Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder are more vulnerable to developing heart problems in the long run.
While previous studies had linked PTSD and death from cardiovascular disease, such an association was never studied among veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a quarter of the veterans of the recent wars suffer from PTSD, adding that depression, anxiety disorder and alcohol abuse are also prevalent among this group.
The risk factors of heart diseases are reported to be frequent among the majority of these veterans, already struggling with PTSD and other mental disorders.
Scientists concluded that PTSD and anxiety disorders increase the risk of heart disease among veterans.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
UK prosecutors review G20 manslaughter charge
British prosecutors have to decide on possible charges against a police officer who attacked a man at the G20 protests in London, leading to his death.
The Metropolitan police officer attacked a man at the G20 demonstration, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said on Tuesday.
Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor who was not taking part in the protest, collapsed and died in moments on April 1, after being attacked by the police.
Video footage showed a policeman apparently hitting him on the leg with a baton and pushing him over, causing him to hit the ground with some force.
With two post-mortem examinations linking Tomlinson's death to a heart attack or abdominal bleeding after the fall, the suspended officer is facing a manslaughter charge.
The IPCC said that it had wrapped up its four-month probe and had turned the affair over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
More than 40 IPCC investigators gathered documents, footage and statements from 193 people, including police officers and medical experts, in what the watchdog highlighted as “one of the largest [probes] ever undertaken by the IPCC.”
Tomlinson's death sparked controversy after it was revealed that police had initially misinformed his family.
His wife and nine children were led to believe that he had died of a heart attack and that there had been no contact with the police.
In statements to the press, police claimed protesters impeded attempts by officers to save Tomlinson's life with resuscitation, according to The Guardian.
London's Met police came under fire for tactics used against the largely peaceful protesters following two parliamentary inquiries and a national review of policing by the official policing inspectorate.
The IPCC has received an additional 277 complaints about police brutality during the G20 demonstrations.
The Metropolitan police officer attacked a man at the G20 demonstration, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said on Tuesday.
Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor who was not taking part in the protest, collapsed and died in moments on April 1, after being attacked by the police.
Video footage showed a policeman apparently hitting him on the leg with a baton and pushing him over, causing him to hit the ground with some force.
With two post-mortem examinations linking Tomlinson's death to a heart attack or abdominal bleeding after the fall, the suspended officer is facing a manslaughter charge.
The IPCC said that it had wrapped up its four-month probe and had turned the affair over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
More than 40 IPCC investigators gathered documents, footage and statements from 193 people, including police officers and medical experts, in what the watchdog highlighted as “one of the largest [probes] ever undertaken by the IPCC.”
Tomlinson's death sparked controversy after it was revealed that police had initially misinformed his family.
His wife and nine children were led to believe that he had died of a heart attack and that there had been no contact with the police.
In statements to the press, police claimed protesters impeded attempts by officers to save Tomlinson's life with resuscitation, according to The Guardian.
London's Met police came under fire for tactics used against the largely peaceful protesters following two parliamentary inquiries and a national review of policing by the official policing inspectorate.
The IPCC has received an additional 277 complaints about police brutality during the G20 demonstrations.
In Spain, bomb explosion hits police barracks
A car bomb has exploded in the northern Spanish city of Burgos, slightly injuring dozens of people while causing severe damage.
The blast took place around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) on Wednesday, near the Civil Guard barracks in the city, Reuters reported.
The area has been cordoned off.
The police suspect the blast to be the work of the Basque separatist organization (ETA) that abandoned its "permanent ceasefire" in June 2007.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the bombing had not been preceded by a telephone warning as is common by the separatist group.
ETA, which is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the US, has been blamed for the deaths of 825 people in a four-decade campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southern France.
The most recent killing attributed to ETA was on June 19, when a police inspector died in a booby-trapped car in the northern city of Bilbao.
The blast took place around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) on Wednesday, near the Civil Guard barracks in the city, Reuters reported.
The area has been cordoned off.
The police suspect the blast to be the work of the Basque separatist organization (ETA) that abandoned its "permanent ceasefire" in June 2007.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the bombing had not been preceded by a telephone warning as is common by the separatist group.
