kueytoc

Mavis Pan: "I was two-timed" Cinema Online Tue, Apr 12, 2011 2:14 AM SGT 12 Apr Overnight sensation Mavis Pan Shuang Shuang has revealed she found suspicious text messages from another woman on Raymond Lam's mobile phone when they were dating, reported Tomato Network. The woman in question was Shanghai-born actress Tiffany Tang Yan who was also rumoured to have had an affair with Hong Kong singer-actor Aaron Kwok. It was reported that Raymond and the 24-year-old Tang Yan frequently met in private last year when they worked together on the TV drama "Ad Mania". Previously virtually unknown to the entertainment world, Pan has been in the headlines on a daily basis since the outbreak of her photo scandal with popular singer-actor. Meanwhile the busty model has reportedly received an invitation to star in an X-rated film that chronicles her love story with Lam at an unbelievable price of HK$5 million (US$643,575). These rumours came on the back of recent reports that Zhejiang-born Shu Qi-lookalike is wanted by "3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" producer Stephen Shiu Jr. to star in an intended sequel to the CAT III flick, although the movie proper has not even opened for wide release (14 April in Hong Kong). Shiu was quoted as saying "These days, many people have praised the well-endowed and smoking hot Pan. People want to see her in a film."

A TRANSVESTITE'S JOURNEY TO A NEW BEGINNING Bernama – Tue, Apr 12, 2011 3:49 PM SGT ''Mak Nyah'' or ''Pondan'' is the Malay term for transvestites or cross-dressers. Society frowns upon this group of people, though they may have their own reasons for living as the opposite gender. This article dwells on the life of "Atuk", an HIV positive transvestite who has experienced sexual abuse, drug addiction and prostitution - but has now turned a new leaf to help those in the same predicament. This is the first of a two part series. KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama) -- Looking at the face, figure and demeanour, it is hard to believe that this woman is actually a man. Roslan Hamzah, 52, affectionately known as ''Atuk'', admitted without hesitation that he is a Mak Nyah, a controversial term that generally refers to males who love to dress up and behave like women. "Even now, though my physique may have changed, I''m still a Mak Nyah," said Atuk during an impromptu interview at an HIV conference where Atuk was one of the participants. Atuk openly voiced his views in the hall and started an interesting debate on society’s misplaced judgment on people like himself and how they are unfairly treated. ''YOU ARE LIKE A PONDAN'' Atuk, who was born in Kajang, said during his primary school years in Melaka that he was a normal boy. He was active in sports, a sprinter, and even represented his state. However, he slowly started hearing about his true identity when his performance in sports started going downhill. "Roslan, why are you running like a pondan! Roslan, you just ran like a pondan!" his teacher would say. According to Atuk, the nasty and unforgiving remarks of his teacher haunted him emotionally. "Who did see the real Atuk? The teacher or I, myself?" asked Atuk, adding that at the time he was living with his father and step mother in Melaka. A DARK CHAPTER Atuk admitted that he was a ‘softie’ and was often teased by other students. Soon he started feeling depressed. To make matters worse, when he was in form one he was sexually assaulted. The perpetrator was in the army where his father was an officer. He had been assigned to fetch the children of army personnel from school. "I had to undergo sports training on that fateful day and when it was over, I was left alone as everyone else had gone back. The army truck driver threatened to abandon me on the rubber estate if I did not give in to his demand for sex," he said, describing this dark chapter of his life. "After sodomising me the perpetrator warned me not to tell anyone of the incident or else he would harm me, but I went ahead and related the incident to my father. "I was immediately sent to Petaling Jaya to live with my biological mother, but my soft nature made me the object of ridicule. In fact, only the girls in school befriended me. "I felt even more depressed. How was I to study when I was taunted every day? "Moreover, I was separated from my father and step mother. Every time I quarreled with my biological mother, she would threaten to send me back to my step mother. "My step mother was fierce, but she had taken care of me since I was very young," added Atuk. A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES? Atuk, who was undergoing emotional upheavals due to the problems within the family and school, also had another problem to deal with - fetish feelings towards the masculine gender that began after the sexual attack. The solution? To run away from home. And that is what Atuk did. He would loiter at places where teenagers congregated and spent considerable time roller skating. Atuk claims that he was forced into sexual liaisons with other teenagers. According to Atuk, his biological mother did come looking for him off and on, but their meetings were often tempestuous and, in the end, both parted ways. Atuk got to know a Malay lady who worked in a bar in the area where he was loitering. "I was about 15 years old at that time. I got to know a woman in PJ. Knowing that I was a softie she took me back with her. "She gave me money and taught me to take hormones. She also invited me to work in the bar where she worked. By then I had already started dressing up like a woman and I started growing my hair. "At the same time, my dad had died and I was no longer in touch with my biological mother. She did look for me, but I had already decided on the path that I would be taking. "I went where I found consolation. I was still young then, and the work in the pub provided me with a sense of relief. "I was a victim of circumstances," he says referring to his gender transformation. LOST ORIENTATION Through a Mak Nyah who used to patronise the same bar, Atuk got to know Lorong Haji Taib, notorious for prostitution and drugs. Atuk said that the Mak Nyah convinced him that he would be able to meet people of ''his kind'' there. "The first time I was there I was already impressed. Why? I was well taken care of. At that time it never crossed my mind that I was being made use of and the Mak Nyah who took me there was a pimp. Not only did Atuk start prostituting himself, but he started taking drugs, too. "I neither smoked nor consumed liquor but was soon hooked to heroin when my boyfriend left me to get married," Atuk continued with his story. According to Atuk, the boyfriend initially started off as his customer and soon started dating him. "Slowly we fell in love. We lived together for nine years," said Atuk, commenting on how broken hearted he was. He even went across the causeway where business was better to seek patrons. "There were many customers. I was so busy I did not even have time to comb my hair after each session. I earned a lot of money. I remember how crumpled the notes were as I kept them under my clothes. Upon returning to Kuala Lumpur I used to iron them out. "I could get between 30 and 40 customers on weekends. I could earn Singapore $50 per customer," noted Atuk, who was in the flesh trade for almost 20 years. A REVERSAL IN LIFE As age caught up with him, Atuk faced uncertainty and the real blow came when he was confirmed as being HIV positive. He had been in and out of jail for drug use and only started to repent after his biological mother died. Atuk was informed of his mother''s death by his eldest sister while he was undergoing a 40 month prison term. According to Atuk, he met his mother several times but there was no real affection between them due to his involvement with drugs. However, Atuk was grateful for the fact that during their last meeting he received her forgiveness. "It was Hari Raya then and I wholeheartedly asked forgiveness from her. "I''m sad that my mother did not live to see the change that took place in me and the social work that I''m doing," says Atuk, feeling the disappointment. A NEW PAGE The most shocking moment for Atuk was when he was confirmed as being HIV positive about 17 years ago. He was infected through the sharing of needles when injecting drugs. Initially, it was difficult for Atuk to accept the fact that he was HIV positive and that there was no cure for him. "I looked in the mirror and asked myself whether I was going to continue crying or do something about it. "From then on I was determined to change my fate. At that time, discrimination against transvestites was severe and I needed strength to face the adversities. "HIV sufferers share the same fate as Mak Nyah. I was chased out of the rented room and had no money. I thought people would sympathise with me," explained Atuk. Atuk is not alone in repenting. He had the support of a friend called ''Amy'' and the Mak Nyah programme of the PT Foundation, the largest community based programme that provides services for HIV high risk groups in Kuala Lumpur. Atuk''s real life story now serves as a good lesson for others in his predicament. After being with the PT Foundation for 16 years, Atuk has now joined the Persatuan Cahaya Harapan Negeri Kedah (Kuala Muda) as a social worker. In Kuala Lumpur there are many NGOs and Atuk has a number of friends who live with HIV. "Cahaya Harapan''s focus is on the exchange of needles without sidelining other groups in need of assistance," says Atuk. BERNAMA

