Features

Children’s foods that are promoted as gluten-free tend to be lacking in nutritional value and loaded with sugar just like other packaged kids’ products on grocery store shelves, a US study suggests. 

Four in five children’s snacks and treats had at least 10 per cent of calories from sugars — gluten-free or not — the study found. 

And 88 per cent of gluten-free packaged foods for kids had poor nutritional quality because they contained too much sugar, salt, total fat, saturated fat and trans-fatty acids — as did 97 per cent of items that made no claims about lacking gluten. 

“The problem is not the gluten free label per se, it is the processed foods aimed at children,” said study author Charlene Elliott, a food marketing and children’s health researcher at the University of Calgary in Canada. 

In fact, when researchers compared gluten-free products to similar items containing gluten, the nutritional content was similarly poor, Elliott said. Gluten-free versions of boxed macaroni and cheese, for example, had sky-high levels of sugars and unhealthy fats just like the box without a gluten-free label. 

“Some parents opt for a gluten-free diet as they believe it will be healthier for their children,” Elliott said by e-mail. “But when you look at the nutritional profile of packaged gluten-free foods, this is not the case.” 

About one in 100 children and adults have celiac disease, in which consumption of gluten triggers an autoimmune response that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients. Avoiding foods that contain gluten from grains such as barley, malt, rye and wheat, or their derivatives, can ease symptoms and help minimize the risk of complications like malnutrition and brittle bones. 

A growing number of families are going gluten-free even when nobody in the household has celiac disease or gluten intolerance out of a mistaken belief that this is a healthier way to eat, researchers note in Paediatrics. 

For the study, researchers examined the nutritional content of 66 packaged children’s foods labelled as gluten free and 308 processed products that did not make this claim. 

Where possible, they made apples-to-apples comparisons to match similar products like instant oatmeal, ice cream, granola bars, peanut butter and applesauce or fruit snacks. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how gluten-free products might be healthier than other processed foods. Another limitation is that researchers only looked at items available for sale at two large grocery chains. 

And the study didn’t look at what should be the staples of a gluten-free diet: vegetables, fruits, lean protein and other whole foods that are naturally lacking in gluten. 

“There are many very nutrient dense, whole, gluten-free grains such as amaranth, millet, quinoa, buckwheat,” said Marion Groetch, a nutrition and food allergy expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. 

“But most gluten-free products are made from rice, corn or potato starch and therefore are even less nutritious than processed products containing wheat,” Groetch, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. “These products hence are lower in fibre, micronutrients, and typically higher in fat and sugar.” 

There’s also a difference between kids having an occasional snack of packaged gluten-free foods and eating these items three meals a day, said Steve Taylor, a food allergy researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who was not involved in the study. 

“In my view, you need to look at the overall diet to get a good picture of the healthiness of the child’s diet,” Taylor said by email. “Many kids eat high-sugar foods on occasion but burn off that energy and also eat an overall healthy diet.” 

No matter what type of diet families follow, parents should still try to avoid packaged or processed items as much as possible, said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at New York University Langone Medical Centre who was not involved in the study. 

“Grocery store shelves are now overflowing with gluten-free foods that are just as junky as their gluten containing counterparts,” Heller said by email. “Parents should focus on more whole, home made and home cooked foods whether gluten-free or not.”

LOS ANGELES — In a twist ending straight out of a movie, “The Equaliser 2” shot past “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” to steal the box office crown.

Going into the weekend, it looked like “Mamma Mia! 2” would easily debut at No. 1. Weekend estimates show Sony’s “The Equaliser” sequel opened above estimates with $35.8 million when it launched in 3,388 locations, while Universal’s highly anticipated follow-up to “Mamma Mia!” debuted with $34.4 million from 3,317 screens.

“Equaliser 2”, the first sequel of Denzel Washington’s nearly four-decade long career, launched ahead of its predecessor. 2014’s “The Equalizer” opened with $35 million and went on to generate $192 million worldwide, including $101 million domestically.

Antoine Fuqua returned to direct “The Equalizer 2,” which also stars Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Melissa Leo, and Bill Pullman. Though it got a head start on the original film, reception has been less enthusiastic for the sequel, which currently holds a tepid 50 per cent average on Rotten Tomatoes.

