north east online - north east india news: Jun 8, 2009

Monday, June 8, 2009

NEEPCO Seeks Clearance from Mizoram Over Tipaimukh Project

Imphal, Jun 8 : Amidst the objections from various circles, officials of NEEPCO will be holding a meeting with the Mizoram government on June 10 for obtaining forest clearance tag from that state which is still pending even though there has been reports doing the round that there is the possibility of intervention of the Bangladesh government in the construction of Tipaimukh Multipurpose Hydel Project.

Mention may be made that hinting interference to the construction of the dam at Tipaimukh for the project, Bangladesh government has announced sending of an all-party parliamentary committee to visit the dam site, according to media reports.

Bangladesh experts are worried of hitting the flow of the Surma and Kushiara rivers originating from Indian side by the located barely 1 km from Bangladesh’s Zakiganj border.

The project would leave the river and other downstreams dry, upsetting the ecological balance and affecting many people, experts observed.

The proposed step of the Bangladesh government was taken up amidst the strong objection to the construction of dam at Tipaimukh area of Manipur on the Barak river by various NGOs and civil organizations.

On the other hand, despite the odd ahead of it, with the forest clearance for the Tipaimukh project was accorded by the Union ministry of Environment and Forest as recommended by the Manipur government, North Eastern Electric Power Corporation – NEEPCO officials are pursuing the forest clearance with the government of Mizoram.

The authority is hopeful of obtaining the Mizoram Forest Department’s recommendation by June 30, 2009 as NEEPCO officials will be holding a meeting with Mizoram government on June 10, official source here said Saturday.

It is also pertinent to mention here that with the receipt of the environmental clearance for taking the project in October last year, 2008, the project cost has further been updated at September 2008 price level.

The updated cost (excluding the components for flood moderation, external security and diversion of national highway, but including internal security and NPV), works out to Rs 8138.79 crores including IDC of Rs 1570.73 crores. The first year tariff and levelised tariff works out to Rs 4.65 and Rs. 4.03 per unit respectively.

With the effort of the Manipur government’s approval for meeting the cost component of flood moderation has been obtained from the ministry of Water Resources for meeting.

The update estimate is Rs 542.16 crores. Union ministry of Shipping Road Transportation and Highway has also conveyed its “in-principle” approval to meet the cost of diversion of NH-53 which the estimated cost has been updated at Rs 202.63 crores.

“In-principle’ approval for meeting the cost of providing external security to the project which has been estimated at Rs 299.17 crores has also been obtained by the Manipur government from the Union ministry of Home Affairs, the source added.

Considering the importance of the 1500 MW Tipaimukh Project to Manipur, Mizoram and Assam, Manipur government has decided to join the proposed Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the implementation of the project.

Manipur chief minister has proposed to take up of the project under a SPV with prospective partners like NHPC, NTPC, SJVNL long with NEEPCO and government of Manipur.

Even though NHPC was willing to join the SPV provided 51% stake in the equity is given, NTPC has declined to participate.

The project is being taken up by the NEEPCO as joint venture with the Manipur government and the government has recently finalized state government decision to take 5% equity in the proposed SPV.

Naga Men in Final

Imphal, Jun 8 : The Nagaland Veteran Football Association team booked a final berth in the 11th Challenge Cup Veteran Football Tournament, played at Mapal Kangjeibung today.

In the semi-final, hot contender Nagaland Veterans managed to trounce local favourites Chingtam Veteran by 3-0 goals.

The Nagaland veterans opened their account through Bijoy in the 31st minute of the first half to take an early lead.

Later in the second half, Sukuka provided the second goal for the Nagaland Veterans in the 39th minute of the match.

The third goal for Nagaland Veteran came when S. Bungocha of the Chingtam Veteran team conceded a goal in the 50th minute, giving the leaders a 3-0 victory en route to the final.

The Nagaland Veteran Football Association had cemented their place in the last four of the tournament, defeating the Imphal East Veteran Football Association players 7-0.

