Two hooded gunmen who robbed a pharmacy returned an elderly woman's purse after she told them it contained the only money she had to buy medicine, Maltese newspapers reported Tuesday.
The two men barged into a pharmacy at Marsascala, a seaside village in the south of the island, Monday and took 600 Malta liri from the till after threatening the pharmacist with their guns.
One of them grabbed the purse held by the elderly woman who was waiting to be served, then handed it back after her pleading and rushed out to a waiting motorcycle.
20051018
Lose weight, enjoy a better sex life: study
Obese women who start to lose weight will also see an improvement in the quality of their sex lives, according to a U.S. study released Monday.
Even a moderate weight loss reduced complaints of feeling sexually unattractive and led to improved desire, according to the study presented at the annual meeting of The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) in Vancouver.
"If people experience benefits and rewards from their weight loss and health efforts, it may motivate them to continue a healthy lifestyle," said Martin Binks, director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Researchers who tracked 161 obese women participating in a prescription weight loss program in Minnesota found almost two-thirds reported problems with aspects of their sex life when the study began.
Within the first year, the percentage of women who said they had problems with sexual desire dropped to 15 percent from 39 percent and the number who felt they were sexually unattractive dropped to 26 percent from 68 percent.
The Minnesota weight loss program lasted for two years, but health officials said it was normal for the majority of the weight loss to be in the first year.
The researchers said they found similar results in a survey of 26 obese men in the Minnesota weight-loss program, but cautioned that the small number of male participants made it difficult to draw conclusions from that data.
Health officials say there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in North America in the past two decades, and 64 percent of adults in the United States are considered to be overweight or obese.
Even a moderate weight loss reduced complaints of feeling sexually unattractive and led to improved desire, according to the study presented at the annual meeting of The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) in Vancouver.
"If people experience benefits and rewards from their weight loss and health efforts, it may motivate them to continue a healthy lifestyle," said Martin Binks, director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Researchers who tracked 161 obese women participating in a prescription weight loss program in Minnesota found almost two-thirds reported problems with aspects of their sex life when the study began.
Within the first year, the percentage of women who said they had problems with sexual desire dropped to 15 percent from 39 percent and the number who felt they were sexually unattractive dropped to 26 percent from 68 percent.
The Minnesota weight loss program lasted for two years, but health officials said it was normal for the majority of the weight loss to be in the first year.
The researchers said they found similar results in a survey of 26 obese men in the Minnesota weight-loss program, but cautioned that the small number of male participants made it difficult to draw conclusions from that data.
Health officials say there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in North America in the past two decades, and 64 percent of adults in the United States are considered to be overweight or obese.
20051017
U.S. rejects Katrina meals, offers them to others
The United States on Friday offered needy countries more than 330,000 packaged meals donated by Britain to feed Hurricane Katrina victims but rejected due to a U.S. ban on British beef.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the "Meals Ready to Eat," or MREs, had been held in a warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas, for more than a month after U.S. Agriculture Department officials said they could not be distributed in the United States because they contained British beef products.
"We are certainly, for our part, looking to dispose of these MREs that were offered in the spirit of friendship and charity. We are looking to dispose of them in the same way," Ereli told a State Department briefing.
The United States bans the import of products containing British beef because of fears of mad cow disease, a chronic, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle.
An additional 33,000 MREs from Germany, Russia, Spain and France had also not been distributed to hurricane victims because of U.S. legal restrictions, Ereli said without elaborating.
More than 100 nations offered assistance to the United States after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other U.S. Gulf Coast communities on August 29.
The U.S. relief effort to help victims of the hurricane was criticized as too slow and inefficient and bogged down by bureaucracy and in-fighting among government departments.
Early on, there was a need for about 500,000 readily packaged meals and the State Department asked its embassies worldwide to seek food donations. Britain was among the first countries to offer MREs.
The State Department said it did not want to appear ungrateful for the British donation and that it was working hard to pass on the meals to another country in need.
