IMF chief - world risk "lost decade"

Quote: "Our sense is that if we do not act boldly and if we do not act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand... we could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade." 


http://www.cnbc.com//id/45217763

Insurance Broker Business Plan

Insurance Broker Business Plan

Industrial, commercial insurance broker, helping clients find insurance coverage for a wider range of risks. However, the issues of prices nipping their revenue base, forcing them to take the buyout.The No. 2, Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc bulking exploration strategy through acquisitions of small to play at Aon Corp. may have to dig deep into the wallets of their order to maintain the position. market"I think we will see the uptick in insurance brokerage activities, M & M, as the market began to freeze," said Dave Simmons, a leading mergers and acquisitions, insurance, Deloitte said.In the past, a publicly traded company, insurance broker, is intended to be a player in the regional community and small market is very fragmented.Although the acquisition of small, stand - alone generally do not affect the balance sheet at acquisition that expanded access to dozens of large companies and the growth of the disk."I think there is room for consolidation in the sector, securities brokerage, and will continue to see the rotation of the brokerage firms of small and medium enterprises in the region as a player at the national level, big," Simmons. he said.Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and Brown & Brown has a history of buying dozens of companies in financial crisis, forced to cut the budget for acquisitions.But the chaos of the contract announced recently returned to the table shown.The fact that the MMC aggressive tactics used to compare the offers throughout the year to act as a catalyst for the insurance broker the others will follow suit, Alan Devlin, analysts in the capital of the Atlantic."The reason (insurance broker M & A) is because MMC came out with a specific strategy," he said.Gathering steam.MMC made six acquisitions in the insurance risk and the services of the company in 2009, has already announced that the third year and has completed the acquisition of a sudden $ 218 million from HSBC Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd.. subsidiary of SBC.Smaller rival Arthur J. Gallagher has announced the acquisition of five years, to date, while rival Brown & Brown has announced sixCompanies like Arthur Gallagher has not revealed all their M & A if the size of the transaction is not material to take a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.Similarly, Aon, which makes the acquisition 14 years ago has acquired seven companies in the first quarter alone, said spokesman Kelly Drinkwine.In sharp contrast, the insurance broker Willis has been an expansion in the first quarter, without the acquisition.Stressed the importance of mergers and acquisitions for insurance brokers.In a given market will continue to provide insurance companies, and how to become a fund analyst Bill Bergman's very important he said.Hunter?Wave of M & A in the sector could attract the attention of private equity firms."They (private equity) will try to exploit the change in pricing and valuation," Deloitte said Simmons.Insurance companies, private equity is not new in the 1998 buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co KKR.AS important players purchased Willis in the blockbuster deal and took it public in 2001."Marsh and McLennan and Arthur Gallagher, those are our biggest companies, and the possibility that private companies may be interested in," Morningstar. Analysts said Bill Bergman.We can look at the average public-broker market to make acquisitions, and combine to form a great game.

Bolivia restored diplomatic ties with the United States

In an agreement signed in Washington, the two nations pledged to work together to fight drug trafficking.

President Morales expelled US drug enforcement agents and the ambassador, Philip Goldberg, in 2008, accusing them of conspiring against the government.

But relations have improved and talks began last year to reinstate£¨»Ö¸´£© ties.

The agreement sees "the swift return of ambassadors to Washington and La Paz," according to a Bolivian Foreign Ministry statement cited by Reuters news agency.

"The accord's objectives include strengthening and deepening bilateral£¨Ë«±ßµÄ£© relations... (and) supporting efficient co-operation against the production and trafficking of illegal drugs," the statement said.

But the pact does not mention whether US drug agents will return to Bolivia, the world's third largest cocaine producer.

In 2008, Mr Morales, a critic of Washington's policies in Latin America, accused Mr Goldberg of inciting pro-autonomy opposition leaders in the country's eastern lowlands.

The Bolivian president - who also heads the country's coca growers' union - expelled US drug enforcement agents two months afterwards.

In response, the US sent the Bolivian ambassador back.

Correspondents say relations between the two countries have gradually improved since the row, but tensions remain.

In March, Mr Morales hit out at the US government over critical drug reports which the Bolivian leader said were intended to link his government with narcotic£¨Âé×íµÄ£© smuggling.

Before the general election win shimon peres ¡¤ molina Guatemala

With almost all ballots counted, the election tribunal said Mr Perez Molina won 55% of the vote, while his rival, Manuel Baldizon, garnered£¨»ñµÃ£© only 45%.

Mr Perez Molina will become the first former military figure to rule since the civil war ended in the 1990s.

Both candidates had promised to fight violent crime and the presence of Mexican drug gangs in the country.

Guatemala is a key transit point for drugs from South America to the US.

Death penalty pledge

Mr Perez Molina, running for the right-wing Patriotic Party, has pledged to employ 10,000 new police and 2,500 more soldiers as part of his tough stance on crime.

Speaking after results came in, he said: "The first thing to do will be to lower the levels of violence and insecurity that we are living with, and work with lawmakers to improve the state's budget."

He was regarded as the favourite after coming out on top in the first round against Mr Baldizon, who leads the Renewed Democratic Liberty party (Lider).

But critics say Mr Perez Molina's record is tarnished£¨Ê¹ÉúÐ⣬մÎÛ£© by his time in the army - with rights groups accusing him of abuses as commander of troops in the worst areas of Guatemala's conflict.

The 61-year-old says there is no evidence to substantiate the claim.

During the campaign Mr Baldizon, 41, said he supported the introduction of the death penalty for the most serious offences.

But the business tycoon-turned-politician also made promises that some considered outlandish£¨¹Å¹ÖµÄ£© , including taking Guatemala's football team to the World Cup.

Democracy was restored in Guatemala in 1996, after a 36-year conflict in which more than 200,000 people are believed to have been killed.

Mr Perez Molina narrowly lost four years ago to the incumbent, President Alvaro Colom, who is constitutionally limited to one term.

More than half of Guatemala's 14 million people live in poverty, and organised crime is rife£¨ÆÕ±éµÄ£© .

President Alvaro Colom has had to send troops to retake some provinces from the Zetas drug gang, including Mr Baldizon's home state of Peten bordering Mexico.

Mr Colom's former wife Sandra Torres had hoped to run, but, despite divorcing her husband, fell foul of a ban on close relatives of the president running for the post.

Thailand floods expanded

The water has now reached the outskirts£¨ÍâΧ£© of the inner city, though the authorities are still battling to keep the commercial heart of Bangkok dry.
More than 500 people have lost their lives as a result of the floods.

Humanitarian organisations are now concerned about communities living among the increasingly dirty water.

More than a third of Bangkok's districts are now subject to full or partial evacuation orders, and still the water keeps coming.

Billions of cubic metres of water is gradually draining away from inundated£¨ºé·ºµÄ£© provinces north of the capital, passing through and around Bangkok as it flows to the sea.

City authorities have been given more pumps to try to force the floodwater through more quickly.

But most experts agree that several areas will remain submerged for at least another two weeks.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra says she plans to set aside£¨³·Ïú£¬²µ»Ø£© more than $3bn for post-flood reconstruction.

But given the extent of the clean up that will be needed, many here are already predicting the final bill could be much higher.

Baghdad serial explosion eight people were killed

Three explosions went off in the commercial district of Shurja, as people were buying food for the major Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
At least 21 people were injured in the attack, police told the Associated Press news agency.

Overall violence in Iraq has declined since a peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks on civilians remain common.

The latest explosions came despite the extra security measures put in place across Iraq for the Eid holiday.

The bombs are believed to have been planted throughout the sprawling£¨ÂûÉúµÄ£© Shurja market, one of the oldest and best-known markets in Iraq.

"I can see fire and black smoke mounting and a large number of fire engines, ambulances and police patrols rushing to the market," one witness told Reuters.

Interior and defence ministry officials said parts of the historic market had been set on fire, the AFP news agency reports.

Baghdad has seen a resurgence£¨¸´»î£¬ÔÙÏÖ£© in militant violence in recent months, as the last US troops in the country prepare to leave by the end of the year.

Official figures says 258 people were killed in violence nationwide in October.

The increase has raised concerns that the violence might increase even more once the US military hands over security responsibilities to the Iraqis.

Tanzania arrest of more than twenty Congolese soldiers

They said they were pursuing rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo seeking medical treatment in Tanzania, Lt Col Emmanuel Mcheri said.

The heavily armed men were arrested after docking next to a police vessel at Kigoma port on Lake Tanganyika.

