Excelsior... Nation

PAF orders closure of cinema hall during Ramzan on MMA pressure

PESHAWAR, Sept 30: A cinema hall run by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has finally agreed to adhere to the directives issued by the local Islamic government to close the hall temporarily, a local media report said.

The Daily Times quoted cinema manager Mr Naeem Khan as saying that the first order he received to close down the cinema house came from the PAF base commander.

The six-party Islamic alliance Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which rules the NWFP, on Monday issued orders for the closure of all cinema halls in the province during the holy month of Ramzan.

While all private cinema halls had adhered to the government directive, the PAF-run cinema hall had continued the screening of films until Wednesday.

According to sources, the PAF order came only after the local government had approached a top military commander in Peshawar, urging him to ensure PAF compliance, thereby saving the ruling alliance from the embarrassment of having its directives openly flouted by the armed forces.

After the meeting, Mr Khan said, the military commander had ordered the PAF base commander to accede to the directives issued by the provincial government.

There was a great rush at the hall since all private cinemas had already been closed by the provincial government, he added.

According to cinemagoer Khan Zada, tickets at the PAF-run cinema were being sold at double the normal price. This, he said, perhaps represented the real reason for the initial refusal of PAF to kowtow to the directive of the local Government. (UNI)

Robert Frost poem discovered by US student

NEW YORK, Sept 30: A poem by one of America’s best-loved poets, Robert Frost, has been discovered 88 years after it was handwritten in the front of a book and will be published next week.

The poem was found by a graduate student among uncatalogued books and manuscripts bought by the University of Virginia and once owned by Frost’s friend, Frederic Melcher, founder of publishing industry trade journal Publishers Weekly.

The 35-line poem, called "War Thoughts at Home" and dated 1918, was apparently inspired by the death of a fellow poet in World War I.

Student Robert Stilling said he was alerted to the poem by a 1947 letter by Melcher in which he referred to an unpublished poem handwritten in a copy of Frost’s book "North of Boston".

Stilling said in a paper that when he read the letter it set off "little scholarly alarm bells" and sent him looking for the book at the Charlottesville university library. Frost died in 1963 aged 88.

It took several months to verify the handwriting and check whether the poem had been published before, said Kevin Morrissey, managing editor of The Virginia Quarterly Review which has permission from Frost’s estate to publish the poem.

Morrissey said the poem was very somber

"You can tell Frost is troubled by what is going on in Europe at the time," Morrissey told Reuters.

Academics believe it was written in response to the death of Frost’s friend and poet Edward Thomas, who died in the trenches in France in 1917.

Frost, who wrote such poems as "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", was in Britain at the start of the war and had befriended Thomas.

The poem focuses on a woman in a snow-bound house thinking of soldiers in France and watching some blue jays fighting outside. Here are two stanzas from the poem:

And one says to the rest "We must just watch our chance And escape one by one- Though the fight is no more done Than the war is in France." Than the war is in France! She thinks of a winter camp Where soldiers for France are made. She draws down the window shade And it glows with an early lamp. (AGENCIES)

Calif redwood confirmed as world’s tallest tree

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 30: A redwood tree discovered in a remote California forest has turned out to be the world’s tallest tree, edging out one nearby that had been the previous titleholder, a botanist said.

Humboldt State University Professor Steve Sillett told Reuters the record-setting tree, named Hyperion, is 115.5 metres tall, besting the previous record holder, the 112.9 metre-tall Stratosphere Giant.

Researchers exploring remote and rugged terrain this summer in the Redwood National and State Parks along California’s northernmost coast also discovered two other redwoods taller than the Stratosphere Giant, suggesting there had been many more massive ancient redwoods in the area, Sillett said.

Some of those taller trees may have fallen to loggers, while the remaining ones were saved by a logging ban when the Redwood National Park was expanded in 1978, Sillett said.

"What we have today are a few small remnants that suggest what these trees are capable of doing," Sillett said. (AGENCIES)

Former lawmaker executed in north-east China for corruption

BEIJING, Sept 30: China has executed a former lawmaker in north-eastern Jilin Province after being convicted for a range of crimes, including bribery, misappropriation of funds and rape, the state media reported today.

His crimes include illegal possession of weapons, organised crime and organising prostitution.

