Junk food as 'addictive as drugs'

Junk food is almost as addictive as heroin, scientists have found.

A diet of burgers, chips, sausages and cake will programme your brain into craving even more foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat, according to new research.

Over the years these junk foods can become a substitute for happiness and will lead bingers to become addicted.

Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, carried out the research which shows how dangerous high fat and high sugar foods can be to our health .

“You lose control. It’s the hallmark of addiction,” he said.

The researchers believe it is one of the first studies to suggest brains may react in the same way to junk food as they do to drugs.

“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations,” said Paul Johnson, Dr Kenny’s work colleague.

Dr Kenny, who began his research at Guy’s Hospital, London, but now works at Florida’s Scripps Research Institute, divided rats into three groups for his research, due to be published in teh US soon.

One got normal amounts of healthy food to eat. Another lot was given restricted amounts of junk food and the third group was given unlimited amounts of junk, including cheesecake, fatty meat products, and cheap sponge cakes and chocolate snacks.

There were no adverse effects on the first two groups, but the rats who ate as much junk food as they wanted quickly became very fat and started bingeing.

When researchers electronically stimulated the part of the brain that feels pleasure, they found that the rats on unlimited junk food needed more and more stimulation to register the same level of pleasure as the animals on healthier diets.

Source:The Telegraph:Health:28 Oct 2009

NATO Ministers: No Gaddafi In Libya's Future

GEIR MOULSON and MATTHEW LEE   04/14/11 12:04 PM ET   

BERLIN — NATO nations struggled Thursday to overcome deep differences over the military campaign in Libya, failing to find new ground-attack aircraft for the fight despite French and British calls for more intense airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

Alliance members agreed that Gadhafi must leave power but insisted the military mission remain focused on its declared goals of enforcing an arms embargo, protecting civilians and forcing the withdrawal of Gadhafi forces from cities they have entered.

The limitations of NATO's aims have been tested by the Libyan rebels' inability to make progress against Gadhafi's stronger and better organized forces, who have camouflaged themselves and hidden in populated areas to avoid Western airstrikes now in their third week. As a result, Britain and France have been calling for more strikes by their NATO allies, particularly the U.S., with its sophisticated surveillance and weapons systems. The U.S. says it sees no need to change what it calls a supporting role in the campaign – even though it has still been flying a third of the missions – and many other NATO nations have rules preventing them from striking Gadhafi's forces except in self-defense.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO needed more aircraft to attack Gadhafi's forces in populated areas but the first day of the meeting led to no commitments of new planes.

"To avoid civilian casualties we need very sophisticated equipment, so we need a few more precision fighter ground-attack aircraft for air-to-ground missions," he said. "I don't have specific pledges or promises from this meeting, but I heard indications that gave me hope."

Meanwhile, Gadhafi's troops unleashed heavy shelling for three hours on the port city of Misrata, which is partly held by rebels who are defending positions against government forces. At least nine people were killed, witnesses said,

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did not say whether the U.S. would send more ground attack craft, but she appealed to the other NATO foreign ministers for unity over the Libyan campaign.

"As our mission continues, maintaining our resolve and unity only grows more important," Clinton said. "Gadhafi is testing our determination."

NATO's 28 members are "sharing the same goal, which is to see the end of the Gadhafi regime in Libya," Clinton said. "We must also intensify our political, diplomatic and economic mission to pressure and isolate Gadhafi and bring about his departure.

Courtesy:Huffworld.

Pawar statement ‘taken out of context’, says Niira Radia

Updated on Friday, April 15, 2011, 00:37

Zeenews Bureau 

New Delhi: With her latest statement about Union Agriculture Minister and senior NCP leader Sharad Pawar controlling the controversial DB Realty stoking a political storm, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia on Thursday went into the damage control mode by saying that the statement was taken out of context.

Radia’s PR firm, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications issued her first official reaction post revelation in which she said, “The reports are a diversionary tactic by the rivals.” 

She also said that the conversations should be seen in “totality for the right context”. 

Radia also alleged that there could be some vested interests behind the leakage of the unverified reports. 

According to a report published in a daily, the 25-page four interrogation statements reveal some other interesting facts, including the demand by 2G scam accused and former telecom minister A Raja that Tata Sky carry Kalaignar TV, the channel run by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi. The demand by Raja’s private secretary RK Chandolia for a Jaguar car dealership once the Tatas bought the British car company. And an account by Radia of Raja shouting at Chandan Mitra, whose paper The Pioneer had relentlessly pursued the 2G scam. 

With regard to Pawar, who has denied any link with former DB managing director Shahid Balwa (now in CBI custody), Radia told the CBI, “On being asked as to how I came to know that Sharad Pawar had called Raja to get the approvals done and everything, more than the involvement of Pawar there is an involvement of Anil Ambani for getting the licence of Swan, I state that as per the general perceptions in Mumbai as well as outside, DB Realities (sic) is directly or indirectly controlled by Sharad Pawar and his family members.”

 

Radia added that since Balwa and Vinod Goenka were the key persons in DB, with “that background only I had quoted the name of Sharad Pawar who might have pursued the matter with Raja, then telecom minister, for showing favour to Swan as well as Anil Ambani Reliance Communications in issuing of UAS licence and dual technology.”

Radia admitted, however, that though she went through the shareholding details of Swan, she could not get documentary evidence of Pawar’s links.

