divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/75803?ns=guardianpageName=Business%3A+Woolworths%3A+everything+must+goch=Businessc3=The+Observerc4=Woolworths+%28Business%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news%2CObserverc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Marketsc6=Zoe+Wood%2CHeather+Stewartc7=2008_11_23c8=1122526c9=articlec10=GUc11=Businessc12=Woolworthsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FWoolworths" width="1" height="1" //divpFor 30,000 Woolworths staff it may be a bleak Christmas as it became clear yesterday that the veteran high-street retailer could go under this week if management cannot clinch a fire sale./ppWoolworths evokes nostalgia for precious pocket money spent on bottles of cola and ill-advised chart singles by Bucks Fizz. Last week it became clear that Woolworths itself was worth only pocket money, with management in talks to sell the 800-store chain for pound;1./ppThe collapse of Woolworths would be by far the largest retail failure this year, symbolising the high street's woes./ppAt the branch in Muswell Hill, north London, yesterday morning, the perspex lids on the pic 'n' mix - strawberry cables, jelly snakes, jazzies - remained firmly closed./ppNone of the shops in this affluent suburb is bustling - the estate agents are empty and even the swish boutiques have 'Sale' signs in their windows alongside the posh frocks. But Woolworths has a special air of desolation. Packed aisles of Christmas toys and gifts are on special offer, three for the price of two./pp'I quite like Woolies, but basically it's all just a bit crap isn't it?' says one browser, Steve, as he leaves empty-handed. A woman is buying plastic coathangers; another is discussing Advent calendars with a member of staff; and a boy is briefly mesmerised by a musical Santa which dances and plays the saxophone, before his mother drags him away. At the till, two young women lean with their chins in their hands, chatting to the security guard./ppIt wasn't always like this: Woolies once had a shop on every British high street and a special place in the hearts of millions of bargain-hungry shoppers. It was famous for selling anything from sixpenny toys to brown paper and string./ppMusic-hall artist Stanley Holloway used to recite the monologue 'Albert and the Lion', in which the eponymous hero came to a sticky end. Albert brandished '... a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle/The finest that Woolworths could sell'./ppBut today, there are plenty of rivals also piling it high and selling it cheap. In the Muswell Hill branch, almost everything - from Christmas gift packs of Lynx aftershave to Paul O'Grady's autobiography - seems to be reduced. The Tannoy is blasting out 'The Little Drummer Boy' and other festive tunes, punctuated by announcements about a 20 per cent off deal with the slogan 'Woolworths: Let's Have Some Fun!'/ppWoolworths boss Steve Johnson should be visiting his stores today, making sure they are well stocked with Star Wars Clone Trooper helmets and Barbie dolls for this critical time of year./ppBut instead Johnson, who joined the business three months ago pledging to revive it, is fighting to pull Woolworths back from the abyss. With sales so poor that the company is at risk of breaching the conditions on its loans, the board believes that offloading the retail division is the best solution./ppWoolworths is willing to sacrifice the eponymous chain so that its more successful ventures - EUK, which supplies CDs and books to supermarkets, and 2Entertain, a joint venture with the BBC making shows such as Top Gear - can thrive. Management is trying to broker a complex deal by which the retailer might enter administration without dragging its sister companies down with it./ppRestructuring firm Hilco offered to take over the business for pound;1 in return for shouldering nearly pound;270m of Woolworths debt. But the retailer's banks, which include American lender GMAC and Burdale, part of Bank of Ireland, rejected the Hilco plan late last week./ppThe banks are owed almost pound;400m and would be first in line to get their money back if the group collapsed. Unlike suppliers, banks are secured creditors, so have first claim on funds raised by administrators in the sale or break-up of a collapsed business./pp'If this business falls over in a controlled way, a big chunk of the staff will keep their jobs,' said one source close to the talks. 'If the collapse is uncontrolled, everyone risks losing their jobs.'/ppThis weekend's quest is for a deal that the banks will accept. Hilco specialies in distressed businesses, often using what is called a 'pre-pack administration', an insolvency procedure that enables it to shed stores it does not want or cut new rental deals with landlords. /ppWoolworths has tried to reinvent itself many times, most recently as a rival to Argos, launching an internet arm, The Big Red Book - but the results have been poor, with the group making a pound;90.8m loss in the first six months of the year./pp'Woolworths has been ailing for years because it is a jack-of-all-trades and master of none,' says Retail Knowledge Bank analyst Robert Clark. 'It has lots of loyal customers it has failed to exploit over the years due to serial management failure. The irony is that if Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown announce measures to stimulate spending among the lower socio-economic groups on Monday, Woolworths would be a natural place for them to shop.'/ppBack in Muswell Hill, another shopper, Rob, is emerging with a Woolworths carrier bag. He has bought a birthday card and a copy of the Radio Times. 'I go in there very, very seldom,' he says and expresses little sorrow at the possible disappearance of such a venerable retail institution. 'It's a rubbish shop, really: it's the same as WH Smith. They've had their day.'/ph2Five cents to 1.43p/h2p· Frank Woolworth opened his first store, in Utica, New York State, in 1879 with the gimmick that everything was priced at five cents. It failed because it was too far out of the town centre, but a second shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a roaring success. He soon varied the formula, selling some goods at 10 cents, and the famous 'five-and-dime' store was born./pp· Woolworth visited England in 1890 and wrote in his diary: 'A good penny and sixpence store, run by a live Yankee, would be a sensation here.' The first store was opened on Church Street, Liverpool, in 1909 and the British offshoot became more successful than its American parent./pp· Sweets sold by weight - later called the 'pic 'n' mix' - were a key part of Woolworth's formula. When the Liverpool branch opened, the entire stock of sweets sold out on the first day. /pp· By the 1930s, Woolworth was opening a store every fortnight in Britain. When the Second World War broke out, it had 759 branches./pp· Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton - Frank's granddaughter, pictured at her wedding to film star Cary Grant - was known as the 'poor little rich girl'. By the time she died in 1979, Hutton had run through seven husbands and most of her $500m inheritance./pp· Shares in Woolworth's group, now renamed Kingfisher, were worth just 1.43p on Friday./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/woolworths"Woolworths/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail"Retail