Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Early morning quake rocks UK
(CNN) -- A magnitude 5.3 earthquake shook Britain early Wednesday, centered on the east coast north of London, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
This image provided by the British Geological Survey shows the seismogram registering the earthquake at Market Rasen, England on Wednesday.
The British Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude for the earthquake at 5.3 on the Richter scale, according to the British Press Association.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake's center was about 125 miles (205 km) north of London, or about 30 miles (50 km) south of Kingston upon Hull, the USGS said. It struck just before 0100 GMT.
"It felt pretty scary," Haydn Jones of Nottingham, who lives in a third-floor apartment, told CNN. He said he has lived abroad in Japan and knew immediately what it was, but felt that a lot of those in England "didn't really know what was going on."
Jones likened the feeling to "someone very big and angry jumping on the ceiling below you, rather than the floor."
He believed the shaking lasted about 10 seconds, but said, "time sort of stands still for you." He said there was no damage in his area.
The USGS classifies earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 to magnitude 4.9 as "light."
Earthquakes frequently hit Britain -- between 200 and 300 annually, according to the British Geological Survey, although most have a magnitude of less than 2. Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 to 4.9 hit mainland Britain about once every two years and strike beneath the North Sea about once per year.
Britain's strongest recorded quake was the North Sea quake of June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1. It was felt across the British isles and in northwestern Germany. The quake killed one person.
The most powerful onshore quakes occurred on July 19, 1984, in north Wales (magnitude 5.1) and on April 2, 1990, along the Welsh border with England (5.1 magnitude).
A 4.6 magnitude quake in Colchester on April 22, 1884, was Britain's most damaging earthquake, knocking spires from churches and masonry from roofs. Turrets and parapets also fell, and brick walls and chimneys collapsed. Two people were killed.
This image provided by the British Geological Survey shows the seismogram registering the earthquake at Market Rasen, England on Wednesday.
The British Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude for the earthquake at 5.3 on the Richter scale, according to the British Press Association.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake's center was about 125 miles (205 km) north of London, or about 30 miles (50 km) south of Kingston upon Hull, the USGS said. It struck just before 0100 GMT.
"It felt pretty scary," Haydn Jones of Nottingham, who lives in a third-floor apartment, told CNN. He said he has lived abroad in Japan and knew immediately what it was, but felt that a lot of those in England "didn't really know what was going on."
Jones likened the feeling to "someone very big and angry jumping on the ceiling below you, rather than the floor."
He believed the shaking lasted about 10 seconds, but said, "time sort of stands still for you." He said there was no damage in his area.
The USGS classifies earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 to magnitude 4.9 as "light."
Earthquakes frequently hit Britain -- between 200 and 300 annually, according to the British Geological Survey, although most have a magnitude of less than 2. Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 to 4.9 hit mainland Britain about once every two years and strike beneath the North Sea about once per year.
Britain's strongest recorded quake was the North Sea quake of June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1. It was felt across the British isles and in northwestern Germany. The quake killed one person.
The most powerful onshore quakes occurred on July 19, 1984, in north Wales (magnitude 5.1) and on April 2, 1990, along the Welsh border with England (5.1 magnitude).
A 4.6 magnitude quake in Colchester on April 22, 1884, was Britain's most damaging earthquake, knocking spires from churches and masonry from roofs. Turrets and parapets also fell, and brick walls and chimneys collapsed. Two people were killed.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean
UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.
If the trend continues, they say, it could lead to a significant rise in global sea level.
The new evidence comes from a group of glaciers covering an area the size of Texas, in a remote and seldom visited part of West Antarctica.
The "rivers of ice" have surged sharply in speed towards the ocean.
David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey, explained: "It has been called the weak underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and the reason for that is that this is the area where the bed beneath the ice sheet dips down steepest towards the interior.
"If there is a feedback mechanism to make the ice sheet unstable, it will be most unstable in this region."
There is good reason to be concerned.
