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December 26, 2012
December 24, 2012
Cannabis can make patients 'less bothered by pain'
Cannabis makes pain more bearable rather than actually reducing it, a study from the University of Oxford suggests.
But the effect on the pain experienced varied greatly, they said.
The researchers' findings are published in the journal Pain.
The Oxford researchers recruited 12 healthy men to take part in their small study.
Participants were given either a 15mg tablet of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) - the ingredient that is responsible for the high - or a placebo.
The volunteers then had a cream rubbed into the skin of one leg to induce pain, which was either a dummy cream or a cream that contained chilli - which caused a burning and painful sensation.
Each participant had four MRI scans which revealed how their brain activity changed when their perception of the pain reduced.
Dr Michael Lee, lead study author from Oxford University's Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, said: "We found that with THC, on average people didn't report any change in the burn, but the pain bothered them less."
MRI brain imaging showed reduced activity in key areas of the brain that explained the pain relief which the study participants experienced.
Dr Lee suggested that the findings could help predict who would benefit from taking cannabis for pain relief - because not everyone does.
"We may in future be able to predict who will respond to cannabis, but we would need to do studies in patients with chronic pain over longer time periods."
He added: "Cannabis does not seem to act like a conventional pain medicine. Some people respond really well, others not at all, or even poorly.
"Brain imaging shows little reduction in the brain regions that code for the sensation of pain, which is what we tend to see with drugs like opiates.
"Instead cannabis appears to mainly affect the emotional reaction to pain in a highly variable way."
Mick Serpell, a senior lecturer in pain medicine at Glasgow University, said the study confirmed what was already known.
"It highlights the fact that cannabis may be a means of disengagement for the patient, rather than a pain reliever - but we can see that happen with opioids too."
The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.
Asteroid to miss Earth in 2040, NASA says
(CNN) -- On a day when global doomsday predictions failed to pan out, NASA had more good news for the Earth: An asteroid feared to be on a collision course with our planet no longer poses a threat.
Uncertainties about the orbit of the asteroid, known as 2011 AG5, previously allowed for a less than a 1% chance it would hit the Earth in February 2040, NASA said.
To narrow down the asteroid's future course, NASA put out a call for more observation. Astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa took up the task and managed to observe the asteroid over several days in October.
"An analysis of the new data conducted by NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shows that the risk of collision in 2040 has been eliminated," NASA declared Friday.
The new observations, made with the Gemini 8-meter telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, reduce the orbit uncertainties by more than a factor of 60. That means the Earth's position in February 2040 is not in range of the asteroid's possible future paths.
The asteroid, which is 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter, will get no closer to Earth than 890,000 kilometers (553,000 miles), or more than twice the distance to the moon, NASA said.
A collision with Earth would have released about 100 megatons of energy, several thousand times more powerful than the atomic bombs that ended World War II, according to the Gemini Observatory.
Observing the asteroid wasn't easy, said David Tholen, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
The asteroid's position was very close to the sun, so astronomers had to observe it when the sky was dark. Tholen told CNN there was about a half-hour between when the asteroid got high enough in the sky for the telescope to point at it and before the sky became too light to observe it.
Because the astronomers were looking at the asteroid low in the sky, they were viewing it through a lot of atmosphere, which scattered some of the light and made the object fainter, he said.
"The second effect is the turbulence of the atmosphere makes things fainter," Tholen said. "We had to keep trying over and over until we got one of those nights when the atmosphere was calm."
Tholen and the team also discovered the asteroid is elongated, so that as it rotates, its brightness changes. That was another challenge for the astronomers: Because they didn't know the asteroid's rotation period, they didn't know when it would wax and wane, and when it would grow too faint to see.
"This object was changing its brightness by a factor of three or four -- it was just enormously variable," Tholen said. "It was hit and miss depending on which night you observed it."
Many predicted the end of the world would come Friday, the day on which a long phase in the ancient Mayan calendar came to an end. Some believe the day actually comes Sunday.
Modern-day Mayans say the end of the calendar phase doesn't mean the end of the world -- just the end of an era, and the start of a new one.
NASA estimates 4,700 'potentially hazardous' asteroids
Uncertainties about the orbit of the asteroid, known as 2011 AG5, previously allowed for a less than a 1% chance it would hit the Earth in February 2040, NASA said.
To narrow down the asteroid's future course, NASA put out a call for more observation. Astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa took up the task and managed to observe the asteroid over several days in October.
"An analysis of the new data conducted by NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shows that the risk of collision in 2040 has been eliminated," NASA declared Friday.
The new observations, made with the Gemini 8-meter telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, reduce the orbit uncertainties by more than a factor of 60. That means the Earth's position in February 2040 is not in range of the asteroid's possible future paths.
