Wyoming drops federal protection of gray wolves

Wolves were reintroduced from Canada in the 1990s

The US government will remove wolves from its endangered species list in Wyoming, allowing the state to shoot the animals on sight in most areas.

The decision by US Fish and Wildlife Service comes after a 20-year programme to grow the wolf population.

Environmental groups threatened legal action against the move.

There were once almost two million gray wolves in North America, but they were nearly wiped out by fur traders and hunters in the 1930s.

In the 1990s, 14 wolves from Canada quickly reproduced after they were released in Yellowstone National Park in north-west Wyoming.

There are now thought to be about 270 wolves outside Yellowstone in the western US state.

'Tragic ending'

Under the new rules, Wyoming must maintain at least 10 breeding pairs of wolves and no fewer than 100 animals.

But ranchers and farmers in Wyoming have long argued that wolves prey on their livestock and want to be able to control the population.

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead said: "The wolf population in Wyoming is recovered, and it is appropriate that the responsibility for wolf management be returned to the state."

Gray wolves will continue to be protected in some areas of the state.

But Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, called it "a tragic ending to what has otherwise been one of America's greatest wildlife conservation success stories".

He added that his group would take legal action to ensure protections for wolves are reinstated.

The director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged there would be opposition to the decision.

"You're going to hear, I think, a fair amount of rhetoric of unregulated killing and trapping and open seasons and free-fire zones," Dan Ashe said.

Wolves in the Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway and the Wind River Indian Reservation will be protected from hunting.

The new rules will come into effect on 30 September.

There are about another 1,100 wolves in the states of Montana and Idaho, and still more in Washington and Oregon.

-  BBC.co.uk

Einstein and Newton 'had autism'

Einstein was a notoriously confusing
lecturer

Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton may have suffered from a type of autism, according to experts.

Researchers at Cambridge and Oxford universities believe both scientists displayed signs of Asperger's Syndrome.
Many people with Asperger's are often regarded as being eccentric. They sometimes lack social skills, are obsessed with complex topics and can have problems communicating.
This latest research suggests that Einstein, who is credited with developing the theory of relativity, and Newton, who discovered the laws of gravity, had these traits to varying degrees.
According to the researchers, Einstein showed signs of Asperger's from a young age.
As a child, he was a loner and often repeated sentences obsessively until he was seven years old. He was also a notoriously confusing lecturer.
Later in life, the German-born scientist made intimate friends, had numerous affairs and spoke out on political issues.
'Passionate'
However, the researchers insist that he continued to show signs of having Asperger's.
"Passion, falling in love and standing up for justice are all perfectly compatible with Asperger's Syndrome," Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge, one of those involved in the study, told New Scientist magazine.
"What most people with Asperger's Syndrome find difficult is casual chatting - they can't do small talk."
The researchers believe that Newton displayed classic signs of the condition.
He hardly spoke, was so engrossed in his work that he often forgot to eat and was lukewarm or bad-tempered with the few friends he had.
If no one turned up to his lectures he gave them anyway talking to an empty room. At the age of 50, he had a nervous breakdown brought on by depression and paranoia.
However, others believe these traits can be attributed to both men's high intelligence.
'Socially inept'
"One can imagine geniuses who are socially inept and yet not remotely autistic," said Dr Glen Elliott, a psychiatrist at the University of California at San Francisco.
"Impatience with the intellectual slowness of others, narcissism and passion for one's mission in life might combine to make such individuals isolative and difficult."
He told the magazine that Einstein was regarded as having a good sense of humour - a trait not seen in people with severe Asperger's.
Professor Baron-Cohen said the findings suggested that people with the syndrome can excel if they find their niche in life.
"This condition can make people depressed or suicidal, so if we can find out how to make things easier for them, that's worthwhile."

-  BBC.co.uk

Ofqual refuses to back down over GCSE grading row

The exams watchdog has provoked a furious backlash after insisting that controversial GCSE English test papers would not be re-graded.

Ofqual said that results handed down to pupils last week would stand, despite claims that marks had been deliberately suppressed by examination boards.

In a report, the watchdog admitted that grade boundaries set in January were too “generous” – resulting in a sudden raising of pass marks for June papers.

It said that pupils marked down following the change would be given the opportunity to re-sit papers in November as part of a special concession.

But officials insisted that June grade boundaries were accurate after “two decades of grade inflation”, adding that any retrospective change would “undermine the integrity and rigour of the qualifications we regulate”.

It also warned that teachers were partly to blame for the fiasco after “over-marking” internally-assessed papers and unfairly raising pupils’ expectations this summer.

The conclusions sparked anger among head teachers’ leaders who said they were considering legal action against examination boards.

Labour called for Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, to answer urgent questions on episode in the House of Commons on Monday.

But Glenys Stacey, Ofqual chief regulator, said: “We have found that examiners acted properly, and set the boundaries using their best professional judgement. The June boundaries have been properly set, and candidates’ work properly graded.”

Figures published last week showed that the proportion of pupils gaining A* to C grades across all GCSE subjects fell for the first time in the exam’s 24-year history.

Particular concerns were raised about English, where 63.9 per cent of pupils gained at least a C, compared with 65.4 per cent a year earlier.

Teachers claimed at least 67,000 pupils aiming for a C gained Ds instead, robbing them of college places and put schools under threat of closure for failing to hit Government floor targets.

In an official report, Ofqual admitted that the number of marks needed to secure good grades had jumped in 17 out of 19 English papers set in June compared with those in January.

It admitted that January exams were too lenient, but suggested this was down to the unfamiliarity of a new exam combined with a much smaller cohort, making it harder to make accurate predictions.

Ofqual insisted it would be unfair to retrospectively raise grade boundaries for more than 50,000 pupils taking assessments in the winter.

The watchdog also criticised schools’ internal marking of so-called “controlled assessments” – coursework-style tasks – insisting they had been “over-reliant” on the January grade boundaries as a standards guide. Examiners were “at pains to explain to teachers that grade boundaries could change”, said Ofqual, but many schools failed to heed the warnings.

