Finland beats Slovakia to win hockey bronze

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Finland has won the bronze medal in hockey, rallying from a late two-goal deficit for a 5-3 victory over Slovakia.

Olli Jokinen scored the tying and go-ahead goals during the dynamic third-period comeback by Finland, the only team to win four medals in the past five Olympic tournaments.

Finland's Jere Lehtinen, Ville Peltonen and captain Saku Koivu all won their fourth medals, equaling an Olympic record shared with three players.

Teemu Selanne didn't score in what was likely the final game for the Olympics' career scoring leader.

Pavol Demitra had a goal and two assists for the Slovaks, who couldn't win their nation's first medals in a team sport. Slovakia still had its best Olympic finish in fourth place.

French filmmaker Severin Blanchet killed in Kabul

PARIS – Severin Blanchet, a French documentary filmmaker who was training young Afghans, died Friday during an attack by insurgents in a hotel for foreigners in Kabul where he was staying. He was 66.

The French Foreign Ministry and the Ateliers Varan, a French film school with which Blanchet was affiliated, both offered condolences.

Blanchet had been in Afghanistan since 2006 organizing classes in documentary film-making for young, aspiring Afghan filmmakers.

"I salute the memory of our compatriot Severin Blanchet," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement Friday.

"He was a privileged partner in French cultural action in Afghanistan. We will pursue with determination the work that he had started with such generosity and solidarity," Kouchner said.

Blanchet had made about a dozen of his own documentary films and created film-making courses in many countries. He had a special interest for Papua New Guinea, the Ateliers Varan said in a statement posted on its Web site.

He also appeared in films on occasion and had a role in the 2006 movie "Gardens in Autumn" by the well-known Georgian director Otar Iosselani, who lives in France.

Funeral plans were not known, and there was no immediate information available about survivors.

Odeon reverses itself and agrees to show "Alice"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A top European theater chain said on Thursday it will show Walt Disney Co's "Alice In Wonderland," after threatening to boycott it in some countries to protest Disney's plans to release the DVD early.

Odeon's reversal on Thursday in signing a deal with Disney came the same day the chain hosted a London premiere for the movie at its Leicester Square theater.

Odeon's concession follows similar deals by the UK's Cineworld Cinemas and Vue Entertainment chains, which were also initially reluctant to show "Alice," but have relented and reached deals with Disney in recent days.

Odeon said in a statement it reached an "enduring agreement" with Disney "encompassing all the different aspects of both companies' commercial relationship."

The statement did not offer details on the agreement. A Disney spokesman also declined to give specifics.

"Alice In Wonderland," which stars Johnny Depp, opens on March 5 and is the most highly anticipated 3-D movie since the record-shattering "Avatar," which has made nearly $2.5 billion at worldwide box offices.

But Disney has upset theater owners with its plan to shorten by about a month the standard 17-week window between the film's theater debut and its DVD release, in part to spark disc sales.

The chains grumbled that audiences would skip going to theaters, and wait to see the movie on DVD.

Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group, owned by London-based private equity firm Terra Firma, said earlier this week that it would not show "Alice" at its UK, Irish and Italian theaters.

Odeon's 110 theaters in the UK make it the largest chain in that country.

WHO says too early to declare swine flu peak over

GENEVA — It is too early to say that the swine flu pandemic has peaked in all parts of the world, the World Health Organisation's emergency committee said Tuesday.

"The Committee advised that it was premature to conclude that all parts of the world have experienced peak transmission of the H1N1 pandemic influenza," a spokesman said, adding more "time and information was needed."

Gregory Hartl said the decision of 15 experts was not binding and that a final decision would be taken by WHO Secretary General Margaret Chan.

Several countries have been running down their costly special pandemic flu precautions in recent weeks, while new recommendations issued by the WHO for later this year incorporate the A(H1N1) virus into seasonal vaccines.

Nearly 16,000 people have died worldwide from the new A(H1N1) strain after it spread into 212 countries and overseas territories since it was uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April 2009, WHO data showed.

Overall, swine flu was declining in most of the northern hemisphere, except for recent reported increases in West Africa.

Austrian 'Eagles' soar to ski jump success

WHISTLER, Canada — Austria's invincible ski-jumpers soared to a convincing Olympic gold medal on Monday in the team event for a record-tying fifth consecutive title at major competitions.

Young gun Gregor Schlierenzauer just managed to stay on his skis in the final jump of the day to lead the 'Eagles' to victory over Germany and Norway.

They scored 1107.9 points -- the highest in Olympic team history -- to Germany's 1035.8 and Norway's 1030.2.

"I feel so fantastic. It is a dream. And now three, three gold medals (in his Olympic career)," said Austrian jumper Thomas Morganstern.

"I really can't believe this. We have all done it together, such great friends, such a great team."

Schlierenzauer, 20, had already picked up individual bronze on both the normal and the large hill.

"For me, this has been a perfect first Olympics," he said. "I won three medals. For myself, I have to say individual medals are better, but it's great to be Olympic champion with the team."

Schlierenzauer was the star of the show, with his two jumps of 140.5m and 146.5m so impressive that his personal score of 290.1 points was more than Simon Ammann's gold medal winning score of 283.6 in the large hill individual on Saturday.

Austrian coach Alexander Pointner told AFP: "This is fantastic. All the guys jumped at the highest level. I am really proud of them."

For Austria, it was a record-tying fifth consecutive team gold at major competitions after previous large hill triumphs at Turin in 2006 and at the 2005, 2007 and 2009 world championships.

