Universal Music sues Web video sites Grouper, Bolt

NEW YORK, Oct 18: Universal Music Group has filed lawsuits against online video sharing sites Grouper and Bolt.Com for allowing users to swap pirated versions of its musicians' videos.

Universal, with artists including U2, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey, said it is seeking damages of as much as 150,000 dollars for each incident of copyright infringement, plus costs. It estimated that thousands of music videos were being viewed on both sites.

''Grouper and Bolt ... Cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content and the hard work of our artists and songwriters without permission and without compensating the content creators,'' a Universal spokesman said.

The lawsuits were filed late on Monday in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division.

Bolt's chief executive maintains the site removes copyrighted material as soon as it is notified and hopes to reach a licensing agreement with Universal Music. Grouper officials were not immediately available for comment.

''There's no question that people upload copyrighted content from time to time and occasionally we receive official notices to remove content and we do,'' Bolt CEO and co-founder Aaron Cohen told Reuters.

The lawsuits accuse Grouper Network Inc., which Sony Pictures Entertainment agreed to buy in August, and privately held Bolt.Com of actively participating in the infringement by copying, reformatting, distributing and creating derivative works from Universal's musicians.

The lawsuits also made clear that Universal, which is owned by French media company Vivendi, will retain the right to add Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. To the suit going forward.

They charge both Grouper and Bolt.Com with ''mass infringement'' of Universal's copyright, comparing it with the practices of original file-sharing sites Napster and Kazaa that have both been made to pay damages in similar cases.

''Through its use and exploitation of copyrighted material ... Grouper has become one of the most prominent and valuable Web sites on the Internet,'' the suit against Grouper says.

Grouper and Bolt.Com are smaller rivals to online video sharing service YouTube.Com, which has agreed to be acquired by Web search leader Google Inc. For 1.65 billion dollars.

Universal Chief Executive Doug Morris had pointed to services like YouTube in the past as examples of costly copyright infringement. But the music company reached a licensing deal to deliver videos on YouTube on the day YouTube's acquisition was announced.

''We've made overtures to Universal before now and we're hoping that they'd like to have a robust dialogue in the same way they did with YouTube,'' said Bolt's Cohen.

According to online audience measurement firm comScore, Bolt.Com had 8.1 million unique visitors in August while Grouper had just 1.8 million visitors. YouTube had 72.1 million visitors in the same month.

(AGENCIES)

Vaccine protects mice against deadly 1918 virus

WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Researchers trying to find quicker and better ways to make flu vaccines said they had formulated a vaccine that protected mice against the deadliest influenza virus known -- the one that caused the 1918 pandemic.

Their research also helped them find ways to predict how well a vaccine protects against a particular flu strain -- a key step in making vaccines against diseases that are not yet widely circulating.

''Understanding why this influenza virus was so deadly is an extremely important question,'' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) yesterday, which conducted the study.

''This knowledge will help further our continued efforts to develop treatments and vaccines to protect us against another deadly flu pandemic.''

The 1918 flu killed anywhere between 40 million and 100 million people, depending on the estimate. Researchers have resurrected the virus by digging up the frozen graves of victims and using preserved tissue samples.

On average, influenza pandemics hit three times a century and vary in their severity. The last one was in 1968 and killed about a million people, and experts believe the world is overdue for another.

A likely risk is from H5N1 avian influenza, which has spread around much of the world, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 200 million birds. It rarely infects humans but has been verified in 256 people and has killed 151 of them in nine countries.

Researchers use the 1918 flu as an example to see how difficult it would be for an avian virus to mutate into a form that easily infects and passes from human to human.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Gary Nabel of NIAID and colleagues described how they made a DNA vaccine against the 1918 virus and tested it in mice.

PAST PANDEMICS PREDICT FUTURE

''What we learn about the H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 pandemic is pertinent to other pandemic viruses and to the development of effective and universal vaccines,'' Nabel said in a statement.

Nabel, Terrence Tumpey of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues immunized the mice and then infected them with their reconstructed 1918 virus.

All 10 vaccinated mice survived, they reported.

They also found that transferring antibody-rich immunoglobulin -- a blood product -- from immunized mice to non-immunized mice helped protect the unvaccinated mice against the virus, too.

Eight of 10 mice given antibodies from the immunized mice survived infection with the 1918 virus while none of the 10 untreated mice did.

