NEW YORK: MySpace, the largest U.S. social-networking Web site, has agreed with attorneys general of 49 states to take new steps to protect children from sexual predators on its site.

It has also agreed to lead a nationwide effort to develop technology to verify the ages and identities of Internet users, officials said.

The agreement is the latest attempt by law enforcement officials nationwide to shield children from online dangers, including the risk of encountering inappropriate sexual content or receiving sexual advances through sites like MySpace and Facebook. The sites allow any Internet user to create a profile to display personal information and build networks of friends online.

Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, announced the deal at a news conference in Manhattan on Monday along with a MySpace executive and Roy Cooper, the attorney general of North Carolina.

Blumenthal said the voluntary agreement went further than the one struck in October between New Yorks attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, and the Facebook Web site.

“Its stronger, broader, a very significant step or even a milestone in making the industry aim higher to keep kids safer,” Blumenthal said.

He cited steps in the new agreement to separate childrens profiles from those of adults and to seek ways to verify users ages - steps that he called for after the Facebook agreement, when he and Cooper had said that stronger measures were needed.

The most important new measure, Blumenthal said, was that MySpace would create and lead a task force to find ways to verify ages and identities online. The task force, which will receive input from competing sites, child protection groups and technology companies, will report back to the attorneys general quarterly and issue recommendations at the end of this year.

Facebook, in its agreement with New York prosecutors, promised to respond more speedily to complaints about sexual messages and to warn users in stronger language that the site could not guarantee childrens safety.

The new agreement with MySpace, signed by 50 attorneys general - the top prosecutors of the District of Columbia and every state except Texas - includes similar provisions.

MySpace will install safeguards requiring an adult user to prove he or she knows a child user to contact that child. Profiles of users under 18 will automatically be set to “private,” preventing casual browsers from seeing them.

Parents who do not want their children using the site will be able to submit their childrens e-mail addresses to MySpace, which will prevent users of those addresses from creating profiles. MySpace will identify and remove pornographic images and links to pornographic sites from its Web site.

But none of these measures are foolproof, Blumenthal said. Children can create new e-mail addresses that their parents do not know about; adult strangers could obtain enough information about children to get past the sites safeguards; pornographic links spring up as fast as they are removed.

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Just in case there were any doubts about the importance of vitamin D - the ’sunshine’ vitamin - two major studies published last week confirmed just how essential it is for good health.

One study found that people with higher levels in their blood were more likely to survive cancer, the other that having very low levels increased your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Previous research has linked high levels with fighting off infection and helping with all sorts of chronic problems. But there is a catch: we make most of our vitamin D when our skin is exposed to fairly strong sunlight and we can get more from oily fish and a few foods like cereals that have been fortified with it.

But to obtain the benefits suggested by this new research you have to have a level in your blood that is four or five times higher than we in the UK can get from occasionally exposing our face and hands to the sun on the way to work or having the odd meal of oily fish.

Now a new and controversial book by an American doctor suggests that taking even higher levels of the vitamin - 10 to 15 times the recommended amounts - can work wonders.

Dr James Dowd, who works at the Arthritis Institute of Michigan, has been prescribing vitamin D to people suffering from chronic disorders such as arthritis, back pain and headaches and the result, he claims, is a huge improvement in their symptoms.

In his book, The Vitamin D Cure, Dr Dowd describes a number of success stories using this approach. One of his patients, Barbara, for instance, was obese, and suffered from arthritis in one leg as well as high blood pressure.

As Dowd explains: “In the past I would have given her anti-inflammatory drugs, pain medication, a pill to lose weight and drug treatment for hypertension.”

But several years earlier he himself began to suffer symptoms of joint pain and fatigue and after researching other treatments, devised a very different “and much more effective approach”.

He believes that he, like Barbara and millions of others in America and Europe, was seriously deficient in vitamin D and was eating foods that were making his condition worse.

He devised the ‘Vitamin D Cure’ which he used on himself, and patients such as Barbara.

Dr Dowd says: “Within six weeks she told us that she could hardly believe how much better she felt.”

The cure involves a high dose supplement of vitamin D and simple dietary changes, including cutting out wheat and cheese and encouraging a greater variety of fruit, vegetables and protein. It also involves a certain amount of exercise.

“It sounds almost magical,” Dowd admits, “but in fact it’s just common-sense medicine based on good science; the sort that has eluded many physicians for decades.”

Dr Dowd says his approach works for patients complaining of a wide range of symptoms.

“Many of them are obese and have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and autoimmune diseases.

“Usually they believe their problems are down to their genes or just because they are getting older. In most cases this is selfdefeating nonsense.”

Vitamin D is essential for good bone health, but as research now suggests, it is also important in chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Quite why is not clear. However, we do know that the level of vitamin D in our bloodstreams is dropping, partly because of concerns about the link between sun and skin cancer.

It has been estimated that in America and the UK as many as 90 per cent of the population are not getting nearly enough vitamin D from the sun and diet can’t make up for the shortfall.

