Why is Indonesia so in love with the Blackberry?

As the joke in Indonesia goes, if you don't have the right gadget you may end up a social outcast.
Undoubtedly, the gadget of the moment is the Blackberry smartphone.
A walk through a packed food court at lunchtime in Jakarta proves the point. Most patrons are glued to their smartphones, available in a myriad of colours but covered nonetheless in decorative cases.
Incessant message alerts reverberate around the food hall amid the clatter of cutlery.
Internet guru Onno Purbo believes Indonesian fans see the Blackberry as the trendier, flashier gadget.
Smartphone fever
But it is not just professionals like Purbo who are caught up in the hype. High school students like 14-year-old Haryo Suryo Susilo are also using them to stay in touch with their friends.
When Haryo meets us in a hotel lobby in Jogjakarta, he has been playing on his white smartphone for half an hour, ignoring the fruit platter in front of him.

A certain smartphone is also popular with members of parliament

"I've only had it three months and I love it," he says. His visibly annoyed mother, Sari Susilo, says he spends all his time on his new device.
Haryo's mother is a smartphone user herself and it is clear his love for his prize piece of technology runs in the family. His father even uses two smartphones to keep his supermarket business running and stay in touch with his family.
But why smartphones, rather than mobile phones? Because they're so much cooler, says Sari.
This kind of smartphone fever means Research In Motion, Blackberry's Canadian developers, needs hardly any advertising to lure in new customers or impress Indonesia's estimated three million existing users.
Despite this, there are high-profile marketing campaigns, most notably featuring the president's daughter-in-law.
New freaks

INDONESIA FACTS Population: 232 million Internet users: 30 million Facebook users: 37 million Twitter users: 5 million Blackberry users: 3 million Sources: BBC Indonesia Country Profile, Internet World Stats, Socialbakers, Penn Olson

Marketing analysts say it is word of mouth that drives smartphone sales in Indonesia but how this all began is a mystery.
The market leader's features are little different to those of other smartphones available, although users can message each other for free. Somehow this lifestyle product has gained cult status in Indonesia.
"We are a nation of consumers, always on the lookout for the latest trends," says Purbo.
Self-declared trendsetters like radio DJ Tommy Prabowo echo Purbo's views.
"When I first got a Blackberry in 2008, very few people in Jakarta used them.
"But now I've just got to have it - 99 per cent of people I know use one," he says.
Over the last two years, Prabowo has changed his smartphone four times to keep up with the latest trends.
The phenomenon is similar to the explosion of mobile phones in Indonesia less than a decade ago, making it one of the biggest mobile phone markets in the world.
"You were not cool unless you had the latest Nokia. We're heading in the same direction now," says Prabowo.
The DJ describes himself and his friends as 'new freaks'.
"Some people really don't know how to use any Blackberry features apart from its messaging service. It is new and hip, and that's it."

Dominique Strauss-Kahn 'complained about handcuffing'

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn complained about being handcuffed and initially claimed diplomatic immunity when he was arrested for sexual assault in New York, official documents reveal.

Transcripts released by prosecutors in New York reveal the detail of the day Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested at the city's JFK airport.

He has since resigned from the IMF and is living on bail in New York.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault on a hotel chambermaid.

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, refused to comment on the release of the transcripts.

Airport ruse

The transcripts reveal details of how hotel staff and police investigators managed to detain Mr Strauss-Kahn as he attempted to leave the country on an Air France jet.

As has previously been reported, Mr Strauss-Kahn phoned the Sofitel Hotel about 1530 local time (1930 GMT), saying he had left his mobile phone.

While police listened in, hotel promised to return it to him at the Air France terminal at JFK International Airport. Instead, police arrived to arrest him.

At the airport police station, detectives ordered Mr Strauss-Kahn to empty his pockets, the documents show.

"Is that necessary?" he asked when handcuffs were produced.

"Yes it is," said Detective Diwan Maharaj of the New York Port Authority Police.

Mr Strauss-Kahn then asserted he had diplomatic immunity, and asked to speak to the French consulate.

Ten minutes later, Mr Strauss-Kahn asked if he could be handcuffed "in the front", and five minutes after that, he said, "I need to make a call and let them know I won't be at my meeting tomorrow. These handcuffs are tight."

About 2045 local time, Mr Strauss-Kahn was at a detective's office in Manhattan, and asked if he could have coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr Strauss-Kahn asked, "Do I need a lawyer?"

Breakfast

By the time of this conversation, the documents reveal that Mr Strauss-Kahn may have changed his mind over the issue of diplomatic immunity.

"It is your right to have one in this country if you want. I don't know if you have some kind of diplomatic status," Detective Miguel Rivera replied.

"No, no no, I'm not trying to use that," Mr Strauss-Kahn said. "I just want to know if I need a lawyer."

"That is up to you," Mr Rivera responded.

Several days after his arrest, the IMF said Mr Strauss-Kahn, as managing director, had only limited immunity that was not applicable in the New York case.

Two hours after Mr Strauss-Kahn asked whether he needed a lawyer, he told the detectives the lawyer had told him not to talk.

The following morning, police asked Mr Strauss-Kahn if he wanted something to eat.

"I would like some eggs," he said.

The following evening, Mr Strauss-Kahn asked for a sandwich.

Stanley Spencer painting sells for £5.4m

The auction record for a painting by Sir Stanley Spencer was broken twice within minutes at Sotheby's in London.

Workmen in the House, which had an upper estimate of £2m, sold for £4.7m before Sunflower and Dog Worship, with a top estimate of £1.5m, fetched £5.4m.
The previous record was the £1.43m achieved at Sotheby's in December for 1954 work Hilda and I at Pond Street.
Lucian Freud's Boat on a Beach fetched £2.6m in Wednesday's sale - a record for a work on paper by the artist.

Workmen in the House is one of Sir Stanley's best-known works

Sir Stanley, described by the auction house as one of the 20th Century's most important UK artists, was born in 1891 and lived and worked in the Berkshire village of Cookham, now home to a gallery of his work.
Seven of his works were sold in Wednesday's sale - the first section of a three-part auction of the Evill/Frost collection - for a total of £23m.
1935 painting Workmen in the House, which depicts the disruption and intrusion caused by tradesmen working in a kitchen, is one of Sir Stanley's best-known works.
Sunflower and Dog Worship, 1937, meanwhile, shows a husband and wife being embraced by giant flowers and explores Sir Stanley's notion of universal harmony.
Sotheby's senior director James Rawlin said a "series of new benchmarks" had been set for Sir Stanley's paintings "demonstrating both the strength of the market in this field and a particular appreciation for the artist's work".
Inherited collection
Lucian Freud's 1945 work Boat on a Beach, which records a trip he made to the Scilly Isles, sold for £2.6m - way above the upper estimate of £600,000.

Freud's Boy on a Sofa demonstrates the artist's ability as a draughtsman

Earlier in the evening, his Boy on a Sofa, 1944, which depicts a young boy who tried to break into the artist's flat, sold for £1.5m.
Freud then persuaded the boy, Billy Lumley, to sit for a portrait.
An artist record for Edward Burra was also achieved with his Zoot Suits - showing a group of men who had just arrived in London from Jamaica in 1948 - selling for £2.1m.
Highs for artists including Graham Sutherland and William Roberts were also achieved.
Wednesday's sale fetched a total of £37.5m, compared with an estimate of £16m, with all lots finding a buyer.
The works being auctioned - described by Sotheby's as the greatest collection of 20th Century British art ever to come to the market - were collected by solicitor Wilfrid Evill between 1925 and 1960.
The collection was inherited and maintained by his ward, Honor Frost, an underwater archaeology pioneer who died last year aged 92.
The second and third parts of the sale take place on Thursday.
Artists up for auction include sculptor Henry Moore and LS Lowry.

Press reviews: Shrek the Musical

A musical version of the Oscar-winning animated film Shrek has had its official opening night in London's West End.

Nigel Lindsay plays the titular green ogre, while Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden is feisty Princess Fiona, the female lead.
Former EastEnders actor Nigel Harman and comedian Richard Blackwood play the villainous Lord Farquaad and the garrulous Donkey respectively.
The nation's critics - most of whom saw the show prior to Tuesday's opening night at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - have been broadly positive about the production.

Daily Mail - Quentin Letts

Fairytale meets panto meets Monty Python. That is roughly the mix of Drury Lane's musical adaptation of the American animated film Shrek.

