Subliminal sartorial messages on US campaign trail?

ST LOUIS, Feb 5: Clothes make the man, as the saying goes, and clothes can do their bit to make the candidate too.

The suits, sweaters, even the knot of a candidate's necktie, help shape public opinion in the US Presidential race, whether voters realize it or not, fashion experts say.

''The clothes we wear send a message about how we want to be perceived,'' fashion guru Tim Gunn said. ''Even if voters were to say, 'I don't pay attention to those things,' I think subliminally they must.''

Political candidates are ''loaded with subliminal messages,'' said David Wolfe, creative director at Doneger Group retail consultants.

''You take off your necktie, you're a man of the people. You take off your jacket, you're even more a man of the people. Roll up your sleeves, and oh, you're really serious,'' he said.

While Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, the only woman in the White House race, gets the most attention for her appearance, her male rivals are drawing more attention than usual, said Stan Herman, former head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

''Because there's a woman involved, a lot of people like myself started looking to see if the guys were wearing peak or notch lapels or two button- or three button-suits,'' he said.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama gets the highest praise from fashionistas for his well-cut suits, which he started to wear more often after winning the Iowa caucuses. Even his necktie is fashionably knotted in a thick, full Windsor knot, a style popular with men in their 20's and 30's, experts say.

While Obama's clothes are ''fabulous,'' said Wolfe, he risks looking as though he is trying too hard.

''As a fashion statement, it's venturing toward foppishness. Should a presidential candidate care that much about his necktie?'' Wolfe asked.

PLEATED TROUSERS

Republican Mitt Romney dresses like the successful businessman he is, with a Harvard Business School background, said Patty Pao, head of the Pao Principle retail consultants.

''He's very well tailored, pressed, everything is creased,'' she said.

But Romney's old-fashioned, baggy trousers make fashionistas cringe. ''I don't think that Romney's pleated pants are going to make an influence on fashion,'' said Robert Burke of Robert Burke Associates luxury consultants.

Republican Sen. John McCain often dresses casually in sweaters, ''trying to look like just plain folks,'' Pao said. ''I guarantee once he starts winning more primaries, he going to evolve into the more presidential look.''

Republican Mike Huckabee's relaxed dress reflects his campaign line that people would rather elect a president ''who reminds them of the guy they work with, not that guy who laid them off,'' but it won't last if he gains ground in the primaries, Burke said.

''I don't think you -- in the near future -- are going to see a president with no tie and an open shirt,'' he said.

For Clinton, gone are the days of dated hair bands, matronly skirts and brooches, replaced by well-cut pantsuits with jewel-tone blouses and necklaces that brighten her face.

Only a few faux pas still exist, according to fashionistas, such as a bright yellow jacket with black trim, dubbed her 'bumblebee suit' by reporters. ''Yellow should not be her color, said Irma Zandl of The Zandl Group trend research firm.

Gunn, known for his role on the hit reality show ''Project Runway'' and chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne Inc., said he is disappointed in Clinton's ''same dull pantsuits.''

''I just feel like she retreated back into menswear,'' he said. ''I feel like she's trying to be one of the guys.''

No matter how carefully considered their outfits, however, no candidate comes close to a catwalk look.

''Politicians as a whole are not known for a fashion sense,'' Burke said. ''At the end of the day, they are going to do whatever it takes to look the most professional and most Presidential.'' (AGENCIES)

Spanish turn Anne Frank diary into musical

MADRID, Feb 5: Spanish producers have turned the life of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding from Nazis, into a musical, tearing up the genre's widely held convention of light-hearted, sugar-coated tale.

The Spanish-language production: ''Anne Frank, A Song to Life'' chronicles the German-born girl's experiences hiding in an attic in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944, before the Frank family were betrayed and sent to camps where Anne died of typhus.

The 3 million euro (4.5 million dollars) production, closer in style to Les Miserables than Cats, is the first of its kind to focus on Frank's life.

Director Rafael Alvaro, who came up with the idea for the musical 10 years ago, said the show's aim was to project a vision of hope and optimism. He defended it against accusations that the subject was too serious to be made into a musical.

Buddy Elias, Frank's 82-year-old cousin and only surviving relative has said his charity, the Anne Frank Fonds, was firml against the show: ''The Holocaust is not a theme to be made into a musical,'' he has been reported as saying.

Alvaro said his production was a sensitive portrait of Frank's life and pointed out that it had the backing of the Anne Frank House organisation which runs a museum in the canalside warehouse where Anne hid in a secret annex behind a false bookcase.

''If the musical -- done in an exquisite, delicate, important way -- reaches the great public not only here but worldwide, that is success for me,'' he told Reuters after presenting the production to journalists at Madrid's Calderon Theatre.

Anne was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then Bergen-Belsen where she died aged 15 along with her sister Margot in March 1945, a few weeks before the camp was liberated by the British Army.

