Net Compulsives

Reopen Madeleine case, police urge

<p>Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there are 195 potential leads to finding her alive. The detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case can still be solved before officers released a picture of what she might now look like as a nine-year-old. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believes her disappearance was a stranger abduction, as he said there are 195 "investigative opportunities". Police refused to say what evidence they had uncovered to suggest Madeleine is alive. Mr Redwood confirmed that his team of more than 30 officers involved in the case had been out to Portugal seven times, including a visit to the family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz. It will be five years ago next week since the three-year-old went missing as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined with friends nearby. A spokesman for the McCanns said the family was pleased with the image. Mr Redwood said his 37 officers had dealt with 40,000 pieces of information but the "primacy still sits in Portugal" in the attempt to find her. Commander Simon Foy said: "Most significantly, the message we want to bring to you is that, on the evidence, there is a possibility that she is alive and we desperately need your help today to appeal directly to the public for information to support our investigation." Mr Redwood said "evidence that she is alive stems from the forensic view of the timeline" that there was the opportunity for her to be taken. Investigations show "there do appear to be gaps", he added. Detectives in Portugal are also understood to want the case reopened but must gain judicial approval via the courts.</p>

Reopen Madeleine case, police urge

Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there are 195 potential leads to...

Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks

<p>Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security.  The list of good and bad sites will be published regularly by the non-profit Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM).  A survey carried out to launch the group found that more than 52% of sites tested were using versions of security protocols known to be compromised.  The group will test websites to see how well they have implemented basic security software.  Security fundamentals The group has been set up by security experts and entrepreneurs frustrated by the slow pace of improvements in online safety.  "We want to stimulate some initiatives and get something done," said TIM's founder Philippe Courtot, serial entrepreneur and chief executive of security firm Qualys. He has bankrolled the group with his own money.  TIM has initially focused on a widely used technology known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).  Experts recruited to help with the initiative include SSL's inventor Dr Taher Elgamal; "white hat" hacker Moxie Marlinspike who has written extensively about attacking the protocol; and Michael Barrett, chief security officer at Paypal.  Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote  Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade”  Philippe Courtot Many websites use SSL to encrypt communications between them and their users. It is used to protect credit card numbers and other valuable data as it travels across the web.  "SSL is one of the fundamental parts of the internet," said Mr Courtot.  "It's what makes it trustworthy and right now it's not as secure as you think."  Compromised certificates TIM plans a two-pronged attack on SSL.  The first part would be to run automated tools against websites to test how well they had implemented SSL, said Mr Courtot.  "We'll be making it public," he added. "Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade."  Early tests suggest that about 52% of sites checked ran a version of SSL known to be compromised.  Companies who have done a bad job will be encouraged to improve and upgrade their implementations so it gets safer to use those sites.  The second part of the initiative concerns the running of the bodies, known as certificate authorities, which guarantee that a website is what it claims to be.  TIM said it would work with governments, industry bodies and companies to check that CAs are well run and had not been compromised.  "It's a much more complex problem," said Mr Courtot.  In 2011, two certificate authorities, DigiNotar and GlobalSign were found to have been compromised. In some cases this meant attackers eavesdropped on what should have been a secure communications channel.  Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum which represents security specialists working in large corporations, said many of its members took responsibility for making sure sites were secure.  "You cannot just say 'buyer beware'," he said.  "That's not good enough anymore. They have a real a duty of care."  He said corporations were also increasingly conscious of their reputation for providing safe and secure services to customers.  Data breaches, hack attacks and poor security were all likely to hit share prices and could mean they lose customers, he noted.</p>

Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks

Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security. The list of good and bad...

Anti-depressants likely do more harm than good, study suggests

<p>Commonly prescribed anti-depressants appear to be doing patients more harm than good, say researchers who have published a paper examining the impact of the medications on the entire body. See Also: Health & Medicine Pharmacology Birth Defects Mental Health Research Mind & Brain Depression Disorders and Syndromes Psychiatry Reference COX-2 inhibitor Psychoactive drug Seasonal affective disorder Anti-obesity drug "We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs," says Paul Andrews, an evolutionary biologist at McMaster University and lead author of the article, published recently in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology. "It's important because millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they're safe and effective." Andrews and his colleagues examined previous patient studies into the effects of anti-depressants and determined that the benefits of most anti-depressants, even taken at their best, compare poorly to the risks, which include premature death in elderly patients. Anti-depressants are designed to relieve the symptoms of depression by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain, where it regulates mood. The vast majority of serotonin that the body produces, though, is used for other purposes, including digestion, forming blood clots at wound sites, reproduction and development. What the researchers found is that anti-depressants have negative health effects on all processes normally regulated by serotonin. The findings include these elevated risks: developmental problems in infants problems with sexual stimulation and function and sperm development in adults digestive problems such as diarrhea, constipation, indigestion and bloating abnormal bleeding and stroke in the elderly The authors reviewed three recent studies showing that elderly anti-depressant users are more likely to die than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. The higher death rates indicate that the overall effect of these drugs on the body is more harmful than beneficial. "Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It's intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it's going to cause some harm," Andrews says. Millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants every year, and while the conclusions may seem surprising, Andrews says much of the evidence has long been apparent and available. "The thing that's been missing in the debates about anti-depressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects," he says. "Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue." In previous research, Andrews and his colleagues had questioned the effectiveness of anti-depressants even for their prescribed function, finding that patients were more likely to suffer relapse after going off their medications as their brains worked to re-establish equilibrium. With even the intended function of anti-depressants in question, Andrews says it is important to look critically at their continuing use. "It could change the way we think about such major pharmaceutical drugs," he says. "You've got a minimal benefit, a laundry list of negative effects -- some small, some rare and some not so rare. The issue is: does the list of negative effects outweigh the minimal benefit?"</p>

Anti-depressants likely do more harm than good, study suggests

Commonly prescribed anti-depressants appear to be doing patients more harm than good, say researchers who have published a paper examining t...

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal half a decade ago, could still be alive, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday.

<div><h2></h2><div><div id="storyEmbSlide"><div><img alt="Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9 " height="387" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02202/madeleine-mccann-1_2202512b.jpg" width="620" /><div><div></div><div>Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9  Photo: Teri Blythe</div></div></div></div></div></div><div><div></div><div id="mainBodyArea"><div><p>Detectives released a new “age progression” image of the toddler, which they said showed what she would look like today at the age of nine.</p></div><div><p>On Wednesday, Britain’s biggest police force said that as a result of evidence uncovered during a review “they now believe there is a possibility Madeleine is still alive”.</p></div><div><p>Officers have so far identified nearly 200 new items for investigation within historic material and are also “developing what they believe to be genuinely new material”.</p></div><div><p>Scotland Yard urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for her amid the new "investigative opportunities".</p></div><div><p>Police said the image, created ahead of what would have been her ninth birthday on May 12, had been created in “close collaboration with the family”.</p></div></div></div>

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal half a decade ago, could still be alive, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday.

Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9 Photo: Teri Blythe Detectives released a new “age progression” image of the toddler, which they s...