 

It has double entendres laced with absurdist sarcasm and striking stage effects. Beware a low-flying dragon and three blind mice with sexy stockings and white sticks.
Children under ten may gawp at the spectacle with all its primary colours and plasticky sets, but they may not be transported to the kingdom of fantastical delight one finds at the best musicals.
Miss Holden's voice is little stronger than a single gin and tonic but she has an attractive zest for the enterprise.

Daily Telegraph - Charles Spencer

Shrek received a pretty lukewarm welcome in New York, where it only ran for a year, and Drury Lane is a mighty big house to fill for what is essentially a glorified kids' show.
But infantilism seems to be all the rage at the moment [and] Shrek will undoubtedly appeal to adults as well as children.
Amanda Holden is a touch too hard-faced and soullessly professional as Princess Fiona, while Richard Blackwood doesn't come close to matching the comic attack of Eddie Murphy's voicing of the talking Donkey in the movie.
Nigel Lindsay, however, unrecognisable under all those green prosthetics, charmingly captures the poignancy and gallows humour of Shrek and is genuinely touching in his search for love.

The Guardian - Michael Billington

Although Shrek stems from the 2001 DreamWorks film, it is genuinely theatrical, generous-spirited and mercifully free of the sensory bombardment that afflicts some of its rivals.
What one craves is a score that, as in Sondheim's Into the Woods, defines the reversal of conventional fairytale values.
It says a lot that the climactic song designed to send everyone out on a high is I'm a Believer, which dates back to 1966.
Nigel Harman, despite having his real legs strapped up behind him and hidden by a black curtain, paradoxically runs off with the show as Farquaad.

Australia PM Gillard wants asylum deal despite setback

The Australian PM Julia Gillard has said she will pursue a deal with Malaysia on handling asylum seekers despite a rare parliamentary rejection.

On Thursday, the Australian House of Representatives passed a motion condemning the proposed arrangement.
Australia wants to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia, taking 4,000 confirmed refugees in return.
Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations conventions on treatment of refugees.
Ms Gillard's aim is to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat.
"I intend pursuing the discussions of the Malaysia agreement to finality and then I intend to implement it because I intend to break the business model of the people smugglers," Ms Gillard told parliament.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has said he is on "very strong legal ground" with the plan.
The policy has already been condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner and refugee advocates.
The BBC's Sydney correspondent Nick Bryant said the parliamentary rebuke was embarrassing.
Challenging
Ms Gillard stands at the head of a minority government, and a Greens MP and an Independent MP who normally support her joined with the conservative opposition to denounce the policy.
The government claims the Malaysian Solution, as it has been dubbed, would act as a strong deterrent for boat people heading for Australian shores and break the business model of people smugglers operating out of Indonesia.
But the Greens have opposed the policy because they believe it is inhumane, while the conservative opposition would prefer a return to what was known as the Pacific Solution.
That was a controversial policy brought in by the government of former PM John Howard whereby boat people were sent to detention centres on remote Pacific islands.
Meanwhile, a challenge has been lodged in the High Court over two of 274 refugees in limbo on Christmas Island.

Australia Asylum Statistics

• Irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) in 2010: 134 boats carrying 6,535 people
• IMAs up to 19 April 2011: 16 boats carrying 921 people
• As of 20 April 4,552 IMAs detained on the mainland, 1,748 on Christmas Island

Chile tackles questions about Allende and Neruda deaths

They were towering figures in 20th Century Chile: Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda, the president and the poet, two men united in life by their left-wing politics, and divided in death by a matter of days.

For years, Chileans have been taught that Mr Allende committed suicide during the military coup of 11 September, 1973, and that Mr Neruda died 12 days later of heart failure brought on by prostate cancer.
But now, both deaths are under investigation.
In both cases, the Chilean military stands accused of murder and the country's former dictator General Augusto Pinochet is once again in the metaphorical dock.
The evidence against the military is far from conclusive.
In the case of Pablo Neruda, it rests largely on the testimony of one man, Manuel Araya, the poet's personal assistant during the last year of his life.
In the case of Salvador Allende, the story is more complicated. There are several conflicting accounts of how the president died.
Last month, on the orders of a judge, his remains were exhumed and handed to forensic experts who are trying to establish what happened.
It is known that Mr Allende died inside the presidential palace during the coup, which brought his Socialist government to an abrupt and bloody end.
'Hail of bullets'
The most widely accepted version is that, as Gen Pinochet's forces closed in on him, Mr Allende shot himself using an AK-47 rifle given to him as a gift by Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
That version is based largely on the testimony of Mr Allende's doctor, Patricio Guijon, who says he saw the president pull the trigger. Mr Guijon, who is still alive, says no-one else was in the room.
The initial autopsy from 1973 supported his testimony, and Mr Allende's family has long accepted that the 65-year-old leader killed himself rather than surrender to the military.

The Allende family hopes the new investigation will end the speculation

But ever since his death, people have speculated that he was murdered. Many on the political left prefer to think of Mr Allende dying in a hail of enemy bullets rather than taking his own life, alone in the palace.
"His assassination was hushed up," Mr Neruda wrote in his memoirs three days after the coup. "He had to be machine-gunned because he would never have resigned from office."
The latest twist in the story is the emergence of a 300-page military report into Mr Allende's death, compiled in 1973 but never made public.

US vows to 'capture and kill' Ayman al-Zawahiri

The US will hunt down and kill new al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as it did Osama Bin Laden, Washington's top military officer has vowed.

Adm Mike Mullen said al-Qaeda still posed a threat to the US.

"As we did both seek to capture and kill - and succeed in killing - Bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahiri," he said.

Zawahiri's appointment was posted on a militant website and attributed to al-Qaeda's General Command.

"There is not a surprise from my perspective that he has moved into that position," Adm Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told journalists.

Zawahiri has for a long time been the militant group's second-in-command. Osama Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in May.

'Lacking charisma'

The al-Qaeda statement vowed that that under Zawahiri, it would pursue jihad or holy war against the US and Israel "until all invading armies leave the land of Islam".

"Sheikh Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, may God guide him, assumed responsibility as the group's amir [leader]", it said.

An unnamed US official said earlier that Zawahiri had "nowhere near" Bin Laden's credentials.

"His ascension to the top leadership spot will likely generate criticism if not alienation and dissention with al-Qaeda," the Obama administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He added that Zawahiri, 59, would find it difficult to lead while focusing on his own survival.

"The bottom line is that Zawahri has nowhere near the credentials that [Osama Bin Laden] had," said the official.

Analysts say Egyptian-born Zawahiri is intelligent but lacks the charisma of his predecessor.

He is claimed by some experts to have been the "operational brains" behind the 9/11 attacks on the US.

For years Bin Laden's deputy, with a $25m (£15m) bounty on his head, he had been widely anticipated to replace Bin Laden at the helm.

Zawahiri, whose 60th birthday is believed to be this Sunday, warned just over a week ago that Bin Laden would continue to "terrify" the US from beyond the grave.

Divisions?

The BBC's Middle East correspondent, Jon Leyne, says priorities for al-Qaeda's new leader may include attempting to mount a big attack to show the organisation is still in business.

In addition, he says, Zawahiri will want to turn the wave of unrest in the Middle East to al-Qaeda's advantage - perhaps building more of a power base in Yemen and working to intensify the instability there.

Ayman al-Zawahiri

• Born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1951
• Trained as an eye surgeon
• Helped found the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant group
• Known as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man and the chief ideologue of al-Qaeda
• "Operational brains" behind the 9/11 attacks
• $25m (£15m) bounty on his head

Fashion firm Prada earns $2.1bn in Hong Kong share sale

Fashion house Prada has raised $2.1bn (£1.3bn) via its initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the BBC has learned.

But the shares were priced at the lower end of a target range, raising less than the maximum $2.6bn wanted.
Prada will be the first Italian firm to list in Hong Kong as it seeks to tap China's appetite for luxury goods.
Recent share sales have struggled as global stock markets have been under pressure.
Luggage firm Samsonite fell as much as 11% on its trading debut in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Prada had planned to sell 423.3 million shares in a range of HK$36.50 to HK$48.
The company was founded in 1913 and also owns Miu Miu and Church's Shoes brands.
Its shares are set to begin trading on 24 June.

Parents' behaviour 'can influence teen drinking'

Children who see their parents drunk are twice as likely to regularly get drunk themselves, a survey of young teenagers has suggested.

Poor parental supervision also raises the likelihood of teenage drinking, said the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The Ipsos MORI survey found the behaviour of friends is also a powerful factor in predicting drinking habits.

