Wynn opens casino in Macau - World business

Stephen Wynn ready to open casino  in Macau

U.S. gaming mogul sees Asia as new destination for high rollers
Kin Cheung / AP
Workers prepare the red carpet for the opening ceremony of the new hotel Wynn Macau in Macau Tuesday. American gaming mogul Stephen Wynn was ready to throw open the doors of his new $1.2 billion casino to gamblers Wednesday in Macau, the Chinese territory that's rivaling the Las Vegas Strip as the world's epicenter for gambling.

MACAU - American gaming mogul Stephen Wynn threw open the doors of his new US$1.2 billion (euro930 mil.) casino to gamblers Wednesday in Macau �" the Chinese territory that seeks to rival the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s epicenter for gambling.

The sleek Wynn Macau casino with a sloping roof is a key part of Macau’s bid to transform itself from a second-rate spot for day-tripping gamblers to a major global tourist destination with luxury hotels, resorts, shows and convention centers.

Investors and casino tycoons have been pouring billions into the former Portuguese enclave during the past four years. They’re hoping to cash in on a huge surge in tourists from China, which took control of the tiny territory seven years ago.

Macau �" a peninsula and two islands off the southeastern Chinese coast �" is the only place in China that allows casino gambling.

Wynn told reporters Tuesday that the future of his Wynn Resorts Ltd. was in Macau and Asia.

“The speed of development is dizzying. The population it seeks to serve is expanding,” Wynn said, just hours before his resort’s midnight opening.

Wynn, 65, the son of a bingo parlor operator, met the media in his employees’ dining hall because he said he wanted to stress that group were the most important part of the hotel. He wore white loafers, slacks and an untucked blue button-up shirt that said on the back: “Knowledge destroys fear.”

After a fireworks show, thousands of group lined up to enter the casino resort when it opened at midnight.

Zhu Jingqing, a middle-aged man from the central Chinese province of Hubei, said he liked the atmosphere. “I feel all mainlanders should come here to have a look,” he said.

Kong Ermu, 28, a tourist from the eastern province of Anhui, said: “It’s far better than what I imagined. It’s classier and comfortable.”

The resort features 600 rooms, some with views of the South China Sea. The casino has plush bright red carpets and offers 200 table games and 380 slot machines in a hall of 9,300 square meters (100,000 sq. feet). The complex also has a spa, six gourmet restaurants and a shopping esplanade with Bulgari, Chanel, Fendi, Prada and Giorgio Armani stores.

The front of the casino has a performance lake with 3 mil. liters (800,000 gallons) of water. The hotel’s lobby looks out over a lush garden with a blue-tile swimming pool.

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Quiz: What's the best snack? - Health

NBC VIDEO•Snack attack! Low-cal treats
Aug. 2: The "Today" show's David Gregory talks to nutritionist Joy Bauer about sweet and salty snacks that won't blow your diet.

Today show

For more information on healthy eating, visit nutrition expert Joy Bauer’s web site at www.joybauernutrition.com.

Protect your eyes with these foods - Health

Protect your eyes with these foods

Reduce risk of cataracts and macular degeneration with good nutrition
NBC News video•Reduce your risks of cataracts
May 22: Nutritionist Joy Bauer tells TODAY host Meredith Vieira which foods protect your vision and keep it clear.

Today Show Health

By By Joy BauerTODAYShow.com contributor

Joy Bauer MS, RD, CDNTODAY nutritionist and diet editor•Profile•document.write('')E-maildocument.write('');

More than 13 mil. group in the U.S. suffer from macular degeneration, and about half of all Americans over the age of 80 have cataracts. Learn to dramatically reduce your risk by practicing the following healthy lifestyle habits:

Reduce your risk for macular degeneration
If you smoke you should stop, and if you’re overweight, take steps to lose the extra baggage. Also, everyone should wear a broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses that block 100percent of UVA/UVB rays when out in the sun for prolonged periods of time.

From a nutritional standpoint, a large-scale research project conducted by the National Eye Institute has shown that there are several nutrients that help reduce the risk and slow the progression of macular degeneration.

The most important foods for preventing macular degeneration are ones that are rich in zinc, beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin and omega-3 fats.