In stark contrast, their men's Alpine team has failed to make any impression to the chagrin of their army of fans.

That failure meant the Austrians had no other option Monday than to take the gold after Swiss sensation Simon Ammann embarrassed them by outclassing Pointner's men in both the individual events.

The Austrians tried to have Ammann's new curved boot bindings ruled illegal but organisers rejected out of hand an attempt which clearly caused some ill-feeling between the two neighbours and winter sports giants.

"I have to say Simon Ammann is a one-off. But it was my duty as coach to say something and question his material. We accepted the decision on his bindings but the issue got out of hand and was played up in the media," Pointner said.

Germany used team consistency to place second, as its jumpers ranked in the top four in seven of the eight groupings.

Michael Neumayer's final jump of 136.5m preserved the medal and the emotional Germans celebrated as if it was a gold.

"My dream come true," said Neumayer. "Today was really perfect. The weather was really nice and the jumps were very long."

Belgian patient unable to communicate by computer: doctor

BRUSSELS — The Belgian patient Rom Houben who was wrongly diagnosed as comatose for 23 years cannot communicate by computer, his neurologist Steven Laureys told AFP Saturday.

Laureys of Liege university, who recently presented a study on the method known as "facilitated communication", concluded that it "did not work in the majority of cases".

Facilitated communication involves holding the hand of paralysed but conscious patients above a computer keyboard as a medical assistant taps the relevant letters when they observe any minute pressure.

The study by the medical team led by Laureys was based on three Belgian patients considered in a comatose state, including Houben.

In the end, just one out of the three patients was able to reply to questions using this assisted mode of communication.

Houben, now 46, was involved in a road accident in 1983 and had been wrongly diagnosed as comatose for 23 years when he was actually paralysed but conscious, as medical examinations led by Laureys discovered in 2006.

Since, Houben's family tried various methods of communication and brought his case to media attention last November.

Several supposed declarations made by the former engineering student were subsequently published in the press.

However, "from the start", Laureys cautioned, "I had said one must wait for scientific confirmation. But it is hard sometimes for the media to reflect a complex reality."

Caddie to protect Woods from hecklers on return

SYDNEY — Tiger Woods's long-time caddie Steve Williams said he won't tolerate any heckling from the public galleries when the world number one makes his eventual return to golf, reports said on Sunday.

Woods apologised on Friday for his "irresponsible and selfish behaviour" as the golf superstar broke his long silence on the sex scandal that engulfed him last year.

He admitted to a string of infidelities and confirmed he had been undergoing treatment in a rehabilitation centre, but did not confirm when he would return to golf, saying only that it would be "one day," possibly this year.

New Zealander Williams, 46, who has been carrying Woods's golf bag in tournaments since 1999, has a gruff reputation for not tolerating heckling or loutish behaviour in the public galleries when Woods is in action.

With Woods expected to come under further scrutiny on his return to the golf course, Williams said he would ensure that his boss had a "level playing field.".

"When I go back to work with Tiger Woods nothing will change," Williams told The Sun-Herald. "My job is to give him the best information I can and get him around in the fewest possible strokes.

"And as I have always pointed out, it is to try and give him a level playing field. Nothing will change from that aspect. I won't do anything differently."

Williams, who has been spending time in New Zealand and Australia during his golfing hiatus, said Woods's return to tournament play can't come quick enough for golf fans.

"There are always going to be people who are going to knock you for being the number one player in the world and being as successful as Tiger has been, there have been people who have knocked him anyway.

"I am sure there might be a few more, it goes with the territory.

"I think first and foremost, most people will be very excited to have Tiger back playing."

Global swine flu death toll creeps towards 16,000: WHO

GENEVA — The global death toll from swine flu approached the 16,000 mark as the pandemic waned in much of Europe and Asia, the World Health Organisation said Friday.

"As of 14 February 2010, worldwide more than 212 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 15,921 deaths," the WHO said in its latest update.

The toll recorded since the A(H1N1) pandemic virus was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States last April grew by 629 compared to the previous week.

Several countries in West Africa reported increases in cases after swine flu was recently detected there, but the WHO concluded there was insufficient evidence so far that swine flu was spreading widely in local communities.

"In the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, overall pandemic influenza activity continued to decline in most countries," despite pockets of activity, the WHO said.

Be of good heart: Happiness helps ward off cardiac disease

PARIS — People with a sunny outlook on life are less likely to develop heart disease than those who are less happy or outright glum, according to a study published on Thursday.

Its authors say it is the first investigation to give objective data to support the belief that high morale also helps a strong heart.

Publishing in the European Heart Journal, the Canadian team followed 1,739 men and women over 10 years who were enrolled in a health-monitoring project in Nova Scotia.

At the start of the study, trained nurses gave an assessment of the participants' risk of heart and disease.

Using both self-reporting and clinical assessment, the observers rated symptoms of depression, hostility and anxiety as well as "positive" counterparts -- joy, happiness, enthusiasm and contentment -- on a five-point scale.

Taking age, sex and cardiovascular risk factors into account, the researchers found that over the 10 years, "increased positive affect" lessened the risk of heart disease by 22 percent for each point on the scale.

"Participants with no positive affect were at a 22-percent higher risk of ischaemic heart disease (heart attack or angina) than those with a little positive affect, who were themselves at 22 percent higher risk than those with moderate positive affect," explained Karina Davidson, director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, New York.

She added: "We also found that if someone who was usually positive had some depressive symptoms at the time of the survey, this did not affect their overall lower risk of heart disease."

The investigators offer up several theories to explain the phenomenon.