industry/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Businesscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527246112300260553996"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Businesscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527246112300260553996" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/72775?ns=guardianpageName=Life+and+style%3A+Health+threat+from+beauty+parloursch=Life+and+stylec3=The+Observerc4=Beauty%2CHealth+%28Society%29%2CHealth+and+wellbeing+%28Life+and+style%29%2CLife+and+style%2CSociety%2CUK+news%2CObserverc5=Society+Weekly%2CFashion+and+Beauty%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHealth+Society%2CHealthc6=Denis+Campbellc7=2008_11_23c8=1122498c9=articlec10=GUc11=Life+and+stylec12=Beautyc13=c14=h2=GU%2FLife+and+style%2FBeauty" width="1" height="1" //divpA scandal of second-rate care in parts of the beauty industry has been revealed today by health and safety officials, who have even highlighted cases of women suffering with paralysis of the face, burnt scalps and lost fingernails. /ppIn the worst examples badly trained staff and cost-cutting managers are exposing clients to the risk of infection because waxings, anti-ageing treatments and body piercings are not carried out properly. The warning comes from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Its members, environmental health officers working for local councils, have uncovered a range of dubious practices in nail bars, beauty salons, hairdressers and sunbed parlours. /pp'I'm sure there's a perception that anything that goes on in a shop on the high street is well regulated and entirely safe,' said David Newsum, a health and safety policy officer at the institute. 'But it may not be. People have been injured by a badly applied hair treatment, or by a cosmetic treatment, such as facial paralysis from Botox, or by being burnt in a sunbed salon. /pp'It could be that a treatment is in itself intrinsically dangerous or it is the way it is administered. While the vast majority of premises are giving customers safe treatments, we need to root out places that are causing real problems.' /ppWhile the number of people who complain after having a bad experience is small, environmental health officers believe the true figure may be much higher because many incidents go unreported. 'There's a growing concern about the need to look into this whole area,' Newsum added. /ppThe institute's findings and concerns were echoed by the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services, which represents officials who carry out enforcement duties for local councils. /ppNail bars are a particular cause for concern, said Karen Ashdown, the organisation's health and safety licensing officer. Some are using acrylic nail products containing methyl methacrylate (MMA), a chemical that has been blamed for causing lung, kidney and liver problems, asthma, and allergic reactions. It is far cheaper than the much safer alternative, EMA. More than 30 states in America have banned MMA. /pp'The trouble is that it is a permanent bonding agent, so women can't easily remove their false nails,' said Ashdown. 'They can still prise them off, but it will often pull off their real nail too. Real harm does happen sometimes.'/ppSome women have ripped open the top of their finger after getting their false nail caught in clothing because it was glued on so tightly. /ppIncreasingly popular waxing procedures run the risk of spreading infections such as herpes and the contagious skin complaint impetigo, she added: 'Bacteria can start to live in the wax if a spatula is used to apply it to two or more clients. A spatula should be single use, but sometimes it's not. Some people have ended up in hospital with an infection, including septicaemia, after having a tattoo or piercing. Some henna tattoos that use the wrong type of henna can burn the skin.' /ppBurgeoning demand for laser treatments to remove unwanted hair and blemishes and injections of anti-wrinkle substances such as Botox is also a problem, because clients could be burnt or infected, Ashdown added./ppAlthough such premises are meant to register with the Healthcare Commission, not all do. The Health and Safety Executive has published two reports this year highlighting risks to nail-bar staff. One found the nail technicians' work with chemicals and potentially hazardous dust and vapours left them with 'a statistically significant increased prevalence of work-related symptoms, including nasal, neck, shoulder, wrist/hand and lower back problems, as well as headaches and upper back, leg and foot problems. Ventilation needed to reduce exposure may not be effective, the HSE found. /ppIts other report, based on inspections of 205 hairdressers, beauty salons and nail bars, found that staff there were 'at potential risk of developing skin and respiratory ill-health conditions if good working practices and effective exposure control methods are not applied'./ppMany hairdressing staff also suffer from dermatitis because their hands are often wet and handling chemicals in dyes, bleaches and shampoos. /ppThese concerns about the beauty industry come after a drugs watchdog last week warned the public not to use an injectable tanning aid called Melanotan. The tan jab is an unlicensed medicine that is being sold illegally in some tanning salons and body-building gyms, as well as over the internet. The powder, which is mixed with water, has not undergone safety checks and has been linked to increased blood pressure. /pp'We don't know what the side-effects are, so it could do harm to your short-term or long-term health. Users are taking a gamble with their lives,' said a Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency spokeswoman./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/beauty"Beauty/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/health"Health/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/healthandwellbeing"Health wellbeing/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Lifeandstylecountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527287112300260553996"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Lifeandstylecountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527287112300260553996" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/99956?ns=guardianpageName=Travel%3A+Look+at+me%2C+Mum%2C+I+can+crawlch=Travelc3=The+Observerc4=Family+holidays%2CBelgium+%28Travel%29%2CRest+and+relaxation+%28Travel%29%2CWeekend+breaks%2CYorkshire+%28Travel%29%2CTravelc5=European+Travel%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CFamily+Holidays%2CUK+Travelc6=Lucy+Rockc7=2008_11_23c8=1122413c9=articlec10=GUc11=Travelc12=Family+holidaysc13=c14=h2=GU%2FTravel%2FFamily+holidays" width="1" height="1" //divpLie flat on your backs, ears under the water and kick, kick, kick those legs.' These instructions could be heard in any beginners' swimming lesson but this class was for babies only and my nine-week-old daughter was among them. According to modern parenting wisdom, you are never too young to learn a new skill, and Lucy and Andy Orr, who run Glynn Barton Cottages in Cornwall, which cater for parents of under-fives, are tapping into the trend by adding baby swimming lessons to the list of attractions. Their five-day courses are a good way of introducing your newborn or toddler to the water. /ppMy baby, Agnes, loved it. Obviously I don't know that for sure because, genius child though she is, she can't yet talk. But she only cried once or twice during each half-hour session and mostly