A model which has foretold the correct results of the Electoral College selections in U.S. Presidential elections since 1980, has predicted a loss for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
The forecast was made by two professors at the University of Colorado who used economic data and unemployment figures from each state to predict a Republican win come November.
Political science professors Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry’s study predicts 218 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 320 for Mitt Romney with the Republican candidate winning every seat currently considered to be on the fence.
The prediction model uses economic data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including income per capita and both state and national unemployment figures.
The research concluded that U.S. voters blame Democrats for high unemployment rates but hold Republicans more responsible for low per capita income.
It also showed that the advantage of holding the White House disappears for Democratic candidates when the national unemployment rate hits 5.6%.
“Based on our forecasting model, it becomes clear that the president is in electoral trouble,” Prof. Kenneth Bickers said.
The professors’ analysis concluded that Mitt Romney would take home all swing states including Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Colorado.
Political science professors Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry’s study predicts 218 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 320 for Mitt Romney with the Republican candidate winning every seat currently considered to be on the fence
Colorado voted for Barack Obama in 2008 but the current president is predicted a marginal loss at 48.1% against Mitt Romney’s 51.9%, although with the caveat that only the two major parties were considered.
Although the economy has improved under Barack Obama, Prof. Michael Berry said in a statement that it remains to be seen whether voters will consider the economy in relative or absolute terms.
“If it’s the former, the president may receive credit for the economy’s trajectory and win a second term. In the latter case, Romney should pick up a number of states Obama won in 2008,” Prof. Michael Berry said.
Although the model devised by Prof. Michael Berry and Prof. Kenneth Bickers has predicted the correct results of eight consecutive presidential elections, the data used for analysis was collected in June.
An update with figures from September is due next month which the team said could have a completely different outcome.
The results of the model’s calculations are in stark contrast to current polling data. The New York Times’ latest figures for the Electoral College selections forecasts a blue win with 282.6 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 255.4 for Mitt Romney.
Although the figure is well above the 270 electoral votes President Barack Obama needs to hold on to his presidency, it is a decrease by 12.8 seats since the last figures on August 15.
While the race remains a dead heat, a new AP/GfK poll out today says that most Americans expect Barack Obama to retain the presidency.
Overall, registered voters are about evenly split, with 47% saying they plan to back Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and 46% favoring Mitt Romney and Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
About one in four voters say they are undecided or could change their minds between now and November 6.
The contours of the race are little changed from June, when an AP-GfK survey showed 47% of voters backing Barack Obama and 44% siding with Mitt Romney, suggesting Romney’s decision earlier in August to tap Paul Ryan as his running mate was not the game-changing event he may have desired.
Both campaigns have been competing fiercely for a small sweet spot in the middle of the electorate: Independent voters who say they don’t lean toward either party.
Mitt Romney holds a narrow lead among that group with 41%, compared to 30% for Barack Obama.
But few think the Romney-Ryan ticket will win in the end.
Asked to predict the race’s outcome, 58% of adults say they expect Barack Obama to be re-elected, whereas just 32% say he will be voted out of office.
Even among those who say they have a great deal of interest in following the campaigns’ bitter back and forth, a majority expect Barack Obama to win.
Partisans generally expect their own candidate to win, though Republicans are less sure about Mitt Romney than Democrats are about Barack Obama – 83% of Democrats say Barack Obama will be re-elected while 57% of Republicans think he’ll be voted out of office.
Among those Republicans who think Barack Obama may pull out a victory is Catherine Shappard, a 78-year-old from Dallas.
Catherine Shappard said all of her friends agree that Mitt Romney would be a better president, yet she’s alarmed to hear even conservative commenters say Barack Obama has a good shot at re-election.
“I think it’s close,” Catherine Shappard said.
“A lot closer than I’d like it to be.”
The perception that Barack Obama has the advantage could cut both ways.
On the one hand, people like to vote for a winner, so if voters think Barack Obama will win, they may be more inclined to cast their lot with him.
On the other hand, it could backfire for Barack Obama and help Mitt Romney if it drives down turnout among Democrats.
If Barack Obama’s supporters think the race is in the bag and their vote isn’t necessary, they may stay home.
But if, like Catherine Shappard, voters suspect the race is close, they’ll be more likely to cast a ballot, said Patrick Murray, a political analyst at Monmouth University.
“It’s less important who people think will win than if they think it’s a close race,” said Patrick Murray.
After just over one week on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney’s running mate remains unknown to about a quarter of voters.
Paul Ryan is viewed favorably by 40% of registered voters, while 34% see him unfavorably.
Barack Obama’s running mate and current Vice President Joe Biden, has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for a string of gaffes he made during campaign stops.
On August 14, Joe Biden told a Danville, Virginia, audience that included hundreds of black people: “[Romney] said in the first 100 days he’s going to let the big banks write their own rules, unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
Less than 24 hours later, Joe Biden appeared to be off by 100 years when he asked another Virginia crowd: “Folks, where’s it written we cannot lead the world in the 20th century in making automobiles?”
While Mitt Romney’s campaign strategy has been to hammer at Barack Obama on job creation and his fiscal policy, Obama has been going demographic by demographic in an effort to woo voters.
The president has alternately tailored his campaign speeches and his ad campaigns to women, older voters and, most recently, new young voters who may not have been old enough to cast a ballot four years ago.
In each case, Barack Obama has used Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as foils, arguing that their policies would limit women’s health care choices, force seniors to pay more for Medicare and cut back on student loans.
Barack Obama’s appeal to female voters got an unexpected boost by the eruption of dismay over Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s remarks about rape and abortion, prompting an unexpected debate on that social issue.
The president’s campaign also enlisted the help of former President Bill Clinton with a TV ad blitz on the economy.
In the ad, Bill Clinton speaks directly to the camera and says voters face a “clear choice” over which candidate will return the nation to full employment.
“We need to keep going with his plan,” Bill Clinton says of Barack Obama in the ad, which will run in eight battleground states.
Authorities in New York have for the seventh time denied parole to Mark David Chapman, the man who shot dead musician John Lennon in 1980.
Mark David Chapman, now 57, was sentenced to 20 years to life in 1981 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
He shot John Lennon four times outside a Manhattan apartment block. He can reapply for parole in two years.
Authorities in New York have for the seventh time denied parole to Mark David Chapman, the man who shot dead musician John Lennon in 1980
The board said on Wednesday that Mark David Chapman’s release would risk trivializing John Lennon’s murder.
“Despite your positive efforts while incarcerated, your release at this time would greatly undermine respect for the law,” the New York State Board of Parole said in its decision.
Mark David Chapman, a former security guard, was recently transferred to the maximum security Wende Correctional Facility in western New York state.
A scientist who will be monitoring athletes at the Paralympic Games says a third of competitors with spinal injuries may be harming themselves to boost their performance.
The practice, called “boosting”, is designed to increase blood pressure and enhance performance.
It’s banned by the International Paralympics Committee (IPC), but some researchers say these are the desperate acts of athletes trying to compete on a level playing field.
“There have been times where I would specifically give my leg or my toe a couple of really good electric shocks” says Brad Zdanivsky, a 36-year-old Canadian quadriplegic climber who has experimented with boosting in the gym.
“That would make my blood pressure jump up and I could do more weights and cycle harder – it is effective.”
