structure; availability of comparable benchmarks; and breadth of the investor community. There are many more factors, and these vary in their influence over time. Some research has been carried out into this but not comprehensively and not consistently. Despite its complexity, it is important to evaluate how liquidity is likely to respond to conditions of systemic stress. An understanding of liquidity drivers will also encourage virtuous behaviour by issuers, dealers and investors. Issuers will resist dealer pressure to create small, complex, idiosyncratic structures unless there is a clear investor benefit. Issuers will be more likely to reward dealers who maintain liquidity and transparency in their issues as this will have an impact on their issuance costs. Geared institutions and those who lend to them will be able to make better informed decisions about the liquidity of instruments held. This will also assist regulators in their prudential supervision of insurance companies, banks and bank lending to hedge funds. Above all a greater focus on liquidity of instruments will help to avoid a build-up of aggregate market positions in highly illiquid instruments by geared institutions at times of easy market liquidity. The writer is former head of funding at the European Investment Bank and a consultant to the International Capital Markets Association. He is writing in a personal capacity...FT

US economy in need of urgent action

In March last year I warned in this newspaper that the global "Goldilocks" economy and markets would face a material correction within the next 12 months and there was a need to exercise greater prudence in lending and investing. ADVERTISEMENT This warning was ignored by most in the private and public sectors. Unfortunately, much of what I feared would happen has materialised. From the twin origins of the subprime fallout and the dislocation of the mortgage-backed securities markets, there has been a crisis of confidence that has already led the US economy into a period of low growth, or even a recession. Add to this mix a weak dollar and the trend of rising inflation across the world driven by high food, energy and commodity prices and it is clear the future is still fraught with risk and uncertainty. With decoupling probably a myth, there will most likely be a worldwide economic slowdown should the US downturn be a protracted one. While there are signs that the credit markets may be bottoming out, it seems likely that the housing market will remain in its downward spiral for the remainder of the year. The impact on the real economy could be even more serious should the US consumer decide to cut back significantly on spending. The question then becomes: what should be done to ameliorate the current slowdown before it becomes a full-blown economic crisis with potential worldwide consequences? Specifically, I would like to mention three areas where immediate action should be taken in order to restore confidence in the markets. First, I would encourage the Federal Reserve to continue showing flexibility in providing liquidity to the financial markets. The Fed has modified the requirements of its Term Auction and Securities Lending Facilities several times in the past few months to help ease the liquidity needs in the market. Its efforts surrounding the Bear Stearns situation, where the discount window was opened to investment banks and brokerage houses, were critical to maintaining stability in the system. The Fed needs to continue to respond proactively to developments and consider further modifications to its facilities as necessary. All of this should be done in co-ordination with the world's leading central banks. Second, the government and regulatory authorities need to make greater efforts to support the mortgage markets. Recently, there have been many new ideas and initiatives coming out from the US Congress, economists and the financial community. These include the Senate's recent passing of a bipartisan package of tax breaks, credits and grants as well as Congressman Barney Frank's and Senator Christopher Dodd's plans to let the Federal Housing Administration insure refinanced mortgages after lenders reduce principal to struggling homeowners. Any solution will require some government or federal funding and must be dealt with as an immediate priority to halt the downward spiral in US property prices. Last, professionals in the financial industry and regulators need to re-examine the weaknesses that have surfaced in the current turmoil. Recently, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) released a report that made some recommendations to improve market practices. One of the important issues that the institute is looking at carefully is that of fair value/mark-to-market accounting, which has proven valuable in promoting transparency and market discipline over the past 10 years. However, we have seen that in certain extreme conditions with very limited liquidity for various securities, this accounting approach may have an unintended consequence of prolonging liquidity difficulties and exacerbating the current crisis. Paul Volcker, in his recent speech at the New York Economic Club, raised questions about the usefulness of mark-to-market accounting, particularly its extension in uncertain and illiquid markets. The IIF has made specific recommendations on how this approach might be refined to take into account extreme market conditions. These recommendations need to be worked on in a timely fashion in conjunction with the regulators and international accounting bodies. The action steps I have recommended above need to be considered proactively and with a sense of urgency. If implemented, they should help in restoring the US economy to an even keel and limit the global impact of the current correction. While the picture ahead is still unclear, what is needed is the courage to make tough decisions and to implement corrective measures expeditiously. The writer is senior vice-chairman of Citi, and chairman of Citibank... FT

Space station crew to NASA: Send plumber soon

The international space station's lone toilet is broken, leaving the crew with almost nowhere to go. So NASA may order an in-orbit plumbing service call when space shuttle Discovery visits next week. Until then, the three-man crew will have to make do with a jury-rigged system when they need to urinate. While one of the crew was using the Russian-made toilet last week, the toilet motor fan stopped working, according to NASA. Since then, the liquid waste gathering part of the toilet has been working on-and-off. Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally. Russian officials don't know the cause of the problem and the crew has been unable to fix it. The crew has used the toilet on the Soyuz return capsule, but it has a limited capacity. They are now are using a back-up bag-like collection system that can be connected to the broken toilet, according to NASA public affairs officials. "Like any home anywhere the importance of having a working bathroom is obvious," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said. The 7-year-old toilet has broken once before but not for as long a time, said Johnson Space Center spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier in Houston. Discovery is already set for launch Saturday with a planned docking with the space station on Monday. Cloutier said NASA officials are considering having some parts flown to Cape Canaveral and placed in the shuttle during its countdown, an unusual and delicate situation. Because the shuttle's payload weight is limited and balance carefully calculated, it will be tricky to try to figure out where the parts can go, said Kennedy Space Center spokesman Bill Johnson Discovery's main payload, a 32,000-pound Japanese laboratory addition, is so big that the shuttle's boom sensor system had to be removed to make room for the lab...AP

404 for Microsoft's latest decision

In the middle of a gritty search war, did Microsoft's Steve Ballmer just commit the mother of all mistakes? I've been wondering about that ever since Microsoft said it would close its Search Books and Live Search Academic projects, thus ceding the field of book digitization to Google. (While both Live Search Books and Live Search Academic are going dark, both Google's Book Search and Google Scholar continue to operate.) Satya Nadella, who runs Microsoft's Search, Portal and Advertising Platform Group wrote in a blog post that "given the evolution of the Web and our strategy, we believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer, and content partner." I tried getting through to Nadella on Tuesday for a better explanation, but Microsoft pulled up the drawbridge. Left on my own to speculate, it appears that Microsoft was being penny-wise but pound foolish. (After all, the company was ready to buy nearly $45 billion worth of trouble integrating Yahoo.) Memo to Nadella: When you get sick of hunkering in the bunker, let's talk. Reading through Nadella's blog post, this much is clear: Microsoft wants to put its search marbles into programs like Cashback (the new Microsoft service that rebates people to buy products online) where there's better potential for a material payback...CNET

New Climate Report Foresees Big Changes

The rise in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from human activities is influencing climate patterns and vegetation across the United States and will significantly disrupt water supplies, agriculture, forestry and ecosystems for decades, a new federal report says.The changes are unfolding in ways that are likely to produce an uneven national map of harms and benefits, according to the report, released Tuesday and posted online at climatescience.gov. The authors of the report and some independent experts said the main value of its projections was the level of detail and the high confidence in some conclusions. That confidence comes in part from the report’s emphasis on the next 25 to 50 years, when shifts in emissions are unlikely to make much of a difference in climate trends...NYT

Microsoft demos future Windows with touch-screen

Steve Ballmer unveiled the iPhone-like touch-screen feature at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference, calling it "just the smallest snippet" of the Windows 7 operating system slated for release in late 2009. A Microsoft employee showed possible applications like enlarging and shrinking photos and navigating a map of San Diego by stroking the screen. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates framed the new feature as an evolution away from the mouse. "Today almost all the interaction is keyboard-mouse," Gates said. "Over years to come, the role of speech, vision, ink — all of those — will be huge." Microsoft's top two executives defended the company's last operating system, Vista, while acknowledging missteps. Gates said he has never been 100 percent satisfied with any Microsoft product, and that the company prides itself on fixing shortcomings in later versions...AP