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, the exam board at the centre of most complaints, said there was “evidence of significant teacher over-marking”.

Ofqual said any student left disappointed would be able to re-take exams in November free of charge – earlier than the usual January re-sit window.

But the National Association of Head Teachers branded the report a “fudge”.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the outcome was “wholly unacceptable”, adding: “If necessary ASCL will resort to a legal challenge to this unfairness.”

Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Resits are of no use whatsoever to pupils who need their results this week, not in a few months time. This year’s English GCSEs need to be urgently re-graded using the January boundaries which schools, teachers and pupils have all been working towards.”

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "The department is considering the issues raised by the report and we look forward to discussing these issues with Ofqual next week.”




Original source here

John O'Dowd launches NI review of English GCSE grades

Education Minister, John O'Dowd, has asked the Northern Ireland exams regulator to carry out its own review into GCSE English grades.

England's exams watchdog, Ofqual, launched a review after it was revealed that grade boundaries for the exams were changed part way through the year.

On Friday, Ofqual said it would not order exam boards to regrade the GCSEs.

It acknowledged grade boundaries had changed from January to June, but stood by the new summer grading system. 

Unhappy

Ofqual's investigation found the marking of the June exams was fair, but that the marking of exams taken earlier in the year was too generous.

It has said it will not change the results for either date but will offer early re-sits in November for students unhappy with their grades.

More than 7,000 Northern Ireland students sat their GCSE English exams with boards based in England or Wales.

There has been concern over grades awarded by the AQA exam body in England, which has the highest market share for GCSE English.

Many pupils who had been expecting a crucial C grade were given a D as a result of the mid-year changes. 

'Urgency'

Earlier on Friday, Mr O'Dowd asked the NI regulator to look into the impact this may have had on students.

"I am aware that Ofqual have carried out an investigation into this issue," he said.

"However, I have asked the local regulator here to instigate a review of what has happened this year within the awarding organisation AQA, and others if needed, and to report back to me as a matter of urgency on the specific implications for students from here and what if anything can be done about the grades awarded.

"It is important that the standard of qualifications across these islands is comparable.

"It is also important that students are recognised for the work they have done and if they have reached the standard set by an awarding organisation, their efforts should be rewarded by an appropriate grade."



Original source here

Teacher Who Slapped Student, Suspended Without Pay

Pat Frost, North Carolina Teacher Who Slapped Student In Saggy Pants Dispute, Suspended Without Pay

Pat Frost, the North Carolina teacher who in June slapped a student during a dispute over his saggy pants, has been suspended without pay and will likely lose her job, WBTV reports.

Frost, a U.S. Army veteran of 25 years with a 13-year teaching career, claims she only slapped 18-year-old Johnathan Smith in self-defense after the Anson High School rising senior threatened to assault her.

At the time, she reportedly stopped 18-year-old Johnathan Smith to tell him to pull up his sagging pants. But Smith didn't comply, allegedly telling the teacher to "get the [expletive] out of his way" and shoved past her, WBTV reported.

When Frost followed him outside, reportedly to record his name, the teen began to charge at her, yelling that he would "[expletive] her up."

Smith told WSOC-TV, however, that he did pick up his pants and told the teacher his name -- but Frost didn't believe him.

Both individuals are charged with assault, and Frost was suspended with pay after the incident occurred, pending results of a district investigation into the charges. Anson County Superintendent Greg Firn has also recommended her dismissal. WSOC-TV reports Frost is an English as a Second Language teacher, so she travels throughout the district.

According to Frost’s lawyer, Josh Van Kampen, Smith was the aggressor and initiated body contact, getting in her face while hurling expletives. But this wasn't the first time the teen had gotten in
trouble with the law.

Court documents reveal that earlier in the school year, Smith was also charged with assault on a female, sexual battery and second degree kidnapping for an incident that happened at the Anson
County school, WBTV reports.

"[School leaders] didn't tell us about the criminal charges that stemmed from the very same school with the student that year," Van Kampen told WBTV. He adds that there is a video account of the confrontation that he anticipates will be a “smoking gun” in the case.

"That's the only explanation we can come up with why the superintendent is literally hiding it," Van Kampen said.

District superintendent Gregory Firn issued a one-page statement on his decision regarding Frost’s employment status:

"Following that investigation and a complete review of all circumstances, Ms. Frost has now been suspended without pay, effective August 30, 2012." 

Van Kampen says Frost has 14 days to appeal the decision, according to the Anson Record. Frost is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 25 to face the assault charge, and the earlier charges against Smith are still pending.

Meanwhile, the dispute has spurred an online petition in support of Frost. The "Support Pat Frost" Facebook page encourages community members to contact the superintendent and demand Frost's reinstatement.

A Change.org petition calling for Frost's reinstatement as a teacher, and stopping "the potential for retaliation to be acceptable towards those who exercise their right to self defense" has garnered 1223 signatures out of a 1,500-signature goal.



Original source here

Online Universities Blossom In Asia

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Thousands of kilometers from Kuala Lumpur in Cameroon, doctoral student Michael Nkwenti Ndongfack attends his Open University Malaysia classes online and hopes to defend his final thesis by Skype.

A government worker, Ndongfack could not find the instructional design and technology course he wanted in his own country, so is paying a foreign institution about $10,000 for the degree instead.

Online university education is expanding quickly in Asia, where growth in technology and Internet use is matched by a deep reverence for education.

"I chose e-learning because it is so flexible," Ndongfack, 42, told AFP via Skype from his home in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.

Web-based courses dramatically boost opportunities for students and are often cheaper than those offered by traditional bricks-and-mortar institutions.

But online learning has also caught the eye of some of the world's most prestigious universities, with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently teaming up to offer free courses over the Internet.