One British journalist with years of experience covering the Paralympics says he has heard of athletes using small hammers to crack or break a toe.
The point of these activities is to raise the athlete’s blood pressure and heart rate.
When able-bodied competitors engage in hard physical activities like running or swimming, blood pressure and heart rate increase automatically. Athletes with spinal injuries do not get that response. “Boosting” is a short cut to higher blood pressure and the improved performance that comes with it.
In medical terms it’s defined as the deliberate induction of a dangerous condition common to quadriplegics called autonomic dysreflexia (AD). Many everyday activities that cause discomfort, even something as trivial as sunburn, can set off the condition naturally.
A scientist who will be monitoring athletes at the Paralympic Games says a third of competitors with spinal injuries may be harming themselves to boost their performance
Brad Zdanivsky turned to boosting when his spine was crushed in a car accident in 1994, because he didn’t want the injury to curb his passion for mountain climbing.
“I tried several different ways of doing it. You can allow your bladder to fill, basically don’t go to the bathroom for a few hours and let that pain from your bladder do it.
“Some people do that in sports by clipping off a catheter to let the bladder fill – that’s the easiest and the most common – and you can quickly get rid of that pain stimulus by letting the urine drain out.
“I took it a notch further by using an electrical stimulus on my leg, my toe and even my testicles.”
But boosting comes at a price.
“You are getting a blood pressure spike that could quite easily blow a vessel behind your eye or cause a stroke in your brain,” says Brad Zdanivsky
“It can actually stop your heart. It’s very unpleasant, but the results are hard to deny. The saying is that winners always want the ball, so it doesn’t matter if it’s unpleasant, it gets results.”
The IPC has been aware of the problem for many years. Boosting has been banned since 1994.
But remarkably little scientific research has been done to assess how many athletes are willing to take these extreme measures to improve their performance.
A survey carried out by the IPC during the Beijing Paralympics indicated that around 17% of those who responded had used boosting. Some experts believe the real figure could be higher.
Could it be as high as 30%?
Dr. Andrei Krassioukov, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and an experienced researcher into spinal injuries replied: “Correct. It is possible.”
“I will tell you right now as a physician people want to feel better, first of all – they feel better with their blood pressure higher. But a second thing driving it is the desire to win, to have a fair playing field with other paralympic athletes who have higher blood pressure.”
While many athletes with spinal injuries will suffer from low blood pressure, there is considerable variation from one individual to the next.
“There is still a disadvantage between paralympians who have normal blood pressure and those who don’t and this puts a significant number of athletes at a disadvantage,” Dr. Andrei Krassioukov says.
“As a physician I totally understand why these Olympians are doing this, but as a scientist I am horrified with these events.”
He believes that changes to the system of classification would help – for example by changing the points system that aims to ensure that teams with a roughly equal level of overall disability compete against one another in wheelchair rugby and basketball.
Currently, the system takes no account of blood pressure and heart rate.
IPC Chief Medical Officer Peter Van de Vliet says he has no data that would support or disprove Andrei Krassioukov’s estimate that up to 30% of paralympians with spinal injuries engage in boosting.
It’s an unacceptable practice, he says, and the IPC has no sympathy with the idea that it levels the field of play.
The IPC has no plans to add physiological characteristics into their classification systems, he adds.
“Paralympic qualification for athletes with physical impairment is on the basis of a neuro-muscular-skeletal impairment rather than a physiological one,” he says.
During the Beijing games, the IPC carried out about 20 blood pressure checks on athletes before events. They didn’t find any clear evidence of people boosting.
The IPC says it will continue to monitor athletes closely before events at the London games.
Anyone they suspect is boosting – symptoms include sweating, skin blotchiness and goose bumps – will be subjected to blood pressure checks.
If athletes are found to have a systolic blood pressure of 180 mm of mercury or above, they will not be allowed to compete in “the particular competition in question”. But they will not receive a long-term ban.
Brad Zdanivsky argues that checks like this will not be effective in cutting out boosting. He says you would need to test an athlete’s blood pressure regularly over a sustained period to be able to know for sure whether any given reading was natural or “boosted”.
“There is no real solution, it is an ugly can of worms that no-one wants to open it and talk about,” says Brad Zdanivsky.
He believes that only a tragic event will bring the problem out into the open.
“What’s going to happen one day is that someone is going to have a stroke right on the court and then they are going to have to talk about it.”
Common boosting techniques
• Overfilling the bladder, by clamping a catheter
• Sitting on a drawing pin
• Use of tight leg straps
• Twisting and/or sitting on the scrotum
• Cracking or breaking a bone
IPC rules on boosting
• The IPC forbids athletes to compete in a hazardous dysreflexic state
• A hazardous dysreflexic state is considered to be present when the systolic blood pressure is 180 mm Hg or above
• An examination may be undertaken by physicians or paramedical staff… at any time
• Any deliberate attempt to induce Autonomic Dysreflexia is forbidden… the athlete will be disqualified from the particular competition
Mohammed Salmodin, a Nepali farmer who was bitten by a cobra in his rice paddy field, has killed the snake by repeatedly biting it in return.
“A snake charmer told me that if a snake bites you, bite it until it is dead and nothing will happen to you,” said Mohammed Salmodin.
He has now been discharged from hospital where he was being treated for the snake bite.
Officials say he will not be charged because the reptile was not endangered.
“When I realized that a snake had bit me, I went home to get a torch and saw that it was a cobra. So I bit it to death,” he said.
Mohammed Salmodin, a Nepali farmer who was bitten by a cobra in his rice paddy field, has killed the snake by repeatedly biting it in return
After he bit the snake to death, Mohammed Salmodin said that he went about his daily business as if nothing had happened. He says he finally agreed to go to hospital after pressure from family, neighbours and police.
The incident took place on Tuesday in a village 200 km (125 miles) south-east of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
The snake he killed is reported to have been the common cobra. Nepal has a wide variety of snakes, many of which are venomous – such as the cobra.
Estimates suggest that there are 20,000 cases of snake bite in Nepal a year, most of them in the Terai southern plains, causing about 1,000 deaths, the AFP news agency reports.
Advice for victims of snake bite can vary, partly because different snakes have different types of venom.
How to react in case of snake bite:
• Remain calm
• Try to remember the snake’s shape, size and colour
• Keep the bitten part of your body as still as possible to prevent the venom spreading
• Remove any jewellery or watches from the bitten limb as it may swell
• Do not attempt to remove any clothing, such as trousers
• Seek immediate medical attention
Widely known treatments, such as the application of a tourniquet or trying to suck out the venom, are not recommended.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has given details of the commission that will investigate the circumstances around the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin Marikana platinum mine.
The actions of mining company Lonmin, the government, police, unions, and individuals will all be examined.
Thousands of people, some crying uncontrollably, earlier attended a memorial service for the dead.
Thirty-four were shot dead by police during a strike over pay last week.
Previously 10 people, two of them police officers, had died in violent clashes.
Reports of worker action at two other platinum mines have added to industry fears that the unrest is spreading.
The price of platinum has jumped amid concerns about disruptions to supply.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has given details of the commission that will investigate the circumstances around the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin Marikana platinum mine
The commission “has been directed to investigate matters of public, national and international concern rising out of the events in Marikana which led to the deaths of approximately 44 people, the injury of more than 70 persons and the arrest of more than 250 people,” Jacob Zuma said in a televised statement.
