Friday, 30 December 2011
A midwife has delivered her own baby at home
A midwife has delivered her own baby daughter at home with the help of her mother's make-up mirror. Hours after finishing work at Croydon University Hospital in London, Claire Clarke-Wood, 28, from Hawkhurst, Kent, delivered baby Esmay in her bathroom. Baby Esmay was born before paramedics arrived, just after 07:30 GMT on 11 December, weighing 6lb 12oz (3.06kg). "But never in a million years would I have thought it would actually happen." The first-time mother said she had just finished a 13-hour shift at the south London hospital. "It was very busy and we had quite a few deliveries that day," she said. "I went to bed as normal and at around three o'clock, I had a bit of backache and thought it might just have been from work because you bend over a lot." She said she had woken up her husband Tim at about 05:00 GMT when regular contractions began. "I went to have a bath to see if that would settle things but things carried on very quickly," she said. "I got to the point where contractions were very close together and thought I'd check to see what stage I was at, and lo and behold the baby was coming. "I never thought I'd be that far gone. It was very quick and unexpected, particularly for someone who's quite petite. My husband came to find me and I was clearing up towels and making cups of tea. She said Esmay, who was born "a bit over three weeks early", was "doing really well".
Turkey attack
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday's attack near a Kurdish village, in which young smugglers died, was "unfortunate and saddening". President Abdullah Gul also expressed condolences and spoke of Turkey's "pain" over the incident. A Kurdish rebel commander, Bahoz Erdal of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), called on Kurds to "react after this massacre and hold the perpetrators to account through their uprising". The attack by F-16 jets on Wednesday night took place near the town of Uludere, in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey. The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party condemned the air strike as a "massacre", saying that all the victims were civilians aged between 16 and 20. Mourners accompanied the coffins in a long convoy from nearby Uludere, some shouting "Erdogan is a murderer!" and flashing V for victory signs, AFP news agency reported. On Friday the website of the Turkish General Staff carried a message of condolence for the families of the 35 victims - a gesture described by correspondents as highly unusual. Earlier, the general staff had said the area attacked was inside northern Iraq and had no civilian population. It added that the raid was launched following information that suspected militants were planning to attack Turkish security bases. Since 1984 the PKK, designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and the US, has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state, in which more than 40,000 people have died. In October Turkey launched a major air and land offensive against the rebels near the Iraqi border after 24 of its troops were killed in a night ambush by rebels. Supporters of the main pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) demonstrated on Thursday over the botched air strike, and some clashed with Turkish police. "They openly massacred us. Why was this blood spilled? They must answer this question," said Kitan Encu, who lost 11 family members in the raid. Quoted by AFP, she said all the victims were "burned completely" and "the oldest one was 20 years old, they were all students". Mr Erdogan said "images transmitted by drones showed a group of 40 people in the area, it was impossible to say who they were".
North Korea
North Korea has told the international community not to "expect any change" in the wake of Kim Jong-il's death. The message came in a statement carried by state media and attributed to the powerful National Defence Commission. "We declare solemnly and confidently that the foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet group in South Korea, should not expect any change from us," it said. He had ruled North Korea since the death of his father Kim Il-sung in 1994. Under him funds were channelled to the military and North Korea conducted two nuclear tests. His son, Kim Jong-un, has been named "supreme leader of the party, state and army". The impoverished communist state remains technically at war with South Korea and is isolated on the international stage because of its dire human rights record and pursuit of nuclear weapons. Six-nation talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions - involving the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan - have been stalled for months. Mr Lee has angered Pyongyang by linking the provision of aid to progress on denuclearisation. The NDC also criticised Seoul's "unforgivable" decision to allow only two non-official delegations to cross the border to pay their respects to Mr Kim. Amid regional concern, the US is to send one of its top diplomats to East Asia to discuss the situation in North Korea. Kurt Campbell will hold talks in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo from 3-7 January, the State Department said. Mr Campbell, who is the Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will be the most senior US official to visit the region since Kim Jong-il died. The US and South Korean defence chiefs, meanwhile, spoke for 20 minutes about issues on the Korean peninsula on Thursday. The two "shared the view that peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is our overarching priority and agreed to maintain close co-operation and co-ordination in the weeks and months ahead", the Pentagon said in a statement. Hundreds of thousands of North Korean troops and citizens lined up for the ceremony in Pyongyang's main square. Top party and military officials hailed Kim Jong-un, the young and politically inexperienced new leader, in front of the huge crowd.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Crisis in the eurozone
The origins of the challenge are the crisis in the eurozone, the catastrophic loss of market confidence in the debts of European nations that has raised doubts about the single greatest achievement of the EU, the single currency.
