Fridge magnets 'can be a killer'

Fridge magnets and decorative jewellery could be a killer if you have a weak heart, experts warn.

A strong type of magnet used in many new commercial products can interfere with pacemakers and implanted heart devices with deadly consequences.

Close contact - within about 3cm - with a neodymium magnet is enough to destabilise these life-saving heart devices, Heart Rhythm journal reports.

The authors suggest manufacturers include a health warning on products.

Ordinary iron or ferrite magnets, which are a dull grey colour with a low magnetic strength, are of little concern.

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Fridge magnets 'can be a killer'

Tags: pacemakers | neodymium | life-saving | ferrite | destabilise | strength | Products | KILLER | journal | jewellery | Interfere | IMPLANTED | grey | dull | devices | Deadly | contact | commercial | colour | RHYTHM | fridge

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England smoke ban to start 1 July

Smoking in enclosed public places will be banned in England from 1 July next year, the government has announced.


The ban covers virtually all enclosed public places including offices, factories, pubs and bars, but not outdoors or in private homes.


It follows similar bans in the Irish Republic and Scotland - a ban in Wales starts on 2 April.


Ministers say it will protect everyone from passive smoking, but opponents say the total ban is "draconian".


From 1 July pubs and restaurants will have to display prominent "no smoking" signs around their premises.

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Tags: virtually | Smoke | Second-hand | pubs | Places | outdoors | offices | including | Government | FACTORIES | enclosed | covers | caused | Bars | ban | july | hewitt | england

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Red wine red wine's heart-protecting effect found

Those seeking a longevity-boosting tipple should turn their attention to red wines from Sardinia and south-west France, a study concludes.


UK researchers discovered chemicals called procyanidins were responsible for red wine's well-documented heart-protecting effect.


And they found traditionally made wines from these areas had more procyanidins than wines in other parts of the world.


The research is published in the journal Nature.


Previous studies have revealed regular, moderate consumption of red wine is linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and lower mortality.


A class of chemicals called polyphenols, of which there are many varieties, are thought to be responsible.

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Can a Simple Quiz Tell You How Long You'll Live?

Web site calculators that estimate life expectancies based on risk won't give you perfect results, but they can teach you how to live a healthier life.


The apocryphal fountain of youth may not exist, but there are ways we can learn to live longer and better lives. On the web, online life expectancy calculators can give users tips on healthier living that could help them tack on a few more years.


"[Life expectancy calculators are] just a repackaged way of telling you what you already know, and that is, 'Eat less, don't smoke,'" says S. Jay Olshansky, a professor in the school of public health at University of Illinois at Chicago. "But what they're really meant to do is encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles, and that's a good thing."

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Tags: tack | repackaged | Olshansky | 'Eat | youth | Ways | users | tips | Smoke | Site | says | risk | results | Professor | perfect | online | longer | lifestyles | HEALTHIER | Health | fountain | expectancy | exist | estimate | encourage | calculators | based | APOCRYPHAL | university | quiz | Illinois | Chicago

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Famous Air Crash Victims - Part 2: Musicians

The pressures of punishing tour schedules can cause musicians to spend much of their life on the road. They can rack up a good few air miles too, and by the laws of probability alone we can expect to have lost a few in air accidents. But what talent we have lost! Songs such as 'In The Mood', 'That'll Be The Day', 'Chantilly Lace', 'La Bamba', 'Free Bird', '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay', 'Distant Drums', 'Annie's Song' and many others live on in our memories of these curtailed lives.

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Tags: probability | curtailed | Choo | Bamba | 'That | 'Free | 'Distant | 'Chantilly | 'Annie | YEARS | Tour | talent | schedules | rack | PUNISHING | pressures | others | musicians | MILES | MEMORIES | LAWS | alone | accidents | victims | mood | lace | drums | dock | crash | Chattanooga

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Experts Reconstruct Leonardo da Vinci's Fingerprint

Anthropologists said they have pieced together Leonardo da Vinci's left index fingerprint -- a discovery that could help provide information on such matters as the food the artist ate and whether his mother was of Arabic origin.


The reconstruction of the fingerprint was the result of three years of research and could help attribute disputed paintings or manuscripts, said Luigi Capasso, an anthropologist and director of the Anthropology Research Institute at Chieti University in central Italy.


