Exiled Brunei prince sues Britons in property scam

NEW YORK, Dec 2: The exiled prince of Brunei, accused of squandering the wealth of his tiny Southeast Asian homeland, sued two Britons in a US court, saying they bilked him out of millions of dollars through property scams.

Prince Jefri, who counts the Palace Hotel in New York among his personal assets and once used Brunei's money to buy gold-plated toilet brushes, claims Faith Zaman and her husband, Thomas William Derbyshire, conned him by ''posing as English lawyers.''

The younger brother of Brunei's ruling monarch hired the pair as attorneys in 2004, paying them 1 million dollars a year, and Zaman then assumed several high-level positions in companies in charge of Jefri's vast real estate holdings, according to the lawsuit filed in US District Court in Manhattan.

In 2005, Zaman and Derbyshire sold Jefri's 28-acre estate on Long Island -- then valued at $26 million -- to another defendant in the suit, Westfields Invest Limited LLC, for 11.8 million dollars, but the money was never transferred to the prince, the prince alleges.

Zaman and Derbyshire also are accused of diverting 5 million dollars of the prince's money from a real estate sale to buy a Manhattan Beach, California, property for 2.2 million dollars.

Zaman, 30, became managing director of the Palace Hotel in February, and Jefri accuses her of setting up a fake London company from which the hotel bought 4 million dollars worth of plasma-screen television sets. The suit says she sent the money to her bank account in Monaco.

The pair also fraudulently charged ''hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of dollars'' in personal expenses to the prince's accounts and paid a family member ''an exorbitant salary for a virtual no-show'' job, the suit charges.

Derbyshire and Zaman were not immediately available for comment yesterday.

Oil-producing Brunei has demanded that Jefri return billions of dollars he is accused of squandering while head of the nation's state investment agency, before he was fired in 1998. He is reported to maintain homes in London, New York and Paris.

Brunei, one of the world's few remaining absolute monarchies, is a country of fewer than 400,000 people that sits on the northern edge of the island of Borneo.(AGENCIES)

Canadian Judge struggles with kidnapping sentence

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Dec 2: The Judge sentencing a French woman who fled Canada with her children and sparked a bitter international custody battle said the true victims in the case were the youngsters.

Judge Marvyn Koenigsberg said yesterday she believes Nathalie Gettliffe did not intend to remain in France permanently when she kidnapped her children, but that did not diminish the harm the case had caused.

Gettliffe fled to France with the children in 2001 after a Canadian divorce court rejected her request to take them there for 10 months. The court had ruled that would violate their father's right to have access to them.

The case generated widespread public interest in France with charges that Gettliffe was attempting to protect the children from their father's having joined an evangelical Christian church -- described as cult by her supporters.

The children did not return to Canada until this year after Gettliffe was arrested when she tried to enter Canada and French officials ordered the boy and girl be returned to their father's custody near Vancouver.

''I don't think the greatest harm that happened to the children is not the five years (away), it's that they learned to hate their father,'' Koenigsberg said, admitting she was struggling with how to handle the case.

Gettliffe, 35, a dual Canadian-French citizen, pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge this month before her trial was scheduled to begin.

Gettliffe'a attorney, Richard Fowler, said that while it was wrong to have kidnapped her children, the case took on a life of its own as public support grew in France to claims she was protecting them from their father's evangelical church.

''I don't think you can lay at the feet of Nathalie Gettliffe all that was said,'' Fowler told the British Columbia court.

Gettliffe's former husband, Scott Grant, was warned his life would be threatened in France if he attempted to see his children there, and he has said that when he first saw his children this year they blamed him for their mother's arrest.

Fowler is asking the court to sentence her to no more than 18 months in prison, and to give her credit for the time she has spent in custody in Canada since her arrest in April.

Prosecutors have asked for a two-year sentence plus three years probation.

Fowler said his proposal was not too lenient, noting that Gettliffe did not have a criminal record before this incident and had suffered because of the publicity surrounding the case. (AGENCIES)

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Rumsfeld honoured for citizenship amid protests

PHILADELPHIA, Dec 2: Outgoing Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was honoured for citisenship by a patriotic organisation on Friday as peace protesters outside criticized his role as one of the architects of the US-led war in Iraq.

Mr Rumsfeld, whose departure was announced by President George W Bush the day after the Republican defeat in the November 7 midterm elections, was awarded a gold medal by the Union League, a Philadelphia organization founded in 1862 to support President Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. Civil War.

Mr Rumsfeld's award outraged some Philadelphians who said the Union League should not be honouring the man who headed the Pentagon during the Abu Ghraib scandal involving the abuse of Iraqi prisoners and who played a leading role in what they said was a misguided and poorly executed war.