Dengue Fever Asian Mosquito Could Invade UK

<div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; width: 640px; float: right; padding-left: 0px;"><img alt="Asian Tiger Mosquito" src="http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2012/Apr/Week4/16215540.jpg" style="border-image: initial; border: 0px initial initial;" /><p class="imageCaption" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px;">The mosquito can carry dengue and chikungunya viruses</p></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><p class="articleUpdate" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 17px; color: #969696; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p></div><h2 style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">A mosquito that spreads tropical diseases including dengue fever may be poised to invade the UK because of climate change.</h2><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">The Asian tiger mosquito has already been reported in France and Belgium and could be migrating north as winters become warmer and wetter.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">Scientists have urged "wide surveillance" for the biting insect across countries of central and northern Europe, including the UK.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">The mosquito can carry dengue and chikungunya viruses, both of which cause high fevers. The infections usually occur in tropical regions of Africa, Asia and South America.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">Scientists led by Dr Samantha Martin, from the University of Liverpool, used climate models to predict how changing conditions might affect Asian tiger mosquito distribution.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">They wrote in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface: "Mosquito climate suitability has significantly increased over the southern UK, northern France, the Benelux, parts of Germany, Italy, Sicily and the Balkan countries."</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">The research shows that parts of the UK could become hot-spots of Asian tiger mosquito activity between 2030 and 2050.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">The mosquito has been introduced into Europe from Asia via goods shipments, mainly used tyres and bamboo.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">Climate change is now shifting conditions suitable for the insect from southern Europe to central north-western areas.</p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px;">The mosquito could survive in water butts and vases, and may find winter protection in greenhouses, said the researchers.</p>

Dengue Fever Asian Mosquito Could Invade UK

The mosquito can carry dengue and chikungunya viruses A mosquito that spreads tropical diseases including dengue fever may be poised to in...

Opiates Killed 8 Americans In Afghanistan, Army Records Show

<p>Eight American soldiers died of overdoses involving heroin, morphine or other opiates during deployments in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, according to U.S. Army investigative reports.  The overdoses were revealed in documents detailing how the Army investigated a total of 56 soldiers, including the eight who fell victim to overdoses, on suspicion of possessing, using or distributing heroin and other opiates.   At the same time, heroin use apparently is on the rise in the Army overall, as military statistics show that the number of soldiers testing positive for heroin has grown from 10 instances in fiscal year 2002 to 116 in fiscal year 2010.  Army officials didn't respond to repeated requests for comment on Saturday. But records from the service's Criminal Investigation Command, obtained by the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, provided glimpses into how soldiers bought drugs from Afghan juveniles, an Afghan interpreter and in one case, an employee of a Defense Department contractor, who was eventually fired.  The drug use is occurring in a country that is estimated to supply more than 90% of the world's opium, and the Taliban insurgency is believed to be stockpiling the drug to finance their activities, according to a 2009 U.N. study. While the records show some soldiers using heroin, much of the opiate abuse by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan involves prescription drugs such Percocet, the Army documents show.  Judicial Watch obtained the documents under the Freedom of Information of Act and provided them to CNN. Spokesman Col. Gary Kolb of the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led command in Afghanistan, verified the documents to CNN on Saturday.  One fatal overdose occurred in June 2010 at Forward Operating Base Blessing, after a soldier asked another soldier to buy black tar opium from a local Afghan outside the base's entry control point. The first soldier died after consuming the opium like chewing tobacco and smoking pieces of it in a cigarette, the documents show.  The reports even show soldier lingo for the drug -- calling it "Afghani dip" in one case where three soldiers were accused of using the opiate, the Army investigative reports show.  The United States has 89,000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. death toll since the September 11, 2001, attacks that triggered the war has risen to more than 1,850, including 82 this year, according to the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command.  Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said his group was interested in soldiers' drug use partly because the risk was present during the Vietnam War.  "You never want to see news of soldiers dying of drug use in Afghanistan," Fitton said. "Our concern is, will the military treat this as the problem that it is, and are the families of the soldiers aware of the added risk in this drug-infested country?  "There is a dotted line between the uses. Prescription abuse can easily veer into heroin drug use," Fitton added. "Afghanistan is the capital of this opiate production and the temptation is great there and the opportunity for drug use all the more."  The group is concerned that "there hasn't been enough public discussion, and we would encourage the leadership to discuss or talk about this issue more openly," Fitton said.  In one case, a soldier bought heroin and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax from five "local national juveniles at multiple locations on Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan, and consumed them," one report states. Soldiers also distributed heroin, Percocet and other drugs among themselves, according to the reports.  Another soldier fatally overdosed in December 2010 after taking several drugs, including morphine and codeine, though the drugs were not prescribed for him, the Army documents show.  One female soldier broke into the Brigade Medical Supply Office at Forward Operating Base Shank and stole expired prescription narcotics including morphine, Percocet, Valium, fentanyl and lorazepam, the documents show.  The investigative reports show soldiers using other drugs, including steroids and marijuana, and even hashish that was sold to U.S. servicemen by the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police personnel, the reports state.</p>

Opiates Killed 8 Americans In Afghanistan, Army Records Show

Eight American soldiers died of overdoses involving heroin, morphine or other opiates during deployments in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, ac...