"It adds the first touch of humanity. We knew how Leonardo saw the world and the future ... but who was he? This biological information is about his being human, not being a genius," Capasso said in a recent telephone interview.

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Tags: pieced | Luigi | Chieti | Capasso | YEARS | telephone | research | PAINTINGS | matters | MANUSCRIPTS | information | Index | Genius | FINGERPRINT | disputed | Discovery | Director | da | BIOLOGICAL | being | attribute | artist | anthropologist | adds | VINCI | university | Reconstruct | LEONARDO | Italy | institute | EXPERTS | arabic | anthropology

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US unveils new citizenship test

The US government has unveiled a new citizenship test for immigrants which will focus on the concepts of democracy rather than on historical facts.


However, immigrant rights groups have rejected the new test, describing it as an anti-immigrant measure.


Officials said the aim was to encourage immigrants to learn about the country's civic values to become better citizens.


The new questions will be tried out on immigrant volunteer groups before being included in the new test.


The plans to revamp the citizenship exam were announced by the director of the US government's Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez.

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Hizballah's Rally Highlights the Government's Weakness

U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's grip on power is further eroded as hundreds of thousands in Beirut demand his ouster.


The Hizballah security teams — identifiable by their combat boots, black fatigues and beards — that gathered Friday morning in the suburbs of Beirut didn't need much of a pep talk to pump themselves up for their massive demonstration in Lebanon's capital. "If the leadership says march, we march; if they say die, we die," said one, who called himself Bakkir. Still, if they needed any reminder of why they were hitting the streets to bring down Lebanon's government, Bakkir and his buddies could look around at the bomb craters and crushed concrete from this summer's war with Israel. "[The government] betrayed us during the war with Israel," said Bakkir.

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Tags: identifiable | Bakkir | Thousands | teams | Suburbs | streets | Security | says | reminder | Pump | massive | march | leadership | hundreds | Hitting | grip | Government | gathered | fatigues | eroded | demonstration | demand | crushed | craters | concrete | combat | called | buddies | BOOTS | Bomb | Beards | weakness | Siniora | rally | Minister | Lebanon | Israel | Hizballah | Highlights | friday | Fouad | Beirut

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Famous Air Crash Victims - Part 2: Musicians

The pressures of punishing tour schedules can cause musicians to spend much of their life on the road. They can rack up a good few air miles too, and by the laws of probability alone we can expect to have lost a few in air accidents. But what talent we have lost! Songs such as 'In The Mood', 'That'll Be The Day', 'Chantilly Lace', 'La Bamba', 'Free Bird', '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay', 'Distant Drums', 'Annie's Song' and many others live on in our memories of these curtailed lives.

Glenn Miller

Many will associate memories of life during the the years of World War II with the music of Glenn Miller1 and his big band. Sixty years after his untimely death at the age of 40, his signature tunes continue to be instantly recognisable: 'In The Mood', Moonlight Serenade', 'Tuxedo Junction', 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' - the list goes on and on. Miller had developed a unique jazz sound which relied more on orchestration than improvisation, and it was a hit.

Miller, a US Air Force captain, was in high demand to entertain the troops during the conflict. In 1944 he relocated to London with his 24-piece dance band, and from there engaged in a busy schedule of concerts. It was on 15 December, 1944 that Miller and his pilot took a flight in a UC-64A Noorduyn Norseman from RAF Twinwood Farm, Bedfordshire to Paris, for a concert to celebrate its recent liberation by Allied forces. The aircraft never arrived, and no explanation has been found. One theory is that the plane was hit by RAF bombs jettisoned over the English Channel.

The Day The Music Died

Don McLean's 1971 hit 'American Pie', released 12 years after the event, was one of the many tributes to three young rock 'n' roll stars who perished on 3 February, 1959 at Clear Lake, Iowa, US, when their unnamed Beechcraft Bonanza crashed shortly after taking off in a snowstorm. The pilot, who was not qualified to fly in those conditions, was also killed.

