Wednesday, March 31, 2010
CALIFORNIA RANKS LOW ON HEALTHCARE BURDEN
Californians with health insurance spent a smaller share of their incomes for medical care than insured people in most other states from 2001 to 2006. This study was released by the Center for Studying Health System Change .
Saturday, March 27, 2010
CHINA HAS THE MOST DIABETES CASES IN THE WORLD.
After working overtime to catch up to life in the West, China now faces a whole new problem: the world's biggest diabetes epidemic.
One in 10 Chinese adults already have the disease and another 16 per cent are on the verge of developing it, according to a new study.
The finding nearly equals the US rate of 11 per cent and surpasses other Western nations, including Germany and Canada.
The survey results, published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found much higher rates of diabetes than previous studies, largely due to more rigorous testing measures.
With 92 million diabetics, China is now home to the most cases worldwide, overtaking India.
"The change is happening very rapidly both in terms of their economy and in terms of their health effects," said David Whiting, an epidemiologist at the International Diabetes Federation, who was not involved in the study.
"The rate of increase is much faster than we've seen in Europe and in the US."
Chronic ailments, such as high blood pressure and heart disease, have been steadily climbing in rapidly developing countries like China, where many people are moving out of farms and into cities where they have more sedentary lifestyles.
Greater wealth has led to sweeping diet changes, including eating heavily salted foods, fatty meats and sugary snacks - boosting obesity rates, a major risk factor for type two diabetes, which accounts for 90 per cent to 95 per cent of all diabetes cases among adults.
"As people eat more high-calorie and processed foods combined with less exercise, we see an increase of diabetes patients," said Huang Jun, a cardiovascular professor at the Jiangsu People's Hospital in Nanjing, capital of northern China's Jiangsu province, who did not participate in the study.
Previous studies over three decades have shown a gradual climb in China's diabetes rates.
The sharp rise in the latest study, conducted from 2007-2008, is largely explained by more rigorous testing methods, said lead author Dr Wenying Yang from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
Earlier nationwide studies relied only on one blood sugar tolerance test, while this survey of nearly 50,000 people caught many more cases by checking levels again two hours later, an approach recommended by the World Health Organization. More than half of the people with diabetes didn't know they had it, the study found.
The Asia-Pacific, the world's most populous region, was highlighted in another study last year estimating that by 2025, it would be home to more than 60 per cent of the 380 million diabetes cases globally.
And while the world's giants, China and India, already have the highest number of cases worldwide, the per capita rate is higher in several other countries - up to 30 per cent of all people living on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru have the disease, according to estimates from the International Diabetes Federation.
It revealed that men were slightly more affected and there were more diabetes cases in cities than in the countryside - one in 11 city dwellers were diabetics, compared with one in eight in rural areas.
One in 10 Chinese adults already have the disease and another 16 per cent are on the verge of developing it, according to a new study.
The finding nearly equals the US rate of 11 per cent and surpasses other Western nations, including Germany and Canada.
The survey results, published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found much higher rates of diabetes than previous studies, largely due to more rigorous testing measures.
With 92 million diabetics, China is now home to the most cases worldwide, overtaking India.
"The change is happening very rapidly both in terms of their economy and in terms of their health effects," said David Whiting, an epidemiologist at the International Diabetes Federation, who was not involved in the study.
"The rate of increase is much faster than we've seen in Europe and in the US."
Chronic ailments, such as high blood pressure and heart disease, have been steadily climbing in rapidly developing countries like China, where many people are moving out of farms and into cities where they have more sedentary lifestyles.
Greater wealth has led to sweeping diet changes, including eating heavily salted foods, fatty meats and sugary snacks - boosting obesity rates, a major risk factor for type two diabetes, which accounts for 90 per cent to 95 per cent of all diabetes cases among adults.
