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CHICAGO – Have you ever worked on your laptop computer with it sitting on your lap, heating up your legs? If so, you might want to rethink that habit.

Doing it a lot can lead to "toasted skin syndrome," an unusual-looking mottled skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure, according to medical reports.

In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy developed a sponge-patterned skin discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months.

"He recognized that the laptop got hot on the left side; however, regardless of that, he did not change its position," Swiss researchers reported in an article published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Another case involved a Virginia law student who sought treatment for the mottled discoloration on her leg.

Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, was stumped until she learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her computer propped on her lap. The temperature underneath registered 125 degrees.

That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.

The condition also can be caused by overuse of heating pads and other heat sources that usually aren't hot enough to cause burns. It's generally harmless but can cause permanent skin darkening. In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel. They do not cite any skin cancer cases linked to laptop use, but suggest, to be safe, placing a carrying case or other heat shield under the laptop if you have to hold it in your lap.

Salkey, an assistant dermatology professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that under the microscope, the affected skin resembles skin damaged by long-term sun exposure.

Major manufacturers including Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell warn in user manuals against placing laptops on laps or exposed skin for extended periods of time because of the risk for burns.

A medical report several years ago found that men who used laptops on their laps had elevated scrotum temperatures. If prolonged, that kind of heat can decrease sperm production, which can potentially lead to infertility. Whether laptop use itself can cause that kind of harm hasn't been confirmed.

In the past, "toasted skin syndrome" has occurred in workers whose jobs require being close to a heat source, including bakers and glass blowers, and, before central heating, in people who huddled near potbellied stoves to stay warm.

Dr. Anthony J. Mancini, dermatology chief at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said he'd treated a boy who developed the condition from using a heating pad "hours at a time" to soothe a thigh injured in soccer. Mancini said he'd also seen a case caused by a hot water bottle.

He noted that chronic, prolonged skin inflammation can potentially increase chances for squamous cell skin cancer, which is more aggressive than the most common skin cancer. But Mancini said it's unlikely computer use would lead to cancer since it's so easy to avoid prolonged close skin contact with laptops.

PARIS – Japan issued a travel alert for Europe on Monday, joining the United States and Britain in warning of a possible terrorist attack by al-Qaida or other groups, but tourists appeared to be taking the mounting warnings in stride.

The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo urged Japanese citizens to be cautious when using public transport or visiting popular tourist sites — issuing another blow to Europe's tourism industry, which is just starting to recover from the global financial crisis.

European authorities — especially in Britain, France and Germany — tightened efforts to keep the public safe in the wake of warnings by officials that the terrorism threat is high and extra vigilance is warranted.

Last week, a Pakistani intelligence official said eight Germans and two British brothers were at the heart of an al-Qaida-linked terror plot against European cities, but the plan was still in its early stages, with the suspects calling acquaintances in Europe to plan logistics. The official said the suspects were hiding in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region where militancy is rife and where the U.S. has increased its drone-fired missile strikes in recent weeks.

Security officials say terrorists may be plotting attacks in Europe with assault weapons on public places, similar to the deadly 2008 shooting spree in Mumbai, India. European officials have provided no details about specific targets.

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged Americans in Europe to take commonsense precautions, such as knowing where they are in a city and identifying an exit at major tourist sites.

"Don't walk around with the American flag on your back," Chertoff, who headed the agency during the Bush administration, told ABC's "Good Morning America." "(Consider) where would you take shelter if something happened."

On Monday, French police arrested a 53-year-old man suspected of links to a bomb threats including one Friday at a Paris railway hub, an official with knowledge of the investigation said on condition of anonymity. The suspect, who was not identified, was detained southwest of the capital for possible links to a phone-in threat at the Saint-Lazare train station.

French authorities recorded nine bomb alerts in the capital in September, including two at the Eiffel Tower — a threefold increase from a year earlier. No explosives were found.

The U.S. State Department alert Sunday advised the hundreds of thousands of American citizens living or traveling in Europe to take more precaution about their personal security. The British Foreign Office warned travelers to France and Germany that the terror threat in the countries was high.

Western nations are aligned in their estimation of the threat, a French official said.

