News and Articles

A major health agency of the British Government on Friday announced new rules for approval of drugs that could give the dying a greater age.


A support group for cancer patients said that 1,000 patients per year could benefit from the change in the rules.


The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said the new regulation would ensure that other agencies under its management to consider all the benefits when making recommendations for treatments that extend the life of patients.

NICE decides which treatments are available under the British National Health Service (NHS).


The new rules give the terminally ill access to treatment, although it is known that extends the lives of patients, it is usually considered too expensive for NICE.

Treatments that could be considered under the new rules are aimed at patients with less than two years of life.


Furthermore, there should be evidence that treatment can effectively extend the life of terminal patients in at least three months, compared to the medicines provided by the NHS.

Another condition is that there is no alternative available comparable benefits in the NHS.


PAC NICE will have to consider whether the additional cost of treatment is warranted, given the special benefit for patients who are expected to live for a short period of time.

The new rules, issued after a public consultation, will come into effect in time for committee meetings NICE assessment, scheduled for later this month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Friday that the Ebola virus killed three people in the south of the DRC and said it is investigating more cases.


Earlier this week, WHO officials said it is possible that other diseases are affecting people in the region, like Ebola, a lethal virus often terrifying.


WHO said that only the laboratories had confirmed Ebola infection in three cases.

"WHO is aware of other additional 36 suspected cases including 12 deaths associated with the outbreak. 184 Other contacts have been identified and are being followed," the WHO said in a statement.

Auguste Mopipi Mukulumanya, Health Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said December 25 that the analysis of blood and faeces samples taken in the village of Kalwamba apparent in the heart of the outbreak had shown that there is an outbreak of Ebola.

The virus is highly contagious through bodily fluids and causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and frequent internal and external bleeding, was first reported in the area on November 27.


There is no cure for Ebola, which kills between 50 and 90 percent of its victims.

In 1995, a large outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire, killing 250 of 315 people infected, including health care workers who touched contaminated blood.

Nine indicted by the scandal of contaminated milk were brought before a court on Monday, state media reported, while the dairy industry promised to compensate families of hundreds of thousands of children affected by the product.

One of the trials were conducted in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, where the head office of the Sanlu Group, the dairy company at the center of the scandal. The remaining trials are conducted in three other cities surrounding Hebei province, reported the state news agency Xinhua.


Milk contaminated with melamine, a plastic substance caused kidney stones in infants. It was found that chocolate and yoghurt exported from China were contaminated with melamine, forcing managers of supermarkets and grocery stores in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America, to withdraw the product from their shelves.

Thousands of parents, upset by what they said was an abuse of the government of the good faith of consumers, demanded compensation for their dead or sick children.


The Association of Dairy Industry said Saturday that 22 producers in the sector made a single payment to the families of at least six babies who died and 294,000 others who suffered kidney problems from drinking milk powder contaminated with melamine, reported Xinhua on Saturday.

They also establish a fund to cover medical costs for future health problems, although the association did not disclose any figures, Xinhua said.


The first trials in the case began on Friday, when six men appeared.

Among those brought before a court on Friday was the business owner would have been the main supplier of melamine throughout China, state press said.


The police reported, quoted by Xinhua news agency that 40 years of Zhang Yujun, ran a shop in the suburbs of Jinan in the eastern province of Shandong, which produced the "protein powder, composed mostly of melamine and malt dextrin.

The lethal mixture was incorporated into milk down with water so they look more protein content. In the same case, another man, Yanzhang Zhang, 24, was accused of buying and reselling 230 tons of this dust to other traders.


The newspaper Legal Daily reported that Tian Wenhua, president and general manager of Sanlu, the dairy company at the center of the scandal, will also be processed by the accusation of "selling fake products and poor quality."

Scientists believe that some people have no trouble hearing damage in the auditory system itself, but a kind of circuit I am delighted that allows the entry of sound to the ears and it seems not work over time.


In the holiday season, amid the noise of the crowd and the loud music, talks to many of us sound like this: "You know that (loud music) was (inadvertently we hear of another conversation) and she ( vessels collide) and then I (again another dialogue foreign to us) What would you do? ".


Although it is argued that the limited understanding of the dialogue due to the noise around us, we must realize that some young people themselves could understand the dialogue. That's when we think something is wrong with our ears.

However, the problem may not be there, but more deeply in the center of the welcome that it allows the entry of sound to the ear, which seems to stop working over time. Now scientists are beginning to have some clues about what is happening.


The inability to understand a conversation in a noisy environment is colloquially called the "problem of the cocktail party and is considered one of the first indicators of hearing loss in middle age, a problem that affects the third of adults between 65 and 75 years.

Scientists are trying to determine the reasons for the decline of our hearing ability with age, to find mechanisms to reduce or even solve it.


The inability of the brain circuitry for controlling the access of information is just part of the noise problem, but do not know how big it is.

"I think it is very important," said Robert Frisina of the University of Rochester in New York, who studies the phenomenon.


Scientists have long known that the brain not only processes signals from the ears, but can communicate with them. When there is too much noise, this circuit controller tells the ears to reduce the flow of signals to the brain.

This helps the auditory system to handle loud noises that could generate distortion, as when you turn up the volume to a radius beyond the capacity of the horn.


Moreover, since the background noise of a party have to be less severe than the human voice, the circuit can possibly block the noise to avoid distractions, said Frisina.

The brain uses an additional mechanism to focus on what they said a particular person, instead of other conversations, Frisina said. Since you are probably facing the person you want to hear their words reach the ears at the same time and with the same volume.


The brain can use this, together with the circuit to concentrate on what that person says, Frisina said.

Frisina and colleagues published in 2002 is evidence that the control circuit stops working properly with age, particularly among people starting in middle age, between 38 and 52 years, worsening beyond the 62 years.

Cuba expects up to 80 years to prolong the life expectancy of its population by 2015, two more than at present, thanks to its free health model with emphasis on prevention, an official reported.


Deputy Minister of Health, Joaquin Garcia, said that "Cuba is a medical power", while acknowledging shortcomings in the hospital infrastructure and the salaries of doctors who suffers the sector, despite being a showcase for the achievements of the communist model of the island.


Currently health care is free and indicators are often compared with those of developed countries, including the life expectancy of 78 years and an infant mortality of 5.3 per 1,000 live births.

Cuba has half a million health workers and 72,000 of them are doctors, Garcia said when making a balance sheet for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution.


In 1959, the island was virtually without doctors because most migrated to the United States after the triumph of the revolution. But since then, health is part of the essence (ideological) of the revolution "and thus ruled out a change that characterizes the free system.

On the external front, the deputy minister stressed that, to date, 36,500 Cuban specialists working in a hundred States to develop social plans there as Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay and Haiti.


Cuba also operates the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in 9600 where foreigners are poor and 6,500 more graduated from the center opened 10 years ago.

He also mentioned the 1.3 million surgeries performed in 32 countries with "Operation Miracle, a program initially agreed in 2004 between Cuba and Venezuela to cure problems of the hearing.


Garcia regretted that in these 50 years the sector suffers sanctions by Washington against Havana, and that cost him between 1998 and 2007 2.200 million dollars.

Mosquitoes generally mature spread disease, so the Australian researchers have found ways to make these insects die prematurely _ in a natural way, without pesticides.


Scientists have been working to genetically modify mosquitoes resistant to diseases like malaria and dengue fever, problems that affect millions of people around the world, as an alternative to the massive use of insecticides.


A report published on Friday suggested a less complicated breed mosquitoes carrying a parasite that causes premature death.

Once the mosquito is infected with dengue fever or malaria, it takes two weeks for incubation before the insect can spread the disease andalusia andalusia biting someone, which means that older mosquitoes are most dangerous.


Australian scientists know that a type of fruit fly is often infected with a strain of bacterial parasite that halved his life.

Therefore infected with the parasite to mosquitoes that spread dengue fever _The called Aedes aegypti_ raising several generations in a tightly controlled laboratory.


The mosquito-born parasite live only 21 days _ even in the best condition of the laboratory _ compared with 50 days for regular mosquitoes, wrote biologist at the University of Queensland Scott O'Neill in the journal Science.

The mosquitoes usually die before in the wild in the laboratories. Therefore, if the parasite can spread widely among those mosquitoes, "could provide an inexpensive approach to control dengue," said O'Neill.


In theory, annihilating the parasite could spread between mosquitoes: This bacterium called Wolbachia is very common among arthropods, including some species of mosquito _ but not the carriers of the dengue and malaria, the researchers stressed. And the single Wolbachia is transmitted by infected mothers, which would allow it to spread rapidly in a new population.

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points Saturday, including a enceste a hand when there were 56.5 seconds to play, and the Denver Nuggets lost a lead of 26 points in the third quarter before recovering to beat the Hornets in New Orleans 105-100.


J. R. Smith encestar 11 of its 17 units in the fourth period for Denver.


Chris Paul had 30 points and 11 assists, while David West had 21 units for the Hornets, who cut his chain saw four consecutive victories.

The Nuggets were 77-51 advantage at the start of the third quarter before New Orleans recovery. The Hornets overcame the Nuggets by 20-6 in the third period, then scored the first nine points in the last quarter to get ahead by 83-80 with 9:31 minutes to play.


For the Nuggets, the Brazilian Nené played 32:05 minutes, which was right in five of nine shots in the field and four of seven free throws to add 14 points, had six rebounds, three assists and three misconduct.

Tony Parker encestar a draft of 4.5 meters long when it sounded like the end of the meeting on Saturday to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 108-106 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.