ETA, which is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the US, has been blamed for the deaths of 825 people in a four-decade campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southern France.
The most recent killing attributed to ETA was on June 19, when a police inspector died in a booby-trapped car in the northern city of Bilbao.
Spain acquits sole black man in 'bad' line-up
Spain has acquitted a Nigerian man convicted of assault after it was revealed that he was the only black man in a police lineup that ultimately led to his conviction.
“A badly assembled identity parade, with a lack of resemblance (between the suspects in the parade) can lead to mistaken identity and consequently an error of justice,” the official EFE news agency cited the Supreme Court as saying on Tuesday.
Spain's highest court dropped all charges against Henry Osagiede, who was facing up to 10 years in prison, the report added.
Last year, a Madrid court had found Osagiede guilty for attacking one woman and sexually assaulting another in 2005 based on the evidence, including the witness identification.
“A badly assembled identity parade, with a lack of resemblance (between the suspects in the parade) can lead to mistaken identity and consequently an error of justice,” the official EFE news agency cited the Supreme Court as saying on Tuesday.
Spain's highest court dropped all charges against Henry Osagiede, who was facing up to 10 years in prison, the report added.
Last year, a Madrid court had found Osagiede guilty for attacking one woman and sexually assaulting another in 2005 based on the evidence, including the witness identification.
Nuclear waste sparks Germany election frenzy
The top candidate of a main political party in Germany has made the shutdown of the country's old nuclear power stations as a condition for joining a coalition government following September's election.
“The Green party will not sign any coalition contract that softens the withdrawal from nuclear power. On the contrary, we will insist that older nuclear power stations are shut down ahead of schedule,” Green party's Jurgen Trittin told the Bild daily on Sunday.
His remarks come as a recent report by Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) questioned the safety of a controversial nuclear waste dump facility, widening the divide within the country's coalition government.
The report published earlier this week deemed the salt-mine nuclear waste storage facility in Asse as one of the most unreliable nuclear waste dumps in use after officials found a major radioactive water leak.
Earlier this month, a fire at one of Germany's oldest nuclear power stations in Hamburg forced the reactor to shut down, blacking out most traffic lights in the German port city and interrupting the water supply to thousands of homes.
The two incidents have brought the controversial issue to the forefront of the political debates ahead of the September polls.
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel is leading the anti-nuclear front that demands the speedy shut down of the country's nuclear power, a position shared by the majority of Germans according to an April poll.
Even very low container leakage and radionuclide migration rates are cause for serious concern as some radioactive species have half-lives longer than one million years.
That is why nuclear wastes must be shielded for centuries and isolated from the living environment for millennia.
"On September 27, Germans will decide whether this and seven other reactors can run longer, as [Chancellor Angela] Merkel ... wants, or if we can finally switch off ... eight of these difficult reactors," Gabriel told German television.
Chancellor Merkel supports the use of nuclear energy until renewable energies become fully commercially viable, deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters in Berlin in response to Gabriel's comments
“The Green party will not sign any coalition contract that softens the withdrawal from nuclear power. On the contrary, we will insist that older nuclear power stations are shut down ahead of schedule,” Green party's Jurgen Trittin told the Bild daily on Sunday.
His remarks come as a recent report by Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) questioned the safety of a controversial nuclear waste dump facility, widening the divide within the country's coalition government.
The report published earlier this week deemed the salt-mine nuclear waste storage facility in Asse as one of the most unreliable nuclear waste dumps in use after officials found a major radioactive water leak.
Earlier this month, a fire at one of Germany's oldest nuclear power stations in Hamburg forced the reactor to shut down, blacking out most traffic lights in the German port city and interrupting the water supply to thousands of homes.
The two incidents have brought the controversial issue to the forefront of the political debates ahead of the September polls.
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel is leading the anti-nuclear front that demands the speedy shut down of the country's nuclear power, a position shared by the majority of Germans according to an April poll.
