New year's resolutions doomed to failure, say psychologistsMany of the 78% who fail in their plans are focusing on downside of not achieving goals, research finds
by Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian,
Monday 28 December 2009
Resolutions, including giving up smoking, can fail if they are impulsive. Photograph: David Sillitoe/Guardian
It's part of the new year ritual – an annual attempt to start afresh and turn over a new leaf. But making resolutions is a near pointless exercise, psychologists say. We break them, become dispirited in the process and finally more despondent than we were before.
Less than a quarter of those asked for a university study had managed to stick to their resolutions. Of those who failed, many had followed the spurious advice of self-help gurus – which almost guarantees disaster, apparently.
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, who led the analysis, said he and his team had asked 700 people about their strategies for achieving new year resolutions. Their goals ranged from losing weight or giving up smoking to gaining a qualification or starting a better relationship.
Of the 78% who failed, many had focused on the downside of not achieving the goals; they had suppressed their cravings, fantasised about being successful, and adopted a role model or relied on willpower alone.
"Many of these ideas are frequently recommended by self-help experts but our results suggest that they simply don't work," Wiseman said. "If you are trying to lose weight, it's not enough to stick a picture of a model on your fridge or fantasise about being slimmer."
On the other hand, people who kept their resolutions tended to have broken their goal into smaller steps and rewarded themselves when they achieved one of these. They also told their friends about their goals, focused on the benefits of success and kept a diary of their progress.
People who planned a series of smaller goals had an average success rate of 35%, while those who followed all five of the above strategies had a 50% chance of success, the study found.
"Many of the most successful techniques involve making a plan and helping yourself stick to it," Wiseman said.
Making new year resolutions at the last minute can backfire, he warned, because such decisions tend to be less genuinely motivated. "If you do it on the spur of the moment, it probably doesn't mean that much to you and you won't give it your all. Failing to achieve your ambitions is often psychologically harmful because it can rob people of a sense of self control."
Other strategies that helped people to achieve their goals included making only one resolution at a time and treating occasional lapses in the plan as just temporary setbacks.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Guarded Over Gates
To gate or not to gate ... that is the perplexing question.
EMOTIONS are escalating over the issue of gated and guarded communities, if media reports are anything to go by.
Participants say it gives them peace of mind, never mind the cost and inconvenience but the naysayers are fuming at what they view as an infringement of their right to unhindered access to where they live.
At the least, I’m a proponent of guarded communities. Look, we will never have policemen patrolling housing areas around the clock. If the crime rate were negligible, this would not be an issue. It isn’t, and many of us are thus driven to setting up extra protection in our neighbourhoods.
You don’t have to be a victim of crime to take precautions. Better to be safe and put up with some hassles, than be sorry.
Yet, are some residents’ associations taking it too far?
I’ve been to gated communities where the alleys and back-lanes are permanently barricaded – as if petty thieves on motorbikes and on foot can’t find their way through these barriers!
Access is limited to just a road or two. As a visitor to the area, I’m inconvenienced by this; heck, even residents paying for the service tell me this is a bit much but dare not speak up at meetings. I can imagine how those who don’t contribute to the security arrangements would feel.
Where I live, we took the guarded community route about eight months ago, and the crime rate in the area has dropped drastically since then, to almost zero. We’ve stopped short of hard barricades – our guards use plastic cones to make motorists slow down for a security check.
The guards are posted around the clock at all access points, and additional ones patrol the area regularly. Compared to the barricades and metal drums I’ve seen in other areas, ours is a mild system, but it has worked well and the guards have always practised non-confrontational behaviour – they are polite but alert.
My point – our safety objective has been met without roads being permanently closed. Even those not paying for the service enjoy living in a crime-free zone, and if they complain about needing to slow down at the check-points, I say, “too bad, live with it!”
However, barricading roads permanently is a bit drastic, and surely, a compromise can be reached? Say, a mid-ground that doesn’t require a housing area to look like a restricted military zone, and yet, with enough security measures, including alert guards constantly monitoring the area with minimal impediment to residents?
Just because your car hasn’t been stolen or your purse snatched or your house broken into doesn’t mean you and your loved ones are always going to be this fortunate. So don’t get your hackles up over others taking precautionary measures as long as they’re not extreme.