One is that people with "positive affect" may have longer periods of rest and relaxation and recover more quickly from stress.

They caution, though, that clinical trials are needed to explore the heart-happiness link before doctors can issue any recommendations on how to prevent cardiac disease by enhancing positive emotions.

Researchers find trigger for narcolepsy: study

GENEVA — Swiss scientists say they have found a trigger for narcolepsy, the health disorder that sparks sudden daytime bouts of tiredness or sleep, in a move that could open up new avenues for treatment.

The protein, called Trib2, is produced by neurones that also secrete the substance which helps keeps people awake, hypocretin, the researchers at Geneva and Lausanne Universities said in a statement.

Narcolepsy, which affects some 0.05 percent of the population on average, has already been associated with a hypocretin deficiency but the exact cause had never been pinpointed.

The researcher team concluded that narcolepsy was the result of an attack by the body's own immune system, after they found high levels of Trib2 antibodies amongst a sample of 120 narcoleptic patients.

The antibodies end up destroying the hypocretic neurones.

Professor Mehdi Tafti, co-director of the sleep laboratory at Vaud University Hospital in Lausanne, said that treatment with immunoglobulin, which is commonly used for auto-immune diseases of the nervous system, had shown "extraordinary results."

The sleep disorder disappeared in most of the patients treated soon after first symptoms, the statement added.

The Swiss researchers hope the discovery could also shed more light on the way the human body handles sleep.

The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

US women romp past Russia in ice hockey

VANCOUVER — The United States followed up their 12-1 win over China with a 13-0 demolition of Russia in the Olympic Games women's ice hockey tournament on Tuesday.

USA opened the scoring when Monique Lamoureux found herself alone in the slot and with her twin sister Jocelyne causing problems for net-minder Anna Prugova, Monique hit the opener at 2:19.

Four more goals followed in the first period with Jenny Potter on her way to her second hat-trick in as many games, with a shorthanded goal and a power-play goal.

Caitlin Cahow then added another power-play goal at 12:57. Karen Thatcher rounded out the opening period scoring with her first Olympic goal at 9:54.

Russia were short-handed for much of the second period, accumulating six penalties and allowing the US to score four more during that time.

Angela Ruggiero, Kelli Stack, Natalie Darwitz and Molly Engstrom all found the net within seconds of a Russian player going to the penalty box.

Jocelyne Lamoureux scored at 6:01 before Russia changed net-minders after Darwitz's second short-handed goal at 31:00.

Potter greeted replacement Mariya Onolbaeva with her third goal of the day at 31:46.

Lisa Chesson scored the USA's 13th goal on another powerplay at 1:05 of the third.

Prugova and Onolbaeva faced a total of 34 shots on goal, making only 21 saves while, at the other end, Jessie Vetter stopped all seven shots she faced.

US coach Mark Johnson said that despite the scoreline, teams like Russia can only get better by facing his side as well as Canada who started their campaign with an Olympic record 18-0 defeat of Slovakia.

"The Russian programme is just now starting to build. I think a lot of things concern me, and I don't think that's at the top of the list," he said.

"We respected our opponents, didn't try to do things that would embarrass them or ourselves. You have to respect the game. As a coach you'll be on both sides of the aisle. Their players are doing the same things we are, playing in the Olympics.

"My message in between periods was to be respectful. Their players are doing the same thing as our players and living the Olympic dream."

Cindy Crawford gets caught up in spirit

WHISTLER, Canada — Former supermodel Cindy Crawford has been been entering into the Olympic spirit, but is not alone in finding curling rather quirky.

"I loved the opening ceremony, then we went up to Whistler and saw the ski-jumping," said Crawford.

"Those guys are flying. It was amazing to watch," added the American, who turns 44 on Saturday.

"It's cool just being at any event even if you didn't think you were a fan. You can't help but get caught up in it," she told the BBC.

She added that having come late to skiing her best days on the snow were likely behind her.

"I didn't start skiing until I was 30. Last year was the first year that my kids (Presley, 9, and Kaia, 8) have surpassed me and they don't want to ski with me," she said.

Asked if her winter sports enthusiasm extended to curling, Crawford was hesitant, however.

"I know it involves a brush, right?"

Silver lining for Americans with Spillane

WHISTLER, Canada — Had the 10 km course been a couple of metres shorter American winter sports fans would Sunday have been acclaiming their first ever Nordic Olympic champion.

In the end, they had to settle for a silver - acknowledging the additional irony of the fact that French gold medalist Jason Lamy-Chappuis was born in Montana - while hailing Johnny Spillane, ousted at the line with bronze going to Italian Alessandro Pittin.

Even so, American fans saluted Spillane for what was their country's first Olympic medal in a discipline dominated by Europeans.

"Overall, I'm very satisfied with the result," said Spillane, who missed gold by an agonising 0.4sec.

It could have been even better for the Americans - American Todd Lodwick coming fourth as he missed bronze by 0.7sec.

Lamy-Chappuis gained his reward for keeping on right to the end as Spillane visibly tired.

"He slowed down a little going into the stadium," said the Frenchman. "Maybe my glide (to the line) was better than his."

But Spillane's Nordic showing was still the best by an American in a generation, Bill Koch having won a 30km silver in the 1976 Olympics at Innsbruck.

The only other American medalist in a Nordic discipline was Anders Haugen, who took a skijump bronze after competing in the 1924 Chamonix Games.

Haugen had to wait 50 years for his medal after a Games historian discovered a mistake in the points allocation with Norway's Thorleif Haug wrongly handed third place.Click Here!