adopted a happily serene look./ppDon't expect your baby to be zipping up and down the pool with a perfect butterfly stroke by the end of the week, but they do 'swim' underwater after a fashion. At first it's nerve-racking; with both hands around Agnes's body, I had to push her gently under the surface of the water, head first at a 45-degree angle, and then - terrifyingly - release her. Sarah reassured us that the baby's 'diving reflex' kicks in, causing the epiglottis to close over and block the throat so no water can get through. This is why you often see picture of babies swimming under water with their mouths open. As soon as the baby is underwater, she will begin to kick her legs and glide up to the surface where you lift her out and give her a cuddle. The 'swim' only takes a few seconds./ppIn truth, I didn't enrol Agnes in the course just for her benefit - my daughter Beatrix, 21 months, and I got to stay with her in one of the eight 18th-century cottages and enjoy all the other facilities. /ppLucy, a former charity events organiser, and Andy, a landscape gardener, bought Glynn Barton nine years ago when Lucy was pregnant with their eldest son. It was then a tired two-star complex, which they renovated to create the four-star family paradise it is today./ppWithin two minutes' walk there is a playroom, a soft play barn, an outdoor area with toddler cars and bicycles, an adventure playground and the indoor heated pool. No excuse for the kids to get bored, and keeping them entertained requires minimal effort from mum or dad. Being a mile from a public road and set in 13 acres of beautiful grounds also makes it a safe place for children to run free - a rarity for Beatrix, living as she does in a busy part of London./ppIt is like being in a hotel without the restrictions of set meal times and all being crammed into one bedroom. The cottages are tastefully decorated and contain everything a family needs - high chairs, cots, stair gates, toddler crockery, DVD player, dishwasher and microwave - and look out over the stunning Cardinham valley with its patchwork of fields. There's a midweek maid service and no need to cook. An on-site shop sells home-made frozen food, which is pretty tasty, and local delicacies, though it doesn't stock basics such as bread, milk or eggs (it only takes five minutes in the car to get to the supermarket in Bodmin). Oh, and there's a babysitting service so you can spend ridiculous amounts of money in Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, which is a half-hour drive away, if you're feeling flush. /ppA holiday with babies and toddlers is rarely relaxing, but the idea at Glynn Barton is for parents to have a break too. While dad entertains the children, mum can have a massage (a beautician can be booked to come to your cottage), or, in my case, go to bed for a kip. While I hope the highlight of our stay for Agnes was her swimming lessons, I'm in no doubt that for Beatrix it was the animal feeding. At 9.30 each morning 'Farmer Andy', as the children call him, doles out food pellets to the children and explains how to throw them to the two donkeys, four sheep, two pigs, chickens and small herd of Highland cattle./ppBeing a city girl, Beatrix is all too cocky when she sees an animal in a book or on the television, mimicking their grunting, braying or baaaa-ing, but show her one in the flesh and she's terrified. Not so now. By the end of our stay, she was stroking the chickens, holding out pig nuts for the kunekune pigs, Huxley and Preston, and patting Muffin the donkey. /ppFor me, tired by the night-time demands of a hungry baby, the key to Glynn Barton is that you don't have to pack up the car and go out if you don't have the energy; all the facilities and swimming lessons are included in the price, so you may as well make the most of them. However, the cottages are well placed for day trips. Other, more adventurous, parents with older children visited beaches on both the south and north Cornish coasts, the Eden Project, Newquay Zoo, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, and the Bodmin and Wenford steam railway, all a 30-minute drive or so away./ppBeatrix and Agnes didn't seem anxious to explore much either. Beatrix thought she had entered Toddler Land and was happy to remain there, and Agnes was exhausted by the swimming and slept for much of the day. Her teacher, Sarah Scheele, of Swim Academy for Babies, says better eating and sleeping patterns are two of the benefits of baby swimming; given Agnes's monster appetite and daytime dozing during our stay, I can vouch for this. Sarah also thinks the lessons can help women get their pre-pregnancy figures back because there's a lot of holding baby at arm's length and swishing her through the water. I think this is wishful thinking. Cutting out cake and crisps is the only way I'm going to shift those baby pounds./ppLots of people sign up for safety reasons. Sarah is confident she can teach the babies to float on their backs unaided and to make their way to the side of the pool and hang on if they accidentally tumble in. Sarah fell into a pond when she was three and was dragged out unconscious. When her sons were born - they are now three and four - she took them swimming and enjoyed the lessons so much she decided to train to be a teacher./ppFor me, the lessons were as much for myself as for Agnes. They gave me the confidence to take her into the water. Although I was terrified when she did her first underwater swim, now I can push her under the surface and watch her reappear a few seconds later without thinking I've drowned her. I can also guide her around the pool on her back with my fingers lightly supporting her head, and push her through the water as she clings on to a float in her tiny pink wetsuit. Sarah's enthusiasm is infectious and there are lots of songs and splashing about in each lesson to relax the babies and help them to enjoy the water. /ppIn Agnes's sessions were two other babies with their dads. Darcie Metherell, aged seven months, was top of the class, grinning widely as she was put through her paces by her father, Paul. His wife, Jo, who takes Darcie to lessons at home in Marlowe, said: 'Paul says I look at him as though he's about to drown Darcie when we're in the pool together so it's nice for him to learn the techniques too.'/ppI must go back to Glynn Barton with my husband, who was left at home during this trip, so he can learn the moves and leave me to catch up on some sleep or have that massage. Who said going on holiday with toddlers was stressful?