8 theSun | WEDNESDAY APRIL 1 2009

news without borders

‘Super pill’ may cut risk of heart disease by half

ORLANDO (Florida): Healthy people
could cut their risk of heart disease
in half with a new “super pill” that
combines low doses of aspirin and
drugs that lower blood pressure and
cholesterol, a study said on Monday.
“We believe that the polypill prob-
ably has the potential to reduce heart
disease by 60% and stroke by 50%,”
lead investigator Salim Yusuf told
reporters at the American College of
Cardiology’s annual meeting, where
the study was presented.
“The thought that people might
be able to take a single pill to reduce
multiple cardiovascular risk factors has
generated a lot of excitement. It could
revolutionise heart disease prevention
as we know it,” Yusuf said.
In the three-month study cardiolo-
gists compared the impact on blood
pressure, cholesterol and heart rate
of the combination polypill and the
medications that make it up, taken
individually or together.
The study involved 2,053 patients,
recruited from heart centres around
India between March 2007 and August
2008. The polypill contains low doses
of three medications against high
blood pressure; simvastatin, which
lowers LDL – or bad cholesterol – and
aspirin, a known blood-thinner.
“Before this study, there were no
data about whether it was even pos-
sible to put five active ingredients into
a single pill,” the study said.
“We found that it works,” the
researchers said. Participants in the
study were divided into groups and
given either the polypill or aspirin,
the cholesterol-lowering medication,
or one of the three blood pressure
medications on their own; different
combinations of blood pressure medi-
cations, or all three blood pressure
treatments with or without aspirin.
The researchers found that blood
pressure in participants in the polypill
group was lowered as much as in the
group taking the three blood pressure
medications together, with or without
aspirin. Those blood pressure reduc-
tions “could theoretically lead to about
a 24% risk reduction in congestive
heart disease and 33% risk reduction
in strokes in those with average blood
pressure levels,” the study said.
The polypill reduced LDL choles-
terol significantly more than in all
other groups except the one in which
simvastatin was taken alone.
The simvastatin group’s LDL levels
fell only slightly more than the polypill
group, the study found. – AFP

Netanyahu: Israel wants peace briefs

with Palestinians
JERUSALEM: The new Israeli
government will hold negotia-
tions with the Palestinian Author-
ity in order to reach a permanent
peace agreement, incoming
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said yesterday.
Addressing the Knesset as he
presented his new government
and its guidelines, Netanyahu said
he would hold peace talks with the
Palestinians on three levels: eco-
nomic, diplomatic and security.
“We will carry out peace
negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority with a view to reaching
a final accord. We do not want to
govern another people. We do
not want to exercise our power
over the Palestinians.
“Under the final (peace) ac-
cord, the Palestinians will have all
the rights to govern themselves
except those that can put in dan-
ger the security and existence of
the State of Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu does not support
the creation of a Palestinian state
– a principle to which Israel
obliged itself under the 2003 in-
ternational roadmap for peace
– saying economic conditions in
the occupied West Bank must
first be improved.
Netanyahu, leader of the
hawkish Likud party, called on
the Palestinian Authority to “fight
terrorism, to educate its children
for peace and to recognise Israel”.
“These statements mark a
start that is not encouraging,” Na-
bil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for
Palestinian president Mahmud
Abbas, said in response.
In his speech, Netanyahu
alluded to an eventual nuclear-
armed Iran as the biggest threat
to Israel.
“The biggest danger to hu-
manity and to Israel comes from
the possibility of a radical regime
armed with nuclear weapons,”
Netanyahu said, without men-
tioning Iran by name but making
clear from his remarks whom he
meant.
“It is shameful that decades
after the Holocaust, calls by
Iranian leaders to destroy Israel
are greeted with indifference by
the world, without being firmly
condemned, without decisive ac-
tion, almost routine.”
“The Jewish people have
learned the lesson; they cannot
lower their heads before dictators
who threaten to destroy them.
“Contrary to what happened
during the last century, today we
have the means to defend our-
selves. We know how to defend
ourselves.”
Netanyahu was tapped for the
premiership by President Shimon
Peres after it became clear that he
had the best chance of forming a
government following the coun-
try’s Feb 10 election.
This is Netanyahu’s second
stint as prime minister,
In 1996, he became Israel’s
youngest prime minister, at the
age of 45, establishing a modern,
television-friendly administration.
He was defeated in 1999 by
Labour party chief Ehud Barak,
who campaigned under the slo-
gan of “Anyone but Bibi”.
Israel’s 32nd government
promises to be one of its largest
ever. Netanyahu rewarded his
coalition partners so handsomely
with portfolios that a new table
has had to be ordered to accom-
modate the 30 or so ministers.
The 69-member coalition
in the 120-seat Knesset
will lean heavily to the
right despite the presence
of centre-left Labour, and
North Korea to put
Netanyahu...
returning to power US journalists on trial
10 years after his SEOUL: North Korea said yesterday it would put
first stint as prime on trial two US journalists arrested earlier this
minister. month on its border with China, accusing them
of “hostile acts”.
The planned trial adds to the mounting ten-
sion over North Korea’s planned rocket launch
in the next few days, which it says is to send a
communications satellite into space but which
the United States and others say is to test a long-
range missile that could carry a warhead as far
as US territory.
The two women reporters, Laura Ling and
Euna Lee from the US-based media outlet Current
TV, were arrested two weeks ago by the Tumen
River, which runs along the east side of the border
between North Korea and China. – Reuters
Pakistan court suspends ban
on opposition leader
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday suspended a
court ban on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif
and reinstated his party’s government in a
key province, in a move likely to ease political
tensions in the troubled country.
The court decision on Feb 25 to disqualify
Sharif and his brother from contesting elec-
tions and holding office sparked mass nation-
wide protests. Authorities detained hundreds
of activists in response.
The suspension of the decision allows the
two-time former prime minister to contest
elections and reinstates his brother, Shahbaz
Sharif, as chief minister of the country’s most
important province, Punjab, while the court
reviews the case against them. – AFP
will include his Likud party,
ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, Philippines imposes
ultra-Orthodox Shas, and a small
settler party. – Agencies emergency rule on Jolo
MANILA: The Philippines imposed a state of
emergency yesterday on a remote southern
island where an Islamic militant group holding
three Red Cross workers has threatened to kill
one of the captives. “A state of emergency was
declared on Jolo effective today at 9am (same
time in Malaysia),” said a text message from a
senior military official.
The declaration, which puts all security
forces on alert on the island and curtails the
movement of people, came after local officials

