MANILA, Philippines (CNN) — Rescuers in the Philippines have refused to give up hope of rescuing some of the more than 800 people missing after a ferry capsized in a typhoon despite rough seas stalling efforts to get inside the vessel.

Rescuers have found at least 34 survivors and at least 11 dead, the Philippine Information Agency said Monday.

Divers got no response when they hammered on the 23,824-ton Princess of Stars that was jutting from the water off Sibuyan island in the central Philippines.

“We’re not ruling out that somebody there is still alive,” coast guard chief Wilfredo Tamayo told The Associated Press. “You can never tell.”

But high seas that have prevented rescue ships from approaching the ferry showed no sign of abating Monday as officials planned how to enter the ship — either with divers or by drilling a hole in the hull, Tamayo said.

Read more on CNN.com

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Researchers have uncovered a new clue to the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

The brains of people with the memory-robbing form of dementia are cluttered with a plaque made up of beta-amyloid, a sticky protein. But there long has been a question whether this is a cause of the disease or a side effect. Also involved are tangles of a protein called tau; some scientists suspect this is the cause.

Now, researchers have caused Alzheimer’s symptoms in rats by injecting them with one particular form of beta-amyloid. Injections with other forms of beta-amyloid did not cause illness, which may explain why some people have beta-amyloid plaque in their brains but do not show disease symptoms.

The findings by a team led by Dr. Ganesh M. Shankar and Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe of Harvard Medical School are reported in the current online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

The researchers used extracts from the brains of people who donated their bodies to medicine.

Forms of soluble beta-amyloid containing different numbers of molecules, as well as insoluble cores of the brain plaque, were injected into the brains of mice. There was no detectable effect from the insoluble plaque or the soluble one-molecule or three-molecule forms, the researchers found.

Read more on CNN.com

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DALLAS, Texas (AP) — The third trial of an alleged member of a swingers club accused of forcing children into sex shows was postponed Monday amid allegations that the foster father to the young victims molested other children.

Prosecutors said the California child sex charges against John Cantrell, who has custody of three siblings who allegedly performed inside the club, has nothing to do with their case in Texas.

Cantrell, 64, was charged last week with sexually assaulting two of his foster children in 1990. His wife has denied the allegations.

Margie Cantrell first told authorities in 2005 about what the children — now ages 12, 10, and 7 — revealed to her about having being forced into sex at the former daycare.

“What does the fact that he was investigated 18 years ago, when the victims in our case were not even alive, have to do with the guilt or innocence of these defendants on trial today?” Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham said.

Read more on CNN.com

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Car crashes, injured stars, a fire, a stabbing, an arrest – the latest Bond film is cursed, surely. It isn’t the first. Kaleem Aftab reveals the on-set terrors of other ill-fated movies

The filming of Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond adventure, has seen so many on-set accidents that the cast and crew are beginning to wonder whether the movie is cursed.

It started on 18 April this year when an Aston Martin DBS ended up at the bottom of Lake Garda after a stuntman charged with delivering the car to the set lost control on a bend in the road. A week later, another stuntman was seriously injured when he crashed a car during a chase sequence. Soon after that, another car was crashed.

Bond himself, Daniel Craig, has also been in the wars. He was rushed to hospital a few days ago when he sliced open the end of a finger. He’d already been involved in an incident when his face was cut, requiring eight stitches. In yet another tumble, it was feared that he’d broken his ribs.

Read more on independent.co.uk

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Steve Carell stepped out of “The Office” to join the fight against cancer at a benefit that featured a screening of his new movie, “Get Smart.”

The screening was held Thursday night to benefit The Zachary Carson Brain Tumor Fund, named after a Newton teenager Carell met on the set of his NBC comedy in February 2007 through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Carell said he has been inspired by Carson and his family.

“It was a great group of people, is a great group of people, and I just felt very honored to be included in that circle,” he said.

Read more on kansascity.com

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RESCUERS searched rough seas around a capsized ferry in the central Philippines today in a desperate search for more than 800 people still missing after it sank two days ago in a deadly typhoon.

Coast guard boats searched the area around the 23,824-tonne ferry and divers were expected to drill into the side of the vessel where they hope survivors might be alive in air pockets.