"With the improvement in technology, the number of institutions offering online education has increased, both in terms of numbers and the kind of classes offered," said Lee Hock Guan, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

The Malaysian government said about 85,000 people took online courses in the country last year, both at web-based institutions and traditional universities offering Internet teaching.

In high-tech South Korea more than 112,000 students at 19 institutions are taking web-based classes, all of which have begun since 2002.

China embraced the concept of online learning in the late 1990s to expand access to education, particularly in its vast rural regions, and there are now scores of providers, with 1.64 million people enrolled in 2010.
A New Type Of Learning

Online courses are changing the way students learn, educators say, placing less emphasis on the rote learning that has long characterised education in parts of Asia, and harnessing modern consumer technologies.

And "open" universities, which typically offer courses primarily through the Internet, allow anyone to enrol for online programmes regardless of prior qualification or degrees.

At Kuala Lumpur-based Asia e University, students download course materials from an online forum and virtual library. They are in contact with teachers and fellow students mostly through email, online chats, phone and text messages.

Assignments typically include illustrating what they have learned with videos and other presentations made with smartphones, iPads or other devices and uploading them to YouTube.

Academics say such interactive learning helps students engage with the material more than they would sitting passively in a lecture hall, and opens a window to learning through a medium they know and love -- the latest gadgets.

"Everyone is a front-row student," said Ishan Abeywardena, who teaches information technology at Wawasan Open University, based in northern Malaysia.

Students who might be too shy to ask questions or otherwise engage with their class in a traditional setting are much bolder online, Ishan said.

"Can you imagine the iPad, iPod and iPhone generation today, who are going to enter the university say, in 15 years' time, going for a chalk-and-talk kind of model of learning? You learn by doing," said Ansary Ahmed, Asia e University's president.

But even those in favour of online learning admit face-to-face interaction -- which can also help keep students motivated and personally engaged -- is lost.

Ndongfack, whose web-only institution opened in 2000, said online studies were not easy, leaving him feeling isolated. "There is no one there to give you instant support," he said.

The growth of online degree programmes is also constrained by poor Internet accessibility in parts of Asia and beyond.

More than 80 percent of South Koreans and 60 percent of Malaysians have online access, but in China the rate slips to about 40 percent and it slumps to around 10 percent in India.

Other criticisms include inadequate regulation, allegations of poor-quality teaching, student cheating, and the fact that online degrees are still not as widely recognised as traditional ones in the marketplace, say industry experts.

But Asia e University's Ansary says such teething problems will be addressed over time, and in a few decades students will no longer attend just one university but several, picking and choosing from online offerings.

"These are early days," he said. "The window is just opening."



Original source here

Do Tablets Beat Laptops for Technology in the Classroom?

By Zarnish Hussain
Correspondent SAM Daily Times

Sales figures don’t lie. And based on sales figures for schools, the tablet is king. During its last earnings call, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook announced that while the company sold 500,000 MacBook laptops to elementary and secondary academic institutions over the previous quarter, it sold nearly twice as many iPads to schools and colleges around the country. This means that on top of outselling laptops by a margin of 2:1, the sales of iPads to the education sector also saw a year-to-year incrdease of 100%.

“Education tends to be a conservative institution, but we’re not seeing that at all on the iPad,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on a call with investors. “The adoption of the iPad in education is something I’ve never seen in any technology.”

Apple isn’t the only company that is cashing in on the popularity of tablets in the classroom. Only a day before the Apple’s earnings call, News Corporation announced a partnership with AT&T to provide tablet-based learning products to school districts around the country. The venture will be headed by former chancellor of the New York City Public Schools Joel Klein. A pilot program to provide Wi-Fi and 4G equipped tablets to schools in selected states is set to begin this academic year.

“It is our aim to amplify the power of digital innovation to transform teaching and learning and to help schools deliver fundamentally better experiences and results,” Klein said in a press release.

Michael Singleton, the head of the social studies department in Orlando Science School, a charter school in Orlando, Florida, says that the growth in tablet availability and the affordability and portability of the devices means that many schools are looking at ways to integrate them into the classroom to offer students more tools to get them ready for college. Singleton predicts that tablets will eventually become as common in students’ backpacks as pencils and notebooks.

“I would say an iPad will one day be the same as a book bag or a ruler or a pencil,” Singleton notes. “I think that the iPad will be an essential component to schools, [and] it’s certainly something we can’t ignore as a school—we need to embrace it.”

Orlando Science School students will be issued their own iPads for use at school and at home starting this fall. The new toys will come with new rules, though: students can keep using the iPads as long as they maintain a certain GPA. How high the GPA must be hasn’t been determined yet, but once it is, those students that fall below the threshold will lose the use of the tablet until their GPA goes up.

French jobless tops three million, minister says

French Labour Minister Michel Sapin said Sunday that the country's unemployment had passed the symbolic number of three million registered jobseekers and would keep rising.

Asked on Radio J about the number of jobseekers hitting 2.99 million in July, Sapin said there was no doubt the number had risen beyond that.

"What will next year's unemployment rate be? Nobody knows. We have already hit three million. The numbers you are talking about, which are the numbers for July, are already outdated," Sapin said.

"The question is will it rise by very much? Yes, it will rise. At some point will we be able to reverse it? Yes," he said.

"These are economic decisions, European decisions," he said. "We need growth to create jobs."

French President Francois Hollande's Socialist government is struggling to tackle rising unemployment after he took office in May amid the debt crisis that is dragging down European economies.

- AFP

Think hard to fly: Chinese scientists unveil mind-controlled drone

Chinese researchers have unveiled a system that
allows users to control drones with their thoughts 

Chinese researchers have unveiled a system that allows users to control drones with their thoughts. The technology was designed to help handicapped people, but could have ample applications in other fields as well.

A video posted to YouTube by researchers at Zhejiang University shows how the system, called Flybuddy2, works. And it appears that you don’t have to be a nuclear scientist to build one. All you need is an EEG headset with a Bluetooth connection to a laptop – plus a quadrotor Parrot AR Drone linked to the computer.