The asteroid, which is 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter, will get no closer to Earth than 890,000 kilometers (553,000 miles), or more than twice the distance to the moon, NASA said.
A collision with Earth would have released about 100 megatons of energy, several thousand times more powerful than the atomic bombs that ended World War II, according to the Gemini Observatory.
Observing the asteroid wasn't easy, said David Tholen, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
The asteroid's position was very close to the sun, so astronomers had to observe it when the sky was dark. Tholen told CNN there was about a half-hour between when the asteroid got high enough in the sky for the telescope to point at it and before the sky became too light to observe it.
Because the astronomers were looking at the asteroid low in the sky, they were viewing it through a lot of atmosphere, which scattered some of the light and made the object fainter, he said.
"The second effect is the turbulence of the atmosphere makes things fainter," Tholen said. "We had to keep trying over and over until we got one of those nights when the atmosphere was calm."
Tholen and the team also discovered the asteroid is elongated, so that as it rotates, its brightness changes. That was another challenge for the astronomers: Because they didn't know the asteroid's rotation period, they didn't know when it would wax and wane, and when it would grow too faint to see.
"This object was changing its brightness by a factor of three or four -- it was just enormously variable," Tholen said. "It was hit and miss depending on which night you observed it."
Many predicted the end of the world would come Friday, the day on which a long phase in the ancient Mayan calendar came to an end. Some believe the day actually comes Sunday.
Modern-day Mayans say the end of the calendar phase doesn't mean the end of the world -- just the end of an era, and the start of a new one.
NASA estimates 4,700 'potentially hazardous' asteroids
Chile issues alert over Copahue volcano
The Copahue volcano, which sits in the Andes cordillera, straddling the border with Argentina's Neuquen province, started spewing ash and gas on Saturday.
Officials issued a yellow and orange alert at first but Chile's emergency office ONEMI raised the alert on Sunday in the Biobio region after it registered seismic activity on Saturday night and a cloud of ash billowed almost a mile high.
"Authorities have overflown the volcano area and the alert is still red," Gilda Grandon of the ONEMI's BioBio unit told The Associated Press. "We have noted some drop in the ash plume but the alert level is maintained because a full eruption is not ruled out."
The Mining Ministry's Sernageomin geology unit has recommended careful observation of a 9-mile radius around the active crater in case of mudflows of volcanic fragments. Officials say there's no need yet to evacuate.
The 9,833-feet high Copahue erupted in 1991. The volcano became highly active with blasts and gases in 2001 in its worst activity in more than 20 years.
A volcano in the Caulle Cordon of southern Chile erupted violently last year, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the evacuation of more than 3,500 people.
Source: AP
Officials issued a yellow and orange alert at first but Chile's emergency office ONEMI raised the alert on Sunday in the Biobio region after it registered seismic activity on Saturday night and a cloud of ash billowed almost a mile high.
"Authorities have overflown the volcano area and the alert is still red," Gilda Grandon of the ONEMI's BioBio unit told The Associated Press. "We have noted some drop in the ash plume but the alert level is maintained because a full eruption is not ruled out."
The Mining Ministry's Sernageomin geology unit has recommended careful observation of a 9-mile radius around the active crater in case of mudflows of volcanic fragments. Officials say there's no need yet to evacuate.
The 9,833-feet high Copahue erupted in 1991. The volcano became highly active with blasts and gases in 2001 in its worst activity in more than 20 years.
A volcano in the Caulle Cordon of southern Chile erupted violently last year, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the evacuation of more than 3,500 people.
Source: AP
December 23, 2012
December 08, 2012
December 07, 2012
NASA: Mayan Apocalypse a Myth, 2012 Won't be the End of the World
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AP2011
Possible teenage suicide pacts and the potential for traumatizing fear in young children has prompted The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to release a video and other information this past week discounting theories that the end of the Maya calendar on December 21st, signifies the end of the world as we know it.
On November 28th, NASA scientists took to the Internet to battle the rumors and calm the hype associated with the widespread misinterpretations of the Maya calendar which comes to an end on the winter solstice thus ending a calendar cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun. Many people around the world have come to see this date as a prophesy of the apocalypse, while others simply find it humorous, but NASA isn't laughing.
The event held on Google+ and throughout social media, with an invitation for Twitter followers to tweet any questions they may have to the #askNASA hashtag, was in response to emails and letters which have been pouring in to NASA from people dealing with severe anxiety related to end day fears, many of them from young people and some of them claiming to be suicidal.
