Coming soon: a horror story on American Fritzl’s victim?

London, Sept 20 (ANI): Publishers and Hollywood studios have begun a multi-million dollar bidding war for the rights to sex slave Jaycee Dugard’s horrifying life story.

Fresh details of the American Fritzl’s victim have emerged, including that in the early days of her captivity, the terrified schoolgirl was so hungry she ate bugs and worms in the rambling back garden where she was held in tents and lock-up sheds, reports The Daily Express.

She had to use a garden hose to shower outside, even in winters, say detectives guarding her and her two daughters, fathered by kidnapper Phillip Garrido.

However, the public apparently is desperate for the full story of how Jaycee, now 29, survived after being snatched on her way to a school bus stop when she was only 11.

A New York literary agent, who estimates the book and film rights to be worth up to 12million dollars, said: “You couldn’t dream up a script like this. Americans can’t wait to hear the story from the girl who lived it.”

A Hollywood studio producer said: “Everyone is in the market for this story. Poor Jaycee’s life may have been hell for 18 years but she’ll never want for anything for the rest of it.”

Garrido, a registered sex offender, has been linked to six child abductions and murders stretching back years within a 400-mile radius of the ramshackle home in Antioch, California, where Jaycee was held. (ANI)

Stop blaming Pakistan for ‘home grown’ terror plots, Qureshi tells UK

London, Sep.19 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has asked Britain to stop blaming Islamabad for the ‘home grown’ terror plots against the UK.

Referring to Britain’s lashing out at Pakistan on the liquid bomb plot issue, Qureshi said it was unfair to criticize Pakistan for every terror plot hatched in Britain.

“It is easy to pass the buck, but they (liquid bomb plotters) were British citizens. They went to school here, they are part of the British system, and they live here. If they do something extraordinary is it fair that Pakistan should be blamed?” The Independent quoted Qureshi, as saying.

Pakistan has been critical of Britain’s accusations and has objected to allegations regarding it not doing enough to counter the expanding reach of the extremists based in the country’s tribal region.

A top Pakistani diplomat recently reacted strongly to Britain’s accusations regarding Pakistan harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK.

The diplomat charged Britain of not doing enough to tackle home grown terrorists and treating Pakistan as a “whipping boy”.

“Sometimes for our British friends the truth is bitter. We have somehow turned out to be a ‘whipping boy’, there is a long history to that. The British need to search their own house,” the diplomat had said.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, during his Islamabad visit earlier this year, had said: “Three-quarters of the most serious plots investigated by the British authorities have links to Al-Qaida in Pakistan.”

Brown’s statement had angered Pakistani leadership and strained relationship between two countries, but things normalized later with President Asif Ali Zardari visit to the UK. (ANI)

Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto Express flagged off

Kolkata, Sep 19 (ANI): Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee flagged off Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto express, the country’s first point-to-point non-stop train in Kolkata.

The Duronto express will cover the 1447-km distance between Sealdah and New Delhi in 16 hours and 20 minutes.

“After 30 years there is a train called Duronto. It will go faster than Rajdhani and it is an achievement, it will go non-stop and will stop only at the operation stop where they will take drinking water or whatever, only operational stoppage, otherwise no,” said Banerjee.

The train will have no commercial stop, but has three operational stops at Dhanbad, Moghalsarai and Kanpur Central.

The 16-coach train comprises one AC-1, three AC-II, four AC-III and five AC-III (economy) coaches.

Banerjee also said the 14 Duronto Expresses announced in the Railway budget would be operational shortly.

These trains will be launched in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore as a pilot project.

Passengers boarding the train on the first day were extremely excited.

“Well, first thing is that first day it has got added attraction plus it is the fastest super fast train. So I got the opportunity I thought I will avail it,” said TK Singh, a passenger. (ANI)

Halle Berry ends pregnancy rumours with sexy look on TV

Washington, Sep 18 (ANI): Putting all speculations about her pregnancy to rest, Halle Berry appeared with a sexy look on TV in America on Thursday.