Elsewhere in the combined statement, Radia mentioned a conversation she had with Chandolia on May 15, 2009, in which they discussed the possible electoral outcome in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. “The second issue discussed was about spectrum allocation,” she said. “And Chandolia was asking to explore the dealership of Jaguar. Jaguar cars, which was taken over by Tata Group worldwide, was being launched in India very soon.” 

Radia later mentioned a conversation in which she is heard saying, “Oh don’t do that!” to the revelation by the minister’s office that spectrum for four states was being released. “There had been a request from the minister’s office for Tata Sky to host Kalaignar TV on its platform,” she said. Interestingly, Kalaignar TV was set up by Karunanidhi’s family when it split from former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi, owner of Sun TV (also a rival of Tata Sky). The families reconciled in 2009. 

Lastly, Radia mentioned how she called up Raja one day: “In this call I appraised Mr A Raja about the article in The Pioneer against him or his family members… It was about Green House Promoters and something to do with DB Group… When he got upset on the phone, I suggested to him to speak to Chandan Mitra directly.” She probably didn’t anticipate the result, when she later called up Chandolia: “In this call I heard the minister shouting at Chandan Mitra in the background.” 

Meanwhile, Union Minister Sharad Pawar had categorically rejected Radia’s allegations that he controls the controversial firm DB Reality.

Coutesy:Zeenews

Japan Will Return To Normal Growth, BoE's Posen Says

4/14/2011 1:41 AM ET 

(RTTNews) - Overcoming strongly from the current crisis, Japan will be a normal economy again, Bank of England policy maker Adam Posen said in a speech on Wednesday.

The human tragedy of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami will not dislodge the Japanese economy from the long-term development path common to all advanced economies, he said in New York.


The outstanding public debt level in Japan is very high. At the same time, the national savings available to fund government borrowing remains far larger. According to Posen, re-building the devastated regions of the nation will cost up to 10 percent of gross domestic product spread over three to five years.


He suggested that the government could substitute the one time spending on reconstruction for ongoing wasteful public spending and transfer programs. Even if it is implemented partially, it would help to reduce the structural deficit in Japan.


"Underestimating the potential growth rate of Japan again, and returning to monetary or fiscal policy tightness too soon could become a self-fulfilling prophecy," he added.


by RTT Staff Writer


For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

rttnews

Shiogama resumes tuna catches

Friday, April 15, 2011

Kyodo

SHIOGAMA, Miyagi Pref.

Hundreds of tuna were offloaded Thursday at Shiogama port in Miyagi Prefecture, one of the biggest fishing bases in the Tohoku region, for the first time since it was hard hit by the March 11 killer quake and tsunami.

Open season: Tuna are laid out at a fish market in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, for the first time since the March 11 monster earthquake and tsunami as fishermen returned to the sea. KYODO PHOTO

The Hoyo Maru No. 18, a trawler based in Tsukumi, Oita Prefecture, entered Shiogama port at around 5:30 a.m. Thursday with about 17 tons of fish, mainly tuna.

The trawler was the first to bring fish to Shiogama port since the temblor and tsunami hit wide areas of northeastern and eastern Japan, prefectural officials said.

Bid prices shot up at an auction at the Shiogama fish market held shortly after the catches were unloaded.

In the 30-minute auction, a 65.8 kg big-eye tuna hit the highest price of 5,800 per kg, nearly double the usual 3,000, market sources said.

Market operator Naoya Shiga said Shiogama will take the lead in reviving the Tohoku fishery industry.

The boat's captain, Tokio Takatsuka, 62, told reporters that he received a report on the earthquake-tsunami disaster while operating around the Mariana Islands in the Pacific.

Takatsuka said he has landed catches at Shiogama port for nearly 30 years and is happy to see the port resume operations.

The disaster dealt a heavy blow to the Shiogama fish market, causing cracks to its quay walls and fish-disposal site. Stopgap restoration work paved the way for the fish market to resume partial operations.

Shiogama, which is located in central Miyagi Prefecture, is known as one of the country's largest tuna ports. The Japan Coast Guard has located one of its 11 regional coast guard headquarters at Shiogama port.

Tuna is one of the most popular kinds of fish for sushi and sashimi.

Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima were the prefectures worst hit by the temblor and tsunami, which have left more than 28,000 people dead or missing.

Courtesy:Japanttimes

19 Congress members expelled in Tamil Nadu

View Source: Indo Asian News Service

Chennai, April 14 (IANS) A day after the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, the Congress' state unit Thursday expelled 19 members, including S.Ve. Shekher, a member of the outgoing assembly, and Chennai's former deputy mayor 'Karate' R. Thiagarajan for anti-party activities. 

In a statement issued here, state unit chief K.V.Thangkabalu said the members were expelled for anti party activities and party men were advised not to have any communication relating to party matters with them.

Some of the office bearers of the party's youth wing, elected to their post in organizational election, were among those expelled.

Trouble started in the Congress when the party high command nominated Thangkabalu's wife Jayanthi as the candidate for the Mylapore seat here.

Protesting her candidature, party cadre staged demonstrations outside the party office and Thangkabalu's residence.

When Jayanthi's nomination papers were rejected by the returning officer for want of some papers, Thangkabalu, the alternate candidate, became the party's official candidate which Congressmen charged as a 'backdoor entry'.

Shekher, the sitting candidate from Mylapore constituency, won the seat as an AIADMK candidate in 2006 but was expelled from the party when he started flirting with DMK. He later joined the Congress and was the first person to send his application for the party ticket for the April 13 assembly elections.

The results will be declared May 13.