Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Japan's consumer prices continue to fall
Japan's consumer prices continue to fall
| By Roland Buerk BBC News, Tokyo |
 Japanese exports are rising, but deflation at home is cause for concern |
Japan has been in deflation for 12 straight months, figures released by the government show.
Prices fell by 1.2% in February from a year earlier, threatening the country's recovery from recession.
Japan's economy has been periodically plagued by deflation since the "lost decade" of the 1990s, which led to years of stagnation.
The prospect that goods will become cheaper in the future makes consumers reluctant to buy today.
This leads to a vicious circle of falling company profits and wages.
Downward trend
The latest figures - where the core consumer price index fell by 1.2% - is not as bad as in previous months.
But the preliminary figures for Tokyo for March showed a steeper decline. The capital is seen as an indicator for nationwide trends.
Eyeing an election in the summer, the government is putting pressure on the Bank of Japan to further increase the money supply to tackle the problem.
"The pace of decline in prices is slowing somewhat, but prices are still falling," said Finance Minister Naoto Kan.
"More efforts will be needed to escape deflation."
Record budget
But the government has little room to spend more to counter deflation.
Its debt is already the largest in the industrialised world and rising.
For this reason, analysts said it could be a long time before prices start rising again in Japan.
"There is still long way to go before Japan pulls out of deflation," said Takeshi Minami at the Norinchukin Research Institute.
"The Bank of Japan has said it will patiently maintain very easy monetary policy. They really need to do so for a very long time for the country to escape deflation."
On Wednesday, parliament passed a record $1 trillion budget, much of it financed by borrowing.
The Japanese economy grew by 0.9% in the final three months of last year, or 3.8% on an annualised basis.
It is vying with China for the title of the world's second-largest economy, behind the US.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Fear and foreboding in the Middle East
Fear and foreboding in the Middle East
| By Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor |
The Middle East is full of talk of war. Not today, tomorrow or perhaps even next year but the horizon is dark, and people who have to live with the Middle East's grim collection of smouldering problems are finding it hard to look ahead with anything other than foreboding.
By the end of this year, if sanctions have not persuaded Iran to stop what many countries insist is a nuclear weapons programme, the war party in Israel will be pushing for military action.
South Lebanon is once again looking like a tinderbox.
Insults and threats have been bandied back and forth between Syria, Israel and Hezbollah.
In Washington DC, where I have been this week, analysts say Syria has been shipping bigger and better weapons to Hezbollah, its Lebanese ally.
'Disastrous visit'
Israel assumes that there will be another war in Lebanon, and has been training its army to win it, which it could not do last time in 2006.
 | TIMELINE: ISRAEL-US ROW 9 Mar: Israel announces the building of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem during visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden. Mr Biden condemns the move 11 Mar: Mr Biden says there must be no delay in resuming Mid-East peace talks, despite the row 12 Mar: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Israeli move is "deeply negative" for relations 15 Mar: The US says it is waiting for a "formal response" from Israel to its proposals to show it is committed to Mid-East peace 16 Mar: The US envoy to the Mid-East postpones a visit to Israel 17 Mar: President Obama denies there is a crisis with Israel 22 Mar: Hillary Clinton tells pro-Israel lobby group Aipac Israel has to make "difficult but necessary choices" if it wants peace with Palestinians. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tells Aipac Israel has a "right to build" in Jerusalem 23 Mar: Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu meet behind closed doors with no media access 23 Mar: Jerusalem municipal government approves building of 20 new homes in East Jerusalem 24 Mar: Mr Netanyahu ends Washington trip talking of a "golden" solution amid US silence  |
And then there is the crisis between the United States, Israel and the Palestinians.
Benjamin Netanyahu's disastrous visit to Washington DC has exposed just how bad this crisis and current US-Israeli relations are.
What is even more serious is that it is centred on the future of Jerusalem, which is about the single most emotive issue in the entire Middle East.
Mr Netanyahu returns home weakened, though his ministers are declaring their support. US President Barack Obama seems to see him as part of the problem.
The precise details of what happened in Washington between Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu are emerging only slowly.
But it is clear that the Americans want Israel to freeze building for Jews in those parts of the holy city that Israel occupied and annexed in 1967.
The Obama administration has concluded that it will be impossible to negotiate peace while Israel continues to settle its people on occupied land.
Mr Netanyahu insists, long and loud, that he wants a peace deal if it guarantees Israeli security.
The Americans agree with that, but not with his insistence that Israel has the right to build whatever and wherever it wants in Jerusalem.
Israel's claim that that the city is its sovereign capital is not accepted by its allies.
Political vacuum
The Americans want to start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Their plan was to wring concessions out of Mr Netanyahu while he was in Washington that they could take to the Palestinians to persuade them to take part.
 Relations between the US and Israel have dipped sharply |
The president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, pulled out after the Israelis announced a big building project at the Ramat Shlomo settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.