Buddy Holly2 was only 22, but had already amassed a huge following on the back of hits such as 'That'll Be The Day', 'Peggy Sue', 'Oh Boy!' and 'Maybe Baby'. It was in the middle of a winter multi-act tour, and Holly had chartered the small plane to get him to the next show in Fargo, North Dakota ahead of time, being unhappy with conditions on the tour bus. The other two seats were originally earmarked for two of his new line-up Crickets backing band, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup, but the seats were cadged by two other performers: Mexican-American Ritchie Valens3, a 17-year-old whose hits 'La Bamba' and 'Donna' had catapulted him to fame, and 'The Big Bopper'4, originally a disc jockey at KTRM radio, Beaumont, Texas, before he sprang to fame with his inimitable version of 'Chantilly Lace'.

Patsy Cline

Another who died at the height of her career was the country music star Patsy Cline5. On 5 March, 1963, a Piper Comanche piloted by her manager, ferrying her and fellow stars Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas, crashed near Camden, Tennessee, en route to Nashville. As with Buddy Holly four years earlier, the pilot was not qualified to fly the plane on instruments, and lost control after running into a storm.

Patsy was 30 years old and the biggest-selling female country music singer of her day. In her short career she left a number of hits including 'I Fall To Pieces' and 'Crazy'.

Jim Reeves

Soft-voiced country and western singer Jim Reeves6 enjoyed a string of hit singles in the early 1960s, including 'He'll Have To Go', 'I Won't Forget You' and, following his death, the biggest-selling single of 1964, 'I Love You Because'. His songs continued to record posthumous success right through to the 1970s, perhaps the most memorable being the 1966 hit 'Distant Drums'.

On 31 July, 1964, Reeves was piloting a Beechcraft 35-B33 Debonair returning from Batesville, Arkansas to Nashville, Tennessee, when he ran into a thunderstorm. As was the case with the pilots in charge of the planes which killed Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline, Reeves was not qualified to fly on instruments. Two days later, the wreckage was found in dense woods ten miles south of Nashville. Reeves and his manager Dean Manuel were both killed. Coincidentally, both Reeves and Patsy Cline's pilot were trained by the same instructor.

Otis Redding

Black American soul singer Otis Redding7 will forever be remembered for the haunting '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay', recorded three days before and released shortly after his untimely death at the age of 26, on 10 December, 1967.

Following a concert in Madison, Wisconsin, Redding and his backing band, the Bar-Kays boarded a brand new Beechcraft H18 and took off in foggy conditions for Cleveland, Ohio. It remains a mystery exactly how, four miles into the flight, the aircraft spun and crashed into the icy waters of Lake Monona. One of the band survived, but the other five on board lost their lives.

Jim Croce

Only 30 at the time of his death was US singer-songwriter Jim Croce8, best known for his hits 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown', and the posthumously-released 'I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song'.

Following a concert on 20 September, 1973 at Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana, Croce and his entourage boarded a Beechcraft E18S. Sadly, all six on board died after the pilot failed to gain altitude on take-off and clipped a tree at the end of the runway. These included Croce's guitarist, manager and publicist.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd9 were the undisputed kings of Southern Rock, producing five best-selling studio albums between 1973 and 1977, as well as the hit singles 'Free Bird' and 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Formed by Ronnie Van Zant in 1964 from friends and schoolmates in Jacksonville, Florida, the band was at its peak when on a tour of the southern states of the USA on 20 October, 1977.

En route between Greenville, South Carolina and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, their Convair CV-300 developed an engine problem, and started consuming excessive fuel. Eventually running low, the plane crash-landed in woodland near Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing six of the 26 aboard and seriously injuring many of the rest. Sadly, the dead included three band members: vocalist Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and Steve's sister and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines.

Randy Rhoads

Heavy Metal guitarist Randy Rhoads10, a member of Ozzy Osbourne's band, was 25 years old when he died in a bizarre air accident. On 19 March, 1982, the band were on their way to a festival in Orlando, Florida and had stopped over at the house of the tourbus driver Andrew Aycock. Early in the morning, while the band were sleeping on the bus, Rhoads and the band's hairdresser were invited for a ride in a Beechcraft Bonanza F35 by Aycock. Whether or not they knew that Aycock's licence had expired or that he had taken the plane without permission, or that he had taken cocaine is not recorded. Four times the plane attempted to 'buzz' the bus. On the fourth pass, one of the wings clipped it, and the plane embedded itself into a nearby house. None of the plane's passengers survived.

Ricky Nelson

Rock 'n' roll teen idol Ricky Nelson11 was second only to Elvis Presley in popularity and commercial success at the peak of his career in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His string of hit singles included 'Hello Mary Lou' and 'It's Late'.

