Single Dads

EUGENE, Ore. — An Oregon State University study suggests that anti-smoking ads by the tobacco industry targeted at youths and their parents do not work and might actually encourage some teens to smoke.

At best, the ads have no effect, said Brian Flay, a professor in Oregon State’s department of public health in Corvallis, one of nine researchers who studied tobacco-industry ads. He said some ads, particularly those aimed at parents, may actually encourage smoking.

Cigarette maker Philip Morris USA disputes the results. Philip Morris says not only has it spent $1 billion to develop and disseminate advertising aimed at deterring youth smoking but it also has research that shows the ads work. It says the ads are based on widely accepted research and don’t carry hidden messages.

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — The San Francisco man who sought help for his stranded family and got lost in the snowy wilderness died of hypothermia near a fishing lodge stacked with food, authorities said.

James Kim, 35, had no way of knowing about the Black Bar Lodge. His body was found in shallow water feeding Big Windy Creek, about a mile away from the lodge, where he could have found shelter, warmth and enough food for months, authorities said Thursday.

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TWO per cent of adults command more than half of the world’s wealth, while the bottom 50 per cent possesses just one per cent, according to a United Nations development institute study.

While income is distributed unequally across the globe, the geographical spread of wealth - which includes property and financial assets - is even more skewed, the study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the UN University showed.

“Wealth is heavily concentrated in North America, Europe and high-income Asia-Pacific countries. People in these countries collectively hold almost 90 per cent of total world wealth,” the survey said.

The Helsinki-based institute said this was the first global research on the topic, for which there are only limited data. The study is based on figures from 2000.

Institute director Anthony Shorrocks said if the world’s population was reduced to a group of 10 people, one person would hold $US99 and the remaining nine would share $1.