Regualting Gambling Vs Banning It

The British have hosted a meeting where 30 countries are participating whose aim is to discuss how to regulate the worldwide gaming industry. The USA that has banned the industry by introducing a bill recently had declined to participate. The idea of the meeting is to hammer out a way to regulate the industry, so that, at least youngster will not be involved, which is feared to lead to a lot of criminal activities.

The participants have stated that a regulated Internet gambling industry would offer the gamblers better protection than outlawing it. The gambling industry’s overall income known as "spend", the amount of money players lose for the industry had reached $15.5 billion and the measure USA government took by banning the online gaming industry for American citizens has cost some of the participants that are originally from Britain and other European countries up to 80% of their business. One recommendation the participants arrived at is to come up with a mechanism that will protect the youth and the vulnerable by going through an identifying process.

Energy Drinks Worry Physicians

These are drinks the older coffee drinking population has no grips with even if the drinks are laden with caffeine and are sold with a promise of weight loss, prolonged endurance, and legal highs. Approximately 7.6 million kids drink them on a daily basis. The number of brands has reached 200. The whole phenomenon was started by an Austrian company called Red Bull and ever since it has become a $3.4 billion yearly business that is no longer dominated by Red Bull, even if it still has a good share of the market by introducing many brands that are sold in convenient stores and many other public places. Big companies like Coca-Cola has their own energy drink brand in the market. What worries physicians is the energy drinks are laden with caffeine and sugar and no one knows the amount. Some also have a big dose of vitamin B to complicate things and when such is the case, the effect will be rapid heartbeat that could be dangerous.

The controversy is the major producer of the energy drinks Red Bull that sells 2.5 billion cans a year is suspected of using a banned substance that is linked to brain tumor, even if there is no tangible proof about it. The energy drinks are not recommended to be used as trust quenchers or should not be drunk in between hard physical activity. Even if mixing the energy drinks with alcohol has become a common practice that is also cited as dangerous. Yet mixing Vodka and Red Bull is a common practice in public places or privately. There are beer brands that are laden with caffeine in the market. What is alarming is even if there could have been a few death incidents attributed to the energy drinks, the number of youngster that are being diagnosed with overdose of caffeine is on the rise and parents are advised that they should not allow their kids to use the energy drinks and they have to make sure it has to be drunk sparingly, not more than one can a day.

The Hunt is not yet Complete

The hunt for the source of the E coli bacteria that caused three deaths and infected 200 people is not yet pinned down. The earlier finds were that investigator had found the bacteria in four ranches is not yet conclusive, and recently there is a hypothesis that stated the bacteria could have originated from wild bores that are roaming the area and could have broken into the fence of one the spinach farms. What is suspected to contain the bacteria is their droppings that was examined and found to contain the bacteria. The speculation did not stop there and wild dears are also in the list of suspects. If there is anything the researchers are certain about it is that no one had gotten sick or died from the bacteria since September 26 and they have declared that eating spinach from other ranches other than the four farms is safe.

Other Uses for the Coca Leaf are Popping up

The Andean entrepreneurs are coming up with commercial goods such as tea, toothpaste, shampoo, candy and liquor that are made from the banned coca leaf. In the middle of it all is Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia who stunned recently the UN dignitaries who are responsible for banning the leaf from being traded by asking questions like "Why should Coca-Cola alone be allowed to use the coca leaf in its products while there are other many useful uses for it that are far from what everyone knows as the source of cocaine." Morale, a coca farmer himself, is said to have destroyed more coca farmlands than his predecessors have even if the USA that had spent billions of dollar to eradicate the plant is saying that it is not enough. The new development is, there are many companies that are out to save the sacred plant that had been in use from ancient time and they are armed with scientific evidence that there are genuine and harmless uses for it.

Vegetables Keep Brain Young

A recent research has proved what was believed all along about the advantages of eating vegetable and it found out that eating vegetable twice or more a day keeps the brain young. The test was done on 2000 volunteers who were over 65 and after six years the finding showed those who were eating mostly leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale, and collard were found to have a sharper brain and good memory that is at least five years younger than their age. The reason was attributed to the fact that the greener vegetables contain more vitamin E than fruits, for example, and since they could be eaten with a healthy salad oil that helps the body absorb vitamin E better and fight antioxidants. Fats from healthier salad oil could keep cholesterol level low and help the arteries to stay clear of cholesterol accumulation.