''This man is responsible for my son's death, and this place of wealth and privilege has given him an award,'' said Celeste Zappala, whose son Sgt. Sherwood Baker, a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004.

Patricia Tobin, a spokeswoman for the Union League, said only six out of 3,100 members objected to the award, and that the ceremony, with an expected attendance of some 700 people, was a sellout. ''That's very good for an event here,'' she said. The event was closed to the media.

Outside the ornate Union League building in central Philadelphia, about 25 protesters carrying placards saying: ''Rumsfeld War Criminal'' and ''Rumsfeld Award Demeans Union League,'' shouted, ''Shame'' and ''End the war'' at tuxedo-clad guests as they arrived for the event.

''It's a mistake to honor him,'' protester Tom Roberts said. ''I think he created a situation where Abu Ghraib could happen easily.''

The Pentagon made no official comment on the award. (AGENCIES)

Problem gamblers have poorer health

NEW YORK, Dec 2: People who can't control their gambling may have higher odds of physical health problems as well, a new study shows.

Researchers found that among more than 43,000 Americans in a national survey, problem gamblers had elevated rates of liver disease, high blood pressure, high heart rate and angina -- chest pain caused by blockages in the heart arteries.

Although gambling addiction often goes hand-in-hand with substance abuse, anxiety and other mental health disorders, the new study is the first to link it to specific medical conditions.

There's no way to tell from the findings whether the physical health problems stemmed from the gambling problems, Dr Nancy M Petry, the study's senior author, told Reuters Health.

But the study shows that gamblers' problems extend beyond financial woes and mental health issues, and influence physical health, said Petry, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.

She and her colleagues report their findings in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Using data from a federal survey on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the US, the researchers found that pathological gamblers were more than twice as likely as people without gambling problems to have angina and nearly three times more likely to have liver disease. They were also almost twice as likely to suffer from tachycardia, an excessively rapid heartbeat.

The subjects were at increased risk of developing these disorders even after other factors, including alcohol abuse and mental health disorders, were taken into account.

Pathological gambling is a psychiatric disorder that is diagnosed when a person meets at least 5 out of 10 criteria - such as being preoccupied by gambling, needing to make ever larger bets to gain a ''high,'' and lying to family and others to cover up their gambling.

Less than 0.5 per cent of the 43,093 Americans in the current survey met this definition. Another 1 per cent met a few of the criteria for pathological gambling and were considered ''problem'' gamblers.

The problem gamblers also had more medical problems, Petry's team found, with higher risks of high blood pressure, angina and cirrhosis of the liver than non-gamblers.

Alcoholism, smoking and mental health disorders did not fully explain these physical health risks in this group either, which suggests that something about gambling itself does the harm, according to Petry.

Chronic stress, a generally sedentary lifestyle and heavy exposure to secondhand smoke are some of the factors that might be at work, she and her colleagues speculate.

''We hope this makes people re-think legalized gambling,'' Petry said. At the very least, she noted, the findings show that problem gamblers often have serious health problems that need treatment. But few doctors, or even mental health professionals, ask patients about gambling habits.

(AGENCIES)

Poverty, tradition shackle Mauritania's slaves

NOUAKCHOTT, Dec 2: Born a slave, like his entire family, Matalla Mbreik toiled from dawn to dusk selling water and tending his master's flocks on the lonely fringes of the Saharan desert, until he could take no more.

''I still have the scars from my beatings, like my mother and sisters,'' said the 32-year-old Mauritanian, staring at the floor, dressed in flowing pale-blue embroidered robes. ''All they gave us to eat were leftovers.''

After years spent dreaming of escape, Mbreik seized his chance two months ago when a Mauritanian army truck passed him searching for an oasis in the desert.

''I told them to shoot me rather than take me back to my master,'' said Mbreik, red-faced with shame, sitting in the office of anti-slavery group SOS-Slave.

Although banned by law in 1980, slavery in Mauritania has persisted, perpetuated by poverty and rigid customs. Authorities long denied its existence but campaigners estimate there are still hundreds of thousands of slaves among the 3 million population -- the highest ratio in the world.

Chattel slavery, where one person is the property of another, has existed in the impoverished West African country for more than 800 years, since Arab-Berber raiders swept across the Sahara to subjugate black African tribes.

Traditionally, members of the haratin slave caste must marry who their masters say and can be given as gifts, bought and sold, or presented to the poor as charity.

Children are often separated from their mothers and sent to work in other homes. Girls frequently suffer sexual abuse.

''Westerners think of slaves as people in chains,'' said Boubacar Messaoud, head of SOS-Slave. ''Slaves here have no need to be chained up because they are educated in submission ... They are chained in their heads.''