Newly relaunched Borders.com may be too little, too late

Borders—the book and music store—has two types of customers: brick-and-mortar shoppers, and Amazon customers. The latter is because, seven years ago, the company decided to practically merge its online store with Amazon.com because it was doing nothing but bleeding money. Borders seems to have changed its mind, however, and has relaunched its own, independent online store this week. No longer is Borders.com just another portal to Amazon—it now operates once again as one of Amazon's competitors. Related StoriesCan Borders' new "concept store" compete with online retailers? The point, apparently, is to offer a friendly online shopping experience for those customers who are used to buying from Borders' brick-and-mortar stores. Borders believes that experience differs from the one offered by Amazon, and that it can somehow take advantage of this unique niche without necessarily competing directly with its former partner. "It's not the intent that we're going to out-Amazon Amazon at what they do," Borders CEO George Jones said earlier this year, according to the Associated Press. "What we think is that we can still have a great, compelling offering." A quick run through of the site shows that it is, indeed, a web site that sells books...Ars Technica

U.S. says no new evidence of al Qaeda threat

There is no evidence of a direct threat from al Qaeda or that the group has obtained weapons of mass destruction, U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday, despite reports that al Qaeda will release a new video urging jihadists to use such weapons to attack the West. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the bureau sent out an alert to U.S. law enforcement agencies about the expected video. "We got information the tape is coming," he said. "We sent out an alert to law enforcement to let them know the tape was coming." Kolko said the alert was a routine precaution sent to 1,800 U.S. law enforcement agencies. ABC News reported on Tuesday evening that the video was expected in the next 24 hours. However, IntelCenter, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring firm, said the video being referred to was actually released at least as early as Monday and is entitled "Nuclear Jihad, The Ultimate Terror."IntelCenter described it as "a jihadi supporter video compilation" and said that it was not from an official group. "These videos almost always are comprised of old video footage that is edited together to make a new video," IntelCenter said. "The material in these types of videos do not qualify as an official message from al-Qaeda or any other group." A U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday evening that there is no sign that al Qaeda has acquired the capability to use weapons of mass destruction...IHT

Energy drinks linked to risky behavior among teenagers

Super-caffeinated energy drinks, with names like Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle and Amp, have surged in popularity in the past decade. About a third of 12- to 24-year-olds say they regularly down energy drinks, which account for more than $3 billion in annual sales in the United States. The trend has been the source of growing concern among health researchers and school officials. Around the country, the drinks have been linked with reports of nausea, abnormal heart rhythms and emergency room visits. In Colorado Springs, several high school students last year became ill after drinking Spike Shooter, a high caffeine drink, prompting the principal to ban the beverages. In March, four middle school students in Broward County, Florida, went to the emergency room with heart palpitations and sweating after drinking the energy beverage Redline. In Tigard, Oregon, teachers this month sent parents e-mail alerting them that students who brought energy drinks to school were "literally drunk on a caffeine buzz or falling off a caffeine crash." New research suggests the drinks are associated with a health issue far more worrisome than the jittery effects of caffeine — risk taking...IHT

Sharon Stone blames China's earthquake on karma

Sharon Stone has suggested that the Chinese earthquake which claimed tens of thousands of lives may be "karma". The Basic Instinct star believes the disaster may be payback for China's policy towards the Tibetans. She made her comments during a red carpet interview in Cannes last week, a video of which has just surfaced on YouTube. Asked if she had heard about the situation in China, Stone replied: "Of course. You know, it was very interesting because at first I am not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans, because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else, and so I have been very concerned about how to think and what to do about that because I don't like that. "Then I have been concerned about, oh, how shall we deal with the Olympics? Because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened and I thought, 'Is that karma, when you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?'" Stone, 50, said her attitude softened after she received a letter from a Tibetan charity which planned to launch a relief programme for victims of the earthquake. "They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry," she said. "It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you." Outraged Chinese citizens have already begun posting their responses on YouTube and calling for Stone to apologise...Telegraph

Murky measures in Myanmar's disaster

Over three weeks since Cyclone Nargis crashed through Myanmar's populous Irrawaddy Delta, the country's military regime has been more forthcoming about the number of buffaloes and chickens that perished than on human casualty and missing counts. The official human toll in Myanmar, or Burma, now stands at 77,738 deaths and 55,917 missing. This figure was revealed in a small story that appeared at the bottom of page six in a May 17 of the New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece of the regime. That figure was almost double of what the notoriously secretive junta had revealed nearly 10 days after the powerful cyclone struck in the early hours of May 3. Since the country's worst natural disaster in living memory, the official figures of dead and missing people have been revised at least four times. Some international humanitarian agencies have estimated the death toll to be over 130,000. Yet even that number may be much lower than what a few civilian organizations working closely with the junta estimate, according to information revealed to Inter Press Service (IPS). By the end of the first week, information gathered by the junta and discussed among a small group of senior military officers in the former capital Yangon had put the death toll as high as 300,000, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. "They were shocked by the scale of the disaster and that is why they clamped down on information getting out and outsiders, like foreign aid workers, going into the delta," he added. This revelation was made a few days before another assessment... Asia Times Online

Singapore's Unloved Chinese Labor Boom

05.08.08, 10:29 AM ET Low-skilled workers from China are ubiquitous in Singapore these days: in the shiny new terminal of Changi Airport, in coffee shops, in shopping malls, in supermarkets, at gas stations, at construction sites and populating the much-loved open-air food courts called hawker centers. They also make their presence felt in five-star hotels, where one recent encounter found a Mandarin-speaking maid who could not comprehend a word of English. Most recently, Singapore's two bus companies began hiring drivers from China. Chinese workers are just one constituency in Singapore's fast-growing foreign population, but they are the largest component of an expatriate contingent that crossed the 1 million mark in October, helping boost the overall population to 4.68 million in an otherwise chronically aging society. Foreigners make up about one-third of the national workforce. The country set a goal to raise its population total to 6.5 million within two decades, rejuvenating itself mainly through immigration from India and China. But the sudden influx of workers from China appears to have taken ordinary Singaporeans by surprise, as the low-skilled and the elderly start to find themselves losing jobs to the newcomers. The tidal wave of mainland Chinese workers began last year, when Singapore relaxed its rules to allow more immigration to staff its service industries, part of its measures to address an acute labor shortage resulting from a boom in the construction, marine, manufacturing and services sectors. Beginning this year, Singaporean companies were allowed to draw on foreigners for up to 50% of their labor force; 10% can be Chinese nationals. Previously, the respective figures were 45% and 5%. The government last year reckoned 450,000 jobs will be created in the next five years; the country's annual birth rate is only 30,000. As Chinese workers with distinct and varied provincial accents proliferate, so do natives' complaints about their loudness and lack of mastery of English. Their popularity with the city-state's employers, who like their work ethic and low wage expectations, further fuels resentment. They threaten the job security of Singapore's most unskilled, the low-wage workers who earn less than 1,200 Singapore dollars ($872.73) a month, numbering about 350,000. "There are so many of them everywhere, the mainland Chinese," a taxi driver lamented. "They take away our jobs and force poor people to go unemployed." This month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong tried to place the issue in context, arguing that the majority of Singaporeans have benefited from rising household incomes, a boon stemming from the country's historically low unemployment rate. This follows four consecutive years of strong economic growth. But labor activists view things differently. The Workers' Party pointed out that Singaporeans are being left behind by the recent boom: more than 60% of the record 236,600 new jobs created last year went to foreigners. Forbes