The US Vice-President Joe Biden was in Jerusalem at the time to get the talks going. Embarrassed and angry, he condemned Israel's plans.
Mr Netanyahu's visit to Washington - far from ending the crisis between Israel and its most important ally - seems to have made things worse.
What is now forming around the row over Jerusalem is an old-fashioned Middle Eastern political vacuum.
When there is no political process to absorb some heat and give people even a glint of hope for the future, the result tends to be violent.
King Abdullah of Jordan, whose father made peace with Israel in 1994, has told newspapers in Amman that Israel needs to decide between war and peace.
American pressure
If it wants peace, he says it has to stop settling Jews on occupied land.
The US State Department and the White House employ many Middle East experts who know that even if they manage to start negotiations the chances of success are low.
They are trying anyway, because the alternatives seem much worse.
But the reality is that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are in good shape to negotiate, even assuming that they want to try (in fact they have only dabbled with the idea because of American pressure).
Mr Netanyahu's coalition government depends on the votes of nationalists who want no compromise with the Palestinians.
Mr Abbas is isolated and weak. It is hard to see how he could deliver any agreement he made when the Palestinian national movement is split down the middle between Fatah, his faction, and Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Mr Obama has declared that Middle East peace is a strategic priority for the United States.
But just glance across the region, from Jerusalem to Beirut, then on to Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran and further east to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Never mind making peace, just avoiding war in the places that are not already fighting is going to be hard enough, and perhaps impossible.
Source
Franco-German deal reached over Greece's debts
Franco-German deal reached over Greece's debts
 Mrs Merkel says the priority is for Greece to put its house in order |
France and Germany have reached a deal on a financing plan to help debt-laden Greece, which will include IMF money.
The safety net - not yet agreed by the whole eurozone - would total about 22bn euros (£20bn). It would apply only if market lending to Greece dried up.
Eurozone countries would grant co-ordinated bilateral loans, and there would be "substantial" IMF loans. The "majority" funding would be European.
EU leaders are poised to discuss the plan at a two-day summit in Brussels.
A draft of the plan, seen by the BBC, says the Greek government "has not requested any financial support", so "no decision has been taken to activate" the mechanism yet.
The French presidency said there would be "very precise conditions" under which the 16 eurozone countries "could be led to intervene" to help Greece.
News of the deal broke as leaders of the 27 EU member states gathered in Brussels.
|   What seems to be emerging is that Germany wants to use the crisis with Greece to bend the eurozone more to its own image  Gavin Hewitt BBC Europe editor |
Diplomats say the eurozone leaders may hold an additional meeting on Thursday evening to discuss how to help Greece.
So far the eurozone has avoided seeking an IMF loan for Greece, preferring a European solution and anxious to maintain global confidence in the euro.
Revision of rules?
Earlier on Thursday Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German government "will press for emergency aid combining IMF and joint bilateral aid from the eurozone but... only as a last resort".
She has signalled reluctance to offer Greece anything resembling a bail-out, which is not allowed under the single currency rules.
Greece has enacted unpopular measures to curb its deficit, including a freeze on public sector wages, pension reforms and increases in fuel taxes.
It is also having to refinance its debt. Because of doubts over its ability to pay, it is having to pay interest at about 6% - around double what Germany has to pay.
Mrs Merkel said she would press for the EU to amend its treaties to strengthen its ability to prevent future budget crises.
Stressing the need to learn lessons from the crisis, she wants a treaty change to allow sanctions to come into force should a eurozone country ever default on its debts.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou urged EU leaders to act to stabilise the euro. The single currency hit a 10-month low against the dollar on Wednesday after a credit downgrade for Portugal, which is also struggling with heavy debts.
Focus on Greece
Greece's woes have exposed fundamental disagreements about how the 11-year-old euro project should work, the BBC's Europe business reporter Nigel Cassidy says. The eurozone's governance will have to be re-examined, he adds.
A deal to help Greece could prevent the crisis sapping market confidence in the euro and ease fears of contagion in the eurozone.
EU members Hungary, Latvia and Romania have received emergency loans from the IMF and EU as their budgets have been hit hard by the global economic downturn. But, unlike Greece, they are not in the eurozone.
The Greek crisis is not formally on the agenda of the summit, which is officially concerned with the EU's 10-year economic strategy, and reinvigorating international negotiations over global warming.
But, says the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels, it is Greece that is on everybody's mind.
German taxpayers are fiercely opposed to bailing out Greece, which is burdened by debt of nearly 300bn euros (£267bn, $407bn) and a public deficit of 12.7% of GDP - more than four times the official eurozone limit.
An hour of daily exercise 'needed to stay slim'
An hour of daily exercise 'needed to stay slim'
| |
The recommended half an hour of exercise a day may not be enough to stop weight gain.