“The computer can receive EEG signals via Bluetooth and convert them to specific commands to control the AR drones through WiFi,” a presenter explains.

To get the drone to raise or to land, a user would need to “think left” hard. “Think left lightly” if you want to rotate clockwise and “right” if you want it to lurch forward. Give it a lift in the air by thinking “push.” And imagine clenching it if you want to bring it back down to earth.

But moving around is not the only task it can do. Remember how they tell you to avoid blinking when taking photos? Well here it’s the opposite: blinking is the command that tells the drone to photograph its environs.

The video shows a man in a wheelchair using the technology to get a closer view of flowers, to take pictures and even to guide his drone through a battle with another quadrotor controlled through a handheld remote control. Needless to say, mind triumphs over matter and the hand-managed drone is hustled off the mat by its thought-controlled analog.

The students hope their technology will be able to help disabled people become more interactive with the world around them, and are slated to present their invention at the ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp), which will be held next week in Pittsburg.

While handicap assistance and gaming is one potential application for the system, only the imagination can limit the potential uses mind-controlled drones could have in the future, both for civilian and other purposes.

- Rt.com

Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels World, #1) by Ilona Andrews

Some people have everything figured out — Andrea Nash is not one of those people. After being kicked out of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea's whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend, Kate Daniels.

When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano — the male alpha of Clan Bouda and Andrea's former lover — die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate ... and must work with Raphael. As her search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, Andrea knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a backseat to saving the world ...

Double deceit? AIDS cure scammer accused of billion-dollar oil hustle

Oil drilling rigs in Midland County, Texas - AFP Photo

A Pennsylvania man is facing 23 charges of fraud after allegedly swindling investors by telling them he owned $10 billion worth of Texan oil. It’s is not his first run-in with the law, as he has already served time in jail for an AIDS cure scam.

For more than a decade, Richard J. Harley claimed he owned 10 million barrels of oil on a land patch in Texas. He promised investors stellar profits if they could just spare some cash for him to pump out the crude.

Harley also claimed that his enterprise, RJH and Co. Inc., was a “vertically held integrated privately held holding company owning, controlling, leasing, developing, and administering assets in commercial and residential real estate, petroleum products, and commodities,” court documents state. RJH and Co. Inc. was claimed to have “unrestricted bond power” over Federal Reserve Bank instruments worth more than $700 billion.

Prosecutors say the black gold was bogus, and that the cash Harley took from investors went straight into his pocket.

And Harley, as it turns out, is a scammer with experience. In the 1990s he and his wife ran a hoax AIDS clinic that claimed it could rid patients of the deadly disease by pumping oxygen and ozone into their rectum. The couple made over $300,000 by tricking investors and patients, but were eventually caught. Harley was sentenced to five years in prison.

But soon after his release, Harley started RJH, the company prosecutors say was simply a new front for swindling cash from unsuspecting victims.

This time around, Harley was able to avoid the attention of the authorities for almost ten years. In 2009, after an investor won a $1.1 million judgment for a failed promise of $1 million in return for a loan of $239,500 to Harley and his wife, the FBI started paying close attention to the Pennsylvanian swindler.

Harley later tried to file three bankruptcy petitions loaded with false information about his assets and liabilities in an effort to cover up his schemes. He also attempted to secure a loan by depositing two $500 million checks that he claimed were issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, court papers say.

Harley now faces 15 counts of wire fraud, two counts of bankruptcy fraud, five counts of making false statements on bankruptcy schedules and one count of bank fraud. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 365 years.

Rt.com

The Good Doctor (2011)

The Good Doctor is a 2011 thriller film directed by Lance Daly, and starring Orlando Bloom, the eponymous "good doctor".

Synopsis: British medical student Martin E. Blake (Orlando Bloom) transfers to a Southern California hospital to start his residency. Charming and handsome, Martin is in reality an arrogant individual who longs to wield power over others. After starting out badly with patients and on thin ice with his superiors, 18-year-old Diane Nixon (Riley Keough) comes in suffering from a kidney infection, which gives Martin a boost of self-esteem. However, when her health begins to improve, Martin fears losing her and begins tampering with her treatment to keep her next to him in the hospital. Ultimately, the infection kills Diane. An orderly, Jimmy (Michael Peña), discovers this after he discovers Diane's diary which describes their relationship and threatens to expose Martin unless Martin gives him a steady supply of drugs. When Jimmy reveals that he will never give the diary to Martin, Martin laces the drugs with potassium cyanide and kills Jimmy. A police detective comes to the hospital to investigate the death and Martin tells him that if he has more questions, he can come to his home. The detective shows up at Martin's apartment and asks further questions about the incident of Jimmy's death. Martin then heads into the bathroom to tear up the diary and attempts to flush the pages down the toilet. But the toilet overflows and Martin jumps out the of the bathroom window and runs towards the ocean in an attempt to drown himself, only to reveal that this was a flash forward in Martin's mind. He climbs back through the window into the bathroom. Martin collects himself and cleans up his mess in the bathroom and heads out to inform the detective that he needs to head over to the hospital. Martin is seen in the last scene of the movie helping patients and giving orders to a nurse. It ends with the phrase 'Don't worry, I'm getting better all the time.'

British entertainer Max Bygraves dies at age 89

LONDON (AP) — British entertainer Max Bygraves, a veteran singer and comedian known for his old-fashioned charm, has died, his agent confirmed Saturday. He was 89.

Agent Johnny Mans said Bygraves, who had suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died in his sleep Friday at his daughter's home in Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Bygraves won fame in Britain's music halls and theaters after World War II, becoming one of the country's best known variety performers and releasing dozens of popular records.

Famed for his catchphrase "I wanna tell you a story," Bygraves become a staple performer on radio through the 1950s, and later appeared frequently on British television shows and in a small number of films.