Though “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” could not dance its way to the top of the domestic box office, its $34 million opening is still a win. The original “Mamma Mia!” hit theatres a decade ago with $27 million. It became a box office hit, amassing $615 million worldwide on a $52 million budget. Much like the first film, the sequel will likely be a smash overseas, where Swedish pop group ABBA has a huge following.

Much of the star-studded cast — including Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters and Dominic Cooper — returned for the second film. Lily James made her debut as a the younger version of Meryl Streep’s charming and carefree Donna, while living legend Cher also joined the cast. Ol Parker, the screenwriter behind “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, took over directing duties and penned the script.

The final wide release of the weekend, BH Tilt’s “Unfriended: Dark Web”, got off to a scary start. The low-budget horror film debuted way below projections with $3.5 million from 1,546 locations. That might not matter, considering the Blumhouse title carries a $1 million price tag. “Dark Web” is a standalone sequel to 2015’s “Unfriended”. That film became a cash cow, opening with $15 million and going on to earn $64 million from a $41 million budget.

“The Grudge” and “Texas Chainsaw 3D” writer Stephen Susco made his directorial debut with “Dark Web”, which features Colin Woodell, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Betty Gabriel, and Andrew Lees.

Among holdovers, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” nabbed third place during its second outing. Sony’s animated sequel picked up another $23 million from 4,267 locations, bringing its domestic tally to $91 million.

In fourth, Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” pocketed $16 million from 3,778 screens in its third frame. In total, the Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily-led superhero blockbuster has made $165 million.

Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” rounded out the top five with $11.3 million. In six weeks, the animated sequel has earned a massive $557 million in North America.

Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson’s “Skyscraper” continues to struggle in North America. Universal’s action adventure dropped 56 per cent in its sophomore weekend, collecting $11 million in 3,822 locations. The studio is hoping for massive returns internationally, where it opens this weekend in China.

At the specialty box office, Lionsgate’s “Blindspotting” bowed with $332,500 when it opened in 14 theatres. That’s a solid per-screen-average of $23,750. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in “Blindspotting”, which debuted to raves at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Bleecker Street’s “McQueen”, a documentary chronicling the life of iconic fashion designer Alexander McQueen, landed the top theatre average of the weekend with $24,232. It scored $96,928 when it opened in four theatres.

Amazon Studios’ “Generation Wealth”, bowed on four screens with $33,602 for a per-theatre-average of $8,401.

Omega-3 fatty acids have long been touted as heart healthy, but taking them in supplement form does little to protect against heart disease, a large new analysis suggests. 

The study combined data from 112,059 patients who took part in 79 smaller randomised trials. Researchers found that supplementation with omega-3s had little or no effect on the risk of death, heart attack or stroke. 

Omega 3 supplements did, however, have some benefit in that they helped to reduce triglyceride levels. But the downside to that was they also reduced levels of so-called good cholesterol, HDL, according to the findings published in the Cochrane Library journal. 

The results were not especially surprising to the team that performed the analysis. 

“When I look at our findings, what amazes me is how long we have believed in the effect of omega 3 fats... on heart and vascular health,” said senior author Lee Hooper, a dietician and researcher at the Norwich Medical School of the University of East Anglia in the UK. 

“The trials are very consistent. The highest quality trials published over several decades consistently show that there is little or no effect on whether we experience heart disease, stroke or arrhythmia,” she said. 

Hooper and her colleagues looked at data from randomised controlled trials that followed patients from one to six years. 

The analysis did find a benefit from consuming canola oil and nuts, especially in preventing heart arrhythmias. But, Hooper said, the effects were small. For example, 143 people would need to increase their intake of canola oil to prevent one person from developing this heart condition, she said. And 1,000 people would need to increase their canola oil or nut consumption to prevent one person from dying from heart disease or having a stroke or heart attack. 

Even though the data did not show a benefit from omega-3 supplements in terms of heart attack and stroke prevention, Hooper is not ready to tell everyone to toss their pills. 

That’s because “omega 3 supplements do reduce triglycerides, and if people have been prescribed omega 3 — fish oil — capsules by their doctor, they should continue taking them”, she said. “For the rest of us, taking omega 3 will not protect our hearts.” 