A Former member of the Ninth National People's Congress, Sang Yuechun was convicted of taking bribes and misappropriating 120 million yuan (15 million US dollars), but court officials did not provide details of his other crimes.

He was executed yesterday following approval by the apex Supreme People's Court.

Sang, president of Jigang Industrial and Trade Group Corporation, was also convicted of conspiring to conceal his crimes by destroying financial records and accounts of the company, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ruling at the Intermediate People's Court of Jilin City also ordered the confiscation of all his personal property.

His appeal was rejected by the Jilin Provincial Higher People's Court.

Chinese courts convicted six provincial and ministerial officials to prison last year, the same as in 2004. Courts across the country heard 24,277 cases of embezzlement, bribery and dereliction of duty last year, and sentenced 1,932 officials above county level to prison. (PTI)

New rules spell end to workplace benefits

LONDON, Sept 30: New age discrimination legislation could spell an end to workplace benefits, a leading think-tank warned.

The Employer's Forum on Age (EFA) voiced concerns that the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations coming into effect tomorrow will threaten the provision of a range of insured employee benefits.

They include group income protection, disability insurance, critical illness cover, life insurance and private medical insurance.

Unlike occupational pension schemes, these do not come under an array of exemptions built into the regulations.

The EFA has submitted its concerns to the Department for Trade and Industry in a paper prepared jointly with the Association of British Insurers and Group Risk Development.

Sam Mercer, director of the EFA, said the new rules were forcing employers to re-think their approach to benefits much valued by employees.

''The age regulations as they currently stand,'' she said, ''fail to recognise the increased costs employers face in providing insured benefits, the availability of specific benefits to employees over 70 and the risk employers face in seeking to objectively justify the provision of different benefits to employees at different ages -- which is current employer practice.''

The EFA fears the regulations could lead to employee benefits being scrapped for all employees, irrespective of age.

''Employers are not at all convinced that they will be able to objectively justify the age discrimination necessary to continue to offer these benefits, especially where cost is the main reason,'' said Mercer.

''This has serious ramifications: if employers fail to provide many of these benefits, then the burden of providing for employees when they are unable to work and fall sick will fall on to the state.''

She said it was ''critical'' that the government urgently amended the new rules to add further exceptions relating to insurance, in particular the fixing of an upper age limit for cover.

''This could be directly linked to the default retirement age of 65, and could, if necessary, increase over time,'' said Mercer. (AGENCIES)

Mass Judge allows out-of-state gay couple to wed

BOSTON, Sept 30: A Massachusetts Superior Court judge ruled that a lesbian couple from Rhode Island could marry in Massachusetts because Rhode Island does not have a law specifically banning it.

The same-sex couple would be the first from outside of Massachusetts to marry in the only US state where gay marriage is legal, a step long-sought by gay rights advocates and opposed by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and conservative Christian groups.

Massachusetts' highest court ruled in 2003 that it was unconstitutional to ban gay marriage, paving the way for America's first same-sex marriages in May the following year. Since then, more than 8,000 gay couples have wed.

Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Thomas E Connolly ruled that the wedding of Wendy Becker and Mary Norton, of Providence, could go forward because Rhode Island has no laws specifically banning same-sex marriages.

(AGENCIES)

Danes, Muslims divided over cartoon crisis legacy

COPENHAGEN, Sept 30: A year after a Danish paper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that sparked violent protests worldwide, more Danes have a negative opinion of Islam -- but Muslims say Danes have become more friendly.

A recent Catinet poll showed that almost one quarter of Danes were more negative toward Muslims and Islam now than before the cartoons were published, while less than 3 per cent were more positive. Almost 47 per cent supported the publication of the drawings, while 38 per cent said it was wrong.

Leaders of the Muslim community in Denmark, striking a conciliatory note, say they see unprecedented friendliness and interest in Muslim culture from Danes.

The poll findings, and the Muslim leaders' remarks, indicate a shift from the situation a year ago, when Danes thought of themselves as tolerant and generally welcoming to immigrants, while Muslims living here often felt maligned and disrespected.

The cartoons, including one showing Mohammad with a bomb in his turban, were first published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten a year ago and later reprinted elsewhere. Muslim clerics denounced them as blasphemous, sparking protests in which more than 50 people died in Asia, Africa and the West Asia.

