Human Interest: This article affects woman and how long they will live.
Life Expectancy Grows for Women Age 50 and Up
Life expectancy for women who live to age 50 is going up around the world, but poor and middle-income countries could easily make greater gains, according to a new World Health Organization report.
Heart disease, stroke and cancer kill most women over 50, said Dr. John R. Beard, director of the W.H.O.'s department of aging, so countries should focus on lowering blood pressure with inexpensive drugs and screening for cervical and breast cancer. Those diseases can be prevented or treated, said Dr. Beard, who was also an author of the study, which was published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
Getting women to avoid smoking, excessive drinking and being obese is also crucial, he said.
Japanese women live the longest on average. But women in most countries now live longer than they did 40 years ago, thanks to progress against infectious diseases like flu, tuberculosis and pneumonia. Some countries have improved less than others: South Africa has an AIDS epidemic, Russian women suffered when the Soviet health system collapsed, and growing prosperity in Mexico has led to more lung cancer and obesity-related diabetes.
The bulletin also included a report on older women’s right to protected sex, also co-authored by Dr. Beard.
“To some extent, we treat women as vessels of reproduction, and once they’ve done that we don’t pay much attention to them,” he said.
As more women live alone and more older men get drugs for erectile dysfunction, stereotypes about sex and older people need to change, Dr. Beard said, and women should be offered advice on protected sex and screened for sexually transmitted diseases.
Conflict: This article is about the united states thoughts about conflicting with Syria by bombing them.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/03/obama-syria-poll-pew-abc/2758597/?chromeless=true
Polls: Little support for military strikes in Syria
WASHINGTON — Two new polls show President Obama faces a daunting task in getting the public to support his call for military strikes against Syria, even as key Republicans voiced their support Tuesday.
Nearly six in 10 Americans are opposed to using military action as a response to the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons in the nation's bloody civil war, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday. A Pew Research Center poll, also released Tuesday afternoon, found that 48% of adults are against military strikes while 29% say they are in favor.
Obama said Saturday he was ready to use military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, but he wanted to hear from Congress on the issue. Key Republicans and Democrats have said for several days that the proposed resolution is too broad and have set out to rewrite the legislation to ensure that such military action would not be open-ended and wouldn't include boots on the ground.
Both polls included responses gathered before Obama's Rose Garden statement Saturday.
Votes could come next week when Congress returns from summer break.
House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor endorsed the military action Tuesday, and Boehner's office has made clear that Obama and the White House must take the lead in garnering support from a divided Congress. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding the first of two hearings on the Syria resolution.
The public's skepticism on Syria crosses party lines. Nearly half — or 48% — of respondents in the Pew poll say Obama has not explained clearly why the United States should launch airstrikes compared with 32% who say he has made the case clear.
The Pew findings also show Obama has a challenge convincing his fellow Democrats. Nearly half, or 48%, of Democrats and 40% of Republicans say they are opposed to military strikes compared with 29% and 35%, respectively, who say they are in support.
The Washington Post/ABC News poll of 1,012 adults was taken Wednesday through Sunday. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.
The Pew poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Thursday through Sunday. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points.
Timeliness: This happened today which makes it important to our lives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/sports/nyad-completes-cuba-to-florida-swim.html?ref=us
Sharks Absent, Swimmer, 64, Strokes From Cuba to Florida
MIAMI — This time, nature tipped its hat, and Diana Nyad finally conquered the 110-mile passage from Cuba to Florida that had bedeviled her for 35 years.
Sharks steered clear, currents were friendly, and storms took most of the Labor Day weekend off.
The 64-year-old endurance swimmer emerged dazed and sunburned from the surf on Smathers Beach in Key West, Fla., just before 2 p.m. on Monday after nearly 53 hours in the ocean, a two-day, two-night swim from her starting point in Havana. She had survived the treacherous Florida Straits, a notorious stretch of water brimming with sharks, jellyfish, squalls and an unpredictable Gulf Stream. And she became the first person to do so unaided by the protection of a shark cage.
It was her fifth attempt, coming after four years of grueling training, precision planning and single-minded determination. Her face scorched and puffy from so many hours in the salt water, she leaned on one of her friends and said from the beach:
“I have three messages. One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.”
Coming at an age when few people try to set endurance records, Ms. Nyad’s swim lit up Twitter and Facebook with postings about perseverance and grit, including a tweet from President Obama: “Congratulations to Diana Nyad. Never give up on your dreams.”
Ms. Nyad’s success was built on her failures — the first in 1978, when she was 28, and the most recent last year at age 62. After each attempt, she improvised, learning what to adjust, whom to consult and which new protective protocol to consider.
“Diana did her homework,” said Bonnie Stoll, Ms. Nyad’s friend and chief handler, shortly after Ms. Nyad completed her swim.