North Korea bans ships from coastal waters

SEOUL, South Korea -North Korea has warned fishermen and boat captains to stay away from the country's east coast, Japan's coast guard said Monday, in another sign the communist regime is planning to fire more missiles after its recent nuclear test.
Pyongyang also threatened Monday to retaliate with a "super hard-line" response if sanctions were imposed.
North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Pyongyang "has made clear many times that we will consider any sanction a declaration of war and will take due corresponding self-defense measures." The commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency did not elaborate.
The U.N. Security Council has been discussing imposing sanctions against the North in response to its May 25 nuclear test, while Washington considers introducing its own financial sanctions.
On Monday, Japan's coast guard said it picked up a North Korean radio signal banning ships from waters off Wonsan from June 10-30. South Korean media have reported since last week that the North is planning to fire several medium-range missiles from the eastern coastal city of Anbyon near Wonsan.
Seoul's mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said Monday that there have been brisk movements of up to six vehicles mounted with mobile missile launchers at Anbyon over the past week.
But the Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified military official Monday as saying that the latest no-sail zone appears to be a move aimed at firing short-range, ground-to-ship missiles, and not necessarily medium-range missile preparations.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff declined to confirm the report.
On Monday, Pyongyang, handed down 12-year prison sentences to two U.S. journalists, convicting them of unspecified hostility toward the country and illegally crossing the border. The reporters were arrested March 17 near the North's border with China while researching a story.
The verdict came as the U.S. was trying to muster international support for cutting off North Korean shipments that may be carrying nuclear technology or other weapons, as part of punishing Pyongyang for its nuclear test and a barrage of missile launches.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview broadcast Sunday that failing to take aggressive and effective action against the North could spark an arms race in northeast Asia.
"We will do everything we can to both interdict it and prevent it and shut off their flow of money," Clinton said of possible attempts by North Korea to ship nuclear material. She spoke on ABC's "This Week," taped Thursday in Egypt.
She also said Washington is considering adding North Korea back to a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

7,000 US Marines patrolling southern Afghan desert

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -Some 7,000 of the new U.S. troops ordered to Afghanistan are fanning out across the dangerous south on a mission to defeat the Taliban insurgency and to change the course of a war claiming American lives at a record pace.
The Marines represent the first wave of 21,000 troops ordered to Afghanistan this summer by President Barack Obama. Most of the Marine buildup will occur in Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and Afghanistan's most violent province. Helmand borders Pakistan, where the Taliban's top leadership is believed to be based.
"This is where the fight is, in Afghanistan," said 1st Sgt. Christopher Watson, who like many here has also served in Iraq. "We are here to get the job done."
Some 7,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, are now in the country, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Abe Sipe said. The forces have brought fighter aircraft, transport helicopters, artillery and the infrastructure needed to support what will ultimately be a force of around 11,000.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 because the country's extremist Taliban leaders were sheltering Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, the Islamist terror group behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
The forces quickly defeated the Taliban, pushing the militants out of Kabul and their southern base in Kandahar. But the international coalition and Afghan government have been bedeviled by a guerrilla war ever since, one that turned dangerously violent in 2006.
Along with this summer's troop buildup, the United States is training more Afghan security forces, increasing its spending on aid projects and working to strengthen government institutions, vital elements in a plan to stabilize the country and allow foreign forces to one day withdraw.
But adding troops also risks adding to the resentment of Afghans, especially if it brings about more civilian casualties, long an hot-button issue in this impoverished country. There are also fears that the new forces, which will bring U.S. troops levels to about 68,000 around the country, will simply push the Taliban elsewhere.
Most of the newly arrived Marines are now stationed at Camp Leatherneck, a small base in the center of Helmand expanding by the hour as workers build permanent structures. Some Marines have moved out to smaller outposts and are patrolling Helmand's deserts under a harsh summer sun.
Commanders warn that U.S. deaths are likely to increase this summer, the traditional fighting season in Afghanistan.
At least 70 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count, a 75 percent increase over the 40 U.S. troop deaths through the first week in June last year. A record 151 American forces died in Afghanistan in 2008.
The Afghan government controls some of the major towns and roads in Helmand, but most of the province of around 1 million is under the sway of the Taliban. Thousands of British forces have been deployed in Helmand since mid-2006, but there have been too few to provide security and counterinsurgency operations for the entire province.
Taliban militants and the drug lords they protect are believed to reap hundreds of millions of dollars from Afghanistan's drug trade. U.S. and NATO troops have stepped up attacks this year on drug labs after concluding the drug trade and the insurgency are intertwined.

