Upgrading our currency

Bank notes are to be updated and available on 2014. Stuff reports

The Reserve Bank will soon start a project to upgrade New Zealand's bank notes, opening the door to a redesign and, possibly, new faces adorning the currency.

A poll on the Stuff website of potential candidates quickly made the late comedian Billy T James the favourite, ahead of military hero Willie Apiata, running legend Jack Lovelock and opera diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

I thought I`d offer my options:
$100 – The queen mother – she may be dead but she lived to over 100

$50 – Allan Hubbard – to remind us of the 50 fraud charges he is facing

$20 - Edward Te Whiu - to remind us that as a 20-year old, he was hanged for murder

$10 – Dick Taylor, who won the 10,000 Christchurch Commonwealth Games in 1974

$5 - Five-member band Blindspott.

While we are at it, let’s also revamp our coins:

$2 coin. – The New Plymouth $2 shop – the country’s first, and it is still open.

$1 coin – Buck Shelford, for obvious reasons

$.50c - We could go international here and go for 50 cent.

Thoughts?

Randall Dale Adams dies at 61; wrongfully convicted of murdering a policeman

Randall Dale Adams

Randall Dale Adams, a former death row inmate who gained freedom after flaws in his conviction for the murder of a Dallas policeman were exposed in a critically acclaimed documentary, has died. He was 61.

Adams died Oct. 30, 2010, of a brain tumor, according to his attorney Randy Schaffer, who said he was told by Adams' relatives. Adams had been living quietly in the Ohio city of Washington Court House. His death did not become widely known until Friday, when it was reported by The Dallas Morning News.

Adams, who had spent more than 12 years in a Texas prison, was the subject of "The Thin Blue Line," directed by noted documentarian Errol Morris. The 1988 film uncovered suppressed evidence and perjured testimony.

The Texas appeals court ordered a new trial, but the Dallas district attorney's office declined to file new charges, and Adams was freed in 1989.

"He was one of the first people in the country to be exonerated in a case that had that kind of profile," Schaffer said in an interview Sunday.

Adams' ordeal began in November 1976 when he moved to Dallas to find work.

On Nov. 27, his car ran out of gas, and he hitched a ride with 16-year-old David Harris, who had an extensive criminal record and was driving a stolen car.

The two spent the day together, drinking beer and smoking marijuana and ended up at a drive-in theater, where they eventually parted.

Early the next morning, Dallas police officer Robert W. Wood was shot and killed after stopping a car for a traffic violation. The investigation led to Harris, who named Adams as the killer. Adams, who had no prior criminal record, was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to death.

Within three days of execution in May 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his death sentence over an error in jury selection. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Morris learned of Adams' case when he went to Dallas to work on a documentary about a psychiatrist whose testimony helped to convict Adams and others.

Morris tracked down three witnesses whose testimonies had helped to convict Adams and persuaded them to appear on camera. Each gave accounts that dramatically differed from their testimonies.

The movie prompted a judge to grant a new hearing at which Harris recanted much of his earlier testimony, although he did not confess to killing the officer. Harris was later executed for another murder.

Adams spoke frequently to the media and proclaimed that he was not bitter about his experiences. That seemed to change after he was fired from a job in Texas when his employer learned of his wrongful conviction. He had never received any restitution for his many years behind bars, said Schaffer, and he later sued Morris to regain the right to tell his own story.

Click here to read the full article

Source: Los Angeles Times, June 27, 2911

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Arizona executes Richard Lynn Bible

Richard Lynn Bible

23 years after 9-year-old Jennifer Wilson was brutally raped and murdered and left on a hilltop in Flagstaff, the man convicted of killing her finally ran out of appeals.

Richard Lynn Bible died by lethal injection at 11:11 a.m. Thursday in Florence for the 1988 murder.

Bible did not look at any of the approximately 50 people witnessing the execution, who included about 20 of Jennifer's family members. He appeared to be scared, taking several swallows and fidgeting before the execution.

His last words were: "I'd like to thank my family, my lawyers — love 'em all, and everything's OK. That's it." He did not look once at the crowd through the window.

Bible began to breathe heavily, then lay peacefully on the table as the sedative and then the lethal drug were administered beginning at 11:02 a.m. He was declared dead at 11:11 a.m.

Jennifer's parents, her older sister, and her two younger brothers held each other as they watched the execution. Her father, Rich Wilson, stared at Bible intently, and after he was declared dead, nodded his head once as tears formed.

Bible, 49, has always maintained his innocence and in recent months has claimed that a DNA analysis of hairs found on Jennifer's body and clothing would exonerate him.

On Wednesday, his last-ditch appeals were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ironically, Bible's trial in 1990 was the 1st Arizona case to use what was then brand-new DNA technology. A newspaper article at the time theorized that someday DNA evidence could become a regular part of courtroom arguments, although Bible's appellant lawyers tried to denounce it as junk science.

It was a case that played out dramatically in the press over 2 years: a convicted sex offender snatched a little girl from her bicycle, beat her to death, then hid her body.

In June 1988, Jennifer Wilson was on vacation from Yuma with her family. They had transported their horses up to Flagstaff to do some riding in the cool mountain air, and rather than ride in the family vehicle, Jennifer asked if she could ride her bike the last few miles to the ranch where they intended to saddle up. She never got there. When her mother drove back down the road looking for her, all she found was Jennifer's bicycle.

Bible, then 26 and a Flagstaff local, was arrested seven hours later, based partially on a description Jennifer's mother had given to police of a truck she had seen drive by about the time Jennifer disappeared. Jennifer's body was not found for 19 days, even though searchers had already combed the area with cadaver dogs, helicopters and legions of law-enforcement officers.

Circumstantial evidence linked Bible to the murder. And blood spatter on Bible's shirt proved to be Jennifer's after the DNA was typed. Bible was convicted in April 1990 of 1st-degree murder, kidnapping and child molestation. Two months later, he was sentenced to death.

