No More Bruised or Brown Apples and Potatoes

FDA approves genetically engineered potatoes and apples as safe for consumption.

This post is on Healthwise

March 20, 2015

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and KEITH RIDLER, Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Potatoes that won't bruise and apples that won't brown are a step closer to grocery store aisles.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the genetically engineered foods as safe, saying they are as nutritious as their conventional counterparts.

The approval covers six varieties of potatoes by Boise, Idaho-based J. R. Simplot Co. and two varieties of apples from the Canadian company Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.

Simplot's potatoes go by the trade name "Innate," while Okanagan's apples are called "Arctic Apples."

The agency's review process is voluntary, and both companies asked for a review to ensure their products met safety standards.

Aware of potential resistance to its genetically modified potatoes, Simplot officials note that Innate potato traits come exclusively from domestic potato varieties.

http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/03/20/fda-approves-genetically-engineered-potatoes-apples-as-safe

FDA approves genetically engineered potatoes, apples as safe

 

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and KEITH RIDLER

March 20, 2015 7:27 PM

.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Potatoes that won't bruise and apples that won't brown are a step closer to grocery store aisles, but some food suppliers say they don't want any part of it and others are staying silent.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the genetically engineered foods, saying they are "as safe and nutritious as their conventional counterparts."

The approval covers six varieties of potatoes by Boise, Idaho-based J. R. Simplot Co. and two varieties of apples from the Canadian company Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, refers to food grown from seeds that are genetically engineered in a lab. Aware of potential resistance from consumers, Simplot officials say Innate potato traits come exclusively from genes from domestic potato varieties.

However, one of the company's oldest business partners — McDonald's — said it won't use the potatoes.

"McDonald's USA does not source GMO potatoes nor do we have current plans to change our sourcing practice," the company said in a statement Friday.

This undated handout photo provided by Simplot Corporation shows modified potatoes. Potatoes that wo …

Burger King and Wendy's declined to comment.

Okanagan, based in British Columbia, wants to make apples a more convenient snack with its non-browning version. The company says bagged apples wouldn't have to be washed in antioxidants like they are now, a process that can affect taste. Company founder Neal Carter said Okanagan wants to see bagged apples become as prolific as bagged baby carrots.

"We know that in a convenience-driven world, a whole apple is too big of a commitment," Carter said.

The apples are dubbed Arctic Apples, and Carter said he wants them to be labeled as such. The first two varieties will be Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. Carter said there won't be significant plantings until 2017.

Simplot calls its potatoes Innate and the varieties selected include Ranger Russet, Russet Burbank and Atlantic.

View gallery

FILE - This May 10, 2013 file photo shows a genetically engineered potato poking through the soil of …

"We're trying to improve potatoes so everyone gets a better experience, just like it's right out of the field," said Haven Baker, vice president of plant sciences for Simplot.

But it could be years before the average customer is able to buy one. The company has about 400 acres of Innate potatoes in storage from the 2014 harvest that it plans to deliver to growers, packers and shippers to be sent to a tightly-controlled network for use in small-scale test markets.

The company said those markets haven't been determined, and it's not clear how the potatoes will be labeled. The company said it's not selling Innate seed potatoes on the open market.

ConAgra, a major French fry and potato supplier through Lamb Weston to restaurant chains, said it won't use the potatoes.

"All Lamb Weston frozen potato products are made with non-GMO potatoes, in line with customer demand," a company statement said.

View gallery

File - This May 10, 2013 file photo shows genetically engineered potatoes growing in rows inside a J …

Food supplier McCain in a statement said its policy is to not use GMO potatoes. But the company also said it recognized the challenge of producing affordable food to meet demand and planned to monitor and possibly participate in research.

"Regulatory compliance and consumer acceptance for the use of any new technology will guide our actions," the company said.

Simplot says its potatoes will have 70 percent less acrylamide, a chemical that can be created when potatoes are cooked at high temperatures. And it's touting that as a health benefit, as some studies have shown acrylamide to be a potential carcinogen, though the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health says scientists "do not yet know with any certainty" whether the substance can be harmful in food.

The FDA in its approval Friday noted that acrylamide has been found to be a carcinogenic in rodents.

Simplot says its potatoes have 40 percent less bruising from impacts and pressure during harvest and storage then conventional potatoes, which the company said could reduce the more than 3 billion pounds of potatoes discarded yearly by consumers.

