News Friday, January 22, 2010 D Irish actress Saoirse Ronan sports a knitted headband as she greets the press during the promotion of her film The Lovely Bones in Tokyo yesterday. She will be back in Dublin for the Irish premiere of the Peter Jackson movie on Tuesday Picture: EPA A head for movies Online gambling sites to pay taxes on Irish bets By Brian Hutton INTERNATIONAL online gambling sites will be forced to pay tax on Irish bets, un- der new Opposition proposals. The Labour Party said offshore book- makers including telephone and televi- sion operators would be brought under a new 1.5 per cent levy for the industry. This would replace the existing one per cent tax in betting shops and raise 90million for the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. That fund has already cost the taxpayer 240million, the party said. Mary Upton, Labours sports spokes- woman, said operators refusing to pay the levies would be banned in Ireland. Any company that refuses to register and pay the betting levy will be refused from offering a service to Irish custom- ers, she said. Online operators who are not based in Ireland but who are providing a service to Irish customers and who refuse to register and pay the betting levy will be blocked by Irish internet service providers, upon the direction of the Government. The overhaul is needed to continue fund- ing the horse-racing and greyhound in- dustries, Ms Upton said. Extra money raised under the proposals would be used to fund local sports part- nerships and support organisations work- ing with gambling addiction. Ms Upton said a recent ruling in the Eu- ropean Court of Justice in favour of Portu- gal, against a foreign gambling company, provided a precedent for their plans. It is important to point out that this levy will not affect any other markets that com- panies based in Ireland are active in. Companies will pay the betting levy on their Irish operations only. Thus there is no incentive for any companies to move outside of Ireland, she added. Lets go outside: Lara Croft is keeping children indoors Rickets on the rise in gaming children CHANGING lifestyles among children is leading to a Vitamin D deficiency and a rise in cases of rickets, medical experts said yesterday. In a medical journal, Professor Simon Pearce and Dr Tim Cheetham said young people were spending more time indoors on their computers rather than previous generations who spent time playing outside, and consequently do not absorb enough sunlight. They have called for a change in public health policies to combat the disease commonly associated with poverty. The main source of Vitamin D, which prevents rickets, is sunlight. Swine flu drug left me blind A TEENAGER blinded after taking the anti-swine-flu drug Tamiflu did not even have the virus, it was revealed yesterday. Samantha Millard developed a life- threatening syndrome after swallowing three tablets when she thought she had the virus. The 19- year-old lost her sight after being told to take Tamiflu by the a flu helpine. Doctors do not know whether it will return. Ms Millard developed the life-threatening Stevens Johnson condition which turned into toxic epidermal necrolysis, leaving her with damaged eyesight. Mother Debbie van Horenbeeck, from Bicester in Oxfordshire, England, is taking legal advice, claiming the pills were not tested thoroughly enough. They have disabled my daughter from that helpline, she said. When they told her she had swine flu, they did not inform her of anything that could go wrong. Samantha with her mother rail tale: A slimy fungus- like mould has shown British scientists how to improve communication networks. They placed oat flakes on a wet surface in a pattern matching the cities around Tokyo and analysed how the mould spread between them. It was identical to Tokyos rail system and capturing the essence of this system will help build cost- efficient networks of all kinds. monkey business: Cracking genetic codes has helped fight chimp smuggling, researchers said. DNA signatures can also be used to reunite rescued chimps with relatives in the wild. By studying rescued creatures, researchers mapped smuggling routes allowing officials to better target dealers. Up to ten chimps are killed for every one rescued, said Prof Mary Gonder of New Yorks Albany University. niGHt moVes: Tobacco plants cant resist boosting their reproductive chances. By day, they open their flowers to hummingbirds and, by night, they release a different compound to attract hawkmoths. Although the plants nocturnal pollinators deposit eggs, which put it at risk of a caterpillar attack, it still makes efforts to attract them, a according to a report in Current Biology. If you have a story for MiniCosm please e-mail us at news@metroherald.ie MINICOSMSCIENCE & DISCOVERY IN BRIEF index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html