10,000 Chinese visit Taiwan on Lunar New Year's Day

TAIPEI — More than 10,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit Taiwan on the first day of the Lunar New Year Sunday to set a new daily record, a report said, amid improving ties between the two sides.

The influx of visitors helped double the island's hotel occupancy rates to more than 80 percent from last year for the Lunar New Year holidays, the United Daily News said.

In all, about 40,000 Chinese have applied to travel to the island during the nine-day holiday period which started Saturday, tripling from the same period in 2009, tourism officials have said.

A key factor in boosting the numbers was a decision by President Ma Ying-jeou's Beijing-friendly government in July 2008 to treble the average daily quota of Chinese tourists.

Taiwanese authorities have said that tourism grew in the island faster than anywhere else in Asia last year on the back of an influx of mainland visitors.

Ties between Taiwan and China have improved markedly since Ma took office in 2008, although Beijing still claims the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Tragedy overshadows Olympic opening

VANCOUVER — The Winter Olympics offically opened but Vancouver's big day was overshadowed by the tragic death of a Georgian luger in a horrific crash.

The BC Place stadium staged a colourful indoor ceremony on Friday involving a host of stars linking Canada's past with the modern nation, including a welcome from the country's Native peoples.

It culminated years of planning as some 2,500 athletes from 82 nations prepare to compete in the February 12-28 showpiece, with Canadian governor general Michaelle Jean officially declaring the event open.

With flags at half-mast in honour of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge reminded all athletes of their responsibility as role models.

"Dear athletes, these Games belong to you ... so give them the magic that we all desire through your performances and your conduct," he said.

"Remember that you are role models for the youth of the world. There is no glory without responsibility."

Organisers were faced with their worst nightmare when Kumaritashvili died earlier in the day after flying off the Olympic luge track at high speed and smashing into a metal pillar during a training run.

The 21-year-old was knocked unconscious and immediately placed on a stretcher with blood pouring from his face before being air-lifted to hospital and pronounced dead.

"This is a very sad day. The International Olympic Committee is in deep mourning," a visibly shaken Rogge said earlier.

"He had a dream to participate in the Olympic Games. He trained hard and he had this fatal accident. I have no words to say what we feel."

Georgia's shellshocked eight-man team, now reduced to seven, considered pulling out of the Games but decided to compete in honour of Kumaritashvili.

"During the 2008 Summer Olympics Georgia was invaded by Russia and despite this they stayed and won several medals," said Georgia's minister for sports and culture Nikolos Rurua.

"So our sportsmen have decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games and compete and dedicate their efforts to their fallen comrade."

They marched into the stadium wearing black armbands in a sombre mood and were greeted by a standing ovation from the 60,000-strong crowd. There was later a minute's silence.

The IOC said an investigation into the crash was underway and it was too early to say whether the luge events, which are due to begin on Saturday, will go ahead.

With tragedy hanging over the Games, organisers continued to battle warm weather in Vancouver and on nearby Cypress Mountain, the host of the freestyle events.

Tonnes of snow have had to be driven and helicoptered in from higher elevations to Cypress, and rain has further complicated matters.

Up at Whistler, site of the blue-riband alpine skiing events, it is not a case of no snow but too much snow.

The poor conditions and a lack of training runs forced the women's opening alpine skiing event, the super-combined scheduled for Sunday, to be postponed until a yet to be decided day.

The men's downhill event is set for Saturday morning, but with more rain and snow forecast overnight, that too could be in jeopardy.

Despite the conditions, the Olympics began at Whistler with ski jump qualifying.

Six gold medals are set to be decided on the first competitive day on Saturday.

The Games' build-up culminated with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, signalling the end of a marathon which has seen the torch cross 45,000km of the country.

It met small-scale protests on the final leg Friday when around 100 demonstrators, upset over the financial and environmental impact of the Olympics, briefly blocked the relay route.

US climate skeptics seize on blizzard

WASHINGTON — US opponents of climate change action are seizing on a record snowfall in Washington in hopes of killing legislation to curb carbon emissions, which already faced uncertain political prospects.

Environmentalists have launched a swift counter-attack, pointing out that Olympics host Vancouver is facing a dearth of snow and saying the extreme weather may in fact offer proof, not a rebuttal, of changing climate patterns.

With Washington and other eastern cities digging out from the heaviest snow in decades, conservatives have gone on the offensive and mocked leaders who warned about the planet's heating -- in particular, former vice president Al Gore.

"It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries 'uncle,'" Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, wrote on micro-blogging website Twitter.

Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a leading climate change skeptic, joined his family in building an igloo on Capitol Hill with signs reading "Al Gore's new home" and "Honk if you love global warming."

"I know that somebody is going to end up tearing it down," Inhofe said on his blog. "Because there are a lot of people who can't take a joke."

President Barack Obama sharply changed US policy on climate change when he took office last year. The House of Representatives in June approved the first nationwide plan to force cuts in carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

But the legislation has bogged down in the Senate, where Obama's Democratic Party last month lost a seat to a Republican who opposes action on the heat-trapping gases.

Senator John Kerry, the leading force behind the legislation, dismissed suggestions that the snow could bury the bill.

"The inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that this issue has stalled is dead wrong," said Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

"Comprehensive legislation will not only speed economic recovery, but it will put our country on the path to sustainable long-term economic growth," Kerry said.

But Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said he heard Obama tell Democrats the Senate bill would not include a so-called "cap-and-trade" system -- which would restrict emissions but allow a trade in credits.

"I think that the chances of that going through are very, very bad," he said, pointing in part to a backlash to the unruly Copenhagen summit in December.