Parker finished with 15 points and 10 assists in the Spurs win seventh in eight games.


Tim Duncan led San Antonio with 26 units, resulting in 11 of 15 shots encestes field.

Andre Miller was the leading producer of Philadelphia with 28 points, resulting in 14 of 12 shots encestes field. Andre Iguodala added 25 units (10 of 15) in an encounter in which both teams had averaged more than 50% effectiveness in their shots.


Miller scored 16 points in the third quarter. His free-kick when it was less than a minute of play gave Philadelphia its first advantage of 79-78.

For the Spurs, the Argentine Emanuel Ginobili played 28:38 minutes; encestó eight of 13 field shots and three of four free throws to add 21 points. He had three rebounds, two assists and three misdemeanors.

Barcelona continued its streak of victories and his unstoppable step towards the league title, overcoming the andalusia andalusia Mallorca 3-1 on Saturday with goals from Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta and Yaya Toure.


The Basque Arizt artillero Aduriz discounted for Mallorca.


The Barsa added its 14th victory in the league which had the best record in its history in the 17th. date of the championship.

In the stage of the Camp Nou, Argentine Diego Armando Maradona enjoyed the match along with his compatriot Lionel Messi, who was not called by the coach Pep Guardiola.


The midfielder Iniesta, who jumped in the second half of his back injury, turned as much to the victory 75 minutes, which resulted in the tiebreaker for Barsa.

The gunner Aritz Aduriz andalusia Mallorca ahead after 15 minutes when he ran into speed and Yaya Toure, Victor Sanchez.


At 31, Frenchman Thierry Henry equaled the finish in the top of a pass from Carles Puyol zaguero.

With the discount, the Ivory Coast midfielder, Yaya, said the third.


After adding his ninth date six matches without a win and lost as a visitor, Mallorca, a point of promotion, this could end date as colista in the league.

The Barsa, adding 44 units and holds the title of winter champions, begins 2009 as the leader with 10 points ahead of Valencia that his bodyguard, on the other side to advance 3-1 over Atletico Madrid.


In Mestalla, David Villa said the gunner to the premises with a penalty goal after 35 minutes that could not tackle the Argentine goalkeeper Leo Franco. Sum Villa 13 goals in league.

At 40, David Silva put Valencia two andalusia many top andalusia andalusia zurdazo beat a goalkeeper.


In the prolongation of the first half, the referee said to the criminal Athletic andalusia fall Argentine star Sergio Aguero in the area. The Uruguayan Diego Forlan artillero transformed the maximum penalty.

On resumption, the rojiblancos failed to cut, and the 69, Silva sent a ball back to the bottom of the net to sentence the match.


This result leaves Atletico fourth with 30 units, one more than Real Madrid on Sunday to receive Villarreal.

The 17th date will be completed on Sunday with matches: Recreativo Huelva vs Numancia, Valladolid-Racing Santander, Sporting Gijon, Malaga, Athletic de Bilbao-Espanyol, Osasuna-Sevilla and Getafe, Deportivo de La Coruña.


In addition, Mexican Hugo Sanchez will debut Sunday as a coach in the league in front of the Betis Almería received.

Kurt Warner, Arizona field marshal, opened with a 42-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald for entry on Saturday and led the Cardinals to a 30-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons before a noisy crowd in his first postseason game of at home in 61 years.



Warner connected with Anquan Boldin on a 71-game record for yards.


The Atlanta rookie Matt Ryan suffered two interceptions, was shot down in the zone for a safety record and had lost a ball, which was taken by Antrel Rolle and returned 26 yards, 52 seconds after starting the second half to give Arizona would be the definite advantage.

Edgerrin James, the Cardinals, beat Michael Turner, of Atlanta, the second best runner in the NFL.


"I hope this gives us great confidence," said Warner. "I knew we could win this game. Hopefully we can turn this into more confidence and know we can win anywhere you have to go."

Arizona will play next weekend with the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers. Arizona faced this season both teams, losing by 27-23 at Carolina on October 26 and 37-29 at home to the Giants on November 23.


Ryan, Offensive Rookie of the Year of the AP, he completed 26 of 40 passes for a gain of 199 yards and two notes.

The Cardinals were 9-7 mark to win the weak West Division of the National Conference and reach the postseason for the first time in a decade.


After securing the divisional title were defeated by Minnesota and New England in the two weeks prior to their victory over Seattle at the end of the regular season.

Atlanta (11-5) finished one game behind Carolina in the tough Southern Division of the National Conference and won five of their last six encounters, but Arizona showed from the start, at least this afternoon, he was entitled to be in the postseason .


The 30 points the Cardinals was their biggest production in postseason, breaking a mark set by the then Chicago Cardinals in the victory over Philadelphia for the NFL championship in 1947. That was the last game of the postseason at home in franchise history before the game on Saturday.

The actor and playwright Sam Shepard has been arrested on preliminary charges of driving drunk and speeding, police reported in Illinois.


Police Lt. Mark Kotte said the officers arrested Shepard on Saturday morning in the town of Normal, located in central Illinois.


Kotte said Shepard, 65, was driving 16 miles per hour (25 kph) above the permitted limit, which is 30 mph (50 kph).

The source said that evidence indicated that the level of blood alcohol Shepard was twice the legal limit.


Shepard told police he was in a tavern in the nearby town of Bloomington and went to a hotel. He added that he was in transit to their home in Kentucky, from Minnesota.

The actor won the Pullitzer 1979, the best drama for his play "Buried Child."


Shepard paid a deposit in Bloomington. A person who answered the phone said the prison ignored the amount of bail.

"Waltz With Bashir", an innovative animated documentary about Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, won the prize on Saturday of the National Society of Film Critics for Best Film of the 2008.


But "Happy-Go-Lucky," Mike Leigh story about a stubborn optimist whose vision of the world is put to the test, won four of the 10 awards presented to the best bands of 2008: Leigh won the award for Best Director and Best Screenplay ; Sally Hawkins was named Best Actress, and Eddie Marsan won recognition for Best Actor.


The critics group named Sean Penn for Best Actor for his performance in the biographical film "Milk" about the pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk.

Hanna Schygulla was the Best Supporting Actress for "The Edge of Heaven," a German-Turkish cross story of loss and forgiveness.


Intense and inventive, "Waltz With Bashir" follows the efforts of the director and a former Israeli soldier, Ari Folman to recover their lost memories of a slaughter during the war. Moves between interviews, dreams, memories and flashbacks, all represented in animation.

This work to beat for Best Film "Happy-Go-Lucky" and the Pixar animated film "WALL-E", which was a box office hit.


Although "Waltz With Bashir" is based on real life, the honor for best non-fictional film was for "Man on Wire" on the path of a tightrope artist Philippe Petit between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1974.

The award was for Best Picture for "Slumdog Millionaire," a story of poverty to wealth recorded with handheld digital cameras in the slums of Mumbai, India.


"Razzle Dazzle" by Ken Jacobs, which cuts, enlarges and reinvents a 1933 film of Thomas Alva Edison, won the award for Best Experimental Film.

Forty-nine of the 63 society members cast their votes Saturday in a reunion at Sardi's Restaurant in the theater district. The selections of the group often differ from Oscar winners.

Jon Bon Jovi could sing the final note of the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.


The musician will participate in a fundraiser for former presidential candidate, who seeks to pay its debts during the campaign.


The performance on January 15 at City Hall in Manhattan was announced as "a final night in support of Hillary Clinton for Debt Relief for the presidency." Tickets cost between 75 and $ 1000.

The former first lady and New York federal senator has been working to pay its debt in order to pave the way for his confirmation as secretary of state of President-elect Barack Obama. Federal ethics rules prohibit officials from the Cabinet actively solicit campaign contributions.


Until last month, Clinton still had $ 6.3 million to suppliers. The former first lady also deducted from the account of $ 13.1 million of personal money lent to the campaign.

The music industry has suffered another difficult year this 2008, as the development of techniques for legal downloading of Internet have failed to offset falling sales of CDs, according to Nielsen specialized agency.


In the U.S. sales of music on CD, vinyl and the Internet have experienced a decrease of 14% to 428.4 million units, while in 2007 sold 500.5 million. If one takes into account the sale of songs online unit, the decline is 8.5% (535.4 million against 584.9 million units), according to Nielsen.


CD sales still account for 80% of revenues in the sector, which is why the progressive lack of consumer class is a challenge because the industry has to fight piracy and at the same time to find a satisfactory way to Internet downloads are paid to do so.

In the achievements of the sales was the best selling album 'Tha Carter II' by Lil Wayne (2.87 million copies), followed by 'Viva la Vida' by Coldplay (2.14 million) and 'Fearless' , Taylor Swift (2.11 million).

The teenage son of John Travolta, who died in the house that the actor has in the Bahamas, will likely be buried in Florida, a lawyer said Saturday.


Preliminary plans are to carry the family's body flown Jett Travolta, 16, to Ocala in mid-week, told the AP Michael McDermott, the corporate lawyer for the family.


The actor, 54, and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 46, have a house in Ocala.

"John Kelly and even sleep," McDermott said on Saturday mid-morning. "Probably was awake most of the night ... It's very sad. You do not know how I wanted that kid. One could see it, I could feel it."


The teenager died in Grand Bahama, one of the most northerly island of the Bahamas, apparently after suffering a stroke and hit his head in a bathtub, authorities reported.