''By using an existing pandemic flu strain, this research will provide the basis for design of alternative vaccines against influenza viruses with enhanced virulence,'' Tumpey said.

Government and corporate labs are rushing to make vaccines against H5N1 and other avian influenzas. But flu vaccines must closely match the strain that is circulating and no one knows what the next pandemic flu strain might look like.

Last week, US researchers reported that people immunized with a vaccine based on a 1997 strain of H5N1 were twice as likely to have a strong immune response to a later vaccine than those never immunized before.

That suggested that giving two doses of vaccine, even over a period of years, might protect people better and that it might be possible to start vaccinating people before a pandemic strain of flu even emerges.(AGENCIES)

North Korea's Kim makes first appearance since test

SEOUL, Oct 18: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made his first public appearance since last week's nuclear test, taking in a song and dance performance, the North's official KCNA news agency reported today.

Kim has mostly been absent from the public eye since North Korea test fired seven missiles in July, leading some to speculate the North's defiant acts over the past few months have put his leadership to the test.

Kim was accompanied by several top North Korean officials as they watched performers sing the praises of the communist state and Kim's leadership with songs such as ''Love of Comrades'' and ''Always looking up to the Leader'', KCNA reported.

''He (Kim) waved back to the enthusiastically cheering artistes and audience and congratulated them on their successful performance,'' it said.(AGENCIES)

NKorea plans series of nuclear tests:NBC Report

WASHINGTON, Oct 18: US officials say North Korea's military has informed China it intends to carry out a series of underground nuclear tests, NBC News reported.

No further details were provided in the report.

The United States yesterday said North Korea had moved equipment into place that may indicate it plans a second nuclear test, despite international condemnation of its first underground nuclear explosion on Oct. 9.

North Korea has denounced UN sanctions over its nuclear test as a declaration of war.(AGENCIES)

US military too strong to lose Iraq war: Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON, Oct 18: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the US military is too strong to lose the war in Iraq, but ultimately political solutions will be needed to win.

"You’ve got a situation where it’s not possible to lose militarily," Rumsfeld yesterday said. "It’s also going to require more than military power to prevail."

Rumsfeld, in comments to reporters at the Pentagon, said US training of security forces in Iraq had been "rushed" but that placing U.S. Trainers within the Iraqi police force would gradually boost Iraq’s ability to reduce violence on its own.

Still, he said, Iraq’s parliament needs to resolve the issue of federalism and create a unity government to squash the violence that plagues much of Iraq and has frustrated US efforts to begin withdrawing troops.

"It’s going to take all those things together," Rumsfeld said.

US military commanders say violence in Iraq, which has killed 2,750 American troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis, remains contained within five of the 18 provinces. Those areas, however, include Baghdad and much of the surrounding metropolitan area.

American officials regularly accuse Iran and Syria of supporting the insurgency, and Rumsfeld on Tuesday declined to comment on suggestions that the United States should seek those countries’ help to reduce violence in Iraq.

"Neither Iran nor Syria have been helpful," he said. Rumsfeld also declined to comment on a statement from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a key Republican from Virginia, that the United States might have to consider a change of course if the Iraqi Government fails to restore order within two or three months.(AGENCIES)

Saudi education minister to visit India

DUBAI, Oct 18: Enhancing cooperation in the field of higher education and scientific research would figure high during the visit of Saudi Arabia's Education Minister to India next month.

The two sides would also work out ways to enable Saudi students pursue higher studies in India.

The visit of Saudi Arabia's Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari from November 6-10 comes within the framework of the 'Delhi Declaration' signed during the visit of King Abdullah to New Delhi in January this year.

A Saudi official said the Kingdom recognises India's strength in the field of higher studies, especially in IT, scientific research and technical education. A memorandum of understanding would also be signed during the visit to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the field of higher education and scientific cooperation, Arab News reported.

The Education Minister will head a high-level delegation comprising Deputy Minister of Higher Education for International Cooperation Dr. Abdullah Al-Moajel and the presidents of King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran and King Khaled University in Abha.

The visit is in response to an invitation extended by Indian Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh to his Saudi counterpart in May this year. (PTI)

US full of Internet addicts: Study

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 18: The United States could be rife with Internet addicts as clinically ill as alcoholics, a study has suggested.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, said their telephone survey indicated more than one in eight US residents showed at least one sign of "problematic Internet use."