Twenty-eight passengers and crew were the most recently found survivors of the ferry disaster, having landed at a small coastal village after drifting for more than 24 hours in a rubber boat, radio dzBB reported.

Two others originally on the life raft drowned in large swells.

“We are checking whether there were people trapped inside the ferry,” Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of coast guard, said.

“We might have to drill holes so our divers can access it.”

Philippine transport authorities today said they had grounded the vessels of ferry company Sulpicio Lines for inspection. The company’s ships have been involved in three other major disasters over the past 21 years.

Read more on theaustralian.news.com.au

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Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, raised eyebrows yesterday by publicly demanding that divorced Roman Catholics like himself should be allowed to take Communion.

Attending a mass to inaugurate a new belltower at the parish church at Porto Rotondo in Sardinia, where he has a luxury villa, Mr Berlusconi asked Monsignor Sebastiano Sanguinetti, the local bishop, to “do everything you can to change the rules”so that he could receive the Eucharist.

Bishop Sanguinetti responded drily that Mr Berlusconi had just met Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican and should “ask those more highly placed than me”. He later observed that according to Church doctrine marriage was “indissoluble”.

Read more on timesonline.co.uk

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Episcopia Romanului a fost zidita între anii 1542-1550 de domnitorul Petru Rares si mai apoi de sotia sa, Elena Doamna. Sfântul locas a fost ridicat pe locul Bisericii Sfânta Paraschiva, care era amplasata în centrul de atunci al târgului Roman. Vreme de secole, Episcopia romascana si-a pastrat cu demnitate statutul si a pastorit sute de mii de credinciosi. Astazi, institutia bisericeasca, veche de aproape 600 de ani, a ajuns în punctul în care ar putea fi desfiintata si mutata la Bacau.

Credinciosii din zona, precum si multi dintre preoti sunt cu atât mai indignati, cu cât sforile pentru mutare sunt trase, din diverse interese, chiar de înalti prelati din sânul Episcopiei.

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O treime din europeni preferă tranzacţii online cu retaileri locali. Românii şi bulgarii sînt cei mai neîncrezători în e-comerţul naţional.

Mai mult de jumătate dintre retailerii europeni au internetul printre canalele lor de vînzări. În România doar 25% dintre retaileri au declarat că desfăşoară şi activităţi de comerţ electronic. La nivel european, retailerii declară că aproximativ 17% din veniturile din partea de e-commerce sînt generate de tranzacţiile transfrontaliere, în condiţiile în care un consumator cheltuieşte într-o astfel de tranzacţie, în medie, 797 de euro.

În acest context, 59% dintre retaileri declară că sînt pregătiţi să permită efectuarea de tranzacţii în mai mult decît o limbă, încercînd astfel să vină în întîmpinarea dorinţei manifestate de o treime din consumatorii europeni. Datele sînt furnizate de un raport european bazat pe două Eurobarometre, sondaje realizate în perioada februarie-martie 2008 pe tema comerţului transfrontalier.

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În perioada 15-18 iunie, la Bran s-a desfăşurat cea de-a şasea ediţie a Concursului Naţional de Soft Educaţional Cupa Siveco 2008.

Organizată de Siveco România, sub patronajul Ministerului EducaÅ£iei, Cercetării ÅŸi Tineretului, competiÅ£ia Cupa Siveco îşi pro­pune să îi promoveze pe creatorii de aplicaÅ£ii informatice cu caracter educaÅ£ional, elevi din învăţămîntul preuniversitar. Tema concursului din acest an, “Viziunea anului 2020”, a fost extrem de ofertantă ÅŸi le-a propus tinerilor dezvoltatori de software educaÅ£ional să îşi ima­gineze viitorul apropiat. De la portaluri de dirigenÅ£ie la jocuri educaÅ£ionale, de la arhitectură la prezentări impresionante ale modalităţilor originale de a învăţa cu ajutorul computerului sau de la animaÅ£ie la fizică cuantică, nici un subiect nu a fost prea dificil pentru concurenÅ£i.

Abordările originale şi prezentările susţinute în cadrul finalei au impresionat juriul, care a avut o sarcină extrem de dificilă, încercînd să departajeze proiectele.

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