/pp· A two-bedroom cottage at Glynn Barton Cottages (01208 821104; a href="http://www.glynnbarton.co.uk"www.glynnbarton.co.uk/a) costs from pound;510 per week in low season including swimming lessons, while a three-bedroom cottage can cost up to pound;1,790 in high season. /pp· Lessons for children over three will be run from 11-26 February. Baby swimming courses for children under two will be run again next November./ph2Treats for mum and baby/h2pstrongBaby Yoga, Mamaheaven/strongbr /strongKington, Herefordshire/strong/ppThese weekends are yoga retreats that are tailored for babies under 18 months and their mums. Alongside the classes are massage treatments, workshops, talks, organic suppers and lots of time to talk through all the issues around new motherhood and childbirth. The weekends take place in the Penrhos Court hotel in Herefordshire and also at Can Talaias, an agroturismo in Ibiza. /pp· The next weekend at Penrhos runs from 5-7 December and costs from pound;475 for mother and baby, including courses and meals. Call 01273 671762 or see a href="http://www.mamaheaven.org"www.mamaheaven.org/a/ppstrongBaby Massage, Swinton /strongbr /strongPark Hotel, North Yorkshire/strong/ppBaby massage has been proven to provide relief from newborn ailments such as colic, wind and sleeplessness and can be a gentle form of bonding for mum and baby. The spa at Swinton Park offers a course in baby massage techniques (pound;60 for 1hr 15 minutes), alongside other family-friendly facilities including a fantastically equipped playroom, lots of baby paraphernalia (cots, bottle warmers, listening devices etc) and plenty of activities./pp· Doubles from pound;140, cots pound;35. Call 01765 680900 or see a href="http://www.swintonpark.com"www.swintonpark.com/a/ppstrongBaby Spa, Thermes Du Midi, Belgium/strong/ppOne of the first spas in Europe to have a 'mother and baby institute' attached, which offers a five-day programme for mums and their new babies to relax, be pampered together and help overcome some of the rigours of childbirth. Mums get some time of their own with various therapists, and babies get their own massages too, while there are relaxing bath therapies that both can share./pp· The five-day package costs about pound;400 for all treatments, nursery services and lunches, but not accommodation. Call 00 32 87 772 560; a href="http://www.thermesdespa.com"www.thermesdespa.com/a /ppstrongBaby Play, Calcot Manor, Gloucestershire/strong/ppIf you're after something simpler that combines lots of stimulation for your baby - and lots of relaxation for you - Calcot Manor offers fantastic children's facilities, play area and toys for newborns upwards, with a top-notch spa and luxury rooms. /pp· Doubles from pound;230 BB. Book on 01666 890391; a href="http://www.calcotmanor.co.uk"www.calcotmanor.co.uk/a/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/familyholidays"Family holidays/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/belgium"Belgium/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/restandrelaxation"Rest and relaxation/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/weekends"Weekend breaks/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/yorkshire"Yorkshire/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Travelcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527516112300260553996"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Travelcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527516112300260553996" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/15804?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Somalia+sinks+deeper+into+a+state+of+total+disintegrationch=World+newsc3=The+Observerc4=Somalia+%28News%29%2CHuman+rights+%28News%29%2CPiracy+%28Film%29%2CWorld+news%2CObserverc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CFilm+Reviewsc6=Peter+Beaumontc7=2008_11_23c8=1122486c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Somaliac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FSomalia" width="1" height="1" //divpZam Zam Abdi fled Mogadishu after being threatened with death by the hardline Islamist militia - the Shabab. The message from the armed group once allied to the Union of Islamic Courts, the coalition that briefly seized power in 2006, was simple: if she continued working for her women's rights organisation in the Somali capital, she would be killed. The warning was posted on her office gates. But it is what happened to a friend and colleague, working for another organisation, that persuaded her to escape. He was shot dead and the same note left on his body./pp'Most of us had to leave,' she said. 'We had emails and phone calls telling us to stop working. They used an expression famous in Somalia: Falka aad ku jirtid maka baxeeysa. May ama haa? It means - "Stop what you are doing or we will act. Yes or no?" Then someone spoke on the radio - a local leader called Sheikh Mahmoud - delivering the same warning.'/ppZam Zam, 28, separates the chaos and violence that has pervaded her country since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 into 'ordinary Mogadishu' and 'not ordinary'. 'Ordinary', in Zam Zam's definition, describes her country's persistent clan warfare, even the heavy fighting in the city that drove her to leave before with her daughter when Ethiopian troops - supporting the internationally recognised government - shelled her neighbourhood in 2006 to drive the Islamic Courts out after six months in power. /ppIn the ordinary violence and chaos, Zam Zam and her colleagues could still work, negotiating with the clan warlords. In common with the UN, Zam Zam believes that what is happening now is something else. Something terrible, exceeding perhaps even the bloodsoaked chaotic days of the early 1990s when Somalia was last plunged into anarchy./ppIt is Mogadishu that symbolises what is happening. A large proportion of its population - already jobless, hungry and surviving on aid - has fled the fighting in the city between the Shabab and the forces of the country's weak and rapidly imploding government, backed by its Ethiopian allies. The streets are stalked by assassins, kidnappers and suicide bombers. And the Shabab is threatening to overrun the country's south and centre. /ppIf what is happening is a disaster, it is a disaster hardly noticed by the world. Yet it has not only been human rights workers who have been attacked. Government officials, politicians and journalists, anyone who does not fit in with the Shabab's world view, have been threatened and killed, mostly for being tainted by Western ideas. 'When the leadership of the Islamic Courts fled in 2006, the Shabab became more independent,' said Zam Zam. /ppFor humanitarian workers, problems were exacerbated when one of the Shabab's leaders, accused also of being a leader of al-Qaeda, was killed in a US air strike in late spring in the town of Dusa Mareeb. 'When the US hit Shabab hideouts they started seeing us as being spies of the West. If people were kidnapped they would ask to see our laptops before releasing us to see what information we held on them.'/ppWhile the world has focused on the rampant piracy problem afflicting the Gulf of Aden, which saw yet another tanker held for ransom last week, the seizing of ships is only a symptom of a much more terrifying malaise./ppWhat it points to is the wholesale failure of a state and the international community's abandonment of the Somalia problem except where it affects its interests - in terms of shipping trade and the 'war on terror' for the West and on a more local scale for the regional interests of Ethiopia and Eritrea./ppLast week, however, the African Union Commission's chairman, Jean Ping, reiterated what many are convinced of: that the piracy problem is inseparable from Somalia's caustic political and security problems. 