Safety comes with some inconveniences, but that’s the world we live in these days. Crime won’t stop by itself, so we need to institute measures to get back our streets and neighbourhoods. Heck, we need to feel safe at home!
Be prepared to give in a bit, and I’m sure both sides can reach an amicable solution. I have a suggestion – give the guards a list of car registration numbers of residents in the area, whether or not they subscribe to the service.
This will make it easier for them to recognise residents’ vehicles, so there won’t be any need to stop these cars for questioning.
Look, if you won’t contribute, at least don’t impede and if you can, don’t be so rigid as to forget that others have their rights, too.
Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 ahead. Ho, ho, ho, indeed ...
Friday December 25, 2009
Guarded over gates
NOT TODAY
BY SUJESH PAVITHRAN
The Star
EMOTIONS are escalating over the issue of gated and guarded communities, if media reports are anything to go by.
Participants say it gives them peace of mind, never mind the cost and inconvenience but the naysayers are fuming at what they view as an infringement of their right to unhindered access to where they live.
At the least, I’m a proponent of guarded communities. Look, we will never have policemen patrolling housing areas around the clock. If the crime rate were negligible, this would not be an issue. It isn’t, and many of us are thus driven to setting up extra protection in our neighbourhoods.
You don’t have to be a victim of crime to take precautions. Better to be safe and put up with some hassles, than be sorry.
Yet, are some residents’ associations taking it too far?
I’ve been to gated communities where the alleys and back-lanes are permanently barricaded – as if petty thieves on motorbikes and on foot can’t find their way through these barriers!
Access is limited to just a road or two. As a visitor to the area, I’m inconvenienced by this; heck, even residents paying for the service tell me this is a bit much but dare not speak up at meetings. I can imagine how those who don’t contribute to the security arrangements would feel.
Where I live, we took the guarded community route about eight months ago, and the crime rate in the area has dropped drastically since then, to almost zero. We’ve stopped short of hard barricades – our guards use plastic cones to make motorists slow down for a security check.
The guards are posted around the clock at all access points, and additional ones patrol the area regularly. Compared to the barricades and metal drums I’ve seen in other areas, ours is a mild system, but it has worked well and the guards have always practised non-confrontational behaviour – they are polite but alert.
My point – our safety objective has been met without roads being permanently closed. Even those not paying for the service enjoy living in a crime-free zone, and if they complain about needing to slow down at the check-points, I say, “too bad, live with it!”
However, barricading roads permanently is a bit drastic, and surely, a compromise can be reached? Say, a mid-ground that doesn’t require a housing area to look like a restricted military zone, and yet, with enough security measures, including alert guards constantly monitoring the area with minimal impediment to residents?
Just because your car hasn’t been stolen or your purse snatched or your house broken into doesn’t mean you and your loved ones are always going to be this fortunate. So don’t get your hackles up over others taking precautionary measures as long as they’re not extreme.
Safety comes with some inconveniences, but that’s the world we live in these days. Crime won’t stop by itself, so we need to institute measures to get back our streets and neighbourhoods. Heck, we need to feel safe at home!
Be prepared to give in a bit, and I’m sure both sides can reach an amicable solution. I have a suggestion – give the guards a list of car registration numbers of residents in the area, whether or not they subscribe to the service.
This will make it easier for them to recognise residents’ vehicles, so there won’t be any need to stop these cars for questioning.
Look, if you won’t contribute, at least don’t impede and if you can, don’t be so rigid as to forget that others have their rights, too.
Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 ahead. Ho, ho, ho, indeed ...
Friday December 25, 2009
Guarded over gates
NOT TODAY
BY SUJESH PAVITHRAN
The Star
The Essential Characteristics of His Personality
From Abu Hurairah radhiyallah hu ‘anhu who said that Allah’s Messenger, Muhammad pbuh said:
“Two characteristics are not found together in a hypocrite: good manners and understanding of the Religion”
(Hadis reported by at-Tirmizi and through a different chain of narration by Ibnul-Mubarak)
So his manners are the manners of the righteous people, and his behaviour that of the servants of the Lord of the worlds. He emulates the pious and follows in the footsteps of the sincere. His heart and his behaviour agree, he is not like the weak who take pains to put on a good appearance whereas their hearts are empty! His knowledge and understanding of the Religion is deep and springs from a good and sensitive heart, and precise memory. However his good manners and knowledge and understanding of the Religion do not prevent him from Honest Jesting.