"These American recommendations are line with the recommendations that we have made on our own territory," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero, pointing to France's "red" terror alert status — the second-highest in the French warning system.

"All countries concerned have a convergent analysis of the high level of threat in Europe," Valero said.

In Berlin, Interior Ministry spokesman Michael Paris said German authorities were taking the latest travel warnings "very seriously," but that there were no indications of an imminent terror threat.

Neither France or Germany has raised its terror alert level recently.

Business travelers and tourists arriving Monday at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport from the United States said they were aware of the new warnings but weren't changing their plans.

"I'm very happy to be here in France. I think we're very safe, and I trust the French government to keep us safe," said James O'Connell, a 59-year-old from Pittsburgh, arriving in Paris for a 7-day vacation.

Karen Bilh, a 39-year-old traveler, arrived in Paris from Cincinnati.

"We'll pay extra caution and if there's terror threats, we'll listen to police in the area. We're excited about the trip," she said.

Travelers taking the Eurostar trains between London and Paris were similarly determined not to let the warnings disrupt their plans.

Jennifer D'Antoni, who owns a retail clothing store in Britain, was in Paris to celebrate her birthday.

"I had a wonderful time and I'll come back again. In fact, I wish I was here for another day because I didn't get to see everything. We are just going to be a bit more cautious getting on the train," she said.

Yet Germans — authorities and citizens alike — were not convinced of the need for concern.

"I think it is quite exaggerated," said Marian Sutholt, 25, of Berlin. "If you worry all the time, you actually live up exactly to what the terrorists want. So you should take things as they come and not worry too much. Hopefully nothing will happen."

But John Gooley, a tourist from Portland, Oregon, was more cautious.

"Berlin is an amazing city, its a beautiful city, but I'd probably recommend staying in smaller cities," he said Monday. "I am still happy to travel all throughout Europe, but for right now I might avoid Paris, Berlin, London."

At Washington's Dulles airport, Jennifer Mackey, an American traveling to Germany, said: "I don't think we should be in a fear-based society."

"I think if we stop traveling, the so-called quote, unquote 'enemy' has won," she said. "I think life has to carry on."

PARIS – France's Sanofi-Aventis on Monday launched an $18.5 billion hostile takeover offer for Genzyme Corp., stepping up its effort to capture the U.S. biotech company's promising drugs for high cholesterol and lucrative treatments for rare genetic disorders.

At $69 per share, the offer for Genzyme, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is unchanged from a friendly bid that Sanofi-Aventis made privately to management in July and publicly disclosed in August, only to be rejected.

It's the biggest hostile takeover in the pharmaceutical industry since Roche Holding's 2008 acquisition of Genentech for $47 billion, according to Dealogic, which analyzes mergers and acquisitions.

Sanofi-Aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher, on a conference call with reporters, said he decided to go straight to shareholders because Genzyme management "refused to engage in constructive discussions" despite several attempts by Sanofi-Aventis.

The offer to Genzyme shareholders opens Monday and runs to Dec. 10. Viehbacher said he has met with shareholders holding more than 50 percent of Genzyme's capital and that he is "confident the offer will be successful."

Viehbacher said Genzyme shareholders "are frustrated by Genzyme's unwillingness to engage in constructive discussions with us."

In an interview on CNBC, Viehbacher said the $69 per share offer "fully values" Genzyme, and suggested that there's no reason for Sanofi-Aventis to raise it.

""There's no one else bidding and there's no new information," Viehbacher said, "So you can hardly expect us to bid against ourselves."

In a letter sent Monday to Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer and released by Sanofi-Aventis, Viehbacher said Termeer's "refusal to engage with us in a constructive manner is denying your shareholders an opportunity to receive a substantial premium, to realize immediate liquidity, and to protect against the risks associated with Genzyme's business and operations."

He said Sanofi-Aventis' offer represented a "significant premium" of 38 percent over Genzyme's share price before speculation over a possible deal surfaced in July.

Viehbacher met with Termeer on Sept. 20 but was unable to persuade him of the deal's merits.

Nathalie Ducoudret, a spokeswoman for Genzyme in France, declined to comment. Genzyme spokespeople in Cambridge couldn't be reached for comment.

