89,000 illegal pilgrims returned

(BATKHELA-MOVIES)JEDDAH: The Passport Department has sent back 89,000 people who were traveling to Makkah without Haj permit, majority of them were locals, while others belonged to different countries including Pakistan.

The passport officials also arrested 1,600 overstayed and those who violated residence regulations or attempting to sneak in with forged permits, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

There are 16 passport checkpoints around Makkah and four in Madinah region.

In a related development, the police prevented the entry of 4,158 vehicles and sent them back because the passengers did not carry Haj permits until Thursday evening, a statement of the Makkah police said in Mina.

Saudi department has banned passenger vehicles with less than 25 seats from entering into Makkah, anyone violating will be slapped a penalty of 1500 to 5000 Riyals besides confiscation of the vehicle. 

MQM-PPP meeting: No progress on LG system

(BATKHELA-MOVIES) KARACHI: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) failed to make any progress regarding a new ordinance for local government system during a meeting at the Chief Minister's House, Geo News reported Friday.

The meeting was attended, among others, by PPP ministers Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq, Agha Siraj Durrani, Muhammad Ayaz Soomro and Rafique Engineer. 

The MQM side was represented by ministers Syed Sardar Ahmed and Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Rabita Committee member Wasay Jaleel and Member of the National Assembly Wasim Akhtar.

The local government ordinance is set to lapse on November 6 (Saturday), and it is not known yet whether a new ordinance will be promulgated or a session of the provincial assembly will be summoned.

Mumbai attacks: Pak ready to send judicial commission

(BATKHELA-MOVIES)

NEW DELHI: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik met Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram and told him that Pakistan was ready to send a judicial commission to India to probe the Mumbai attacks. The decision to send the judicial commission was made during interior secretary level talks between Pakistan and India. The Pakistani judicial commission will record statements of the investigating officer of the Mumbai attacks and the magistrate who recorded Ajmal Kasab’s statement.

India welcomes Pak decision to grant MFN status: Singh

(BATKHELA-MOVIES)CANNES: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s decision to grant India ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) status. 

Singh said Pakistan should have granted India MFN status years earlier and that he had advised this 17 years ago. 

Earlier on Friday the Foreign Office clarified that Pakistan had not backtracked on granting Indian ‘MFN’ status. 

Secrecy surrounds new James Bond movie 'Skyfall'

(BATKHELA-MOVIES) LONDON: Daniel Craig will be back dodging bullets and vanquishing villains from China to Turkey in the 23rd installment of the James Bond film franchise, but the stars and director of "Skyfall" are keeping the who, what and how under wraps for now.

As previously announced, Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes directs his first Bond adventure, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2012 when Skyfall is released.

One of the few details Mendes revealed to more than 100 reporters from around the world at the film's London press launch were his cast and the locations of the blockbuster, which starts production on Monday.

Bond regulars Craig and Judi Dench, as his stern spymaster M, return to their roles, Spanish actor Javier Bardem plays the villain and French actress Berenice Marlohe and Britain's Naomie Harris are Bond girls.

All five were at the press briefing, where they were joined by Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson.

In addition, Mendes said the latest installment in one of cinema's longest and most successful film franchises will feature Ben Whishaw "who will be playing a part I can't tell you about in scenes I can tell you nothing about.

"And Albert Finney, who will also be playing a part I can tell you nothing about in scenes that I can't really tell you about and Ralph Fiennes, who, similarly, I can give you very little information about."

Asked whether he had not named all of the characters the leading actors would be playing because Bond fans might recognize them, the "American Beauty" director replied: "They might do. On the other hand they might not."

What producers have confirmed is that Skyfall will take Bond on another action-packed mission to London, Shanghai, Istanbul and Scotland.

A press release gave a brief plot outline, saying Bond's loyalty to M is tested "as her past comes back to haunt her.