Since its inception, the European project has been based on a partnership between France and Germany, the two old enemies “shaking hands over the graves of Verdun” as a Frankfurt newspaper once put it. This has never been a partnership of equals: Germany’s economic heft has always exceeded that of France, but France has compensated with more assertive diplomacy. That formula worked for decades, as Germany quietly accepted a situation that effectively saw German taxpayers underwriting French politicians’ ambitions.
The recent crisis has ended the illusion of parity. Germany, its public finances robust and its growth solid, is the only European economy with the clout to rescue struggling southern nations. That economic fact has had political consequences.
Talk of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy merging into a single entity known as Merkozy ignores the fact that the German chancellor has the upper hand and the French have not always been able to get their way.
Related Articles
Despite Mr Sarkozy’s boasts to the contrary, Mrs Merkel has not always been talked around to the French way of thinking over the euro. For better or for worse, it is the German chancellor and her voters who have set the pace of Europe’s response to the crisis.
But if the loss of political dominance is troubling for France, it still pales in comparison to the economic questions the country faces. In a clichéd analysis, Europe’s economies divide into industrious, frugal northerners who run budget surpluses and indolent, spendthrift southerners with deficits.
Yet France does not clearly belong to either group, showing characteristics of both: world-beating industries combine with workers whose holidays, working hours and benefits look almost Greek in their generosity. Those questions have been asked most sharply by the credit ratings agencies, whose assessment of governments’ bonds have taken on earth-shaking importance of late.
Threats from agencies like Standard and Poor’s to reduce France’s AAA credit rating sparked fury in France. That rating is the hallmark of a first-rank economy; its loss would put France in the global second division.
The fact that all three of the major credit ratings agencies are American has inevitably led to French allegations of an “Anglo-Saxon” conspiracy against France and the European project. France, of course, prides itself on its unique and superior economic model, rejecting unchecked free markets and giving the state a much bigger role in industry and commerce.
France’s deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP this year, smaller than Britain’s 8.8 per cent, but still well above Germany’s 1 per cent, and even Italy’s 4.4 per cent. The French economy will grow around 1.6 per cent this year, barely half the German rate.
And for all the talk of different models and rejection of the “Anglo-Saxon way”, France has made economic decisions that will be quite familiar to Britons as Mr Sarkozy desperately tries to avert the humiliating loss of that AAA rating.
François Fillon, the prime minister, has pledged to clear the French government deficit by 2016, something that will require around €100 billion (£83 billion) of fiscal tightening. That’s roughly similar to the British austerity programme, though the French refer to “rigour”. The measures will have a direct impact on French lives. The French retirement age, now 62, will creep upwards slightly more quickly than planned. Around €8 billion more will be raised in VAT on everyday goods and services.
Some of those cuts have proved at least as unpopular with the French as their British equivalents have here. Britain and France may both have centre-right leaders making cuts, but there is a major political difference between the two. David Cameron’s Coalition can hope to stay in office until 2015. Mr Sarkozy must seek re-election in May.
Austerity has not done his hopes any favours. Reporting the November budget, the headline in the daily newspaper Libération declared simply: “Fillon buries Sarkozy”. The president’s Socialist opponent, François Hollande, leads in opinion polls, largely due to his populist opposition to the Sarkozy austerity programme. By contrast, among those seen as supporting Mr Sarkozy is Christian Noyer.