Singapore's Top Terrorist Gone In 11 Minutes Flat

Updated: 12:27 PM ET May 17, 2008 Singapore's top terrorist slips out of jail—revealing worrying cracks in this ultracompetent nanny state. A visitor to Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs these days isn't greeted by portraits of the senior leaders or the country's founder, Lee Kuan Yew. Instead, one finds, taped to the wall, a black-and-white image of a nondescript middle-aged Malay man. His name is Mas Selamat Kastari. And though his face is unremarkable, his reputation is not: the 47-year-old is the reputed head of the Singapore cell of Jemaah Islamiah, a notorious Southeast Asian terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda. And his image has lately become ubiquitous in this city-state. That's because, in late February, Mas Selamat broke out of a detention facility and became Singapore's most-wanted man. Citizens here are raised to put their faith in a state thought ultracompetent. Singapore's government has earned this reputation by achieving decades of economic growth and prosperity that would be the envy of almost any country, let alone one this small (Singapore's population is just 4.6 million). But for the past three months, since Mas Selamat's escape, authorities have been scrambling to regain that trust. Police and military units are scouring the city-state, and locals have been told to stay on high alert for a fugitive authorities think unarmed but very dangerous. The government is warning people of the dangers of complacency and arguing that all the jailbreak revealed is that even an effective government occasionally slips. "It's a blessing," says Zainal Abidin Rasheed, senior minister at the Foreign Ministry. "We need to remind ourselves we are not infallible." Yet as Singapore's alleged No. 1 terrorist remains on the lam, the people's confidence in their government's omnipotence is starting to falter. Indeed, the details surrounding Mas Selamat's jailbreak hardly inspire confidence. During a trip to the bathroom on Feb. 27, the JI leader managed to climb through a prison window—which, incredibly, had no bars—and is believed to have then shimmied down a water pipe and broken his fall on seven rolls of toilet paper. It was then just 20 meters to a fence that could be easily scaled. At the time, the facility's security cameras were not operational. When guards started to wonder why Mas Selamat was taking so long in the toilet, rather than act immediately, they went to their superiors for permission to open the bathroom stall door. By the time they got it open, Mas Selamat was gone, having escaped in less than 11 minutes. Singapore's Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng admits the string of lapses and errors were "silly and incredible." As much as the government is trying to spin the prison break as a cautionary tale, the episode is revealing shortcomings in Singapore's nanny state. "[The escape] shows some of the strengths of Singapore and some of the weaknesses," says a Western diplomat, who did not want to give his name because of the nature of his work. Singapore does an excellent job mobilizing its resources and directing them at recognized problems. But there are few external or independent checks on the system—and this lack of scrutiny, combined with the government's generally successful record, has produced serious blind spots. Past circumstances have made it "easy to become smug," says the Western diplomat. But this smugness has now proved dangerous. In this case, security at the detention facility had been designed to prevent raids intended to break out inmates. Several weeks ago, the Home Affairs minister admitted of the authorities that had "never in their imagination thought that anybody would attempt to escape." Since Mas Selamat got out, moreover, the government's actions have done little to bolster public confidence. Despite the fact that the first hours of any manhunt are the most critical, the authorities took five days to tell the public what the terrorist was wearing at the time of his escape. And only a few days after that did they bother to inform citizens that the fugitive also limps on his left leg. The government's hesitation may reveal the fact that Singapore's leaders, like any semiauthoritarian regime, are uneasy with the thought of the people taking too active an interest in security matters. The government has worked hard to make sure citizens "see Singapore's place [in the world] as being very precarious," says the diplomat. "It is a very useful political tool" that the government has used to persuade the public to leave things to the experts. But for such a deal to work, the state has to get things right every time. All is well so long as the system keeps working. But when it doesn't, as Singapore just discovered, the country's most dangerous criminal ends up walking out the door. Newsweek

Sceptics question Microsoft move

Open source advocates have questioned Microsoft's commitment to using open document standards in the future. The computer giant has said it will implement use of the Open Document Format (ODF), "sometime next year". The Free Software Foundation Europe said: "It's a step in the right direction but we are sceptical about how open Microsoft will be." The European Commission, which has fined Microsoft for monopolistic practice, welcomed the move. "The Commission would welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in," it said. The Commission added that it would look into whether Microsoft's announcement "leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice". Governments will be looking for actual results, not promises in press releases Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance Open source software advocates have long criticised the file formats used by Microsoft's Office suite of programs because they are not genuinely interoperable with software from third parties. Microsoft has said it will add support for ODF when it updates Office 2007 next year. Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said he remained dubious about "how deep" Microsoft's adoption of the standard would go... BBC

China earthquake toll jumps again

The death toll from the massive earthquake in south-west China rose again, as an official said more than five million buildings had collapsed. The vice-governor of Sichuan province said 55,239 people were now known to have died in the 12 May quake. Li Chengyun appealed for more tents and set a three-year goal to rebuild towns and infrastructure in the region. Meanwhile, concern is growing over a number of new lakes formed by the force of the earthquake. Thirty-four lakes were created in the province when landslides blocked rivers, Xinhua news agency said. Eight held more than 3 million cubic metres of water and one lake, less than 3km ( two miles) from Beichuan town, had doubled in size in four days. Officials are monitoring the lakes and have sent experts to assess them, the agency said. Forecasters predict heavy rain in the region next week, which could further raise the water levels in the lakes... BBC

Too Fat? First, Get off the Couch

There's been a lot of debate over the past several years about whether you can be both fit and fat. That is, can you be overweight but as healthy as a lean person if you exercise regularly? A study released today in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that at least as far as heart disease in women goes, body weight and exercise are both important variables. The discussion is complicated by the fact that the body mass index, the number researchers typically use to gauge overweight and obesity, is not always a perfect measure of body fatness. On one hand, because it simply relates weight to height, it may put musclebound but lean athletes into the "overweight" category. (Here's a study looking at its use in college athletes and nonathletes.) And as I wrote earlier this month, a low BMI may give some thin people a false sense of security, even though their percentage of body fat is high. Studies looking at the relationship between health and exercise and body weight are often confusing. One, published in December in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that among people 60 and older, fitness was the better predictor of longevity than BMI. And the study released today says that yes, exercise absolutely makes a difference in the risk of heart disease among the overweight and obese. But so does weight. Compared with women of normal weight (a BMI less than 25) who were active (or burned off at least 1,000 calories a week), inactive overweight women had an 88 percent higher chance of developing heart disease; active overweight women had a 54 percent higher risk. In women who were obese, the active group had an 87 percent higher chance of getting the disease, while the inactive obese women were at highest risk: Their odds of getting heart disease were more than 2½ times as high as those for the lean active women. The lean women, even the inactive ones, still had far lower odds of later developing heart disease than the overweight women, including those who were exercising. "The physical activity did make a significant difference and reduced the risk of heart disease. But according to our study, to fully reverse the risk of heart disease from being overweight or obese, you'd also have to lose weight," says Amy Weinstein, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an author of the study... US News

Exercise-heart study casts doubt on 'fit but fat' theory

New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and fit, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate heart risks faced by heavy women. "It doesn't take away the risk entirely. Weight still matters," said Dr. Martha Gulati, a heart specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Previous research has gone back and forth on whether exercise or weight has a greater influence on heart disease risks. The new study involving nearly 39,000 women helps sort out the combined effects of physical activity and body mass on women's chances of developing heart disease, said Gulati, who wasn't involved in the research. The study by Harvard-affiliated researchers appears in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine. Participants were women aged 54 on average who filled out a questionnaire at the study's start detailing their height, weight and amount of weekly physical activity in the past year, including walking, jogging, bicycling and swimming. They were then tracked for about 11 years. Overall 948 women developed heart disease. Women were considered active if they followed government-recommended guidelines and got at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week, including brisk walking or jogging. Women who got less exercise than that were considered inactive. Weight was evaluated by body mass index: A BMI between 25 and 29 is considered overweight, while obese is 30 and higher... AP

Surprising things that give you headaches

You've been staring at the computer for hours. You've worked late all week and have in-laws coming this weekend. You have a raging case of PMS. Eyestrain, stress, and hormonal shifts are fairly common causes of headaches, which afflict 45 million Americans (most of them women). But sometimes the usual suspects don't explain that pain in your head. That's because some triggers are just plain weird -- like perfume, storms, earrings -- or even orgasms. Here's how to identify the source of your headache so you can send it packing.

