 People who take more risks with their health - including smoking and drinking - are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, a study suggests. A team led by the University of London quizzed 212 people half of whom had Parkinson's and identified a risk-averse "Parkinsonian Personality". Smokers and drinkers seemed to be protected maybe because these habits denoted a risk-taking personality. Parkinson's disease experts said the results should be treated with caution. The study appeared in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. Parkinson's is a degenerative brain disorder which affects movement and becomes more common in older age. Its causes remain unclear, but it is often associated with a shortage of brain chemical dopamine which controls connections between nerve cells. Earlier studies suggest a link between smoking and caffeine intake and lower rates of Parkinson's. And it has been suggested the dopamine system is protected by nicotine and caffeine...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 11:32:00 02-18-06
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 Rumsfeld Rips U.N. Over Gitmo |
The Pentagon will not close its Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorist suspects, despite UN Secretary-General Annan's call to shut it down, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld also all but admitted that the US military is losing the battle of ideas in Muslim world, reports CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin. "He's just flat wrong," Rumsfeld said in response to a question about the controversial prison during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations. "We shouldn't close Guantanamo. We have several hundred terrorists, bad people, people that if let back out on the field would try to kill Americans. That's just a fact." He said closing it would amount to pretending there is no problem with a terrorist threat to U.S. interests. I agree we should not close Gitmo, best we save it for our own War Criminals specifically the leaders, and let it be a lesson to all other would be War Criminals that they can not hide behind their positions of power forever...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/18/terror/main1330000.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=U.S._1330000
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Editor - 10:26:00 02-18-06
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| Digital gap seen in war on Boogieman |
Al Qaeda's expertise with digital technology, which has helped fan Muslim rioting over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, drew a warning from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday that the United States is falling behind the terrorists in the information age. "Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today's media age, but for the most part we -- our country, our government -- has not adapted," Mr. Rumsfeld said in New York. Mr. Rumsfeld did not directly link the riots to al Qaeda's use of the Internet, e-mail and other forms of digital communication, but the effectiveness of the terrorist network in communicating its message underscored his point. News of a boycott of Danish goods and products in Saudi Arabia following the publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper has been accompanied by a much more sinister campaign on the Web, involving pro-al Qaeda Web sites. ...
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060217-112524-9230r.htm
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Editor - 10:08:00 02-18-06
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| Rural recovery policies 'failed' |
Measures to boost the rural economy after the devastating foot-and-mouth crisis five years ago have failed, according to influential research. The crisis cost an estimated £8bn to the economy and almost 6.5 million animals were slaughtered. The Centre for Rural Economy (CRE) said household incomes in remote rural areas lagged behind the national average. But the government said it spent £200m a year on rural development and many communities were thriving. The CRE said average weekly salaries in rural areas were more than 13% lower than the national average. The worst affected counties were Cumbria and Devon, the Newcastle University-based organisation said. The report claimed the government response to the foot-and-mouth crisis had been too heavily oriented towards the farming industry. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4724554.stm
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Editor - 10:03:00 02-18-06
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| Retirement age 'will rise to 85' |
The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said. Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades. That will put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned. He also told a science meeting in St Louis that 50-year or 75-year mortgages may not be unusual in the future. Dr Tuljapurkar was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in the Missouri city. "People are going to do things they didn't get round to in their working lives. Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives," Dr Tuljapurkar said. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4726300.stm
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Editor - 09:59:00 02-18-06
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| U.A.E. Seeks to Ease U.S. Senators Concern Over Ports |
The United Arab Emirates reassured U.S. senators including Charles Schumer that Dubai's takeover of the U.S. port assets of Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. is not a threat to national security. The country's Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said concerns voiced by some members of the U.S. Congress that the takeover of P&O terminals in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore and New Orleans by Dubai's port company, DP World were ``understandable.'' ``But, we want to make clear we have also worked very closely with the U.S. in a number of issues especially when it comes to combating terrorism, prior-to and post Sept. 11,'' Al-Nahyan said in a statement in response to questions sent by Bloomberg today. ``Dubai Ports is a world class company that has been successfully running ports for many years without incident.'' ...
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aeboVKp6Ev74&refer=home
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Editor - 09:54:00 02-18-06
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