Because the studies combined in meta-analyses tend to be heterogeneous, the findings are not as strong as a single large study would be, said Dr Zhaoping Li, a professor of medicine and director of the Centre for Human Nutrition at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study. 

Beyond that, Li said, the studies are relatively short and it would therefore be hard to see a difference in endpoints such as heart attack, stroke and death. “I think the jury is still out in terms of long term benefits,” Li said. 

Moreover, “you can have people consuming vastly different diets in the studies“, Li noted, and that is important because supplements are more likely to have an impact in people who are getting little omega-3 in their diets. 

In the end, the study “does not change my practice”, Li said. 

Dr Michael Blaha, who also was not involved in the analysis, said it simply confirms his previous opinions about omega-3 supplements. 

“I’m not too surprised by the results,” said Blaha, director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Centre for the Prevention of Heart Disease in Baltimore, Maryland. “We’ve seen a trend towards negative outcomes in studies of these supplements. And overall, there’s not a lot of reason to be supplementing a healthy diet with over-the-counter products.” 

It is not that omega-3s are not important, Blaha said. “But the public health recommendation has to be to get them through foods rather than dietary supplements,” he said. 

The latest iteration of that most iconic of off-road vehicles, the all-new “JL” generation Jeep Wrangler is the most sophisticated and refined yet, but does it without diverging from its core DNA or actual and tangible authenticity.

A direct descendent of the US Army’s 1941 Willys Jeep, the new Wrangler was launched just last week for European and Middle East markets in two body styles and three trim levels. While retaining its traditional aesthetic and underlying mechanical design, the new Wrangler, however, adds improved practicality, efficiency, daily usability, driving refinement and infotainment, convenience and driver assistance technology.

Recognisably rugged

A design evolution rather than fashion-driven retro ‘inspired’ machine, the new Wrangler’s hallmark Jeep styling cues are immediately recognisable and include its seven-slot grille, tapered bonnet, large wheel-arches and boxy upright body, which makes it more practical, utilitarian and easier to manoeuvre. Slightly larger yet with restrained weight owing to greater use of lightweight body components, the new Wrangler’s grille and windshield are slightly more swept back for improved aerodynamic efficiency and refinement. Meanwhile its round headlights now slightly intrude up on the outer grille slots as a styling nod to long-running 1944-86 “CJ” generation Jeeps.

Best looking in two-door versions as driven, the JL-generation Wrangler’s new square rear lights lend a more contemporary aesthetic, while its profile is instantly recognisable as a Jeep, with short front overhang, and an upright and rearwards cabin sitting on a short wheelbase. Built on a rugged traditional body-on-chassis frame and featuring integrated rollover bars, the Wrangler uniquely offers full open air off-road motoring, and is available with three roof options, including electrically retractable Sky One-Touch soft-top or fully removable Zipperless Premium Sunrider soft-top and removable three piece Freedom Top hard-top options.

Seamless, smooth 

and eager

Available only with the range-topping naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre “Pentastar” V6 engine and slick, smooth and snappy 8-speed gearbox combo regionally, the Wrangler develops 281BHP at a relatively high-revving 6400rpm and 256lb/ft torque at 4100rpm. Eager from standstill, urgent at top end and progressive in delivery, yet, versatile and flexible in mid-range, the Wrangler’s Pentastar engine is seamlessly smooth and consistent, and with responsive throttle control, allows one to dial in exact power increments for more precise on- and off-road driving. Capable of 177km/h and brisk through 0-100km/h, Jeep, however, does not quote an official acceleration time for the 3.6-litre Wrangler. 

Driving all four wheels through a standard automatic gearbox — with no 6-speed manual gearbox option regionally as in the US market — the entry-level Wrangler’s Selec-Trac four-wheel-drive system offers one the choice three high ratio driving modes for road driving and less demanding off-road routes and low range 4x4 for more demanding off-road driving. These include a rear-drive, part-time four-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive “auto” modes, the latter of which sends power to the rear in normal driving conditions, but automatically reallocates more power to the front to maintain traction and grip as necessary.

