By TOM WRIGHT International Herald Tribune
ZURICH, Oct. 10 - The European Union came under pressure today to make new concessions to open its agricultural markets after the United States offered to slash farm subsidies to restart global trade talks.
But it remained unclear whether the American offer would bring about concessions by the European Union and other members of the World Trade Organization, which are meeting here this week to work on an outline for negotiations on a global trade deal scheduled for December in Hong Kong.
The United States trade representative, Rob Portman, pledged to cut some farm subsidies by 60 percent over five years. He also called for an "ambitious" reduction of export tariffs on agriculture products - which is considered a key sticking point in global trade talks - of 55 percent to 90 percent. Such reductions would disproportionately hit European markets, which are protected by much larger tariffs than those imposed by the United States.
Mr. Portman said it was now up to "those that subsidize more than the U.S." - referring to Europe and Japan - to move now to open their protected farm markets to American agricultural products.
"We are offering real cuts to U.S. farmers in exchange for market access," Mr. Portman said. "And if we are not able to achieve the market access, they can not be supportive."
The European Union's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, called the American move a "constructive step" and said Brussels would be willing to cut agricultural subsidies by 70 percent, exceeding its previous offer to reduce them by 65 percent.
But the European Union did not signal that it would agree to cut contentious farm tariffs on agriculture exports to the levels that Washington wants to see. Mr. Portman is seeking a reduction in export tariffs of 55 percent to 90 percent over five years as a condition of cutting its farm subsidies.
Japan also said it would not accept the American proposal as a basis for further discussions. "The reductions demanded of the E.U. and Japan are out of balance" of those the United States is making, the Japanese agriculture minister, Mineichi Iwanaga, said.
Many trade experts questioned whether the E.U.'s executive arm - which has already angered some European government for a promise last year to completely phase out farm export subsidies - will be able to secure further commitments from its 25 member nations.
Brussels also faces resistance within its own ranks. A letter, signed by 13 European trade ministers, including France, Italy and Ireland, was sent last week to the European Union's agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, in which the ministers raised concerns that concessions by Brussels have not been matched by the American offer.
By moving now, the United States has "upped the ante," said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, a professor of international economics at the Swiss business school IMD. "But Mandelson is not in a position to match that ante."
Mr. Mandelson acknowledged some European governments are "concerned about imbalances," but he said the United States' new proposals could help assuage those fears by showing that Washington is also making concessions.
The United States had been under pressure for months to provide detail's the Bush administration's commitment to cut farm subsidies. Mr. Portman's proposal comes after weeks of closed-door meeting with members of Congress who were opposed to any deal unless American farmers, led by the politically strong corn and beef industries, get better market access to Europe's 500 million consumers.
Europe has agreed to end export subsidies, which dampen world prices and hurt developing nations, but it still has high tariffs on farm imports and domestic subsidies worth about $60 billion each year. The United States has relatively low tariffs and officially spends about $19 billion on subsidies, although trade experts say the real number could be much higher.
Trade talks begun in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 under the World Trade Organization were termed a "development round" meant to help lift the world's poor nations out of poverty by giving their farmers better access to developed world markets. But rich countries have not met these promises, advocacy groups like Oxfam International say.
Developing countries said the American proposal could give some momentum to the talks, which have been stalled for more than a year. "It's a positive step," Egypt's trade minister, Rachid Mohamed, said. "There's a willingness from the U.S. to get things moving."
Trade officials, including those from the U.S. and the European Union, will meet again on Tuesday and Wednesday at the World Trade Organization's headquarters in Geneva for further talks. Other than agriculture, discussions are likely to center on American and European demands for large developing countries like Brazil, China and India to open their markets to Western industrial goods and services.
Meanwhile, the United States and Europe said they would discuss in Geneva ways to solve a growing trade dispute over state support for Boeing and Airbus.
Mr. Portman reiterated today Washington's concern that a European pledge this month to postpone aid for the development of Airbus's A350 aircraft was not a meaningful concession. The United States, which is demanding that Europe eliminate the subsidies, does not want to get involved in a negotiation that is "unlikely to result in any meaningful success," Mr. Portman said.
For its part, Europe wants the United States to make a commitment to reduce indirect support that it contends that Boeing receives in the form of research contracts.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Delphi CEO says collapse would harm world auto industry - FT
LONDON (Reuters) - The collapse of auto car parts supplier Delphi Corp. (DPH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) would damage most of the world's auto makers, the company's chief executive officer, Steve Miller, said in an interview published on Tuesday.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Miller said that could be avoided if the company makes enough cuts to ensure its survival.
Michigan-based Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday, piling pressure on General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), its biggest customer and former owner.
"If we do this right, Delphi will remain one of the world's leading global automotive suppliers," Miller said. "If we do it badly, Delphi may be broken up into small pieces, and America will have lost some of its precious industrial treasures.
"The impact of a collapse could potentially injure most of the world's automakers, and perhaps fatally wound General Motors. I am absolutely determined not to let that happen."
GM is closely tied to the unit it spun off in 1999 through complicated supply and labour agreements.
Miller said no decision had been made on Delphi's pension plans.
"We have about a $5 billion (2.85 billion pounds) shortfall in our plan assets to our plan liabilities," he told the FT. "Some have suggested that Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) means termination of the plans. That is simply not true, at least at this point in time.
"At Delphi, we have made no decision to terminate our pension plans."