“Two characteristics are not found together in a hypocrite: good manners and understanding of the Religion”
(Hadis reported by at-Tirmizi and through a different chain of narration by Ibnul-Mubarak)
So his manners are the manners of the righteous people, and his behaviour that of the servants of the Lord of the worlds. He emulates the pious and follows in the footsteps of the sincere. His heart and his behaviour agree, he is not like the weak who take pains to put on a good appearance whereas their hearts are empty! His knowledge and understanding of the Religion is deep and springs from a good and sensitive heart, and precise memory. However his good manners and knowledge and understanding of the Religion do not prevent him from Honest Jesting.
Friday, December 25, 2009
China stretches the imagination with world's longest sea bridge
Barely 18-months after completing current record-holder, work begins on link between mainland, Macau and Hong Kong
Much of the bridge will be fabricated offsite and will be designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 201kmph (125mph)
China today announced it had begun construction of the world's longest sea bridge – barely 18 months after opening the current record-holder.
The Y-shaped link between Hong Kong, Macau and China will be around 50km (31 miles) long in total, 35km of which will span the sea, said the state news agency Xinhua. Due to be completed by 2015, the 73bn yuan (£6.75bn) cost of the bridge will be shared by the authorities in the three territories.
The structure also includes a 5.5km underwater tunnel with artificial islands to join it to bridges on each side. According to the engineering group Arup – which has helped with the design – it is the first major marine bridge-and-tunnel project in China. But the engineering firm described the structure as 38km in length; the reason for the disparity was unclear.
Work is expected to begin with land reclamation to create an artificial island of around 216 hectares (540 acres) off Zhuhai. This will become the customs point for those making the crossing.
But much of the structure will be prefabricated offsite, so, for example, the concrete deck sections can be produced at the same time as the foundations are laid. The tunnel will be made of precast sections – each 100 metres long.
"It is designed with a service life of 120 years. It can withstand the impact of a strong wind with a speed of 51 metres a second, or equal to a maximum Beaufort scale 16 (184 to 201km/h)," said Zhu Yongling, an official in charge of the project construction. "It can also resist the impact of a magnitude-8 earthquake and a 300,000-tonne vessel."
A computer-generated image of the £6.75bn bridge, much of which will be fabricated offsite
Six lanes of traffic will pass across the bridge at a maximum speed of 100kmph, cutting driving time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai from four hours to one.
The bridge was first proposed in 1983 as a way of fostering economic ties between China, Hong Kong and Macau. But it will be particularly welcome as the Pearl River Delta – for many years the hub of China's manufacturing – is buffeted by economic problems. The area's attempt to move up the value chain, combined with the rise of the yuan and the global economic crisis, has seen exports plummeting.
The bridge is one component in a plan issued in January by China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, which aims to fuse the area and the two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, into one of the world's most vibrant economic centres by 2020. In particular, the government hopes it will help to develop the western side of Guangdong province.
"It is a move for Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta region to cope with global economic downturn, boost investment and inspire people," said the vice-premier, Li Keqiang, at the inauguration ceremony in Guangdong. "Meanwhile, it can also further increase [their] links and promote economic co-operation."
Hong Kong has said the bridge should generate $HK45bn (£3.6bn) of economic benefits within the first two decades of use, Reuters reported.
According to an article in New Civil Engineer magazine earlier this year, the bridges cross three navigation channels while the tunnel goes under a fourth.
"There is an airport nearby, so we could not build a bridge [in that area] which was the reason for the tunnel. The immersed tube is the longest in the world at 5.5km long," Naeem Hussain, global bridge leader at Arup, told the publication.
He said the bridge's piers would each be 170 metres high and that the design team had minimised the structures impact on estuary flows by limiting the size and number of columns in the water.
But the WWF and other environmental campaigners have warned that construction could devastate marine ecosystems and endanger the rare Chinese white dolphin, which is found in the estuarine waters of the Pearl river. Officials say they have already considered environmental issues in planning the project.
"We will control the construction noises and turbidity of seawater, and prevent oil pollution," Zhu told Xinhua.
It is only a year and a half since China opened a 36km span across Hangzhou Bay – in the eastern province of Zhejiang – which is currently the longest sea-bridge.
