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"I guess I knew I was becoming addicted, but I couldn't stop myself," Kim recalled from a clinic where he was undergoing counseling. "I stopped changing my clothes. I didn't go out. And I began to see myself as the character in my games."

Last month, the government -- which opened a treatment center in 2002 -- launched a game addiction hotline. Hundreds of private hospitals and psychiatric clinics have opened units to treat the problem.

An estimated 2.4 percent of the population from 9 to 39 are believed to be suffering from game addiction, according to a government-funded survey. Another 10.2 percent were found to be "borderline cases" at risk of addiction -- defined as an obsession with playing electronic games to the point of sleep deprivation, disruption of daily life and a loosening grip on reality. Such feelings are typically coupled with depression and a sense of withdrawal when not playing, counselors say.

When the media is constantly bombarding children and teens alike with messages about the "ideal" or "perfect" beauty, and uses underweight movie stars, singers, etc- then it's not hard to ask the question "Does the media influence Anorexia on teenagers?"

Instead of blaming themselves, the media and others- it's im

portant to remember that some teenagers are more susceptible to eating disorders than others, and some are going to develop Anorexia or another eating disorder with or without outside influences such as media or peers.

Demand for that crucial ingredient has led to the killing of a median of about 38 million sharks a year, according to a new study that offers what may be the first reliable estimates of the number of sharks killed for their fins.

Some conservationists, however, put the number at closer to a hundred million

To make matters murkier, most fisheries-management groups give little attention to sharks, because they are often considered bycatch—fish caught by accident—given their low value per pound.

But we’re not paying enough attention to what we are taking out of our oceans – sharks – and they’re being killed at the rate of up to 73 million per year.

Shark-finning in West Africa is an unsustainable fishing practice that is endangering local shark populations. Certain species no longer exist in areas of their former range whilst others have entirely disappeared from the sub-region.

Industrial and small scale fisheries in West Africa have increased their fishing efforts to meet the demands for this product in Asian markets, whilst shark meat is also bought locally. 

Shark finning is the practice of slicing off the shark's fins while the shark is still alive and throwing the rest of its body back into the ocean where it can take days to die what must be an agonising death.

Shark fin soup, which can easily cost $100 a bowl, is often served at wedding celebrations so that the hosts can impress their guests with their affluence. Because there is such a high demand for shark fins, traders can make a lot of money from shark fin, but it is the restaurant owners who really "make a killing" in this foul trade.

The testing of cosmetics on animals in the UK has finally ended.

The end to the tests comes after months of negotiations to persuade companies to stop using animals - mainly guinea pigs, rats and mice - in the last remaining tests.

No fresh licences will be issued, meaning an effective ban, a Home Office spokesman said.

Bin Laden and fellow al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Beliefs and ideology

"Allah knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed – when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way (and) to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women." – Osama bin Laden, 2004[

the dangers of prolonged gaming sessions after a boy was taken to hospital after playing Counter-Strike solidly for nine days and nights

The fourteen year old from Romania was playing over the net via a local internet café, and doctors at the hospital said he was both mentally and physically exhausted.

The boy's mother said he had lost weight, stopped washing, skipped classes at school, and even stolen from his own home to fund the addiction.

Since 1991 more "new economic policies" or reforms have been introduced.

Reforms include currency devaluations and making currency partially convertible, reduced quantitative restrictions on imports, reduced import duties on capital goods, decreases in subsidies, liberalized interest rates, abolition of licenses for most industries, the sale of shares in selected public enterprises, and tax reforms.

faster growth rate of the economy