He said unions would have to accept cuts to wages and benefits at Delphi to repay the pension plan shortfall.
"This will put the unions in the difficult position of perhaps having to make trade-offs between maximising the pay and benefits for active workers versus maximising the chances for saving the pension plans," he said.
Miller said Delphi's case was a "flash point, a test case" for a wider global conflict between the interests of current workers and retired employees.
"I fear something like inter-generational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health care concerns," he said.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Miller said that could be avoided if the company makes enough cuts to ensure its survival.
Michigan-based Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday, piling pressure on General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), its biggest customer and former owner.
"If we do this right, Delphi will remain one of the world's leading global automotive suppliers," Miller said. "If we do it badly, Delphi may be broken up into small pieces, and America will have lost some of its precious industrial treasures.
"The impact of a collapse could potentially injure most of the world's automakers, and perhaps fatally wound General Motors. I am absolutely determined not to let that happen."
GM is closely tied to the unit it spun off in 1999 through complicated supply and labour agreements.
Miller said no decision had been made on Delphi's pension plans.
"We have about a $5 billion (2.85 billion pounds) shortfall in our plan assets to our plan liabilities," he told the FT. "Some have suggested that Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) means termination of the plans. That is simply not true, at least at this point in time.
"At Delphi, we have made no decision to terminate our pension plans."
He said unions would have to accept cuts to wages and benefits at Delphi to repay the pension plan shortfall.
"This will put the unions in the difficult position of perhaps having to make trade-offs between maximising the pay and benefits for active workers versus maximising the chances for saving the pension plans," he said.
Miller said Delphi's case was a "flash point, a test case" for a wider global conflict between the interests of current workers and retired employees.
"I fear something like inter-generational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health care concerns," he said.
Study: Cribs cut SIDS riskChance of newborns succumbing to sudden death fall when babies sleep alone with a a pacifier, report says
BY SYLVIA ADCOCKSTAFF WRITER
Babies should be put to sleep with pacifiers in their own cribs -- not in their parents' beds -- to minimize the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, according to new recommendations issued yesterday from the nation's largest organization of pediatricians.The first new guidance in five years on preventing SIDS deaths from the American Academy of Pediatrics is likely to be controversial, particularly among breast-feeding moms who sleep with their babies in their beds.
"We appreciate that the American Academy of Pediatrics is trying to protect the lives of newborns," said Lisa Parker, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee-based Attachment Parenting International, a support group that advocates the so-called "family bed" approach. "But we have concerns about these blanket recommendations. ... If there are working parents ... nighttime is the only time they can be with their babies."The new policy, which updates the academy's 2000 SIDS guidelines, also says that the only appropriate sleep position for infants is on their backs. Doctors have recommended that for years, but have also told mothers it is OK to let babies sleep on their sides. That is now considered too risky to even be considered an option, because infants could roll over onto their stomachs.Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital, said he recognized that some of the guidelines would be controversial. "I think that the academy is taking a view focusing on safety first," he said. Adesman says he tells his own kids that as a parent, his three main jobs are keeping them safe, healthy and happy, in that order. "More than 2,000 babies die each year from SIDS," he said.Melissa Mitchell of Sag Harbor is the mother of a 9-month-old and she recently returned to work as a teacher. She said the co-sleeping arrangement works well in her household. "I was sleeping with him at the hospital," she said of her son, Tyler. "It just felt like it was the natural thing to do. ... I can sense him wake up before he even starts to wake up." It would be exhausting, she said, to get out of bed every time the baby needed to be fed instead of being able to fall back asleep with him at her side."The huge upside is the connection with the baby," said Nadgia James, of East Hampton, who shares her bed with 11-month-old Nia. "The physical connection with the baby is crucial."The death rate from SIDS has fallen sharply in recent years, now that parents are warned not to let their babies sleep on their stomachs or amid fluffy bedding or stuffed toys. But it remains the leading case of death in U.S. infants between ages 1 month and 1 year.The academy addressed concerns that have been raised about pacifiers in the past, Adesman said. The use of a pacifier until age 1 will not increase ear infections, which typically occur at older ages, and pacifiers used in infancy will not cause damage to permanent teeth, a longtime concern of parents.The academy recommends delaying pacifier use for breast-fed infants during the first month of life -- when SIDS risks are low -- "to ensure that breast-feeding is firmly established." And it says placing the crib near the parents' bed makes breast-feeding more convenient. Infants may be brought into the bed to nurse, but should be returned to their cribs afterward, the policy says.Laura Reno, spokeswoman for First Candle/SIDS Alliance, a national advocacy group, said her organization strongly supports the new recommendations. She lost a baby son to SIDS 21 years ago.The academy's recommendations are based on new research, including studies that have suggested that sucking pacifiers might help keep vulnerable infants from slumbering too deeply to rouse themselves.James, the mother of the 11-month-old, said there's only one thing for parents to do: "Read up as much you can and go with your good instincts."The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Babies should be put to sleep with pacifiers in their own cribs -- not in their parents' beds -- to minimize the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, according to new recommendations issued yesterday from the nation's largest organization of pediatricians.The first new guidance in five years on preventing SIDS deaths from the American Academy of Pediatrics is likely to be controversial, particularly among breast-feeding moms who sleep with their babies in their beds.