Satellite measurements have shown that three huge glaciers here have been speeding up for more than a decade.
The biggest of the glaciers, the Pine Island Glacier, is causing the most concern.
Inhospitable conditions
Julian Scott has just returned from there. He told the BBC: "This is a very important glacier; it's putting more ice into the sea than any other glacier in Antarctica.
"It's a couple of kilometres thick, its 30km wide and it's moving at 3.5km per year, so it's putting a lot of ice into the ocean."
The team drove its skidoos for thousands of km across the iceIt is a very remote and inhospitable region. It was visited briefly in 1961 by American scientists but no one had returned until this season when Julian Scott and Rob Bingham and colleagues from the British Antarctic survey spent 97 days camping on the flat, white ice.
At times, the temperature got down to minus 30C and strong winds made work impossible.
At one point, the scientists were confined to their tent continuously for eight days.
"The wind really makes the way you feel incredibly colder, so just motivating yourself to go out in the wind is a really big deal," Rob Bingham told BBC News.
When the weather improved, the researchers spent most of their time driving skidoos across the flat, featureless ice.
"We drove skidoos over it for something like 2,500km each and we didn't see a single piece of topography."
Long drag
Rob Bingham was towing a radar on a 100m-long line and detecting reflections from within the ice using a receiver another 100m behind that.
The signals are revealing ancient flow lines in the ice. The hope is to reconstruct how it moved in the past.
Julian Scott was performing seismic studies, using pressurised hot water to drill holes 20m or so into the ice and place explosive charges in them. He used arrays of geophones strung out across the ice to detect reflections, looking, among other things, for signs of soft sediments beneath the ice that might be lubricating its flow.
The Pig - Pine Island Glacier - is a major draining feature on the WaisHe also placed recorders linked to the global positioning system (GPS) satellites on the ice to track the glacier's motion, recording its position every 10 seconds.
Throughout the 1990s, according to satellite measurements, the glacier was accelerating by around 1% a year. Julian Scott's sensational finding this season is that it now seems to have accelerated by 7% in a single season, sending more and more ice into the ocean.
"The measurements from last season seem to show an incredible acceleration, a rate of up to 7%. That is far greater than the accelerations they were getting excited about in the 1990s."
The reason does not seem to be warming in the surrounding air.
One possible culprit could be a deep ocean current that is channelled onto the continental shelf close to the mouth of the glacier. There is not much sea ice to protect it from the warm water, which seems to be undercutting the ice and lubricating its flow.
Ongoing monitoring
Julian Scott, however, thinks there may be other forces at work as well.
Much higher up the course of the glacier there is evidence of a volcano that erupted through the ice about 2,000 years ago and the whole region could be volcanically active, releasing geothermal heat to melt the base of the ice and help its slide towards the sea.
Geothermal activity may be playing its part, says Julian ScottDavid Vaughan believes that the risk of a major collapse of this section of the West Antarctic ice sheet should be taken seriously.
"There has been the expectation that this could be a vulnerable area," he said.
"Now we have the data to show that this is the area that is changing. So the two things coinciding are actually quite worrying."
The big question now is whether what has been recorded is an exceptional surge or whether it heralds a major collapse of the ice. Julian Scott hopes to find out.
"It is extraordinary and we've left a GPS there over winter to see if it is going to continue this trend."
If the glacier does continue to surge and discharge most of it ice into the sea, say the researchers, the Pine Island Glacier alone could raise global sea level by 25cm.
That might take decades or a century, but neighbouring glaciers are accelerating too and if the entire region were to lose its ice, the sea would rise by 1.5m worldwide.
By Martin Redfern
Rothera Research Station, Antarctica
If the trend continues, they say, it could lead to a significant rise in global sea level.
The new evidence comes from a group of glaciers covering an area the size of Texas, in a remote and seldom visited part of West Antarctica.
The "rivers of ice" have surged sharply in speed towards the ocean.
David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey, explained: "It has been called the weak underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and the reason for that is that this is the area where the bed beneath the ice sheet dips down steepest towards the interior.