"As people eat more high-calorie and processed foods combined with less exercise, we see an increase of diabetes patients," said Huang Jun, a cardiovascular professor at the Jiangsu People's Hospital in Nanjing, capital of northern China's Jiangsu province, who did not participate in the study.
Previous studies over three decades have shown a gradual climb in China's diabetes rates.
The sharp rise in the latest study, conducted from 2007-2008, is largely explained by more rigorous testing methods, said lead author Dr Wenying Yang from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
Earlier nationwide studies relied only on one blood sugar tolerance test, while this survey of nearly 50,000 people caught many more cases by checking levels again two hours later, an approach recommended by the World Health Organization. More than half of the people with diabetes didn't know they had it, the study found.
The Asia-Pacific, the world's most populous region, was highlighted in another study last year estimating that by 2025, it would be home to more than 60 per cent of the 380 million diabetes cases globally.
And while the world's giants, China and India, already have the highest number of cases worldwide, the per capita rate is higher in several other countries - up to 30 per cent of all people living on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru have the disease, according to estimates from the International Diabetes Federation.
It revealed that men were slightly more affected and there were more diabetes cases in cities than in the countryside - one in 11 city dwellers were diabetics, compared with one in eight in rural areas.
Friday, March 26, 2010
ORAL SEX MAY LEAD TO HEAD CANCER
Oral sex link to head cancer
The number of serious head and neck cancers linked to a virus spread by oral sex is rising rapidly and suggests boys as well as girls should be offered protection through vaccination, doctors said on Friday.
Despite an overall slight decline in most head and neck cancers in recent years, cases of a particular form called oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have increased sharply, particularly in the developed world.
This growth seems to be linked to cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), the scientists said in a report in the British Medical Journal.
Two vaccines - Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Gardasil, made by Merck & Co - can prevent HPV, which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide.
Many rich nations have launched HPV immunization programs for girls to try to protect them from the common sexually transmitted virus before they become sexually active.
The scientists, led by Hisham Mehanna of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies at Britain's University Hospital Coventry, said that while including boys in immunisation plans was previously seen as too expensive, it may be time to look again.
"We need to look at the evidence again to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of male children in light of this new and rapidly rising incidence," he said in a telephone interview.
More than 500,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in women and it kills around 200,000 a year. Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer among men and women, with about 640,000 new cases each year worldwide.
A recent study found the risk of developing oropharyngeal carcinoma was linked to a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners, four or more lifetime oral sex partners, and, for men, an earlier age at first sexual intercourse.
"Sexual transmission of HPV - primarily through orogenital intercourse - might be the reason for the increase in incidence of HPV related oropharyngeal carcinoma," wrote Mehanna.
The experts pointed to recent studies which showed a 70 per cent increase in the detection of HPV in biopsies taken to diagnose oropharyngeal carcinoma in Stockholm since the 1970s.
HPV-related cancer was also reported in 60 to 80 per cent of recent biopsy samples in studies in the United States, compared with 40 per cent in the previous decade, they wrote.
Mehanna said the findings had other important health implications. Patients with HPV-related head and neck cancers are typically younger and employed, he said, and because their tumors appear to be less deadly than those caused by factors like smoking and drinking, patients may also live longer with the physical and psychological effects of treatment.
"This means they would need prolonged support from health, social, and other services, and may require help in returning to work," he wrote.
Reuters
The number of serious head and neck cancers linked to a virus spread by oral sex is rising rapidly and suggests boys as well as girls should be offered protection through vaccination, doctors said on Friday.
Despite an overall slight decline in most head and neck cancers in recent years, cases of a particular form called oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have increased sharply, particularly in the developed world.
This growth seems to be linked to cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), the scientists said in a report in the British Medical Journal.
Two vaccines - Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Gardasil, made by Merck & Co - can prevent HPV, which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide.
Many rich nations have launched HPV immunization programs for girls to try to protect them from the common sexually transmitted virus before they become sexually active.
