Mr Ben Ali's family fortune is believed to be around £3bn ($5bn) Wednesday, February 2, 2011
France holds Ben Ali 'family jet'
Mr Ben Ali's family fortune is believed to be around £3bn ($5bn) The French authorities have seized a private jet said to belong to the family of ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
It comes after three French NGOs filed a legal case against Mr Ben Ali over allegations of corruption.
Mr Ben Ali and his family built up significant assets during his 23 years in power.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed to freeze his assets in response to a request by Tunisia.
Swiss officials have already frozen tens of millions of francs, and grounded a Falcon 9000 jet in Geneva.
Mr Ben Ali resigned and fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 December after weeks of anti-government protests.
French investigators said the Bombadier jet was impounded at Le Bourget airport near Paris where it had been parked in a hanger for a week.
Officials said it belonged to the Mabrouk family, one of whose members is Mr Ben Ali's son-in-law, said the AFP news agency.
The investigation into the Ben Ali family assets began last week after Sherpa, Transparency International France and the Arab Commission for Human Rights launched a legal case accusing the former leader of corruption, misusing public funds and money-laundering.
They estimate the wealth amassed by the former leader and his entourage at £3bn ($5bn).
The family's interests are thought to include banks, insurance, fishing and construction as well as about 30 properties, including hotels.
Transparency International says the Trabelsi family of Mr Ben Ali's wife, Leila, could have properties in Paris, the Alps and the Cote d'Azur, with millions of dollars in bank accounts.
Tunisian prosecutors are also investigating the family's foreign assets, including possible illegal transactions and foreign bank accounts.
Some 33 members of Mr Ben Ali's family were held over claims that they had plundered the nation's resources.
Separately, France's Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has defended herself against accusations that she accepted a private flight from a close ally of Mr Ben Ali while protests were underway in Tunisia, French media report.
Ms Alliot-Marie's office acknowledged that she had taken a flight with Tunisian businessman Aziz Miled while on holiday, but denied that he was a part of the regime, saying he had suffered financially under Mr Ben Ali.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-12339533
Egypt protesters use voice tweets
The service could give protesters a new way of communicating with the outside world Google and Twitter have launched a service which circumvents the ban on net services in Egypt.
The so-called speak-to-tweet system allows people caught up in the unrest to post messages without any need to use an internet connection.
The service, which is already live, allows people to dial an international telephone number and leave a voicemail message.
The message is then sent out as a tweet with the hashtag #egypt.
People can listen to messages by dialling the same phone numbers (+16504194196 , +390662207294, +97316199855) or going to a special Twitter page.
Google said its engineers worked with Twitter and its newly acquired voice technology company SayNow over the weekend to set the service up.
"Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground," said SayNow co-founder Ujjwal Singh on the official Google blog.
Net access in Egypt has dropped almost to zero "We hope this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time," he added.
The last of Egypt's main internet service providers, the Noor Group, became unreachable on Monday, according to reports.
The ISP had managed to stay online after Egypt other big four net providers stopped sending and receiving traffic on Friday.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-12332850
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Square eyes: UK children's screen time revealed
The study found many children spend time on social networking sites UK children watch an average of more than two and a half hours of television a day and spend an hour and 50 minutes online a day, a poll suggests.
A survey of 2,445 children aged five to 16 by Child Wise found almost two in three have their own computer (62%).
And nearly half have internet access in their own room (46%).
The poll suggests two thirds (65%) of children go online most days and collectively children in the UK spent 13 million hours on websites every day.
The survey found children regularly use their mobile phones and games consoles to access the internet, giving wider access and personal control.
In the five to 16 age bracket, 70% of children have their own mobile phone and this rises to 97% from the age of 11.
Among 11-16 year olds, almost two in three are able to access the internet via their phone (65%), and 43% do this regularly.
The study also says many children spend time on social networking sites.
The poll found four in five used internet "on demand" television services A third (36%) of seven to 10-year olds visited Facebook in the week before the survey was conducted.