Wang Yong, the head of that project, said the design had led to more than 250 technological innovations and engineering breakthroughs, many of which will no doubt prove useful in building the new construction. He added that the Hangzhou bridge survived 19 severe challenges, including typhoons, tides, and geological problems during the three and a half years of construction.
The longest water-spanning bridge in the world is the Lake Pontchartrain causeway bridge in New Orleans, at 38.4km. But officials said that Hangzhou was a particularly difficult site to build because of its complex climate.
How the bridge will work
by Tania Branigan in Beijing and Robert Booth
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 December 2009
Much of the bridge will be fabricated offsite and will be designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 201kmph (125mph)
China today announced it had begun construction of the world's longest sea bridge – barely 18 months after opening the current record-holder.
The Y-shaped link between Hong Kong, Macau and China will be around 50km (31 miles) long in total, 35km of which will span the sea, said the state news agency Xinhua. Due to be completed by 2015, the 73bn yuan (£6.75bn) cost of the bridge will be shared by the authorities in the three territories.
The structure also includes a 5.5km underwater tunnel with artificial islands to join it to bridges on each side. According to the engineering group Arup – which has helped with the design – it is the first major marine bridge-and-tunnel project in China. But the engineering firm described the structure as 38km in length; the reason for the disparity was unclear.
Work is expected to begin with land reclamation to create an artificial island of around 216 hectares (540 acres) off Zhuhai. This will become the customs point for those making the crossing.
But much of the structure will be prefabricated offsite, so, for example, the concrete deck sections can be produced at the same time as the foundations are laid. The tunnel will be made of precast sections – each 100 metres long.
"It is designed with a service life of 120 years. It can withstand the impact of a strong wind with a speed of 51 metres a second, or equal to a maximum Beaufort scale 16 (184 to 201km/h)," said Zhu Yongling, an official in charge of the project construction. "It can also resist the impact of a magnitude-8 earthquake and a 300,000-tonne vessel."
A computer-generated image of the £6.75bn bridge, much of which will be fabricated offsite
Six lanes of traffic will pass across the bridge at a maximum speed of 100kmph, cutting driving time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai from four hours to one.
The bridge was first proposed in 1983 as a way of fostering economic ties between China, Hong Kong and Macau. But it will be particularly welcome as the Pearl River Delta – for many years the hub of China's manufacturing – is buffeted by economic problems. The area's attempt to move up the value chain, combined with the rise of the yuan and the global economic crisis, has seen exports plummeting.
The bridge is one component in a plan issued in January by China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, which aims to fuse the area and the two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, into one of the world's most vibrant economic centres by 2020. In particular, the government hopes it will help to develop the western side of Guangdong province.
"It is a move for Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta region to cope with global economic downturn, boost investment and inspire people," said the vice-premier, Li Keqiang, at the inauguration ceremony in Guangdong. "Meanwhile, it can also further increase [their] links and promote economic co-operation."
Hong Kong has said the bridge should generate $HK45bn (£3.6bn) of economic benefits within the first two decades of use, Reuters reported.
According to an article in New Civil Engineer magazine earlier this year, the bridges cross three navigation channels while the tunnel goes under a fourth.
"There is an airport nearby, so we could not build a bridge [in that area] which was the reason for the tunnel. The immersed tube is the longest in the world at 5.5km long," Naeem Hussain, global bridge leader at Arup, told the publication.
He said the bridge's piers would each be 170 metres high and that the design team had minimised the structures impact on estuary flows by limiting the size and number of columns in the water.
But the WWF and other environmental campaigners have warned that construction could devastate marine ecosystems and endanger the rare Chinese white dolphin, which is found in the estuarine waters of the Pearl river. Officials say they have already considered environmental issues in planning the project.
"We will control the construction noises and turbidity of seawater, and prevent oil pollution," Zhu told Xinhua.
It is only a year and a half since China opened a 36km span across Hangzhou Bay – in the eastern province of Zhejiang – which is currently the longest sea-bridge.
Wang Yong, the head of that project, said the design had led to more than 250 technological innovations and engineering breakthroughs, many of which will no doubt prove useful in building the new construction. He added that the Hangzhou bridge survived 19 severe challenges, including typhoons, tides, and geological problems during the three and a half years of construction.