Ronaldo sends Real through to Barca Champions League date By Steve Griffiths | AFP News – 18 minutes ago Jose Mourinho lit the fuse on Real Madrid's explosive Champions League semi-final showdown with Barcelona by claiming his club don't get the same treatment from UEFA as their Catalan rivals. Mourinho will be without Ricardo Carvalho for the first leg against Barca after the Portugal defender triggered a suspension when he was booked for a foul on Tom Huddlestone in Wednesday's 1-0 win over Tottenham in the quarter-final second leg. The Real boss, whose side went through 5-0 on aggregate, admitted he could have avoided that situation by telling Carvalho to deliberately get booked when his side were 4-0 up against Spurs in the first leg. That would have ruled Carvalho out of the second leg at White Hart Lane instead of leaving him vulnerable to a semi-final ban. But Mourinho opted against that tactic as he had already been hit with a suspended one-match ban by UEFA, European football's governing body, after allegedly telling Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos to get booked in a group match against Ajax earlier this season so they would get rid of a suspension before the knockout stage. Undoubtedly with Barca in mind, Mourinho hinted that another club had been allowed to get away with a similar move. That was apparently a reference to a booking for Barca's Andres Iniesta against Shakhtar Donetsk that earned him a second leg suspension but meant he would be able to play the semi-final. There was also an incident which saw Barca duo Victor Valdes and Sergio Busquets booked for time-wasting in a recent league match - ruling them out of the next game, but leaving them free to face Real on Saturday. "Maybe you have to find a reason why Mourinho can't clean yellow cards and other clubs can. I can do nothing about it," Mourinho said. "To be honest, as I always am. when we scored the fourth goal in the first leg my assistant told me 'get yellow cards for Cristiano Ronaldo and Carvalho'. "I said no way because I would be suspended for the semi-finals. Then the next day when we are at home, another coach did it. "It was always going to be problematic going into the game with three defenders on yellows and risking missing the next match. "Some teams can clean up their situation with yellow cards and other cannot." The semi-final between these age-old rivals will be one of four matches in the space of a month that will determine whether Mourinho's first season at the Bernabeu will judged a success. Real have fallen well behind Barca in La Liga and face a must-win clash against Pep Guardiola's team on Saturday. They meet again in the Spanish Cup final on April 20 before heading into the two Euro meetings. "In a semi-final anything can happen. They have a great situation with the suspensions, which we don't. But we will fight," Mourinho said. "We have two matches against them before the semi-finals, so we have to look at those games first. "We have to take each game as a separate entity. I'm not of the opinion that what happens in the first game can influence the second, third or fourth." Taking a team to their first Champions League semi-final for eight years would be a significant achievement at some clubs, but Mourinho knows only securing Madrid's tenth triumph in the competition would be enough to satisfy his demanding employers. "I know you are judged by your results," he said. "If you don't win titles it is easy to forget all the good work that has gone before. "But I don't think it would be considered a good season to get to the final of the Spanish Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions League. Inevitably on one of his rare returns to England, former Chelsea boss Mourinho was asked if his future lies in the Premier League. "It is my natural habitat," he said. "It is where I want to come... after Real Madrid. I stay in Real Madrid next season, unless the press sacks me."