He said the commission would have the power to enter premises, compel witnesses to appear and demand documents. Not only security issues but issues surrounding labor policies and working conditions would also come under its remit, he added.
Retired appeals court judge Ian Farlam will head the three-person commission, along with two other senior advocates who are also former judges, reported Agence France-Presse.
The commission should complete its work within four months, Jacob Zuma said, and submit a final report a month afterwards.
Rob Davies, South Africa’s trade and industry minister, said the actions of the police would be investigated with “considerable depth”.
“The inquiry will have to establish the chain of responsibility, who did what wrong and hold anybody who did wrong to account. I think that is a correct process in a democratic society – that if actions are taken against people they have to be on the basis of evidence,” said Rob Davies.
The deadly clashes have thrown South Africa into a frenzy of outrage and grief, say correspondents.
Many relatives have asked how the police – faced with strikers wielding machetes and clubs – could have killed so many in response.
There has been a strong police presence around the mine since the dispute erupted but they were noticeably absent for Thursday’s memorial service, correspondents said, probably due to fears that violence could erupt.
But speaker after speaker also turned their ire on the government, they said, amid a perception that some politicians have been trying to make political capital out of the affair – and a suspicion among some that government has been complicit in the killings.
Church leaders from a range of denominations, politicians and thousands of mourners attended the emotional, hymn-filled service. Hundreds crammed inside the memorial marquee and hundreds more outside.
At one point the service was disrupted by green-clad members of the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), who walked to the front of the marquee brandishing sticks and machetes, but the service soon resumed.
With his government under fire for allegedly putting corporate interests above worker rights, Jacob Zuma has expressed sympathy with some of the grievances expressed by the Marikana miners.
He has argued the mining sector can afford to increase wages and threatened companies that fail to raise workers’ housing standards with the cancellation of their mining licences.
Visiting the mine on Wednesday, Jacob Zuma told workers he “felt their pain” and promised a speedy and thorough investigation of the shootings.
But fears expressed by analysts and industry executives that unrest could spread to other parts of the mining sector were given weight with reports of worker action at two other platinum mines.
The world’s top platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, said it had received a broad list of demands from its South African workers.
Meanwhile, some 500 workers at a shaft in the nearby Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine downed tools on Wednesday, demanding a pay increase and reportedly blocking fellow miners from going to work.
Religious leaders have brokered talks between the Lonmin management and workers in an attempt to break the deadlock in the dispute over pay.
No unions were involved because “they already failed us”, said Zolisa Bodlain, one of five workers who met managers – but the workers vow that they will not back down even without the unions’ help.
Part of the background to this complex dispute is the rivalry between two unions – the long-established National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the newly-formed AMCU, which is more militant.
Both will come under scrutiny under the terms of the commission of inquiry set out by the president.
A closely-watched survey suggests that the eurozone’s economy is set to contract by 0.5%-0.6% in the July to September quarter, tipping it into its second recession in three years.
The Markit Flash Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index, which measures new orders in manufacturing and services, was 46.6 in August, compared with 46.5 in July.
A score below 50 indicates contraction.
Output declined in both the manufacturing and services sectors, Markit said in a statement.
This is the seventh consecutive month of contraction in the eurozone’s private sector.
The Markit Flash Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index, which measures new orders in manufacturing and services, was 46.6 in August, compared with 46.5 in July
Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit said: “The August Markit Eurozone Flash PMI reinforces the prevailing view of the economy dropping back into recession during the third quarter of 2012.
“Taken together, the July and August readings would historically be consistent with GDP falling by around 0.5%-0.6% quarter-on-quarter, so it would take a substantial bounce in September to change this outlook.”
The eurozone’s economy was contracted by 0.2% in the second quarter of the year. A recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Julien Manceaux, senior economist at ING, said: “The composite PMI still indicates a contraction of activity in the eurozone as a whole.
“In our view, this confirms that the decline in eurozone GDP [gross domestic product] in the second quarter is likely to be the first leg of a technical recession.”
Even Germany, the eurozone’s strongest economy, showed an accelerating decline in output, with its Composite Output Index falling to a 38-month low of 47.0, down from 47.5 in July.
German blue-chip companies ThyssenKrupp and Opel are reducing working hours because of weaker demand, while Bosch has announced it is negotiating reduced working hours with its workforce.
The findings contrast with more positive news relating to Germany’s public finances, which were back in the black for the first six months of the year, according to Destatis, the country’s federal statistics office.
Germany’s public accounts showed a surplus of 8.3 billion euros, about 0.6% of gross domestic product, thanks largely to record low unemployment figures.
But Germany’s second quarter economic growth of 0.3%, down from 0.5% in the first quarter, could fall further if Markit’s surveys prove accurate.
In France, decline in output slowed, with the composite PMI output index rising to a six-month high of 48.9.
However, some analysts saw glimmers of hope in the Markit figures.
Marie Diron, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast body, said the data showed “signs of stabilization” in the eurozone economy and “supports our view that, while probably shrinking further, the eurozone economy is not falling off a cliff”.
She added: “The manufacturing surveys for both Germany and France showed better results for the manufacturing sector than last month.”
Earlier, the HSBC PMI survey for manufacturing in China indicated that activity in the sector fell to a nine-month low in August.
The PMI index was 47.8 this month, compared with a final reading of 49.3 in July.
Some analysts said the data indicated that the Chinese government’s efforts to boost the economy had not boosted firms’ confidence.
Meanwhile, the PMI measure for US manufacturing indicated that the sector saw a slight improvement this month, with the index rising to 51.9 from 51.4 in July.
Markit said that despite the increase – the first for five months – weak export markets meant overseas demand for US goods was subdued.
Demi Moore and her former co-star Stellan Skarsgard reunited last night among a party of guests at a restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden.
Demi Moore, 49, and Stellan Skarsgard, 61, – who romped together in the 2000 film Passion Of Mind – caught up over dinner.
Stellan Skarsgard – the father of True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard – also brought his pregnant wife Megan Everett along.
Demi Moore and her former co-star Stellan Skarsgard reunited last night among a party of guests at a restaurant in Stockholm
The Swedish actor and Megan Everett married in January 2009 – nine year after he shared intimate love scenes with Demi Moore in their movie (surely an interesting topic for discussion for the three of them over supper).
The couple – who have a two-year-old son Ossian – are expecting a second child.
While Demi Moore and Stellan Skarsgard may have been a flop on-screen – with Passion Of Mind grossing just $769,000 in the U.S. and Demi Moore receiving a Worst Actress Razzie Award for her schizophrenic portrayal of Marie/ Marty – clearly they still remain firm friends.
Demi Moore – who split from husband Ashton Kutcher last year amid claims he cheated on her – is in Stockholm to celebrate the 45 anniversary of the Oriflame cosmetics brand, of which she is the frontwoman.
Last night she dined at Beirut Cafe, with other guests including Spotify music service founder Daniel Ek, according to local media.
Demi Moore was most recently linked to New Zealand actor Martin Henderson, but was also spotted out in Los Angeles with another younger mystery man earlier this month.