The scientists, led by Hisham Mehanna of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies at Britain's University Hospital Coventry, said that while including boys in immunisation plans was previously seen as too expensive, it may be time to look again.
"We need to look at the evidence again to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of male children in light of this new and rapidly rising incidence," he said in a telephone interview.
More than 500,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in women and it kills around 200,000 a year. Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer among men and women, with about 640,000 new cases each year worldwide.
A recent study found the risk of developing oropharyngeal carcinoma was linked to a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners, four or more lifetime oral sex partners, and, for men, an earlier age at first sexual intercourse.
"Sexual transmission of HPV - primarily through orogenital intercourse - might be the reason for the increase in incidence of HPV related oropharyngeal carcinoma," wrote Mehanna.
The experts pointed to recent studies which showed a 70 per cent increase in the detection of HPV in biopsies taken to diagnose oropharyngeal carcinoma in Stockholm since the 1970s.
HPV-related cancer was also reported in 60 to 80 per cent of recent biopsy samples in studies in the United States, compared with 40 per cent in the previous decade, they wrote.
Mehanna said the findings had other important health implications. Patients with HPV-related head and neck cancers are typically younger and employed, he said, and because their tumors appear to be less deadly than those caused by factors like smoking and drinking, patients may also live longer with the physical and psychological effects of treatment.
"This means they would need prolonged support from health, social, and other services, and may require help in returning to work," he wrote.
Reuters
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
ELEVEN SIBERIAN TIGERS STARVE TO DEATH IN A CHINA ZOO
Eleven Siberian tigers have starved to death over the past three months at a zoo in northeast China, after the cash-strapped animal park fed them cheap chicken bones, state media reported.
Liu Xiaoqiang, the vice head of the wild animal protection office in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, said the 11 tigers had died due to malnutrition, Xinhua news agency said.
Two hungry tigers at the same zoo in Shenyang severely mauled a zoo worker in November, in an attack officials said was due to the predators' lack of food. The man survived, but the tigers were shot during the rescue.
After the incident, work safety officials asked the zoo's owners to confine the remaining tigers to their cages, which added to their health problems, the report said Thursday.
China has more than 200 zoos, according to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. But only large zoos in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai receive government funding and attention, state media say.
"Many privately-owned zoos are under financial pressure, and most of them fail to feed the animals well," said Liu.
China said last month it had nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity, but just 50-60 left roaming in the wild, including about 20 wild Siberian tigers.
There are in theory four varieties of wild tigers in China, but one of them -- the South China tiger -- has not been spotted in the wild since the late 1970s. In the 1950s, there were around 4,000 of the subspecies.
Degradation of the animal's habitat and poaching of the tiger and its prey are blamed for the rapid disappearance of the endangered species.
In the 1980s, China set up tiger farms to try to preserve the big cats, intending to release some into the wild.
But those farms have come under the international spotlight, with some conservation groups saying they use the great cats for their parts.
China banned the international trade in tiger bones and related products in 1993, and is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which also bars such trade.
The global wild tiger population is estimated to be at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 20,000 in the 1980s and 100,000 a century ago.
Liu Xiaoqiang, the vice head of the wild animal protection office in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, said the 11 tigers had died due to malnutrition, Xinhua news agency said.
Two hungry tigers at the same zoo in Shenyang severely mauled a zoo worker in November, in an attack officials said was due to the predators' lack of food. The man survived, but the tigers were shot during the rescue.
After the incident, work safety officials asked the zoo's owners to confine the remaining tigers to their cages, which added to their health problems, the report said Thursday.
China has more than 200 zoos, according to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. But only large zoos in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai receive government funding and attention, state media say.
"Many privately-owned zoos are under financial pressure, and most of them fail to feed the animals well," said Liu.
China said last month it had nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity, but just 50-60 left roaming in the wild, including about 20 wild Siberian tigers.