The more time teenagers spend with friends, the more likely they are to drink alcohol, it suggested.

In a survey of 5,700 children aged 13 to 16, carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, researchers found one in five claimed to have been drunk by the time they were 14.

By the age of 16, half of those questioned said they had been drunk.

Influences

But the study also looked at what influences excessive teen drinking - and the habits of parents seem to be particularly powerful.

The odds of a teenager getting drunk repeatedly is twice as great if they have seen their parents under the influence, even if only a few times.

And the authors say that parental supervision is also important - if parents don't know where their children are on a Saturday night, or let them watch 18 certificate films unsupervised, they are more likely to have had an alcoholic drink.

Teenagers' friends also have a significant impact on drinking behaviour.

The odds of a teenager drinking to excess more than double if they spend more than two evenings a week with friends.

Spending every evening with friends multiplies the odds of excessive drinking more than four times.

Pamela Bremner from Ipsos MORI, the lead author of the report, said: "For the first time in the UK, this study ranks what most influences young people's drinking behaviour.

"It found that the behaviour of friends and family is the most common influential factor in determining how likely and how often a young person will drink alcohol."

Is stress good for you?

Most people dream of escaping the rat race, but could stress and long hours be the route to a good life?

The lure of a better, simpler life in the country has grown ever more attractive as modern work has become more and more intense. Feeling tired and disillusioned? You need to sort out your work-life balance, take a holiday or find a less stressful job.
But such reactions are totally wrong, argues a controversial new book published in America. Rush: Why you need and love the rat race argues that far from being ground down by pressure, we need stress to feel alive. It keeps our minds agile, makes us feel good about ourselves and helps us live longer.
Author Todd Buchholz, a former economic advisor at the White House, says he began researching a book about people "chasing success and losing their souls". But when he looked into the subject, he changed his mind. He concluded that rather than slow down, we need to throw ourselves into the rat race, compete harder and relish the stress.
'No control'
His argument runs counter to the prevailing political wind in western nations. Lord Layard, author of Happiness: Lessons from a new science, has been advising the British government since 2005, calling for a gentler form of capitalism. His ideas include a massive expansion of talking therapies and the adoption of policies that support a better work-life balance.
In November 2010 David Cameron announced that "Gross National Wellbeing" would be officially measured, while President Sarkozy is doing something similar in France.

LONGEST WORKING HOURS

• Mexico - 9.9hrs
• Japan - 9hrs
• Portugal - 8.8hrs
• Canada - 8.6hrs
• Estonia - 8hrs 36mins
• Austria - 8hrs 30mins
• China - 8.4hrs
• New Zealand - 8.3hrs
• United States - 8.3
• Slovenia - 8.25hrs

SOURCE: OECD - 2011 figures for paid and unpaid work

But Buccholz warns that we've been seduced by the impossible dream of returning to the garden of Eden. And many of these happiness experts and yoga gurus appear to ignore their own advice, as they rush around flogging books and DVDs about the merits of slowing down.

How pasta became the world's favourite food

Pasta has topped a global survey of the world's favourite foods. So how did the dish so closely associated with Italy become a staple of so many tables around the globe?

While not everyone knows the difference between farfalle, fettuccine and fusilli, many people have slurped over a bowl of spaghetti bolognese or tucked into a plate of lasagne.
Certainly in British households, spaghetti bolognese has been a regular feature of mealtimes since the 1960s. It's become a staple of children's diets, while a tuna-pasta-sweetcorn concoction can probably be credited with sustaining many students through their years at university.
But now a global survey by the charity Oxfam has named pasta as the world's most popular dish, ahead of meat, rice and pizza. As well as being popular in unsurprising European countries, pasta was one of the favourites in the Philippines, Guatemala, Brazil and South Africa.
And figures from the International Pasta Organisation show Venezuela is the largest consumer of pasta, after Italy. Tunisia, Chile and Peru also feature in the top 10, while Mexicans, Argentineans and Bolivians all eat more pasta than the British.

TOP FIVE WORLD PASTA CONSUMERS

• Italy - 26kg per head per year
• Venezuela - 12kg
• Tunisia - 11.7kg
• Greece - 10.4kg
• Switzerland - 9.7kg

Source: International Pasta Organisation, June 2010

Global sales figures reflect the world's love affair with pasta - they have risen from US$13bn (£8bn) in 2003 to US$16bn (£10bn) in 2010. The analysts at Datamonitor predict it will hit US$19bn (£12bn) by 2015, despite rising wheat costs.

Hong Kong conducts first mental health survey

Hong Kong is currently carrying out its first mental health survey.

It is expected to take three years but preliminary findings show the region's mental health services to be inadequate.
Only 1% of Hong Kong residents are currently receiving mental health treatment but the need is thought to be far higher.
In 1997 Hong Kong transferred from a British colony to a region with special status under Chinese rule.
Caught between the traditions of Chinese culture and the westernising influence of 137 years of British rule, the city has experienced dramatic political, social and economic change leaving some of its most vulnerable citizens out in the cold.
Linda Lam is Chief Editor of the Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry. She believes that the provision of mental health services in the city is way below need.
"We don't have figures for the prevalence of most psychological disorders in Hong Kong but like most developed cities there are estimates that anxiety and depressive disorders would be over 10%.
"If we project this to Hong Kong then our mental health needs would be tremendous."
It is widely assumed among mental health professionals in Hong Kong that mental illness is vastly under-diagnosed.
Fear of the mentally ill

Strong religious beliefs lead people to see mental illness as a curse

One of the main reasons for this is rooted in traditional Chinese beliefs and the idea of reincarnation.
In China, it is widely believed that misfortune in this life is the result of misdeeds in the past.
Professor Daniel Wong, a practicing therapist and social scientist at the City University of Hong Kong, explains this attitude to mental illness.
"In Hong Kong when you mention anything about mental illness people immediately think that this person is dangerous, violent and is going to kill someone.

Tombs in Suffolk studied with aid of space-age science

The science of the space age is being deployed to probe the secrets of the Tudor tombs of the great Howard family.

Laser imaging and X-ray spectrometers are being used to scan the tombs so they can be virtually deconstructed and reassembled in their original guise.
It is thought two of the tombs, in the church of St Michael the Archangel in Framlingham, Suffolk, were substantially remodelled after they were moved from Thetford Priory in Norfolk in 1540.
The belief is that the salvaged tombs received a Renaissance makeover, with new simpler additions or replacements probably made in the 1550s.
Other elements seem to have been abandoned at Thetford following its dissolution, where they were found during excavations in the 1930s. These fragments will also be scanned and thrown into the 3D jigsaw.
Virtual reconstruction
"They're very significant, they're among the most important tombs of the 16th Century in England, both stylistically and in terms of the people represented here," said Dr Phillip Lindley of Leicester University, the art historian who is leading the project.
"There's Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, Henry VIII's bastard son and Howard's son-in-law."
Thomas Howard was a senior figure throughout the reign of Henry VIII. Two of his nieces, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both famously married Henry.
But he fell from favour late in the Tudor monarch's reign, and was only saved from death because Henry himself died the night before Howard's scheduled execution.
"We're scanning these tombs three-dimensionally," says Dr Lindley. "Both Howard and Fitzroy's tombs seem to be multi-phase monuments.
"They have a first and second phase separated by as little as 15 years and what we're going to do is virtually disassemble them and reconstruct them in what we think were their original appearances."

Two of the Howard tombs appear to have been remodelled after being moved from a priory

The scanning team, EuroPac 3D, used a laser to build up thousands of spatial reference points across the tombs' surfaces. These points were then connected up in tiny triangles and the image rendered to create a high-resolution 3D model of the tombs.

Powerful cosmic blast as black hole shreds star

Astronomers have spied a star's swan song as it is shredded by a black hole.