Most Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet as offensive. Many Western observers say the crisis pitted respect for religious sensibilities against the right to free speach.

''Most Danes started to realise that Muslims are human beings like any other,'' said Ahmed Abu-Laban, a Copenhagen imam who helped organise a trip to Egypt and Lebanon last year to rally support among Muslim leaders for protests against the drawings.

''Many people in our congregation tell me civil servants are dealing with Muslims in a more friendly way. Muslims have their values, their backgrounds, and Danes want to learn about them.''

Laban said that three times as many people as usual came to his Islamic Society's annual open house this year, an event meant to educate non-Muslims about Islam. (AGENCIES)

Dissident Vietnam monks reunited in hospital visit

HANOI, Sept 30: Vietnam's two most prominent dissident Buddhist monks were reunited for the first time after three years under separate house arrest, a Buddhist group said.

The International Buddhist Information Bureau said that Thich (Venerable) Quang Do, deputy leader of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), visited the group's patriarch Thich Huyen Quang in a Ho Chi Minh City hospital yesterday.

''This is the first time (they) have met since they were arrested in a government crackdown on 9th October 2003 and placed under house arrest,'' the group said in a statement issue from Paris late yesterday.

The monks are considered among the longest campaigners for human rights and alternatives to one-party Communist rule in the Southeast Asian country.

European governments and the United States have praised Vietnam for improving its religious rights record in the past two years as the country moves toward joining the World Trade Organisation this year. In November, it will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.

But it has not lifted the ban on the UBCV, which rejects the conditions of state supervision placed on all faiths.

Quang, 86, has been living at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in the central province of Binh Dinh and Do, 77, at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in the south's Ho Chi Minh City.

Quang was treated in hospital in Binh Dinh on Monday and transferred to the Cho Ray hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday night. He has heart problems and difficulty breathing, a spokeswoman said.

On September. 21, Do was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Foundation prize for Human Rights, which has four times in the past anticipated the choice of the Nobel Peace prize winner with its own award.

The Rafto award ceremony is on November 4 in Bergen, Norway, but it is unclear whether Do would be allowed to travel to receive the award.

(AGENCIES)

Plague outbreak feared in eastern Congo: WHO

GENEVA, Sept 30: A deadly epidemic feared to be pneumonic plague has broken out in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

There are dozens of suspect cases and up to 20 deaths in the outbreak, which a WHO team is investigating along with health ministry officials, WHO plague expert Eric Bertherat said yesterday.

''There is an epidemic which we are trying to confirm is the plague in the northeast Ituri region,'' Bertherat told Reuters.

Preliminary indications point to pneumonic plague, the most deadly and least common form of the disease, which can be spread by humans without involvement of fleas, he said.

''It seems it could be the pneumonic form, which is extremely contagious with a high mortality rate of about 50 per cent ... At least several dozen cases are reported and up to 20 fatalities,'' Bertherat said.

The outbreak is around Isiro, northeast of the eastern city of Kisangani in the remote, mineral-rich Ituri region.

In early 2005, 150 cases of plague were confirmed in Zobia, north of Kisangani, half of them fatal, according to the WHO.

Many of the miners working at the diamond mine in Zobia fled the outbreak and spread the highly contagious disease.

Plague, which causes fever, aches, vomiting and nausea, as well as open sores in some forms, is endemic in many African countries, the Americas, Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Rapid diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics is essential to reduce complications and fatality, according to the WHO.

''Case management is very demanding. Patients have to be isolated and taken care of and all of their contacts traced and given antibiotics for seven days to prevent spread,'' said Bertherat, who headed the WHO emergency team in Zobia.

The vast central African country's government is seeking to put behind it a 1998-2003 civil war that pulled in armies from six neighbouring countries and killed 4 million people, most of whom died from hunger and disease.

Fighting between militias and the national army has continued this year in Ituri region, where the government is trying to re-establish control. Lawlessness has hampered efforts to help tens of thousands of refugees, aid agencies say. (AGENCIES)

Regular exercise may affect IVF results

NEW YORK, Sept 30: Women who exercise routinely for four or more hours per week may reduce their chances of having a successful pregnancy with in vitro fertilization (IVF), new research suggests.

''Although exercise has many known health benefits, it does not seem to contribute to successful IVF outcomes,'' senior author Dr Mark D Hornstein, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues note in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

''However,'' they add, ''our findings are not strong enough to encourage women to abandon exercise and embrace a sedentary lifestyle.''