DR Congo's mineral-rich eastern region is plagued£¨À§ÈÅ£¬ÕÛÄ¥£© by rebel groups.

Lt Col Mcheri said the soldiers, who are still being questioned, were carrying 17 sub-machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, pistols, hand grenades and three surface-to-air missiles used for shooting down planes.

"We might as well regard this as an invasion... They travelled all the way from the border to Kigoma Port without notifying us. We are detaining them until we get further information and directives from above," he told Tanzania's Citizen newspaper.

Local officials refused to comment on the matter.

Despite a peace deal in DR Congo in 2002, ending a brutal five-year civil war, there is still violence in the the east of the country.

UN peacekeeping troops have been backing efforts to defeat some militias operating in eastern DR Congo and to integrate other groups into the army.

Some 42,000 Congolese refugees are currently in Tanzania, having fled fighting in eastern DR Congo, according to the UN refugee agency.

Nigeria TuLu city of horse attacks happened killed 63 people

Witnesses said the bombs hit several targets, including churches and the headquarters of the Yobe state police.

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram told a newspaper it was behind the attack and that it planned to hit further government targets.

A Nigerian journalist told the BBC he personally counted nearly 100 bodies.

"I saw 97 dead bodies in the morgue£¨³ÂʬËù£© ," Aminu Abubakar, who is in Damaturu, said.

"But an official involved in the evacuation told me that he counted 150 dead bodies although some had been taken away by their loved ones," he said.

President Goodluck Jonathan was "greatly disturbed" by the attack, and said his government was working hard to bring those "determined to derail£¨Íѹ죩 peace and stability in the country to book", according to a spokesman.

A series of attacks on security forces in the nearby city of Maiduguri recently have also been blamed on Boko Haram.

Nigerian Red Cross official Ibrahim Bulama, in Damaturu, told the BBC at least 63 people had been killed there.

He said two other people had been killed in attacks elsewhere. News agencies said the nearby town of Potiskum had also been attacked.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Nigeria's main commercial city, Lagos, says this attack appears to be Boko Haram's bloodiest strike to date.

An unnamed local government official in Damaturu was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that hundreds of wounded people were being treated in hospital.

Witnesses said the attacks began on Friday at about 18:30 (17:30 GMT) and lasted for about 90 minutes.

Gunmen then engaged in running battles with security forces.

Italian port city of Genoa sudden flooding

Five of the victims, including two children, died when the lobby of an apartment block in which they had sought shelter flooded.

A woman was apparently crushed by cars being swept away by the water.

The Genoa city website advised people not to leave their homes and to climb to the upper floors.

Several people are missing in the city.

"This was a completely unexpected tragedy," said Genoa mayor Marta Vicenzi.

Television footage showed cars floating and people wading knee-deep through flooded streets in Genoa, the largest city on Italy's north western coast.

Hundreds of shops were flooded and emergency officials urged residents to move to high ground as two rivers burst their banks.

Firefighters used rubber dinghies£¨ÏðƤͧ£© and divers to evacuate people, officials said.

Motorways in the area were also closed off and flights re-routed away from the local airport.

Sunday's Serie A soccer match between local team Genoa and rivals Inter Milan has been postponed.

Much of northern Italy was hit by heavy rains on Friday, and flooding was also reported in Venice.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has given Italy's civil protection chief extra authority to provide assistance to residents.

"People should avoid bridges and streams and not sleep on first floors or in areas that are easily flooded," said Renata Briano, a local emergency official.

Last week the government declared a state of emergency in the north western Liguria region and Tuscany after storms lashed the coastal regions, killing at least 10 people and causing widespread flooding and mudslides.

Nigeria were hijacked ships have been released

The vessel - the MT Halifax - was attacked near the oil city of Port Harcourt.

The crew of 25, mainly Filipinos, were said to be safe and accounted for.

The area has seen an increase in the number of hijackings of tankers as pirates target oil shipments moving out of Nigeria.

In most cases the cargo of fuel is taken off before the ship and crew are released unharmed - unlike in Somalia where crews and their ships are held until ransoms are paid, often after several months.

"The vessel is presently being escorted to Port Harcourt harbour by Nigerian Navy Patrol Team," a spokeswoman for the Nigerian Maritime Administration said.

"Part of the cargo was siphoned£¨ÓúçÎü¹ÜÎü£© ," she said.

The Halifax is operated by the Greek-based Ancora Investment Trust Inc and is flagged out of Malta.

Piracy surge

Ancora lost contact with the tanker on 30 October, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

An official said it was located about 100km (60 miles) off Port Harcourt before it was hijacked.

The United Nations this week urged West African nations to increase naval patrols following a surge of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea.

West Africa has seen a growing number of oil tanker hijackings in recent months as pirates target oil shipments from Nigeria, one of the world's biggest producers.

Over the last eight months, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts.

In August, London-based Lloyd's Market Association - an umbrella group of insurers - listed Nigeria, neighbouring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia.

On Monday, a top UN official, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, said that Somali pirates were inspiring copycat£¨Ã¤Ä¿µÄÄ£·ÂÕߣ© attacks in other parts of Africa.

Greece will be restructured coalition government

Greek leaders at crisis talks in Athens have agreed to form a new national unity government, the president's office says.

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Beleaguered£¨°üΧµÄ£© Prime Minister George Papandreou has agreed to stand down and his successor will be chosen during talks on Monday, a statement said.

The coalition is to lead the country until elections, which could be held on 19 February, the finance ministry said.

The announcement followed a week of turmoil£¨»ìÂÒ£¬É§¶¯£© over Greece's debt crisis.

Once the new leader is named, Mr Papoulias will invite parties to join the new government, according to the statement from the president's office.

The plan envisages£¨ÕýÊÓ£¬Ãæ¶Ô£© elections once the government approves an EU bailout package.

Talks between Mr Papandreou and main opposition leader Antonis Samaras were hosted by President Karolos Papoulias on Sunday evening.

Mr Papandreou had been trying to build a national unity government to replace his Pasok party administration, but Mr Samaras, of the New Democracy party, had been refusing to negotiate unless his rival resigned first.

The two men also disagreed sharply on the timing of new elections, with Mr Papandreou seeking a delay of several months while Mr Samaras wanted them immediately.

There has been speculation that the new coalition could be led by current Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos or by Lukas Papademos, a former deputy president of the European Central Bank.

A Greek government spokesman a new administration would be sworn in and a confidence vote held within a week if all went well.

"Today was a historic day for Greece," Ilias Mossialos said.

A spokesman for the New Democracy party said it was "absolutely satisfied" with the outcome of the talks.

"Our two targets, for Mr Papandreou to resign and for elections to be held, have been met," the New Democracy spokesman told AP news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity£¨ÄäÃû£© .

At a late-night meeting on Sunday, Mr Venizelos met opposition members and agreed that 19 February would be the most suitable date for elections, according to a finance ministry statements.

However few other details have emerged, such as how quickly the bailout deal might be approved.

The baby three years old should not be before bed to sleep with mother points

The controversial advice comes from a paediatrician£¨¶ù¿Æר¼Ò£© who found that two-day-old babies who were placed in cots slept less well than those who dozed on their mother¡¯s chest.

Their hearts were also under more stress, it was claimed.

Sleeping alone makes it harder for mother and child to bond - and damages the development of the brain, leading to bad behaviour as the child grows up, researchers fear.

Dr Nils Bergman, of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, says that for optimal development, healthy newborns should sleep on their mother¡¯s chest for the first few weeks.

After that, they should stay in the mother¡¯s bed until they are three or even four years old.

However, studies linking bed-sharing with an increased risk of cot death and fears that a mother will roll over and smother£¨Ê¹ÖÏÏ¢£© her child means that women are generally advised against this.

In a recent British study of sudden infant deaths, almost two-thirds of those that were unexplained occurred when the bed was being shared.

But Dr Bergman said: ¡®When babies are smothered and suffer cot deaths, it is not because their mother is present. It is because of other things: toxic fumes, cigarettes, alcohol, big pillows and dangerous toys.¡¯

Sixteen infants were studied while they slept on their mother¡¯s chest and in a cot by her bed. Monitoring revealed the baby¡¯s heart to be under three times as much stress when he or she slept alone.

Being in a cot also disrupted sleep, with the babies¡¯ brains less likely to ¡®cycle¡¯ or make the transition between two types of sleep called active and quiet.

In the cots, only six out of the 16 had any quiet sleep and its quality was far worse.