"We appreciate that the American Academy of Pediatrics is trying to protect the lives of newborns," said Lisa Parker, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee-based Attachment Parenting International, a support group that advocates the so-called "family bed" approach. "But we have concerns about these blanket recommendations. ... If there are working parents ... nighttime is the only time they can be with their babies."The new policy, which updates the academy's 2000 SIDS guidelines, also says that the only appropriate sleep position for infants is on their backs. Doctors have recommended that for years, but have also told mothers it is OK to let babies sleep on their sides. That is now considered too risky to even be considered an option, because infants could roll over onto their stomachs.Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital, said he recognized that some of the guidelines would be controversial. "I think that the academy is taking a view focusing on safety first," he said. Adesman says he tells his own kids that as a parent, his three main jobs are keeping them safe, healthy and happy, in that order. "More than 2,000 babies die each year from SIDS," he said.Melissa Mitchell of Sag Harbor is the mother of a 9-month-old and she recently returned to work as a teacher. She said the co-sleeping arrangement works well in her household. "I was sleeping with him at the hospital," she said of her son, Tyler. "It just felt like it was the natural thing to do. ... I can sense him wake up before he even starts to wake up." It would be exhausting, she said, to get out of bed every time the baby needed to be fed instead of being able to fall back asleep with him at her side."The huge upside is the connection with the baby," said Nadgia James, of East Hampton, who shares her bed with 11-month-old Nia. "The physical connection with the baby is crucial."The death rate from SIDS has fallen sharply in recent years, now that parents are warned not to let their babies sleep on their stomachs or amid fluffy bedding or stuffed toys. But it remains the leading case of death in U.S. infants between ages 1 month and 1 year.The academy addressed concerns that have been raised about pacifiers in the past, Adesman said. The use of a pacifier until age 1 will not increase ear infections, which typically occur at older ages, and pacifiers used in infancy will not cause damage to permanent teeth, a longtime concern of parents.The academy recommends delaying pacifier use for breast-fed infants during the first month of life -- when SIDS risks are low -- "to ensure that breast-feeding is firmly established." And it says placing the crib near the parents' bed makes breast-feeding more convenient. Infants may be brought into the bed to nurse, but should be returned to their cribs afterward, the policy says.Laura Reno, spokeswoman for First Candle/SIDS Alliance, a national advocacy group, said her organization strongly supports the new recommendations. She lost a baby son to SIDS 21 years ago.The academy's recommendations are based on new research, including studies that have suggested that sucking pacifiers might help keep vulnerable infants from slumbering too deeply to rouse themselves.James, the mother of the 11-month-old, said there's only one thing for parents to do: "Read up as much you can and go with your good instincts."The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Vee-Dub's one top war machine
ROBOT-guided Volkswagen won a $2.5 million race across the Nevada desert yesterday, beating four other vehicles in a contest aimed at making warfare safer for humans.
The Pentagon-sponsored race displayed huge technological leaps since last year's inaugural race, when none of the self-driving vehicles crossed the finish line.
Stanley the Volkswagen, a VW Touareg designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 212km Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes. It used only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails designed to imitate conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun said he wanted to design automated systems to make next-generation cars safer for everyone, not just the military.
The vehicles were decked out with the latest sensors, lasers, cameras and radar that feed data to onboard computers, which helped them distinguish dangerous boulders from tumbleweeds and decide whether chasms were too deep to cross.
The course comprised winding dirt trails and dry lake beds filled with overhanging brush. – AP
The Pentagon-sponsored race displayed huge technological leaps since last year's inaugural race, when none of the self-driving vehicles crossed the finish line.
Stanley the Volkswagen, a VW Touareg designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 212km Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes. It used only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails designed to imitate conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun said he wanted to design automated systems to make next-generation cars safer for everyone, not just the military.
The vehicles were decked out with the latest sensors, lasers, cameras and radar that feed data to onboard computers, which helped them distinguish dangerous boulders from tumbleweeds and decide whether chasms were too deep to cross.
The course comprised winding dirt trails and dry lake beds filled with overhanging brush. – AP
People: Boy George, Robbie Williams, Madonna
International Herald Tribune.- The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway.
The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway.
The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway
Russian-US crew, space tourist return to Earth
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz capsule touched down in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. astronaut and an American space tourist back to Earth, mission control said.
The two-man crew returned home after half a year in orbit on the International Space Station. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen spent just over a week with them in space, paying a reported $20 million for the trip.
The two-man crew returned home after half a year in orbit on the International Space Station. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen spent just over a week with them in space, paying a reported $20 million for the trip.
Intel Unwraps Dual-Core Xeon Server Processor
Company says chip is 50 percent more powerful than single-core version.
Tom Krazit, IDG News Service
San Francisco--Intel's first dual-core Xeon server processor is about 50 percent more powerful than its single-core predecessor, but it will cost around 40 percent more than that chip, company executives said today.
Intel unveiled its first dual-core Xeon chips for two-processor and four-processor servers, previously known by the Paxville code name. The version for two-chip servers is available immediately at 2.8 GHz, says Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's server platforms group. The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz for two-chip servers costs $1043 in quantities of 1000 units, compared with the $690 Intel is charging for its 3.8-GHz single-core Xeon processors.
Pricing details about the Dual-Core Xeon 7000 processor--a version for multichip servers--will be released in the next 60 days. This chip will run at up to 3 GHz and will incorporate advanced reliability features such as Intel's Pellston technology, which repairs data errors in cache memory.
