Good Afternoon All,
I have to come back later to finish editing this, because I have to help a friend today. I hope that you enjoy the stories currently picked. :)
Today's Top 5:
1. Estonians Scour Country for Junk in Big Clean-up (Reuters)
2. Apples, Apple Juice Shown to Prevent Early Artherosclerosis (Physorg)
3. A First for Saudis: Mozart Concert Performed for Both Genders (Yahoo News)
4. 140 Cows Rescued from Flood (CBC Canada)
5. These Two Dogs Have a Nose for Fake Movies, Music (ABS-CBN News Online)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Iceland Claims Europe's Largest Park (Telegraph UK)
2. Spiders Found to Court Females with Ultraviolet Rays (Earth Times)
Today's Top 5:
1. Estonians Scour Country for Junk in Big Clean-up
http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CECO/nenvironmentNews_uUSL0315369320080503?src=RSS-ECO0
4:57 PM EDTBy David Mardiste
TURI, ESTONIA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Estonians scoured fields, streets, forests and riverbanks on Saturday to amass tonnes of rubbish in the Baltic state's first national clean-up.
Using Google maps from the Internet and Global Positioning technology to locate junk, people collected every kind of garbage from tractor batteries to plastic bottles and paint tins and ferried it, often in their own vehicles, to central dumps.
The campaign, which aimed to collect up to 10,000 tonnes of rubbish, was organized by Internet entrepreneurs.
"It is not really about the rubbish. It is about changing people's mind sets. Next year it might be something else," said Tiina Urm, spokeswoman for the Let's Do It! event.
Estonia inherited a mass of rubbish after it regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 but it has only added to the problem since.
"It has to be done, it can't stay here," said Mats Eek, 17, cleaning up a site in the middle of a forest near the central town of Turi, 100 km (62 miles) from capital city Tallinn.
He and the rest of his team worked to remove old metal, plastic, glass, bottles, and remains of farm medicals and household garbage hundred of meters from deep in a forest.
The organizers mapped and photographed illegal rubbish tips, then put them on the Internet using Google Earth as a platform.
They then used satellite photos and Global Positioning System (GSP) devices for accuracy in finding the clean up sites and asked people to register on the Internet to participate.
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
2. Apples, Apple Juice Shown to Prevent Early Artherosclerosis
http://www.physorg.com/news128997653.html
Published: 16 hours ago, 01:40 EST, May 03, 2008
A new study shows that apples and apple juice are playing the same health league as the often-touted purple grapes and grape juice. The study was published in the April 2008 issue of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.
Researcher Kelly Decorde from the Universite Montpelier in France was part of the European research team that found apples have similar cardiovascular protective properties to grapes. The researchers also observed that processing the fruit into juice has the potential to increase the bioavailability of the naturally-occurring compounds and antioxidants found in the whole fruit.
Using a variety of established analytical techniques, aortic plaque was evaluated to determine the effectiveness in decreasing plaque that is associated with atherosclerosis.
According to the research, “This study demonstrates that processing apples and purple grapes into juice modifies the protective effect of their phenolics against diet induced oxidative stress and early atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic hamsters.”
Researchers also noted, “These results show for the first time that long-term consumption of antioxidants supplied by apples and purple grapes, especially phenolic compounds, prevents the development of atherosclerosis in hamsters, and that the processing can have a major impact on the potential health effects of a product.”
In summary, the researchers stated that their work would help provide encouragement that fruit and fruit juices may have significant clinical and public health relevance.
Source: U.S. Apple Association
3. A First for Saudis: Mozart Concert Performed for Both Genders http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/saudi_mozart_in_riyadh
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - It's probably as revolutionary and groundbreaking as Mozart gets these days. A German-based quartet staged Saudi Arabia's first-ever performance of European classical music in a public venue before a mixed gender audience.
The concert, held at a government-run cultural center, broke many taboos in a country where public music is banned and the sexes are segregated even in lines at fast food outlets.
The Friday night performance could be yet another indication that this strict Muslim kingdom is looking to open up to the rest of the world.
A few weeks ago, King Abdullah made an unprecedented call for interfaith dialogue with Christians and Jews — the first such proposal from a nation that forbids non-Muslim religious services and symbols.
"The concert is a sign that things are changing rapidly here," said German Ambassador Juergen Krieghoff, whose embassy sponsored the concert as part of the first-ever German Cultural Weeks in Saudi Arabia.
"Evidently the government has decided that a minimum of openness in our new world economy and in our information-based world is necessary for us and also for good understanding among cultures," he added.
Public concerts are practically unheard of in the kingdom. Foreign embassies and consulates regularly bring musical groups, but they perform on embassy grounds or in expatriates' residential compounds, and the shows are not open to the public.
In the past couple of months, however, there has been a quiet, yet marked increase in cultural activities in Saudi Arabia. Lectures and a couple of segregated folk music performances were held on the sidelines of Riyadh's book fair. And Jiddah's annual Economic Forum opened with a surprise this February — a performance of Arab and Western music.