There are in theory four varieties of wild tigers in China, but one of them -- the South China tiger -- has not been spotted in the wild since the late 1970s. In the 1950s, there were around 4,000 of the subspecies.
Degradation of the animal's habitat and poaching of the tiger and its prey are blamed for the rapid disappearance of the endangered species.
In the 1980s, China set up tiger farms to try to preserve the big cats, intending to release some into the wild.
But those farms have come under the international spotlight, with some conservation groups saying they use the great cats for their parts.
China banned the international trade in tiger bones and related products in 1993, and is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which also bars such trade.
The global wild tiger population is estimated to be at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 20,000 in the 1980s and 100,000 a century ago.
INTERNET FRAUD DOLLARS HAVE DOUBLED
The FBI says the amount of money swindled by Internet frauds doubled last year to about $560 million.
The FBI, in partnership with a private fraud-fighting group, reports that complaints of Internet scams rose 22 percent in 2009.
The most frequently reported scams were those that falsely used the FBI's name, accounting for 16 percent of the more than 300,000 complaints received last year. Authorities say another scam involved messages with a voice similar to President Barack Obama's, urging people to visit a Web site to claim a share of government stimulus cash. Visitors are charged a fee, and no money is ever received.
The FBI, in partnership with a private fraud-fighting group, reports that complaints of Internet scams rose 22 percent in 2009.
The most frequently reported scams were those that falsely used the FBI's name, accounting for 16 percent of the more than 300,000 complaints received last year. Authorities say another scam involved messages with a voice similar to President Barack Obama's, urging people to visit a Web site to claim a share of government stimulus cash. Visitors are charged a fee, and no money is ever received.
YOUTUBE BECOMES A TV STATION
YouTube's first major move away from being a video-sharing site and towards an online TV destination begins early tomorrow morning when it begins streaming free live Indian Premier Cricket League matches.
The Google-owned YouTube yesterday unveiled eight sponsors, half of which are global brand names. HSBC, Hewlett Packard, Coca Cola, Samsung, Indian mobile phone company, Airtel, Honda motorcycles, an Indian university, and one of the teams, the Bangalore-based Royal Challenger team were named as sponsors of the initial 56 matches of this season.
YouTube does not disclose the dollar size of the sponsorship packages but interviews with executives have indicated that because this initiative is a new one they are not asking advertisers to pay over the odds.
At least 32, 30-second ads will appear during the play in each match watched live or on demand later.
The cricket deal is part of YouTube's ambition to become a destination for internet users as a place not just to upload content but watch it, in the form of movies, sport and concerts, said Leigh Terry managing partner of media buyers OMD.
"Rather than just going to YouTube and searching for a video they hope to become a destination much like a portal where people can go for a variety of content, not just sports," he said
The Google-owned YouTube yesterday unveiled eight sponsors, half of which are global brand names. HSBC, Hewlett Packard, Coca Cola, Samsung, Indian mobile phone company, Airtel, Honda motorcycles, an Indian university, and one of the teams, the Bangalore-based Royal Challenger team were named as sponsors of the initial 56 matches of this season.
YouTube does not disclose the dollar size of the sponsorship packages but interviews with executives have indicated that because this initiative is a new one they are not asking advertisers to pay over the odds.
At least 32, 30-second ads will appear during the play in each match watched live or on demand later.
The cricket deal is part of YouTube's ambition to become a destination for internet users as a place not just to upload content but watch it, in the form of movies, sport and concerts, said Leigh Terry managing partner of media buyers OMD.
"Rather than just going to YouTube and searching for a video they hope to become a destination much like a portal where people can go for a variety of content, not just sports," he said
Thursday, March 11, 2010
OBAMA AND BUFFETT ARE VERY DISTANT COUSINS
US President Barack Obama and billionaire financier Warren Buffett are reportedly very distant cousins going back to an indentured servant from 17th-century France.
Experts from what is billed as the world's largest family history website, Ancestry.com, on Tuesday said they had traced the two men's lineage to Mareen Duvall, who emigrated to Maryland from France in the 1650s.
