Seaweed could aid weight battle

Tests show that alginate, found in a natural seaweed fibre can prevent the body absorbing fat. Source: AAP

FAT-BUSTING seaweed could be the future of slimming after scientists identified a natural seaweed fibre that prevents the body absorbing fat.

Tests show that alginate, found in sea kelp, can suppress the digestion of fat in the gut.

Researchers investigated the ability of alginate to reduce fat breakdown by a digestive enzyme, pancreatic lipase.

Blocking the action of the enzyme results in lower amounts of fat being absorbed by the body.

"We have already added alginate to bread and initial taste tests have been extremely encouraging," Professor Jeff Pearson, from the University of Newcastle's Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, said.

"Now the next step is to carry out clinical trials to find out how effective they are when eaten as part of a normal diet."

The researchers found that alginates containing more of a sugar molecule called guluronate were best at blocking fat digestion.

They compiled a list of the most promising seaweeds, including a brown sea kelp known as "tangle" or "cuvie", bladderwrack, and bull kelp.

The findings, published in the journal Food Chemistry, showed that a four-fold increase in one type of tangle alginate boosted anti-fat absorption activity by 75 per cent.

Dietary fibre avoided the side effects of conventional anti-obesity drugs that inhibit enzyme activity, said the researchers.

They wrote: "The inclusion of an alginate into foods ... has the potential to reduce the intake of dietary triacylglycerol (fat) and could greatly help in weight management."

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Putin targeted at Mardi Gras parade

SYDNEY'S gay and lesbian Mardi Gras has taken aim at Russia for its anti-homosexual propaganda laws, with a parade aimed at showing the regime's discriminatory polices won't float with an Australian audience.

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SA man drowns in Torrens River

THE body of a 51-year-old Adelaide man has been found floating in the River Torrens.

Police were called to the Torrens at 2.20pm (CST) on Saturday after a Netley man was reportedly seen swimming in the river, trying to retrieve a remote-controlled boat.

Witnesses saw the man go under water and never resurface.

The man's body was discovered with the assistance of Police Water Operations before 4.30pm (CST).

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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LNP members push for more wild river cuts

LIBERAL National Party members want more wild river protections to be wound back.

Office holders will vote on whether to forward the policy to the LNP government, along with 27 other proposals, at the party's state council meeting in Toowoomba this weekend.

The resolution calls for wild river declarations of the Gregory and Staaten catchments, in the gulf, be rescinded.

Plans are already underway to revoke six other declarations across northern and western Queensland, with new protections to be offered under regional plans.

Other resolutions include increasing sentences by up to 100 per cent where alcohol and drugs were a contributing factor to the crime.

The Queensland Core Skills test should be aborted from 2014, and soon-to-be mothers should receive more support via social media and phone calls to decrease anxiety and depression.

There are a number of recommendations to reduce the cost of living, which was one of the LNP's election pledges.

Land rental on leasehold land should be frozen while a review to overhaul the system is undertaken, and solar feed in tariffs for any new customers should be immediately removed.

The existing solar feed in tariff scheme alone is now forecast to cost on average each customer, in 2015/16, around $276 per year.

Premier Campbell Newman and LNP president Bruce McIver will speak at the event on Saturday, and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss will address the crowd on Sunday.

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China busts major baby trafficking ring

CHINESE police have rescued 382 abducted babies and arrested 1094 suspects in a national operation that busted four major internet-based baby trafficking rings, the Public Security Ministry says.

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Motorists suffer 'accident anxiety'

MOST motorists are suffering from "accident anxiety", and drivers aged 35-44 are the most worried, according to a survey.

As many as 79 per cent of those taking to the road are anxious about driving, the poll by Allianz Insurance found.

This concern is so great that 17 per cent of drivers have decided not to make a particular journey due to their worries.

Based on responses from 1000 people who drive regularly, the survey showed 83 per cent of drivers aged 35-44 get anxious on the road.

Overall, the biggest worry to drivers is tailgating, followed by road rage and uninsured drivers.