According to a US study of 34,000 women, an hour a day of moderate exercise is needed to fight the flab.
Overweight women need to diet as well as exercise, a Harvard team reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The UK government advises adults to exercise for at least half an hour five or more days a week.
| While 30 minutes exercise is recommended for health reasons, people need to exercise for longer to avoid weight gain Professor Paul Gately, Leeds Metropolitan University |
The US study followed 34,000 middle-aged women over 13 years.
The women completed regular questionnaires about the amount of time they spent on physical activity.
They were classified into three groups: those who did the equivalent of less than two and a half hours of moderate exercise a week, between two and a half hours and seven hours a week, and more than seven hours a week.
The average age of the women was 54, and the average weight gain was 2.6 kg over the 13 year period.
The high exercise group gained significantly less weight than the rest.
But there was no difference in weight gain between the two lower exercise groups.
The only group who didn't gain weight during the study were normal weight women who exercised for an hour or more a day.
Too late
Among the women who were normal weight at the start, the more they exercised, the less weight they gained.
But among those who were already overweight at the start there was no relation between exercise and weight gain.
The authors say clear guidelines on the amount of physical activity for the prevention of weight gain are essential.
They draw two conclusions: "Firstly once overweight, it may be too late because physical activity - at least, at levels carried out by study participants - was not associated with less weight gain.
"Second, sustaining high levels of physical activity (60 minutes a day) is needed to successfully maintain normal BMI and prevent weight gain."
This level of activity is higher than the minimum that the UK government recommends.
Spare tyre
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "The Chief Medical Officer recommends that adults do 30 minutes of physical activity at least five times a week. Children need 60 minutes of activity every day.
"As part of the Change4Life movement, adults are being encouraged to make simple changes, such as eating more fruit and veg, cutting down on fatty foods and being more active, in their diet and lifestyle which will help them lead longer, healthier lives — and lose that unwanted spare tyre."
But Professor Paul Gately, who runs Carnegie Weight Management Programme at Leeds Metropolitan University, said the government recommendation is the amount of exercise needed to reduce risk of ill health.
He said more exercise was needed to avoid weight gain, and an hour a day was in line with findings of previous research.
He said: "While 30 minutes exercise is recommended for health reasons, people need to exercise for longer to avoid weight gain."
He added that the International Obesity Task Force report in 2004 concluded that people who are overweight have to do more exercise to maintain their weight, up to 90 minutes a day.
Down on the FarmVille
Down on the FarmVille
| By Rajini Vaidyanathan BBC News Magazine |
A Bulgarian official has been sacked after being caught milking a virtual cow on the hugely popular online farming game, FarmVille. So what is it about it that's made it so popular?
At the end of a hard day seeing to patients at the surgery there is more work to be done. Tending to the crops, feeding the cows and making sure the fields are ploughed.
For one GP, who is too embarrassed to be named, the internet game FarmVille has become a part of daily life.
The premise of the game is simple - you are a farmer, albeit a virtual one - with your own plot of land. Your job is to cultivate it and rear animals. You get points depending on how successful you are and the aim is to get the highest score you can.
 What would Old Macdonald say? |
On her farm, the GP grows potatoes, watermelons and keeps chickens and cows. She never tends to her fields during her working day, but is on it most evenings.
"It does seem like a terrible waste of time," she says. "It's like watching trashy TV though, a bit of escapism to help you unwind."
For her and many others, FarmVille has become a guilty pleasure. The game was launched in June 2009, since then more than 80 million people have signed up to it. While it's highly unlikely that everyone who has joined the game plays it on a regular basis, there is no doubting it has a huge regular following, with people around the world, from all ages and backgrounds playing it.
FarmVille is accessed as an application through Facebook and now has its own website too. But it's the game's presence on the social networking site which has given the game such a wide reach, allowing it to tap into Facebook's already large user base.
And its availability on social networks has created a new wave of computer gamers, who wouldn't normally go near a console.
Meaningful effect
Like full-time mum Gemma, for whom FarmVille has become part of the daily routine, in-between nappy changes and feeds. Both her sisters and her mum are signed up too. She was initially dismissive of FarmVille when she was asked to join, but is hooked now. So, what is the appeal?
"It becomes a personal experience and something you care about," says Johnny Minkley, a computer games expert. The game has a certain "stickiness" to it, because of the nurturing element involved, he says.
"What you're doing needs to have some meaningful effect, like the planting and growing of crops."
The game also has a competitive element - it's about having the best farm and earning the most money to see to its upkeep. But it can also be co-operative and it's possible to interact with your friends' farms on the site by watering their plants and feeding their animals.
 Tamagotchi was a huge craze in the 1990s |
The game is free to play, but if you want to buy extra coins to keep up your farm, you are given the option to buy more with your credit card.