Perfume "Strong scents bother me instantly," says Bethany Hegedus, 35, a writer and receptionist from Brooklyn, New York. She can get a headache from a whiff of Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker or a stroll past a Yankee Candle. Her sense of smell is so acute that she can sniff out whether a co-worker has changed laundry detergents or hand lotions, a degree of sensitivity common among scent-driven headache sufferers. The headaches can be fleeting if exposure is brief -- or they can last all day... CNN

Quit suffering from 'dirty' pain

Think of a problem that has plagued you for a long time -- your weight, a loved one's bad habits, fear of terrorism, whatever. No doubt you've tried valiantly to control this issue, but are your efforts working? The answer has to be no; otherwise you would have solved the problem long ago. What if your real trouble isn't the issue you brood about so compulsively, but the brooding itself? Psychologists who subscribe to acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) call "clean" pain what we feel when something hurtful happens to us. "Dirty" pain is the result of our thoughts about how wrong this is, how it proves we - and life - are bad. The two kinds of suffering occupy different sections of the brain: One part simply registers events, while another creates a continuous stream of thoughts about those events. The vast majority of our unhappiness comes from this secondary response - not from painful reality, but from painful thoughts about reality. Western psychology is just accepting something saints and mystics have taught for centuries: that this suffering ends only when we learn to detach from the thinking mind. Get happy! Continue this exercise in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).Learning to detach starts with simply noticing our own judgmental thoughts. When we find ourselves using words like should or ought, we're courting dirty pain. Obsessing about what should be rather than accepting what is, we may try to control other people in useless, dysfunctional ways. We may impotently rage against nature itself, even - perhaps especially - when that nature is our own... CNN

Cashing in on old gadgets

We think a lot about getting new gadgets, but not so much about getting rid of old ones. The result: old cell phones, defunct laser printers and Pentium III computers gathering dust.A couple companies want to help us clear out those old gadgets, while feeding our upgrade habit, helping the environment and making a buck for themselves. Instead of being hit up for an extended warranty next time you buy a gadget, you may find yourself hearing a pitch from TechForward Inc., a Los Angeles-based company selling a "guaranteed" buyback plan for electronics... CNN

Comedian is living in an Ikea store

When Mark Malkoff thought about where he could stay while his New York City apartment was being fumigated for cockroaches, he quickly ruled out friends' places (too small) and hotels (too expensive). Instead, the comedian and filmmaker decided to move into an Ikea store in suburban New Jersey, where on Monday he unloaded two suitcases into a spacious bedroom at the store. At night when the store is closed, he says he'll play laser tag with security guards and even plans to host a housewarming party. "The fact that Ikea is letting me do this is mind-boggling," said Malkoff, lounging on a bed in his new room. "There's no way I'm going back. I love this way too much." Malkoff, who works for Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" as a ticket handler, is allowed to stay until Ikea closes at about midnight on Saturday; the store, famous for its low-cost do-it-yourself furniture, is closed on Sundays... CNN

Muslim high school track star disqualified for outfit

A high school track star has been disqualified from a meet because officials said the custom-made outfit she wears to conform to her Muslim faith violated competition rules. Juashaunna Kelly, here in October, has competed in the same outfit for three straight seasons. Juashaunna Kelly, a senior at the District of Columbia's Theodore Roosevelt High School, has the fastest mile and 2-mile times of any girl runner in the city this winter. She was disqualified from Saturday's Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet. Kelly was wearing the same uniform she has worn for three seasons while running for Theodore Roosevelt's cross-country and track teams. The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates. The outfit allows her to compete while adhering to her Muslim faith, which forbids displaying any skin other than her face and hands. "It's not special," Kelly said. "It doesn't make me perform better." CNN

Antarctic lake may hold life clue

Edinburgh University researcher Neil Ross is part of a four-man team camped on an Antarctic ice sheet. The group, which also includes members of the British Antarctic Survey, are to explore an ancient subglacial lake about the size of Loch Katrine. Lake Ellsworth, in West Antarctica, is buried under 3.2kms of ice. About 150 lakes have been discovered beneath the Antarctica's vast ice sheet and so far little is known about them Professor Martin SiegertEdinburgh University The scientists believe the 10km-long lake could give scientists vital insights into climate change, future rises in sea-levels and the origins of life on earth. It is one of more than 150 lakes locked beneath Antarctica's vast ice sheets that have been discovered using radar and satellite technologies. Professor Martin Siegert, principal investigator on the International Polar Year project that is investigating the lake and head of Edinburgh University's School of GeoSciences, said the lake could show signs of ancient life. He said: "We are particularly interested in Lake Ellsworth because it is likely to have been isolated from the surface for hundreds of thousands of years. "Radar measurements made previously from aircraft surveys suggest that the lake is connected to others that could drain ice from the West Antarctic Ice sheet to the ocean and contribute to sea level rise... BBC

Biofuels are not a magic bullet

Biofuels may play a role in curbing climate change, says Britain's Royal Society, but may create environmental problems unless implemented with care. In a new report, the Society suggests current EU and UK policies are not guaranteed to reduce emissions. It advocates more research into all aspects of biofuel production and use. The report says the British government should use financial incentives to ensure companies adopt cutting-edge and carbon-efficient technologies. "Biofuels could play an important role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions from transport, both in Britain and globally," said Professor John Pickett from Rothamsted Research, who chaired the Royal Society's study. Nature has provided countless potential solutions in organisms as diverse as cows and microbes Dianna Bowles, York University "But it would be disastrous if biofuel production made further inroads into biological diversity and natural ecosystems. "We must not create new environmental or social problems in our efforts to deal with climate change." ... BBC

Hubble peers into dark matter

Astronomers have revealed the effects of unseen dark matter as it tugs on galaxies in a crowded supercluster. Dark matter acts as invisible cosmic "scaffolding" upon which visible stars and galaxies are assembled. The dark matter in this instance has pooled into four dense clumps, in which hundreds of old galaxies are embedded. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of scientists mapped the dark matter at a better resolution than has ever been achieved before. Co-author Catherine Heymans, of the University of British Columbia in Canada, said the survey covered one of the largest patches of sky to be observed by Hubble.Dark matter does not reflect or emit detectable light, yet it accounts for most of the mass in the Universe. The researchers were able to detect it indirectly using a technique called weak gravitational lensing... BBC

Cancer's ethnic divide?

New research suggests that black women tend to develop breast cancer earlier than their white counterparts, and that the tumours in question may even be biologically different from those of white women. It is a small study, but if the findings were confirmed, it could have all sorts of implications for both screening and treatment. It may seem extraordinary, but this is one of the first UK studies to gather a sample of black people with cancer and compare them with white ones. "It's just not something we've done in this country, and as a result, there is a real dearth of information as to how cancer may affect people of different ethnic groups differently," says Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK. "Until we find out, it's very difficult to make sure that people are being offered the best possible service." ... BBC

Why are clowns scary?

Children are frightened by clown-themed decor in hospitals, a survey suggests. How did the smiley circus entertainers become a horror staple? Anyone who has read Stephen King's It would probably never choose to decorate a children's ward with clowns. And it probably comes as no surprise to horror fans that a University of Sheffield study of 250 children for a report on hospital design suggests the children find clown motifs "frightening and unknowable". It is the fear of the mask, the fact that it doesn't change and is relentlessly comical Ramsey Campbell Clown images 'too scary' One might suspect that popular culture is to blame. In It, made into a television movie in 1990, Stephen King created a child-murdering monster that appeared as a demonic clown. King's It has sparked a slew of schlocky movies over the past 20 years, known as the killer clown or evil clown genre... BBC

Misery creep

Owning too much stuff drives us into a spiral of sadness, says a new book. Or is the real problem "misery-creep", where everyday unhappiness is being rebranded as depression? We all know the old saying: "Riches won't make you happy." But is it possible that riches - or even aspiring to be rich and wanting to live a Footballers' Wife-style life of luxury - might make us mentally ill?Clinical psychologist Oliver James claims in his new book The Selfish Capitalist: Origins of Affluenza, that "selfish capitalism" (the kind of capitalism we have in Britain) is making us sick. Literally. He says the emergence of selfish capitalism, first under Margaret Thatcher and later Tony Blair, has led to a "startling increase in the incidence of mental illness". We might live more comfortable and stuff-filled lives than our forebears did, but James believes the rise of materialism has come with a high price tag attached - widespread anxiety and depression... BBC

Wii warm-up good for surgeons

Playing computer games such as the Nintendo Wii can improve a surgeon's performance in the operating theatre, a US study shows. Only certain games are effective - those requiring delicate movements. The fine hand control required to play these games acts as a warm up and hones scalpel skills the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Centre team claim. Now they are designing Wii software that will accurately simulate surgical procedures, New Scientist reports. They asked eight trainee surgeons to spend an hour playing the games on a console before performing "virtual reality" surgery on a computer system... BBC