Power Management Feature
The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz uses 2MB of Level 2 cache memory per core. From an architectural standpoint, it is very similar to the dual-core Pentium D processor unveiled earlier this year for desktop PCs. However, the Dual-Core Xeon comes with a power-management feature called demand-based switching, which turns off portions of the chip that are not in use, Skaugen says. It also comes with Intel's hyperthreading technology, allowing each core to process two independent software threads at the same time.
Intel had originally planned to introduce its first dual-core Xeon server processor in the first quarter of next year. However, the company has faced increased competition this year from Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processor, which has been available in a dual-core version since May. Intel announced plans in August to accelerate the launch of Paxville and build two versions, one for two-way servers and one for four-way servers.
Even though it is Intel's first dual-core processor for two-chip servers--the largest segment of the server market--the company does not expect the Dual-Core Xeon to ship in heavy volumes, says Boyd Davis, general manager of server platforms group marketing at Intel. The Dempsey processor will carry the dual-core load for Intel starting in the first quarter of next year when it debuts as part of the Bensley platform, the umbrella code name for a system with the Dempsey processor and the Blackford chip set.
New Technologies
Bensley will introduce several new technologies to Intel's server customers. It will have hardware support for virtualization technologies delivered by companies like VMware and XenSource, and will speed up the transfer of data from the network to the processor with Intel's I/O Acceleration Technology. The processor and chip set will also make use of a faster 1066-MHz dual-independent bus that has individual connections to the processor core, rather than forcing the two cores to share a single connection to the memory.
Bensley will account for the vast majority of Intel's dual-core server processor shipments next year, Skaugen says. It will also cost the same amount as Intel's current single-core Xeon chips, unlike the $353 premium Intel is charging for the Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz.
"If you absolutely, positively need a dual-core Xeon today, they'll sell it to you. But it won't be cheap," says Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report in San Jose, California. Most server customers will wait for Bensley-based products, but delivering a product ahead of schedule is always a good move for a chip vendor, he says.
Intel needed a dual-core response to the momentum generated by AMD's dual-core Opteron, Krewell says. "It's clearly recognition that they are under pressure and that the dual-core Opteron had them under the gun," he says.
Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM have all announced support for the new Dual-Core Xeon, and customers interested in the product can now order systems from all three vendors.
Tom Krazit, IDG News Service
San Francisco--Intel's first dual-core Xeon server processor is about 50 percent more powerful than its single-core predecessor, but it will cost around 40 percent more than that chip, company executives said today.
Intel unveiled its first dual-core Xeon chips for two-processor and four-processor servers, previously known by the Paxville code name. The version for two-chip servers is available immediately at 2.8 GHz, says Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's server platforms group. The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz for two-chip servers costs $1043 in quantities of 1000 units, compared with the $690 Intel is charging for its 3.8-GHz single-core Xeon processors.
Pricing details about the Dual-Core Xeon 7000 processor--a version for multichip servers--will be released in the next 60 days. This chip will run at up to 3 GHz and will incorporate advanced reliability features such as Intel's Pellston technology, which repairs data errors in cache memory.
Power Management Feature
The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz uses 2MB of Level 2 cache memory per core. From an architectural standpoint, it is very similar to the dual-core Pentium D processor unveiled earlier this year for desktop PCs. However, the Dual-Core Xeon comes with a power-management feature called demand-based switching, which turns off portions of the chip that are not in use, Skaugen says. It also comes with Intel's hyperthreading technology, allowing each core to process two independent software threads at the same time.
Intel had originally planned to introduce its first dual-core Xeon server processor in the first quarter of next year. However, the company has faced increased competition this year from Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processor, which has been available in a dual-core version since May. Intel announced plans in August to accelerate the launch of Paxville and build two versions, one for two-way servers and one for four-way servers.
Even though it is Intel's first dual-core processor for two-chip servers--the largest segment of the server market--the company does not expect the Dual-Core Xeon to ship in heavy volumes, says Boyd Davis, general manager of server platforms group marketing at Intel. The Dempsey processor will carry the dual-core load for Intel starting in the first quarter of next year when it debuts as part of the Bensley platform, the umbrella code name for a system with the Dempsey processor and the Blackford chip set.
New Technologies
Bensley will introduce several new technologies to Intel's server customers. It will have hardware support for virtualization technologies delivered by companies like VMware and XenSource, and will speed up the transfer of data from the network to the processor with Intel's I/O Acceleration Technology. The processor and chip set will also make use of a faster 1066-MHz dual-independent bus that has individual connections to the processor core, rather than forcing the two cores to share a single connection to the memory.
Bensley will account for the vast majority of Intel's dual-core server processor shipments next year, Skaugen says. It will also cost the same amount as Intel's current single-core Xeon chips, unlike the $353 premium Intel is charging for the Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz.
"If you absolutely, positively need a dual-core Xeon today, they'll sell it to you. But it won't be cheap," says Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report in San Jose, California. Most server customers will wait for Bensley-based products, but delivering a product ahead of schedule is always a good move for a chip vendor, he says.
Intel needed a dual-core response to the momentum generated by AMD's dual-core Opteron, Krewell says. "It's clearly recognition that they are under pressure and that the dual-core Opteron had them under the gun," he says.
Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM have all announced support for the new Dual-Core Xeon, and customers interested in the product can now order systems from all three vendors.