"As MI6 (British intelligence) comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost." (Reuters)

More evidence obesity tied to colon cancer

 (BATKHELA-MOVIES)ENGLAND: Older adults who are heavy, especially around the middle, seem to have a higher risk of developing colon cancer than their thinner peers - and exercise may lower the incidence of the disease, especially for women, a European study said.

More than 120,000 adults in the Netherlands aged 55 to 69 were followed for 16 years by the study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

During that time, about two percent developed colorectal cancer, tumors of the colon and/or rectum, though most were diagnosed with colon cancer.

The risk was 25 percent higher for men who were significantly overweight or obese at the outset, versus normal-weight men. (Reuters)

Mars crew "lands" after 520 days in isolation

 (BATKHELA-MOVIES)MOSCOW: Pale-faced but smiling, the crew of a long-duration isolation study emerged bleary-eyed to daylight and applause Friday after 520 days locked away in windowless, cramped cells to simulate the length of a journey to Mars.

The $15 million Mars500 experiment aims to answer one of the big unknowns of deep-space travel: can people stay healthy and sane during six months rocketing to the Red Planet?

The six male volunteers were allowed to briefly embrace family and friends before being ushered into a three-day quarantine period at the end of an experiment to recreate the psychological strain of a real Mars mission as closely as possible.

Clothed in blue jumpsuits, the would-be astronauts from Europe, Russia and China grinned and waved as the heavy metal door was shut on their home of the last 17 months in a mock spaceship at a Moscow research institute.

"It's really, really great to see you all again, rather heartwarming," said Diego Urbina, an Italian-Colombian participant, who was shaky and red-eyed.

"On this mission we've achieved the longest isolation ever so that humankind can go to a distant but reachable planet."

Psychologists fear a return to the noise and activity of ordinary life will come as a shock to the men.

"Time seems to have flown by since we closed the hatch last year. But how time really felt to the crew we'll soon know. Probably we'll have a very big difference of opinion," said Igor Ushakov, head of the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems, which runs the "spaceship."

The crew were firmly anchored by gravity, despite the pretence of long months shuttling through space. But that did not stop them from feeling thousands of miles from home.

"I really felt a physical distance between our crew and the people in Mission Control. My reason knows that they're just 20 m (65 ft) away from us but my mind can't accept it," Frenchman Romain Charles wrote to Reuters on the eve of his return.

The men have fed on rations like those of real astronauts, rarely showered, taken daily urine and blood samples all while under 24-hour surveillance everywhere but in the toilets, earning the study comparisons to a reality TV show

Hajj 2011: Pilgrims arriving in Mina today

(BATKHELA-MOVIES)MAKKAH: Around 2.5 million Muslims are arriving today in Mina for the Hajj rites that begin Friday, leaving Saudi authorities with a daunting security and safety challenge.

The main hajj rites start on the 8th of Zil Hajj, the 12th month on the Islamic lunar calendar and whose name means the month of hajj. Pilgrims camp in Mina, around five kilometres east of Khana Kaaba. The day is known as Tarwiah (watering) Day, as pilgrims traditionally watered their animals and stocked water for their trip to Mount Arafat, some 10 kilometres southeast of Mina.

Saudi authorities have mobilised some 100,000 security and civil defence personnel to insure a smooth pilgrimage and avoid deadly incidents.

"We will mobilise all our means to prevent any harm against any pilgrim or any group of pilgrims," Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who recently became the crown prince of the Muslim kingdom said on Tuesday.

He made the remark during an inspection tour of hajj preparations as anti-riot and anti-terrorism police paraded in front of the kingdom's internal security czar as police and rescue helicopters hovered overhead.

The hajj rituals will begin from Friday and peak on Saturday when all pilgrims assemble in the Arafat plain outside Mecca, and end with Eid-ul-Azha, which will be celebrated on Sunday.

Around 1.7 million Muslims are due to descent on Makkah from around the world while between 700,000 and 800,000 pilgrims will be coming from inside Saudi Arabia.

Suicide attack, gunfight near Afghan airport

HEART:(BATKHELA-MOVIES)Two attackers were exchanging fire with Afghan troops after a suicide bombing near Herat airport in the west of the country on Thursday, officials said.