"We have lost one of the best entertainers that Britain has ever produced," Mans said. "His death is a great loss to the entertainment profession and a great loss to all of his friends in the industry."

Born to an east London dockworker, Bygraves was awarded an OBE — a British honor — in 1982, and performed regularly for the royal family, first in 1950 for King George VI.

"He was one of the all-time greats of British show business," comedian Jimmy Tarbuck told BBC television.

The performer's career spanned six decades, with Bygraves recording an album in 2001 for the Royal British Legion charity. He was best known for the songs "You Need Hands" and the novelty hit "You're a Pink Toothbrush."

Bygraves also won brief acclaim in the United States, where he toured in the 1950s and appeared alongside Judy Garland at New York's Palace Theater.

The entertainer emigrated from Britain to Australia in 2005.

Topshop announced 'J.W.Anderson' their latest designer collaborator

Topshop confirmed this week that the new collection from designer Jonathan Anderson will launch on the web and in stores on September 14.

This collaboration between high-street brand and fashion-forward British-based designer JW Anderson was first announced in June.

It will comprise punk and preppy looks, featuring denim items, knitwear, footwear and even homeware -- with items including pencils, lollipops and toys.

"I am very excited to collaborate with Topshop," said Anderson. "It gives me the opportunity to reach a much wider audience with my designs. It has always been very important to me that my collections are made accessible to anyone interested in fashion and design."

Prices for the JW Anderson collection for Topshop will range from 99p - £129.99 (€1.29 to €169).

A second collection will launch in early 2013.

Bungalow Beach Resort Receives High Honor Anna Maria Island, Florida

Gayle Luper, President & Owner of Bungalow Beach Resort in Anna Maria Island, FL, today announced the honor of receiving the 2012 Certificate of Excellence award presented by TripAdvisor. The travel website only awards businesses this award for those with consistent and positive feedback from guest reviews.

Directly on the Beach & Award Winning --Gayle Luper, President & Owner of Bungalow Beach Resort in Anna Maria Island, FL, today announced the honor of receiving the 2012 Certificate of Excellence award presented by TripAdvisor. The travel website only awards businesses this award for those with consistent and positive feedback from guest reviews.

Bungalow Beach Resort consistently receives high praise from its guests, achieving a 4.5 average rating on the TripAdvisor website; and only a select few businesses are awarded a Certificate of Excellence. Also, the resort received TripAdvisor’s “Top Romance in the United States,” Traveler’s Choice Awards from 35MM reviews ranking #4 out of approximately 400,000 hotels across the US.

In addition, Bungalow Beach Resort has received high praise through numerous forms of media including popular magazines, newspapers, books, websites, and different forms of travel media which can be found on their new website (by Stark White Studios) featuring an “Interactive Map” at bungalowbeach.com.

Purchased by Gayle in the late nineties, Bungalow Beach Resort now accommodates over 4,000 guests per year. This beachfront property offers resort amenities while remaining humble to its social and environmental surroundings. Anna Maria Island is a tropical Barrier Island located in the Gulf of Mexico offering warm weather, pristine water and white sandy beaches. Bungalows range from one room studios to three-bedrooms with varying luxury amenities.

Headline Sep3,2012/Great Teacher

"GREAT TEACHER: ONE WHO OPENS YOU 

TO NEW POSSIBILITIES AND NEW EXPERIENCES!" 

The world around you and before you has somehow survived a True abyss of Isolation! So if you apply your mind to the concept of what is true and great, you will understand that the obstacle you have to overcome is : How to transcend the environment in which you grew up. If yo succeed, you will build a great world for the future generations! And if you can't conquer this obstacle, then God forbid, you fail big time! I maintain that these are incredible times which can call for the temporary suspension of our best and most time honoured Axioms, Customs, Precedents and Judgements. This moment and hour might be just one of those rare occasions. So I speak not only to your mind but also to your heart!

Professor Sachs explains: There we had a community meeting sitting in the dirt. And I asked the people what had happened this season, and they told me something quite stunning. At planting time, an agriculture collective provides some fertilizer and seed. The farmers grow the crop. And then at the end of the growing season, this enterprise buys the cotton back from the farmers at the world market price. This year, the farmers were told, well, you have just given us your crop and now you are deeper in debt because the value of your crop is less than the input we gave you four months ago. So these farmers literally worked for months only to be deeper in debt at the end of the season. The cotton process were so low because we have heavily subsidized twenty five thousand American cotton growers in a scheme that the World Trade Organization has declared illegal.

Now, for cotton growers in Brazil it lowers their incomes and creates terrible hardships, but in Mali it kills people.  Because these people have no incomes, there is no nurse in the village. There is no school. And I turned to the Chief, Have any children died recently? I asked. And I will never ever forget his response. He waved his hand in violent disgust. "So many! So many!" He said before lowering his head and walking away! And then the village piped in that they are losing children all the time because they get hungry, and then infection comes, and then the child is dead.

We are not merely leaving these people to their fate but actually driving them to greater and greater poverty without any sense of responsibility because we are not even compensating in other ways. Where' s the other aid??!! Where's the "Oh, yes, we have to do it for our farmers, but there is what we can do for you!??" So that is Mali. But at the G8 Summit Tony Blair got it absolutely right that day, and President Bush made a good statement also, saying it was all the more important to redouble our efforts in the fight against poverty and not let Terrorists take away from that Agenda! The G8 leaders committed to double the aid to Africa.  A welcome step but a long way from what the world had promised. But we honour Professor Sachs, and his work and display this Post for 2 days!

Good night and God bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

German Drug Maker Apologizes to Victims of Thalidomide

LONDON — Decades of campaigning by victims of thalidomide, a morning sickness drug, have taken a new turn, with the first apology in 50 years to the victims and their families by the drug’s German manufacturer — and an incensed rejection of the apology as too little and too late from many of those it was intended to placate.