Environmentalists accused climate skeptics of misunderstanding the science behind snowstorms.

While few meteorologists linked the blizzard directly to climate change, some said it showed the El Nino effect -- where unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean move east, pulling rainfall along with them.

Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground website, said that the snow proved little more than that "we get pretty darn cold in the winter."

"If it's cold enough to snow, you will get snow," he said. "We still have winter, even though temperatures have warmed on average about one degree Fahrenheit (0.5 Celsius) over the past 100 years."

The Obama administration has pledged to move ahead on climate change. It has signed on to an accord from the Copenhagen summit with a pledge to cut US emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

A 2007 report by a UN panel of scientists said that human-caused climate change was unequivocally a fact and that it would threaten droughts, floods and other severe weather along with the survival of entire species if unchecked.

The IPCC has since come under fire after admitting that one assertion, that Himalayan glaciers were at risk, was unsubstantiated. Leaked emails from the scientists also showed what critics believe are attempts to restrict debate.

"The IPCC's 'consensus' is slowly eroding away in the face of embarrassing disclosures about the poor quality of data and information it has used to make projections about climate change," Inhofe said.

But the panel has stood by the bulk of its work, as have policymakers in most nations.

Patrick Chan blasts 'old' Plushenko

VANCOUVER — World silver medallist Patrick Chan dubbed his Olympic rival Yevgeny Plushenko as 'old' as the Canadian teenager insisted his style of skating was the one of the future.

The 19-year-old found himself at the centre of a row amid allegations of North American lobbying against European figure skaters ahead of the men's figure skating event in Vancouver.

Chan is bidding for Canada's first men's figure skating gold but he is up against European rivals including Plushenko and Brian Joubert of France, who are renowned for their quadruple jumps which he does not possess as he focuses more on transitions and step sequences which are rewarded highly under the new judging system.

And allegations of American lobbying erupted after it emerged that Joe Inman, a veteran US Olympic level skating judge, sent e-mails to judges and officials reminding them to mark presentation scores accurately.

Inman sent the e-mails after he heard that Plushenko had said after winning a sixth European title that both he and former world champion Joubert do not have any transitions moves linking elements together because they focus on their jumps, implying how could they be awarded marks for something they do not do.

Chan refused to be drawn into the controversy, but said he believed that the style of skating of 27-year-old Russian Plushenko, who has returned to competition in a bid to defend his Olympic title, was out of date.

"For me the transitions are one of the most important things in a programme, otherwise it's very boring to watch," he said.

"Above all in a programme like the Phantom of the Opera which I do for the long programme. It's important to have good transitions to interpret the music with unique footwork.

"I love the new system, it's a great way to promote an all around skater especially a skater like me," said Chan.

"He's (Plushenko) confident that the quad will really help him, that he doesn't need transitions. He's old, I can't tell him it's not good.

"I think we'll start seeing more skaters like me in future generations."

Chan believes that Plushenko and Joubert will try and intimidate him with the quad in practice ahead of the competition.

"Of course they'll (Plushenko and Joubert) do it in practice and will nail it on front of me," he said.

"It's totally normal that's why the Olympics are so special. I'll only use that to feed the fire and focus on what I can do.

"It's going to be exciting to see what Plushenko has up his sleeve.

"We're all a bunch of great skaters. It's whoever who can grasp that moment on that Tuesday and Thursday."

Vancouver's poor - dark side of the Games

VANCOUVER — Canada is spending over two billion dollars on the Winter Olympics but just steps away from the venue for the opening ceremony sits one of the country's most notorious slums where drug addiction and prostitution are rife.

The scenes of homelessness and the squalor of Downtown Eastside are not the images Olympic organizers want visitors to leave with.

But the neighbourhood's close proximity to BC Place Stadium where the Olympic cauldron will be lit on Friday, will make it hard for visitors to miss.

"The biggest misconception is people think it could not happen to them," said Mark Townsend, who runs a non-profit group for the homeless.

"We have daughters of university professors, former professionals. Mental illness could strike any of us."

The homeless, prostitutes, addicts, Native Canadians and the poor all share the cramped area where hundreds of people die of drug overdoses every year.

In the 1990s, it was the killing field for serial killer Robert Pickton.

The Vancouver pig farmer was charged by police with murdering more than two dozen women, mostly prostitutes and drug addicts from Vancouver's east end. He initially told police he killed 49 women and in 2007, he was convicted of killing six women and was sentenced to life in prison.

"It could happen again," Townsend said. "We are dealing with a group of people that have been marginalized."

Vancouver's red-light districts have about 500 prostitutes, many of whom are Native women from small western Canadian towns.

There are about 18,000 people living in the east end with about 10 percent being Natives, who make up just two percent of Canada's overall population.

The area is also home to the only legal drug injection site in North America where addicts can go and inject their own drugs with a nurse on hand in case they overdose.

"I have to be a good judge of character," said Jennifer Gravelle, who works as a prostitute. "I care about my safety. I just want to eventually get out of this area and get a good house."

Leonard (he didn't want to give his family name) has lived in the area for four decades and says it is getting worse.

"In the last six years it has become a crack haven," said the former vending machine operator.

"You see young girls who have beautiful faces and it doesn't take long for their looks to change once they get into the heavy drugs. Why waste money on the Olympics? Clean up the community and help these people."

In the run up to the Games, the government poured money into housing, cleaning up the rubbish in the back alleys and putting fresh coats of paint on some of the more historic old hotels.

But Townsend wonders what it will be like when the Olympic tourists have gone.