Nelson's career, and indeed his life was somewhat on the slide in the 1980s, when he started touring again on the 'nostalgia circuit'. On 31 December, 1985, on his way to a New Year's Eve concert in Dallas, Texas, the Douglas DC-3 in which Nelson and the band were flying caught fire, probably through a faulty cabin heater, and the cockpit and cabin filled with smoke. Crashing in a field near De Kalb, Texas, both pilots survived, but Nelson, his fiancée and his backing band all lost their lives.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Eric Clapton sang 'Born Under A Bad Sign' with Cream in 1968, and he's suffered more than his fair share of life's misfortunes. One such event was the untimely death of fellow blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan12 on 27 August, 1990. Following a blues concert featuring Clapton, Vaughan, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray in East Troy, Wisconsin, the band were set to return to Chicago. As well as on the tour bus, a number of seats were available on helicopters, and Vaughan obtained a seat on a Bell BHT-206B, replacing his brother Jimmie. It was foggy, and the pilot failed to gain enough altitude to clear the hill at the Alpine Valley Resort, crashing on a ski slope. All five on board died: the pilot, Vaughan and three of Clapton's crew.

John Denver

One of the biggest-selling artists of the 1970s, John Denver13 wrote and recorded a number of memorable, almost poetic songs which struck a chord with the record-buying public. Notable among these were 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', 'Sunshine On My Shoulders', 'Annie's Song' and 'Thank God I'm A Country Boy'. His musical career had largely peaked in the 1970s, but he went on to become active in politics and humanitarian work.

Denver was 53 years old when he lost his life, solo-piloting his Rutan Long EZ on 12 October, 1997 off Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California. Denver was unfamiliar with the aircraft, and lost control while trying to operate a fuel transfer switch. In addition, he was not medically qualified to fly, having had his certificate revoked in 1996 by the FAA14 after it had learned of Denver's drink problem.

Aaliyah

Rising star of R&B, Aaliyah15 was only 22 years old at the time of her death, yet had been recording albums since she was discovered by hip-hop producer R Kelly at the age of 14. She had also broken into movies, most notably starring in Queen Of The Damned.

On 25 August, 2001, Aaliyah was one of nine passengers in a Cessna 402B chartered by Virgin Records, returning from Marsh Harbour, Bahamas to Miami, after shooting a video for her new single 'Rock The Boat'. They didn't get far; the plane crashed in flames at the end of the runway, killing all nine. Investigations later showed that the plane was overloaded by 700lbs and was only licensed to carry eight. In addition, the pilot was unqualified, and tested positively for cocaine and alcohol.

Honourable Mentions

§ Paul Jeffreys - Cockney Rebel's bass player, 33, and his new wife Rachel were among 259 killed on 21 December, 1988 when Pan American flight 103, a Boeing 747, was bombed by Libyan terrorists and crashed at Lockerbie, Scotland.

§ Stan Rogers - On 2 June, 1983, the Canadian folk singer, 33, was on his way home to Toronto from the Kerrville Folk Festival, Texas on Air Canada flight 797, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32. During the flight a mysterious fire began in the rear lavatory, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Cincinnati, Ohio. When the doors were opened to evacuate the passengers, the influx of air caused a flash fire, which killed 23, including Rogers, who lost his life attempting to rescue other passengers.

The Classical World

§ Ginette Neveu - The French virtuoso violinist, 30, and her pianist accompanist brother Jean-Paul were flying to the US for a concert tour on 28 October, 1949. Approaching San Miguel Island in the Azores for a scheduled stop-over, the Air France Lockheed Constellation twice aborted the landing before flying into a mountainside. All 48 on board were killed. These also included French champion boxer Marcel Cerdan, who was flying to New York to fight Jake LaMotta.

§ Jacques Thibaud - Four years later, on 1 September, 1953, another Air France Lockheed Constellation crashed on landing, while carrying another celebrated French violinist. This time it was 73-year old Jacques Thibaud - one of 42 who died when their plane crashed into Mt Cemet in the French Alps on the final approach to Nice. Thibeau was en route to French Indochina16. Not surprisingly, the irreplaceable Strad violins of both Neveu and Thibeau were destroyed.


