Hello I'm Nathan Bazley. Welcome to Behind the News. on This Week's Show

EASYPRINT TRANSCRIPTS 7/08/07 Episode 20.

Hello I'm Nathan Bazley. Welcome to Behind the News. On this week's show ..

Are dirty tricks destroying cycling.

Is your old mobile a toxic menace? and can music help you get healthy?

Also on the program today... are you deleting your own history .

Those items later... but first to our top story this week...

Darfur Catherine Ellis, Reporter

The African country of Sudan has been in a state of war almost non-stop for the last 51 years! Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the most recent conflict... but finally the world has decided to do something about the problem. Catherine looks at what's caused the fighting and what's being done to help people.

CATHERINE ELLIS, REPORTER: Imagine having to flee your home, never having enough to eat and seeing friends and relatives die right in front of you.

It's hard for us to picture but that's all these kids have ever known.

They come from a place called Sudan, which from Australia, is across the Indian Ocean. It's the largest country in Africa.

It became independent in 1956 but it's pretty much been in a state of war ever since.

It started as a problem between the north and the south.

When the Government was first set up, it was based in the north where most people are Muslim but people in the south who are mainly Christian, felt left out and ignored.

In 2003 conflict erupted in this region called Darfur.

Darfur is a very dry and poor area and local tribes people were unhappy with the Government

They said they weren't being giving enough help so they rebelled and started fighting.

Other people gathered weapons and formed into groups of militias.

The militias are not professional soldiers but they started fighting the tribes people.

The United Nations says the militias have been murdering many innocent people and destroying their villages.

BOY: Suddenly they came and started beating people and then we ran, my mother run inside and then I run inside and that is the problem.

And many believe the Sudanese Government is responsible for funding, arming and recruiting the militias.

Although the Government says this is not true.

Since the fighting began, Darfur has become one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters! 1 Two hundred thousand people have been killed - around 4,000,000 have been driven from their homes and are living in overcrowded camps.

CATHERINE, REPORTER: But after four years of fighting, an International Force is being sent in to try and fix the problem.

This is the United Nations Security Council. It's made up of fifteen countries.

It has announced that 26,000 peace keepers will be sent to Darfur.

Peacekeepers are soldiers and police officers and their job is to stop the fighting so the different groups can negotiate a peaceful solution.

When they're working for the UN they wear light blue hats and helmets.

Countries from all over the world will be sending people from their armies and police forces to take part.

Australia is also lending a hand - some of our doctors and nurses are going over.

While the fighting has been happening aid agencies have been working in Darfur.

They're organisations that give help to people in need. Things like food and medical supplies.

They say the United Nations should have acted a long time ago but it's good that something is finally happening.

It won't be easy for the peacekeepers .. it will be dangerous and some might get hurt.

But everyone involved says it's a risk that has to be taken otherwise many more lives could be lost.

Tour de France Sarah Larsen, Reporter

Last week the Tour De France - one of the world's toughest and most prestigious bike races came to an end. And while the winners, including Aussie cyclist Cadel Evans, who came second, are celebrating...illegal drug use by other cyclists is putting the future of the race in doubt.

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Three weeks, three and a half thousand kilometres, battling mountains, exhaustion, and the odd injury. This is the Tour de France. The most famous bike race in the world!

More than 100 cyclists pedal their way through the beautiful French countryside and sometimes into neighbouring countries. But there's not much time to enjoy the scenery.

REPORTER: The Tour is one of the most gruelling races in the world. For most of us just getting up a hill on a bike is hard work. They actually race each other up mountains!

In Europe cycling is huge, like cricket or rugby in Australia. And for cyclists there's nothing more prestigious than winning the Tour de France.

The Tour's broken into stages. - shorter races from town to town. The winner of each stage gets to wear the famous yellow jersey and their finishing time is recorded. At the end of the race it's the person with the lowest overall finishing time who's named the winner.

That honour has never gone to an Aussie, although our cyclists have worn the yellow jersey before.

But this year Cadel Evans came close to the big prize. The former BMX star came second, putting an Aussie on the winners' podium for the first time. While he was pretty happy about it Cadel, like most riders, would have preferred first place.

"I'm sorry I didn't win it"

That fierce desire to win has driven some other cyclists to some pretty unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Cheating has been a part of the Tour since the second race way back in 1904. 2 REPORTER: Back then, some cyclists cheated by catching cars or trains between towns, and just pretending they'd ridden. Sounds like a good idea to me!!

Authorities caught on to that one pretty quickly. But there are some ways of cheating that are harder to detect.

For years the great race has been tarnished by cyclists using performance enhancing drugs. They're drugs that athletes take to make their muscles stronger, to mask pain or to give them an unnatural energy boost. Using drugs is also called doping.

Doping doesn't always involve drugs. Some cyclists use hormones or even inject themselves with extra blood - that's called blood doping - so more oxygen circulates through their body and they have better endurance.

