Daily Diamond - Cancun - The best of both worlds

Unlike any other city in Mexico, Cancun truly offers the best of both worlds. No other city can claim the unique distinction of being a glamorous, modern resort destination right in the middle of the ancient Mayan kingdom and vibrant nature of the Yucatan Peninsula. With ease, you can explore the ancient Mayan ruins or nature preserves during the day and enjoy world class shopping and dining in the evening. The following is a sample itinerary for a day in Cancun, incorporating both the city’s rich history and luxurious modern offerings. As we have skipped the beaches, the water sports and numerous other activities for this itinerary, it must be said that these options only scratch the surface of what Cancun has to offer.

A great way to start a day in Cancun is with a trip to the historic Ruinas de Coba. Between 400 and 1100 A.D., this sprawling Mayan city boasted a population of over 100,000. Though Coba is known to have been a center of commerce in the Mayan Kingdom, much of city’s history, including its eventual fall, remain shrouded in mystery. Located between the equally entrancing sites of Chichen Itza and Tulum, Coba offers the most tropical experience of any Mayan site.

Tours of the ruins are available through many of the major resorts and generally disembark from the Hotel Zone early in the morning. As you arrive you might see spider monkeys frolicking on the steps of the pyramids and tropical birds drifting overhead. You can ride a bicycle along the paths of this massive city or climb the Nohoch Mul, the tallest pyramid in the Mayan kingdom, for a breathtaking view of the adjacent lakes and surrounding forest. With more than 6,500 total structures, most dating between 500 and 900 A.D, there is certainly plenty to explore.

Another great activity just outside of Cancun is the picturesque Isla Contoy. Beyond serving as the Yucatan Peninsula’s most valuable ornithological preserve, this small island is also one of Mexico’s most pristine national parks. Located off the eastern-most point of the Yucatan Peninsula, the prevailing currents support incredible marine life and the preservation of coral reefs. To maintain the island’s diverse ecosystem, only 200 visitors are allowed at the site each day. As a result, the four-hour tours offered by official guides are known for their intimacy and wealth of information.

In addition to bird watching and simple enjoyment of tropical splendor, visitors can view a number of exhibits about the area’s plant and animal life in the visitor center. To conclude your visit to Isla Contoy, climb the visitor center’s open-air observation tower for a magnificent view of the park and an always-pleasant sea breeze.

When you return to the city, it should be time to shop. With a number of shopping centers containing all of the world’s finest retailers, you will find everything you are looking for at prices below similar stores in the U.S. The Plaza Caracol, the largest of these shopping centers, houses over 200 boutiques and galleries with everything from the finest European fashion to unique local art and jewelry. After browsing the racks at Ralph Lauren and Gucci, you can even settle down in one of the complex’s many elegant cafes.

Cancun’s most luxurious shopping center is probably the 500,000 square-foot Plaza Kukulkán. In addition to all types of great local products, all the best stores like Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo and Rolex are located within these walls. The plaza even features a scuba diving center where shoppers can hop in water for a lesson or two. When you are finally ready to unwind after your exciting day in Cancun, there are also plenty of great restaurants and bars in this area.

Sit back, relax and plan the next day’s adventures.

Cancun - The best of both worlds

Daily Diamond - Over 9% rise in children finding a loving home

The annual rates of adoptions in England and Wales have rose by almost 10 per cent between 2011 and 2012, new figures from the Office for National Statistics  have confirmed.

The increase represents the highest annual rate of adoption since figures started being compiled fifteen years ago. The statistics show that approximately 5,200 children have found a loving home during 2012, which indicates a 9.8 percent rise from the previous year.

Priority in adoption has been given to toddlers. Almost 3,200 of the children that have been adopted were aged between one and four, the highest number recorded for this age group over the past four decades. Comparatively, the number of children aged from 10 to 14 adopted last year went as low as 434, and was the lowest figure registered since 1976.

Newborns have not been so fortunate either. Only 113 babies up to twelve months have been offered a family, but that still represented an improvement since the previous year, when the number of adoptions among newborns was 76.

The Office for National Statistics acknowledged that it was extremely likely “the increased number of adoptions in 2012 could be a consequence of the recent drive to improve the adoptions process in England and in Wales.”