Little is known about Bible's early life. At his sentencing, his family testified that he was a hyperactive child but otherwise acted appropriately around women and children. They said they had no concerns leaving him alone to watch kids.

But he had a long history of substance abuse, ranging from sniffing glue as a boy to overusing alcohol, cocaine and amphetamines as an adult. Mental-health professionals quoted in court documents said substance abuse brought out his antisocial tendencies.

In 1981, when he was 19, Bible was drinking on Sheep Hill in Flagstaff with his 17-year-old female cousin and they talked about a trip they planned to Sedona for the next day. All of a sudden, Bible tied her up, cut off her clothes with a knife and sexually assaulted her in the back of his pickup truck. He went to prison for 6 years, and while there, according to court testimony, he told a counselor that he would never again make the mistake of letting a victim testify against him. He may have kept his promise.

Bible was out of prison a year when Jennifer Wilson was murdered.

A day before, he had stolen a truck from a county impound lot near Sheep Hill.

He never confessed the details, but a jailhouse informant told authorities that Bible said that while he was high on methamphetamine, Bible used the truck to run Jennifer off the road and then told her he would take her to get medical help.

Nearly 3 weeks later, hikers found some of her clothing on Sheep Hill and called police. Searchers found her bound and naked body covered with branches and litter, within yards of where searchers had passed in the days when she first disappeared. She had died of blunt-force blows to her head.

Loose rubber bands, a cut cigar and a couple of airline-size vodka bottles matched items found in the truck Bible had stolen. Hairs found at the scene were deemed to be similar to Bible's. Evidence technicians matched fibers. And then there was Jennifer's blood on Bible's shirt.

The jury found Bible guilty.

Richard Lynn Bible becomes the 90th inmate executed by Arizona since 1910, and the 25th to die by injection since the state abandoned the gas chamber 19 years ago.

There are currently 5 executions scheduled in the USA in July, including that of fellow Arizona death row inmate Thomas West on July 19. An additional 6 executions are scheduled nationally in August and 7 more in September.

Source: Arizona Republic, June 30, 2011

Lethal-injection drug subbed at last minute

DEA says thiopental was obtained illegally

The day before killer Donald Beaty was put to death, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informed Arizona officials that thiopental, a sedative used as part of the state's three-drug lethal injection procedure, had been obtained illegally from overseas and could not be used. So, at the last minute, prison officials substituted pentobarbital for the disputed drug, and the Beaty execution went forward.

Richard Lynn Bible [was] executed today using pentobarbital, which has come under scrutiny after a June 23 execution in Georgia in which the condemned man lurched, gasped and grimaced for 4 minutes after being injected with the drug. Authorities have not determined a reason for the reaction.

"Pentobarbital, administered by professionals and witnessed by the media in the Donald Beaty execution, worked as expected without incident," Arizona Director of Corrections Charles Ryan said. "The department will continue to use pentobarbital as part of its approved protocol."

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Danish pharmaceutical firm that produces the drug condemned its use in executions and in a prepared statement said it had "carried out a thorough assessment of ways to prevent distribution for use in capital punishment."

Source: The Arizona Republic, June 30, 2011

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GI News—July 2011

• Being healthy on the inside no matter what number you see on the scales
• ‘New cure for diabetes’ shout the headlines ... Dr Alan Barclay investigates
• The scoop on loving low GI lentils
• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on insulin sensitivity
• Reduced fat intake may reduce diabetes risk without weight loss
  

‘It’s what's inside that counts’ applies to the food we eat as well as having a kind heart suggests Nicole Senior busting the myth that ‘all fat people are unhealthy’. ‘We need to put nutrition and health as a priority over the obsessive quest for ‘the body beautiful,’ she writes. We gave her space in Food for Thought to expand on this with tips on staying healthy on the inside no matter what number you see on the scales. Plus there are all our usual features in this issue including three delicious recipes from the GI News Kitchen to try.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD

Vote For David In The TV Choice Awards

The shortlist for this year's TV Choice Awards has now been revealed and David has been nominated in the Best Actor category for his role as Dave in the BBC Scotland project Single Father which is also nominated for Best New Drama!

If you'd like to vote in the awards please click here to vote!
Voting closes at midnight on Friday 8 July and the lucky winners will be announced on stage at The Savoy in London on Tuesday 13 September.The full list of winners will be available on the TVChoice website from Wednesday 14 September and all the winners, pictures and gossip from the evening will feature in TVChoice magazine on sale Tuesday 21 September.

Please note it's only one vote per person.

Food for Thought

Nicole Senior on being healthy on the inside


Nicole Senior

In Eat to Beat Cholesterol, I wrote: ‘Some people are genetically programmed to be larger and the effort to slim down substantially is unrealistic. If this is you, be as healthy as you can. You are better off being fat and enjoying a healthy diet than being fat and eating badly. The same goes for physical activity – you are better off being fat and fit, than a fat couch potato.’

What this boils down to is that if you are larger it doesn’t mean you are – or have to be – unhealthy. As my Mum reminded me the other day, ‘It’s what inside that counts.’ Eating the right foods and exercising regularly can balance the health ledger in your favour and give you better numbers ‘on the inside’ too – your BGLs, cholesterol and blood pressure.

We also need to put nutrition and health as a priority over the obsessive quest for ‘the body beautiful’. Happiness, contentment and wellbeing are more than what size clothing we wear. Here are my tips to be healthy on the inside.

Choose top-quality fuel This simply means you give your body the fuel it needs to protect your health and improve your performance in every aspect of life. In fuel for motor vehicles, octane level is important; in fuel for people, nutrient density is the key. Nutrient-dense foods offer more ‘bang for your kilojoule buck’.