Drugs, hormones and other kinds of doping are illegal because they give users an unfair advantage. They can also be very dangerous. They can damage your heart, liver and kidneys, cause infections, and even kill!

But even though cyclists have died from drug use, some are still caught breaking the rules.

Last year the winner of the Tour De France, American cyclist Floyd Landis, was stripped of his victory after he tested positive for using performance enhancing drugs.

This year, 4 cyclists tested positive for drugs. Whole teams dropped out of the race because of doping controversies.

That horrified a lot of people. Two German television stations stopped broadcasting the race when a top German rider tested positive and a French newspaper refused to publish results, saying drugs had killed the Tour.

Now some people in France are saying the Tour de France should be cancelled all together. Even though there are plenty of riders playing by the rules, it's hard to test everyone all the time, so they're worried there could be more cheats.

But the Tour de France is still really popular. And as long as there are riders doing the right thing, many say the race should go on.

Conserving History Nathan Bazley, Reporter

These days, it's not uncommon for us to store all our emails and pictures on computer... But what happens if we accidentally press delete? This week I found out just how fragile these digital memories are...

The way we communicate has changed heaps in the last 100 years.

"My dear Brother, To sit here where I am now, it seems scarcely possible that we are so near the front. This country here is a peaceful-looking farming country and, to look out over the quiet fields, it is hard to realize that the fighting is so close at hand."

"Hey M8! Hws it? All gud here, looks g8, We R sticking rnd... Cya l8r"

Technology has made it easier than ever to keep in touch. We have email, sms, mobiles and digital cameras; all at our disposal.

But what do we do with all those memories?

Well, a lot of the time, we just do this.

So, what's the big deal?

Well all this deleting has historians very worried.

NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Back in the old days, people were very careful to save things like letters and photos because they were so special.

This photo is of a street scene in Adelaide from over 100 years ago.

3 It's amazing what we can learn from photos like this.

There's heaps of really interesting old stuff still around. Letters and photos from 50 years ago are being preserved in museums and libraries but what's happening to the stuff you're writing today?

Where will that be in 50 years?

Well, take me for example. All my photos are kept here on my computer's hard drive.

If my computer ever crashed, I would lose every photo from the last 6 years!

And the only letters I write are by email or by sms. Once my inbox gets full, I start deleting.

So all these memories won't be there for people to study in the future.

And even if we do try to keep them on the computer, things can go wrong!

Software has changed radically. In many cases old software won't work with our new systems. That could mean photos or emails might not be translatable.

The hardware where we keep info has also changed drastically. Things like these floppy disks were once the only way to store info from computers, now most people can't even use them.

There's also another big problem. None of this tech gear will last forever!

Hard drives wear out just with general use and if something breaks, or it blows up, say goodbye to your memories!

But before you start burning all your priceless pics and emails to CD or DVD, think again!

Discs you burn at home are totally different to stamped ones, like the cd's you buy music on, and they probably won't last as long either.

You could start losing things within 2 - 5 years with normal use.

The National Archives is charged with preserving Australia's history and it has set up a program to help solve the problem.

They are storing all their old information in a special software language that should be around for a very long time.

That is then stored on high security computers that are protected from power failure and viruses.

So what can we do?

Well, the National Archives suggests buying a spare hard drive so you can back up all those happy snaps. And try to keep it disconnected from the computer whenever possible.

Also, any emails you get on the web are generally stored on servers far away meaning you can't rely on that e-love letter staying in your inbox forever. So back them up on the drive as well.

If you do all that, hopefully in eighty years time you'll be able to show your grandkids what you looked like at school today!

Mobile Recycling Sarah Larsen, Reporter

Now it's hard to imagine what the world was like before mobile phones. There are literally billions of them on the planet...and more are being made every day. But what happens to old mobiles? Do you throw yours away or recycle it? Sarah's been checking what's going on.

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Mobile Phones. We seem to be addicted to them. We buy about 8 million every year! There always seem to be cool new models coming out.

KIDS: Look at my phone!

4 So upgrading is pretty tempting and we do a lot of it. On average Australians get a new phone every 18 to 24 months.

But what should we do with our old phones?

REPORTER: Not so fast.

Throwing out your phone can hurt the environment. Not only will it take ages to break down at the dump, but phones and batteries can contain toxic chemicals that might leak into groundwater and poison animals and people.

Last week an Australian environmental group - the Total Environment Centre - said heaps of phones were ending up in landfill every year. It says only 3 percent of old phones are being recycled and that number doesn't seem to be going up.

That's despite the fact that phone companies are running a recycling program called Mobile Muster. They put bins in phone shops where people can leave their old handsets but the Total Environment Centre says they're not being used.

But this is where the story gets a bit trickier. Mobile Muster says it has stopped a lot of phones going into landfill but the real problem is that people just aren't chucking their old phones away.

There are an estimated 16 million phones hiding in Aussie cupboards and drawers.

KID: What's wrong with that?