1 Born Alton Glenn Miller on 1 March, 1904 in Clarinda, Iowa, USA.
2 Born Charles Hardin Holley, 7 September, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas, USA.
3 Born Richard Steven Valenzuela, 13 May, 1941 in Pacoima, Los Angeles, USA. He is not to be confused with Ricky Valance of 'Tell Laura I Love Her' fame, although this name adopted by David Spencer from Ynysddu, South Wales was no accident.
4 Born Jiles Perry Richardson Jr on 24 October, 1930 in Sabine Pass, Texas, USA.
5 Born Virginia Patterson Hensley, 8 September, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia, USA.
6 Born James Travis Reeves, 20 August, 1923 in Galloway, Texas, USA.
7 Born Otis Ray Redding, Jr on 9 September, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, USA.
8 Born James Joseph Croce on 10 January, 1943 in South Philadelphia, USA.
9 Pronounced 'Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd', as their 1973 debut album tells us.
10 Born Randall William Rhoads, 6 December, 1956 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
11 Born Eric Hilliard Nelson, on 8 May, 1940 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA.
12 Born Stephen Ray Vaughan on 3 October, 1954 in Dallas, Texas, USA.
13 Born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr on 31 December, 1943 in Roswell, New Mexico, USA.
14 Federal Aviation Administration.
15 Born Aaliyah Dana Houghton on 16 January, 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
16 French Indochina is the region occupied today by Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

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US unveils new citizenship test


Emilio San Pedro
BBC News, Miami

The US government has unveiled a new citizenship test for immigrants which will focus on the concepts of democracy rather than on historical facts.

However, immigrant rights groups have rejected the new test, describing it as an anti-immigrant measure.

Officials said the aim was to encourage immigrants to learn about the country's civic values to become better citizens.

The new questions will be tried out on immigrant volunteer groups before being included in the new test.

The plans to revamp the citizenship exam were announced by the director of the US government's Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez.

Mr Gonzalez says those who want to become US citizens should not be allowed to do so by simply rattling off historical facts they have memorised but should show a passion for the country of which they are becoming an integral part. The new questions will require those taking the exam to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the American political system and its history.


NEW TEST QUESTIONS
Why does the United States have three branches of government?
Name two rights that are only for US citizens
Name two cabinet-level positions
Name one important idea found in the Declaration of Independence
What does the Constitution do?

Prospective citizens will, for example, be asked to explain the conditions which led to the US civil war - unlike the current test in which they simply have to answer that it freed the slaves.

However, immigrant rights groups have raised serious concerns about the new test which they say is an anti-immigrant measure which simply aims to make it harder for immigrants to become US citizens.

And, the fact is that most of the eight million immigrants who already meet the necessary basic requirements for citizenship are for the most part native Spanish speakers.

That will, no doubt, make it difficult for them to explain complicated concepts related to the US political system in English - a language of which many of them have little more than a basic command.

Story from BBC NEWS:

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Hizballah's Rally Highlights the Government's Weakness


b
U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's grip on power is further eroded as hundreds of thousands in Beirut demand his ouster
.

The Hizballah security teams — identifiable by their combat boots, black fatigues and beards — that gathered Friday morning in the suburbs of Beirut didn't need much of a pep talk to pump themselves up for their massive demonstration in Lebanon's capital. "If the leadership says march, we march; if they say die, we die," said one, who called himself Bakkir. Still, if they needed any reminder of why they were hitting the streets to bring down Lebanon's government, Bakkir and his buddies could look around at the bomb craters and crushed concrete from this summer's war with Israel. "[The government] betrayed us during the war with Israel," said Bakkir.

The battle for control of Lebanon that began in earnest with Friday's rally by hundreds of thousands of protesters in downtown Beirut is an aftershock of that war. Again and again, the packed crowd, the speakers on the podium in Riadh Al Solh Square, and the martial anthems played on a gigantic stereo system sounded the same theme, accusing the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of collaborating with Israel and the United States in their plans to redraw the map of the Middle East and bomb Hizballah into submission. Put simply by a Shi'ite schoolgirl from Baalbek: "This is an Israeli government and we want to make it fall."

The opposition may be exaggerating Siniora's ties to the United States, not to mention Israel. After all, Siniora did all he could to press his friends in Washington to demand an immediate cease-fire, but his pleas went unheeded. In what was perceived as a green light for Israel to continue its campaign in pursuit of a military victory over Hizballah, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice memorably told the Lebanese they were suffering "the birth pangs of a New Middle East."