"If there is a feedback mechanism to make the ice sheet unstable, it will be most unstable in this region."
There is good reason to be concerned.
Satellite measurements have shown that three huge glaciers here have been speeding up for more than a decade.
The biggest of the glaciers, the Pine Island Glacier, is causing the most concern.
Inhospitable conditions
Julian Scott has just returned from there. He told the BBC: "This is a very important glacier; it's putting more ice into the sea than any other glacier in Antarctica.
"It's a couple of kilometres thick, its 30km wide and it's moving at 3.5km per year, so it's putting a lot of ice into the ocean."
The team drove its skidoos for thousands of km across the iceIt is a very remote and inhospitable region. It was visited briefly in 1961 by American scientists but no one had returned until this season when Julian Scott and Rob Bingham and colleagues from the British Antarctic survey spent 97 days camping on the flat, white ice.
At times, the temperature got down to minus 30C and strong winds made work impossible.
At one point, the scientists were confined to their tent continuously for eight days.
"The wind really makes the way you feel incredibly colder, so just motivating yourself to go out in the wind is a really big deal," Rob Bingham told BBC News.
When the weather improved, the researchers spent most of their time driving skidoos across the flat, featureless ice.
"We drove skidoos over it for something like 2,500km each and we didn't see a single piece of topography."
Long drag
Rob Bingham was towing a radar on a 100m-long line and detecting reflections from within the ice using a receiver another 100m behind that.
The signals are revealing ancient flow lines in the ice. The hope is to reconstruct how it moved in the past.
Julian Scott was performing seismic studies, using pressurised hot water to drill holes 20m or so into the ice and place explosive charges in them. He used arrays of geophones strung out across the ice to detect reflections, looking, among other things, for signs of soft sediments beneath the ice that might be lubricating its flow.
The Pig - Pine Island Glacier - is a major draining feature on the WaisHe also placed recorders linked to the global positioning system (GPS) satellites on the ice to track the glacier's motion, recording its position every 10 seconds.
Throughout the 1990s, according to satellite measurements, the glacier was accelerating by around 1% a year. Julian Scott's sensational finding this season is that it now seems to have accelerated by 7% in a single season, sending more and more ice into the ocean.
"The measurements from last season seem to show an incredible acceleration, a rate of up to 7%. That is far greater than the accelerations they were getting excited about in the 1990s."
The reason does not seem to be warming in the surrounding air.
One possible culprit could be a deep ocean current that is channelled onto the continental shelf close to the mouth of the glacier. There is not much sea ice to protect it from the warm water, which seems to be undercutting the ice and lubricating its flow.
Ongoing monitoring
Julian Scott, however, thinks there may be other forces at work as well.
Much higher up the course of the glacier there is evidence of a volcano that erupted through the ice about 2,000 years ago and the whole region could be volcanically active, releasing geothermal heat to melt the base of the ice and help its slide towards the sea.
Geothermal activity may be playing its part, says Julian ScottDavid Vaughan believes that the risk of a major collapse of this section of the West Antarctic ice sheet should be taken seriously.
"There has been the expectation that this could be a vulnerable area," he said.
"Now we have the data to show that this is the area that is changing. So the two things coinciding are actually quite worrying."
The big question now is whether what has been recorded is an exceptional surge or whether it heralds a major collapse of the ice. Julian Scott hopes to find out.
"It is extraordinary and we've left a GPS there over winter to see if it is going to continue this trend."
If the glacier does continue to surge and discharge most of it ice into the sea, say the researchers, the Pine Island Glacier alone could raise global sea level by 25cm.
That might take decades or a century, but neighbouring glaciers are accelerating too and if the entire region were to lose its ice, the sea would rise by 1.5m worldwide.
By Martin Redfern
Rothera Research Station, Antarctica
Pakistan 'sparks YouTube outage'
Pakistan's attempts to block access to YouTube have been blamed for an almost global blackout of the video website for more than an hour on Sunday.
