Let's not lie, my goal was better than Salah's, says Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo believes the overhead bicycle kick he scored for Real Madrid against his current club Juventus last season was better than Mohamed Salah's which won the FIFA goal of the year award.
"Salah deserved to win the Puskas award, it was a good goal. But let's be honest, let's not lie to ourselves, my goal was the best," Ronaldo told his 142 million Instagram followers.
The 33-year-old Portuguese star lost out to former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric for the FIFA best player award and to Liverpool's Salah for the Puskas Award for the best goal.
Salah won the award for his curling strike against Everton in the Premier League in December.
"I'm not disappointed, life is like that, sometimes you win and others lose, what interests me is that in 15 years of career I managed to maintain the same levels of performance," Ronaldo said.
"Awards are awards… I already have a lot. I play to win and not to win awards."
Five days after the awards ceremony in London - which he did not attend - five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo hailed his former Real teammate, saying: "Congratulations to everyone, to Modric, best player of the year according to FIFA."
Ronaldo scored his acrobatic goal in the Champions League quarter-finals against Juventus before joining the Serie A giants just months later.
The reigning seven-time Italian champions take on Napoli in a top-of-the-table clash Saturday. Juventus lead Napoli by three points after six games.
"It will be a good game, we want to win against a great team, it's an important day," added Ronaldo.

All sexual harassment incidents should be highlighted equally: Payal Rohatgi

In the wake of Tanushree Dutta’s allegations that Nana Patekar reportedly ‘sexually harassed’ her during the shooting of Horn ‘OK’ Pleassss in 2008, a number of celebrities like Kangana Ranaut, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam K Ahuja and Anurag Kashyap have come out in support of the Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005) actress. Tanushree also revealed that filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri allegedly told her, ‘Jao jaake kapde utaar ke naacho’ during the shooting of Chocolate (2005).

After Hrs spoke to Payal Rohatgi, who had, in 2011, accused filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee of reportedly trying to take advantage of her in lieu of his then-upcoming film Shanghai, for which she had screen-tested. 

Having worked and interacted with Tanushree in movies such as 36 China Town (2004) and Dhol (2007), Payal says, “As a woman, I want to believe her and want her story to be heard. It’s similar to my story when I spoke about a director’s inappropriate behaviour with me.

But many people believed that since he’s a good filmmaker, he’s a good human being as well; forgetting that profession and work ethics are different from what one is as a person.

Back then, directors like Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra called me mentally unstable. And, now, Anurag has spoken in support of Tanushree. However, when the name of director Vivek Agnihotri came up, I felt this was getting a political colour.”

Probe her further about ‘the political flavour comment’ and Payal states, “Feminism in India is very fake. People hold placards to protest against a rape allegedly in a ‘Devasthan’, but those same feminists don’t speak against the rape of a nun.

Just because of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, after Oscar-winning actresses including Angelina Jolie came out and spoke against Harvey Weinstein, we also want to talk about something that has been happening in Bollywood for long; like several years ago, Mamta Kulkarni had spoken against filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi.”

Recalling how she was shred to pieces when she had raised her voice against Dibakar, Payal says, “It did affect me, but I didn’t give up. I didn’t do films for a few years, instead,  I took up reality shows. There are a lot of criteria when people want to support you and when they don’t want to.

I fail to understand why the #MeToo campaign in India didn’t gain momentum when Malayalam actor Dileep was arrested after an actress was abducted and assaulted or when Telugu actress Sri Reddy was banned for talking about sexual harassment. These instances were more deserving of the #MeToo movement than anything else.”

Coming back to Tanushree’s allegations, Payal sums it, “We should be talking if an incident like this happens, but we should treat all such instances equally, not selectively.”DNA India.

Passengers suffer at Dhaka airport due to workers’ demo

Hundreds of passengers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka were suffering as a section of workers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines has refrained from work since this morning demanding regularisation of their jobs.

The inbound and outbound passengers are suffering due to the interruption of ground handling operations following the work abstention programme of the casual workers of Biman, said Group Captain Abdullah Farooq, director of the airport.

