Many lung cancer cases in nonsmokers

Up to 20 percent of women who develop lung cancer have never smoked, US researchers found in a study that suggests secondhand smoke may be to blame. A survey of a million people in the United States and Sweden shows that just 8 percent of men who get lung cancer are nonsmokers. ?I have a lot of patients who have never smoked,? said Dr. Heather Wakelee of Stanford University in California, who led the study. She said it is not clear why women may be more likely to get lung cancer even if they have never smoked. ?There is a lot of controversy over whether women are more susceptible to smoking at all, whether direct or secondhand smoke,? Wakelee said in a telephone interview.

Writing in Friday's issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wakelee and epidemiologist Ellen Chang said they tracked the incidence of lung cancer in more than 1 million people aged 40 to 79. All had taken part in various studies of diet, lifestyle and disease, some going back into the early 1970s.

?Slum tourism? stirs controversy in Kenya

It's the de rigueur stop off for caring foreign dignitaries. It reached a worldwide audience as a backdrop to the British blockbuster ?The Constant Gardener?. Any journalist wanting a quick Africa poverty story can find it there in half an hour. And now at least one travel agency offers tours round Kenya's Kibera slum, one of Africa's largest.

?People are getting tired of the Maasai Mara and wildlife. No one is enlightening us about other issues. So I've come up with a new thing -- slum tours,? enthused James Asudi, general manager of Kenyan-based Victoria Safaris. But not everyone in Kenya is waxing so lyrical about the trail of one-day visitors treading the rubbish-strewn paths, sampling the sewage smell, and photographing the tin-roof shacks that house 800 000 of the nation's poorest in a Nairobi valley.

Indeed, the recent well-meaning visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon -- coming hard on the heels of other foreign celebrities including even U.S. comedian Chris Rock -- drew a stern editorial from Kenya's leading newspaper. ?What is this fascination with Kibera among people who do not know what real poverty means?? asked the Daily Nation. ?More to the point, how do Kenyans themselves feel about this back-handed compliment as the custodians of backwardness, filth, misery and absolute deprivation?? Answer: Not a lot, at least according to an informal, random survey by this correspondent in Kibera itself.

While all recognize the potential for good from such attention, plus the pressure it puts on the government and others to help slum-dwellers, most said tangible benefits so far were few, while the embarrassment factor was growing every day. ?They see us like puppets, they want to come and take pictures, have a little walk, tell their friends they've been to the worst slum in Africa,? said car-wash worker David Kabala. ?But nothing changes for us. If someone comes, let him do something for us. Or if they really want to know how we think and feel, spend a night or walk round when it's pouring with rain here and the paths are like rivers.? Even groups working in Kibera and dependent on foreign funding are getting weary. Visits by tourists, which reached a crescendo during the recent anti-capitalist World Social Forum in Nairobi, were testing the local hospitality culture to the limit, he added.

Stars set to party at Grammys while sales slide

The biggest stars of the music world are gathering in Los Angeles for the Grammy Awards, while the business slides deeper into the abyss. Every day brings more bad news for the $21 billion industry, which cannot work out how to get fans to pay $18 for a CD instead of stealing music from the Web. Just this week, Grammy-winning jazz singer Norah Jones' much-anticipated new album opened at No. 1 on the US pop charts, but its sales were less than half those of its predecessor three years ago.

Warner Music Group Corp. -- home of Madonna and James Blunt -- reported a worse-than-expected 74 percent slide in first quarter profits. And EMI Group Plc., home of Coldplay and Robbie Williams, laid off a number of US staffers. Still, don't expect the bad tidings to infect the Grammys, due yesterday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. ?It's not really the time to say, 'We don't know how to sell albums anymore. Please help us,? said Craig Marks, editor in chief at music magazine Blender.

This year, the leading nominees are R&B singer Mary J. Blige with eight nominations and California rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers with six.