The ‘Monster’s Ball’ star arrived on The Jay Leno Show wearing a revealing black mini-dress and thigh-length boots.

And the 43-year-old actress was hoping that the outfit would be enough to end speculation she’s expecting a second child.

Talking to host Leno, Berry said that the pregnancy talk is beginning to give her a “complex”.

“I was like, ‘I gotta stop with the burgers, or something,’” Contactmusic quoted her as saying. (ANI)

22 killed, 60 injured in NWFP suicide blast

Islamabad, Sep.18 (ANI): At least 22 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in a suicide attack in Kohat on Friday.

According to eye witnesses, the attack took place near a bus stop where the attacker blew himself up inside a vehicle loaded with powerful explosives.

The blast was so powerful that it destroyed several hotels and small shops located near the bus stop on the Hangu Road in Kacchapakka.

Relief and rescue teams rushed to the spot immediately after the incident, while the injured persons have been shifted to the Liaquat Memorial and Division Hospitals.

Traffic on the Hangu road has been suspended completely after people started pelting stones on passing vehicles following the blast, The News reported. (ANI)

Katona’s ‘hubby wants to leak couple’s sex tape on net to ease cash crisis’

London, Sept 16 (ANI): Already troubled Kerry Katona fears getting into more mess as hubby Mark Croft wants to sell off a steamy sex tape of the couple to alleviate their cash crunch, it has emerged.

Pals say Katona’s former taxi driver hubby tried to sell the idea to her, which has made the ex-Atomic Kitten even more anxious about losing the custody of her two daughters, Molly and Lilly Sue, to their father and divorced hubby Brian Nicholas McFadden.

“Mark’s not given up hope by any means. He thinks it’s a guaranteed earner, which could make them anything up to half-a-million,” a pal was quoted by the Daily Star, as saying.

Friends say the 39-year old Croft has no plans to change his mind and he intends to use the cash from the tape’s sale to fund his extravagant lifestyle.

A friend said: “Mark thinks he knows it all and is determined to take over every aspect of Kerry’s life. He thinks that a sex tape of them, which somehow found its way on to the internet, would earn them a lot of cash – at least 250,000 pounds and possibly as much as 500,000 pounds.

“Mark is absolutely obsessed with money and has told Kerry that it could be a life-saver for them, but at the moment she’s having nothing to do with it.

“She’s scared stiff of anything so tacky being the last stop in her attempts to hold on to her two little girls by Brian McFadden.” (ANI)

Smugglers using kids as ‘carriers’ on Indo-Nepal border

Kolkata, Sep. 11 (ANI): Smugglers active along the porous Indo-Nepal border are now using children, as ‘carriers’ to smuggle goods like sugar and tobacco.

Hundreds of children, in the age group of six to years, are being hired by the mafia of smugglers to carry out this illegal trade along the Sunauli check point of Uttar Pradesh.

Reportedly, the reliance on children has been so successful in smuggling that the influence of such a modus operandi is even witnessed in West Bengal.

The chosen children are paid around rupees 200 per day for running the errands.

“I travel at least 10 times in a day. I carry five kilograms of sugar in one visit and I get 200 rupees. I also study. I live in Jogiabadi,” said Akhil.

Shree Chand Gupta, President, Indo-Nepal Friendship Organisation contended that it is the poverty stricken parents who are persuading their children.

He added that this trends can turn out to be heinous in the long run if not checked at the right time.

“Today they are carrying sugar but tomorrow they can also smuggle arms and ammunitions on the other side and can work as traitors. Hence officers of both the countries should take a note of this crime as it can also cause a serious threat to the society,” said Gupta.

Physically challenged persons and aged women are also becoming soft targets for smugglers, as they don’t have any regular source of income.

Awareness campaigns in the border villages and schools can put a stop to the malpractice.

“Above all, the customs and the security personnel manning the transit points along the India-Nepal border need to pull up their socks,” Gupta points out. (ANI)

Moonbell – the way to make sweet music from Moon!

