A Qatari man was confirmed as having the SARS-like coronavirus, which health officials worry will spread globally. The new virus, which was by Britain’s Health Protection Agency in September, has killed two people in Saudi Arabia, with the total number of confirmed cases now rising to six. Despite the small number of cases, health experts say that the virus is new in humans and there is a risk of an outbreak, reported CBS News. The announcement of the Qatari man was made by Germany#39;s Rober
We finally have a real Resident Evil movie! It only took seven tries! (That might not sound good, but by video game movie standards it’s sensational.) The five live-action Milla Jovovich movies were fantastic, but about the only thing they shared with the games was a title. The directors of those features focused on making great action movies for the mass market they knew didn’t really care about the games. The CG-animated Resident Evil: Damnation is a great Resident Evil movie because it doesn’t care about the mass market; it’s so focused on the games and the gaming audience that it was released on the Xbox and PS3 dashboards a week before the DVD went on sale. This is Capcom’s second attempt at computer-generating a proper canon film. The first, Degeneration , was one of the worst movies ever made . Degeneration was true to its subject in the way that a hastily written homework essay is true to its subject: all the keywords are there but the author clearly didn’t care. The result is less exciting than a non-zombified corpse. Damnation is a huge improvement over its predecessor and a lot more fun, too. The movie doesn’t just understand the Resident Evil games, it understands the core problem that comes with making a movie based on a video game: Take away our ability to control the characters and the characters have to give back much more in return. They have to be interesting on their own. Damnation delivers everything Resident Evil game-franchise fans could want from a movie. The characters are much improved — not just graphically, but behaviorally. Fan-favorite Leon Kennedy isn’t just back, he’s graduated with a degree in advanced ass-kicking and has been promoted to Chief Buttkicker. No more pining after Ada Wong, shouting impotently at locked doors or running around after little girls. His first actions in this movie are going rogue, making sarcastic remarks about a fellow agent careless enough to be mortally wounded (while said agent is still alive and can hear him), then kicking a Licker’s ass so hard it scampers for safety while he chases it down. If you’re wondering who Ada Wong is, you now know the only minor issue in the movie. It is absolutely built for fans and assumes the audience will be excited to see these people. That said, the characters are so well developed that even a total newbie to the world of Domestic Bad will get with the program in short order. Leon establishes that he’s an ass-kicker by immediately kicking ass, while triple-agent Ada breezes into a room and immediately manipulates the hell out of an entire country. She then kicks ass, too. Even when events from the games are referenced, it’s never jarring, just brilliant for fans. The key reason Damnation works as a movie is that it dumps these revered gaming characters into an entirely new situation. Instead of yet another generically evil corporation/facility/whatever, we join a civil war in the Eastern Slav Republic, which (despite a excessively long narrative intro) is the perfect setting for this new story. With opposing sides struggling for revenge, independence, and oil money, we finally have believable motivations for people to use the most awful weapons imaginable. This new setting makes even the oldest tropes fresh; of course there’s another vast underground base, but this one has the single coolest elevator in movie history. And even when you arrive there you’re still trying to work out exactly who betrayed who. That was where Degeneration failed so badly. The plot was cut-and-pasted from the games: a new secret underground viral base, a new letter for the virus name, and a new character looking for lost relative/friend who’s clearly, obviously, blatantly implicated in the outbreak. That wasn’t an addition to the RE story, it was a unreasonable facsimile, replete with a search-and-replace script. You could almost hear the scriptwriter sighing “done” as he stopped typing. In Damnation, the characters might not be quite yet out of the uncanny valley, but they’ve climbed up the walls by punching their bare, badass fists into the rock with every step. It’s not realistic, but it’s not quite trying to be — think of it instead as a new kind of animation. The graphics are glorious, and though the producers are pretty blatant about showing off new special effects, at least they’re badass about it. For example, Ada Wong shows off the new fluid physics with a cup of tea that she uses to attack the President of a sovereign nation and her armed bodyguard . That is what we call “adequate justification.” Even when the graphics engine shows off shafts of light cutting through rooms, it’s only because the rooms have also torn apart by tank shells and at least two mutant murder machines. The filmmakers re-create the original Resident Evil 2 “drips from the hallway ceiling” scene just because they can. For the first time you believe that Lickers could actually kill men with guns, not just men with guns struggling with analog sticks. Mr. X is elevated beyond Tyrant to Terminator levels of brutality, with cinematic fights much more interesting than the boss battles found in the games. When Leon starts punching a monster in the face with a tank, you’re excited enough to start screaming in italics. Luke McKinney loves the real world, but only because it has movies and video games in it. He responds to every tweet. Follow Luke McKinney on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter. —