America and EU offer free trade olive branch
Offers of farm subsidy cuts to revive global talks· Oxfam says proposals would do next to nothing Larry Elliott and David Gow in BrusselsTuesday October 11, 2005
The Guardian
Washington and Brussels yesterday launched a coordinated attempt to revitalise stalled global trade talks with carefully choreographed announcements of cuts in support for farmers in the United States and the European Union.
Amid concern that talks in Geneva this week provide the last real chance of a breakthrough before a week-long meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong in December, the EU and the US announced a series of dovetailed concessions agreed over the weekend.
The US trade representative, Robert Portman, led the way with an offer to cut the most trade-distorting American farm support by 60% by 2013, provided Europe responded with its own 80% reduction.
Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, responded by calling the US blueprint constructive and announced a plan to cut Europe's farm subsidies by 70% and to set a ceiling of 10% for industrial tariffs.
The joint move was seen as helpful by the WTO, which sees agriculture as the key to making progress in the other areas covered by the round of negotiations launched in Doha almost four years ago. These include industrial tariffs, services and special assistance for developing countries.
"This proposal from the Americans is constructive and we hope that in the coming days it can be used by the ministers and their officials to bridge the differences in agriculture and in all areas of negotiations across the round," said a WTO spokesman.
Developing countries responded far more cautiously to the US and EU announcements, which took place as 23 trade and farm ministers gathered in Zurich to seek common ground ahead of the next round of talks in Geneva later this week. They believe that the cuts proposed by the US and the EU will be less significant than the headline numbers suggest and that the deal offers more to rich countries than to poor countries.
Céline Charveriat, head of Oxfam International's make trade fair campaign, said: "What looks on the surface like a genuine attempt to move the talks forward is in fact a very clever piece of manoeuvring by the US. This proposal would allow them to get away with doing next to nothing in return for some very painful concessions from developing countries. The devil is in the details, and these details are very devilish indeed."
Oxfam added that the Americans and the Europeans were "trying to get a round for free". Washington would be able to get away with cutting agricultural support by less than $2bn (£1.1bn), while the EU would cut by only €3bn (£2.1bn).
Trade sources in Geneva agreed that there was room for deeper cuts in support for western farmers, but said the proposals provided an opportunity it break the logjam. Pascal Lamy, the WTO director-general, is looking for the bare bones of a deal to emerge from a meeting of the organisation's general council next week.
The US and EU made it plain that their offers would have to be matched by proportional cuts in agricultural subsidies among other developed countries, including Japan, and by progress in liberalising trade in manufacturing and services.
Mr Mandelson insisted that "there will certainly be no deal on agriculture unless and until there is a balanced outcome across the board" and that, while the poorest countries should not be forced to open their markets in the current round, the richer developing countries should.
"If we do not advance this negotiation in concrete terms this week ... we will have to acknowledge that we may simply run out of time for Hong Kong. Within the limits of our mandate, the EU will make moves to prevent it and others must do likewise."
The Guardian
Washington and Brussels yesterday launched a coordinated attempt to revitalise stalled global trade talks with carefully choreographed announcements of cuts in support for farmers in the United States and the European Union.
Amid concern that talks in Geneva this week provide the last real chance of a breakthrough before a week-long meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong in December, the EU and the US announced a series of dovetailed concessions agreed over the weekend.
The US trade representative, Robert Portman, led the way with an offer to cut the most trade-distorting American farm support by 60% by 2013, provided Europe responded with its own 80% reduction.
Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, responded by calling the US blueprint constructive and announced a plan to cut Europe's farm subsidies by 70% and to set a ceiling of 10% for industrial tariffs.
The joint move was seen as helpful by the WTO, which sees agriculture as the key to making progress in the other areas covered by the round of negotiations launched in Doha almost four years ago. These include industrial tariffs, services and special assistance for developing countries.
"This proposal from the Americans is constructive and we hope that in the coming days it can be used by the ministers and their officials to bridge the differences in agriculture and in all areas of negotiations across the round," said a WTO spokesman.
Developing countries responded far more cautiously to the US and EU announcements, which took place as 23 trade and farm ministers gathered in Zurich to seek common ground ahead of the next round of talks in Geneva later this week. They believe that the cuts proposed by the US and the EU will be less significant than the headline numbers suggest and that the deal offers more to rich countries than to poor countries.
Céline Charveriat, head of Oxfam International's make trade fair campaign, said: "What looks on the surface like a genuine attempt to move the talks forward is in fact a very clever piece of manoeuvring by the US. This proposal would allow them to get away with doing next to nothing in return for some very painful concessions from developing countries. The devil is in the details, and these details are very devilish indeed."
Oxfam added that the Americans and the Europeans were "trying to get a round for free". Washington would be able to get away with cutting agricultural support by less than $2bn (£1.1bn), while the EU would cut by only €3bn (£2.1bn).
Trade sources in Geneva agreed that there was room for deeper cuts in support for western farmers, but said the proposals provided an opportunity it break the logjam. Pascal Lamy, the WTO director-general, is looking for the bare bones of a deal to emerge from a meeting of the organisation's general council next week.
The US and EU made it plain that their offers would have to be matched by proportional cuts in agricultural subsidies among other developed countries, including Japan, and by progress in liberalising trade in manufacturing and services.
Mr Mandelson insisted that "there will certainly be no deal on agriculture unless and until there is a balanced outcome across the board" and that, while the poorest countries should not be forced to open their markets in the current round, the richer developing countries should.