Duvall is Obama's ninth great-grandfather and Buffett's sixth great-grandfather, says Ancestry.com, which earlier this year found Obama has German roots and in 2007 said he was distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt.
A few years after arriving as an indentured servant from France, Duvall in 1659 bought a property in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, that he later named "Middle Plantation", the genealogy research company said.
It described Obama's and Buffett's rags-to-riches common ancestor as "conservative in his political life".
Obama's ancestry was linked to that of former vice-president Dick Cheney when Obama ran for president in 2008. Cheney's wife, Lynne, said she found her husband and Obama were related through a French emigre, who turned out to be Duvall.
"Mareen Duvall had 12 children and he can have quite a number of descendants and it's hard to begin to speculate the number of people who could possibly related to Mareen Duvall in the United States," Ancestry genealogist Anathasia Tyler told AFP.
She said the relation between Obama and Buffett was discovered by chance during a research of the billionaire's ancestry.
"We didn't have any clue... We'd been working on President Obama's tree for a couple of years and then we decided to do Warren Buffett's research, and as we researched we got back a few generations and started seeing this last name Duvall.
"We continued on that and we were able to prove that there is a connection."
Experts from what is billed as the world's largest family history website, Ancestry.com, on Tuesday said they had traced the two men's lineage to Mareen Duvall, who emigrated to Maryland from France in the 1650s.
Duvall is Obama's ninth great-grandfather and Buffett's sixth great-grandfather, says Ancestry.com, which earlier this year found Obama has German roots and in 2007 said he was distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt.
A few years after arriving as an indentured servant from France, Duvall in 1659 bought a property in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, that he later named "Middle Plantation", the genealogy research company said.
It described Obama's and Buffett's rags-to-riches common ancestor as "conservative in his political life".
Obama's ancestry was linked to that of former vice-president Dick Cheney when Obama ran for president in 2008. Cheney's wife, Lynne, said she found her husband and Obama were related through a French emigre, who turned out to be Duvall.
"Mareen Duvall had 12 children and he can have quite a number of descendants and it's hard to begin to speculate the number of people who could possibly related to Mareen Duvall in the United States," Ancestry genealogist Anathasia Tyler told AFP.
She said the relation between Obama and Buffett was discovered by chance during a research of the billionaire's ancestry.
"We didn't have any clue... We'd been working on President Obama's tree for a couple of years and then we decided to do Warren Buffett's research, and as we researched we got back a few generations and started seeing this last name Duvall.
"We continued on that and we were able to prove that there is a connection."
SWISS ACCOUNT HOLDERS DATA STOLEN
British bank HSBC says information on 15,000 customers with accounts in Switzerland has been stolen.
HSBC says a former employee stole the information in late 2006 and early 2007. The accounts were all opened before October 2006.
The bank says it has contacted the affected customers and apologized for the breach of their privacy.
It said Thursday the stolen information only affects accounts in Switzerland with the exception of its former subsidiary HSBC Guyerzeller Bank.
Several banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland have become victims of data theft in recent years.
The information has in some cases been offered to foreign governments seeking to track down nationals who have avoided paying their taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts.
HSBC says a former employee stole the information in late 2006 and early 2007. The accounts were all opened before October 2006.
The bank says it has contacted the affected customers and apologized for the breach of their privacy.
It said Thursday the stolen information only affects accounts in Switzerland with the exception of its former subsidiary HSBC Guyerzeller Bank.
Several banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland have become victims of data theft in recent years.
The information has in some cases been offered to foreign governments seeking to track down nationals who have avoided paying their taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
AUSTRALIAN TROOPS ARE INVOLVED IN A BUNGLED RAID
CONCERNS about the readiness of Australian troops involved in a bungled raid in which six people died were expressed before they were deployed to Afghanistan.