Balance the fuel mix The fuel mix you put into your body is just as important as race fuel in a Formula One car. You need it to be balanced between the food groups and nutrients to give you the right mix of power and endurance. Eating to be healthy on the inside you need to:

• Power up with protein – Lean red meat, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, eggs and legumes (beans, lentils and chickpeas).
• Re-fuel with carbs (look for the low GI ones) – Grain foods such as low GI grainy breads and breakfast cereals, pasta, noodles, low GI rice like basmati or Doongara Clever Rice and starchy vegetables like lower GI potatoes (Carisma or Nicola), orange-fleshed sweet potato, corn, carrots, butternut pumpkin and parsnips.
• Rust-proof with fruit and veg – Tomatoes, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, lettuce, capsicum, celery, zucchini (courgettes), peas, cabbage, beans and beetroot etc. Fruit and berries such as apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes, kiwifruit, plums, nectarines, rockmelon, papaya (paw paw), mango and strawberries etc.
• Reinforce your frame with good dairy foods – Reduced fat milk, yoghurt, cheese and custard.
• Grease the machine with the right oils – Sunflower, olive and canola oils; spreads like margarine or peanut butter; nuts and seeds, and avocado.
• Prevent overheating with fluids – Water, juice, cordial, tea and weak coffee
  

And remember, your body was designed to move, so move it and keep it in working order to give yourself the strength and fitness to cope with whatever life throws at you. Cars, sedentary jobs, technology and the quest for convenience have all made it easier to do very little. If you want to be active, you usually have to plan to make it happen. Apart from not smoking, being physically active is the most powerful step you can take for being healthy on the inside.

News Briefs

Little evidence that increasing soy improves BGLs
In a meta-analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition evaluating the effects of soy foods and supplements on glycemic control Dr Suzanne Ho and colleagues conclude that: ‘there was not a significant overall effect of soy intake on improvements of fasting glucose and insulin concentrations; however, a favorable change in fasting glucose concentrations was observed in studies that used whole soy foods.’

Reduced fat intake may reduce diabetes risk without weight loss
‘What is important about this study,’ says Prof Barbara Gower, ‘is that the results suggest that diet quality, not quantity, can make a difference in risk for type 2 diabetes.’ The researchers provided 69 healthy overweight individuals with one of two calorically identical diets for eight weeks – either a reduced carbohydrate, higher fat diet (43% carbohydrate, 39% fat), or a standard diet of 55% carbohydrate and 27% fat. At the end of the study, those on the lower-fat diet had significantly higher insulin secretion and better glucose tolerance and tended to have higher insulin sensitivity. The researchers took into account any minor fluctuations in weight during the study, and provided participants with the amount of food necessary to maintain weight.

Tossing and turning? You may need to up your high GI carbs



Eating high GI and high GL meals increased the availability of tryptophan in healthy volunteers reports a study in the British Journal of Nutrition. ‘These findings may have clinical relevance for management of conditions where increased serotonin production is considered beneficial, primarily for promotion of sleep in patients with insomnia). Specific research would be required to assess the risk–benefit of using high-GI meals to promote sleep against current strategies for clinical management of insomnia,’ conclude the authors. ‘It’s still early days,’ says Prof Jennie-Brand-Miller, ‘and needs to be confirmed by larger, long-term studies before recommending people with sleep problems, many of whom may well have diabetes or pre-diabetes, start experimenting with high GI meals.’

Does it matter where your protein comes from?
‘In the small amount of literature available there is no striking evidence that the one protein source is preferable to another in weight-reducing programs. However, animal proteins, especially those from dairy, seem to support better muscle protein synthesis than plant proteins. This could potentially enhance energy expenditure, but no conclusion can be drawn from the scant evidence. Some studies, but not all, demonstrate the higher satiating effect of whey and fish proteins than other protein sources.’ Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases.

Enjoy pears
Juicy, sweet pears are one of the world’s most loved fruits (we are all fans here) and this year’s Australian crop is a bumper one. ‘The past few seasons have brought anguish for many growers with the Black Saturday bushfires, flooding and inclement weather almost decimating crops,’ says fourth generation grower Gary Godwill. ‘To get pears to harvest this year we battled rain and flooding, and had our pickers wading through water just to get to the trees. However, we’ve been rewarded with the early Williams’ pear crop up by 60% compared to last year and the current Packham’s harvest expected to be large and one of best quality crops we’ve ever seen.’



Pears (GI38) are a healthy snack rich in fibre and vitamin C. They have a low GI because they are high in fibre and most of their sugar is fructose. Although the flavour of a fresh pear on its own is hard to beat, here are some tips to up your intake:

• Poach or bake them in a light syrup or red wine with a touch of cardamom.
• Think outside the square by baking them with spices, roasting them with meat, or adding them to bruschetta.
• Toss firmer pears in salads with walnuts and greens (witlof and rocket go well).
• Pop softer pears into a soup or smoothie for added flavour.
  

Bookshelf: The CSIRO and Baker IDI Diabetes Diet and Lifestyle Plan



CSIRO and Baker IDI joined forces with Julie Gibbs’ ever-creative team at Penguin Australia to produce this attractive guide to managing type 2 diabetes (or reducing your risk of getting it). They offer two dietary approaches – Option 1 is a higher protein plan; Option 2 has a little less protein and a little more carbohydrate – and four kilojoule-restricted plans. To get you started, there are 6-week (6500kJ) plans for both Option 1 and Option 2 and around 80 recipes, many photographed.

The recipes don’t come with a familiar nutritional analysis, instead they tell you the units (based on kilojoules) of protein, vegetables, ‘bread’ (by this they mean starchy vegetables and grains), fats, dairy and fruit per serve. If you find counting your carbs the best way to manage your BGLs and spread your carbs evenly over the day, you’ll find this approach novel as the ‘bread’, ‘dairy’ and ‘fruit’ units are based on kilojoules not that familiar 10–15 gram carb exchange.

We asked Alan Barclay if this would matter. ‘It’s not that different in the real world to 10–15 gram carb exchanges – and probably both models would achieve similar results. But it won’t work for those counting grams of carbs of course, like those using insulin pumps.’

Get the Scoop with Emma Stirling

The scoop on low GI lentils


Emma Stirling APD
It’s easy to forget about the little guy at times. Fora little legume, lentils pack as powerful a nutrition punch (and are more convenient) as bigger members of their family like beans and chickpeas.