Where 2006 began with similar demonstrations against the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that ultimately forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in the "Cedar Revolution," the year appears to be ending with the streets — and the political momentum — very much back in the hands of Syria's allies. But nobody was talking about Syria on Friday; their concerns were the Lebanese government, and its backers, real and perceived.

Police officials estimated the crowd at about 800,000 people while, Hizballah claimed a cool million — about one quarter of the country's population. Either way, the event bore Hizballah's signature organizational flair. It's security personnel, as many as 10,000 of them, lined up at every major intersection to prevent supporters from becoming too enthusiastic, or infiltrators from stirring up trouble. Marchers came from all over the country, many of them determined to stay in Beirut until the government collapses. Hizballah politicians promised an open-ended and escalating series of civil actions, from strikes at key national institutions to a moratorium on paying sales taxes and electricity bills. "We withstood 34 days war with Israeli," said former Hizballah MP Mohmmed Berjawi. "We can stay here as long as it takes."

The suffering inflicted by the Israeli bombing campaign, and the fact that Hizballah's fighting forces emerged intact to claim a "Divine Victory" left Siniora's government — and all Lebanese moderates associated with the U.S. — politically vulnerable. In negotiating a cease-fire, Siniora signed off on a U.S.-sponsored Security Council Resolution requiring the disarmament of Hizballah. That agreement may turn out to be the downfall of the Siniora government.

Hizballah is demanding the formation of a new government in which its opposition bloc would have effective veto power. And it's certainly hard to see how Siniora can carry on with much authority after Friday's show of strength by his opposition.

Equally ominous for Siniora would have been the sight of so many Lebanese Christians joining forces with Hizballah's Shi'ite base. Followers of Maronite Christian leader General Michel Aoun formed a colorful stream that flowed into the out of Christian East Beirut and into the crowd at the rally, dressed in their trademark orange. Aoun, who has presidential ambitions, formed an alliance with Hizballah that has split Lebanon's large Christian population, which has historically had strong ties to the U.S. and the West.

Looming unseen in the background, as always, is the 800 pound gorilla of Lebanon's political system: Hizballah's armed military wing, which has a weapons and capacity far beyond what any other political party or even the Lebanese army could muster. Hizballah has promised that all its actions will be peaceful. "We save our weapons for fighting Israel," according to Bakkir. But any Lebanese politician that tries to get between Hizballah and its guns will likely go the way of the Phoenicans and the Romans.

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Experts Reconstruct Leonardo da Vinci's Fingerprint


MARTA FALCONI,

AP

Anthropologists said they have pieced together Leonardo da Vinci's left index fingerprint -- a discovery that could help provide information on such matters as the food the artist ate and whether his mother was of Arabic origin.

The reconstruction of the fingerprint was the result of three years of research and could help attribute disputed paintings or manuscripts, said Luigi Capasso, an anthropologist and director of the Anthropology Research Institute at Chieti University in central Italy.

"It adds the first touch of humanity. We knew how Leonardo saw the world and the future ... but who was he? This biological information is about his being human, not being a genius," Capasso said in a recent telephone interview.

The research was based on a first core of photographs of about 200 fingerprints - most of them partial - taken from about 52 papers handled by Leonardo during his lifetime. Capasso's work, presented in 2005 in a magazine called Anthropologie published in the Czech Republic, is on display in an exhibition in Chieti through March 30.

The artist often ate while working, and Capasso and other experts said his fingerprints could include traces of saliva, blood or the food he ate the previous night. It is information that could help clear up questions about his origins.

Certain distinctive features are more common in the fingerprints of some ethnic populations, experts say.

"The one we found in this fingertip applies to 60 percent of the Arabic population, which suggests the possibility that his mother was of Middle Eastern origin," Capasso said.

The idea that Leonardo's mother could have been a slave who came to Tuscany from Constantinople - the city now called Istanbul - is not new.

Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo expert and the director of a museum dedicated to the artist in his hometown of Vinci, said there are documents that appear to back this up.

"This coincides with documented indications that she was Oriental, at least from the Mediterranean area, not a peasant of Vinci," he said.