'Piracy is an extension on the sea of the problem you are facing on the land ... [it] is an important aspect of all the disorder you already have in Somali territory,' he said./ppSomalia is not so much a failed state as one that is atomising. Forty-three per cent of the country is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, about 3.2 million people at the last count. There are 1.3 million internally displaced, 100,000 of them fleeing the fighting in Mogadishu alone since the beginning of September. Inflation is running at 1,600 per cent. One in six children in southern and central Somalia is acutely malnourished./ppDozens of aid workers, most of them locals, have been murdered this year, largely by members of the Shabab. According to the Shabab, even locals who take money from the UN are therefore in the pay of foreign interests and enemies to be killed./ppMogadishu and other centres have been hit by suicide attacks - merely one aspect of an intensely violent society. There is the religious conflict between the factions of the Islamic Courts allied to the Shabab and those they regard as insufficiently Islamic. Then there are the ever-present clan conflicts, at the centre of which is the rivalry between the Hawiye and the Darod groups. Added to this is the battle between the Transitional Federal government backed by Ethiopia and the Islamic Courts./ppThese conflicts are underscored by complex, interleaving rivalries even within the Islamist factions which have pitted the Shabab - literally the 'Youth' - against the more moderate Djibouti faction. On top of all this has been the mushrooming of criminal activity, piracy, smuggling and people-trafficking, some of it linked to groups such as the Shabab. Foreign jihadi fighters have also been attracted into the chaos. The consequence has been a disaster. /pp'The situation is very serious,' said a Mogadishu businessman who spoke to The Observer on Friday asking not to be identified for fear of being targeted by one of the rival groups. 'A lot of the population has fled from the city. Some areas are deserted and it is very difficult and dangerous. There are no jobs. People are only surviving on the food provided at the kitchens of the aid organisations. Others get money sent from their relatives overseas. /pp'The military loyal to the government are looting. They are taking mobiles from people and committing other crimes. Then there are the different factions of the resistance who call themselves names like the Union of Islamic Courts or Islamic Jihad. Last week the Shabab took two more towns. This is the worst situation since the civil war began,' he added. 'You don't know who will attack or kill you.' /ppAnd despite the advances on the battlefield made by the Shabab, he does not believe that the period of calm and order enjoyed in Somalia in 2006 when the Islamic Courts first took over would be replicated if the Islamist groups won once more. 'This time it will be worse,' he said. 'The Courts replaced the clan warlords but had no ideas for the future and were driven back. This time the Islamic groups will fight among themselves. This time we will have Islamic warlords. They will fight and there will be more difficult problems.'/ppSomalia's tragedy has been a slow, deadly and divisive affair that has ground out over the years since the fall of the socialist state founded by Siad Barre in 1991. Its roots, at least partly, are to be found in his disastrous war to seize the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, an adventure that would lead to eventual defeat for Somalia's forces and the beginning of Ethiopia's long history of interference in Somalia, which saw it arm the warlords who brought Siad Barre down./ppDespite the overthrow of his authoritarian regime, the rival clans responsible for his downfall could not agree on a replacement, leading to lawlessness and social collapse. The result was a country that, when confronted with famine, was unable to cope, leading to the deaths of more than a million of its people. /ppWhile the rest of the world knows Somalia for the intervention by American and Pakistani troops as part of Operation Restore Hope in 1993, for Somalis the country's story has been told in clan strife and repeated failures - 14 to date - to establish a government whose writ runs throughout the state. /ppThe most recent effort was the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Djibouti in 2004 whose authority was quickly challenged by the Islamic Courts, which emerged out of the port city of Kismayo and sought to establish a strict interpretation of sharia law before being driven out by Ethiopian troops who intervened on behalf of the TFG. /ppWhile the rule of the Islamic Courts was, by most Somali accounts, a period of relative calm, it is what has happened since that has driven Somalia towards a new catastrophe. Despite a peace deal between one of the factions of the Islamic Courts and the TFG, the Courts' former militia, the Shabab, has split apart - with the most militant faction responsible for the most violence, in particular those who look to the leadership of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline Salafist said to be close to al-Qaeda./ppThe outcome so many Somalis feared has already come to pass in large areas of south-central Somalia that have fallen under the control of the country's reinvented militant Islamist movement. In recent days its fighters have captured two more towns close to the capital, including Elasha, nine miles south of Mogadishu. In Elasha in recent days rival Islamist groups have already clashed violently./ppElsewhere, the Shabab is already consolidating its victories, including in Marka, capital of the Lower Shabele region. Speaking to a crowd in Marka, Muktar Robow - known as 'Abu Mansur' - a spokesman for the Shabab said the group had come to secure the region against foreigners and criminals./ppAccording to the community-based station Radio Garowe, in the north of the country, he said that the Shabab intended to establish an Islamic court to administer justice, adding: 'We will not allow the citizens to be oppressed again.'/ppMilitarily, it is a situation so bleak for the forces of the TFG and its Ethiopian allies that President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed admitted two weeks ago that Islamists now control most of Somalia, raising the prospect that his government could completely collapse. 'We are only in Mogadishu and Baidoa, where there is daily war,' he said. /ppThat leaves a fundamental question: will the Shabab press its advantage to attempt to take Mogadishu once again? On Friday the indication was that it might be its intention, as the capital saw one of the fiercest gun battles in recent weeks when Islamist fighters attacked the house of a local government official, leaving 17 dead. /ppThe Islamist factions have also become increasingly bold in recent weeks, with their spokesmen in Mogadishu regularly holding news conferences and carrying out floggings in the parts of the capital they control, whereas only a few months ago they were careful not to be seen in the open./ppDespite the high profile of the Shabab in recent weeks, some analysts believe that it may be content with the chaos in Mogadishu that has bogged down the contingent of African peacekeepers as well as Somali-Ethiopian troops. They believe, too, that the Shabab is wary of the several thousand Ethiopian troops who defeated them before./ppFears over what would happen if the Islamists were to take the capital and impose sharia law across the south were underlined by a single incident at the beginning of the month - the stoning to death for adultery of a 13-year-old rape victim, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, in Kismayo. 'You know how bad it is getting,' said Zam Zam, 'when a 13-year-old is stoned to death. Then you know that it is really scary.'