"For half an hour, we did not quite know whether we had stumbled into an unknown Jiddah nightclub or whether it was some amazing mistake that would suddenly stop," wrote Michel Cousins in the English-language daily Arab News, describing the 30-minute show.
Friday's concert of works by works by Mozart, Brahms and Paul Juon was the first classical performance held in public in Saudi Arabia, said German press attache Georg Klussmann. It was advertised on the embassy's Web site with free tickets that could be downloaded and printed.
The excitement in the 500-seat hall was palpable as the largely expatriate audience walked in.
"We have not done a concert like this before," German diplomat Tobias Krause told the audience at the start of performance by the Artis Piano Quartet. Those gathered applauded enthusiastically after each piece and were treated to an encore.
Sebastian Bischoff, the German cultural attache, said the mission had received permission for the event from the Ministry of Information and Culture, which runs the King Fahd Cultural Center where the concert took place.
Japanese pianist Hiroko Atsumi, the quartet's only woman, said there was some debate before the concert about whether she should perform in an abaya, the enveloping black cloak all women must wear in public. She ended up settling on a long green top and black trousers.
Among the first to arrive was Faiza al-Khayyal, a retired Saudi educator, with her 15-year-old daughter.
"I came here for her sake. She loves classical music," said al-Khayyal. "There are cultural activities at embassies, but we don't get invited to them."
Al-Khayyal said she had inquired about seating arrangements and was told the audience would be mixed.
Did she mind bringing her daughter to a mixed gathering?
"It's OK with me," she said, and then added with a smile: "I'm with her."
Faleh al-Ajami, a university Arabic language professor, brought his wife and two sons to the concert — a rare opportunity for the whole family to do something fun together.
"It's a good step to introduce Saudis to classical music," al-Ajami, 50, said during the intermission.
"I was amazed at the sounds coming from the musical instruments," said his son Ziad al-Ajami, 11, a fan of hard rock. "I've never been to a live concert before."
For the expatriates, the evening was an opportunity to have a normal evening out in Riyadh, a city with no movie theaters and where women are not allowed in outdoor cafes.
One foreign couple held hands, while another husband put his arm around his wife's shoulders — rare public displays of affection in the kingdom. The mutuwwa, the dreaded religious police tasked with enforcing public morality, were nowhere to be seen for a change.
"I'm glad for an opportunity like this," said Mary Ann Jumawan, a 40-year-old administrator at the South Korean Embassy. "It's the first time in nine years here as a married couple that my husband and I go to a location like this."
But not everyone was impressed.
Abdullah al-Sabhan, his brother and three friends received invitations from a German business associate, but after half an hour, they snuck out.
"I'm bored," said al-Sabhan, 26, an engineer who prefers Egyptian pop music and had never heard of Mozart. "Let me leave before the second piece begins."
His brother, Saud, dismissed the notion that gatherings involving men and women together might one day become the norm.
"Saudi society wouldn't accept it. And girls aren't used to such mixed gatherings," he said, adding that if he had a sister, she certainly would not have been allowed to attend.
4. 140 Cows Rescued from FloodLast Updated: Saturday, May 3, 2008 12:07 PM AT Comments8Recommend32CBC News Military personnel escort dairy cows on a barge on the flood-swollen St. John River. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)Some of the cows rescued from a barn amid the flooding that has struck New Brunswick's capital region had a harrowing moment on Friday night while being transported down the St. John River.
The military barge that 57 of the cows were travelling on lost power and began to drift down the flooded, fast-moving current, said Gail Duncan, spokeswoman for the emergency command centre in Burton, N.B., southeast of Fredericton.
"It presented what could have been quite a catastrophe if the barge had hit the pier," Duncan told CBC News.
A military boat travelling along with the barge was able to manoeuvre itself quickly to get between the other vessel and the pier, Duncan said, protecting the animals from the impact.
The 140 cows had become stranded in a barn near Sheffield, southeast of Fredericton.
The owner of the farm had initially thought that his barn would be at a high enough elevation that his animals would be safe from the rising waters.
But the waters rose higher than expected and stranded the animals, said dairy farmer Marco Boonstopple, who helped with the rescue.
The cows were in a desperate situation and stressed, said Robert Speer, a farmer from Hainesville who also volunteered in the operation.
If not milked, cows run the risk of developing an infection, which can block milk production or even kill the animal, Boonstopple said.
The massive rescue operation took all day on Friday as a special barge was assembled to go down the St. John River, which has reached 6.5 metres above sea level in the area. More than 40 army engineers, 21 dairy farmers and two veterinarians participated in the operation.
The operation also had to change its initial plan for saving the animals when the river's strong currents prevented the barge from reaching the barn, Carlin said.
A smaller boat had to be brought in, and the cows were then ferried to the barge about eight at a time, Carlin said.
Once onboard the barge, the animals were moved from the barn to a safe landing point about 20 kilometres away in Oromocto.
The rescue operation was not concluded until about 2 a.m. AT on Saturday after starting in the early hours on Friday.