US judge rules for made a last minute appeal to the kidnappers to

spare the lives of the three hostages.
Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss national

teen girls in ‘sexting’ case
PHILADELPHIA: A US judge on
Monday barred a Pennsylvania
prosecutor from filing child por-
nography charges against three
teenage girls caught with sexually
suggestive pictures of themselves
on their cell phones.
US District Judge James
Munley said he was issuing a
restraining order on Wyoming
County District Attorney George
Skumanick because his proposed
action would violate freedom of
speech and parental rights.
The ruling came after the
American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) sued Skumanick on be-
half of the girls and their families.
“The court agrees with the
plaintiffs that the public interest
would be served by issuing a TRO
(temporary restraining order) in
this matter as the public interest is
on the side of protecting constitu-
tional rights,” the judge said.
The case has attracted national
attention and revolves around the
growing practice among teens of
“sexting,” a play on the term tex-
ting, in which nude or semi-nude
photos are sent on cell phones or
posted on the internet.
The pictures, found last fall
by officials of Pennsylvania’s
Tunkhannock School District,
showed two of the girls wearing
bras, and another standing topless
with a wrapped towel around her
waist. No sexual activity was dis-
played. Other unidentified people
distributed the pictures.
Last month Skumanick told
the girls and 17 other students
that he would charge them with
possessing or distributing child
pornography, which is a felony,
unless they agreed to proba-
tion and participated in a “re-
education” programme.
All but three agreed to his
demands, setting the stage for
the lawsuit. Witold Walczack,
legal director of the ACLU of
Pennsylvania, welcomed the
legal decision.
“This country needs to have
a discussion about whether
prosecuting minors as child
pornographers for merely being
impulsive and naive is the appro-
priate way to address the serious
consequences that can result from
sexting,” he said.
But Skumanick said it could
encourage potential defendants
to use the federal court system to
evade state charges. “My big fear
is setting the precedent that would
allow criminals in the state system
seeking protection in the federal
system.” Skumanick said.
A survey last fall found 20% of
teenagers have posted online nude
or semi-nude pictures of them-
selves, and 39% said they have
posted sexually suggestive mes-
sages, according to the National
Campaign to Prevent Teen and
Unplanned Pregnancy. – Reuters
Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni, all
staff of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC), have been held in the jungles of
Jolo since Jan 15. They were abducted after a
visit to a local prison where the Red Cross is
funding a water project. – Reuters
300 African migrants
feared drowned off Libya
GENEVA: More than 300 African mi-
grants are feared to have drowned
after their boats capsized off the coast
of Libya, the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) said yesterday.
Up to three vessels lacking lifeboats are
believed to have sunk off Libya in heavy winds
as they headed for Italy, while a fourth boat in
difficulty was towed to shore, IOM spokesman
Jean-Philippe Chauzy said.
“Up to three boats appear to have sunk
off the Libyan coast. These boats have no life-
saving material on board. It would seem that
more than 300 people have disappeared at
sea,” said Chauzy in Geneva. “They were not at
swimming distance from shore”. – Reuters