London, Sept 2 (ANI): Food for thought: What would music made on the moon sound like? Stop scratching your head, for JAXA, Japan’s space exploration agency, has come up with the answer.

JAXA has created a strange little applet on its Web site called “Moonbell”, which is free to use.

It takes topographic data gathered by the agency’s Kaguya orbiter, and translates them into patterns of ascending and descending musical notes, reports The Telegraph.

Users can either play a full orbit or select the “free scratch” mode, which allows them to map their own routes across the Moon’s surface.

Like a record player, Moonbell translates the bumps and ridges it detects into musical notes.

The resulting compositions can be interpreted by any combination of more than 138 instruments. (ANI)

US Fritzl’s secret garden of evil where he kept kidnapped girl as sex slave

London, Aug 30 (ANI): A filthy, ramshackle secret garden, hidden inside ‘American Fritzl’ Phillip Garrido’s house in the small town of Antioch, east of San Francisco, has been revealed to be the place where he kept Jaycee Lee Dugard as sex slave for 18 years and fathered two children with her.

Jaycee – kidnapped from a bus stop by Garrido, 58, when she was just 11 -was just 14 when she had the first of his two daughters, now 11 and 15, reports News of the World.

The kidnapped victim had to raise her undercover family amid the makeshift home of sheds and tents, surrounded by rubbish – topped off with a sign bidding Welcome.

The shocking details emerged as Phillip and his wife Nancy were held for trial after denying 29 charges of abduction, imprisonment and rape – and 29-year-old Jaycee was reunited with her shocked family.

Jaycee and her daughters lived destitute in a maze of interlinked shacks and tents hidden from view by overgrown trees, 8ft fencing and tarpaulins.

The entire area is strewn with their sad array of worn and broken toys and possessions, vying for space with piles of the Garridos’ dumped household junk including discarded cans of chemicals.

A source who visited the Walnut Tree Avenue compound said: “Most frightening are the bloodstains which are everywhere on carpets, tent walls and in clothing.

“It’s extremely disturbing trying to fathom out what went on in that dreadful place and how human beings could do such things.”

“How the children didn’t die of diseases or suffer long-term medical problems is a miracle. Their home was a tip with no hygiene at all,” the source added. (ANI)

Our relation with BJP is that of mother and child: Bhagwat

New Delhi, Aug 28 (ANI): Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday that the relation between the RSS and the BJP is like that of a mother and a child.

Addressing a press conference at the Sangh headquarters here, Bhagwat said, “Our relation with BJP is like mother and child. Now, the child has become elder, and it is capable of taking its own decisions.”

Bhagwat said if the BJP asks for any suggestion of the RSS, it will give, ” If they want any help to reconstruct the party, we will certainly help them, but they have to ask for that.”

Responding to a question, Bhagwat said that the Sangh’s commitment’s to the building of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is intact.

“In 90s, we assured Ram Mandir Andolan leaders that the Sangh will stand with it in building a temple in Ayodhya, and we are still committed on it, we will take the Andolan till we construct the temple at the same site,” he said.

Rejecting the formation of two streams of thoughts in RSS ranks, Bhagwat said: “I don’t see any such deviation.”

” We expect our swayamsevaks (volunteers) to be committed to one nation and one culture, if any one goes beyond this thinking we will not consider him as Swayamsevak,” Bhagwat said.

“Sangh never considered power as ultimate way to achieve the ideological commitment, but power is also a mean to achieve it,” he said.

Bhagwat said it is for the BJP to decide on their way forward, and RSS will not dictate it.

Regarding RSS -Muslim relations, he said there are many Muslim workers who are also regularly attending Shakhas (Branches) and we haven’t stopped or restricted any one from coming to shakhas, “But I agree that the number is not visible at the higher level.”

Comparing the views of Sangh ideologue H.V.Sheshadri and the recent statement of former RSS chief Sudarshan on Jinnah, Bhagwat said, “They (Sheshadri and Sudarshan) did not praise Jinnah at all, they were evaluating a particular context in history with a scholarly touch.”