"Two attackers... are exchanging fire with security forces," said provincial spokesman Mohayddin Noori.

Noor Khan Nekzad, a regional police spokesman, said the gunmen were holed up in an office belonged to a firm working with foreign forces on logistics. (AFP)

Full Focus Editor's choice Our top photos from the last 24 hours. Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube READ Greek PM on brink as world tells Europe to fix crisis| 9:24am EDT1Israel test-fires missile as Iran debate rages 02 Nov 20112Greek government on brink of collapse| 9:25am EDT3Futures rally on ECB rate cut, doubt on Greek vote| 9:14am EDT4Police confront Oakland protesters with tear gas| 8:49am EDT5 DISCUSSED 163 Insight: U.S. firms to charge smokers, obese more for healthcare 156 Two abortion clinic employees plead guilty to murder 118 Jobless US vets say military experience not valued WATCHED NASA releases stunning images of Earth Wed, Nov 2 2011 Stallone stuntman dies on set Mon, Oct 31 2011 Protesters rally in Oakland, shut port operations Wed, Nov 2 2011 Israel test-fires missile as Iran debate rages

 Israel test-fired a missile from a military base on Wednesday, two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the "direct and heavy threat" posed by Iran's nuclear program.(BATKHELA-MOVIES)

The noon launch near Tel Aviv, which had not been announced in advance, coincided with a week-long surge of speculation in local media that Netanyahu was working to secure cabinet consensus for an attack on Israel's arch-foe.

Netanyahu's office declined comment on the reports, which were unsourced and unconfirmed, and which some commentators suggested might be disinformation designed to jolt war-wary foreign powers into stepping up sanctions against Tehran.

The Defense Ministry described the launch from Palmachim base as the test of the propulsion system of a missile on which it declined to elaborate.

"This is an impressive technological achievement and an important step in Israel's advances in the realms of missiles and space, which has been a long time in the planning," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement.

Israel Radio's military affairs correspondent, who is regularly briefed by top officials on Defense matters, said a "ballistic missile" had been launched. The term generally applies to long-range missiles for delivering warheads.

Israel is widely assumed to have such weapons, known as Jerichos, as well as Shavit rockets for putting satellites into orbit. It has also, with U.S. help, been upgrading its Arrow aerial shield, which uses interceptor missiles to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles above the atmosphere.

The missile fired from Palmachim flew at a high angle skyward, witnesses told local media several minutes before the Defense Ministry formally announced the launch.

Dan Meridor, minister for nuclear and intelligence affairs and a member of Netanyahu's eight-man inner cabinet, played down the relevance of the launch to Israel's view on Iran.

"The two things are separate," he told Army Radio.

Meridor lambasted as "unconscionable" a flurry of newspaper and television discussions, triggered by a front-page report in the biggest-selling Yedioth Ahronoth daily, about the possibility that Netanyahu and Barak were secretly planning, against the counsel of their security chiefs, to attack Iran.

Three other members of the inner cabinet similarly denounced the Israeli media on Wednesday. None denied the speculation outright, and one minister, Benny Begin, accused former Defense officials of leaking classified information.

"SERIOUS THREAT"

Iran, which denies wanting to make nuclear bombs, wants Israel's demise, prompting Netanyahu to liken it to the Nazis -- potent rhetoric for a Jewish state born of the Holocaust.

"A nuclear Iran will pose a serious threat to the Middle East and the entire world, and it of course poses a direct and heavy threat to us," Netanyahu said in a parliamentary address on Monday, echoing comments he has made in the past.

Netanyahu gave no hint of what action Israel might take. He has said that all options are on the table in trying to stop Iran from building nuclear arms.