The findings released yesterday backed those of previous, less rigorous studies, according to the Stanford researchers.

Most disturbing was the discovery that some people hid their Internet surfing, or went online to cure foul moods in ways that mirrored the way alcoholics use booze, according to the study's lead author, Elias Aboujaoude.

"In a sense, they're using the Internet to self-medicate," Aboujaoude said. "And obviously something is wrong when people go out of their way to hide their Internet activity."

According to preliminary research, the typical Internet addict is a single, college-educated, white male in his 30s, who spends approximately 30 hours a week on non-essential computer use.

While the profile might hint that online pornography is at the root of the Internet obsession, that was only one piece of the equation, Aboujaoude concluded.

"Online pornography and, to some degree, online gambling, have received the most attention but users are as likely to use other sites, including chat rooms, shopping venues and special-interest websites," Aboujaoude said.

"Pornography is just one area of excessive Internet use."

Stanford researchers interviewed 2,513 adults in a nationwide household survey. (AFP)

US population passes 300 million people

WASHINGTON, Oct 18: The United States now has a population of more than 300 million people, the US Census Bureau said, although it will not designate the person who broke the historic barrier.

The Census Bureau keeps count of the estimated number of Americans, based on the birth rate, death rate and immigration rate, which means the United States adds another person to its population every 11 seconds.

It estimated that the population hit the 300 million mark at 0746 EDT (1716 IST) -- 39 years after the US population reached 200 million.

''The Census Bureau will not make an effort to identify the 300 millionth person,'' said spokesman Robert Bernstein.

When the population counter topped 200 million in 1967, Life magazine dispatched reporters to various maternity wards and ultimately determined that Robert Woo, a Chinese-American born in the Atlanta area, was the person who passed the mark.

One demographer had said the 300 millionth person would be a Latino boy, since about half of US population growth is due to Hispanics, more boys are born than girls and the population grows more from births than through immigration.

The US population has jumped in the past decade, after taking until 1915 to reach 100 million.

In the time it has taken for the US population to grow to 300 million from 200 million, the world population has jumped to 6.5 billion from 3.5 billion.

Americans now live an average 77.8 years, compared to 70.5 years in 1967. About 85 per cent of the population now has at least a high school education, compared to about 51 per cent in 1967. (AGENCIES)

Ethnic gaps in breast cancer linked to hormones

NEW YORK, Oct 18: Differences in estrogen levels may partially explain the ethnic disparities in breast cancer rates among US women, new research suggests.

In a study of more than 700 postmenopausal women, researchers found that participants' blood levels of estrogen and ''male'' hormones, called androgens, varied by race and ethnicity. And the differences in estrogen, which fuels breast tumor growth, often paralleled ethnic differences in breast cancer risk.

Native Hawaiians, for example, had the highest levels of estrogen and androgen, and the highest rate of breast cancer. On average, their estrogen levels were about one-quarter higher than those of white women, according to findings published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Similarly, the study found, women of Japanese descent had higher estrogen levels than white women did, and their breast cancer rate followed suit.

These findings fit the theory that racial or ethnic differences in estrogen levels account for some of the differences seen in breast cancer rates, according to study leader Dr. Veronica Wendy Setiawan of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

An exception, she told Reuters Health, was the finding that African-American women had lower rates of breast cancer than white women did, despite having higher estrogen levels.

''We can't explain that yet,'' Setiawan said. It's known that before menopause, black women have a higher risk of breast cancer than white women, she noted. So it's a puzzle as to why their risk doesn't remain elevated after menopause, even though their estrogen levels remain relatively high.

Another finding with no clear explanation is the fact that Japanese-American women had higher estrogen levels and a higher rate of breast cancer than white women did -- a stark reversal of what's been previously observed.

This rise in estrogen levels among Japanese Americans may be driving the rise in breast cancer, according to Setiawan, but no one knows what factors -- such as diet or other lifestyle changes -- are affecting estrogen levels in these women.

Excess body fat raises estrogen levels, but Japanese Americans in the study were generally thinner than other women.

The findings are based on 739 women who are part of a larger study that has followed an ethnically diverse group of adults from California and Hawaii for more than a decade.

Setiawan notes that more research is needed to figure out why black women differ from other women when it comes to the relationship between estrogen levels and breast cancer -- and why estrogen levels appear to be changing among Japanese women. (AGENCIES)

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