Truuuuuuuuuu! FDA May Approve HIV Pill Truvada For Mass Consumption The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of federal advisers Thursday, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS. In a series of votes, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the daily pill Truvada for healthy people who are at high risk of contracting HIV, including gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner. The FDA is not required to follow the panel’s advice, though it usually does. A final decision is expected by June 15. Gilead Sciences Inc., based in Foster City, Calif., has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are infected with the virus. The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread. Doctors usually prescribe it as part of a drug cocktail to repress the virus. While panelists ultimately backed Truvada for prevention, Thursday’s 12-hour meeting highlighted a number of concerns created by the first drug to prevent HIV. In particular, the panel debated whether Truvada might lead to reduced use of condoms, the most reliable defense against HIV. The experts also questioned the drug’s effectiveness in women, who have shown much lower rates of protection in studies. Panelists struggled to outline steps that would ensure patients take the pill every day. In clinical trials, patients who didn’t take their medication diligently were not protected, and patients in the real world are even more likely to forget than those in studies. Says one doctor about the controversial drug: “The trouble is adherence, but I don’t think it’s our charge to judge whether people will take the medicine,” said Dr. Tom Giordano of Baylor College of Medicine, who voted in favor of the drug. “I think our charge is to judge whether it works when it’s taken and whether the risks outweigh the benefits.” Once again, this pill is not a “I don’t need no condom baby, I take Truvada” situation. Strapping up will always be the most effective way to prevent the spread of disease, however this drug would definitely be a breakthrough in the fight against HIV/AIDS Source
The ‘American Pie’ star recalls a prank played on him in this Saturday’s episode. By Henna Kathiya Chris Klein on “When I Was 17” Photo: MTV Chris Klein was already 20 when he played all-American lacrosse-player Oz, one of four friends trying to get laid by prom night in “American Pie.” But the movie’s hijinks and pranks weren’t far from his real-life experience in high school. In the latest episode of “When I Was 17,” airing Saturday at 11 a.m., Chris reminisces about a prank that was played at his expense in high school. “I went to public school, but I myself had a uniform, which was a white T-shirt, loose blue jeans and Airwalk shoes,” says the actor, who is reprising his Oz role for next year’s “American Reunion.” “Oh, and then there were the necklaces,” he adds, recalling the beaded necklaces in school colors that were made by the cheerleaders. “I was a huge fan of the necklaces.” Because the actor wore the same outfit without fail every single day, his fashion sense was something of notice for his fellow classmates. “One day, I walked into school and all of a sudden there is a bit of an uproar and everyone is clapping and laughing and having a good time. I look around and nearly everyone in my class was dressed exactly how I dressed every day,” he says. “It was dress like Chris Klein day.” His whole class showed up to school wearing white T-shirts and blue jeans, making sure not to forget the key element: the beaded necklaces. His classmates punked him for sure, which probably made acting in “American Pie” a piece of cake. For more stories from Chris’ youth, don’t miss the new episode of “When I Was 17,” also featuring Amy Lee and Theophilus London , airing Saturday at 11 a.m. ET on MTV. Related Videos ‘When I Was 17’ Sneak Peek Featuring Evanescence’s Amy Lee
‘You may never again be able to touch your face without asking yourself where those hands have been,’ one critic says of germ thriller. By Kara Warner Jude Law in “Contagion” Photo: WB Perhaps the most terrifying film opening in theaters this weekend is not one full of high-pitched screams, blood and guts, but rather the discomfort and cringing that accompanies the spread of killer germs. “Contagion” — featuring an all-star cast that includes Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow and Marion Cotillard — demonstrates how quickly a cough can turn into a worldwide epidemic, as the characters reel from the rapid progress of an airborne virus that kills within days. Ordinary citizens are forced to come to terms with disease and death, while the medical community scrambles to find a