The apology was issued Friday by Harald Stock, chief executive of the Grünenthal Group, a family-owned pharmaceutical company that marketed the drug in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was withdrawn in 1961 after it was linked to birth defects, including shortened arms and legs, and in some cases no limbs at all, that campaigners say affected 10,000 babies around the world, mostly in Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan.

The apology came in a speech Mr. Stock delivered in the Rhineland town of Stolberg, the company’s base, at the unveiling of a thalidomide memorial, a bronze statue of a limbless child.

Addressing the victims and their families, he said the company wished to “apologize for the fact that we have not found the way to you from person to person for almost 50 years.

“Instead, we have been silent, and we are very sorry for that.”

According to an English translation of his remarks that appeared on Grünenthal’s Web site, he added, “We ask that you regard our long silence as a sign of the shock that your fate caused in us.” As for the company’s delay in moving beyond its previous expressions of regret for marketing the drug to a direct apology to the victims, he said that in recent discussions with victims and their families, “we learned how much it is publicly desired that we express our deep regrets to those affected by thalidomide.”

Although thalidomide was never approved for use by pregnant women in the United States, some victims are American.

- www.nytimes.com

Oscar Pistorius Sets New 200m World Record During Heat At Paralympics 2012

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius during a training
 session at Mayesbrook Park Arena, Barking, England,
 Monday Aug. 27, 2012.

Oscar Pistorius is off to a good start at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, setting a new world record Saturday in his 200m heat.

The 25-year-old South African, who competed in the 400m and 4x400m relay at the London Olympic Games, won his heat in 21.30 seconds, shaving more than half a second off the previous record set by Brazilian Alan Oliveira in an earlier heat.

"I'm so happy to be back here. This crowd is as awesome as they were a couple of weeks ago. I'm happy with the time and tomorrow is the big race and I am looking forward to that," he said, according to Reuters.

The Paralympics 200m defending champion told BBC he didn't "expect a world record" but said he hopes to "go lower" at the finals on Sunday.

Pistorius, who was born without a fibula in both legs and wears carbon fiber prosthetic blades to compete, made history this year when he became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics.

Competing against able-bodied athletes, Pistorius made it to the semifinals of the individual 400-meter and the 400-meter relay final.

At the Paralympics, Pistorius will be competing in the 100m, 200m and 400m races, CNN reports.


According to Reuters, Pistorius' "scorching time has given him confidence that he might be able to complete the clean sweep as he did in China four years ago."

However, the sprinter admitted that conquering the 100m may prove to be a challenge.

"A world record tonight so we will see what happens, but the 100m is not my event," said Pistorius, who will also be competing as part of South Africa's 4X100m relay team.

- Huffingtonpost.com

San Diego Bus Drivers May Have 'Accidentally' Eaten Pot Brownies

SAN DIEGO -- Officials say three San Diego County bus drivers who may have eaten marijuana-laced brownies acted properly by pulling off the road.

Metropolitan Transit System spokesman Rob Schupp says three drivers – not four, as previously reported – became ill Sunday while on their routes, possibly after eating pot-laced brownies distributed by another employee.

Replacement drivers were called in and the employees were placed on administrative leave and given drug tests.

KGTV-TV (bit.ly/QGv5WF) reports that the brownies were baked by an employee's roommate and the worker apparently didn't know they contained pot.

City News Service says the transit agency investigated and determined that all of the employees involved acted appropriately.

MTS chief Paul Jablonski says the drivers followed procedures to the letter and supervisors acted quickly to protect the public.

Monsters, Inc. 3D (2012)

3D re-release of Disney/Pixar’s 2001 monstrous hit, following the exploits of two employees who work for a power company that harvests children’s screams and converts them into an energy source, fuelling the city of Monstropolis.

Sully (voiced by John Goodman), a loveable big blue behemoth, and Mike (Billy Crytsal), a short wisecracking cyclops, are co-workers and best of friends. Together, they are an extremely competent duo, safely extracting scares from the presumably contaminated human children. However, when a curious 2-year-old nicknamed “Boo” stumbles into the monster's world, Sully and Mike must rush her back home before their boss Mr. Waternoose (James Coburn) or rival scarer Randell (Steve Buscemi) find out.

fashion: Correction: Watch: Edie Campbell in video inspired by Chanel imagery

By Saeeda Zaib
Trends Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

[Corrects title, header, and description of video as inspired by Chanel] British model Edie Campbell is the star of a new Cyrille de Vignemont-directed video that takes as its theme a passion for the look Chanel.

The film, produced for Obsession iPad edition, sees Campbell take on two different characters -- one who is all boyish waistcoats and loose-fit trousers and another classically feminine persona with sequined pieces and a pouty red lip.

Directed by contemporary artist de Vignemont, the short video uses symbolic imagery including multiple mirrors and has an androgynous aesthetic.

According to his website, the film was inspired by a quote from Coco Chanel herself: "Conceived as a mirror piece, the film illustrates Coco Chanel's famous sentence ‘Luxury is something beautiful inside and out' and plays on the star model's identities: girl or boy, eternal or modern, but always marked by Chanel Obsession."

Watch the video here:

[Note: a previous version of this story published August 7 suggested that the video was an ad and part of a Chanel campaign. The producers of the video used recurring themes associated with Chanel but the video is not produced by the brand.]

Margaret Thatcher power suits go under the hammer

By Saeeda Zaib
Trends Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

LONDON (Reuters) - Seven suits worn by Britain's first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher before she took up office will go on sale for up to 1,500 pounds each on Monday.

A bright turquoise ensemble she wore on the day she was elected leader of the Conservative Party in February 1975 and a striking yellow dress and jacket are included in the sale by Christie's in London.

Other outfits include a gold and silver cocktail ensemble and a dark greatcoat with distinctive red lapel stitching.

"When you see the pieces in the flesh, the first thing that comes to mind is how powerful they are and how much they stand out," said a Christie's spokeswoman.

"It definitely shows that she was a woman in politics and she was making a name for herself and what she wore was a very important part of that."