Beta carotene-rich foods: carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, cantaloupe, apricots and cherries.Vitamin C-rich foods: bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, oranges, strawberries and kiwis.Vitamin E-rich foods: wheat germ, almonds, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, peanut butter and avocados. Zinc-rich foods: oysters, ostrich (a very lean meat), turkey, pumpkin seeds and chick peas.Lutein-Zeaxanthin-rich foods: Occur together in spinach, Swiss chard, watercress, corn and persimmons.Omega-3 fats: wild salmon, sardines, Atlantic mackerel and omega-3-fortified eggs.

Rodale

Reduce your risk for cataracts
As mentioned with macular degeneration, stop smoking if you smoke, and regularly protect your eyes from the sun. Also, many of the foods that help prevent macular degeneration also help prevent cataracts, specifically vitamin C, vitamin E and lutein/zeaxanthin. Research has also shown that a diet rich in two B vitamins �" riboflavin (B2) and niacin (B3) �" may also help reduce your risk of cataracts.

Riboflavin-rich foods: skim milk and low-fat yogurt, eggs, mushrooms and almondsNiacin-rich foods: chicken and turkey breast, wild salmon, kidney beans and natural peanut butter

Anotherness interesting research finding was that tea �" green or black �" reduced glucose levels in diabetic rats, and the tea-drinking rats had fewer cataracts than their “non tea-drinking” counterparts! I’d love to see human studies, but I still think it’s worth having a cup or two of tea per day in the meantime.

Try my smoothie recipe for a great big blast of eye-fighting nutrients �" vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein and beta carotene:

Citrus "Smooth-See"Joy Bauer

Makes 1 3⁄4 cups

INGREDIENTS

. 1 orange, zested, then peeled and cut into sections. 1/2 medium pink grapefruit, peeled and cut into sections. 1 carrot, peeled and grated. 1/2 cup plain, fat-free yogurt. 1/4 cup raspberries. 1/4 cup cubed papaya. 2 tablespoons wheat germ. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice. 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS

In a blender or food processor, combine the orange zest and sections, grapefruit, carrot, yogurt, raspberries, papaya, wheat germ, lemon juice and sugar. Blend until smooth.

Per full serving:
340 calories, 15 g protein, 71 g carbohydrate, 2 g fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 138 mg sodium, 12 g fiber; plus 150 mg vitamin C (251percent DV), 6 IU vitamin E (18percent DV), 4,568 mcg beta carotene, 482 mcg lutein + zeaxanthin, 4 mg zinc (27percent DV)

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More from iVillageEating for Optimal Health: Mind-Body Sample Menu Eat Antioxidant-Rich Foods to Preserve Vision

Joy Bauer is the author of “Food Cures.” For more information on healthy eating, check out Joy’s Web site at www.joybauernutrition.com.

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Gates among MediaNews lenders - Real estate

Gates Foundation among MediaNews lenders

Newspaper chain purchased four newspapers from McClatchy

NEW YORK - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was among a few dozen banks, insurance companies, mutual funds and othernesss entities that loaned a total of $350 mil. to MediaNews Group Inc. for its purchase of four newspapers from publisher McClatchy Co.

The Seattle-based Gates Foundation, the world??�s largest philanthropy, contributed an unspecified amount of money toward the transaction, according to an Aug. 8 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by MediaNews Group. Others listed as contributors include General Electric Capital Corp. and Blue Shield of California.

Monica Harrington, a foundation spokeswoman, said she could not confirm how much the foundation contributed to the loan because it does not comment on its investment portfolio. A message left with the foundation??�s investment team was not immediately returned on Monday.

McClatchy completed its $1 billion sale of the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey County Herald and St. Paul Pioneer Press earlier this month, finishing its disposal of a dozen newspapers picked up in its recent acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. Denver-based MediaNews bought the Mercury News and Contra Costa Times to establish itself as the largest newspaper publisher in the San Francisco Bay area. Hearst Corp. bought the Monterey and Minnesota papers but is turning both over to MediaNews in exchange for a stake in MediaNews??� operations outside the Bay Area.

Privately owned MediaNews already owns the Oakland Tribune and a cluster of suburban papers in the Bay Area. Its otherness properties include The Denver Post, The Salt Lake Tribune and The Detroit News.

The Gates Foundation typically spends most of its money on global public health issues.

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These men want their foreskins back - Men's Sexual Health Guide

These men want their foreskins back

Activists decry circumcision and offer 'restoration' process

Jon Bonn?