Raviv Drucker, political commentator for Israel's Channel 10 television, saw both diplomatic and domestic gains for Netanyahu in the media focus on a military option, which follows an October 18 prisoner swap with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Israel also hopes to help stiffen international sanctions on the Iranians around an upcoming publication by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that Western diplomats say will include intelligence about military aspects to their nuclear project. [nL5E7LO18Y]

"This speculation works rather well for Netanyahu, as he can be portrayed as keen to deal with Iran, but is being 'held back' by others in the (Israeli) establishment," Drucker said.

The Israelis bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981 and launched a similar sortie against Syria in 2007, precedents lending weight to their veiled threats to take similar action on Iran if foreign pressure fails to curb its uranium enrichment.

But many independent analysts see the mission as too much for Israel to take on alone against Iran.

Though reputed to have the Middle East's sole atomic arsenal along with a technologically superior air force, Israel lacks long-range bombers which could deliver lasting damage to Iran's distant, dispersed and fortified facilities.

"The military option (against Iran) is not an empty threat, but Israel should not leap to lead it. The whole thing should be lead by the United States, and as a last resort," Moshe Yaalon, Israel's strategic affairs minister, told Army Radio on Tuesday.

By contrast to the intensity of the public discourse around Iran, Israel's strikes on Iraq and Syria were surprises. Israeli officials still refuse to discuss the latter raid, against a desert site the United States described as a North Korean-supplied reactor, amid denials from Damascus

VIDEO PAKISTAN

WORLD UN

Scarlett Johansson 'hacker' pleads not guilty

A US man has pleaded not guilty to hacking the email accounts of celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson, whose nude photos ended up online.

Christopher Chaney from Jacksonville, Florida faces 26 charges, including unauthorised access to a computer and wiretapping.

If convicted, he faces up to 121 years in prison. A trial is set for December.

Johansson has told Vanity Fair magazine the leaked photos were meant for her ex-husband Ryan Reynolds.

"There's nothing wrong with that," she said in an interview. "It's not like I was shooting a porno."

Shortly after the photos were leaked in September, she told US news network CNN that the invasion of her privacy was "unjust".

Mr Chaney made his plea in a California court. His trial has been set for 27 December.

The judge turned down prosecutor's requests that he was remanded in custody, but ordered bail of $110,000 (£68,689) and stipulated that he be fitted with an electronic tag.

The 35-year-old was arrested as part of a year long investigation of celebrity hacking dubbed "Operation Hackerazzi".

There are more than 50 alleged victims, including Johansson and fellow actress Mila Kunis.

Chaney is accused of trawling through celebrity email accounts after figuring out their passwords, then forwarding messages to an account he controlled.

According to US authorities, Chaney offered material to celebrity blog sites, but there was no evidence he had profited from his scheme.

He has since apologised for his actions.

Federal Cabinet approves 'MFN' status for India

 (BATKHELA-MOVIES)ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet unanimously decided on Wednesday to grant India Most Favoured Nation status to liberalise trade between the two South Asian countries. 

The federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani approved enhancing trade with India from $2 billion to $6 billion.

According to Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan granting India MFN status will "bring economic benefits to us and this decision has been taken in the national interest."

Awan conceding that some cabinet ministers had initially voiced objections to the proposal from the commerce ministry.

The cabinet also reviewed the implementation of Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package to ensure due rights to the province.

The meeting held at the Prime Minister Secretariat was apprised that 61 policy decisions had been taken in this regard as 80 percent of the package had been implemented.

The cabinet earlier offered fateha for the departed soul of Madr-e-Jamhuriat (Mother of Democracy) Begum Nusrat Bhutto and prayed for her eternal peace.

Bearish fertilizers add to KSE losses

 (BATKHELA-MOVIES)   KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange ended lower on Wednesday as investors sold fertilizer shares, but losses were restricted as bargain hunters accumulated shares of heavyweight Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDCL), dealers said.

The KSE benchmark 100-share index ended 0.14 percent, or 16.63 points, lower at 11,746.09.

Volume fell to 63.86 million shares compared with 84.40 million shares traded on Tuesday.

"Reduction in the urea price by Engro fertilizer and uncertainty on gas allocation to fertilizer plants kept fertilizer stocks under pressure," said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities.