Two summers ago, she was felled midswim by a long asthma attack, her first ever. This year, she added a pulmonologist to her 35-member support team, Ms. Stoll said.
Box jellyfish, which are especially venomous, have been a constant source of danger; Ms. Nyad was stung so badly on previous swims she had to stop. To break that cycle, she found an expert on box jellyfish this year to help her contain the threat.
In the evenings, Ms. Nyad donned a special suit with long sleeves and pant legs to protect her. She slathered “sting stopper” gel to form a barrier to keep out the venom. On Saturday night, she also wore a special mask that covered her face. But the mask proved uncomfortable, cutting her mouth and tongue so badly, and impeding her breathing, that she discarded it after the first night.
The course was mostly clear of box jellyfish this time. When she finally encountered a cluster, it was on her approach to Key West. The shark divers swam ahead of Ms. Nyad to disperse the swarm.
In 2011, Ms. Nyad decided to use a team of shark divers who carried special zappers to ward off the predators. Trial and error also presented new options. She learned which wet suits were more forgiving on her skin in saltwater and which special drinks and nutrition gels best fueled her. (She ingested them, sometimes through a tube, while treading water.)
But there were two things Ms. Nyad could not control: the weather and the current. This time, both cooperated.
“I think that Mother Nature said, ‘You know what? Let her go,’ ” Ms. Stoll said.
Unlike past swims derailed by squalls that pushed her off course, only one storm hit this weekend. It came on Sunday night and lasted a little under 90 minutes, Ms. Stoll said. Ms. Nyad followed her protocol and swam through it, accompanied by shark divers.
Sharks, always a menace, were nowhere to be seen this time.
The favorable currents carried her along so swiftly that Ms. Nyad finished her swim a day earlier than expected, Ms. Stoll said. On average, Ms. Nyad swims about 1.6 miles an hour. With the current propelling her, she cruised at 5 m.p.h. during one stretch, Ms. Stoll said, adding, “Everything was in our favor.”
To help her focus, Ms. Nyad relied, as she always has, on her favorite songs. Over and over, she hums them in her head, her strokes falling in time with the music’s cadence: “Ticket to Ride” by the Beatles echoed on one stretch, “Paperback Writer” on another.
“Swimming is the ultimate form of sensory deprivation,” Ms. Nyad said in the month before her 2011 swim. “You are left alone with your thoughts in a much more severe way.”
Through the years, others have tried to swim from Cuba to Key West and failed. In June, an Australian, Chloe McCardel, swam 11 hours and 14 miles before jellyfish stings forced her to stop.
In 2012, another Australian, Penny Palfrey, swam 79 miles until strong currents waylaid her. In 1978, Walter Poenisch, an Ohio man, said he made the swim using flippers and a snorkel, but he lacked independent documentation to verify it.
Susie Maroney did complete the swim in 1997, but she did so inside a shark cage that was being pulled by a boat, providing a draft that made swimming much easier. The first time Ms. Nyad attempted the swim, in 1978, she also used a shark cage. She did not use a shark cage this time.
Whenever Ms. Nyad scrambled, heartbroken and exhausted, onto a boat after a failed attempt, she vowed it would be her last. “It was a fairy tale,” she said after her second attempt, in August 2011, “but the fairy tale didn’t come true.”
After last summer, Ms. Stoll said she was convinced that the Florida Straits were unswimmable. “I thought it wasn’t humanly possible or she would have done it,” Ms. Stoll said. “I was glad to be wrong.”
Novelty: This event was a shock to all of the people watching the vma's because of how unusual Miley's actions were.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/09/03/miley-cyrus-breaks-silence-on-mtv-vma-fallout/2757023/?chromeless=true
Miley Cyrus breaks silence on MTV VMA fallout
Miley did it to get tongues wagging, other than her own.
Yes, she tells MTV, she planned the whole thing from the foam finger to the awkward twerking. Her strategy worked. Her performance has become an MTV VMA "moment," like Britney Spears and Madonna before her. She also told Robin Thicke that they're going to "make history." And they did. Her performance has surpassed Beyonce's Super Bowl performance on Twitter for most tweets per minute.
A few highlights:
On the fallout: "What's amazing is I think now, we're three days later and people are still talking about it. They're overthinking it," she says. "You're thinking about it more than I thought about it when I did it. Like, I didn't even think about it 'cause that's just me."
On the haters: "I don't pay attention to the negative because I've seen this play out so many times. How many times have we seen this play out in pop music?"
On her predecessors: "Madonna's done it. Britney's done it. Every VMA performance, that's what you're looking for; you're wanting to make history."
You'll get to hear her talk about it again in her documentary this fall.