/pp'Somalia in general and Mogadishu is in the midst of a deep political, humanitarian and security crisis,' said Asha Haji Elmi, an MP and activist and delegate to the UN-led peace process, who fled before the Ethiopian advance in 2006. Now based in Nairobi, she remains in daily contact with people in Somalia. /pp'They talk to me about a precarious situation, and it is civilians who are paying the heaviest price, especially women and children. It is unbelievable. There are internally displaced spread everywhere. There is no secure place.'/ppShe forcefully rejects any new attempt to impose a military solution on her country: 'The solution is political. It requires dialogue. That is the only symbol of hope. A military solution cannot be the answer to the problem. Everyone who has tried to solve Somalia's problems by force has failed.'/ph2A short and bloody history/h2pstrong1960/strong Britain withdraws from British Somaliland, making way for a union with Italian Somaliland. The new country is known as the Somali Republic./ppstrong1969/strong A coup launched by Mohamed Siad Barre ushers in a period of increasingly authoritarian rule. /ppstrong1977 /strongSiad Barre invades the Ethiopian territory of Ogaden in a bid to create a Greater Somalia. The Soviet Union and Cuba back Ethiopia. /ppstrong1991/strong Siad Barre is deposed by warlords, largely from the south, armed and supported by Ethiopia. The country descends into factional fighting. In May the northern clans declare an independent Republic of Somalia./ppstrong1993/strong Facing an appalling famine, the UN launches a humanitarian effort led by US and Pakistani troops. Thwarted by General Mohamed Farah Aideed, the mission suffers casualties, including the episode described in the film Black Hawk Down, above right, when 17 US Rangers were killed - and the UN mission leaves in 1995 in the wake of the US withdrawal./ppstrong2004/strong The two-year peace process concludes in the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government. It never manages to establish real authority. /ppstrong2006/strong A coalition of businessmen, clerics and militias known as the Union of Islamic Courts sweeps to power. Ethiopia, encouraged by the US, intervenes to support the TFG and drives back the Courts, claiming they are allied to al-Qaeda's East African network./ppstrong2008/strong With the leadership of the Courts in exile, a resurgent Islamist movement, focused on the hardline Shabab militia group, makes gains throughout the country, threatening Mogadishu and Baidoa by November./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/somalia"Somalia/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/humanrights"Human rights/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/piracy"Piracy/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527229112300260553996"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527229112300260553996" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/post_image/post_image-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_00.jpg" border="0"br Middle-aged? Recently dumped by your respectable-looking musician boyfriend/husband? Don't worry. David Spade's gonna make everything alright. a href="http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/10454"OK! Magazine/a reports: blockquoteThe Desperate Housewives star was celebrating her 45th birthday at new L.A. hot spot Luau in Beverly Hills — the same place they were spotted together a few weeks ago at the grand opening — and onlookers tell OK!, "Nicolette and David were full-on making out!"br The duo arrived separately and even started the dinner at separate booths but couldn't resist each other for long! According to witnesses, Spade winked at Sheridan and stood at her side while she blew out the candles on her cake. After that, the two retreated to a booth where they cuddled and kissed./blockquote Is there anyone David Spade emhasn't/em banged? From a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/10/david_spade_texted_heather_loc.php"Heather Locklear/a to a href="I should be writing this down."Playboy Bunnies/a to now Nicollete Sheridan, the guy's penis has been there. Obviously, women find it attractive when a small man makes love to them then vanishes in a "POOF" of green clovers and red balloons. I should be writing this down... div style="width: 425px; margin: 0 0 0 30px; padding: 0;"ul style="list-style-type: none; display: block; width: 425px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"li style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_00.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=1" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_01.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=2" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_02.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=3" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_03.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=4" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_04.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=5" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_05.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=6" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_06.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/lili style="display: block; float: left; width: 90px; height: 134px; margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0;"a href="http://thesuperficial.com/2008/11/nicollette_sheridan_david_spad.php?bfm_index=7" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 134px; background: #CCC; overflow: hidden; margin: 0; padding: 0;"img src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com//bfm_gallery/2008/11/1122 Nicollette Sheridan Bday/gallery_thumb/gallery_thumb-1122_nicollette_sheridan_bday_07.jpg" style="display: block; border: 1px solid #cccccc; width: 88px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/a/li/uldiv style="clear: left;"/div/div div class = "credit"Photos: a href="http://www.pacificcoastnewsonline.com"Pacific Coast News/a/div pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/vc2yLHoSOc4UqG9SrdI9LSGS-W0/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/vc2yLHoSOc4UqG9SrdI9LSGS-W0/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesuperficial/SNxk/~4/S1UB0is17rQ" height="1" width="1"/

iJournal of the National Medical Association, Vol. 100, No. 5. (May 2008), pp. 508-515./ibr /br /PURPOSE: To examine how family history of cancer influences the mammography screening behaviors of asymptomatic African-American women. METHODS: Using the National Health Interview Survey's 2000 Cancer Control Module, the authors performed bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regressions with SAS/SUDAAN due to the complex sampling design. RESULTS: Of the 1,531 African-American women in the final sample, 38% had a family history of cancer. Women with a family history of cancer were 39% more likely to have a recent mammogram compared to women with no family history of cancer (OR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.06-1.81; p < 0.05). Eighty-five percent of African-American women aged > 40 with a family history of cancer indicated having a mammogram in the past compared to nearly 70% of African-American women without a family history of cancer. CONCLUSION: Family history of any cancer independently and positively predicted mammography screening behaviors among asymptomatic African-American women. This suggests that African-American women with a history of cancer in their family are more likely (and perhaps more motivated) to engage in early cancer detection practices.