Even very low container leakage and radionuclide migration rates are cause for serious concern as some radioactive species have half-lives longer than one million years.
That is why nuclear wastes must be shielded for centuries and isolated from the living environment for millennia.
"On September 27, Germans will decide whether this and seven other reactors can run longer, as [Chancellor Angela] Merkel ... wants, or if we can finally switch off ... eight of these difficult reactors," Gabriel told German television.
Chancellor Merkel supports the use of nuclear energy until renewable energies become fully commercially viable, deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters in Berlin in response to Gabriel's comments
Germany's nuclear misadventures continue
Technical problem at two more nuclear reactors in Germany have fuelled the anti-nuclear debate, with the ruling party urging against politicization of the issue.
The latest mishaps came less than three weeks after a fault at the Kruemmel reactor cuts power and water supplies to thousand of homes, breathing new life into the major campaign issue which has divided the country's coalition government ahead of the September elections.
In an interview with the Abendblatt daily on Saturday, German Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan cautioned against the 'demonization of nuclear power' over the recent malfunctions, while a recent poll reviled more public opposition to atomic energy.
Schavan is a member of Germen Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU), which supports extending the life of some of the country's 17 nuclear power plants -- that are to be decommissioned by 2020 under a nine-year-old agreement.
Emsland reactor in north-west Germany, one of the country's most modern nuclear power stations, underwent an automatic shutdown at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) on Friday due to a technical fault, operator RWE said.
The reactor supplies around 3.5 million households.
Meanwhile, a section of the aging Philippsburg nuclear power plant in southwest Germany was taken off the grid following another incident.
Junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), as well as the anti-nuclear power Greens Party are calling on consumers to boycott Kruemmel's Swedish operator Vattenfall.
A survey published by ZDF public television on Friday suggested that the problems at Kruemmel had spiked nuclear power unpopularity in Germany by 15 percent from last year's 40 percent.
Technical faults are not the only demons haunting the country's nuclear issue.
Last week, a report by Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) questioned the safety of a controversial nuclear waste dump facility in Asse, rating the salt-mine storage facility as one of the most unreliable nuclear waste dumps in use after officials found radioactive water leak.
The latest mishaps came less than three weeks after a fault at the Kruemmel reactor cuts power and water supplies to thousand of homes, breathing new life into the major campaign issue which has divided the country's coalition government ahead of the September elections.
In an interview with the Abendblatt daily on Saturday, German Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan cautioned against the 'demonization of nuclear power' over the recent malfunctions, while a recent poll reviled more public opposition to atomic energy.
Schavan is a member of Germen Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU), which supports extending the life of some of the country's 17 nuclear power plants -- that are to be decommissioned by 2020 under a nine-year-old agreement.
Emsland reactor in north-west Germany, one of the country's most modern nuclear power stations, underwent an automatic shutdown at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) on Friday due to a technical fault, operator RWE said.
The reactor supplies around 3.5 million households.
Meanwhile, a section of the aging Philippsburg nuclear power plant in southwest Germany was taken off the grid following another incident.
Junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), as well as the anti-nuclear power Greens Party are calling on consumers to boycott Kruemmel's Swedish operator Vattenfall.
A survey published by ZDF public television on Friday suggested that the problems at Kruemmel had spiked nuclear power unpopularity in Germany by 15 percent from last year's 40 percent.
Technical faults are not the only demons haunting the country's nuclear issue.
Last week, a report by Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) questioned the safety of a controversial nuclear waste dump facility in Asse, rating the salt-mine storage facility as one of the most unreliable nuclear waste dumps in use after officials found radioactive water leak.
Americans will always live with terror threats'
US Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano, has called for a constant state of preparedness in the face of growing third millennium issues before America.
In her interview with the USA Today, Napolitano touched on a number of security issues threatening the national security of the United States.
Napolitano started with words of caution for US citizens as she urged Americans to keep vigil for terror threats disregarding their origin.
"We need to be prepared for all kinds of realistic risks. We know, for example, that there are risks associated with the transportation sector. We know that certain parts of the country have greater risks than other parts,” she said.
