Sylvia Kristel, star of Emmanuelle, dies
Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the 1974 erotic French film Emmanuelle, has died aged 60.
The actress, who had cancer, was admitted to hospital in July after suffering a stroke.
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Higher Vitamin E diet lowers dimentia risk
Older adults who get plenty of vitamin E in their diets may have a somewhat lower risk of developing dementia than those who consume less of the nutrient, a study published Monday suggests.
KLM pushes to resume flights after successful ash tests
AMSTERDAM — Dutch airline KLM said it safely flew aircraft without passengers through a window in the cloud of volcanic ash over Europe Sunday, and pressed for an end to the total ban on commercial air traffic that Source has paralyzed travel across the continent.
Other airlines including Lufthansa and Air France said they, too, were conducting test flights. Authorities, however, extended airspace restrictions across Europe and said there was no end in sight to the plume spewing out of a volcano in Iceland, which they insist is dangerous to planes.
More people sick on SC cruise ship that had virus
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Passengers have again fallen ill with a stomach bug aboard a cruise ship hit by a virus last month on its previous trip from South Carolina.
Celebrity Cruise spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said Friday that 55 of the nearly 1,900 passengers on board the Celebrity Mercury were sick.
More than 400 passengers and crew fell ill during a cruise that ended in Charleston on Feb. 26. The vessel sailed again last weekend after a one-day delay to allow a crew to sanitize the ship.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests showed last month’s outbreak was caused by norovirus, which can spread quickly in closed quarters. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
South Carolina health officials have reported twice as many cases of norovirus as normal this winter.
The virus may have come on board the ship with passengers, crew members or supplies. But it’s almost impossible to pinpoint a specific cause in a closed place like a cruise liner, said Adam Myrick, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“It’s so ubiquitous. It’s everywhere,” he said. “There’s no way you can say it came from this stairwell, this handrail in this stairwell.”
Dutch drivers to pay tax on road time, not on car
AMSTERDAM (AP) – Dutch drivers will pay less to buy a car but will be charged tax on every kilometer on the road, a system the government says will reduce traffic jams, fatal accidents and carbon emissions.
The Cabinet approved a bill Friday calling for drivers of an average passenger car to pay a base rate of €0.03 per 1 kilometer (7 US cents per mile), beginning in 2012. Drivers of heavier, more polluting vehicles will pay more, and the cost will go up for driving in peak hours.
GPS will track the time, hour and place each car moves and send the data to a billing agency.
But the annual road tax and purchase tax for new cars will be abolished, reducing the price of a new car 25 percent, the Transport Ministry said.
Nearly 6 out of 10 drivers will benefit under the system, the ministry said, but government revenue would remain the same. Public transportation, including taxis, will be exempt.
The ministry calculated that overall traffic will drop about 15 percent, peak-hour congestion will be halved, traffic deaths will fall 7 percent and carbon emissions from road travel will be cut by 10 percent.
The tax will increase every year until 2018 and could be adjusted if it fails to change traffic patterns.
Apple denies ‘exploding’ iPhones
A number of iPhones that reportedly “exploded” in France were not due to the battery overheating as had been suggested, Apple has said…….
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