Members of Ansar, Armed Police Battalion (APBn) and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) have been ordered to conduct the ground handling operation as the Biman workers observing work abstention, he also said.

Biman is responsible for ground handling operations at the airport, he added.

Yet, the loading and unloading operations are being hampered due to the workers’ demo, he added.

However, the regular schedule of the airport has not been hampered.

On an average, 200 domestic and international flights take off and land at the airport.

Biman Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director AM Mosaddique Ahmed told The Daily Star that he was on his way to the airport and also acknowledged that the passengers were facing sufferings.

The casual workers of the national flag carrier have been demonstrating for long demanding regularisation of their jobs.

HIV/Aids: China reports 14% surge in new cases

China has announced a 14% jump in the number of its citizens who are living with HIV and Aids.

More than 820,000 people are affected in the country, health officials say. About 40,000 new cases were reported in the second quarter of 2018 alone.

The vast majority of new cases were transmitted through sex, marking a change from the past.

Traditionally, HIV spread rapidly through some parts of China as a result of infected blood transfusions.

But the number of people contracting HIV in this way had been reduced to almost zero, Chinese health officials said at a conference in Yunnan province.

Year-on-year, however, the number of those living with HIV and Aids in China has risen by 100,000 people.

HIV transmission through sex is an acute issue in China's LGBT community.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in China in 1997, but discrimination against LGBT people is said to be rife.

Because of the country's conservative values, studies have estimated that 70-90% of men who have sex with men will eventually marry women.

Many of the transmissions of the diseases come from inadequate sexual protections in these relationships.

Since 2003, China's government has promised universal access to HIV medication as part of an effort to tackle the issue.

A social media star is shot dead in Baghdad, Iraqis fear a trend

Tara Fares was a model and a social media star whose carefully crafted lifestyle and fashion photos drew in more than 2.7 million followers on Instagram.

On Thursday, she was shot dead in broad daylight in Baghdad, the latest woman killed in a series of attacks government officials are investigating as possibly linked.

Fares, 22, a former beauty queen who had just been voted one of Iraq’s most followed social media stars, was shot three times while at the wheel of her white convertible in the upscale Camp Sarah neighbourhood in the centre of the Iraqi capital.

“She was very beautiful and nice and wanted to be happy and to live her life how the rest of the world lives: Without restraint and hatred,” said Omar Moner, a Baghdad-based photographer and friend. “But here in Iraq, there is no acceptance of the freedoms of others.”

Some say the recent deaths in Iraq of at least four prominent young women, including Fares — all of whom were seen as being outspoken or bucking the norms of a conservative society — is a worrying signal of a possibly coordinated campaign to silence them. Others believe the killing of Fares and the others may just have been random acts of violence in a country where safety is scarce after years of war.

On Friday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq ordered the country’s Interior Ministry and its intelligence service to investigate the killing. He also said in a statement that officials would explore possible links between Fares’ killing and other recent killings and kidnappings in Baghdad and Basra, a city in southern Iraq.

Abadi said the killings “give the impression that there is a plan behind these crimes.”

This past week, a women’s rights activist, Suad al-Ali, was killed in Basra, gunned down on the way to her car.

Nibras al-Maamouri, the head of the Iraqi Women Journalists Forum, said the targeting of well-known women in Iraq had “greatly increased.”

“This is not something new, but to reach to the level of direct killing in front of people is dangerous,” Maamouri said. “What happened to Tara Fares was abhorrent.”

Maamouri said she believed Fares’ killing may be linked to the deaths of Rasha al-Hassan and Rafif al-Yasiri, two beauticians who died in mysterious circumstances in Baghdad one week apart in August. Fares travelled in the same social circles as both women.

Influential women are being targeted to “create chaos,” Maamouri said.

Mohammad Nasir al-Karbouli, a member of parliament, said attacks like the one on Fares were intended to send a message.

“The killings of women in the daytime are messages to confuse the security situation in Baghdad, to weaken the trust of the citizens,” Karbouli said.

Fares, who was from Baghdad, left the city three years ago to live in Irbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, because she felt it was safer, friends said. Recently, she had begun to spend more time in Baghdad again.

Her popular social media posts offer a glimpse into her life.