exploding the common myths about which foods are good for us

<p><span class="storyTop " style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.4; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Salt in your diet causes high blood pressure</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">In the 1940s, Walter Kempner, a researcher at Duke University, North Carolina, became famous for using salt restriction to treat people with high blood pressure. Later, studies confirmed that reducing salt could help reduce hypertension. But you don't have to avoid salt entirely, says Sara Stanner, of the Nutrition Society. "Adults need a small amount of sodium in their diet to maintain the body's fluid balance."</p></span><div class="body " style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; line-height: 1.4; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px;">Average salt intakes have come down in recent years, mainly due to product reformulation. But it's still the case that many of us consume too much salt – around 9g a day instead of the maximum recommended dose of 6g per day – around 75 per cent of which is in processed foods such as soups, sauces, sandwiches and processed meat.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">"People often think it's really bad to add salt into cooking or on to your plate, but that forms no more than 10 per cent of your total intake," says Stanner. "So you can get people who never have salt at their table, but have a very high salt intake, while others put salt on most meals, but have a lower intake."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Carbohydrates are bad for you</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">"Carbohydrate-rich foods are an ideal source of energy. They can also provide a lot of fibre and nutrients," says Sara Stanner. "Potatoes, for instance, are one of the best sources of vitamin C, yet potato consumption in the UK has fallen considerably."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">One of the main reasons carbohydrates have fallen out of favour is that they are perceived to be fattening. "Foods high in carbohydrates have had a rough time in the past few years, thanks to the success of low-carb diets, such as the Atkins diet," explains Juliette Kellow.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">"But there's no proof that carb-rich foods are more likely to make us gain weight than any other food. Ultimately, it's an excess of calories that makes us pile on the pounds – and it really doesn't matter where those extra calories come from. More often than not, it's the fat we add to carbs that boosts the calorie content, such as butter on toast, creamy sauces with pasta and frying potatoes to make chips."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Dairy products are fattening and unhealthy</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">In a study by the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, slimmers on low- calorie diets which included cheese, yoghurt and milk lost more weight than those on low-dairy diets. Those on the diet including dairy also had the least stomach fat, lower blood pressure and a significantly better chance of avoiding heart disease and diabetes.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Dairy products are packed with essential nutrients that help keep us healthy, says Juliette Kellow. "As well as being good sources of protein, zinc and some B vitamins, dairy products are packed with calcium, a mineral that helps to build strong, healthy bones – and the stronger the bones are, the less likely you'll be to suffer from osteoporosis in later life."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">There are loads of low-fat versions of dairy, such as skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurts and reduced-fat cheeses, she says – and low-fat versions don't mean less calcium. "Skimmed and semi-skimmed milk actually contain slightly more calcium than full-fat milk."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Red meat is bad for you</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Publishing what it called "the most authoritative ever report of bowel cancer risk" last year, the World Cancer Research Fund recommended that people limit their intake of red meat to 500g a week, or just over a pound in weight. The net result of such studies is always the same – people panic.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">But 500g is roughly the equivalent of five or six medium portions of roast beef, lamb or pork. "Red meat is a valuable source of minerals and vitamins, particularly iron, and we know that large numbers of women have such low intakes of this nutrient that they're at risk of anaemia. There's no need for people to think, 'I should be eating fish' when they have a steak,' provided they eat it in moderation," says Sarah Schenker.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Another myth about red meat is that it's high in fat, says Juliette Kellow, dietitian and advisor to Weight Loss Resources. "Thanks to modern breeding programmes and new trimming techniques, red meat is now leaner than ever.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Processed meat of all kinds, however, should be avoided.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Fresh is always better than frozen</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Frozen fruit and vegetables can be more healthy than fresh. "Research shows that freezing vegetables such as peas as soon as they're picked – when they are at their nutritional peak – means they retain higher levels of vitamins, particularly vitamin C," says Sarah Schenker. "Once frozen, the deterioration process stops, locking in goodness. The fresh variety often travel long distances and sit on grocery shelves and along the way, heat, air, water and time can lead to a significant loss of nutrients."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Frozen or canned fruits and vegetables can also be as nutritious as fresh ones, if not more so. Again, they are often packaged within hours of being picked, retaining their nutritional value. "Always check salt and sugar levels though by comparing labels," says Sarah Schenker, of the British Dietitic Association. Even dried fruit can be healthier than fresh. "When you eat dried fruit you usually eat more than the fresh equivalent – for instance six dried apricots instead of three fresh ones. This is more calorific but you get a bigger amount of nutrients," says Schenker.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Soy eases menopausal problems</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">For years, the fact that Asian women have fewer menopausal symptoms has been attributed to high levels of soy in their diet. Soy products such as tofu contain natural plant oestrogens and there have been increasing claims that these might help women going through the menopause whose own oestrogen levels are dwindling.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">But a University of Miami study has found that soy does nothing to abate hot flushes and bone-density loss. In fact, the women given soy appeared to experience more hot flushes than those given a placebo.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Experts including Dr Malcolm Whitehead, a menopause expert at King's College Hospital in London, aren't surprised. "In my clinical experience, women say this doesn't work for them," he says, adding that HRT is a safe and effective treatment for most women.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Others point to previous studies showing that soy can work, but the British Dietetic Association's Sarah Schenker, says, "This research has always been weak. People got excited about those early small studies, but the more research that was done, the more doubts appeared."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Brown bread is better for you than white</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">A darker loaf of bread does not necessarily mean it's made with whole grains – it could simply contain caramel colouring or such a small amount of whole wheat that its nutritional benefits are no different to white bread. "The real health benefits come from eating wholemeal bread instead of white," says Sarah Schenker.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Wholemeal is made from flour containing all the goodness of wheat grains. The outer husk has not been removed, so the resulting bread is much richer in fibre, protein and vitamins B1, B2, niacin, B6, folic acid and biotin. Brown bread, in contrast, is made from finely milled wheat, from which the bran has been extracted.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Look for the words "whole grain" or "100% whole wheat" on packaging and ensure the first ingredient listed is whole wheat, oats, whole rye, whole grain corn, barley, quinoa, buckwheat or brown rice. Seeded bread is even better, since it contains even more vitamins, minerals and healthy fats.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><strong style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Myth: Everyone needs a lot of protein</strong></p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Protein is essential for growth and development, but experts agree that most people eat far too much of it. "The Department of Health recommends that protein should make up around 10-15 per cent of your daily diet – that's around 55g for men and 45g for women," dietitian Azmina Govindji says. "Yet, according to the British Nutrition Foundation, men are probably munching their way through an average of 88g and women around 64g."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">So what's fuelling this notion that we need so much? "Some diets, such as the Atkins diet, advocate speedy weight loss on cutting the carbs and piling on the proteins", Govindji says.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Another contributory factor is that in the past, it was believed nobody could eat too much protein. In the early 1900s, people were told to eat well over 100g a day and in the 1950s, health-conscious people were encouraged to boost their protein intake. But high protein can put a strain on liver and kidneys and other bodily systems.</p></div></p>

exploding the common myths about which foods are good for us

Myth: Salt in your diet causes high blood pressure In the 1940s, Walter Kempner, a researcher at Duke University, North Carolina, became fam...