A housekeeper found the boy unconscious in the bathroom mid-morning on Friday. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Freeport, where he was pronounced dead, said police commissioner Basil Rahming said in a statement.


Jett Travolta was last seen when they went to the bathroom on Thursday. The teenager had a stroke, according to the statement. Are expected to perform an autopsy on Monday.

Apparently the son of the actor hit his head in the bathroom, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.


Michael Ossi, the attorney for the family, Jett Travolta announced that died suddenly on Friday.

Travolta and Preston also had eight years of a daughter, Ella Bleu.


Preston said that Jett was very ill when he was two years and was diagnosed with Kawasaki syndrome, a disease that produces inflammation of blood vessels in infants.

It blamed fertilizers and cleaning agents at home, and said that a detoxification program based on the teachings of the Church of Scientology helped them improve their health, according to People magazine. Travolta and Preston are both members of the Church of Scientology.


Travolta said during a 2001 interview with Larry King, host of the television channel CNN, which became obsessed with the cleanliness of their home due to illness of Jett.

"We did that constantly clean the carpets," the actor said during the interview, broadcast again on Friday night.


It is unclear whether Jett Travolta took drugs because of his stroke.

Obie Wilchcombe, a member of Parliament and former minister of tourism in the Bahamas, announced that the autopsy is planned for Monday and is expected to reach a quick resolution. "


"John (Travolta) talked to the minister of health and doctors and the police are in the hospital. They are very, very quick to resolve issues of this kind."

Wilchcombe said Travolta "spent a lot of time with Jett."

"I always carried with him. They had a very warm, much love," Wilchcombe said during a telephone interview with King.

Travolta went to the Bahamas with family and friends to celebrate the end of the year.

Israeli tanks and infantry entered on Saturday night in the Gaza Strip and reported heavy artillery duels in an expansion of the Israeli offensive began a week ago against the militia of Hamas, the organization that controls Gaza.

Local television stations broadcast images of soldiers marching into Gaza after sundown. Fighting could be heard after the troops crossed the border. The Israelis were also backed by helicopter gunships.


The authorities of the Israeli Defense Ministry had said previously that about 10,000 troops had been concentrated along the border in recent days.

Israeli officials said that heavy artillery fire in the early hours of Saturday night was meant to make and detonate explosive devices Hamas had placed mines along the border, before entering soldiers.


It was initially unaware of how deeply enter the Gaza Strip Israeli soldiers.

Israel's offensive against Hamas began a week ago, with numerous airstrikes on Hamas targets, including police headquarters, fire stations, mosques, universities, and the parliament.


The intent was to curb Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli border towns, but Hamas continued firing rockets into Israel.

Israel initially stopped a ground offensive, apparently for fear of casualties among Israeli soldiers, and concerns remain mired in Gaza, territory it abandoned in 2005 after several years of resistance by the Palestinians.


The leaders of Hamas warned that Israeli troops would be a violent welcome. They also threatened to resume suicide attacks in Israel.

According to witnesses, while Israeli tanks and infantry entered Gaza on Saturday evening, they were very close to the border. The heavy artillery fire was directed to the east of the overcrowded Gaza City, in places where, according to Israeli authorities, were deployed fighters from Hamas.


In the first week of air strikes, more than 460 Palestinians were killed and over 2,000 wounded. A UN agency said that between 10% and 25% of the Palestinian casualties were civilians.

Because it is densely populated Gaza, an urban war could greatly increase the casualties.


Hours earlier, Israel launched a bombing against a mosque in the Gaza Strip left 10 people dead and dozens wounded, Palestinian medical sources reported.

Earlier, Israeli jets struck more than two dozen positions of Hamas on Saturday, attacking weapons storage sites, training centers and the homes of several executives at the beginning of the second week of its offensive against the militia leaders in the region.


Was not immediately clear whether those killed in the mosque there Hamas militiamen. The mosque attack was named after the founder of an extremist group that was killed by Israeli forces in 2004.

The medical sources added that more than 30 people were injured in the bombing on Saturday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. At least seven are in critical condition.

Most of the air strikes against the last hours were empty and abandoned buildings, which indicated that Israel appeared to be losing whites.

Meanwhile, shares of international cease-fire are also gaining momentum.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit the region next week and his colleague George W. Bush and the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, both spoke in favor of a truce supervised by the international community.

Israel launched the offensive on December 27 in response to the increasing number of rocket attacks launched by Hamas militia in Gaza.

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the "Communist Manifesto" _ "a specter over Europe _ the specter of communism" _ in a cabaret with a spectacular view of the Grand Place, Brussels or Plaza Mayor.


Communism came and went and the cabaret is now a restaurant, still called "The Swan." If Marx and Engels viesen a spectrum here today, it would be the urban kitsch over the years has invaded the central square of Brussels.


The Grand Place, exquisitely preserved, is a cultural heritage of humanity that dazzles visitors throughout the year, but in the maze of narrow streets and alleys around it, the beauty of a Magritte sky framing old Flemish gables surrenders quickly the ugliness of years of neglect in municipal planning.

Among the Marche aux Fromages and will meet with a vulgar "Kebab Alley's, where neon lights under piles restaurantitos Greek pita sandwiches they serve, where the Hotel Mozarts, inscrutable, blends Old Vienna with North African exaggerated decorations, plastic palm trees where adorn the Pizzeria Veneziana.


In the Rue de la Colline, chocolate shops selling brands unknown to most Belgians.

Rue des Eperonniers have a night full of graffiti shop, a tattoo salon and restaurant "Belgian Frit'N Toast" one of the greasy food emporium whose yellow facade is not improving in the least thanks to a huge, smiling bag of French fries.


"What we see today is a visible decline in the quality of a historical area around the Grand-Place," says Christian Ceux, the Brussels city councilor for urban planning.

In a recent interview, Ceux said the municipality was planning to soon impose severe restrictions on the design business in an area of 3.9 square kilometers around the Grand-Place. An ordinance to this effect will be implemented by the end of the year.


The warning notices and menus will be limited field in number and size. Awnings and umbrellas can only be red, green, the colors of Brussels.

Ads will be banned neon, like polyester window frames, reflective windows, air conditioners outdoor banners, garlands and flashing lights in the texts.


The plans include steps to encourage people to live again in the historical heart of the city. "Stairs sealed with bricks are reopened to the upper floors could be converted into apartments again," says Ceux.

The aim is to restore dignity to the ancient buildings are now decorated with tables strident, filthy awnings and facades open to make room for more tables and chairs.


"The new regulations will take effect slowly as the permits expire in stores and restaurants," said Ceux.

"Most importantly, now the authorities will ensure compliance with those standards," he added.


To date, the city has rules that are applied on a voluntary basis. This has resulted in the Grand-Place, but not with the surroundings.

Nowhere in the decline of historic Brussels is as spectacular as in the Petite Rue des Bouchers.


The narrow street links the Grand-Place to the Ilot Sacre, a den half dozen streets filled with restaurants, many of which limit their menu to pizza, spaghetti and lasagna.

It's bad reputation Petite Rue des Bouchers, where labor law inspectors come constantly harass street vendors and bystanders chocolates are attracted to the city refuses to include in their tourist brochures.

Visitors are informed before going to the area found a few restaurants that rise above the prevailing level of quality disastrous. They include Vincent, L'Ogenblick, Aux Armes de Bruxelles and Scheltema.

"What I want to happen," said councilman Ceux, "is that in five to 10 years visitors will find that the streets in the heart of Brussels as clean and pleasant as is the Grannd Place."

They were especially women and children. The first buses to have risen before dawn. Known fortunate. Allow their foreign passports to leave the hell that Gaza has become. Still, after the endless circumvent controls Erez passage, have agreed that those left behind. "Many people are dying and where you are, the Arabs?. Where are you?. Nobody wants to help." For one and a half million Palestinians who remain in the strip, nothing has changed. Continue the bombing, the most spectacular of late has destroyed the mosque, attacked the ninth since the start of the offensive. The number of dead, more than 400. And he repeated the funeral. This morning, the roar of fighter eschews the prayers held in the Hamas leader Nazar Rayan and fourteen members of his family. Nor stop the firing of rockets into Israel. And at the border, remain unemployed tanks filled with their guns.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter on Saturday appointed the superintendent of public schools in Denver, Michael Bennet, to fill the vacancy that will be created by the appointment of Senator Ken Salazar of Hispanic origin as secretary of the Interior in the government of President-elect Barack Obama .



The action surprised many Republicans and Democrats, who considered a candidate to Bennet with few opportunities because of their lack of legislative experience.


Bennet had been mentioned as a possible secretary of Education in Obama's cabinet, although the president-elect for the post chose to Arne Duncan, chief of the public school system in Chicago.

The postulation of Salazar for the secretariat of the Interior will be considered by the Senate. Two years remaining in his term as senator.


Ritter to Bennet extolled for his leadership and ability to solve problems in both the public and private sectors. Bennet, a Democrat of 44 years, has never content in elections for public office.

"We are at a critical moment in history. The economic challenges facing the United States and Colorado are unprecedented," Ritter said in a written statement. "Our challenges are so serious that will require a new generation of leaders, a new way of thinking, and a bold new approach to solve problems and guide us in this period."


Obama said in a statement that Bennett will be a "breath of fresh air in Washington."

"Michael Bennett reflects perfectly well the qualities of an independent state that decided to serve," said the president-elect.

A series of powerful earthquakes on Saturday killed at least three people in eastern Indonesia, which also brought down electricity cables poles, buildings and caused damage to the residents ran out of their houses in panic, reported the autoridades.

