Vincent Browne says he is not anti-Semitic
The TV3 broadcaster Vincent Browne insists he is not anti-Semitic after branding Israel a “cancer” in foreign affairs.
But Israel’s deputy ambassador to Ireland said she never believed the day would come when an Irish TV presenter would make “racist, anti-Semitic remarks”.
Mr Browne, pictured, had been complaining on his show about the lack of discussion of Israel during the last US presidential debate between Republican nominee Mitt Romney and US President Barack Obama.
“Israel is the cancer in foreign affairs. It polarises the Islamic community of the world against the rest of the world,” he said.
“Unless you deal with the problem of Israel and the Palestinians in that part of the world, there’s going to be conflict and disharmony. It’s a massive injustice — they stole the land from the Arabs.”
Mr Browne admitted that his choice of language could have been better but insisted that the criticism was justified.
“What I resent is the suggestion that because you’re critical of Israel, you’re automatically anti-Semitic. I don’t think that’s acceptable,” he said.
Mr Browne refused to apologise for his remarks, saying that Israel was founded in 1948 by taking land from the Arabs.
He said it was “blackmail” to try to brand everyone who was critical of Israel as anti-Semitic. “I don’t think I differ too much from Irish or European foreign policy,” he said.
But his remarks drew a strong reaction from Israel’s deputy ambassador to Ireland Nurit Tinari-Modai, who said her grandparents were brutally murdered during the Holocaust.
“I would have never believed that the day would come when a presenter on an Irish TV station would make racist, anti-Semitic remarks,” she said.
She made her comments to the ‘Jewish Chronicle’ newspaper, the most widely read Jewish newspaper in Britain.
A TV3 spokeswoman said she was not aware of any complaints being made about Mr Browne’s remarks.
The price of Ireland’s Electricity likely to rise 9% in peak months
Businesses and consumers in Ireland could face further electricity price increases of up to 9 % under a proposal being considered by the State’s energy industry watchdog.
Electricity suppliers, including ESB subsidiary Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis and Airtricity, recently increased their charges to both businesses and consumers, adding between €50 and €60 a year to the average household bill.
The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is now consulting with power plant operators on a technical issue relating to how they pass on charges for supplies of natural gas that they burn to generate electricity.
According to independent supplier Vayu, the changes being considered could add up to 9 per cent to the cost of electricity during the peak demand months in the winter and about 1 per cent when demand is at its lowest, during the summer.
The company’s head of regulation, Bryan Hennessy, said yesterday that the increase would hit businesses, particularly industries that employ large numbers of workers, and households if it were applied.
The consultation deals specifically with charges for short-term use of the natural gas network. Electricity companies have to book space on this system to ensure the natural gas supplies they need are shipped to them. The space can be booked on a yearly, monthly or daily basis. The daily, or short-term rate, is almost three times the yearly rate and is about twice what companies are charged for booking capacity a month in advance.
Power plant operators such as the ESB and Huntstown Power owner Energia did not comment yesterday. However, it is understood that industry players want the regulator to give them the green light to pass on these charges to customers.
The CER spokesman said the commission was investigating whether Huntstown has already begun passing on the charge.
Industry sources say that there is debate on whether or not the regulator can prevent companies from passing on the charge in the first place.
Recent changes in the energy market have left key sectors such as pharmaceutical manufacturers and food processors facing six-figure increases in their annual electricity bills. The end of a special rebate on electricity bills paid to large energy users and recently introduced extra network and public service charges are adding between 7-8 per cent to bills paid by organisations such as manufacturers and hospitals.
Women who quit smoking by 40 can live an extra ten years
Women who stop smoking by the age of 40 dramatically cut risk of early death, enjoying up to ten more years of life, a major new study has found.
The study of 1.3 million women found that quitting smoking by the age of 30 allowed women to avoid up to 97 per cent of the extra risk of premature death.
The results, which are published in The Lancet medical journal, showed that lifelong smokers died a decade earlier than those who did not smoke at all.
Those who stopped at thirty lost an average of a month of life and if they stopped at 40 they died a year younger.