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

<p>Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns.</p><p>But now Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.</p><p>The former heavyweight champion said that back in 2009 he was in a hotel room with seven prostitutes, a morphine drip in his arm, a pile of cocaine and a bottle of cognac when he began to feel paranoid.</p><div><div><img alt="tyson" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-127763A6000005DC-653_306x423.jpg" width="306" /></div><div><img alt="tyson" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-129A31DC000005DC-721_306x423.jpg" width="306" /></div><p>Candid: The former world champion gave his most honest interview yet - revealing the drug-fuelled night that made him turn his life around and get clean and sober</p></div><p>Convinced the women were trying to steal from him he started beating them up and threw them out - to stop them from 'taking his soul'.</p><p> </p><div> Tyson said: ‘That’s when I realised it wasn’t just demons - it was the devil himself.</div><p>‘It was the lowest point of a very low life, but it was my own knockout punch to clean up life, get whole, get well - and I haven’t done anything in three years now. </p><p>‘I’m clean. I’m sober.’</p><p>Tyson’s recently swapped the boxing ring for the cabaret stage in a six night comedy show at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, where some of his biggest fights took place.</p><div><img alt="tyson" height="347" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-129BD3E6000005DC-119_634x347.jpg" width="634" /><p>World Champion: Mike Tyson lands the knockout punch to the jaw of challenger Larry Holmes during fourth round of the World Heavyweight Championship in Atlantic City 1988</p></div><p> </p><p>In an interview with <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2012/apr/13/part-2-tysons-undisputed-truth-drugs-hookers----an/" target="_blank">Las Vegas Weekly</a> to promote the show, he was asked to talk about the moment he realised he had to turn his life around.</p><p>Tyson, 45 said: ‘Laying in bed in a hotel room - I try never to be alone, even if it’s a prostitute, a dog. </p><p>‘This is really dark. I am in my hotel suite, I’ve got seven women there, and I have a morphine drip, and I had my cocaine, and I had my (Viagra like pill) Cialis, I had my marijuana, I had the Hennessy, and I am at my lowest point because I got paranoid and I thought these women were trying to rob me and set me up. </p><p>‘I started beating them. I was in a dark place. There was a purpose, though, because I didn’t want to give them any more of my soul.</p><p>‘So this is my devil, this is where I am, I am locked up alone. There is nobody there telling me that I’m doing too much. </p><div><img alt="tyson" height="405" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-127C620C000005DC-817_634x405.jpg" width="634" /><p>Troubled: Tyson's first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart amid allegations of him being violent - he is now married for the third time</p></div><p> </p><div><img alt="tyson" height="377" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-1292B19C000005DC-965_634x377.jpg" width="634" /><p>Mug shot: In 1992 Tyson was jailed for raping Desiree Washington - a beauty pageant contestant - he was released from prison after three years</p></div><p>‘That is the devil, he won. I kicked them all out. So that was my lowest point. Oh, man. I am just very grateful to be here - my heart should have blown apart. I was sweating wide awake. No more cocaine. No more. Three years clean.’</p><p>In his turbulent life Tyson has been married three times, fathered eight children and became the youngest heavyweight champion the world has ever seen at just 20.</p><p>But fame ruined him and his troubled upbringing - his mother was a prostitute and he never knew his pimp father - came back to haunt him.</p><p>In the interview he claimed to have earned $300million in winnings but admitted that he was so bad with money he was ‘forced to live paycheck to paycheck’.</p><p>In 1992, three years after his first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart, he was jailed for six years for raping Desiree Washington, a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant.</p><p>Released having served three years, he fought Evander Holyfield in the fight that became one of the most notorious bouts in boxing history when he bit part of his opponent’s ear off.</p><p>Reflecting on his life Tyson told Las Vegas Weekly that he was now the happiest he has ever been, and is just trying to be a good husband to his third wife, and a good father to his children.</p><p>Tyson said: ‘In order to wear the crown, you have to have a miserable life, and that is the one that inherits the crown. </p><p>‘I don’t know, you have to go from the worst to reach the best. I’m just that extreme type of person. That is who I am, the guy that has no limits.’</p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></span></p>

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns. But now Mike Tyson has for the firs...

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17783208"> </a>The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina.  Argentina has nationalised YPF, wiping out the Spanish firm Repsol's controlling-stake in the oil firm.  The resolution asks the European Commission to consider a "partial suspension" of tariffs that benefit Argentine exports into the EU.  Shares in Repsol has another decline, falling 2.3% on Friday.  Over the week, Repsol stock has lost almost a fifth of its value.  MEPs in the European Parliament said the institution "deplores" the decision taken by Argentina and describes it as an "attack on the exercise of free enterprise".  Decisions such as that taken by the Argentine authorities "can put a strain on the climate of understanding and friendship needed to reach" a trade agreement between a South American bloc and the EU, it said.  The resolution, which is non-binding, received 458 votes in favour, 71 against and 16 abstentions.  'Not valid' It also emerged that Repsol may be obliged to buy a minority shareholder's YPF stake if it ever lost majority control, which Repsol denied.  Twenty-five percent of YPF is owned by Argentina's Eskenazi family through its firm, Peterson.  Continue reading the main story Nationalising YPF  Spain's Repsol has hitherto owned 57.4% of shares with 25.5% belonging to Argentina's Petersen, 0.02% to the Argentine government and 17% traded on stock exchanges The Argentine government proposes to seize 51% of the shares, all of which will be taken from Repsol's stake, leaving the Spanish firm with 6.4% The expropriated shares will in turn be divided between the Argentine government and provincial governors Following the expropriation, Petersen will retain its 25.5% stake and 17% of the shares will continue to be traded Argentina's risky energy seizure According to regulator filings of a 2008 agreement, Repsol must "maintain directly or indirectly through controlled companies an ownership interest greater than or equal to 50.1%".  If it does not, Repsol is obliged to buy back the loans used to secure the Eskenazis' shares.  But Repsol told the BBC that the expropriation of its stake in YPF had invalidated the agreement.  "The agreement is not valid under Spanish law in these conditions," said Kristian Rix, a Repsol spokesman. "The law is unequivocal, there is no debate."  Trade war brewing? Spain has threatened retaliation against Argentina over the forced nationalisation of oil firm YPF, raising the prospects of a trade war between the nations.  Spanish Trade Secretary Jaime Garcia Legaz said the European Union would intervene over Argentina's seizure of YPF.  Argentina is taking over 51% of YPF, wiping out Repsol's 57.4% majority stake.  The move has wide support in Argentina but has provoked outrage in Spain.  Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also offered support.  Repsol has said it wants around $10bn (£6.2bn) for its stake in YPF, but Argentina has said it does not accept that valuation.  YPF, Argentina's biggest oil company, was privatised in 1993. Last year it announced huge new finds of shale oil and gas.</p>

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina. Arg...