The main earthquake with magnitude 7.6 occurred at 2:43 a.m. local time (1943 GMT) about 135 kilometers from Manokwari, Papua, and at a depth of 35 kilometers, said the United States Geological Survey. In this telluric movement was followed by another of magnitude 7.5.

Three bodies have been recovered, said Hengky TEWU, director of a hospital, The Associated Press. Among the victims would have a girl of 10 years.

"His head was crushed, and our ambulances are going to pick up two more corpses," said TEWU. Other 19 patients were treated for fractures, cuts and other injuries.

The authorities were looking for more people were probably trapped between the remains of a hotel that collapsed.

The authorities reported that several electric cables fell, many buildings were damaged and most flights to Manokwari, the regional capital, have been canceled.


At least three floors of the Hotel Mutiara collapsed in the regional capital Manokwari, said Ina, a nurse at a hospital in the Navy, who had treated five patients for injuries and shock. Most of the injured was transferred to another hospital, added the source.

The Meteorological and Seismological Agency of Indonesia issued a tsunami warning, which was canceled an hour later then determined that the epicenter was on land.


The initial shock was followed by a series of strong aftershocks, including one of magnitude 7.5, the agency said.

"We could not get any information on casualties or damage, but because the epicenter was on land, the potential exists that has caused significant damage," said Rahmat Priyono, a supervisor of the National Seismological Center.


Papua is located about 2955 km (1,830 miles) east of the capital in less developed part of the territory of the nation.

Was lost electric flow, and people left their homes in the dark, fearing a tsunami, said Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official.


Indonesia is in the "ring of fire" in the Pacific and is prone to seismic activity. A powerful earthquake with regard to Indonesia in 2004 caused a tsunami that killed some 230,000 people in Asia, more than half in Sumatra.

The president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama and his family arrived early at Chicago on Friday after 12 days of vacation in Hawaii. The family plans to go to Washington on Sunday, as the couple's two daughters, Malia and Sasha, 10 and 7 years respectively, begin classes on Monday at the Sidwell Friends private school.

Shortly after his arrival in Washington the president-elect will meet with congressional leaders to discuss his economic stimulus plan and other legislative matters, according to a senior assistant to the average Democrat in Congress. Obama will talk with the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Harry Reid, and with the chairman of the House of Reprsentantes, Democrat Nancy Pelosi. Later he will meet with both leaders and Republican lawmakers, said the assistant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak officially about the plans.


Obama also plans to speak with President George W. Bush and several former presidents on Wednesday at the White House.

Obama, his wife Michelle and two daughters of the marriage shall be established temporarily in a hotel in the city of Washington until moving to the White House in final form on January 15. The family will stay at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House.


During his break on the island of Oahu, the Obama kept a low profile. Apart from the daily trips to the gym and the golf courses, the president-elect rarely left his holiday retreat, a luxurious rented house near Honolulu.

When he came out of his routine, it did something to eat ice scraping, a local custom, visit the zoo or take some other excursion for children.

Wall Street began the New Year on Friday with a sharp hike of more than 250 points in the Dow Jones, who for the first time in two months closed above 9,000 units after the market ignored a disappointing report on manufacturing .

The other indicators had an increase of more than 6% in the week.


According to preliminary calculations, the Dow industrial average rose 258.30 points, 2.94%, to 9034.69, ending the week with an increase of 6.1%. The last time the concerns of the elite Wall Street stocks closed above the 9,000 points was on Nov. 5, when it stood at 9139.27.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM, for its acronym in Spanish) reported that its index of manufacturing activity fell in December to its lowest level in 28 years.


However, the market has clung to its recent pattern of no case to make much economic bad news, a trend that began to emerge after it reached extremely low levels on Nov. 20. When making purchases or sales, investors are trying to prevent what will happen later, even up to nine months later.

"During the last month we've begun to see some change in mood, and this is certainly a step in that direction," said Carl Beck, a partner of Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia.


The data on the economy have been terrible for months, and investors have shown little surprise despite the fact that some figures were well below expectations, as fairly pessimistic.

During past recessions, the market has recovered earlier than the economy, to ignore the negative statistics and looking for signs that the crisis worsens.


The ISM, a group of purchasing executives, reported Friday that its index of manufacturing fell to 32.4 units in December, compared to 36.2 in November. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a reading of 35.5 units. A figure below 50 points indicates that there is contraction in the sector.

The last session of the week and first of 2009 after a terrible years for investors. The Dow fell 33.8% in 2008, its worst performance since 1931.


But on Friday, the market's broader indicators also advanced for a third session in a row. The index of 500 shares of Standard & Poor's rose 28.55 points, 3.16%, to 931.80, its best close since Nov. 5, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 55.18 units, 3.50%, to 1632.21.

During the week, the S & P 500 rose 6.8%, and the Nasdaq improved 6.7%.


The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller companies quoted on the stock exchange, had a rise of 6.37 points, 1.28%, to 505.82.

The shares rose by approximately exceeded those that fell to 5-1 on the Stock Exchange of New York, where trading volume was light, 1,040 million shares.


Bond prices fell after investors decided to run more risks. The yield on the Treasury's role in 10 years, which moves in the opposite direction to price, rose to 2.40%, 2.22% observed in respect of the closure on Wednesday.

The dollar had a mixed against other major currencies in the world. Gold fell.


The light crude low sulfur content rose 1.74 dollars to 46.34 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other international markets, the year also had an upward beginning. The British FTSE 100 rose 2.88%, the German DAX jumped 3.39% and the French CAC-40 rose 4.09%. Markets in Japan remained closed for a holiday.

A group of investors decided to jointly acquire what remains of the bankrupt mortgage lender Indymac Bank by 13,900 million dollars, federal regulators reported on Friday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC, for its acronym in Spanish) indicated that a holding company headed by Steven Mnuchin General, co-director general of the private security firm Dune Capital Management, agreed to buy a Indymac in an agreement that was reached Wednesday and could be consummated in late March.


The investors formed a consortium that includes seven members of the investment firm MSD Capital of the company's founder computer Dell Inc., Michael Dell. The new company was called IMB Management Holdings LP.

Indymac, based in Pasadena, California, has been operated by the FDIC under the name of Indymac Federal Bank. Fell into bankruptcy last July.


"We have armed a group of private investors with experience in financial services for the once Indymac to acquire and operate through a new administration with extensive banking experience," said Mnuchin General in a communication. "Will inject significant private capital to enable it to Indymac once more effectively serve their customers and communities."

The other members of society are five private investment firms or hedge funds _J.C. Flowers & Co., Stone Point Capital, Paulson & Co, a fund controlled by the Fund Management of multimillionaire George Soros and a fund controlled by Silar Advisors LP.


Indymac has 33 bank branches in southern California with some 6,500 million dollars in deposits, nearly half of the company when they broke. It also owns a business of servicing debt with a face value of 157,700 million dollars which collects and delivers mortgages to investors, as well as the signing that Financial Freedom is a reverse mortgage company _sistema of private loans with federal insurance.

As part of the agreement, the corporation's government agreed to take losses on some loans from Indymac.


In a complex formula, the new investors would respond by the first 20% of the bank's loan losses, while the federal corporation would assume most of the losses later. In return, the investors agreed to maintain a surveillance program in the provision for housing that was established by the president of the corporation, Sheila Bair, in August.

Israel bombed a mosque on Friday that, he said, was used to store weapons, and destroyed the homes of at least 10 suspected extremists of Hamas, but international pressure forced it to allow hundreds Palestinians in third countries with passports to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel continued to accumulate artillery, armored units and infantry forces on the border with Gaza in an indication that the air offensive that began a week ago against the rulers of Gaza could soon become an attack by land.


At the same time, tend to increase international requests for a cease-fire, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected in the region next week to promote a halt to the violence. Israel has been reluctant to a truce, and the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said it has no plans to travel to the region.

"Hamas holds hostage the people of Gaza since its illegal coup against the forces of the president (of the Palestinian Authority) Mahmud Abbas," Rice said in Washington on Friday and accused the extremist group to use the territory as a "launching pad" for rockets to Israel. As a result, he said, Palestinians in Gaza carried "a very bad life."


"We work for a ceasefire that does not allow restoring the status quo ante, where Hamas could launch rockets," said Rice. "It is clear that there should be a ceasefire as soon as possible but we want a cease-fire that is lasting and sustainable."

The offensive triggered protests on Friday against Israel in the Middle East, in the Muslim world and parts of Europe.


Israel attacked targets and new Palestinian extremists fired at least 30 rockets into southern Israel. But Israel opened its border with Gaza to leave nearly 300 Palestinians with passports from third countries.

"There is no water, electricity or medicine. It's hard to survive. Gaza is destroyed," said Jawaher Haggi, a Palestinian-American 14 years to cross into Israel. He stated that his uncle died in an air strike when he tried to get medicine for his brother _el of Haggi_ father, who died later by his illness.


Many of the evacuees were women of foreign descent married to Palestinians who left their children. Spouses who did not have foreign citizenship were not allowed to leave.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that the majority of the evacuees were Russian or Eastern Europeans, and they are authorized to request the departure of foreign embassies. He said that the decision had no relation to military plans.


Israel began air attacks on Saturday in a bid to halt weeks of rocket attacks become more frequent and more far-reaching from Gaza. The response has been a major blow to Hamas, but has not decreased their firing of projectiles.

On Friday, rockets injured four Israelis and damaged houses in the city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, police reported.