We spend most of our days in offices - modern glass doesn’t allow the vitamin D-producing ultra violet B rays through - and for four to six months of the year the sun isn’t high enough in the sky to stimulate production in the skin when you do go outdoors.

This is why Dr Dowd recommends his patients take a supplement containing anywhere between 4,000 and 6,000 international units (IUs) a day. He says it is the only way to get their blood levels up to a point where the real benefits begin to kick in.

However vitamins don’t work like a drug; you can’t just take a three or four 1000IU pills a day and assume that all will be well. Vitamin D works alongside three other minerals: potassium, magnesium and calcium, which are best obtained from your diet. Without these, vitamin D doesn’t work as well.

Unfortunately, the typical American and British diets rarely have enough of these minerals either, says Dr Dowd.

He’s also concerned that the normal western diet makes our blood too acid - as a result calcium is leached out of our bone to ‘neutralise’ our blood.

Two of the major culprits for raising the acid levels are grainbased food - especially wheat 5 and, in particular, cheese, which he describes as the ‘The king of junk foods’.

But the most wide-ranging and serious effect of too much acid is that levels of various stress hormones, such as cortisol, rise. This in turn raises the amount of unhealthy fat stored in your abdomen, and increases the risk of diabetes.

Dr Dowd recommends a good intake of protein from lean meat along with nuts and seeds. While this protein also has an acidic effect, it has many other benefits and its acid count can be easily balanced by an increase in fruit and vegetables, he adds.

Nutritionists and doctors are dismissive of the ‘acid’ theory of foods especially cutting out grains and cheese, both nutritionally important foods. But of greater concern is the quantity of Vitamin D Dr Dowd prescribes.

The amount of vitamin D you have in your blood is measured in ‘nanomoles per litre’, written nmol/L. The amount you get from a supplement is usually measured in international units, written IU.

A blood level of 25 is the official amount needed to prevent bonedamaging rickets to achieve this you need an intake of about 400 IU a day. The UK Food Standards

Agency cautions against supplementing with amounts over 1,000IU because high levels have been linked with excess calcium which can damage bones and kidneys.

However, these safety levels are controversial. A recent article in the prestigious New English Journal of Medicine recommended that people take 2,600IU per day.

One Canadian expert, Reinhold Veith, of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, says that 40,000IU could be a toxic dose but only if taken over a long time.

Dr Dowd himself says: “People worry about taking too much vitamin D but it is hard to overdose. Toxicity is highly unlikely with an intake of less than 10,000IU a day.”

A spokesperson for the British Nutritional Foundation pointed out that the safe upper limit for supplementing according to the American Institute of Medicine was 2,000 IU and warned of dangers of going above that.

The Vitamin D Cure, by James Dowd MD and Diane Stafford is published by John Wiley on January 23 at 13.99.

To order a copy (p&p free), call 0845 606 4206. Share this article: «www.dailymail.co.uk»

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NEW YORK —Curtain up for the “Grinch.” Twenty-six more shows to go.

Performances resume at 11 a.m. Friday after a Manhattan judge ordered the reopening of “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas!” despite the ongoing Broadway stagehands strike that has shut down more than two dozen plays and musicals.

Tickets already are on sale through Telecharge or http://www.grinchmusical.com for all performances through Jan. 6, the end of the show’s limited holiday run.

“I’m going to grant the injunction” against the lockout, state Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman said Wednesday. “I think one Grinch in town is enough.”

Freedman’s ruling came a day after she heard arguments from producers of the show and owners of the theater housing the $6 million production. Producers, citing a special contract between the show and Jujamcyn Theaters, wanted the show to go on.

Jodi Hassan, a spokeswoman for the musical, said an appeal of the court’s decision by the theater’s owners had been postponed indefinitely. Calls to Jujamcyn executives were not immediately returned.

“We got our miracle on 44th Street,” said James Sanna, “Grinch” producer. “We have 11 shows this Thanksgiving weekend and we hope that the families and children will come out and join us.”

Meanwhile, The Nederlander Producing Co. and producers of seven shows in its nine Broadway theaters have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking $35 million in damages from striking union members.

Nederlander said the strike against them is unlawful because they have a separate contract with the stagehands union Local 1 than other producers.

The $35 million represented revenues lost since the strike began, including lost ticket sales, concessions and merchandise. Nederlander theaters currently house “Grease,” “Wicked,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Rent,” “Hairspray,” “Legally Blonde,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King” and “Cyrano De Bergerac,” a limited run play starring Kevin Kline that’s scheduled to close Dec. 23.

Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for Local 1, said the union had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Jujamcyn owners said the lockout was legal and a tactical decision by the theater owners in handling the strike. An attorney for the owners said his clients had no assurance that the stagehands would not walk out again if the show resumed at the St. James Theatre, which is owned by Jujamcyn.