"While this is a joke to some people and a mystery to others, there is a core of people who are truly concerned," said David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center via a Google+ Hangout video chat
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The NASA website page and the video put out by NASA, debunk nightmare scenarios ranging from planet Niburu getting too close to the Earth, solar storms, catastrophic tidal effects caused by planetary alignments, meteors, and a massive shifting of the Earth's magnetic poles, to name a few.
Despite the 52 million tourists expected to visit Mexico's Maya regions, and the doomsday television specials on various networks, NASA is adamant.
"The world will not end in 2012," the NASA website says. "Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."
Tracy López is a bilingual writer living outside the Washington DC metro area. She is the founder of Latinaish.com.
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Dec 21: Not the end of the world
Don't panic, it's only the end of the world - enjoy it with your pets.
British authorities have moved to quell fears an apocalypse could strike on December 21 following internet speculation sparked by the end of the Ancient Mayan calendar on that date.
Light-hearted responses to a hypothetical crisis also included installing a fire alarm and listening out for weather forecasts. They follow an official US government blog this week saying it was "just rumours" and insisting that "the world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012".
The deadpan advice comes with less than two weeks to go until the date of the apocalypse, according to some interpretations of the Ancient Mayan calendar. What form annihilation will take remains the topic of hot speculation on the internet, with possible scenarios ranging from a Noah-like great flood to a rogue planet smashing into Earth.
The UK institutions confirmed they had the necessary capacity to deal with any unusual events that might occur and, with tongues firmly in cheeks, put forward some specific suggestions for survival.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Fit a smoke alarm on each level of your home, then at least you might stand a chance of knowing that the end of the world is nigh ahead of those who don't. If you survive the apocalypse you'll be alerted to a fire more quickly should one ever break out."
The AA advised: "Local radio is a good source of traffic and weather updates and for any warnings of an impending apocalypse. Should the announcer break such solemn news, try to remain focused on the road ahead and keep your hands on the wheel."
An RSPCA spokesman added: "Luckily for animals, they do not have the same fears of the future - or its imminent destruction - as us humans, so it is unlikely that our pets will be worrying about the end of the world. However, should the Mayans prove to be right, our message would be to spend whatever time you have left with your animals wisely. Take them for a long walk or give them a cuddle. Enjoy every second you have with them as if it was your last!"
However, one expert offered reassurance that the prediction was a misinterpretation of ancient artefacts. Professor Mark Van Stone, the author of 2012: Science And Prophecy Of The Ancient Maya, traces the start of the 2012 apocalypse prophecy back to 1904, when German scholars said a Mayan picture of a sky dragon pouring water from above proved they were predicting a great flood.
Prof Van Stone, who teaches art history at Southwestern College, California, said the speculation comes down to a few inscriptions that indicate the Ancient Mayan calendar has been counting down since 3114BC and will hit zero on December 21.
Scientists say Australia needs nanotechnology
The nanotechnology revolution has brought a whole world of new applications, from medical breakthroughs to more powerful smartphones, but scientists say if Australia wants to harvest its benefits it must do more.
The technology is expected to generate three trillion dollars revenue globally by 2020.
Scientists say if Australia wants to capture a big share and make nanotechnology an economic driver, it needs to support the entire spectrum of nanotechnology development, including fundamental research, and it needs to guide the technology towards industry in an effective and timely way.
Professor Chennupati Jagadish from the Australian Academy of Science says a national strategy for nanotechnology development launched yesterday is aimed at improving Australia's ability to take part in the Asian Century, by putting the nation's capability on the international stage.
British Scientists To Explore Lost Antarctic Lake
British scientists are making final preparations to drill 3km through the Antarctic ice to a lake that has been cut off from the rest of the world for up to half a million years.
The 12-man team hopes to find lifeforms in Lake Ellsworth that have evolved in isolation to withstand the cold, lack of nutrients and total darkness.
Early next week they will begin melting a 36-cm wide borehole through the ice using a unique hot-water drill.
Pumping 90,000 litres of water at high pressure through a continuous 3.5km hose should allow them to break through to the lake in three or four days.
Chris Hill of the British Antarctic Survey said the mood in the camp was good.
"We are just a few days away from starting the drilling. That will be the point of no return," he said.
"We are doing last minute checks, connecting all the pipes and electricity together, checking out all the systems we have been developing over the last three and a half years that have never been put into such extreme conditions before.
"So it's quite a tense time at the moment, but everything seems to be going very well."
Lake Ellsworth is roughly the same size of Lake Windermere in Cumbria. It is buried beneath the remote West Antarctic ice sheet, where daytime temperatures are minus 25 degrees Celsius and winds gust up to 100mph.
The team has hauled almost 100 tonnes of equipment 280km across the ice to reach the drill site.
