Extra!! Extra!! Read all about it - Russians with sense of humor

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

The new firm, to be called (NO JOKE) Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Analysts say the move could further strengthen Russia's role in supplying natural gas to Europe.

The agreement comes during a four-day African tour by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

As well as forming Nigaz, Russia is keen on developing a trans-African pipeline to transport Nigerian gas to Europe.

This could further reinforce Gazprom's already-strong influence over Europe's energy supplies.

'Commodity-rich'

"Russia has a number of goals [in Africa], one of which would be to take part in a growing competition for resources and markets on the continent - mainly with China," said Yaroslav Lissovolik, head economist with Deutsche Bank in Moscow.

Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for Rosatom, Russia's state-run civil nuclear energy agency, said the Nigaz deal would lay the foundations for building nuclear power reactors in Nigeria.

Nigeria has previously said it would like to develop a nuclear power plant to address its energy shortages.

Before visiting Nigeria, Mr Medvedev spent time in Egypt.

He is also visiting Namibia and Angola - which are rich in natural resources - during his trip, as he seeks to promote Russian business interests.

"Part of the agenda is to push Russia's credentials as a representative of commodity-rich developing countries with such forums as the G8 and the G20," said Ural Sib bank's chief strategist Chris Weafer in a note to investors.

Chinese deal

Russia is not alone in seeking to secure energy deals overseas with commodity-rich nations.

Separately on Thursday, Chinese oil refiner Sinopec has made a $7.2bn bid to acquire oil exploration and producing firm Addax, which focuses on Africa and the Middle East.

If the deal is approved by regulators it would be the biggest foreign takeover by a Chinese firm.

Via italiana per Alzheimer e Parkinson

ROMA — Immaginate dei cassonetti stracolmi di rifiuti. Immaginate che il servizio di nettezza urbana sia in sciopero e che dunque non vengano svuotati. Dopo qualche giorno il contenuto comincerà a di­sturbare i cittadini, contami­nando l’aria di odori sgradevo­li, creando problemi igienici. E’ un po’ quello che avviene all’interno di ognuna delle cel­lule del nostro corpo quando non riescono a smaltire le so­stanze tossiche prodotte dalla loro stessa attività. Col tempo le scorie si accumulano e dan­no il via a una concatenazione di eventi che generano malat­tie gravissime. Dall’Alzheimer, alla Corea di Huntington, al Parkinson, alla larga serie di sindromi da accumulo (muco­polisaccaridosi, glicogenosi ecc) catalogate nel lungo elen­co delle patologie rare di origi­ne genetica. Il meccanismo alla base di questo errato funziona­mento è stato svelato dai ricer­catori del Tigem, l’istituto di Te­lethon di genetica e medicina con sede a Napoli. Ieri la pubbli­cazione dello studio su Scien­ce.

«E’ probabilmente il risulta­to più importante che abbiamo mai ottenuto, ci stiamo lavo­rando da due anni», dice An­drea Ballabio, direttore del cen­tro. Aver capito per quale moti­vo la spazzatura non viene de­gradata, cioè scomposta e poi riutilizzata per la vita della cel­lula, potrebbe portare alla mes­sa a punto di farmaci capaci ap­punto di correggere il difetto. La maggior parte delle malattie da accumulo non hanno tera­pie. Gli organi vanno in tilt. Guarigione è una parola scono­sciuta. Dalla ricerca del Tigem potrebbe maturare la soluzione non per una ma per tutte. Non bisogna illudersi però. Le ricer­che si trovano in uno stadio precoce. Adesso si passerà alla sperimentazione sugli animali e, se va bene, sull’uomo. Quan­ti anni? Due, cinque o anche 10. Tutto dipende da cattivo fun­zionamento di un gene, il TFEB, che a sua volta coordina una squadra di geni collabora­tori. E’ paragonabile a un tele­comando che può accendere di­versi schermi. L’uno e gli altri coordinano le funzioni dei liso­somi, minuscoli organelli che agiscono nella cellula come in­ceneritori (e infatti si parla in certi casi di malattie lisosomia­li).

Una specie di «cabina di re­gia ». Spiega Marco Sardiello, primo autore del lavoro: «Si è visto che quando i livelli di TFEB vengono aumentati mi­gliora la formazione di lisoso­mi e dunque la cellula si libera delle tossine. Questo è avvenu­to in particolare nel caso della proteina responsabile della Co­rea di Huntington, malattia per la quale non esistono cure». Lo studio su Science è stato dedicato a Susanna Agnelli, pre­sidente della Fondazione Te­lethon, scomparsa da poco. Con i fondi raccolti quest’an­no, 35 milioni di euro circa mal­grado la crisi, verranno finan­ziati 36 progetti. Le raccolte pri­vate sono fondamentali per so­stenere la ricerca. La Fondazio­ne per la fibrosi cistica (5 mila malati in Italia) ha lanciato la campagna «Un occhio di riguar­do ». Da luglio in vendita in far­macia occhiali firmati da Marta e Matteo Marzotto. Un euro per ogni paio acquistato verrà de­voluto alla causa.

Erotic Yodelers......

SWITZERLAND, fed up with being correctly portrayed as a tax-dodgers' paradise, is rebranding itself as a land of hunky half-naked over sexed, erotic peasants with waxed chests and glossy lederhosen.

"We want to show Switzerland in its best light, the fantastic countryside and a bit of its culture," says Tina Steinauer, who has been shooting the 2010 calendar for the Gay Swiss Farmers' Union at the village of Seegraben near Zurich.

The culture in this case, centres mainly on skimpily clad gay male farmers holding hoes or throwing around bales of hay with what appear to be cowbells stuffed into their underwear. This is apparently known as lingerie farming and is said to be very popular in the Swiss Alps.

The aim is to export the calendar and show first of all that Swiss farmers have moved on a bit since Adolf lost his marbles but also that Switzerland is not - or not just - a nation of greedy cheesy bankers.

The country has had a bad press recently, with Germany and the US criticising it for refusing to surrender the names of tax evasion suspects.

Relations with Berlin are particularly brittle. Peer Steinbruck, the German Finance Minister, stirred up sentiment in the Alps by saying that the Swiss were behaving like Red Indians - (Not yellow indians) - in flight from the US Cavalry, a reference to the way that bankers have been resisting the opening of accounts like some women resist the opening of their legs on a saturday night.

A Swiss deputy then compared Mr Steinbruck to a Nazi. The minister replied by apologising to Red Indians (not yellow indians) - they, at least, had no record of tax-dodging - but not to the Swiss.

This month Mr Steinbruck lumped Switzerland and other tax havens together with Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. This mysterious but presumably humorous gaffe was intended reference to a country that does not even figure on the OECD list of tax havens and made the Swiss boil bright red with rage.

Indeed, they apparently got so hot under the collar that they took the collar off, and did not stop there.

Auditioning for the erotic farmers' Gay calendar is now down to the final two dozen Gay Yodelers. Hundreds applied and the atmosphere was said to resemble a television talent casting show, only with goats. When it is finally shot, it will be exported to Germany, where farmers tend to be fully clothed and grumpy about milk prices.

The reason everyone is in bed by 10 PM every night in Switzerland is that Lederhosen erotica is a serious business, as Adolf Hitler can attest to from his time in Zurich back in 44 counting his stolen yiddish gold and other plunders made from rich Jewish businessmen all over Europe and his gay romps with Swissbank officials in their deepest bankvaults in the aftermath of gay orgasm and such..........