The FDA's review process is voluntary, but both companies asked for one. To review, FDA compares safety and data of the GMO food in comparison to conventional variety.

Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in a statement Friday objected to the voluntary system for approving GMOs and said legislation is needed to make it mandatory.

____

Jalonick reported from Washington. AP Food Industry Writer Candice Choi contributed in New York

http://news.yahoo.com/fda-approves-genetically-engineered-potatoes-apples-safe-150919612--finance.html

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Vinegar: the next superfood?

Between the balsamic, sherry and red wine vinegars on our salads and the alcohol vinegars in our cleaning products, the applications for the acidic liquid are virtually endless. But can vinegar be considered a health food?

May 23, 2014 11:23 AM
Relaxnews

Consuming certain types of vinegar may help
reduce accelerated aging, according to a recent study.

A report published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in the Journal of Food Science shows that certain types of vinegar could actually offer significant health benefits.

According to the studies cited in the article, vinegar is rich in antioxidants, which could reduce accelerated aging and even slow the development of certain cancers or degenerative brain disorders. The authors of the report also point to vinegar's antibacterial properties, its ability to reduce the effects of diabetes, and its contribution to improved cardiovascular health and blood pressure. Vinegar is also said to help athletes recuperate after intense physical effort.

Finally, the report notes that individuals who consume certain types of vinegar on a daily basis have been shown to have lower appetites: a finding that could be applied when developing weight loss plans for obese patients.

The authors at the IFT nonetheless indicated that further research will be necessary to validate any claims regarding vinegar's health benefits.

http://news.yahoo.com/vinegar-next-superfood-152353356.html

'Cherry tree from space' mystery baffles Japan

A cherry tree grown from a seed that orbited the Earth for eight months bloomed years earlier than expected

By Shigemi Sato

April 11, 2014 4:50 AM

Tokyo (AFP) - A cosmic mystery is uniting monks and scientists in Japan after a cherry tree grown from a seed that orbited the Earth for eight months bloomed years earlier than expected -- and with very surprising flowers.

The four-year-old sapling -- grown from a cherry stone that spent time aboard the International Space Station (ISS) -- burst into blossom on April 1, possibly a full six years ahead of Mother Nature's normal schedule.

Its early blooming baffled Buddhist brothers at the ancient temple in central Japan where the tree is growing.

"We are amazed to see how fast it has grown," Masahiro Kajita, chief priest at the Ganjoji temple in Gifu, told AFP by telephone.

"A stone from the original tree had never sprouted before. We are very happy because it will succeed the old tree, which is said to be 1,250 years old."

The wonder pip was among 265 harvested from the celebrated "Chujo-hime-seigan-zakura" tree, selected as part of a project to gather seeds from different kinds of cherry trees at 14 locations across Japan.

The stones were sent to the ISS in November 2008 and came back to Earth in July the following year with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, after circling the globe 4,100 times.

View gallery

FILE - This Nov. 7, 2013 file photo shows Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, a crew member of the Int …

Some were sent for laboratory tests, but most were ferried back to their places of origin, and a selection were planted at nurseries near the Ganjoji temple.

By April this year, the "space cherry tree" had grown to around four metres (13 feet) tall, and suddenly produced nine flowers -- each with just five petals, compared with about 30 on flowers of the parent tree.

It normally takes about 10 years for a cherry tree of the similar variety to bear its first buds.

The Ganjoji temple sapling is not the only early-flowering space cherry tree.

Of the 14 locations in which the pits were replanted, blossoms have been spotted at four places.

Two years ago, a young tree bore 11 flowers in Hokuto, a mountain region 115 kilometres (70 miles) west of Tokyo, around two years after it was planted.

View gallery

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata holds a pack of cherry seeds in the International Space Station, Ap …

It was of a variety that normally only comes into flower at the age of eight.

Cosmic rays

The seeds were sent to the ISS as part of "an educational and cultural project to let children gather the stones and learn how they grow into trees and live on after returning from space," said Miho Tomioka, a spokeswoman for the project's organiser, Japan Manned Space Systems (JAMSS).

"We had expected the (Ganjoji) tree to blossom about 10 years after planting, when the children come of age," she added.