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-scandal-the-net-tightens-on-the-murdochs-7661722.html"> </a>Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow state" which launched a dirty tricks campaign against MPs and now faces a salvo of phone-hacking claims in the United States.  On a tumultuous day for the media mogul, the lawyer who brought the first damages claims against the News of the World in Britain said he had uncovered new allegations of the use of "dark arts" by News Corp in America and was ready to file at least three phone-hacking lawsuits in the company's backyard.  The sense of a legal net tightening around Mr Murdoch and News Corp was heightened by the announcement that he and his son James will testify separately next week before the Leveson Inquiry into press standards during three days of what is likely to be uncomfortable scrutiny of alleged widespread criminality in their British tabloid newspapers.  In a separate development, the royal editor of The Sun became the latest journalist on the paper to be arrested on suspicion of making corrupt payments to public officials.  The arrest coincided with the publication of an incendiary book on the scandal which levelled new accusations that the NOTW set out on an extraordinary campaign of intimidation of MPs to try to blunt their investigations into its alleged law breaking.  Last night senior MPs called for News International (NI) to be investigated by the Commons for potential contempt of Parliament over the claims that members of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee were targeted by attempts to dig dirt on their private lives. Dial M for Murdoch, written by the Labour MP Tom Watson and The Independent's Martin Hickman, also alleges that:  l Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of NI, was bugged in her own office shortly before she resigned last summer over the phone hacking of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl.  l On his release from prison, Glenn Mulcaire, the convicted NOTW hacker, allegedly was contracted to give security advice to a private security company, Quest, whose chairman is Lord Stevens, a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.  l NI intermediaries approached Mr Watson with a "deal" to "give him" former NOTW editor and Downing Street press chief Andy Coulson but that Ms Brooks was "sacred".  NI, which runs Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, said it had no comment to make on the book.  At a packed Westminster press conference, Mr Watson, who is a member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, said the claim that the NOTW set out in 2009 to undermine the MPs investigating it came from Neville Thurlbeck, the NOTW's former chief reporter.  In the book, Mr Thurlbeck, who has been arrested in connection with phone hacking, says: "An edict came down... and it was find out every single thing you can about every single member: who was gay, who had affairs, anything we can use." Mr Thurlbeck told The Independent last night that the order to target the MPs, which involved assigning two politicians each to a group of six reporters, had not originated from inside the paper but instead came from "elsewhere inside News International". He insisted that NOTW staff had been reluctant and there was a "degree of procrastination" before the plan was "suddenly and unexpectedly halted about 10 days later".  Mr Watson, who has received an apology from NI after he was placed under surveillance, said he believed the campaign was nonetheless successful and had contributed to a decision by the media committee not to demand that Ms Brooks give evidence to it in 2010.  He added: "Parliament was, in effect, intimidated. News International thought they could do this, that they could get away with it, that no one could touch them; and they actually did it, and it worked."  Labelling News Corp a "toxic institution", he added: "We conclude that the web of influence which News Corporation spun in Britain, which effectively bent politicians, police and many others in public life to its will, amounted to a shadow state."  Former Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price, who is gay and was a member of the DCMS committee, is described in the book as having been warned by a Conservative colleague that their private lives would be raked over if they called Ms Brooks to give evidence – "effectively they would delve into our personal lives in order to punish us".  Hours after publication of the book, Mark Lewis, the lawyer who has doggedly pursued hacking claims, told a press conference in New York that he was investigating allegations of impropriety at Mr Murdoch's US media companies, including Fox News. He said a high-profile trip to America to prepare claims on behalf of victims whose phones were allegedly hacked on US soil had generated a slew of new allegations about wider use of "dark arts" to obtain private information.  He said: "The investigation in the UK began with one claim by one client and look where it is now. While it starts in America with three cases, it seems likely it might end up with more."  The allegations will provide an awkward backdrop for the Murdochs to their appearances before the Leveson Inquiry. Rupert Murdoch, who is the first witness before the inquiry to be scheduled for two days of testimony, will be questioned about practices in his British newspapers and whether he had knowledge of those activities.  Chris Bryant last night confirmed that he would be asking Parliament to investigate the claims that NI carried out targeted intimidation.  Royal editor of The Sun arrested  The royal editor of The Sun was arrested yesterday after News Corp handed over information to detectives investigating alleged illegal payments to public officials.  Duncan Larcombe, 36, who had previously worked as the newspaper's defence editor, was arrested during an early morning raid at his home in Kent on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.  Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden also arrested a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces and a woman, 38, at their home in Lancashire. All three were later released on bail.  Mr Larcombe was the paper's royal correspondent from 2005 to 2009 before being appointed defence editor for 14 months. He returned to the royal beat last year and led the newspaper's coverage of the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. He was the second Sun defence editor to be arrested during the police inquiry.</p>

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow st...

France and Germany want to suspend the Shengen Agreement

<p>They say they want a temporary suspension while the crisis continues. Spain will being introducing border restrictions during the European Central Bank meeting in Barcelona at the start of May.Angela Merkel and Nicolás Sarkozy - The Interior Ministers of France and Germany have written a joint letter in which they call for the reform of, and ‘temporary suspension’ of the Schengen agreement which allows for the free movement between most member states of the EU.  They say the change is necessary ‘to control the massive flow of immigrants’. The call comes just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the treaty this coming Monday, although many countries signed up in March 1995.  France and Germany consider that a ‘temporary suspension’ is needed during the crisis, and Paris and Berlin speak of ‘provisional’ closure of frontiers, and only when a country in the Schengen space cannot control the flow of immigrants. They say they will give the details to their European partners at the next conference.  Meanwhile Spain has announced the suspension of the Schengen Treaty and the re-establishing of frontier controls with France ahead of the European Central Bank meeting which is to be held in Barcelona on May 3.   It has not yet been decided how long the border restriction will remain in place, but say it will allow the authorities to act if there is ‘a serious threat to public order or interior security’.  The measure will only affect the frontiers between Spain and France from the Basque Country to Cataluña. Reports indicate that it was the Catalan Government to step up the controls in the face of possible disturbances and the arrival of anti-system protestors from other countries in Europe.</p>

France and Germany want to suspend the Shengen Agreement

They say they want a temporary suspension while the crisis continues. Spain will being introducing border restrictions during the European C...

British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid

<p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_197" class="first" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of <span id="lw_1334848925_0" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">Rupert Murdoch</span>'s Sun tabloid, a source familiar with the situation said, in an escalation of a long-running phone hacking scandal which reaches into Britain's political establishment.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_207" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Thursday's arrests and the fact they stemmed from information given to the police by <span id="lw_1334848925_3" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">Murdoch</span>'s company itself is likely to reignite tensions within the media group, just days before parliament gives its verdict on how the culture of illegality came about.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Next week Rupert Murdoch and son James will also appear before a judicial inquiry to answer questions over the conduct of the press, which will focus on the close ties between Murdoch, his executives and the political establishment.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_203" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;"><span id="lw_1334848925_1" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">James Murdoch</span> will appear in court room 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday while lawyers at the inquiry have cleared a day and a half to grill the 81-year-old Rupert on Wednesday and Thursday.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_296" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">"This was always going to be an important six weeks in this affair, with the Murdochs and politicians going before the Leveson judicial inquiry, but it will be exacerbated by the arrests and the imminent committee report," said Steven Barnett, communications professor at the University of Westminster.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Police made the arrests one day after prosecutors confirmed they had started to examine the police case against four journalists and seven others to establish whether they should be charged with a range of offences including perverting the course of justice.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Press reports have speculated that one of those named in the files is Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World and Sun tabloids and a close friend of both Murdochs and Prime Minister David Cameron.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Brooks has been arrested twice, once for corruption and intercepting communications, and more recently for perverting the course of justice, along with her husband, Charlie Brooks.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_323" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The three arrested on Thursday were detained at dawn and questioned over inappropriate payments made to police and public officials.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The source familiar with the situation said one of those was Duncan Larcombe, royal editor and a former defence correspondent at the Sun, Britain's biggest selling daily newspaper.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_205" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">A spokeswoman for Murdoch's British newspaper arm <span id="lw_1334848925_2" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">News International</span> confirmed that one of those arrested was a Sun journalist but declined to give further details.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Larcombe was previously a defence correspondent at the Sun and another person arrested on Thursday was described by police as a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces. A woman aged 38 has also been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">ROUTINE HACKING</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Murdoch's British newspaper arm has been rocked in the last year by allegations that journalists at the Sun's sister title, the News of the World, had routinely hacked into phones to generate salacious front-page stories.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The police investigation, which forced the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World, has since moved on to the Sun newspaper and whether its journalists paid police and public officials for stories.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">While damaging the reputation of Murdoch, the intense spotlight has also revealed the extremely close links he and his executives have with politicians and senior police officers, embarrassing many with tales of horse rides and Christmas drinks between the upper echelons of Murdoch executives and politicians.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Police said the latest arrests were prompted by information provided by the Management and Standards Committee, a small team set up by Murdoch's News Corp to co-operate closely with the police in a move that has infuriated newspaper staff.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The 81-year-old Murdoch was forced to travel to London in February to reassure journalists of his commitment to the Sun after a string of earlier arrests caused a showdown at the paper by staff who felt they had been abandoned by their management.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Since then, the Sun has launched a Sunday version and both the Sun and Murdoch's Times newspaper have noticeably hardened their position towards the government, which turned on Murdoch at the height of the hacking scandal last year.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_321" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">That antagonism is likely to be exacerbated in the coming weeks when the parliamentary select committee, which summoned James and Rupert Murdoch at the height of the scandal last year, publishes its findings.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_319" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The committee investigated allegations of phone hacking after they first surfaced in 2006 and it has since looked at whether it was misled in its initial inquiry by a host of News International executives who pleaded innocence.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_317" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Paul Farrelly, a leading member of the committee, told Reuters they hoped to publish the long-awaited report by May 1.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_315" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Tom Watson, a member of the committee who has campaigned against Murdoch, told reporters he thought News Corp had become a toxic institution which operated like a shadow state</p>