The Israeli army telephoned some houses in Gaza to warn of an imminent attack. In some cases, also fired a pump noise to warn civilians that homes would be destroyed with missiles, said Palestinian and Israeli authorities.

After destroying the premises of the security forces of Hamas, Israel became the focus group leaders. The Israeli fighter jets attacked some 20 houses that were suspected extremists of Hamas and members of other armed organizations, Palestinians said. A man died in an attack on the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.


Other air operations killed five Palestinians, including a teenage boy in eastern Gaza and three children playing in the south of the strip, the official said Mosaiya Hassanain of the Ministry of Health.

At least 400 people in Gaza have died and 1,700 have been injured in the Israeli campaign, Palestinian officials said. Hamas has said that nearly half of the dead was up to their security forces.


The UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian Territories, Maxwell Gaylard, said that at least 100 of the dead were civilians, and many were women and children. The United Nations also said that there was a health and food crisis in Gaza, despite an increase in shipments of humanitarian assistance.

The president of a Chinese dairy company was on trial on Wednesday with a milk scandal in a poor state that killed at least six children and other diseases caused thousands.


Tian Wenhua, 66, and former general manager of the now bankrupt Sanlu Group, pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling goods of poor quality, "said state news agency Xinhua.

Tian appeared alongside three other executives of the company in a court of Shijiazhuang, capital of the northern province of Hebei. It is still unclear whether they could be condemned to death.


"(Tian) could face the death penalty for producing and selling contaminated baby milk products, along with three of its top managers in the Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang," said the official China Daily Wednesday.

But the Xinhua report said the maximum sentence for the charges was life imprisonment.


Sanlu executives, partly owned by the New Zealand group Fonterra, not made known cases of Chinese children have developed kidney stones and other complications from drinking milk adulterated with melamine for months before they see the scandal became public in September.

Melamine, an industrial compound used in the manufacture of plastic chairs, tops, dishes, fire-resistant products, and even concrete, has been added to certain foods to circumvent quality tests because of its high nitrogen content.


Another 17 people involved in the production, sale, purchase and melamine adulteration in raw milk were on trial last week.

At least six children died and more than 290,000 have become sick from drinking contaminated milk, further damaging confidence in Chinese products and orders, triggering massive withdrawals worldwide.


Tian told the court Wednesday that he learned about the complaints from consumers for milk in poor condition in mid-May, according to Xinhua cited.

The company ordered a team led by Tian to handle the case, but did not send a written report on the milk powder at the city government of Shijiazhuang until August 2, said Tian.


The Shijiazhuang government did not report the case to senior officials until a month later, which raised speculation that the authorities tried to prevent an outrage stopped organizing the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The lung cancer cells produce a compound that helps the spread of the tumor to other parts of the body, according to a finding that could develop new ways to prevent metastasis, researchers reported on Wednesday.


The team identified a protein that "elements versicanos" of the immune system creates inflammation, which can stimulate the growth and spread of lung cancer.

Michael Karin, de la University of California en San Diego, y sus colegas hallaron esto en experimentos con ratones, pero dijeron que la proteína se encuentra en bajos niveles en algunas células pulmonares humanas normales y en otros tejidos.


The versicano is generated in large amounts by cells in the lung cancer, especially when it comes to aggressive tumors, the authors reported in the journal Nature.

Cancer is much more dangerous and difficult to treat when it expands from the original, in this case the lungs to other parts of the body. That process is called metastasis.


The investigators indicated that the results could lead to the development of new treatments to reduce the metastasis of lung cancer, perhaps by blocking the secretion of the protein involved in tumor cells.

The study showed that generates versicano production of immune system proteins called cytokines that cause inflammation, which stimulates the growth and spread of cancer.


"Our research shows that versicano, which is produced by cancer cells, induced an inflammatory response and that this process encourages the metastasis," said Sunhwa Kim, one of the authors.

"This just tells us that versicano block the inflammatory response or we can reduce the incidence of metastasis. However, it is not so easy," he added.


One difficulty is the complexity of the immune system.

Kim, who previously worked in the lab and is now Karin Johnson & Johnson, said the findings are a good start to study the problem in humans focused on this protein.


Worldwide, lung tumors are the leading cause of cancer death in men and second among women. Die annually around 376,000 men and 975,000 women, according to the American Cancer Society.

Caca year detected nearly 1.5 million new cases of lung cancer.

Taliban insurgents ambushed the convoy of a district chief in southern Afghanistan and killed his 20 bodyguards, said Thursday a funciionario.

Mullah Salaam, district chief of Musa Qala in Helmand province and that time was a member of the ousted Taliban, emerged unscathed from the attack occurred on Wednesday against his caravan, said provincial spokesman.


The spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said two of the attackers were killed in a confrontation that occurred after the ambush in Helmand, a stronghold of Taliban and one of the main drug-producing regions of Afghanistan, the main supplier of heroin in the world.

Taliban group nobody could be reached immediately for comment on the matter and the Interior Ministry in Kabul confirmed the deaths of 20 guards in the payroll of the ministry.


This has been one of the bloodiest attacks against security forces in several months.

The ministry said a woman also was killed in the attack and added that it is expected to give details of the incident.


Afghanistan suffers one of its worst violence since 2005 when the Taliban movement began to regroup after being ousted in the invasion led by the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Pope Benedict XVI began the New Year on Thursday, calling for global solidarity to fight poverty worsened by the global financial crisis.

The Pontiff, to raise a traditional New Year prayer for peace, said the economic crisis should be considered an opportunity to challenge "the dominant development model and amend it to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots.


"The current global economic crisis should also be seen as a test: Are we ready to look at it in all its complexity, and a challenge for the future, not only as an emergency that requires short answers?" He said during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

"Are we ready for a thorough review of the dominant development model to correct a concerted and long term?" He asked.


The pope added: "The state of the global environment and, above all, moral and cultural crisis (...) are demanding this, even more than the immediate financial problems."

Benedict XVI added that poverty threaten world peace and urged a new round of solidarity and sobriety.


The pope reiterated his appeal to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip, saying that violence was also a form of poverty and that a large majority of Israelis and Palestinians wanted peace.

The Czech Republic on Thursday took command of the European Union for the next six months, in which should help the bloc to manage its worst economic crisis in decades and face the renewed conflict in the Middle East.


Following the mandate of France, whose president Nicolas Sarkozy was launched to deal with several issues ranging from the financial turmoil to climate change, the Czechs have raised fears among other European states on its ability to manage the block.

The Czechs have tried to alleviate those fears, identifying key priorities such as economics, foreign affairs and energy, this highly topical after the Russian decision to cut gas supplies to Ukraine, the main transit country for gas European Union.


"Sarkozy has already called the prime minister (Mirek) Topolanek and congratulated him," said the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra live on television.

Then he lit a huge metronome Prague, the symbol of the Czech presidency, but the ceremony was quite discreet since the official launch of the Czech presidency will be held on January 7.


The former communist state of 10 million people has suffered only slightly the economic crisis that has wreaked havoc on the rest of the bloc of 495 million people with stock market crashes, bank failures and job losses.

The minority government's center-right Prime Minister Topolanek has put obstacles to the Lisbon reform treaty, a text designed to streamline decision making in the EU and the country is one of only three EU states who have yet to ratify it.


The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, a staunch Eurosceptic who has campaigned against further integration with other EU members, despite the prime of his ceremonial office.

Topolanek, who will lead the Czech presidency, will have to deal with these issues together with the already long list of challenges facing the new year, as the Middle East conflict.


In economics, the Czechs expected to grow slightly next year and see unemployment rise to six percent. The decision of other EU governments to assist with public funds to private sector contractors have no problems either, a situation that can cope with the big eurozone countries.

Experts say the success of the Czechs in the presidency of the EU will depend on whether the block used as a platform and if the Executive Committee of the EU or the "big three"-Germany, France and Great Britain take control if Prague does not.

The Russian state monopoly Gazprom on Thursday halted gas supplies to Ukraine completely at the failure of negotiations on prices for 2009 and the debt of Ukraine, the company reported.

Gazprom spokesman Igor Volobuyev said that the cuts began at 10 am (0700GMT) on Thursday, as planned.


A spokesman for the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz confirmed the sharp drop of supplies.

There are fears about a supply disruption could lead to a repetition of the European gas crisis of January 2006. Then, a dispute similar between the two countries temporarily halted shipments of gas to much of the continent. Ukraine controls the pipelines through which Russia supplies most of its customers in Europe.


While it cut gas to Ukraine, Gazprom said it has increased the amount of gas shipped by pipelines that serve mainly to Europe, which gets almost one quarter of its gas from Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine not to divert gas to other consumers, saying it could have "very serious consequences" for the country where the fuel flowing to the damaged relations with Europe.


The President Viktor Yushchenko and the Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko issued a statement claiming that would ensure the uninterrupted transit of natural gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory.

Unable to reach an agreement reflects the great political division between Russia and Ukraine.


Gazprom had warned it would interrupt gas supplies unless Ukraine to pay its debt completely 2,100 million dollars and signed an agreement on prices for 2009. But neither of these two conditions are met.

Naftogaz paid $ 1,500 million andalusia RosUkrEnergo businessman with offices in Switzerland, said that according to cover the debt. But Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller said Wednesday night that Gazprom has not yet received the money. Gazprom also said that Ukraine should be 600 million more in penalties for late payment.

At least 59 people, including several foreigners, died on Thursday at an exclusive nightclub fire in which a thousand revelers celebrating the New Year, police reported.