If you have diabetes, back this little guy. Rich in protein, high in fibre and packed with nutrients like B vitamins, folate and minerals, all fresh and canned lentils have a low GI. Although opting for handy canned convenience increases the GI somewhat, lentils are still a very smart carb choice ... just take a look:

• GI26 (red, home cooked)
• GI30 (green, home cooked)
• GI52 (green, canned)

A serving is ¾ cup cooked lentils.

How to prep and dress? So you like the idea of backing the little guy, but you’re really not sure how to get dried lentils ready for action? Shop around for a variety of colours from red, orange, green and brown. You can purchase lentils whole, split or skinned depending on variety. Whole lentils lend themselves better to salads and sides, whereas split are commonly used in soups, but there are no hard and fast rules and all are easy on the budget.

Measure out your required quantity of dry lentils – as a rule of thumb they will more than double in volume once cooked as they soak up liquid from the cooking broth, water or dish. Wash your lentils well to remove dirt and check that there are no little stones hiding in your measured serve. Laying washed lentils on a clean tea towel is an easy way to check for grit. Dried lentils will keep fresh in an airtight container for months.

Easy as peasy meal ideas The best thing lentils have going for them is that they do not require soaking overnight like many other pulses and are quicker to cook, within 15–30 minutes and your done (just check the cooking time on the pack). Adding lentils is as easy as adding frozen peas to a dish during the cooking process (you just have to allow a bit more time). There are many authentic recipes and side dishes designed around lentils, like Indian dhal, but you can simply keep them on hand and toss in to your existing recipes. You may like to give the little guy a go and:

• Transform a simple pot of vegetable soup into something substantial by adding a cup or two of lentils.
• Extend a stew or casserole with a cup or two of lentils. Great to help the leftovers feed the whole family.
• Add a sprinkle of canned lentils into your meat ball or burger base to up the dietary fibre.
• Thicken sauces and salsas with pureed lentils. If it’s a new taste sensation for your family, add just a little for starters until their palates adjust to the slightly earthier flavour.

Once you start searching around you’ll uncover more about this little guy than you ever imagined. Lentils really are the quiet achiever, just like in this stunning recipe for Ocean Trout with Lentils. We know you’ll soon be a lentil lover too, or perhaps you already are? Love to hear your tips and recipe links below.

Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.

Zucchine in agrodolce
Nothing beats early homegrown summer squash fresh grown. Zucchine are tender and lusciously filled with the flavors of the fertile earth they grow out of. This is an old traditional Sicilian recipe whose sweet and sour (agrodolce) flavors “ripen” a few days after it is made. Other herbs can be used: basil, flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme. Makes six ½ cup servings.

2 small cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
900g (2lb) zucchini/courgettes (about 6 large)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) red wine vinegar
6 leaves fresh mint



Heat barbecue grill (indoor or outdoor).
Combine the garlic and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. Wash and pat dry the zucchini. Cut off the ends. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into ½cm/¼in diagonal slices. Add slices to the mixing bowl and, with your hands, toss to coat them with the oil-garlic mixture.
Place the slices on the grill for 6–10 minutes, turning once. Do not overcook. The grilling time will depend on the heat of the grill. An indoor grill takes about 10 minutes. When done …
Place the zucchini in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the sugar, vinegar and remaining olive oil over the slices. Gently toss, spoon the mixture in a shallow serving dish and sprinkle with small, hand-ripped pieces of mint. Serve cold or at room temperature. Best if served after 1–2 days in the fridge.

Per serve (1/2 cup)
Energy: 400kJ/95cals; Protein 2g; Fat 7g (includes 1g saturated fat); Available carbohydrate 6g; Fibre 2g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals recipes. For more recipes check out the Money Saving Meals website.

Spicy Moroccan chickpea & lentil soup
This soup will thicken slightly on standing. You can replace the chickpeas with soy beans or any kind of white bean. This soup is also delicious topped with low fat natural yoghurt. It was originally published in The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook (Hachette) Serves 6

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm (1in) piece fresh ginger, finely grated -- (1 in)
3 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp saffron threads soaked in 2 tablespoons boiling water
400g (14oz) can Italian chopped tomatoes
4 cups good-quality vegetable stock
4 cups water
1 cup (250g) red lentils, rinsed well
2 x 400g (14oz) cans chickpeas, drained
1/3 cup chopped coriander
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, plus extra to serve
salt and freshly ground black pepper
low-fat natural yoghurt to serve



Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6–7 minutes or until softens. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add the saffron threads and soaking liquid, tomatoes, stock, water and lentils to the pan. Cover and bring to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the coriander and parsley. season to taste and serve with a dollop of yoghurt and extra chopped parsley.

Per serve
Energy: 1222kJ/ 292cals; Protein 19g; Fat 7g (includes 1g saturated fat); Available carbohydrate 33g; Fibre 2g

Manfredi at Bells chef, Stefano Manfredi, is recognised as one of Australia’s leading exponents of modern Italian cuisine. Since the 1980s, he has owned and operated restaurants in the Sydney area, written on food and cooking (these days a weekly food column for the Sydney Morning Herald's Spectrum), published four books, presented master classes and made television appearances. He also leads a cooking tour annually to Italy and enjoys making salami and sausages with his friend Pino. This month he shares a tagine with GI News readers.


Stefano Manfredi

Lamb and lentil tagine
As the days cool a little, appetites grow keener for foods that give warmth and comfort. The cook senses this change and thoughts turn to ingredients that require slower cooking. To my mind, lentils are the perfect comfort food – soothing, flavoursome and able to absorb many other flavours.