Oct. 1, 2003 - "I am covered and have overhang." R. Wayne Griffiths, 70 and a grandfather, is speaking frankly about his foreskin -- which really is the only way one can speak on that topic. More to the point, he is gleefully describing the sensation of having his foreskin back after decades of living with a circumcised penis. "It's delightful," he says.

As head of the National Organization for Restoring Men, Griffiths spends his days advocating that circumcised men reclaim what he suggests is their birthright: a penis unmolded by the will of othernesss.

Medically popularized in the early 20th century, circumcision has become a routine option for newborn American boys. But a backlash has surfaced in recent years, often bolstered by conflicting medical data about the procedure's benefits. Out of that debate has emerged a tiny but growing movement of men who not only oppose circumcision, but want back what they consider taken from them. They want to regrow their foreskin.

The notion doesn't pass many groups' laugh agsdhfgdf. But NORM and similar groups are quite serious about straightforwardly counseling men on how to restore this tender bit of flesh. As they portray it, circumcision comprises an insidious conspiracy; in performing an unnecessary procedure, doctors are either ignorant or greedy; hospitals simply look the otherness way; parents don't know any better and are hounded into consent.

'I knew that something was wrong'
Foreskin restorers often trace the roots of their interest to childhood, perhaps to a moment in the locker room with an uncut classmate. "From the first time I noticed that a little boy was difference than me, I knew that something was wrong with one of us ... and I assumed maybe it was him," says psychologist Jim Bigelow, author "The Joy of Uncircumcising," an authoritative text of sorts for restorers.

That, in turn, could lead to shame.?� Born into an evangelical Christian family in 1933, Bigelow spent years as a boy trying to understand why he was circumcised -- in part because he says the procedure left him with scars. "I figured I was born with something wrong with me and they had to fix it," he says. "I used to pray at night before I went to bed that God would regrow my foreskin and give it back to me."

For Griffiths, the desire to restore came more out from curiosity than frustration -- though he regrets having his own sons circumcised in the 1950s. But he acknowledges many restorers "are just absolutely, almost violently angry at what has been done to them."

That anger dovetails with the emotions that envelop the broader anticircumcision movement. Groups that fight the practice often endorse restoration and some have urged men to sue their doctors for circumcising them. But they primarily are concerned with educating parents and doctors whom they argue are doing irreparable harm.

"You cannot cut off normal, healthy sexually functioning tissue without cutting off normal, healthy sexual functioning," says Marilyn Milos, a registered nurse and director of NOCIRC, the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers. "It??�s a sexual issue, and it??�s a human rights issue."

Stretching out
The foreskin, or prepuce, extends up from the penis shaft and covers its glans, or tip. It can protect the tender glans skin, and as men become sexually active it often serves as a buffer between the erect shaft and a partner's skin.

Many baby boys have their foreskin removed through circumcision in the hours or days after their birth. Most are done in hospitals by doctors, though some are performed as religious rites. (Ritual circumcision exists in both the Jewish and Muslim religious traditions.) Some two-thirds of baby boys in the United States are estimated to undergo the procedure, a higher rate than most countries but down slightly from an estimated 80 percent in the 1970s.

Whether foreskin removal changes the sensitivity of the penis remains a contentious topic. Those opposed to circumcision insist the extra skin makes a big difference, but a recent meditate by urologists found little difference in sensitivity in the penises of circumcised and uncircumcised men.

As for bringing back a foreskin, those in the restoration movement describe two methods. They rarely discuss the first, perhaps because many harbor a deep distrust of doctors: skin tissue, usually from the scrotum, is surgically grafted to the penis shaft in a way that replicates the foreskin's shape and function.

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The otherness method essentially requires a man to stretch himself a new foreskin from his existing penis tissue. A variety of methods and devices help accomplish this -- elastic bands, weighted metal containers, even special tape. Some are commercial products with names like P.U.D. (Penile Uncircumcision Device) and Tug Ahoy. Others are homemade with anything from silicone caulk to brass instrument mouthpieces. Several ounces of weights are sometimes added to speed the process.

"Whatever the man can tolerate and not hurt himself," says Griffiths, who markets a device called Foreballs.

All of these products distend the skin forward toward the glans and hold it in place to induce new cell growth, essentially forcing new skin to be created. Regrowth often takes years, with devices worn for 10 to 12 hours each day. Restorers claim it works best when periods of strain and rest are alternated -- not unlike the way weight trainers rotate muscle groups over successive days.