Your Black World is the top black news and commentary site in America. You can find news and commentary from all the major networks: CNN, ESPN, BET, CBS, CNN, and on all African American leaders and public figures in black america: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, BET, Hip Hop vs. America, rappers, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, state of the black union, state of black america, naacp, rainbow push coaltion, the urban league, wendy williams, wbls, the tom joyner morning show, black america web, juanita bynum, akon, rick ross, kanye west, lil wayne, doug banks, michael baisden, hot 97, r. kelly trial, marc lamont hill, roland martin, black men, black women, african american men african american women, black issues, black commentary, black people, tv one, bet hip hop awards, henry louis gates, howard university, morehouse university, spelman college, black colleges, hbcus, alpha kappa alpha sorority inc, phi beta sigma, omega psi phi, black greeks, kirk franklin, denzel washington, will smith, essence magazine, ebony magazine, black enterprise magazine, vibe magazine, jay z, beyonce, king magazine, kobe bryant, lebron james, shaquille o'neal. Our enemies: Bill O'reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, The O'Reilly Factor.

Author: yourblackpolitics Keywords: barack obama naacp Added: November 22, 2008

 

Who said bras are only for women? A Japanese online lingerie retailer is selling bras for cross-dressing men and they’ve quickly become one of its most popular items.

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Previously, maybe most people would consider poker is such a game, which belongs to men no matter in China or other foreign countries. I still remember in “Friends” when girls want to play poker with boys, the boys’ reaction is kind of weird, because they think women are not supposed to play...

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Envoyé : 22 novembre 2008
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iInternational Journal of Environmental Health Research, Vol. 14, No. 2. (2004), pp. 121-134./ibr /br /Egypt shows a parallel increase in premenopausal breast cancer and environmental pollution. The purpose of this study is to explore a possible relationship between oxidative DNA damage, urinary estrogen metabolites and breast cancer in Egyptian premenopausal women. We conducted a pilot study of Egyptian breast cancer involving 29 cases and 32 controls and analysed lymphocyte DNA levels of 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanine (8-oxo-dG), a measure of oxidative DNA damage using high performance liquid chromatography with electro-chemical detection (HPLC-ECD) method. We analysed levels of urinary estrogen metabolites, 2-hydroxyestrone (2-OHE) and 16&agr;-hydroxyestrone (16&agr;-OHE) by an enzyme immuno assay. We also collected residential, occupational, and reproductive histories of all study subjects. We detected, in all subjects, exceptionally high levels of 8-oxo-dG and thus oxidative DNA damage, the levels (mean 8-oxo-dG/105 dG&hairsp;±&hairsp;SD) were significantly (P&hairsp;

iCancer, Vol. 103, No. 8. (2005), pp. 1540-1550./ibr /br /African-American women have had a lower incidence, yet higher mortality rate from breast cancer compared with White-American women. African-American women also have had a higher risk for early-onset, high-grade, node-positive, and hormone receptor-negative disease. Similar features have characterized hereditary breast cancer, prompting speculation that risk factors could be genetically transmitted. Further evaluation of this theory required the study of breast cancer among women from sub-Saharan Africa because of their shared ancestry with African-American women.Publications from 1988 to 2004 of English-language literature on breast cancer in Africa were reviewed.Women from sub-Saharan Africa were found to have a low incidence of breast cancer. This was partly explained by a largely protective reproductive history, including late menarche, early menopause, high parity with prolonged breastfeeding, irregular menses, and fewer ovulatory cycles. The average age at diagnosis, however, was approximately 10 years younger than breast cancer patients of western nations, and disease stage distribution was shifted toward more advanced disease, which resulted in higher mortality rates. These features were found to be similar to data on breast cancer in African-American women. Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been reported in African-American women, but the extent of the contribution of BRCA1 and BRCA2 to breast cancer burden in Africa was uncertain. Limited financial resources lead to suboptimal cancer data collection, as well as delayed diagnosis and treatment of many African breast cancer patients.Parallels between breast cancer burdens of African-American and sub-Saharan-African women were provocative, indicating the need for further exploration of possible genetically transmitted features related to estrogen metabolism and/or breast cancer risk. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society.

Goodness knows the world wasn't asking for the equivalent of National Lampoon's Bring It On (alternate title: Take It Off), but if we had to be subjected to the forthcoming cheer romp that is Fired Up!, why has it taken nine years to cash in on the trend? I can't otherwise understand how else this comedy -- the trailer for which we've included after the jump -- has gotten off the ground.