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Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has unveiled plans for a new airport near Cusco which he says will boost tourism to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and the surrounding region.
The current airport, which is only able to handle limited daytime flights, was not sufficient, Ollanta Humala said.
The government will invest $460 million in the project, he said.
Machu Picchu is Peru’s top tourist attraction but there are concerns over the impact of high visitor numbers.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has unveiled plans for a new airport near Cusco which he says will boost tourism to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and the surrounding region
“This new airport will not only mean more tourists will be able to come, but it will generate more jobs… and help surrounding communities,” President Ollanta Humala said.
At a ceremony on Wednesday, he enacted a law that allows the expropriation of land in the town of Chinchero where the new international airport would be built.
The investment would help the government to tackle poverty, he said, “while always respecting ancient culture”.
Tourism is the main source of income in the region.
Machu Picchu is a world heritage site and the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO, has previously warned about uncontrolled access and urged the authorities to make conservation a priority.
Currently, entrance to Machu Picchu is limited to some 2,500 visitors a day, amid concerns about the impact on the environment and citadel.
Cusco is the main starting point for visitors wishing to visit the site, who can make the 112 km (70 mile) journey either on foot or via bus and train.
The citadel of Machu Picchu, located 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level, was built in the 15th Century by the Incas.
It was rediscovered in 1911 by US historian Hiram Bingham.
Three members of the Jordanian Paralympian squad facing sex charges have been pulled out of this year’s Paralympic Games.
Faisal Hammash, Omar Sami Qaradhi and Motaz Al-Junadi are charged with sex offences in Antrim.
LOCOG said they had been told by the Jordanian National Paralympic Committee that they would not be entering the athletes into the games.
They said the athletes had returned to Jordan.
On Wednesday, a court in Coleraine, County Londonderry, heard that The King of Jordan has taken a personal interest in the case.
A Jordanian embassy official offered bail sureties at the hearing.
Bail of £500 ($793) was granted with a surety of £5,000 ($7,937) from the Jordanian government for each defendant.
Faisal Hammash, Omar Sami Qaradhi and Motaz Al-Junadi are charged with sex offences in Antrim
The case had been adjourned while the judge considered the bail applications.
The squad is one of several international teams using the Antrim Forum sports complex as a training base in advance of the Games which begin in London next week.
The three men, two of whom compete in wheelchairs, are all members of the Jordanian Paralympics power-lifting team.
Faisal Hammash, 35, faces two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
Omar Sami Qaradhi, 31, is charged with three counts of sexual assault and one of voyeurism. At least two of the assaults were against children.
Motaz Al-Junadi, 45, faces one charge of sexual assault. All the offences took place between 16 and 20 August.
King Abdullah’s interest in the case was reported by one of his government officials who promised to return the accused men to Coleraine Court following the games if bail was granted.
The Jordanian Embassy in London released a statement saying it regretted the incidents that had led to the charges of the three members of the paralympic team.
“In line with its duties towards its citizens, the embassy provided direct consular support to the three members of the team charged with the offences,” it said.
“A senior diplomat from the embassy attended the hearings this morning at the Magistrates Court in Antrim, and posted bail for the three sportsmen pending their reappearance in Belfast for their trial in October.
“The embassy wishes to further express its appreciation to the courts for promptly appointing a defence lawyer for the three men and facilitating its Consular services to its citizens.
“The embassy in London wishes to reassure the courts of its continued cooperation and maintains utmost respect for the due process of the law.”
Japanese researchers have discovered that lar gibbons use the same techniques as human soprano singers to make their melodic but piercing calls.
When the apes made calls while in an atmosphere rich in helium, the team analyzed the calls’ frequencies.
As the team report, the apes were able to control the natural frequencies of their “vocal tracts”.
Such control, exemplified by sopranos, was thought to be unique to humans.
Humans share a great deal of the biological equipment of sound production with apes. That includes first of all the “source” – the vocal folds that humans and many animals share.
There is also the “vocal tract” – the oesophagus and trachea and the mouth, which are well known in humans to shape sung notes and subtle vowel sounds.
Japanese researchers have discovered that lar gibbons use the same techniques as human soprano singers to make their melodic but piercing calls
In humans the vocal tract acts as a filter on the sound from the source, and the “source-filter theory” held that the separate, fine control of the vocal tract to be the product of a long evolution in the development of the subtleties of speech.
Singing too has evolved, and soprano singers reach their piercing high notes by precisely controlling the shape of their vocal tract to match its natural, resonant frequency with multiples of the one being produced by their vocal folds.
Now Takeshi Nishimura of Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute and his colleagues have tested whether lar gibbons (also known as white-handed gibbons, Hylobates lar) have this same separate control – by using helium.
As anyone who has breathed helium knows, its presence raises the pitch of the voice. It increases the natural resonant frequency in the vocal tract because the speed of sound in helium is very different from that in air.
That shift allowed the team to record calls in helium and examine separately the sounds of gibbons’ “pure-tone” vocalizations from the vocal folds as well as how they were modified in the vocal tract.
Detailed analyses of the frequencies produced showed that the gibbons modified their vocal tracts to match multiples of the vocal folds’ frequencies – just like soprano singers.
Dr. Takeshi Nishimura said the findings were significant – not only that the “source-filter theory” was not the preserve of human physiology, but also that the gibbons had mastered techniques that in humans were only found in professional singers.
He explained that it upended a long history of research suggesting the control humans enjoy is the product of a long line of physiological and anatomical changes under the influence of evolution.
“The present study challenges that concept and throws new insight into the studies on biological foundations producing the diversifications in primate vocalizations, including human speech,” he said.
“It is hoped that this study will encourage researchers in various research fields to conduct further investigations of primate vocalizations and that such empirical evidence will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolution of speech and language.”
The UK has decided to join the US in warning Syria that the use or threat of chemical weapons would force them “to revisit their approach”.
The warning came after a telephone call between Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama.
David Cameron also spoke to French President Francois Hollande. The three discussed building support for the opposition.
Earlier, Chinese state media accused Barack Obama of using the chemical arms issue as an excuse for military intervention.
Also on Wednesday, fierce fighting raged in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and in Damascus, which residents said had witnessed the heaviest attack by government forces since the army re-asserted its control of the capital last month.
A Downing Street spokesman said the “appalling situation that continues in Syria” was the main focus of David Cameron’s conversations with Francois Hollande and Barack Obama.
The UK has decided to join the US in warning Syria that the use or threat of chemical weapons would force them "to revisit their approach"
David Cameron and Barack Obama both agreed “that the use – or threat – of chemical weapons was completely unacceptable and would force them to revisit their approach so far”, said the spokesman.
The comments echoed those by Barack Obama earlier in the week, when he said he would change his thinking on intervention if Syria used chemical weapons.
The two leaders, along with Francois Hollande, discussed “how to build on the support already given to the opposition” and “help a potential transitional Syrian government after the inevitable fall of [President Bashar al-] Assad”.
Barack Obama and David Cameron called for a “credible opposition” that would “show real unity of purpose and coherence in working towards transition”.
The three leaders also discussed the plight of Syrian refugees.
The spokesman said: “The prime minister emphasized the need to work with the UN and… that more should be done by the international community to channel humanitarian aid through the UN appeal.”