"If we do not advance this negotiation in concrete terms this week ... we will have to acknowledge that we may simply run out of time for Hong Kong. Within the limits of our mandate, the EU will make moves to prevent it and others must do likewise."
Wallace & Gromit: the curse of the warehouse FERGUS SHEPPARD MEDIA
Key points• Fire at storage depot destroys Wallace and Gromit sets and props• Models and props from latest film unaffected• New film tops United States box office at weekend
Key quote"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal." - NICK PARKS, WALLACE AND GROMIT CREATOR
Story in full THE creators of Wallace and Gromit were last night counting the cost of a devastating blaze at their storage depot which destroyed hundreds of sets and props from films including A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and Creature Comforts.
Aardman Animations said the fire, at a Victorian warehouse in Bristol used to archive sets, storyboards and models, had wiped out its 30-year history of production.
Items lost included the set of Chicken Run, Aardman's first feature-length release; several Plasticine and latex figures of Wallace; Shorn the Sheep from A Close Shave, and the Evil Penguin from The Wrong Trousers.
Also destroyed were the Plasticine figures of the animals in Creature Comforts, including Frank the tortoise, Fluffy the hamster, Pickles the dog and Terry the octopus.
However, the well-known rocket from A Grand Day Out was spared, as it had been on display at the company's studio, while models and props from Aardman's latest feature, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, were kept at the company's Bristol studios and were unaffected.
Ironically, the fire came after an opening weekend in which the new film topped the United States box office, taking more than £9 million.
Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, was philosophical as fire crews continued to damp down the storage building close to Bristol Temple Meads station, saying the fire was "no big deal" compared with the earthquake in Pakistan. "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.
The props and other equipment kept in the warehouse had been used for tours and exhibitions to feed the intense public interest in how Aardman's unique productions are made.
The production archive lost in the fire dates back to the late 1970s, and the days of the pioneering Morph character who became a big hit on the BBC children's art series Take Hart.
Aardman Animations was established in 1976 by the cartoonists Peter Lord and David Sproxton. The duo hired animator Park while he was still a student at Sheffield City Polytechnic and by then he had already begun making the first Wallace and Gromit film, A Grand Day Out.
Park's genius won Aardman an Oscar in 1990 for Creature Comforts, a short film in which zoo animals discuss how they feel about living behind bars. The company won two further Oscars for the Wallace and Gromit films The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995).
Aardman's creative talents were also seen in the pop world, with the studio collectively working on the ground-breaking 1986 video for the Peter Gabriel song Sledgehammer. An award from music channel MTV for that video was one of the items lost in the blaze.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, is the second film in a £155 million five-picture deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks empire and revolves around a plan by the inventor and his canine friend to use a complex vacuum system to protect vegetables from a monster rabbit in their village.
The first film, Chicken Run, loosely based on the plot of Steve McQueen's war classic, The Great Escape, became the third highest-grossing British movie in the US on its release in 2000.
The enormous popularity of the characters from Creature Comforts opened up a new line for Aardman in advertising as the public lapped up the comic combination of Plasticine figures and vox-pop interviews with real people. Aardman now produces up to 30 commercials a year for clients such as Chevron, PG Tips, Tennents, Homepride, Nike and Dr Pepper. Aardman's animators also turned BBC pundit and former England soccer captain Gary Lineker into a Mr Potato Head in an advert for Walkers crisps. Creature Comfort characters were used in TV and cinema ads to help publicise the new Countryside Code last year.
Despite the fact Wallace and Gromit inhabit a peculiarly English world of flat caps and Wensleydale cheese, the appeal of the hapless pair has translated into dozens of markets abroad. The films have been shown in 46 countries, ranging from Iran to Lithuania and Uruguay to Japan.
The Plasticine models of Aardman's characters have a short shelf-life and are continually remade for new productions. Every second of film requires about 25 tiny adjustments to each character featured in any scene.
Key quote"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal." - NICK PARKS, WALLACE AND GROMIT CREATOR
Story in full THE creators of Wallace and Gromit were last night counting the cost of a devastating blaze at their storage depot which destroyed hundreds of sets and props from films including A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and Creature Comforts.
Aardman Animations said the fire, at a Victorian warehouse in Bristol used to archive sets, storyboards and models, had wiped out its 30-year history of production.
Items lost included the set of Chicken Run, Aardman's first feature-length release; several Plasticine and latex figures of Wallace; Shorn the Sheep from A Close Shave, and the Evil Penguin from The Wrong Trousers.
Also destroyed were the Plasticine figures of the animals in Creature Comforts, including Frank the tortoise, Fluffy the hamster, Pickles the dog and Terry the octopus.
However, the well-known rocket from A Grand Day Out was spared, as it had been on display at the company's studio, while models and props from Aardman's latest feature, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, were kept at the company's Bristol studios and were unaffected.
Ironically, the fire came after an opening weekend in which the new film topped the United States box office, taking more than £9 million.
Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, was philosophical as fire crews continued to damp down the storage building close to Bristol Temple Meads station, saying the fire was "no big deal" compared with the earthquake in Pakistan. "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.
The props and other equipment kept in the warehouse had been used for tours and exhibitions to feed the intense public interest in how Aardman's unique productions are made.
The production archive lost in the fire dates back to the late 1970s, and the days of the pioneering Morph character who became a big hit on the BBC children's art series Take Hart.
