OHERALDO
Pg10
GOA, SATURDAY, 6 NOVEMBER, 2010
6 Americans killed Indonesian volcano death toll nears 100 in Mexico’s drug war REUTERS MEXICO CITY, NOV 5
Gunmen have killed six US citizens in separate attacks since Saturday in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, the US consulate said on Thursday, as Mexico struggles to halt surging murders. University of Texas students Manuel Acosta and Eder Diaz, who studied at the El Paso campus just across the border from Ciudad Juarez, became the latest victims when they were gunned down as they drove through the city on Tuesday. The slayings followed the deaths of four Americans, including a woman who died of multiple gunshot wounds inside a tortilla shop on Saturday. Two other US citizens died on Saturday in a hail of gunshots aimed at their car. "Police said shooters fired 50 rounds, ... peppering the black BMW with bullets," the consulate said in a statement. On Sunday a US citizen was
killed along with two Mexican men when gunmen opened fire on a group standing outside a house. It was not clear why the Americans were targeted. Such killings are becoming more common even though most American tourists have stayed away from Ciudad Juarez since drug violence surged in January 2008. Since then, more than 7,000 people have died in and around this manufacturing city engulfed in criminal anarchy. "A lot of the kids tell us that they don't go over (to Ciudad Juarez) anymore. But many folks along the border have families, grandmas," said Mary Ellen Hernandez, director of the Rio Grande Safe Communities Coalition, an El Paso-based nonprofit that promotes safety among college-age youths. At least 37 US citizens have died violently in Ciudad Juarez since January, compared to 39 in 2008 and 2009 combined, according to US government data.
Vitamin E linked to certain types of stroke REUTERS LONDON, NOV 5
People should be cautious about taking vitamin E supplements regularly because doing so can increase the risk of a certain type of stroke, an international team of scientists said today. Researchers from the United States, France and Germany reviewed existing studies of vitamin E and its effect on stroke and found that taking the vitamin increased the risk of haemorrhagic stroke, where bleeding occurs in the brain, by 22 per cent, but cuts the risk of ischaemic stroke by 10 per cent. Ischaemic stroke accounts for around 70 per cent of all cases and happens when a blood clot prevents blood reaching the brain. “These findings suggest that the use of vitamin E may not be as safe as we have believed and is actually associated with some harm in the form of increased risk for hemorrhagic stroke,'' said Markus Schurks, of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the United States, who led the study. The researchers stressed the effects on absolute risk are small, with 0.8 more haemorrhagic strokes and 2.1 fewer ischaemic strokes per 1,000 people taking vitamin E. This is equivalent to one ischaemic stroke being prevented for 476 people taking the vitamin, they said, and one extra haemorrhagic stroke for every 1,250 people taking it. “While the risk is small ... we caution against widespread uncontrolled use of vitamin E,'' Schurks said in a statement. Previous research has suggested that taking vitamin E has a protective effect against heart disease and around 13 percent of the US population takes vi-
tamin E as a supplement, the scientists said in their study published in the British Medical Journal. Stroke is the most common cardiovascular problem after heart disease and kills around 5.7 million people worldwide each year. For their analysis, the scientists studied nine trials that had investigated the effect of vitamin E on stroke in more than 118,000 people, half of whom were taking at least 50 mg daily of vitamin E and half of whom were taking a placebo or dummy pill. None of the trials suggested taking vitamin E increased the risk for total stroke, but the researchers found there were stark differences when looking at individual types of stroke. The analysis found there were 223 haemorrhagic strokes among people taking vitamin E and 183 such strokes among those taking a placebo, meaning the group taking the vitamin were 22 per cent more likely to have this kind of stroke. A total of 884 people taking vitamin E had an ischaemic stroke compared with 983 people taking a placebo, meaning people taking the vitamin were 10 per cent less likely to have this form of stroke. ''Although the effects of vitamin E that are shown ... are both relatively small, haemorrhagic strokes generally have more severe outcomes,'' said Tobias Kurth, of France's Hopital de la Pitie-Salpetriere, who also worked on the study. ''Based on these findings, we suggest considering other preventive strategies to reduce the risk of stroke such as a well balanced diet, not smoking, being physically active and maintaining a normal weight.''