In photos on her Instagram account, she pouts and poses for the camera, decked out in wigs, elaborate makeup and closefitting dresses, her arms covered with a smattering of tattoos.

Her YouTube videos, which have garnered hundreds of thousands of views, show her singing along to pop songs, doing makeup tutorials, unwrapping gifts from fans and reviewing restaurants in Irbil.

While the videos attracted dozens of comments from supportive fans, they also drew vitriolic messages that mocked or even threatened her.

“She was living a very Western lifestyle — she dressed the way she wanted to,” said Daryna Sarhan, who founded a lifestyle magazine in Irbil, and has long followed Fares on Instagram.

“She basically did everything the conservatives go against,” Sarhan added. “She was just a normal Instagram model, but that isn’t considered normal in our society.”

Sarhan said she was outraged to see comments left on social media by people trying to justify Fares’ death because of her lifestyle.

“I feel like it was a message being sent: ‘Don’t be like Tara or you will end up like Tara,'” she said.

Even after her death, Fares was not immune to criticism, with one journalist for the Iraqi Media Network labelling her a “whore” and other comments posted on social media saying she deserved it for living a “trivial and empty life.”

While she was alive, Fares took the criticism in stride, according to those who knew her.

Moner, the photographer, said Fares was at his studio the day before her death. He described her as “funny” and recently shared several photos of a fashion shoot with her on his Instagram account. He said Fares often received threats, “but she didn’t think it was real.”

Her killing, Moner said, has created a climate of fear, with many of her friends telling him they are worried they could become targets.

Mukdad Abu Athab, the head of the mosque where Fares’ funeral service was held Friday, said she was committed to her family and had big plans for her future.

“Her family told me that she was there to buy a house for them,” he said. “But unfortunately they killed her.”

Tamannaah Bhatia turns vegetarian

After being a devout non-vegetarian for close to over two decades, Tamannaah Bhatia will now join the bandwagon of advocates for vegetarianism, with meat-less meals fast finding their way on the dining tables of India's top celebrities, many of whom have lent their starry credentials to PETA. 
Bhatia who once used to devour fish, chicken, meat was promoted by this sudden decision owing to her 5-year-old pet dog, Pebble’s sudden ill health. 
Tamannaah Bhatia states, “I am very happy adopting the vegan lifestyle. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices for the ones you love. Last month Pebbles got really unwell and suffered a severe paralysis attack. I’m very attached to him and seeing him go through that discomfort, I swore to forego something I loved and food happens to be that one thing. I wish I had turned vegan years ago because it definitely gives your mental make-up a new lease of life. It was hard to quit since my upbringing was in a typical Sindhi meat loving household and I won’t say that I don’t crave it, but it’s all about the will power. What you eat as that is what you are.” 

Kornia busy before starting season

Few days later season of the stage show will start in the country. During that time singers will become engage with different stage shows in and outside the country. Before starting that season, popular singer of present time Kornia has already become engage with stage performance. Today she will take part in a corporate show in Cox’s Bazar at Cox’s Today. 
While talking about her today's stage show Kornia told this correspondent, “Before starting the season, my engagement on stage has started. Round the year I have to engage. I am lucky. I believe today’s show will become successful.”
Within few years Kornia has established her position in the field of country’s music arena. Runa Laila is her idol in music. Kornia has concentrated to render original or basic song. Though in stage show, she rendered own songs, Runa Laila’s songs and folk songs. But she wants to render own original songs because by these songs she will alive in the hearts of music lovers for long time. 
Recently Kornia and Asif Akbar’s a duet song titled Elomelo Jibon has been released under the banner of Dhruba Music Station. Torun Munshi wrote it’s lyric and also composed its music. Earlier, with Asif Akbar two songs were released. With same singer Kornia’s fourth song titled Megh Bolechhe will be released soon. Soumitra Ghosh Emon has made its video. 
Kornia said, “I am lucky because with Asif Bhai some of my songs have been released. Listeners are showing their keen interest to listen those songs. Therefore, I am getting positive response for those songs. I am also lucky because these songs will be survived as my original songs in the long run.”

Social media star, a former 'Miss Baghdad,' shot dead

Iraqi social media star and model Tara Fares has been shot dead in Baghdad, security officials confirmed to CNN.

The death of Fares and other recent killings prompted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to order an investigation on Friday.

The former Miss Baghdad, and first runner-up for Miss Iraq, was killed on Thursday after gunmen opened fire on her in the capital's Camp Sarah neighborhood, according to a statement by Iraq's Interior Ministry, which is investigating the incident.

Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Saad Maan told an Iraqi TV station that two motorcyclists shot Fares while she was inside a vehicle.

The 22-year-old, a Christian whose father was Iraqi and mother Lebanese, was living in Erbil, but visited the capital occasionally. She was famous for her bold clothing and posts on social media.

A black-and-white photo showing Fares pouting was shared with her nearly 3 million Instagram followers shortly after her death, along with the comment: "In a treacherous and cowardly incident, Tara Fares Chamoun, is with God. We asked God to accept her with His great mercy."

A disturbing trend, an ongoing investigation

Fares' death comes just two days after a female human rights activist was killed in the southern city of Basra.

Suaad al-Ali was shot and killed in an outdoor market by an unknown gunman, according to security sources. Officials said investigations were still underway.

And last month, two well-known women in Baghdad's beauty industry also died.

Rafeef al-Yaseri, known as the "Barbie of Iraq," was killed inside her Baghdad home on August 16. Al-Yaseri was a plastic surgeon and organized national programs specializing in medical affairs for women.

One week later, Rasha al-Hassan, owner and manager of Viola Beauty Center in Baghdad, was found dead inside her home. Health Ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr said at the time that al-Hassan had died at her home, where preliminary investigations did not point to a reason for the death.

Al-Abadi ordered the Interior Ministry and Iraq's intelligence department to investigate the assassinations and kidnappings in Basra, Baghdad and elsewhere, the ministry said in a statement.

Amal Clooney calls on Suu Kyi to pardon Reuters reporters

The families of two Reuters reporters imprisoned in Myanmar have asked for a pardon, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney told a press freedom event at the United Nations on Friday as she pressed the country’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to agree.

Clooney is a member of the legal team representing Reuters journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who were convicted on September 3 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.

She said the reporters’ wives wrote “a really heartfelt letter” to the government about a week ago pleading for a pardon, not because their husbands had done anything wrong, but because it would allow them to be released from prison.

Clooney said Myanmar’s President Win Myint would make the decision to issue a pardon in consultation with Suu Kyi.

In a message to Suu Kyi, Clooney told Reuters: “You fought for so many years to be freed from the same prison where they now sit and now you have the power to actually remedy this injustice today if you wanted to.”

The Myanmar mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay has said the court was independent and followed due process in the case.

The reporters pleaded not guilty and have been detained since December. Kyaw Soe Oo has a three-year-old daughter. Last month, Wa Lone’s wife gave birth to their first child, a girl, whom Clooney said Wa Lone has not yet met.

The reporters had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and local Buddhists in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state during an army crackdown that began in August last year. The operation sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.

A UN mandated fact-finding mission said Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings.

Suu Kyi said at a forum in Vietnam this month that the case had nothing to do with freedom of expression. She said the reporters had been sentenced for handling official secrets and “were not jailed because they were journalists.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this month called on the Myanmar government to pardon and release the Reuters journalists as soon as possible.

“This case is about much more than two innocent men,” Clooney told Reuters after an event hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly on Friday.

“If you care about press freedom you care about this case ... Without a free press you cannot have democracy because you don’t know how to judge what your government’s doing,” she said.

The CPJ event also focused on the cases of imprisoned journalists in Egypt, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh. Representatives for the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Lebanon and other countries attended.

The CPJ said a record 262 journalists were jailed worldwide in 2017, with Turkey, China, and Egypt responsible for imprisoning 134 of those journalists.

Oral contraceptives could reduce risk of ovarian cancer: Study

According to a recent study, new types of combined oral contraceptives are associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer.

At least 100 million women worldwide are using hormonal contraception every day. Previous research has shown a reduced risk of ovarian cancer in women who take combined oral contraceptives, but most of the evidence relates to the use of older products, containing higher levels of oestrogen and older progestogens.

Under the study, the researchers investigated the influence of newer hormonal contraceptives on overall and specific types of ovarian cancer in women of reproductive age.

Using national prescribing and cancer registers, they analysed data of nearly 1.9 million Danish women aged 15-49 years between 1995 and 2014.

Women were categorised as never users (no record of being dispensed hormonal contraception), current or recent users (up to one year after stopping use), or former users (more than one year after stopping use) of different hormonal contraceptives.

After taking account of several factors, including age and parity, the researchers found that the number of cases of ovarian cancer was highest in women who had never used hormonal contraception (7.5 per 100,000 women a year), whereas, among women who had used hormonal contraception, the number of cases of ovarian cancer was 3.2 per 100,000 women a year.

There was no firm evidence to suggest any protective effect among women who used progestogen-only products. However, the researchers point out that few women were exclusive users of these products. This limits the ability to detect an effect.

The reduced risk for combined products was seen with nearly all types of ovarian cancer, and there was little evidence of important differences between products containing different types of progestogens.

Based on these figures, the researchers say that hormonal contraception prevented an estimated 21% of ovarian cancers in this group of women. The authors of the study said, "Based on our results, contemporary combined hormonal contraceptives are still associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer in women of reproductive age, with patterns similar to those seen with older combined oral products."

"The reduced risk seems to persist after stopping use, although the duration of benefit is uncertain. Presently, there is insufficient evidence to suggest similar protection among exclusive users of progestogen-only products," they conclude.

The findings appeared in the Journal The BMJ.

Trump agrees to open ‘limited’ FBI investigation into accusations against Kavanaugh

President Donald Trump, ceding to a request from Senate Republican leaders facing an insurrection in their ranks, ordered the FBI on Friday to reopen a background investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, his nominee to the Supreme Court, and examine allegations of sexual assault against him.

The announcement plunged Kavanaugh’s nomination into new turmoil and will delay, by as much as a week, a final confirmation vote. It came only 24 hours after the judge and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, each gave emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that led many Republicans to think Kavanaugh’s confirmation was inevitable.

Trump and the Republican leaders had little choice but to ask Trump to order the FBI inquiry after Senator Jeff Flake (Republican-Arizona), said he would not vote to confirm him without an FBI investigation first.

Trump, who had hoped Kavanaugh would be sworn in by the time the Supreme Court opens its term Monday, said he was ordering the FBI to conduct what he called a “supplemental” investigation that he said “must be limited in scope and completed in less than a week.”

The FBI had already completed a background check on Kavanaugh, and it was unclear what the parameters of the new inquiry would be. But according to a person familiar with the matter, the allegations made by Deborah Ramirez, a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s, will be investigated along with those made by Blasey.

The announcement plunged Kavanaugh’s nomination into new turmoil and will delay, by as much as a week, a final confirmation vote. It came only 24 hours after the judge and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, each gave emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that led many Republicans to think Kavanaugh’s confirmation was inevitable.

Trump and the Republican leaders had little choice but to ask Trump to order the FBI inquiry after Senator Jeff Flake (Republican-Arizona), said he would not vote to confirm him without an FBI investigation first.

Trump, who had hoped Kavanaugh would be sworn in by the time the Supreme Court opens its term Monday, said he was ordering the FBI to conduct what he called a “supplemental” investigation that he said “must be limited in scope and completed in less than a week.”

The FBI had already completed a background check on Kavanaugh, and it was unclear what the parameters of the new inquiry would be. But according to a person familiar with the matter, the allegations made by Deborah Ramirez, a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s, will be investigated along with those made by Blasey.