An Action Plan for Adoption has been released in March 2012, which stated that local authorities should speed up their process of putting children on the register for prospective parents, and reduce the waiting time for adoption to six months.

In May 2012, the Government said they would offer each local authority a score card which would rate the effectiveness and professionalism they demonstrate in each adoption case.

The Department for Education has been working closely with adoption agencies, whom they urged to refer prospective adopters to the Adoption Register within three months of approval.  The DfE had also worked towards a faster approval rate, as a measure to speed up the adoption process.

The decision followed a report published last year in which the DfE announced they were “determined to see more children considered for adoption, particularly those that were previously overlooked.”

In a recent interview, Hugh Thornbery, chief executive of the Adoption UK charity, highlighted the positive outcomes of an adoption: “It is encouraging the number of adoption orders increased in 2012. Adoption offers positive outcomes for children from the care system, providing them with a permanent family that many of them might not have if they remained in the care system.”

He insisted that continuous support needed to be provided to each new prospective parent: “We need to remain committed to recruiting more adoptive parents, but it is important to remember that any focus on recruiting adopters must go hand-in-hand with good support packages, both to encourage new adopters and ensure the long-term success of adoptive placements.”

According to a spokeswoman, the Department for Education welcomes “any rise in the rate of adoption. In England, too many children are waiting too long for loving, stable families- especially those children whom we know can be hardest to place.”

“We are overhauling the system – simplifying the process for parents who want to adopt and giving them clear, independent information about adopting in one place,” she added. “We have also been clear that we expect councils to recruit more adopters and provide children with loving homes swiftly.”

 

Over 9% rise in children finding a loving home

Daily Diamond - Nintendo Announces 2DS

Japanese electronics company Nintendo has recently announced the launch of Nintendo 2DS, a dedicated portable gaming system that plays all Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS games in 2D.

Nintendo 2DS is the newest member of the Nintendo 3DS family, and it is specifically targeted at enthusiastic game players searching for a more reasonably priced entry point into the world of Nintendo hand-held video games.

Reggie Fils-Aime, chief executive of Nintendo in the United States, has fervently described the new gaming console as “one of the strongest and most diverse video game lineups in our history”.

“Today we’re making those unique Nintendo experiences more accessible and affordable. However you play, and whatever you play, Nintendo has you covered,” he added.

A more comprehensive description has been published on the company’s official website: ” Nintendo 2DS maintains many of the same hardware features as Nintendo 3DS: dual screens, game-play controls and touch-screen features.”

“The system also has backward compatibility with the existing library of more than 2,000 Nintendo DS games, as well as access to wireless connectivity features like multiplayer online game play, fun Nintendo Video content and great digitally delivered games in the Nintendo eShop.”

Nintendo 2DS runs the whole catalogue of ready-made and downloadable video games for Nintendo 3DS but in 2D. The system features an unique set, slate-type form factor, for which additional carrying cases will be available in Red or Blue at launch.

Gamers keen to try out the new system will have the opportunity starting with October, when Nintendo 2DS joins a sampling tour in association with Simon Malls, during which it will visit many different marketplaces before it wraps up on November 3rd. Additional information about the tour can be found on their official website.

Nintendo 2DS is due out for launch on October 12th, date which coincides with the official release of Pokemon X and Y. DS2 will be available for $130.

Nintendo Announces 2DS

Daily Diamond - Hope for New Ovarian Cancer Screening

A new screening programme for ovarian cancer might soon be implemented in the United Kingdom as scientists in the United States have successfully undergone a methodical research at the University of Texas, on a new way of detecting the disease.

According to the Journal Cancer, the medical trial of over four thousand women who have gone through the proposed method, has showed positive results, thus making it possible to be approved and carried through in the UK in the next few years.

The identifying method is currently subject to a test from the British government, due for results in 2015.

Every year in the United Kingdom, approximately 4,500 women die of ovarian cancer. Detecting the disease in its early stages, when it is most responsive to an efficient treatment, is, however, extremely difficult. Tumors in the ovaries are particularly hard to detect in an inception stage, thus making it practically impossible for patients to be treated on time.

