Controversial Cover of the Day: Weezer covers Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.” Love it or hate it, it still happened. [ weezer .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 27/05/2011 22:29 Number of articles : 5
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A review of published evidence suggests there may be some risk of cancer from using a mobile phone Radiation from mobile phones has been classified as a possible cancer risk by the World Health Organisation after a major review of the effects of electromagnetic waves on human health. The declaration was based on evidence in published studies that intensive use of mobile phones might lead to an increased risk of glioma, a malignant form of brain cancer. The conclusion by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) applies to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation in general, though most research in the area has centred on wireless phones. The findings are the culmination of an IARC meeting during which 31 scientists from 14 countries assessed hundreds of published studies into the potential cancer risks posed by electromagnetic fields. The UK was represented by Simon Mann from the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards in Oxfordshire . Jonathan Samet, a scientist at the University of Southern California , who chaired the group, said: “The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cellphones and cancer.” In designating radio-frequency fields as “possibly carcinogenic”, the WHO has put them on a par with around 240 other agents for which evidence of harm is uncertain, including low-level magnetic fields, talcum powder and working in a dry cleaners. The report found no clear mechanism for the waves to cause brain tumours. Radiation from mobile phones is too weak to cause cancer by breaking DNA, leading scientists to suspect other, more indirect routes. “We found some threads of evidence telling us how cancers might occur but there are acknowledged gaps and uncertainties,” Samet said. Christopher Wild, director of the IARC , said that in view of the potential implications for public health, there should be more research on long-term, heavy use of mobile phones. “Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting,” he said. There are around 5bn mobile phone subscriptions globally, according to the International Telecommunication Union , a UN agency for information and communication technologies. The IARC group reviewed research investigating potential health risks from electromagnetic fields associated with technologies such as radio, television, wireless communications and mobile phones. The committee decided the fields were possibly carcinogenic to humans, a finding that will feed through to national health agencies in support of their efforts to minimise exposure to cancer-causing factors. The IARC has evaluated nearly 950 chemicals, physical and biological agents, occupational exposures and lifestyle factors where there is either evidence or suspicion that they may cause cancer. The report on radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation comes a year after the WHO published its much-delayed Interphone study , which found no solid evidence that mobile phones increase the risk of brain tumours, but pointed to a slightly higher risk among those who used mobile phones the most . The report was held up for several years because scientists failed to agree on its findings and whether to issue a warning about excessive use. Exposure from a mobile phone base station is typically much lower than from a handset held to the ear, but concerns over the possible health effects of electromagnetic waves have extended to base stations and wireless computer networks, particularly in relation to schools. According to the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency , half of all primary schools and 82% of secondary schools make use of wireless computer networks. Wi-fi equipment is restricted to a maximum output of 100 milliwatts in Europe at the most popular frequency of 2.4 gigahertz. At that level, exposure to radiowaves should not exceed guideline levels drawn up by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation and adopted in the UK. A Health Protection Agency study led by Mann in 2009 found that exposure to radiowaves from wi-fi equipment was well within these guideline levels. Cancer Medical research Physics Mobile phones Telecoms Cancer Health Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
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• Uefa president Platini says he has ‘only one tongue’ • Scotland only nation backing FA’s request to delay election Michel Platini has ruled out standing for the Fifa presidency until 2015 because he has “only one tongue”. If in the unlikely event that the Football Association’s initiative to gain the support of 153 other federations succeeds in delaying the Fifa presidential election – so far it has the public backing only of Scotland – succeeds, a rival candidate would be sought. However, when the Guardian asked the Uefa president if he intends to rescue Fifa from its ongoing scandals Platini responded by saying: “Scandals? I only know what I see in the newspapers and you work for the newspapers. You know more than me. “I have been elected Uefa president. I have four more years. Can I do two jobs? I have only one tongue.” Platini is clearly not prepared to mount a coup, and stands in line for what is likely to be an orderly transition into the role in 2015, when his Uefa mandate expires. The three-time European footballer of the year has expressed his ambitions to that effect, saying: “Fifa is like the International Olympic Committee was some years ago. I think we are at the end of a system based on politics. I think it will finish in the next few years and we will have people from the sport. I think Fifa has to come back to football.” The Guardian understands that the 21 surviving executive-committee members of Fifa were unanimous in expressing their support for the incumbent president, Sepp Blatter, at its meeting at Fifa House yesterday. Fifa Michel Platini Sepp Blatter Football politics Matt Scott guardian.co.uk