Earlier, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua accused Western powers of “digging deep for excuses to intervene militarily”.
In its commentary, Xinhua criticized Barack Obama’s earlier remarks as “dangerously irresponsible” and said they would aggravate the conflict, reducing the chances of a political settlement.
China insists a ceasefire and UN-led mediation remain the best ways to end Syria’s woes.
China and Russia have both blocked attempts to impose UN sanctions on Syria.
A Russian foreign ministry source told the Kommersant newspaper on Wednesday that Moscow believed Syria had no intention of using its chemical weapons and was able to safeguard them.
Fierce fighting continued across Syria on Wednesday.
An aerial bombardment preceded an assault by tanks on several areas of Damascus.
Activists said at least 37 people had been killed in the capital, in the areas of Kafar Soussa and Nahr Eishah.
A journalist working for the state-run Tishreen newspaper, Mosaab al-Odallah, was killed by the military during house-to-house searches in Nahr Eishah, activists and friends said.
Mosaab al-Odallah was said to be sympathetic to the opposition.
Reuters reporters said they had heard shells and gunfire every minute in the northern city of Aleppo.
Elsewhere, rebels and troops fought for control of a military base and airfield near the eastern town of Albu Kamal.
Activists said at least three people were killed in a helicopter bombardment of Qastoun, in Hama province.
Shelling was also reported in Deraa, and heavy fighting was reported in Deir Ezzor in the east.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 115 people, including 71 civilians, were killed across the country on Wednesday.
The figures cannot be independently verified.
Opposition activists say more than 20,000 people – mostly civilians – have died since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad began last year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are set to hold talks in Berlin on whether to give Greece more time to make the cuts required by its debt bailout.
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande will also meet Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras later this week.
Meeting Antonis Samaras yesterday, eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker kept the door open for a change to the bailout terms.
Heavily-indebted Greece is in its fifth year of recession and austerity.
Greece is currently trying to finalize a package of 11.5 billion euros ($14.4 billion) of spending cuts over the next two years.
It is also being asked to put in place economic and structural reforms, including changes to the labor market and a renewed privatization drive.
The measures are needed to qualify for the next 33.5 billion-euro installment of its second 130bn-euro bailout.
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande are set to hold talks in Berlin on whether to give Greece more time to make the cuts required by its debt bailout
The “troika” of donor bodies monitoring the bailout – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission – are due in Athens next month to report on whether Greece has made enough progress.
Greece needs the funds to make repayments on its debt burden. A default could result in the country leaving the euro.
Antonis Samaras is seeking an extension of up to two years for the painful steps, in order to provide Greece with the growth needed to improve its public finances.
In an interview published on Wednesday, he told Germany’s biggest daily, Bild, that his country needed “a little breathing space” in order to kick-start growth and reduce its deficit.
After meeting Antonis Samaras on Wednesday, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker said a decision on an extension would depend on the troika’s report.
“We have to discuss the length of the period and other dimensions,” Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference, while sitting alongside Antonis Samaras.
He said Greece was facing its “last chance” to make the necessary changes, but praised the “tremendous efforts” it has made so far to cut its deficit. He also stressed he was “totally opposed” to Greece leaving the euro.
Antonis Samaras called the discussions “fruitful”.
At least publicly, many EU leaders remain resolutely opposed to any moves to change the terms of Greece’s bailout.
But Jean-Claude Juncker’s remarks suggest there is room for manoeuvre and that an extension has not been ruled out.
Angel Merkel has said that she and Antonis Samaras will not make any decisions on the issue in their talks on Friday. Antonis Samaras goes on to meet Francois Hollande on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Francois Hollande also discussed Greece with British Prime Minister David Cameron in a telephone call.
“Both welcomed the recent actions of the ECB and agreed that this did not negate the need for Greece to stabilize their own economy and prevent any further detrimental effects to the wider eurozone,” David Cameron’s office said in a statement, without specifying which ECB actions they were referring to.
The talks come amid reports that due to the worsening state of the economy, which affects tax receipts and welfare spending levels, Greece may now need to find savings of up to 13.5 billion euros – 2 billion more than thought.
Greece discussions timetable
• 22 August: Greek PM Antonis Samaras meets Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker
• 23 August: Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande meet
• 24 August: Chancellor Merkel and PM Samaras meet
• 25 August: President Hollande and PM Samaras meet
• Early September: Troika staff go back to Greece
• 14-15 September: Gathering of European finance ministers in Cyprus
• Troika’s review of progress to be published by the end of September
• 8-9 October: Finance ministers attend two days of meetings in Luxembourg
A new genetic study in Iceland has added to evidence that the increase in some mental disorders may be due to men having children later in life.
An Icelandic company found the number of genetic mutations in children was directly related to the age of their father when they were conceived.
One prominent researcher suggested young men should consider freezing their sperm if they wanted to have a family in later life.
The research is published in Nature.
According to Dr. Kari Stefansson, of Decode Genetics, who led the research, the results show it is the age of men, rather than women, that is likely to have an effect on the health of the child.
“Society has been very focused on the age of the mother. But apart from [Down’s Syndrome] it seems that disorders such as schizophrenia and autism are influenced by the age of the father and not the mother.”
The increase in some mental disorders may be due to men having children later in life
Dr. Kari Stefansson’s team sequenced the DNA of 78 parents and their children.
This revealed a direct correlation between the number of mutations or slight alterations to the DNA, of the child and the age of their father.
The results indicate that a father aged 20 passes, on average, approximately 25 mutations, while a 40-year-old father passes on about 65. The study suggests that for every year a man delays fatherhood, they risk passing two more mutations on to their child.
What this means in terms of the impact on the health of the child is unclear. But it does back studies that also show fathers are responsible for mutations and that these mutations increase with age.
And, for the first time, these results have been quantified and they show that 97% of all mutations passed on to children are from older fathers.
“No other factor is involved which for those of us working in the field is very surprising,” said Dr Stefansson.
He added that the work backed other studies that have found links between older fathers and some mental disorders.
“The average age of fathers has been steeply rising [in industrialized countries] since 1970. Over the same period there has been an increase in autism and it is very likely that part of that rise is accounted for by the increasing age of the father,” he said.
The findings should not alarm older fathers. The occurrence of many of these disorders in the population is very low and so the possible doubling in risk by having a child later in life will still be a very low risk.
Nearly all children born to older fathers will be healthy. But across the population the number of children born with disorders is likely to increase if this theory holds true.
Older fathers and therefore genetic mutations have been linked with neurological conditions because the brain depends on more genes for its development and regulation.
So mutations in genes are more likely to show up as problems in the brain than in any other organ. But it is unclear whether the age of fathers has an effect on any other organ or system. The research has not yet been done.
The reason that men rather than women drive the mutation rate is that women are born with all their eggs whereas men produce new sperm throughout their adult life. It is during sperm production that genetic errors creep in, especially as men get older.
Writing a commentary in the Journal Nature, Prof. Alexey Kondrashov, of University of Michigan, said young men might wish to consider freezing their sperm if future studies showed there were other negative effects on a child’s health.
“Collecting the sperm of young adult men and cold storing it for later use could be a wise individual decision. It might also be a valuable for public health, as such action could reduce the deterioration of the gene pool of human populations,” he said.