Aardman Animations was established in 1976 by the cartoonists Peter Lord and David Sproxton. The duo hired animator Park while he was still a student at Sheffield City Polytechnic and by then he had already begun making the first Wallace and Gromit film, A Grand Day Out.
Park's genius won Aardman an Oscar in 1990 for Creature Comforts, a short film in which zoo animals discuss how they feel about living behind bars. The company won two further Oscars for the Wallace and Gromit films The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995).
Aardman's creative talents were also seen in the pop world, with the studio collectively working on the ground-breaking 1986 video for the Peter Gabriel song Sledgehammer. An award from music channel MTV for that video was one of the items lost in the blaze.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, is the second film in a £155 million five-picture deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks empire and revolves around a plan by the inventor and his canine friend to use a complex vacuum system to protect vegetables from a monster rabbit in their village.
The first film, Chicken Run, loosely based on the plot of Steve McQueen's war classic, The Great Escape, became the third highest-grossing British movie in the US on its release in 2000.
The enormous popularity of the characters from Creature Comforts opened up a new line for Aardman in advertising as the public lapped up the comic combination of Plasticine figures and vox-pop interviews with real people. Aardman now produces up to 30 commercials a year for clients such as Chevron, PG Tips, Tennents, Homepride, Nike and Dr Pepper. Aardman's animators also turned BBC pundit and former England soccer captain Gary Lineker into a Mr Potato Head in an advert for Walkers crisps. Creature Comfort characters were used in TV and cinema ads to help publicise the new Countryside Code last year.
Despite the fact Wallace and Gromit inhabit a peculiarly English world of flat caps and Wensleydale cheese, the appeal of the hapless pair has translated into dozens of markets abroad. The films have been shown in 46 countries, ranging from Iran to Lithuania and Uruguay to Japan.
The Plasticine models of Aardman's characters have a short shelf-life and are continually remade for new productions. Every second of film requires about 25 tiny adjustments to each character featured in any scene.
Depression, Epilepsy, Suicide May Be Linked
(www.foxnews.com).- Symptoms of major depression, especially suicidal attempts, are associated with an increased risk of unprovoked seizure.
A provocative new study shows, that the same brain disorder that causes epilepsy may also be associated with whether a person also has an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
It has long been recognized that depression is common among people with epilepsy. “The assumption has been that having epilepsy increases the risk of depression and, in a subgroup, completed suicide,” the authors write.
But the new research hints that suicidal behavior is a specific threat in people with epilepsy even before the disease is diagnosed. “The relationship between depression and unprovoked seizures is much more complex than previously appreciated,” researchers add.
Researchers examined a history of depression and suicidal behavior among people who were diagnosed with an unprovoked seizure and who later developed seizures associated with epilepsy.
Children and adults with unprovoked seizures were more likely to have suffered from major depression before unprovoked seizure than people in the general population. They show that the higher the number of depressive symptoms the greater the risk of unprovoked seizures.
However, the researchers also show that children and adults with unprovoked seizures were four times as likely to have attempted suicide compared with those in the general population.
“This tells us that there is probably a common underlying brain dysfunction that links epilepsy and suicidal behavior,” researcher Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, tells WebMD.
Missing Exercise Can Be Depressing
Seizures Don’t Explain Depression
Roughly 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy or other seizure disorders, and 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
Depression has been shown to be at least three times more common among people with epilepsy than among the general population. It is clear that the difficulties of living with seizures can cause depression, but this does not appear to fully explain the link.
For example, people with a history of depression have been shown to have a higher risk of developing epilepsy. And studies have failed to show a link between the length and severity of seizures and depressive symptoms.
In an effort to clarify the relationship between depression, suicide, and epilepsy, Columbia University researchers compared people with unprovoked seizures with those without the condition who were enrolled in a health registry in Iceland.
An unprovoked seizure was defined as a seizure without an identified precipitant such as fever, head trauma, or brain infections.
Among the symptoms associated with depression, only suicidal attempts were shown to be a risk factor for developing unprovoked seizures. The association remained strong after other suicide risk factors were considered.
The study is published in the November issue of the journal Annals of Neurology.
One in Ten Americans Experience Depression
Treatment-Related Risk?
Hesdorffer says the findings have implication for the management of patients who have recently been diagnosed with epilepsy.
“Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts,” Hesdorffer says. “Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent [later] suicide.”
The findings may also help explain why the suicide rate among epileptics is so high.
In April, the FDA asked more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies to reexamine their study data involving seizure medications to determine if these drugs could be linked to suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Psychologist Bruce Hermann, PhD, tells WebMD that there is evidence that depression and depression-related symptoms precede other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Hermann is chair elect of the Epilepsy Foundation’s professional advisory board, and he is also a neurology professor at the University of Wisconsin.
“Clearly some people get depressed because they are living with a chronic disease, but depression could also be an early sign that something is not right within the brain,” he says.
He agrees that physicians need to evaluate their epileptic patients for depression. According to one study, more than half of patients with both disorders never get treated for depression.
“If it is true that mood disorders and these other problems occur before or close in time to when the epilepsy starts, it is important to look for these symptoms and treat them,” he says.
Quiz: Could You Be Depressed?
Salynn Boyles, reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
SOURCES: Hesdorffer, D.C., Annals of Neurology, October 2005; vol 58: online edition. Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York City. Bruce Hermann, PhD, chair elect, professional advisory board, Epilepsy Foundation; and neuropsychologist and professor of neurology, University of Wisconsin.