The precious cargo includes special probes that will be used to collect water samples and punch out a three-metre long sediment core at the bottom of the lake.
The equipment has been designed from scratch and has been cleaned to space-industry standards to avoid contaminating the pristine water of the lake.
Scientists expect to find microbes in the sludge on the lake bed. They could have been cut off from the main line of evolution for millions of years and the researchers want to know how they survive, and whether they produce any unique chemical compounds.
Professor John Parnell, from the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen, said: "Finding evidence of such compounds would show us that if life can withstand even the deepest, darkest and most isolated conditions for more than a million years, then it has the ability to exist anywhere - and by that I mean not just on Earth."
Scientists believe vast seas of liquid water exist below the icy surface of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.
But the lake could also hold clues to the Earth's past climate.
Chris Hill said the sediment core acts as a time record and may show Antarctica was once far warmer.
"There is a strong body of evidence that the ice sheet has collapsed at some point in our history causing a significant sea level rise across the planet," he said.
"It is known to be unstable now and is likely to collapse at some point in the future. We just don't know when or what could cause it."
Scientists, engineers and other specialists from nine universities, the British Antarctic Survey and the National Oceanography Centre are part of The Lake Ellsworth Consortium.
The £7m mission is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
Breast cancer drug cuts death rates by a third
When used in combination with chemotherapy and another drug called Herceptin, Perjeta significantly cut death rates over a three-year period.
Among those with advanced breast cancer, the chance of dying over that timeframe dropped from 50 to 33 per cent - a relative reduction of a third - according to results presented at the San Antonio breast cancer conference in Texas.
Both Herceptin and Perjeta are only suitable for women with a HER2-positive breast cancer, which accounts for up to a quarter of cases. They both work by blocking signals that HER ‘receptors’ send out to make cells divide uncontrollably.
Dr David Miles, a consultant oncologist at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, Middlesex, said: “These results are really impressive, they show a rare magnitude of survival benefit for metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer patients.”
Both treatment regimes in side effects including hair loss, lowered immunity, and diarrhoea. Those taking Perjeta as well were more likely to suffer from diarrhoea.
Dr Rachel Greig, of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This is very promising data and good news for treatment of this type of advanced breast cancer.
“Although it is not a cure it can help women survive longer and significantly extend the time a patient is able to control the growth of their disease. We hope it can be made available to UK patients as soon as possible.”
Fiona Hazell, of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: "We welcome these findings as one of the major advances we’ve seen for women with advanced HER2 positive breast cancer since Herceptin.
"Being able to significantly extend the lives of more women and stop cancer returning for longer is brilliant news."
Among those with advanced breast cancer, the chance of dying over that timeframe dropped from 50 to 33 per cent - a relative reduction of a third - according to results presented at the San Antonio breast cancer conference in Texas.
Both Herceptin and Perjeta are only suitable for women with a HER2-positive breast cancer, which accounts for up to a quarter of cases. They both work by blocking signals that HER ‘receptors’ send out to make cells divide uncontrollably.
Dr David Miles, a consultant oncologist at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, Middlesex, said: “These results are really impressive, they show a rare magnitude of survival benefit for metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer patients.”
Both treatment regimes in side effects including hair loss, lowered immunity, and diarrhoea. Those taking Perjeta as well were more likely to suffer from diarrhoea.
Dr Rachel Greig, of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This is very promising data and good news for treatment of this type of advanced breast cancer.
“Although it is not a cure it can help women survive longer and significantly extend the time a patient is able to control the growth of their disease. We hope it can be made available to UK patients as soon as possible.”
Fiona Hazell, of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: "We welcome these findings as one of the major advances we’ve seen for women with advanced HER2 positive breast cancer since Herceptin.
"Being able to significantly extend the lives of more women and stop cancer returning for longer is brilliant news."
December 06, 2012
December 05, 2012
Dogs can drive - here's the proof (+video)
Three SPCA dogs are learning how to drive in a bid to change the public's perception on the intelligence of rescue dogs.
Monty, Ginny and Porter have been taking driving lessons for the last eight weeks in preparation for an official test drive on live television - hoped to position SPCA rescue dogs as a top choice for adoption in New Zealand.
Porter's drive will air on Campbell Live next week as the 10-month-old Beardie Cross takes the wheel of a Mini Countryman.
Mini came on board with Auckland SPCA's project to help change "common misconceptions" about rescue dogs.
The challenge was then taken up by acclaimed animal trainer Mark Vette and his team from Animals on Q to showcase just how intelligent SPCA dogs can be.
"I think sometimes people think because they're getting an animal that's been abandoned that somehow it's a second-class animal," said SPCA Auckland CEO Christine Kalin.