BBC News has learned that the outage was almost certainly connected to Pakistan Telecom and Asian internet service provider PCCW.
A leading net professional said the global outage was "probably a mistake".
Pakistan ordered internet service providers to block the site because of content deemed offensive to Islam.
The BBC News website's technology editor, Darren Waters, says that to block Pakistan's citizens from accessing YouTube it is believed Pakistan Telecom "hijacked" the web server address of the popular video site.
BBC News has learned that the outage was almost certainly connected to Pakistan Telecom and Asian internet service provider PCCW.
A leading net professional said the global outage was "probably a mistake".
Pakistan ordered internet service providers to block the site because of content deemed offensive to Islam.
The BBC News website's technology editor, Darren Waters, says that to block Pakistan's citizens from accessing YouTube it is believed Pakistan Telecom "hijacked" the web server address of the popular video site.
Those details were then passed on to the country's internet service providers so that anyone in Pakistan attempting to go to YouTube was instead re-directed to a different address.
But the details of the "hijack" were leaked out into the wider internet from PCCW and as a result YouTube was mistakenly blocked by internet service providers around the world.
The block on the servers was lifted once PCCW had been told of the issue by engineers at YouTube.
But the details of the "hijack" were leaked out into the wider internet from PCCW and as a result YouTube was mistakenly blocked by internet service providers around the world.
The block on the servers was lifted once PCCW had been told of the issue by engineers at YouTube.
A leading net professional told BBC News: "This was probably a simple mistake by an engineer at Pakistan Telecom. There's nothing to suggest this was malicious."
IP hijacking involves taking over a web site's unique address by corrupting the internet's routing tables, which direct the flow of data around the world.
No-one at YouTube or PCCW was immediately available for comment.
Cause of ban
Reports said Pakistan made the move because YouTube content included Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that have outraged many.
But one report said a trailer for a forthcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which portrays Islam in a negative light, was behind the ban.
"They [Pakistan's telecommunications authority] asked us to ban it immediately... and the order says the ban will continue until further notice," said Wahaj-us-Siraj, convener of the Association of Pakistan Internet Service Providers.
The government decision has caused uproar in Pakistan, according to Wahaj-us-Siraj:
"Users are quite upset. They're screaming at ISPs which can't do anything.
"The government has valid reason for that, but they have to find a better way of doing it. If we continue blocking popular websites, people will stop using the internet."
Other countries that have temporarily blocked access to YouTube include Turkey and Thailand.
IP hijacking involves taking over a web site's unique address by corrupting the internet's routing tables, which direct the flow of data around the world.
No-one at YouTube or PCCW was immediately available for comment.
Cause of ban
Reports said Pakistan made the move because YouTube content included Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that have outraged many.
But one report said a trailer for a forthcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which portrays Islam in a negative light, was behind the ban.
"They [Pakistan's telecommunications authority] asked us to ban it immediately... and the order says the ban will continue until further notice," said Wahaj-us-Siraj, convener of the Association of Pakistan Internet Service Providers.
The government decision has caused uproar in Pakistan, according to Wahaj-us-Siraj:
"Users are quite upset. They're screaming at ISPs which can't do anything.
"The government has valid reason for that, but they have to find a better way of doing it. If we continue blocking popular websites, people will stop using the internet."
Other countries that have temporarily blocked access to YouTube include Turkey and Thailand.
The Oscars 2008
(BBC) - No Country For Old Men has won four Oscars, including best film and best director, a category awarded jointly to brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.
Javier Bardem also won best supporting actor for his role as a hitman in the film, thanking his family in Spanish.
All of the acting prizes went to Europe, with UK stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton named best actor and best supporting actress respectively.
France's Marion Cotillard earned the best actress prize for La Vie En Rose.
"I'm speechless now," said Cotillard, who played legendary torch singer Edith Piaf in the movie.
"Thank you life; thank you love. It is true there are some angels in this city."
