Cutting down TV time doesn't help kids lose weight-study

Trying to help children lose weight by cutting back on the time they spend in front of a TV or video game doesn't have much of an impact, according to a Canadian study.

Interventions designed to reduce overall screen time, including individual and family counseling, automatic monitoring of screen time and classroom curricula, have all been largely unsuccessful, wrote Catherine Birken of the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute in Toronto.

For the study, which appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Birken and her colleagues reviewed 13 large studies involving more than 3,000 children.

The methods the studies tested were unable to help the children lose weight or watch less TV, she said.

"Obesity is a complex problem that is probably not going to be solved by one particular intervention in one particular setting," she told Reuters Health.

"That doesn't mean it can't be solved."

Experts for decades have worried about the impact on young viewers of the violence and sexual content in some TV programs, movies and video games, but another issue is that children watch TV or playing video games instead of playing outside.

According to the report, one in four children in the United States watches an average of four hours of TV every day.

The study did find that some interventions succeeded with very young children, when preschool-aged children had their screen time cut by nearly four hours per week on average.

"It's certainly possible to teach parents to reduce screen time in young children," Birken said.

Other medical professionals said the results did not surprise them.

"Food is a very rewarding event to everyone. To children, so is screen time," said Robert Klesges at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, who did not work on the study.

"So it doesn't surprise me too much that interventions aimed at reducing two things children love struggle."

He noted that the interventions lasted from one to 24 months and were quite variable, which may explain why they were ineffective overall.

"I think very often, they're comparing apples and oranges. I think it's premature to conclude that interventions aimed at (weight) and screen time are ineffective," he added.

Parents can help by turning off the television during meals and "strongly encourage" children to take part in activities or structured sports that will have them exercising for hours.

But success, no matter what method is chosen, may not be easy, Birken said.

PAGASA: Neptune visible on July 12

When it completes its first orbit around the Sun since its discovery nearly 165 years ago, Neptune will be visible to stargazers in the Philippines this Tuesday.

But the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said stargazers will need binoculars or a telescope to see Neptune at about 1 a.m. of July 12.

“At 1:00 a.m. (of July 12), Neptune and Uranus will be glowing at magnitude +7.8 and +5.8. They will be located 53 and 31 degrees above the east-southeast horizon, and will lie among the stars of the constellation Aquarius, the Water Bearer and Pisces, the Fish, respectively," acting administrator Nathaniel Servando said.

The view will be among the treats awaiting Filipino stargazers for July, weather permitting.

Servando noted that by July 12, Neptune will have completed its first orbit of the Sun since its discovery by German astronomer Johann Galle, on September 23, 1846.

At 2:00 a.m., Jupiter will be easily located at the eastern horizon, shining brilliantly at magnitude -2.3 and will be found among the background stars of the constellation Aries, the Ram.

“Through a modest-size telescope, major atmospheric features such as the two dark equatorial belts will be seen," Servando said.

Also, Jupiter’s four bright moons can be seen as they constantly change their positions as they circle the planet at different rates.

“Innermost Io moves fastest, orbiting the planet once every 1.77 days. Europa, which is in orbital resonance with Io, orbits twice that period (3.55 days), while Ganymede orbits twice Europa’s period (7.15 days). Callisto, the outermost moon, takes 16.7 days to orbit Jupiter," Servando said.

Meanwhile, Venus will appear low in the east northeastern horizon before sunrise in the early part of July.

It will then disappear from the sky view on the second week of the month until late September.

Mars will be observable throughout the month on the east northeastern horizon before sunrise. It will be glowing at magnitude +1.6 and will be located among the background stars of the constellation Taurus, the Bull.

In the evening sky, Saturn and Mercury will be observable in the western horizon before sunset throughout the month.

They will be shining at magnitude +0.9 and +0.3 and will lie among the background stars of the constellation Virgo, the Virgin and Cancer, the Crab, respectively.

With a telescope, one can see Saturn’s disk measure at 17 seconds of an arc across, while the ring systems spans at 39 seconds of an arc across.

“Saturn rings will be inclined at 8 degrees by mid July as viewed to our line of sight. Saturn’s biggest and brightest moon, Titan will also be seen through any telescope. The 8th magnitude satellite orbits Saturn once every 16 days," Servando said.

Summer Triangle

Servando said the famous Summer Triangle of the stars Vega, Deneb and Altair of the constellations Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus, respectively, will be above the eastern horizon.

He also said the bowls of the Big and Small Dipper in Ursa Major and Minor stand high above the northern horizon with the body of the constellation Draco, the Dragon, winding between them.

Also, a horseshoe-shaped grouping of stars of the constellation Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, lies on the north-south meridian with the head of Draco below it.

Scorpio is positioned above the east-south eastern horizon, while the constellations of Centaurus, the Centaur and Crux, the Southern Cross are just above the south direction after sunset.

Meteor shower

Servando said the Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower will be best observed from July 28 to 31. Its peak date will be before midnight and onward on July 30.

“The showers are part of a complex of radiants in Aquarius, Capricornus and Piscis Austrinus, all of which combine with sporadic and early Perseid activity to provide a nice display of meteors," he said.

Servando said the stream normally produces about five to 10 meteors per hour, with overall activity of about 15 meteors per hour under good sky conditions.

Arum: Pacquiao camp OKs random testing

MANILA, Philippines – Boxing promoter Bob Arum said the camp of Manny Pacquiao has agreed to random drug testing for the superfight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. to push through.

Arum said in an ESPN report  that the Filipino boxing superstar agreed to random testing as long as it will be done by a neutral organization.

"We have agreed in the Pacquiao camp to unlimited random testing done by a responsible, neutral organization," Arum said. "We don't believe USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) is a neutral organization.”

Arum said they can arrange for an Olympic organization to handle the random drug testing.

He added that the drug tests will be supervised by an athletic commission respective of the state where the fight will take place.

"I don't think anybody's test is as vigorous as the test administered by the Olympic Organization,” said Arum.

Mayweather earlier said that he will only agree to a superfight against Pacquiao if the latter undergoes USADA random drug testing.

“If Mayweather says he's agreeable to us, then we can have the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight next year," said Arum.

Pacquiao is already scheduled for a third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12.

Mayweather, on the other hand, will clash against Victor Ortiz on September 17.

Boxing observers believe Mayweather chose to fight the lefthanded Ortiz to prepare himself against Pacquiao, who is also a southpaw. 

Facebook launches video chat with Skype

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Facebook will add Skype video chat to its pages, aiming to spice up the appeal of the world's No. 1 Internet social networking service while fending off increased competition from Google.

The agreement, announced by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg at the company's Palo Alto, California, headquarters on Wednesday, deepens the company's cooperation with Microsoft Corp, which is in the process of buying Skype to build up its web presence.

Zuckerberg said Facebook has hit a record 750 million users. The new service, rolling out from Wednesday, could be a huge boost for Skype, which currently has about 145 million regular users.

The partnership comes as competition heats up in the Internet market, with Facebook and Google, as well as fast-growing companies such as Groupon and Twitter, vying for billions of dollars in online advertising revenue.

By incorporating free video chat directly into its service, Facebook will give its members another reason to use the site more often and for longer periods of time, said Gartner analyst Ray Valdes.

"They need to continue to keep their users engaged and coming back everyday," he said of Facebook.

Facebook's Skype service, initially limited to one-to-one video chat, will be free. Financial details of the deal, if any, were not disclosed.

Tony Bates, Skype's chief executive, said Wednesday's deal with Facebook is only the start of a potentially lucrative partnership.

"For us, this makes a lot of business sense," said Bates at the Palo Alto event. "We get huge reach. In the future we're talking about potentially also having Skype paid products available within the web format we saw here today."

In a phone interview later on Wednesday, Neil Stevens, the general manager of Skype's consumer business, said the company was planning on introducing a for-pay service that would allow users on Facebook to place calls to landline and mobile phones.

Stevens said he could not provide a timeframe for when such a service might be available, and said details about whether the service would work with Facebook's so-called Credits currency had yet to be worked out.

Hitting back at Google

Facebook, which also unveiled a group messaging function, adding to its existing one-to-one text chat, is returning fire from Google, which last week turned up the competitive heat by introducing a social networking service dubbed Google+.

While many of Google+'s social networking features are similar to those already available on Facebook, Google is generating interest with its videoconferencing function, which allows up to 10 people on the service to participate in a video call.

Zuckerberg hinted that video chat for multiple people could eventually be available on Facebook. But he said that most video chats today occur between two people.

"We think this is awesome because we're using the best technology that's out there for doing video chat with the best social infrastructure that's out there to create some really cool new scenarios," said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg said Wednesday's announcements were the first of several to come in what he described as "launching season 2011."

Facebook's new video offering could benefit Microsoft, which owns 1.6 percent of Facebook and announced its $8.5 billion purchase of Skype in May.

The world's largest software company is investing heavily to muscle in on Google's turf with its Bing search engine, and is hoping Skype -- which it is buying for about 10 times its annual sales -- will help it broaden its portfolio of Web-based properties.

"Clearly you will see more usage (of Skype)," said Sid Parakh, analyst, at McAdams Wright Ragen. "It makes Skype stickier in the consumer mind. That will help Microsoft as it starts to integrate Skype into its products."

Skype, which was founded in 2003, allows people to make Internet phone calls and video calls at no charge and has also developed premium services.

Microsoft shares rose 0.9 percent to $26.26 on Nasdaq, while Google's rose 0.87 percent to $536.64.

Fans, stars and Hollywood mourn end of Harry Potter magic

LONDON - Film farewells don't get much bigger than Harry Potter, and thousands of fans prepared on Thursday to say goodbye to their beloved boy wizard at the world premiere of the final movie in the record-breaking series.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" is the eighth instalment -- and first in 3D -- of a franchise that has generated more public excitement and media hype than any other in living memory.

For Hollywood studio Warner Bros it has been a magic pot of gold, with the seven films released so far grossing $6.4 billion in ticket sales and billions more from DVDs and merchandise.

For a generation of Potter fans, the movies have extended the wizarding world created by British author J.K. Rowling in her seven-book saga which began in 1997 and concluded in 2007.

More than 400 million copies have been sold around the globe, making Rowling the first author billionaire and providing a huge support base upon which the films built.

"We've grown up in the Harry Potter generation -- I read the first book when I was five so now it's weird that it's coming to an end ... like the end of childhood," said Rhys, an 18-year-old who braved the rain in London's Trafalgar Square.

Die-hard fans, some in full regalia from the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, have camped out since Monday to catch a glimpse of the stars as they walk the red carpet at the official world premiere.

The young actors, cast in their roles aged between nine and 11, said they too were struggling to get to grips with the post-Potter world, despite being A-list stars with huge personal fortunes.

"After we finished (filming) a year ago now I have felt a little bit lost without it, really, and not really knowing what to do with myself," said 22-year-old Rupert Grint, who plays Potter's main sidekick Ron Weasley.

"It's been such a constant part of my life and to suddenly have that come down to this one film, it is quite sad and I'm really genuinely going to miss it and miss everyone."

Death and destruction 

Consistent with the gradual trend towards darker content as the franchise progressed, Deathly Hallows - Part 2 climaxes with an intense battle between good and evil fought at Hogwarts.

Buildings are flattened, wizards and witches die and Harry steels himself for the final showdown with his evil nemesis Lord Voldemort, played by a snake-like Ralph Fiennes who called his character a "high definition villain".

Daniel Radcliffe, 21, who has played Harry Potter throughout the last decade, was enthusiastic about the conclusion.

"I think of it as being light years ahead of any of the other films in the series," he told a London news conference on Wednesday via videolink from New York where he is appearing in a Broadway production.

"In terms of quality this is the best film we've ever made, so I'm thrilled that we're going out on this positive note."

Whether critics agree remains to be seen, with most reviews coming out after the premiere.

The Daily Telegraph, however, featured an article by Philip Womack which described Deathly Hallows - Part 2 as "monumental cinema, awash with gorgeous tones, and carrying an ultimate message that will resonate with every viewer, young or old: there is darkness in all of us, but we can overcome it."

The movie opens in some territories on July 13, and in the key British and U.S. markets on July 15.

Rowling has said she has no intention of writing another Potter novel, and David Yates, director of the last four Potter movies, told the news conference that he believed the film cycle had closed for good.

Rowling's wizarding world will not disappear altogether, however.

She recently unveiled Pottermore, a website allowing fans to interact with the characters and storylines, and will finally retail the stories as ebooks exclusively on the site.

Philippine Azkals crush Sri Lanka

MANILA, Philippines -- The Azkals made history by becoming the first Philippine team to advance in the second round of FIFA World Cup.

The Filipinos defeated Sri Lanka, 4-0, (5-1 on aggregate) much to the delight of thousands of local football fans who endured the rain just to witness the match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Azkals winger Chieffy Caligdong scored the first goal in the 18th minute to put the Philippine ahead.

He found the back of the net with a strike that caromed off the left post.

Another goal by Azkals striker Phil Younghusband in the 42nd minute made it 2-0 in favor of the Philippines.

The Filipino-British footballer evaded 2 defenders and the Sri Lankan goalkeeper to increase the Azkals' lead.

An assistant match official initially ruled out Younghusband's goal because an alleged foul.

However, the senior referee overruled the sideline official, saying that the Azkal's contact with a Sri Lankan defender was only minimal.

It was Angel Guirado’s turn to score in the second half.

The Filipino-Spaniard scored the country’s third goal in the 50th minute after receiving a through ball from James Younghusband.

Guirado beat the Sri Lankans' offside trap and rounded the goalkeeper to tap the ball in.

Phil scored the fourth goal through a penalty kick in the 56th minute after Stephan Schrock was brought down by a Sri Lankan defender inside the box.

Attacking intent

The Philippines launched attacks right at the kick off as the Sri Lankans struggled under the pouring rain.

Guirado and Phil fired long-range shots that troubled the opposing goalkeeper before Caligdong scored the opening goal.

Schrock was physical against the Brave Reds and was slapped a yellow card in the match.

He was also given a yellow card in the first leg, which means that he will be barred from playing in the Azkals' next game.

Azkals team captain Aly Borromeo was also called for his 2nd yellow card in the qualifier. He is also barred from playing in the next match.

The Filipinos will take on Kuwait in the second round of the qualifiers.

Kuwait have scouted the Philippines for 2 consecutive matches, according to the Azkals media officer Rick Olivares.

Maria Aragon performs before Prince William, Kate

MANILA, Philippines – Maria Aragon, the 10-year-old Filipino-Canadian singer who was discovered by Lady Gaga, performed before the British Royal Couple Prince William and Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, on Friday (Saturday in Manila).

Aragon sang her own rendition of Canada’s national anthem “O Canada” in front of thousands of people as part of the Canada Day celebration.

The ceremony was held on Parliament Hill in the country’s capital city, Ottawa.

Aragon rose to fame after Lady Gaga posted in her official Twitter account a video link of the former’s own cover of the song “Born This Way.”

For only over a week, the video became viral in YouTube and it gained millions of views.

This paved the way for Aragon to reach her dreams.

After that, Aragon had a duet with Lady Gaga in the latter’s concert in Toronto.

She also appeared in popular American shows including “The Ellen Degeneres Show” and “Good Morning America.”

Even Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Aragon in her residence in Winnipeg only because he personally wanted to meet the young singer.