For 11 and 12-year-olds this rose to 71% of and to 85% for 13 to 16-year-olds.
However, television still had the strongest hold over the children surveyed.
These figures suggest the 12 million under 16s in the UK watched 23 million hours of TV a day and 62% have a television in their own room.
More than four in five used internet "on demand" television services, with 51% watching via the BBC iPlayer and 36% of younger children (seven to 10) using the CBBC iPlayer.
Margaret Morrissey of lobby group Parents Outloud, said children could not be blamed for spending time on the computer or in front of the TV.
The creation of new housing estates meant that gardens had been reduced to the size of a "pocket handkerchief", she said.
"If we are building houses that are smaller, children are not going to be as physically active.
"And it is not really possible in this day and age for them to play out in the street on their own.
"We cannot complain as the generation in charge when they (children) use the things we have provided and don't have space to do recreational things outdoors with their parents."
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/education-12334962
Could a regular 40-minute walk be a brain booster?
Going for walks can make all the difference, the study suggests Walking for 40 minutes a few times a week is enough to preserve memory and keep ageing brains on top form, research shows.
Moderate exercise increased the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain that makes memories, in 120 volunteers.
The year-long trial, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed performance on memory tests also improved.
Exercise may buffer against dementia as well as age-related memory loss.
The latest work looked at healthy people in their 60s rather than people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
But the findings have important implications for ageing societies faced with a dementia time bomb.
Dr Simon Ridley of the Alzheimer's Research Trust“Even modest exercise may improve memory and help protect the brain from normal decline caused by ageing”
In the UK, 820,000 people have dementia, and this figure is set to double by 2030.
Until a cure is discovered, finding cheap and simple ways to reverse this trend is imperative, say experts.
Professor Kirk Erickson and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh in the US set out to investigate the impact that even moderate exercise might have on preserving memory.
They split their 120 volunteers into two groups. One group was asked to begin an exercise regimen of walking around a track for 40 minutes a day, three days a week, while the others were limited to doing simple stretching and toning exercises.
Brain scans and memory tests were performed at the start of the study, halfway through the study and again at the end.
Scans revealed hippocampus volume increased by around 2% in people who did regular aerobic exercise. The same region of the brain decreased in volume by 1.4% in those who did stretching exercises, consistent with the decrease seen in normal ageing.
Both groups showed some improvement over time on memory tests. In the walking group, the improvement appeared to be linked with increased size of the hippocampus.
Professor Erickson said: "We think of the atrophy of the hippocampus in later life as almost inevitable. But we've shown that even moderate exercise for one year can increase the size of that structure.
"The brain at that stage remains modifiable."
Dr Simon Ridley of the Alzheimer's Research Trust said that although the study does not look at memory loss in Alzheimer's or dementia, it suggests "it's never too late to start exercising to help keep our brains healthy".
"Even modest exercise may improve memory and help protect the brain from normal decline caused by ageing.
"Increasing evidence suggests regular exercise and a healthy diet may help reduce our risk of developing dementia as well as reaping numerous other benefits from living a healthy lifestyle."
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/health-12325285
France holds Ben Ali 'family jet'
Mr Ben Ali's family fortune is believed to be around £3bn ($5bn) The French authorities have seized a private jet said to belong to the family of ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
It comes after three French NGOs filed a legal case against Mr Ben Ali over allegations of corruption.
Mr Ben Ali and his family built up significant assets during his 23 years in power.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed to freeze his assets in response to a request by Tunisia.
Swiss officials have already frozen tens of millions of francs, and grounded a Falcon 9000 jet in Geneva.
Mr Ben Ali resigned and fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 December after weeks of anti-government protests.
French investigators said the Bombadier jet was impounded at Le Bourget airport near Paris where it had been parked in a hanger for a week.
Officials said it belonged to the Mabrouk family, one of whose members is Mr Ben Ali's son-in-law, said the AFP news agency.