Making this transition is thought to be key to the normal development of the brain.

Animal studies have linked the combination of stress and lack of sleep to behavioural problems in teenage years.

Dr Bergman said that changes to the brain brought on by stress hormones may make it more difficult to form relationships later on, leading to problems such as promiscuity£¨ÂÒ½»£¬»ìÂÒ£© .

"Soul escape" just the normal brain responses

They say that common spooky£¨ÓÄÁé°ãµÄ£© scenarios, such as floating above a hospital bed or walking towards the light at the end of a tunnel, can be explained by the brain trying to make sense of the process of death.

Scientists from the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge reviewed studies into changes in the brain that cause certain sensations associated with near-death experiences.

Researcher Caroline Watt said one common vision ¨C that of people seeing a bright light which seems to be drawing them into the afterlife£¨À´ÊÀ£© ¨C is probably produced by the death of the cells we use to process the light picked up by our eyes and turn it into pictures.

¡®It is simply your brain trying to make sense of the unusual experiences you are having,¡¯ Dr Watt said.

Feelings of being out of the body can also be explained by the brain¡¯s behaviour, the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences reports.

¡®If you put on a virtual reality headset showing an image of yourself three feet in front, you can trick your brain into thinking that is you over there, and get the sense you are outside your body,¡¯ Dr Watt added.

¡®The scientific evidence suggests that all aspects of the near-death experience have a biological basis.¡¯

In another example, the hormone noradrenaline£¨È¥¼×ÉöÉÏÏÙËØ£© , which is released when we suffer from stress and injuries, could be behind the feelings of love and peace many experience when they seem to be approaching death.

However, other scientists say we should not be so quick to dismiss people¡¯s accounts.

Sam Parnia, of the University of Southampton, stressed that being able to trace something back to the brain does not mean it is not real.

Dr Parnia, who is close to completing a three-year study of hospital patients¡¯ recollections of their near-death experiences, said: ¡®Every experience, whether near-death or otherwise ¨C such as depression, happiness and love ¨C is mediated by the brain.

Commuters are more likely to faint

Scientists assessed 12,000 employees aged between 18 and 65.

They found that those who travelled to work by car or public transport reported higher levels of stress and tiredness compared to active commuters who travelled by foot or bicycle.

It is now expected that the study, from Lund Unversity in Sweden, will encourage further investigation into the health impacts of commuting and the best forms of transportation.

Researcher Erik Hansson said: 'Generally car and public transport users suffered more everyday stress, poorer sleep quality, exhaustion and, on a seven point scale, felt that they struggled with their health compared to the active commuters.

'The negative health of public transport users increased with journey time.'

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average Briton commutes for 54 minutes every day.

But now the scientists claim that the advantages of daily travel, such as higher pay or housing conditions, need to be weighed against the adverse£¨²»ÀûµÄ£© health effects.

It may also have a cost impact on industry.

According to a CBI and Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey, the UK economy lost 190million working days to absence last year, with each employee taking an average of 6.5 days off sick, costing employers £17billion.

However researchers highlight that the findings, published in the journal BMC Public Health, do not prove that commuting causes ill health and further research is needed.

Income, family background and environmental factors are other variables that need to be considered.

Hansson added that the findings would help to 'readdress£¨Ê¹ÖØÐÂ×ÅÊÖ£© the balance between economic needs, health, and the costs of working days lost'.

Nigeria pirates hijacked a ship Marine tankers

Gunmen boarded the MT Halifax off Port Harcourt, the main city in the oil-rich Niger Delta, they said.
The owners of the vessel lost contact with the tanker on 30 October, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

The UN this week urged West African nations to increase naval patrols following a surge of pirate attacks.

The IMB says the crew of 25 are being held by the pirates, who are expected to steal the oil in the ship's hold.

In West Africa, crews are generally released unharmed after the crude oil is stolen from the ships, unlike in Somalia, where crews and their ships are held until ransoms£¨Êê½ð£© are paid - often after several months.

The nationalities of those onboard are thought to be Filipino and Indian, with an Italian ship master.

Commodore Kabir Aliyu, a spokesman for Nigeria's navy, declined to comment.

Oil products tankers carry both crude and refined oil.

The pirates are thought to have sailed into the Gulf of Guinea, according to security officials.

The Halifax is owned by the Greek-based Ancora Investment Trust Inc and is flagged out of Malta.

West Africa has seen a growing number of oil tanker hijackings in recent months as pirates target oil shipments from Nigeria, one of the world's biggest producers.

On Monday, a top UN official, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, said that Somali pirates were inspiring copycat£¨Ã¤Ä¿µÄÄ£·ÂÕߣ© attacks in other parts of Africa.

The warning came as the UN Security Council called on West African nations to step up navy patrols and other measures to counter a new front in the piracy war.

Developed countries people more pessimistic mood

In the rich world, consumers were pessimistic, while in emerging economies people were more upbeat£¨Àֹ۵ģ© .

It is a pattern that reflects the very uneven£¨²»¾ùÔȵģ© recovery from the recent global recession.

More than 25,000 people were surveyed by the polling firm Globescan.

Japan, France and Britain emerged as particularly gloomy. The percentage expecting good times in all three countries was in single figures. More than half expected bad times.

Recession danger

The picture across the rich world was one of pessimists outnumbering the optimists, though by smaller margins.

The one exception to this pattern was Germany, where 36% expected good or mostly good times, well ahead of those who were downbeat£¨±¯¹ÛµÄ£© . Even there, the optimists were outnumbered by those expecting a mix of good and bad times ahead.

In the developing world, optimists outnumbered pessimists in nearly every country surveyed. In Nigeria more than seventy per cent expected good times. The results were strongly upbeat in Kenya and Egypt as well.

There was one exception, Pakistan, where pessimists were slightly more numerous. In Russia, Chile and Ecuador, the optimists were only just ahead.

The difference in attitudes does broadly reflect recent economic performance: strong growth in many emerging economies, sluggishness£¨³Ù»º£¬ÏôÌõ£© in the rich world.

It is also consistent with most forecasts, which suggest an increasing danger of at least some developed economies sliding back into recession.

The research was done between July and September this year.

Since then the situation in the world's biggest economic trouble spot - the eurozone - has moved on and in some respects the uncertainty there has deepened.

Molecule may will replace Greenwich mean time

For more than 120 years, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) has been the international standard for timekeeping, but it is now under threat from a new definition of time itself based not on the rotation of the Earth, but on atomic clocks.

In January the International Telecommunication Union will meet in Geneva to vote on whether to adopt the new measure, despite protests from Britain.

The two-day meeting of about 50 experts at a country house north-west of London, under the aegis of£¨ÔÚ¡­¡­Ö§³ÖÏ£© the prestigious Royal Society, on Thursday and Friday will look at some of the issues involved.

Predictably the question has hurt Britain's national pride - particularly when the British believe their old rivals France are leading the push to change from GMT to the new time standard.

"We understand that in Britain they have a sense of loss for GMT," said Elisa Felicitas Arias, director of the time department at the France-based International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), which pushed for the change.

GMT is based on the passage of the Sun over the zero meridian line£¨×ÓÎçÏߣ© at the Greenwich Observatory in southeast London, and became the world standard for time at a conference in Washington in 1884.

France had lobbied for Paris Mean Time at the same conference.

In 1972 it was replaced in name by Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) but that essentially remained the same as GMT.

UTC is based on about 400 atomic clocks at laboratories around the world but then corrected with "leap seconds" to align itself with the Earth's rotational speed, which fluctuates.

The New York marathon Jeffrey mourinho too to break the record

Mutai finished in an unofficial time of two hours, five minutes, six seconds, lopping more than two minutes off the old time.
The 30-year-old has established himself as the favourite at next summer's Olympics with this second landmark performance of the year.

In April, Mutai ran the fastest marathon in history: 2:03:02 in Boston.

That did not count as a world record because the course is considered too straight and too downhill.

The second and third placed runners were also inside the previous New York record of 2:07:43 set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia a decade earlier.

London Marathon winner, fellow Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai (no relation), was one minute, 22 seconds behind. Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia was third.

The women's race was won by Ethiopian Firehiwot Dado, in a time of two hours, 23 minutes and 15 seconds, to edge her compatriot£¨Í¬°û£© Buzunesh Deba by four seconds.

Dado, 27, making her New York debut, ran a personal best for the distance.