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You know what they say: You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take Jersey out of the girl. People reports that Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi got into a fender-bender in Florence on Monday while filming for the fourth season of Jersey Shore. Snooki was driving with castmate Deena Nicole Cortese and a
Continue reading …Sarah Palin’s ‘unconventional’ route to the presidency: The power of messianic delusion
May 31, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Everyone in the press and the Republican establishment seems equally confused by Sarah Palin’s bizarre run-up to her near-certain presidential run . What they don’t get is the depths of Palin’s messianic delusion: She really believes she’s been sent by God to save America, and she can run any way she wants. Karl Rove was on Fox News yesterday morning (actually working on Memorial Day!) pointing out the stark contrast between Michele Bachmann’s run-up to her presidential bid — making nice with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, building connections with local Republicans, and all the traditional things that are part of a presidential run — with Palin’s: ROVE: Sarah Palin — much different, which is: ‘I’m gonna conduct a bus tour, where I go not to — ‘ I mean, she’s about ready, sometime in the next couple of weeks, to make her first visit to New Hampshire in over two years. That’s, that’s really unusual. And then you’ve got the situation of — you know, she’s going to Antietam and Gettysburg and to Philadelphia. And I’ll bet you a dime to a dollar that those visits to those areas are not preceded by courtesy phone calls to the local Republican Party chairmen and a request that they generate volunteers. She’s just gonna announce her schedule and show up. So that’s what I mean by unconventional. That’s right: Palin is not concerned about any of the ordinary aspects of running for the presidency, especially not the party-building that has been successful Republican nominees’ bread and butter since the days of Nixon. She has bigger fish to fry. She’s on a mission from God. The WaPo’s Chris Cilizza seems equally taken aback: The trip, which was announced via her political action committee website Thursday, resembled nothing so much as an episode of “Amazing Race” — a helter-skelter series of stops at historical sites with little (if any) advance notice given of her plans. The lack of details left reporters confused and scrambling, and the political world wondering just what she was up to. Which is, of course, exactly how Palin likes it. Asked about a potential 2012 campaign on Sunday night, Palin said “it would definitely be non-conventional and untraditional,” a comment that amounts to the political understatement of the year. Palin added in an interview with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren (one of her go-to members of the mainstream media): “I don’t think I owe anything to the mainstream media … I want them to have to do a little bit of work on a tour like this, and that would include not necessarily telling them beforehand where every stop’s going to be.” That translated into Palin punking the reporters following her on the tour: Palin reportedly faked out reporters at her Gettysburg, Pa. hotel Tuesday morning. She snuck out early with her family and a few staffers, leaving her unmistakeable bus behind and giving the press the impression that she was still readying for the day ahead. When her staff came out to load luggage into the bus, reporters and tourists swarmed to get a glimpse of the former Alaska governor herself, but she was long gone, off to the historic battlegrounds. As Cilizza observes, Palin is trying her own formula here: Instead of communicating via the media, Palin will use her massive Internet and social media presence to push her message out. Rather than a regimented schedule of travel to early states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Palin seems likely to opt for a more fluid schedule that allows for surprise drop-ins on average Americans. No presidential campaign in the modern era has been run in such a manner and succeeded. Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson sought to minimize his travel to early states and focus on communicating with voters through cable televison and web videos. He didn’t win a single primary or caucus. Meantime, rumors are that Palin may punk Philadelphia, too . In Sarah’s world, of course, this lack of conventionalism makes perfect sense. The press isn’t a free publicity on the hoof (the way, say John McCain treated them) — they’re Satan incarnate and the more they can be bedeviled, the better. Because Sarah speaks directly to the people you know — so long as they don’t ask her any tough questions. And party-building doesn’t matter when the Lord is going to make everyone come together behind her. It’s more important she get her message out to as many people as possible. There are folks who think all this is really proof that Sarah’s not running. All I can say is: Wait and see.