Australian Defence Force sources have told the Herald that the reservist commandos, some of whom serve as special operations police in NSW and Victoria, were still in Australia when senior officers were warned that they were insufficiently trained.
It is also believed that members of the commando company were disciplined for at least two separate offences during their tour of Afghanistan.
The family of the six victims, which included four children, an adolescent and an adult, told SBS's Dateline that the troops burst into their compound in the small hours of the morning in February last year and attacked with machine-guns and grenades.
It is understood that Defence investigators have raised serious concerns about whether the soldiers followed the rules of engagement relating to night-time raids and the use of grenades.
Australian Defence Force sources have told the Herald that the reservist commandos, some of whom serve as special operations police in NSW and Victoria, were still in Australia when senior officers were warned that they were insufficiently trained.
It is also believed that members of the commando company were disciplined for at least two separate offences during their tour of Afghanistan.
The family of the six victims, which included four children, an adolescent and an adult, told SBS's Dateline that the troops burst into their compound in the small hours of the morning in February last year and attacked with machine-guns and grenades.
It is understood that Defence investigators have raised serious concerns about whether the soldiers followed the rules of engagement relating to night-time raids and the use of grenades.
Monday, March 8, 2010
50 SHIPS ARE STUCK IN ICE IN THE BALTIC SEA
About 50 ships, including large ferries carrying thousands of people, are stuck in ice in the Baltic Sea, Swedish maritime authorities said.
"Around 50 commercial vessels are waiting for help from ice breakers (and) we have had as many as six large passenger ferries stuck, but have managed to free two of them," Johny Lindvall of the Swedish Maritime Administration's ice breaker unit said.
Mr Lindvall said he had not seen a situation with so many ships stuck at once since the mid-1980s.
Five of the six ferries stuck were shuttling passengers between Sweden and Finland, while the Regal Star ferry, which had been stuck since midnight local time on Wednesday (10am AEST Thursday), had been on its way to Estonia, he said.
Sweden's TT news agency first reported that the two largest ferries, the Isabella and the Amorella, were in total carrying 2630 passengers, but later revised the number to 1841.
The Isabella has been freed, while the Amorella and the Regal Star were among the ferries that are still stuck, Mr Lindvall said.
Viking Line head Jan Kaarstroem told TT that his company's ferries were well equipped to handle ice and that all the passengers were safe.
Two ice breakers are in the area where the ferries are stuck, while a third is on its way after helping commercial vessels further north in the Bay of Bothnia, Mr Lindvall said.
"Around 50 commercial vessels are waiting for help from ice breakers (and) we have had as many as six large passenger ferries stuck, but have managed to free two of them," Johny Lindvall of the Swedish Maritime Administration's ice breaker unit said.
Mr Lindvall said he had not seen a situation with so many ships stuck at once since the mid-1980s.
Five of the six ferries stuck were shuttling passengers between Sweden and Finland, while the Regal Star ferry, which had been stuck since midnight local time on Wednesday (10am AEST Thursday), had been on its way to Estonia, he said.
Sweden's TT news agency first reported that the two largest ferries, the Isabella and the Amorella, were in total carrying 2630 passengers, but later revised the number to 1841.
The Isabella has been freed, while the Amorella and the Regal Star were among the ferries that are still stuck, Mr Lindvall said.
Viking Line head Jan Kaarstroem told TT that his company's ferries were well equipped to handle ice and that all the passengers were safe.
Two ice breakers are in the area where the ferries are stuck, while a third is on its way after helping commercial vessels further north in the Bay of Bothnia, Mr Lindvall said.
THE 2006 DEMOCRATIC PROMISE ON ETHICS
Democrats made a promise in 2006 that they would run the most ethical congress in history. At this time, there are 6 Democrats facing ethics investigations.
US TO CHARGE ENTRY FEE FOR TRAVELERS ENTERING COUNTRY
Travelers to the US will be asked to pay a $11 dollar fee to fund a program to boost tourism. And to help the economy.