Due to the significantly misleading results coming from the blood tests used in the United Kingdom for the detection of ovarian cancer, no National Screening Programme is currently performed.

During the comprehensive study carried out at the University of Texas and the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, ten women have undergone surgery based on an ultrasound scan, and the types of cancer detected were in a relatively early stage.

The outstanding research demonstrated it was possible to diagnose a patient with an ovarian tumor correctly, through a screening strategy of blood tests and ultrasound examinations.

Researcher Dr Karen Lu, leader of the medical experiment, declared that the “clinical practice definitely should not change from our study, but it gives us an insight – we didn’t get a lot of false positives.”

Dr Lu added “the results from our study are not practice-changing at this time; however, our findings suggest that using a longitudinal screening strategy may be beneficial in post-menopausal women with an average risk of developing ovarian cancer.”

“We are currently waiting for the results of a larger, randomised study currently being conducted in the United Kingdom that uses the same Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm in a similar population of women. If the results of this study are also positive, then this will result in a change in practice,” she concluded.

Ovarian cancer is most commonly detected through symptoms like pelvic and abdominal pain, and persistent bloating, which are often mistaken as symptoms of other less significant conditions, thus preventing a severe form of cancer from being efficiently and timely treated.

In comparison with the early stages of the disease, when approximately 90 per cent of the patients are completely cured, a late diagnosis leads to a survival rate of as low as 30 per cent.

Dr Annwen Jones, chief executive of the Target Ovarian Cancer organization, has further supported the statements: “The results of this study are without doubt very positive, and we should take hope from that. Early detection of ovarian cancer will be the key to transforming survival rates. However, this study is very small, and there is no guarantee that the results will be replicated on a larger scale.”

Hope for New Ovarian Cancer Screening

Daily Diamond - UK Government, Search Engines and Social Networks Combat Internet Abuse

As the number of victims of online abuse escalated in the past few months, Internet providers have recently decided upon taking strong measures against online harassment.

Even though social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have been linked to cases of online abuse in the past, with a particular increase in the last four years, it had not been until recently that both websites along with search engines including Microsoft, Google and Yahoo, have taken serious action.

The series of measures implemented by online platforms come as an outcome of the recent cases of sexual harassment and child abuse warnings issued by Twitter and Microsoft Bing, and in response to the government’s decision to filter the Internet search engines.

The decision was made after Prime Minister David Cameron declared he would enforce new laws on Internet providers should they fail to restrict access to illegal material.

In a recent press conference, Cameron highlighted the importance of blocking certain abusive terms, which can link to a high number of sources of child abuse images, particularly when used in Search Engine Optimized systems.

“There are some searches which are so abhorrent and where there can be no doubt whatsoever about the sick and malevolent intent of the searcher,” said the Prime Minister. He insisted that these companies should put more effort into fighting Internet abuse.

An immediate measure was taken by Microsoft, who introduced a child abuse warning in their Bing search engine. The pop-up facility, which is the first of the kind in the United Kingdom, warns users against their search for illegal images, and provides useful links to counselling services for those who have developed an online addiction.

In an official statement, Microsoft declared that it remains “a strong proponent of proactive action by the technology industry in the fight against child exploitation. The Bing Notification Platform is just one way Microsoft is working to tackle the scourge of online child abuse content.”

A Microsoft spokesman added “this is in addition to Microsoft’s existing and longstanding policy of removing any verified links to illegal content of this sort from Bing as quickly as possible.”

Andy Baker, deputy chief executive at Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP), agreed that the Bing notification was the first step towards restricting access to illegal content, and also admitted that Microsoft’s initiative has not solved the problem completely: “This is a positive step in the right direction to deterring potential offenders from accessing indecent images of children on the internet. While the Bing project isn’t the whole solution, I hope it goes some way to making those curious about searching for indecent images think again.”

It has been confirmed that both Google and Yahoo are planning on taking similar action against online child abuse. A spokesperson for Yahoo confirmed that the company has “a zero tolerance policy when it comes to child abuse images online,” and added that their “governance and safety teams work hand-in-hand with the product, engineering, and customer care teams to remove these illegal images.”