The more mobiles we recycle, the fewer resources we use up making new ones. There are a lot of valuable minerals in a mobile phone. In batteries there's nickel which can be used to make stainless steel, and other minerals that can go into new batteries.

And believe it or not - your phone can actually be turned into jewellery!

REPORTER: This circuit board is covered in gold and silver, only a little bit, but put a few phones together and it soon adds up.

You would have to dig 110 tonnes of ore from a gold mine to get as much precious metal as just one tonne of mobile circuit boards would provide.

But while there might be good reasons to recycle, a lot of people say they have good reasons to keep their old phones.

They're often still working so they're useful to keep as spares or for other members of the family

So some environmental groups say it's time for a new approach.

One idea is to make people pay some extra money when they buy their mobile... which they only get back if they recycle. That's what happens in some overseas countries.

It's not clear whether that will happen here but Mobile Muster says it's working hard to get recycling bins in as many places as possible. And when customers go to buy their groovy new phones, they should make sure they bin the old brick in the right place.

Music Therapy Catherine Ellis, Reporter

Everyone enjoys music but did you know it can improve the lives of sick kids. It's a pretty powerful tool. In fact a famous musician once said music could change the world! Catherine's been checking out a music program that's been putting smiles on the faces of lots of kids in hospitals across the country.

CATHERINE ELLIS, REPORTER: It can make you happy, it can make you sad, it can make you want to get up and dance.

It can make a movie more scary.

Or make you feel relaxed and take away any stress. 5 It's pretty emotional stuff but there might be even more to it.

For thousands of years people have believed that music has a big effect on the mind and body.

But it was during World War Two, about 70 years ago, that all the research into its medical benefits really began.

You see back then doctors and nurses found that playing music in the hospitals helped the sick soldiers feel better.

Since then It's been shown to help people with brain injuries learn to speak again and help patients suffering from all sorts of illnesses to feel less pain, anxiety and depression.

It helps people with disabilities to gain confidence and express themselves.

It's even been shown to help kids in school get better marks because it allows them to relax, cope with stress and concentrate better.

Now music's being used in special programs and its called Music Therapy.

So what is Music Therapy?

It's when trained music therapists find creative ways of using music to help people improve their quality of life.

It can involve: - listening to music - playing instruments - singing - song writing - and action songs and games

CATHERINE, REPORTER: Here at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Music Therapy is being used to help kids with cancer.

This is the music therapist Sharon who's pretty popular around these parts. The sound of her trolley is something the kids look forward to three times a week.

Sophia is eleven. She was diagnosed with bone cancer five months ago and since then has spent almost all her time in hospital.

So playing music, learning new songs and singing has been a nice distraction.

SOPHIA: It takes my mind off feeling sick and everything.

Upstairs in another ward, 15-year-old Paige has been practising a song by Hilary Duff, which has helped her since she was diagnosed with cancer a year ago.

PAIGE: While I was going through chemo, I'd listen to the song and it basically telling me not to give up on things.

PAIGE SINGS: So I won't give up and I won't break down, sooner now it seems life will turn around. And I will be strong even when it all goes wrong.

CATHERINE, REPORTER: This same program is also being used in hospitals in Sydney, Newcastle, Victoria and Perth but it's not just cancer patients who benefit from music therapy.

It's being used to help people with dyslexia, eating disorders, mental illnesses, autism or anyone affected by some kind of hardship.

It's difficult to pin-point exactly why music is so effective at helping people.

But it seems just a few minutes of music a day, could help keep the doctor away!

Other stories in the news this week and in the United States investigators are trying to work out what caused this bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis to collapse. 6 The accident was captured on surveillance cameras.

Dozens of cars and and buses and trucks were on the bridge when it fell during rush hour.

People were killed and badly injured in the accident.

Staying in the United States and a new mission has been launched to look for evidence of life on mars.

The "phoenix mars lander" intends to touch down in the red planet's arctic circle.

A robot arm will drill down into the surface where it's hoped there may be ice.. if that's there it could help pave the way for human visitors.

It's a big task though - of 15 previous attempts to land on Mars, only five have succeeded.

And there's been celebrations around the world for 100th birthday of the scout movement.

In Sydney there was a ceremony at the Opera house which was telecast live to England.

In Brisbane six thousand scouts took to the streets.

In all 28 million scouts across the world took part in the birthday bash.

Some more sports news now and one of soccer's superstars has signed to play with Sydney FC this season.

Juninho Paulista played in the 2002 Brazilian side that won the World Cup.

He's a household name in many parts of the world and is said to be the biggest name to ever play in the A League.

In Formula One there's been allegations of dirty tactics between team members.

Fernando Alonso was accused of stalling in the pits to hold up Lewis Hamilton in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Both drive for McLaren.

Alonson was relegated to sixth position on the grid.. Lewis Hamilton won the race.

In the AFL players often take spectacular marks over opponents .. but not usually umpires.

Steven King took this one on the weekend.. and kicked a goal.