INTERNET SEARCH

Alvaro searched for actors via a simple message on the Internet: ''Looking for Anne Frank'', and eventually cast Cuban Isabella Castillo in the role of Anne.

The 13-year-old from Havana, who despite her youth sings 'Anne Frank's' emotional melodies with confidence and poise, said it was a privilege to play the part of someone so courageous.

''You find this girl in such bad circumstances (but) she always finds hope. That has helped me a lot,'' Castillo told Reuters.

Producers say they may take the musical on tour and translate it into other languages after its run in Madrid which starts on February 28.

Anne Frank's father Otto survived the camps and returned to the Netherlands where he published Anne's diary which had been kept safe by friends. It has since become one of the world's most widely read books.

(AGENCIES)

750 South Asian workers strike work in Bahrain

DUBAI, Feb 5: Nearly 750 South Asian workers, a majority of them Indians, have gone on strike in Bahrain to press for better pay.

The workers employed with Almoayyed Contracting claimed they were were paid between BD60 (Rs 6,200) and BD85 but wanted a raise due to rising inflation.

They refused to return to work till they are offered a better deal. Besides Indians, the workers comprise Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

The company says the workers' salaries range from BD75 to BD150.

"We are almost 700 workers, including masons, welders and others, at the labour camp in East Eker," a worker told the Gulf Daily News.

"Our basic salary for a month ranges from BD60 to BD85, but we want it raised to between BD100 and BD120 - that is by nearly BD40."

Another Indian said workers were feeling the pinch of inflation and the soaring value of currencies at home.

"Now, with Bahrain's inflation and the Indian rupee getting stronger, we cannot even manage to send home BD20," he said. (PTI)

Youth adopt smoking under influence of family members:Study

NEW DELHI, Feb 5: As the Government mulls pictorial warnings on tobacco products, a new study has shown that most people take to smoking in their youth under the influence of family members.

In fact, 35 per cent have one or more parent who smoke thus conditioning their mind towards a casual attitude towards smoking, according to the study by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Another 6.1 per cent may feel encouraged to smoke in the company of friends who smoke. Besides the tobacco advertisements on bill boards and smoking in movies are the main influencers.

The data shows that smoking prevalence amongst youths in 2000 was 4.8 per cent which catapulted upto 15.9 per cent in 2006.

The study estimates that at least 30 per cent of future cancer burden is potentially preventable by tobacco control.

"Given that teenagers are the most likely victims of tobacco addiction and that the risks of tobacco use are the highest among those who start smoking early and continue for prolonged periods, it is of paramount importance that successful prevention efforts are implemented," according to Dr P C Gupta, Director, Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health.

India reports 8,00,000 new cancer cases every year with tobacco related cancer itself contributing 40-50 per cent of the cases.

"Children are the worst sufferers from exposure to tobacco smoke. They suffer from the disease when they are children and are at an increased risk of cancer when they reach adulthood," Gupta said.

"We urgently need smoke-free adulthood to prevent cancer and other diseases and smoke free childhood even more urgently because children cannot protect themselves," he said.

Though there is no direct evidence to link smoking in children with cancer, studies show that kids who are from smoking families have the highest risk of succumbing to cancer later in life.

"The studies are based on the national data base and show that cancers of lung, kidney and bladder are the highest in people who were exposed to passive smoking in their childhood," Dr Deepak Sarin, Cancer Surgeon with the Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon, said.

According to him, apart from cancer, there are a host of problems associated with children who come from smoking families. "Some of these are lung diseases like asthma and other upper respiratory tract diseases".

Such children also have chances of five times more presence of toxins in their body than normal children, he added. (PTI)

Older women ‘more depressed than men

NEW YORK, Feb 5: Older women are more likely to become depressed and remain so for a longer period than older men, according to a new study.

A team of researchers in the United States has carried out the study and found that a number of factors contribute to the higher burden of depression among older women who’re more likely to suffer from the condition than men.

According to lead researcher Lisa Barry of the Yale University School of Medicine, "late-life depression is a significant clinical and public health problem as it is common and is associated with disability and other adverse outcomes.

"Women have a higher likelihood of transitioning from non-depressed to depressed and a lower likelihood of transitioning from depressed to non-depressed or death."

In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after evaluating 754 individuals aged 70 plus beginning in 1998. At the start and at follow-up assessments every 18 months, the participants were asked to give demographic information, take cognitive tests and report any medical conditions.

The participants were also screened for symptoms of depression — such as lack of appetite, feeling sad or sleep problems — during the previous week.

At the outset, 17 per cent of the women were depressed, compared with five per cent of the men. Three years later, a quarter of the women were suffering from the condition, compared with one in ten of the men.