While Google does not plan to install the same notification feature on its search engine, it insisted that it will continue to report abusive and illegal content: “We use purpose-built technology and work with child safety organisations to find, remove and report it because we never want this material to appear in our search results,” a company representative declared.

Twitter is known to have received the highest number of requests for restricting their online abuse after feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez has recently received an alarming number of threatening tweets. Ms Perez became a target of social networking abuse after she successfully campaigned for a woman personality’s face to be featured on the new £10 bank note, receiving nearly 50 abusive tweets every hour.

She reported them to the Metropolitan Police, who detained a 21-year-old man in Manchester, on suspicion of Internet abuse offences. He was arrested and later released on bail.

After receiving a record number of complaints from feminist campaigners, and being the subject of an online petition which gathered over twelve thousands signatures, Twitter ensured that a report abuse button would be available on each of their tweet updates.

A Twitter spokesperson noted “the ability to report individual tweets for abuse is currently available on Twitter for iPhone, and we plan to bring this functionality to other platforms, including Android and the web.”  He confirmed that Twitter will immediately suspend the accounts that are found to be in breach of their terms and conditions and that each user is strongly encouraged to report any unusual behaviour on their social network by simply filling a report form.

Although the newly implemented measures are thought to be highly effective upon Internet companies and Social Networking websites, it is also widely known that the issue of social networking crime was relatively minor a few years ago, with only 550 reports being made in 2008, a number that has escalated to almost 5,000 in 2012. It is of  tremendous importance, therefore, that Internet providers continue to put their best efforts in protecting their users from online harassment.

UK Government, Search Engines and Social Networks Combat Internet Abuse

Daily Diamond - Daily Diamond - Officially launched

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the Daily Diamond! We’re a new media publication aimed at providing positive, unbiased news in contrast to the doom and gloom of the mainstream media.

It’s been a long journey getting to this point and we have lots of news to share with you over the coming days, months and years.

We hope you enjoy the site and if you any questions or a story you might interest us, please e-mail at hello@daily-diamond.com

Also it would be great if you could share us with your friends, we’re on most social media networks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DailyDiamondNews

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Are just a few

We hope you enjoy reading

 

Daily Diamond - Officially launched

Victorias Secret Opens First Stores outside London

Luxury lingerie label Victoria’s Secret is set to open new stores outside London, in Northern England, this month.

The American label, famous for their alluring Angels and the exquisite lingerie pieces they model on the catwalks every season, has recently opened doors to a new store in Manchester’s Trafford Centre on Thursday, August 8, with further store openings set to take place later this month in Sheffield and Leeds.

The news has sparked an immense enthusiasm in both customers and organizational teams. Caroline Aikman, Marketing Manager at the Trafford Centre expressed her high expectations towards the opening of such a successful and influential lingerie shop, and detailed the extraordinary experience customers would have in store.

“As the world’s most successful lingerie chain, we expect fashionistas from across the region to be beating a path to Victoria’s Secret, keen on their high-end garments and the luxury shopping experience they offer,” she said.

According to Ms Aikman, Victoria’s Secret’s PINK! line will also be available to younger customers in the store.

“Teenage shoppers will be introduced to the brand via the PINK! store, aimed at a slightly younger customer.”

The manager confessed that both Victoria’s Secret and PINK! departments will “add a whole new dimension to our ladies’ apparel, and join the likes of Boux Avenue and La Senza at the top of Manchester’s shopping list.”

Occupying a space of over 1,100 square feet, the newly-opened branch in Trafford Centre features most of the brand’s best-selling collections, including Very Sexy, Body by Victoria, Dream Angels and Bombshell.

Dedicated customers will also be delighted to find an extensive range of luxury fragrances and body care products, from the iconic lines launched by the American brand throughout the years: Victoria’s Secret Angel, Victoria, VS Fantasies, Dream Angels Heavenly and Bombshell.

With over 1,000 branches only in the United States, Victoria’s Secret will also debut its highly adored garments in Leeds, on August 29th.

Last year, the luxurious lingerie brand opened its first UK flagship store in London, on Bond Street, followed by a smaller branch in Westfield Stratford.

Victorias Secret Opens First Stores outside London