Computer knowledge undervalued

Computer skills are still undervalued in the UK board room, according to software giant Microsoft. It surveyed 500 UK business leaders and found that a knowledge of information technology (IT) was seen as the seventh most important workplace skill. Instead, team working and interpersonal skills were seen as the core factors, followed by initiative.Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said IT skills were needed from the shop floor to the chief executive. "One of the most important changes of the last 30 years is that digital technology has transformed almost everyone into an information worker," said Gates... BBC

Iraqis demand better life amid new calm

With security improved in the Iraqi capital, the BBC's Crispin Thorold meets Iraqis who want to see other things get better, and meets the man charged with getting it done. Now that bombs are relatively rare, and the gunfire is sporadic, the gentle whirring of generators have become the sound of Baghdad.Electricity supply in the Iraqi capital is scarce at best. People have to make do with just a few hours of power every day, and sometimes there is none... BBC

Greener way to recover methane

Report in Nature has shown how crude oil in deposits around the world is naturally broken down by microbes to methane. Scientists say that increasing microbe activity would produce a more energy-efficient method of methane recovery.It is likely field tests will start by 2009. The ability to recover methane directly from deeply buried oil reserves means energy-intensive and thermal polluting processes are removed. But methods like injecting steam into the reservoirs to heat and loosen the heavy viscous oil, so it can be pumped to... BBC

US sets terms for climate talks

Delegates at the UN summit in Bali have agreed a deal on curbing climate change after days of bitter wrangling. Agreement was reached after a U-turn from the US, which had wanted firmer commitments from developing countries.Environment groups said they were disappointed by the lack of firm targets for reducing emissions. The "Bali roadmap" initiates a two-year process of negotiations designed to agree a new set of emissions targets to replace those in the Kyoto Protocol... BBC

UN warns on soaring food prices

Soaring cost of food is threatening millions of people in poor countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned. Food prices have risen an unprecedented 40% in the last year and many nations may be unable to cope, the agency says. It is calling for help for farmers in poor countries to buy seeds and fertiliser, and for a review of the impact of bio-fuels on food production.FAO says 37 countries face food crises due to conflict and disaster. "Without support for poor farmers and their families in the hardest-hit countries, they will not be able to cope... BBC

China's economic muscle shrinks

China's economy, the world's second largest, is not as big as was thought, a report by the World Bank has claimed. According to the bank, previous calculations have overestimated the size of China's economy by about 40%.The revelation came after the bank updated the way it calculated the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The bank said the findings meant China would not become the world's biggest economy in 2012 as forecast. It also meant China was poorer than estimated.This in turn would influence future aid and investment plans, the World Bank said. China gains extra aid from international institutions and has asked for help in climate change talks because of its status as a developing country... BBC

Ageing threatens China economy

China's position as the world's major supplier of low-cost labour could be eroded by an ageing population, the authorities have warned. There are six workers for each retiree in China, but that could narrow to two-to-one between 2030 and 2050, the National Committee on Ageing says. Officials say the economy will suffer as there will be fewer people working and more older people to support.China's low-cost labour has provided the base for its economic growth. Improved living standards and strict family planning laws have contributed to the demographic change."We might encounter the heaviest burden especially after 2030... BBC

Corn's key role as food and fuel

Price of food is on the rise. On the Chicago markets, the price of a bushel of wheat has gone over $10 for the first time. Soybeans are at a 34-year high. And corn is hitting new highs as well. International Monetary Fund says that over the past 12 months, "the world has experienced a substantial inflationary shock in the form of higher food prices".Simon Johnson, chief economist at the IMF, points to three factors as responsible for the spike in prices. First, increased demand from emerging economies like India and China, where consumers are demanding more calories in their diet. Second, weather. Droughts have had an impact in some parts of the world.But third is the contentious relationship between food and fuel... BBC

Why Pregnant Women Don't Topple

Scientists think they have figured out why pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over despite ever-growing weight up front. Evolution provided them with slight differences from men in their lower backs and hip joints, allowing them to adjust their center of gravity, new research shows. This elegant engineering is seen only in female humans and our immediate ancestors who walked on two feet, but not in chimps and apes, according to a study published in Thursday's journal Nature."That's a big load that's pulling you forward," said Liza Shapiro, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas and the only one of the study's three authors who has actually been pregnant. "You experience discomfort. Maybe it would be a lot worse if (the design changes) were not there." Harvard anthropology researcher Katherine Whitcome found two physical differences in male and female backs that until now had gone unnoticed: One lower lumbar vertebra is wedged-shaped in women and more square in men; and a key hip joint is 14 percent larger in women than men when body size is taken into account... AP

Billionaires connect with the masses

Stuck in traffic jam in Istanbul in his bulletproof BMW, the richest man in Turkey lets loose with a satisfied grin. Since 2000 Husnu Ozyegin has spent more than $US50 million ($58 billion) of his money, building 36 primary schools and girls' dormitories in poor parts of Turkey. Next to the Turkish Government, Ozyegin is the country's biggest individual supporter of schools - and an official from the education ministry has told him his market share is increasing."Not bad," the founder of the corporate bank Finansbank says in his gruff, cigarette-scarred voice. "If I can have an impact on 1 million Turkish people in the next 10 years, I will be happy." The global wealth boom has created a new breed of billionaire in once-destitute countries like Turkey, India, Mexico and Russia. Propelled by their rising economies, robust currencies and globally competitive companies, they have ridden a surge in local stockmarkets that have reached previously untouchable heights in the past five years. Now a number of them are using their wealth to bolster their standing and push for social changes in their homelands... The Age

Bill Gates - Skills you need to succeed

One of the most important changes of the last 30 years is that digital technology has transformed almost everyone into an information worker. In almost every job now, people use software and work with information to enable their organisation to operate more effectively.That's true for everyone from the retail store worker who uses a handheld scanner to track inventory to the chief executive who uses business intelligence software to analyse critical market trends. So if you look at how progress is made and where competitive advantage is created... BBC

What is Bill Gates Learning From Open Source?

"In the world of Free Open Source Software communities, Microsoft is often viewed as the very epitome of the Cathedral-style model of software production. But is Bill Gates learning from the software development phenomenon that he once compared loosely to communism? In commenting on the results of a Microsoft-commissioned survey of approximately 500 board-level executives about the importance of interpersonal skills versus raw IT coding skills, Gates starts to sound a bit more like a member of the Apache Foundation than the take-no-prisoners king of cut-throat competition: 'Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs... Slashdot

Caution urged in new method for stem cells

Stem cell wars are not over, say leading researchers at Harvard and other universities who believe that the cloning of human embryos still represents the key to developing effective treatments for an array of horrific diseases. Recent weeks have seen spectacular breakthroughs in creating embryonic-like stem cells without making or destroying human embryos. Politicians, including President Bush, together with religious activists and some highly visible biologists have been quick to proclaim that the new technique for genetically "reprogramming" ordinary adult skin tissue into stem cells marks the moral high road to the future.It is a route that bypasses thorny issues raised by the use of frozen or cloned human embryos, and is also technically simpler than cloning... Boston

Analysts exurberant about Macworld Expo

Does anyone else remember a time when the days leading up to Macworld would be filled by web sites and message boards gossiping about fantastic new products from Apple? It's still that time, but now instead of some guy sitting in his underwear and posting from his parents' basement, the lead rumor mongers are CNBC reporters with slick hair and six-figure financial analysts in corner offices. AppleInsider has the latest research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who is now predicting... well, everything."We believe the timing is right for Apple to update most of its Macs. Some models may only see minor specification upgrades to newer, faster Intel processors. The Mac Pro will likely get Penryn CPUs from Intel and maybe BTO Blu-ray drives, while the laptops will likely get more storage and a CPU bump... Ars Technica

Facebook Sues Porn Company Over Hacking

The social network claims a bot from the Canadian porn site tried to gather its members' data. Facebook is suing seventeen people and a Canadian Internet porn company for allegedly trying to mine the popular social networking site for its users' personal details.Facebook alleges that in June servers controlled by the defendants used automated scripts to make more than 200,000 requests for personal information stored on Facebook's site... PC World