Kaori Tomita-Yokotani, a researcher at the University of Tsukuba who took part in the project, told AFP she was stumped by the extra-terrestrial mystery.

"We still cannot rule out the possibility that it has been somewhat influenced by its exposure to the space environment," she said.

Tomita-Yokotani, a plant physiologist, said it was difficult to explain why the temple tree has grown so fast because there was no control group to compare its growth with that of other trees.

She said cross-pollination with another species could not be ruled out, but a lack of data was hampering an explanation.

"Of course, there is the possibility that exposure to stronger cosmic rays accelerated the process of sprouting and overall growth," she said.

"From a scientific point of view, we can only say we don't know why."

Wakata is back aboard the ISS, where he is in command of the station.

The astronaut took part in a video link-up on Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, chatting about his daily life hundreds of kilometres above the Earth.

http://news.yahoo.com/cherry-tree-space-mystery-baffles-japan-085044593.html

TV's 'Dr House' helps solve real-life medical mystery

February 7, 2014 5:13 AM
Relaxnews
For a year, the patient suffered from a range of worsening symptoms that left doctors stumped.
His heart started failing, his sight and hearing deteriorated, he suffered from acid reflux, swollen lymph nodes and an inexplicable fever. The outlook was grim.

British actor Hugh Laurie plays
Dr. Gregory House, TV's misfit medical genius.

Only Dr Gregory House, TV's misfit medical genius, could solve the mystery: the cause was an eroded prosthetic hip.

But this time the sleuthing did not happen on the small screen but in real life, The Lancet reported on Friday.

Thanks to an episode in "House", doctors at a German clinic were able to save a 55-year-old man who was in a serious and baffling decline.

The patient had been referred to Marburg's Centre for Undiagnosed Diseases in May 2012.

Poring over his medical history, the team found a past that was uneventful... apart from a double hip replacement.

They pounced on this detail. Recalling an episode from the seventh season of "House", the team began to suspect cobalt poisoning, probably from a worn hip implant.

Scans and blood tests confirmed the suspicion and the patient soon had his metal prosthesis replaced by a ceramic one.

"Shortly after the hip replacement, the patient's plasma (blood) cobalt and chromium concentrations decreased and the patient stabilised and recovered slightly," the case report said.

By July last year, 14 months after the operation, his heart function improved to 40 percent, the fever was gone and so was the acid reflux. The patient had by then received a defibrillator to aid his damaged heart.

His hearing and vision, unfortunately, recovered only slightly, said the report.

Not only entertaining, also life-saving

"It was helpful for me that I was aware about the cobalt problems thanks to Dr House," team leader Juergen Schaefer told AFP, while stressing that other diagnostic tools were brought into play as well.

"All this demonstrates nicely that well-performed entertainment is not only able to entertain and educate, but also to save lives."

"House" is the story of a grumpy and cynical diagnostician who specialises in solving medical mysteries that other doctors cannot crack.

He is based on Sherlock Holmes, whose character was in turn inspired by real-life 19th century Scottish doctor Joseph Bell who, like House, used deductive reasoning as a diagnostic tool.

Schaefer said he was a fan of the TV show and had been using episodes from the series, based on real cases, as part of his lectures for several years now, "to attract my students' attention for rare or unusual diseases".

He has been dubbed the "German Dr House" by colleagues, students and the media.

Schaefer said his centre has treated at least five other patients with cobalt poisoning, though with less severe symptoms.

"There must be more awareness to the potential side effects of metal implants in humans," he said.

The case report added that cobalt poisoning in hip replacement patients was "an increasingly recognised and life-threatening problem".

Erosion of a replacement hip, often the result of a botched operation or dodgy prosthesis, can release toxic metals into the blood stream.

Cases of heart failure as a result of cobalt poisoning are rare and have in the past mainly been observed in steel workers and heavy consumers of a specific Quebec beer that was found in the 1960s to have had cobalt sulfate added for foam stability.

http://news.yahoo.com/tv-39-39-dr-house-39-helps-solve-101316825.html
TV's 'Dr House' helps solve real-life medical myst...

Vietnam releases dengue-blocking mosquito

By MARGIE MASON November 5, 2013 3:05 AM                            

In this photo taken on Sept. 2, 2013, specimens collected from traps are
 taken back to the lab in Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang city

TRI NGUYEN ISLAND, Vietnam (AP) — Nguyen Thi Yen rolls up the sleeves of her white lab coat and delicately slips her arms into a box covered by a sheath of mesh netting. Immediately, the feeding frenzy begins.