Dr. Kari Stefansson, however, said that from a long-term perspective the decision by some men to have children later in life might well be speeding up the evolution of our species.
“The high rate of mutations is dangerous for the next generation but is generating diversity from which nature can select and further refine this product we call man,” he said.
“So what is bad for the next generation may be good for our species in general.”
Peninsula Félsziget Festival 2012, Romania’s largest festival, is held in the city of Targu Mures between August 23rd and August 26th.
The unique blend of international stars, local flavors, a beach and non-stop fun makes it the ultimate festival experience, but its greatest asset is and always have been the festivalgoers, because they are the ones that make this event an island of freedom, fun and friendships.
In previous years the festival, now at its 10th edition, has brought to Romania international acts like Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Korn, Iggy and the Stooges, Kasabian, Tiesto, Guano Apes, Tricky, Dub FX, Chase and Status, Andy C, Ska-P, Apocalyptica, Nero and The Rasmus, just to name a few. After having 73,000 visitors in 2011, Peninsula is back in 2012 with a fabulous line-up on four stages.
Between August the 23th-26th, Tinie Tempah, The Straits (Dire Straits’ former members with the band’s greatest hits), Children of Bodom, ATB, Netsky, Sister Bliss (Faithless DJ Set), Timo Maas, New Model Army, Babylon Circus, Rotfront, N.O.H.A., Dirtyphonics, Emalkay, Josh Gallahan, Ákos, Zdob si Zdub and dozens of international, Romanian and Hungarian acts are waiting for you in the beautiful city of Targu Mures for four days of wild concerts and crazy parties at the riverbank of Mures.
Peninsula Félsziget Festival 2012, Romania's largest festival, is held in the city of Targu Mures between August 23rd and August 26th
23 August: The Straits * Sister Bliss (Faithless Dj Set) * Zdob şi Zdub * Republic * Defender * De la Funk & Tóth Kati * Byron * DJ Bully * D-Laid * Dubase * Delision B2B QRY
24 August: Tinie Tempah * Emalkay * Rotfront * Timo Maas * Vita de vie * Kistehén * Ladánybene 27 * Heaven Street Seven * Balázs Fecó Band * Mystery Gang * Mike Godoroja & Blue Spirit * Travka * Electric Fence * Val LAVILLE * Subotage * Horace Dan D * Detour * Alex Chronic * Booha Allstars (Goranga, Missile, Alex Chronic, Pop Killers) * B2B Session (Just D’Light, Detour, Pop Killers)
25 August: Ákos * New Model Army * Netsky * Vama * N.O.H.A. * Şuie Paparude * Irie Maffia * Facem Records Crew * Alvin és a Mókusok * Besh o droM * Sarmalele Reci * Gojira & Planet H * Karányi * Beatman & Ludmilla * Rehab Nation * Disco Bears * Bread & Butter * Goranga & Missile * Just D’light
26 August: Children of Bodom * ATB * Josh Gallahan * Babylon Circus * Dirtyphonics DJ Set * Subscribe * Compact Disco * colorStar * Firkin * Trooper * Marcian Petrescu & Trenul de Noapte * Shukar Collective * Bárány Attila * DJ Optick * VotSka * Kub Beat * Dj Sauce * Punnany Massif Sound System * Dj Barna
Peninsula Félsziget Festival 2012 Targu Mures
Supermarket bananas could soon be coated with a substance derived from seafood to keep them fresh for longer.
Scientists have created a special film that stops bananas breathing and also kills bacteria found on their surface, which otherwise causes them to over-ripen and rot.
But in a twist that might horrify vegetarians, the superabsorbent covering is made from chitosan, a substance derived from shrimp and crab shells
“We found that by spraying green bananas with a chitosan aerogel we can keep bananas fresh for up to 12 days,” said study leader Dr. Xihong Li from Tianjin University of Science and Technology in China.
Supermarket bananas could soon be coated with a substance derived from seafood to keep them fresh for longer
“Once bananas begin to mature, they quickly become yellow and soft, and then they rot.
“We have developed a way to keep bananas green for a longer time and inhibit the rapid ripening that occurs.
“Such a coating could be used at home by consumers, in supermarkets or during shipment of bananas.”
All fruit and vegetables are alive and breathe through their skin but, unlike other varieties, bananas keep breathing once they are picked and actually release a chemical that allows them to take in more oxygen.
This process of respiration speeds up over time, causing bananas to become mushy.
These conditions allow surface bacteria to thrive, which ultimately makes them rot.
But the scientists showed that covering the bananas with chitosan kept them fresh for longer, by slowing down respiration and killing the bacteria that causes rotting.
Chitosan is also being investigated for use on other fruits and vegetables, and growers hope it will be a low-cost solution to food going to waste.
But first the team need to tinker with the recipe before the product can be rolled out, as one of the current ingredients cannot currently be used commercially.
The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia.
NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars two weeks ago, turned its six wheels briefly on Wednesday to satisfy engineers that its locomotion system was in full working order.
Curiosity is a sophisticated mobile science laboratory.
It has been built to drive at least 20 km across the Martian landscape to investigate whether the planet ever had the conditions necessary for life.
Wednesday’s drive saw the rover roll forward 4.5 m, turn clockwise on the spot, and then reverse up 2.5 m. It took about five minutes to complete the manoeuvre.
NASA’s Curiosity rover turned its six wheels briefly on Wednesday to satisfy engineers that its locomotion system was in full working order
It is now pointing south in the general direction of Mount Sharp, the big mountain at the centre of Mars’ equatorial Gale Crater.
Scientists expect to find rocks at the base of the peak that were laid down billions of years ago in the presence of abundant water.
Curiosity – also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, MSL – will not journey to Mount Sharp immediately, however.
The mission team first wants to visit a piece of ground some 400 m to the east; a location researchers have dubbed Glenelg.
Satellite pictures have shown this place to be an intersection of three distinct types of rock terrain.
Scientists think Glenelg will be a good place to start to characterize the geology of Gale Crater.
On its way to the intersection, Curiosity will “sniff” the atmosphere and analyze the composition of its gases.
It will likely also scoop a soil sample to examine in its onboard laboratories.
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Tony Nicklinson, a British man with locked-in syndrome who fought for the right to legally end his life, has died aged 58.
Tony Nicklinson was paralyzed from the neck down after suffering a stroke in 2005 and described his life as a “living nightmare”.
Last week Tony Nicklinson, from Melksham, Wiltshire, lost his High Court case to allow doctors to end his life.
Tony Nicklinson’s family solicitor said that he had refused food from last week.
Lawyers for another man, 47, who lost his High Court case alongside Tony Nickinson, are to appeal against the decision.
They said it denied their client “the opportunity to take the necessary steps to end his own life”.
Tony Nicklinson was paralyzed from the neck down after suffering a stroke in 2005 and described his life as a "living nightmare"
Tony Nicklinson’s family solicitor Saimo Chahal said he died at home at about 10:00 BST accompanied by his wife, Jane, and two daughters, Lauren and Beth.
Saimo Chahal said: “Jane told me that Tony went rapidly downhill over last weekend, having contracted pneumonia.”
She added: “Jane said that, after Tony received the draft judgment on 12 August refusing his claim, the fight seemed to go out of him.
