Europe Archive

London, Nov 2 – Optimism that climate change can be managed has fallen more sharply in India than in any other major economy of the world, according to an annual index published Monday.

The Climate Change Monitor’s measure of optimism that climate change can be managed fell by six percent globally since 2007.

But the decline in India was a steep 15 percent – only 30 percent of Indians are optimistic this year compared to 45 percent in 2007, said the index, which is compiled by a partnership comprising HSBC Bank, the Climate Group, WWF, Earthwatch Institute and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Overall, however, the picture was one of optimism with just over a month to go before a key UN summit in Copenhagen that will try to agree on ways to combat climate change and fight its impact.

In general, people in developing countries are more concerned about climate change, with more than half of people in Mexico citing the issue as a major problem and 42 percent in Brazil and India.

‘Whilst levels of optimism dropped the most in emerging markets this year, especially in India, three times more people in these countries are hopeful that climate change can be managed than those in the developed world,’ the report said.

A fall in optimism and low levels of confidence in leaders suggests that people are becoming more pessimistic about the scale of the challenge that climate change presents, said the report which monitors 12 major economies – Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico and the US.

The report said people still believe that action should be taken – by personal commitments to reduce individual carbon footprints; a concrete global deal on emissions at Copenhagen; and bold national action.

The findings reveal that low-carbon choices are becoming ‘embedded’ in consumer lifestyles, as many people who are pessimistic about climate change are still prepared to take action.

Some of these are simple actions that have the additional benefit of saving money, such as reducing electricity use.

Britain was the most pessimistic about the world’s ability to tackle climate change, with almost half believing nothing can be done compared to 38 percent worldwide.

British people were also the least concerned – just 15 percent of Britons worry about climate change and how the world responds to the problem, the lowest figure.

The good news for optimists was that despite the global recession and swine flu epidemic, as many as 69 percent agreed that prioritising public spending on climate change is at least as important as – if not more than – supporting their national economy during the downturn.

Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group, said: ‘World leaders must agree a deal in Copenhagen that unlocks low carbon jobs and growth, and enables the rest of us to make smarter, greener choices about the ways we heat our homes, fuel our cars and power our businesses.’

Rome, Nov 2 (DPA) Serie A champions Inter Milan extended their lead over Juventus and Sampdoria to seven points as Diego Milito and Douglas Maicon were on target in a 2-0 defeat of Livorno.

Inter have 28 points from 11 games, while Juve sit on 21 points after losing 3-2 Saturday at home to Napoli, who rallied from two down.

Livorno played a good first half before their home crowd Sunday as they sought a third straight win despite the absence of striker Cristiano Lucarelli.

Inter struggled at times in an evenly balanced first half, and Livorno had a good chance in the 38th minute with a quick free kick from Antonio Candreva that Julio Cesar had trouble deflecting.

Four minutes after the break Argentina’s Milito scored his seventh goal with a low drive from the limit of the area to extract the maximum from Inter’s first decent chance.

Milito is now level with Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini and Slovak Marek Hamsik, who scored a brace against Juventus.

Livorno pressed in search of an equalizer but failed to truly worry the champions, who secured the win with a strike from Brazil defender Douglas Maicon with 10 minutes left.

AC Milan are fourth on 19 points after beating Parma 2-0 late Saturday, while Samp drew 0-0 Sunday at home with promoted Bari, whose Brazilian forward Paulo Barreto failed with a free kick in the dying seconds.

Fiorentina beat guests Catania 3-1 through a brace from Marco Marchionni and a late goal from international Alberto Gilardino in a game that both sides closed with 10 men.

The Florence captain Dario Dainelli was sent off with his side leading 1-0, while Ciro Capuano was dismissed in the second half shortly after his teammates drew level.

Visiting Udinese and Chievo drew 1-1 in Verona, while troubled Roma closed a three-loss run coming from behind to clinch a 2-1 win against visiting Bologna.

Lazio, the other side from the capital, drew 1-1 at bottom-side Siena, and Sardinia side Cagliari crushed Atalanta 3-0 to celebrate their 1,000th game and 300th win in the top flight.