Researchers suspect that the star wandered too close to the black hole and got sucked in by the huge gravitational forces.
The star's final moments sent a flash of radiation hurtling towards Earth.
The energy burst is still visible by telescope more than two-and-a-half months later, the researchers report in the journal Science.
The Swift spacecraft constantly scans the skies for bursts of radiation, notifying astronomers when it locates a potential flare.
These bursts usually indicate the implosion of an aging star, which produces a single, quick blast of energy.
But this event, first spotted on 28 March 2011 and designated Sw 1644+57, does not have the marks of an imploding sun.
What intrigued the researchers about this gamma ray burst is that it flared up four times over a period of four hours.
Astrophysicist Dr Andrew Levan from the University of Warwick, and his colleagues suspected that they were looking at a very different sort of galactic event; one where a passing star got sucked into a black hole.
The energy bursts matched nicely with what you might expect when you "throw a star into a black hole", Dr Levan told BBC News.
Gasless centres
Black holes are thought to reside at the centres of most major galaxies. Some black holes are surrounded by matter in the form of gas; light is emitted when the gas is dragged into the hole. However, the centres of most galaxies are devoid of gas and so are invisible from Earth.
These black holes only become visible when an object such as a star is pulled in. If this happens, the star becomes elongated, first spreading out to form a "banana shape" before its inner edge - orbiting faster than the outer edge - pulls the star into a disc-shape that wraps itself around the hole.
As material drops into the black hole it becomes compressed and releases radiation that is usually visible from Earth for a month or so.
Events like these, termed mini-quasars, are incredibly rare - researchers expect one every hundred million years in any one galaxy.
The researchers used some of most powerful ground-based and space-based observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Gemini and Keck Telescopes.

Francis Galton: The man who drew up the 'ugly map' of Britain

Type the phrase "scientists find the gene for" into Google and 68,000 results appear. Most of the hits are about human beings - which is a pretty impressive number, given that we have only 20,000 genes altogether.
The hits include genes for depression, religiosity, insomnia, marital failure and, perhaps surprisingly, premature ejaculation.
Does what we are born with make us what we will become, or is it the way we live? Newspapers tend to believe in nature - DNA, while sociologists go for nurture - the environment.
As they learn more, geneticists are finding that they have less and less of an idea about which is more important, or whether the question means anything in the first place.
Charles Darwin had an equally brilliant, but less well-known, cousin. He died 100 years ago in 1911.

Galton applied statistics to many things, including the efficacy of prayer

This year is Galton year - a celebration of Francis Galton, a genius - but a flawed genius. He did many surprising things. He was the first person to use fingerprints in detective work and the first to publish a weather map, in the Times newspaper in 1875.
Galton is best known for his interest in inheritance. His book Hereditary Genius is sometimes said to have founded human genetics, and Galton founded the science (if that is the right word) of eugenics.
Its main aim was "to check the birth rate of the Unfit and improve the race by furthering the productivity of the fit by early marriage of the best stock".
Beauty map
At his death, he left the then enormous sum of £45,000 to found the Laboratory of National Eugenics at University College London (UCL).

Helicopter with wings promises to change aviation world

Surging in from the west through one of Provence's many beautiful valleys, a peculiar-looking aircraft is preceded by an unfamiliar sound.

The deep chugging rumbling of a conventional helicopter rotor is mixed with the loud whining noise of two wing-mounted forward-facing propellers, making it difficult to guess what is coming.
As the aircraft swoops over Montagne Sainte-Victoire, shaking the windows in holiday cottages and farm houses below, it becomes clear that this flying machine resembles nothing else in the skies.
Eurocopter's X3 rotorcraft - pronounced "X cubed" - is basically a chopper with wings, which will be seen for the first time by the public next week as part of the aerial displays at the Paris air show.
The prototype combines the versatility of a helicopter, by way of vertical take-off and landing, with the higher speed of a plane.
"It's exactly like a helicopter," says flight test engineer Dominique Fournier. "But as soon as you've taken off, it's exactly like a fixed-wing aircraft."
Game changers

Helicraft such as the X3 are set to revolutionise aviation, company executives say

The X3 is one of the fastest rotorcraft in the world, having achieved a cruising speed of 232 knots (430 km/h or 267 mph) during a test flight on 18 May.
Though not quite as fast as US rival Sikorsky's equally futuristic-looking but differently designed X2, which achieved a true air speed of 250 knots last September, the X3 has nevertheless made the prospect of ultra-fast helicopters going on sale within years much more likely.

Consequently, both helicopter companies describe their innovations as "potential game changers".
"The aerospace industry today has a new horizon," according to Sikorsky's president Jeffrey Pino. Eurocopter's chief executive Lutz Bertling says "it will be a totally different way of flying".
Mission capability

For the pilot and for passengers, the difference lies in the "very different sensation from flying this when compared with an ordinary helicopter", according to experimental test pilot Herve Jammayroc. "In the X3 we accelerate and decelerate horizontally."

LulzSec hackers claim CIA website shutdown

The hacker group Lulz Security has claimed it has brought down the public-facing website of the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The alleged attack on CIA.gov occurred on the same day the group opened a telephone request line so its fans could suggest potential targets.
On its Twitter feed, the group wrote: "Tango down - cia.gov - for the lulz".
The CIA website was inaccessible at times on Wednesday but appeared to be back up on Thursday.
It was unclear if the outage was due to the group's efforts or to the large number of internet users trying to check the site.
The CIA would not confirm if it had been the victim of an attack. In a statement, a spokesperson told BBC News: "The CIA's public web site experienced technical issues that caused it to respond slowly for a short time yesterday evening. Those issues are now resolved."
'Denial of service'
LulzSec has risen to prominence in recent months by attacking Sony, Nintendo, several US broadcasters, and the public-facing site of the US Senate.
On Wednesday it claimed to have launched denial of service attacks on several websites as a result of opening its "request line", although it gave no details.

Lulz Security attacks

• May 7: US X Factor contestant database
• May 10: Fox.com user passwords
• May 15: Database listing locations of UK cash machines
• May 23: Sonymusic Japan website
• May 30: US broadcaster PBS. Staff logon information
• June 2: Sonypictures.com user information
• June 3: Infragard website (FBI affiliated organisation)
• June 3: Nintendo.com
• June 10: Pron.com pornographic website
• June 13: Senate.gov - website of US Senate
• June 13: Bethesda software website
• June 14: EVE Online, League of Legends, The Escapist and others

African jitters over blogs and social media

African governments are turning to more sophisticated techniques to block internet sites and bloggers who they perceive to be a threat.

That is the conclusion of The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, who together with the internet giant Google SA, have gathered African journalists together in Johannesburg's financial hub Sandton to take stock in the wake of the North African uprisings.

In recent months we have seen the traditional means of blocking content continue.

Uganda, for instance, turned off social networking sites in April during the peak of the "walk-to-work" campaign.

Though it denied doing so at first, the Uganda Communications Commission wrote to service providers asking them to "block the use of Facebook and Twitter" and "to eliminate the connection and sharing of information that incites the public".

The BBC saw a copy of the letter.

In June, the Rwandan site Umuvugizi was blocked as its editor was sentenced in absentia to more than two years in jail for insulting the President Paul Kagame in an opinion piece.

And in Swaziland, SMS and the Facebook site were suspended during the much-trumpeted protest marches that failed to take off at the start of April.

But these "technical blocks" are fast becoming surpassed by "more sophisticated and targeted tools using Malware", says Danny O'Brien from the CPJ.

Cloning websites

He says a tactic that was previously used in China, Malware enables an individual's website to be infiltrated via a virus or spyware designed to damage a user's system and "suck out important content".

It also enables the "infiltrator" to clone the original system and send out information that would be hard to detect as being fake.

There is evidence that this sophisticated tool is being used in Tanzania and Sudan, according to Tom Rhodes, CPJ's East Africa lead.

Planned public sector pension changes set out

The government is detailing for the first time plans to link the public sector retirement age to the state pension age, which is rising to 66.

It is also due to confirm plans to base public sector pensions on workers' average salaries, although any benefits already built up will be protected.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the public sector could not be excluded from pension reforms.
Up to 750,000 public sector workers are set to strike in protest on 30 June.
They are angry about changes to the way pensions are calculated and plans to seek higher employee contributions.
Mr Alexander will confirm in a speech later that many of Lord Hutton's recommendations on public sector reform will be adopted.
He is expected to say most public sector workers - bar the army, police and fire service - will see their retirement age - currently set at 60 - linked to the state pension age in the future.
But he will also say low paid public sector workers on less than £15,000 will not face any increase in pension contributions and those earning less than £18,000 will have their contributions capped at 1.5%.
And he is expected to criticise unions who are due to go on strike in protest at pensions changes.
All pension benefits that were earned before any reforms are introduced - including retirement ages and final salary benefits - will be protected.
Mr Alexander will say: "There is an indisputable case for reforming public sector pensions to ensure that they are affordable and sustainable but still amongst the very best available.
"That case is simple. People are living much longer - the average 60 year old is living ten years longer now than they did in the 70s. This advance comes at a price. It is unjustifiable to ask the taxpayer to work longer and pay more so that public sector workers can retire earlier and receive more themselves."
'Hell bent'

Pakistani cardiologist honoured in the US

An Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC) alumnus was recently recognised for his contribution to healthcare by a newspaper in the United States. The Macon Telegraph featured Dr Ahmed Ijaz Shah (graduate of AIMC class 1995-96), a cardiologist serving as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine.