"The Olympics are only a few weeks," said Townsend, who grew up in Bristol, England but moved to Vancouver 19 years ago.

"We are worried about the long-term. When the media leaves will all the hotels the government bought to refurbished be shut down? Will the emergency shelters and temporary housing remain open?"

Mood drug inhibits breast cancer medication: study

PARIS — A common antidepressant weakens or cancels the beneficial effects of a standard treatment for breast cancer, according to a study released Tuesday.

Women who take the mood drug paroxetine -- better known by its brand names Paxil and Seroxat -- at the same time as the breast cancer medication tamoxifen face an increased risk of death, researchers reported.

The antidepressant alone has no impact on the course of the disease but should not be taken at the same time as anti-cancer drug, the study recommended.

Tamoxifen significantly improves survival for the dominant type of breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide.

But to work properly, it must be converted by the liver into an active metabolite, the chemical that remains after a drug is broken down by the body.

It was previously suspected that antidepressants that boost the release of the naturally occurring neurotransmitter serotonin, such as paroxetine, might interfere with this process.

To find out, Catherine Kelly and colleagues at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, Canada investigated the health care records of 2,430 women with breast cancer who had received tamoxifen from 1993 to 2005.

About 30 percent of these women also received an antidepressant -- paroxetine more than any other -- at the same time, often prescribed over long periods to help patients cope with the stress of battling the deadly disease.

The use of paroxetine in combination with tamoxifen resulted in an increased long-term risk of breast cancer death -- approximately one additional fatality after five years of illness for every 20 women treated.

"These results highlight a drug interaction that is extremely common, widely underappreciated and potentially life-threatening, yet uniformly avoidable," said David Juurlink, a co-author or the study.

Tamoxifen is prescribed to women who have so-called estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer, which accounts for up to 80 percent of all cases of the disease.

Fizzy drinks 'increase cancer risk'

Sugary soft drinks can dramatically increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, research suggests.

As little as two soft drinks consumed a week can almost double the chances of developing the disease, one of the most deadly forms of cancer, a study found.

Scientists believe the high sugar content of many soft drinks may explain the trend.

Since pancreatic cancer is relatively rare - affecting around 7,600 people each year in the UK - the absolute risk from soft drinks is small.

However those diagnosed with the disease have a poor prognosis. Only 2% to 3% of patients in the UK survive as long as five years.

Researchers based their findings on more than 60,500 participants recruited for a large-scale health study in Singapore.

Over the course of 14 years, 140 of the volunteers were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. People who consumed two or more soft drinks a week - averaging five in total - had an 87% increased risk of developing the disease compared with those who did not.

In general the "soft drinks" concerned were of the fizzy sugar-sweetened variety. No association was seen between the consumption of fruit juice and pancreatic cancer.

Study leader Dr Mark Pereira, from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota in the US, said: "The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth.

The research has been published in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevent.

Olympic organisers desperate for climate change

VANCOUVER — Winter Olympics chiefs will not sanction a desperate last-minute venue switch despite unseasonably warm temperatures continuing to curse Cypress Mountain, the host of the freestyle events at the Games which begin on Friday.

The host city enjoyed highs of 11 degrees again on Saturday while meteorological officials said that the warm weather, which has led to 300 dumper trucks and even helicopters being used to transport snow from higher elevations, will continue right up to the opening ceremony on February 12.

The imported snow has been piled high on wood and hay which have been laid to form the bumps which test the freestyle skiiers at Cypress Mountain.

"We are not relocating any events," said Tim Gayda, the vice-president of organising committee VANOC, responding to the problems caused by the warmest January on record, a legacy of El Nino, a periodic warming feature over the Pacific Ocean

"We had a bunch of contingency plans about too much snow or too little snow and we are largely knee-deep in the contingency plan for the too-little snow.

"But the events will take place at Cypress Mountain - 100 percent. The fields of play are pretty much built."

As the Olympic torch arrived at the skiing venue of Whistler, protesters were gearing up to make their point to correspond with the opening ceremony on Friday with over 15,000 security personnel in place to monitor demonstrations.

Olympics organisers have agreed to set up designated zones where protesters can have their say with a dizzying array of grievances being voiced - from supporting the homeless and poor to claims by pro-Native Canadian groups that the Games are being staged on 'stolen land'.

"We think that the majority of the protesters will be peaceful," said Steve Sweeney, deputy chief of Vancouver Police, whose officers are expected to face attempts to disrupt the torch relay on its way to the opening ceremony.

"If they're going to tackle the torch-bearer, that's unlawful."

Vancouver Police expect to see around 1,500 demonstrators when the opening ceremony takes place.

"The International Olympic Committee is like the World Trade Organization," claimed Harjap Grewal, a spokesman for Olympic Resistance Network (ORN).

"Seven billion dollars have been spent on these Games while people are losing their homes in the Downtown Eastside (a Vancouver neighbourhood, often described as Canada's poorest district).

Son of USA hockey team's GM killed in car smash

RICHMOND, Indiana — Brendan Burke, the youngest son of the United States Olympic hockey team general manager Brian Burke, was killed Friday in a two-car smash on a snowy highway.

Brendan Burke, 21, had recently come out as a gay man saying at the time he hoped to help end homophobia in the hockey world.

Brian Burke is the general manager of the US men's hockey team that will compete in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

Burke also manages the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League.

Police said the younger Burke died at the scene after the Jeep Grand Cherokee he was driving slid into the path of a Ford truck. Burke's 18-year-old passenger Mark Reedy was also killed.

US Olympic Committee chairman Larry Probst said the USOC was "extremely saddened" by Burke's death.