Coca-Cola Trade Secret Theft

Two men who tried to steal Coca-Cola’s trade secret with the help of a secretary and sell it to Pepsi, the number two soft drink company had foiled and the case had been brought to court where the involved individuals have pleaded guilty for one count of conspiracy. Ibrahim Dimson and Edmond Duhaney could both face 10-year imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Joya Williams the secretary would be arraigned in November and her lawyer has released a statement declaring that she will not plead guilty.

The whole thing started when Williams contacted Duhaney and he contacted Dimson so that he can broker a deal with Pepsi. The plot foiled when Pepsi informed Coca-Cola about what was taking place and they were in the process of closing a $1.5 million transaction, although it is not clear with whom. When they were arrested, proof was found in Duhaney’s home involving boxes of samples of soft drinks and documents. Documents were also found in Williams’ home who was fired from her administrative assistance job after the incident occurred.

The Fountain of Youth

There is a study made about DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) and a dose of testosterone’s effect on aging and a recent release has stated that it does not have any effect at all and taking the pill that is available without prescription is a waste of money. However, there are others who are saying it had been only two years since the study had been undertaken and it will be a little bit early to arrive at such a conclusion.

A research had been done on elders who were over 60 and what was found was none of them had gained changes in volume of oxygen intake per minute, their muscle strength, their reaction to insulin, or on their quality of life. At the same time there were no adverse effects either. If there is anything that was true about the experiment, it was that the men were able to develop a negligible fat free tissue and an increase in bone mineral density around their neck, while the women had the same bone mineral density increase in their wrist area only. The conclusion is even if older people go as far as replacing their hormone they will attain nothing significant from it resulting that almost all the products in the marketplace that claim to improve aging have not gone through a thorough clinical test and are not effective.

Wal-Mart Expanidng in China

Wal-Mart, which already owns 66 stores in China, is competing and probably winning a bid that would cost it $1 billion to buy 100 stores from Trust-Mart a Taiwanese company owned by Winston Wang a Taiwanese Tycoon. The so called hypermarkets, which combine a department store and a supermarket in a jumbo facility with a full lineup of grocery and merchandise are in sizeable number in China and Wal-Mart’s toughest competitor that it seem it had already beaten on this bid, France’s Carrfor Sa owns a big number of them. Wal-Mart had to beat both a Shanghai and British competitors to win the bid and it is planning to close the bid in three years time. Report states that the buying is a major step for Wal-Mart in a country where the economy is growing 10% on a yearly basis and could stabilize the company that had to exit Germany’s and South Korea’s market.

Madonna Hits a Snag in Malawi

Her effort to adopt a child from Malawi had hit a snag where the country’s officials refused to give a temporary passport to David, the 13-month-old orphan whose mother had died because of birth complication. The child’s father is still alive and lives some 20 km outside of the main city and is fully supportive of his child’s adoption by the superstar stating that he wants to see his child receive a good upbringing and education. He does not know why the authorities are intervening when he has given his full consent.

The problem is the country’s law states that for any foreigner to adopt a child from the particular country will have to live at least 18 months in the country and go through some observation so that it is possible for the community to approve the individual as a fit adopter. The country’s Human Rights Consultative Committee an umbrella of 65 non-government organization is taking the case to court and the whole affair is temporarily in a limbo, and the child was supposed to leave yesterday for Britain. There are some that are arguing the singer’s superstar status and the fact that she is building an orphanage in the country is enough reason to circumvent the rules.

Celebes in Red Raising fund for Aids in Africa

It took place in Chicago’s "Magnificent Mile" where the leading celebrities who were out shopping for items that are red were Bono and Ophra Winfrey. The idea behind the spree was to buy red items that are released by companies like Apple, the Gap, Motorola, Converse, and Armani. These and more brand names are planned to be released that are in red color and they are going to give a portion of the sale they are making to the foundation that is fighting AIDS, TB, and malaria in Africa.