He also said that the banning of books represents a bad trend,

“We cannot stop others from having different thoughts. The RSS believes in taking all thoughts together in achieving national unity, Bhagwat said. Shreeraj Gudi (ANI)

US commanders in Afghanistan seek more troops

New York, Aug 24 (ANI): American military commanders operating with the NATO led mission in Afghanistan have informed President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region, Richard C. Holbrooke, that they do not have enough troops to do their job, and are being pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.

The American commanders spoke with Holbrooke this weekend, The New York Times reported.

Over the past two days, Holbrooke visited all four regional command centers in Afghanistan, and the message from all four followed similar lines: While the additional American troops, along with smaller increases from other NATO members, have had some benefit in the south, the numbers remain below what commanders need.

The total number of American soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan is now about 57,000. It was unclear whether the commanders told Holbrooke exactly how many additional troops might be required.

Eastern Afghanistan, in particular, has been a trouble spot. On Sunday, during Holbrooke’s stop at the Bagram military base, Major General Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the United States and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, told him and visiting reporters that the Haqqani network was expanding its reach.

“We’ve seen that expansion, and that’s part of what we’re fighting,” The NYT quoted him, as saying.

American commanders believe that the network, whose leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin have been linked to Al Qaeda, are using sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch attacks against American and Afghan forces.

The problems in Afghanistan have been aggravated by what the American commanders call the Pakistani military’s limited response to the threat of militants based there.

Although General Scaparrotti said that cooperation by Pakistan and the United States against the militants had improved recently, he stressed that it was important for the Pakistanis to keep up the pressure, particularly after the reported killing of Baitullah Mehsud.

Holbrooke visited regional command centers in Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Bagram on Saturday and Sunday.

Speaking to Afghan reporters at the NATO base in Mazar-i-Sharif, Holbrooke said that part of the new strategy would include reaching out to members of the Taliban who show a willingness to lay down their arms. (ANI)

Katona ‘sniffed up more coke after drug video went public’

London, Aug 23 (ANI): Drug shamed Kerry Katona indulged herself in more cocaine after learning that her shocking snorting video was made public, it has emerged.t is reported that Katona was sniffing up more cocaine and repeating: “I’ve lost everything. I’m going to lose my kids – the lot!”

The News of the World quoted an insider as saying: “It’s unbelievable, but she was still taking cocaine to try to numb the pain, even after she was rumbled. All she wanted to do was get completely out of her mind.

“She was crying and saying she was going to lose her advert contract with Iceland and was terrified her ex, Brian McFadden, would get custody of their daughters Molly and Lilly-Sue.

“And she kept repeating how social services would take away her youngest two, Heidi and Max. But never, at any stage, did she say she was actually going to DO something about her problem and STOP taking the cocaine.

“It was the opposite, she was just wanting to get more and more drugs to get wasted. She was up all night Saturday (after the News of the World told her about the video) and couldn’t string a sentence together by Sunday lunchtime, she was a total mess.

“And her husband Mark kept whining over and over, ‘We’ve lost the f***ing lot, Kez!’ And he was taking cocaine, too. He’s no better than her.”

Katona has publicly admitted her fear of losing her children after she returned from a holiday in Tenerife.

Katona said: “I’ve let my children down. I’m so sorry and so ashamed. I know I let everyone down – my fans, my family and people I work with.”

She also said her latest cocaine snort was “a moment of weakness” due to hubby Mark’s escapades with strippers in Majorca.

“I did it because I was very unhappy at the time and thought it might make me feel better about myself,” she added. (ANI)

People with HIV, TB, malaria should not rely on homeopathy, says WHO

London, Aug 21 (ANI): The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned people with HIV, TB and malaria to stay away from the use of homeopathic medicines.

The WHO’s statement came following concerns of young researchers who fear that encouraging the use of homeopathy in developing countries could risk people’s lives.