But SPCA dogs are just as intelligent as any other pet, she said.
"Driving a car actively demonstrates to potential rescue dog adopters that you can teach an old dog new tricks. The dogs have achieved amazing things in eight short weeks of training, which really shows with the right environment just how much potential all dogs from the SPCA have as family pets."
The trio was selected from SPCA Auckland two months ago when they were rehoused at Animal on Q headquarters to begin their "doggy driver training process".
"Monty, Porter and Ginny are great dogs each with their own distinct personality. You wouldn't believe any dog could learn to drive a car on its own and the way all three SPCA rescue dogs have taken to training really does prove that intelligent creatures adapt to the situation they're in. It really is remarkable," said trainer Vette.
Kalin said Mini approached Auckland SPCA about the campaign.
"We have a relationship where we have a common love of animals and they're a trusted partner."
She said while the SPCA had never done anything like this before, last night's preview on Campbell Live had been met with a wave of positive feedback.
"People have a compassionate view towards animals that have no home.
"One of our hopes with this campaign is not only do we see an increase in adoption in the next month but on a long-term basis too."
And thoughts on whether Porter's test drive will be a success?
"Like the rest of the New Zealand we'll just have to sit back and hope they perform on the day," she said.
Four dead, seven missing after cargo ship sinks in North Sea
The Dutch coastguard and navy and other ships plucked 13 survivors from the water after the Baltic Ace, a 23,000 tonne car carrier, collided with container ship the Corvus J at around 7.15pm Wednesday (5.15am AEDT Thursday) about 100km southwest of Rotterdam.
The Baltic Ace sank shortly afterwards, the coastguard said. The Corvus J was also damaged, but assisted in the search for missing crew, according to Dutch media reports.
"We have suspended the search until first light," Coast Guard spokesman Peter Verburg told AFP at 3am.
"The chances of finding them alive are slim," he added, saying there was a chance that some of the crew may have gone down with the stricken vessel.
Another Coast Guard spokesman Marcel Oldenburger told AFP earlier that 13 crew members who were all on board the 148m Bahamas-registered Baltic Ace had been rescued.
Four survivors were flown to a hospital in Rotterdam, seven taken by rescue helicopter to a hospital in Belgium and two were being treated on board a ship that found them, Oldenburger said.
"They are all in shock" and are believed to suffer from hypothermia, he said, but their lives were not in danger.
With weather conditions over the North Sea worsening including some snow flurries and the temperature dropping, hopes of finding survivors "were diminishing", Oldenburger said.
He added strong winds and waves of up to 3m also had hampered the rescue operation.
At least three helicopters - one of which was fitted out with infrared imaging equipment to search in the darkness - and a plane joined the search, but no crew were spotted since a fourth body was discovered in the water.
The Baltic Ace was under way from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Kotka in Finland and the Cypriot-registered Corvus J from Grangemouth in Scotland to Antwerp in Belgium, according to shipping tracker website MarineTraffic.com.
"At this stage we don't know what caused the accident," said Verburg: "Our first priority right now is the safety of the crew."
The shipping lane where the accident happened is one of the busiest in the North Sea and an important passing point for ships sailing into Rotterdam port, Europe's largest and the fifth-largest in the world.
Rotterdam port spokesman Sjaak Poppe told AFP the collision would not affect shipping in and out of the port.
In one of the most serious collisions in Dutch waters in recent years, the Greek crude oil tanker Mindoro in October 2010 collided with the container ship Jork Ranger off the coast of Scheveningen near The Hague, spilling thousands of litres of kerosene (jet fuel) into the sea, the European Maritime Safety Agency said on its website.
Israel fails to improve corruption ranking
Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index showed that Israel had made little progress in reducing the problem and performed poorly against the world's most developed economies.
A screen grab of the Transparency International 2012 corruption index.
Israel ranked a low 39th out of 176 countries in a global measure of corruption released Wednesday by the anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International.
Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, which gauges perceptions of public sector corruption around the world based on surveys taken of business executives and experts, also showed that Israel had made little progress in reducing the problem and performed poorly against the world's most developed economies.
"The fact that Israel is treading water in the global corruption perception index is disturbing and requires concrete action to improve it," Yoav Lehman, a former Bank of Israel banks supervisor and a member of the Transparency International Israel board said in a statement.
"Public money and the way in which budgets are allocated is not transparent enough. The data exist, but it is very difficult to get a true picture and to trace where the money goes," he said.
Among the 37 countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israel's score of 60 ranked it 24th. Among Western countries only Italy, which ranked 72, and Greece, at 94, were perceived as more corrupt.
Even in the Middle East, an area that scores low for perceptions of corruption, Israel was outranked by two countries - the Gulf emirates of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, both of which ranked 27.