Manoeuvrable mountain goat

In its element off-road, the Wrangler Sport’s lever actuated low range four-wheel-drive mode allows one to access high power and torque at crawling pace to climb steep inclines, drive through deep ruts and for towing over loose surfaces. 

The Wrangler also benefits from rugged ladder-frame construction and live front and rear axles, with coil spring five-link suspension providing generous wheel travel over difficult terrain. Sitting 235mm off the ground, and with a short 2459mm wheelbase, the two-door Wrangler benefits from particularly generous ground clearance and break-over angles, in addition to excellent approach and departure angles for deep ruts, rocks, inclines and uneven surfaces. 

Hugely capable off-road with its 2.72: low ratio reduction gearing, the Wrangler Sport is also offered with an optional limited slip differential for off-road traction, and on-road handling agility. However, during test drive on demanding Austrian off-road routes in the Alps, the Wrangler Sport got by easily, even without the locking differentials offered on the yet more off-road capable Wrangler Rubicon model. Confident, brisk and eager on dirt roads and badly paved tarmac, the Wrangler’s small size and short wheelbase make it manoeuvrable even on the narrowest lanes, while tall tyre sidewalls ensure comfort and supple absorptions of imperfect textures.

Confident comfort

Engineered for improved on-road driving, the latest Wrangler’s refinement, agility, smoothness and steering precision are as good as it gets for a dedicated off-roader with a ladder frame chassis and with front and rear live axles. Ultimately not as road-biased as other Jeep offerings with monocoque construction and independent suspension, the new Wrangler does, however, drive well, with tidy turn-in, nimble cornering and a good measure of road comfort and insulation from harshness, noise and vibration. Meanwhile at speed, it is unexpectedly confident, stable and settled for so short and tall a vehicle.

Tall and upright with alert seating and a now lower waistline — contrary to the current trend for higher waistlines, the two-door Wrangler offers better road visibility than most SUVs, and allows one to accurately place it on — and off-road. Seating is supportive and comfortable, with an upright and ergonomic driving position. Detaching the Wrangler’s doors and roof, and folding down its windshield has also been made easier, while inside design and material used are noticeably improved on its predecessor. High equipment levels include a Uconnect infotainment system and safety features like blind spot and rear cross-path detection.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.6-litre, in-line, V6-cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 96 x 83mm

Compression ratio: 11.3:1

Valve-train: DOHC, 24-valve, variable timing

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive, low ratio transfer

Gear ratios: 1st 4.714:1; 2nd 3.143:1; 3rd 2.106:1; 4th 1.667:1; 5th 1.285:1; 6th 1:1; 7th 0.839:1; 8th 0.667:1

Reverse/final drive: 3.295:1/4.45:1

Low ratio transfer/crawl ratios: 2.72:1/44.2:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 281 (285) [209] @6400rpm

Specific power: 77.9BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 148.3BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 256 (347) @4,100rpm

Specific torque: 96.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 183.2Nm/tonne

Top speed: 177km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined; 13-/7.7-/9.6-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 223g/km

Fuel capacity: 66-litres

Length: 4,334mm

Width: 1,894mm

Height: 1,858mm

Wheelbase: 2,459mm

Approach/break-over/departure angles: 35.2°/23.9°/29.2°

Kerb weight: 1,894kg

Weight distribution, F/R; 51 per cent/49 per cent

Payload: 494kg

Towing maximum: 1,500kg

Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion

Steering ratio: 16.14:1

Lock-to-lock: 3.68-turns

Turning circle: 10.36-metres

Suspension: Five-link, solid axles, coil springs, anti-roll bars

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated disc, 330 x 24mm/disc, 328 x 12mm

Brake callipers, F/R: twin-/single-piston

Tyres: 245/75R17

Parents who had a lot of traumatic or stressful experiences during childhood may be more likely to have kids with behavioural problems, a US study suggests.

Adverse childhood experiences can include witnessing parents fight or go through a divorce, having a parent with a mental illness or substance abuse problem, or suffering from sexual, physical or emotional abuse. 

These childhood experiences have been linked to what is known as toxic stress, or wear and tear on the body that leads to physical and mental health problems that often continue from one generation to the next. But the exact effect of parents’ trauma on their children’s behavioural and emotional health is not fully understood. 