He, together with a cardiac surgeon, used a minimally invasive technique to place a ventricular assist device (tandem heart) for the first time in Middle Georgia. The device was used in a critically ill 80 year old female who suffered a heart attack, leading to failure of the right ventricle to pump blood to her lungs and causing other parts of her body to shut down.

The ventricular assist device was used to pump blood artificially, bypassing the failed right ventricle of the heart (right ventricular assist device or RVAD). Given the patient's age and a variety of physical ailments including low blood pressure and failing kidneys, the patient was unlikely to survive open-heart surgery. The device is only used as a short-term fix for a few days which is usually enough time for the patient's heart to heal on its own, while not exposing the patient to the risks inherent with open-heart surgery.

Google muscles in on Canadian startup

For the past two years, the founder and chief executive of Toronto’s Idee Inc. watched and waited for Google Inc. to upgrade its search engine and enable users to enter pictures instead of text to perform Web queries.
As the creator of TinEye — a reverse-image search technology that allows users to figure out where a photo came from, how it is used and whether modified versions of it exist anywhere on the Web — she had a feeling Google would one day add similar functionalities to its flagship search engine.

On Tuesday, Google took the wraps off a series of upgrades to its mobile and PC search technologies, which included Search By Image, an extension of the company’s Google Goggles image recognition technology.

“I have always known that Google will eventually release a search-by-image feature,” Ms. Boujnane said. “They are a search giant after all. My initial reaction was: it’s about time. I have been expecting this in every single release for the past two years.”
For many technology startups, the prospect of a technology giant co-opting their creation, building it into their core platform and rolling it out to their millions of existing users is nothing short of a nightmare.
But Ms. Boujnane doesn’t see it that way. Instead, she feels that her company’s strategy of licensing its technology to businesses differentiates it from Google, a consumer search engine.
“Google has put searching by image at the future of search,” she said.
“This is no longer a nice-to-have feature, it is a must-have feature, which will drive mobile commerce and enterprise search. Good for Google. Good for us.”

OSC sets July dates for hearings into TMX-LSE merger

The Ontario Securities Commission has set aside two full days in July for public hearings into the proposed merger of TMX Group Inc. and London Stock Exchange Group.
The public consultation is to take place July 21 and 22 at the Toronto Eaton Centre Marriott.
The OSC said the planned merger of the exchange groups “raises significant public policy issues that are important to market participants and the Ontario capital market” and the public consultation is intended to give interested parties an opportunity to express their views “directly to the commission.”

Canada’s largest capital markets regulator is a key player in the proposed merger because, in order for it to go ahead, the OSC must waive an ownership cap that prohibits any single entity from owning more than 10% of the exchange group. Quebec’s securities regulator must make the same determination and it, too, plans to hold public hearings in July.
Quebec’s Premier Jean Charest, who was in New York on Tuesday, told Bloomberg News that he prefers a rival bid for TMX from a group of Canadian pensions and financial institutions. Mr. Charest said he prefers to keep the exchange group in Canadian hands, and wants to protect Quebec’s jobs and expertise.
The friendly merger proposed by TMX and the London exchange group must also win approval from Canada’s federal government under the terms of the Investment Canada Act. Last year, a hostile bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan by BHP Billiton was blocked under the terms of the act.
The rare rejection followed an active campaign by Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
The rival bid for TMX by Maple Group — a consortium of 13 Canadian pensions and financial institutions — also faces regulatory scrutiny. That proposed transaction is conditional on receiving clearance from the federal Competition Bureau to combine TMX operations with rival trading firm Alpha Group and with CDS Ltd., a securities clearing operation.

Uranium companies offer quick ‘stock pop’

A pair of uranium companies that are candidates for inclusion in two Russell indexes could offer a big return over a short period of time, based on an outlook from Dundee Capital Markets.
In a note to investors, Dundee analyst David Talbot said that the two companies, Ur-Energy Inc. and Uranerz Energy Corp., were included on a preliminary additions list for the Russell Global Index and the Russell 3000 Index. Russell indices are widely used by investors for index funds, with roughly $3.9-trillion in institutional assets benchmarked to them.
Uranerz was previously included in the Russell 3000 index, before being dropped last year. The company was added to the index in 2009 and rallied 45% between the first preliminary addition announcement to the point when it was included. Uranerz then lost 23% when it was removed last year.
Mr. Talbot is recommending investors buy into both Uranerz and Ur-Energy before the final list is announced on June 24.

“Most index investors are going to wait until another preliminary list is announced on June 17, and the final list announced on June 24, before they are bound to the inclusion by June 27,” Mr. Talbot said. “This gives some time for the speculators to buy before we see the likely bump in trading on June 24th.”
Ur-Energy (TSE:URE) last traded at $1.41 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while Uranerz (TSE:URZ) traded at $2.78.
jshmuel@nationalpost.com

Musharraf in exile

Former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf led military coups in 1999 and 2007 before restoring democratic rule and serving as head of state.
He is uniquely positioned to describe the situation in what many consider the most "dangerous country in the world" and the geopolitics in the region. He believes Pakistan, like Afghanistan, is a victim and is hurtling toward becoming a failed state, which will have grave ramifications worldwide. He was driven from office in 2008 and exiled in London after charges he was part of a conspiracy to kill Benazir Bhutto. He is committed to returning next year to seek election and has embarked on a campaign to improve understanding about the issues. Here are excerpts from his lecture, a press conference and two interviews with The Post's Diane Francis this week at the Conference of Montreal.
Q What happens when American, Canadian and other NATO troops leave Afghanistan?
A This will be a disaster unless Afghanistan is stable. It could lead to chaos, which will badly affect Pakistan, then India, the region and the world. This is what happened when the Americans left Afghanistan after the Soviets were defeated. I call this the Period of Disaster. There was no resettlement of the 25,000 mujahedeen fighters [recruited by the U.S. from refugee camps, including religious fighters led by Osama bin Laden].
They had been brought in by the Americans to fight the Soviets. After the withdrawal [in 1989], there was a vacuum. The Afghan elite had left for the U.S. and Europe, and the country was [in] anarchy, ravaged for years by having to fend for itself and returning to war-lordism. Four million refugees left Afghanistan for Pakistan. Then terrorists and the Taliban flooded Pakistan, tearing apart our socioeconomic fabric. The biggest danger is that all these extremist elements are developing a nexus with Pakistan at the core.
Q How current condition and bad is Pakistan's why are you going back?

Scents & sensibility

While homeowners go to great lengths to make their homes picture perfect for guests, any lingering odours in the house might mean they take away some less-than-pleasant memories of their stay.
But most people are used to their home's unique scent and often don't realize there is a problem.
"It's a blind spot for most people," says Dr. Michael Masson, professor of psychology at the University of Victoria. "A homeowner will find it difficult to detect any smell difference because they are habituated to it."
A person who smokes, for example, likely can't smell the tobacco smoke that has permeated the carpets and draperies. The same can be said of pet owners.
Real estate agents would be generally the first group of people to inform a client that they have to modify the smells around a house before it can sell.
"In my experience, the absence of smell is the best smell," says Mark McDougall, an agent with Royal LePage Coast Capital.
In preparing for an open house, he recommends clients steam clean their carpets. While some people put out bouquets of potpourri or bake bread prior to guests arriving, Mr. Mc-Dougall says these strategies can backfire and make visitors think homeowners are trying to mask a problem. "To me, they reek of desperation."
Cleaning experts agree.
"Whenever we get a call to get rid of a bad odour, we first have to uncover the cause before we can eliminate it," says Alan Bowles, owner of the Service Master franchise in Victoria. "That's a more effective strategy than applying a deodorizer to mask the problem temporarily, just to have it return."
Use of deodorizers and other scented products can sometimes bring on problems of their own. Cleaning products and perfumes can cause allergic reactions to those who are sensitive to products that emit volatile organic compounds. Symptoms range from a headaches to nausea.

Pakistan arrests CIA informants tied to bin Laden raid: report

WASHINGTON — Pakistan’s top military spy agency has arrested five CIA informants who fed information to U.S. intelligence before the raid last month which killed Osama bin Laden, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
One of the detainees was reported to be a Pakistani Army major whom officials said copied license plates of cars visiting the al Qaeda leader’s compound 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Islamabad.