Transparency International said the results of the report indicated that corruption remains an entrenched part of the global economy. Despite the efforts of campaigners around the world, the Berlin-based organization's index showed that two-thirds of the 176 nations surveyed had a score below 50, which means they are very corrupt.
"A growing outcry over corrupt governments forced several leaders from office last year, but as the dust has cleared it has become apparent that the levels of bribery, abuse of power and secret dealings are still very high in many countries," Transparency International said on releasing the survey.
While Denmark, Finland and New Zealand once again topped the CPI, Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia were once again on the bottom rung of the index.
Based on a scale from zero (highly corrupt ) to 100 (very clean ), Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tied with a score of 90 points. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia each had a score of just eight.
Galia Sagy, the head of Transparency International's branch in Israel, said Israeli voters should give higher priority to reducing corruption, but noted that the election campaign now underway points to a different direction entirely.
"The return of public figures who were convicted of crimes to the public sphere, as if this is the most natural thing, is very serious," she said in a statement.
Worryingly, the survey showed that there has been little improvement in the corruption rankings of the countries that have emerged from the upheavals of the Arab Spring.
"Corruption is the world's most talked about problem," said Transparency International's Managing Director Cobus de Swardt. "The world's leading economies should lead by example."
Western industrialized nations such as Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Sweden dominated the top 10 cleanest states again this year. But China - the world's second biggest economy and a powerhouse of global growth - continued to languish well down in the rankings at number 80, with a score of 39 points.
Three dead after Auckland storm and tornadoes
# Three people reported killed
# Damage reported across west Auckland and North Shore
# Tornado reported on Auckland motorway
# Severe surface flooding right across Auckland region
# Roads closed include SH 18, Wallingford Way and Greenhithe Rd in Hobsonville, Waimarie Rd in Whenuapai and Moselle Ave in Henderson.
# Military and Urban Search and Rescue called out to assist
# Public transport services affected
# Auckland Airport withdraw staff from tarmac
Three people have been killed after severe weather - including a series of tornadoes - hit Auckland this afternoon.
Police sources have confirmed that three have died in the west Auckland storm, which struck shortly after noon.
Fire services communications manager Peter Stevenson said two people had been killed when a slab of concrete fell onto a truck.
Andy Gummer of St John said at least seven people had been transported to Auckland and North Shore hospitals.
"There might be some critical,'' he said.
MetService has now lifted its severe weather warning for the Auckland area, but earlier a tornado hit Hobsonville, tearing down trees and ripping panels from the motorway.
Flooding of varying degrees is also still being reported and power lines are down in areas - making it difficult for emergency services to reach some houses.
Fire, police and ambulance raced to multiple callouts in Hobsonville and Upper Harbour.
Air Force personnel are going door to door in Hobsonville to check if people are safe.
Emergency services are trying to clear roads that are blocked by trees.
Police Superintendent Bill Searle said a series of tornadoes passed through Hobsonville, and one of those touched down on a subdivision, causing damage to trees and buildings.
He told a media conference at Whenuapai Air Base that about 12 uniformed USAR personnel, who happened to be in the area at the time are gathering intelligence to help police.
They have not been formally deployed.
The Defence Force is on standby, and an emergency centre has been set up at the air base.
Mr Searle said the forecast is for more bad weather in the area, and people in the Hobsonville and Greenhithe areas should stay inside for the next couple of hours.
The Fire Service has received between 80 and 100 calls and more than 12 appliances have been sent to the area.
Mr Searle said family members of those injured by the initial storm will be given access to parts of the construction site where the deaths were reported.
"We'd ask that people that don't have to be in the area stay away from the area,'' he said.
"Anybody approaching the area, if they could speak to police officers at the scene to make sure they are well directed.
"We're very keen to talk to the family members of anyone that might be injured.
"If they make themselves known to the police officers we'll give them the necessary care and attention.''
Roads closed, flights delayed after storm
State Highway 18, the motorway link between North Shore and West Auckland, was closed after the tornado destroyed noise walls and left some sections of road covered in debris.
The road will be shut indefinitely between Greenhithe Rd offramp and Brigham Creek onramp, NZTA reported.
Bus services have been suspended to Herald Island and Hobsonville Point and all bus services are delayed in west Auckland, Auckland Transport said.
Services to the eastern end of Wiseley Rd may be diverted, it said.
The 5:30pm Auckland to West Harbour ferry service will be replaced by buses.
NZTA State Highways manager Steve Mutton said it was unclear when SH18 would re-open.
"The priority is safety of drivers, the public and our field staff who maintain the motorway network. The motorway will remain shut until further notice.
He urged drivers to avoid the area.