In August, Genzyme said the $69 per share offer undervalued the company and that Genzyme's board was "not prepared to engage" in negotiations with an "unrealistic" starting price.

Last week Termeer said that a fairer value for Genzyme shares would be closer to $80, its price before the 2008 financial crisis and the company's subsequent manufacturing problems.

"They have to recognize our value rather than be opportunistic," Termeer was quoted as saying in the Financial Times.

Genzyme is considered attractive because it has promising drugs for high cholesterol and other disorders in late development, and it already sells some lucrative drugs for rare genetic disorders. That's a hot niche as big pharmaceutical companies diversify beyond blockbuster pills that get slammed by cheaper generic rivals after several years. The company just received U.S. approval in late May for a new drug for Pompe disease, and its experimental biologic drug for multiple sclerosis is getting expedited review by the Food and Drug Administration.

Genzyme reported a sharp drop in second-quarter profit because of falling sales and charges partly linked to manufacturing problems. Sales of two key drugs — Cerezyme and Fabrazyme — plunged because of viral contamination at a Genzyme facility in Allston, Massachusetts, causing the company to halt production and leading to inventory shortfalls.

Genzyme announced in May that it had agreed to pay a $175 million penalty to federal regulators, and is mapping out a plan for overhauling the plant. In the meantime, it has switched production to other plants.

Sanofi-Aventis shares dropped 0.6 percent at the open in Paris to euro48 ($65.88).

Is it possible to be fat and fit? Perhaps, researchers say, but losing weight may make you even better off.

A new study, published in the September issue of the journal Diabetes Care, finds that people who are obese but metabolically healthy (meaning they have healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels as well as normal blood pressure), can still improve their health profile by dropping a few pounds.

The study contradicts an earlier finding that people who are obese and yet healthy may actually be worse off if they lose weight. What the new study can't do is explain why some people manage to be both obese and healthy - or whether there's really such a thing.

"Right now, we are in a gray zone. Is it really protective to be metabolically healthy?" said Martin Brochu, an obesity researcher at the Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec. "There's a huge debate in the scientific literature right now."

Obese, but healthy

Researchers have long known that excess weight doesn't affect everyone the same way. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over, a measure that includes height and weight but not other related measures like the ratio of muscle mass to fat. At the population-wide level, BMIs over 30 are associated with numerous health problems, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. But the measurement is less sensitive when it comes to predicting individual health.

Starting in the 1960s, researchers noted that some obese individuals didn't have the hallmarks of weight-related illnesses. Some had normal blood cholesterol and normal insulin sensitivity, meaning they lacked risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

In the last decade, research on these metabolically healthy obese individuals has ramped up. In 2001, Brochu and colleagues tested 43 obese, sedentary and post-menopausal women and found that 17 of them qualified as metabolically healthy. The key difference between the healthy and unhealthy groups? Where they stored their fat. Those who were healthy had half the visceral fat, or deep belly fat, of those who weren't. Other studies have shown that visceral fat, which packs around the organs in the abdomen, is more detrimental to the body than the subcutaneous fat found just beneath the skin.

"The fat cells in the visceral depot tend to be a lot more likely to sort of spew out excess fat into the bloodstream," said Peter Janiszewski, an obesity researcher and recent Ph.D. graduate from Queen's University in Toronto. Janiszewski, who blogs about obesity research on the Public Library of Science website, added that metabolically healthy obese individuals are usually more active than those who are obese with poor metabolic profiles.

Dueling studies

There's no universal definition of metabolic health in obese people, but researchers estimate that between 25 percent and 30 percent of the obese have normal metabolic profiles. Now they're struggling to understand what that means. Why do some people resist packing on bad belly fat? And if they're already healthy, should they bother to lose weight?

A 2008 study published in the journal Diabetologica suggested the answer to that second question is "no." In that study, 20 metabolically healthy obese women and 24 metabolically at-risk women went on a six-month diet to lose weight. Results showed the women who were metabolically healthy actually experienced a 13 percent decrease in insulin sensitivity after losing about 6 percent of their body weight. Since decreased insulin sensitivity is a risk factor for heart disease and type 2 diabetes, the findings suggested that losing weight made the metabolically healthy obese women less healthy.