China requires PCs to come with anti-porn software

BEIJING -China is requiring personal computers sold domestically to carry software that blocks online pornography and other Web sites — potentially giving the government new control over the Internet with a tool the developer said Monday will give parents more oversight.
The software, called "Green Dam-Youth Escort," prevents computers from accessing sites with pornographic pictures or language, Zhang Chenmin, general manager of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., told The Associated Press. The company was compiling a database of sites to block.
The software could also be used to block other Web sites, depending on keywords, Zhang said. The Chinese government routinely blocks political sites, especially ones it considers socially destabilizing such as sites that challenge the ruling Communist Party, promote democratic reform or advocate independence for Tibet.
Parents can also add sites to the database of blacklisted sites, Zhang said, and consumers will be able to uninstall the software.
"If a father doesn't want his son to be exposed to content related to basketball or drugs, he can block all Web sites related to those things," Zhang said.
He said users could also unblock Web sites, but they will not be able to see the full database. He said the software does not monitor or send IP addresses to third parties.
Zhang said his company, based in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan in central China, signed a 21 million yuan ($3 million) contract with the Chinese government last May to develop the software and distribute it to personal computer-makers free of charge within one year, to be included with units meant for domestic sale. The software was jointly developed by Beijing Dazheng Language Technology Co. Ltd., which declined to comment.
China, which has the world's largest population of Internet users at more than 250 million, this year launched a nationwide crackdown on Internet pornography, which is banned in China. More than 1,900 Web sites have been shut down since the beginning of the campaign and Web sites including Google and Baidu, China's most popular search engine, were criticized for linking to suspect sites.
According to the Wall Street Journal on Monday, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on May 19 to personal computer-makers that PCs to be sold in China as of July 1 must be preloaded with the software.
The program would either be installed on the hard drive or enclosed on a compact disc, the paper reported, adding that PC makers would be required to tell authorities how many PCs they have shipped with the software.
The ministry did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press by phone or fax. A separate notice on its Web site said all primary and secondary schools were required to install the Green Dam software on every school computer by the end of last month.
Educators "should fully realize the damage that harmful online information does to the physical and mental health of primary and secondary school students," the notice said.
PC makers Lenovo Group, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. did not immediately respond to requests for comments, either by phone or e-mail.