"We obviously want to find needy populations and get them these supplies as soon as possible, because if you need them, you need them now. So we're eager to resolve this soon," said Ereli, adding he did not know what the expiration dates were on the food packages.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the "Meals Ready to Eat," or MREs, had been held in a warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas, for more than a month after U.S. Agriculture Department officials said they could not be distributed in the United States because they contained British beef products.
"We are certainly, for our part, looking to dispose of these MREs that were offered in the spirit of friendship and charity. We are looking to dispose of them in the same way," Ereli told a State Department briefing.
The United States bans the import of products containing British beef because of fears of mad cow disease, a chronic, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle.
An additional 33,000 MREs from Germany, Russia, Spain and France had also not been distributed to hurricane victims because of U.S. legal restrictions, Ereli said without elaborating.
More than 100 nations offered assistance to the United States after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other U.S. Gulf Coast communities on August 29.
The U.S. relief effort to help victims of the hurricane was criticized as too slow and inefficient and bogged down by bureaucracy and in-fighting among government departments.
Early on, there was a need for about 500,000 readily packaged meals and the State Department asked its embassies worldwide to seek food donations. Britain was among the first countries to offer MREs.
The State Department said it did not want to appear ungrateful for the British donation and that it was working hard to pass on the meals to another country in need.
"We obviously want to find needy populations and get them these supplies as soon as possible, because if you need them, you need them now. So we're eager to resolve this soon," said Ereli, adding he did not know what the expiration dates were on the food packages.
Half-century in mental asylum a mistake..
More than half-a-century ago, Machal Lalung was thought to be insane and sent to a mental asylum in India's remote northeast.
A few months ago, he was set free after the National Human Rights Commission found that healthcare authorities had made a mistake and Lalung suffered only from epilepsy.
Lalung's confinement for 54 years has shocked rights activists and mental health experts in a country where it is not uncommon for people to be branded insane and locked up in homes or asylums for months, if not a few years.
"Machal Lalung's case was not in our knowledge but once it was brought to our notice, we immediately completed all legal formalities to secure his release," Assam's Home Minister Rokybul Hussain told Reuters.
"I am really sorry for him," he said.
That comes as small consolation for the 77-year-old frail tribal man, who was 23 when he was sent to the state-run mental hospital in the Assamese city of Tezpur.
Fifty-four years with psychiatric patients has dulled his senses, made him forget his family, his tribal dialect and even the taste of the food he liked.
His life before entering the asylum is nothing but a blip in his memory. So is the story of how and who brought him to the mental home. Doctors who treated Lalung have retired and records about him are missing.
Today Lalung said he awaits peace in death.
"I feel sad at what happened to my life but there is no use grumbling now. I am just waiting for death," he told Reuters at his nephew's home in Silchang village, about 55 miles east of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"Initially, I used to miss my family and always begged my wardens to send me home. But they never listened to me," he said with tears in his eyes.
Lalung's only family members -- his father and elder sister -- are dead. He lives with his sister's son who grew up listening to stories about his uncle's disappearance.
It was in fact the nephew who managed to trace Lalung after a man from their village had gone to the same mental hospital for treatment and saw Lalung.
"It was very difficult to stay with insane people in the same room but gradually I got used to it," Lalung said.
Today, despite his poor health, Lalung likes to work in a small vegetable garden outside the house, carrying a spade and a pouch containing a tobacco and betel nut snack to chew.
Although there were many women in the hospital, Lalung never tried to make friends with them or consider marriage.
"Who would want to marry an insane woman?" he asks.
A few months ago, he was set free after the National Human Rights Commission found that healthcare authorities had made a mistake and Lalung suffered only from epilepsy.
Lalung's confinement for 54 years has shocked rights activists and mental health experts in a country where it is not uncommon for people to be branded insane and locked up in homes or asylums for months, if not a few years.
"Machal Lalung's case was not in our knowledge but once it was brought to our notice, we immediately completed all legal formalities to secure his release," Assam's Home Minister Rokybul Hussain told Reuters.
"I am really sorry for him," he said.
That comes as small consolation for the 77-year-old frail tribal man, who was 23 when he was sent to the state-run mental hospital in the Assamese city of Tezpur.