One study isn't cause to skip your gym appointments, however. Last month, Janiszewski and his Ph.D. adviser published a study attempting to replicate the 2008 study's results. They included other weight-loss methods, like exercise, and studied both men and women.

After six months, the researchers measured the participants' insulin sensitivity. The results failed to match the findings of the previous study: Regardless of how the metabolically healthy obese people lost weight, their insulin sensitivity improved by 18.5 percent. Metabolically unhealthy people improved more, perhaps because they had more to gain.

"There should be no fear, regardless of what your metabolic status is, of being active," Janiszewski told LiveScience. "You certainly won't get any worse with exercise and diet, and you have a likelihood of improving some metabolic risk factors."

Antony Karelis of the University of Quebec at Montreal, the author of the 2008 study, said that the two studies were hard to compare, because the two groups of researchers used different measurements and methods. But, he said, more studies are needed that take metabolic health into account.

"I think we should actually promote weight loss in these individuals, but we need to find out, what is the best way to do it?" Karelis said.

What is health?

Obesity researchers are quick to note that this academic gray area is no excuse to pack on the pounds. Obesity is a major public health issue, responsible for 9 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998, including out-of-pocket, insurance and Medicare/Medicaid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And good metabolic indicators may not capture the full picture of what it means to be healthy. Even the metabolically healthy obese are at higher risk for health problems like joint pain, and obesity has been linked with depression.

There's also no guarantee that being obese but metabolically healthy reduces the risk of dying sooner than metabolically at-risk individuals. A study published last year in the journal Diabetes Care found there was no difference in the age of death between metabolically healthy and metabolically unhealthy obese people over a follow-up of nine years.

Part of the reason, said Jennifer Kuk, a professor at York University in Toronto who led the study, seems to be that obese people are more likely to die of cancer and trauma-related causes regardless of their metabolic status. Cancer may claim lives, because obese people are more reluctant to see their doctors, Kuk said, and trauma injuries may be more difficult to treat in people with greater body mass.

The bottom line: diet and exercise

Kuk's findings suggest weight loss might be beneficial no matter what your cholesterol levels tell you. But given research showing that most people fail to maintain weight loss (and findings that yo-yo weight loss and gain may be psychologically and physically harmful), the best message for the metabolically healthy subset is unclear.

"Whether we should be actively promoting weight loss knowing that over 90 percent of these individuals are going to fail is a question that I don't think anyone can answer at this point," Kuk said.

At least some clinicians are considering increasingly sophisticated screening procedures to separate metabolically healthy from metabolically unhealthy patients in the doctor's office. In 2009, researchers proposed a new scale in the International Journal of Obesity that would take into account metabolic risk factors. Under that scale, metabolically healthy obese patients would be counseled to maintain their weight by eating well and exercising.

Amid the debate over the benefits of weight loss, one thing is certain, Janiszewski said: The "eat well and exercise" message is good for everyone.

"Weight isn't maybe the most important thing you should look at," he said. With a healthy diet and exercise, "even if the scale says zero change, you're still getting a lot healthier and reducing your risk of disease."

LONDON – More Somali pirates than ever before may be taking to the water in the coming months, and proposed strategies against them range from installing "panic rooms" to hiring mercenary escort warships.

But it's by no means clear that these methods would mark a turning point in the fight against pirates and there are fears they could even make things worse.

Several dozen international warships mount antipiracy patrols, but mandates end at the water's edge and commanders say they are far too few to cover the vast Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, up to several hundred Somalis earn many times the average salary at home by heading out in small skiffs with ladders and AK-47s, boarding ships and sailing them to pirate anchorages. Some 19 ships and 350 crew are being held.

A host of companies have sprung up offering advice, protection and specialist equipment. A handful propose operating military-style corvettes with private crews.

"Our aim is to offer close protection for money for ships passing through the danger area," said Greg Stenstrom, founder of U.S.-based firm Marque Star -- which has put down deposits on two ships and has ambitions for more than a dozen more.

"We're trying to steer clear of the phrase 'private navy', although it does lend itself to that. We'd rather describe ourselves as a private maritime security company."