A group called Voice of Young Science Network, which is part of the charity Sense About Science, had also campaigned for “evidence-based” care.he BBC quoted Dr Mario Raviglione, director, Stop TB department, WHO, as saying: “Our evidence-based WHO TB treatment/management guidelines, as well as the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care do not recommend use of homeopathy.”

Speaking on the use of Homeopathy to treat diarrhoea in children, a spokesman for the WHO department of child and adolescent health and development said: “We have found no evidence to date that homeopathy would bring any benefit.

“Homeopathy does not focus on the treatment and prevention of dehydration – in total contradiction with the scientific basis and our recommendations for the management of diarrhoea.”

Medics from the UK and Africa had written to the WHO in June asking the body to discourage the use of homeopathic treatment. They had said: “We are calling on the WHO to condemn the promotion of homeopathy for treating TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza, malaria and HIV.

“Homeopathy does not protect people from, or treat, these diseases.

“Those of us working with the most rural and impoverished people of the world already struggle to deliver the medical help that is needed.

“When homeopathy stands in place of effective treatment, lives are lost.”

Dr Robert Hagan, a biomolecular science researcher at the University of St Andrews and a member of Voice of Young Science Network, as saying: “We need governments around the world to recognise the dangers of promoting homeopathy for life-threatening illnesses.

“We hope that by raising awareness of the WHO’s position on homeopathy we will be supporting those people who are taking a stand against these potentially disastrous practices.”

Dr Nick Beeching, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said: “Infections such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis all have a high mortality rate but can usually be controlled or cured by a variety of proven treatments, for which there is ample experience and scientific trial data.

“There is no objective evidence that homeopathy has any effect on these infections, and I think it is irresponsible for a healthcare worker to promote the use of homeopathy in place of proven treatment for any life-threatening illness.” (ANI)

Synthetic protein-like molecule may protect against HIV infection

Washington, Aug 18 (ANI): Researchers have used the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and molecular engineering to design synthetic protein-like molecule, which may be able to put a stop to unwanted biological interactions between the cells.

The pioneering study may protect cells against HIV infection.

In a bid to control protein shape, Samuel Gellman, a chemistry professor and his University of Wisconsin-Madison research team, created a set of peptide-like molecules that were successful in blocking HIV infection of human cells in the laboratory.

Adjusting molecular blueprints, Gellman and his colleagues made small structural changes to the backbones of their synthetic molecules to improve stability while retaining the three-dimensional shape necessary to recognize and interact with the HIV gp41 protein.

The resulting molecules, named “foldamers”, are hybrids of natural and unnatural amino acid building blocks, a combination that allows the scientists to control shape, structure and stability with much greater precision than is currently possible with natural amino acids.

The team found that the interaction of synthetic molecules with a piece of HIV protein gp41 physically obstructs the virus from infecting host cells.

The findings have appeared online in the August 17 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Interactions between proteins are not only fundamental to many biological processes, but also to infections like HIV and tumours.

“There’s a lot of information transfer that occurs when proteins come together, and one would often like to block that information flow,” said Gellman.

These synthetic molecules not only interrupt protein-protein interaction, but are also highly resistant to degradation by naturally occurring enzymes, which do not recognize their unusual structure. This means even a low dose of these molecules can remain effective for a longer time.

“We want to find an alternate language, an alternate way to express the information that the proteins express so that we can interfere with a conversation that one protein is having with another,” Gellman explains.

Gellman said the results of their study show that this type of approach could be very useful in designing molecules for antiviral therapies and other biomedical applications.

He said: “You don’t have to limit yourself to the building blocks that nature uses,” Gellman says.

“There’s a huge potential here because the strategy we use is different from what the pharmaceutical and biotech industries now employ.” (ANI)

Inflammation may lead to Alzheimer’s disease

Washington, July 9 (ANI): A new study has revealed that inflammation might lead to development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Two research studies published by William A. Banks has shown how inflammation triggers disease, and how can it be treated.

It is believed that the toxic levels of amyloid beta protein, the substance responsible for Alzheimer’s disease, accumulate in the brain because a pump that pushes it into the blood and past the blood-brain barrier malfunctions.