Cagliari, who won a single scudetto in 1970, lie level on 16 points with Palermo. The Sicily side closed the weekend with a 0-0 draw against guests Genoa, now level with Napoli and Parma on 17 points.

Hamburg, Nov 2 (DPA) Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid are on revenge missions in the European Champions League this week when they play Rubin Kazan and AC Milan again.

While holders Barca and Real aim to rebound from home defeats against the Russian champions and Italian heavyweights, an English trio of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea heads a group of seven teams which can qualify for the knockout stages.

The Tuesday and Wednesday games mark the fourth of six group action rounds, and the holders Barcelona cannot really afford another slip-up.

Barca were caught cold at the Nou Camp by Rubin and face a Wednesday date in freezing Russia after a mediocre 1-1 league draw at Osasuna.

‘We are aware of what is at stake and we will go to win, however the pitch is and whatever the temperature,’ vowed captain Carles Puyol.

‘We are Barca and we will go out with the same idea as always: to have possession of the ball and to be aggressive in attack.’

Barca’s Group F promises to be a veritable cliff-hanger as Josep Guardiola’s team are on four points along with Rubin and Dynamo Kiev, with Inter Milan last on three.

Inter are currently dominating the Serie A but have only managed three draws in Europe, the latest 2-2 at home against Dynamo.

Coach Jose Mourinho has injury concerns ahead of the crucial trip to Ukraine, with midfielders Sulley Muntari and Thiago Motta serious doubts.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, were stunned 3-2 at home by Milan and go to the San Siro for a Group C topper in which the winner has a good chance of making the knockout rounds, with Olympique Marseille playing Zurich in the other game.

Real president Florentino Perez said his dream was a Champions League final between Real and Milan ‘because we are good friends’ and also said that embattled Chilean coach Manuel Perllegrini will stay on until ‘the end of the season.’

However, another defeat against the Italians will put the pressure back on Pellegrini, who earned himself a little breathing space on Saturday with a defiant 2-0 home win over Getafe.

Both goals came from Gonzalo Higuain, who is set to play in Milan as well, while Cristiano Ronaldo remains injured.

Sevilla have no such worries as Barca and Real, sitting top of Group G with a maximum nine points ahead of Unirea Urzizeni (four), VfB Stuttgart (two) and Glasgow Rangers (one).

Another win at home Wednesday against Stuttgart will clinch a knockout berth, with Urziceni also close to advancing if they beat Rangers in Romania.

But the fourth Spanish side, Atletico Madrid, could be out of contention Group D on Tuesday, with Chelsea coming to town on nine points, as in-form Premier League leaders and with Didier Drogba back from a suspension for his outburst last season against Barca.

Porto can join Chelsea in the next round if they win at APOEL Nicosia in the other game.

The 2007 champions and 2008 runners-up United (nine points), meanwhile, will win Group B with a victory at home against CSKA Moscow (three) and if VfL Wolfsburg (four) don’t get all three points at Besiktas Istanbul (one).

Girondins Bordeaux top Group A with seven points as they visit indifferent Bayern Munich (four) on Tuesday, with Juventus (five) at Maccabi Haifa (zero). Bordeaux and Juve will be almost through with victories.

The other big French team, Olympique Lyon, are even better off with nine points at the top of Group E, hosting troubled Liverpool (three) after a 2-1 win at Anfield and will qualify with another victory on Wednesday. Fiorentina (six) welcome Hungary’s Debrecen

(zero).

A 3-1 league defeat away to Fulham at the weekend did nothing to boost Liverpool morale, but coach Rafa Benitez is still upbeat that the Reds can improve.

‘You have to be calm and keep working hard … we have confidence we can do it but we have to take our chances,’ he said.

In Group H Wednesday, Arsenal (seven) and Olympiakos Piraeus (six) will be into the round of 16 if they win at home against AZ Alkmaar (two) and at Standard Liege (one), respectively.

London, Nov 2 – A convicted rapist escaped from the lavatory of the Pakistani High Commission in London, simultaneously triggering an angry protest from the Pakistani mission and a nationwide hunt for a man described as ‘very dangerous’.

Imtiaz Hussain, 44, escaped from the building just before he was due to be deported to Pakistan after being jailed for nine years in 2004 for trying to rape two women at knifepoint in the town of Derby.