Hundreds of mosquitoes light on her thin forearms and swarm her manicured fingers. They spit, bite and suck until becoming drunk with blood, their bulging bellies glowing red. Yen laughs in delight while her so-called "pets" enjoy their lunch and prepare to mate.

The petite, grandmotherly entomologist — nicknamed Dr. Dracula — knows how crazy she must look to outsiders. But this is science, and these are very special bloodsuckers.

She smiles and nods at her red-hot arms, swollen and itchy after 10 minutes of feeding. She knows those nasty bites could reveal a way to greatly reduce one of the world's most menacing infectious diseases.

All her mosquitoes have been intentionally infected with bacteria called Wolbachia, which essentially blocks them from getting dengue. And if they can't get it, they can't spread it to people.

New research suggests some 390 million people are infected with the virus each year, most of them in Asia. That's about one in every 18 people on Earth, and more than three times higher than the World Health Organization's previous estimates.

Known as "breakbone fever" because of the excruciating joint pain and hammer-pounding headaches it causes, the disease has no vaccine, cure or specific treatment. Most patients must simply suffer through days of raging fever, sweats and a bubbling rash. For those who develop a more serious form of illness, known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, internal bleeding, shock, organ failure and death can occur.

And it's all caused by one bite from a female mosquito that's transmitting the virus from another infected person.

So how can simple bacteria break this cycle? Wolbachia is commonly found in many insects, including fruit flies. But for reasons not fully understood, it is not carried naturally by certain mosquitoes, including the most common one that transmits dengue, the Aedes aegypti.

The germ has fascinated scientist Scott O'Neill his entire career. He started working with it about two decades ago at Yale University. But it wasn't until 2008, after returning to his native Australia, that he had his eureka moment.

One of his research students figured out how to implant the bacteria into a mosquito so it could be passed on to future generations. The initial hope was that it would shorten the insect's life. But soon, a hidden benefit was discovered: Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes not only died quicker but they also blocked dengue partially or entirely, sort of like a natural vaccine.

"The dengue virus couldn't grow in the mosquito as well if the Wolbachia was present," says O'Neill, dean of science at Monash University in Melbourne. "And if it can't grow in the mosquito, it can't be transmitted."

But proving something in the lab is just the first step. O'Neill's team needed to test how well the mosquitoes would perform in the wild. They conducted research in small communities in Australia, where dengue isn't a problem, and the results were encouraging enough to create a buzz among scientists who have long been searching for new ways to fight the disease. After two and a half years, the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes had overtaken the native populations and remained 95 percent dominant.

But how would it work in dengue-endemic areas of Southeast Asia? The disease swamps hospitals in the region every rainy season with thousands of sick patients, including many children, sometimes killing those who seek help too late.

The Australians tapped 58-year-old Yen at Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, where she's worked for the past 35 years. Their plan was to test the Wolbachia mosquitoes on a small island off the country's central coast this year, with another release expected next year in Indonesia.

Just getting the mosquitoes to Tri Nguyen Island was an adventure. Thousands of tiny black eggs laid on strips of paper inside feeding boxes had to be hand-carried inside coolers on weekly flights from Hanoi, where Yen normally works, to Nha Trang, a resort city near the island. The eggs had to be kept at just the right temperature and moisture. The mosquitoes were hatched in another lab before finally being transported by boat.

Yen insisted on medical checks for all volunteer feeders to ensure they weren't sickening her mosquitoes. She deemed vegetarian blood too weak and banned anyone recently on antibiotics, which could kill the Wolbachia.

"When I'm sleeping, I'm always thinking about them," Yen says, hunkered over a petri dish filled with dozens of squiggling mosquito pupae. "I'm always worried about temperature and food. I take care of them same-same like baby. If they are healthy, we are happy. If they are not, we are sad."
___

Recently, there have been several promising new attempts to control dengue. A vaccine trial in Thailand didn't work as well as hoped, proving only 30 percent effective overall, but it provided higher coverage for three of the four virus strains. More vaccines are in the pipeline. Other science involves releasing genetically modified "sterile" male mosquitoes that produce no offspring, or young that die before reaching maturity, to decrease populations.