JNS BioPellet Reactor Alpha 2

A TRANSVESTITE'S JOURNEY TO A NEW BEGINNING Bernama – Tue, Apr 12, 2011 3:49 PM SGT ''Mak Nyah'' or ''Pondan'' is the Malay term for transvestites or cross-dressers. Society frowns upon this group of people, though they may have their own reasons for living as the opposite gender. This article dwells on the life of "Atuk", an HIV positive transvestite who has experienced sexual abuse, drug addiction and prostitution - but has now turned a new leaf to help those in the same predicament. This is the first of a two part series. KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama) -- Looking at the face, figure and demeanour, it is hard to believe that this woman is actually a man. Roslan Hamzah, 52, affectionately known as ''Atuk'', admitted without hesitation that he is a Mak Nyah, a controversial term that generally refers to males who love to dress up and behave like women. "Even now, though my physique may have changed, I''m still a Mak Nyah," said Atuk during an impromptu interview at an HIV conference where Atuk was one of the participants. Atuk openly voiced his views in the hall and started an interesting debate on society’s misplaced judgment on people like himself and how they are unfairly treated. ''YOU ARE LIKE A PONDAN'' Atuk, who was born in Kajang, said during his primary school years in Melaka that he was a normal boy. He was active in sports, a sprinter, and even represented his state. However, he slowly started hearing about his true identity when his performance in sports started going downhill. "Roslan, why are you running like a pondan! Roslan, you just ran like a pondan!" his teacher would say. According to Atuk, the nasty and unforgiving remarks of his teacher haunted him emotionally. "Who did see the real Atuk? The teacher or I, myself?" asked Atuk, adding that at the time he was living with his father and step mother in Melaka. A DARK CHAPTER Atuk admitted that he was a ‘softie’ and was often teased by other students. Soon he started feeling depressed. To make matters worse, when he was in form one he was sexually assaulted. The perpetrator was in the army where his father was an officer. He had been assigned to fetch the children of army personnel from school. "I had to undergo sports training on that fateful day and when it was over, I was left alone as everyone else had gone back. The army truck driver threatened to abandon me on the rubber estate if I did not give in to his demand for sex," he said, describing this dark chapter of his life. "After sodomising me the perpetrator warned me not to tell anyone of the incident or else he would harm me, but I went ahead and related the incident to my father. "I was immediately sent to Petaling Jaya to live with my biological mother, but my soft nature made me the object of ridicule. In fact, only the girls in school befriended me. "I felt even more depressed. How was I to study when I was taunted every day? "Moreover, I was separated from my father and step mother. Every time I quarreled with my biological mother, she would threaten to send me back to my step mother. "My step mother was fierce, but she had taken care of me since I was very young," added Atuk. A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES? Atuk, who was undergoing emotional upheavals due to the problems within the family and school, also had another problem to deal with - fetish feelings towards the masculine gender that began after the sexual attack. The solution? To run away from home. And that is what Atuk did. He would loiter at places where teenagers congregated and spent considerable time roller skating. Atuk claims that he was forced into sexual liaisons with other teenagers. According to Atuk, his biological mother did come looking for him off and on, but their meetings were often tempestuous and, in the end, both parted ways. Atuk got to know a Malay lady who worked in a bar in the area where he was loitering. "I was about 15 years old at that time. I got to know a woman in PJ. Knowing that I was a softie she took me back with her. "She gave me money and taught me to take hormones. She also invited me to work in the bar where she worked. By then I had already started dressing up like a woman and I started growing my hair. "At the same time, my dad had died and I was no longer in touch with my biological mother. She did look for me, but I had already decided on the path that I would be taking. "I went where I found consolation. I was still young then, and the work in the pub provided me with a sense of relief. "I was a victim of circumstances," he says referring to his gender transformation. LOST ORIENTATION Through a Mak Nyah who used to patronise the same bar, Atuk got to know Lorong Haji Taib, notorious for prostitution and drugs. Atuk said that the Mak Nyah convinced him that he would be able to meet people of ''his kind'' there. "The first time I was there I was already impressed. Why? I was well taken care of. At that time it never crossed my mind that I was being made use of and the Mak Nyah who took me there was a pimp. Not only did Atuk start prostituting himself, but he started taking drugs, too. "I neither smoked nor consumed liquor but was soon hooked to heroin when my boyfriend left me to get married," Atuk continued with his story. According to Atuk, the boyfriend initially started off as his customer and soon started dating him. "Slowly we fell in love. We lived together for nine years," said Atuk, commenting on how broken hearted he was. He even went across the causeway where business was better to seek patrons. "There were many customers. I was so busy I did not even have time to comb my hair after each session. I earned a lot of money. I remember how crumpled the notes were as I kept them under my clothes. Upon returning to Kuala Lumpur I used to iron them out. "I could get between 30 and 40 customers on weekends. I could earn Singapore $50 per customer," noted Atuk, who was in the flesh trade for almost 20 years. A REVERSAL IN LIFE As age caught up with him, Atuk faced uncertainty and the real blow came when he was confirmed as being HIV positive. He had been in and out of jail for drug use and only started to repent after his biological mother died. Atuk was informed of his mother''s death by his eldest sister while he was undergoing a 40 month prison term. According to Atuk, he met his mother several times but there was no real affection between them due to his involvement with drugs. However, Atuk was grateful for the fact that during their last meeting he received her forgiveness. "It was Hari Raya then and I wholeheartedly asked forgiveness from her. "I''m sad that my mother did not live to see the change that took place in me and the social work that I''m doing," says Atuk, feeling the disappointment. A NEW PAGE The most shocking moment for Atuk was when he was confirmed as being HIV positive about 17 years ago. He was infected through the sharing of needles when injecting drugs. Initially, it was difficult for Atuk to accept the fact that he was HIV positive and that there was no cure for him. "I looked in the mirror and asked myself whether I was going to continue crying or do something about it. "From then on I was determined to change my fate. At that time, discrimination against transvestites was severe and I needed strength to face the adversities. "HIV sufferers share the same fate as Mak Nyah. I was chased out of the rented room and had no money. I thought people would sympathise with me," explained Atuk. Atuk is not alone in repenting. He had the support of a friend called ''Amy'' and the Mak Nyah programme of the PT Foundation, the largest community based programme that provides services for HIV high risk groups in Kuala Lumpur. Atuk''s real life story now serves as a good lesson for others in his predicament. After being with the PT Foundation for 16 years, Atuk has now joined the Persatuan Cahaya Harapan Negeri Kedah (Kuala Muda) as a social worker. In Kuala Lumpur there are many NGOs and Atuk has a number of friends who live with HIV. "Cahaya Harapan''s focus is on the exchange of needles without sidelining other groups in need of assistance," says Atuk. -- BERNAMA

Well built & good quality. NO REGRETS !!!

I chose JNS BioPellet Reactor as it has a compact footprint & an innovative vortex design to keep the biopellets in suspension inside the reaction chamber. There are 2 problems with Reef Octopus reactor: "When you start pumping water in the reactor, there is a tendency for the water to push the cup up, hovering it above its seat. When adding biopellets to water for the first time, you cant help for some pellets to float due to maybe some tiny airpockets trapped inside the pellets. Some also cling to micro bubbles when you first start the pump. In any case, when these pellets float up and settle between the cup and its seat, trapping them there. You can probably shake the whole reactor to have the pellets fall, but surely, this will become a problem everytime new pellets are added. Second, because the middle tubing is fitted to the lid, it can be a challenge to replenish biopellets without lifting the tubing slightly. Lifting the tubing will mean a problem re-seating it back to the bottom of the reactor without squishing pellets or avoiding pellets to enter the tube. Stirring the the pellets with the tubing helped, but Im sure several pellets made their way inside the tube. If they get pushed out when I start the pump then great, but what if they get stuck inside and restrict the flow, worse add dead spots?"

You Spin Me Round & Round... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUatnbaNfEo

You can purchase the item directly from the Taiwan Manufacturer, JNS AQUARIA. However, they accept USD payment by Wire Transfer only. Though the cost of item is fairly reasonable but be prepared to fork out more than $200++ for shipping plus ridiculously high wire transfer bank charges.

SHIOK!!!...Let's TWIST & SHOUT. JNS BioPellet Reactors add new “twist” to Fluidized Reactors The new JNS BioPellet Reactors are using an innovative vortex to keep biopellets in suspension inside the reaction chamber to ensure an even flow of water around the pellets to maximize their potential. The spinning vortex helps prevent clumping and channeling of the pellets that can happen with uneven flow percolating through the media. In the JNS BioPellet Reactor, the pump is mounted on the bottom to keep the footprint small, to feed water through the reactor and to create the vortex. UPDATE: The JNS BioPellet Reactors use Sicce Syncra Pumps, updated details follow. This is one of the more innovative methods we’ve seen to fluidize biopellets and its nice to see the bottom mounted pump to decrease the overall sump presence but also to eliminate the need for hoses to connect the feed pump to the chamber. The JNS BioPellet Reactors are built from sturdy acrylic with a unique upper plate and lid assembly with a built in plenum to keep the pellets in the chamber without the need for sponges along with a side-mounted discharge tube to carry the effluent into your sump. These reactors come in two sizes dubbed the JNS BioPellet Reactor Alpha 1 and Alpha 2. The smaller reactor is the Alpha 1 with an 11 cm x 14 cm footprint, 7 cm diameter reaction chamber, 37 cm overall height and half liter capacity. The JNS Alpha 2 has a footprint of 15 cm x 18 cm using a 10 cm diameter reaction chamber for an overall height of 37 cm. The capacity of the Alpha 2 is 1.3 liters overall. The JNS reactors incorporate Sicce Syncra pumps with the Alpha 1 using the Sicce Syncra .5 pump that pushes 185 GPH at 8W. The larger Alpha 2 uses the Sicce Syncra 1.5 pump rated at 357 GPH at 23 W. A nice feature of the Sicce Syncra pumps is the flow rate can be adjusted so you can regulate the vortex to give you a low flow to a higher, more aggressive flow depending on your needs and brand of biopellets.