Parallels can be drawn between Farmville and the Tamagotchi craze in the 1990s, where people looked after a virtual pet housed in a plastic egg, developing an emotional attachment to their virtual being. But the fact FarmVille has been introduced in an age of social media has had other effects.
For the embarrassed GP, it resurrected an old friendship - sort of.
"There's a girl I went to school with, and who I never speak to, but I now fertilise her crops for her," she says.
To the uninitiated, this behaviour might seem bizarre, but hardened FarmVillers say all of this helps you win extra points and prizes.
It is this sense of reward which keeps people playing, says psychologist Dr Mark Griffiths. He describes FarmVille as "virtual Lego", where building something from scratch and seeing it grow gives players a sense of accomplishment and a "psychological high".
Educational tool
Dr Griffiths specialises in researching technological addictions and says what underlies any addiction is the reliance on constant rewards. But saying you are "addicted" to FarmVille is a bit like saying you're addicted to chocolate, he argues.
"What people really mean is that there is a 'moreishness' quality about it. There's nothing wrong with spending hours on it, as long it's not affecting your personal relationships and work."
There are those who see FarmVille as a blight on their daily Facebook feed, when every time they log in they discover that Georgia has traded 50 gold pieces, or that Andrew has harvested his chicken coop.
| Top five FarmVille countries 1. United States 2. Turkey 3. The Philippines 4. The United Kingdom 5. Italy |
Others say it is not just a blight, but a downright distraction. It was recently reported that a councillor in Bulgaria was sacked after he was discovered milking a virtual cow on his laptop during a committee meeting.
There are many others who agree with the superiors in Plovdiv and the game has its fair share of detractors. There are several Anti-FarmVille groups online, one called Not Playing FarmVille has more than two million members.
"If you are doing this you have... I repeat if you are doing this you have too much time on your hands", writes one member. Another says, "everyone's worried about the swine flu, but I think we need to be worried about this FarmVille epidemic".
Bill Mooney, VP and general manager of Zynga, the company behind FarmVille brushes off these kind of negative comments.
"If FarmVille is affecting people in a positive way, then we're all for it," he says.
Tenuous
"The best thing is, FarmVille is played in 5-10 minutes sessions, so you really don't have to get too preoccupied or diverted for a long time. It's more like a coffee break or break from studying."
 Does it provide a "real sense of farming"? |
Mooney says the game has had other positive benefits, like generating an interest in real farming. Before the game was developed the company did a lot of research into the area, so they could make the game accurate and give people a "real sense of farming".
In the US the appeal of FarmVille is being seen as one possible way of attracting younger people into farming. But at the Scottish Agricultural College in Aberdeen, Alison Campbell who lectures in farming says the parallels between real and online world are limited.
"A lot of the students we have here come from farm backgrounds. It is quite tenuous to what they know to be real life [on a farm]."
On a virtual farm, it's all about instant gratification - you don't have to wait six months for your aubergines to grow. But then again, you can't eat them either.
~~~~~
Commentary
Farmville reminds me very much of Animal Crossing; a game I still very much love to this day.
While in essence you are wasting time, it's not a stretch to admit it is fun.
Like everything else in this world, moderation, moderation, moderation.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Keith Olbermann Returns: 'GOP Self-Destruction Imminent'
Keith Olbermann Returns: 'GOP Self-Destruction Imminent'
Michael Moore -- The Reason we started talking about Health care, tells us why this new bill isn't enough.
A View from Canada: Michael Moore on 'The Hour'
Michael Moore on Britain's Channel 4
Michael Moore on Larry King Live with Wolf Blitzer - March 22, 2010 - Part 1
Michael Moore on Larry King Live with Wolf Blitzer - March 22, 2010 - Part 2
Michael Moore on Larry King Live with Wolf Blitzer - March 22, 2010 - Part 3
Barack Obama signs landmark US healthcare bill into law
Barack Obama signs landmark US healthcare bill into law
Mr Obama now has to sell the reforms to a divided American public
US President Barack Obama has signed his landmark healthcare bill into law in a ceremony at the White House.
The new law will eventually extend health insurance cover to about 32 million Americans who currently do not have any.
Mr Obama said he was signing the bill for people like his mother "who argued with insurance companies even as she battled cancer in her final days".
The bill is strongly opposed by the Republicans, who say it is too costly.
| The bill I'm signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see President Barack Obama |
Immediately after the signing, attorneys general from 13 states - 12 Republicans and one Democrat - began legal proceedings against the federal government seeking to stop the reforms on the grounds that they are unconstitutional.
Mr Obama was joined at the White House signing ceremony by healthcare reform supporters including Democrats from both Houses of Congress who supported the measure.
He said the bill's provisions were "desperately needed", adding: "The bill I'm signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see."