"However, a 1.79 rupees gain in heavyweight OGDCL saved the index from falling further."

OGDCL rose 1.23 percent to end at 147.50 rupees. (Reuters)

PAKISTAN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY

Haqqani network may be linked to Kabul suicide attack: officials

(BATKHELA-MOVIES) KABUL: The Haqqani network, which Washington has blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan, may have been involved in a weekend bombing in Kabul that was the deadliest ground attack against Western troops in 10 years of war, officials said on Monday.

The suicide bombing on Saturday, which killed 13 foreigners, came just days before Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and senior officials from its neighbors and its Western backers, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were due to meet in Istanbul to discuss regional security.

The involvement of the Haqqani group, believed by Washington to be based in the mountains of North Waziristan on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, would make the already tough task of bringing Afghanistan and its neighbors together even more difficult.

"We don't have any information indicating a direct Haqqani link yet, but it's very possible it is Haqqani-related," a Western diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Officials said that while evidence of Haqqani involvement was by no means conclusive, the style of the attack and some of the equipment used in it raised that possibility. (REUTERS)

US halts payments to UNESCO over Palestinian membership

(BATKHELA-MOVIES)WASHINGTON: The United States said Monday it is stopping financial contributions to UNESCO after the Palestinians were admitted to the organization as a full member.

"We were to have made a 60 million dollar payment to UNESCO in November and we will not be making that payment," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

Nuland said the Palestinian admission "triggers longstanding (US) legislative restrictions which will compel the United States to refrain from making contributions to UNESCO."

The United States provides about 22 percent of the UNESCO annual budget.

The November payment amounts to a tranche of what US officials say is a total annual US contribution of $80 million (57 million euros) to the UN organization. (AFP)

We almost agree with all US demands: Gilani

(BATKHELA-MOVIES)

PERTH: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said he had a lengthy meeting with US Secretary Hillary Clinton during her visit to Pakistan and the two leaders 'almost agreed' on all points demanded by the US. In an interview to Australian TV SBS, Gilani said Pakistan was ready to support any initiative by Afghanistan for reconciliation. The PM said he had discussed with leaders of member states of the Commonwealth the need to win the hearts and minds of the people. “We have to do something for them practically; we have to get to the root cause of terrorism, which is poverty and illiteracy; we have to fight these,” he. About Pak-US relations, he said: “There have been a lot of ups and downs, but they [the US] understand our ground realities and that we need political space to be able to fight better. If there is no political space left for us, then individually no one can perform,” Prime Minister Gilani added. About statements coming from the Pentagon, he said Pentagon had its own assessments and Pakistan didn’t want to answer each and every statement. “We only deal with things politically and through the Foreign Office,” Prime Minister Gilani stressed.

Policeman among nine held in Karachi

[BATKHELA-MOVIES] KARACHI: Police have arrested nine accused including a police official involved in street crime, dacoity and possessing arms and drugs from different parts of the metropolis, Geo News reported. 

SSP Central Asif Qaimkhani told that people held an accused looting the citizens red-handed from North Nazimabad Block-L and handed him over to police.

According to DSP Altaf Hussain, an accused was arrested from Sir Syed town area. Police also seized a pistol from his custody.

In another incident an accused was held in Baldia Town. Drugs were recovered from his custody.

Police apprehended an accused wanted to Mehmoodabad police in several cases from Mochhko.

Three others including a policeman involved in street crime were held from F.B. Area Block-11. Three TT pistols, 15 snatched mobiles and motorcycle were seized from their possession.

Similarly, two accused involved in street crime were attested from Awami colony. Police recovered two TT pistols and 12 snatched cell phones from their custody.

Police have registered separate cases and started further investigation.

China launches unmanned spacecraft

[batkhela-movies]BEIJING: China said it successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft on Tuesday, taking its next step towards the goal of building its first space station by 2020.