Apple has promised to donate $10 from each red nano iPod it sells for $199 each. So far, what is dubbed as "Red Initiative" that started in Britain in the spring had raised $12 million for the AIDS fighting organization. In addition, Apple has promised more from a gift card that it has introduced that sells for $25. The effort that will kick off on Friday officially is believed to raise a good amount money for disease fighting causes in the developing world.

Shopping Expedition

What Madonna is doing in Malawi has created a mixed reaction across many sections of the global society, and more so in the African continent. Those in a position of authority are questioning the reason why Madonna, for that matter other Western celebrities like Mia Faro, Angelina Jolie, and others are adopting children from impoverished countries and bringing them to the West to be brought up in opulent societies. Some are saying it is good for the children, while others are saying it is simply a shopping expedition. The father of the boy Madonna adopted, one year old David, whose mother died in birth complication, Yahome Banda says he is happy for his one old son that he will be brought out of the surrounding poverty in the village and will have a good future with Madonna. Madonna is not saying anything yet publicly even if the occurrence had been a subject of talk radio in many localities. An official in South Africa, among those who are saying the adoptions are only to make statement by the celebrities stated that the priority should be to accommodate the orphans within the region first and it is after exhausting all local possibilities that they will proceed with global adoption. Whatever the assumption, the kids that are adopted by high level celebrities will definitely lead a very good life and will have a good future, which would mean there is not much wrong with it.

The Number of Death Reached 655,000

A research has revealed that 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003, the year the war started. From this total 31% is claimed to be caused by the occupation forces, while violence or natural death due to sickness caused the remaining percentage. The age range of those who died is between 15-44. The total death is tallied to be 2.5% of the general population. The main cause death not related to the war or disease was bullet and to an extent car bombs and suicide bombing. The research had compared the death rate to other wars such as Vietnam War, that caused 3 million civilians death; the Congo conflict had claimed 3.8 lives; in East Timor, an estimated 200,000 out of a population of 800,000 had died, and recent estimates revealed that 200,000 have died in Darfur in the past 31 months. The conclusion is since this figure is above what used to take place in Iraq before the invasion, the occupation has exasperated the situation, and it seems that the number is not relenting even now in 2006.

Tough Decision Making

North Korea has detonated the contested atomic bomb and had claimed no radiation has escaped the underground test that measured according to the North Korean source 3.58 magnitude seismic tremor, whereas according to U.S. source it measured 4.2. The problem is the test had gained across the board condemnation that includes all Asian countries, including allies like China and Japan. Some even have called it weapon of mass destruction. However, the U.S. has stated that now it is true that the North Koreans have developed the bomb, but they could still lack the technology to deploy small bombs on missiles. Which means still their advancement is not a threat to world peace.

In their turn, the North Koreans had stated that now at least some kind of a balance of power will be there and their achievement could fend off the mounting U.S. threat in the Korean Peninsula. The South Koreans have boosted their military alert and are on the lookout for new developments. Conclusion, since there are other smaller countries that are, more or less, at the same level as the North Koreans that are in possession of the weapon, the next step should focus on diplomatic effort that will bring in the disgruntled North Korea whose main problem is their nation’s economy into the International community instead of alienating them further by coming up with sanctions.

The Veil under Attack

An English cabinet minister recently attacked the veil Muslim women cover their face with and stated it is important to see the face of the other person while having a conversation to read their face so that forming a better opinion of the interaction will be possible. Consequently, he was asking members of his constituency to remove their veil whenever they were going to have a meeting with him. The result was they had complied with his demand so far, and as far as the Muslim community in Blackburn, England is concerned, there is some fury although it did not go out of context. Some of the Muslim clergymen said that it is up to the women to do what they think is right, because the veil is optional if it makes them uncomfortable. They admitted that it is obvious that it makes others who are not member of the Muslim community uncomfortable and whenever there is a need it could be removed. But what is a must requirement is the veil over the head, the hijab that Muslim women cannot go without

The minister, Jack Straw, has the support of his cabinet minister, except that Dawning St stated that it is a personal opinion. Some had complained that it is a headline grabbing effort that will not be translated into anything substantial to the community.

Is It a Tourist Niche?