The longest water-spanning bridge in the world is the Lake Pontchartrain causeway bridge in New Orleans, at 38.4km. But officials said that Hangzhou was a particularly difficult site to build because of its complex climate.
How the bridge will work
by Tania Branigan in Beijing and Robert Booth
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 December 2009
America's most wanted doctor found living on Mont Blanc
America's most wanted: doctor found living in tent on Mont Blanc
• Missing man faces fraud trial after five years on run
• Fugitive lived on tinned food and melted snow
John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday 17 December 2009
Mark Weinberger, a plastic surgeon wanted by the US since 2004 for healthcare fraud, pictured in Italy. Photograph: Gruppo Carabinieri Di Aosta/EPA
On 21 September 2004, Michelle Weinberger woke up on the 79ft powerboat that she and her husband, Mark, owned as it rocked gently in the waters of a marina on the Greek island of Mykonos.
"I put my hand on his side of the bed, and I remember feeling it empty," she later told the US television channel NBC. Weinberger leapt from bed in alarm to find that her husband had vanished, taking with him his passport and money he had stashed secretly on board.
It was the beginning of a five-year flight from justice that ended this week even more strangely than it began, almost 6,000 feet up in the Italian Alps. Two officers of the paramilitary Carabinieri, led by a mountain guide, trudged up to the southern slopes of Mont Blanc to find one of America's most wanted fugitives living in a tent. He was surviving in temperatures as low as -18C on dried and tinned food and snow he melted on a portable stove.
Dr Mark Weinberger, a 46-year-old ear, nose and throat specialist, was tonight in a secure ward at the Molinette hospital in Turin recovering from a wound he sustained when he tried to take his own life at the Carabinieri station in Courmayeur, below Mont Blanc.
The US authorities have 40 days in which to apply for his extradition. He faces trial on 22 counts of healthcare fraud, having previously been indicted by a grand jury.
Brought up in a prosperous New York suburb, Weinberger was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the UCLA medical school. He later worked with one of Chicago's most renowned plastic surgeons before opening his own practice, the Weinberger Sinus Clinic, in Merrillville, Indiana.
The "nose doctor", as he came to be known, met his future wife, 12 years his junior, in 2000. "He just swept me off my feet," she said. "He was the kindest, most gentle man I had ever met."
Weinberger proposed to her eight months later in a Rome piazza while on holiday, and they were married in characteristically ostentatious style in three separate ceremonies in the US and Italy in 2001.
Michelle Weinberger later said she reckoned her husband was earning $200,000 (£124,000) a week, performing between seven and 15 operations.
They owned a house in a wealthy lakeside neighbourhood of Chicago. Mark Weinberger travelled to and from his surgery in a chauffeur-driven limousine. He employed maids, cooks, a personal trainer and a skipper for his boat. Every month, his wife recalled, he would take 10 days off to enjoy his seemingly abundant income, often jetting off to Europe to indulge a passion for idling in the Mediterranean.
The first hint of trouble emerged in October 2002 when a lawyer acting for the estate of a woman who had died of throat cancer filed a complaint with the Indiana department of insurance. The complaint claimed Weinberger failed to diagnose her cancer and instead carried out an unnecessary operation on her sinuses that was paid for by her insurance company.
The lawyer said he was subsequently contacted by dozens of the doctor's former patients who alleged that they too had had surgery they suspected was unnecessary. A similar complaint was filed by a second attorney on behalf of 25 former patients.
As the malpractice suits piled up, Weinberger arranged what he said would be a very special 30th birthday party for his wife. He flew her, her mother and three friends out to the Greek islands and promised her a present that would be "something that only the movie stars have". Before disappearing, he bought her two expensive diamonds.
It was small recompense, though, for what she was about to discover. The unpaid berthing fees on Mykonos alone came to $40,000. Their boat was seized by the Greek authorities. Weinberger's practice owed $5.7m and was eventually auctioned to meet his debts.
But the oddest discovery, and one that perhaps holds the key to his life on the run, was that the doctor had a room at his clinic which his employees dubbed "the scary room". It was crammed with survival gear. And the equipment, including even a water filtration system, had been shipped to Europe before he left.
The fugitive surgeon was sought by the FBI. He featured more than once on the Fox television show America's Most Wanted, and was supposedly sighted as far away as China. His wife continued to defend him after he vanished.