Since its inception, the European project has been based on a partnership between France and Germany, the two old enemies “shaking hands over the graves of Verdun” as a Frankfurt newspaper once put it. This has never been a partnership of equals: Germany’s economic heft has always exceeded that of France, but France has compensated with more assertive diplomacy. That formula worked for decades, as Germany quietly accepted a situation that effectively saw German taxpayers underwriting French politicians’ ambitions.
The recent crisis has ended the illusion of parity. Germany, its public finances robust and its growth solid, is the only European economy with the clout to rescue struggling southern nations. That economic fact has had political consequences.
Talk of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy merging into a single entity known as Merkozy ignores the fact that the German chancellor has the upper hand and the French have not always been able to get their way.
Related Articles
Despite Mr Sarkozy’s boasts to the contrary, Mrs Merkel has not always been talked around to the French way of thinking over the euro. For better or for worse, it is the German chancellor and her voters who have set the pace of Europe’s response to the crisis.
But if the loss of political dominance is troubling for France, it still pales in comparison to the economic questions the country faces. In a clichéd analysis, Europe’s economies divide into industrious, frugal northerners who run budget surpluses and indolent, spendthrift southerners with deficits.
Yet France does not clearly belong to either group, showing characteristics of both: world-beating industries combine with workers whose holidays, working hours and benefits look almost Greek in their generosity. Those questions have been asked most sharply by the credit ratings agencies, whose assessment of governments’ bonds have taken on earth-shaking importance of late.
Threats from agencies like Standard and Poor’s to reduce France’s AAA credit rating sparked fury in France. That rating is the hallmark of a first-rank economy; its loss would put France in the global second division.
The fact that all three of the major credit ratings agencies are American has inevitably led to French allegations of an “Anglo-Saxon” conspiracy against France and the European project. France, of course, prides itself on its unique and superior economic model, rejecting unchecked free markets and giving the state a much bigger role in industry and commerce.
France’s deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP this year, smaller than Britain’s 8.8 per cent, but still well above Germany’s 1 per cent, and even Italy’s 4.4 per cent. The French economy will grow around 1.6 per cent this year, barely half the German rate.
And for all the talk of different models and rejection of the “Anglo-Saxon way”, France has made economic decisions that will be quite familiar to Britons as Mr Sarkozy desperately tries to avert the humiliating loss of that AAA rating.
François Fillon, the prime minister, has pledged to clear the French government deficit by 2016, something that will require around €100 billion (£83 billion) of fiscal tightening. That’s roughly similar to the British austerity programme, though the French refer to “rigour”. The measures will have a direct impact on French lives. The French retirement age, now 62, will creep upwards slightly more quickly than planned. Around €8 billion more will be raised in VAT on everyday goods and services.
Some of those cuts have proved at least as unpopular with the French as their British equivalents have here. Britain and France may both have centre-right leaders making cuts, but there is a major political difference between the two. David Cameron’s Coalition can hope to stay in office until 2015. Mr Sarkozy must seek re-election in May.
Austerity has not done his hopes any favours. Reporting the November budget, the headline in the daily newspaper Libération declared simply: “Fillon buries Sarkozy”. The president’s Socialist opponent, François Hollande, leads in opinion polls, largely due to his populist opposition to the Sarkozy austerity programme. By contrast, among those seen as supporting Mr Sarkozy is Christian Noyer.
Researchers from the University of California
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, tested the levels of two dozen separate toys and took 10 of the loudest to a specialist soundproof laboratory. The scientists found that all of the 10 exceeded 90 decibels and several reached 100 or more - equivalent to the noise of a chainsaw or underground train. Among the toys tested were the Tonka Mighty Motorised Fire Truck, Marvel Super Shield Captain America, Whac-A-Mole game, Sesame Street Let's Rock Elmo and Toy Story Buzz Lightyear Cosmic Blaster.