Police officers indicated that about 130 people were injured as a result of the incident, which erupted shortly after midnight in the Santika Club in Bangkok, an area where there are several entertainment centers.


The officials, who refused to give his name not be allowed to speak with the press, said the club was packed with about 1,000 people. Rescue workers said that there appeared to be more bodies inside the building destroyed by fire.

The overall police, Jongrak Jutanot, said that at least 59 people were killed and that among those injured, were citizens of Australia, Nepal, Japan and Holland. It was not immediately possible to determine the number or nationalities of the foreigners were killed.


Earlier, another general of police, Chokchai Deeprasertwit said the incident could be caused by firecrackers that customers made in the Santika or that sparks off a screen, surrounded by fireworks, which showed the countdown for the arrival New Year in a local scene.

Deeprasertwit reported that the deaths occurred by burns, poisoning and smoke various injuries when customers tried to flee in droves to the club, which had only one door.


A firefighter at the scene, Watcharapong Sri saard said that actually there was another door in the rear of the building, but only the staff knew of its existence. He added that to leave the club needed to go through several staircases and bars located on the side of the window on the second floor, also difficult to escape.

Rescue workers said most of the corpses were in the basement of the club, which usually attract many foreigners and wealthy Thais. The bodies, placed in white bags were arranged in rows in the front parking lot of the establishment, where they were irrigated many shoes of the victims.


A video provided to APTN, the television division of BP, one of several rescue workers showed bloody victims, beaten and burnt drawn dragged the club succeeded in flames or running out the door or windows broken.

The flames wrapped around the building during the rescue operation, and the concrete roof of the building came down shortly afterwards.


A journalist from the AP, who threw a glimpse inside the building, still in flames, said all the objects in it had been reduced to ashes.

Police and paramedics crews reported that the rescue operation was delayed by the intense traffic during the New Year in the district of Ekamai, and the large number of cars parked at the club.


A page on the Internet and entertainment centers in Bangkok said that the club attracts "a multitude of wealthy Thai students, along with Western and European models, who tend to appear there, with a crowd looking to drink whiskey and a big stage .

Another page states that the high ceiling and a huge cross in the main hall makes one feel as if you were walking into a church. "

Hundreds of thousands of celebrities gathered in the frigid Times Square to welcome the new year, joining the rest of the people around the world happy to say goodbye to 2008 in hopes of leaving behind their economic problems.

The icy wind blowing to -17 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) in the area, but that did not stop the joyful meeting covered with felt hats and sleeping bags.


"We are somewhat concerned about the economy, but hope for the best," said Lisa Mills, Danville, Ohio, visiting New York on Wednesday night with her husband and daughter.

Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is the secretary of state of President-elect Barack Obama as of January 21, Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped down the famous glass sphere for the Times Square countdown to midnight.


The New Year also brought Unfortunately, Thai rescue workers reported that at least 59 people died, including several foreigners, and wounded 200 others at an exclusive nightclub fire in which a thousand revelers held in Bangkok.

In the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI called for "sobriety and solidarity."


During Mass on Wednesday evening, the pope described this period as "marked by uncertainty and concern about the future," but called on the faithful who are not afraid. He urged people to help the families in difficulty and said that Catholic Charities agencies are doing everything possible to support.

In other people tried to forget their problems, at least for one night.


Six luxury cruises passed near the famous Copacabana beach in Brazil while the fireworks sparkled with about 2 million Brazilians gathered.

Robert Philip, a builder of 22 years, watched the spectacle with a beer in hand and no shirt.


"I hope that today will be the beginning of the end of war and crisis," said Felipe, who wore his dark glasses even though it was midnight. "I hope 2009 will bring to President Obama, we can help everyone to have a better life."

In some parts of the United States parties were also victims of the economic crisis. The public celebrations were canceled in communities of Louisville, Kentucky and Nevada Mountains. In Miami Beach, Florida, producers of entertainment ticket sales reported slower than expected for the holidays of celebrities, they say, would have been spent in other years.


In other parts of the world could feel this austere. When Parisians stop buying champagne, oysters and foie gras to dismiss the New Year's Eve, you can be sure that things do not go well.

"We will not hold a big way, we are careful," said Siham Moussa architect of 24 years. "Eat fish during the New Year dinner," he said while some of the luxurious area around the Eiffel Tower buyers reduced their costs for New Year.


Sydney was the first major city in the world to receive the 2009, with a kaleidoscope of light and its port bath caused the jubilation over a million people.

Randolph King, aged 63 and living in York, England, tried to forget the loss of his retirement sitting on a hill near the bay of Sydney and hoping the spectacle of fireworks in the city. "I'm waiting for 2009, because things can not get a lot worse," he said.


Political and religious leaders offered few words of consolation, and most predicted more problems in 2009.

In Greece, a mob damage caused by Thursday morning in about 10 banks and shops in two cars used in the outskirts of Athens, police reported. Authorities reported no injuries or arrested.

In North Korea the traditional publisher of newspapers, controlled by the state, called on people to support leader Kim Jong Il and promote the country's army. The message of this year, accused South Korea of an "anachronistic policy of confrontation," but critics said the U.S. government as usual.

In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo spoke of hope for the days to come, while in Hong Kong, admitted that some people were too depressed by his monetary problems to join the celebrations. And in Malaysia, the government simply decided not to sponsor any event.

In Iceland, the transmission annual New Year's celebration, which involved the prime minister left the air after a group of protesters attacked the hotel where the event was recorded. The demonstrators threw water balloons and firecrackers at police who responded with tear gas.

The protests, increasingly violent, have been common in Iceland, after the country's economy, one of the first to receive the most severe impacts of the crisis, was imploding under the weight of their debts.

In India, many people were happy to see the end of 2008, during which the country was rocked by terrorist attacks in several cities, culminating in three days of violence in Mumbai that left 164 dead.

"The year 2008 can be described as a year of crime, terrorism, killings and accidents," said Tavishi Srivastava, 51, a clerk from the northern city of Lucknow. "I sincerely hope that 2009 is a year of peace and progress".

At midnight in Japan temples were ringing their bells 108 times, representing the expulsion of demons while 108 worshipers threw coins and prayed.

In Tokyo, dozens of volunteers stirred huge pots of rice soup, placed tents and distributed blankets to the poor.

The presence in the internet site Facebook socialization of several groups of fans who defend the Sicilian Mafia and praise to two chiefs of the Cosa Nostra provoked strong condemnation Tuesday from the families of the victims mafiosos attacks.

With the names' Toto Riina Free ',' Fans of Toto Riina, a misunderstood man 'or' All those who respect Toto Riina, 'several groups of users that would pay homage to the supreme leader of the Sicilian Mafia, 78 years old, nicknamed 'The Beast' and detained in 1993, after which he was sentenced to 15 life terms.


In the pages of some groups, which rarely go beyond the 200-member fans celebrated the figure of "a man of honor," a "father" that "if hubera free state, would have prevented the crisis" or even an "innocent "andalusia to be" kissing the hand. "

His successor, Bernardo Provenzano, 75 years old, is not outside the group of fans, and one of them suggested that the "sanctity" of the last historic leader of the Cosa Nostra, was arrested in April 2006 after more than forty fled years.


"I'm outraged, the 'evil' fascinanción still exerts on young people. We must do everything necessary so that this does not happen, but some messages on the Internet and some films do not help," lamented on Tuesday in the daily La Repubblica Maria Falcone, sister of Judge Giovanni Falcone, figurehead of the fight against the Mafia who was killed with his wife and his bodyguard on May 23, 1992.

"They (these groups) to admire the mafia bosses and joke about serious crimes," his complaint, in a communique Maggiani Giovanna Chelli, head of an association of victims of the Mafia.


By contrast with the hundreds of fans, the Facebook site dedicated to the memory of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, another judge murdered by the mafia with its escort of five police officers in July 1992, have tens of thousands of members.

The Israeli army set up its own channel on the website for the dissemination of YouTube videos, which went up images of offensive air strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The creation of the channel to address youtube.com / user / idfnadesk on Monday, aims "to help send our message to the world," he explained in a statement to the page the press office of the armed forces of Israel.


The channel currently has more than 2,600 sucritos and has 10 videos, some of whom were viewed more than 26,000 times.

The videos include black and white images of aerial attacks by the Israeli Air Force on what he described as launch pads, weapons caches and a complex of tunnels for smuggling of the Islamist movement Hamas.


The press office said that some of the videos broadcast were removed by YouTube, but then returned to make available to Internet users.

YouTube's policy, which had not responded to AFP on the censored material and the reasons for withdrawing, not comment on individual videos.


Israeli attacks on Gaza which began on Saturday in retaliation for the firing of rockets from the Hamas Islamist movement that controls this territory, so far left over 370 dead and 1,700 injured.

President-elect Barack Obama returned to the gym on Monday where shipbuilding has gone almost every morning, except one, since it began 12 days of vacation in his native Hawaii.

Obama, his wife Michelle Martin and his friend visited the gym Nesbitt Semper Fit Center at the Marine Corps at a naval base in Hawaii. She did not speak with the press but greeted about two dozen people after exercise.


The president-elect, who was not only to the gym on Christmas Day, posed for some pictures.

Obama has sought to stay away from public gaze, opting more for making private lunch at his house rented former teachers for their vacation or at the residence of a friend.

On Sunday, the family made a tour of scenic two hours north on the coast of the island of Oahu to the home of Bobby Titcomb, a friend from high school in Mokuleia, where they spent nearly seven hours.

