A cholera outbreak in Cameroon has killed 65 people and infected hundreds since it started last month, state media said.

“Up to October 27, 2009, 407 cases (of cholera) were recorded (in northern parts of the country), including 65 deaths,” according to a government statement in the state newspaper, the Cameroon Tribune.

More than 60 percent of those who died did not go to hospital, the statement said.

Prime Minister Philemon Yang urged the reinforcement of ou…

Recession seems to be over and done with for more than half of Americans who were recently surveyed. They plan to spend more during the end-of-year holidays this year compared to 2008 as concerns about the economy subside.

The projected spending boost at Christmas, Hannukah and Kwanza won’t come from more or more expensive gifts, but rather from spending on items like entertainment and home decoration, which traditionally account for a smaller portion of the holiday budget, said the …

Children and teenagers that took what specialists call “second generation” anti-psychotic medicine were at risk for obesity, according to a study in a US journal.

Children and teens in the United States diagnosed with psychotic and bipolar disorders, as well as mood disorders, are often prescribed second-generation antipsychotic medications such as aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) lo…

Technology and media stars, pundits and entrepreneurs joined the Internet’s father to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his culture-changing child.

“It’s the 40th year since the infant Internet first spoke,” said University of California, Los Angeles, professor Leonard Kleinrock, who headed the team that first linked computers online in 1969.

Kleinrock led an anniversary event at the UCLA campus that blended reminiscence of the Internet’s past with debate about its future…

Ali, a 30-year-old Jordanian father of three, was without a job and desperate. A friend convinced him that selling one of his kidneys could improve conditions for his family and also save someone’s life.

So he flew to Egypt earlier this year, had a kidney removed, and was paid 5,000 dollars. But it was a Faustian bargain.

“I regret it with all my heart. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Ali told AFP. “I got all 5,000 dollars after I donated the kidney, but I did not see …

Some 100,000 women joined a protest against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, accusing him of “offending” women, the daily La Repubblica reported.

The women signed a petition launched by the left-leaning paper, a relentless chronicler of sex scandals that have been dogging Berlusconi for months, after he said on a television broadcast that opposition deputy Rosy Bindy was “prettier than she is intelligent.”

The remark, made in a telephone call to the show where Bi…

It is “vaccination by natural selection,” lamented 51-year-old Cindy Rochen as she waited with thousands of others outside a clinic in this Washington suburb for a swine flu shot.

“You could be Stephen Hawking and you wouldn’t get this flu shot if you didn’t have an inside track to get inside that clinic,” said Rochen, who walks with the aid of a cane, suffers from an autoimmune disease, a bone illness and asthma and can only have the injectable form of the vaccine.

The 2…

The Catholic Church said Thursday it will launch a campaign in Brazil urging early testing for AIDS, despite maintaining its opposition to government incentives promoting condom use.

The effort seeks “to make the population aware of the risks of AIDS and, if a positive diagnosis is found, to start treatment as soon as possible,” said Luiz Carlos Lunardi, a spokesman on the church’s efforts on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The national campaign will be based on a te…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday warned consumers to avoid buying medicines online to treat swine flu, saying one such product contained nothing more than talc and over-the-counter fever-reducer.

The FDA raised the warning after some of its investigators purchased and analyzed products represented online as Tamiflu (oseltamivir), one of the anti-viral medicines that has been shown to be effective against A(H1N1) flu.

“One of the orders, which arrived in…

Brazil topped an anti-hunger scorecard on Friday followed by China where 58 million people have more to eat but India earned low marks in a new ActionAid index.

The study, released on World Food Day, scores the efforts by 50 governments to fight hunger, with calls for more action with more than one billion people in the world already going hungry.

“Some of the poorest countries in the world are making striking progress on reducing numbers of hungry people, while some weal…

Clad in ornate headgear and a black robe, Tay Kim Huat wielded a mock sword and mimicked the pose of a Taoist deity’s statue perched on the altar in front of him.

Swaying back and forth with his eyes closed as devotees sang prayers over him at the An Ren Gong Temple, the car parts delivery man appeared oblivious to the chants and incense smoke — as well as his wife and children waiting outside.

They’re used to it. After all, being a “dangkee” or medium runs in the family…

More than half of all Peruvians are opposed to legalizing abortion in cases of rape or fetal deformity, according to a national poll released Sunday on a controversial bill pending in Congress.