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MOSCOW — Sergei V. Bagapsh, who led the Black Sea enclave of Abkhazia through a tumultuous effort to gain independence from Georgia without being absorbed by Russia, died Sunday in Moscow. He was 62. Mikhail Klimentyev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sergei Bagapsh, right, president of Abkhazia, which broke with Georgia, and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, in 2008. Mr. Bagapsh had successful surgery to remove growths on his lung on May 21, but succumbed to complications that ended in heart failure, medical officials told the Interfax news service. The affable manner of Mr. Bagapsh, who governed Abkhazia as its president, concealed the strategic thinking of a chess player, a…
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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned Tuesday that any future NATO airstrikes that kill civilians will be considered attacks against the Afghan people. The statement came three days after an airstrike killed 14 civilians in southern Afghanistan, according to Afghan…
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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned Tuesday that any future NATO airstrikes that kill civilians will be considered attacks against the Afghan people. The statement came three days after an airstrike killed 14 civilians in southern Afghanistan, according to Afghan…
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CAIRO (AP) — Activists and bloggers are pressing Egypt’s military rulers to investigate accusations of serious abuses against protesters, including claims that soldiers subjected female detainees to so-called “virginity tests.” (Scroll down for video) Bloggers say they will hold a day of online protest Wednesday to voice their outrage, adding to criticism of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country from ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February. The accusations of virginity tests first surfaced after a March 9 rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plain clothes attacked protesters and the army intervened forcefully to clear the square. One woman who was arrested spoke out about her treatment, and Amnesty International further documented the abuse allegations in a report that found 18 female detainees were threatened with prostitution charges and forced to undergo virginity tests. They were also beaten up and given electric shocks, the report said. Egypt’s military rulers have come under heavy criticism from the youth protest movement, which is upset at the pace of reforms that they hope will lead Egypt to democracy. Since Mubarak’s fall on Feb. 11, the military has led crackdowns on peaceful protests, and critics accuse it of failing to restore security in the streets or launch serious national dialogue on a clear path forward for Egypt. The military council denied soldiers attacked protesters at the March 9 rally. But one general used a press conference to make negative remarks about women who mingle with men during the sit-ins and suggested lewd acts were taking place in protest camps. Advertisement “There were girls with young men in one tent. Is this rational? There were drugs; pay attention!” Gen. Ismail Etman, spokesman of the council, said at the end of March. He confirmed then that the military police arrested 17 female protesters among 170 others at the March 9 rally. He said the women were among a group of protesters given one-year suspended prison sentences. “We secure the people. We don’t use the violence,” he said. One of the women arrested, Salwa al-Husseini, gave a detailed account at a press conference in March of her treatment and said she was made to undergo a virginity test. She said she was slapped in the face and electrocuted in her legs in Tahrir Square before being taken to a military prison. “When we went to the military prison, me and the girls, we were placed in a room with two doors and a window. The two doors were wide open,” she said in March. “The girl takes off all her clothes to be searched while there were cameras outside filming to fabricate prostitution charges against us later on,” she added. “The girl who says she is single, she undergoes a test by someone; we don’t know if he is a soldier or some kid on their behalf,” she said. Amnesty said in its report that one of the women told her jailers she was a virgin but was beaten and given electric shocks when the test supposedly proved otherwise. “Forcing women to have ‘virginity tests’ is utterly unacceptable,” the Amnesty report said. “Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women.” The military council has promised to return the country to civilian rule after elections later this year, but some Egyptians fear the council is adopting the same autocratic ways that characterized Mubarak’s rule. They point to what they say are attempts by the council to make any criticism of the military an untouchable taboo. On Tuesday, the military prosecutor questioned a prominent blogger along with four other media people over their criticism of the performance of the council and military police. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, in a statement issued Tuesday, accused the council of trying to silence critics and create “an atmosphere of fear.” It warned, “The military council is committing a grave mistake if it continues to shut the mouths of those criticizing it. The council is not made up of angels.” The group also referred to virginity tests, saying that the military council is aware that “those belonging to it have practiced torture against the youth of the revolution and has subjected women to virginity tests.”