Samia Othoi wants to work in big screen

Samia Othoi was in top 10 positions in dance related reality show Shera Nachiye -Season-3. After that she first acted in Ferdous Hasan’s play titled Maya. She got Apurba as her co-actor in that play. Later, she acted in several numbers of faction plays and serials. She fortunately secured the second runner-up in Lux-Channel i Superstar 2018. From that time she got many offers to work in big screen. She wants to work in big screen.
While talking in this regard Samia Othoi told this correspondent, “Obviously I want to work in big screen. I have already got some proposals. But due to mismatch of my schedule I could not work. If I get good story and role I will surely work in movie because like every actress I have intention to work in big screen. At last, time will say what will be happened to me.”
After became second runner-up position Samia instantly got the opportunity to act in Rezanur Rahman’s play Chand Uthechhey Phul Phutechhey. Within that time she also acted in Emel Haque’s play Tumi Kon Kanon-er Phul and Fahmida Irfan’s Ami Ar Neera. She has already finished shooting of Bornonath’s telefilm titled Pichhutaney Ullash-ey against Mir Sabbir. This telefilm will be telecast on Channel i on October 1.
Daughter of Md Nurul Islam and Saleha Islam Samia Othoi is now studying English Literature in a private university now. She is fourth among four brothers and two sisters. Her birthday is May 3. She first performed as model in a TVC of Regal Furniture under Ankur’s direction. 
Samia Othoi also informed that within very soon she will perform in a new TVC of a beauty product.  

Kumar Bishwajit to present Valentine’s Day song

National Film Award-winning popular singer and music director Kumar Bishwajit is all set to present his fans and audiences a new song on the occasion of Valentine’s Day next year. The seasoned singer has recently lent his vocal to the new song titled ‘Ami Boltey Tumay Parini’.

Alongside writing down the lyric, Tarun Munshi has done the music arrangement of the song himself. On the other hand, Saikat Nasir is making a music video of the song under the banner of Bangla Dhol.

Meanwhile, Kumar Bishwajit has participated in the shooting of the music video at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation in the capital on September 24. Also, two young artistes Mim Mantasha and Farhan Khan Rio took part in the shooting of the music video in Cox’s Bazar on September 25.

Kumar Bishwajit said about the song, “Tarun Munshi had prepared the song quite some time ago, and I finally got the opportunity to sing it. I really liked the lyric and music arrangement of the song. On the whole, the song is excellent.”

“Director Saikat Nasir has tried to make a beautiful story-based music video keeping similarity with its lyric and music composition. I also thank Bangla Dhol for their involvement with the project”, the singer added further.  

The song ‘Ami Boltey Tumay Parini’ will be released under the banner of Bangla Dhol during the upcoming Valentine’s Day, Bangla Dhol managing director Enamul Haque informed DhakaLive.

Google Doodle celebrates search giant's 20th birthday

Tech giant Google is celebrating its 20th birthday today with a new Doodle marking the special occasion.

Today’s doodle features letter-shaped balloons attached to a gift box. It plays a YouTube video that animates popular searches from around the globe over the past two decades.

The various terms are Y2K, Pluto losing its status as a planet, Royal Wedding, 2012 on the Mayan calendar and avocado toast. It ends with a thank you note from Google.

On this day in 1998, two PhD students at Stanford University launched the new search engine, with the aim of making the world's information accessible and useful to all.

Today's video Doodle takes a stroll down memory lane by exploring popular searches all over the world throughout the last two decades.

The doodle is just one of the ways that Google is celebrating the occasion, which marks two decades of dominance in the search business. The company has gone from humble beginnings as a search engine to the most dominant force in advertising. Google now has a parent company, Alphabet, with tentacles that touch everything from self-driving cars to its Android mobile software and the extension of life.

Higher BMI can have negative effect on mental health: study

Higher body mass index (BMI) may negatively impact a person's mental wellbeing, according to a study.

The research, published in the BMJ, explored the impact of aspects of physical health, such as body weight, heart health and blood pressure, to see whether a wide age range of individuals with poorer physical health went on to be less happy and less satisfied with their lives.

Using a technique called Mendelian randomisation, researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK asked whether poorer physical health causes lower mental wellbeing, or whether individuals with lower mental wellbeing are more likely to go on to have later problems with their physical health.

This technique provides evidence of the direction of causation by using genetic variants that have been associated with physical health and mental wellbeing.

The research team was able to test 11 measures of physical health including coronary artery disease, heart attack, cholesterol, blood pressure, body fat and BMI, a measure of body fat based on height and weight.