Vezzosi, who manages the archive of documents Capasso used for his study, warned that her origin cannot be determined with any certainty until a contract documenting her sale is found.
"Still, her name was Caterina, the most common name among slaves in Tuscany, and we have no certain elements about her," he said.

The experts say some of the fingerprints left on the manuscripts might belong to the people who handled them over time. However, those caused by attempts to remove ink blots were surely left by the author, Capasso said.

Biological information on Leonardo is largely incomplete. The artist, who was generally but not exclusively left-handed, used his fingers to paint, and his thumbprint recurs on the manuscripts, Vezzosi said.

Leonardo sometimes worked while eating or traveling, and his fingers were often dirty, sometimes with the residue of food, Vezzosi said.

Carlo Vecce, a professor of Italian literature and a leading Leonardo expert, said the research - in which he was not involved - appears to be "founded."

"The research on Leonardo's fingerprints is very interesting. It's always good to locate and distinguish these details both on the paintings and on the drawings," he said. "The fingerprints can tell us if Leonardo was there or if he intervened (on a painting); it's a hint."

Vecce noted, however, that a fingerprint is not enough proof to attribute a work with certainty, and such a discovery does not necessarily add much to what is known about the artist.

"It give us the illusion of a contact with the genius," he said. "But the most important things about Leonardo are those that concern his intellectual activity, those that we get by reading his words or interpreting what he wrote."

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1,600-Year-Old Roman Coffin Found in London

Archaeologists discovered a rare Roman limestone sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton at the site of a historic London church, authorities said Friday.

The find dates to about 410 A.D. and lay 10 feet below the
grounds of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church near central
London's busy Trafalgar Square, outside the boundaries researchers
had established for London's Roman city walls.


"The find has opened up an exciting new area of Roman London
for study," said Taryn Nixon, director of the Museum of London
Archaeology Service.


Excavators and archaeological teams discovered 24 medieval
burial sites in the area above and around the Roman sarcophagus
during work on the church grounds this summer. The discovery lies
in view of the National Gallery art museum and the square, which is
often congested with tourists.


The sarcophagus was made from a single piece of limestone from
Oxfordshire or Northamptonshire, about 60 miles northwest of
London, researchers said. The skeleton, headless and missing
fingers, is a 5-foot-6-inch male who died in his 40s. Researchers
speculated that Victorian workmen building a sewer stumbled upon
the sarcophagus and took the head.


The site is about a mile west of the boundary of Roman London
established by researchers, said Roman history expert Hedley Swain.


Archaeologists made two similar finds in London during the 1970s
and once at Westminster Abbey during the 19th century.

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Tags: skeleton | Site | SARCOPHAGUS | rare | limestone | historic | headless | grounds | discovered | containing | church | authorities | Year-Old | roman | London | COFFIN | archaeology

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Was Soldier's Coffin on Airport Luggage Cart?

The Army is investigating a woman's claim that a soldier's flag-draped casket was placed in an airport baggage cart with other luggage while being transferred between airline flights.

"The Army is always concerned with treating all of our fallen
comrades' remains with the utmost dignity and respect," spokesman
Lt. Col. Kevin Arata said in a statement Thursday.


Cynthia Hoag, 56, a former Army reservist, said she was waiting
for a flight at Rochester's airport on Oct. 27 when she saw the
coffin taken off a commercial flight along with passengers'
luggage. A uniformed soldier accompanied the coffin as it was
placed in a baggage cart and transported to another flight, she
said.


"At the very least, couldn't there have been a hearse to
transport the fallen soldier?" Hoag asked in an essay in Tuesday's
Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. "At the very least, couldn't
there have been a group of soldiers to receive one of their own?


"It was a very sobering, sad experience for all of us," wrote
Hoag, who said she witnessed the episode from a terminal window
while waiting for a flight along with her sister-in-law and two
friends. "Please don't let this happen again to any soldier. Let's
not treat our fallen troops like baggage."


Her account prompted Monroe County's executive, Maggie Brooks,
to write a letter of her own to the Pentagon, asking it to change
the policy for transporting the coffins of war casualties.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Cynthia Smith, said Hoag's description
doesn't correlate with military procedure.


Remains of soldiers killed in Iraq are taken to Dover Air Force
Base in Delaware, then usually flown to a soldier's home, Smith
said. Military escorts accompany each flight and when a casket
reaches the home area, it is met by an honor guard of two people
and then transported to a funeral home, she said.