See, it's about a pair of high school football players (played by 31-year-old Eric Christian Olsen and 28-year-old Nicholas D'Agosto) who opt out on their team training in order to tag along with the all-female cheerleading squad to their cheer camp/competition. Besides, with 300 ready-and-waiting young women at their alleged disposal, what are the odds that one of our guys will instead want to hook up with the cutie (Sarah Roemer) calling their bluff? And what chance could there possibly be that she already has a dick-ish boyfriend who can't help but make them look like more sensible guys in comparison? Might hilarity ensue?!

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divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/72887?ns=guardianpageName=Business%3A+30%2C000+jobs+at+risk+as+Woolworths+teeters+on+the+brinkch=Businessc3=The+Guardianc4=Woolworths+%28Business%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CRedundancy%2CPolitics%2CUK+newsc5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Marketsc6=Julia+Finchc7=2008_11_22c8=1122275c9=articlec10=GUc11=Businessc12=Woolworthsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FWoolworths" width="1" height="1" //divpMore than 30,000 retail jobs were at risk last night as Woolworths fought to avoid collapse and the fashion discount chain MK One crashed into administration for the second time in a year./ppWoolworths' future was hanging in the balance after its bankers objected to a management rescue plan to sell the loss-making 800-store chain to Hilco, which specialises in restructuring distressed companies./ppThe 99-year old retailer, which is a mainstay of town and city centres across the country, is now in last-ditch talks with its lenders in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. But a source close to the negotiations said the talks had reached "an impasse" and "are not looking good"./ppSome 25,000 staff work in Woolworths stores and another 5,000 for two other businesses in the Woolworths group: EUK and 2entertain. The group also has 10,000 pensioners and pension fund members./ppEUK distributes DVDs, CDs and books to major supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons and if the distributor is forced into administration alongside the Woolworths stores it could threaten the supermarkets' supplies in the vital Christmas shopping weeks./pp2entertain is a joint venture with the BBC which produces and distributes BBC programmes on DVD and has had big successes with shows such as Little Britain and Top Gear./ppMK One, which operates 125 stores aimed at young women and teenagers, has 1,400 staff jobs at risk./ppThe latest potential job losses come amid vast cutbacks in the retail industry, which is slashing staff costs by reducing workers' hours. Argos, for instance, has cut workers' hours by 20%. The specialist magazine Retail Week yesterday reported that across the high street such cutbacks now equal 100,000 full time jobs vanishing in the last year. The retail sector employs 10% of the UK workforce./ppThe stock market fell sharply again yesterday as investors worried about the effects of a recession on the corporate sector. Leading UK shares suffered their third worst week on record with the FTSE 100 slipping to 3,780, its lowest level since April 2003./ppWoolworths has been battered by other retailers for years, but in recent weeks it has also been squeezed by the economic downturn and the impact of credit insurers - who protect suppliers from non-payment of invoices in the event of a retailer going bust - withdrawing cover to Woolworths' suppliers. That has left the chain having to pay suppliers on delivery - or have empty shelves./ppWoolworths bosses have tried to sell the chain for a year in order to protect the other two businesses, but without success. A possible offer from Iceland supermarket boss Malcolm Walker in the summer fell apart when Baugur, the Icelandic investor backing his approach, ran into its own, credit crunch-related, problems./ppEarlier this week Woolworths confirmed it might sell the stores, which are all leasehold, to Hilco. The US-owned group would have also taken on pound;265m of Woolworths' pound;380m of debts. Woolworths wanted the other pound;115m of debt to be transferred to EUK and 2entertain, which last year made profits of more than pound;40m before interest and tax./ppIn normal banking circumstances, such an arrangement would be commonplace, but a source familiar with the situation said: "The banks just won't let it happen. They seem to want to put the whole lot into administration to get all their money back immediately. The banks have the whip hand here."/ppWoolworths has a range of lenders, and many have been hit hard by the credit crunch. Its lead lenders are GMAC, of the US which is applying to the American bank bail-out fund for support, and Burdale, part of the deeply troubled Bank of Ireland, which yesterday said it had received a takeover approach./ppWoolworths' other lenders include Barclays, which is raising pound;7bn from Middle East investors, the American bank Wachovia, which has just been taken over, and GE, which has had two profits warnings this year./ppA spokesman for Burdale, one of the lead lenders, refused to comment on the discussions with Woolworths./ppThe crisis at Woolworths and MK One will increase fears that other ailing retail chains could collapse in the coming weeks. Casualties - and a fresh round of job losses - had been expected in the new year, when the Christmas winners and losers emerge. But lenders and suppliers had been thought unlikely to force stores into bankruptcy in the run-up to Christmas, when they should be raking in cash. Woolworths, for instance, normally makes 90% of its profits in the six weeks before Christmas. However, in the first six months of this year it crashed pound;100m in the red./ppWoolworths shares closed last night at just 1.43p, down 32%, valuing the entire business at just pound;25m - equal to about three days' sales./ph2strongJob cuts this week/strong/h2pstrongMonday/strongbr /Citigroup, London strong2,400/strongbr /Avis, Hayes, Middlesex strong100/strongbr /Hoover, Merthyr Tydfil strong337/strong/ppstrongTuesday/strongbr /Wolseley, nationwide strong2,000 /strongbr /National Express, East Anglia strong200/strongbr /PSL Energy Services, Aberdeen strong50/strong/ppstrongWednesday/strongbr /SIG, nationwide strong900/strongbr /Fidelity International, London strong300/strongbr /Deutsche Bank, London strong450/strong/ppstrongThursday/strongbr /Rolls-Royce, Derby strong140/strongbr /AstraZeneca, Macclesfield strong250/strongbr /BAE Systems, nationwide strong200/strongbr /Daily Mail and General Trust strong400/strongbr /Tughans, Northern Ireland strong20/strong/ppTotal strong7,747/strong/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/woolworths"Woolworths/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail"Retail industry/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/redundancy"Redundancy/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Businesscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660246112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Businesscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660246112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a