The investigation into the Ben Ali family assets began last week after Sherpa, Transparency International France and the Arab Commission for Human Rights launched a legal case accusing the former leader of corruption, misusing public funds and money-laundering.
They estimate the wealth amassed by the former leader and his entourage at £3bn ($5bn).
The family's interests are thought to include banks, insurance, fishing and construction as well as about 30 properties, including hotels.
Transparency International says the Trabelsi family of Mr Ben Ali's wife, Leila, could have properties in Paris, the Alps and the Cote d'Azur, with millions of dollars in bank accounts.
Tunisian prosecutors are also investigating the family's foreign assets, including possible illegal transactions and foreign bank accounts.
Some 33 members of Mr Ben Ali's family were held over claims that they had plundered the nation's resources.
Separately, France's Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has defended herself against accusations that she accepted a private flight from a close ally of Mr Ben Ali while protests were underway in Tunisia, French media report.
Ms Alliot-Marie's office acknowledged that she had taken a flight with Tunisian businessman Aziz Miled while on holiday, but denied that he was a part of the regime, saying he had suffered financially under Mr Ben Ali.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-12339533
'Man boobs' surgery on rise
BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast's Nicky Campbell speaks to a man who has been under the knife five times. 
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-12324204
Student place race slowing down
University applications are up in the last year before fees rise, but the rate of increase has slowed Universities face a record level of applications this year - but the rate of increase has slowed down, the latest admissions figures reveal.
This is the last year of entry before fees rise in England - and there had been expectations of a surge in demand.
But the figures up to the mid-January deadline show a 5% increase across the UK - the lowest in recent years.
There also appears to have been a sharp fall in applications around the time of the tuition fees vote and protests.
University applications had been running at a 20% increase in November before plunging to -2% in December, when MPs voted to raise fees in England from 2012.
In January the rate of increase was 0.7% - with applications from school-age pupils, aged 17 and 18, remaining particularly flat.
There will be intense scrutiny of how university applications are affected by the controversial increase in tuition fees to up to £9,000 per year in England.
There have been warnings that higher fees will deter poorer applicants - but such an impact would have been expected next year when higher fees are introduced.
Professor Les Ebdon Million+ group“Ministers may be right to say that getting to university should not be easy but they are wrong to allow nearly one in three students to miss out on university”
But these latest figures from the UCAS admissions service, showing the position at the deadline for most courses beginning in autumn 2011, send out mixed signals.
Instead of a spike in demand to beat the increase, the rate of increase of applications from people living in England, 3.7%, is considerably lower than in Scotland, where it is 6.1% and Northern Ireland where there has been a 6.5% rise.
An analysis of the age groups applying also shows that it is older students who are pushing the increase - with a 15% increase among 21 year olds, compared with 0.6% for 17 and 18 year olds.
The increase from UK students is also being outstripped by increased demand from EU students, 17%, and non-EU students, 7.7%.
The figures show that 583,501 people had applied by January 24, a rise of 28,062 from the same point last year.
There has been a sustained increase in demand for university places in recent years - with a series of record numbers of applications.
Last year there were almost 700,000 applying for 487,000 places, with more than 200,000 applicants failing to get places.
The latest trends from these mid-January figures suggest there will once again be another set of records in both applications and those not getting places.
"These latest figures on applications show that even more students are hoping to get to university in 2011 but they will be fighting over exactly the same number of places," said Les Ebdon, chair of the Million+ group of new universities.
"Ministers may be right to say that getting to university should not be easy but they are wrong to allow nearly one in three students to miss out on university."
But Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: "As always, competition for places is likely to be strong. However, speculation and panic benefits no-one. There is still a good chance of securing a place at university."
Universities Minister David Willetts said: "In a year of unprecedented demand from applicants, we kept our commitment to fund an extra 10,000 student places, allowing more students than ever before to go to an English university in 2010.
"A strong demand for places was expected this year so universities will be able to recruit the same number of new students in 2011."
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/education-12324225
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