Gently heat 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a tagine base or heavy casserole pot, and add a pinch of saffron, a teaspoon of powdered turmeric and 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger. Lightly fry for a minute then add a chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots and a chopped celery heart (including the tender celery leaves). Stir well and lightly fry for 2–3 minutes. Add 1 cup of well-washed lentils and a lamb shoulder cut into 2cm (1in) pieces. Mix well and add enough water to just cover all the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, stir, and place the lid on. Place the tagine (or casserole) into a preheated 180ºC/350ºF oven for 50–70 minutes until the lamb and lentils are thoroughly cooked. Once out of the oven, roughly chop a bunch of coriander and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Check for seasoning and serve.

You can see the final result HERE.

– For more of Steve’s recipes, go to: www.manfredi.com.au

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Fat people are unhealthy.


Nicole Senior

Fact: You can be ‘fit and fat’. No matter what your weight, you can improve your health and reduce your risk of disease by being physically active and eating a healthy diet.
Last month we heard from Professor Steven Blair about his research showing even obese people can be healthy provided they are physically active. Describing himself as ‘short, fat and bald’ but physically fit made me laugh endearingly but also added ‘weight’ to his argument: he is a man who literally ‘walks the walk!’ You can be healthy at any size provided you are physically active but what you eat also matters.

Did you know heavier people have lower risk of osteoporosis? Being heavier puts more pressure on your bones and your body toughens them up to take it – especially if you are physically active: chalk one up for the fatties! Being thin actually increases your risk of osteoporosis for the same reason, but exercising regularly and eating enough calcium rich foods can even up the score. When it comes to bones, exercise and food are important for everyone.

Think about Morgan Spurlock in the film ‘Supersize me’ who overate (one time to the point of throwing up) every day for a month on fatty burgers, fries and shakes. Even though he was not obese at the end, his blood test results read like the ‘wreck of the Hesperus’ because he had overdosed on ‘sometimes foods’ full of saturated fat and low in fibre. Both fat and thin people can eat badly and have high cholesterol levels, and equally anyone can achieve normal cholesterol levels by eating a cholesterol-lowering diet with the right balance of fats; that is, mostly unsaturated fats from oils, spreads, nuts, seeds and fish, along with plenty of fibre from vegetables, fruits and wholegrains.

Fat people can have normal blood pressure as well provided they eat little salt and enough vegetables, fruits, wholegrains and low fat dairy foods (and exercise). Overweight people can also have healthy blood glucose levels and protect against type 2 diabetes by enjoying a balanced diet low in saturated fat, high in fibre, and including low GI foods and being physically active.

What we eat matters at any size. We all need to set nutrition and fitness goals that are realistic and right for us. We can’t all do 2 hours a day in the gym, and there’s no shame in that. We also need to put nutrition and health as a priority over the obsessive quest for ‘the body beautiful’. Happiness, contentment and wellbeing are more than what size clothing we wear. It’s unfortunate that bigger people attract such negative perceptions because this can lead to low self esteem and poor eating habits; why take care of yourself with good food if you think you’re unworthy?

Good self-acceptance is important for engaging in healthy behaviours. It’s like my mother always said, ‘It’s what inside that counts’ and this applies to the food we eat as well as a kind heart.

For more great information and delicious recipes for staying healthy on the inside, check out Nicole’s website at eattobeatcholesterol.com.au.

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay
A new cure for diabetes?
A new study in the Lancet has crunched the numbers and tells us that in just under 30 years, the number of adults with type 2 diabetes has more than doubled from 153 million in 1980 to 347 million in 2008 . Most due to increasing numbers of larger, older people. It’s thought that risk factors like obesity, lack of physical activity and poor diets account for the rest.

Not to worry. There’s a ‘cure’ shout the headlines a few days later when a new two-month ‘extreme diet’ that ‘offers a hope of a cure for type 2 diabetes’ was published in Diabetologia. Cure? Let’s take a look.

Eleven obese people with type 2 diabetes were put on a very low calorie diet (600 cal/2500 kJ a day). It consisted of three sachets of Optifast a day plus non-starchy vegetables (salad greens, onions, capsicum/peppers).



After eight weeks they lost an average of 15.3 kg/34 lbs (around 15% of their body weight) and their BGLs and triglyceride levels returned to normal, their pancreatic and liver fat levels decreased, and their livers became sensitive to the effects of insulin again. A big improvement – but what happened next?

Most of the stories neglected to mention that three months later, the weight came back: there was an average weight re-gain of 3.1 kg (7 lbs) when the participants were ‘provided with information about portion size and healthy eating’ and 3 out of the 11, or 27% of participants ‘had recurrence of diabetes’. No details on the ‘healthy eating’ advice was given.

A new cure? Not really. What the study shows is that if you go on a very low calorie diet your symptoms of type 2 diabetes will go into remission if you are obese (not everyone with type 2 diabetes is obese of course). However, remission is the key word. Because type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease – it’s not something you catch – your symptoms will return if you slip back to your old lifestyle.

It's not possible to live your life on Optifast or similar products. So, the essential ingredient is what healthy eating plan should you follow after you have lost that initial 15% of your body weight to prevent weight re-gain and a return of diabetes symptoms – and that part of the study was sadly neglected…

Regular readers of GI News will recall that the Diogenes study we covered last year found that a moderately high protein, low GI diet was the best plan for longer-term weight loss maintenance. Interestingly, the first phase of this study also involved use of a very low calorie diet like Optifast. This successful combination (very low calorie diet followed by a moderately high protein, low GI diet) may help some people with type 2 diabetes put their diabetes in to remission and keep it that way for a much longer period of time.




For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
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Email: alan@gisymbol.com
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GI Update

Professor Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions



Many of the studies you write about in GI News talk about ‘insulin resistance’ and ‘insulin sensitivity’. Can you explain these terms?
Insulin is a hormone that plays several critical roles in our health and wellbeing. It’s been called the MASTER hormone because it regulates so many things, including our blood glucose levels. When we eat carb-rich foods like bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, rice or noodles, starchy vegetables like potatoes and fruit, our body converts them into a glucose (a sugar) that is absorbed from the intestine and becomes the main fuel that circulates in our blood. When glucose levels in the blood rise after a meal, the beta cells in the pancreas shoot insulin out into the blood to drive the glucose into the cells so it can be put to work either as an immediate source of energy or converted to glycogen (a stored energy source), or to fat.