Barry wrote in the ‘archives of general psychiatry’ journal: "The findings were consistent over the four time intervals, providing strong evidence that depression is more persistent in older women than older men.

"Whether women are treated less aggressively than men for late-life depression or are less likely to respond to conventional treatment is not known but should be the focus of future research.

"In addition, nearly 40 per cent of the depressed participants in this study were depressed during at least two consecutive time points, highlighting the need to initiate and potentially maintain antidepressant treatment after resolution of the initial depressive episode." (PTI)

Scientists develop itch-free pyjamas

LONDON, Feb 5: Scratch no more while in bed! Scientists have developed itch-free pyjamas which they claim will also regulate body temperature and ensure a good night's sleep.

According to the inventors, the nightwears -- produced from a fabric called Dermasilk -- can also help mitigate the itching endured by sufferers of skin disorders such as eczema and dermatitis.

The pyjamas have been developed for Travelodge, the hotel chain, which has carried out a survey to discover what keeps people awake, British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported here today.

According to the survey, involving 3,000 respondents, 23 per cent of adults suffer from itchy nightclothes which stop them from getting a good night's sleep, even keeping them awake sometimes.

Being too hot or too cold is a common complaint, with 66 per cent confirming that their body temperature changes constantly throughout the night, which in turn affects their sleep pattern.

More people feel too hot, 54 per cent, in comparison to feeling cold, 35 per cent, while sleeping.

The pyjamas will be tested by customers at Travelodge hotels at Heathrow airport, Birmingham Fiveways, Bristol Central, Manchester Central and Edinburgh Central.

The survey came days after researchers in the United States claimed that they found a clue to why scratching a stubborn itch brings relief and why it's hard to stop.

According to their study, scratching is linked to the suppression of unpleasant feelings inside the brain, which actually helps in relieving an itch. (PTI)

Confiscation of Bibles was wrong, says govt official

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5: A Malaysian Government official today said that customs officers were wrong to seize 32 Bibles from a Christian traveller, after church groups alleged that it was another sign of religious intolerance in this Muslim-majority country.

Juliana Nicholas, a Malaysian national from whom the Bibles were taken on Jan 28, has been told she can collect the Bibles back, said a senior official from the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit. He declined to be named citing protocol.

Nicholas was stopped by Royal Malaysian Customs officials at an airport in Kuala Lumpur when she returned from the Philippines.

The ministry official indicated the confiscation was arbitrary and wrong.

The customs officers "shouldn't have detained them. You shouldn't do anything with these religious books," the official told The Associated Press.

By acknowledging its mistake, the Government is apparently hoping to placate Christian groups and other minorities who have become increasingly worried that their constitutionally guaranteed right to worship is being gradually eroded in Malaysia.

They cite a string of cases including demolition of Hindu temples, a recent ban on the word Allah from Malay-language Christian literature, and court judgements favouring Muslims in disputes with non-Muslims.

About 60 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays. The remaining 40 per cent are mainly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus from the minority Chinese, Indian and other communities. (AGENCIES)

Signs of recovery in snow-battered areas in China

BEIJING, Feb 5: Rail, highway and air traffic crippled by the worst-ever snowfall in half a century across China are showing signs of gradual recovery but millions still reeled under power and water scarcity a day before the cherished spring festival begins.

At least 11 electricians died while restoring power supply as thousands worked overtime to repair damaged lines in the snow-affected regions before the festival, the Xinhua agency said.

Offering respite to millions of passengers anxious to reach home to be united with their families for the major annual break during the Chinese Lunar New Year, the railways have been clearing the rush, reducing the numbers of stranded passengers.

In Guangzhou, the number of stranded passengers has been reduced to 80,000 yesterday from some 240,000 as of last Friday, the State Council, the cabinet, said in a statement. Guangzhou, with the biggest concentration of Chinas 200 million migrant farmers, is the terminal of a north-south trunk railway line linking the city with Beijing.

Almost all the airports in snow-battered regions have resumed operations, although fog forced cancellation of 47 flights and caused delay of 1,006 more in the eastern cities of Hangzhou, Nanjing and Changzhou, leaving 29,000 passengers stranded.

But the woes of affected people in several parts continued. Chenzhou in central Hunan province with a four million population suffered power blackout and water cut for the 11^{th day, the official news agency said. (PTI)}

Tamils protest outside Lankan embassy in South Africa..

DURBAN, Feb 5: Demanding the intervention of international community in Sri Lanka, about 300 people of Tamil origin staged a demonstration outside its High Commission in the South African capital against the alleged "genocide" of the community in the island country.

"We want to highlight the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and to call on the international community to intervene," Karthy Muthusamy, president of the Tamil Federation of Gauteng, said during the protest in Pretoria coinciding with the South Asian country's 60th Independence Day yesterday.