This fee will apply to the US "visa waiver" program that is mostly used by tourists and short-stay business travellers from 34 countries.
Details of this fee appeared in the Travel Promotion Act, which Barak Obama signed into law last week.This plan is expected to raise about half the funds for a $220 million global "Come to America" campaign.Travellers requiring a visa waiver will still be expected to apply before their travel dates to avoid being stopped from entering the US.
The US has had fewer overseas travellers every year since 9/11. A bank has not yet been found to handle processing the fees. The campaign will be administered by a private sector committee which will be overseen by the Department of Commerce in accord with the departments of State and Homeland Security.
This fee will apply to the US "visa waiver" program that is mostly used by tourists and short-stay business travellers from 34 countries.
Details of this fee appeared in the Travel Promotion Act, which Barak Obama signed into law last week.This plan is expected to raise about half the funds for a $220 million global "Come to America" campaign.Travellers requiring a visa waiver will still be expected to apply before their travel dates to avoid being stopped from entering the US.
The US has had fewer overseas travellers every year since 9/11. A bank has not yet been found to handle processing the fees. The campaign will be administered by a private sector committee which will be overseen by the Department of Commerce in accord with the departments of State and Homeland Security.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
23 PEOPLE IN CHINA ARE ON TRIAL ACCUSED OF BABY TRAFFICKING
China has put 23 people on trial on suspicion of involvement in the sale of nearly 50 babies.
State media on Friday described it as one of the country's biggest-ever child trafficking cases.
Prosecutors accused ring members of buying baby boys for up to $3300. dollars in the southwest province of Yunnan and selling them for double that amount in the north of the country, the China Daily reported.
They allegedly also bought baby girls for less that that and sold them for about $ 3,000dollars. There was a two day trial in the city of Wuhan which concluded with no verdict delivered.
Most of them didn't realize they were breaking the law, said a court official.Under Chinese law, child traffickers face punishment ranging from five years in jail to the death penalty.
Prosecutors said the two ringleaders - a brother and sister pair - had trafficked 49 babies between March 2005 and July 2009 with the help of friends and relatives. Police shut down the ring in mid - 2009.
Chinese babies, especially boys, born to people in poor and remote areas are sometimes sold to more wealthy families. Many sociologists blame the nations "one child" family planning policy for fuelling the crime.
Under the policy, aimed at controlling the world's largest population of 1.3 billion, people who live in urban areas are generally allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.
This has put a premium on baby boys, while baby girls are often sold as couples try for a male heir.
State media on Friday described it as one of the country's biggest-ever child trafficking cases.
Prosecutors accused ring members of buying baby boys for up to $3300. dollars in the southwest province of Yunnan and selling them for double that amount in the north of the country, the China Daily reported.
They allegedly also bought baby girls for less that that and sold them for about $ 3,000dollars. There was a two day trial in the city of Wuhan which concluded with no verdict delivered.
Most of them didn't realize they were breaking the law, said a court official.Under Chinese law, child traffickers face punishment ranging from five years in jail to the death penalty.
Prosecutors said the two ringleaders - a brother and sister pair - had trafficked 49 babies between March 2005 and July 2009 with the help of friends and relatives. Police shut down the ring in mid - 2009.
Chinese babies, especially boys, born to people in poor and remote areas are sometimes sold to more wealthy families. Many sociologists blame the nations "one child" family planning policy for fuelling the crime.
Under the policy, aimed at controlling the world's largest population of 1.3 billion, people who live in urban areas are generally allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.
This has put a premium on baby boys, while baby girls are often sold as couples try for a male heir.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
COLLEGE CAMPUS PROTESTS KARL ROVE
A group of protesters at UCSB kept vigil on the grounds while Karl Rove spoke inside. The students in America are getting riled. This reminds me of the 60's when colleges across America were torn about the Vietnam War.
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