SHIOK!!!...Let's TWIST & SHOUT. JNS BioPellet Reactors add new twist to Fluidized Reactors The new JNS BioPellet Reactors are using an innovative vortex to keep biopellets in suspension inside the reaction chamber to ensure an even flow of water around the pellets to maximize their potential. The spinning vortex helps prevent clumping and channeling of the pellets that can happen with uneven flow percolating through the media. In the JNS BioPellet Reactor, the pump is mounted on the bottom to keep the footprint small, to feed water through the reactor and to create the vortex. UPDATE: The JNS BioPellet Reactors use Sicce Syncra Pumps, updated details follow. This is one of the more innovative methods weve seen to fluidize biopellets and its nice to see the bottom mounted pump to decrease the overall sump presence but also to eliminate the need for hoses to connect the feed pump to the chamber. The JNS BioPellet Reactors are built from sturdy acrylic with a unique upper plate and lid assembly with a built in plenum to keep the pellets in the chamber without the need for sponges along with a side-mounted discharge tube to carry the effluent into your sump. These reactors come in two sizes dubbed the JNS BioPellet Reactor Alpha 1 and Alpha 2. The smaller reactor is the Alpha 1 with an 11 cm x 14 cm footprint, 7 cm diameter reaction chamber, 37 cm overall height and half liter capacity. The JNS Alpha 2 has a footprint of 15 cm x 18 cm using a 10 cm diameter reaction chamber for an overall height of 37 cm. The capacity of the Alpha 2 is 1.3 liters overall. The JNS reactors incorporate Sicce Syncra pumps with the Alpha 1 using the Sicce Syncra .5 pump that pushes 185 GPH at 8W. The larger Alpha 2 uses the Sicce Syncra 1.5 pump rated at 357 GPH at 23 W. A nice feature of the Sicce Syncra pumps is the flow rate can be adjusted so you can regulate the vortex to give you a low flow to a higher, more aggressive flow depending on your needs and brand of biopellets.

After Japan, Nuclear Accident Ratings reform sought By Scott DiSavino and Eileen O'Grady | Reuters Wed, Apr 13, 2011 7:00 AM SGT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The declaration that the Fukushima crisis ranks at the same level as the Chernobyl disaster on the international nuclear accident scale has some experts calling for radical reform of the system. Before Fukushima, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was the only event classified as a level 7 event on the scale. The blast at Chernobyl in Ukraine spread radioactive material over much of Europe, killing dozens in and around the plant and many more from cancer over time. Japan's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), on Tuesday raised the severity of the Fukushima accident from a level 5 to a 7, based on the amount of radiation pouring out of the plant. "Fukushima was not as bad as Chernobyl. If Fukushima is a level 7 accident, maybe we need to go back and recalibrate the scale and add a level 8 or 9," said Najmedin Meshkati, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. NISA itself has said the amount of radiation released was only about 10 percent of that from Chernobyl and no radiation-linked deaths have yet been reported. About 21 plant workers have had minor radiation sickness. The International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) was designed in 1989 by the International Atomic Energy Agency and others after the Chernobyl disaster to help inform the public about the severity of a nuclear accident. Its rankings are similar to the Richter or the moment magnitude scale for earthquakes. Each level on the INES scale represents a nuclear accident about ten times more severe than the previous level. The INES scale starts at Level 1 or 'Anomaly' and rises to a Level 7 or 'Major Accident'. The inconsistency in comparing Fukushima and Chernobyl comes from the fact that "a 7 covers a wide magnitude of sins," said James Acton, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He said both events are categorized as a level 7 on the INES scale because the amount of radiation emitted had reached a defined threshold, not because the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) stricken Fukushima plant was as serious as Chernobyl. CONFUSING RANKINGS There can be confusion as to the actual severity of an accident because there is no one authority to rank the event. Depending on the nation concerned, the job is left up to the company that owns the plant, the government agency that regulates the plant or a scientific body. "Clearly (Fukushima) is not as bad as it can get and not as bad as Chernobyl," said Kenneth Barish, professor of physics at University of California at Riverside. "Even if the amount of radiation released at Fukushima is of the same order of magnitude as Chernobyl...the effect on health appears to be far lower due to the differences in the event and response to the event," Barish said. But Fukushima did involve three reactors and seven spent fuel pools, containing thousands of highly radioactive rods. Hydrogen explosions rocked the plant in the first week after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the reactors. Chernobyl meanwhile involved only one reactor. In fact, the last unit at Chernobyl did not shut until 2000, 14 years after the accident. "It has been obvious all along this was a 7 ... There are three reactors that are not being cooled and four fuel pools too. Chernobyl was only one core," said Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a 29-year veteran of the nuclear industry who worked on reactors similar to those at Fukushima. SURPRISE UPGRADE The experts said Japan could have done a better job of preparing its citizens and neighboring countries for the shock rise in the ranking. "I think the Japanese government and TEPCO could have emphasized how little they knew about conditions at the reactors and spent fuel ponds when the crisis began," said IHS Energy Asia Pacific analyst Thomas Grieder. "They could have stated that the crisis rating was based on what information they had available at the time -- with the caveat that this information was severely limited and it would take time to gather on radiation releases and there was a possibility the situation could be worse than they initially believed," Grieder said. Bad as Fukushima is on the ranking system, experts warn that the plant is still not fully under control and a deterioration is still possible. Another hydrogen explosion could severely damage the containment facilities, releasing large amounts of radiation, while the aftershocks that keep rocking the plant could lead to a complete core meltdown if the workers cannot keep the cooling water flowing. "There is still hope of repairing or replacing damaged cooling systems at Fukushima rather than simply burying the entire site," Grieder said. The damaged reactor at Chernobyl was in such a serious condition that it had to be buried in a concrete and steel sarcophagus. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York and Eileen O'Grady in Houston, editing by Martin Howell)