British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid

British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of Rupert Murdoch 's Sun tabloid, a source familiar with the situation...

Phone data shows romance 'driven by women'

<p> </p><p>A study of mobile phone calls suggests that women call their spouse more than any other person.  That changes as their daughters become old enough to have children, after which they become the most important person in their lives.  The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.  It also shows that men call their spouse most often for the first seven years of their relationship. They then shift their focus to other friends.  The results come from an analysis of the texts of mobile phone calls of three million people.  According to the study's co-author, Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, UK, the investigation shows that pair-bonding is much more important to women than men.  "It's the first really strong evidence that romantic relationships are driven by women," he told BBC News.  "It's they who make the decision and once they have made their mind up, they just go for the poor bloke until he keels over and gives in!"  But the data shows that women start to switch the preference of their best friend from about the mid-30s, and by the age of 45 a woman of a generation younger becomes the "new best friend", according to Professor Dunbar.  Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote  Human societies are moving back to a matriarchy”  Prof Robin Dunbar Oxford University "What seems to happen is that women push the 'old man' out to become their second best friend, and he gets called much less often and all her attention is focussed on her daughters just at the point at which you are likely to see grandchildren arriving," he says.  Prof Dunbar also claims that the findings suggest that human societies are moving away from a patriarchy back to a matriarchy.  The aim of the project was to find out how close, intimate relationships vary over a lifetime.  This kind of anthropological study is normally very difficult to do because it is hard for researchers to get such a big picture of people's lives.  But by looking at an at an extremely large mobile phone database, they were able to track these changes extremely accurately.  They had access to the age and sex of the callers, who between them made three billion calls and half a billion texts over a period of seven months.  Intensely focussed  The team wanted to find out how the gender preference of best friends, as defined by the frequency of the calling, changed over the course of a lifetime and differed between men and women.  They found that men tend to choose a woman the same age as themselves - which the researchers presumed to be their girlfriend or wife - as a best friend much later in life than women do, and for a much shorter time. This occurs when they are in their early-30s, possibly during courtship, and stops after seven years or so.  Women, however, choose a man of a similar age to be their best friend from the age of 20. He remains for about 15 years, after which time he's replaced by a daughter.   The pendulum between the two sexes is swinging back towards women, says Prof Dunbar The researchers say that a woman's social world is intensely focussed a on one individual and will shift as a result of reproductive interests from being the mate to children and grandchildren.  According to Prof Dunbar, the data suggests that "at root the important relationships are those between women and not those between men".  "Men's relationships are too casual. They often function at a high level in a political sense, of course; but at the end of the day, the structure of society is driven by women, which is exactly what we see in primates," he explains.  Many anthropologists argue that most human societies are patriarchal on the basis that in most communities men stay where they are born whereas the wives move.  But Professor Dunbar and his colleagues are arguing that this only occurs in agriculturally based societies.  "If you look at hunter-gatherers and you look at modern humans in modern post-industrial societies, we are much more matriarchal. It's almost as if the pendulum between the two sexes, power-wise, is swinging (back) as we move away from agriculture toward a knowledge-based economy," he says.</p>

Phone data shows romance 'driven by women'

A study of mobile phone calls suggests that women call their spouse more than any other person. That changes as their daughters become ol...

Secret Service scandal sheds light on sex tourism in Latin America

<p><br />Type in "sex tourism" and "Brazil" in Google, and the first site that comes up is not a news report or academic study, but advice on going rates and how to hire prostitutes.  But ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, officials are starting to clamp down on the country's image as a haven for sex tourism. Brazil's Tourism Ministry recently said it identified more than 2,000 sites advertising the South American giant's sex industry, many of them hosted in the US. To counter the reputation, the tourism ministry has stepped up efforts to advertise Brazil's natural beauties like beaches and the Amazon, instead of bodies for sale. And they have circulated information reminding visitors that sexual exploitation of minors is a crime.    Brazil's preventive efforts seem more crucial than ever after the scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, during the Sixth Summit of the Americas last weekend. Some 11 US Secret Service agents were sent home for allegedly hiring prostitutes in the steamy colonial city, also a major destination for sex tourism.   “Large events create an obvious clientele and traffickers recognize an opportunity to make money,” says Heather Smith-Cannoy, who teaches international relations at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.  “I think that in many places around the world there is a 'boys will be boys' attitude about the patronizing of prostitutes," Ms. Smith-Cannoy says. But when considering the combination of large profits for traffickers, and pimps or hustlers, and a relaxed cultural attitude about visiting prostitutes "we can begin to understand both the supply and the demand side of this industry,” says Smith-Cannoy.  The trafficking–tourism link Sex “tourism" is nothing new. By some accounts it dates back to the 15th century, with Columbus's arrival to the Americas. As the middle class grew in industrialized nations, and the opportunities to travel with it, the formal industry was developed.   Prostitution is tolerated to varying degrees in Latin America, but it is the human trafficking associated with sex tourism, especially that of minors, that alarms officials most. (The case of Cartagena did not involve minors.)  According to the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC), 500,000 women and girls from Latin America and the Caribbean are sexually exploited each year.  Not all prostitution involves sex trafficking, a multibillion dollar industry, but the nongovernmental organization World Vision estimates that up to a quarter of women in prostitution have been trafficked.  At the same time, the majority of human trafficking victims — 79 percent — are brought into the sex trade, according to the United Nations. Countries in Asia, notably Thailand, have long been at the center of the problem, but Latin America is starting to play a larger role.  “While most trafficking victims still appear to originate from South and Southeast Asia or the former Soviet Union, human trafficking is also a growing problem in Latin America,” writes Clare Ribando Seelke in a 2012 Congressional Research Service report.  Poverty, displacement from rural areas, and increased demand for prostitution all play a role in the growth of sexual exploitation, says Humberto Rodriguez, the communication officer of Fundacion Renacer, a Colombia-based group that combats the sexual exploitation of youths in the country. Anywhere the tourism industry grows, he says, so does the opportunity for sexual tourism.  'Not enough is being done' Within sex tourism, the exploitation of children is the biggest concern.  According to the US State Department 2011 report on the trafficking of persons, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua all have significant child sex tourist industries. Colombia, it says, is also “a destination for foreign child sex tourists from the United States and Europe, particularly to coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla.”  Countries around the globe have addressed the problem of human trafficking in general since the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, was adopted in 2000, but many say not enough is being done.  The US State Department assesses efforts around the globe to combat human trafficking. In 2010, 80 percent of countries in South America were placed on the Tier 2 list, which means they were not fully complying with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, while 60 percent of countries in Central America and the Caribbean were on the Tier 2 Watch List.  Cuba fell to the lowest level of cooperation, Tier 3. The State Department says that prostitution of children over 16 is legal in Cuba, leaving those over the legal age vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation. Venezuela fell to Tier 3 in the 2011 report.  Colombia sits on the Tier 1 list, and while the case of the US Secret Service agents does not fall into Fundacion Renacer's work — as it did not involve children — Mr. Rodriguez says the case may not have generated so much attention in the past. “People are paying attention to it now,” says Rodriguez.  Through their work and an international certification program called The Code, which brings tourism operators into the fight to prevent the use of children in sex tourism, society in general is more aware of prostitution, he says.  Efforts like these are particularly important as countries become hosts to big events like the Summit of the Americas, or as crises occur.  An increased demand for prostitution increases human sex trafficking rings, says Cannoy-Smith. She and a co-author have researched the impact of UN peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, Haiti, and Sierra Leone on trafficking.  “When the UN intervenes in civil conflicts, the peacekeepers themselves have often been linked to running and patronizing trafficking rings,” Smith-Cannoy says. “Again, I think that poverty, desperation, the specter of large profits, and relaxed cultural attitudes make these dynamics possible.”</p>