In the current study, researchers examined data on how many different types of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were endured by the parents of 2,529 kids, and how often the kids experienced emotional or behavioural problems or attention issues. 

Compared to children whose parents did not experience any ACEs, children whose parents went through one type of adverse experience in childhood were 44 per cent more likely to have hyperactivity and 56 per cent more apt to have emotional or mental health issues, researchers report in Paediatrics. 

When parents experienced at least four ACEs, their kids were twice as likely to have hyperactivity and four times more likely to have emotional or mental health problems. 

“This demonstrates one way in which all of us carry our histories with us, which our study shows has implications for our parenting and our children’s health,” said lead study author Adam Schickedanz, a paediatrics researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

“Given that children’s behavioural health is so strongly influenced by severe stresses in the formative relationships and experiences of their parents, it suggests that investments made now to prevent childhood adversity could yield lasting returns for health across generations,” Schickedanz said by e-mail. 

Mothers’ experiences appeared to have a bigger impact on children’s health than fathers’ upbringings, the study found. 

When mothers were exposed to one ACE growing up, their children were 85 per cent more likely to be hyperactive and 92 per cent more likely to have emotional or mental health problems. When mothers endured at least four ACEs, kids had triple the odds of hyperactivity and more than quintupled odds of emotional or mental health issues. 

With fathers, one to three ACEs did not appear to increase their child’s risk of hyperactivity or behavioural or mental health issues. However, when fathers experienced four or more ACEs, kids were 29 per cent more likely to be hyperactive and more than twice as likely to have behavioural or mental health problems. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how parents’ childhood experience might directly impact the physical or mental health of their kids. Another limitation is that researchers were not able to assess individual resilience to adversity, which might influence how ACEs impacted parents or how these experiences affected the next generation. 

Even so, the results add to evidence suggesting that ACEs can have long-lasting effects on families across generations, said Alonzo Folger, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio who was not involved in the study. 

Among other things, chronic exposure to ACEs during childhood may make it harder for parents to bond with children and cope with normal but often stressful and emotionally taxing behaviours of infants and toddlers, Folger said by e-mail. 

“We increasingly recognise the disruptive nature of toxic stress caused by early life adversity and the importance of early intervention,” Folger said. 

Parents should tell their child’s doctor about any family history of ACEs, and if they do not bring it up, then paediatricians should initiate this conversation, said Ricardo Quinonez, chief of paediatric medicine at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. 

“This discussion may lead to early interventions to prevent the negative consequences of mental health in their own children,” Quinonez, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

Relationships & Couples Therapist

On the surface, couples typically fight over money, kids, work and in-laws, but under it all is the failure to connect emotionally.

According to relationship expert, Dr John Gottman, each partner in a relationship has an “Emotional Bank Account” that needs to be filled to maintain positive emotional balance in the relationship. This is done by responding positively to your partner’s daily attempts (which Gottman refers to as “Bids of Connection”) to connect with you emotionally.

If you choose to ignore or negatively snap back at your partner then you are withdrawing from his Emotional Bank Account. If you respond positively, then you are making deposits into his emotional love account. The more deposits partners make in each other’s emotional bank account, the more it will grow, leading to a stronger and healthier emotional bond and relationship.

Replenishing your partner’s emotional bank account

Being mindful

Pay attention to when your partner is seeking your attention, affection and support even if it is in very small ways. We often miss those minor bids because we are distracted and not paying attention (distracted by our phones, television, laptops) so minimise using them when you spend time with your partner.

Acknowledging your influence on how your partner feels about you and your relationship

When your partner feels that you are responding to his bids then he will feel accepted and loved, and his feelings towards you and towards the relationship will be positive and loving. On the other hand, if he feels more times rejected than accepted, his feelings towards you and the relationship will gravitate towards the negative.

Expressing 

appreciation often

Express appreciation when your partner responds to your bids for his attention, affection and support. This will reinforce his or her behaviour and encourage them to keep responding.

Making your partner feel heard and understood

When your partner has a complaint, listen to them and convey understanding instead of ignoring them or becoming defensive. Likewise, respond with interest and excitement when they share happy and exciting news. We all long to be heard and understood.