"I hope he's safe, and I still love him," she told the Chicago Tribune in October 2004, adding: "We can relocate. We can live on an island in a hut." The Carabinieri who lifted the flap of Weinberger's tent on Tuesday morning had been alerted to his presence by a mountain guide, an Italian police official said. They did not immediately reveal that they suspected his identity. They said they had used an excuse to convince him to accompany them to Courmayeur and that Weinberger tried to persuade them he just "wanted to live a life in the wild".
After it became clear that they knew who he was, the runaway doctor asked to go to the lavatory. There, he whipped out a tiny knife he had secreted in his underwear and plunged it into his throat. But despite being an expert surgeon, he missed the artery he appeared to be aiming for, and the Carabinieri hustled him away for first aid.
• Missing man faces fraud trial after five years on run
• Fugitive lived on tinned food and melted snow
John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday 17 December 2009
Mark Weinberger, a plastic surgeon wanted by the US since 2004 for healthcare fraud, pictured in Italy. Photograph: Gruppo Carabinieri Di Aosta/EPA
On 21 September 2004, Michelle Weinberger woke up on the 79ft powerboat that she and her husband, Mark, owned as it rocked gently in the waters of a marina on the Greek island of Mykonos.
"I put my hand on his side of the bed, and I remember feeling it empty," she later told the US television channel NBC. Weinberger leapt from bed in alarm to find that her husband had vanished, taking with him his passport and money he had stashed secretly on board.
It was the beginning of a five-year flight from justice that ended this week even more strangely than it began, almost 6,000 feet up in the Italian Alps. Two officers of the paramilitary Carabinieri, led by a mountain guide, trudged up to the southern slopes of Mont Blanc to find one of America's most wanted fugitives living in a tent. He was surviving in temperatures as low as -18C on dried and tinned food and snow he melted on a portable stove.
Dr Mark Weinberger, a 46-year-old ear, nose and throat specialist, was tonight in a secure ward at the Molinette hospital in Turin recovering from a wound he sustained when he tried to take his own life at the Carabinieri station in Courmayeur, below Mont Blanc.
The US authorities have 40 days in which to apply for his extradition. He faces trial on 22 counts of healthcare fraud, having previously been indicted by a grand jury.
Brought up in a prosperous New York suburb, Weinberger was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the UCLA medical school. He later worked with one of Chicago's most renowned plastic surgeons before opening his own practice, the Weinberger Sinus Clinic, in Merrillville, Indiana.
The "nose doctor", as he came to be known, met his future wife, 12 years his junior, in 2000. "He just swept me off my feet," she said. "He was the kindest, most gentle man I had ever met."
Weinberger proposed to her eight months later in a Rome piazza while on holiday, and they were married in characteristically ostentatious style in three separate ceremonies in the US and Italy in 2001.
Michelle Weinberger later said she reckoned her husband was earning $200,000 (£124,000) a week, performing between seven and 15 operations.
They owned a house in a wealthy lakeside neighbourhood of Chicago. Mark Weinberger travelled to and from his surgery in a chauffeur-driven limousine. He employed maids, cooks, a personal trainer and a skipper for his boat. Every month, his wife recalled, he would take 10 days off to enjoy his seemingly abundant income, often jetting off to Europe to indulge a passion for idling in the Mediterranean.
The first hint of trouble emerged in October 2002 when a lawyer acting for the estate of a woman who had died of throat cancer filed a complaint with the Indiana department of insurance. The complaint claimed Weinberger failed to diagnose her cancer and instead carried out an unnecessary operation on her sinuses that was paid for by her insurance company.
The lawyer said he was subsequently contacted by dozens of the doctor's former patients who alleged that they too had had surgery they suspected was unnecessary. A similar complaint was filed by a second attorney on behalf of 25 former patients.
As the malpractice suits piled up, Weinberger arranged what he said would be a very special 30th birthday party for his wife. He flew her, her mother and three friends out to the Greek islands and promised her a present that would be "something that only the movie stars have". Before disappearing, he bought her two expensive diamonds.
It was small recompense, though, for what she was about to discover. The unpaid berthing fees on Mykonos alone came to $40,000. Their boat was seized by the Greek authorities. Weinberger's practice owed $5.7m and was eventually auctioned to meet his debts.