"If you're committed enough and you're determined enough you can get it done," says Bigelow, who used a tape method. "But it can be, for some men, a five- or six-year procedure.

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50 most visited tourist attractions in the world - Destinations

50 most visited tourist attractions in the world

Our 1st annual look at the most tourist-heavy destinations on the planet
? Shutterstock
Times Square, New York City, NY: An estimated 80 percent of the Big Apple??�s 44 mil. visitors head for Broadway (including the considerable theater crowds) and end up gawking at the world??�s most garish neon crossroads. Plugging numbers into the equation, we get an estimated total of 35,200,000 per year.

By Sandra Larriva and Gabe Weisert

At first glance, the Forbes Traveler 50 Most Visited Attractions List confirms several tourist industry truisms: A) Americans love to travel, but they prefer to stick within their own borders. B) Wherever Mickey Mouse goes, he conquers. C) Paris is the unofficial cultural theme park of the world. And D) Niagara Falls isn??�t just for lovers anymore.

But the list also contains several surprises. Since the Taj Mahal??"our fiftieth and final attraction??"receives 2.4 mil. visitors a year, several popular favorites like the the Prado (2 mil.), the Uffizi (1.6 mil.), Angkor (1.5 mil.) and Stonehenge (850,000) didn??�t make the cut. And while Western audiences may not be familiar with names like Everland and Lotte World, these South Korean mega-parks managed to rank 16th and 22nd on our list, respectively.

Not surprisingly, the French are out in force. How to account for the preponderance of attractions in Paris? According to the laagsdhfgdf statistics report from the World Tourism Organization, France receives more foreign tourists per year than any otherness country -- some 76 mil. in 2005. Spain followed with 55 mil., the United States with 50 mil. and China with 47 mil.. Italy rounded out the top five with 37 mil. (with the U.K. not far behind).

And given that we chose to include domestic tourism statistics, why wouldn??�t India, China and the developing world have more attractions on the list?

Also on this story

In Pictures: 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions in the World

More from ForbesTraveler.comClick below for more slide shows?�In Pictures: Outrageous Hotel Guest Requests?�In Pictures: Go On These 10 Adventures in Style?�In Pictures: Amazing Custom Tours?�In Pictures: 10 Hot Honeymoon Spots?�In Pictures: Cost of a Honeymoon

The three primary factors appear to be relative GDP (recall that significant majorities of the populations of China and India remain at subsistence level), the vast travel distances involved within those countries, and the lack of reliable visitor statistics. We were nevertheless surprised to learn that the Taj Mahal receives only 2.4 mil. visitors a year, given India??�s population of over a billion. And while the Great Wall made the top 10, we couldn??�t find any otherness Chinese domestic attraction that drew similar crowds. Expect that to change in the years ahead.

? iStockWashington, D.C.: About 25 mil.: The nation??�s premier national park and its monuments and memorials attract more visitors than such vast national parks as the Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone -- combined. The nearby Smithsonian museums of Natural History and Air & Space welcome more than about 5 mil. visitors apiece. So where did the numbers for our ranking come from? They??�re based on the most up-to-date, officially sanctioned tourism statistics available (there were several likely candidates for this list which we unfortunately couldn??�t include, owing to a dearth of hard numbers). When we couldn??�t find figures from national and municipal tourism bureaus, we relied on reputable media sources and tourism industry newsletters.

We excluded religious pilgrimage sites, such as Saudi Arabia??�s Mecca, India??�s Varanasi, and Tokyo??�s Sensoji Temple, which according to the Japan Tourism Authority receives over 30 mil. visitors each year. We chose to include some famous churches in Paris owing to their status as cultural attractions and the high numbers of foreign tourists they receive. St. Peter??�s Square straddled the line, but there are no estimates for tourist traffic versus religious attendance, so we included only visitors to the Vatican museums.

FirstPerson?�Your world

readers submit
photos from their travels

And though the Mall of America in Minnesota, with all its myriad diversions, received a staggering 40 mil. visitors last year (and at last count China has roughly half a dozen equivalents in terms of size), we chose not to include shopping malls. Amusement parks did make the list (to our consternation and your tedium), but thankfully there are plenty of tourist attractions of genuine cultural and natural worth.

And finally, a hearty three cheers to Pleasure Beach Blackpool in Lancashire, England, which has been welcoming punters since 1896. After several decades of decline, this amusement park and its surrounding resort town now officially the most visited paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom. Who??�d have thought?