Airport director David Damelio disputed Hoag's claims, saying a
coffin wouldn't fit into a cart loaded with luggage.


Calls to Hoag's home in Dansville, 50 miles south of Rochester,
went unanswered Thursday.

source

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Food-aceuticals: Drink - and Eat - to Your Health

Every day there seems to be another story touting the amazing health benefits found in everyday foods. Is the recipe for better health found in the pantry instead of the medicine cabinet?


From omega-3 fatty acids to flavonoids, the ingredients in foods you eat every day may be potent weapons in the battle against disease.


Once-forbidden foods like chocolate, nuts, and wine made headlines in 2004 for their potentially healthy benefits, and new research suggests that the key to avoiding heart disease or cancer may be found in the cupboard rather than the medicine cabinet.


But the secret may not lie in a single wonder food. Instead, researchers say that variety may really be the spice of (long) life. To get your plate in order, WebMD asked the experts for their top picks from this year's newsmakers.

source

Tags: pantry | flavonoids | Food-aceuticals | wine | weapons | variety | touting | suggests | spice | seems | research | recipe | potentially | potent | nuts | medicine | ingredients | Health | headlines | fatty | everyday | disease | Cupboard | chocolate | cancer | Cabinet | benefits | battle | Avoiding | amazing | acids

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Today in history - Dec. 2

Today is Saturday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2006. There are 29 days left in the year.


Today's Highlight in History:


On Dec. 2, 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Wisconsin Republican Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct that "tends to bring the Senate into disrepute."


On this date:


In 1804, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France.


In 1823, President Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

source

Tags: VOTED | tends | conduct | Condemn | artificial | Wisconsin | Utah | university | senate | salvador | republican | MONROE | mccarthy | JOSEPH | hungary | France | el salvador | Dec | Chicago | budapest

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Today in history - Dec. 2


The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2006. There are 29 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 2, 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Wisconsin Republican Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct that "tends to bring the Senate into disrepute."

On this date:

In 1804, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France.

In 1823, President Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., the previous October.

In 1906, 100 years ago, Peter C. Goldmark, father of the long-playing phonograph record, was born in Budapest, Hungary.

In 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time, at the University of Chicago.

In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus.

In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped, murdered and buried outside San Salvador, El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.)

In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.

In 1991, American hostage Joseph Cicippio, held captive in Lebanon for more than five years, was released.

In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

Ten years ago: Financier Charles Keating Jr., a central figure in the most notorious savings and loan debacle of the 1980s, won a new federal trial because jurors had learned of his prior fraud conviction in state court before convicting him of fraud and racketeering. (In 1999, Keating made a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to four fraud counts and was sentenced to 50 months in prison — time he had already served.)

Five years ago: In one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history, Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection. A bomb went off aboard a bus in Haifa, killing 15 Israelis, a day after two suicide bombers killed 11 bystanders in Jerusalem. Nicolas Escude gave France its ninth Davis Cup, defeating Australian Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 in the deciding fifth match.

One year ago: North Carolina inmate Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th person executed since the U.S. resumed capital punishment in 1977. Singapore executed a Vietnamese-born Australian heroin trafficker (Nguyen Tuong Van) despite a warning by Australian Prime Minister John Howard that the hanging would sour relations between the two countries.

Today's Birthdays: Character actor Bill Erwin is 92. Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig is 82. Actress Julie Harris is 81. Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 75. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is 67. Actress Cathy Lee Crosby is 62. Movie director Penelope Spheeris is 61. Country singer John Wesley Ryles is 56. Actor Keith Szarabajka is 54. Actor Dan Butler is 52. NBC news broadcaster Stone Phillips is 52. Actor Dennis Christopher is 51. Actor Steven Bauer is 50. Country singer Joe Henry is 46. Rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) is 46. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Tracy Austin is 44. Rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) is 38. Actress Rena Sofer is 38. Rock singer Jimi HaHa (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 38. Actress Lucy Liu is 38. Rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature) is 36. Tennis player Monica Seles is 33. Singer Nelly Furtado is 28. Singer Britney Spears is 25. Actresses Deanna and Daniella Canterman ("Maybe It's Me") are 14.

Thought for Today: "When we cannot find contentment in ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere." — Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, French author (1613-1680).

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