Javier Bardem also won best supporting actor for his role as a hitman in the film, thanking his family in Spanish.
All of the acting prizes went to Europe, with UK stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton named best actor and best supporting actress respectively.
France's Marion Cotillard earned the best actress prize for La Vie En Rose.
"I'm speechless now," said Cotillard, who played legendary torch singer Edith Piaf in the movie.
"Thank you life; thank you love. It is true there are some angels in this city."
Day-Lewis, who picked up his Oscar from Dame Helen Mirren, joked it was "the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood".
It was the 50-year-old's second Academy Award, having been recognised for My Left Foot in 1990.
Elsewhere at the ceremony, exotic dancer-turned-scriptwriter Diablo Cody took best original screenplay for the quirky, verbose comedy Juno - her first ever movie.
"I'm shocked by the popularity of the film," she said.
"I mean, when you write basically an independent movie about, you know, a pregnant teenager and you make it for seven million dollars you never, ever think it's going to become this phenomenon."
Birthday
The ceremony, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, marked the 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards.
It was the 50-year-old's second Academy Award, having been recognised for My Left Foot in 1990.
Elsewhere at the ceremony, exotic dancer-turned-scriptwriter Diablo Cody took best original screenplay for the quirky, verbose comedy Juno - her first ever movie.
"I'm shocked by the popularity of the film," she said.
"I mean, when you write basically an independent movie about, you know, a pregnant teenager and you make it for seven million dollars you never, ever think it's going to become this phenomenon."
Birthday
The ceremony, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, marked the 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards.
Organisers celebrated "Oscar's birthday" with film montages celebrating past winners and memorable Oscar moments - including the streaker who ran behind David Niven during 1974's ceremony.
However, this year's understated show was unlikely to provide many clips for future compilations.
It was put together in just a matter of weeks after the writers' strike - which had threatened to force the cancellation of Hollywood's biggest night - was called off.
That meant there were no large-scale song-and-dance numbers or lovingly-crafted movie spoofs from host Jon Stewart.
However, this year's understated show was unlikely to provide many clips for future compilations.
It was put together in just a matter of weeks after the writers' strike - which had threatened to force the cancellation of Hollywood's biggest night - was called off.
That meant there were no large-scale song-and-dance numbers or lovingly-crafted movie spoofs from host Jon Stewart.
Returning for his second stint at the helm of the awards show, Stewart acknowledged the impact of the strike on Hollywood.
"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writers' strike," he said.
"But I'm happy to say that the fight is over. So tonight, welcome to the make-up sex."
No Country For Old Men, a dark comedy about a drugs bust gone wrong, had long been the frontrunner to win best film.
Its win cements the reputation of the Coen siblings as Hollywood's favourite leftfield film-makers.
Accepting their award, older brother Joel recalled that the duo had been making films since childhood.
"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," he said.
"We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."
"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writers' strike," he said.
"But I'm happy to say that the fight is over. So tonight, welcome to the make-up sex."
No Country For Old Men, a dark comedy about a drugs bust gone wrong, had long been the frontrunner to win best film.
Its win cements the reputation of the Coen siblings as Hollywood's favourite leftfield film-makers.
Accepting their award, older brother Joel recalled that the duo had been making films since childhood.
"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," he said.
"We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."
Tilda Swinton gave the most spirited speech of the night while picking up her best supporting actress award.
"I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this," she said, referring to her Oscar statuette.
"Really, truly. The same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks."
She also poked fun at her Michael Clayton co-star George Clooney, by referring back to his critically-derided stint as superhero Batman.
"Seeing you climb into that rubber batsuit from Batman and Robin, the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch... You rock, man."
Parties
One awkward moment came as musical duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova ran out of time during their acceptance speech for most original song.
"I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this," she said, referring to her Oscar statuette.
"Really, truly. The same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks."
She also poked fun at her Michael Clayton co-star George Clooney, by referring back to his critically-derided stint as superhero Batman.