A resident ride on a motorbike as his body covered by Mount Merapi ashes at a street in Yogyakarta, Indonesia Friday. AP MOUNT MERAPI (Indonesia), NOV 5
Blistering gas from Indonesia's most volatile volcano spewed farther than expected today, incinerating houses at the edge of the danger zone, triggering chaotic evacuations and pushing the death toll in more than a week to nearly 100. Soldiers joined rescue operations in Bronggang, 15 kilometers from the mouth of the crater, pulling charred corpses from smoldering homes and then lifting them into the backs of trucks caked in gray dust. Dozens of injured, most was severe burns, were carried away on stretchers. "We're totally overwhelmed here!" said Heru Nogroho, a
spokesman at the Sardjito hospital, as the number of bodies dropped off at their morgue climbed to 54 - the deadliest day Mount Merapi has seen in 80 years. More than 70 others were injured, many critically, with severe burns. Merapi's booming explosion just after midnight triggered a panicked evacuation. Men with ash-covered faces streamed down the scorched slopes on motorcycles, followed by truckloads of women and children, many crying. Officials barked out orders on bullhorns as rocks and debris rained from the sky. Up until today the village of Bronggang, home to
Greece resumes air freight after parcel bomb spate REUTERS ATHENS, NOV 5
Greece resumed the shipment of all mail and packages abroad after midnight today, following a suspension it imposed in the wake of a spate of parcel bombs sent to embassies in Athens and to European governments. G re e k a u t h o r i t i e s h a v e blamed leftist militants for the bombs, which were discovered over the past several days. One reached German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office in Berlin. Authorities ordered a 48-hour suspension of air freight on Wednesday. A civil aviation official said late last night that it would not be extended beyond midnight. ''As agreed with police, the shipment of air freight will be conducted as normal from midnight on, but with tough security measures,'' the official who declined to be named told Reuters. Airport officials confirmed shortly after midnight on Friday morning that the shipment of mail abroad had resumed. Small bombs exploded at the Swiss and Russian embassies in Athens on Tuesday, a parcel with explosives was intercepted at the German chancellor's office and another package addressed to Italy's prime minister caught fire when it was checked. Police also intercepted a booby-trapped parcel addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday and found parcel bombs at the Chilean and
Bulgarian embassies. Yesterday police found a bomb hidden in a book addressed to the French embassy. Two Greeks in their 20s arrested on Monday after a package exploded at a courier company in Athens have been charged with participating in guerrilla groups, a court official said. They are accused of sending parcel bombs addressed to the Mexican and Belgian embassies, Sarkozy and European police agency Europol. ''All evidence shows this is a clear domestic case, with no connection with international terrorism,'' Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said on Wednesday. ''The evidence so far shows we are dealing with extreme left, anarchist groups.'' The devices may be intended to spur an anti-government vote in Sunday's local elections in protest against Prime Minister George Papandreou's austerity plan, agreed with the EU and International Monetary Fund to deal with Greece's debt mountain. They did not contain enough explosives to seriously harm any recipient -police said most burst into flames when they were opened rather than exploding in transit -- and analysts say they were probably designed as a show of force by Greece's web of urban guerrilla groups.
Rajapaksa’s UK visit postponed: Lanka PTI COLOMBO, NOV 5
Sri Lanka today said President Mahinda Rajapaksa visit to United Kingdom had been postponed till December and not cancelled, dismissing reports that the trip may have been scrapped over fears that he could face arrest. Reacting to an Indian press report that the President had cancelled the visit fearing arrest, a Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry official said the report was "false and misleading." The report had said that the Lankan President had scrapped the visit following fears that he might be arrested for alleged war-crimes under British law. It also said, that certain Sri Lankan Tamil organisations were planing to move court for his arrest for alleged rights abuses
in his successful military campaign which ended 30-year of separatist campaign on the island. The report cited the case of arrest by Scotland Yard in 1998 of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London for atrocities against Spanish civilains during his 17-year-rule. It also referred to the refusal by US authorities to grant a visa to the chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi over similar human rights allegations. "The report is not only false but misleading", Bandula Jayasekera, the Director of Publicity, in the External Affairs Ministry said. Without mentioning the dates of the visit Jayasekera said it had only been postponed till December. He gave no reasons for the postponement.