The animals have now been transported to two farms in Sussex, about 100 kilometres away, to be milked.
There are many farms in the low-lying area on the outskirts of Fredericton where flood waters of the St. John River are continuing to rise.
As they evacuate the area, families are struggling with leaving behind their cattle and horses, Oromocto Mayor Fay Tidd said.
5. These Two Dogs Have a Nose for Fake Movies, Music
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storyPage.aspx?storyId=117028
Lifestyle, 5/3/2008 7:34 PM May 4, 2008
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON - They're black, wear yellow coats and have a nose for pirate movies and music: meet Lucky and Flo, two Labradors trained to sniff out not drugs or explosives, but the polycarbonate contained in DVDs and CDs.
The four-year-old dogs can't tell the difference between a legal disk or a pirated one, but they do have a knack for ferreting out disks packed in cases labeled "Alaskan King Crab" or "Automobile Spare Parts," or hidden behind a thick wall in a warehouse.
The canines' noses have netted international customs officials millions of bogus discs and allowed them to arrest dozens of suspected smugglers of counterfeit goods.
"They are so good at their jobs that a Malaysian pirate syndicate put a bounty on the dogs heads," said Michael Buchan, who liaises between the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and agents with the US Customs and Border Protection service.
The syndicate was willing to pay 100,000 Malaysian Ringgit (approximately 30,000 dollars) to see the dogs dead, Buchan said.
Neil Powell, a trainer from Northern Ireland that specializes in teaching canines to sniff out bombs or drugs, taught Lucky and Flo how to sniff out polycarbonate. The dogs first tested their unusual sniffer skills at London Stansted Airport in 2005.
The British customs officers "were skeptical and thought 'another crazy American idea,' but they changed their tune when the dogs were able to detect small boxes containing pirate DVDs that were hidden in the middle of huge containers," said Phil Ray, who along with Buchan, is introducing the dogs to officials around the world.
Lucky and Flo and their human escorts have visited places like the Czech Republic, Dubai, Germany, Mexico and Spain.
They scored their greatest success in Malaysia and the Philippines, where they took part in 35 raids that led to more than two dozen arrests and unearthed two million disks valued at 3.5 million dollars.
Malaysian authorities were so impressed that the government set up the world's first polycarbonate-sniffer-dog unit, named Paddy and Manny, with help from the MPAA.
The Motion Picture Association says that it loses some 18 billion dollars to counterfeiters each year.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Iceland Claims Europe's Largest Park http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/1919488/Iceland-claims-Europe's-largest-park.html?source=rss
Mark Rowe
Last Updated: 4:32PM BST 02/05/2008
Three million acres of Icelandic volcanoes, waterfalls and wilderness are set to attract thousands of visitors, reports Mark Rowe.
GettyAn estimated 40,000 tourists may visit Vatnajokull park each yearNext month Vatnajokull in Iceland will be designated the largest national park in Europe. It will cover more than three million acres (half the size of Wales), incorporating 13 per cent of the whole country.
Vatnajokull, in the south-east of the country, is a land of high plains, volcanoes, lava beds, sand flats, rivers, lakes and ravines. While some areas – such as the Detifoss waterfall, the most powerful in Europe – attract visitors, much of the park is a wilderness. Seven volcanoes, most of them active, are located under the Vatnajokull ice-cap, one of the largest glaciers in Europe.
A network of visitor centres, waymarked trails and rangers' stations is being built to improve accessibility. "National park status will protect the area against development, pollution and other human interference in order to preserve it for future generations," said Olof Yrr Atladottir, the director-general of the Icelandic Tourist Board.
Article continuesadvertisementTourist officials estimate that the park could attract more than 40,000 new visitors each year.
Iceland is already anticipating an increase in tourist numbers as its currency, the krona, has fallen by more than 10 per cent against the pound in the past 12 months.
2. Spiders Found to Court Females with Ultraviolet Rays http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/202742,spiders-found-to-court-females-with-ultraviolet-rays.html
Posted : Fri, 02 May 2008 02:18:04 GMT
Author : DPA Category : Science (Technology)
Singapore - Ultraviolet rays have been found to be essential for a spider courting females, a published report said Friday. National University of Singapore (NUS) Associate Professor Li Daiqin said that the rays, invisible to the human eye, are very much visible to the eight-legged arachnids in courtship rituals.
He has proven that a particular type of light, ultraviolet B (UVB), is used in communicating, The Straits Times said.
Female jumping spiders spent twice the amount of time ogling males with UVB-reflecting markings on their body, compared to those where the light wave had been filtered out.
The scientific community had long assumed that animals could not detect UVB light due to its small wave range and because such rays can harm the eyes, Li told the newspaper.
The discovery was made after three years of collaboration among researchers from China and Singapore to determine why male spiders of the Phintella vittata species had UVB-reflecting markings on their bodies.
Li, who is known as the Spider Man of NUS, is looking at how the spiders protect their eyes from the damaging effects of UVB rays.
Such work could lead to the development of better sunscreens or treatments for eye damage, the report said.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment