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Obama on debate: ‘I feel fabulous. Look at this beautiful day’

Category: By News Updates
Obama
President Obama left a riverside golf resort in Williamsburg, Va., Tuesday morning for the short flight to New York for his second televised debate with Republican Mitt Romney, scheduled for 9 p.m. at Hofstra University on Long Island.

Before he left Kingsmill Resort, Obama made a brief public appearance for the cameras and reporters. On a warm, sunny morning overlooking the James River, the president took a walk with advisers Anita Dunn and David Plouffe.

Obama was asked by a reporter,”How are you feeling about tonight?” He smiled and replied: “I feel fabulous. Look at this beautiful day.”A reporter then asked: “Are you aware Michelle voted for you yesterday?” Obama’s reply: “Thank goodness!”

It was a reference to the news that the first lady had dropped her absentee ballot in the mail on Monday. The Obamas are registered to vote in Chicago; the president will travel there on Oct. 25 and cast his ballot in early voting.

Finally, a reporter asked Obama about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement that she bears responsibility for the violence in Libya on Sept. 11 that claimed four American lives, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

The reporter asked: “Is Hillary to blame for Benghazi?”

Obama was silent and kept walking. But we’ll likely hear more on that question during Tuesday’s debate.
 

Earthquake rattles northern Japan

Category: By News
A MAGNITUDE 7.3 earthquake has struck wide areas of northern and north-eastern Japan, the Meteorological Agency says.

No immediate casualties or damage were reported and no tsunami warning was issued. The quake occurred at 12:01pm (1.01pm AEST) today with its epicentre in the Sea of Okhotsk, off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido at a depth of 590km, the agency said. On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami hit north-eastern Japan, leaving nearly 19,000 people dead or missing.
 

Audi Launches Free Mileage Tracker App.

By News Updater
Audi Motors launched its latest free-to-download mileage tracker application, which aims to make travelling easier. This new app tracks each journey using GPS mapping and precisely calculates the business expense created.

The "Audi Mileage Tracker," which is available for iPhone users, tracks mileage using GPS mapping and tabulates travel costs.The app erases some of the hassles typically associated with travelling, making for an easier driving experience. At the end of the journey, all the information can be transferred to spreadsheets for further office use. These spreadsheets can be directly mailed to offices or homes for recording expenses or for future totaling. "Drivers can program the application with journeys they take regularly and recall them from the journey log or use the start/stop function each time they leave the office," reads an official Audi press release. "The application can even point them in the direction of their nearest Audi Centre if they need expert assistance. As the exact route taken is tracked, regardless of diversions due to roadworks or congestion, the calculation provided is always absolutely accurate." The application has been aimed towards fleet operators who are always on the lookout of ways and means to make their transport system more efficient and economical. And going by its latest features, the Audi Mileage Tracker is just going to be the answer to their prayers.
 

As luxury war heats up, BMW steps on the gas

By News Updater
The biggest battle in India’s auto industry is being fought right at the top. At a time when sales of small cars has been on a decline, and SUVs and MUVs are turning out to be the new crowd-pullers, the luxury car segment is doing what it does best—race ahead. 


The competition between the top three luxury car makers—BMW, Audi and Mercedes—has never been this close, and the margin is only coming down with each passing month. This has led to a slew of launches over the year, and the latest in the list will be the BMW F30 series, the sixth generation of the famed 3 Series, which will be launched on July 27. The car was launched in Europe last October. The vehicle will compete with the Audi A4 and the Mercedes C-Class in the Indian market. While the new 3 Series scores over its predecessor on most fronts, the most noticeable feature is the headlamps which extend right up to the split kidney grille. The latest version is also slightly bigger in size and offers more head room and leg room. Multiple engine options are offered in Europe—both petrol and diesel—but there is no clarity on the number of options that will be available in India. There are reports, however, which state that the car will come in two petrol and two diesel variants. The vehicle will first be launched in Mumbai, followed by subsequent launches throughout the country. This will be the second big launch for BMW in India, the first being the Mini, which came in April. BMW currently leads the luxury market segment in the country, but has seen sales decline this year, while German rival Audi is fast catching up. According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) earlier this month, Audi's sales in the first three months of the fiscal have jumped by 52.15 per cent to 1,908 units from 1,254 units in the year-ago period. On the other hand, sales of BMW declined by 12.16 per cent to 2,088 units as against 2,377 units in the same period last year. Mercedes Benz, too, witnessed a 24.41 per cent fall in its sales at 1,257 units compared to 1,663 units in April-June 2011.
 

Africa: New Drug to Prevent HIV/Aids Approved By United States Fda

Category: By News
Scientists and pharmacists have continued to research into how humanity can be saved from the killer scourge called HIV/AIDS.

Several efforts in the past have not only been partially successful, they have also been profoundly controversial. But Monday, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the United States of America (USA) approved a new drug that could be used by adults to reduce their chances of contacting the dreaded disease.

Such persons who do not already have the infection could reduce their chances of contacting the virus if they take the new drug once a day. It would be the first time the FDA would be approving a drug for the ailment.

The drug is called Truvada, an antiretroviral medication made by Gilead Sciences, Inc., which was already approved by the FDA in 2004 to help control the HIV infection. Truvada is a combination of two HIV medications - emtricitabine (Emtriva) and tenofovir (Viread) - rolled into one pill that is taken once a day. Its efficacy is said to be better enhanced when taken with other HIV drugs, when treating the HIV infection.

More significantly, the drug presents an opportunity for Africa and Asia, which have been ravaged by the ailment. The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has been in the forefront of providing drugs, education and support to those living with the pandemic in Nigeria.

In confirming the preventive effect of the drug, the manufacturers proved that pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP can reduce transmission of the virus significantly - up to 96 per cent - when uninfected partners of people infected with HIV took Truvada. But the manufacturers have sounded a note of warning that the drug is no licence for reckless sexual life, neither is it a Teflon that can insulate an infection, adding that those who already have the infection must observe sexual discipline as well as combine the new drug with others to achieve greater results.

Director of the Division of Antiviral Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, Dr. Debra Birnkrant, stressed that Truvada alone should not be used to prevent the HIV infection. It should be used in combination with other safe sex practices.

"Practising safer sex and good health practices must be part of the treatment," Birnkrant said. "We will be putting a box warning to let those using Truvada know that it is part of the therapy with combination of safer sex practices, and that doing this will reduce the risk of the development of AIDS/HIV."

Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, Dr. Anthony Fauci, agrees. "The approval of Truvada to prevent HIV infection in uninfected individuals who are at high risk of the sexually acquired HIV infection is a significant development, providing an important addition to our toolkit of HIV prevention interventions," Fauci said.

"However, it is critical to stress that Truvada as 'pre-exposure prophylaxis' should not be considered a stand-alone method, but should be used in conjunction with other proven HIV prevention strategies such as condom use, risk-reduction counselling, and frequent HIV testing."

Birnkrant said she hopes the right message would get out, and that Truvada is used properly. "We have the box warning that a negative HIV test must be reported before Truvada is prescribed," she said.

According to Gilead, Truvada is the most-prescribed antiretroviral in the United States. "Today's decision is the culmination of almost 20 years of research involving investigators, academic and medical institutions, funding agencies and nearly 20,000 trial participants around the world, and Gilead is proud to have been a partner in this effort," said the Executive Vice-President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, Gilead Sciences, Norbert Bischofberger.

The lead investigator of the iPrEx trialat at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Robert Grant, who looked at Truvada as a prevention treatment among high-risk men who have sex with men (MSM), said the approval is a major milestone in the 30-year fight against AIDS. "The use of PrEP alongside routine HIV testing gives us a tremendous opportunity to reduce the rate of new HIV infections in this country and around the world," he said.

At the University of Washington, another PrEP study proved very successful in reducing infection rates in couples where one partner is infected and the other is not (called serodiscordant). "The data clearly demonstrate that Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis is effective at reducing the risk of HIV infection acquired through sexual exposure," said Professor of Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington and lead investigator of the Partners PrEP trial, Dr. Connie Celum.

"It is exciting to consider the potential impact of this new HIV prevention tool, which could contribute to significantly reducing new HIV infections as part of a combination HIV prevention strategy. Although the implementation of PrEP will bring challenges, they can be anticipated and systems developed to address these challenges," he said.

Yet, the new drug has its critics: "The FDA's approval of Gilead's Truvada as a form of HIV prevention today, without any requirement for HIV testing is completely reckless and a move that will ultimately set back years of HIV prevention efforts," said AHF's President, Michael Weinstein. "From the beginning, we believe there was a rush to judgment by government officials and others in favour of such approval despite decidedly mixed studies offered in support.