The blood-brain barrier is a system of cells that regulates the exchange of substances between the brain and the blood.

The blood-brain barrier transporter known as LRP is the pump that removes amyloid beta protein from the brain and into the bloodstream.”LRP malfunctions like a stop light stuck on red, and keeps amyloid beta protein trapped in the brain,” said Banks.

Inflammation, which is part of the body’s natural immune response, occurs when the body activates white blood cells, and produces chemicals to fight infection and invading foreign substances.

“We induced inflammation in mice and found that it turned off the LRP pump that lets amyloid beta protein exit the brain into the bloodstream,” Banks said.

“It also revved up an entrance pump that transports amyloid beta into the brain. Both of these actions would increase the amount of amyloid beta protein in the brain,” he added.

Banks said that treatment with drug indomethacin prevented inflammation from turning off the LRP (exit pump). (ANI)

Component of vegetable protein linked to lower BP

Washington, July 7 (ANI): A new study has shown that consuming an amino acid commonly found in vegetable protein is associated with lower blood pressure.

The study, conducted by Jeremiah Stamler, M.D., lead author of the study, and colleagues, showed that a 4.72 percent higher dietary intake of the amino acid glutamic acid as a percent of total dietary protein correlated with lower group average systolic blood pressure, lower by 1.5 to 3.0 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Group average diastolic blood pressure was lower by 1.0 to 1.6 mm Hg.

In the study, researchers examined dietary amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

Stamler, professor emeritus of the Department of Preventive Medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill, said that glutamic acid is the most common amino acid and accounts for almost a quarter (23 percent) of the protein in vegetable protein and almost one fifth (18 percent) of animal protein.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from 4,680 middle-age people participating in an international population study on the effects of dietary nutrients on high blood pressure. Participants were from the U.S., U.K., China, and Japan.

The results showed that a nearly 5 percent higher intake of glutamic acid as a percent of total protein in the diet was linked to lower average blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure was lower by an average of 1.5 to 3.0 points and diastolic blood pressure was lower by 1.0 to 1.6 points.

Stamler said that the study might help explain on a molecular level why the Dieatary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet lowers blood pressure.

The DASH eating pattern, developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat and nonfat dairy products as well as whole grains, lean poultry, nuts and beans.

The study has been published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. (ANI)

Racist Oz radio presenter tells bashed Indian students to go home

Sydney, July 2 (ANI): A presenter for a New South Wales community radio station has been reprimanded for several racist remarks, which included one statement where she urged attacked Indian students to go back home to study.

Terrie-Anne Verney, a presenter and sales representative for Griffith FM radio station 2MIA, was reprimanded after it was revealed that she was the administrator of several racist and anti-immigration groups on famous social networking website Facebook, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

According to reports, she was the administrator of group like “F-ff, We’re Full” and had joined groups like “Stop the Islamisation of Australia while we still can”, “Australian Conservative United Party”, the “Australian Protectionist Party” and “Australians against Multiculturalism”.

She was reported to have written extremely rude comments about the recently attacked Indian students in Australia, saying that attacked Indian students were “playing the victim card” and the “shit around their head must do something to their brain”.

“Maybe a gun to their head might help them get the hint that they are not wanted here!!,” Verney reportedly wrote on one of her Facebook group.

In various posts on the site, she made a mockery of foreigners who did not have a good grasp of English.

“If we allow the Islamic faith to continue to grow, sooner or later the Australian way of life will be destroyed,” Verney wrote in another post.

Meanwhile, Edna Wakley, president of the Griffith Community FM Association and station manager at 2MIA, has expressed disbelief at Verney’s remarks, saying that she was unaware of the incident until Wednesday.

“It is disappointing that this staff member’s actions could place a cloud over the integrity of this Association and all that it has achieved in Ethnic Broadcasting, multiculturalism and the community at large,” a statement released by the radio station said. (ANI)

‘Laser dazzler’ to stop careless drivers without blinding them

London, July 2 (ANI): Reports indicate that the Pentagon is developing a laser dazzler that will force drivers to stop without harming their eyes.