Of those who have accidents, 81 per cent said it was not their fault with 22 per cent saying they felt more worried, more stressed and less confident after a collision, with women being notably more worried than men after a crash.

Yet just seven per cent reckoned more driver training would be the answer.

Allianz Insurance chief executive Jon Dye said: "It's worrying to see that so many motorists feel they will have an accident, and yet so few feel more driver training would help. Drivers can only drive at their best if they feel calm and alert and not unduly worried about what other motorists are getting up to.

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Tap-and-go to higher Vic crime rate

Victoria's crime rate has risen with drugs, family violence and deceptions among the causes. Source: AAP

TAP-AND-GO technology is helping make credit card fraud the fastest growing area of crime in Victoria.

Drugs and family violence also contributed to an overall 1.2 per cent jump in the crime rate for the 12 months to December 2013.

Deception offences rose by 42 per cent and drug offences jumped by 12.3 per cent.

The introduction of tap-and-go credit cards has made deception easier and police have again expressed concern about the technology, which allow customers to make purchases without a PIN or signature, and say negotiations continue with the banks about a solution.

The 42 per cent figure is up about 12 per cent on quarterly figures released last November.

"It is not a policing issue, it is a whole of community issue and everybody should be working together to try and address these issues and to make it very, very difficult for people to commit offences," Deputy Commissioner Lucinda Nolan said.

A Mastercard spokeswoman said the company is surprised police are concerned about tap-and-go technology since industry data reveals there's been no increase in fraud specifically relating to such cards.

"We have asked Victoria Police to clarify the source and nature of their crime statistics," she said.

Family violence is also up with a big jump in the number of intervention order breaches which have caused the category of other crimes to rise by 15.5 per cent.

Ms Nolan said breaches of intervention orders had significantly increased, but that did not mean they were not working, just that police were stronger in enforcement.

"So that when there are breaches, whether they are minor or major police are taking action," she told reporters on Wednesday.

Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said 40 per cent of crimes committed against a person occurred in the home.

"This underlines the impact of family violence," he said.

There were 12,607 more offences overall committed in Victoria over the year, a rise of 3.1 per cent.

Ms Nolan said methamphetamines are challenging cannabis for the drug related to the most offences, with ice continuing to have a very bad impact on the community.

"You see the impact it has, particularly on the regional centres and rural communities, it is absolutely huge, how it has impacted on those families and those local communities," she said.

But there was some good news for police, with robberies down by 15.4 per cent and property crimes decreasing by 2.6 per cent.

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Convicted rapist, murderer executed in US

THE US state of Missouri has executed a man convicted of abducting, raping and killing a teenage girl.

Michael Taylor, 47, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, the Missouri Department of Public Safety said.

The execution came amid controversy over the chemicals being used to give death row inmates lethal injections in Missouri and other US states.

Taylor's was the fourth lethal injection in Missouri in as many months.

He was sentenced to death over the 1989 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl who was abducted at a school bus stop.

Taylor was executed after the US Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay.

He was pronounced dead at 12:10 am (0510 GMT) and made no final statement.

He declined to order a special last meal and was served a state-issued meal that included potato soup and a sandwich, the department said.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon also rejected a clemency request.

Nixon issued a statement asking the people of Missouri to remember the young girl killed, Ann Harrison. He noted that Taylor had pleaded guilty, was convicted and sentenced to die.

"That punishment has now been carried out," Nixon said.

He turned aside Taylor's pleas, which were based on the state's use of a secret compounding pharmacy for the lethal dose of pentobarbital and for executing previous inmates while they still had appeals pending, NBC News said.

Prior to this, the last execution was that of Herbert Smulls, who was declared dead on the night of January 29, a little over an hour before the legal period for his execution ended.

Since European manufacturers stopped providing pentobarbital for executions of humans, several states are running low on execution chemicals and turning to new suppliers or products that have not been widely approved.

This has led many US death row inmates to file suits on grounds they fear the new products could subject them to undue suffering.

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