The Shenzhou VIII blasted off from the Gobi desert in China's northwest, the state Xinhua news agency said, separating from its carrier rocket, a modified Long March-2F, about 200 kilometres above the earth.

It is due to join with the Tiangong-1 or "Heavenly Palace", possibly within days, in what would be the country's first space docking with a module that is already orbiting the earth.

The experimental docking is part of China's preparation for building its first space station by 2020, where astronauts can live for several months, as they do on NASA's International Space Station or the former Russian Mir.

If it is a success, China will launch another two space craft next year to conduct more docking experiments.

At least one will be manned, and two female astronauts are among those being trained for the mission, according to Xinhua. If they are chosen, they will be the first women China has sent into space.

China began its manned spaceflight programme in 1990 after buying Russian technology and in 2003 became the third country to send humans into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

China sees its ambitious space programme as a symbol of its burgeoning global stature.

Bravo ton puts Windies in control against BD

 [batkhela-movies]DHAKA: Darren Bravo cracked his maiden Test century to put the West Indies in command on the third day of the series-deciding second and final Test against Bangladesh on Monday.

The left-hander was unbeaten on 100 after Kirk Edwards hit a solid 86 as the West Indies reached 207-3 in their second innings at stumps for an overall lead of 331 runs.

Bravo completed his century off the last ball of the day when he cut debutant left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo for two runs. He has so far hit two sixes and seven fours in his 165-ball knock.

The tourists, leading by 124 runs on the first innings, consolidated their position as Bravo and Edwards put on 151 for the third wicket after openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Keiran Powell had fallen cheaply.

The opening Test of the two-match series ended in a draw in Chittagong.

Edwards, who scored 121 in the first innings, looked set to score his second hundred of the Test when he fell in the closing overs of the day, bowled by Shuvo after hitting one six and seven fours in his 204-ball knock.

Bravo, dropped on 45 by Imrul Kayes in the slips off left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan, made the most of the chance as he bolstered the innings with a big stand with Edwards.

Both the batsmen played attractive shots, with Bravo once smashing off-spinner Nasir Hossain for two fours and a six in an over and then Edwards hoisting paceman Shahadat Hossain for a six.

Brathwaite, who made a half-century in the first innings, was run out for no score in the opening over after Naeem Islam hit the stumps at the non-striker's end with a direct throw.

The hosts struggled for success on an easy-paced pitch for more than two sessions, with Shakib and Shuvo being the lone wicket-takers.

Bangladesh were earlier bowled out for 231 in their first innings in reply to the West Indies' 355.

The hosts added 27 runs to their overnight total of 204-7 before losing their remaining three wickets in 17 overs, with leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo taking two wickets and off-spinner Marlon Samuels one.

Bishoo was the first to strike when he had Shuvo (15) caught by Brathwaite at short-leg and then Samuels removed Nasir, caught at deep mid-wicket by Edwards while going for a big shot. Nasir added eight runs to his overnight score of 34.

Bishoo ended the innings when he bowled Shahadat for four runs to finish with 3-62.

Saif crowned as 'nawab'

[batkhela-movies] MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was made the new Nawab (Muslim prince) of Pataudi on Monday in a private ceremony at his ancestral home in northern India.

Khan became the 10th nawab of the former princely state after the death of his 70-year-old father, Mansur Ali Khan, in September.

The elder Khan, nicknamed "Tiger Pataudi" for his brilliant fielding, captained India at cricket while his father, Ifthikar Ali Khan, played for both India and England.

Saif Ali Khan, 41, is one of Hindi-language cinema's biggest stars and was recently seen in the thriller "Aarakshan" (Reservation) alongside Amitabh Bachchan.

Monday's ceremony was held at the family seat of Pataudi Palace in Haryana state and attended by relatives and local villagers, said Rohini Iyer, Khan's spokeswoman in Mumbai.

Village chiefs tied a turban around his head at a ceremony watched by his mother, former actress Sharmila Tagore and his two sisters, television footage showed.

Pataudi was a princely state in pre-independence India while the nawabs, who can trace their lineage back centuries, were its aristocratic rulers.