Just as Christianity was once used to justify the trans-Atlantic slave trade, rights workers say many Muslim teachers, or marabouts, in Mauritania preach subservience.

''Paradise under your master's foot'' is a Mauritanian saying.

''If my master had been kind, I would not have left him,'' said Mbreik, tightly gripping the edge of the sofa.

MILLIONS OF SLAVES

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2 marks the landmark 1949 UN convention against people trafficking. Anti-slavery campaigners estimate there are still more than 25 million slaves worldwide.

Slavery remains rife in many parts of West Africa's arid Sahel region, such as neighbouring Mali or Niger, ranked among the poorest countries in the world.

''We are a country of castes, like all the other countries in this region,'' said Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the head of Mauritania's military junta which seized power last year, vowing a transition to democracy after decades of dictatorship.

''But Mauritania, more than other countries, is addressing this problem of castes and their consequences on post-independence society,'' he said, pointing to the adoption of international conventions and efforts to educate former slaves.

SOS-Slave's Messaoud says the situation has improved since the junta ousted former president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup. He hopes the transition to presidential elections in March will bring freedom for all Mauritanians.

''We are optimistic because Mauritania's rulers now acknowledge that slavery exists,'' said Messaoud, who was jailed several times under Taya's regime. ''If the elections are transparent that will be a real victory.''

With many escaped slaves unwilling or too ashamed to prosecute their former masters, SOS-Slave is campaigning for the right to bring third party prosecutions against slave-owners.

''Mauritania has never convicted anyone for practising slavery. That would mark the start of recognition that slavery is no longer acceptable,'' he said. ''The laws forbid slavery, but they are new and traditions are very old.''

POVERTY BREEDS SLAVERY

Former slave owner Mohamed Salem Ould Hamada's family willingly freed all their slaves in 1991. He now condemns slavery as unjust but understands how the ancient practice came to exist.

''In our religion slavery is a bad thing,'' said Hamada, citing the Koranic story of Yusuf sold into slavery in Egypt. ''It exists because there are problems which are worse: poverty.''

''In many cases, it is the slaves themselves who want the procedure,'' said Hamada. ''While problems of poverty continue to exist, slavery will continue.''

In a poor shanty-town near Nouakchott's airport, where corrugated iron shacks dot the sand dunes and goats nibble at piles of rubbish, SOS-Slave has helped Aichana start a new life.

Children in torn rags play beside the ''street'', marked by car tyres planted in the sand, outside the small shop which she established with money from the group.

''Before when I worked, it was never for me -- even if I earned money I had to give it to my master,'' Aichana said, sat inside on a red mat beside shelves stacked with couscous, soap, dry biscuits, pasta, and condensed milk.

''When I was young, I thought life was like that, but as I grew older and saw how other people lived, I felt ashamed,'' she added, as flies settled on her face in the morning haze.

''Now, all I want is to be able to earn my living honestly ... for my children to go to school, for them to be honest and grow up like normal people.''

(AGENCIES)

Eating slowly really does make people eat less

NEW YORK, Dec 2: A new study provides the first-ever scientific proof that if you eat slowly, you will eat less -- and you will enjoy the meal more.

Women consumed about 70 fewer calories when they were told to take their time eating a meal of pasta and sauce, compared to when they were instructed to eat it as quickly as possible. They also rated the meal as more pleasant when they ate slowly.

''They got more pleasure for (fewer) calories, and more satiety for (fewer) calories,'' Dr Kathleen Melanson of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston told Reuters Health.

Melanson decided to conduct the study when she learned there was no research to support the familiar claim that eating slowly reduces appetite.

She and her colleagues had 30 young women eat a meal of ditalini with tomato and vegetable sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese, under two different conditions. Before each meal, the women had eaten a standard 400-calorie breakfast, and then fasted for four hours.

At one visit to the lab, study participants were given a large spoon and told not to pause between bites and to eat as quickly as possible. At the other, participants ate with a small spoon, which they put down after each bite, and were told to take small bites and chew each bite 15 to 20 times.

When eating quickly, the women took in an average of 646 calories in nine minutes. But when they slowed down, they consumed 579 calories in 29 minutes, according to their report, presented at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity.

The women felt fuller and more satisfied immediately after they ate the meal and an hour later when they had consumed it slowly, Melanson and her colleagues found.

Eating slowly may indeed promote weight loss, or help people maintain a healthy weight, Melanson noted, given that someone who ate three leisurely meals might consume 210 fewer calories a day than someone who wolfed those meals down. (AGENCIES)

Chinese province plans pre-marriage AIDS test

BEIJING, Dec 2: A Chinese province which has been ravaged by AIDS plans to force all couples in the worst-hit areas to take compulsory HIV tests before being married, the official Xinhua news agency reported today.