A provocative new study shows, that the same brain disorder that causes epilepsy may also be associated with whether a person also has an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
It has long been recognized that depression is common among people with epilepsy. “The assumption has been that having epilepsy increases the risk of depression and, in a subgroup, completed suicide,” the authors write.
But the new research hints that suicidal behavior is a specific threat in people with epilepsy even before the disease is diagnosed. “The relationship between depression and unprovoked seizures is much more complex than previously appreciated,” researchers add.
Researchers examined a history of depression and suicidal behavior among people who were diagnosed with an unprovoked seizure and who later developed seizures associated with epilepsy.
Children and adults with unprovoked seizures were more likely to have suffered from major depression before unprovoked seizure than people in the general population. They show that the higher the number of depressive symptoms the greater the risk of unprovoked seizures.
However, the researchers also show that children and adults with unprovoked seizures were four times as likely to have attempted suicide compared with those in the general population.
“This tells us that there is probably a common underlying brain dysfunction that links epilepsy and suicidal behavior,” researcher Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, tells WebMD.
Missing Exercise Can Be Depressing
Seizures Don’t Explain Depression
Roughly 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy or other seizure disorders, and 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
Depression has been shown to be at least three times more common among people with epilepsy than among the general population. It is clear that the difficulties of living with seizures can cause depression, but this does not appear to fully explain the link.
For example, people with a history of depression have been shown to have a higher risk of developing epilepsy. And studies have failed to show a link between the length and severity of seizures and depressive symptoms.
In an effort to clarify the relationship between depression, suicide, and epilepsy, Columbia University researchers compared people with unprovoked seizures with those without the condition who were enrolled in a health registry in Iceland.
An unprovoked seizure was defined as a seizure without an identified precipitant such as fever, head trauma, or brain infections.
Among the symptoms associated with depression, only suicidal attempts were shown to be a risk factor for developing unprovoked seizures. The association remained strong after other suicide risk factors were considered.
The study is published in the November issue of the journal Annals of Neurology.
One in Ten Americans Experience Depression
Treatment-Related Risk?
Hesdorffer says the findings have implication for the management of patients who have recently been diagnosed with epilepsy.
“Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts,” Hesdorffer says. “Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent [later] suicide.”
The findings may also help explain why the suicide rate among epileptics is so high.
In April, the FDA asked more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies to reexamine their study data involving seizure medications to determine if these drugs could be linked to suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Psychologist Bruce Hermann, PhD, tells WebMD that there is evidence that depression and depression-related symptoms precede other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Hermann is chair elect of the Epilepsy Foundation’s professional advisory board, and he is also a neurology professor at the University of Wisconsin.
“Clearly some people get depressed because they are living with a chronic disease, but depression could also be an early sign that something is not right within the brain,” he says.
He agrees that physicians need to evaluate their epileptic patients for depression. According to one study, more than half of patients with both disorders never get treated for depression.
“If it is true that mood disorders and these other problems occur before or close in time to when the epilepsy starts, it is important to look for these symptoms and treat them,” he says.
Quiz: Could You Be Depressed?
Salynn Boyles, reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
SOURCES: Hesdorffer, D.C., Annals of Neurology, October 2005; vol 58: online edition. Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York City. Bruce Hermann, PhD, chair elect, professional advisory board, Epilepsy Foundation; and neuropsychologist and professor of neurology, University of Wisconsin.
At Risk: A Warning That Babies Shouldn't Sleep on Sides
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning parents again, in stronger terms, that babies should sleep on their backs in their own beds, and not share a bed with their parents.
In an article published yesterday in the journal Pediatrics, the group also recommended that babies sleep in the same room with their parents and be offered pacifiers. Both measures are intended to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
"The statistics can't be argued with; the statistics are clear," said Dr. James Kemp, an associate professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University whose research was cited by the academy.
In its last recommendations on reducing the risk of SIDS, issued five years ago, the academy said that in some cases it was dangerous to allow a baby to share a bed.
But the new report clearly recommends against bed-sharing, even as it notes that the practice is increasing in the United States, in part to make breast-feeding easier. The new guidelines also state that babies should not be placed on their sides to sleep, a position that was previously considered acceptable.
The report recommends that babies instead be put in safety-certified cribs, bassinets or cradles, which can be placed next to the parents' bed. It also says that to prevent suffocation, babies need firm sleeping surfaces without soft objects or loose bedding.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning parents again, in stronger terms, that babies should sleep on their backs in their own beds, and not share a bed with their parents.
In an article published yesterday in the journal Pediatrics, the group also recommended that babies sleep in the same room with their parents and be offered pacifiers. Both measures are intended to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
"The statistics can't be argued with; the statistics are clear," said Dr. James Kemp, an associate professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University whose research was cited by the academy.
In its last recommendations on reducing the risk of SIDS, issued five years ago, the academy said that in some cases it was dangerous to allow a baby to share a bed.
But the new report clearly recommends against bed-sharing, even as it notes that the practice is increasing in the United States, in part to make breast-feeding easier. The new guidelines also state that babies should not be placed on their sides to sleep, a position that was previously considered acceptable.
The report recommends that babies instead be put in safety-certified cribs, bassinets or cradles, which can be placed next to the parents' bed. It also says that to prevent suffocation, babies need firm sleeping surfaces without soft objects or loose bedding.
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