Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Record 241 candidates for Nobel Peace Prize

Posted:

A record 241 candidates have been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Institute in Oslo said on Tuesday, with WikiLeaks and people linked to revolutions in the Arab world known to be in the running.

"It increases almost every year," Nobel Institute director Geir Lundestad said, pointing out that in 2010, the record-breaking number had been 237 candidates. The names of nominees are kept secret by the institute for 50 years, but the Nobel Institute revealed that the list this year is made up of 53 organisations and 188 individuals.

Without disclosing the name of the candidates, Lundestad acknowledged that the 2011 list of nominees was influenced by the popular uprisings in the Arab world. "We have received several proposals that reflect the situation we are seeing," especially in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, he said.

Those who are entitled to nominate are allowed to reveal the name of the person or organisation they have proposed, if they wish to do so, and it is already known that WikiLeaks are on this year's list. Thousands of people are eligible to submit nominations, including members of parliaments and governments worldwide, university professors, previous laureates and members of several international institutes, who had until February 1 to propose candidates.

The Nobel Committee that awards the prize is also eligible to nominate candidates during its first meeting which was held on Monday. The name of the winner will be announced in early October, and the award will be presented at a formal ceremony held -- as tradition dictates -- on December 10, the anniversary of the death of the Swedish creator of the prize and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel.

Last year, the Nobel Committee's five members, who are appointed by the Norwegian parliament, drew the ire of Beijing when they handed the prestigious award to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. China said the move would harm ties with Norway and has since cancelled official bilateral meetings and indefinitely postponed negotiations on a free trade agreement between the two countries.

Britain's youngest alcoholic began drinking at 8

Posted:

A schoolgirl has been named Britain's youngest alcoholic after she got hooked on to booze at the age of eight.

The youngster started raiding her parents' drink stash when she was in year four at primary school and soon developed 'a serious problem', reports the Daily Star.

Growing up in a family of problem boozers, she thought downing alcopops and shots was normal.

She would get 'steaming drunk' four or five times a week.

The girl remained on booze throughout her primary school years and was suffering all the symptoms of alcoholism when she hit her teens.

Later she got support from Tayside Council for Alcohol in her hometown of Dundee.

Nicolay Sorensen, of Alcohol Concern, said: "This is shocking but sadly it isn't at all unique."

UK restaurant's breast milk ice cream confiscated amid health concerns

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A restaurant in London, which was selling ice cream containing human breast milk, has had its supplies seized by council officials amid fears it is unsafe.

The Baby Gaga ice cream will now undergo tests to see if it is safe for adult consumption.

Viruses, including hepatitis, can be passed on through breast milk.

The Icecreamists, in Covent Garden, London, said the milk had been screened in line with blood donor requirements.

It was pasteurised and churned together with vanilla pods and lemon zest.

"As far as we are aware there is no law prohibiting a business from selling breast milk ice cream," the Daily Mail quoted Matt O'Connor, founder of The Icecreamists, as saying in a statement.

A spokesman for Westminster City Council said it was responding to two complaints from the public and awaiting guidance from the Food Standards Agency.

Athens 'the world's most flirtatious city'

Posted:

Athens, the home of famous Greek philosophers -- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, is the world's most flirtatious city, a new study has found.

In fact, the Greek capital emerged as the world's most flirtatious city in what's being claimed as the globe's largest-ever study of online flirting carried out by popular social-networking site Badoo.com. Moscow came in at number two on the list of nearly 200 cities around the world, while Rome took eighth place and Paris -- synonymous with romance -- managed only to rank 38th, according to the study.

The 'World Flirtation League' study ranked cities by the number of online flirtations initiated per month by Badoo users, The Daily Telegraph reported. The average Athenian initiated 25.7 online flirtations per month, more than twice as many as people in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil or Prague and far more than in Paris, London, Berlin or New York.

"Athens is a seductive city, with a hedonistic lifestyle," the British newspaper quoted Victoria Kyriakopoulous, author of 'The Lonely Planet Encounter Guide to Athens', as saying. Added British author Dr Simon Hardy: "It's probably fair to say that the Athenians perfected the art of flirtation in ancient times, especially at the time of symposia described by Plato."

The other cities to make it into the top 10 were Kuwait City, Baku in Azerbaijan, Tunis, Kiev, Beirut, Turin, and Bari in southern Italy.

Berlusconi 'may have paid for boob and lip jobs of 'bunga bunga' girls'

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Prosecutors in Milan, who accuse Silvio Berlusconi of abuse of office and sleeping with an under-age prostitute, believe that the prime minister paid for cosmetic surgeries of young women who attended his infamous 'bunga bunga' parties.

Italian prosecutors think that at least seven women in his inner circle were given money for operations to enlarge their breasts, shape their buttocks and plump up their lips with collagen implants, reports the Telegraph.

The latest revelations come after it emerged that Berlusconi, Italy''s third richest man, gave jewellery, cars, and bundles of cash worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to showgirls and aspiring actresses who 'prostituted themselves' at so-called 'bunga bunga' parties at his mansion near Milan.

According to investigators, the operations were conducted by Giacomo Urtis, a cosmetic surgeon based in Sardinia.

Venezuelan born Dr Urtis, 34, has been quizzed by Ilda Boccassini, one of the magistrates pursuing the case against the prime minister, but is not accused of any wrongdoing.

In the course of their investigation prosecutors recorded hundreds of telephone conversations, in which some of the women caught up in the scandal discussed having work done to their breasts and bottoms.

Dr Urtis told Corriere della Sera that prosecutors were particularly interested in whether he had performed work on Karima El Mahroug, the teenage belly dancer who the prime minister is accused of paying for sex when she was 17. The surgeon insisted that he had never met her.
Posted by Harshad at 7:23 AM

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