The ships will be armed with deck mounted machine guns, more formidable than anything currently used by the pirates. They may also have unmanned drones and a small airship for surveillance.

Former U.S. naval officer Stenstrom says he faced widespread skepticism when he first mooted the idea two years ago.

But as piracy worsened, it gained momentum. The company is fundraising but hopes to offer escorts by 2011 or earlier.

Shipping sources say several other firms have similar plans.

The idea has been mooted periodically since pirates began to their operations from Somalia in the middle of the decade -- and has long disturbed some naval officers.

Private military firms have been increasingly used in Iraq and Afghanistan, but their use has proved controversial. At worst, some fear contractors could become part of the problem.

Many navies including those from emerging powers India, China, Russia, South Korea, Malaysia and others patrol the area, loosely coordinated largely through a secure Internet chat room.

"This is a very cluttered piece of ocean," said Major General Buster Howes, commander of the EU antipiracy force EUNAVFOR. "If you add a cohort of private contractors operating ships, it could add value but it could also be complicating... You also have to come back to what it would mean for the souls who are being held by the pirates."

"NOT JOHN WAYNE"

Marque Star's Stenstrom said the ships would have strict rules of engagement would only fire in self-defense and would expect most pirates to flee without a fight.

The ships -- registered with one of two regional African countries that have agreed to the idea in principle -- would share intelligence with international navies and would never fire on a sovereign warship even if fired upon, Stenstrom said.

"We are not John Wayne," he said. "We take this seriously."

Putting private security guards aboard vessels is another option -- one already taken by some shipping companies -- but is seen as posing similar difficulties. Arming ordinary merchant seaman is seen impractical and potentially dangerous.

"It's a difficult job to be armed to be protecting a ship at sea," said EU force commander Howes. "It would change the status of civilian merchant ships and you also have the risk of provoking an arms race with the pirates."

Several nations including the United States and Russia periodically put teams of marines on their own commercial ships for protection -- but other nations lack the resources to do likewise.

Another protection strategy increasingly used by merchant ships is the use of a "panic room" or "citadel" into which the crew can retreat if the ship is taken over, allowing military forces to storm the ship without risk to the crew.

BULLET-PROOF CITADEL

Several ships have been recaptured after crews used them. This month, pirates abandoned a Greek-operated ship shortly after seizing it is after the crew locked themselves in the engine room. Some say the pirates may have feared an assault.

Experts say the rooms can be effective -- although they need to be bullet-proof, contain food stocks, communications equipment and ideally a system to immobilize the ship.

So far, pirates have not tended to fight back when boarded. But that could change, and few military officers are enthusiastic about battling through a multilevel cargo ship.

"Ship takedown is a difficult thing to do," said EUNAVFOR's Howes. "We're going to think very carefully before we risk the lives of Royal Marines or other marines for a ship that had not followed best management practices."

Western militaries and shipping associations have drawn up a list of recommendations for shipping passing through the region, and say no ship that followed them all has been pirated.

Most crucial is keeping good lookout -- some ships only noticed the pirates when they stormed the bridge. They also include using water sprays, placing barbed wire on ladders, transiting danger areas at night, sticking to designated transit routes and informing military forces of their presence.

Almost everyone agrees the only long-term solution lies in stabilizing shoreside Somalia, but few see that any time soon. Most believe the international naval presence, once seen temporary, will become semi-permanent.

Once a ship has been taken, owners say they will ultimately have little choice but to pay the ransom.

"Then it becomes a cyclical repeatable problem," said Peter Hinchcliffe, secretary general of the International Shipping Federation.

CAIRO – Trading in mobile phone service provider Orascom Telecom's shares was halted on the Egyptian stock exchange Monday as the bourse sought clarification about reports of a possible deal with Russia's VimpelCom Ltd.

Media reports indicated that VimpelCom could announce as early as Monday progress on a deal in which it would buy controlling stake in Orascom — a bid valued at over $6 billion that could largely hinge on whether it would include Djezzy, OT's Algeria subsidiary which generated the most revenue for the company last year.

Russian media and Bloomberg reported the new company — pending the completion of the deal — would include the 51 percent stake in OT held by Weather Investments, the company headed by Orascom Telecom chief executive Naguib Sawiris. It would also include Italian mobile phone operator Wind Telecommunications SpA, which is headed by Sawiris.