He hailed the "historic leadership and uncommon courage" of the Democratic leadership in Congress that secured the bill's passage, singling out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for particular praise.
| KEY HEALTHCARE REFORMS Cost: $940bn over 10 years; would reduce deficit by $143bn Coverage: Expanded to 32m currently uninsured Americans Medicare: Prescription drug coverage gap closed; affected over-65s receive rebate and discount on brand name drugs Medicaid: Expanded to include families under 65 with gross income of up to 133% of federal poverty level and childless adults Insurance reforms: Insurers can no longer deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions Insurance exchanges: Uninsured and self-employed able to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges Subsidies: Low-income individuals and families wanting to purchase own health insurance eligible for subsidies Individual Mandate: Those not covered by Medicaid or Medicare must be insured or face fine High-cost insurance: Employers offering workers pricier plans subject to tax on excess premium |
He concluded: "Today after almost a century of trial, today after over a year of debate, today after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America. Today.
"All of the overheated rhetoric over reform will finally confront the reality of reform."
Mr Obama now has to sell the reforms to a divided American public before November's mid-term elections.
On Thursday, he will go to the state of Iowa to talk about how the new law will help to lower healthcare costs for small businesses and families.
After a heated debate, the House of Representatives voted 219-212 late on Sunday to send the 10-year, $938bn bill to Mr Obama. Not one Republican voted for the bill, and some Democrats also voted against it.
The measure, which the Senate passed in December, is expected to expand health insurance coverage to about 95% of eligible Americans, compared with the 83% covered today.
It will ban insurance company practices such as denying coverage to people with existing medical problems.
Correspondents say the bill represents the biggest expansion of the federal government's social safety net since President Lyndon Johnson enacted the Medicare and Medicaid government-funded healthcare programmes for the elderly and poor in the 1960s.
Mr Obama's campaign to overhaul US healthcare seemed stalled in January, when a Republican won a special election to fill the late Edward Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat, and with it, enough Republican votes to prevent the bill from coming to a final vote in the Senate.
But Democrats came up with a plan that required the House to approve the Senate-passed measure - despite its opposition to many of its provisions - and then have both chambers pass a measure incorporating numerous changes after the president signed it into law.
Britain to launch executive space agency
Britain to launch executive space agency
| By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News |
The UK will formally launch its new space agency on Tuesday.
The nation has been alone among the major industrialised nations in not having an executive body to direct its activities beyond the Earth's surface.
The new organisation is expected to take control of the money spent on space by government departments and science funding agencies.
It will also represent the UK in all its dealings with international partners.
Britain currently puts about £270m a year into civil space endeavours, most of it via the UK's membership of the European Space Agency (Esa).
This is not expected to change dramatically with the creation of an executive agency, especially with the government committed to cutting the public deficit.
The hope, however, is that the reorganisation will bring more coherence to space policy, enabling the available monies to be spent more effectively.
In tandem with the establishment of the agency, the government will also give its response to a major report produced last month on the future of the UK space industry.
The sector has been very successful, growing at an average of 9% a year even through the recession. It currently generates revenues in excess of £6bn per annum.
The Space Innovation and Growth Strategy was prepared jointly by industry, academia and Whitehall officials. It set out a series of recommendations to grow the sector still further over the next 20 years.
Among its recommendations was a call to government and industry itself to raise substantially their levels of investment in the coming decade.
The IGS also wanted the government to back a National Space Technology Strategy and to investigate the idea of an indigenous Earth observation service.
The BBC understands the latter proposal at least will get a study to determine its feasibility.
The creation of a space agency is just the latest in a series of initiatives affecting British space interests.
In July last year, Esa finally opened a technical centre in Britain - the only one of its senior members not to have such a showcase facility. It also appointed a British national, Major Tim Peake, to its astronaut corps in May.
'Quantum dots' to boost performance of mobile cameras
'Quantum dots' to boost performance of mobile cameras
 The sensor can be integrated into existing manufacturing methods |
Tiny semiconductor particles known as "quantum dots" have been used in a sensor that could make for mobile phone cameras that outperform larger cousins.
A film made from these dots is more light-sensitive than existing approaches to camera sensors, according to its makers, Invisage.
That means that cameras made using the film need not be as large as some to achieve the same performance.
InVisage suggests the films will make it into camera production by mid-2011.
Digital camera sensors rely on silicon to do the crucial business of turning incoming light into an electric charge that the camera can measure and translate into an image.
But the way silicon-based sensors are produced means that in many cases the light is partially blocked by the electronic connections that make the sensor work.
Combined with the fact that silicon can turn only half of the incident light into electric charge, capturing light using silicon throws away about 75% of the light.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to develop next-generation image sensors using silicon; essentially, silicon has hit a wall," said Jess Lee, the company's chief executive.
"The fundamental problem is that silicon cannot capture light efficiently, but until now it has been the only option."
That is where quantum dots come in. They are so named because they are single, tiny dots of semiconductor material whose light-absorbing properties - their predilection to absorb specific "quanta" of light energy - can be tightly controlled during manufacture.