Black hole 'bully' blasts galaxy

Powerful jet of particles from a "supermassive" black hole has been seen blasting a nearby galaxy, according to findings from the US space agency. Galaxies have been seen colliding before, but it is the first time this form of galactic violence has been witnessed by astronomers.This could have a profound effect on any planets in the jet's path and could also trigger a burst of star formation... BBC

Jet From Supermassive Black Hole Seen Blasting Neighboring Galaxy

Jet of highly charged radiation from a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy is blasting another galaxy nearby - an act of galactic violence that astronomers said yesterday they have never seen before. Using images from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory and other sources, scientists said the extremely intense jet from the larger galaxy can be seen shooting across 20,000 light-years of space and plowing into the outer gas and dust of the smaller one.The smaller galaxy is being transformed by the radiation and the jet is being bent before shooting millions of light-years farther in a new direction... Washington Post

Planning your future career is a tough job

Gearing up for the workforce is a bittersweet sensation for any young adult. After years of academic hothousing and competing for a coveted degree, picking from the current smorgasbord of opportunities comes with some sense of grief.Okay, so you have fantastic grades which qualify you for an entry-level position - just slightly above that of an intern, but still at the bottom of the corporate food chain - but it seems the battle has only begun. What awaits us is a matter of clocking overtime, spending weekends in the office to prove our commitment, in a job that we picked not because we were driven by passion, but because it made practical, financial sense... AsiaOne

China to survey dialects to better protect them

China will next year survey the thousands of dialects spoken in the country with an eye to protecting ones which are threatened with extinction, a state newspaper said. The survey will also look at the influence of dialects on Mandarin, the official national language, and set up a database to record them, the China Daily said on Tuesday, quoting Mr Li Yuming, deputy head of the state language affairs committee.Focus will be the Shanghai dialect, 'as it is one of the most popular', the report said. 'As more and more young people in Shanghai use the dialect to communicate online, and as its vocabulary expands, it will be standardised and promoted as a distinct local language... AsiaOne

Asia shares bruised by stagflation worry

Shares in Asia took another beating on Tuesday, with financial stocks and exporters hardest hit on concerns that a slowing economy in the United States combined with accelerating price rises could lead to stagflation. Investors shunned riskier stocks and sought comfort in government bonds, worried that stagflation, which refers to when prices rise and growth stagnates, would curb spending and drag out the credit crisis. Stagflation was last seen in the 1970s following a massive spike in oil prices.Oil prices edged up towards US$91 (S$133) a barrel on Tuesday, while Japanese government bonds firmed, tracking gains in Treasuries. News that sentiment among US home builders held at a record low for a third consecutive month in December intensified worries about the US housing market slump - the trigger for the credit crisis... AsiaOne

Walking packs huge health punch

Brisk 30-minute walk 6 days a week is enough to trim waistlines and cut the risk of metabolic syndrome - an increasingly common condition that is linked to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, a new study indicates. 'Our study shows that you'll benefit even if you don't make any dietary changes,' study leader Johanna L. Johnson, a clinical researcher at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, said in a statement.It is estimated that about one quarter of all United States adults have metabolic syndrome - a cluster of risk factors that raise the odds of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke. To be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, a person must have at least three of these five risk factors... AsiaOne

Global rights group accuses Malaysia of silencing minority

Int'l human rights group called on Malaysia Tuesday to release five ethnic Indian activists who have been detained without trial, and accused the Muslim Malay-dominated government of trying to silence a minority. New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Malaysia should immediately free the five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force, or Hindraf, who were arrested Thursday under the Internal Security Act for alleged sedition and threatening national security.The colonial-era ISA allows for detention without trial for an initial period of two years that can be extended indefinitely... AsiaOne

China allows banks to invest in British stocks

Chinese banks will be able to invest client money in British stocks and mutual funds, China said after a striking a deal with the European nation's regulators. Britain will become only the second overseas investment destination after Hong Kong for Chinese banks, which can invest client money overseas under China's Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) programme."The latest move will give (Chinese) investors more access to global capital markets and diversify the investment risks," the China Banking Regulatory Commission said... CNA

Snail caviar - The new gourmet frontier

Snail's egg caviar anyone? It may sound like a challenge to the taste buds, but the salty, pink-white delicacy could be gracing hundreds of French tables this Christmas. Caviar and champagne are a byword for the festive season in France, while a dozen "escargots" - or snails - cooked in garlic and parsley butter and served in or out of their grey-brown spiralled shells, are a much-loved staple.But a couple of snail farmers from Soissons, in the Picardie region northeast of Paris, found a way to roll two delicacies into one: their snail caviar, called "De Jaeger", hit the... CNA

Singapore maths books adopted by California's education board

Students in California could soon use the same mathematics textbooks as their Singapore peers. The textbooks have been used in local schools for 20 years and have been circulating for years in other schools in the US.The California Education Board has officially approved the mathematics books published by Singapore's Education Ministry and Marshall Cavendish. The move will allow more than three million - grades one to five students, to gain access to the books... CNA

Oil prices to stay high into 2008

Oil prices will remain at high levels into next year owing to tight supplies and despite fears that a weak US economy may dent crude demand, leading energy consultants said here Monday. The Centre for Global Energy Studies also used its latest monthly report to attack OPEC, saying the oil-producing cartel had deliberately limited output in 2007 to prevent a sharp fall in crude prices, which last month almost reached a record 100 dollars."Although oil production at last appears to be rising, oil prices are expected to remain high over... CNA

Bush sees storm clouds over US economy

US President George W. Bush on Monday said the US economy was basically strong but warned of "storm clouds" in the form of a credit crunch and what may be a bursting housing bubble. "This economy is pretty good. There's definitely some storm clouds and concerns, but the underpinning is good, and we'll work our way through this period," Bush said in a town hall-style question and answer session here. The US president's comments came as part of a defence of his economic policies, especially... CNA

Preventing suicide among the elderly

Suicide is more common among older Americans than any other age group. The statistics are daunting. While people 65 and older account for 12 percent of the population, they represent 16 percent to 25 percent of the suicides. Four out of five suicides in older adults are men. And among white men over 85, the suicide rate - 50 per 100,000 men - is six times that of the general population... IHT

China banks on hydropower to cut emissions, but at huge human cost

Chinese officials celebrated the completion of the Three Gorges Dam by releasing a list of 10 world records. As in: The Three Gorges is the world's biggest dam, biggest power plant and biggest consumer of dirt, stone, concrete and steel. Ever. Even the project's official tally of 1.13 million displaced people made the list as record No. 10. Today, the Communist Party is hoping the dam does not become China's biggest folly. In recent weeks, Chinese officials have admitted that the dam was spawning environmental problems like water pollution and landslides that could become severe. Equally startling, officials want to begin a new relocation program that would be bigger than the first. The rising controversy makes it easy to overlook what could have been listed as world record No. 11: The Three Gorges Dam is the world's biggest man-made producer of electricity from renewable energy. Hydropower, in fact, is the centerpiece of one of China's most praised green initiatives, a plan to rapidly expand renewable energy by 2020. The Three Gorges Dam, then, lies at the uncomfortable center of China's energy conundrum: The nation's roaring economy is addicted to dirty, coal-fired power plants that pollute the air and belch greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming... IHT

In India, a terrible place to be born a girl

birth of a boy in Machrihwa is celebrated with the purchase of sweetmeats, distributed with joy to fellow villagers. The birth of a girl is, for the most part, not celebrated at all. Women in this village are not eager to dwell on the subject, but many of those with daughters grudgingly admit that worse than the pain of childbirth was the misery of realizing that they had delivered a girl. Juganti Prasad, 30, remembers the reproachful silence that settled over the room where she gave birth to her third daughter. Her mother-in-law handed her the child, and said curtly, "It's a girl, again," before leaving her. "There was no one even to give me a glass of water," Prasad said. "No one bothered to look after me or feed me because it was a girl."As she lay recovering, she could hear relatives in the next-door hut lamenting the calamity. A few weeks afterward, her husband threw her and their three daughters out of his home... IHT

Why work when you can hibernate?