“He said that he was heartbroken by the High Court decision that he could not end his life at a time of his choosing with the help of a new doctor.
“He could not understand how the legal argument on his behalf could not succeed.”
She said Tony Nicklinson had told her two days after the ruling he was “crestfallen, totally devastated and very frightened”.
Tony Nicklinson had added: “I fear for the future and the misery it is bound to bring.
“I suppose it was wrong of me to invest so much hope and expectation into the judgment but I really believed in the veracity of the argument and quite simply could not understand how anybody could disagree with the logic.
“I guess I forgot the emotional component.”
Saimo Chahal said Tony Nicklinson had made an advanced directive in 2004 refusing any life-sustaining treatment.
His family had earlier updated his personal Twitter account.
The messages said: “You may already know, my Dad died peacefully this morning of natural causes. He was 58.
“Before he died, he asked us to tweet: <<Goodbye world the time has come, I had some fun>>.”
Gezz Higgins, a friend and former rugby club team-mate in Kent, said before his stroke he was a “happy-go-lucky” man.
“He was an exceptionally good and sociable guy,” he said.
“The sort of fella who, when he walked into a room, you knew things would liven up a bit.”
Wiltshire Police said the force was not investigating Tony Nicklinson’s death.
Tony Nicklinson had been paralyzed since suffering a stroke while on a business trip to Athens.
He had campaigned for the law to be changed to allow doctors to assist his suicide without fear of prosecution.
Prior to last week’s case, he had described his life as “a living nightmare”.
Tony Nicklinson said: “What I find impossible to live with is the knowledge that… I have no way out – suicide – when this life gets too much to bear.”
He added: “It cannot be acceptable in 21st Century Britain that I am denied the right to take my own life just because I am physically handicapped.”
However, three High Court judges rejected his plea for the law to be changed, saying the issue should be left to Parliament.
Tony Nicklinson said he would appeal against the decision but his lawyer said this would not end unless “someone steps forward in similar circumstances to pursue the action”.
Professor Penney Lewis, professor of law at the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics at King’s College London, said that Tony Nicklinson’s plight would continue to raise questions about a change in the law.
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LG Electronics has released what is described as the world’s biggest ultra-definition (UD) TV.
LG UD TV sports an 84 in (213 cm) screen, smaller than a 90 in model made by Sharp, but LG boasts support for 4K, a more advanced picture format.
The screen offers 8 million pixels per frame, four times the resolution of 1080p high-definition displays.
The firm sees this technology as a key marketing tool to help challenge market leader Samsung.
LG Electronics has released what is described as the world's biggest ultra-definition (UD) TV
Toshiba already offers a smaller 55 in 4K screen, and Panasonic a 20 in model. Sony and Samsung are also developing their own devices.
However, LG’s 25 million-won ($22,010) price tag is likely to dissuade many from investing in its technology at present.
“The 4K display market is still in its infancy but it was important for LG to claim a stake in this space,” said the chief executive of LG Electronics Home Entertainment, Havis Kwon.
The South Korean company is the second-largest seller of flatscreen television screens, and is known to compete with its domestic rival, Samsung, for bragging rights.
Earlier this year it sought to upstage its rival by showing off the world’s largest OLED (organic light-emitting diode) at the Consumer Electronics Show trade show in Las Vegas. But when Samsung heard about the news it shipped an identically sized model to the event.
One analyst said that sales of the latest release were likely to be limited, but it provided an indication of where the industry was pointed.
“4K is a technology that is an evolutionary step that – maybe a long way down the line – will be the successor to today’s HD televisions,” said Daniel Simmons from IHS Screen Digest.
“It’s a step up in image quality, offering the opportunity to have cinema-quality resolution in the home and is a noticeable improvement.
“But it is worth recognizing that many people only upgraded their televisions from CRT [cathode ray tube] models in order to have a larger flatscreen model – the high-definition feature was not the primary motivator.
“4K allows people to have even bigger screens in their homes and it may be the screen size, rather than the resolution itself, that makes it attractive.”
LG’s 84 in model has initially been released in South Korea ahead of its launch elsewhere in the world in September. It will also show off the device at the IFA tech trade show in Berlin at the end of August.
At least 48 people have been killed in ethnic clashes in Coast Province, south-eastern Kenya, police say.
The clashes in Tana River district, Coast Province, took place late on Tuesday between the Orma and Pokomo groups, the region’s police chief said.
Most of the dead were women and children, many of whom were hacked to death with machetes, he said.
The clash is the worst single incident since violence rocked the country after disputed polls four years ago.
The clashes in Tana River district, Coast Province, took place late on Tuesday between the Orma and Pokomo groups
Regional deputy police chief Joseph Kitur told AFP news agency that those killed were either hacked to death or burned alive when their huts were set alight.
The attack is believed to have escalated from a dispute over grazing rights for cattle.
The victims included 31 women, 11 children and six men, Joseph Kitur said. It is unclear whether any of the perpetrators have been arrested.
Joseph Kitur said that, according to investigations, the attack had been carried out by the Pokomo on the Orma.
Danson Mungatana, the lawmaker for the area, said the killings were the latest in a string of attacks and cattle raids and had been taken in retaliation for a previous incident.
“There have been problems simmering for a while,” he told AFP.
Violence between the two communities is often reported, but not on such a huge scale.
There is long-standing enmity between the communities, who get caught up in a cycle of revenge killings over the theft of cattle and grazing and water rights.
In 2001, a series of clashes between the Orma and Pokomo left at least 130 dead in the same region.
The semi-arid region is one of the poorest in Kenya, with very little infrastructure or industry.
The government recently created a ministry to promote development in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas, but there has been little improvement in peoples’ lives, our reporter adds.
The violence comes as Kenya prepares for elections early next year. More than a 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced in the months following the last election in 2007.
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Bobbi Kristina Brown and her brother-turned-boyfriend Nick Gordon have once again been inked.
The couple showed off their new body art in a series of new Twitter pictures.
Cuddling up on the bed together, Bobbi Kristina Brown, dressed in a revealing blue lace crop top and grey tracksuit bottoms, displayed a music note design on the side of her stomach.
Nick Gordon, 22, meanwhile, has revealed a lion design on his right bicep.
Bobbi Kristina Brown and her brother-turned-boyfriend Nick Gordon have once again been inked
The pair, who lived together as brother and sister for more than a decade before their mother’s death, is seen looking extremely intimate in the snaps.
With their arms wrapped around one another, they appeared to be posing on the bed.
The new images come as Nick Gordon’s grandmother has said that she approves of the pair’s controversial romance and insisted that Bobbi Kristina Brown is doing well following her mother’s death.
“Bobbi Kristina is on the right path,” Maxine Gordon told website Celebuzz.
“If it wasn’t for my grandson, I think it would have been a different outcome for her.”
“They are doing fine together as a couple,” she added.
“It was very difficult for Nick after Whitney’s death because he was one of the people who saw her in the hotel bathroom.”
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, and Nick Gordon lived together as brother and sister for more than a decade before their mother’s death.
Whitney Houston took Nick Gordon into her home at the age of 12 when his father went to prison and his mother was unable to take care of him.
Nick Gordon was the singing superstar’s unofficially adopted son, and she treated him like family up until her death at the age of 48 due to an accidental drowning complicated by heart disease and cocaine use.