Wolbachia could end up being used in combination with these and other methods, including mosquito traps and insecticide-treated materials.

"I've been working with this disease now for 40-something years, and we have failed miserably," says Duane Gubler, a dengue expert at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore who is not involved with the Wolbachia research.

"We are now coming into a very exciting period where I think we'll be able to control the disease. I really do."

Wolbachia also blocks other mosquito-borne diseases such as yellow fever and chikungunya, O'Neill says. Similar research is being conducted for malaria, though that's trickier because the disease is carried by several different types of mosquitoes.

It's unclear why mosquitoes that transmit dengue do not naturally get Wolbachia, which is found in up to 70 percent of insects in the wild. But O'Neill doesn't believe that purposefully infecting mosquitoes will negatively impact ecosystems. He says the key to overcoming skepticism is to be transparent with research while providing independent risk analyses and publishing findings in high-caliber scientific journals.

"I think, intuitively, it makes sense that it's unlikely to have a major consequence of introducing Wolbachia into one more species," O'Neill says, adding that none of his work is for profit. "It's already in millions already."

Dengue typically comes in cycles, hitting some areas harder in different years. People remain susceptible to the other strains after being infected with one, and it is largely an urban disease with mosquitoes breeding in stagnant water.

Laos and Singapore have experienced their worst outbreaks in recent history this season. Thailand has also struggled with a large number of patients. Cases have also been reported in recent years outside tropical regions, including in the U.S. and Europe.

Vietnam has logged lower numbers this year overall, but the country's highest dengue rate is in the province where Yen is conducting her work.

At the area's main hospital in Nha Trang, Dr. Nguyen Dong, director of infectious diseases, says 75 of the 86 patients crammed into the open-air ward are infected with the virus.

Before jabbing his fingers into the stomach of one seriously ill patient to check for pain, he talks about how the dengue season has become much longer in recent years. And despite the government's increased education campaigns and resources, the disease continues to overwhelm the hospital.

If the experiment going on just a short boat ride away from the hospital is successful, it eventually will be expanded across the city and the entire province.
____

The 3,500 people on Tri Nguyen island grew accustomed to what would be a bizarre scene almost anywhere else: For five months, community workers went house-to-house in the raging heat, releasing cups of newborn mosquitoes.

And the residents were happy to have them.

"We do not kill the mosquitoes. We let them bite," says fisherman Tran To. "The Wolbachia living in the house is like a doctor in the house. They may bite, but they stop dengue."

Specimens collected from traps are taken back to the lab for analysis to determine how well Wolbachia mosquitoes are infiltrating the native population.

The strain of bacteria used on the island blocks dengue 100 percent, but it's also the hardest to sustain. At one point, 90 percent of the mosquitoes were infected, but the rate dropped to about 65 percent after the last batch was released in early September. A similar decrease occurred in Australia as well, and scientists switched to other Wolbachia strains that thrive better in the wild but have lesser dengue-blocking abilities.

The job is sure to keep Yen busy in her little mosquito lab, complete with doors covered by long overlapping netting.

And while she professes to adore these pests nurtured by her own blood, she has a much stronger motivation for working with them: Dengue nearly claimed her own life many years ago, and her career has been devoted to sparing others the same fate.

"I love them," she says, "when I need them."
____

On the Net: http://www.eliminatedengue.com/

http://news.yahoo.com/vietnam-releases-dengue-blocking-mosquito-051346042.html

First GMO rice to be launched in Philippines in 2016

AFP News – Tue, Nov 5, 2013

Terraced rice paddies in the town of Banaue,
Ifugao province, in northern Luzon, …

The first genetically-modified rice to be commercially available could be approved for production in the Philippines in two to three years, researchers said Tuesday, despite strong opposition from environmental groups.

Officers of both the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine government's agriculture department said the newly-developed "golden rice" had completed field trials, despite vandalism at one test field.

"Golden rice is coming. That is in the pipeline and a lot of the principal development and research has been completed," said Achim Dobermann, deputy director-general of IRRI.

"At the moment, there is no GM (genetically-modified) rice officially released in any country," he stressed.

He said China was working on a pest-resistant variety of GM rice, but it was unknown when they would release it commercially.

Dobermann said that depending on the length of the approval process, it could take a minimum of "two to three years" before seeds are ready to be distributed to farmers.