The continued closing of “The Grinch,” however, was the result of a management lockout rather than the strike, with the theater owners refusing to let the musical perform even though the stagehands union said it would work.

The dispute between the stagehands union, Local 1, and the League of American Theatres and Producers is focused on how many workers are required to open a Broadway show and keep it running.

Stagehands include scenery and prop handlers, carpenters, electricians, and lighting and sound technicians. They have been working without a contract since the end of July.

Eight shows, whose theaters have separate contracts with the league, remain unaffected by the walkout: “Pygmalion,” “The Ritz,” “Mauritius,” “Cymbeline,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Mary Poppins,” “Xanadu” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” All off-Broadway productions are open, too.

Last season, “Grinch,” playing at the Hilton Theatre, was one of Broadway’s big success stories. During its 11-week run, the show’s total gross topped $15 million.

“This year, we were tracking to do just as well, and then news of the strike has really slowed down our sales,” Sanna said last week. “At this point last year … it would have been difficult to get a good ticket. This year, because we have had so many cancellations, there is a great opportunity for families who want to see `Grinch.”‘

“All aboard again?” For many traders Monday’s session was spearheaded by a “we can’t wait to tell you the good news” report out of IBM. However, a lighter volume rally from an oversold condition doesn’t exactly instill confidence that the current intermediate correction is over just yet. On the other hand and flying a bit below the radar, a strong and well-received report out of the commodity risk manager and current IBD 100 component stock, FC Stone (), is the sort of action which should have growth stock and option strategists attention.

This morning FC Stone delivered better-than-expected Q1 profits of 45 cents a share, representing a beat of 12 cents and 16 cents above last year’s same quarter results. Stronger sales which were also above consensus views helped the out-the-gate bid motor through an interpreted slightly loose four-week flat base which had found support off its prior July highs and its 50-day moving average.

It’s true that the technical take on the tea leaves might be open to debate and many traders will still want to wait on a follow-through day confirmation before moving into fresh positions. With that said though, Monday’s price and volume activity was certainly decisive and indicative of institutional interest for the recent IPO and obvious market leader. In fact, shares continued to rally throughout the session and by the final hour, were roughly 6% above consolidation highs and a buy point of 49.48 on record-breaking volume running in excess of 400% above normal.

Contract volume in FCSX’s listed derivatives was also finding some strong action. Entering the last hour, more than 2,300 contracts had traded with nearly 90% representing call interest. That’s nearly an eight-fold increase over its daily average. That’s certainly healthy, but that same somewhat tepid daily count in conjunction with a known mover in the underlying does make any type of positioning in the options a more difficult affair. For instance, with shares near 51.40, the ATM January 50 calls, the most active option on the board with more than 700 contracts having changed hands, still showed a bid / ask of 1.65 / 2.10.

With that spread representing a “natural market” in excess of 20% versus its mid market price of about 1.90; buyers and sellers need to beware or at least extra, extra diligent. When we remember that exiting could very well be equally demanding, the decision to enter and asking ourselves the question, “How much do we really want it?” deserves an even greater appreciation. While it’s true that we can always design a limited risk position to protect us from catastrophe risk that sometimes occurs beyond our well-intentioned stop losses; some premiums are still very difficult to justify for bulls, bears and even hedge hogs.

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Treasuries surged on Thursday, pushing yields to their lowest in more than two years, as fresh news of credit losses and subdued U.S. data increased the attraction of safe-haven government bonds.

A relatively tame score on underlying inflation last month and surprisingly large number of claims for jobless benefits in the latest week left investors thinking the Fed would have more leeway to reduce borrowing costs to shore up the economy.

Regional factory surveys showed surprising strength in some cases, but the details of the reports suggested underlying weakness and reasons for concern.

Barclays, Britain’s third-biggest bank, announced a 1.3-billion-pound ($2.7 billion) write-down for losses linked to the U.S. subprime mortgage housing crisis.

The red ink refocused investors on the troubled financial sector while a rise in key short-term lending rates in the dollar and other major currencies added to signs of distress in the credit markets.

The two-year note, which benefits from heightened rate-cut expectations and also from safe-haven flows, rallied 9/32 in price to yield 3.36%. During the session, the two-year yield fell to its lowest since early 2005.

The rally also took long bonds up more than a full point on the day. The thirty-year bond was last up 1 5/32, yielding 4.54%.

The benchmark 10-year note gained 23/32 on the day, pushing the yield down to 4.17% from 4.27% on Wednesday. During the session, the 10-year yield fell to its lowest since late 2005.

Treasuries also benefited from falling U.S. stocks, which dropped as investors worried that there could be yet more credit losses for big financial services companies and fallout from the housing slump.

Factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region jumped in November, according to a survey by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, although employment fell and companies’ forecasts for the future darkened. The Philadelphia Fed’s employment index also dropped sharply.

Growth in New York State’s manufacturing sector slowed in November, bogged down by a spike in material costs and a sharp decline in employment activity, according to the New York Federal Reserve.