N. Korea sentences US reporters to 12 years labor

SEOUL, South Korea -North Korea convicted two American journalists and sentenced them Monday to 12 years of hard labor for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.
The Obama administration said it would pursue "all possible channels" to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV media venture.
There are fears Pyongyang is using the women as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the country for its defiant May 25 atomic test and as North Korea seeks to draw Washington into direct negotiations.
Washington's former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson called the sentencing part of "a high-stakes poker game" being played by North Korea. He said on NBC's Today show that he thinks negotiations for their "humanitarian release" can begin now that the legal process has been completed. Other South Korean analysts also said they expect the two to be freed following negotiations.
The journalists were found guilty of committing a "grave crime" against North Korea and of illegally entering the country, North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korean guards arrested Ling and Lee near the China-North Korean border on March 17. The two were reporting about the trafficking of North Korean women at the time of their arrest, and it's unclear if they strayed into the North or were grabbed by aggressive border guards who crossed into China. A cameraman and their local guide escaped.
The Central Court in Pyongyang sentenced each to 12 years of "reform through labor" in a North Korean prison after a five-day trial, KCNA said in a terse, two-line report that provided no further details. A Korean-language version said they were convicted of "hostility toward the Korean people."
The ruling — nearly three months after their arrest on March 17 — comes amid soaring tensions fueled by North Korea's nuclear test last month and signs it is preparing for a long-range missile test. On Monday, North Korea warned fishing boats to stay away from the east coast, Japan's coast guard said, raising concerns more missile tests are being planned.
Over the weekend, President Barack Obama used strong language on North Korea's nuclear stance and said his administration did not intend "to continue a policy of rewarding provocation."
Verdicts issued by North Korea's highest court are final and cannot be appealed, said Choi Eun-suk, a North Korean law expert at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at South Korea's Kyungnam University. He said North Korea's penal code calls for transferring them to prison within 10 days.
The United States, which does not have diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, was "deeply concerned" about the reported verdict, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington. He said officials would "engage in all possible channels" to win the reporters' release.
At the White House on Monday, deputy spokesman William Burton said in a statement: "The president is deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release."
The families of Lee, 36, and Ling, 32 had no immediate comment, spokeswoman Alanna Zahn said from New York. Gore also had no comment, spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said.
Lee is Korean-American and speaks Korean, but it is not clear how well. She lives in California with her husband and 4-year-old daughter Hannah. Ling is Chinese-American and a native of California. Her sister is National Geographic "Explorer" TV journalist Lisa Ling.
Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the 12-year sentence — the maximum allowed under North Korean law — may have been a reaction to recent "hard-line" threats by the U.S., including possible sanctions and putting North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism.
But he predicted the journalists' eventual release following diplomatic negotiations.
"The sentence doesn't mean much because the issue will be resolved diplomatically in the end," Kim said.
Just weeks after arresting the women, North Korea launched a multistage rocket over Japan in defiance of international calls for restraint. The U.S. and others called the launch a cover for a long-range missile test, and the U.N. Security Council condemned the move.
The U.N. censure enraged Pyongyang. North Korea abandoned nuclear disarmament talks, threatened to restart its atomic program and vowed to conduct nuclear and long-range missile tests if the Security Council failed to apologize.
The North followed through with its threat and staged its second-ever underground nuclear test. U.S. officials say the North appears to be preparing another long-range missile test at a west coast launch pad.
Some analysts called the arrest of the Americans a timely "bonanza" for Pyongyang as the impoverished regime prepares to negotiate for aid and other concessions to resolve the tense standoff over its nuclear defiance.
"North Korea refused to release them ahead of a court ruling because such a move could be seen as capitulating to the United States," said Hajime Izumi, professor of international relations and an expert on North Korea at the University of Shizuoka in Japan.
But now, "North Korea may release them on humanitarian grounds and demand the U.S. provide humanitarian aid in return," he said. "North Korea will certainly use the reporters as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States."
Their release could come through a post-negotiation political pardon, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.
The sentence is "a terrible shock for all those who have repeatedly insisted on their innocence," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement, noting that North Korea is ranked as Asia's worst country for press freedom.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists urged South Korea, Japan, Russia and the U.S., the five countries involved in the stalled disarmament talks with North Korea, to work for the journalists' release."
The sentencing comes a month after Iran released Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who had been sentenced to eight years in prison for on a charge of spying for the United States. An appeals court reduced that to a two-year suspended sentence and she was freed May 11.
Little is known about prison conditions in North Korea. But Rev. Chun Ki-won, a South Korean missionary who helped arrange the journalists' trip to China, said inmates in North Korean labor camps frequently face beatings and other inhumane treatment while being forced to engage in harsh labor such as logging and construction work.

Chun, however, predicted the North would send the journalists to a labor camp.

Premier League giants target India

Monday's opening of a Liverpool Football Club-backed soccer academy in the Indian city of Pune marks the latest chapter in the quest by Premier League teams to gain a foothold in one of the world's largest markets.

East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the US, as well as more traditional countries such as Canada and Australia, have all been explored as clubs seek to maximise returns on their brands overseas.

But until recently India was seen as off-limits because of the huge popularity of cricket there.

However, a growing and increasingly-affluent middle class, the regular broadcasting of Premier League games, and an identification of English football with youth and glamour means the door is slowly opening.

'Huge potential'

Liverpool and Chelsea are looking at establishing academies with a revenue-earning aspect attached to them, while Arsenal and Manchester United have initiated talent hunt schemes in India.

Tottenham Hotspur has also identified India as one of its targets for international development and has met major Indian firms with a view to forming partnerships. And Indian children have trained at Everton Football Club.

The UK's Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai, Vicki Treadell, told the BBC at a meeting of UK India Business Council that there were many opportunities for British firms across the sport and luxury brand industry fields, including for football clubs.
"These are markets with huge growth potential and many opportunities for UK and Indian firms to work together," she said.

Liverpool FC is currently looking to refinance its large loans, but that has not stopped its Indian venture.