Dr. Hamid Djalilian, associate professor of otolaryngology at the University of California, Irvine, said problems could arise if a noisy toy was held too close to a child’s ears. “We tested the sound levels at the speaker and again at 12 inches, which is about the length of a toddler's arm,” he said.
Children are very sensitive to loud and high-pitched sounds. Unfortunately, hearing loss from noise damage is permanent and not currently curable." According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, unprotected exposure to sounds above 85 decibels for a prolonged period can lead to hearing impairment.
Dr Djalilian said two factors contributed to this: loudness and duration. The louder a sound is, the less time it takes to cause hearing loss. He added that someone buying a noisy toy for a child should hold the toy as a youngster would and listen to its sound. "If it hurts your ears," he said, "then it's probably too loud for a child.
Dr. Hamid Djalilian, associate professor of otolaryngology at the University of California, Irvine, said problems could arise if a noisy toy was held too close to a child’s ears. “We tested the sound levels at the speaker and again at 12 inches, which is about the length of a toddler's arm,” he said.
Children are very sensitive to loud and high-pitched sounds. Unfortunately, hearing loss from noise damage is permanent and not currently curable." According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, unprotected exposure to sounds above 85 decibels for a prolonged period can lead to hearing impairment.
Dr Djalilian said two factors contributed to this: loudness and duration. The louder a sound is, the less time it takes to cause hearing loss. He added that someone buying a noisy toy for a child should hold the toy as a youngster would and listen to its sound. "If it hurts your ears," he said, "then it's probably too loud for a child.
Seasonal flu
A year ago, Britain was gripped not only by snow but also la grippe. Seasonal flu, including the swine flu strain, was putting intense pressure on hospitals and intensive care beds in particular. GPs faced vaccine shortages, which had to be shored up by resorting to leftover stock from the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is clear the Government is now taking no chances with this winter, and has ordered in extra stock to be held centrally. Figures from the Health Protection Agency, released in May, showed there were 602 confirmed flu deaths over the 2010/11 winter season. Of those, 562 were linked to swine flu.
While flu preoccupied Britain in the first few weeks of the year, international researchers were hailing a find that should prove to be much more significant, in global terms. The RTS, S/AS01E vaccine was found to cut the number of severe malaria cases in children aged five to 17 months by 46 per cent.
With the virus killing about 800,000 annually, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, if the vaccine is rolled out it could end up saving millions of lives. As the year progressed, it became clear that the NHS was coming under more and more strain due to tightening budgets.
With finance managers under pressure to improve productivity by four per cent a year, and with many trusts struggling to pay the onerous terms of PFI contracts, hospital managers started to raise the thresholds for operations like cataract removals, varicose veins and even hip and knee operations.
Primary care trusts also started to restrict access to some drugs, even those approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).
It is against this backdrop that by far the biggest health policy story of the year has been played out: the stormy ride of the Health and Social Care Bill through parliament. With mounting opposition from much of the medical profession to the Bill, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, broke ranks to describe it as a "disruptive revolution".
Significant amendments were subsequently made, which should make it harder for private firms to "cherry pick" profitable NHS services, and reducing the emphasis on competition. Opponents of the Bill welcomed the changes, while supporters feared they emasculated it.
It continued to attract opposition in the Lords, although an attempt led by Lord Owen to have parts dealing with the Health Secretary's responsibilities for the NHS scrutinised by a special committee was defeated in October. It is now highly likely the Bill will become law.
Exactly how it will be enacted, and what difference it makes to how the NHS works and the way patients are treated, will only begin to be sketched out in the coming year.
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, has maintained throughout that the changes, which will see primary care trusts and strategic health authorities abolished, and GPs put in charge of over half the NHS budget, are necessary to save the NHS from being engulfed in a long-term "financial crisis".
Part of Mr Lansley's rationale for reforming the NHS is Britain's ageing population. The growing number of older people is also behind another problem the Government faced in 2011 - and will continue to face in the future - social care for the elderly.