Nicolas Sarkozy, has made no secret of his antipathy to his country's 35-hour work week. This drastic solution to unemployment was mandated by the leftist government of Lionel Jospin in 2000. The intention was to share out the available work more evenly and to allow workers to spend more time with their families. Its long-term effects on the economy are still unclear. In the autobiography-manifesto that he published during his presidential campaign, Sarkozy wrote of "the harm that the 35-hour week has done to our nation: "What madness it is to think that the way to increase wealth and create jobs is to work less!" On Oct. 1, he effectively abolished the 35-hour week by removing fiscal penalties on overtime. The strikes and protests in France this month gave a taste of the unions' reaction to Sarkozy's measure. Sarkozy's 19th-century predecessors would have been amazed that... IHT

South Koreans rethink preference for sons

In South Korea, once one of Asia's most rigidly patriarchal societies, a centuries-old preference for baby boys over baby girls is fast receding. Demographers have welcomed the shift, which they say holds promise for other Asian countries, like China, India and Vietnam. There a continuing preference for boys, coupled with access to ultrasound technology, has led to the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses, resulting in a large imbalance between boys and girls. "China and India are closely studying South Korea as a trendsetter in Asia," said... IHT

How Bauhaus was shaped into greatness

Bauhaus, the German art and design school designed in the mid-1920s by the architect Walter Gropius in the industrial city of Dessau. On his visit in 1929, Johnson, who grew up to become a famous architect, was equally entranced by the work of the students: so much so that he adopted Bauhaus habits, like typing solely in lower case letters. One of the teachers, the graphic designer Herbert Bayer, had banned capitals on the grounds that there wasn't enough time for them in the frenzy of modern life... IHT

Corruption and theft soar in Iraq

"Everyone is stealing from the state," said Adel al-Subihawi, a prominent Shiite tribal leader in Sadr City, throwing up his hands in disgust. "It's a very large meal and everyone wants to eat." Corruption and theft are not new to Iraq, and government officials have promised to address the problem. But as Iraqis and U.S. officials assess the effects of this year's U.S. troop increase, there is a growing sense that, even as security has improved, Iraq has slipped to new depths of lawlessness. One recent independent analysis ranked Iraq the third most corrupt country in the world... IHT

Small merchants gain large presence on Web

Number of small- and medium-size retailers selling online has swelled in the last two years, from 21 percent to 32 percent, according to a survey by IDC, a consulting firm. Aided by less expensive and more sophisticated technology, stores like RealmDekor.com, CleanAirGardening.com and SitStay.com are competing with retailers as well as bigger sites like Amazon. These businesses lack the huge marketing budgets of their bigger peers, of course, but they are unearthing cheap advertising methods that, in some cases, help them compete with million-dollar promotions... IHT

Spy chief in Britain accuses China of cyber crime

head of Britain's domestic spy agency has warned that China is spying on the computer systems of British corporations, The Times of London reported. The MI5 chief, Jonathan Evans, sent a letter last week to 300 executives and security chiefs at banks, accountancies and legal firms, warning them that they were under attack from "Chinese state organizations" over the Internet, the newspaper reported Saturday. The newspaper said the letter had also been posted on a secure section of the Web site of the government's Center for the Protection of the National Infrastructure. It included ways of identifying Chinese "Trojans," software designed to hack into a computer network and feed back confidential data, The Times said. The government Home Office, which oversees MI5, said it would not comment on private correspondence.Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last month that he would make his first visit to China as prime minister in January. China has steadfastly denied being engaged in any cyber crime and said its networks also had been targeted... IHT

Progress slow in fight against cancer

Despite optimistic claims by national leaders that America is finally turning the tide against cancer, a growing number of patient advocates and researchers say they are discouraged by continuing slow progress in the nation's 36-year war against the disease. Many of the most anticipated new drugs have extended patients' lives by only a few months at great expense, they say, and researchers still don't understand what makes the disease spread - the cause of 90 percent of cancer deaths. Although deaths from cancer have declined slightly since 2002, cancer specialists say that reflects earlier detection of the disease as well as lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking, more than dramatic improvements in treatments. For many types of cancer, once the disease... IHT

Ending famine, simply by ignoring the experts

Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid. But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the World Food Program of the United Nations than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe. In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the United Nations Children's Fund sent three tons of powdered milk, stockpiled here to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. "We will not be able to use it!" Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Unicef's deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly. Farmers explain Malawi's extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer... IHT

What the Gospel of Judas really says

National Geographic Society announced that a lost 3rd-century religious text had been found, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The shocker: Judas didn't betray Jesus. Instead, Jesus asked Judas, his most trusted and beloved disciple, to hand him over to be killed. Judas' reward? Ascent to heaven and exaltation above the other disciples. It was a great story. Unfortunately, after re-translating the society's transcription of the Coptic text, I have found that the actual meaning is vastly different. While National Geographic's translation supported the provocative interpretation of Judas as a hero, a more careful reading makes clear that Judas is not only no hero, he is a demon... IHT

Limits of 21st-century revolution

Hugo Chávez has narrowly lost his latest attempt to push forward a revolutionary socialist agenda. His oil-rich country, still bent on humbling the United States, is an instructive place from which to view the world, so here are eight rules of modern political life as seen from Venezuela: 1.) Trade trumps politics. Even as Chávez has been calling President George W. Bush "the devil," U.S.-Venezuela commercial ties have blossomed. This is the Western Hemisphere's equivalent of the Taiwan-China relationship: political enemies engaged in booming business. Bilateral trade will be about $47 billion this year, up from 2006, with Venezuelan exports... IHT

OPEC's tough call: Raise or hold oil supply

Should OPEC make industrialized countries happy by increasing the oil supply, a move that would probably send prices down further? Or should it keep production at a steady level at a time of economic turbulence, when demand could easily taper off? As they prepare to meet in Abu Dhabi this week to set output levels for the winter, officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are mindful of the many uncertainties that complicate their task. Oil prices flirted with... IHT

Facebook move doesn't clear up privacy fears

The backlash against Facebook last week is a lesson to all Internet companies: Tread more carefully with consumer privacy, even in this linked-in age. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have made personal lives an open book on the Internet, especially for the younger generation. But the blowup over Facebook's controversial advertising program made it clear that users want to control what goes out there. And for many, their buying habits are off limits. Internet sites and online marketers need to ensure that privacy protections aren't chiseled away in this brave new world. Congress and other policy-makers need to get up to speed on what's happening and decide if stronger protections are needed for this fundamental right. Facebook did the right thing by making concessions late... MercuryNews

Amazing find of dinosaur mummy

Fossil hunters have uncovered the remains of a dinosaur that has much of its soft tissue still intact. Skin, muscle, tendons and other tissue that rarely survive fossilisation have all been preserved in the specimen unearthed in North Dakota, US. The 67 million-year-old dinosaur is one of the duck-billed hadrosaur group. The preservation allowed scientists to estimate that it was more muscular than thought, perhaps giving it the ability to outrun predators like T. rex... BBC

Freed British teacher to fly home after Sudan ordeal

Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher jailed for insulting Islam in a row over a teddy bear, was preparing to fly home from Sudan today after being pardoned by the country's President. The 54-year-old mother-of-two was released into the care of the British Embassy in Khartoum after receiving an official pardon from Omar al-Bashir. Her release followed 48 hours of negotiations between Sudanese officials and two British Muslim peers, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham and Baroness Warsi. This afternoon, Baroness Warsi said that Mrs Gibbons should be back in the UK by tomorrow but was in good humour and had shared "lots of Yorkshire jokes" with the two peers. All three are originally from Yorkshire. The baroness also revealed that hardliners had been pushing for Mrs Gibbons to face a retrial and probable tougher sentence. "Initially the meetings were hopeful but we felt very quickly the mood changed and a more hard-lined mood developing," she said. "People were calling for a retrial which was a very real possibility." Gordon Brown welcomed the news, saying he was delighted and relieved that Mrs Gibbon's difficult ordeal was over. The Prime Minister said in a statement: "Common sense has prevailed... Times