"Our heart goes out to Brian and his family in this very difficult time," Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey, said. "We know the prayers of the entire hockey family, including our Olympic team, are with the Burke family."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman described Brendan as "a young man of courage and character."

"The National Hockey League grieves tonight for the family and friends of Brendan Burke, a young man of courage and character," Bettman said Friday.

"Words simply cannot express our sorrow over his loss. We send our deepest, most heartfelt condolences to Brendan's father, Brian; his mother, Kerry; everyone in Brendan's family and all who were inspired by his love for hockey."

Brendan is a former amateur goaltender who was hoping to go into hockey management one day.

The Americans first Olympic game is February 16 against Switzerland.

Super Bowl fever swamps storm-ravaged New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — Win or lose on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints will return from their first-ever Super Bowl to a hero's welcome, complete with their own Carnival parade, from a long-suffering city still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina.

Super Bowl fever has swamped the Big Easy, where everything from Mardi Gras parades to church services has been rescheduled to make sure fans can catch the kickoff of their team's first-ever shot at the National Football League championship spectacle.

The Saints' surprisingly successful season has been a powerful tonic for residents still recovering from the killer August 26, 2005 storm that flooded nearly 80 percent of the low-lying coastal city.

Hundreds of people died in their homes after the levees broke and water levels rose the rooftops. Even more died in the chaos that followed -- including some of those stranded in the Superdome football stadium that served as a shelter.

Locals, who had angrily brooded over the sluggish pace of recovery, have for months now greeted each other on the street with the joyously ungrammatical Saints' fan chant, "Who dat? Who dat! Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?"

The emotional boost came at a time when disaster-struck residents typically become disillusioned and fearful that their lives will never return to normal, said Charles Figley, an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Superdome football stadium -- once a horrific symbol of the abject failure of government to help thousands of people displaced by the storm -- is now an emblem of the city's rebirth.

"It's new life. It's new hope. It's promise," said Figley, a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans.

"The Saints are in the Super Bowl -- Anything is possible."

Most cities only throw parades if their teams win the Super Bowl.

But fans here have been greeting their team at the airport after every game this season. And city officials say the floats will roll and the marching bands will play for the Saints on Tuesday whether they win or lose.

"Beating the Indianapolis Colts may be more important to the players, but the fans will be proud of the Saints -- win or lose," explained Vincent Sylvain, a radio talk show host on WBOK-AM radio.

The Saints' Super Bowl bid has put New Orleans back in the national spotlight "right at the time when we think many people have forgotten us," Sylvain said. "It's more than just a game."

The players agree.

"It's a source of strength for us just knowing we're playing for much more than a Super Bowl," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said.

"We have an opportunity to give them so much hope, lift their spirits. No city deserves a champion more than New Orleans."

A million people were displaced by Katrina and tens of thousands have not yet returned.

The Saints spent a year as nomads, with owner Tom Benson pondering relocating the team while the Superdome was repaired.

The notion that the once-woeful Saints could even reach the Super Bowl five years after Katrina is so fantastic that residents here credit the team with infusing the city with triumphant optimism not seen since the storm.

"No matter what happens in the Super Bowl, the Saints have already given this city a gift that will last forever," novelist Tom Piazza agreed, as he tried on a black-and-gold Saints cap at a drugstore in the flood-scarred Lakeview neighborhood.

"No matter what stories other cities tell about themselves, New Orleans has the greatest story of any city in the country and maybe the world."

If past is prologue, Damion Frey predicted he will see a surge of business after the Super Bowl at the Art Accent Tattoo Studio near the French Quarter.

"We're doing more fleur de lis, more Superdomes and more 504s than we did before the storm," said Frey, referring to the Saints' domed stadium and the city's telephone area code.

Winning the championship would be a welcome feat, he said. But it would just be icing on the cake.

"We 'won' -- we done got there."

Clinton terms Haiti child smuggling case 'unfortunate'

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday it was "unfortunate" that American Christians are suspected of smuggling children out of quake-hit Haiti even if their intentions were good.

Haitian prosecutors are due to decide Thursday whether to charge the 10 Christians, who have been held by authorities there since they attempted to sneak a group of 33 children out of the country.

"Trafficking of human beings, particularly of children is a problem across the world," Clinton said after holding talks in Washington on Wednesday about the problem of trafficking in persons worldwide.

"The Haitian nation acted to protect children who were being removed from their country without appropriate documentation," the chief US diplomat said.

"It was unfortunate that, whatever the motivation, this group of Americans took matters into their own hands," Clinton said.

"We are engaged in a discussion with the Haitian government about the appropriate disposition of their cases. They've been granted consular access," she said.

"We've been working through the questions the Haitian government has and we're looking for the best way forward... We take this very seriously," she said.

The children were picked up last week by members of an Idaho-based Baptist group called New Life Children's Refuge who tried to take them across the border to the Dominican Republic where they planned to establish an orphanage.

Mazar Fortil, interim prosecutor for the main Port-au-Prince court, told AFP on Monday that the group, which is yet to be formally charged, could be tried for kidnapping, child trafficking and a lesser charge of criminal conspiracy.

The case came to light as authorities in Port-au-Prince expressed concern that some Haitian children may have fallen prey to human traffickers or been misidentified as orphans in the chaos following the January 12 earthquake that leveled the city.

Internet Explorer a champ but Chrome a contender

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft's latest version of Internet Explorer (IE) is a hit but Google's Chrome has been steadily gaining ground on the Web browsing software, according to industry figures released Tuesday.