Fifty-four years with psychiatric patients has dulled his senses, made him forget his family, his tribal dialect and even the taste of the food he liked.
His life before entering the asylum is nothing but a blip in his memory. So is the story of how and who brought him to the mental home. Doctors who treated Lalung have retired and records about him are missing.
Today Lalung said he awaits peace in death.
"I feel sad at what happened to my life but there is no use grumbling now. I am just waiting for death," he told Reuters at his nephew's home in Silchang village, about 55 miles east of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"Initially, I used to miss my family and always begged my wardens to send me home. But they never listened to me," he said with tears in his eyes.
Lalung's only family members -- his father and elder sister -- are dead. He lives with his sister's son who grew up listening to stories about his uncle's disappearance.
It was in fact the nephew who managed to trace Lalung after a man from their village had gone to the same mental hospital for treatment and saw Lalung.
"It was very difficult to stay with insane people in the same room but gradually I got used to it," Lalung said.
Today, despite his poor health, Lalung likes to work in a small vegetable garden outside the house, carrying a spade and a pouch containing a tobacco and betel nut snack to chew.
Although there were many women in the hospital, Lalung never tried to make friends with them or consider marriage.
"Who would want to marry an insane woman?" he asks.
GM posts huge loss, sets UAW deal
General Motors Corp. on Monday posted a quarterly loss of $1.6 billion, much worse than Wall Street had expected, and announced a deal with the United Auto Workers union to cut its health-care costs.
GM also said it plans to eliminate at least 25,000 manufacturing jobs.
The world's largest automaker, which lost more than $1.4 billion in the first half of the year amid deepening financial woes, posted a loss of $1.6 billion, or $2.89 a share, for the third quarter. The company had a profit of $315 million in the year-earlier quarter.
GM has seen high gasoline prices slam sales of big sport utility vehicles, while increased costs for everything from raw materials to health care have also eroded profits.
Excluding special items -- including a charge of $805 million for asset impairments primarily in North America and Europe and restructuring charges at GM Europe of $56 million -- GM's third-quarter loss totaled $1.92 per share. On that basis, analysts' average forecast was a loss of 81 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Quarterly revenue rose more than 5 percent to $47.2 billion.
Months of talks with the UAW over GM's demand for cuts in health care and other benefits -- costs identified by Chief Executive Rick Wagoner as the company's single biggest challenge -- have finally produced positive results.
The tentative agreement is projected to reduce GM's retiree health-care liabilities by about $15 billion and cut its annual employee health-care expense by about $3 billion before taxes. Cash savings are estimated to be about $1 billion a year, GM said.
News of the agreement with the union sent GM shares up sharply in pre-market trading. The shares are down about 30 percent so far this year, compared with a 2 percent drop in the S&P 500 index and a 4.6 percent decline in the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average.
GM also said it plans to eliminate at least 25,000 manufacturing jobs.
The world's largest automaker, which lost more than $1.4 billion in the first half of the year amid deepening financial woes, posted a loss of $1.6 billion, or $2.89 a share, for the third quarter. The company had a profit of $315 million in the year-earlier quarter.
GM has seen high gasoline prices slam sales of big sport utility vehicles, while increased costs for everything from raw materials to health care have also eroded profits.
Excluding special items -- including a charge of $805 million for asset impairments primarily in North America and Europe and restructuring charges at GM Europe of $56 million -- GM's third-quarter loss totaled $1.92 per share. On that basis, analysts' average forecast was a loss of 81 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Quarterly revenue rose more than 5 percent to $47.2 billion.
Months of talks with the UAW over GM's demand for cuts in health care and other benefits -- costs identified by Chief Executive Rick Wagoner as the company's single biggest challenge -- have finally produced positive results.
The tentative agreement is projected to reduce GM's retiree health-care liabilities by about $15 billion and cut its annual employee health-care expense by about $3 billion before taxes. Cash savings are estimated to be about $1 billion a year, GM said.
News of the agreement with the union sent GM shares up sharply in pre-market trading. The shares are down about 30 percent so far this year, compared with a 2 percent drop in the S&P 500 index and a 4.6 percent decline in the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)