Other roads and motorways through west Auckland would become congested because of the motorway closure, Mr Mutton said.
"We ask all people drive with patience and to consider whether their travel is necessary."
Waimarie Rd in Whenuapai and Moselle Ave in Henderson have also been closed due to storm damage and tornadoes, the Automobile Association said.
Auckland police are advising motorists to be mindful of flash flooding in and around the city.
"Most of all, motorists should be patient and expect journeys to take a little longer than usual this afternoon but, if you don't have to drive anywhere, don't," Inspector Gavin MacDonald said.
Police said motorists should drive to the conditions by slowing down, use headlights and increase following distances.
The powerful winds have disabled some SH18 network cameras, destroyed some motorway noise walls and left sections of the motorway covered with debris, said the Transport Agency (NZTA).
Auckland Airport has warned that a number of flights have been delayed and cancelled.
"The severe weather experienced in Auckland today has caused some disruption to air travel, particularly to some regional New Zealand destinations," said Auckland Airport communications manager Richard Llewellyn.
A number of flights to and from Whangarei and New Plymouth and have been cancelled and other flights had been delayed, he said.
People are being advised to contact their airline for information.
Severe weather warning lifted
MetService earlier issued a severe thunderstorm warning for central Auckland, the Thames Coromandel District, Manukau, the North Shore, Franklin and Rodney, although the severe weather warning for the Auckland area has now been lifted.
At 1.52pm MetService weather radar detected thunderstorms near Auckland, Orewa, Albany, the inner Hauraki Gulf, Daily Flat, Whangaparaoa and Silverdale.
The threat of further damaging winds moving across Auckland cannot be ruled out, MetService says.
Meteorologist Daniel Corbett said the heavy rain and wind would continue to batter the city over the next few hours
"A severe thunderstorm watch is in place until 6 o'clock this evening.''
"You can't completely rule out another small tornado,'' Mr Corbett said.
"Conditions are still favourable _ warm humid air [and] low-level winds converging.''
"Conditions are still favourable _ warm humid air [and] low-level winds converging.''
But heavy downpours and straight-line winds are more likely, he said.
Mr Corbett could not confirm there has been a tornado.
"We're not completely discounting it, because on the Doppler radar, which can actually see the wind, we are seeing good converging winds on the front, that's the whole reason why we've got the thunderstorms this afternoon.
"There's a strong northerly, which becomes a northwester right on the weather front, that's where you can get a 'twist' with converging winds, you can sometimes see in thunderstorms what we call 'spinning', or rotation - that may be what people have seen ... it may have been a funnel.
"We haven't had any visual evidence of anything touching the ground or a tornado. But, when on the weather front you have converging winds the conditions are favourable."
Damage reported across Auckland
A Fire Service spokesman said there appeared to be "significant building damage" and a number of people trapped.
Fire Service spokesperson Scott Osmond said there had been a number of callouts in West Auckland in the past couple of hours due to the wild weather.
A roof had caved in at Mastertrade on Moselle Avenue, Henderson, he said, while there were reports of chimneys being toppled and roofs blown off in Hobsonville.
Callers to Newstalk ZB said an apparent tornado had brought down lights on the Upper Harbour motorway near Wehnuapai and there were "dozens and dozens" of trees on the side of the road.
Whenuapai resident Suzanne McFadden said the tornado was like a roaring "juggernaut".
"We have no power, it honestly looks like a bomb has gone off in the street.
"I saw it coming across the river, the air went very electric and the sky went black. And then the wind started to whistle.
She said she saw trees coming up the street and then ran to the hallway inside for cover.
"We were in the middle of it. It was a roar. "
She said century-old pine trees had been uprooted, one even crashing through her neighbour's garage - crushing the van inside.
Waimarie Rd where she lives is littered with crushed cars, boats and fallen power lines, she said.
And because road access is blocked, residents are all concerned for the well-being of their children at the nearby Whenuapai School.
"We can't get out and nobody can get in, there are live power lines on the road. People who are getting home now are walking miles just to get home.
"This was like a juggernaut roaring through here. Everyone is really shaken up."
She said everyone had been checking on each other, going door to door to see if other residents were OK.
"We live in a little village and you just don't expect this kind of thing to happen."
Vector Energy has reported a power outage for the area of Hobsonville, with power not due to return until 2.30pm.
Looks like "a bombsite"
Meanwhile, another Newstalk ZB caller, Barney, has described it as scary weather.
"I've just got off at Point Chevalier just for fear of my life pretty much.
"Surface water is terrible and visibility is awful."
Newstalk ZB caller Tony, on Hobsonville Rd, said a friend on a nearby road described it as a "bombsite'', with five-storey trees down.
