I Suppose Attack is Always the Best Defence

Yes, attack is a common form of defence, especially when you've got something to hide:

The president of the Miss World Organisation, Julia Morley, angrily blamed the international media for the collapse of plans to host the pageant in Nigeria.

"Quite honestly, you - not individually - but you as a group, you pulled Nigeria down and you allowed Nigeria to be humiliated," Morley told reporters at the pageant's Abuja hotel base.The Miss World party was due to leave the hotel later in the night to board a private charter plane to take it to London, the new venue of the show's December 7 grand finale, a Miss World spokeswoman Stella Din said. Morley said that the show had been forced to pull out following a barrage of negative publicity, first over northern Nigeria's use of the Sharia Islamic law code then over a bloody series of anti-Miss World riots.

In particular, Morley took exception to stories which appeared in the international press about the use of amputation as a punishment by Islamic courts in northern Nigeria. At least three convicted thieves have had their hands cut off in northern Nigeria since the region began reintroducing the Sharia in 1999. Earlier this month rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim told reporters that 13 more people, including nine children under 18, were waiting in jails in Sokoto and Katsina state to have their hands chopped off. Morley said this story had been "created" and demanded journalists apologise. But the contest boss also tried to see a silver lining in the pageant's curtailed visit to Nigeria. "We've got massive and wonderful footage of Nigeria and we're going to use it at the final in London," she said.
Source: The Age
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The incredible thing is that some people are so stupid, and so insensitive, they don't even realise when they incriminate themselves. What a tragedy, what a waste of human life, what a disgrace for 'western' values. It would be just a coincidence, wouldn't it, that there is a lot of oil in Nigeria. No comment!

For Once, Some Good News

Throughout much of the 20th century, scientists suspected that sexually transmitted infections cause cancer of the cervix. But the guilty party remained hidden until 2 decades ago, when scientists isolated human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA from cervical tumors. That discovery is now paying dividends. In the Nov. 21 New England Journal of Medicine, a team of U.S. scientists reports that a vaccine produced from an HPV protein protects women from long-term viral infections that can lead to cervical cancer.
Responsible for roughly 250,000 worldwide deaths every year, cervical cancer kills more women than any other cancer in developing countries where Pap smears are infrequent. In contrast, it is only the 12th-most-lethal malignancy in U.S. women because most cases are detected and treated. There are more than 60 types of HPV, and at least 20 of which are linked to cervical cancer. After HPV-16, the most common type found in tumors is HPV-18. Some other HPV types, notably HPV-6 and -11, cause genital warts but haven't been linked to cancer.

Approximately 20 percent of adults become infected with human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16). Although most infections are benign, some progress to anogenital cancer. A vaccine that reduces the incidence of HPV-16 infection may provide important public health benefits.

In this double-blind study, we randomly assigned 2392 young women (defined as females 16 to 23 years of age) to receive three doses of placebo or HPV-16 virus-like–particle vaccine (40 µg per dose), given at day 0, month 2, and month 6. Genital samples to test for HPV-16 DNA were obtained at enrollment, one month after the third vaccination, and every six months thereafter. Women were referred for colposcopy according to a protocol. Biopsy tissue was evaluated for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and analyzed for HPV-16 DNA with use of the polymerase chain reaction. The primary end point was persistent HPV-16 infection, defined as the detection of HPV-16 DNA in samples obtained at two or more visits. The primary analysis was limited to women who were negative for HPV-16 DNA and HPV-16 antibodies at enrollment and HPV-16 DNA at month 7.

The women were followed for a median of 17.4 months after completing the vaccination regimen. The incidence of persistent HPV-16 infection was 3.8 per 100 woman-years at risk in the placebo group and 0 per 100 woman-years at risk in the vaccine group (100 percent efficacy; 95 percent confidence interval, 90 to 100; P<0.001). All nine cases of HPV-16–related cervical intraepithelial neoplasia occurred among the placebo recipients.

Administration of this HPV-16 vaccine reduced the incidence of both HPV-16 infection and HPV-16–related cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Immunizing HPV-16–negative women may eventually reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
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The Information Revolution is Here, Long Live Information

Economists who theorise about the conditions necessary for the existence of perfect markets have long identified information, and wide and easy access to it, as a necessary condition for the well-functioning of a market society. The magazine 'The Economist' has often drawn our attention to the lowering of 'market search' costs as one of the cornerstones of the new improved productivity of the information era. Well here it is. You can now compare sale prices before the sales begin. We all know that things are speeding up. The British politician Harold Wilson is perhaps best remembered for his phrase 'a week in politics is a long time'. Perhaps we should fast forward this a bit and coin the moden equivalent: 'a day in the internet is a long time'. There is, I feel, a serious point buried away here somewhere.

Sale prices from Wal-Mart and Target may not seem like big secrets, especially since they're plastered all over newspapers, but big retailers nonetheless cried foul last week after their post-Thanksgiving sale prices leaked onto the Internet. "This is proprietary information that could have a serious adverse impact on Staples' business," said Staples Vice President Paul Capelli. "It can telegraph to your competitors your plans for future business." Staples was among six retailers that sent notices to FatWallet.com, a bargain-hunter site, demanding it remove posts by visitors on a community message area revealing specials to be advertised for this week's "Black Friday" sales. Since it's the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, the day after Thanksgiving is a highly competitive time for retailers. Other complaining merchants included Target, Jo-Ann Stores, Wal-Mart, OfficeMax and Best Buy.

"We feel that prices are public facts" and therefore shouldn't be subject to copyright, added Dan Baxter, who runs DealCatcher (www.dealcatcher.com), another site asked to remove sales data.People posting the information were identified only by their screen names, and several merchants said they are pressing FatWallet, DealCatcher and other sites to cough up the leaksters' contact info so they can take "appropriate action" against them. Lest you think nobody cares about advance peeks at Barbie and Lego discounts, check out the Yahoo discussion group that formed Wednesday. By Friday more than 6,000 people had joined the "Black Friday Ads" group (groups.yahoo.com/group/BlackFriday), where people were publishing long lists of sale prices said to be offered in stores Thanksgiving weekend.
Source: Washington Post
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Haider Opposition Bound?

The latest polls from Austria indicate that Joerg Haider's 'Freedom Party' may be heading for a big electoral defeat. So much the better! The analysis in this Washington Post article also seems fairly sensible and sound. These parties thrive on fear of all that is different and unknown, trying to take political advantage of the shock to Europe's traditional parties posed by the profound changes will follow Europe's opening to the world. The irony seems to be that since these parties base themselves on negative attitudes, then the tasks and responsibilities of government wear them down rapidly. Thus in Ausria and Holland they seem to be on the decline, whilst in Denmark and Belgium their influence seems to be growing.

The far-right surge that catapulted Austria's Freedom Party into the governing coalition in 1999 and prompted consternation across the European Union appears to be over, according to opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday. Damaged by feuds and defections, much of it fueled by the backroom machinations of its mercurial off-stage leader, Joerg Haider, the Freedom Party has seen its support plummet and the party seems likely to return to an opposition role. And that, according to Austrian political analysts, is exactly what Haider wants, as it provides him a refuge from which to reassert control over wayward proteges while continuing to throw grenades at the establishment before making another run for power.
Source: Washington Post
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