Not letting external stress affect your relationship

External stress from work and life in general can easily spill over and wreak havoc on your relationship. Try having a daily “stress reducing conversation” with your partner at the end of each day where each of you spends about ten minutes talking about whatever daily stress you are facing that is not caused or related to your partner.

When your partner is telling you about his or her stressors:

• Listen attentively and maintain eye contact

• Validate your partner by showing understanding and empathy even if you disagree with the way your partner is dealing with his or her issues

• Only give advice when asked

• Side with your partner or at least be neutral

Remember, this is just a way of letting your partner let off steam as well as serving as a window into each other’s world. So when you feel your partner is cranky and inattentive that day, you do not automatically assume it is because he does not care about you — he might be preoccupied with other matters outside the relationship.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

As sophisticated as the scheme was by Russian intelligence agents to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, they used a simple hacking technique, among others, to infiltrate the e-mail accounts of Democratic operatives, according to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s latest indictment. And that technique — known as “spear phishing” — remains a threat not just to campaign officials but to employees and consumers.

Spear phishing is a scam in which cyber criminals pose as trusted sources and send phony electronic messages to targeted individuals to trick them into revealing sensitive information.

In the case of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, it was a misleading e-mail that looked like a security notification from Google, asking Podesta to change his password by clicking an embedded link, according to the indictment filed on Friday. Podesta followed the e-mail’s instructions, changing his password and giving hackers access to 50,000 of his e-mails.

But spear fishing could come in the form of an e-mail that appears to come from your boss, asking you to send your W2 form. Or a message with an expected invoice, requesting that you wire the money to an account controlled by bad actors.

“The indictment really illustrates the many uses this technology can be put,” said Edward McAndrew, a former federal cybercrime prosecutor and co-leader of Ballard Spahr’s privacy and data security group in Philadelphia. “It’s not just about stealing someone’s personal information. It’s about financial fraud, or in this instance, even election fraud.”

How it is done

In typical phishing scams, cybercriminals send blanket e-mails to a large swath of users, hoping someone will take the bait and download an infected attachment or click a link to a phony website.

Spear phishing scams, by contrast, are tailored to specific targets. Hackers will research an individual ahead of time, scanning social media accounts and public information to learn a person’s job, friends or interests to craft a trustworthy e-mail.

“They’ll figure out where you work and who your colleagues are and try to send a fake e-mail that looks like it’s from one of your colleagues,” said Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and founder of Paoli-based DuckDuckGo, an Internet search engine that does not track or store user data.

That is what happened Tuesday at Weinberg’s company. One of his employees received an
e-mail from a sender using Weinberg’s name asking, “I need you to help run a task. Let me know if you’re unoccupied,” according to a copy of the message. The sender posing as Weinberg wanted to “gift out some Apple Gift Cards to some clients”. Weinberg and his colleague did not bite.

The person pretending to be Weinberg used an e-mail address that was not even close to resembling the real thing. But Michael Levy, the chief of computer crimes for the US Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, said cyber criminals will typically create e-mail addresses that are nearly identical to those of trusted sources, sneaking in an extra letter or using a zero instead of a capital “O”, for example.

In some cases, such as the Russian hack of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), spear phishing e-mails will direct users to phony websites, where victims will enter their credentials and unwittingly give hackers their usernames and passwords. In the DCCC case, Russian agents then installed malware on at least ten of the committee’s computers, according to the indictment, allowing them to monitor individual employees’ computer activity, steal passwords and maintain access to the DCCC network.

“There are two ways to get into computers,” Levy said. “There is the sophisticated hacking where you figure out how to break through a security system… [or] you attack the weakest link in the security system, and that’s the user.”

Once hackers have access to a company’s e-mail system, “they will sit and watch to learn as much as they can about people”, Levy said, adding that cyber criminals can glean anything from employees’ e-mail habits to the name of the company president’s wife.

McAndrew, of Ballard Spahr, said once hackers gain entry to an e-mail account, they can peruse a user’s messages, work calendars and contacts, as if someone is “virtually looking over their shoulders”.