Oil hovers above $106 as traders mull Crude Demand By ALEX KENNEDY - Associated Press | AP – 52 minutes ago Oil prices hovered near $106 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as traders mulled whether higher fuel costs will undermine crude demand enough to stymie a two-month rally. Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 22 cents at $106.47 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gave up $3.67, or 3 percent, to settle at $106.25 on Tuesday. In London, Brent crude for May delivery was up 75 cents to $121.67 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Key energy groups sent mixed signals to investors Tuesday about the impact a 33 percent surge in oil prices since mid-February has had on demand. The International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said higher prices had begun to chip away at fuel consumption, but left unchanged their crude demand growth forecasts for this year. "High oil prices are yet to show any considerable impact on oil demand," Barclays Capital said in a report. "It is far too premature to signal that the first signs of demand destruction are already noticeable." The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories fell 1.2 million barrels last week, close to an increase of 1.6 million barrels forecast by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. However, the API also said inventories of gasoline fell by 4.6 million barrels while the Platts survey showed analysts expected a fall of only 1.3 million barrels, suggesting gasoline demand in the U.S. remains strong. In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil rose 1.9 cents to $3.19 a gallon and gasoline gained 2.0 cents to $3.18 a gallon. Natural gas futures were unchanged at $4.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Japan Govt downgrades Economy view on Earthquake By Kaori Kaneko | Reuters – Wed, Apr 13, 2011 10:03 AM SGT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government on Wednesday downgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in six months, saying it is showing weakness after a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month battered the northeast coast. The revision is in line with the Bank of Japan, which also cut its assessment of the economy last week in the wake of the March 11 disaster, saying it would remain under "strong downward pressure" for some time. "The economy is showing weakness recently due to the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake," the government said in its monthly economic report for April. That compared with the previous month's report that said the pickup in the economy was only weakly self-sustaining and there was concern about the influence of the quake . The government also downgraded its views on key aspects of the economy, including exports, industrial production and private consumption, after the disaster and subsequent nuclear safety crisis disrupted supply chains and triggered power shortages. "The condition of the economy is no longer flat or at a standstill, but rather the direction is downward," said Shigeru Sugihara, director of macroeconomic analysts at the Cabinet Office. The government expects the weakness to continue for the near term but with a pickup resuming along with a recovery in production, reflecting solid overseas economies and the effects of various policy measures. The government also warned of downside risks to the outlook that could stem from power supply constraints, slow progress in restoring supply chains and the impact of rising oil prices. The government also cut its assessment on exports for the first time in four months, saying there are concerns about a decline due to last month's disaster. Previously, it said exports were showing movement towards picking up. The Cabinet Office also cut its assessment on industrial production for the first time in five months, saying manufacturing activity was stagnating. The government's monthly report also cut its view on private consumption for the first time in two months, saying that some weakness was seen recently. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Nuclear Fears keep Shippers wary of travel to Japan By Randy Fabi and Harry Suhartono | Reuters – Wed, Apr 13, 2011 10:20 AM SGT SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Foreign crew members remain hesitant to travel near Japan's quake-crippled nuclear plant, including to some ports outside the exclusion zone, forcing shippers to use Japanese vessels instead to transport goods, senior industry executives said. Maritime companies were supplying crew members travelling to the Tokyo Bay area, located 240 km (150 miles) from the damaged Fukushima nuclear complex, with special anti-radiation suits, Geiger counters and medicine. That was despite daily assurances from Japan's transport ministry that radiation levels in the area, which included the main container ports of Tokyo and Yokohama and the Chiba oil port, were at a "very safe" level. "Crews do not want to go there. Even Chiba, crews still do not want to go," Kyuho Whang, chief executive of South Korea's SK Shipping, told reporters at an industry conference in Singapore. "So they rely more on the Japanese vessels than the foreign vessels." Whang did not say which companies were being forced to use Japanese vessels. NOT YET WIDESPREAD The use of Japanese-flagged vessels was not yet widespread, but a senior shipping executive, who wished not to be named, said it could become more routine if more and more foreign crews decide against travelling to the area. "We have had ships going to Japan since the tsunami," said Morten Arntzen, president of U.S.-listed Overseas Shipholding Group. "The master of the ship has full authority to say we are not going there and that authority will not be second guessed." Japan has restricted seaborne traffic 30 km from the Fukushima nuclear plant, while many shipping companies have imposed a minimum 80 km exclusion zone. To alleviate concerns about contamination from the nuclear plant, Japan said it would begin randomly measuring radiation levels of ships and containers leaving the Tokyo Bay area, and issue to ship owners certificates recording radiation levels confirmed as below a standard level. Despite this, China's quality watchdog has found 10 cases of ships, aircraft or cargo arriving from Japan with higher than normal levels of radiation since mid-March. One of the vessels, Mitsui O.S.K. Line's MOL Presence, was denied entry and sent back to Japan. It was later allowed into a Hong Kong port. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan on Tuesday he was concerned about the release of radiation into the ocean and urged Tokyo to take "very seriously" the possible impact on neighbouring countries. The head of Japan's third largest shipping company urged countries not to act irrationally to the nuclear crisis and base their trade decisions on science. "We remain calm, but there is too much overreaction by some countries," Kenichi Kuroya, chief executive of Kawasaki Kisen told Reuters late Tuesday. "Regrettably in the coming months, many buyers may demand to prove that cargo is safe, even for auto parts. Some buyers want proof it's not radioactive, but we don't know how to." A handful of container shippers, mostly German owned, suspended stops at Tokyo Bay ports following the March 11 disaster but most have since resumed operations. (Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Q+A: How does Fukushima differ from Chernobyl ??? 9 hours 1 min ago Reuters Mayumi Negishi Japan on Tuesday raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to put it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world's worst nuclear power disaster. But for all their criticism of how Tokyo Electric Power Co and Japan's government are handling the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, experts agree with them on one point: Fukushima is not another Chernobyl. "Fukushima has its own unique risks, but comparing it to Chernobyl is going too far. Fukushima is unlikely to have the kind of impact on the health of people in neighboring countries, the way Chernobyl did," said nuclear specialist Kenji Sumita at Osaka University. Here are the main points of how the two accidents differ. ARE THE TWO DESIGNS THE SAME? Unit 4 at Chernobyl was a water-cooled and graphite-moderated reactor -- a combination that can and did yield a runaway chain reaction. A series of gross errors and misjudgment by operators resulted in an explosion and fire that catapulted radioactivity into the upper atmosphere. The resulting release of radiation has been compared to 10 times that released by the 1945 U.S. nuclear bomb attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The boiling water reactors at Fukushima do not have a combustible graphite core. The nuclear fuel in reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 was allowed to melt at least partially, but operators have since succeeded in cooling both the reactors and the spent fuel pools and no chain reaction is happening now. As long as cooling operations continue and Japan can prepare tanks fast enough to store the contamination overflow, Japan can still hope to buy time to figure out how to bring the reactors to a cold shutdown. HOW DO THE CONTAINMENT STRUCTURES DIFFER? Chernobyl had no containment structure and nothing stopped the trajectory of radioactive materials into the air. Fukushima's reactors are built on granite foundations and are surrounded by steel and concrete structures. The reactor vessels and containment structures, as well as some of the pipes leading from the reactors, are likely to have been damaged by the March 11 tsunami and recurring earthquakes. But with radiation levels now down to a sliver of what they were at the peak, experts say that the structures are still holding. Chernobyl contaminated an area as far as 500 km (300 miles) from the plant, and an area spanning 30 km (18 miles) around the plant is still an exclusion zone and uninhabited. HAVE THERE BEEN FALLOUT-LINKED DEATHS IN JAPAN? At Fukushima, there have been no deaths so far due to radiation. Eight people have been injured. More deadly have been the 9.0 magnitude quake that hit on March 11 and the aftershocks that have rocked the site while workers tried to bring the plant under control. Two have died and three have been critically injured. At Chernobyl, the initial explosion resulted in the death of two workers. Twenty-eight of the firemen and emergency clean-up workers died in the first three months after the explosion from acute radiation sickness and one died of cardiac arrest. FLOW OF INFORMATION VERSUS COVER UP Bungling, yes. Disorganized, incoherent and sometimes contradictory, yes. But it is difficult to accuse Japanese officials or TEPCO of intentionally covering up information, with round-the-clock updates and a steady stream of data. Chernobyl was initially covered up by the secretive Soviet state, which remained silent for two days. But authorities, obliged by huge radiation releases throughout Europe, gradually disclosed details of the accident, showing unprecedented Soviet-era openness. DOES FUKUSHIMA POSE A GREATER RISK IF IT ALL GOES WRONG? It's not over yet. One month since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, workers still have to inject water into the reactors, creating more contaminated water that is hampering the restoration of power to pumps to cool the reactors and bring them to a cold shutdown. The situation led a frustrated and demoralised TEPCO spokesman to say that the total fallout could exceed that of Chernobyl. Fukushima involves loss of control at four reactors and potentially more radioactive material, that could continue to seep, leak or burst into the environment. Officials have said that if power cannot be restored to the cooling pumps, there are other measures, such as air cooling, and that in a worst-case scenario, they could try water entombment in the reactors whose containment structures are sound. (Created by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by David Chance and Ron Popeski)

