US – Saturday, November 7
National
Military base is site of soldier’s rampage
An Army psychiatrist who had treated soldiers wounded in foreign wars opened fire with two handguns on soldiers preparing for foreign deployment at the Fort Hood U.S. Army post in Texas on Thursday, killing 12 and wounding 30 others.
 
International
Sante D’Orazio: You can’t hide from this lens
With Sante D’Orazio behind the camera, celebrities will do the craziest things. Famous faces from Angelina Jolie to Pamela Anderson have posed for the photographer. Now D’Orazio presents his favorite photos from the past 10 years in a new book, “Barely Private.”
 
The Word
A wee little way to try to get famous
There are hundreds of ways to get your name in the paper: appear on reality TV, get knocked up by a reality star, film yourself while getting knocked up by a reality star ... the list is endless. But here’s a new one: A model named Yvette Monet has put a restraining order on ex-boyfriend Verne Troyer, according to RadarOnline.
 
Movies
A ‘Carol’ that hits some high notes
REVIEW. There is something creepy about the way Robert Zemeckis makes movies. In his last three films — first “The Polar Express,” then “Beowulf,” and now “A Christmas Carol”— the director has employed a hybrid method that crosses live action with animation. He no doubt thinks the work is pioneering, but “pioneering” usually has a positive connotation.
 
Business
Wal-Mart: $20 meal for 8 people
NEW YORK. Wal-Mart has cut prices on turkeys and other Thanksgiving staples. U.S. stores began yesterday selling whole, 12-pound turkeys for 40 cents a pound. That’s a third of last Thanksgiving’s average price.
 
My Travel
Get your groove back in Jamaica
Haunted colonial mansions, triathlons and motivational theme parks — not things you think of when you think of Jamaica? Think again, mon. Jamaica is fast becoming the health and activity capital of the Caribbean. Feel like you need to recharge rather than merely relax? With direct flights on JetBlue launching in January and locals that welcome you with open arms, you’ll be getting your groove back in no time.
 
Published 21:43, January the 12th, 2009
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Prenatal autism test spurs ethics debate

1944

The year Asperger syndrome was first described. Owing to the condition’s late discovery, some experts think such geniuses as Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton might have suffered from it. 

 

Calls have been made for an urgent debate on the ethics of a new test that doctors say will soon detect autism in unborn children.

Researchers at the U.K.’s Cambridge University autism research center followed 235 children from birth to the age of eight and found that high levels of testosterone in amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus in the womb suggested a strong link to autism in the unborn child.

The test would be similar to those undertaken by women who think they may be carrying a child with Down syndrome, which has led to an increase in the number of babies with the syndrome being aborted.

Doctors worldwide have reported a dramatic increase in the last two decades in the number of children, especially boys, being diagnosed with various forms of autism, which is a spectrum disorder.

Autism can manifest itself in a range of ways, from children with no speech or social interaction, to those which high-functioning forms of the condition, such as Asperger syndrome, where the only symptoms are slight difficulties in social interaction, which can often be overcome by learned behavior.

People with autism have been among the world’s greatest mathematical and musical minds.   

METRO