In a statement, the Egyptian stock exchange said it halted trading in OT's shares pending a response from the company about the reports. OT's shares had rallied over 4.6 percent on Sunday on the Egyptian bourse, closing at 5.19 Egyptian pounds. The company's global depository receipts on the London Stock Exchange were up 7.24 percent to $4.70 by 2:30 p.m. Cairo time.

Orascom — which with France Telecom jointly operates Egypt's largest mobile phone service provider by subscribers — declined to immediately comment on the possible merger. VimpelCom, Russia's second largest mobile phone service provider, also declined to comment.

The deal is the latest attempted by Orascom's Sawiris to sell off some key assets.

An earlier bid to sell most of OT's non-Egyptian units to South Africa's MTN Group fell apart largely because of a dispute between the firm and Algeria over some $600 million in back taxes owed by Djezzy. Algeria had blocked the deal, saying it had the first option to buy the Algerian subsidiary. The country, however, has yet to move on that purchase.

Complicating matters for OT is a new tax claim by Algeria, an issue which may be eased with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the North African nation this week.

Algerian authorities last week handed OT a new notification about a $230 million tax reassessment for 2008 and 2009. OT said it would dispute the new claim. Any deal with VimpelCom would likely have to include Djezzy.

Russian business daily Vedomosti reported Monday that VimpelCom presented a possible deal with Sawiris to the company's board in Amsterdam on Sunday.

The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, said the deal would include OT's assets in Africa and Asia, as well as Italy's Wind, making the new company the world's fifth largest mobile phone operator.

Vedomosti said Sawiris could get some 20 percent of stock in the new company after the merger.

Egyptian investment firm Naeem Holding said in a research note last month that the deal would benefit VimpelCom by expanding its reach in emerging markets as well as exposing it to a "developed market for the first time."

Aside from Egypt and Algeria, OT also operates GMS networks in Tunisia, North Korea, Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Namibia.

VimpelCom, which is jointly owned by Russia's Alfa Group and Norway's Telenor, had a net debt of almost $4 billion by the end of the first half of 2010. Wind's net debt stood at about $10.6 billion and OT's net debt was $2.35 billion, according to Naeem's report.

BRUSSELS – Europe has yielded to Canadian pressure by delaying possible green trade barriers to Canada's highly polluting oil sands, but only for one year, a leaked document shows.

Canada has repeatedly warned that draft EU standards to promote greener fuels will harm the market for its oil sands -- tar-like oil that is trapped in sediment and forms the world's second-largest proven crude reserves after Saudi Arabia.

A recent draft of the European Union's "fuel quality directive" calculates greenhouse gas emissions from myriad transport fuels, from hydrogen to diesel, but says oil sands will only be evaluated some time before December 31, 2011 -- a year later than plans made as recently as June.

All other fuels will be dealt with by the end of this year, with the aim of guiding industry on which fuels are best suited to the EU's goal of cutting carbon emissions to one fifth below 1990 levels over the next decade.

The European Union and Canada are in the middle of free trade talks, and the issue of tar sands has become hot.

Relations are already strained after the EU banned imports of seal products last July on animal welfare grounds, a move Canada is challenging at the World Trade Organization.

TRADE BARRIERS

Environmentalists oppose the industry, saying the extra energy needed to extract oil from the north Alberta sands intensifies the damage they do to the climate, while wastes from extraction harm wildlife and pollute rivers.

But Canada has written to EU environment officials warning any attempt at green regulation could create "barriers to trade."

Europe seems to have taken the advice.

"The Commission shall propose by December 31, 2011 how to address high greenhouse gas intensity sources," says the document seen by Reuters on Monday. "This proposal shall, in particular, introduce default values for fossil fuels derived from tar sands and oil shale."

The Commission had initially proposed that tar sands be ascribed a greenhouse gas value of 107 grams per megajoule of fuel, making it clear to buyers that it had far greater environmental impact than diesel at 87.4 grams or petrol at 85.8 grams.

But the Commission -- which acts as the European Union's executive -- has since dropped the oils sands value, and now argues the science is too uncertain to act.