Invisage makes a soup of these quantum dots and spins it into what it calls a QuantumFilm. The firm said the approach could be easily integrated to existing semiconductor manufacturing methods.
Because each quantum dot is so small, up to three times as many "pixels" can be squeezed into a given space, and the higher sensitivity gives better performance in low-light conditions.
The company will formally unveil the technology at the Demo conference in California, which runs from 21 to 23 March.
Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai passport row
Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai passport row
CCTV footage of the hit squad suspects in a Dubai hotel released in February
The UK is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of 12 cloned British passports in the Dubai murder of a Hamas leader, the BBC has learned.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband will make a statement to Parliament later.
Israel has said there is no proof that its agents were behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room in January.
Diplomatic sources stressed the British government has stopped short of accusing Israel of the murder.
Strong message
However Mr Miliband had demanded that Israel co-operate fully with the investigation into how the passports were obtained.
The foreign secretary is to make the statement after Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency found proof of the cloned passports.
| ANALYSIS  Tim Franks, BBC News, Jerusalem In the land where they love to talk, Israeli officials are staying remarkably tight-lipped. At least until David Miliband speaks. "It doesn't look good," was the terse verdict of one former senior diplomat, before he decided it would be better if he said no more. Other sources suggest that this is a "standard dance" the British have to go through. They expected that the UK would not want this to be an "ongoing irritant". There is a clear Israeli desire to talk this argument down from one where it could damage the wider relationship. As for the more general Israeli view, that is mixed. Many believe that there is a measure of slightly unconvincing righteous indignation from the countries whose nationals had their passports cloned. Those Israelis argue that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was as much an enemy of the West, as of Israel. But there are a good number of Israelis who also believe this was a cack-handed operation, which blew the identities of 27 valuable agents, and caused an unnecessary diplomatic stink. |
BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen said the expulsion would send a "very clear message" of British disapproval.
"It is a very big step for a government like the British to expel one of the diplomats belonging to one of its important allies," he said.
The diplomat to be expelled will not be Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor.
Last month Mr Miliband described the use of fake UK passports as an "outrage" and vowed that the inquiry would "get to the bottom" of the affair.
Twelve fake British passports were used in the murder of Mr Mabhouh - the founder of Hamas's military wing - in his hotel room in Dubai on 19 January.
Dubai officials said they are "99% certain" that agents from Israeli secret service Mossad were behind the killing but Israel has said there is no proof.
Other members of the hit squad travelled on fake Irish, French and Australian travel documents, Dubai police said.
Following his death, Mr Mabhouh's family said medical teams that examined him determined he had died after receiving a massive electric shock to the head. They also found evidence that he had been strangled.
Blood samples sent to a French laboratory confirmed he was killed by electric shock, after which the body was sent to Syria, they said.
Thousands of people attended Mr Mabhouh's funeral at the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, on the outskirts of Damascus in January.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Mr Miliband would make a statement to the House of the Commons at 1530 GMT.
'Good fat' cuts heart risk by a fifth, study shows
'Good fat' cuts heart risk by a fifth, study shows
 Red meat is a source of animal fats |
Replacing saturated fats with healthier options can cut the risk of heart disease by a fifth, a US study says.
The Harvard Medical School reports adds weight to the growing evidence about polyunsaturated fats, found in some fish and vegetable oils.
The team analysed the findings from eight previous studies, covering more than 13,000 people, in their research.
Experts said cutting down on saturated fats, found in butter and meat, was just one part of a healthy diet.
It is recommended that adults get no more than 11% of their energy from saturated fats.
| Our findings suggest that polyunsaturated fats would be a preferred replacement for saturated fats for better heart health Dariush Mozaffarian, lead researcher |
This is because the fats raise the levels of bad cholesterol that block the arteries to the heart.
In comparison, polyunsaturated fats have the opposite effect by increasing the levels of good cholesterol.
The Harvard analysis suggested that for every 5% increase in polyunsaturated fat consumption there was a 10% fall in heart disease.
The average rise in uptake of such fats was 10% giving the overall figure of a fifth lower risk over a period of just over four years.
Replacement
Lead researcher Dariush Mozaffarian said there was always a risk cutting down on saturated fats meant they were replaced with other bad options such as trans-fats which are found in processed foods such as biscuits and cakes.
He added: "Our findings suggest that polyunsaturated fats would be a preferred replacement for saturated fats for better heart health."
Victoria Taylor, from the British Heart Foundation, said the research reinforced existing recommendations to reduce saturated fats.
But she added: "What this study doesn't consider is whether substitution with monounsaturated fats, such as olive and rapeseed oils, would have similar benefits so more research is needed to understand this area fully.
"While the fat content and profile of your diet is clearly important, it must also be seen as just one part of a heart healthy diet where a low saturated fat and salt intake is combined with the consumption of oily fish and at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day."