Whitney Houston, a prestigious six-time Grammy award winning singer, was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel room on February 11, 2012.
Two German tourists and two Kenyan pilots have been killed in a plane crash in Maasai Mara national park, Kenyan police said.
The aircraft was carrying 11 passengers, including five Germans, four Americans and two Czechs, the AFP news agency said.
Three other passengers were seriously injured, police said.
Two German tourists and two Kenyan pilots have been killed in a plane crash in Maasai Mara national park
Propeller planes are often used to take tourists to the Maasai Mara, one of Africa’s most popular attractions.
The plane, a light aircraft owned by Mombasa air, and was preparing to land at the Ngerede Airstrip near the Mara Safari Club, according to the Daily Nation newspaper.
A team from the Flying Doctors Service had been sent to the site, the AFP news agency said.
An elderly parishioner has stunned Spanish cultural officials with an alarming and unauthorized attempt to restore a prized Jesus Christ fresco.
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elias Garcia Martinez has held pride of place in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza for more than 100 years.
The woman took her brush to it after years of deterioration due to moisture.
Cultural officials said she had the best intentions and hoped it could be properly restored.
The woman, in her 80s, was reportedly upset at the way the fresco had deteriorated and took it on herself to “restore” the image.
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elias Garcia Martinez has held pride of place in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza for more than 100 years
The delicate brush strokes of Elias Garcia Martinez have been buried under a haphazard splattering of paint.
The once-dignified portrait now resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic.
The woman appears to have realized she was out of her depth and contacted Juan Maria Ojeda, the city councilor in charge of cultural affairs.
Art historians are expected to meet at the church soon to discuss how to proceed.
Juan Maria Ojeda said: “I think she had good intentions. Next week she will meet with a repairer and explain what kind of materials she used.
“If we can’t fix it, we will probably cover the wall with a photo of the painting.”
The fresco is not thought to be very valuable, but has a high sentimental value for local people.
To make matters worse, the local centre that works to preserve artworks had just received a donation from the painter’s granddaughter which they had planned to use to restore the original fresco.
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Coolpix S800c, the first mainstream digital camera to be powered by Google’s Android system, has been released by Nikon.
Nikon’s point-and-shoot Coolpix S800c model is being marketed as a “social imaging device”.
Demand for compact cameras has suffered because of the rise of smartphones.
However, Nikon says its latest model offers superior picture quality thanks to the size of its lens, as well as the opportunity to install photo-editing apps and other software.
A statement from Nikon said the combination of the camera’s wi-fi connectivity and new software would make it easier for users to upload their shots to social networks.
Coolpix S800c, the first mainstream digital camera to be powered by Google's Android system, has been released by Nikon
“Just like a smartphone or tablet device, the camera has the opportunity to run camera-specific photo and video applications, yet enables the various benefits of shooting with a camera,” it added.
“The S800c provides access to a vast world of applications for games, productivity and personal communication/email, including Nikon’s photo storage and sharing site.”
The device is being marketed for $350, making it about half the price of top-end Android smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X – but one analyst said Nikon might struggle to take advantage of the fact.
“The challenge for the camera manufacturers at the lower end is that smartphones have become so capable, so a product like this may just be too late to the market,” said Martin Gill, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
“In most developed countries mobile phones are now ubiquitous and smartphone use is rapidly becoming mainstream as well.
“People carry them wherever they go, so a point-and-shoot camera will only ever be an add-on product they would also have to take with them.”
Statistics from Yahoo’s Flickr photo support the idea that many social-network users are opting for either smartphones or high-end devices.
Its list of the five most popular devices includes two Apple iPhones, two single-lens reflex (SLR) models from Canon, and one SLR from Nikon.
Tech site Engadget reported in March that Samsung was also considering installing an “open” third-party operating system on some of its cameras, but had yet to make a decision.
Google does not charge third-parties to use its software.
However, Microsoft does demand a licence fee for patents it owns, which it says are involved in Android technology.
Neither Microsoft nor Nikon were able to say at this time whether they had struck an agreement.
British children’s author Nina Bawden, who was best known for writing the book Carrie’s War, has died aged 87.
Publisher Virago said Nina Bawden died at her London home on Wednesday morning surrounded by her family.
Published in 1973, Carrie’s War was based on Nina Bawden’s childhood evacuation to Wales during World War II.
The writer of some 50 books, the author was also badly injured in the 2002 Potters Bar train crash, which left her husband dead.
Author Nina Bawden, who was best known for writing the book Carrie's War, has died aged 87
Nina Bawden was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987 for Circles of Deceit, one of her novels for adult readers, but lost out to Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger.
Her other novels included The Peppermint Pig, The Birds on the Trees and Granny the Pag.
But it was Carrie’s War for which Nina Bawden became best known, often read in schools.
It was adapted twice for television by the BBC, while a stage production also ran in the West End in 2009.
The book won the 1993 Phoenix Award from the Children’s Literature Association in the US – awarded to the best children’s book published 20 years earlier that did not win a major award.
South Korean researchers have developed a technology that could lead to the creation of glasses-free 3D films at cinemas.
It uses a barrier with slats so that when a viewer looks at the screen each of their eyes sees the image differently.
As a result their brain creates an illusion of depth.
TV makers have tried to use a similar approach, but require viewers to be in a particular spot to see a 3D image.
This would not be possible in a cinema where the audience needs to be able to watch the screen from a wide variety of angles.
The study was carried out at Seoul National University and appears in the journal Optics Express.
South Korean researchers have developed a technology that could lead to the creation of glasses-free 3D films at cinemas
“This new method seems to be a viable one for providing glasses-free 3D environment with front-projection technology – instead of using multiple projectors, it only uses one,” said Prof. John Koshel from the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, who edited the study for publication.
He explained that the standard way to create 3D-images on a movie screen was to use stereoscopy: the technique involves projecting two 2D-images through a special filter.
To the naked eye the two offset versions of the footage appear to be superimposed over each other. But if the viewer wears polarized glasses the left lens only lets in one of the images, and the right lens the other, creating a sense of depth.
To go glasses-free TV makers have used a different technique involving what is known as a “parallax barrier”.
This involves placing a barrier in front of the image source which has slats in it similar to those of Venetian blind.
These slats are angled so that light from one set of the TV screen’s pixels shines through and is directed to one of the viewer’s eye, and light from another set is shown to the other eye – with no overlap.
But this only provides a 3D-effect if the watcher is sitting in a specific spot.
Manufacturers have created televisions showing several pairs of images – allowing a single screen to support several family members sitting in specific positions. But they cannot support the dozens – or even hundreds – of people sitting in a cinema at the same time.
The South Korean team mimicked this technique, but adapted it to support a much wider variety of viewing angles.
They did this by creating the slat-effect using polarizers – similar to those used in the lenses of 3D cinema glasses.
Their screen was also covered with a special coating, and this combined with their adapted barrier produced many pairs of images – enough in theory to accommodate a cinema audience.
The lead scientist Byoungho Lee, professor at Seoul National University, said that more research was necessary, but the technology “might constitute a simple, compact, and cost-effective approach to producing widely available 3D cinema, while also eliminating the need for wearing polarizing glasses”.
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