The researchers assessed various IVF outcomes in 2232 women who underwent their first IVF cycle between 1994 and 2003 in the greater Boston area.

In general, regular exercise did not seem to decrease or increase the chances of having a baby through IVF, the report indicates.

However, with four or more hours of exercise per week for 1 to 9 years, the odds of a live birth fell by 40 per cent relative to engaging in no exercise.

In addition, this level of activity raised the risks of implantation failure and pregnancy loss.

The team also looked at the potential association of a woman's body mass index (BMI) with success rates, because of the increased risk of infertility in both underweight and overweight patients. ''However, we did not observe any difference in the relation between exercise and IVF outcomes among the different BMI groups,'' they write.

Further research is needed to confirm and expand on these findings, the investigators conclude, emphasizing that it is too early to make definitive recommendations. (AGENCIES)

Nerve stimulation promising for Alzheimer's

NEW YORK, Sept 30: Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, which originates in the brain and then branches widely throughout the neck, chest and abdomen, seems to help some people with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

''The study primarily showed that VNS (vagus nerve stimulation) is well tolerated and safe in patients with Alzheimer's disease for up to 12 months,'' Dr Magnus J C Sjgren from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden told Reuters Health.

''Furthermore, the study gave an indication that VNS may be of benefit, as a cognitive enhancing therapy,'' the researcher added

Dr Sjgren and colleagues previously reported beneficial effects of VNS during a 6-month pilot study involving 10 patients with Alzheimer's disease. This report, in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, includes an additional 7 patients with follow-up for at least 1 year.

All the patients in the study chose to continue VNS therapy after one year of treatment, the investigators report.

Just over 40 per cent of the participants showed improvement or no decline in mental abilities on a standard Alzheimer's disease assessment scale after a year of treatment, the results indicate.

Most patients completed the year without any changes in their cognitive-enhancing medications.

''It is important to emphasize that VNS is not an approved therapy for Alzheimer's disease, but that the study was performed in order to evaluate if it was safe and tolerated and if it could bring any benefit to patients with a severe chronic neurodegenerative disorder,'' Sjgren said.

''Future studies ... Will have to tell whether VNS can enhance cognition or be of benefit in Alzheimer's disease,'' the researcher concluded.

(AGENCIES)

New tool helps online shoppers buy lower-fat food

NEW YORK, Sept 30: An Internet-based system that provides online food shoppers with purchase-specific dietary advice helps them buy foods that are lower in saturated fat than the foods they initially set out to buy, according to new study findings.

''Internet shopping provides a unique opportunity to modify diets of large numbers of people at low cost,'' study co-author Dr. Bruce Neal told Reuters Health.

Neal, at the University of Sydney, Australia, and his colleagues write in the online journal PLoS Clinical Trials: ''Fully automated, purchase-specific dietary advice offered to customers during Internet shopping can bring about changes in food purchasing habits that are likely to have significant public health implications.''

Many supermarkets have introduced online food purchasing over the past 10 years. The team thought that this new medium may present a unique opportunity to help consumers make better food choices.

To investigate, they recruited 497 online supermarket shoppers and randomly divided them into two groups.

One group, the study group, received fully automated purchase-specific dietary advice in real time. When attempting to purchase foods online, these shoppers were given recommendations for similar products that were lower in saturated fat. The second group, the comparison group, received nonspecific advice about consuming foods lower in saturated fat.

During the first shopping session in which study participants received advice, those in the study group purchased foods that were about 10 percent lower in saturated fats than the foods they had initially selected, Neal and his colleagues report. They also purchased foods that were 0.66 per cent lower in saturated fat than the foods purchased by their counterparts in the comparison group.

Similar patterns were seen in subsequent shopping sessions, the authors note.

What's more, the foods purchased by the two groups did not differ in price, study findings indicate.

These results imply that ''innovative internet shopping companies could offer significant new services to their customers... (that) could both improve their customers' health and differentiate their service in an increasingly competitive marketplace,'' Neal told Reuters Health.

''This service need not be restricted to saturated fat,'' he added. ''High blood pressure, weight control and conditions such as heart disease might all be addressed by a service that checked your purchases for you.''

(AGENCIES)