Continue reading …CAIRO (AP) — Activists and bloggers are pressing Egypt’s military rulers to investigate accusations of serious abuses against protesters, including claims that soldiers subjected female detainees to so-called “virginity tests.” (Scroll down for video) Bloggers say they will hold a day of online protest Wednesday to voice their outrage, adding to criticism of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country from ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February. The accusations of virginity tests first surfaced after a March 9 rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plain clothes attacked protesters and the army intervened forcefully to clear the square. One woman who was arrested spoke out about her treatment, and Amnesty International further documented the abuse allegations in a report that found 18 female detainees were threatened with prostitution charges and forced to undergo virginity tests. They were also beaten up and given electric shocks, the report said. Egypt’s military rulers have come under heavy criticism from the youth protest movement, which is upset at the pace of reforms that they hope will lead Egypt to democracy. Since Mubarak’s fall on Feb. 11, the military has led crackdowns on peaceful protests, and critics accuse it of failing to restore security in the streets or launch serious national dialogue on a clear path forward for Egypt. The military council denied soldiers attacked protesters at the March 9 rally. But one general used a press conference to make negative remarks about women who mingle with men during the sit-ins and suggested lewd acts were taking place in protest camps. Advertisement “There were girls with young men in one tent. Is this rational? There were drugs; pay attention!” Gen. Ismail Etman, spokesman of the council, said at the end of March. He confirmed then that the military police arrested 17 female protesters among 170 others at the March 9 rally. He said the women were among a group of protesters given one-year suspended prison sentences. “We secure the people. We don’t use the violence,” he said. One of the women arrested, Salwa al-Husseini, gave a detailed account at a press conference in March of her treatment and said she was made to undergo a virginity test. She said she was slapped in the face and electrocuted in her legs in Tahrir Square before being taken to a military prison. “When we went to the military prison, me and the girls, we were placed in a room with two doors and a window. The two doors were wide open,” she said in March. “The girl takes off all her clothes to be searched while there were cameras outside filming to fabricate prostitution charges against us later on,” she added. “The girl who says she is single, she undergoes a test by someone; we don’t know if he is a soldier or some kid on their behalf,” she said. Amnesty said in its report that one of the women told her jailers she was a virgin but was beaten and given electric shocks when the test supposedly proved otherwise. “Forcing women to have ‘virginity tests’ is utterly unacceptable,” the Amnesty report said. “Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women.” The military council has promised to return the country to civilian rule after elections later this year, but some Egyptians fear the council is adopting the same autocratic ways that characterized Mubarak’s rule. They point to what they say are attempts by the council to make any criticism of the military an untouchable taboo. On Tuesday, the military prosecutor questioned a prominent blogger along with four other media people over their criticism of the performance of the council and military police. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, in a statement issued Tuesday, accused the council of trying to silence critics and create “an atmosphere of fear.” It warned, “The military council is committing a grave mistake if it continues to shut the mouths of those criticizing it. The council is not made up of angels.” The group also referred to virginity tests, saying that the military council is aware that “those belonging to it have practiced torture against the youth of the revolution and has subjected women to virginity tests.”
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