Japan Nuclear Accident no worse - WHO/IAEA 9 hours 19 mins ago Stephanie Nebehay and Sylvia Westall An increase in the severity level of Japan's nuclear accident does not mean the public health risk is any worse or that the disaster resembles Chernobyl in 1986, global expert bodies said on Tuesday. "Our public health assessment is the same today as it was yesterday," World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters, explaining that the higher rating was the result of combining the amounts of radiation leaking from three reactors and counting them as a single incident. "At the moment there is very little public health risk outside the 30-km (evacuation) zone." Hartl said the Japanese authorities now had much more information than in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous quake and tsunami that smashed the Fukushima plant in northeast Japan on March 11. "They are looking at the cumulative dose, but again this is at the reactor itself," he said. "Remember there is no one left ... around the reactor, it has been evacuated." Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the decision to raise the severity level at Fukushima to the highest rating of 7 from 5 previously did not mean the disaster was comparable to Chernobyl -- the worst nuclear power accident in history -- which was also a 7. "The Fukushima accident and Chernobyl are very different. Chernobyl had a reactor in power. It was a huge explosion, a power explosion, and then you had a huge graphite fire for a number of days," Deputy Director General Denis Flory told a news conference. "Also (Chernobyl had) the power to move all this radioactivity in the high atmosphere and then spread it all around the earth." At Fukushima, the reactors shut down when the earthquake hit and the pressure vessels housing them did not blow up, said Flory, who is in charge of nuclear safety. He also defended Japan's response to the crisis, saying it did not matter that the severity level had been raised only a month after the accident because this had not stopped authorities acting to protect people and the environment. Japanese officials said earlier on Tuesday that it had taken them time to measure radiation from the plant. They too said the change to the rating did not mean the situation had suddenly become more critical. Also on Tuesday, a Romanian laboratory said it had found traces of radioactive particles believed to have come from the Fukushima plant in rainwater and sheep milk in the center of the country. Romanian researchers said they had found trace amounts of iodine-131, though below levels of concern for human health, state news agency Agerpres said. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall and Michael Shields in Vienna, Stephanie Nebehay and Andrew Callus in Geneva and by Bucharest bureau; Editing by Jonathan Lynn)

Japan says Nuclear Crisis stabilizing, time to Rebuild 10 hours 24 mins ago Reuters Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Nishikawa Japan's nuclear crisis is slowly stabilizing and the country must now focus on repairing the damage wrought by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeast coast a month ago, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said. He was speaking shortly after new data showed more radiation leaked from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought. That new information put Japan's nuclear calamity in the same category as the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, officials said, but the upgrade in its severity rating to the highest level on a globally recognized scale did not mean the situation had suddenly become more critical. "The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is slowly stabilizing, step by step, and the emission of radioactive substances is on a declining trend," Kan told a press briefing. "A month has passed. We need to take steps toward restoration and reconstruction." He said he had instructed a reconstruction panel to create a work blueprint by June. He also called on opposition parties, whose help he needs to pass bills in a divided parliament, to take part in drafting reconstruction plans from an early stage. The government is considering spinning off the part of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) that oversees the stricken facility, Jiji news agency reported on Tuesday. TEPCO appears to be no closer to restoring cooling systems at the reactors, critical to lowering the temperature of overheated nuclear fuel rods. On Tuesday, Japan's science ministry said small amounts of strontium, one of the most harmful radioactive elements, had been found in soil near Fukushima Daiichi. Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said the decision to raise the severity of the incident from level 5 to 7 -- the same as the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 -- was based on cumulative quantities of radiation released. No radiation-linked deaths have been reported since the earthquake struck, and only 21 plant workers have been affected by minor radiation sickness, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. Late on Tuesday, Edano said he was aware the upgrading of the severity classification would worry people. "It doesn't mean the situation today is worse than it was yesterday, it means the event as a whole is worse than previously thought," said nuclear expert John Price, a former member of the Safety Policy Unit at the UK's National Nuclear Corporation. Late on Tuesday, a senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the latest data from food samples in 8 prefectures showed contamination below permitted levels. Earlier, NISA said the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere from the plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was around 10 percent that of Chernobyl. "Radiation released into the atmosphere peaked from March 15 to 16. Radiation is still being released, but the amount now has fallen considerably," said NISA's Nishiyama. "NOWHERE NEAR" AS BAD AS CHERNOBYL Several experts said the new rating exaggerated the severity of the crisis. "It's nowhere near that level. Chernobyl was terrible -- it blew and they had no containment, and they were stuck," said nuclear industry specialist Murray Jennex, an associate professor at San Diego State University in California. "Their (Japan's) containment has been holding, the only thing that hasn't is the fuel pool that caught fire." The blast at Chernobyl blew the roof off a reactor and sent large amounts of radiation wafting across Europe. The accident contaminated vast areas and led to the evacuation of well over 100,000 people. Still, the increase in the severity level heightens the risk of diplomatic tension with Japan's neighbors over radioactive fallout. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Kan on Tuesday he was "concerned" about the release of radiation into the ocean. China has so far been sympathetic rather than angry, though it and South Korea have criticized TEPCO's decision to pump radioactive water into the sea, a process it has now stopped. The March earthquake and tsunami killed up to 28,000 people and the estimated financial cost stands at $300 billion, making it the world's most expensive disaster. Kan appealed to the Japanese people not to stop spending. "I would like to ask the public not to fall into an excessive self-restraint mood and to live as normally as possible," he said. Japan's economics minister warned the damage was likely to be worse than first thought as power shortages would cut factory output and disrupt supply chains. (Additional reporting by Risa Maeda, Yoko Kubota, Linda Sieg, Michael Perry, Paul Eckert and Nathan Layne in Tokyo, Chris Buckley in Beijing, and Ron Popeski in Singapore; Writing by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by Andrew Marshall)