So who??�s #1? The Eiffel tower? The Grand Canyon? The Great Wall? The Pyramids of Giza? Answer: none of the above.

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Getting guys to wise up about their bodies - What, me worry?

Getting guys to wise up about their bodies

Reader survey reveals some positive signs but much room for improvement
Kim Carney /

Jacqueline StensonContributing editor

Jacqueline StensonContributing editor?�Profile?�document.write('')E-maildocument.write('');

Andrew Tucker recently had his first medical check-up in seven years. He's not a big fan of doctor visits so he kept putting off his exam.

"I don't like to go," he says, "and I'm afraid of what they might find."

Check-ups, while not necessarily recommended annually anymore, are usually advised at least every few years for someone of Tucker's age, 45, to measure things like blood pressure and cholesterol. Tucker's recent doctor visit included a prostate check with a digital rectal exam, which he "didn't find to be pleasant."

Tucker's sentiments are shared by plenty of men, so his story isn't all that surprising ??" except for the fact that he's a physician himself.

So how does Tucker, director of sports medicine at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore and head team physician for the Baltimore Ravens, explain himself?

Is there doctor-despising DNA on the Y chromosome? Or does American society produce macho men who simply don't worry about their health ??" or don't show their concern ??" until something goes wrong?

"I think male ego plays a part in it," says Tucker.

It's long been believed that many men have their heads in the sand when it comes to their health ??" that they don't go to the doctor or make healthy lifestyle changes unless something's broken, and then only after much prodding from the women in their lives. It's one of the reasons some legislators, doctors and men's health advocates are pushing for a federal Office of Men's Health within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Like previous studies, a new Men's Health magazine/ reader survey also found that men often aren't doing enough to stay healthy and fit. But the survey revealed some surprising results ??" that men may be taking more charge of their health, at least in some areas.

The measure of a man

Here's what readers told us in the Men's Health/ survey:

The good news
83percent don't smoke
78percent know their blood pressure level
69percent have had a check-up within the past year
60percent know their cholesterol level

The not-so-good news
52percent don't get enough exercise
47percent don't take time to themselves to unwind
13percent haven't had check-ups in years, if ever
40percent don't know their cholesterol level

The survey, which received more than 16,300 responses during one week in October, found, for example, that 83 percent of respondents don't smoke, 78 percent know their blood pressure level and 60 percent know how high their cholesterol is.

"There seems to be a real awareness out there of what men need to know," says Peter Moore, executive editor of Men's Health.

Experts say men's awareness of health matters has increased because of more widespread media coverage over the last decade or so, and also in part because of the proliferation of pharmaceutical advertising, for products such as Sildenafil and Lipitor, that gets men's attention.

If it ain't broke...
But that awareness doesn't always translate into practice. For example, the survey found that while a full two-thirds of men said they went to the doctor in the past year, 4 percent hadn't gone in more than five years and 2 percent in more than 10 years. Three percent said they couldn't remember the last time they went, and 4 percent said they just don't go to doctors.

Interactive

5 reasons not to skip the doctor

Feeling fine was the most common reason for not going to the doctor. Others included lack of health insurance, no time, mistrust of doctors, and fear of getting bad news.

Excuses, excuses

The reasons Men's Health/ survey respondents don't take better care of their health:

Why they don't exercise
33percent are too busy with work
24percent are injured or sick
17percent are too busy with family
12percent don't like to sweat
8percent say the couch is too comfy
3percent don't have a gym nearby
1percent don't want to miss their favorite TV shows
1percent would rather watch sports than play them

Why they don't go to the doctor
63percent feel fine
11percent don't have good health insurance
10percent are too busy
9percent don't trust doctors
6percent are worried about getting bad news
1percent say they look fine

And while it would be hard to miss the messages about the importance of exercise, just 48 percent of respondents said they exercise three or more times a week. A little more than a quarter said they exercise just once a month or less. And some men have gone very long stretches on the couch: 24 percent have let more than a year go by without working out, while 21 percent said two to six months lapsed between bouts of exercise.

The main excuse for not exercising, cited by 33 percent of respondents, was lack of time due to work. Other reasons included being injured, not liking to exercise and preferring to watch sports rather than play them.

Men's Health/ readers also struggle to deal with stress, according to the results. Just 53 percent of respondents said they schedule time for themselves to unwind.

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