Hardly, it is more of an exoneration. Iran has opened it nuclear site for tourists let alone the UN inspection, so that they will witness that the effort is just to produce fuel. No one knows what kind move it is, but it might clear some of the suspicion that was building around their effort to enrich uranium. There used to be an accusation emanating from the UN that they were barred from visiting certain parts of the site, but it will remain to be seen what kind of access the Iranians are offering to their visitors.

Americans are also allowed to visit as long as they go through a finger printing process, an act of retaliation against similar measures on Iranian visitors in 2002. Reports say that except some Persian remnants, the area where the facility is located is backward and there is no other attraction, which had raised the question whether tourists will flock to visit the site. Yet, for those who are interested in what is taking place at the nuclear facility, this is a good opportunity that does not have any red tape.

Things are Getting Complicated

First, the death of her son in her a hospital room she was sharing with her lawyer boyfriend, and with the newborn. After she found her son not breathing sitting on the chair he spent the night on, the hospital staff had heard her shouting on Stern claiming that he did it. She is planning to marry him and she had conceded that he is the father of her newborn daughter. Her son died of drug complication that he ingested and the cause of death could be the mixing of several drugs that resulted in a negative reaction.

Now, Larry Birkhead, the freelance photographer who had been claiming to be the father of the newborn girl is asking her to come back to California and she was served with court papers on Monday, which would mean the newborn will have to go through a DNA test to prove who her real father is. Birkhead had to file the suit, according to his lawyer, because of the refusal of Smith to have any contact with him. At the same time, the case of the multi million dollar litigation is not closed, which means she might be able to win the estate.

Vista's Death Blow

The new Windows Vista is expected to give a deathblow to both virus producers and those that are protecting
end-users from these viruses. The reason why it will be so is the OS is said to be built in such a way that it will totally be immune from outside intruders. In case some minor problems are developed, as it is inevitable in most cases, Windows OneCare will take care of them, which means all the known anti-virus companies that are there in the first place because of a problem that is not going away will be out of business. The anti virus business that is estimated to be $4 billion a year is going to suffer a lot because OneCare will cut into their share of the business. At the same time companies like Semantics are complaining that if Vista is going to develop a problem, they have no means of protecting end-users because they are denied access to the codes of the new OS that is built from scratch and has not borrowed any from the unpopular earlier OS XP.

At the same time there are complaints that Microsoft is trying to be at many places at the same time by trying to accomplish many things as it was witnessed by its interest in the Zune, Xbox, and the OneCare anti-virus software. And as the company is not the best software writing company, such efforts could spread it thin and the quality of its core product the OS could suffer. Yet, considering the number of employees it has and its vast resources, it seems that it can handle more, and it has an ambition to play a leading role in what is happening over the Internet as it is just a natural route to follow, because it is lucrative.

Google on the Memory Lane

Larry Page and Sergy Brin, the co-founders of Google, the search engine company, are known to get started in a garage they rented for $1700 to help the owner Susan Wojcicki who is the VP of product management at the company now, to pay the mortgage on her 900 acre house. They would eventually outgrow the garage and had to rent an office nearby, but this particular report has it that there had been more to their moving. One of the two founders, Brin was dating Susan’s friends and that was how the arrangement came about, and while there, they were raiding Susan’s fridge devouring her frozen pizza and she was miffed by it, necessitating for the company to find someplace else. The conclusion is even if the garage is a tourist attraction where a busload of them come there to take picture, it seems that the founders and the VP are taking the memory lane when they decided to buy back the house that is not for sure the residence of the VP anymore.

Woes not Letting Up

The gaming industry woes are not letting up leading to the stumbling of the shares of the major gaming companies. Three companies whose shares plummeted are 888 whose share fall 48% in London, Partygaming 60%, and Sprotingbet 67%. The cited reason for the upheaval is the fact that online betting had been illegal in the U.S. theoretically, but now to make things worse there is a bill that is in the process of becoming a law soon. Even if the law had been said to be difficult to enforce, what it does is it will make any kind of money transfer to gaming companies using electronic transferring methods such as credit card, electronic check, or wire transfer illegal. It might still be possible to get around the legislation once it becomes law and the American public that spends close to $6 billion a year on gaming could have access to the gaming industry, but it would not come as handy as it would be if it were not banned, resulting in making it difficult for the gaming companies to make money from their U.S. clientele, which would result in most of them closing their operation.