Most of the increased death rate resulted from smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, chronic lung disease, heart disease or stroke.
The risk rose steeply with the quantity of tobacco smoked, but even light smokers who puffed fewer than 10 cigarettes a day doubled their likelihood of dying.
The authors of the Million Women Study wrote: “Smokers lose at least 10 years of lifespan. Although the hazards of smoking until age 40 years and then stopping are substantial, the hazards of continuing are 10 times greater.”
Women aged 50 to 65 were enrolled into the study, designed to investigate links between health and lifestyle, from 1996 to 2001.
Participants completed a questionnaire about living habits, medical and social factors and were re-surveyed three years later. Women were monitored for a total of 12 years on average, during which there were 66,000 deaths.
Initially, 20% of the women were smokers, 28% were ex-smokers, and 52% had never smoked.
Those who still smoked at the three year re-survey were almost three times more likely than non-smokers to die over the next nine years.
Both the hazards of smoking and the benefits of quitting were greater than previous studies had suggested, said the researchers.
Professor Sir Richard Peto, one of the co-authors at Oxford University, said: “If women smoke like men, they die like men – but, whether they are men or women, smokers who stop before reaching middle age will on average gain about an extra 10 years of life.”
He added: “Both in the UK and in the USA, women born around 1940 were the first generation in which many smoked substantial numbers of cigarettes throughout adult life.
“Hence, only in the 21st century could we observe directly the full effects of prolonged smoking, and of prolonged cessation, on premature mortality among women.”
Professor Rachel Huxley, from the University of Minnesota, said: “In most of Europe and the USA, the popularity of smoking among young women reached its peak in the 1960s, decades later than for men.
“Hence, previous studies have underestimated the full eventual impact of smoking on mortality in women, simply because of the lengthy time lag between smoking uptake by young women and disease onset in middle and old age.”
Spookey Pumpkin games at Dublin Zoo for Upali’ and Co.
To celebrate the annual Halloween spooktacular Boo at the Zoo on Sunday, October 28 and Wednesday, October 31, Dublin Zoo’s new bull elephant Upali and his ladies have taken part in some pumpkin fun on the Kaziranga Forest Trail.
Ciarán McMahon, team leader of the East Section of the Zoo, said: “Since Upali’s arrival in July he has settled in very well. He parades around with a lot of swagger and authority but he is calm in nature and never gets too worked up.
“Upali spends a lot of time with Bernhardine, who is the matriarch of the herd, while the two younger females Asha and Anak follow him around. At times, we even notice flashes of jealous behaviour between the girls as they are all vying for his attention and affections.”
McMahon continued: “Pumpkins are a once a year treat for the elephants so they love this time of year.”
There will be Spooktacular tricks and treats for families and friends at Dublin Zoo on Sunday, October 28 and Wednesday, October 31 from 12:00pm to 3:00pm.
There will also be face-painting, a monster disco, scary arts and spooky Halloween keeper talks.
2 new Red Panda Cubs introduced at Dublin Zoo
Dublin Zoo announced today Saturday the birth of two red panda cubs.
The twins were born in fact last June, however before this week they had only ventured out of their den at night. Both cubs are female and are the second litter born to parents Angelina and Chota, who gave birth to another set of twins this time last year.
Team Leader Eddie O’Brien said, “Red pandas are endangered in the wild so we are over the moon that this is the second litter born at Dublin Zoo within a year. They are both doing very well and getting more adventurous and confident as they can be seen exploring their habitat during the day now.”
Names
Dublin Zoo Facebook fans were asked to send in name suggestions for the two cubs, and keepers were delighted with the amount of great name suggestions submitted. After much delibteration the names chosen are:
Tara which is the name of a goddess in Tibetan Buddhism who represents compassion and is known as the ‘mother of liberation’ and Nima meaning ‘sun’ in Tibetan.
Facts about Red Panda’s:
- Red pandas have thick, dense fur and a long, bushy tail to keep them warm
- The fur on the soles of their feet also prevents them from slipping on wet branches
- Mainly active at sunrise and sunset, they spend the rest of their time asleep in the trees
- Red pandas are endangered in the wild
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