“You’re able to know about events before they happen by reading about them,” McAndrew said. “You know what’s coming up.”

Hackers aware of an upcoming payment can pounce by sending spear phishing e-mails to trick recipients into wiring money to accounts under the hackers’ control, McAndrew said.

Victims of Internet crimes suffered more than $1.4 billion in losses in 2017, almost doubling since 2013, according to an FBI report on the issue released in May. Crimes listed as “business e-mail compromise/e-mail account compromise” accounted for more than $676 million of that 2017 total, representing the largest category of loss.

How to protect yourself

One way to reduce the risk from spear phishing is use multi-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security by requiring not just a username and password, but knowledge or possession of something that only that user has, such as a code sent to a cell phone.

“Even if you get tricked and you go to some bogus site and type in your password, it will be useless without” the other piece of information, said Anthony Vance, director of Temple University’s Centre for Cybersecurity.

Vance suggested using twofactorauth.org, which tells users whether websites support multi-factor authentication. Major services such as Google or Yahoo allow users to activate the service.

Experts said individuals should use some common sense too. Resist the urge to click links or attachments from an unknown source or unexpected message. Check with colleagues before responding to a suspicious e-mail.

“The number one thing people can do is scrutinise every single e-mail they receive,” McAndrew said.

WASHINGTON — Astronomers on Tuesday announced the discovery of ten more moons of Jupiter, bringing to 79 the number known to be circling the giant gas planet, including one “wrong-way driver” that appears destined to crash into other moons sharing its orbital highway.

All the newly identified moons are relatively small. While Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, has large moons such as Ganymede — the biggest in the solar system with a diameter of 5,268km — the new ones range in size from about six-tenths of one kilometre to four kilometre. That is tiny compared to Jupiter’s diameter of 142,984km.

A research team led by astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington has identified 12 small Jovian moons, including the ten described on Tuesday. Sheppard said these moons were probably objects that formed near Jupiter during the early days of the solar system and were “captured” by the planet’s strong gravitational pull. 

“Jupiter is like a big vacuum cleaner because it’s so massive,” Sheppard said. “These objects started orbiting Jupiter, instead of falling into it. So we think they are intermediate between rocky asteroids and icy comets. So they’re probably half ice and half rock.”

The most interesting of the new moons is Valetudo, named after the ancient Roman god Jupiter’s great-granddaughter, the goddess of health and hygiene. Valetudo orbits Jupiter in the same direction that the planet spins, but a bunch of other small moons share the same orbital path while traveling in the opposite direction.

“Valetudo’s going down the highway the wrong way, so it’s very likely it will collide with these other objects. It probably has collided with them over time,” Sheppard said.

Jupiter’s 79 known moons are the most of any planet in the solar system, followed by the 62 identified around the giant ringed gas planet Saturn. Sheppard said Jupiter and Saturn may actually have a similar number of moons, with some of Saturn’s smaller ones not yet detected.

A moon is defined as any object, regardless of size, that orbits a planet, not the Sun. Only the two innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury and Venus, have none. Of Jupiter’s 79 moons, 26 remain unnamed, including nine of the ten new ones.

Each time there is a breakthrough in high-tech, each time we discuss social networking or talk about the online tools we have gotten accustomed to and cannot live without anymore, we unmistakably come to think of how dehumanising it has all become. Is technology really to blame or are there other factors, other reasons that are making our world colder?

The fact is there are precedents that date back to the past century, well before the advent of digital high-tech and the web, and that constitute early warnings of the dehumanisation of society. If only to cite two of these classic literary warnings: George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. These great works are frequently referred to in discussions and serve as “proof” that technology is to blame, in a general manner.

What we are already experiencing is enough in terms of social impact. It is an accepted fact that e-mail, Facebook, WhatsApp, online shopping, and the like keep people apart and contribute to making friends that are but virtual, not real. Living and working online certainly reduce the human contact. But many consider that the best — or the worst if one prefers — is yet to come, with driverless cars, robots that will take care of the house cleaning chores and surveillance cameras absolutely everywhere.