Results suggested a consistent causal effect of higher BMI on lower mental wellbeing. There was little evidence that the other physical health traits were leading to less happiness and life satisfaction.

The same pattern of results was seen in a follow-up analysis using the UK Biobank cohort of over 300,000 individuals aged 40 to 70 years old.

The researchers were able to look at different aspects of life satisfaction and found that the key impact of higher BMI was on lower satisfaction with health.

They were also able to show that the effect is present from age 40 through to age 70, and in both men and women.

When testing whether mental wellbeing caused any of these physical health traits, the researchers found little evidence for a causal impact in that direction.

"Results so far highlight the pressing need to tackle the obesity crisis because higher BMI is causing the population to be less happy and less satisfied with their lives," said Claire Haworth from the University of Bristol.

"This information could be immediately useful to clinicians encouraging patients to maintain a healthy weight," Haworth said.

"Frequently individuals are encouraged to lose weight because this will lead to better physical health, but for many this is not motivating enough," she said.

The elephant bird regains its title as the largest bird that ever lived

History has not been kind to the elephant bird of Madagascar. Standing nearly 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,000 pounds — or so researchers believed — this flightless cousin of the ostrich went extinct in the 17th century, thanks in part to humans stealing their massive eggs, either to feed their own families or to repurpose them as giant rum flasks. Or both.

More recently, the bird’s designation as the heaviest in history was challenged by the discovery of the slightly larger, unrelated Dromornis stirtoni, an Australian flightless giant that went extinct 20,000 years ago.

But a new study seeks to restore the elephant bird’s heavyweight title. After taxonomic reshuffling and examination of collected elephant bird remains, researchers say that a member of a previously unidentified genus of the birds could have weighed more than 1,700 pounds, making it by far the largest bird ever known.

Over the centuries, scientists have competed to collect and display the largest elephant bird bones. But, “nobody’s done any real cohesive research on these birds,” said James Hansford, a palaeontologist at the Zoological Society of London and lead author of the study, resulting in a taxonomic muddle for the feathered giants. As a result, more than 15 elephant bird species had been identified across two genera (the plural of genus, the name for a group of closely related species).

To sort out the elephant bird family tree, Hansford hoped to determine where one species ended and the next began. He travelled the globe with a measuring tape examining thousands of elephant bird bones. He then used data on modern birds and algorithms to help determine how large the birds might have grown.

His conclusion, published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science, is that there were actually three genera of elephant bird rather than two, and four species rather than 15: Mulleornis modestus, Aepyornis hildebrandti, Aepyornis maximus and Vorombe titan.

One of those species, A Maximus, had long been considered the heaviest elephant bird, until a British scientist in 1894 claimed to have discovered an even larger species, Aepyornis titan. Other researchers dismissed the finding, saying A titan was simply an unusually large member of the A Maximus clan.

But Hansford reports that A titan is not only its own species but a separate genus of much larger elephant bird, as evidenced by the distinct size and shape of all three limb bones. He has named the species and genus Vorombe titan; vorombe is a Malagasy word meaning “big bird.”

“They thought the second biggest elephant bird, Aepyornis maximus, was the biggest, and they estimated them to be about 400 to 500 kilos, which is correct,” said Hansford. (One hundred kilograms equals 220 pounds, roughly the weight of a grand piano.) But the newly discovered species is “a lot bigger, up to 800 kilos, perhaps twice the body mass of A Maximus.”

Hansford believes his study is the most rigorous examination of elephant birds in nearly a century, and that he has grouped out-dated names under more accurate headings.

“Over the 19th and early 20th centuries, a lot of scientists were trying to make their claims of a new species based on very little evidence, like the fact that a bone was just a few millimetres longer than another bone,” he said. “It’s not just about size but about what represents a different shape as well.”

Although the elephant birds’ fate was sealed long ago, Hansford believes his work can contribute to conservation efforts on Madagascar, where many unique species of plants and animals are threatened.

“These birds spent millions of year co-evolving with plants and animals in Madagascar,” he said. “To help conserve some of the more chronically endangered plants in Madagascar, we need to understand the ecological interactions that we’ve lost.