Monday, March 22, 2010
A Commonwealth shame?
A Commonwealth shame?
I have just finished reading a 116-page report by a committee appointed by the Delhi high court on the "condition of workers" engaged in construction work on Commonwealth Games sites in the Indian capital. The October Games, on which the government is spending more than $2bn, is the biggest international sporting event India has ever hosted.
The report is shocking. It confirms Delhi's worst kept secret - how the shiny new stadia and other infrastructure hide the exploitative and unsafe conditions that 150,000 workers have to work under. My colleagues who have ventured out to report the story have come back with tales of workers cowering in fear and refusing to talk, and contractors who hire them refusing to meet for interviews.
Frightening details emerge from separate reports filed by human rights groups to the high court. Tariq Adeeb of the respected Human Rights Law Network tells me that independent investigations have found that more than 70 workers have been killed in accidents at the sites since work began. In reports submitted to the court, groups talk about 48 workers dying in accidents. The court-appointed committee found that at the Games village alone, four workers had died in accidents and one woman worker had died in a fire.
"Accidents are taking place causing injury resulting in death and disablement - both temporary and permanent," the report for the court says. The committee investigated 10 Games sites.
Most of the workers at the building and construction sites come from outside Delhi - mainly Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Bihar and Orissa states.
"These workers, says the report, "are being made to work in harsh and unsafe conditions without basic amenities from the employers concerned."
Recruiting agents who hire migrant workers are required to obtain a licence from the authorities from the originating state. The report found that the majority of agents did not have licences. The workers are entitled to a "displacement allowance", but almost nobody has been paid it.
The report says the minimum daily wages are not being paid to all workers - the minimum daily wage for unskilled workers in Delhi is 151 rupees ($3.30), while the committee found workers on most Games sites are being paid on average 114 rupees ($2.50).
In many cases, the report says, the workers were not receiving overtime. And when they were getting it, they were being paid at the standard rate, not the statutory double time.
The exploitation of labour doesn't appear to end here - the report says the workers are never given a weekly day off with wages. They have no proof of employment as no wages slips are being issued.
A separate study by a rights group covering 702 workers at 15 key sites found that workers were not given leave even if they fell sick, and medical leave was granted only in 30% of cases. Most sites have little or no medical facilities.
Workers' safety - as I wrote here some months ago - is also apparently being widely flouted. Workers do not wear boots or gloves at many sites. "There were reports of accidents at almost every site, but the same could not be verified," the report says. Most of these accidents were not reported to the authorities.
The report has strongly criticised the living conditions of the workers. "Lack of overall hygiene, environmental sanitation and cleanliness was deplorable," the report said. Many of the workers "were living in rooms, often without doors, without protection during winter, without electricity and without toilets".
It found a bias against hiring women workers - there was only one crèche found at the Games village site - and that women were being paid less than men.
The court report says the agencies - government bodies, contractors, recruiting agents - involved in the construction refuse to take responsibility for such appalling work conditions and wage violations. Rights groups say the report is a damning indictment of the way government and private contractors treat workers and that it also confirms how they have made a mockery of India's labour and wage laws.
None of the Commonwealth Games officials, including the chairman of the organising committee, Suresh Kalmadi, took my calls when I tried to reach them for their reaction to the report. VK Gupta, a senior engineer of the CPWD, one of the government agencies involved in the construction work has said the violations are "isolated cases." Michael Hooper, chief executive of the London-based Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), was more forthright saying "there is no excuse for flouting the law".
"India has laws to protect the lives and safety of its workers. Obviously there is no excuse for any employer or agency to break these laws," he told the BBC.
"The contractor and hiring agencies at the Commonwealth Games should make sure the laws are adhered to. I fully back the recommendations of the court to have a monitoring group to be put in place to ensure violations dont happen."
When I asked him whether this was a big embarassment for the Games, Mr Hooper said: "This [kind of violation] is not unique to India. These violations, unfortunately, happen all over the word."
But what I find particularly galling is the silence of political parties on the state of workers. The local Hindu nationalist BJP has made an issue about the proposed serving of beef to guests at the Games. The Congress-led Delhi government is going to town with a planned "good manners" campaign, imploring the city's people to behave properly during the Games. The parties of the Left are silent. All this even as the government cleared nearly 700 million rupees in extra funds for the Games, taking its bloated budget to more than $2bn.
Athletes from 85 countries arrive in Delhi in October to participate in the 18th Games, which are supposed to showcase India's ability to host an international event. Human rights groups say it's a sham - and what was supposed to be a matter of national pride is fast beginning to look like a national shame.
Democrats hail landmark US healthcare bill
Democrats hail landmark US healthcare bill
 Democrats hope that once the voters see the law taking effect they will like it |
Democrats have hailed the approval of legislation extending healthcare to an additional 32 million Americans as a historic advance in social justice.
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi said it was comparable to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security.