Bupa warned that the lack of care home places would lead to an "intolerable" bed blocking crisis by the end of the decade, with wards filled with elderly people who should be cared for elsewhere. NHS figures showed rates rose 16 per cent in a year and that "delayed discharges" were costing the service almost £500,000 a day.
The Dilnot Review, chaired by economist Andrew Dilnot, suggested individuals' contributions should be capped at £35,000, but his radical plans have yet to be adopted by the Government.
The Cancer Drugs Fund, one of David Cameron's eye-catching election promises, has proved positive after a slow start. The Government set aside £200 million a year for drugs not recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) for use on the NHS. Left to regional health authorities to organise, there have unsurprisingly been wide geographical variations in its use. Nonetheless, cancer charities have broadly welcomed the initiative, which the Government claims has helped almost 7,000 people by the end of September.
The NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme has come under scrutiny after researchers called into question the balance of benefits - finding tumours early - and risks - overdiagnosing pre-cancerous lesions that might not prove malignant, leading to unnecessary surgery.
While flu preoccupied Britain in the first few weeks of the year, international researchers were hailing a find that should prove to be much more significant, in global terms. The RTS, S/AS01E vaccine was found to cut the number of severe malaria cases in children aged five to 17 months by 46 per cent.
With the virus killing about 800,000 annually, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, if the vaccine is rolled out it could end up saving millions of lives. As the year progressed, it became clear that the NHS was coming under more and more strain due to tightening budgets.
With finance managers under pressure to improve productivity by four per cent a year, and with many trusts struggling to pay the onerous terms of PFI contracts, hospital managers started to raise the thresholds for operations like cataract removals, varicose veins and even hip and knee operations.
Primary care trusts also started to restrict access to some drugs, even those approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).
It is against this backdrop that by far the biggest health policy story of the year has been played out: the stormy ride of the Health and Social Care Bill through parliament. With mounting opposition from much of the medical profession to the Bill, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, broke ranks to describe it as a "disruptive revolution".
Significant amendments were subsequently made, which should make it harder for private firms to "cherry pick" profitable NHS services, and reducing the emphasis on competition. Opponents of the Bill welcomed the changes, while supporters feared they emasculated it.
It continued to attract opposition in the Lords, although an attempt led by Lord Owen to have parts dealing with the Health Secretary's responsibilities for the NHS scrutinised by a special committee was defeated in October. It is now highly likely the Bill will become law.
Exactly how it will be enacted, and what difference it makes to how the NHS works and the way patients are treated, will only begin to be sketched out in the coming year.
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, has maintained throughout that the changes, which will see primary care trusts and strategic health authorities abolished, and GPs put in charge of over half the NHS budget, are necessary to save the NHS from being engulfed in a long-term "financial crisis".
Part of Mr Lansley's rationale for reforming the NHS is Britain's ageing population. The growing number of older people is also behind another problem the Government faced in 2011 - and will continue to face in the future - social care for the elderly.
Bupa warned that the lack of care home places would lead to an "intolerable" bed blocking crisis by the end of the decade, with wards filled with elderly people who should be cared for elsewhere. NHS figures showed rates rose 16 per cent in a year and that "delayed discharges" were costing the service almost £500,000 a day.
The Dilnot Review, chaired by economist Andrew Dilnot, suggested individuals' contributions should be capped at £35,000, but his radical plans have yet to be adopted by the Government.
The Cancer Drugs Fund, one of David Cameron's eye-catching election promises, has proved positive after a slow start. The Government set aside £200 million a year for drugs not recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) for use on the NHS. Left to regional health authorities to organise, there have unsurprisingly been wide geographical variations in its use. Nonetheless, cancer charities have broadly welcomed the initiative, which the Government claims has helped almost 7,000 people by the end of September.
The NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme has come under scrutiny after researchers called into question the balance of benefits - finding tumours early - and risks - overdiagnosing pre-cancerous lesions that might not prove malignant, leading to unnecessary surgery.