But the oddest discovery, and one that perhaps holds the key to his life on the run, was that the doctor had a room at his clinic which his employees dubbed "the scary room". It was crammed with survival gear. And the equipment, including even a water filtration system, had been shipped to Europe before he left.
The fugitive surgeon was sought by the FBI. He featured more than once on the Fox television show America's Most Wanted, and was supposedly sighted as far away as China. His wife continued to defend him after he vanished.
"I hope he's safe, and I still love him," she told the Chicago Tribune in October 2004, adding: "We can relocate. We can live on an island in a hut." The Carabinieri who lifted the flap of Weinberger's tent on Tuesday morning had been alerted to his presence by a mountain guide, an Italian police official said. They did not immediately reveal that they suspected his identity. They said they had used an excuse to convince him to accompany them to Courmayeur and that Weinberger tried to persuade them he just "wanted to live a life in the wild".
After it became clear that they knew who he was, the runaway doctor asked to go to the lavatory. There, he whipped out a tiny knife he had secreted in his underwear and plunged it into his throat. But despite being an expert surgeon, he missed the artery he appeared to be aiming for, and the Carabinieri hustled him away for first aid.
Woman who knocked down pope hospitalised
By AFP
The woman who knocked down Pope Benedict XVI during Christmas Eve mass at St Peter's Basilica will undergo "necessary treatment" in hospital, the Vatican said on Friday.
Susanna Maiolo, 25, was hospitalised after stunning pilgrims in the cavernous basilica by leaping over a security barricade and pulling Pope Benedict, 82, to the floor in a dramatic start to the mass late on Thursday.
Lombardi described the woman, of dual Swiss and Italian nationality, as "apparently unbalanced." Maiolo already tried to get near the pope on the same occasion last year but security guards held her back, the spokesman said.
Masses of pilgrims gasped as a security guard tried to overpower Maiolo, who succeeded in grabbing Pope Benedict's vestments near the neck and pulling him to the floor as several other people fell over in the melee.
Relieved applause broke out as the pontiff got back on his feet within moments.
Pope Benedict went on to celebrate the mass undaunted by the assault, speaking out in his homily against selfishness as Christians across the world celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.
The pontiff was to proceed as normal Friday with his Christmas programme, delivering his traditional "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) speech at midday from the balcony of St Peter's, the Vatican said.
Prominent French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, broke a leg in the incident though he was several metres (yards) away.
He will undergo surgery for a fracture of a thigh bone, the Vatican said in a communique.
Lombardi sought to play down Thursday's incident, praising Pope Benedict's "great self-control and control of the situation."
He added: "It was an assault, but it wasn't dangerous because she wasn't armed."
The Christmas Eve mass is one of few occasions when tourists and pilgrims can get close to the pontiff.
The ANSA news agency reported that Vatican police questioned Maiolo and said she appeared confused and agitated, and said she wanted to hug the pontiff.
Papal security has been tightened since Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, shot and nearly killed Benedict's predecessor John Paul II in St Peter's Square in May 1981.
Thursday's incident occurred less than two weeks after a man with a history of mental problems attacked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after a political rally in Milan, breaking his nose and inflicting other facial injuries.
The attack on the pope took place amid concern over his health after a Vatican decision to schedule the mass two hours earlier than the traditional midnight hour due to the pontiff's advanced age.
Lombardi insisted that the change, a Vatican first, was only a "sensible precaution" for the octogenarian pontiff.
The decision was taken several weeks ago and Lombardi said it was "no cause for alarm," adding that the German pontiff's condition was "absolutely normal" for a man of his age.
Lombardi said the move was aimed at making Christmas "a little less tiring for the pope, who has many engagements during this time".
Benedict has had no notable health problems since his 2005 election apart from a fractured wrist from a fall in July while holidaying in northern Italy.
Four years before he became pope, however, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spent nearly a month in hospital following a brain haemorrhage, according to the German daily Bild. It said he has suffered from fainting spells.
John Paul II insisted on observing the tradition of beginning the mass at midnight despite years of ill health, notably the ravages of Parkinson's disease, at the end of his life. He died in April 2005 aged 84.
The woman who knocked down Pope Benedict XVI during Christmas Eve mass at St Peter's Basilica will undergo "necessary treatment" in hospital, the Vatican said on Friday.
Susanna Maiolo, 25, was hospitalised after stunning pilgrims in the cavernous basilica by leaping over a security barricade and pulling Pope Benedict, 82, to the floor in a dramatic start to the mass late on Thursday.