Third place was reigning London Marathon champion, Mary Keitany of Kenya, who led from the start until she was overtaken by the two Ethiopians with just a mile to run. She finished 23 seconds behind.

Geoffrey Mutai's time was still 88 seconds off the men's marathon world record of 2:03:38, set by Kenya's Patrick Makau at the Berlin Marathon just 43 days ago.

Study: women are more likely to have pressure to give birth to girls

A study found that those who were under pressure at home, work or in their love life in the weeks or months before becoming pregnant had higher than usual odds of giving birth to a daughter rather than a son.

The finding, by Oxford University and US researchers, means the economic downturn£¨Ë¥ÍË£© could see more women give birth to daughters. The study follows others that have shown the number of baby boys goes down following major upheavals.

For instance, in the months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the number of boys born in New York plunged, while the economic chaos that followed the collapse of the Berlin Wall saw far fewer boys born than expected in the former East Germany in 1991.

But the latest study is the first to link the phenomenon to the stresses and strains of everyday life and to rising levels of stress hormones.

Some 338 women from around the UK who were trying to get pregnant kept diaries about their lives and sex lives and filled in questionnaires about how stressed they felt. Levels of stress hormones including cortisol£¨Æ¤ÖÊ´¼£© were measured in the months before pregnancy.

Of the babies born, 58 were boys and 72 were girls. Normally, in Britain 105 boys are born for every 100 girls.

When all the women were put together ¨C stressed and calm ¨C the result could have been due to chance.

But among the 50 percent of the women who had the highest amounts of cortisol before pregnancy, the sex ratio was clearly skewed£¨ÍáбµÄ£¬Çú½âµÄ£©towards girls, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine¡¯s annual conference heard.

The most stressed women were up to 75 percent less likely to have boys than the least stressed, the conference in Orlando, Florida, was told. Cortisol levels rise when people suffer long-term stress such as pressure at work and bad relationships.

Money worries may also play a part, said Oxford University researcher Dr Cecilia Pyper.

HuoPing sexting most skanky new words

It topped a YouGov poll of 2,054 adults in the UK which revealed our least favourite new technology jargon£¨Ðл°£¬ÊõÓ of 2011.

'Sexting' ¨C meaning ¡®the sending of sexually explicit£¨Ã÷È·µÄ£¬Çå³þµÄ£© photographs or messages by mobile phone¡¯ ¨C was the clear winner with 24 percent of votes cast.

The runner-up was 'Intexticated', with 13 percent of the vote - meaning ¡®unable to concentrate while driving due to being distracted by texting¡¯.

'Defriend', with eight percent, meaning, 'to remove someone from one¡¯s list of friends on social networking site.'

Britain's Computeractive magazine, which conducted the poll, awarded 'sexting' its 'Unspeakable Award' for the worst new piece of technology jargon.

The prize was awarded for the ¡®new, technology-related word most likely to make you wince£¨Î·Ëõ£© , grimace£¨°ç¹íÁ³£© or want to bang your head on the keyboard.'

The aim, the magazine said, was to promote the use of clear English and battle the technology world's addiction to jargon.

'There¡¯s no arguing that 'intexticated', 'defriend' and 'Twittersphere' are all unspeakable words¡¯, says Paul Allen, editor of Computeractive.

'But 'sexting' is a worthy winner.'

'When you first hear it, you don't know whether to wince, howl or just weep for the English language.'

'Any word voted more horrible than ¡®intexticated¡¯ deserves an award.¡¯

The incident that made 'sexting' famous involved the use of Twitter rather than a mobile phone, referring to US Congressman Anthony Wiener's Twitter message of a suggestive picture to a 21-year-old woman.

The incident led, in June 2011, to Weiner¡¯s resignation.

Many of the words in the top ten seem to involve Twitter - possibly due to the large number of different apps users use to access it, which has led to a lot of compound words.

The voters chose from a shortlist of words determined by Computeractive.

Improve the women education level can reduce fertility rate

"She looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, 'I had to drop out of school,'" Robinson said in a telephone interview.

"That conveyed to me the reality," said Robinson, the first woman to serve as Ireland's president and former U.N. high commissioner for human rights. "Her life, as far as she is concerned, had more or less ended."

Robinson said keeping girls in school was one of the most important things policymakers could do to address the coming challenges of an ever-increasing population, predicted by the United Nations to reach 7 billion at the end of the month.

"European countries are concerned about aging populations as is Japan, but this is much less of an issue than the huge bulge£¨ÅòÕÍ£¬Í¹³ö²¿·Ö£© of people which we are going to see over the next 40 years when the population goes from 7 billion to 9 billion people," she said.

"Almost all of that increase will be in poor developing countries, so that we have a very big demographic challenge."

Family planning experts worry in particular about the looming£¨ÒþÔ¼µÄ£© population boom in sub-Saharan Africa.

In May, the United Nations projected the world population would reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100. Much of that growth will come from Africa, where the population is growing at 2.3 percent a year -- more than double Asia's 1 percent growth rate. If that rate stays consistent, which is not certain, Africa's population will more than triple to 3.6 billion by 2100 from the current 1 billion.

Joel Cohen, a professor of population studies at Rockefeller University and Columbia University in New York, said universal secondary education offered a way to reduce population in high-fertility regions.

In addition to providing information about contraception£¨±ÜÔУ© , a secondary education motivates women to reduce their own fertility, improve the health of their children and allows them to move from a mind-set of having many children in the hopes that some will survive to improving the quality of each child's life, Cohen wrote in the journal Nature.

A third women prefer to go spend time with honey

Six out of ten said they prefer to go shopping with their girlfriends rather than their partner because they offer better, more trustworthy£¨¿É¿¿µÄ£© advice.

The survey found that when meeting female friends the women made more of an effort with their outfit£¨»ú¹¹£¬Óþߣ© and spent longer doing their hair and make-up.

And a day out with friends was also likely to cost more money than with their husbands, with women admitting that their friends encourage them to treat themselves more.

The survey was carried out at the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex.

Lakeside spokesman Sophie Scott said: ¡®These results will strike a chord£¨´ò¶¯ÐÄÏÒ£© with millions of married women all over the UK.

'After a busy week at work, we all crave escapism and some ¡°me time¡±, and it is clear women prefer to spend theirs with girlfriends than partners.

'Spending time with girlfriends and hitting the shops, or stopping for a coffee and a chat, can lift a woman's mood.'

The study revealed a third of women agreed that they prefer to spend a day off with a friend because they were more fun and more likely to enjoy talking about relationships or gossiping.

Shopping, going to a spa or having a meal and a glass of wine topped the list of activities women enjoyed doing in their spare time.

The survey revealed two thirds of women felt guilty as they did not catch up with their friends often enough.

Worryingly, one in ten said they were more able 'to be themselves' around their friends, while almost half said they enjoyed the fact they could talk to their pals about 'anything'.

Instant Photos

I need 2 color photos for a visa application. I went to the instant photo booth at SMU. The charge was $8. It seemed to be rather high. I wonder how the students could afford it. It seemed to be more costly that I had expected.

Rugby World Cup will start in New Zealand

Thousands of rugby fans have descended on Auckland for the celebrations that will include a waterfront£¨º£±õ£© firework display and mass Haka dance.
The first match will be between the All Blacks and Tonga at Eden Park.

Matches will be held at stadia£¨ÊӾࣩ across the country except in Christchurch, devastated by the 22 February quake.

The natural disaster killed 181 people and large parts of the city have been written off as uninhabitable.

Christchurch, the most famous of all rugby cities in New Zealand, subsequently lost its rights to host seven World Cup matches.

England manager Martin Johnson paid his respects in Christchurch on Wednesday, visiting the Lancaster Park pitch. Australia as well as the All Blacks will also visit.

The International Rugby Board has launched a fundraising appeal to bolster the rugby community in the area.

"The people in Christchurch are going to be in our hearts and our minds on many occasions during the tournament," said organising committee chairman Martin Snedden.

"It's been a tough 12 months in New Zealand. The country is ready to have fun. It's ready to have a party."

Thousands of rugby fans have gathered at downtown Auckland's waterfront, wearing their team's jerseys£¨Ã«Ö¯Ô˶¯ÉÀ£© , draped with flags and covered in face paint, to enjoy the opening ceremony, which gets under way shortly.

The six-week World Cup event is the first in New Zealand since the inaugural tournament in 1987 - the last time the All Blacks won the title.

New Zealand and Tonga will kick-off on Friday. Tonga won a toss of the coin to perform their war dance, known as the sipi tau, first. The All Blacks will then start their world-famous Haka.