The Anfield club announced at the turn of the year its ambition to help set up a football development centre at Pune, south of Mumbai, the first of its kind in India.

In February Ian Ayre, the commercial director of Liverpool, went to India to meet Vishwjeet Kadam, the host of the proposed development centre and driving force behind football in Pune.

The club will give technical support, in terms of coaches and scouts, to help train young potential footballers, and in return will receive a high-profile presence in western India.

Mr Ayre has said he envisages the LFC-backed centre "projecting football as a lucrative career option not just as a player, but as a manager, coach, administrator and support staff as well".

And he said Liverpool cannot go into India hoping to sell £45 replica shirts, but must "have a sustainable plan that touches all the demographics of the Indian market".

'New to India'

Indian national team coach Bob Houghton has accused the leading English clubs of getting involved in the country "as a purely business proposition".
But Sharon Bamford, chief executive of the UK Indian Business Council, has praised one of those clubs - Chelsea - for realising they have a corporate social responsibility in the country.

And Chelsea officials insist that they want to build a long-term relationship with potential Indian customers, so that "people feel confident with Chelsea as a product".

"We are new to India," Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said at the meeting of the UK India Business Council at Stamford Bridge.

"We are still at the information and intelligence gathering stage, and are not making money out of it."

He said that over the past year the club had been trying to understand the marketplace, and opportunities for Chelsea.

"I have been there four times in the past year," said Mr Kenyon. "There has been a tremendous enthusiasm and excitement.

"It is a football-mad environment - you see children playing football in the street - but there are different challenges there from other parts of the world.

"However, the boom in Premier League popularity has helped. Kick-off times work very well with India. "

When the Premier League was established in 1992/93 season it was broadcast in 27 countries,. Now it is beamed into 210 nations.

Cricket ascendant

Mr Kenyon said that just because cricket was the number one sport in India it did not mean that football clubs could not be successful.

"India is cricket mad and that is one of the questions we have asked ourselves - 'is there room for football?' We believe that there is.

"It is not about competing with cricket, but finding a niche where football can grow and we can do business.
An indication of the growing interest in football in India can be seen in fact that World Cup TV rights there went for $3m in 2002, but have been sold for the 2010 tournament for $40m.

"Football is bracketed with youth whereas cricket is seen seen somewhat as 'the sport of my fathers'."

However he did acknowledge that Twenty20 cricket was "capturing the imagination" of the same demographic Chelsea is aiming at.

"But the knowledge of Chelsea is already there in the Indian market, it isn't about having to tell them who Chelsea are," Mr Kenyon said.

He said that meant the club could concentrate on looking at the business opportunities.

"If not on day one, but at least along the way, you have to start to generate a return from what you are doing," he said.

"This is a very long term strategy, but we are looking to make money. There is no point in someone being busy all around the world, and not be making some return on it."

'Factor for good'

Chelsea's target demographic is urban, web and mobile literate, and English speaking. Their venture, he said, would also include a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) element.

"Football can be a massive factor for good in India. There is very little in the way of existing-football related social programmes."
Chelsea helped launch and is development partner in the Asian Football Confederation's Vision India programme, to raise standards the games standards in the continent, on and off the field.

While European clubs were keen to lend expertise and experience, India needed to ultimately take the lead in its own football development, Mr Kenyon said.

"There are real, real, positives in India for an English club as I believe football has got a real future in India over the next 10 years ," said Mr Kenyon.

"What we have got to concentrate on is being partners, with everyone from the top administrators down to the grass roots.

"India can experience the same sort of growth pattern in football terms that it has set itself in economic terms."

India on alert against swine flu

India has issued an alert after two more people have tested positive for swine flu, bringing the total number of people infected in the country to 10.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said airport screening would be tightened and more testing facilities would come.

The minister said that India was fully equipped to deal with the outbreak and that there was no cause for panic.

The World Health Organisation says the flu strain has hit 64 countries and is most prevalent in North America.

Among nearly 19,000 infections worldwide, 117 people have died from the respiratory disease which is also known as the H1N1 virus.

'Tight screening'

"There is no reason for panic because we have taken all the precautions," Mr Azad told reporters in the Indian capital, Delhi.

"We have a task force which is monitoring the situation on a daily basis keeping in touch with the World Health Organisation," he said.