The fate of the CIA informants arrested in Pakistan was unclear, the newspaper reported, citing American officials.
Outgoing CIA Director Leon Panetta raised the issue of the informants’ detention during a trip to Islamabad last week where he met Pakistani military and intelligence officers, the newspaper said.
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, Pakistan’s main military spy agency, declined to comment, but the army denied that any army major was among those arrested in connection with the May 2 raid by U.S. special forces in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
“There is no truth in NYT story with regards to involvement and arrest of army major in connection with the OBL (Osama bin Laden) incident,” military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said in a statement.
A senior Pakistani security official said some people were detained in connection with the Abbottabad raid and they were still being investigated.
Asked whether those arrested were CIA informants as mentioned in the NYT report, he said: “Investigations are under way and after completion of investigation one cay say which category they belonged to.”
Some in Washington see the arrest as another sign of the deep disconnect between U.S. and Pakistani priorities in the fight against extremists, the Times reported.

Let’s lose the polo shirt, pops

When it comes to getting dressed, men have it easy: They simply wear what their fathers and grandfathers did.
There have been enviably fewer innovations and modifications in recent decades, overall, to what fashion writer Josh Sims considers the menswear canon. In his new book Icons of Men’s Style (Laurence King Publishing, $29.95), Sims deconstructs the elements of men’s style, those wardrobe and accessory staples that have endured for decades. Each gets a historical snapshot before he traces its progress through popular culture, and Sims unpacks everything from Salvador Dalí’s double-breasted overcoat and the tan trench favoured by film noir gumshoes like Sam Spade, to Hawaiian shirts, Y-fronts, aviator sunglasses and desert boots — even fountain pens gets the pop-anthropology treatment.
I recently spoke with Piper Weiss, author of My Mom the Style Icon (the blog, and now a book), and when I asked whether a photo blog in homage to dad-style would prove as popular, she suggested it would be less diverse than its counterpart.
“They’re defiantly wearing their clothing,” Weiss said. “It’s more about chutzpah and balls as opposed to a consciousness of what they look like. It’s a different take.”
Menswear designer Michael Bastian would seem to agree — when we discussed influences, he told me it was the way his father and the men where he grew up in Rochester, N.Y., dressed and father-son trips to Gloucester, Mass., that influenced his recognizable retro-preppy Americana aesthetic.

Serena knocked out by Zvonareva at Eastbourne

By Caroline Cheese
EASTBOURNE, England — Serena Williams’ comeback tournament at Eastbourne ended in the second round Wednesday with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 loss to top-seeded Vera Zvonareva.
Zvonareva came through a tense match in 3 hours, 12 minutes for only her second win in eight matches against the 13-time Grand Slam champion.
“I know I can do better,” Williams said. “I can improve and I’m so close to being there, it’s good.”
The No. 3-ranked Russian avenged her 6-3, 6-2 loss in the 2010 Wimbledon final, which turned out to be Williams’ last match for almost a year. Williams won her fourth title at the All England Club, but stepped on broken glass at a restaurant in July and needed two foot surgeries. She later developed blood clots on her lungs.
Williams showed her trademark tenacity in the third set, coming back from 5-2 down to make it 5-5, saving three match points at 5-4. But Zvonareva immediately broke again and a tiring Williams couldn’t muster another rally.
Williams lost on grass for the first time since she dropping the 2008 Wimbledon final to her sister Venus. On Wednesday, Serena was awarded a Wimbledon seeding of No. 7, which is 19 places above her ranking.
Despite the loss, Williams is pleased with her preparations for the defense of her title – and even happier that the foot injury is no longer troubling her.

It ain't easy being God

We're urged to dream big, and I always follow instructions. The other night I dreamt that I was God. I'm neither religious nor megalomaniacal, as far as I know - at least, no doctor ever hinted at it. Overweight, yes; megalomaniacal, no. But there I was, reaching for the top.
It was a bit weird, even for a dream. I sat in a celestial electronic office, going through my mail.
My mail was piles and piles of prayers whirling around inside a transparent cylinder, like numbers in a lottery machine. They were written in tongues of every kind, addressed variously to Jahveh, God, Allah, Zeus and Zoroaster. It seemed all very ecumenical.
I was disappointed, though. Frankly, the prayers were embarrassing. Most supplicants seemed like a royal pain in the keester.
Things look different from the other side, I suppose, but viewed from God's vantage point, human beings aren't very attractive. It's not for God to complain about Adam and Rib, having created them, but really, what a shoddy design.
I'm not talking about supplicants praying for long life, health, money, whatever. If people haven't got something they need and don't know how to get it, they've no choice but to pray for it. Mendicants may not be majestic, but they're human.
It isn't mendicants who embarrass me as God; it's people who pray for faith. Specifically, those who demand to see my ID, so to speak. These good folk want to believe, but would feel silly if they believed in a God who didn't exist -why, Christopher Hitchens might mock them -so they ask for a sign.
It isn't much, they say. A sign should be a breeze for a deity. No need to lay out anything new and expensive. Any old trick will do. Just part the Red Sea again, God, and whoosh! We'll be happy.

Denying fathers their rights

Shania Twain recently published a memoir detailing her anguish at her ex-husband's affair with her best friend. In the end, Shania found happiness with the friend's betrayed husband, by her account a straight-arrow guy, a terrific father to his own daughter and a much-admired step-father to her sons.
She writes, "What attracted me to Fred was his selflessness. He was going through the same agony as I was -maybe even worse, because as a father, he would have to battle his soon-to-be ex for the right to see his own daughter. At least that was something I never had to face."
Why is it that Shania accepts with such fatalism that the custody of her daughter will never be at issue, whereas this selfless man will have to "battle" for access to his child? Because that is the way things still are in family courts in the West, and even celebrities with the clout to arouse public outrage have absorbed the received wisdom that if one parent resists shared parenting for any reason whatsoever -it is usually the mother, and the reasons can be trivial or non-existent -the mother is awarded sole custody. (In reality, nobody is awarded anything through such judgments; on the contrary, one parent and his children have been taken away from each other).
In 1995, 49,000 American men were primary caregivers to their children. In 2010 154,000 men were. Pampers is now using fathers in their diaper ads. Almost 10 years ago, in a sample of 32,000 parents, Health Canada found that working fathers and mothers spend virtually equal time on child care.
So gender convergence is the rule for non-divorced parents, and equal parenting is now the rule for divorces that don't go to trial. Why is it not the presumptive norm for those that do go to trial, after which mothers get sole custody nine out of 10 times?

Mexican hand-off

I was recently in San Antonio and have been obsessed with corn tortillas ever since, so much so that I can't remember the last time I bought bagels or a loaf of bread. Instead, I've been all about melting cheese and toppings of fresh avocado, crisp lettuce and mild tomatillo sauce or spicy salsa (mood-dependant) over perfect, fresh tortillas.
That was, until a few days ago when I was rifling through my freezer and spotted some leftover chicken from a recent backyard barbecue that I had enjoyed very much. Could this chicken be the key to breaking me out of my latent Mexican food addiction? Alas, lady fate had other plans for me when I stopped by the grocery store later that day and felt the gravitational pull toward the Mexican Foods section, a brightly coloured area I had somehow missed over the past five years. And then I spotted a wee can of spicy enchilada sauce and before I knew it I was back at home cooking up fresh veggies in a pan, cubing up the BBQ chicken and enjoying my leftovers like nobody's business.
Here's how you can, too: Preheat the oven to 375C. Pour about half of one small can of red enchilada sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Take small-sized corn (or flour) tortillas and warm them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them (or in a pan over the stove). Dice 2 pieces of leftover barbecued chicken breast (or several pieces of dark meat) into bitesized pieces. In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil and sauté 1 cooking onion, 1 large chopped tomato and about 6 stems of fresh, chopped cilantro until vegetables are soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken at the end to warm through, then dip each softened tortilla in enchilada sauce and spoon some of the chicken and veg mixture onto dipped tortillas and roll them up like cigars.
Fit rolls snugly together in baking dish and pour any remaining enchilada sauce overtop. Sprinkle with a cup of grated cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar or mozzarella are good choices) and pop the dish into the oven for about 25 minutes or until cheese melts and browns. Top each serving (should serve four) with a dollop of yogourt or sour cream, or just a sprig of cilantro.
? Amy Rosen is the food editor at Canadian House & Home magazine.