Fans started lining up outside the gates at Eden Park as early as 1000 (2200 GMT), keen to be among the 12,000-strong capacity crowd.

FIFA World Cup 2014 preparation work worries

It comes amid growing tensions between football's world governing body and the Brazilian Government.

President Dilma Rousseff has been quoted in the Brazilian press as having demanded a "frank conversation" with Blatter to discuss the issues.

Fifa has repeatedly warned the the Brazilian organisers about work delays.

It now seems those concerns, surrounding the building of new stadiums and infrastructure around the tournament£¨ÁªÈü£¬±ÈÈü£© , extend to Fifa's legal demands on the host nation, with football's world governing body expecting to take total control of all aspects of the event.

One sticking point is believed to be the issue of ticket prices.

In Brazil students and elderly citizens get a 50 per cent discount for football matches and other forms of entertainment, and the Government wants the policy to be extended to the World Cup in 2014.

Another issue is Fifa's refusal to allow non-rights holders to show matches on television, with the Brazilians wanting local broadcasters to be given some limited access.

During the Olympic Games, an office worker may go to work at home a third London

Commuters have been told they can expect waits of over half an hour or more for tubes at some of the busiest stations on the Jubilee, Central and Northern lines during the games.

And Transport for London(TfL) claims some of the busiest areas such as Canary Wharf will only be able to cope if 60 percent of workers change their travel plans.

At a presentation last week, TfL urged small and medium-sized businesses to change their working hours or allow staff to work from home to help ease the pressure.

TfL has published a list of the worst hotspots which include Stratford station, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Canada Water and Bank.

And the Olympics are set to cause chaos on the roads too with the creation of special 'games lanes' likely to bring many main routes to gridlock£¨½©¾Ö£© .

The controversial lanes will be reserved purely for the use of competitors and VIPs. Even buses and taxis will be barred from using them.

Around 5.3 million people are expected to turn up for the 16 days of the London Olympics.

August 3 is expected to be the busiest day with around 800,000 people using public transport.

Organisers fear a repetition£¨Öظ´£¬±³ËУ© of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics which became known as the 'Glitch Games' after transport chaos caused many competitors to miss their events.

London transport commissioner Peter Hendy said he hopes London will copy the Sydney Olympics of 2000 when 27 percent of workers took leave from their jobs.

He told the Observer: 'I am not going to be responsible for a transport mess like Atlanta.'

Earlier this month the Mail reported how tube and train drivers will pocket up to £1,800 in return for promising not to go on strike during next summer's event.

MPs condemned£¨Ç´Ô𣩠the payments as a ¡®bribe¡¯ and accused the unions of holding the public to ransom£¨Êê»Ø£© .

Brazilian star criticism FIFA intervention Brazil's internal affairs

Romario - who is now a congressman - said laws that guarantee half-price tickets to students and pensioners should not be swept away.
The Brazilian congress is currently debating a bill that would meet Fifa's conditions for the tournament.

Romario, 45, led Brazil's attack when they won the World Cup in 1994.

The former star was speaking on a visit to Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium, which is being refurbished£¨·­Ð£© for the tournament.

"If Fifa is not put in its rightful place it will soon have more power than our president," he told journalists.

Romario said Fifa could bear the cost of maintaining discounted tickets for students and pensioners during the tournaments estimated at around $100m (£64m).

"Fifa could earn a little bit less so that the Brazilians can take part," he said.

Fifa says the money it makes from World Cup tournaments is reinvested in football.

Delays

Earlier Romario expressed himself more strongly on his Twitter account.

"Brazil needs to stop this business of becoming a slave of Fifa," he tweeted.

"The sovereignty£¨Ö÷Ȩ£© of the country must be respected".

Romario also warned that infrastructure projects needed for the tournament, including airports and urban transport, were behind schedule.

"Brazil is certainly not going to stage the best World Cup in history as some have said," he warned.

"It is not going to be a World Cup for the Brazilian people".

Last month the head of Fifa Sepp Blatter wrote to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to express concern over delays in the construction of stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup.

Fifa has also been pressing for the rapid approval of the World Cup law, which also covers the protection of trademarks, television rights and the sale of alcohol in stadiums.

Cancel 2011 NBA regular two weeks before the games

All the basketball league's scheduled games from 1 November were affected, said NBA commissioner David Stern.
Players and team owners could not agree on the share of revenue£¨Ë°ÊÕ£¬ÊÕÒ棩 given to players - 57% under the expired deal - or the structure of the salary cap£¨¹¤×ÊÉÏÏÞ£© .

Stern said the two sides were not even close to agreement on many issues.

"Despite extensive efforts, we have not been able to reach a new agreement with the players' union that allows all 30 teams to be able to compete for a championship while fairly compensating our players," NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

Representatives from the players' union and the teams' owners met on Monday for seven hours of talks.

Afterwards, Stern described the two sides as "very, very far apart on virtually all issues".

No further talks have been scheduled.

Owners "locked out" players on 1 July after the old labour agreement expired.

Stern said the league wanted to reduce players' share of revenue to 47% while players proposed they get 53%. A 50-50 split has been discussed but not agreed.

Also in dispute is the structure of the salary cap and the length of players' contracts.

The last lockout in 1998-99 reduced the season to 50 games from the normal 82.

Won the FIFA women's World Cup champions

With the nation still recovering after March's earthquake and tsunami, joy was unconfined as the United States were beaten on penalties£¨µãÇò£© in Frankfurt.

"We're so happy about the title, now we're number one," said Japan captain Homare Sawa, who won the Golden Boot for top scorer in the tournament.

"We know this is a great victory, we are bringing the gold medal home."

Japan's previous best finish had been reaching the quarter-finals in 1995, and had never beaten the United States in 25 meetings prior to Sunday's enthralling£¨ÃÔÈ˵ģ© final.

Their team is nicknamed 'Nadeshiko', after the pink plant that is used to personify the attributes of an ideal Japanese woman - neatness, resilience£¨»Ö¸´Á¦£¬µ¯Á¦£© and loyalty.

Although Japan went into the tournament ranked as the fourth best team in the world, few experts predicted they would be able to overcome the more powerful and experienced nations like hosts and defending champions Germany, and the United States.

"There is no happier president than a World Cup winner," added Japan Football Association president Junji Ogura.

"The players demonstrated the wonders of Japanese women."

Coach Norio Sasaki had motivated his team by showing them footage of the areas devastated by March's earthquake and subsequent tsunami which reduced some of his players to tears, but it inspired them to produce extraordinary results.

Japan beat Germany in the quarter-finals, Sweden in the semis, and then twice came from behind to force penalties, winning 3-1 on spot kicks, after goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori saved two United States efforts.

The US team had the support of President Obama and his family, who watched the match from the White House, but ultimately they came up short.

Their goalkeeper Hope Solo offered her congratulations to Japan, saying: "I truly believe that something bigger was pulling for this team.

"As much as I've always wanted this, if there were any other team I could give this to it would have to be Japan. I'm happy for them and they do deserve it."

Solo's team-mate Abby Wambach added: "Japan just kept coming and they never gave up, and in the end they're the world champs."

The next Women's World Cup finals will be held in Canada in 2015.

Britain announced Olympic MEDALS pattern

The medals depict£¨ÃèÊö£© the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, stepping out of the depiction of the Parthenon to arrive in the host city.
Thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square where David Cameron promised London's would be the "greatest games".

Meanwhile, diver Tom Daley performed the first official dive at the Aquatics Centre, the latest venue£¨³¡Ëù£¬µØµã£© completed.

Synchronised swimmers formed the number one for London 2012 chairman Lord Coe and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.

At Trafalgar Square, Mr Rogge and London Mayor Boris Johnson invited the world to come to the British capital to celebrate the Games next summer.

Mr Johnson boasted that London is already so ready for the 2012 Games that "we might as well call a snap Olympics tomorrow".

Mr Cameron declared the Trafalgar Square event a "great night for London, a great night for Britain".

"This has the makings of a great British success story. With a year to go, it's on time, it's on budget," he said.

"It's about great sport, with great British athletes like Tom Daley and Chris Hoy taking part."

'Fair play'

Mr Rogge said the world's finest athletes were dreaming of competing in "this magnificent city".

"As in 1908 and 1948, they knew they would be coming to the nation that invented modern sport and the concept of fair play," he said.

With a year to go, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) said construction had finished on all six of the main permanent Olympic Park venues.