When a vehicle approaches a checkpoint at speed, ignoring warning signs to slow down, troops do not know whether the driver is simply careless or a suicide bomber.

This makes it necessary for troops to have a clear and harmless way of forcing drivers to stop.

Green laser dazzlers designed to temporarily blind drivers were sent to US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for just this purpose.

But at short range they can damage the eye, and a number of US troops and civilians have ended up in hospital with eye injuries after “friendly fire” incidents.

US troops and civilians have been sent to hospital with eye injuries after ‘friendly fire’ incidents.

Now, according to a report in New Scientist, the US Department of Defense’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) in Quantico, Virginia is developing a pulsed laser designed to prevent eye damage.

Its wavelength means a portion of the light is absorbed by the vehicle windscreen, vaporising the outer layer of the glass and producing a plasma.

This absorbs the rest of the pulse and re-emits the energy as a brilliant white light that is dazzling but harmless.

Because the light is emitted from the windscreen, the effect on the driver’s eyes should be the same regardless of the vehicle’s distance from the laser.

According to Scott Griffiths of the JNLWD, a working prototype could be ready by next year. (ANI)

Influential Pak minister suppressing Lahore attack probe

Islamabad, July 2 (ANI): Pakistan’s National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Sports is being pressurized by some influential leaders to the stop the criminal proceedings against security officials who have been accused of negligence and are charged with dereliction of duty during the brazen terror attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore, it has been revealed.

According to sources, a sitting minister has asked the committee to ‘go-slow’ in the case.

“A sitting PPP federal minister is influencing the sports committee to have a soft stance against the security officials who were involved in providing poor and weak security cover to the visiting Sri Lankan team,” The Dawn quoted a top Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official, as saying.

“There was complete security lapse shown by the Punjab security officials and there were lapses in the top level security on March 3rd,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik has been summoned by the committee to appear before it and explain the steps taken against the officials for security lapses during the attack.

The Home Secretary, Inspector General of Police Punjab, and other top officials have also been asked to be present during the hearing slated for July 14th.

It may be noted that the PML-N members of the NA committee, and the PPP legislators had recommended criminal proceedings against all those officials who have been found guilty. (ANI)

How dairy foods are nutritional bang for the buck

Washington, July 2 (ANI): A daily consumption of dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt can provide a unique package of nine essential nutrients at a low cost per serving, according to a recent review.

Several prominent nutrition researchers have detailed an updated review of the health benefits of consuming dairy foods, which contributes to the well-established evidence that consuming three to four daily servings of dairy foods each day is a convenient and affordable way to get several key nutrients.

Dairy products help in improving the following:

Child nutrition

Children and adolescents between the ages of 9-18 need, on average, four servings of dairy foods a day to meet calcium recommendations and at least three servings to meet magnesium recommendations. Adolescents who do not regularly consume dairy, on average, only meet 40 percent of the Adequate Intake for calcium.

Bone health

The evidence supports the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendation to meet nutrient needs through foods, including dairy foods, rather than supplements. Studies continue to show that dairy foods provide a unique nutrient package beneficial for bone mass and play a major role in lifelong bone health.

Cardiovascular health

Low-fat and fat-free dairy foods play a key role in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which has been shown to lower blood pressure and prevent hypertension. Eating the recommended servings of dairy foods can lower blood pressure and is associated with a lower risk of developing high blood pressure.

Healthy weight

Studies have shown that dairy foods may favourably impact body composition and weight maintenance, particularly in overweight or obese adults who consume three servings of dairy foods daily while moderately reducing daily caloric intake.

Shortfall nutrients

Dairy foods play a vital role in building a diet that contains the nutrients Americans consistently do not consume enough of including calcium, potassium and magnesium. The most practical way to meet these nutrient recommendations may be to add an additional serving of dairy to the current daily recommendation.

The review has appeared in a supplement to the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (JACN). (ANI)