Field trials of the rice, a genetically-modified organism (GMO), have been completed in the Philippines and it is now set to undergo tests to determine if it is safe to consume and propagate, said Antonio Alfonso, coordinator of the Agriculture Department's biotechnology programme.

This is despite an attack by activists on a test field in the Philippines in August that destroyed the golden rice planted there.

Alfonso said it was only one of several golden rice fields, and they were able to complete their tests.

Golden rice has been genetically modified to produce vitamin A, which is lacking in the diets of many people in developing countries, leading to weakened immune systems and blindness, and often resulting in death, IRRI said.

However many environmental groups oppose GMOs, saying they will have harmful side effects which will irreversibly spread even to non-GMO crops.

The Southeast Asia office of environmental group Greenpeace condemned the efforts to promote golden rice.

"There are already existing solutions and programmes being implemented by the Philippine government to address vitamin A deficiency in the country and these have been in place and are continuing to be effective," Greenpeace campaigner Daniel Ocampo said in a statement.

Dobermann said many of the alternatives are too expensive or impractical for poor people, who often eat mostly rice.

Greenpeace previously obtained a court ruling to suspend field trials of GMO eggplant in the Philippines.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/first-gmo-rice-launched-philippines-2016-113148764.html

New iPhones draw crowds as Apple seeks to broaden base

                    

Mariano Andrade September 20, 2013 7:28 PM 

 

NEW YORK (AFP) - Apple fans from Tokyo to New York joined the stampede Friday for the latest iPhones as the US tech giant aimed for wider global appeal in the competitive smartphone market.US stores opened with long queues after sales kicked off in Australia, Japan, China, Europe and elsewhere.

Customers clamoring for the new devices shrugged off the notion that Apple, which has been losing market share to rivals, had lost its edge in innovation. But some complained about the high price.

David Kaminsky, first in line at the Apple store in Bethesda, Maryland, said he had waited more than 12 hours for the 8:00 am opening, to ensure he got one of the gold-colored iPhones.

"It's not just the technology -- it's the experience, the simplicity," said Kaminsky, a University of Maryland student.

Apple is releasing the iPhone 5S, which has its most advanced technology, and 5C, with a lower price. While customers in the United States can get the iPhone 5C for $100 with a carrier contract, the unsubsidized price is $549 in the US and higher elsewhere.

In New York, 19-year-old musician Brian Ceballo said he waited 15 days outside the Fifth Avenue store to get the 5S model, and was impressed by the phone's new fingerprint identity system and slow-motion camera.

"Every time it surprises people," he said. Apple chief executive Tim Cook took to Twitter, apparently for the first time, describing his visit to customers waiting for iPhones near the company's California headquarters.

"Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do," Cook tweeted.

But in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, police said two people were arrested for "public fighting'' in an incident outside an Apple store.

In Tokyo, a lucrative new deal with Japan's biggest mobile carrier lent some celebrity glitz to the opening in the nation of gadget-lovers.

Diehard fans began lining up last week outside the Apple store in upmarket Ginza and even sat through a weekend storm to keep their spot in a queue that grew to around a kilometer (0.6 miles) in length by opening time, police estimated.

Actor Ken Watanabe, star of "Inception" and "Letters From Iwo Jima," meanwhile welcomed buyers with a handshake and a broad smile at Docomo's main Tokyo shop, marking the new alliance between Apple and the country's biggest carrier.

The firm, the mobile unit of NTT, which has about 42 percent of the Japanese market, has shed more than 3.5 million subscribers to rivals since 2008, when SoftBank first rolled out the iPhone in Japan, local media have reported.

Hisako Nagashima, a 34-year-old manicurist waiting to snap up an iPhone 5S in gold, said it had been make-or-break time for her relationship with the company.

"If NTT Docomo had not released iPhone this time, I would have changed carriers," she told AFP.

There was no crush in China, where Apple had a pre-booking system to avoid a repeat of the near-riot in Beijing at the 2011 release of the iPad 2 that left four people in hospital.

Those prepared to shell out a minimum 4,488 yuan ($730) for the pared-down iPhone 5C, or 5,288 yuan ($864) for the iPhone 5S, said they didn't mind the cost.