Beaver fever

Taste buds (c/o Wikipedia): "They are located around the small structures on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus and epiglottis, which are called papillae. Via small openings in the tongue epithelium, called taste pores, parts of the food dissolved in saliva come into contact with taste receptors."
So many pores; such hardworking papillae. The ROM. In and out. Sunday. Last. Toronto Taste, the blockbuster chef-a-palooza held, year after year, in aide of Second Harvest. While gluttons galore scoured the high-end food fair, mouths partaking the salty, the sour, the bitter, the sweet and the oh-yes umami -umami being the La Toya Jackson of this particular Five -two things occurred to me.
One: the nagging idea, as I got around and caught the fine conga-line of chefs -cue the thought bubble -"Shinan, perhaps you really should eat at home one of these days." Seeing all these face-giving chefs in one place -60 of them, thereabouts, from restaurants ranging from Buca to Cava, Chiado to Scarpetta -gave me shivers of a This Is Your Life quality, me being the precise kind of trained professional whose eating is out more often than not.
Two: this being "the year of the burger," as some put it -but, hey, when isn't it? -all these umpteen takes on bun-meat may not have been ideal for the well-paced grazing that this capital-E Event demands. First-rate foodie James Chatto, who fretted likewise about filling up on dough at the taste-fest, instructed this way in his blog later, "Finding ways to present finger that doesn't involve bread is a useful lesson to any young chef."
Amen to that? (Although, p.s.: neither Chatto, nor I, were all that against filling up on David Lee's brisket burger topped with kimchi, with the man from Nota Bene topping many people's "best of" lists on this particular night out!)

Boss's dismissal a slippery slope

Chief executives are fundamentally the same as everyone else: They put their pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. Except, that's not entirely true.
My personal practice consists primarily of acting for employers and chief executives. There is virtually no resemblance between negotiating a settlement for a company's leader and a regular employee. Few such cases ever get to court because the image of most companies is inextricably interwoven with their chief executive, the very identity of a company can be placed at risk by his or her dismissal.
When an employer fires a chief executive, the potential exists for:

The company's market capitalization to plunge.

The company is left without leadership, where no succession planning has been done.

If it is a public company, outside analysts may question the company's direction and speculate on what the departure could mean for its future.

There might be speculation as to whether there was some impropriety that lead to the termination.

A succession battle could break out.

Customer loyalty can disintegrate, particularly if the chief executive was a significant relationship manager.

If a lot of the company's goodwill is reposed in that person, it will will dissipate, too.

The person at the helm often has the most intimate knowledge of the company's history, relationships, practices, business strategies and opportunities and that history leaves with them.

Informal arrangements made between the company and third parties, which were based on the relationship with, or goodwill of, that chief executive may quickly cease.

RIM tries to shake off latest doubts

TORONTO — When Research In Motion Ltd. co-chief executive Jim Balsillie sits down for his regular quarterly call with investors Thursday afternoon, he’s likely to point out how the BlackBerry maker is on the verge of a turnaround and remains “super excited” about its future prospects.
Which is good, because from the outside, observers are openly wondering if things can get much worse for RIM.
With the release of its first quarter earnings Thursday, the company will have a chance to close out what may turn out to be a disappointing quarter and put one of the ugliest periods in its storied history in the rear view mirror.
First there was the embarrassing video of co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis indignantly walking out of a BBC interview in early April, followed by the underwhelming launch of the company’s new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Then on April 28, RIM revealed it was slashing its outlook for the current quarter because of product delays and slower-than-expected sales of its BlackBerry smartphones.
Wall Street investors responded by downgrading RIM’s stock, while some longtime RIM backers began to publicly question the future of the BlackBerry maker and others speculated if perhaps it might be time for a change in leadership at the Waterloo, Ont. company.

NDP may drop ‘socialism’ from party’s constitution

OTTAWA — Federal New Democrats will contemplate shedding the party’s socialist principles in favour of mainstream, less revolutionary ideals at their party convention in Vancouver this weekend.
The three-day convention, which begins Friday, will bring together an expected 1,500 delegates to celebrate the party’s historic election success on May 2.
But between the congratulatory speeches and pats on the backs, delegates will be hard at work debating policy proposals, such as deleting the preamble to its constitution, which now states that social, economic and political progress in Canada “can be assured only by the application of socialist principles” to government and administration of public affairs.
Although officials insist they simply want to modernize the party’s constitution, the current preamble talks about the principle of redistributing goods to meet the needs of people “and not to the making of profit” as well as the extension of social ownership.
The NDP is now suggesting much more tame language and a preamble that states the party is dedicated to the application of “social democratic principles” and that it believes in social justice, equality and environmental sustainability to achieve a strong, united and prosperous Canada.
NDP leader Jack Layton told reporters Wednesday he was looking forward to a debate by convention delegates about the party’s future.

Canucks let dream season go to waste

VANCOUVER — Whatever the Vancouver Canucks have planned for their 41st anniversary season, it will be hard to top this one.
Pity about the ending.
Flummoxed, frustrated, driven mad by an inability to shoot, run, throw or otherwise squeeze a puck past Boston goaltender Tim Thomas for most of seven straight games, the Canucks let a dream season go to waste Wednesday night, losing Game 7, 4-0, and the Stanley Cup on home ice to the Boston Bruins.
Thomas, the runaway winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, was near enough to impregnable the whole series, turning the last two winners of the Art Ross Trophy — Henrik and Daniel Sedin — into non-issues, and when the autopsy is performed on the Canucks, it is there that the scalpel is bound to be inserted first.
The league’s regular-season-leading offence scored four goals in the first two games, and just four more in the last five. Boston outscored them 21-4 in Games 3 through 7.
Any questions?
Given that paucity of offence, goaltender Roberto Luongo would have had to be all-world for the Canucks to win the series, and among critics who thought the team stood a better chance with rookie Cory Schneider between the pipes, he wasn’t even all-Vancouver.
In the final act, the Bruins leaped to a 3-0 lead over two periods on a pair of goals by Patrice Bergeron, one short-handed, and another by amazing rookie Brad Marchand — and the twins were on the ice for all three.
Marchand added one into an empty net at 17:16 of the third.
Bergeron’s goal was the first game-opening goal given up by the home side in a series in which home teams had held serve throughout. That the exception happened in Game 7 wasn’t only ominous, it must have put this thought into the Canucks heads:
“Now we have to get TWO past him.”
It wasn’t going to happen.

Celebrity Homes

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is playing coy. She’s listed her Beverly Hills estate for sale with an asking price “available upon request,” but local real estate industry sources place it at US$49-million, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The four-structure compound was formed starting in 2007 through three property purchases on the same street. Among the sellers was Max Mutchnick, co-creator of the TV series Will & Grace, who sold his house for US$29-million.
The 15,000 square feet of interior space in the compound includes a 9,200-sq.-ft. main house, two guesthouses and an additional three-bedroom house that can be used as office space or staff quarters. They sit on three gated acres with outdoor living spaces, a swimming pool, extensive gardens and koi ponds.
DeGeneres married actress Portia De Rossi in a garden wedding at the compound in 2008.

Everything Your Heart Desires

While location has long been the determinant of a home's value and desirability, a recent spate of condo projects are going for the wow factor in their amenities package. We're not talking the usual barbecues, cabanas, fitness clubs and catering kitchens, but a whole new level -- out-of-this-world spas, rock climbing walls and individual wine cellars, to name a few.
In some instances, the sheer size of an amenity space allows for more possibilities -- such as at Imperial Plaza at Yonge and St. Clair, where a 40,000-square-foot indoor/ outdoor space offers not just the usual fitness club, golf simulator and squash courts, but quirkier offerings, such as a sound studio for music recording and rehearsing.
Coming up with the idea was as much personal as it was driven by market research, explains Matt Davis of the Design Agency, which was responsible for Imperial's amenity space. Both he and the project architect, Rod Rowbotham, are hobbyist musicians: "The more we talked, the more we kept thinking music, and how nice it is to have your own private space to practise and jam with friends."
Getting into music as an adult is a recent, but well documented, phenomenon among Baby Bboomers working through their bucket lists. And for buyers in that age group, a sound studio is a distinct perk. With so much amenity space, it wasn't all that difficult to include two rehearsal spaces, each large enough for a five-piece band, and a green room made up of two lounges. The builder is considering adding a piano, but for now, residents will have to bring their own instruments, either from their suite, or from designated lockers.
Responding to buyers' individuality -- or rather the particularity of their habits -- is something developers are keen to explore. At Chicago, a new 487-unit project in Mississauga by Daniels Corp., one of the amenities is a 34-foot climbing wall.

