A review of 67 research studies, published in the journal Oncology and Cancer Case Reports, suggests that the nutrient can be used to slow down the enlargement of the prostate, which causes the embarrassing condition. With age most men suffer an unexplained expansion of the prostate, which is wrapped around the urinary tract. The prostate constricts the tube and may block it altogether, causing a condition called benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Professor Hiten Patel, from Bart’s and the Royal London Hospital, led the team which reviewed the research.  “We knew lycopene seems to slow down the development of prostate cancer, but now it seems it can slow down the enlargement of the prostate and development of BPH as well,” he said. “We need to do more research before we can say it should be recommended routinely for everyone, but the outcome of this review is very promising.” The findings appear to corroborate previous studies conducted in China where traditional diets include a much higher intake of fruit and vegetables and lower rates of BPH were found Other research by Bristol University showed that those who ate the most tomatoes had an 18% risk of prostate cancer.  Dr Athene Lane, lead author of the Bristol study, said: “There is definitely something in lycopene to be investigated further so we can understand how the mechanisms works.”  Despite identifying lycopene as a potentially helpful factor in controlling prostate expansion, treatment may be more complicated than simply eating more tomatoes.  This is because lycopene is not easily absorbed into the blood unless processed in some way.  However, researchers believe this problem can be circumvented by administering the nutrient in the form of a supplement pill LactoLycopene.

WHAT THE BRITISH PRESS REPORTS ....:

There is a way that Greece could agree a bailout programme and avoid defaulting on its payments to the European Central Bank in two weeks, if tonight’s negotiations go well.  If the option of a new bailout through the ESM gets a go-ahead, the best predictions of actual cash disbursements are mid-to end August, way too late to stop Greece defaulting big time on the €3.5bn in bonds it must redeem at the ECB on July 20.  But given a modicum of goodwill, something so far in very short supply (although the general temper today has been a lot better than when Yanis Varoufakis was doing the rounds), there is a fix available to the ECB problem.  When Greece’s 2nd bailout expired last Tuesday, some €3.3bn in ECB profits from its securities markets programme due to Greece also vanished [that’s money that the ECB made from bailing Greece out].  For 2014 the profits amounted to €1.85bn. These are held in an ESM account and could be released to the Greeks if the eurogroup so decided. There is also a further €1.5bn currently held by eurozone governments. This money could also be released to the Greeks -- meaning the ECB problem is effectively solved.  A eurozone source says:  “It’s not an easy solution, but probably the only solution,” The advantage here is that this money could be released without having to wait for any tiresome parliamentary procedures. But the fly in the ointment here is that both wads of cash need to be authorised by the eurogroup unanimously, meaning that a single country could veto the whole show. The German finance ministry, for example, has been sending negative signals on this, indeed it has been demanding back €500m of the money held by the ESM, the 2014 profits.

Bitcoins tumbled in value after Chinese authorities acted to curb trading in the virtual currency.

The government has banned domestic third-party payment companies from providing clearing services for virtual currency trading platforms, according to a report in the China Business News.

BTCChina, the country's biggest Bitcoin trading platform, and other Bitcoin exchanges in the country rely on third-party providers to handle the transactions for bitcoin trading as they are not licensed to handle clearing services that enable investors to deposit and withdraw their money.

BTCChina, on its Twitter-like Weibo account, told users it "has no choice but to stop accepting yuan deposits".

Although traders can still make deposits in other currencies, the move has pummelled volumes on BTC and slashed bitcoin's value.

Prices on BTCChina stood at 2845 yuan ($468) each early on Wednesday, down 60pc from their high of 7,588 yuan in November. 

^{Chart from BTCChina showing sharp fall in value of Bitcoins}

Chinese speculators have poured money into Bitcoins this year, driving the BTCChina price up 9,122pc from January 1 to November 30 and making the country at times the world's biggest Bitcoin market.

Authorities have raised concerns and two weeks ago China's central bank ordered financial institutions not to provide Bitcoin-related services and products and cautioned against its potential use in money-laundering.

Bitcoin is a form of cryptography-based e-money that offers a largely anonymous payment system.

The UK and US must do more to protect internet users' privacy, the inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has warned as a new survey of online freedoms is released.

Berners-Lee warned that "a growing tide of surveillance and censorship" posed a threat to the future of democracy, even as more and more people were using the internet to expose wrongdoing.

His remarks came before the second annual release of a global league table that classifies countries according to a set of freedoms. Since last year, the US has dropped from second place to fourth, while the UK has remained in third place. Sweden still tops the list, though Norway now takes second place. All of the Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Denmark and Norway – feature in the top 10.

The UK was poorly placed on privacy rights but was lifted by its high scores for availability of relevant content and the internet's political impact.

The table is compiled by comparing 81 countries, combining measures such as the extent of access to the internet, how much censorship is employed, and how "empowered" people are by its availability. The list has been expanded from the 61 countries surveyed last year.

Last year Berners-Lee introduced the inaugural index by pointing out that there was no off switch for the internet – a fact that was proving uncomfortable for a number of governments that had tried to shut down radical dissent in the previous 12 months through the Arab spring.

But this year his remarks focused more on the threat of surveillance, which has been highlighted by the Guardian's revelations about the extent of online spying and subversion of internet protocols by the US's National Security Agency and the UK's GCHQ.

The survey found that 76 of the 81 countries examined did not meet "best practice" standards for checks and balances on government interception of electronic communications.

Speaking before an event to launch the updated version of the index, the 58-year-old British computer scientist said: "One of the most encouraging findings of this year's Web Index is how the web and social media are increasingly spurring people to organise, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world.

"But some governments are threatened by this, and a growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy.

"Bold steps are needed now to protect our fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and association online."