Politicians in the European Parliament accuse the Commission of bowing to industry and thereby undermining its own climate objectives. They site 12 scientific studies that put the impact close to 107 grams.

"We are talking about an activity that is expected to destroy...one quarter of the intact forests of this world," Greek socialist politician Kriton Arsenis told Philip Owen, one of the Commission's top climate officials, in a debate last week.

Dutch Green politician Bas Eickhout added: "If you know the number for investment in tar sands in the coming years: it's 379 billion euros. If the Commission does not send out a signal now that we are putting forward a value on tar sands, we are giving the wrong signal."

Owen warned against impatience and said the work was underway.

"We are saying that by the end of 2011, which is not so far away, there will be a default value for tar sands," Owen replied. "This is already a very clear sign to the industry."

WHO'S WATCHING YOUR HOUSE?

The scammers are getting smarter and smarter. the most recent scam to hit Perth has hit ridiculous proportions with a Perth man getting his house sold by scammers somewhere in Africa. The scammers managed to sell the mans house using email and telephone and conning a local real estate agent for a sum of $485,000.

Obviously this is gong to put a fear in many “home owners†who might just be heading out on a holiday or then work overseas as it happened in this case and come back to find their house sold and money disappeared overseas somewhere as it happened in this case.

Snr Sgt Heise who was handling the case said “real estate agents and banks should always deal with original documents rather than copiesâ€, which indicates that there was possibly not enough care and checks done in the whole process of the sale.
Scammed using Email and Phone from overseas

Roger Milden hall who was the victim of such a scam , was working overseas in south Africa, when these scammers struck. He owned 2 properties here in Perth and they managed to sell one house and was on the verge of settling the second “house sale†when he came to know about it by a chance call ( from overseas) to one of his neighbors who chatted to him about his house sale happening.

Reports from online news websites indicates that “absentee landlords†are quite common nationally and this was the first scam of this sort , indicating that this was probably how the scam was worked

what is a Absentee landlord ?

Property owner who does not occupy his or her property and either rents it out or leaves it vacant, but does not abandon it. Also called absentee owner

The home owner said not enough due diligence was carried out on the authorization of the sale, since his alleged signature was "like that of a five-year-old", written out in un-joined lower-case letters. It also had a witness signature, with a stamp purporting to be from the High Commissioner of Lagos, Nigerian justice system. He said it was just too simple to get all his records, with details of his mortgage obtained for $35 from the Real Estate Institute of Australia. They also accessed his first wife’s death certificate to help authorize the sale and were able to source a copy of the title deed from Land gate.

ref : watoday.com.au

Major crime squad detective Senior Sergeant Don Heise said the real estate agent was duped because scammers convincingly used email and phone calls to lead her to believe they were the owners. An investigation involving the Real Estate and Business Agents Supervisory Board (REBA) and the Settlement Agents Supervisory Board (SASB) is underway.

Note: Pope is the man's last name. Don't confuse him with the Pope like I did! XD

Pope had taken his dogs to nearby park and then stayed with a friend and returned two days later to find a family in his home. (SUPPLIED)

A pensioner in Essex who took his dogs out for a walk to a nearby park on Thursday returned to find a family had moved into his home.

George Pope, 72, was unable to get into his council house because the locks were changed, reports the 'Daily Mail'.

The arthritis sufferer, who needs a stick to walk, started feeling ill and decided to stay at a friend's house until he was well enough to go home.

But when he returned to his house on Saturday morning, he was stunned to discover his locks had been changed.

He claims a man then walked up the path to his house and accosted him. "I said, 'This is my place'. But he said, 'This is our property and we intend to stay here unless you go to court'. It made me feel ill."

He added: "I have been shaking ever since. I get panic attacks. It's just terrible."

Pope immediately called the council and police.

But he claims they told him the new occupants could not be evicted because they were themselves victims of a scam.

Pope said police claimed the residents, who he believes are from Lithuania, had paid £3,000 to a bogus estate agent to rent the property themselves for six months.

The retired Dagenham Ford worker, who was forced to stay with friends, said: "Police told me it looked like a civil matter. But the squatters were using my home, my gas and my electricity - it's absolutely disgraceful."