The president-elect has no scheduled public activities during his break, but his relatives say they have been receiving reports on national security and has spoken with his transition team.


Obama, his wife and daughters left Chicago on December 20. They were expected back on January 1, before the president-elect to assume the post on 20 March.

Aircraft of the Israeli air force on Tuesday continued their relentless attacks in Gaza, destroying government buildings, properties of the security forces and Hamas leaders' homes, while thousands of troops , tanks and artillery teams on the border waiting for a sign of attack.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday the chairman Shimon Peres that the air phase of the operation was "the first of several, which have been approved, said a spokesman for Olmert.


Over 360 Palestinians have died, most of them members of the security forces of Hamas, but also have killed 64 civilians, according to UN figures. Among the fatalities were two sisters of 4 and 11 years who died in an air strike on Tuesday to a gang of extremists in northern Gaza.

Israel allowed the passage of 100 trucks of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and five ambulances from Turkey, defense officials reported. A Jordanian diplomat said that 21 military medical personnel in his country and four hospitals will traveling to Gaza on Wednesday, but the Israeli authorities could not immediately confirm that information.


Also on Tuesday the Israeli navy boat was back to one of demonstrators in favor of the Palestinians who were trying to enter Gaza to express their rejection of the Israeli blockade.

So far there have been only attack drones and armed forces. But the army has already moved thousands of infantry troops, dozens of tanks and artillery arsenal. While air forces demolished goal after goal, including the houses of Hamas leaders, expectations for a possible ground attack on the rise.


On Monday, the border area was declared a closed military zone, so you only have increased uncertainty about the situation in Gaza.

The government of George W. Bush called again on Tuesday the end of violence in the Middle East and demanded that the Sunni Islamist group Hamas to "stop launching rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House issued a statement from President George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, noting that the U.S. wants to see a lasting peace in the region and that the government seeks to help achieve it.


He indicated that the end of the new wave of violence that has left hundreds dead and wounded, it depends on the willingness of Hamas to "respect a ceasefire is sustainable and lasting."

Johndroe told the press that Bush said in Texas a short conversation with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of the White House Josh Bolten and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, to receive updates on the situation.


Johndroe blamed Hamas for the violence, saying it broke a cease-fire six months and had "shown its true face as a terrorist organization."

At the same time, said the United States asked Israel to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.


Later, Johndroe told reporters in Crawford that the population in southern Israel can not live in peace due to the rockets fired from Gaza by extremists. "They have to live a long time in bomb shelters and that is unacceptable."

In Israel, 17 people have died this year in attacks from Gaza.


Johndroe said the victims in Gaza must be given access to food and medical supplies.

When asked whether Washington believes that Israel has justified the attacks in Gaza, said that "The United States understands that Israel needs to take action to defend itself."


Also from the farm in Crawford, Bush spoke by phone with King Abdullah of Jordan, who on Monday donated blood for the victims in Gaza.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, made efforts by telephone to several parts in order to reinstall the truce.


Gordon Duguid, a spokesman for Rice said the secretary had called five times to his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, on Friday. He noted that Rice had spoken with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, both Israel and the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

He also drew three times the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said Duguid.


"We are working for a ceasefire now, where Hamas should stop rocket attacks," he added.

Meanwhile, the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama tries to carefully define its position.


The outgoing government has blamed the violence on Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, saying it broke the ceasefire by launching rockets and mortars at Israeli territory.

Meanwhile, Obama is not known whether both expressed support for Israel as Bush has done.

The death of hundreds of Palestinians in the Israeli attack against the Islamic group has generated strong criticism in the Arab world and the renewed violence has complicated plans for Obama to achieve peace in the Middle East, something that governments could not Bill Clinton and Bush .

David Axelrod, Obama adviser, said the president-elect will keep the "important link" between the U.S. and Israel.

"He wants to be a constructive force in helping bring peace and security they want and deserve both Israelis and Palestinians," Axelrod said Sunday on "Face the Nation" of CBS.

This year saw the lowest number of deaths of illegal immigrants at the border between Texas and Mexico, as compared to the last four years, according to representatives of the Mexican government in Paso.

Rescue services recovered in the past 12 months a total of four bodies of people attempting to cross the border compared with those from the years 2004 to 2007.


According to the supervisor of the Border Patrol in El Paso sector, Ramiro Cordero, the decline in deaths this year is explained by the decrease of 60 per cent in the number of arrests of illegal immigrants in southwest Texas and New Mexico.

Representatives of the Mexican consulate in El Paso indicates that the decrease in the number of deaths may be due to the implementation of areas of 'zero tolerance' combined with the economic recession in the United States.


This is in preventive action and join rescue authorities on both sides of the border, according to the same sources.

Among the deaths is a registered on April 9, when an immigrant was killed by drowning in the American Canal that runs parallel to the dividing line between the two countries.


The victim was a man from Ecatepec in the state of Mexico.

On September 15 a man drowned in the canal while trying to cross into U.S. territory without legal documents.


The last body was discovered by employees of the company Kiewit, who work in building the border fence, between the Rio Grande and the irrigation canal.

In Ciudad Juarez, there were two other deaths were of people who cross the border without legal documents, according to reports from headquarters consular.


In contrast, during 2007 there were 29 deaths of illegal immigrants, four of whom were never identified.

In 2006 there were 28 dead, while in 2005 there were 33 to 18 years earlier.


The consul general of Mexico in El Paso, Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, attributed the decline "historic" undocumented deaths this year in part to the three operational 'zero tolerance' of the Border Patrol, which had a deterrent effect among those who aspire to cross the border illegally.

The actions of 'zero tolerance' are used on some 21 miles (33 kilometers) from the border between the Paso del Norte international bridge to the international crossing Columbus, New Mexico and Puerto Palomas, Chihuahua.


Immigrants arrested in the area of 'zero tolerance' are judged according to whether they are repeat offenders or have criminal records.

Cordero told Efe that this year has placed special emphasis on aid and sometimes dangerous situations to rescue immigrants who sought to enter and detain undocumented.


He added that the Border Patrol seeks to reduce further the number of deaths in the area and El Paso, so the players are constantly training in water rescue techniques and first aid.

The officers also receive first aid kit, and there are rescue operations in which the Border Patrol uses helicopters flying over the desert when it detects that an immigrant is gone.

According to the Border Patrol in fiscal year 2008, from 1 October 2007 to September 30, 2008, there were 30,312 arrests of individuals attempting to enter the country without documents, which means a decrease of 60 percent over the previous fiscal year and the lowest number in a decade.

A new law which comes into force on January 1 in Florida to require hospitals to give an estimate of the costs of medical procedures and treatments to patients.

This is the new Law on Right to Information Consumer, which is an amendment to the Law on the Rights and Obligations of Patients Florida.


This legislation aims to help the thousands of Florida residents who lack health insurance to make educated decisions when looking for a health service plan, which does not fall into the category of emergency.

The estimate, which must be made in writing in detail and in language easily understood, it must also reflect the political cost of the medical center or doctor.


Hospitals and doctors not affiliated with the government must also publish in a visible place of the reception room, the Web site on the Internet, where patients can find a detailed report on the costs of regular medical procedures more common for adults and children.

Similarly, health centers and doctors should give patients information on where to find details of discounts on their policies and the existence of charitable services and health insurance that could be eligible, including information on Medicare and Medicaid.


The Law on the Right to Information Consumer also provides a fine for doctors, hospitals and health centers that do not comply with providing information to patients.

With nearly 3 million people, 31 percent Hispanic, who lack health insurance details on the costs of health care will be a useful tool, according to the law so that they can make decisions regarding the treatment and medical procedure to follow based on their skills and economic cost comparison between health centers.


Could be particularly useful for thousands of parents who need to take medical decisions for their children, since according to Families USA, a nonprofit organization based in Washington and to ensure accessibility to health services, economic, 1 in every six children, or 797,000 children in Florida lack health insurance.

Knowing the cost of medical procedures would improve the chances of people who have no insurance, since according to the Robert Johnson Foundation, 40 percent of the residents of Florida last year did not seek medical treatment because of the cost of them.


Among other laws that come into effect on January 1 in Florida found that states that public employees, after a year of probation required, may only be dismissed for certain causes, while municipal and government agencies should take into account the prior years of service to promote or dismiss an employee.

As of January agencies changes checks will undergo frequent audits by the state, according to another new law on consumer protection.

The 2008 has been a bloody years in Puerto Rico, where last weekend surpassed the 800 murders in the island, the highest figure since 1996, when it committed 868 of these crimes.

With some four million inhabitants, the Free Associated State to the U.S. are more than two murders every day until Sunday and police had reported 802, 80 more than for the same date in 2007.


According to authorities, about 80 percent of these murders are related to the flow of drugs.

Whereas until the middle of the 1990s occurred in the municipalities of metropolitan San Juan, Bayamon, Carolina, Guaynabo and southern Ponce, has since been observed throughout the island.


The trend itself is maintained over time is that the majority of victims are men between 20 and 30 years.

The number of murders had remained below 800 since 1996 were 868, in 1995 there were 864 in 1993 and 1994 and reached the highest figures of the past 50 years, with 954 and 995, respectively.


To try to remedy this situation, the Commission for the Prevention of Violence (COPREVI) of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) is carrying out the campaign "Let us be instruments of peace" to "raise awareness about the importance of all assume an active role "to the problem.

Statistics, studies and research presented alarming figures from the harmful effects of violence, "said the rector of the compound Cayey (center) of the UPR, Ram S. Lamba, who said that "this campaign went from prevention to action."