On the other hand the list of benefits that technology has brought us is miles long, if only in a spectacular manner in the fields of surgery, medical imaging, telecommunication and last but not least entertainment. Some 12 football world cups ago (i.e. in 1970…) I watched one of the very first live satellite broadcasts of the final, between Brazil and Italy, on a black and white, small, ridiculous CRT TV. Although the actual broadcast was in colour, and for the very first time, colour TVs were not yet commonly found in homes. The image quality was so poor that some moments it was hard to tell one team form the other.

Last Sunday the glorious high-definition stunning images of the World Cup final in Russia, watched on large LED screens made each and every one truly love and appreciate technology, allowing us to live the moment as intensely as if we were in the stadium. Not to mention the availability of the instant Video Replay feature that gave France their penalty kick!

So again, and whereas each aspect of technology can legitimately be debated, examined and weighted, the advantages overwhelmingly exceed the disadvantages. This is a certainty.

Perhaps what is dehumanising our society is more obvious than that and does not require deep analysis of technology and its impact. Could it simply be our planet getting over-populated? Too simplistic to be true? I think not. Sometimes the right explanation is so obvious, so simple that we fail to see it or do not accept it. And yet, it does not require a PhD in any science to realise that when their number grows the relationship between people gets colder, worse, less friendly. A nice dinner between three couples certainly is cosier than a party of 50 people or more. This has nothing to do with technology.

I came to live in Amman in 1980. I remember that back then 95 out of 100 drivers were courteous, cool and friendly — in my personal estimate. Today the number is much, much less! This is simply because in 1980 there were 100,000 registered cars in the country, compared to 1.3 million in 2014 (source: The Jordanian Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Department). It is unofficially estimated to have reached 1.6 million this year.

With 16 times more vehicles on the roads, drivers can perhaps be excused when they have a less “humane” attitude. Again, it is not technology but the increase of the population that is dehumanising society. Actually if technology did not bring them GPS, good in-car music, wireless mobile telecommunication, and most importantly great cars that are infinitely more comfortable and safer than before, drivers’ attitude on the road would have been worse.

So instead of accusing technology of dehumanisation, we should perhaps be grateful to it for making our life more pleasant, realising at the same time the unavoidable, multiple negative impacts of the population increase.

LOS ANGELES — American boxer Floyd Mayweather was named the world’s highest-paid entertainer on Monday on a list that saw actor George Clooney take the No. 2 spot with the highest annual pay of his career. 

Reality star Kylie Jenner, 20, came in third on the annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list, largely thanks to her booming cosmetics line that Forbes said put her on track to become the youngest self-made billionaire in the United States.

Forbes compiled its 2018 list estimating pre-tax earnings from June 2017-June 2018, before deducting fees for managers, based on data from Nielsen, touring trade publication Pollstar, movie database IMDB, and interviews with industry experts and celebrities themselves.

Mayweather pulled in some $285 million in the period, largely thanks to his August 2017 comeback fight win over mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor.

Oscar-winning star Clooney earned an estimated $239 million after selling the Casamigos tequila company he co-founded to British spirits company Diageo in June 2017. Forbes said the sale gave Clooney the best annual earnings of his 35-year career in film and television.

Forbes said entertainers on its 2018 Celebrity 100 list earned a combined $6.3 billion before tax, up 22 per cent from last year’s list. Many of the highest earners came from celebrities leveraging their brands through side ventures and through their social media presence.

“There’s never been a more lucrative time to be famous than now, with 11 superstars earning $100 million or more over the past year,” Zack O’Malley Greenburg, senior entertainment editor at Forbes, said in a statement.

“Entertainers have found all sorts of new ways to monetise their audiences, especially with the help of social media,” he added.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson almost doubled his earnings from the previous year to land in 5th place with estimated earnings of $124 million. Forbes said the earnings of the “Jumanji” and “Fast and Furious” star were the largest acting-related earnings it had recorded in 20 years.

The top earner on last year’s list, musician Sean Diddy Combs, dropped to No. 32 on the current list. His earnings on the 2017 list were inflated by a tour and the sale of part of his Sean John clothing line, Forbes said.

Musicians and athletes fared well, with Irish band U2, British band Coldplay and British singer Ed Sheeran appearing in the top 10. Football players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo also earned more than $100 million, Forbes said.