Study finds brain responds to mobile signals
In 2009 the United Nations said around four-billion people had a mobile phone, that is more than half the world’s population.
Now a new study from the American National Institute of Health shows mobile phones can produce a noticeable reaction in the brain that researchers are trying to understand.
Adele’s new album
Adele’s latest album 21 has already hit number 1 in several European countries; now it is out in the US.?�Despite the north Londoner’s runaway success, the album’s theme was born out of failure: the break-up with her boyfriend.
Egyptian constitution suspended
Egypt’s ruling military council has suspended the constitution. On state television a spokesman said a committee will be formed to draft a new constitution for the country. The council will stay in power for 6 months, or until elections are held.
The same cabinet appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak will oversee the transition. Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq says the main priority is to restore security, and the economy.
“Our internal economic position is solid and cohesive”, he said. “We have enough reserves in the coming period and our situation is comforting, very comforting.”
But he also warned that if instability continues, there may be some obstacles.
The stock market has remained closed since the beginning of the uprising, and the Finance Minister says latest forecasts indicate Egypt’s economic growth slowing to between 3.5 and 4 per cent in the coming financial year.
That’s still higher than most western countries but lower than the 6 per cent that had been forecast before the revolution.
Gaddafi ‘personally ordered’ Lockerbie bombing
The Lockerbie bombing was ordered personally by Colonel Gaddafi, according to quotes attributed to Libya’s ex-justice minister who resigned recently in protest at the clampdown on anti-government demonstrators.
270 people were killed when the Pan Am flight exploded over the Scottish town on its way to New York.
In an interview with Expressen, a Swedish tabloid newspaper, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil is quoted as saying he has proof that Gaddafi gave the order. The paper did not say what the proof was.
“The information that’s coming out today is the smoking gun that we’ve been waiting for for 23 years,” said Bert Ammerman, the brother of a passenger killed on board. “It’s now out in the open. A justice minister has clearly stated that Gaddafi ordered the bombing of Pan Am 103. That is an act of war. Finally an American administration can’t hide behind the rhetoric any longer. They must respond, they must react. President Obama, what are you going to do?”
The former minister reportedly said that Gaddafi gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the bombing. He returned to Libya in 2009 after being freed from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds.
Suffering from cancer, it was said that he was about to die.
He is still alive.
Immigrant boat turned away from Lampedusa
Residents on the small Italian island of Lampedusa have prevented a boat carrying 116 immigrants from landing.
Each time the vessel, thought to have come from Tunisia, tried to come ashore the demonstrators blocked it.
Italian officials say since mid-January nearly 10,000 immigrants – more than last year’s total – have made the 110-kilometre journey. Lampedusa lies closer to the African coast than to Sicily.
The Libyan conflict has brought fears of a further exodus.
The island’s mayor says more boats have been spotted and has warned of a possible shortage of drinking water.
Some 3000 immigrants are housed in a centre designed to take 850.
Arrivals are shipped to the Italian mainland, but the boats keep coming, causing tension on the island and between Rome and the EU.
Syrian forces attack and kill six protesters
At least six people are believed killed after Syrian forces fired on protesters near a mosque in the southern city of Deraa.
One of those killed is said to have been a doctor who went to help the victims in the attack.
Protesters had erected tents in the grounds of the Omari mosque saying they would remain there until their demands for reform were met.
Syria has seen six days of unprecedented unrest in which a total of ten civilians have now died at the hands of the country’s military.
President Bashar al-Assad is facing his biggest ever challenge to his 11-year rule.
As head of the ruling Baath Party, activists have targeted the organisation’s buildings as symbols of oppression and corruption.
Despite promises of reform, Assad refuses to end 48 years of emergency rule or allow political opposition.
Protests continue in North Africa and Middle East
Friday prayers turned into Friday protests in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
In Yemen, tens of thousands of demonstrators once more took to the streets to press calls for the president to step down. The people want an end to Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule.
Their message is clear. Saleh has promised to go after elections in 2013 but the demonstrators want him out now.
The protests in Yemen were inspired by the earlier uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
One month on, in Cairo, people are still on the streets, demanding that ministers appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak step down. Their solidarity for other uprisings across the region is clear.
There has also been another day of protests in Bahrain. Two separate marches converged at the Pearl Roundabout, joined this time by many women.
Bahrain’s Sunni rulers have offered to hold talks with Shi’ite opposition groups to try and smooth over the antagonism. But the opposition appears split over its aims and has been slow to reply.
EU court bans gender linked insurance policies
The European Court of Justice has ruled there should be no more sex discrimination in insurance policies.
It said insurance companies cannot take gender into account when setting premiums and paying out benefits from annuities and retirement savings or for accident cover.
The decision by Europe’s top court could increase the costs of women’s accident insurance and boost their retirement income from annuities. It could also make men worse off.
A new EU directive, with major implications for the insurance sector, will now come into effect from 21 December 2012.
The transitional period would allow EU member states to decide what action to take on domestic laws and give companies a chance to adjust and find ways to mitigate the knock-on effect.
Insurance analysts say the ruling could boost women’s retirement income by up to 10 percent.
Insurers currently pay retired men who have purchased an annuity more than women, on the basis that on average they die younger — on average three years earlier.
Ending the gender disparity in annuities will affect insurers like Britain’s Legal and General and Prudential, France’s Axa and Allianz of Germany.
World food prices hit record – again
Global food prices hit a record high in February – not helped by fresh oil price spikes and stockpiling in some countries.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Food Price Index hit its second straight record and is now well past the peaks seen in 2008 when prices sparked riots in several
countries.
Cereals, dairy and meat are all rising – US wheat prices have surged 60 percent in the past year.
FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian said global food prices are likely to remain close to record highs until the condition of the latest harvest is known.
He added that jumps in the oil price – now at a two and a half year high – could have a bigger impact on grain markets.
“Until we know about new crops, that means waiting at least until April, our view is don’t expect any major corrections in these high prices, expect even more volatility now that oil has joined the crowd,” Abbassian said.
He warned that stockpiling by some major grain importers “beyond country’s normal needs” seeking to head off political unrest and secure supplies on domestic markets, has been adding uncertainty and volatility to the markets.
The FAO index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 236 points in February, the record in real and nominal terms, up 2.2 percent from January’s record and rising for the eighth month in a row.
Daimler turnaround disappoints
Mixed news from Germany’s Daimler as its profit rebounded but was less than expected.
Fourth-quarter earnings in 2010 before interest and tax – the figures analysts focus on most – came in at just under 1.6 billion euros, lower than the forecast of just over two billion.
For all of 2010 net profit was 4.5 billion euros, compared with a 2.6 billion euro loss in 2009.
Chief executive Dieter Zetsche said Daimler managed an excellent comeback last year and he credited strong demand from China as well as a recovery in car and truck sales in Europe and the US.
He pointed out that Mercedes S, E and C class models were market leaders in their segments and last year the company introduced half a dozen new models.
Daimler explained away the below forecast earnings by saying it boosted research and development spending last year by over 14 percent to almost five billion euros, focusing on “fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly technology.”
But its upbeat outlook failing to reassure investors and the shares fell 4.4 percent.