If you require relatively normal or low levels of insulin to process your BGLs (blood glucose levels), you are what’s called ‘insulin sensitive’ – a good thing.

Insulin resistance, on the other hand, means that the body does not react in a normal way to insulin in the blood. It is insensitive, or ‘partially deaf’, to insulin. Think of it like this: just as we may shout to make a deaf person hear, the body makes more insulin in an effort to drive glucose where it’s supposed to go. So moving glucose into cells necessitates the release of large amounts of insulin.

A healthy low GI diet plus physical activity are the most powerful ways you can optimise your insulin sensitivity and decrease insulin levels over the whole day. The latest paper from the Diogenes study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that an ‘increase in dietary protein and a reduction in GI content over a 6-month ad libitum dietary intervention are related to a lower drop-out rate and produced favourable effects on glycaemic control and insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese subjects after an initial body-weight loss.’

GI testing by an accredited laboratory North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson



Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

New Fright Night Poster Featuring David

A new Fright Night poster featuring David as Peter Vincent has been released. The poster will be used to advertise the UK release of the film on 2nd September 2011.
A new UK website for the film is now online at www.frightnightmovie.co.uk

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David Designs His Own Kaiser Cheifs Album

To celebrate the launch of the Kaiser Chiefs new album, The Future Is Medieval, fans have been creating their own version of the album by designing the artwork and selecting the track-listing.
As a friend of the band David has created his own album which you can buy online from the band's official website here: http://www.kaiserchiefs.com/DavidTennant

Thanks to James and Weiden+Kennedy

David Tennant To Attend Empire Presents Big Screen at the O2

It's been confirmed that David Tennant will be among a host of film stars attending the premiere of Fright Night at Empire Presents Big Screen at the O2 in London on 14th August 2011.

The premiere is just part of a host of movie-related events that will take over The O2 for that weekend,with film fans able to enjoy sneak previews of as-yet unreleased blockbusters, Q&A sessions with top Hollywood talent, and the chance to learn some of the tricks of the trade at a series of masterclasses.
Bauer Media's Stuart Williams is helping stage the event.
He said: "This is like Glastonbury for the movies, something for the general film fan to come and enjoy.
"We've got over 250 movie related experiences happening over the weekend, with screenings in The O2's cinemas, guest appearances, special effects demonstrations and previews.
"We hope it will be a huge success and we'll be back for many years to come."

For more info and to book tickets to the event please visit: http://www.empirebigscreen.com/

NATO air strike kills fighter linked to Afghan hotel attack

NATO aircraft killed an dissatisfied leader linked to a deadly hotel attack in the Afghan capital this week, the coalition said on Thursday, a raid that raise questions about whether Afghan forces are ready for the frightening security transition.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the harass on the Intercontinental, one of two major hotels used by foreigners and Afghan government officials, a unusual night-time raid that began on Tuesday and ended five hours later on with 12 killed.

The NATO-led Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani system had also been involved in the physical attack by nine suicide bombers and gunmen.ISAF identified the Haqqani network leader kill in an air strike as Ismail Jan, who it describe as a deputy to the senior Haqqani leader in Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan.

Full Story 

useful links: transport rankings

Senate cancels break as budget battle heats up

Democrats stepped up their harass in a tense budget battle with Republicans on Thursday as the Senate disregarded its July 4 recess and a top lawmaker accuse Republicans of deliberately sabotaging the financial recovery.

With time running short before a likely default in early August, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he would hold the chamber in session after that week to work on a budget deal that would permit the country to keep paying all its bills.

One day after President Barack Obama compares Senate Republicans to lazy schoolchildren, the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said Obama be supposed to come to Capitol Hill as soon as possible to talk about what could pass Congress.

Full Story 

Death Penalty: Older but Not Wiser

New report looks back at 35 years of the death penalty

35 years after the death penalty was reinstated by the nation's highest court, it remains a punishment inflicted as arbitrarily as a lightning strike, according to a new report commemorating the infamous anniversary from the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty on July 2, 1976; it had previously ruled the ultimate punishment unconstitutional because of its arbitrary and unpredictable application, writes Rich­ard Dieter, the DPIC's executive director. Unfortunately, all these years later, he argues, that is still true. In sum, he writes, the "experiment" of capital punishment has failed. Indeed, the report notes, the system discerning who receives the death penalty and who doesn't – and for what crimes – appears worse than random. For example, Texas – still by far the national leader in executions, with 470 under its belt since reinstatement – executed Michael Richard in 2007 despite evidence of his mental impairment; meanwhile, in Washington, the so-called "Green River Killer," Gary Ridg­way, was spared death after confessing to murdering 48 people. Most notorious in Texas, perhaps, is the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed for an arson murder that many experts now say was likely a tragic accident; on the other hand, Ernest Willis – also convicted and sentenced to death for an arson murder that the state later decided was likely an accident – was spared death and ultimately exonerated.

"A review of state death penalty practices exposes a system in which an unpredictable few cases result in executions from among thousands of eligible cases. Race, geography and the size of a county's budget play a major role in who receives the ultimate punishment," reads the report. "In such a haphazard process, the rationales of deterrence and retribution make little sense." The entire report is available at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.

Source: Austin Chronicle, June 30, 2011

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Court delays Egypt brutality case verdict

Court postpones verdict on policemen charged over death of Khaled Said, whose case helped spark Egypt's revolution.

Khaled Said's death caused public outrage that paved the way for the January 2011 uprising.

The trial of 2 Egyptian policemen charged over the death of Khaled Said, a 28-year-old man allegedly fatally beaten in Alexandria a year ago, has been postponed until September 24, a judge told the court on Thursday.

Said died in June 2010, allegedly after being dragged out of an internet cafe by plain-clothes police and assaulted in the street, according to witnesses.

Pictures of his body, taken by his family in a morgue, caused public outrage that paved the way for Egypt's January 2011 uprising.

Young Egyptians used social media such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the message, and to coordinate protests in Cairo and Alexandria calling for an end to torture and impunity.

Facebook pages set up to express anger at Khaled Said's death would later be used to coordinate 'Day of Rage' protests on the streets of Cairo.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin speaking from Alexandria outside the courthouse, said that lawyers for Khalid's family submitted a new independent autopsy that could change the charges from manslaughter to torture and murder.

"If new charges are filed against the two police officers they could include torture and murder. which carries the death penalty. Under the current charges they would have been sentenced to seven to 15 years.

"But with the new charges they could face either life in prison or the death sentence."

Mohyeldin emphasised the presence of many protesters gathered in expectation of hearing a verdict because the trial had become an iconic symbol of the struggle of many young Egyptians.

"A year after his death, Khaled Said’s family still wait for justice. His case highlights the widely shared belief that the Egyptian authorities are still not doing enough to deliver justice - not only for Khaled Said but for all those unlawfully killed and injured by the security forces during mass protests earlier this year," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

"This belief is exacerbated by the slowness with which the authorities are handling trials of police officers accused of killing protesters during the uprising, when more than 800 died, and the fact that many of those facing trial have not been suspended from active duty and remain in positions where they can intimidate witnesses and subvert justice," he said.

Speaking to Al Jazeera before the trial's postponement, Said’s uncle, Ali El-Qassam, said: "We are anxious, but hopeful about the verdict.

"I know that everyone in the world will be following the outcome. I know the Egyptian youth will react to whatever outcome the verdict will be in a peaceful and civil manner that represents Egypt."

Source: Al Jazeera, June 30, 2011

Related article:

Death Penalty News: Egyptian policeman sentenced to death for ...

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Lundbeck Won't Pull Controversial Drug

Danish drug maker H. Lundbeck A/S said Wednesday it will keep selling its Nembutal anesthetic in the U.S even though it opposes the drug's use there in lethal-injection executions.

Designed to treat epileptic seizures but also sometimes used to euthanize animals, Nembutal is being increasingly used in U.S. prison executions even though it wasn't meant for that purpose.

"We're doing everything we can to make sure the drug is used for the patients in the right way and trying to prevent misuse of the drug," Lundbeck's Chief Executive Ulf Wiinberg said. "The problem is that in the U.S., no one controls the end use of any medicine. Lundbeck's role is to be there for patients, and that's why it's still on the market."

He said Lundbeck is urgently looking into actively managing the drug's distribution there to ensure that patients have access to the drug, while also preventing its misuse. Asked if those steps will include "end-user clauses" and other restrictive measures, Mr. Wiinberg replied: "There are several options that we are exploring and once we've cleared our check list, then we'll make a decision on what to do."

The drug, acquired when the Danish company bought U.S.-based firm Ovation in 2009, has no strategic importance to Lundbeck and represents less than 1% of its overall sales.

"We acquired Ovation for use as a platform to launch ourselves into the U.S. market. Ovation had a strong CNS [central nervous system] and orphan drug orientation. But with that acquisition we also got a number of unimportant drugs which were going to go generic, and anesthetic Nembutal was one of them," Mr. Wiinberg said.

Prisons in the U.S. where capital punishment is conducted switched to Nembutal after U.S.-based Hospira Inc. decided earlier this year to stop making thiopental sodium, an anesthetic typically used to render a condemned inmate unconscious before other lethal drugs, including a paralytic agent, are administered.

Mr. Wiinberg said his initial reaction to news of Nembutal's use in executions was to pull it off the market. "But we were then told by the medical community that it would compromise treatment if we did that, because there's no comparable alternative on the market," he said.

The Danish government is also trying to help Lundbeck find a solution. Like most European countries, Denmark opposes capital punishment.

Mr. Wiinberg said Lundbeck gets many appeals from civil-rights groups as well as friends and family members of convicts on death row, urging the company to pull the drug. "We get appeals from all kinds of people who are engaged in this, directly or indirectly," he said.

"The Nembutal issue for us is one where it's financially irrelevant but where it's very important that we do the right thing and that we communicate the fact that we're doing the right thing in a transparent way. We're doing a lot of things. Some may work, and some may not work."

Source: Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2011

Related articles:

Death Penalty News: Lundbeck Urged to Do More to Stop Drug's Use ...

Jun 17, 2011

Doctors who've prescribed medicines produced by H. Lundbeck A/S urged the Danish drugmaker to make more of an effort to stop the use of one of its treatments in executing U.S. prisoners facing the death penalty. ...

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Death Penalty News: Lundbeck drugs set to kill three more ...

Jun 15, 2011

"The death toll is increasing at an alarming rate for Lundbeck; the sooner they put in place controls on the distribution of the drug, the better. Rigorous and committed action on the part of the Danish pharmaceutical ...

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Death Penalty News: The Lancet tells Lundbeck: “It is time to stop ...

Jun 14, 2011

This letter, signed by 63 medical professionals, outlines a number of strong arguments to demonstrate, if need be, that Lundbeck is not actually doing anything to stop the distribution of pentobarbital to U.S. ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: Texas to execute mentally disabled prisoner ...

Jun 21, 2011

Reprieve spokesperson Donald Campbell said: “This appalling case shows just how urgent the need is for Lundbeck to restrict the flow of their drugs to US death chambers. Lundbeck's announcement of plans to act is ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/
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National Standards: The government is listening – but only to people who say what it wants to hear

Today, more than 300 schools handed their charters to the Ministry of Education without National Standards information because they believe setting targets for student achievement using National Standards will produce unreliable information. They were supported by the NZEI. All 300 must be processed within 25 working days, as per section 63A of the Education Act 1989.

Coincidentally, there seems to be a bit of a scrap between the NZEI and the government's National Standard’s Advisory group - a group set up to give the sector a voice and provide feedback to the government on the implementation of National Standards.