Standing in the Way of Stem Cell Research

A new way to trick skin cells into acting like embryos changes both everything and nothing at all. Being able to reprogram skin cells into multipurpose stem cells without harming embryos launches an exciting new line of research. It's important to remember, though, that we're at square one, uncertain at this early stage whether souped-up skin cells hold the same promise as their embryonic cousins do. Far from vindicating the current U.S. policy of withholding federal funds from many of those working to develop potentially lifesaving embryonic stem cells, recent papers in the journals Science and Cell described a breakthrough achieved despite political restrictions. In fact, work by both the U.S. and Japanese teams that reprogrammed skin cells depended entirely on previous embryonic stem cell research.At a time when nearly 60 percent of Americans support human embryonic stem cell research, U.S. stem cell policy runs counter to both scientific and public opinion... Washingtonpost

All eyes on China, India as summit begins

Coal-burning power plants belch pollutants into the air in China, contributing to global warming that experts say has destroyed billions of dollars in crops. In India, melting Himalayan glaciers cause floods, while raising a more daunting long-term prospect: the drying up of life-sustaining rivers. The two economic giants are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of rising temperatures. But though they are among the biggest contributors to the problem, both... BT

Malaysian foreign minister warned other governments not to meddle in his country's affairs

Malaysian foreign minister warned other governments not to meddle in his country's affairs on Monday after ethnic Indian activists wrote to Britain urging UN action over what they alleged was ethnic cleansing in Malaysia. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia's government is able to resolve any woes of members of the ethnic Indian minority, and urged them to refer any complaints to the government rather than foreign countries. 'If there is anything that we are dissatisfied with, there are avenues within our system to deal with it. Malaysians don't want foreign interference,' he told reporters. Ethnic Indian activists, who say they suffer discrimination because of an affirmative action policy that favours members of the Malay Muslim majority, cited the demolition of dozens of Hindu temples as evidence of 'ethnic cleansing' in two letters sent to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last month. They said the moves were an attempt to drive out the ethnic Indian minority. The activists, from the Hindu Rights Action Force, urged Britain to spearhead UN action against Malaysia over the allegations. The group's leader also was traveling to India, Europe and the United States to seek support for the cause... AsiaOne

Gordon Brown accused over rising child poverty

Tens of thousands more children in Britain are living below the poverty line, a report found on Monday, as MPs questioned Gordon Brown's commitment to eradicating child poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said one in three children live in poverty and that little progress has been made in the past three years. It recommended increasing public sector pay. Meanwhile the cross-party Treasury Commons Select Committee found that ministers had "drawn back from a wholehearted commitment" to halve child poverty by 2010. In 1999, former Prime Minister Tony Blair promised to halve the number of poor children in a decade before completely eradicating the problem in 20 years. Brown has taken up the cause, appointing Schools Secretary Ed Balls to head a unit designed to produce ideas to tackle child poverty... AsiaOne

Cyclone Adds to Bangladesh's Uncertainty

The cyclone that battered Bangladesh's southwest coast is the biggest challenge the country's military-backed government has faced since seizing power and could delay the much-anticipated elections that were to restore democracy. Tropical Cyclone Sidr killed more than 3,200 people, left tens of thousands homeless and destroyed crops that could have produced nearly 1 million tons of rice in this impoverished nation. The storm poses a huge challenge in terms of disaster recovery efforts... AsiaOne

Al-Jazeera can be broadcast in Singapore

Al-JAZEERA'S English channel has received permission to be broadcast in the city-state, the government said on Monday. The Arab broadcaster's English news service will be available to subscribers of Singapore Telecommunications' (SingTel) pay-TV service, the Media Development Authority (MDA) said in a statement... AsiaOne

China says drug safety drive showing results by tightening rules

China's campaign to make its drugs safer is showing results, its food and drug administration said Monday, with over 7,300 pharmaceutical companies withdrawing applications for drug approval under new rules. The State Food and Drug Administration also said it is working to restore its reputation after its previous head was executed this summer on charges he took bribes to approve untested medications. As part of a crackdown on violations by pharmaceutical companies... AsiaOne

Affluence or democracy - Russians decide

Like countless Russian cities, Tyumen is dominated by an imperious statue of Lenin and grim Soviet-era buildings. But, rather than praising the latest five-year plan, its public address system now urges locals to buy Jimmy Choo handbags in the new mall around the corner and offers cut-price Caribbean cruises..In a nearby sushi bar, Ms Irina Babintseva leafed through a menu that listed both calories and prices. She was unable to decide whether she should spend her afternoon shopping or visiting her manicurist. In between thoughts, she found the time to reflect on political matters. .She had resolved to vote for Mr Vladimir Putin during the parliamentary vote. "I love him as a man — his behaviour, his appearance. I'm not interested in politics, but my husband tells me that Mr Putin is largely the reason we are so much better off.".The election is theoretically not about Mr Putin. Although he is a candidate for the ruling United Russia party, it is unlikely that he will ever sit in the country's Duma..In reality though, the election is about nothing other than Mr Putin, who has transformed the vote into a referendum on whether he should stay in power — perhaps in perpetuity — beyond his official retirement date set by the Constitution, next spring..Through the vote, Mr Putin is essentially offering the Russian people a deal — to choose prosperity and stability in place of democracy... Today

Singapore opens first nano-scale measurement facility

Singapore has opened Southeast Asia's first nano-scale measurement facility which can measure tiny units of up to one nanometre. A nanometre is one-billionth of a metre or 1/80000 of the diameter of a strand of human hair. This will come as a boost to local companies which require highly precise measurements. It is also a key step towards making Singapore a centre for nanotech-related standards and metrology. In time to come, nanotechnology is expected to permeate almost every aspect of our lives such as healthcare, food, energy and even recreation... CNA

Koreans need to change mindsets towards foreigners

Having suffered several foreign invasions, many South Koreans have found it crucial to maintain pure bloodlines. But the growing foreign population in South Korea is forcing a change in mindset. Carmen, who is from the Philippines, moved to Seoul after marrying a Korean seven years ago. "Life in Korea was tough at first, but now that I've lived here for several years, I find it okay," she said. Carmen gets together regularly with other non-Korean women married to local men, organising events to raise funds by cooking and selling their ethnic foods... CNA

Global economies resilient amid US financial turmoil

The global economy will see a slowdown in growth next year but not a collapse, says banking giant Citigroup. It says the global economy will be able to withstand current stresses from the US housing sector, high oil prices and a weak US dollar. At the same time, Citigroup expects growth in emerging markets like Asia to remain strong. Amid the US housing crisis and financial turmoil, Citigroup is positive that the global economy will remain resilient... CNA

India can sustain rapid growth for 20 years

India can keep up its scorching economic growth for the next two decades, stoked by strong investment and capital inflows, the finance minister forecast on Sunday. But at the same time Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told an international conference that Asia's third-largest economy was lagging in achieving financial reforms and would miss some key United Nations development targets. Also, while India and China and the rest of the developing world are now the main global growth drivers, economic power "still resides with... CNA

Chinese think tank suggests increase in yuan flexibility

China should increase the flexibility of its currency, a state think tank was quoted as saying Monday, arguing a stronger yuan would be in the nation's interest. "China should further increase the flexibility of yuan's exchange rate and appropriately widen the yuan trading band in 2008," the State Information Centre said in a report published by the China Securities Journal. The daily trading band of the yuan -- 0.5 per cent on either side of a reference rate against the US dollar set by the central bank at the start of each session -- should be doubled to one per cent next year, the think tank said. It said under current circumstances, a stronger yuan would do China more good than harm... CNA

Sudan pardons British teacher

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Monday pardoned a British woman teacher jailed for 15 days for insulting religion by naming a teddy bear after the Prophet Mohammed, a presidential adviser said. "She was pardoned thanks to the mediation of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi. She will be released in about an hour," Mahjoub Fadl Badri told AFP. A Sudanese court last Thursday sentenced Gillian Gibbons to 15 days in prison for insulting religion by naming a teddy bear after Islam's prophet at the exclusive English school where she taught in Khartoum. Two British Muslim peers, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi from the Upper House of Parliament were on Monday meeting Beshir at the Republican Palace after flying to Khartoum in order to secure a pardon... CNA