The results of the free tests in Yunnan, obligatory from January 1, will be given by health authorities to the would-be spouse of anyone who tests positive and does not tell their partner.

The rules are part of new AIDS prevention and control laws passed by the regional legislature, with target areas specified by health authorities at a later date.

At the end of September Yunnan had 47,314 people officially living with HIV or AIDS -- or a quarter of the national total, Xinhua said. Located near the heroin-producing Golden Triangle, it became an AIDS hotspot because of intravenous drugs use.

''In a province like Yunnan where AIDS is prevalent, the new regulation can better safeguard the rights of people who are susceptible to HIV infection,'' the report quoted Zhang Changan, director of the office of the Provincial Committee for AIDS Prevention and Control, as saying.

The Health Ministry said last week that the reported number of Chinese HIV/AIDS cases at the end of October was 183,733, up from 144,089 at the end of 2005, but both Beijing and the United Nations estimate the true number of cases at about 650,000. (AGENCIES)

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Onions, garlic linked to lower cancer risks

NEW YORK, Dec 2: People who flavour their diets with plenty of onions and garlic might have lower odds of several types of cancer, a new study suggests.

In an analysis of eight studies from Italy and Switzerland, researchers found that older adults with the highest onion and garlic intakes had the lowest risks of a number of cancers -- including colon, ovarian and throat cancers.

The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are in line with some past research. But those studies were mainly conducted in China, and it is unclear if the results are different in Western countries.

Dietary habits are substantially different in China, with garlic intake, in particular, being far higher, Dr Carlotta Galeone, the lead author of the new study, told .

These latest findings suggest the anti-cancer benefit of these vegetables extend to Western populations, according to Galeone, a researcher at the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacologic Research in Milan, Italy.

It's still not certain that onions and garlic have a direct effect on cancer risk. It's possible, for instance, that onion and garlic lovers also have an overall diet that protects against cancer, according to Galeone and her colleagues.

On the other hand, they note, animal studies and lab experiments with cancer cells have found that certain compounds in onions and garlic may inhibit the growth of tumors. Sulfur compounds found in garlic and antioxidant flavonoids in onions are among the potentially protective substances.

The current findings are based on results from eight studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland. Each study compared healthy older adults to patients with a particular form of cancer, asking participants for detailed information on their diets, physical activity and other lifestyle habits.

When it came to colon cancer, Galeone's team found that men and women who ate seven or more servings of onions per week had less than half the risk of those who shunned the vegetable. Similarly, garlic lovers were a quarter less likely to develop the disease than people who maintained garlic-free diets.

The vegetables were also linked to lower risks of cancers of the mouth, throat, kidneys and ovaries.

Given what's known about the biological activity of some onion and garlic compounds, it wouldn't be a bad idea to spice up your diet with the vegetables, according to Galeone.

It's probably wise to mix them with plenty of other vegetables, however.

Some research has found that garlic and tomatoes may have ''synergistic'' cancer-fighting effects, Galeone and her colleagues note. And, in general, experts recommend that people eat a variety of fruits and vegetables every day for overall health. (AGENCIES)

Criminal psychopathy may be biological disfunction:Study

LONDON, Dec 2: A biological defect in the way blood flows in the brain rather than a psychological defect could be one reason why some people become criminal psychopaths, a new study shows.

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London monitored the emotional responses of six men who had committed repeat offences such as attempted murder, rape with strangulation and grievous bodily harm.

''We've never been able to look directly in the brain before and what we found is that when psychopaths were exposed to frightened faces the distress cue didn't increase the psychopath's blood flow. It decreased it,'' Declan Murphy, a professor of psychiatry at the institute, told Reuters.

He added psychopaths might not stop their attacks because they may have learned to dampen their brain's response to other peoples' distress signals.

All six subjects scored highly on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, a test which looks for the presence of cunning, manipulative or exploitative behaviours as well as lack of guilt or remorse.

The results were published yesterday in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Their scans were compared to nine healthy volunteers who were also shown images of fearful, happy and neutral faces.

Tom Fahy, professor of forensic mental health and co-author of the study, said the condition may be inherited or acquired through very deprived and abusive childhoods.

He added the findings of the study opened possibilities for new treatments other than counselling therapies and could be used to identify people who had a higher risk of re-offending.

''Psychopaths currently respond pretty poorly to treatment but this biological problem could be used as a marker for people who say they have recovered but actually haven't,'' Murphy said. (AGENCIES)

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