People who look young for their age ‘live longer’

People blessed with youthful faces are more likely to live to a ripe old age than those who look more than their years, work shows.

Danish scientists say appearance alone can predict survival, after they studied 387 pairs of twins.

The researchers asked nurses, trainee teachers and peers to guess the age of the twins from mug shots.

Those rated younger-looking tended to outlive their older-looking sibling, the British Medical Journal reports.

Survival advantage

The researchers also found a plausible biological explanation for their results.

Key pieces of DNA called telomeres, which indicate the ability of cells to replicate, are also linked to how young a person looks..
… Continue Reading

Italy’s PM Silvio Berlusconi is bloodied by attack

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is recovering in hospital after an assault left his face covered in blood following a rally in Milan.

He suffered two broken teeth, a minor nose fracture and cuts to his lip after being struck by a man wielding a souvenir model of the city’s cathedral.

Mr Berlusconi, 73, tried to assure supporters afterwards he was OK.

The alleged attacker, who has a history of mental illness, has been charged with throwing the souvenir.

Massimo Tartaglia, 42, had no previous criminal record, police were quoted as saying.

After the attack on Sunday evening the prime minister, looking dazed, was helped to his feet by aides and put in a car. He got out and tried to climb on the car to show he was all right, before being driven away.

It was a typical show of defiance by a political fighter, says the BBC’s Duncan Kennedy in Rome.

Mr Berlusconi insisted he was well at the hospital.
… Continue Reading

Octopus snatches coconut and runs

An octopus and its coconut-carrying antics have surprised scientists.

Underwater footage reveals that the creatures scoop up halved coconut shells before scampering away with them so they can later use them as shelters.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team says it is the first example of tool use in octopuses.

One of the researchers, Dr Julian Finn from Australia’s Museum Victoria, told BBC News: “I almost drowned laughing when I saw this the first time.”

He added: “I could tell it was going to do something, but I didn’t expect this – I didn’t expect it would pick up the shell and run away with it.”

Quick getaway

The veined octopuses (Amphioctopus marginatus) were filmed between 1999 and 2008 off the coasts of Northern Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia. The bizarre behaviour was spotted on four occasions.

The eight-armed beasts used halved coconuts that had been discarded by humans and had eventually settled in the ocean.
… Continue Reading

Obama tells US banks to lend more and not oppose reform

US President Barack Obama has told bankers to increase loans to small and medium-size businesses.

The president was speaking after a meeting – which he described as “candid” – with executives of some of America’s top banks.

President Obama said US banks had received extraordinary assistance and demanded they show extraordinary commitment to rebuild the US economy.

He also warned their lobbyists not to block moves for regulatory reform.

Monday’s meeting with executives from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, among others, came a day after the president said he had not run for office to help out “a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street”.
… Continue Reading

Ohio carries out first US execution by single injection

Ohio has become the first US state to carry out an execution with a single-drug injection instead of the usual combination of three drugs.

Kenneth Biros, 51, was put to death after the US Supreme Court denied his final appeal.

Biros had been convicted of the murder of a 22-year-old woman in 1991.

The new method was introduced because of concerns that prisoners could suffer extreme pain if the first of the usual three drugs failed to work effectively.

Critics say the method – which uses a dose of thiopental sodium and can take twice as long to take effect – is human experimentation. US justice officials deny this.

‘Experimental use’

Biros was pronounced dead about 10 minutes after the injection was administered, the Associated Press news agency reports. On average, death took seven minutes under the previous method in Ohio.
… Continue Reading

US Gen Stanley McChrystal backs US surge in Afghanistan

The top US commander in Afghanistan has said there are “no silver bullets” for success there, but the troop surge will help reverse the Taliban’s momentum.

Testifying to US Congress, Gen Stanley McChrystal said President Barack Obama’s deployment of 30,000 extra troops meant success was possible.

He said the next 18 months would be crucial, but that he did not expect to need more troops to get the job done.

But Gen McChrystal warned the Afghan mission was “undeniably difficult”.

He said coalition forces faced “a complex and resilient insurgency” and that Afghans lacked confidence in their government.

“Success will require steadfast commitment and incur significant costs,” he told the House Armed Services Committee.
… Continue Reading

US to regulate greenhouse gas emissions

The US government has declared that greenhouse gases threaten human health.

The move could allow the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to order cuts in emissions without the approval of Congress.

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency was now “authorised and obligated to make reasonable efforts” to cut greenhouse gases.

The news came as global climate talks got under way in Copenhagen aimed at forging a deal on major emissions cuts.

Ms Jackson said that the scientific evidence surrounding climate change clearly showed that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of the American people”.

She said the EPA’s so-called endangerment finding would “cement 2009′s place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution”.

Reports suggest the announcement, which had been in the pipeline for months, was timed to add weight to US President Barack Obama’s position at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, allowing him to argue that the US is taking action to combat global warming.
… Continue Reading

India beat Sri Lanka by an innings to top Test rankings

Third Test, Mumbai, day five:
India 726-9 declared beat Sri Lanka 393 and 309 by an innings and 24 runs

India have become the world’s top-ranked Test team for the first time after beating Sri Lanka in the third Test by an innings and 24 runs.

Sri Lanka, resuming on 274-6, were bowled out for 309 as Zaheer Khan took three of the final four wickets.

The 2-0 series win moves India above South Africa in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings.

“I would not hesitate to say this is the best team I have ever played with,” said India star Sachin Tendulkar.

“If you look at the batting line-up, right from the number one batsman to the number seven batsman which is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, it’s a solid line-up.”

Needing 60 runs to make India bat again, Sri Lanka lost Kumar Sangakkara caught behind off Zaheer in the fifth day’s opening over.
… Continue Reading

Guinea’s leader ‘shot and wounded by aide’

Guinea’s military leader has been fired on by one of his aides in the capital, Conakry, a government spokesman says.

Officials said Capt Moussa Dadis Camara had been injured in the shooting, but his exact condition is not known.

Communication Minister Idrissa Cherif said Capt Camara was “doing well”. He named aide-de-camp Aboubacar “Toumba” Diakite as being behind the attack.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Senegal has sent a medical plane to evacuate Capt Camara, Senegalese officials said.

“Senegal has sent a medical plane to Conakry to bring Dadis to Dakar,” the official said, quoted by AFP news agency.

“He is injured. We don’t know the degree and the nature of his injury.”

Mr Cherif said Capt Camara, who took power in a bloodless coup last year, was at a military camp when the shooting occurred.

Reports from the city said gunfire broke out at about 1900 GMT, near a radio station and a base of the presidential guard.
… Continue Reading

China: Labor crunch in land of 1.3 billion

Yiwu, China (CNN) — There are 1.3 billion people in China, and millions upon millions live here in the nation’s industrial south.

Yet an increasingly common sight in this manufacturing city are “Help Wanted” signs.

The southern industrial base of China was hardest hit by the economic crisis, forcing many factories to shut down or lay off workers. When business bounced back with Christmas-related orders, manufacturers such as Fang Bo had a new problem on his hands — getting his workers back.

Bo said many workers — often immigrants from rural areas — left the city, never to return. Conversations with other factory managers tell a similar tale, with some forced to go into the hinterlands of China to attract workers back to their plants.
… Continue Reading