"Seeing you climb into that rubber batsuit from Batman and Robin, the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch... You rock, man."
Parties
One awkward moment came as musical duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova ran out of time during their acceptance speech for most original song.
Hansard, who sings for Irish band The Frames, had just finished his thank-yous and stepped aside for petite Irglova to make her speech when the orchestra struck up, forcing her off stage.
After a commercial break, Irglova was invited back to rapturous applause from the audience.
"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible," she said.
With the main ceremony over, a question mark still lingers over the glitzy post-Oscars parties. The high-profile Vanity Fair bash was cancelled during the writers' strike.
Other casualties included People magazine's party, and that of socialite Dani Jannssen, whose annual gathering attracts the likes of Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood.
However, pop stars Madonna and Prince have stepped into the breach with hastily-arranged parties in their Hollywood homes.
After a commercial break, Irglova was invited back to rapturous applause from the audience.
"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible," she said.
With the main ceremony over, a question mark still lingers over the glitzy post-Oscars parties. The high-profile Vanity Fair bash was cancelled during the writers' strike.
Other casualties included People magazine's party, and that of socialite Dani Jannssen, whose annual gathering attracts the likes of Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood.
However, pop stars Madonna and Prince have stepped into the breach with hastily-arranged parties in their Hollywood homes.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Experimental anti-HIV gel safe, tolerable for women
(AFP) - The quest to develop a vaginal gel to prevent HIV infection took a step forward Monday when researchers announced that one such gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis.
The announcement comes a week after researchers announced that the first prototype to complete advanced clinical trials was ineffective in preventing infection.
Microbicides are one of the most eagerly-sought avenues in the war on AIDS, where at present there is neither a cure nor a vaccine and prevention depends on the condom or abstinence.
Scientists are grappling for a means by which women, who are physically more at risk from AIDS infection than men, can protect themselves without having to rely on male consent to wear a condom.
A number of different gels are currently being tested around the world but none have been proven to be effective and some have even increased the risk of contracting HIV.
This latest attempt by researchers in the United States and India is still in the early stages.
Researchers asked 200 sexually-active, HIV-negative women in New York and Pune, India to apply the gel either daily or before intercourse for a period of six months. They were also asked to use condoms in addition to the gel.
The researchers found no disruption of liver, blood or kidney function and found a significant willingness among the women to follow the treatment guidelines.
More than 90 percent of the women said they would serious consider using the gel if it were approved to help prevent HIV infection and more than 80 percent had followed the experimental regime.
"Based on what we have learned we can proceed with greater confidence on a path that will answer whether tenofovir gel and other gels with HIV-specific compounds will be able to prevent sexual transmission of HIV in women when other approaches have failed to do so," said lead investigator Sharon Hillier, director of reproductive infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine.
The findings were presented Monday at an international microbicides meeting in New Delhi.
An estimated 33.2 million people, in a range from 30.6 to 36.1 million, are living with AIDS or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it, the specialised UN agency UNAIDS says.
The announcement comes a week after researchers announced that the first prototype to complete advanced clinical trials was ineffective in preventing infection.
Microbicides are one of the most eagerly-sought avenues in the war on AIDS, where at present there is neither a cure nor a vaccine and prevention depends on the condom or abstinence.
Scientists are grappling for a means by which women, who are physically more at risk from AIDS infection than men, can protect themselves without having to rely on male consent to wear a condom.
A number of different gels are currently being tested around the world but none have been proven to be effective and some have even increased the risk of contracting HIV.
This latest attempt by researchers in the United States and India is still in the early stages.
Researchers asked 200 sexually-active, HIV-negative women in New York and Pune, India to apply the gel either daily or before intercourse for a period of six months. They were also asked to use condoms in addition to the gel.
The researchers found no disruption of liver, blood or kidney function and found a significant willingness among the women to follow the treatment guidelines.
More than 90 percent of the women said they would serious consider using the gel if it were approved to help prevent HIV infection and more than 80 percent had followed the experimental regime.