Secret Service scandal sheds light on sex tourism in Latin America

Type in "sex tourism" and "Brazil" in Google, and the first site that comes up is not a news report or academic study, b...

Sex Robots Will Revolutionize Sex Tourism,

<p> </p><p>They don't spread disease and they can't be sold into sex slavery.  Those are just two of the advantages of robot prostitutes, which will be edging out their human competition in the sex tourism market by the year 2050, according to an article published in the journal Futures.  The Dominion Post, which found the study, writes that sex tourists will shell out about $10,000 Euros for services ranging from massages and lap dances to intercourse, according to the article.  The researchers lay out why this scenario will be the future of sex tourism:  Human trafficking, sexual transmitted diseases, beauty and physical perfection, pleasure for sex toys, emotional connection to robots and the importance of sex in Amsterdam are all driving forces. But some are not so sure that robots will be replacing female sex workers any time soon.  CBS Las Vegas spoke to Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nev.  “Those Australian researchers ought to come to the Bunny Ranch to see what real American sex is like – there’s no way to duplicate it,” Hof told CBS Las Vegas. “At the Bunny Ranch, we say ‘it’s not just the sex, it’s an adventure’ – and often times it’s more about the adventure than it is the sex.”</p>

Sex Robots Will Revolutionize Sex Tourism,

They don't spread disease and they can't be sold into sex slavery. Those are just two of the advantages of robot prostitutes, whi...

Smoking is no longer part of life, says Andrew Lansley

<p> </p><p>The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has declared that "we no longer see smoking as a part of life", as a ban on tobacco promotion in large shops comes into force.  The legislation means that from Friday all large shops and supermarkets in England must hide cigarettes and tobacco products from public view.  "It's also about supporting smokers who want to give up," Lansley told BBC Breakfast. "There's more than a third of smokers who say they want to stop. Each year we have nearly 800,000 smokers who try to quit, 50% succeed. We want to continue to increase that proportion, help more people to stop."  The Department of Health said the move was in response to evidence that cigarette displays in shops can encourage young people to take up the habit.  According to its figures, more than 300,000 children aged under 16 try smoking each year and 5% of children aged 11 to 15 are regular smokers. About 39% of smokers say they were smoking regularly before the age of 16.  Lansley dismissed the suggestion that smoking could become more attractive to young people if it was kept hidden and insisted the key issue was about "shifting the culture".  "The culture is about moving to a place where tobacco and smoking isn't part of normal life: people don't encounter it normally, they don't see it in their big supermarkets, they don't see people smoking in public places, they don't see tobacco vending machines.  "We are going to continue to try to act against smoking for the simple reason that most smokers want to quit and it is the biggest avoidable cause of early mortality."  Jean King, of Cancer Research UK, told the programme: "We want everything we can possibly do to make cigarettes unavailable and inaccessible and something that children don't see as a normal product."  She said there was "no positive use" for tobacco and no known safe level of use, adding: "We need to do everything we can to prevent young people getting hold of cigarettes."  The health minister Anne Milton said: "We cannot ignore the fact that young people are recruited into smoking by colourful, eye-catching, cigarette displays.  "Most adult smokers started smoking as teenagers and we need to stop this trend. Banning displays of cigarettes and tobacco will help young people resist the pressure to start smoking and help the thousands of adults in England who are currently trying to quit."  All tobacco products must now be kept out of sight except when staff are serving customers or carrying out other day-to-day tasks, such as restocking. Those found not complying with the law could be fined up to £5,000 or face imprisonment.  The ban on displays will roll out to smaller shops and businesses in three years' time.  The government is consulting on introducing plain packaging for packets of cigarettes and other tobacco products.</p>

Smoking is no longer part of life, says Andrew Lansley

The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has declared that "we no longer see smoking as a part of life", as a ban on tobacco promot...

Addictive painkiller sales surge in new parts of U.S.