around 80 families, was cons i d e re d t o b e w i t h i n t h e safety zone. Mount Merapi, which means "Fire Mountain," has erupted many times in the l a s t c e n t u r y, o f t e n w i t h deadly results. In 1994, over a period of several days, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were torched, leaving up to 1,300 dead. The greatest danger is always pyroclastic flows, like those that roared down the southern slopes today. Such clouds can reach temperatures of up to 750 degree Celsius, while racing down the slopes at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.
C i t i e s a n d t o w n s m o re than 120 kilometers were dusted. Activity at the mountain forced an airport in nearby Yogyakarta to close today because runways were covered in heavy white ash. It was not clear when it would reopen, said Agus Andriyanto, who oversees operations. Subandrio, a state volcanologist, meanwhile, said Mount Merapi's "danger zone" was extended by five kilometers to 20 kilometers from the crater's smoldering mouth after the new eruption. Even scientists from Merapi's monitoring station were told they had to pack up and move down the mountain.
Study offers new clues to effective HIV vaccine REUTERS CHICAGO, NOV 5
Slight differences in five amino acids in a protein called HLA-B may explain why certain people resist the human immunodeficiency virus, US researchers said in a study that lends new clues about how to make a vaccine to prevent AIDS. “For a long time, we've known that some people progress extremely rapidly when they get infected, and others can stay well for three decades and never need treatment and still look entirely well,'' Dr. Bruce Walker of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University said yesterday, whose study appears in the journal Science. “We thought we could apply new techniques from the human genome project to understand what the genetic basis was for that,” he said. About one in 300 people infected with HIV can suppress the virus with the immune system, keeping the virus at extremely low levels. The team searched the genetic makeup of nearly 1,000 people with that ability and compared it with the genetic code of 2,600 others who were infected with HIV. That helped them identify some 300 different sites in the genetic code that were linked with immune control of HIV, all located on chromosome 6. They narrowed that down to four single-letter changes in the DNA, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs -- pronounced ''snips'' -- all related to the immune system. ''We did a second study where
we looked amino acid by amino acid in that region,'' Walker said. They found five amino acids in the HLA-B protein linked with differences in a person's ability to control HIV. That protein is important for helping the immune system tag and destroy cells infected by a virus, and Walker said those genetic variants could make a big difference in a person's ability to control HIV. Knowing how some people mount an effective immune response to HIV could be an important step in understanding how to make a vaccine to fight the virus. It was not a vaccine yet, Walker cautions, but it is promising. “We've got a clearer indication of why people can survive in the face of HIV, and we've gotten more focused in terms of the research we need to do to get where we've got to go,” he said. No vaccine exists against the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Since the AIDS pandemic started in the early 1980s, almost 60 million people have been infected with HIV, many of them in Africa, and it has killed 25 million. In September 2009, scientists reported their biggest success yet with an experimental vaccine that showed a modest effect and appeared to slow the rate of infection by about 30 percent. In July, US researchers found antibodies that can protect against a wide range of AIDS viruses and said they may be able to use them to design a vaccine.
Russia closes its airspace to PIA AGENCIES MOSCOW, NOV 5
Russia has closed its airspace for Pakistan International Airlines ( PIA), the country's national flag carrier, for failing to get the required renewal of permission in time, the Dawn newspaper reported. The restriction came at a time when Russia had liberalised its airspace through historic relaxation of its airspace regulations. Russian airspace is said to be
the shortest route for Europe and North America. The ban will result in 15 to 20 minutes of extra flying time for most of the flights from Pakistan to Europe, the United States and Canada, causing increase in cost of flights. About 80 flights a week using Russian airspace for over-flight will be affected. Estimates show the ban will cost the financially-crippled carrier an additional Rs120 million a week in fuel expenses.