The results of this week’s Ipsos-Apoyo poll of 1,000 people showed a majority of Peruvians siding with the Roman Catholic Church in its strong condemnation of the abortion bill Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has dubbed a “death penalty” for the the innocent.

The survey found 53 percen…

A new field of medical research is viewing the emergence of modern epidemics like asthma and obesity through the prism of Charles Darwin’s 150-year-old theory of evolution.

In focus at a World Health Summit, which finished Sunday in Berlin, was evolutionary or Darwinian medicine, which aims to help doctors and medical researchers recognise that humans have evolved down the ages.

The body “is not a machine, like a machine designed by engineers, it is shaped by natural sele…

When a cyclone destroyed her home two years ago, Shahana Begum joined the swelling ranks of Bangladeshi “climate refugees” who, experts say, could one day overwhelm the capital Dhaka.

Shahana’s family, like more than half a million people in the impoverished nation, lost her shanty home and all her belongings when cyclone Sidr slammed into southern Bangladesh in November 2007, claiming more than 3,500 lives.

“I moved to Dhaka because there was nowhere else to go,” said Sh…

Workers trudge through foul-smelling mud in a trench seeping with clean drinking water and raw sewage in one of the Harare neighbourhoods hardest hit by last year’s cholera epidemic.

The repair work is a race against time to patch the city’s sewage system before the rainy season begins in November, when health workers fear the water-borne disease could erupt again.

The three-metre (10-foot) deep trench cuts through Usuf Austin’s driveway and runs the length of his block, …

We are as old as we look or, rather, our skin looks .

Although a smooth skin remains the glowing aspiration of  all women, it becomes an unreal goal with age. This is when antiaging creams steps in.

But how safe are these ‘harbingers of youth’? It seems that the users of these products have more to fear than just aging.

It has been recently reported in the media that several prominent brands of  anti ageing creams contain the active ingredient alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs).

According to Dr Sam Epstein, chairman of the US Cancer Prevention Coalition, these are “probably the most dangerous cosmetic products on the market”.

Many of these age- controlling products, that claim to erase fine lines and diminsh wrinkles, actually work by peeling away the top -most layer of the skin, thereby making it vulnerable to damage through sun exposure and  enviornmental toxins.It is exactly for this  reason that many  companies that sell  products with AHA  warn  consumers that it is mandatory for them to use a sunscreen.

But obviously,  it is not enough!

The US Food and Drug Administration has cautioned consumers that AHAs “could destroy the upper layers of skin, causing severe burns, swelling and pain”.

Apparently, AHA is not the only culprit. Another  harmful product, limonene, a known carcinogen also finds its way into several anti -aging creams.

What is it that prompts these companies to churn out these creams in tons? I believe it is our obsession — with  youth and anything young. We started living out of harmony with nature, and the consequence was telling.That is when the ‘cosmetic rasputins’ stepped in with their bottled remedies.

I have just named a few harmful products  but it is anyones guess that there are many many more . It is ok for the countries where  paranoia and regulations control  the sale and recall of such products.What about ‘lesser’  countries? Do we allow ourselves  to be  enthralled by porcelain models and blissfully  continue to use these creams ?

There are so many factors that promote  aging. Poor nutrition, lack of exercise and stress are just a few.It goes without saying that diseases and familial predisposition are also among the factors that enhance ageing. Therefore, it is important to understand what is wrong in the first  place and analyse thoroughly before succumbing to charlatans.

The need for the hour is the ‘back to nature’ approach .Make sure you put the right things into your system to support it for life — this includes sensible healthy foods and clean water. Regular exercising is mandatory for a youthful and a disease-free state.Eliminate stress .You can choose your own methods to de stress—there are plenty around.All these methods will reduce the production and action of free radicals which damage cells.

Traditional practices have come up with their own antiaging products and beauty -enhancing creams that use only natural ingredients. Ayurvedic products are one of them. .It would be worth while to give them a try.

Aging is unstoppable. The challenge is to age gracefully and not cut a sorry figure .If the above  tips are carefully followed  you will be forced to smile at the  youthful  ‘stranger’ you see in the  mirror.

What’s stopping you?
 
Dr. Reeja Tharu

There are nearly 13 million premature births worldwide each year, and of these more than a million die within a month of birth, according to a report by a US charity.

The problem mainly affects developing nations, with Africa and Asia accounting for more than 85 percent of all premature births, though US premature births have increased 36 percent over the past 25 years, according to research by the US group the March of Dimes.