India has two laboratories to test for swine flu and Mr Azad said 16 more testing labs would be activated within a week.

"We have decided to tighten screening at our airports, specially of the passengers arriving from countries where swine flu cases have been reported," the minister said.

An official statement on Sunday said two more people had tested positive for swine flu, taking the total number of infections in the country to 10.

They included a 25-year-old man who arrived in the country by a British Airways flight on 31 May and sat next to a man who had returned from the US and tested positive for the virus, the statement said.

A 35-year-old man who arrived in Delhi from New York on 2 June has also tested positive for swine flu, it added.

Seven of India's 10 cases are from the southern city of Hyderabad, which also reported the first case in the country.

Cyclone affected in Darjeeling hills impatient for aid

Pankhabari (West Bengal), June 8 (ANI): Families, devastated by landslide triggered by cyclone Aila in Darjeeling hills, have called for immediate relief and rehabilitation.

About 100 families of the Pankhabari region in one of the worst affected areas have been staying in relief camp. They have asked the authorities to provide them with houses at least to protect them from the vagaries of nature.

"We want the authorities to provide us with homes immediately. How long are we going to stay like this? That is all we are asking for," Meena Chettri, a victim.

Keshab Rao, a leader of the Congress Party, who visited the victims staying in the relief camp, said that the political parties should rather get into the job to provide the displaced people with immediate relief rather then blaming each other.

"The Communist Party of India (Marxist) should have taken immediate steps. They are thinking of those in the plains, but these people in the hilly area should also have been taken into account. But this is not time to criticise. We should think of how to send immediate relief," Rao.

At least 20 people were reported to have succumbed and many others injured as landslides, triggered by cyclone Aila, which progressed further and hit the hilly region of Darjeeling on May 26.

Cyclone Aila that originated over the Bay of Bengal on May 25 caused havoc in many parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

In West Bengal, at least 5.1 million people were displaced, with more than one million people stranded in the Sundarban islands alone, most of them without any food or water, officials said. (ANI)

Maoists blow up police station in Orissa

Bhubaneshwar, June 8 (ANI): About 100 Maoists, including women, have triggered explosions at the Baipariguda police station in Orissa’s Koraput district.

According to police, the attack took place late on Sunday night when the Maoists triggered three explosions in Baipariguda police station premises.

However, they did not attack any police personnel. But they forced five police personnel to surrender at gunpoint.

Besides blasting the building, they set ablaze two jeeps and three motor-cycles. They also smashed a transmitter to break communication links with the police station.

Maoists also blew up a police outpost at Ramgiri, about 30 km from Baipariguda, after driving out two police personnel present inside the building at gun point, the police said.

CRPF, elite anti-naxal Special Operation Group (SOG), additional police force were rushed to the site. (ANI)

Long, short sleep durations linked increased diabetes ris

Washington, June 8 (ANI): Both long and short sleepers are at higher risk for diabetes, according to a new study.

In the study, researchers found that the adjusted odds ratio was 1.24 for diabetes associated with short sleep and 1.48 for diabetes associated with long sleep.

The prevalence of diabetes was 12 percent for blacks and 8 percent for whites, while the prevalence of obesity was 52 percent for blacks and 38 percent for whites.

Lead author Girardin Jean-Louis, PhD, associate professor at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center at the Brooklyn Health Disparities Research Center in New York, sad the findings suggest that both patients who have excessive or insufficient sleep time have increased risk for developing diabetes, a serious health condition.

"Both blacks and whites who were obese tended to have short sleep time. These findings suggest that race significantly influenced the risk of obesity conferred by short sleep duration," said Jean-Louis.

"As obesity is associated with diabetes and sleep apnea, it may be that more blacks are at risk for sleep apnea and diabetes, which are both linked to cardiovascular disease," Jean-Louis added.

The study involved data from 29,818 individuals who completed the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, a cross-sectional household interview survey using multistage area probability and design.

Data were collected from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Participants were between the ages of 18 and 85 years; 85 percent of the sample was white and 15 percent was black; 56 percent of participants were women.

The researchers said that more research is needed to identify the factors that could explain the relationship between long sleep duration and diabetes.

The study has been presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. (ANI)

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