"It's not about the price, it's about the brand, I think Apple is the best," said Chang Yi, a 29-year-old real-estate salesman. Others milling around outside the store had a different opinion.

"It's too expensive... it's a luxury item," said 19-year-old student Meng Jia. "If the price was around 2,000 yuan, I would buy one".

Despite their simultaneous availability in China -- the first time Apple has brought the country online in the initial wave -- Hong Kong's resellers were pouncing, hoping to flip the phones for as much as double what they paid.

"Handsome boy, are you selling your phones?" a reseller was heard saying, before leading new iPhone 5S owners to the back stairs of the shopping mall.

In Australia, the sticker price shocked some consumers.

"Incredible -- Apple charging $99 for iPhone 5C in the USA (with a contract) but $740 in Australia and its $1,200 for 5S - no wonder Android phones are popular," tweeted David Smith.

The polycarbonate-bodied 5C, supposedly aimed at budget-conscious shoppers, was widely flagged as Apple's answer to the onslaught of cheaper, Android-powered models, led by Samsung.

In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Cook said quality had always been the driving force.

"We never had an objective to sell a low-cost phone," Cook told the magazine. "Our primary objective is to sell a great phone and provide a great experience, and we figured out a way to do it at a lower cost.

"The new phones were on sale Friday in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and Britain, with other rollouts due.

Even though Apple's stock has slipped since it announced the news, some analysts predicted the new iPhones would be positive.

"We expect Apple will sell more phones this weekend vs. what they have done historically," said Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets in a research note, citing Apple's efforts in China.Trip Chowdhry at Global Equities Research said the new iPhones would be "massively successful, probably the most successful launch in the history of Apple" because they will appeal to younger customers.

Chowdhry said he met parents who ordered iPhones for children as young as three years old: "bright colors, plastic and new age specific application categories on AppStore will make this offering a success with kids."

http://news.yahoo.com/cheap-iphone-rolls-hefty-price-tag-002853907.html

Beware supermarket wine 'bargains'

The price of certain wines zig-zag throughout the year. Rosie Murray-West tracks the changes

 

By Rosie Murray-West | Telegraph – Thu, Jun 20, 2013 18:32 BST

Yahoo! Finance UK - Glasses of red and white wine. Image: Fotolia

 I would like to claim that I have become a sophisticated wine shopper in my old age but in actual fact, like so many of us, I am guilty of buying the nearest bottle that is on offer.

Supermarkets understand this, which is why the prices of various bottles of plonk tend to zigzag up and down like a guest making his way back home from a good dinner. Ninety per cent of the wine sold in Britain, either online or in a shop, is sold on some sort of offer, meaning that we have no idea what the bottles are actually worth.

A brief search on Mysupermarket, a website that shows you how the prices of supermarket items have changed over a year, shows that it is rarely worth buying the big-name wines at their ordinary price. Instead, as many sensible shoppers have learnt, you are better off buying whatever bottle is on offer, or waiting until your favourite is. It is bound to come around soon enough. Take, just for an example, Vina Maipo, apparently a "crisp sauvignon blanc with varietal aromas of gooseberries, minerals and delicate citrus fruits".

It is on offer at half price this week at Sainsbury's. Mysupermarket lists it as a "savvy buy" this week, as it is now just £4.99. But a quick look at its price over the past year shows that it is bobbing between £5 and £10 on an almost monthly basis. It doesn't take a genius to work out that buying it at £9.99 is a mug's game. Five pounds is its "real" price.

This is far from being merely a Sainsbury's phenomenon. Tesco's half-price offers this week include a Hardys Legacy Shiraz cabernet sauvignon. Again, its highest price is £9.99, and it is reduced to £4.99. Over the past four months it has been reduced below £9.99 six times several times to just £4.

The wine remained below a fiver for the entire period between Christmas and February. If I paid £10 for it and then found that out later, I'd feel like I'd been conned.

Shoppers aren't stupid. The net result of all this game of cat and mouse between the supermarkets and their customers is that no one trusts supermarket wine pricing. However, unlike, say, Heinz baked beans or Andrex toilet roll, wine pricing confuses many of us to the point at which we just grab the nearest bottle and trot off.

Not all wine experts like to talk openly about this. One, who did not wish to be named, described it as "a very complex problem". "The supermarkets don't expect to sell the wine at full price," he said, adding that it leaves the consumers confused.