Lombardi described the woman, of dual Swiss and Italian nationality, as "apparently unbalanced." Maiolo already tried to get near the pope on the same occasion last year but security guards held her back, the spokesman said.
Masses of pilgrims gasped as a security guard tried to overpower Maiolo, who succeeded in grabbing Pope Benedict's vestments near the neck and pulling him to the floor as several other people fell over in the melee.
Relieved applause broke out as the pontiff got back on his feet within moments.
Pope Benedict went on to celebrate the mass undaunted by the assault, speaking out in his homily against selfishness as Christians across the world celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.
The pontiff was to proceed as normal Friday with his Christmas programme, delivering his traditional "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) speech at midday from the balcony of St Peter's, the Vatican said.
Prominent French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, broke a leg in the incident though he was several metres (yards) away.
He will undergo surgery for a fracture of a thigh bone, the Vatican said in a communique.
Lombardi sought to play down Thursday's incident, praising Pope Benedict's "great self-control and control of the situation."
He added: "It was an assault, but it wasn't dangerous because she wasn't armed."
The Christmas Eve mass is one of few occasions when tourists and pilgrims can get close to the pontiff.
The ANSA news agency reported that Vatican police questioned Maiolo and said she appeared confused and agitated, and said she wanted to hug the pontiff.
Papal security has been tightened since Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, shot and nearly killed Benedict's predecessor John Paul II in St Peter's Square in May 1981.
Thursday's incident occurred less than two weeks after a man with a history of mental problems attacked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after a political rally in Milan, breaking his nose and inflicting other facial injuries.
The attack on the pope took place amid concern over his health after a Vatican decision to schedule the mass two hours earlier than the traditional midnight hour due to the pontiff's advanced age.
Lombardi insisted that the change, a Vatican first, was only a "sensible precaution" for the octogenarian pontiff.
The decision was taken several weeks ago and Lombardi said it was "no cause for alarm," adding that the German pontiff's condition was "absolutely normal" for a man of his age.
Lombardi said the move was aimed at making Christmas "a little less tiring for the pope, who has many engagements during this time".
Benedict has had no notable health problems since his 2005 election apart from a fractured wrist from a fall in July while holidaying in northern Italy.
Four years before he became pope, however, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spent nearly a month in hospital following a brain haemorrhage, according to the German daily Bild. It said he has suffered from fainting spells.
John Paul II insisted on observing the tradition of beginning the mass at midnight despite years of ill health, notably the ravages of Parkinson's disease, at the end of his life. He died in April 2005 aged 84.
Bible Knowledge as elective subject
Languages and Bible Knowledge as electives
Bible Knowledge and several language subjects are allowed to be taken as elective subjects in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) (Malaysian Certificate of Education) examination, said Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
In a statement yesterday, he clarified that the Malaysian Cabinet had decided on Wednesday to allow students to choose two elective subjects from Arab, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazandusun and Bible Knowledge.
This means a student is able to sit for a maximum of 12 papers only. The other 10 papers are from six core and four additional subjects.
“The first 10 subjects are the prerequisite in awarding deserving students with federal scholarships. The two elective subjects would be included in the SPM result but not as a scholarship benchmark,” he said.
Earlier this month, Malaysian Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said the two extra subjects students can take are limited to Chinese, Tamil or Arabic Language, and Chinese or Tamil Literature.
The omission of Bible Knowledge from the list had created ripples through Christian groups.
source: The Star
Bible Knowledge and several language subjects are allowed to be taken as elective subjects in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) (Malaysian Certificate of Education) examination, said Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
In a statement yesterday, he clarified that the Malaysian Cabinet had decided on Wednesday to allow students to choose two elective subjects from Arab, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazandusun and Bible Knowledge.
This means a student is able to sit for a maximum of 12 papers only. The other 10 papers are from six core and four additional subjects.
“The first 10 subjects are the prerequisite in awarding deserving students with federal scholarships. The two elective subjects would be included in the SPM result but not as a scholarship benchmark,” he said.
Earlier this month, Malaysian Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said the two extra subjects students can take are limited to Chinese, Tamil or Arabic Language, and Chinese or Tamil Literature.
The omission of Bible Knowledge from the list had created ripples through Christian groups.
source: The Star
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