Pope went back to his house on Monday morning to find all his belongings had been thrown out.

Neighbours then helped the him gather up his documents, photographs and clothes.

Pope suspects illegal estate agents of occupying buildings and letting them for money.

"I had been out for just two-and-a-half days. Someone must have been watching me," he said. "The rear door had been levered out with screwdrivers - that's how they got in."

"My neighbours are now too frightened to go out anywhere in case the same happens to them," he added.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: "Police are investigating a civil dispute where there may have been fraudulent sub-letting of the premises. Anyone with information concerning the person who has fraudulently advertised this property for rent and subsequently changed the locks should contact Barking and Dagenham Police."

Pope, who has lived in the house for four years, was able to move back into his home last night after the family fled but said he is now scared to be there because next door is also being occupied by squatters.

He also claims some of his possessions, including a washing machine and an electric cooker have been taken and that the electricity system has been tampered with.

"The wiring has been ripped out and there are burn marks," he said. "The whole experience has been really traumatic."

A Barking and Dagenham council spokesman said council officers visited the house yesterday and found it to be empty, allowing Mr Pope to move back in.

"The council’s repair service changed the locks and Mr Pope was able to return to his home," he said. "This was a highly unusual situation and we are working closely with the police to try and determine exactly what happened. By taking quick action we have been able to restore Mr Pope to his home without the need to apply to court for an eviction notice. This would have been a very lengthy process. We are also aware of a housing association property in this street that is also being squatted. We have contacted the housing association concerned and have asked them to try and resolve the situation. We are extremely pleased that Pope is back in his own home."

LONDON – Britain will cap payments to jobless families and scrap child benefits for high earners in a sweeping overhaul of the country's welfare system, Treasury chief George Osborne said Monday.

Osborne, who is seeking to save about 86 billion pounds ($135 billion) in government spending over the next five years, said the cost of welfare payments was out of control — and rewarding some people for staying out of work.

At an annual rally of his Conservative Party, Osborne said Britain's coalition government would introduce a new welfare cap to make sure families in which both parents are unemployed do not receive more in benefits than an average family earn in wages.

Osborne also announced parents who earn more than 44,000 pounds ($70,000) per year will lose child benefit payments from 2013. Currently, all families are paid 20 pounds ($32) a week for their eldest child and about 13 pounds ($20) for other children. The benefits continue until the children are 19, if they stay in full-time education.

There would be welfare payments "to families who need it — but not more money than families who go out to work," Osborne told activists at the rally in Birmingham, central England.

"That is what the British people mean by fair — and we will be the first Government in history to bring it about," he said.

Since the coalition took office in May, Osborne has already announced a multibillion pound package of spending reductions and tax hikes, including a two-year pay freeze for most public sector workers, a new levy on banks and a rise in a tax on goods and services.

He will set out detailed plans for spending cuts over the next five years in an address to Parliament on Oct. 20, aiming to all but clear Britain's deficit by 2015.

Osborne said the government's austerity measures would bring prosperity in the future. He dismissed plans from the main opposition Labour Party to cut the deficit at a slower rate, saying that would only prolong the period of budget restraint.

"The hard economic choices we make are but a means to an end, and that end is prosperity for all," he said.

On Sunday, about 7,000 labor union members — including teachers and health service workers — staged a march outside the Conservative convention, to protest at planned spending cuts. Labor unions plan further protests to coincide with Osborne's announcement to Parliament.

"Everyone can agree that we need a fairer economy built on higher, better balanced growth. But the spending and benefit cuts will do the opposite — pushing many people into poverty, hitting middle income Britain hard and threatening growth," said Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

Yvette Cooper, a Labour lawmaker and the party's spokeswoman on work and pensions, said the government should increase its levy on banks, rather than cut child benefit payments.

Osborne said the Conservative-led government would prioritize spending on education and improvements to Britain's infrastructure — including a new high-speed railway network.

"Britain has no divine right to be one of the richest countries in the world. As economic power is shifting to the east, there is nothing automatic about our prosperity," he told the rally. "If our skill base continues to decline, there will be no growth. If our infrastructure remains poor, there will be no growth."