Set for summer

By Martha Uniacke Breen
Toronto interior designer, blogger and TV design expert Michelle Mawby believes Canadian summers are too short not to make the most of them while you can. She has a host of suggestions for blurring the boundary between indoors and out now that the weather is warm.
Bringing the Indoors Out
Outdoor entertaining has moved beyond melamine plates and plastic glasses to become as elegant as dining indoors. Ditch the patio furniture and buy an elegant dining room table (new or tag sale; it’s up to you), and weatherproof it with a coat of transparent epoxy or marine paint. (Ms. Mawby protects her “repurposed” Chippendale-style table with a sturdy cover, and leaves it out all winter.) You can buy quite elegant outdoor serving pieces and linens to set your table, but there’s no reason you can’t use good (or even everyday) china, crystal and napkins for meals in the garden — after all, the Victorians did.
Great lighting helps to create an inviting setting for summer evenings. Install accent lights in trees, and place solar or electric-powered lights along the garden path for a soft glow. For the table, use hurricane lamps or attractive votive candleholders; one company, Kichler, makes outdoor LED table lamps that are as attractive as anything you’d use inside. Or hang classic paper lanterns — Pier One sells plastic ones with built-in LEDs that look like the real thing, but are much less fragile.
Strings of LED lights aren’t just for Christmas. You can get all kinds of novelty (or elegant) shapes, ranging from dragonflies to chili peppers, that provide a nostalgic, summery glow. Or just use regular Christmas-style strings of white or cream lights, festooned along the fence or in your shrubs; or if you have enough, wrap them around the trunks of your garden trees, like restaurants do.

Sleep position during pregnancy 'link to still-birth'

Experts want urgent research to see if the position a woman chooses to sleep in during late pregnancy affects still-birth risk, as a study suggests a link.

The University of Aukland compared 155 women who had late still-births with 310 who had healthy pregnancies.
Sleeping on the right side or back doubled, but only to almost four in 1,000, the risk of left-sided sleepers.
Left-side lying aids blood flow to the baby, as the mother's major blood vessels are unimpeded by a heavy womb.
The New Zealand study, published in the British Medical Journal, called for larger studies to test the findings.
Ms Daghni Rajasingam of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said: "There are many factors which are linked to still-birth including obesity, increasing maternal age, ethnicity, congenital anomalies and placental conditions. A significant number are unexplained.

"This small-scale study looks at another possible factor. However, more research is needed into sleep patterns before any firm conclusions over sleeping positions can be made.

"In the meantime, women should speak to their midwives if they are concerned."
The UK has one of the highest still-birth rates in the developed world. Every year here 4,000 babies are still-born.
A third of still-births have no clear cause.
Janet Scott, of the still-birth and neonatal-death charity Sands, said: "We would like to see further research into sleep in pregnancy encouraged and funded as a matter of urgency.
"The study will require further validation before any widespread public health campaign could be justified.
"Mums want to know what they can do to reduce the chance of this happening to their baby.
"A simple message which mums could follow, which would reduce their risk of still-birth, would be very welcome."

Sowing the seeds of tomorrow's aircraft

The future of flying will be organically grown, with seats made from plants and fuel made from oils from seeds or algae.

There will be "no more non-renewable materials, like metal or plastic" in the cabin of tomorrow's aircraft.
Flying will be the answer to scarce resources on the ground; by travelling through the air rather than by road or rail, the ground can be "left for farming and preserving biodiversity".
Meanwhile, in cities "vertical take-off will be a way of saving space".
All this might sound like the aviation dreams of children fond of science fiction.
And up to a point that is exactly what it is.
This vision of the future of flying was hammered out by European plane maker Airbus following interviews with 10,000 people - many of them from the generations that will be flying in years to come.
"Don't forget, the people who will fly tomorrow are those that use Facebook and Twitter today," says Airbus head of engineering Charles Champion.
"It's about thinking outside the box."
Major challenges

Charles Champion mixes fact and fiction, science and dreams, to create an exciting vision of the future

One might have expected guffaws from the crowd of journalists who had been summoned to The Future By Airbus event at the Greenwich Observatory in London - chosen, Airbus executives say, because it is the world's reference point for time and thus a good place to think about the future of aviation.

China extending military reach

A maritime arms race is under way in the South China Sea. Beijing is rapidly developing a host of military capabilities that will enable it to project power well beyond its own shores.

It is already the dominant regional naval power and many of its new systems could one day threaten US naval dominance as well.
No wonder then that so many of its neighbours are worried; particularly those like Vietnam and the Philippines who are engaged in long-running maritime disputes with Beijing.
According to Dr Andrew Erickson, a China expert at the US Naval War College: "China does not want to start a war, but rather seeks to wield its growing military might to 'win without fighting' by deterring actions that it views as detrimental to its core national interests."
Three weapons systems are emblematic of China's broadening strategic horizons.
China's first aircraft carrier will begin sea trials later this year. Late last year, the first pictures were leaked of the prototype of Beijing's new "stealth" fighter. And US military experts believe that China has begun to deploy the world's first long-range ballistic missile capable of hitting a moving ship at sea.
Dr Erickson says China's capabilities thus far have been focused on developing a regional anti-access or area denial strategy to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence.
In part this strategy rests upon developing credible weapons systems to hold US carrier battle groups at risk should Washington elect to intervene.

Prolonged TV watching 'raises diabetes risk'

Couch potatoes beware, say researchers who link prolonged TV watching with an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Every additional two hours spent in front of the box each day raises the diabetes risk by a fifth and heart disease risk by 15%, a study found.
Switching it off and doing something more strenuous instead could stop two people in every thousand developing these conditions, the authors say.
The work appears in the journal JAMA.
"The message is simple. Cutting back on TV watching can significantly reduce risk of type-2 diabetes, heart disease and premature mortality," said lead researcher Professor Frank Hu, of the Harvard School of Public Health.
The researchers say it is not TV viewing per se that is the problem, but that people who spend hours watching programmes are less likely to lead an active lifestyle as a result and, in turn, are more likely to be overweight or obese.
Premature death

They say other sedentary activities, like sitting in front of a computer playing games or surfing the internet, might have a similar effect, and this should be studied.

The investigators examined the findings of eight large studies that included over 175,000 people and looked at the health risks associated with TV viewing.

Unlocking NHS potential: How reforms could help patients

Primary care trusts, clinical senates and commissioning groups. The list goes on.
And yet, for most people, these terms will mean very little.
The government's NHS reform programme in England has been an epic saga. But it has almost entirely focused on structural changes and policy U-turns rather than the patient experience.
In truth, that is because the immediate effect on patients is hardly noticeable.
But in the long term the reforms could - if the government is right - herald a whole new era of health care.
The government has pushed ahead with the changes in the belief that they will help meet the twin challenge of rising demands and tightening budgets.
The simple response to such a scenario - and the one that ministers are keen to avoid - is rising waiting lists and ever-greater rationing of services.
But the alternative vision is one where through better decision-making the potential of the NHS to provide more effective and revolutionary care is unlocked.
So how could the patient experience change in the next five or 10 years if that does happen?

How to stop a teenage fire-starter

As almost 50% of fires started deliberately in the UK are lit by children and teenagers, fire services are running more intervention schemes for at-risk youngsters, like 14-year-old Hulya.

"Other people drink and smoke, I just set fire to things."
Hulya stood in her bedroom in her north London home and showed the evidence of her habit of setting fires.
"This is a burn mark on the floor where I set fire to all the matches in my room, which wasn't very good," she admitted.
Pointing to the door, she said: "Here I got an aerosol can and sprayed it round here and then lit it and it just went up."

She said she set fires continuously and thought she knew why.

"I think I like taking control of how it will end up.
"So I can take control if I wanted my room to burn down, or I can take control if I wanted it to be a little fire that I can stomp out whenever I wanted to. I think that's what it is."
Disastrous consequences
In many ways Hulya is a regular teenager, learning to live with a strict parent and the confusion and difficulties of entering adulthood, but the way she handles these issues can have disastrous consequences if they go unchecked.
She was referred to the London Fire Brigade Juvenile Firesetters Intervention Scheme headed up by Joanna Foster, a specialist in child and adolescent mental health.

 

Joanna uses a variety of techniques to get to the bottom of why young people set fires. They depend on the age of the children she is counselling and can include drawing and puzzles.