The Soyuz put six satellites in orbit
The capability will put it on a par with the leading US commercial systems operated by GeoEye and DigitalGlobe. Lift-off occurred on schedule at 23:03 local time, Friday (02:03 GMT, Saturday), with Pleiades-1 being dropped off in its 700km-high polar orbit some 55 minutes later. The 970kg satellite is the result of a near-decade-long programme in the French space agency (Cnes) to develop one of the most powerful Earth observation systems in the world.
The spacecraft's sensor actually has a resolution of 70cm, but image processing will recover detail that is around the half-metre mark. Pleiades-1 Pleiades-1 will be followed by Pleiades-2 in the coming year. Pleiades carries gyroscopes that allow it to swivel its telescope in quick time, enabling it to acquire a strip, or mosaic, of images around its target in a single pass overhead.
The Pleiades spacecraft has been assembled by Astrium, Europe's largest space company, with its instrument supplied by Thales Alenia Space. It will have both a civilian and military role, and a number of European countries (Austria, Belgium, Spain and Sweden) have part-funded the project to get access to its pictures.
"The fact that we will have two, twin satellites operating in a phased orbit separated by 180 degrees will give us something very powerful - a daily re-visit capacity. It means we will be able to gather information every day on any part of the globe," explained Charlotte Gabriel Robez, Pleiades project manager with Astrium Geo-information Services.
The commercial market for very high resolution imagery has become dominated in recent years by the American companies GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, which benefit from multi-billion-dollar contracts with the US intelligence agencies. Astrium Geo-information Services is hoping these agencies' voracious appetite for pictures will leave a productive hole in the market for Pleiades' products.
The Soyuz rocket flew its inaugural mission from Europe's Sinnamary spaceport in October. A dedicated new launch pad has been constructed in the Guianese jungle for the Russian vehicle. By operating closer to the equator, the rocket receives a bigger boost from the Earth's rotation, meaning it can lift nearly double the mass of a comparable payload at its traditional home in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz' five other "passengers" included a high-resolution imaging satellite for the Chilean military called SSOT; and four radar eavesdropping spacecraft developed for the French military. All six satellites were manufactured by Astrium.
The spacecraft's sensor actually has a resolution of 70cm, but image processing will recover detail that is around the half-metre mark. Pleiades-1 Pleiades-1 will be followed by Pleiades-2 in the coming year. Pleiades carries gyroscopes that allow it to swivel its telescope in quick time, enabling it to acquire a strip, or mosaic, of images around its target in a single pass overhead.
The Pleiades spacecraft has been assembled by Astrium, Europe's largest space company, with its instrument supplied by Thales Alenia Space. It will have both a civilian and military role, and a number of European countries (Austria, Belgium, Spain and Sweden) have part-funded the project to get access to its pictures.
"The fact that we will have two, twin satellites operating in a phased orbit separated by 180 degrees will give us something very powerful - a daily re-visit capacity. It means we will be able to gather information every day on any part of the globe," explained Charlotte Gabriel Robez, Pleiades project manager with Astrium Geo-information Services.
The commercial market for very high resolution imagery has become dominated in recent years by the American companies GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, which benefit from multi-billion-dollar contracts with the US intelligence agencies. Astrium Geo-information Services is hoping these agencies' voracious appetite for pictures will leave a productive hole in the market for Pleiades' products.
The Soyuz rocket flew its inaugural mission from Europe's Sinnamary spaceport in October. A dedicated new launch pad has been constructed in the Guianese jungle for the Russian vehicle. By operating closer to the equator, the rocket receives a bigger boost from the Earth's rotation, meaning it can lift nearly double the mass of a comparable payload at its traditional home in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz' five other "passengers" included a high-resolution imaging satellite for the Chilean military called SSOT; and four radar eavesdropping spacecraft developed for the French military. All six satellites were manufactured by Astrium.
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