The people held placards saying "Stop genocide of Tamil people", "Sri Lanka practising ethnic cleansing" and "Tamils want peace".

The protest was organised by the Tamil Co-Ordinating Committee and the South African Tamil Federation.

"We wanted to show that 60 years of independence has been 60 years of violence, discrimination, and death for the Tamil people," said Gops Veerabradan, who led the protest.

Veerabradan said they applauded the South African Government's step to call for a peaceful settlement of the Tamil ethnic conflict.

"But the Government of Sri Lanka wants to wipe out the Tamils through ethnic cleansing," he alleged

He said the the Sri Lankan High Commissioner did not meet them to collect their petition and that it demonstrated that they had something to hide.

"They know that they are committing human rights violations against the Tamil people and therefore they don't have the courage to come out and talk to us," he said. (PTI)

Court orders compensation to victim of crocodile attack

BEIJING, Feb 5: A court in China has ordered a compensation of USD 30,560 to be paid to the parents of a boy who was eaten by crocodiles at a holiday resort after he and three other children beat the reptiles with wooden sticks, state media reported.

The Yinhai district court recently ruled that the contracted crocodile keeper and the resort which hosted the crocodile show pay the compensation holding them "largely" responsible for the death of the nine-year old boy.

The victim, Liu Haiyang, a second-grader in Beihai city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and three others climbed over a fence around a crocodile pool, and beat the reptiles with wooden sticks in April last year, official Xinhua news agency said.

A crocodile turned ferocious, caught the boys clothes and pulled him into the pool where other provoked reptiles also joined and devoured him, it said.

The court held that the crocodile keeper was not at the site, though it was off-limits to visitors, the entrance was not locked and the fence was not high enough at some points to keep visitors away.

After the incident, authorities shot dead one crocodile and 11 others were shipped to a zoo. (PTI)

WB can draw upon Chinese
experience in anti-poverty role: VP..

BEIJING, Feb 5: The World Bank could "shore up" its leading role in global poverty reduction drawing upon the Chinese development experience, the newly appointed Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the bank from the Communist giant JustinYifu Lin, said.

"This appointment is a high honour and its a historic decision for the World Bank," Lin, Professor and founding director of the China Centre for Economic Research at the prestigious Peking University, said after his appointment was announced by the World Bank President Robert B Zoellick in Washington.

"By picking a candidate from China, the World Bank will be able to better serve developing countries," Lin, who has been twice awarded the Sun Yefang, Chinas highest economic honour, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

He said the World Bank could only consolidate its role as a leader in the global anti-poverty movement by coming up with effective measures.

"In this regard, China can provide useful experience," said Lin, who is the first economist from a developing country to hold the post in the World Bank, succeeding Frances Francois Bourguignon who served from 2003 to October 2007.

In his statement, the World Bank chief said "As our first chief economist from a developing country, and an expert on economic development and particularly agriculture, Justin Lin brings a unique set of skills and experience to the World Bank Group."

Lin, who has a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the National Chengchi University, is the vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. (PTI)

Schizophrenia 'linked to stress in pregnancy'

LONDON, Feb 5: Children of women who undergo an extremely stressful event during early pregnancy are more likely to develop schizophrenia.

Researchers in Europe have carried out a study and found a link between serious life changes in the first three months of pregnancy in women and development of the mental health disorder among their offspring later in life.

"The common conception that a mother's psychological state can influence her unborn baby is substantiated by the study. Severe life events during pregnancy are associated with an elevated risk of low birth weight and prematurity.

"Risks associated with exposure to a well-defined, objective stressful event confined to the first trimester of pregnancy suggests a number of possible mechanisms," according to lead researcher Ali S. Khashan of University of Manchester.

The researchers analysed data from a study of 1.38 million Danish births between 1973 and 1995.

During the study period, mothers of 21,987 children were exposed to the death of a relative during pregnancy, 14,206 were exposed to a relatives' serious illness during pregnancy and 7,331 of the offsprings developed schizophrenia.

The researchers found that the risk of schizophrenia and related disorders was approximately 67 per cent greater among the offspring of women who were exposed to the death of a relative during the first trimester.

According to the team from the University of Manchester and the University of Aarhus in Denmark, it may be that the mother's brain releases certain chemicals in response to the shock which harmed the foetus's developing brain.

"Increasingly we are learning that the environment a baby is exposed to inside the womb is determining long-term health. This study shows that stress in the early stages increases the risk of a baby getting mental health problems.

"That very early stage, which some people don't pay enough attention to, is the most important determinant of how successful a pregnancy is going to be," the British media quoted Prof Philip Baker of Tommy's, the baby charity which funded the study, as saying.

The results of the study have been published in the 'Archives of Psychiatry' journal.

Previous research has suggested a link between events in pregnancy, such as infections, including flu, and maternal stress, with increased risk of schizophrenia. (PTI)