The survey also found that almost a third of countries surveyed block politically sensitive content.

Web innovators, experts and policymakers, including Berners-Lee and the Wikipedia chief Jimmy Wales, were gathering in London on Friday to assess the World Wide Web Foundation's independent annual measure of the web's impact.

WASHINGTON—Senate leaders on Wednesday struck an 11th-hour agreement to avoid a U.S. debt crisis and fully reopen the federal government, putting lawmakers on track toward ending a stalemate that worried investors world-wide and provided striking evidence of congressional dysfunction.Negotiators rejected a Democratic proposal to delay for one year a fee of $63 per insured person levied on groups that offer health policies, including employers, labor unions and insurance carriers—a fee opposed by many large employers and unions. The agreement does includes backpay for all federal workers who were furloughed during the government shutdown.

The Senate deal doesn't include a provision granting federal agencies more flexibility to mitigate the effects of the across-the-board reductions known as the sequester. Congressional aides said the next round of cuts kick in when the stopgap spending measure ends in mid-January, motivating lawmakers to reach an agreement to ease the burden of the sequester's blunt cuts by then. The next round of reductions will bring annual spending levels down to $967 billion from $986 billion, largely through cuts to defense spending.

The setback in the House on Tuesday was the result of pressure from conservatives, who objected both to the Senate bill and Mr. Boehner's alternative because they gave Republicans too little of what they had been demanding. Conservatives have been pressing for major changes in the 2010 health-care law and additional measures to reduce the deficit.

GOP leaders had tried to build backing by including proposals sought by conservatives, including one that would have cut government health-insurance benefits for congressional and administration officials, including their staff, under the 2010 health-care law. But the bill met powerful headwinds when the conservative political group Heritage Action on Tuesday evening announced its opposition and said votes on the measure would be included in the group's influential ratings of lawmakers.

The White House Wednesday provided a little more clarity about when the Treasury will run out of its ability to borrow money. Mr. Carney said that moment will come "at the end of the day" Thursday. The Treasury had previously said the "extraordinary measures" it deployed to keep below the debt ceiling would run out on Oct. 17, without clarifying whether that meant midnight Wednesday or the subsequent day. Beyond Thursday, "the Treasury would have only cash on hand. It would not be able to borrow new money to meet obligations," Mr. Carney said. The Treasury has said that on Oct. 17 it would be left with only about $30 billion to pay the nation's bills.

There was palpable relief among Republicans who had been part of a bipartisan effort to break the deadlock. "We're ready to open the government and we are ready to make sure everyone around the world knows the U.S. pays its bills on time," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.).

Libor rate-setting is “no longer viable”.

Martin Wheatley, the incoming head of Britain's new market regulator, is expected to recommend this week that the lobby body lose its supervisory role in the setting of the rate. "If Mr Wheatley's recommendations include a change of responsibility for Libor, the BBA will support that," the BBA said on Tuesday: The review was announced following revelations three months ago that big banks were had been attempting to rig Libor for years. The scandal led to a £290m fine for Barclays, ongoing investigations into manipulation at other banks, criticism of the rate and calls for a new benchmark that is more transparent and relevant to the credit worthiness of banks. Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, believes Libor has stopped working and should be replaced, while Mr Wheatley, who is the chief executive-designate of the Financial Conduct Authority, has said Libor rate-setting is “no longer viable”.

The BBA, a lobby group for banks, has been heavily criticised for its oversight of Libor, which is used to price loans and transaction for businesses and individuals worth more than $350 trillion globally. Libor is based on what a panel of banks expect to be charged rather than measuring actual lending rates. It is not directly supervised by regulators in Britain but has been overseen by the BBA since 1986. The Wheatley's review, due out on Friday, is expected to propose anchoring Libor interest rates to real transactions, rather than rates which panel banks believe they could borrow from their peers. (source telegraph.uk)

STEP BY STEP ..." goose" step that is ...!!!

The German military will in future be able to use its weapons on German streets in an extreme situation, the Federal Constitutional Court says. The ruling says the armed forces can be deployed only if Germany faces an assault of "catastrophic proportions", but not to control demonstrations. The decision to deploy forces must be approved by the federal government. Severe restrictions on military deployments were set down in the German constitution after Nazi-era abuses. The court says the military still cannot shoot down a hijacked passenger plane - fighter jets would have to intercept the plane and fire warning shots to force it to land. After World War II the new constitution ruled that soldiers could not be deployed with guns at the ready on German soil, the BBC's Stephen Evans reports from Berlin. The court has now changed that, saying troops could be used to tackle an assault that threatens scores of casualties. The judges had in mind a terrorist incident involving armed attackers in public places. German troops have been deployed abroad since the war, but it has been a gradual process. German warplanes have been used in the Balkans and troops are on the ground in Afghanistan, protecting construction workers, but able to return fire if attacked.

Equity funds were the most profitable in the first two months of the year, with yields of up to 8.5%, but since investors lacked fresh money, the funds' performance is below that of the main stock exchange indexes. BCR Expert, an equity fund managed by Erste Asset Management, is the top performer in the first two months of the year, with an 8.53% yield, followed closely by OTP Balansis and Avantis funds, with above 7.6% yields. During the same period, the main stock exchange index BET of the ten most liquid shares, rose 11.3%, while the BET-FI index of the five SIFs (financial investment companies) gained 8.2%. "The yields of equity funds are obtained based on the same volume of assets, considering that some shares in which the funds invested saw declines last month. In order to beat the market, equity fund managers need capital inflows that allow them to adjust their portfolio," said Dragos Neacsu, chairman of management company Erste Asset Management. (Z.F.)house for sale,bucharest,imobiliare,imob,travel,supermarket,