The campaign COPREVI, civic entity created by executive order in 2004 with the view that violence is a public health problem that should be analyzed from an ecological perspective, "is a series of television and print ads that use the example to Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

"We are not only carrying a message of prevention. These ads are calling for action by using humans as models that have worked to improve the quality of life in their countries," Lamba said.


Others, although more local, which appear in the campaign are COPREVI Sister Isolina Ferre, who left a legacy of service to the needy in places that bear his name, and Jose Vargas Vidot, director of Community Initiative, " which provides services to marginalized sectors such as drug addicts and prostitutes. "

The campaign to call for peace include the call to wear a white shirt next January 19 as a show of support and the upcoming publication of a magazine dedicated to highlighting the efforts of individuals and companies that stand out as "builders of peace."


"We all have a responsibility to contribute to building peace. Therefore, we wanted to become the umbrella body of the efforts we are making various sectors to achieve our goal," said the director of COPREVI, Samuel Figueroa.

Meanwhile, the public view of the problem of violence begins to change and the Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo, acknowledges that it is not something that can be corrected simply by increasing the number of agents and said that an analysis must be "seriously" with the participation of all social sectors.


Ever encountered in Puerto Rico more voices calling for a revision of traditional purely punitive system against criminals.

The secretary of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation of Puerto Rico, Miguel Pereira, has introduced a new program to combat addiction in prison based on the administration of methadone is having good results.


At the website COPREVI, www.coprevi.org, educational brochures are available to help resolve conflicts, reduce and prevent the anger from the family habits that can result in future situations of violence.

Also offered at this site lectures by experts who advocate preventive and rehabilitative and strictly legal question the police because, they say, violence is a public health problem that can be addressed from multiple angles.

The year 2008 was difficult for the immigrant community in Arizona for the enforcement of employer sanctions and ongoing operations against undocumented immigrants.

"The year 2008 was a lot of concern, fear and pain for undocumented immigrants in Arizona, many families were separated and parents were deported, leaving their children unprotected," Efe said Magdalena Schwartz, a representative of the Alliance of Religious Leaders Valley in Phoenix, Arizona.


2008 began in January with the implementation of state law sanctions on employers, which penalizes businesses that hire undocumented immigrants.

The owners of these companies may lose their operating license for up to 10 days and those who repeat a period of three years could lose them permanently.


The new regulation requires all employers to verify the immigration status of new employees through the federal E-verify. "

Although so far no business in Arizona has been punished, the entry into force of the law caused a domino effect among the immigrant community and the fear among business owners who started to lay off their employees, "without papers".


"This state law also affected legal residents and naturalized citizens, who are denied work because of flaws in the Social Security office," said Schwartz.

"Many businesses were forced to lay off employees despite being excellent workers," said the activist.


Fear and fear among undocumented migrants was much higher in Maricopa County because of the constant raids and operations against this community by agents of the Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

To date, Arpaio is the only authority in the Arizona state law to implement anti-coyote, which allows the arrest and prosecution of illegal immigrants who agree to have paid the coyotes to cross the United States illegally.


Under this law, the sheriff's office has arrested 1,161 illegal immigrants since it began to deploy in 2006, according to information from its website.

Throughout the years, Arpaio held steady operating on the streets of the cities of Phoenix, Mesa and Guadalupe, which ended with the arrest of dozens of undocumented immigrants.


"Many people were arrested only because they do not understand the direction to turn or bring the windshield broken," said Antonio Bustamante, a lawyer and local activist.

These operations were criticized by community members and politicians who said that agents of the Maricopa County sheriff these arrests were based solely on racial profiling.


Arpaio also carried out raids against businesses after receiving reports of possible violations of state law sanctions employers through a phone line set by his office.

Bailiffs arrested several illegal immigrants during these operations and some of them face charges of identity theft.


"It's very sad what has had to live our community, to live with constant fear, even to take to the streets for fear of being arrested and deported," said Schwartz.

According to the activist, his office has reached many families asking for help because a family member was arrested and deported.

"We hope once again that many families will be Arizona, some to other states or return to Mexico," he said.

"Our only hope is that in 2009 an immigration reform is achieved, if not, things can continue the same or worse in Arizona," concluded the activist.

Stock markets around the world showed mixed results on Monday before a rebound in oil prices amid a bloody attack by extremists in Israel to Gaza.

The Stock Exchange of New York closed with moderate losses in an erratic session after the violence in the Middle East reminded investors other problems apart from the recession. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 31.62 points (0.37%) to 8483.93.

The broader indexes also declined to. The Standard & Poor's fell 3.38 points (0.39%) to 869.42 while the Nasdaq composite index fell 19.92 whole (1.30%) to 1510.32.

The Latin American stock markets moved up slightly after the general increase in oil prices and other raw materials produced in the region.

The benchmark Bovespa in Sao Paulo Stock Exchange advanced 0.5% to 37,060 points, while the price index and quote of the Mexican market fell 0.6% to 22,392.

For its part, Buenos Aires Merval index rose 1.7% to the whole 1076, the Chilean IPSA rose 1% to 2373 and the Colombian IGBC fell 0.5% to 7523 points.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 closed with a rise of 2.44%, the German DAX index rose 1.63% and the French CAC-40 advanced 0.47%.

The shares of raw materials and Japanese financial companies gained ground.

In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 index advanced 7.65 points (0.1%) to 8747.17 and units in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index index gained 1.0% to 14,328.48.

While many investors were out for the celebrations of the end of the year and its books of the year have already been closed, the volume of trade declined.

Investors remained cautious in a week shortened by the New Year holidays, reluctant to risk much in the last three days of transactions in 2008. The increasing attacks by Israel on the Islamic extremist group Hamas in Gaza that have left over 300 dead affected the morale of the market.

The tensions prompted the crude above $ 40.02 a barrel during the session, with an increase of $ 2.31 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Moreover, the recent wave of government stimulus helped bolster spirits despite concerns about the first half of next year will have the worst returns for companies and a weak global economy.

"There is expectation and hope about what governments may give support to the economy and thus lead to a better second half in 2009," said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB-GK consultancy in Singapore.

The main indicators in Singapore, Australia and India advanced more than 1%, while in Shanghai and South Korea closed unchanged. The bags in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines were closed.

Japanese financial companies progressed despite the country's second insurer, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc, discusses a possible merger with two of its smaller rival, to create the largest insurer in the country. Mitsui advanced 8.3%.

Despite the Israeli bombardment and the overwhelming need to go into hiding, Hamas continues to operate and has even managed to launch several rockets into the Jewish state's territory, whose defense minister warned that his country is ready to fight until the bitter end.

In three days of bombing, the number of deaths rose to 315, including seven children under 15 years who died in separate attacks Sunday night and Monday, doctors reported.

There are some 1,400 wounded, according to reports from a UN agency that provides aid to the Palestinians. The agency said that at least 51 of those killed in the offensive were civilians.

In northern Gaza, a father raises his arms in the body of her son four years old during a funeral for a family of five children killed in an Israeli missile attack.

On Sunday night an Israeli missile killed a hunt for a woman, three girls and a baby, said Health Ministry official in Gaza, Dr. Moaiya Hassanain.

In the southern town of Rafah, a baby and her two teenage brothers were killed in an attack aimed at a Hamas commander, said Hassanain. In Gaza, another attack killed one man and his wife.

The nine hospitals in Gaza are not cope with the number of wounded have been hospitalized, said Hassanain. Some of the 1,400 injured were being taken to private clinics and even homes to be served.

Egypt on Monday opened its borders with Gaza, allowing trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entering the Rafah terminal. It was also getting injured Palestinians in Gaza. More than a dozen ambulances waited at the Egyptian border to transport the injured.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Tzipi Livni, told reporters on Monday that Israel was trying to avoid civilian deaths and that "Hamas are trying to kill children."

In Damascus, Syria, a senior Hamas official said that there will be no truce talks with Israel until the attack and Israel reopened its crossings with Gaza.

"We need our freedom. We need to be independent," said Abu Marzouk, told The Associated Press. "If we do not achieve this goal, we must resist. It is our right."

The attacks have forced Hamas leaders to go into hiding and have affected the organization's ability to launch rockets against Israel, but the barrage continued.

A medium-range rocket fired at the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Monday, killing a construction worker of Arab origin, and wounded others. It was the second Israeli to die since the start of the offensive.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister, said the army's fight is not against the people of Gaza, but that his country is ready to fight until the bitter end "and that the operation" will be expanded and deepened in line as necessary. "

Israel began its campaign, the most offensive against Palestinians in decades, on Saturday in response to a series of rocket attacks against civilians in a city south of Israel.

On Sunday, rockets Hamas came close to Ashdod, the largest city in southern Israel, located about 38 kilometers (23 miles) from Gaza and a few 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Tel Aviv. It is the increased penetration of missiles into Israeli territory of Palestinians living memory.

At dawn on Monday, the winds lifted the black smoke of the sites bombed in Gaza surrounded by deserted streets. You could hear the hum of aircraft autopilots and the noise of the jets along with the explosion of new attacks.

The intense bombardment _unos 300 Israeli air strikes since midday sábado_ caused unprecedented destruction in Gaza. Some buildings were reduced to rubble.

One attack destroyed a five-storey building in the section for women in the Islamic University, one of the most important symbols of Hamas. Another attack blew up a set of preventive security forces of the leaders of the group and a third destroyed the house next to the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister. Like the other leaders of Hamas, Haniyeh remains hidden.