"The police are going door-knocking, making sure everyone's alright which is actually all good.''
Caller David said the weather on the motorway was "really bad''.
Local resident Jordan Carter said high winds had hit his house in Whenuapai.
The fence had been blown down, trees uprooted and the lid of the spa pool gone, he said.
Four Dead After Ships Collide In North Sea
Four dead, 7 missing in North Sea cargo ship collision
THE HAGUE — Rescuers pulled at least four bodies from the icy waters of the North Sea but suspended a search for seven missing crew early Thursday, saying their survival seemed unlikely after their ship sank following a collision in a busy shipping lane off the Dutch coast.
The Dutch coastguard and navy and other ships plucked 13 survivors from the water after the Baltic Ace, a 23,000 tonne car carrier, collided with container ship the Corvus J at around 7:15 pm (1815 GMT) on Wednesday about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Rotterdam.
The Baltic Ace sank shortly afterwards, the coastguard said. The Corvus J was also damaged, but assisted in the search for missing crew, according to Dutch media reports.
"We have suspended the search until first light," Coast Guard spokesman Peter Verburg told AFP at 3:00 am (0200 GMT).
"The chances of finding them alive are slim," he added, saying there was a chance that some of the crew may have gone down with the stricken vessel.
Another Coast Guard spokesman Marcel Oldenburger told AFP earlier that 13 crew members who were all on board the 148 metre (485-foot) Bahamas-registered Baltic Ace had been rescued.
Four survivors were flown to a hospital in Rotterdam, seven taken by rescue helicopter to a hospital in Belgium and two were being treated on board a ship that found them, Oldenburger said.
"They are all in shock" and are believed to suffer from hypothermia, he said, but their lives were not in danger.
With weather conditions over the North Sea worsening including some snow flurries and the temperature dropping, hopes of finding survivors "were diminishing", Oldenburger said.
He added strong winds and waves of up to three metres (9.8 feet) also had hampered the rescue operation.
At least three helicopters -- one of which was fitted out with infrared imaging equipment to search in the darkness -- and a plane joined the search, but no crew were spotted since a fourth body was discovered in the water.
The Baltic Ace was under way from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Kotka in Finland and the Cypriot-registered Corvus J from Grangemouth in Scotland to Antwerp in Belgium, according to shipping tracker website MarineTraffic.com.
"At this stage we don't know what caused the accident," said Verburg: "Our first priority right now is the safety of the crew."
The shipping lane where the accident happened is one of the busiest in the North Sea and an important passing point for ships sailing into Rotterdam port, Europe's largest and the fifth-largest in the world.
Rotterdam port spokesman Sjaak Poppe told AFP the collision would not affect shipping in and out of the port.
In one of the most serious collisions in Dutch waters in recent years, the Greek crude oil tanker Mindoro in October 2010 collided with the container ship Jork Ranger off the coast of Scheveningen near The Hague, spilling thousands of litres of kerosene (jet fuel) into the sea, the European Maritime Safety Agency said on its website.
December 04, 2012
Balochi Radio reveals atrocities of Pakistan Coast Guard in Balochistan coastal villages
Gwadar :
Sweden based Radio Gwank revealed on Sunday that Pakistan Coast Guard personnel allegedly gang raped a teen age boy in passo village near Pishokan region of Balochistan.According to the Gwank report, the poor folk of Pishokan are the worst victims of Pakistan Coast Guard’s atrocities. They villagers have been issued a warning that if the fishermen went to the sea without submitting their identity cards to PCG [Pakistan Coast Guard] quarters then they would bear the consequences.
Radio Gwank quoted the local fishermen as complaining that their fellow fishermen have been beaten up by PCG for not abiding by their order. They complained that their means of transport: donkey carts, motorcycles and Pickup vehicles are most often subjected to intensive inspections at Pakistani security forces (Coast Gaurds) check posts and they humiliated and harass women and children during checking.
The humiliation of local fisher brethren of entire Balochistan coastal belt is not a new phenomenon at the hands of PCG. Earlier the PCG have abducted and extra judicially killed Samad Bilal and Ramdan Yaqoob whereas of their friends, Razaq Palari, is still in the custody of Pakistan Coast Guard officials.
Another worrisome factor of the Radio Gwank report is that people are extremely fearful of the consequences of reporting the accesses of Pakistan Coast Guard in the area. That is why their atrocities are not reported in print and electronic media.
Moreover, the Sweden based Balochi language Radio added that last week, November 28th, 2012, in Passo, a small village 4 km from Pishokan, a teen age boy was allegedly gang rapped by coast guard personnel. Pakistani media concealed this heinous crime of PCG fearing the extreme anger of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
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