Greece's waste problem

Since its only landfill reached saturation a month ago, Athens has been in the grip of a garbage crisis.

Mountains of refuse filled the streets in early January, spilling out of garbage cans and marring the face of one of the world’s most fabled cities. As the days wore on and no solution was found, bags were savaged by stray dogs and cats. Pedestrians faced a daily battle to circumnavigate the rot.

The crisis eased somewhat in mid-January when the authorities began taking rubbish to a temporary landfill that was, in effect, an extension of the old one. But now that, too, is brimming, and trash is being dumped in a new landfill that has been set up alongside it.

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Jethro Tull - Moths

Kayak - Mammoth

Focus - Hocus Pocus

1972, Pinkpop Festival

Jean Nouvel design for Louvre Abu Dhabi

French architect Jean Nouvel presented his design for an Abu Dhabi museum, made up of a cluster of low buildings under a dome, to house artworks on loan from France.

Nouvel, the architect of the Quai Branly museum of primitive art in Paris, said his design was inspired by the contrast between the desert and the sea at Saadiyat Island, 500 meters off the Abu Dhabi coast and the planned home for the new museum complex. The design reflects ``unknown cities buried deep into the sands or sunk under water,'' Nouvel said today in a statement.

Under plans announced last year, France will lend the name of the Louvre to the Abu Dhabi museum for 20 years. The proposal has sparked protests, with more than 3,900 people signing a petition against what they call a pawning of French cultural heritage.

The agreement would be a first for French museums, which are exploring new ways to increase revenue while presenting their art treasures to an ever-wider public.

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Focus - Silvia + Hocus Pocus medley

Old Grey Whistle Test, 1972

Carabin moderates immune response

Scientists say they have learnt how the body controls the machinery it uses to fight infections and foreign invaders.

The Johns Hopkins University researchers say a protein molecule called carabin may be the body's way of restraining its defences.

It is made by white blood cells, one of the most important immune system cells.

However, its role actually appears to restrict their ability to mount a response to infection.

They found that when there was more carabin in a cell, it appeared to "damp down" its activity.

Professor Liu said: "It acts like an internal brake to dial down the speed and intensity of an immune response so that it doesn't go too fast or too far, or career out of control and attack healthy cells.

"It's like having a built-in timer to keep the immune system in check."

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Jethro Tull - Broadsword

March, 1982 German TV

Mark Knopfler - Wild Theme

from the soundtrack of the movie Local Hero