Thatcher, 87, was Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990 - the "iron lady" as a Soviet journalist once called her for her uncompromising stance against foes both foreign and domestic.

Only a limited number of her personal items have ever been sold and her suits could fetch more than their 1,500 pound price tag after an exhibition showing the auction items have already attracted much interest, the spokeswoman added.

A black handbag Thatcher was carrying in a picture with former U.S. President Ronald Reagan sold for 25,000 pounds in a charity auction last year.

(Reporting by Limei Hoang and Karolin Schaps; editing by Steve Addison)

Hong Kong raises capacity concerns over Chinese tourists

By Saeeda Zaib
Trends Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

A plan to allow millions more mainland Chinese to visit Hong Kong was delayed Friday as the southern city said it needed to consult with Beijing over its ability to cope with the influx.

Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said his government would hold talks with the mainland authorities to discuss the "capacity of Hong Kong to receive these additional visitors".

"I have reflected the Hong Kong people's concerns to the central government and the central government views these concerns seriously," he said.

The plan to loosen visa requirements for millions of people in mainland cities, including neighbouring Shenzhen, was supposed to take effect from Saturday but had been delayed by three weeks to allow for consultation, he said."We will use the coming three weeks to liaise with the central government," Leung told a press conference.

More than four million non-permanent residents of Shenzhen could be allowed to enter Hong Kong with multiple-entry visas for the first time under the plan.

Some reports said the total number of people affected by the looser rules could number up to 10 million, posing a logistical headache for the already crowded city of seven million people.

Hong Kong received 28.1 million mainland visitors last year, a 23.9 percent rise over the year before and almost 70 percent of total arrivals. The influx is good news for retailers and restaurants but many residents of the former British colony complain it puts too great a strain on public services including hospitals and transport.

Security Minister Lai Tung-kwok said the three-week delay would allow mainland authorities to "properly respond to the Hong Kong situation", adding that visitors needed to "come here according to our handling capacity".

Hong Kong is a favourite shopping destination for visitors eager to stock up on Western luxury brands, and as a semi-autonomous region it also attracts those wanting a taste of freedoms not available on the mainland.

Roddick staves off retirement, Djokovic wins

(Reuters) - Andy Roddick's transition from the tennis court to the rocking chair was delayed when the former world number one reached the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday, joining a parade of former champions advancing at the year's final grand slam.

Roddick, who announced Thursday he would retire at the end of the tournament, served his way past rising Australian talent Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-4 6-0 in his second-round match at raucous Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Joining the 2003 U.S. Open champion in the winner's circle Friday were former titlists Novak Djokovic, Samantha Stosur, Maria Sharapova, Juan Martin Del Potro and Lleyton Hewitt.

One favourite who was shown the door was China's Li Na, who became the latest victim of British giantkiller Laura Robson.

None of Friday's array of former champions excited the passions of the Flushing Meadows faithful more than Roddick, the never-say-die Texan who never saw a fight he did not like.

Roddick, 30, blasted 13 aces in the one hour, 27-minute rout under the lights.

He said he became emotional 15 minutes before the match when he saw a tribute to his career being shown on a television in the locker room.

"Oh man, that was so much fun," Roddick told the crowd in his on-court interview. "I really appreciate that, thank you guys. I just wanted to come out and be aggressive.

"I'm going to try to stick around a little longer."

The defending champions at the National Tennis Center had little trouble advancing, as Djokovic blitzed Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-2 6-1 6-2 in sun-drenched Ashe Stadium, while Stosur sent off American Vavara Lepchenko 7-6 6-2 on the same court to reach the women's fourth round.

Chinese athletes rake in London rewards

Chinese mainland Olympic gold medalists pose for a group photo at Ruins of St. Paul in
south China's Macao, Aug. 27, 2012. 

(Reuters) - China's Olympic gold medalists have been rewarded with lavish gifts by the state, including cash bonuses and luxury sea-front apartments, local media reported on Saturday.

Real estate companies in particular have been lining up to sponsor athletes by furnishing them with new housing after their success at last month's London Games.

Chinese swimmers Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen both received apartments worth 3 million yuan ($472,600) from a company in their hometown of Hangzhou, according to the China Daily.

Hangzhou also plans to build statues for the swimmers to honor their efforts at the Olympics.

Double gold medalist Sun, who broke the men's 1,500 meters world record, was named "Zhejiang Model Worker" and given 2.6 million yuan, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Ye, who also won two gold medals in London, received the same title as well as 1.8 million yuan.

Table tennis player Zhang Jike, from the coastal city Qingdao, Shandong province, was presented with a 120 square meter apartment with a sea view.

Li Xuerui, who won the women's badminton gold in London, will move out of the small house she shared with her parents and into a 100 square meter flat in Chongqing.

Estate agents hope to sell property to prospective buyers by enticing them to become 'the neighbor of Olympic champions' in their adverts.

China won 38 gold, 27 silver and 23 bronze at the London Olympic Games to finish second behind the United States in the medals table.

Hurdler Liu Xiang triggered the wave of athlete-chasing agencies after winning the 110 meters hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

His income from sponsorship in 2005 was reported to be more than 460 million yuan.

The athletes have also been royally paid for their achievements in bringing Olympic glory to China at the London Games.

During a visit to Hong Kong and Macao last week, Olympic champions also pocketed HK$25.2 million ($3.25 million) from Hong Kong entrepreneurs.

They also bagged another HK$10.2 million from the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

China began rewarding Olympic athletes in 1984 when the country participated for the first time after regaining its seat on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1979.

Each gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics earned athletes 6,000 yuan. The bonus rose to 15,000 yuan at the Seoul Games in 1988. It had reached 200,000 yuan by Athens in 2004.

The rewards for the 2008 Beijing Games were kept secret but the amount is believed to be much bigger. China topped the medal count in Beijing. ($1 = 7.7563 Hong Kong dollars) ($1 = 6.3484 Chinese yuan)

India's economic growth better than forecast

India's economy grew faster than expected in the three months to the end of June, easing some fears about a sharp slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy.