The £269m Aquatics Centre was designed by Zaha Hadid with the aim of being the "Gateway to the Games".

Japan SongTianZhiShu World Cup star died

The 34-year-old, who represented Japan at the 2002 World Cup, was rushed to hospital on Tuesday.
He collapsed during a training session with his club, Matsumoto Yamaga, and never regained consciousness.

Former Japan manager Philippe Troussier paid tribute to£¨³ÆÔÞ£© the defender, saying he was a key member of the World Cup team.

"It's terrible to see someone die at such a young age," Mr Troussier told Reuters news agency.

"It's a big shock. He was a great guy and I felt a close bond to him. My thoughts go to his family."

Fans, friends and former players had gathered at the hospital in Matsumoto to wish the player well.

Matsuda played 40 times for Japan, and won two J-League titles during 15 years with the Yokohama F-Marinos.

He moved to lower league Matsumoto earlier this year.

Columbia football national coach to resign

He had been criticised for allegedly hitting a woman, who had reportedly been dismissive£¨±íʾÇáÃïµÄ£© of his performance as coach.
Colombia failed to reach the semi-finals at the recent Copa America after losing to Peru.

The Colombian Football Federation has not yet named a replacement for Gomez, but said it would do so soon.

The main sponsors of the Colombian football team, brewers Bavaria, welcomed his resignation.

President of Bavaria's Corporate Affairs Fernando Jaramillo said it was the best decision that could have been taken.

"A sponsor like Bavaria doesn't want Bolillo as coach, not only because of the implications that could have for our reputation but also because of what it could do to the reputation of the country," Mr Jaramillo told Colombian radio.

Eyewitnesses said they saw Gomez leave a Bogota bar Saturday night after allegedly drinking half a bottle of liquor.

They said he started arguing with his female companion outside the bar and hit her at least four times.

'Destroyed'

A man reportedly broke up the fight by grabbing Gomez by the throat and challenging him to "hit a man".

Gomez and the woman later returned to the bar to fetch her handbag.

One of the eyewitnesses told Colombian radio station W about the incident, kicking off a public discussion about Gomez's future as coach of the national team.

Gomez issued a public statement apologising for the incident but said it was a personal matter.

"An attitude like that is never acceptable and less so in someone like myself who has never been involved in anything like this in my 26-year career in professional football," he wrote.

On Monday, the Colombian Football Federation called the incident "lamentable£¨¿É±¯µÄ£© " but said it would not get involved in a personal matter.

But under continuing public pressure and in the face of a lack of support from the team's main sponsors, the federation accepted Gomez's resignation on Tuesday.

Gomez told Colombian daily El Tiempo he was "destroyed" by what had happened.

The Colombian Football Federation said it would hold an extraordinary session to find a new coach as soon as it was done hosting the Fifa U-20 World Cup currently taking place in the country.

Nearly 10 years malaria mortality rate dropped 20%

A new report said that one-third of the 108 countries where malaria was endemic£¨µØ·½²¡£© were on course to eradicate£¨¸ù³ý£© the disease within 10 years.

Experts said if targets continued to be met, a further three million lives could be saved by 2015.

Malaria is one of the deadliest global diseases, particularly in Africa.

In 2009, 781,000 people died from malaria. The mosquito-borne disease is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, where 85% of deaths occurred, most of them children under five.

An earlier report here incorrectly referred to a 40% drop in deaths.

It has been eradicated from three countries since 2007 - Morocco, Turkmenistan and Armenia.

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership aims to eliminate malaria in another eight to 10 countries by the end of 2015, including the entire WHO European Region.

Robert Newman, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme, said "remarkable progress" had been made.

"Better diagnostic testing and surveillance has provided a clearer picture of where we are on the ground - and has shown that there are countries eliminating malaria in all endemic regions of the world," he told an international Malaria Forum conference in Seattle.

"We know that we can save lives with today's tools."

The united HuoPing San Diego lucky city

The sunny southern California city won the top spot in the Men's Health magazine list of America's 100 luckiest towns, with Baltimore, Phoenix, Wilmington in Delaware and Richmond, Virginia not far behind.

"Luck is basically our modern world's magic," said David Zinczenko, editor in chief of the magazine. "People need to believe in luck because it allows them to give a name to the randomness of life, and when you name something, you have more power over it."

To determine the most charmed towns the magazine analyzed data about cities with the most lottery£¨²ÊƱ£© and sweepstake£¨³é½±£¬²ÊƱ£© winners, the most hole-in-ones on the golf course, the fewest lighting strikes, the least deaths from falling objects, and the lowest debt due to playing the lottery and race betting.

"San Diego's multiple jackpot winners, its low lightning strike count, and its low number of lightning-related injuries and deaths helped push it to the top," Zinczenko said.

Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the country, and another betting hub, Reno, Nevada, also landed in the top 10.

"It is in the top 10," Zinczenko said about Las Vegas. "And you have to remember that there would be no Vegas if all of the gamblers were lucky all of the time."

At the opposite end of the spectrum Lady Luck was shinning the least on Charleston in West Virginia. It was the town with the highest rate of deaths from falling objects, with four times as many as San Diego, and had no lottery or sweepstake winners.

Tampa in Florida, Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis were also among the least lucky cities.

The world population will be over 7 billion

It comes just 12 years since the total reached six billion - with official estimates saying the figure will top eight billion in 2025 and 10 billion before the end of the century.

And it is most likely the baby will be born in the Asia-Pacific region - where the population growth rate is higher than anywhere else in the world.

Experts say the pace of growth - which has seen the number of people on the planet triple since 1940 - poses an increasing danger to citizens.

With more people to feed, house and provide medical care for, they say the world's resources look set to come under more strain£¨ÕÅÁ¦£¬À­½ô£© than ever before.

As populations stabilise in the industrial world, almost all growth in the near future is expected to take place in developing countries.

Of the 2.3 billion people the UN believes will be added by 2050, more than one billion will live in sub-Saharan Africa. The Indian subcontinent will add some 630 million people.

It will mean less land and water available for each person. Poorer people, who tend to depend more on natural resources, will bear the brunt as they will not be able to compete with the rich.

The major issues will be how to feed the new arrivals, which will see the need for new varieties of improved crops.

Ageing populations are also set to pose a problem with some industrial countries, such as Japan, nearly doubling its share of the population aged 65 and over in the past 20 years. This will put increased pressure on pension and healthcare systems.

But despite the problems the world is facing, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Dr Noeleen Heyzer said the seventh billion child of the world has a better chance of surviving past the age of five than a decade ago.

The life expectancy£¨Æ½¾ùÊÙÃü£© for both women and men has also increased in every Asian and Pacific country during the past decade, Dr Heyzer added.

And although the pace of development is 1.1 percent in 2011 - meaning an extra 78 million people will live on the planet by the end of this year - it has slowed down slightly from its peak of 2 percent in 1968.

British man remains have been made into mummy

Channel Four viewers will see Alan Billis turned into a mummy over the space of a few months as his body is preserved using the techniques which the ancient Egyptians used on Tutankhamun.
Billis had been terminally ill with cancer when he volunteered to undergo the procedure which a scientist has been working to recreate for many years.

The 61-year-old from Torquay in Devon had the backing of his wife Jan, who said: "I'm the only woman in the country who's got a mummy for a husband."

The process is revealed in a new documentary Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret to be screened next Monday, October 24.

Dr Stephen Buckley, a chemist and research fellow at York University, has spent 19 years trying to uncover the preservation techniques which the Egyptians used during the 18th dynasty.

Alongside archaeologist£¨¿¼¹Åѧ¼Ò£© Dr Jo Fletcher, Dr Buckley has studied mummified bodies, analysing tissue samples and finally putting his findings into practice by putting them to the test on Billis's body at Sheffield's Medico-Legal Centre.

Billis had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer when he heard about the search for a body donor.

"I was reading the paper and there was a piece that said 'volunteer wanted with a terminal illness to donate their body to be mummified'," he told the documentary team.

"People have been leaving their bodies to science for years and if people don't volunteer for anything nothing gets found out."

Billis - who dubbed himself "Tuten-Alan" - continued: "Experimenting is all about trying different processes to make things work. If it doesn't work it's not the end of the world, is it? Don't make any difference to me, I'm not going to feel it. It's still bloody interesting."

Channel 4 said the experiment had a scientific purpose and had not been done for sensationalism£¨×·Çóºä¶¯Ð§Ó¦£© . Billis' family said they had given their full support.