“So we're trying to emphasize this notion of shared responsibility. Everybody has some responsibility for themselves, their family, communities, state, local, tribal, territorial - shared responsibility among all our federal agencies and then with our international partners.”
"I've come to the conclusion that we will always live in a terrorist threat environment that it is al-Qaeda, but it is other groups and wannabes as well, that the environment is constantly changing, and that it is something that we just have to be prepared to live with. We need to be in a state of preparation and readiness - not a state of fear. We need to do all we can to mitigate the risk. But that means individuals undergo a certain amount of inconvenience at times," said Napolitano, rejecting the inauguration of a fear campaign allegedly upheld by the United States.
America's top security chief also warned of rising virtual reality crimes and demanded that the current security level for cyberspace be lifted up to three times the existing status quo.
"We need to move cyber-security from the 1.0 to the 3.0 quickly. We appointed a deputy undersecretary for cyber. The direction I gave him was: Hire the best and brightest to bolster the cyber-security center; we needed more robust interaction with the private sector because 85 percent of the critical infrastructure is controlled by the private sector. We need to be doing more research - or contract for more research - to protect existing networks with the dot-org, dot-gov, dot-com side of the cyber world."
On the notorious Guantanamo Naval prison facilities located on the leased Cuban territories where terror suspects are held, the 52-year-old former Arizona governor spoke of imminent schemes intended to transfer the inmates of the facility to US territories.
"Before we move any inmates to American soil, there would be a risk assessment done about the safety of that. Under the Obama administration, that would be a top priority."
The US President Barack Obama had pledged to shut down the infamous penal complex by 2011.
Napolitano dealt with major security issues amongst a myriad of topics brought up in her discussions with the US daily newspaper.
The US Secretary said she could not 'rank' terror threats plaguing America but maintained that the country has no better protection measure compared with the opening years of the 21st century.
In her interview with the USA Today, Napolitano touched on a number of security issues threatening the national security of the United States.
Napolitano started with words of caution for US citizens as she urged Americans to keep vigil for terror threats disregarding their origin.
"We need to be prepared for all kinds of realistic risks. We know, for example, that there are risks associated with the transportation sector. We know that certain parts of the country have greater risks than other parts,” she said.
“So we're trying to emphasize this notion of shared responsibility. Everybody has some responsibility for themselves, their family, communities, state, local, tribal, territorial - shared responsibility among all our federal agencies and then with our international partners.”
"I've come to the conclusion that we will always live in a terrorist threat environment that it is al-Qaeda, but it is other groups and wannabes as well, that the environment is constantly changing, and that it is something that we just have to be prepared to live with. We need to be in a state of preparation and readiness - not a state of fear. We need to do all we can to mitigate the risk. But that means individuals undergo a certain amount of inconvenience at times," said Napolitano, rejecting the inauguration of a fear campaign allegedly upheld by the United States.
America's top security chief also warned of rising virtual reality crimes and demanded that the current security level for cyberspace be lifted up to three times the existing status quo.
"We need to move cyber-security from the 1.0 to the 3.0 quickly. We appointed a deputy undersecretary for cyber. The direction I gave him was: Hire the best and brightest to bolster the cyber-security center; we needed more robust interaction with the private sector because 85 percent of the critical infrastructure is controlled by the private sector. We need to be doing more research - or contract for more research - to protect existing networks with the dot-org, dot-gov, dot-com side of the cyber world."
On the notorious Guantanamo Naval prison facilities located on the leased Cuban territories where terror suspects are held, the 52-year-old former Arizona governor spoke of imminent schemes intended to transfer the inmates of the facility to US territories.
"Before we move any inmates to American soil, there would be a risk assessment done about the safety of that. Under the Obama administration, that would be a top priority."
The US President Barack Obama had pledged to shut down the infamous penal complex by 2011.
Napolitano dealt with major security issues amongst a myriad of topics brought up in her discussions with the US daily newspaper.
The US Secretary said she could not 'rank' terror threats plaguing America but maintained that the country has no better protection measure compared with the opening years of the 21st century.
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