Proximity: This occurred is Travis County which is the county we live in.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/one-dead-another-in-custody-in-lago-vista-domestic/nZkTC/
One dead, another in custody in Lago Vista domestic dispute
American-Statesman Staff
Impact: So many people are involved in stocks that this could cause people to lose money.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2013/09/03/stocks-tuesday/2756723/?chromeless=true
Stocks start 'scary' September with shaky gains
Wall Street returned from the long Labor Day weekend and the prospect of U.S. military action in Syria was again the focus for investors.
Early gains dissipated after a top Republican said he supports President Obama's "call for action" in Syria, causing fresh uncertainty about a possible U.S. strike against the nation.
Investors were also digesting a rash of big deals in the technology space.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 21 points, or 0.1%, to 14,832 after soaring 125 points earlier in the session. The yield on the bellwether 10-year Treasury note jumped to 2.86% from 2.79% Friday after rising as high as 2.9% earlier in the session -- indicating that at least some investors are willing to leave the safe haven of bonds and jump into stocks during a month that is known for volatility and big price drops.
The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 7 points, or 0.4% to 1,640 -- more than halving earlier gains. And the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index jumped 23, or 0.5% to 3,613.
The technology and telecoms sector is a major focus after Microsoft late Monday announced it is buying Nokia's smartphone and cellular handset business in a deal worth $7.2 billion.
Microsoft's shares were trading down 5% while Nokia's shares rocketed 30%, likely a record one-day move higher.
That news followed an announcement Monday that U.K.-based Vodafone agreed to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications for $130 billion in cash and stock.
On Tuesday though bullish sentiment was in check after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he supports Obama on Syria.
"The use of these (chemical) weapons has to be responded to," Boehner said after meeting with the president. His comments renewed fears on Wall Street that Congress might be willing to approve a U.S. military strike.
The Dow, which fell 4.4% in August, is coming off its worth monthly performance since May 2012.
The stock market is also moving into its worst month of the year historically, as September is the only month that the Dow has finished in the red in the past 20-, 50- and 100-year periods, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
At Commerce Department said Tuesday that construction spending advanced in July at the strongest pace since July 2009. And the Institute for Supply Management saidmanufacturing activity rose in August at a faster pace than expected.
MARKETS THIS WEEK: Slew of economic data out
"Last week's anxiety attack in the stock market about a possible U.S. attack on the Assad regime's military sites in Syria hasn't turned into a full-blown panic attack so far," says Edward Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. "That's because the imminent attack has been postponed by President Obama until Congress returns from vacation next week and gets a chance to vote on it."
Stocks fell Friday. The Dow shed 30.64 points, or 0.2%, to close at 14,810.31. The broader S&P 500 index fell 5.20 points, or 0.3%, to 1,632.97. The Nasdaq dropped 30.43 points, or 0.8%, to 3,589.8.
Potential big market-moving news in September includes the August jobs report out Friday and the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting Sept. 18-19 which could mark the start of the Fed dialing back on its market-friendly bond-buying program.
Asian stock markets advanced Tuesday, boosted by reports of improving manufacturing activity in China and parts of Europe.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 405.52 points, 3% to finish at 13,978.44. Hong Kong's Hang index closed up 219.94 points, 1%, at 22,394.58. And South Korea's Kospi rose 8.93 points, 0.5% to end at 1,933.74.
"To be sure, a Syria strike no longer being imminent is reason for relief but that does not mean that Syria has dropped off the geo-politics radar," said Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore.
China's manufacturing sector improved last month after prolonged weakness. Italian and Spanish manufacturing activity also rose.
On Monday, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.5% to close at 6,506.19. The benchmark index wasn't able to extend the gains Tuesday. It closed down 37.78 points, 0.6%, to 6,468.41. Germany's DAX 30 index finished down 63.16 points, 0.8%, to 8.180.71. France's CAC 40 index ended down 31.94 points, 0.8%, to 3,974.07.
Benchmark crude oil for October delivery was up about 97 cents to $108.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Buckingham Palace's back garden, best known for the queen's sprawling tea parties, will host its first-ever soccer match next month, thanks to "footy" fan Prince William.
British media today report that William, as president of the all-important Football Association, helped arrange for two of England's oldest amateur football clubs to play a match at the palace on Oct. 7 as part of the FA's 150th anniversary year.
The FA tweeted the news, adding that Will will host the event and distribute medals to honor 150 volunteers, part of the army of hundreds of thousands of volunteers who help run matches every year.
Football, or "footy," is king in the U.K., but maybe not so much at Buck House, where Queen Elizabeth II prefers the more elite sport of breeding and racing Thoroughbreds.
Instead, the 40-acre palace garden is the regular venue for multiple tea-and-cake garden parties hosted by the queen for thousands of people per party every summer. Now the royal gardeners will have to prepare the grounds for something entirely different — a "pitch," or soccer field.
The two teams to play are called Civil Service FC and Polytechnic FC, and both are based in the west London neighborhood of Chiswick.
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