Japan Nuclear Crisis at Highest Level Yesterday, 05:53 am Officials in Japan have raised the severity of the nuclear emergency at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, putting it on a par with the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl after another major aftershock rattled the quake-ravaged east. Engineers were no closer to restoring the cooling systems at the plant's reactors, critical to bringing down the temperature of overheated nuclear fuel rods, although a fire at the plant appeared to have been extinguished. The rating of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was raised to seven, the worst on an internationally recognised scale, from a five-rating. Officials said this reflects the initial severity of the crisis and not the current situation. "This is a preliminary assessment, and is subject to finalisation by the International Atomic Energy Agency," said a spokesman at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the government's nuclear watchdog, which made the announcement with the Nuclear Safety Commission. Nuclear industry specialist Murray Jennex, an associate professor at San Diego State University in California, dismissed the comparison. "It's nowhere near that level. Chernobyl was terrible - it blew and they had no containment, and they were stuck. Their (Japan's) containment has been holding, the only thing that hasn't is the fuel pool that caught fire," he said. A level seven incident entails a major release of radiation with widespread health and environmental effects, while a five-rated event is a limited release of radioactive material, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The scale is designed so the severity of an event is about ten times greater for each increase in level. The 1979 US nuclear accident at Three Mile Island was a five-rated incident. An aftershock measuring 6.6 hit Fukushima prefecture on Monday evening, temporarily cutting power and forcing workers to evacuate the nuclear plant. There have been hundreds of aftershocks since March 11, when a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake and 15 metre tsunami hit northeast Japan, plunging the country into its worst crisis since World War Two.

Upgrading, Political Diversity dominate Forum By Alicia Wong | SingaporeScene – 2 hours 40 minutes ago Is it fair for the ruling People's Action Party to tie HDB upgrading to votes and is the PAP able to accept a diverse range of views? These two issues drew some of the strongest exchanges between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the 12 participants during Channel NewAsia's live forum entitled "Question Time with The Prime Minister" aired on Tuesday night. "Shouldn't a good government be fair to all citizens regardless of political vote?" asked Ngee Ann polytechnic student Matthew Zachary Liu. Another, Singapore Management University student Edmund Koh Joo Peng, a Potong Pasir resident, added, "Isn't it unfair to really divide us because we live in Potong Pasir?" Reiterating the stand he made last week on the upgrading issue, PM Lee said "everybody participates" in national programmes such as defence, education and healthcare. "But when you have to make a choice who goes first and who goes second, then I think that one has to pay attention to who supported the government more and who didn't," said the PM. "If you ask the people in Potong Pasir who do they want to make the government... I think they would say the PAP, so too in Hougang... In other words, they are depending on somebody else to vote for the PAP so that they can have the luxury of voting for Mr Chiam (See Tong) or Mr Low (Thia Kiang). If everybody does that, we're in trouble." "So there has to be an incentive to vote for the government. And going first or second, well, that's just that little bit of difference." But shouldn't upgrading be based on merit -- for example, older estates get priority -- since upgrading is a "nationwide programme funded by taxpayers", asked polytechnic lecturer Khartini Khalid. PM Lee responded, "We pay attention to that too but if two estates are equal, then we have to ask who supported the government more." The other issue that dominated the hour-long forum was if there was enough debate on issues and if there was enough representation from the private sector and blue-collar workers in Parliament. Said private wealth fund vice-president Kurt Wee, "Many Singaporeans feel that a lot of the agenda the government put forth is bulldozed through without much feelings for the ground." PM Lee replied, "If we bulldoze agendas through, we wouldn't stay in power very long because in the end, we have to govern with the consent of the people and in the interest of the people. Recognising the need for more diversity in Parliament, PM Lee touched on the new expanded Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP) scheme. The recent change allows for up to nine NCMPs, depending on the number of opposition candidates elected. "That's a lot... nine is enough to form two-thirds of a Cabinet," he said. Rejecting a follow-up that NCMPs were not "real Opposition", PM Lee disagreed. "(NCMP) s have full rights to participate in a debate; all debates. They can argue, they can establish themselves and they belong to political parties. These are not Independents." On the topic of leadership talent, SMU assistant professor and political commentator Eugene Tan asked if the PAP practices politics in a way that discourages people from "jump(ing) into the fray"? PM Lee responded, "There are very few who miss our net because Singapore is a very small place." The PAP talks to 200 to 300 people every term (five years) and narrows down the list to 20 to 25 suitable candidates, of whom an average of three become Ministers, said the PM. He acknowledged it is hard to attract people from the private sector because those who are established face a "big risk" since politics is a "new field" where they can fail. More than half of the questions during the forum moderated by presenter Melissa Hyak were related to politics. The remaining 40 per cent or so were on social issues such as the cost of living, housing and foreign talent. For example, PM Lee shared how the government helps low-income families via programmes as Workfare and the Grow & Share package. He also added, he "very much doubt(ed)" Goods and Service tax will be raised after the GE. After the forum, PM Lee told CNA the government would take note of the issues raised and alos said the questions were "good", "It was good that they (participants) didn't pull their punches and so we had a frank exchange which I hope viewers would have found not only interesting but relevant and thought-provoking." Postgraduate student Lin Peirong, 28, told Yahoo! Singapore, "PM was articulate in expressing himself, however, I am not convinced that PAP had addressed people's concerns in the past five years, even after the forum." While the forum served as a "good platform to bring up issues", there was not enough depth in the discussion of each topic, she noted. Dexter Ng, a 23-year-old Singapore Management University student, added, "While the debate on politics was lively, I felt that the participants did little to press PM Lee on the social issues, especially on the rising cost of living."