Gavin Quinney, a winegrower in Bordeaux who makes house wines for Rick Stein and Gordon Ramsay, described the supermarket pricing tactics as "pseudo offers". He pointed out that the UK duty on a bottle of wine is a fixed £2, no matter what the wine is worth, and there is 20pc VAT. "We encourage consumers to trade up, because of the fixed £2, but if they don't know what the wine is worth it is a problem," he said. "The art of hoodwinking customers is the norm."

When the products are put on offer it is the supplier who normally takes the hit, not the supermarket. Mr Quinney said his only experience of this not happening was with Waitrose, which sometimes does a 25pc off all wines sale.

So how should we negotiate the wine-buying minefield, and, if we really want to buy a bottle of wine worth £10, how do we go about it? Clubs such as the Wine Society, which is mutually owned, might allow you to get a better deal, experts suggest. You must become a member to buy Wine Society wines, and you would need to do so in bulk.

The society offers several bottles for under a fiver, and many more at £5.50. If you are prepared to spend more, the society's Corbières, at £7.25 a bottle, won a gold medal in recent wine awards, as did its £6.95 Dolcetto.

Alternatively, experts suggest that you stick to the supermarket's own-brand wines, which are not subject to quite the same zigzag pricing. Last September's International Wine Challenge awards saw Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Chenin Blanc 2011 and Marks & Spencer's Le Froglet rosé 2011 win awards. Two Tesco Finest branded wines also did well a Pouilly-Fumé and a Gigondas.

Unlike the up-and-down pricing of the wines mentioned above, the £12.99 Gigondas has been reduced only twice in the past year, and even then by only a few pence. Customers wanting to know that they are getting value for money should take note. Sometimes a good discount doesn't mean a great deal.

This week's offers...

• Co-operative Food is offering Robinson's fruit and barley squash at £1, down from £2.05
• The Co-op is also offering Pimm's No 1 at £11 a bottle, down from £13
• The Co-operative's margherita pizza, 465g, is now £2 , down from £4
• Marks & Spencer is offering its British strawberries at half price £2 for 400g while you can also buy 300g of strawberries and 300g of cherries for £4 combined. The store is also offering extra thick single cream at half price, 56p for 300ml
• Lidl's half-price weekend offers include Braemoor piri piri chicken at £1.34 for 540g, 500g of cherry vine tomatoes for 74p and 100g of dark chocolate for 17p
• Lidl has fresh watermelon on offer at £2 each, down from £3.49, until Thursday

• Lidl has Robinson's no added sugar squash in either orange or apple and blackcurrant at 79p a litre, down from £1.39

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/beware-supermarket-wine-bargains-071044549.html

New health threats for China as it grows richer: Lancet

 AFP News – Fri, Jun 7, 2013

The Chinese are increasingly facing diseases of affluence such as cancer, according to a study to be published Saturday in a leading medical journal, with threats to health including diet, pollution and city living.

 

The trends identified in The Lancet, mined from data from 1990 to 2010, illustrate the human impact of China's speedy development and urbanisation.

"Looking back to 1990, China had a health profile very similar to much of the developing world, including countries such as Vietnam or Iraq," said one of three institutes involved in the study.

"It now looks more like the US, UK or Australia in some respects," the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington said in a statement.

Among the advances, The Lancet said, were "striking declines in fertility and child mortality and increases in life expectancy at birth".

China's life expectancy has risen from 69.3 in 1990 to 75.7 to 2010, lifting it one spot to 12th place among G20 countries.

Child deaths saw a dramatic drop over the same period from one million to 213,000.

But new health troubles were emerging as more people lived longer and in cities -- which could bring better medical care but also more pollution and a sedentary lifestyle.

Leading causes of health problems in China now include stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, low back pain and road injury.

Other top risk factors are tobacco use, dietary risks, high blood pressure, ambient air pollution and household air pollution.

"The rapid rise of non-communicable diseases driven by urbanisation, rising incomes and ageing poses major challenges for China's health system, as does a shift to chronic disability," the report said.

China was "relatively unique" in that five cancers -- lung, liver, stomach, esophageal and colorectal -- ranked in the top 15 causes of premature death.

The study was undertaken by the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Peking Union Medical College and IHME.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/health-threats-china-grows-richer-lancet-225944932.html