Mexico architect design 300 meters deep "to the building"

The subterranean£¨µØϵģ© building will have 10 storeys each for homes, shops and a museum, as well as 35 storeys for offices. The design has been crowned with a Mexican flag.
Esteban Suarez, from architecture firm BNKR Arquitectura, said the building would also house a new cultural centre.

He said: 'New infrastructure, office, retail and living space are required in the city but no empty plots are available.

'Federal and local laws prohibit demolishing historic buildings and even if this was so, height regulations limit new structures to eight storeys.

'The city's historic centre is in desperate need of a makeover£¨´óת±ä£© but we have nowhere to put it, this means the only way to go is down.'

He added: 'The Earthscraper preserves the iconic presence of the city square and the existing hierarchy£¨²ã¼¶£© of the buildings that surround it.

'It is an inverted pyramid with a central void£¨¿Õ¼ä£© to allow all habitable spaces to enjoy natural lighting and ventilation.

'It will also allow the numerous activities that take place on the city square year round such as concerts, open-air exhibitions and military parades to go ahead.'

Pyramids play a large part in the architectural history of Mexico, as the country's anicent civilisations£¨ÎÄÃ÷£© have often build huge pyramid structures.

Esteban added: 'The Earthscraper digs down through the layers of cities to uncover our roots.'

Survey: young people prefer to call in sick

Under-30s are more likely to stay at home while suffering from colds and flu, allergies and intolerances than over-55s, figures showed.

Younger people were also more likely to take time off work due to stress, tiredness and feeling run down, which the older contingent£¨·ÖDz¶Ó£¬Å¼È»Ê¼þ£© said would not be a reason to call in sick.

Almost one in five people aged 18 to 29 admitted they had missed work because they were "too hung-over", but 85 per cent of over-55s said they would only miss work if they were bedridden£¨ÎÔ´²²»ÆðµÄ£© .

The higher rates of illness in younger people could be explained by the impact of unhealthy lifestyles, the survey of 3,000 people suggested.

Men and women aged 30 and under were more likely to eat junk food like ready meals and takeaways than older people, and were half as likely to eat the five daily portions of fruit and vegetables that experts recommend.

Older people also showed a more positive outlook towards their wellbeing, with 59 per cent believing they are healthier than their parents compared with just 37 per cent of the younger group.

A number of under-30s reported that they often fall ill as a result of stress, with work-related pressures, money issues and relationship problems among the most common causes.

In contrast, fewer than a quarter of over-55s who replied to the survey said they often felt unwell£¨²»Êæ·þµÄ£© due to stress at work.

High levels of stress could cause symptoms including irritability, headaches, tiredness and upset stomachs, respondents said.

Peter Morton, the marketing manager of multivitamin manufacturer Multibionta, which commissioned the survey, said: ¡°Today¡¯s fast paced, work-hard play-hard lifestyle appears to be taking its toll on the younger generation.

¡°A poor immune system caused by smoking, drinking and a lack of nutritionally beneficial food, lends itself to people being more susceptible to coughs and colds which in turn can lead to sick days.¡±

Makeup shade of its can influence people reliability judgment

Now, scientists have shown that not only does the right amount of cosmetics£¨»¯×±Æ·£© make all the difference when it comes to beauty, but it also affects judgements of competence£¨ÄÜÁ¦£¬Ê¤ÈΣ© and trustworthiness.

For all of their positive effects on looking and feeling good, large amounts of make-up soon start to negatively impact on the way people perceive an individual's honesty.

In the study, funded by Procter & Gamble, scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute asked participants to rate various looks in terms of competence, likeability, attractiveness and trustworthiness.

Pictures of women wearing no make-up, and looking 'natural', 'professional,' and 'glamorous£¨ÃÔÈ˵ģ© ,' were shown to volunteers for different lengths of time.

When shown the images for just 250milliseconds, all ratings went up with the amount of make-up, says the report, published by Plosone.org.

However, when study participants were allowed to take in the pictures at length, the results changed significantly.

Nancy Etcoff, the study's lead author and associate researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital told ABC news that 'we found that when faces were shown very quickly, all ratings went up with cosmetics in all different looks.'

'The women were judged as more competent, likeable, attractive and trustworthy.'

Given more than just a glimpse of the images, participants showed that beauty and competence went up, but trustworthiness - or honesty - soon suffered as cosmetic looks became heavier.

'When they got to the more dramatic make-up looks, people saw them as equally likeable and much more attractive and competent, but less trustworthy,' comments Etcoff to the news site.

Selfishness seems to be conducive to development

New research has found that those with more selfless, kind personalities were the most well-liked, but were simultaneously seen as less attractive candidates for leadership and were overlooked for promotion.

It found that aggression implied strength, while altruistic£¨ÀûËûµÄ£© tendencies were perceived as a sign of weakness.

The study, from the Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University¡¯s Tepper School of Business, aimed to discover the personality types we associate with leadership.

In a series of three experiments, participants were placed into groups. Researchers then analysed their behaviour as they managed tokens representing money; how some chose to keep them, and others contributed them to a group pool.

The results showed that those with the kinder personalities were the most popular in the groups, but they were also considered weak or gullible£¨Ò×ÊÜÆ­µÄ£© .

Those with more dominant and aggressive behaviour were seen as 'alpha' personalities.

Co-author Robert Livingston, of the Kellogg School, told Today.com: 'As humans we are wired to respond to dominance.'

He explained: 'Being selfish makes you seem more dominant and being dominant makes you seem more attractive as a leader, especially when there¡¯s competition.

'On a subconscious£¨Ç±ÒâʶµÄ£© level this is the conclusion people are coming to: Kindness equals weakness.'

Dr Livingston believes that this tendency to associate aggression with leadership' is an explanation on why we get corruption.

'People who are more likely to be moral, kind and pro-social are least likely to be elected to these leadership roles,' he said.

'That increases the likelihood of corruption and malfeasance£¨äÂÖ°£¬²»Õýµ±£© because we¡¯ve got the wrong people in positions of leadership.'

Study: normal people don't suggest taking supplements

Scientists say there is little evidence the pills do any good ¨C and in fact some could be causing serious harm.

A study involving nearly 39,000 women has found multivitamins, vitamin B, folic acid, iron, magnesium and copper all increased the statistical risk of premature death.

Nearly a third of adults in Britain take some form of dietary supplement most days and the industry is worth £675million a year.

Some of the most popular pills include multivitamins, vitamin A, C and E, iron, folic acid and calcium ¨C which are all thought to improve long-term health and ward off£¨±Ü¿ª£© illnesses.

Scientists from Finland, Norway, the U.S. and South Korea looked at the long-term health effects of common vitamin pills and minerals on 38,772 women aged 55 to 69.

Over an 18-year period the women recorded any supplements they regularly took.

The results, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found copper increased the risk of dying prematurely by 18 per cent. Folic acid ¨C which pregnant women are told to take to protect their child against spina bifida£¨¼¹ÖùÁÑ£© ¨C increased risk of death by almost 6 per cent, while iron raised the risk by nearly 4 per cent.

Multivitamins raised the risk by 2.4 per cent, vitamin B6 by 4 per cent, magnesium£¨Ã¾£© by 3.6 per cent and zinc by 3 per cent.

The scientists do not fully understand how supplements may trigger early death, but they may interfere with the body¡¯s natural defences. They say the supplements should only be taken by patients who are malnourished and only under the supervision of a doctor. Everyone else should ensure they eat a balanced diet to get adequate vitamins and minerals.

Jaakko Mursu, from the University of Eastern Finland, said: ¡®Based on existing evidence, we see little justification for the general and widespread use of dietary supplements.

¡®We recommend that they be used with strong medically-based cause, such as symptomatic nutrient deficiency disease.¡¯

Sweden poet has won the 2011 Nobel Prize for literature

The Royal Swedish Academy named him the recipient "because, through his condensed, translucent£¨Í¸Ã÷µÄ£© images, he gives us fresh access to reality".
The 80-year-old is the 108th recipient of the prestigious prize, given last year to Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa.

Presented by the Nobel Foundation, the award - only given to living writers - is worth 10 million kronor (£944,246).

A trained psychologist, Transtroemer suffered a stroke in 1990 that affected his ability to talk.

'Mystical'

His poems - described by Publishers Weekly as "mystical, versatile£¨¶à²Å¶àÒյģ© and sad" - have been translated into more than 50 languages.

English translations were largely handled by American poet Robert Bly, a personal friend, and Scottish poet Robin Fulton.