What's the right time for your Workout? Realbuzz - Tuesday, 12 April 2011 07:00 BST Knowing when your optimum time for exercise is can seriously improve your health and fitness workouts. Recent scientific research shows that the time you exercise can play a big part in how useful it is to your body. Here's the realbuzz.com guide to finding the exercise time of day that's suitable for you. Time for your workout … or is it? Does the time of day at which you exercise matter? And more importantly, can you improve your performance by picking the right time for a workout? There is certainly evidence to suggest that the body is more geared up for physical activity at some times more than others. This is due to our circadian rhythms 24-hour biological rhythms that influence everything from body temperature to heart rate, muscle strength to hormone levels and enzyme activity. As far as most physiological variables are concerned, it seems that late afternoon to early evening is prime time for a workout. In the morning, body temperature is low, the nervous system sluggish and joints, ligaments and tendons stiff, explains Professor Tom Reilly, a renowned expert on circadian rhythms at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University. A study by Professor Reilly and colleagues published in the journal Chronobiology International found that subjects given a set exercise workload at 5am, 11am, 5pm and 11pm, rated their perception of effort highest at 5am. So running at, say, 10kph will feel harder in the morning than it does in the evening, says Reilly. Other physiological variables that are at rock bottom in the morning include minute ventilation meaning more breaths are required to get the same amount of oxygen into the body and cardiac output; the amount of oxygenated blood pumped around the body by the heart each minute. Whats more, a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2002) found that early morning exercise left swimmers immune systems compromised. However, sport isnt all about brawn you need brains too! And research shows that people learn new motor skills more readily in the morning than in the evening. In one study, subjects improved most in a newly learned task at 9am. Short-term memory and fine motor control (the ability to do precise or fiddly tasks) are also superior in the morning compared to later in the day which may play a part in overall performance. And, of course, what happens in the real world isnt just dictated by what the scientists say. If you are a self-professed early riser, then despite physiology being against you, you may perform better in the morning, simply because you prefer to exercise then. Research also suggests that the over 50s are less detrimentally affected by early morning workouts than younger people. The idea that you should do what feels right for you is backed up by a study published in the Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, which found that people who always trained either in the morning or evening and were then asked to perform a high intensity workout to exhaustion, did better at the time of day to which they were used to training. So whats the bottom line? If you can schedule it, try to do the bulk of your workouts particularly the tough stuff between 4 and 7pm. (Its no coincidence that this is the time window in which most Olympic records have been set.) You may just find yourself breaking that PB. If not, then carry on being an early bird. Even the chronobiologists agree that a morning workout is far better than no workout at all.

Dolly Parton Back With New Album And Tour 1 hour 43 mins ago ©Sky News 2011 After making music for more than 50 years, Dolly Parton is now back with a new album of original tracks and a forthcoming world tour. As well as being a global superstar, she is also a philanthropist, and businesswoman. She owns a record label, a film company, a theme park and a charity which has donated more than 40 million books to children around the world. She launched the Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to inspire children in her home community. Helping youngsters around the world - including the UK - the Dolly Parton Imagination Library provides a book each month for each child enrolled, from birth until kindergarten. The 65-year-old is much-loved and eternally youthful in spirit and looks. I asked her how important her image was and has been to her. "It's certainly been bizarre but I've always loved a lot of makeup, a lot of hair, a lot of shiny clothes, and sequins whatever," she said. "You've got to shine when you go on stage and let people see you as a star when you're on stage." Dolly Parton's work ethic has clearly always been very strong. She started performing aged just 10 and has written more than 5,000 songs in total. She is now releasing a new album, Better Day, and embarking on a world tour. It starts in the UK in August and for her, as with many other artists, touring is now a major source of revenue. "The record business, the labels are all very different to when I started out," she said. "And of course there's a lot of money to be made touring. You enjoy it and the fans enjoy it but you can make a lot of money as you can selling records. "(There's been a big change) because a lot of people would only tour a little bit to promote a record but not any more now you do it the other way round." There's been talk this week of Lady Gaga producing a country album and Dolly's definitely not averse to the idea of a collaboration. "I think she's great and I've always been really gaudy myself ever since I started in the business and I always get a kick out of the crazy stuff she does. "But she's very musical, very talented and I think it would be fun." So will Dolly Parton ever slow down? "It's a funny thing with me - it's a way of life for me and I never see myself as star, I never see myself as a celebrity," she said. "I just see myself as a working girl. Not nine to five. I work five to nine, nine to five, 24-seven - 365 days sometimes."

Mustaine: 'BLACK MAGIC ruined My Life' Sunday, March 20 02:26 pm Megadeth rocker Dave Mustaine refuses to play heavy rock anthem The Conjuring live - because the track is laden with black magic imagery and occult spells. The singer became fascinated in witchcraft as a teen and he's convinced spells he cast have come back to haunt him. Now a strict Christian , he's keen to distance himself from his dark past - and refuses to play his song The Conjuring from 1986 album Peace Sells... but Who's Buying on tour - because the lyrics about black magic still affect him. He tells Total Guitar magazine, "Performance wise, The Conjuring is one of the heaviest songs on the record, but unfortunately it's got black magic in it and I promised that I wouldn't play it any more, because there's a lot of instructions for hexes in that song. "Although it seems kinda corny, anybody who's a Wiccan (witch) or a warlock or anything like that will know that all of that stuff is instrumental. "When I got into black magic I put a couple of spells on people when I was a teenager and it haunted me forever, and I've had so much torment. People say, 'Goddamn, Dave never gets a break, he's had such a hard life,' and I just think, 'No, Dave didn't - he got into black magic and it ruined his life.' "Fortunately for me, with all the work and the love of my friends, and not giving up with my guitar playing, I got over it. So I look back now and I think, 'Hmm, I don't wanna play The Conjuring'."

FACTBOX - International Nuclear Event Scale explained By Bernie Woodall in Detroit and Scott DiSavino in New York, editing by Miral Fahmy | Reuters Tue, Apr 12, 2011 12:42 PM SGT REUTERS - Japan on Tuesday raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to put it on par with the Chernobyl accident 25 years ago, the worst atomic power in history. But what does that mean? The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- an inter-governmental organization for scientific co-operation in the nuclear field -- said it uses the scale to communicate to the public in a consistent way the safety significance of nuclear and radiological events. The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, or INES, ranges from one to seven. The most serious level is a seven, which refers to a "major accident," while a one is an "anomaly". The scale is designed so the severity of an event is about 10 times greater for each increase in level. The following are some examples of accidents according to their INES level from the IAEA, see http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Factsheets/English/ines.pdf LEVEL 7 - MAJOR ACCIDENT A major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures. * CHERNOBYL, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), 1986 - An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe. LEVEL 6 - SERIOUS ACCIDENT: A significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures. * KYSHTYM, Soviet Union (now Russia), 1957 - Significant release of radioactive material to the environment from explosion of high activity waste tank. LEVEL 5 - ACCIDENT WITH WIDER CONSEQUENCES: A limited release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of some planned countermeasures and several deaths from radiation. * THREE MILE ISLAND, USA, 1979 - Severe damage to reactor core. This event galvanized opposition to a growing core anti-nuclear power movement in the United States. After this event, energy companies did not start the construction of any new reactors in the United States for over 30 years and stopped work on several reactors that were already under construction. * WINDSCALE PILE, UK, 1957 - A release of radioactive material following a fire in a reactor core * GOIANIA, Brazil, 1987 - Four people died and six people received high doses of radiation. LEVEL 4 - ACCIDENT WITH LOCAL CONSEQUENCES: A minor release of radioactive material unlikely to result in implementation of planned countermeasures other than local food controls and fuel melt, or damage to fuel resulting in more than 0.1 percent release of core inventory, and the release of significant quantities of radioactive material within an installation with a high probability of significant public exposure. * TOKAIMURA, Japan, 1999 - Fatal overexposure of workers following a criticality event at a nuclear facility. * SAINT-LAURENT-DES-EAUX, France, 1980 - Melting of one channel of fuel in the reactor with no release outside the site. * FLEURUS, Belgium, 2006 - Severe health effects for worker at a commercial irradiation facility as a result of high doses of radiation. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit and Scott DiSavino in New York, editing by Miral Fahmy)