For purposes of the study, premature is consi…

The winner of the Nobel Medicine Prize is to be revealed on Monday, kicking off a week of prestigious award announcements including the two that are perhaps most anticipated, Literature and Peace.

As always, speculation is rife for those honours, to be announced on Thursday and Friday respectively, though no obvious candidates have emerged amid the annual buzz. Related article: Nobel guessing game at fever pitch.

First out is the Medicine Prize, with the laureate to be re…

More than 1.5 million people watched gigantic puppets parade in the German capital at the weekend as part of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, organisers said Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of people were out on Sunday to look at the towering mechanical marionettes.

The crowd was so packed on Saturday at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate to watch the puppets that police had to block access to the site several hours earlier than schedule…

A cycle path linking London and Paris will be completed by 2012, French and British local authorities said here on Friday as they formally launched the “Avenue Verte” (Green Avenue) project.

“We want to symbolically link the Tower of London to the Eiffel Tower with an alternative mode of transport to the car that crosses landscapes of great quality,” said Didier Marie, head of France’s Seine-Maritime department.

The 350-kilometre (218-mile) “Avenue Verte” will use existin…

If there is such a thing as a non-violent bomber, Taiwanese farmer Yang Ju-man seems to be exactly that.

The boyish-looking 31-year-old planted 17 bombs earlier this decade to raise awareness of the plight of the island’s agricultural sector, and his agenda remains very much the same, only now he pursues it by peaceful means.

“The bombs were meant to attract attention, not to hurt anyone,” said Yang, who has turned into a practitioner and proponent of organic farming. br…

Residents of Taiwan’s Penghu group of islands on Saturday voted against hosting a new casino following the repeal of a law banning such gambling facilities.

Of 73,651 eligible voters who took part in a referendum, 17,359 voted against a casino in the Taiwan Strait archipelago, against 13,397 votes in favour and 298 invalid votes, the Penghu county government said.

Critics of gambling hailed the outcome, to the disappointment of those who had argued that casinos would help…

A year after a court ended a first bid to prohibit lighting up, a ban on smoking in public places will return to Switzerland’s Geneva canton after being approved in a referendum.

Geneva’s residents voted 81.77 percent in favor of bringing back the ban, with only 18.3 percent voting against.

A canton-wide smoking ban in public places was originally introduced on July 1, 2008, after the state government used a first referendum as grounds for pushing through the move. b…

Hundreds of thousands of people formed a ‘human mosaic’ in Madrid to show their support for the city’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

The human mosaic was formed five days before the International Olympic Committee makes its decision.

The IOC is to announce in Copenhagen on Friday whether Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago or Tokyo will host the 2016 Games.

The Madrid 2016 organizing committee planned the event, which they called an “Olympic fiesta”, to show the …

For a group of entrepreneurs in Mumbai, there is no better time to open a new gallery, though the Indian art world has been hit hard by the effects of the global economic downturn.

Bose Krishnamachari, Devaunshi and Dia Mehta and Yash and Avan Birla last week opened Gallery BMB, hoping to kickstart the sector by showcasing the best of Indian and international contemporary art under one roof.

The first exhibition, “The Dark Science of Five Continents”, features India’s Riy…

The European Commission on Tuesday cleared for distribution in Europe two new vaccines to fight a swine flu pandemic, amid fears about a second wave of the potentially deadly virus.

“Today the European Commission granted variations to two existing authorisations for vaccines for influenza pandemic A(H1N1),” the European Union’s executive body said in a statement.

The decision on the two vaccines — Pandemrix and Focetria — was pushed through last week by the European Med…

Kenya has acquired a condom-testing machine from Australia to restore public confidence in condoms after a faulty brand was withdrawn from the market.

National Quality Control Laboratory head Hezekiah Chepkwony told reporters on Tuesday the machine was purchased for 175,000 US dollars (123,000 euros) by the UN Population Fund.

Its acquisition follows the withdrawal from the market of a batch of Hot brand condoms found to be ineffective.

National AIDS/STD Contr…

Kazakhstan’s government said Tuesday it would impose a total ban on smoking in public places and raise the drinking age to 21, a rare step in the hard-drinking, heavy-smoking former Soviet Union.

“We are now following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, according to whose data more than 30,000 people die every year in Kazakhstan from smoking,” health ministry spokeswoman Agmagul Abenova told AFP.

“We also continue to struggle against alcoholism, and ther…