Chrome's share of the browser market rose from 1.62 percent in March of last year to 5.22 percent last month, according to Net Application trend data.

During the same period, Internet Explorer's piece of the Web browser market dropped from 68.46 percent to 62.12 percent, Net Application reported.

The percentage of people using Safari browser software tailored for Apple's Macintosh computers went from 3.63 percent in March of last year to 4.53 percent in January.

"I think what Microsoft is seeing is that when people upgrade from IE 6 they don't necessarily go to IE 8," said Net Application spokesman Vince Vizzaccaro.

"They have been very vocal with trying to get people to upgrade, and people may be looking around to see what other browsers are available."

About two weeks ago, Microsoft released a patch for an IE 6 software hole through which China-based cyber spies attacked Google and other firms.

Attackers used email or some other lure to get employees of a targeted company to click on a link and visit a specially crafted website using IE.

Malicious software would then be downloaded that has the capability to essentially install 'back doors' in machines and give hackers access.

The US software giant advised people to upgrade from IE6, which is nearly a decade old.

No matter which Web browser people use, upgrading to the most current version promises to increase protection against hackers.

Net Application data from January showed that while a fifth of the world's machines still used IE 6 to explore the Internet, IE 8 took the top spot with 25.56 percent of the overall market.

"We launched just less than a year ago, so it?s both humbling and thrilling to see so many people choose our product so quickly -- making it the most popular browser of choice worldwide," Brandon LeBlanc of the Windows Team wrote Tuesday in a blog post.

IE 7 and 8 browsers have together tallied more than 350 million blocks of malicious software and links to 125 million "phishing" websites devised to trick people into disclosing valuable information such as passwords.

"You may have recently heard about organizations including Google recommending that people update their browsers and move off older versions, such as the nearly decade-old IE 6," LeBlanc wrote.

"Think about what technology and the Internet were like in the year 2000 and consider how they?ve evolved since then. It was a different time and people?s browsing needs were different. Today?s Internet calls for more."

Couple: Star wedding planner Tutera got cold feet

NEW YORK – A newlywed couple say celebrity party planner David Tutera jilted them by dropping out of their lavish Singapore nuptials about 10 days before the ceremony — a claim that Tutera disputed Monday.

The couple's allegations were made Friday in a lawsuit filed by molecular biologist Melissa Chin and information technology consultant Steve Choi.

The two, who ultimately married as planned in August, said Tutera left them scrambling to pull off the six-figure affair.

They said they paid Tutera at least $265,000 and even had a breed of orchid designed in his honor. In return, the reality show host promised to help "in creating their special and magical day," according to the lawsuit filed in a Manhattan court.

But after travel arrangements hit a minor snag, the couple said, Tutera not only didn't show but also canceled or didn't fulfill orders for items including the bride's bouquet.

A Tutera spokeswoman said the couple missed a final payment, and he was told not to come because the wedding fund had run dry.

"Tutera did as advised" and looks forward to resolving the dispute in court, said the spokeswoman, Eda Kalkay.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, saying the Massachusetts couple "suffered severe emotional distress wondering what items were going to be delivered for their wedding."

The New York-based Tutera hosts "My Fair Wedding" on the WE TV network. His clients have included Star Jones.

Dubai police say Mossad may have killed Hamas chief

DUBAI — Dubai's police chief said Sunday that Israel's spy agency, Mossad, could be behind the murder of a top Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel room.

"It could be Mossad, or another party," police chief Dhahi Khalfan told AFP.

"Personally, I don't exclude any possibility. I don't exclude any party that has an interest in the assassination" of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhuh, Khalfan said.

"There were seven or more people holding passports from different European countries" in the group suspected of killing Mabhuh, Khalfan said.

He refused to name the countries, but added, "we are currently in contact with these European countries to verify the authenticity of the passports."

The hardline Palestinian Hamas movement on Friday accused Israel of assassinating Mabhuh, who was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20, and vowed revenge.

Hamas has acknowledged that Mabhuh was in Dubai to buy arms for Hamas in its struggle against Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

Khalfan said that "it seems (Mabhuh) opened the door" of his room, letting his killers in. "Mabhuh was suffocated," Khalfan said, adding that "strangulation is possible."

The Israeli press, meanwhile, hailed the killing, with the rightwing English-language Jerusalem Post calling it "another blow to the 'axis of evil'" that will make it more difficult for Hamas to get arms into its Gaza strip stronghold.

On Sunday, The Times of London, cited unidentified Middle Eastern sources as saying that Mabhuh's body was found by staff at the luxury Al Bustan Rotana hotel in Dubai.

The paper said that Mabhuh was travelling on a false passport and on arrival in Dubai was followed by two men described by local police as "Europeans carrying European passports."

The hit squad injected Mabhuh with a drug that induced a heart attack, photographed all the documents in his briefcase and left a "do not disturb" sign on the door, the paper said.

It added that the Hamas leader was on a mission to buy arms from Iran to Gaza, and was tracked from the moment he boarded Emirates flight EK 912 from Damascus on January 18.

Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas' military wing, was in charge of arms purchases for the militant group.

Dubai, a rich and glitzy city-state that part of the United Arab Emirates federation, has been an exposing its murkier side with several murders and assassination in recent years.

Sulim Yamadayev, a bitter foe of pro-Russia Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was shot dead in Dubai in March 2009.

In January 2003, Dubai-based businessman Sharad Shetty, suspected to be a close associate of Indian underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was shot at point-blank range in a gangland-style killing at Dubai's India Club.

Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim was found dead in her Dubai home in July 2008. She had been stabbed to death and her face mutilated.