Like the heads of other erstwhile Indian princely states that were taken over after the British left in 1947, the title is now ceremonial with no formal powers. 

Air pollution tied to lung cancer in non-smokers

[batkhela-movies] NEW YORK: People who have never smoked, but who live in areas with higher air pollution levels, are roughly 20 percent more likely to die from lung cancer than people who live with cleaner air, researchers conclude in a new study.

"It's another argument for why the regulatory levels (for air pollutants) be as low as possible," said Francine Laden, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the research.

Though smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, about one in 10 people who develop lung cancer have never smoked.

"Lung cancer in 'never smokers' is an important cancer. It's the sixth leading cause of cancer in United States," said Michelle Turner, the lead author of the study and a graduate student at the University of Ottawa.

Previous estimates of how many non-smokers get lung cancer range from 14 to 21 out of every 100,000 women and five to 14 out of every 100,000 men.

The fine particles in air pollution, which can irritate the lungs and cause inflammation, are thought to be a risk factor for lung cancer, but researchers had not clearly teased apart their impact from that of smoking.

In this study, Turner and her colleagues followed more than 180,000 non-smokers for 26 years. Throughout the study period, 1,100 people died from lung cancer.

The participants lived in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico, and based on their zip codes, the researchers estimated how much air pollution they were exposed to -- measured in units of micrograms of particles per cubic meter of air.

Pollution levels in different locations ranged from a low of about six units to a high of 38. The levels dropped over time, however, from an average of 21 units in 1979 - 1983, to 14 units in 1999 - 2000, producing an overall average pollution level of 17 units across the study period.

After the team took into account other cancer risk factors, such as second-hand smoke and radon exposure, they found that for every 10 extra units of air pollution exposure, a person's risk of lung cancer rose by 15 to 27 percent.

The increased risk for lung cancer associated with pollution is small in comparison to the 20-fold increased risk from smoking.

And the study team didn't prove that the pollution caused the cancer cases, but "there's lots of evidence that exposure to fine particles increases cardiopulmonary mortality," Turner told Reuters Health.

Fine particles in air pollution can injure the lungs through inflammation and damage to DNA, Turner's team writes in its report, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Previous research has suggested similar conclusions. A study of people in China, for example, found an increased risk of lung cancer attributed to indoor air pollution from burning coal and wood to heat homes (see Reuters story of December 7, 2009). And several European studies have linked levels of soot and vehicle exhaust to lung cancer in non-smokers.

Laden noted that the pollution levels associated with the increased risk of cancer in the current study are not uncommon in the U.S.

"These levels are within the (regulatory) standards," Laden told Reuters Health. "We're not talking about people who live in a really polluted place with no pollution control.

Cheers and fears as world population hits 7bn

 [batkhela-movies]MANILA: Asia welcomed the world's first symbolic "seven billionth" baby on Monday, but celebrations were tempered by worries over the strain that humanity's population explosion is putting on a fragile planet.

The United Nations says that by its best estimates the seven billionth baby will be born somewhere on October 31, and countries around the world have planned events surrounding the demographic milestone.

Zambia is throwing a seven billion song contest; Vietnam is staging a "7B: Counting On Each Other" concert; Russian authorities are showering gifts on selected newborns and the Ivory Coast is putting on a comedy show.

The Philippines was the first country to declare a seven billionth baby, in the form of a little girl called Danica May Camacho.

Weighing 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds), Danica was delivered just before midnight Sunday under an explosion of media camera flashes at Manila's Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital.

"She looks so lovely," the mother, Camille Dalura, whispered as she cradled her baby girl.

"I can't believe she is the world's seven billionth."

Danica is the second child for Dalura and her partner, Florante Camacho, who stood quietly in a corner wearing a white hospital gown as television crews and photographers crowded to get a shot of his daughter.

UN officials presented the child with a cake. Other gifts came from local benefactors including a scholarship grant, and a financial package to help the parents open a general store.