"Based on what we have learned we can proceed with greater confidence on a path that will answer whether tenofovir gel and other gels with HIV-specific compounds will be able to prevent sexual transmission of HIV in women when other approaches have failed to do so," said lead investigator Sharon Hillier, director of reproductive infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine.
The findings were presented Monday at an international microbicides meeting in New Delhi.
An estimated 33.2 million people, in a range from 30.6 to 36.1 million, are living with AIDS or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it, the specialised UN agency UNAIDS says.
Israel warns Hamas ahead of 'human chain' Gaza protest
(AFP) - Israel warned Hamas on Sunday it would defend its territory if there were any disturbances during a planned mass rally in Gaza on Monday against the Jewish state's blockade of the territory.
"Israel will not intervene in demonstrations inside the Gaza Strip but it will ensure the defence of its territory and prevent any violation of its sovereign borders," said a joint statement from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
Media reports said the Israeli army is preparing for a possible rush on the border fence around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip aimed at breaking a months-long economic blockade on the impoverished territory.
"Israel will work to avoid a deterioration of the situation but declares unequivocally that Hamas must assume full responsibility if that happens," the statement said.
According to Israeli army radio, the Islamist movement which seized control of Gaza in June has may stage a mass march on the border to protest at Israel's closure of Gaza, where most of tbhe 1.5 million population depend on aid.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper has reported that Israeli forces have increased their presence along the border, adding that there were fears of casualties if troops try to halt such a march.
The Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS), a politically independent group headed by Palestinian parliamentarian Jamal al-Khudari, has called for a mass demonstration on Monday against the siege.
The group has announced it will attempt to construct a human chain from the sealed Rafah crossing on the southern Gaza border with Egypt to the Beit Hanun crossing in northern Gaza along the territory's main highway.
Hamas has said it backs the demonstration but did not organise it.
Palestinian militants blasted several holes in the border barrier between Gaza and Egypt on January 23, sending a tide of hundreds of thousands of people streaming into the Sinai on a mission to replenish depleted stocks.
Hamas gunmen and Egyptian troops resealed the border on February 3.
Israel has sealed the territory off from all but vital humanitarian supplies since Hamas violently seized power there in June, in a bid to halt rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.
But Palestinians and several international agencies have said the sanctions amount to collective punishment of its civilian population.
"Israel will not intervene in demonstrations inside the Gaza Strip but it will ensure the defence of its territory and prevent any violation of its sovereign borders," said a joint statement from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
Media reports said the Israeli army is preparing for a possible rush on the border fence around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip aimed at breaking a months-long economic blockade on the impoverished territory.
"Israel will work to avoid a deterioration of the situation but declares unequivocally that Hamas must assume full responsibility if that happens," the statement said.
According to Israeli army radio, the Islamist movement which seized control of Gaza in June has may stage a mass march on the border to protest at Israel's closure of Gaza, where most of tbhe 1.5 million population depend on aid.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper has reported that Israeli forces have increased their presence along the border, adding that there were fears of casualties if troops try to halt such a march.
The Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS), a politically independent group headed by Palestinian parliamentarian Jamal al-Khudari, has called for a mass demonstration on Monday against the siege.
The group has announced it will attempt to construct a human chain from the sealed Rafah crossing on the southern Gaza border with Egypt to the Beit Hanun crossing in northern Gaza along the territory's main highway.
Hamas has said it backs the demonstration but did not organise it.
Palestinian militants blasted several holes in the border barrier between Gaza and Egypt on January 23, sending a tide of hundreds of thousands of people streaming into the Sinai on a mission to replenish depleted stocks.
Hamas gunmen and Egyptian troops resealed the border on February 3.
Israel has sealed the territory off from all but vital humanitarian supplies since Hamas violently seized power there in June, in a bid to halt rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.
But Palestinians and several international agencies have said the sanctions amount to collective punishment of its civilian population.
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