The bill was passed in the House on Sunday evening by just seven votes.
Republicans have vowed to continue to challenge it, saying it is too expensive and promotes big government.
Senator John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, warned that outside the capital "the American people are very angry".
"They don't like it, and we're going to repeal this," he told ABC News.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill as early as Tuesday, after which it will go to the Senate where Democrats hope it will be passed by a simple majority under budget reconciliation.
'New day in America'
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says Mr Obama's long, stubborn effort to reform healthcare came to fruition after a dramatic late night in Congress.
| We have failed to listen to America... This body moves forward against their will. Shame on us Rep John Boehner House Republican leader |
The House approved the bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve by 219 votes to 212, with 34 Democrats joining Republicans in voting against it.
Victory was assured only hours before voting started, when the president agreed to a deal with conservative Democrats to reiterate in an executive order that money provided by the bill could not be used for abortions.
Democrats were jubilant after the vote, with House Majority Whip Representative James Clyburn describing it as "Civil Rights Act of the 21st Century".
Rep Marcy Kaptur of Ohio said the bill heralded "a new day in America", while Rep Doris Matsui of California said it would "improve the quality of life for millions of American families."
President Barack Obama: 'It's a victory for the American people'
The president said that after nearly 100 years of debate and frustration, Americans finally had the assurance of universal health cover.
"We pushed back on the undue influence of special interests," he said in a statement. "We didn't give in to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead, we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things."
"This legislation will not fix everything that ails our healthcare system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction," he added.
Under the plans, health insurance will be extended to nearly all Americans, new taxes will be imposed on the wealthy, and restrictive insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions will be outlawed.
| ANALYSIS  Mark Mardell, BBC News, Washington While many Americans seem to genuinely yearn for the cross-party accord they call bipartisanship, and politicians at least play it pious lip service, this lengthy debate has revealed a gaping ideological chasm. President Obama identified overhauling the healthcare system as his priority and he's got what he wanted, a victory that eluded Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. But when he threw down the gauntlet the conservatives eagerly picked it up. Healthcare didn't create the tea party movement but it gave it a focus and a cause. There are dangers to his left as well as his right. He's harmed his reputation with his own power base, for many liberals feel there have been so many compromises the bill is hardly worth it. |
The House Republican leader, Rep John Boehner, said lawmakers had defied the wishes of their constituents.
"We have failed to listen to America," he added. "This body moves forward against their will. Shame on us."
Our correspondent says many Americans do seem bemused by the size and complexity of the bill and have been angered by the long, bitter process of its passage.
The New York Times, which has supported the reforms, called the vote an accomplishment of historic proportions, but the Wall Street Journal said the bill would mean much higher taxes, slower economic growth and worse medical care.
Democrats hope that once the voters see the new law taking effect they will learn to like it before they go to the polls in mid-term elections in November, our correspondent adds.
'Fixes'
The bill's final approval represented a stunning turnaround from January, when it was considered dead after Democrats lost their 60-seat majority in the Senate, which is required to defeat a filibuster, a method used to delay or block the passage of legislation.
| KEY HEALTHCARE REFORMS Cost: $940bn over 10 years; would reduce deficit by $143bn Coverage: Expanded to 32m currently uninsured Americans Medicare: Prescription drug coverage gap closed; affected over-65s receive rebate and discount on brand name drugs Medicaid: Expanded to include families under 65 with gross income of up to 133% of federal poverty level and childless adults Insurance reforms: Insurers can no longer deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions Insurance exchanges: Uninsured and self-employed able to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges Subsidies: Low-income individuals and families wanting to purchase own health insurance eligible for subsidies Individual Mandate: Those not covered by Medicaid or Medicare must be insured or face fine High-cost insurance: Employers offering workers pricier plans subject to tax on excess premium |
To avoid a second Senate vote, the House also approved on Sunday evening a package of reconciliation "fixes" - agreed beforehand between House and Senate Democrats and the White House - amending the bill that senators adopted in December.
The president could sign the House-approved Senate bill as early as Tuesday, after which it will be officially enacted into law. However, the bill will contain some very unpopular measures that Democratic senators have agreed to amend.
The Senate will be able to make the required changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics.
The Republicans say they will seek to repeal the measure, challenge its constitutionality and co-ordinate efforts in state legislatures to block its implementation.
The White House plans to launch a campaign this week to persuade sceptical Americans that the reforms offer immediate benefits to them and represent the most significant effort to reduce the federal deficit since the 1990s.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the healthcare bill will cost about $940bn (£626bn over 10 years, and will cut the federal deficit by $143bn (£92bn) over the same period.
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Commentary
Why would anyone be overly enthusiastic about a bill who's sole aim was compromise and the maximum amount of greed necessary to satiate the Health insurers of America?
For every ounce of good this bill does, it does nearly the same ounce of bad.