Growth was 5.5% in the April to June period from a year earlier. Most analysts had forecast a rate of 5.2%.

That compares with a 5.3% annual growth rate in the previous quarter.

However, there are concerns that a lack of reforms, slowing factory output and investment may hurt long-term growth.

"Whilst an upside surprise at 5.5%, the pace of growth is undeniably below potential and validates the need for the government to address sluggishness in investment and external sector activity," said Radhika Rao an economist at Forecast Pte.

Read More

Ghana witch camps: Widows' lives in exile

When misfortune hits a village, there is a tendency in some countries to suspect a "witch" of casting a spell. In Ghana, outspoken or eccentric women may also be accused of witchcraft - and forced to live out their days together in witch camps.

A rusty motorbike speeds across the vast dry savannah of Ghana's impoverished northern region, leaving a cloud of reddish dust in its wake. Arriving at a small group of round thatched huts, the young motorcyclist helps his old mother to dismount to begin her new life in exile.

Frail 82-year-old Samata Abdulai has arrived at the village of Kukuo, one of Ghana's six witch camps, where women accused of witchcraft seek refuge from beating, torture or lynching.

The camps are said to have come into existence more than 100 years ago, when village chiefs decided to establish isolated safe areas for the women. They are run by tindanas, leaders capable of cleansing an accused woman so that not only is the community protected from any witchcraft but the woman herself is safe from vigilantes.

Read More

Skydiver 'ought to be dead' after 13,000ft fall

A British skydiver whose parachute failed to open during a jump said he was 'sitting there dying'. 

But afterwards he is now recovering in hospital.

A British skydiver who miraculously survived a 13,000ft fall in New Zealand has told of the terrifying moment his parachute failed to open.
Liam Dunne, 35, broke his back and said he “ought to be dead” after crashing to the ground at high speed and landing in a bog.
But since the accident during the Good Vibes festival in Moteuka on the country’s South Island two weeks ago, he has astonished doctors with his recovery.

Speaking from his hospital bed, the father-of-two originally from St Annes in Lancashire said his canopy opened normally after he jumped from 3,900m.

But he went into an unrecoverable spin, had to ditch his main parachute, and could not find the reserve canopy s handle. It finally opened just 228m from the ground.

He said: "As my reserve chute was coming out I realised it was too late, so I just braced for the impact.

"Luckily I hit the softest patch of ground on the whole airfield. I bounced hard and my whole left side went numb.

"It felt like I had broken every bone in my body, and I couldn t breathe. I was just sitting there dying.

“But my friend landed next to me, and she said  you re all right, you can breathe .

"I probably ought to be dead the speed I hit. Twelve weeks of spinal rehab and I ll be fine.”

He said it was still early days and he was “trying to focus on the positives,” adding:“Chances are I am going to walk again. The fact I am alive is what I need to hold on to."

Mr Dunne, who lives in Taupo on the North Island after emigrating with his wife Sally in 2005, underwent surgery to insert metal pins into his shattered spine and is recovering at a specialist spinal unit in Christchurch.

He said: "Those last 1,000 feet it was like  here we go, this is it . It wasn t nice. But that said, it was a one in a million accident and a one in a million save.

“Skydiving is an awesome sport, and I ve done 4,000 jumps and never had a problem."

Low calorie diet may not add to longevity

A new research says that low calorie diet may not add to longevity.

After all the hype over a low calorie diet being the tried and tested way to shed unwanted pounds or adding years to your life, comes the disappointing news -- it doesn t add to your longevity.

"If there s a way to manipulate the human diet to let us live longer, we haven t figured it out yet and it may not exist," said biologist Steven Austad from the University of Texas Health Science Centre, who conducted the analysis.

Since 1934, research has shown that lab rats, mice, yeast, fruit flies and round worms fed 10 percent to 40 percent fewer calories than their free-eating peers lived some 30 percent longer. In some studies, they lived twice as long, the journal Nature reported.

Such findings have spawned a growing community of believers who seek better health and longer life in calorie-restricted (CR) diets, as promised in the 2005 book "The Longevity Diet," including 5,000 members of the CR Society International, according to the Daily Mail.

The research has also prompted companies like Procter & Gamble and Nu Skin Enterprises to develop drugs to mimic the effects of calorie restriction.

The new study, from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, suggests this link doesn t hold true for all species.

It found that most of the 57 calorie-restricted monkeys did have healthier hearts and immune systems and lower rates of diabetes, cancer or other ills than the 64 control monkeys. However, there was no longevity pay-off.

The NIA study, launched in 1987, is one of two investigating whether eating just 70 percent of the calories in a standard lab diet extends life in a long-lived primate.

The Wisconsin National Primate Research Centre s study, begun in 1989, also uses rhesus monkeys, whose physiology, genetics and median lifespan (27 years) are closer to humans than are the rodents in earlier calorie-restriction research.

Facebook cracks down on insincere 'Likes'

Facebook is making efforts to remove Likes on pages that are gained by means that violate its terms.

Facebook ramped up efforts to get rid of "Likes" that aren t from people genuinely interested in giving a virtual thumbs up to pages at the world s leading social network.

"We have recently increased our automated efforts to remove Likes on pages that may have been gained by means that violate our Facebook terms" of service, the Facebook security team said in a blog post.

"These newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users or purchased bulk Likes.

"Facebook has long given members the ability to endorse pages at the social network by clicking on "Like" icons.High numbers of Likes can give "fan count" status to pages, particularly those dedicated to brands.

"A Like that doesn t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a page benefits no one," Facebook said.

"This improvement will allow pages to produce ever more relevant and interesting content, and brands will see an increase in the true engagement around their content.

"Facebook expected that less than one percent of the fan count on any given page would be trimmed as a result of the crackdown on "suspicious Likes."