The group released its latest report after this month's meeting - and included many recommendations.

One was that “the Minister should be invited to approve the launch of a carefully managed process of review of the standards themselves alongside the current monitoring and evaluation of implementation”.

The NZEI responded that while the education sector was saying that the standards were flawed, it was significant that the National Standards Advisory Group was saying that they need to be reviewed.

Not so, responded Professor Gary Hawke, who heads the group. He said that rather than an admission that the standards needed to be reviewed because they were flawed, they were more about beginning to explore “ how continual improvement might be extended to the way the Standards are stated”.

So it’s all about the language - how how certain teachers express how things are done.

Rather than talking to schools that are representative of the sector, the group appears to be only listening to certain schools - called “ leading schools” - who undertake National Standards-speak. These schools claim National Standards is successful, as teachers say they are able to “diagnose where gains in student achievement are available”. The advisory group can then provide palatable advice to the Minister.

Meanwhile the NZEI would rather express things in language other than National Standards and so the two groups are talking past each other.

The schools’ Boards of Trustees and teachers just want the best for their students whatever the Ministry tells them to do. But in correspondence with the Ministry, many are couching language in National Standards terms for fear of reprisal.

Meanwhile in the classroom, most are doing what they have always done, because they recognise that National Standards – however carefully managed - makes no difference to student achievement.

But you won't hear that advice from the advisory group.

Egyptian policeman sentenced to death for killing protesters

The 1st Egyptian police officer sentenced to death for killing protesters during the January revolution remained at large Monday as the country braced for a summer of trials on the police brutality that defined President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Monem was sentenced in absentia late Sunday for the Jan. 28 shooting deaths of 23 protesters rioting outside a Cairo police station. The court's ruling was quickly affirmed by the nation's top Islamic cleric, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, who reviews all death-penalty cases.

Abdul Monem told Egyptian TV over the weekend that he had killed no one while following orders to protect the police station. He said he would seek a new trial and accused the Interior Ministry of not standing by him. He has yet to explain why he hadn't appeared in court or why authorities hadn't apprehended him.

"The Interior Ministry abandoned my case," said Abdul Monem, who contended that he only fired into the ground in an attempt to disperse an angry mob at the police station. "The ministry didn't even assign lawyers to defend me."

The verdict against Abdul Monem came as families of protesters killed during the 18-day revolt hurled rocks at police and military vehicles after the trial against former Interior Minister Habib Adli was adjourned Sunday for a 2nd time. Adli faces capital punishment on charges he ordered state security forces to violently crush an uprising, which led to the deaths of more than 800 protesters.

But the most anticipated case is the trial of Mubarak, set for August. The ousted Egyptian president is accused of financial crimes and of having a hand in the deaths of protesters. He could face the death sentence, and his fate is a crucial test of the ruling military council's ability to balance justice and the demands for blood from many Egyptians who suffered under Mubarak's government.

Though the country's economy is ailing, and confusion and worry linger over upcoming parliamentary elections and the writing of a new constitution, many Egyptians believe the country cannot move forward until the sins of the past are punished. They fear that Mubarak, who has been in a hospital since April with apparent heart problems, will maneuver to escape his day in court.

"Abdul Monem is just a street cop. Where are the superiors and the higher-ranked police officers?" said Mohamed Sayed, whose brother was killed in the protests. "Why aren't any of them convicted yet despite the fact that many of them have been on trial for months now? People like Habib Adli and others get their trials continuously adjourned."

Former top officials, including Trade Minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid, Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali and Adli, have been found guilty of corruption and abuse of power and sentenced to prison. Their trials offered a glimpse into the entrenched world of businesspeople and government officials who ran the country for personal benefit, even as more than 40% of the population lived on $2 or less a day.

But the death sentence against Abdul Monem is dramatic for an Egypt attempting to reconcile its past as it struggles toward a democratic future. Cases of police brutality seldom reached the courtrooms in Mubarak's repressive state; security forces brazenly roamed the country, torturing and demanding bribes. That an officer has been sentenced to death further breaks down the psychological barrier that had helped keep the former president in power.

Abdul Monem was assigned to Cairo's Zawiya Hamra police station, notorious for corruption and abuse. On Jan. 28, three days after the revolt began, protesters, some of them armed, descended on the building as they vented years of rage. In his TV interview, Abdul Monem said that he was inside when a commander told officers and police officers to fire their weapons to protect the building.

The attackers "set fire to all our vehicles and a street cop was shot and died on the spot, and three other street cops, including myself, were injured," he said. "I did not see one protester fall as I fired shots into the ground."

But prosecutors said Abdul Monem fired indiscriminately, killing 23 and wounding 16 others.

Source: Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2011

Cleric approves cop's death sentence

An Islamic cleric affirmed the death sentence meted out to an Egyptian police officer for killing protesters during a January protest.

Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa sanctioned the execution of Mohamed Abdel Moneim, who remains at large, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Abdel Moneim was sentenced May 22 for shooting to death 23 protesters rioting near a Cairo police station Jan. 28, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Abdel Moneim told Egyptian television during the weekend he was just following orders to protect the police station and had killed no one, firing only into the ground to try to scatter an angry mob at the station.

He said the mob "set fire to all our vehicles and a street cop was shot and died on the spot, and three other street cops, including myself, were injured. I did not see one protester fall as I fired shots into the ground."

Prosecutors said Abdel Moneim fired randomly, killing 23 and injuring 16 others.

Abdel Moneim said he would seek a new trial.

"Abdel Moneim is just a street cop. Where are the superiors and the higher-ranked police officers? Why aren't any of them convicted yet despite the fact that many of them have been on trial for months now? People like (Interior Minister) Habib Adli and others get their trials continuously adjourned," said Mohamed Sayed, whose brother was killed in the revolution.

Adli's trial was adjourned for a second time Sunday. He faces the death penalty on charges he ordered state security forces to fire on an uprising, leading to the deaths of more than 800 protesters, the newspaper said.

Source: United Press International, June 28, 2011

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