Fulton, said Transtroemer would be remembered for "his very sharp imagery that translates readily, telling metaphors and a sense of surprise".

"You don't feel quite the same after you've read it as you did before," he added.

Fulton first began working with Transtroemer in the early 1970s, and told the BBC: "Some of the Swedish I've learnt was learnt in the process of translating Tomas.

"You have to plunge in somewhere. When you're in the mood it's good until someone points out the mistakes you've made."

Tipped as a potential Nobel prize winner for many years, Transtroemer is the eighth European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in the last 10 years.

He is the first Swede to receive the prize since authors Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson shared it in 1974.

Born in April 1931 in Stockholm, Transtroemer graduated in psychology in 1956 and later worked in an institution for juvenile offenders.

His first collection of poetry, Seventeen Poems, was published when he was 23.

In 1966 he received the Bellman prize, one of many accolades£¨ÔÞÃÀ£¬±íÑ he has won over his long career.

In 2003 one of his poems was read at the memorial service of Anna Lindh, the murdered Swedish foreign minister.

Three women won the 2011 Nobel peace prize

They were recognised for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".
Mrs Sirleaf is Africa's first female elected head of state, Ms Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist and Ms Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement.

"We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women achieve the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," said Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland in Oslo.

Reading from the prize citation£¨ÒýÓã© , he said the committee hoped the prize would "help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel - deemed by Forbes the world's most powerful woman - called the award a "wise decision".

But Mrs Sirleaf's main rival in polls this coming Tuesday, Winston Tubman, told the BBC she did not deserve the prize and was a "warmonger£¨ºÃÕ½Õߣ© ".

Arab Spring

Mrs Karman heard of her win from protest camp Change Square in the capital Sanaa, where she has been living for several months calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down.

She was recognised for playing a leading part in the struggle for women's rights in Yemen's pro-democracy protests "in the most trying circumstances" and is the first Arab woman to win the prize.

As the head of Yemeni organisation Women Journalists without Chains, Mrs Karman has been jailed several times.

Mrs Karman told BBC Arabic she was dedicating it to "all the martyrs£¨ÁÒÊ¿£© and wounded of the Arab Spring" - the wave of unrest which has swept the Middle East and North Africa in the past year - and to "all the free people who are fighting for their rights".

Mr Jagland said the oppression of women was "the most important issue" in the Arab world and that awarding the prize to Ms Karman was "giving the signal that if it [the Arab Spring] is to succeed with efforts to make democracy, it has to include women".

The two scholars who has won the 2011 Nobel economic prize

They had studied how economic policy, such as raising interest rates or cutting taxes, affects macroeconomic variables such as GDP and inflation.

The award's official name is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

It was not part of the original group of awards set out in Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, but was established by Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, in 1968.

The five main prizes are in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.

'Essential methods'

Thomas Sargent, 68, is a professor of economics at New York University.

The academy pointed to his work examining the post-World War II era, when many countries initially tended to implement£¨ÊµÊ©£¬Âäʵ£© a high-inflation policy, but eventually introduced systematic changes in economic policy and reverted to a lower inflation rate.

Christopher Sims, also 68, is a professor of economics and banking at Princeton University.

The academy said he had developed a method based on "vector£¨Ê¸Á¿£© autoregression" to analyse how the economy is affected by temporary changes in economic policy and other factors - for instance, the effects of an increase in the interest rate set by a central bank.

Prof Sims said: "I think that the methods that I have used and that Tom has developed are essential to finding our way out of this mess."

Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides won the 2010 prize for their work on how regulation and policy affects jobs and wages.




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The gates foundation to help India against AIDS
[Edit]

The Avahan project was launched in 2003 in six states which had the highest rate of HIV in India at the time.
The aim was to invest in HIV prevention by targeting high-risk groups such as sex workers and truck drivers.

The Lancet study said it showed such an investment can reduce HIV prevalence.

Safe-sex counselling

The initial findings of the study had some data limitations, AFP reports, but the study's authors make it clear that investing in prevention can have a positive impact.

"The results of our analysis suggest that Avahan had a beneficial effect in reducing HIV prevalence at the population level over five years of programme implementation£¨ÊµÏÖ£¬ÂÄÐУ© in some of the states," the assessment said.

It said that the findings supported investment in well-managed HIV prevention programmes in low and middle-income countries.

The $258m (£164m) Avahan project was based in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland.

It targeted high-risk groups such as sex workers, injecting drug users and truck drivers with tactics such as safe-sex counselling, free condoms, exchanging used needles for sterilised ones and through campaigning and advocacy£¨Ö÷ÕÅ£¬Óµ»¤£© .

It found that the campaign was most effective in the districts that got the most resources but it also had a greater impact in the highly-populated southern Indian states.

Indian authorities say the number of annual new HIV infections has declined by more than 50% during the past decade.

India also runs government Aids control schemes, many done in partnership with international donors.

There was some criticism of the Avahan project when it was launched for being poor value for money, AFP reports, but the study disputes this assertion£¨¶ÏÑÔ£¬ÉùÃ÷£© .

The authors of the study were funded by the Gates Foundation, but as a peer-reviewed journal material for publication is examined by outside experts.

More and more Internet users will be included in a password

Online users are leaving internet passwords in their wills as Britons amass a £2.3 billion digital inheritance, new research suggests.

A poll of 2,000 adults found 25% had more than £200 worth of films, video and music stored online.

Nearly a third considered the sum valuable enough to be passed on to loved ones and 11% have already put internet passwords in their wills.

Without the passwords being included in wills, billions of pounds' worth of films, music and pictures stored in "cloud" services such as Hotmail, Facebook, iCloud and Flickr would be lost.

The research, by cloud computing company Rackspace, found that 53% of those polled held "treasured possessions" in such services.

A quarter said they had "special photos" stored online, one in 10 had treasured videos and the same number kept sentimental£¨¸ÐÉ˵ģ© emails from loved ones.

Lawyers described the passing on of valuable passwords as a major change to the traditional way wills have been drawn up.

Matthew Strain, partner at London law firm Strain Keville, said: "With more photos, books, music and so on being stored online and in digital format, the question of what happens to these when people are gone becomes more important every day.

"People have not yet come to grips with£¨Óë¡­¡­ÕùÂÛ£© the value of these digital possessions and the risk is that they may be lost if the owner dies, or even that their estate may be liable for ongoing subscriptions£¨¶©ÔÄ£© to online magazines or newspapers, for instance.

The study also revealed 66% relied on cloud computing services every day without realising it. By 2020, a third are expected to store all music online while a quarter said all their photos will be kept online. One in seven also said they would no longer own books and will instead read e-books.

Choosing the Best Car Insurance Quote Online

Getting a quote used to take a few days back in the old days, you have to call the insurance company and wait for somebody to call you back. We're lucky to live at this day and age because almost everything we need can be handed to us at a click of the mouse.Looking at car insurance quote online is easy and straightforward. It will also allow you to save time and money because booking can be made

Report: Cain sought dinner date with fifth woman (Politico)

A former USAID worker claims Herman Cain asked her to set up dinner with a woman who attended a speech he gave in 2002, the Washington Examiner is reporting tonight.

The worker?? 40-year-old Donna Donella, of Arlington, Va.?? told the paper that the moment came after Cain gave a paid speech in Egypt that year. A woman in the crowd posed a query to Cain during the speech, the Examiner said.

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Donella told them: ?And after the seminar was over, Cain came over to me and a colleague and said, ?Could you put me in touch with that lovely young lady who asked the question, so I can give her a more thorough answer over dinner???

She was "suspicious of Cain's motives and delined to set up the date," the Examiner reporter wrote.

That prompted Cain to reply, "Then you and I can have dinner." Instead, some of Donella's co-workers suggested a group outing.

?I couldn?t swear that he had some untoward intentions, but we all thought his tone was suspect and we didn?t feel comfortable putting him in touch with that woman,? Donella, whom the Examiner identified as an independent who voted for President Barack Obama in the last election, was quoted as saying.

She said she didn't witness any "inappropriate sexual behavior" at the group dinner. But she claimed he asked the waiter for two $400 bottles of wine, and then stiffed the rest of the group when it came time to pay.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1111_67819_html/43528699/SIG=11m00d0md/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67819.html

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Americans move accounts to credit unions

Many Americans are unhappy with recent increase in bank fees that they move their accounts to credit unions.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/08/pf/credit_union_switch/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Here are some of the reasons:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1111/gallery.move_your_money/index.html?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29