cure and control the hysteria that spreads along with the virus. With a certified fresh rating of more than 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes , “Contagion” seems to be creeping out moviegoers in the best and most realistic way possible. The Story “Global in scale but very particular in focus, ‘Contagion’ unfolds as an engrossing, believable search for Patient Zero and an effective vaccine. (‘It’s not a good time to be a rhesus monkey,’ remarks one character dryly.) More grounded in science than suspense, its rhythms evoke the steady beat of the crime procedural as the Centers for Disease Control (represented by Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet and a terrific Jennifer Ehle) and the World Health Organization (fronted by Marion Cotillard) work to save lives and stem panic.” — Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR The Direction “From his very first independent films through the “Ocean’s” trilogy and the widely misunderstood, little-seen “Che,” Soderbergh has viewed human life and human actions from a voyeuristic, almost clinical perspective, and in that sense a movie about disease and science and bureaucracy — about systems, rather than people — is a perfect fit. … There’s really no arguing with “Contagion” on technical grounds. The story it tells is based on sound epidemiology (even if some individual plot events are implausible) and the composition and editing are masterful. Instead of the usual two and a half hours of a Roland Emmerich-style disaster flick, this one is an economical 105 minutes, none of them wasted.” — Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com The Cringe Factor “What we have here is one of the finest “breakdown of society” movies I’ve ever seen. If you’re the type of person who finds the opening credits montage the most frightening aspect of Romero’s original “Dawn of the Dead,” the instigating event to the apocalypse in “Contagion” is (sigh) a very real threat. Read “Flu” by Gina Kolata — or better yet, don’t, because maybe you like sleeping at night.” — Jordan Hoffman, UGO The Final Word: Pro/Con/Pro Style “If you’re looking for some kind of poetry — some exalted dramatic arc that lifts this narrative out of the ordinary — you won’t find it here. ‘Contagion’ is as straightforward as an episode of ‘CSI,’ but it’s gripping from start to finish. Now, excuse me while I wipe down my computer keyboard. — Leonard Maltin, IndieWire “Juggling multiple plotlines proved successful in Mr. [Soderbergh]’s ‘Traffic’ (and even more so in Alejandro Gonz
So she had his a*s locked up!!! Cara Scott went to police after learning her lover David Golding had given her herpes on purpose so no one else would want her. Now he’s been sentenced to 14 months in jail — the first such punishment for this offense — and she’s living happily ever after with her new boo and their seed! Cara Scott accused former lover David Golding of leaving her with a ‘life sentence’ and described the knowledge that he had given her the disease as ‘soul-destroying’. The 24-year-old, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, said she hoped Golding’s 14-month sentence would serve as a ‘warning to others’. Golding, 28, was jailed by a judge who told the Highways Agency worker he had committed a ‘betrayal in a relationship in which you professed love’. The court heard that Miss Scott became infected with the incurable sexually transmitted infection within a few months of the couple meeting, but that when she confronted Golding, he denied he was responsible. Yesterday the former hairdresser, now going by the surname Lee, described her suffering in the two years since she caught the disease. She added: ‘I get angry and depressed when the herpes flares up. It’s a disgusting reminder of him. ‘But seeing him brought to justice has helped me move on. Jail is what he deserves.’ Miss Lee told how when she confronted Golding, he denied giving her herpes and suggested she may have been infected years earlier, as the virus can lie dormant for long periods. She said Golding ‘never seemed worried about catching it’ from her and assured her that he didn’t need testing ‘as he wasn’t showing any of the signs’. The couple went ahead with plans to move in together because Miss Lee felt ‘grateful’ that Golding still wanted to be with her. But her suspicions about where she had contracted the virus remained. Golding revealed the truth last year and admitted transmitting the infection to her. Miss Lee said: ‘I felt sick and was crying so much I couldn’t breathe. ‘He said he knew if I had it no one else would want me. I screamed, “How could you do that?” ‘I didn’t even want to look at him. But I couldn’t leave – I was convinced I would never find anybody else.’ She told Closer magazine that Golding, from Braunston, near Daventry, was apologetic and promised he would look after her. But the couple stopped sleeping together, and when they eventually split up, Miss Lee went to the police. he has since had a baby with her new partner, Jonathan Clark, 29. He said: ‘When Cara told me about the STI I wasn’t put off – I loved her and wanted to be with her. We have to be careful, but it’s something we deal with.’ Golding admitted grievous bodily harm and was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court last week. The case – believed to be the first time a defendant has been convicted and jailed for passing on herpes – has been condemned by sexual health charities, which said the ‘trivial’ condition was being wrongly stigmatised. Around 10 per cent of the population have genital herpes. A sufficient quantity of the virus is needed on the skin to transmit it, and enough is usually only present during a flare-up. But Miss Lee said she believes she was infected when her partner had no visible symptoms. Nigel Scott, spokesman for the Herpes Viruses Association, compared the case to prosecuting children for ‘giving their friends chicken pox’. He called for a review of the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidelines on ‘intentional or reckless sexual transmission of infection’ policy, which were consulted before the decision to prosecute was taken. The guidelines state that grievous bodily harm can be caused when transmission of a sexual infection will have ‘serious, perhaps life-threatening, consequences for the infected person’s health’. But Mr Scott argued that herpes is not serious or life-threatening. Did old boy get what he deserved or is the court wrong for doling out punishment when we all need to be responsible for our own sexual health??? Source
Selena Gomez And Justin Bieber:Selena Gomez Punched In The Face :Let’s clear this up, Selena Gomez was not a punch in the face by a rabid fan of Justin Bieber, although many of them undoubtedly would like to take a swing at a woman who stole her man. This rumor was started, because it turned out that Selene is hiding something from her lips, it was concluded that it was kind of a cat fight. But looking at the pictures carefully, it does not appear to fat lips. That, my friends, looks like your run of the mill cold sores. Now, we must mention something about herpes … Herpes simplex virus (which causes cold sores) is extremely common. Studies suggest that the shocking 50% to 80% of the adult U.S. population the virus. And most people contract when they are just children, but the virus can remain quiescent for a long time. Since time with him so often, it’s actually surprising that we do not see more celebrities out and about with the occasional cold sores. Especially because they lead such a high life stress (and stress can be a trigger). In the case of Selena Gomez, she was in the spotlight recently with her and Justin Bieber now talk openly about their relationship. But one thing many fans Bieber, probably very concerned about? Is he kissed her on the stage is contagious? But now his flipping from photographers makes much more sense, he was just protecting his lady.
Mendi, Papua New Guinea (AHN) – Police are hunting 10 women who attacked a 17-year-old schoolboy with a knife and raped him in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands province over the weekend. The incident happened on Friday outside the provincial capital of Mendi, according to provincial police chief Teddy Tei. The young victim went to a hospital for treatment after the attack, he said. Tei fears the boy has been infected with HIV by four of the women who raped him at knifepoint. HIV is the virus that causes acquired immune-deficiency syndrome or AIDS. There is a high incidence of HIV infection among women in the Pacific island country. Papua New Guinea also ranks among the top countries with the highest incidence of rapes, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Just last week, an Australian female tourist was raped by locals, who hijacked her car and robbed his three other companions in Madang province in the northwestern coast of the main island. The victims were taken to a secluded site and tied to trees. Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7020610214?Women20Rape%20Schoolb… added by: Radical_Centrist
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WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday issued new rules requiring health insurance companies to provide free coverage for dozens of screenings, laboratory tests and other types of preventive care. The new requirements promise significant benefits for consumers — if they take advantage of the services that should now be more readily available and affordable. In general, the government said, Americans use preventive services at about half the rate recommended by doctors and public health experts. Other services that must be offered at no charge include counseling to help people stop smoking; screening and counseling for obesity; and tests for infection with the virus that causes aids http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/health/policy/15health.html?_r=2&src=un&am… added by: congoboy
‘Don’t let all the comments from people and opinions get to you,’ Audrina advises Snooki, the Situation and the rest of the cast. By Jocelyn Vena Audrina Patridge Photo: Denise Truscello/ WireImage As the cast of “The Hills” prepares to say goodbye with the series finale of their show airing on Tuesday night (July 13), they’re also making more room for the “Jersey Shore,” whose tanned crew have quickly become big MTV stars. So while Snooki and LC may seem like oil and vinegar in the reality-TV world, the “Hills” ladies still have some advice for the “Shore” kids before their second season kicks off later this month.