<p><br />Sales of the two most popular prescription painkillers in the United States have exploded in new parts of the country, an Associated Press analysis shows, worrying experts who say the push to relieve patients' suffering is spawning an addiction epidemic.  Drug Enforcement Administration figures show dramatic rises between 2000 and 2010 in the distribution of oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan. Some places saw sales increase sixteenfold.  Meanwhile, the distribution of hydrocodone, the key ingredient in Vicodin, Norco and Lortab, is rising in Appalachia, the original epicenter of the U.S. painkiller epidemic, as well as in the Midwest.  The increases have coincided with a wave of overdose deaths, pharmacy robberies and other problems in New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Florida and other states. Opioid pain relievers, the category that includes oxycodone and hydrocodone, caused 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008 alone, and the death toll is rising, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.  Across the U.S., pharmacies received and ultimately dispensed the equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone and 42 tons of pure hydrocodone in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. That's enough to give 40 5-mg Percocets and 24 5-mg Vicodins to every person in the United States. The DEA data records shipments from distributors to pharmacies, hospitals, practitioners and teaching institutions. The drugs are eventually dispensed and sold to patients, but the DEA does not keep track of how much individual patients receive.  The increase is partly due to the aging U.S. population with pain issues and a greater willingness by doctors to treat pain, said Gregory Bunt, medical director at New York's Daytop Village chain of drug treatment clinics.  Sales are also being driven by addiction, as users become physically dependent on painkillers and begin "doctor shopping" to keep the prescriptions coming, he said.  "Prescription medications can provide enormous health and quality-of-life benefits to patients," Gil Kerlikowske, the U.S. drug czar, told Congress in March. "However, we all now recognize that these drugs can be just as dangerous and deadly as illicit substances when misused or abused."  Opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone can release intense feelings of well-being. Some abusers swallow the pills; others crush them, then smoke, snort or inject the powder.  Unlike most street drugs, the problem has its roots in two disparate parts of the country -- Appalachia and affluent suburbs, said Pete Jackson, president of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids.  "Now it's spreading from those two poles," Jackson said.  A few areas that include military bases or Veterans Affairs hospitals have seen large increases in painkiller use because of soldier patients injured in the Middle East, law enforcement officials say.  Experts worry painkiller sales are spreading quickly in areas where there are few clinics to treat people who get hooked, Bunt said.  In Utica, New York, Patricia Reynolds has struggled to find treatment after becoming dependent on hydrocodone pills originally prescribed for a broken tailbone.  The nearest clinics offering Suboxone, an anti-addiction drug, are an hour's drive away in Cooperstown or Syracuse. And those programs are full and are not accepting new patients, she said.  "You can't have one clinic like that in the whole area," Reynolds said. "It's a really sad epidemic. I want people to start talking about it instead of pretending it's not a problem and hiding."</p>

Addictive painkiller sales surge in new parts of U.S.

Sales of the two most popular prescription painkillers in the United States have exploded in new parts of the country, an Associated Press a...

Freedom near after years in hell but Schapelle Corby is too scared to hope

<p><br />CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby last night said she was "too scared to get my hopes up" after Indonesia's Justice and Human Rights Ministry recommended her jail sentence be slashed by 10 years - meaning she could be back in Australia within weeks.  Her family is now anxiously awaiting a decision by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will have the final say on whether Corby is released.  From her cell at Bali's Kerobokan prison, Corby last night said she was waiting for more information about the ministry's recommendation.  Her sister Mercedes, who was visiting Schapelle when the news broke, said that if Dr Yudhoyono did agree to cut 10 years from Corby's sentence, she would be eligible to go home immediately.  "She will have done eight years in October, plus she's had two years reduced in good behaviour, so that's 10 years," she said.  "So if another 10 years is cut, she should be pretty much eligible for release immediately."  Mercedes said, if released, her sister planned to head straight back to Australia to live with her mother Rosleigh in Queensland.  Corby was jailed for 20 years in 2004 for attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali in a body board bag.  The announcement of the major breakthrough in the former Gold Coast beautician's drug saga came as a "pleasant shock" to Corby and her family yesterday when The Daily Telegraph told them of the ministry's recommendation.  Mercedes was at the prison having a small birthday celebration with Schapelle for their younger sister Mele, who had just turned 22.  "Oh wow, have they recommended clemency? I hope this is true. I better make some calls," she said.  A few hours later Mercedes said the family was "too nervous" to get their hopes up and would await the President's ruling before they celebrated.  Corby first launched her bid for clemency two years ago, appealing for an early release on the grounds she was suffering from mental illness which could endanger her life.  "She's on anti-psychotics to keep her stable, but she goes up and down," Mercedes said.  A Justice Ministry official yesterday revealed the recommendation to slash Corby's sentence was based on humanitarian grounds: "Our office agreed with her clemency. We recommended granting it."  Corby's lawyer Iskander Nawing described it as a "huge development" and a breakthrough.  The recommendation also includes an approval for clemency from the director-general of prisons.  Dr Yudhoyono's decision will be based on the recommendation from the Justice Ministry, as well as advice from the Attorney-General's Department, Foreign Ministry and National Narcotics Board.  Print</p>

Freedom near after years in hell but Schapelle Corby is too scared to hope

CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby last night said she was "too scared to get my hopes up" after Indonesia's Justice and ...

Whitney Houston 'Powdery' substance in hotel bathroom

Drug paraphernalia and a white powdery substance were discovered in Whitney Houston's hotel room on the day she died, according to a c...

Pensioner shoots himself at Greek Parliament, refuses to 'search for food in garbage'

<p><br />77-year-old Greek man has committed suicide in central Athens by the nation’s parliament, shooting himself with a handgun in apparent financial desperation. Eyewitness reports say that the man shouted “So I won’t leave debts for my children” before turning the gun on himself. Others claimed he said nothing. Greek state media reports the man left a suicide note saying “The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival. And since I cannot find justice, I cannot find another means to react besides putting a decent end [to my life], before I start searching the garbage for food." Georgios Tsolakoglou headed the Greek collaborationist government during the German occupation of Greece in the Second World War. The note has been widely regarded as drawing a parallel between Lucas Papademos’ current collaborationist government and Tsolakoglou’s regime because of the economic crisis in the country. The incident occurred around 9 am (local time) in Syntagma Square, just outside a metro station, when the area was filled with people and commuters. The man took his life behind a big tree, which concealed him from most eyes. Two people sitting on a bench some 10 meters away have been questioned by the police. An investigation into a motive has been opened. The pensioner, whose name is not yet released, appears to have been a pharmacist who owned a drugstore in Athens, which he later had to sell, Lourantos Costas, the head of the Attica Pharmacist’s Association told the Greek daily The City Press. The shocked Greek community is issuing calls for a "Syntagma afternoon" later on Wednesday. Motorcyclists are planning a protest ride around the capital starting at 17:30 local time (14:30 GMT). ‘Who’s next?’ People are bringing flowers to the tree under which the desperate old man took his own life. They also leave messages on the tree: "Austerity kills," "Not a suicide; a murder” or “Who’s gonna be next?” The number of suicides has dramatically increased in the country since the beginning of the economic crisis, shows data released by the Greek Health Ministry. Prior to the economic downturn Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe at 2.8 for every 100,000 inhabitants. Now, this figure has almost doubled, with police reporting over 600 suicide cases in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Attempted suicides are also on the up. Just on Tuesday, a 38-year-old Albanian man killed himself on the island of Crete. He had been unemployed for some time. The financial hardship made him jump off his second-floor balcony, reported local news. The private sector is proving to be no safe haven either, as in the last few months several businessmen have fatally shot themselves. To secure loan payments to foreign investors, Greece has been forced to drastically cut state spending by slashing public salaries and pensions by almost 40 per cent, while the unemployment rate has hit 21 per cent. But so far the Greek government has failed to pull the country out of its three-year economic downturn and continues to rack up austerity measures to qualify for EU bailout packages.</p>

Pensioner shoots himself at Greek Parliament, refuses to 'search for food in garbage'

77-year-old Greek man has committed suicide in central Athens by the nation’s parliament, shooting himself with a handgun in apparent financ...