Hussain, who was taken to the High Commission Friday to help him acquire a new passport ahead of his deportation, asked his escorting security guards if he could go to the toilet, and then escaped through the window.

He was last seen running through nearby Sloane Square, a busy shopping area, police said.

Detective Chief Inspector Brent Lancaster said: ‘This individual is believed to very dangerous and we need to apprehend him as soon as possible.

‘If anyone sees him, please don’t approach him, but call or alert police immediately.’

Meanwhile, the Pakistani High Commission, in a press release issued Sunday, stressed that the rapist had escaped from the custody of British – not Pakistani – security guards.

The High Commission said it came to know about the incident only after his escape ‘from the custody of British officials’ as he was not presented before the High Commission official who conducts face-to-face interviews.

‘It is pertinent to mention that any deportation case has to be brought to the High Commission with prior appointment. In this case no prior arrangements were made with the Pakistan High Commission,’ the mission said.

‘As mentioned in the news reports that he was a dangerous person this fact was known to the agency which was handling his custody. The questions that arise are: why then did they bring him for the interview without prior information in the first place? And why the criminal was inadequately guarded? There are many questions that can be raised surrounding the entire episode.’

The press release said the Pakistani High Commission has taken a ‘serious note’ of the matter and ‘conveyed its exceptions to the relevant British authorities’.

London, Nov 2 – People are likely to sleep better after they retire, a new study has found.

The findings suggest that this general improvement in sleep is likely to result from the removal of work-related demands and stress rather than from actual health benefits of retirement.

Results show that the odds of having disturbed sleep in the seven years after retirement were 26 percent lower than in the seven years before retiring. Sleep disturbance prevalence rates among 14,714 participants fell from 24.2 percent in the last year before retirement to 17.8 percent in the first year after retiring.

The greatest reduction in sleep disturbances was reported by participants with depression or mental fatigue prior to retirement. The post-retirement improvement in sleep also was more pronounced in men, management-level workers, employees who reported high psychological job demands, and people who occasionally or consistently worked night shifts, the website Eurekalert reported.

Lead author Jussi Vahtera, professor in the department of public health at the University of Turku in Finland, noted that the participants enjoyed employment benefits rarely seen today, including guaranteed job stability, a statutory retirement age between 55 and 60 years, and a company-paid pension that was 80 percent of their salary.

‘We believe these findings are largely applicable in situations where financial incentives not to retire are relatively weak,’ said Vahtera. ‘In countries and positions where there is no proper pension level to guarantee financial security beyond working age, however, retirement may be followed by severe stress disturbing sleep even more than before retirement.’

The study involved employees from the French national gas and electricity company, who retired between 1990 and 2006 at a mean age of 55 years. The study includes data from 11,581 male and 3,133 female workers who reported sleep disturbances at least once before and once after the year of retirement. Thirty-five percent of participants had worked night shifts, and 17 percent reported having depression.

Participants completed questionnaires concerning health, lifestyle, individual, familial, social and occupational factors.

The authors conclude that in the present time when people are expected to live many years beyond the traditional age of retirement, consideration should be given to the restructuring of working life to enable older workers to remain economically active without compromising their future health.

The results were published in the November issue of the journal Sleep.

London, Nov 2 – Troubled singer Amy Winehouse has developed a new obsession — working out for many hours at the gym.

The singer, who earlier got into drugs, spends three or four hours a day in the gym and her family members are quite happy with her new addiction, reports contactmusic.com.

‘Everything at the moment is under control… One of Amy’s positive addictions is she’s got her own gym. She’s in the gym three or four hours a day. I mean boy is she fit – really, really fit. So that’s a really positive addiction,’ said her father Mitch Winehouse.

London, Nov 2 – Rapper Kanye West is working hard on something new and his DJ A Track is impressed by his new compositions.

‘Kanye’s taking a bit of time away from the limelight. But he keeps telling me all these ideas he has for songs and fashion bits. It’s really amazing just how many ideas he has,’ dailystar.co.uk quoted A Track as saying.

West was in the news recently for interrupting singer Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards and saying that Beyonce Knowles should have won the award instead since she had the better video.