|
|
Doctors
find first cases of COPENHAGEN, Dec 6: The Danish health authorities, alarmed by the first reports of diabetes in obese children, are calling for extra hours of exercise .....more
Madonna fuels wedding LONDON, Dec 6: U.S. pop superstar Madonna added weight to rumours she will wed boyfriend Guy Ritchie before Christmas with a whirlwind visit to ....more From silks blouses WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Wanda Ferguson, a mother of three who fancies silk blouses, givenchy perfume and weekly trips to the beauty parlor, never .....more Strike threat may force KATHMANDU, Dec 6: Hotels in the tourist dependent kingdom of Nepal say a strike threat by employees ...more |
|
Doors for talks with Ind ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf today said the doors for talks with India were still open despite New Delhi’s...more UN passes resolution UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6: The Security Council has extended the four-year old ‘oil-for-food programme’ for Iraq, granting some concessions that ...more UN chief calls off poll UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6: Secretary-General Kofi Annan has canceled UN assistance for upcoming elections in Ivory Coast because an opposition.....more New warhead for Pakistani LONDON, Dec 6: Pakistan has developed a new version of its Baktar Shikan Anti-tank Guided Weapon (ATGW)........more |
 |
 |
Doctors find first cases of diabetes in obese children COPENHAGEN, Dec 6: The Danish health authorities, alarmed by the first reports of diabetes in obese children, are calling for extra hours of exercise in primary schools, public service television said yesterday. Obesity among Danish school kids has developed to the point where hospitals are beginning to diagnose the first cases of so-called senile diabetes in children as young as ten years old, the Copenhagen newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported. "Now we see the disease (diabetes) among children and youths," said Dr Karsten Kaas Ibsen, Chief of Medical Staff at the Glostrup County Hospital children’s ward in Copenhagen. "I fear that the few cases up to now are only the start of a wave of this new illness among children," he said. The hospital has been able to treat the obese childrens’ diabetes, which does not require insulin, by means of dietary and exercise programmes. A new report by the State Institute of Public Health showed that not only are there more and more obese children every year, but that they are getting fatter all the time. Around ten per cent of 14 to 16-year-old girls are overweight or obese, as are some seven per cent of boys, according to a survey of 3,000 school children. The most obese kids today are up to ten per cent fatter than they were in 1971-72, a comparative study showed. Danish school children currently receive two or three hours of exercise per week, but latest public health reports have prompted calls for at least one hour per day. (DPA) |
|
Madonna fuels wedding talk with Scottish visit LONDON, Dec 6: U.S. pop superstar Madonna added weight to rumours she will wed boyfriend Guy Ritchie before Christmas with a whirlwind visit to a Scottish Cathedral, British newspapers reported today. Newspapers carried blurry photos of Madonna and Ritchie stepping out of a private jet at a Scottish airport, reportedly on her way to visit Doornoch Cathedral near Inverness. The singer has said she will marry the British film director but not until next year. Newspapers have speculated, however, that the couple will tie the knot at the Cathedral on December 22 followed by a lavish ceremony at nearby Skibo Castle. Madonna’s spokeswoman Barbara Charone appeared keen to play down reports of a visit to Scotland. "I think it is unlikely that they are in Scotland. They are not there as far as I know," Charone told daily mail. But the paper quoted an unnamed maid at Madonna’s London home as saying: "they are not at home. I think they have gone to Scotland." Newspapers said Madonna and Ritchie also visited Skibo Castle during the flying visit to Scotland. The Castle, a turreted pile on Scotland’s Northeast coast, is a favourite backdrop for the weddings of the rich and famous. Actors Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle, stars of cult movie "Trainspotting", both held their weddings within its oak-panelled walls. The Castle is also reputed to be a favourite bolt-hole for hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sean Connery and Jack Nicholson, as well as billionaire microsoft founder Bill Gates. The castle owners have refused to comment on whether the singer has made any bookings there. A December wedding would cap off a hugely successful year for Madonna. After giving birth to Son Rocco in August, the singer took her new album "music" to number one in 23 countries. She followed up with a return to the stage, playing to invited audiences at two concerts in New York and London in November. The London performance — her first British concert in seven years — pulled in a record webcast audience of nine million. (REUTERS) |
|
From silk blouses to streets life of a homeless mother WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Wanda Ferguson, a mother of three who fancies silk blouses, givenchy perfume and weekly trips to the beauty parlor, never imagined she might find herself one day living in a homeless shelter with prostitutes, drug addicts and AIDS patients. But last April the Maryland woman joined the ranks of nearly ten million US women, half of them mothers like her, after social services officials told her her unemployment benefits were exhausted. Ferguson had to give up her apartment and send two of her three children to live with a relative. With no money to her name and her 4-year-old Son Isaiah in tow, the former saleswoman combed the streets of greenbelt and the nearby district of Columbia desperately looking for a home. "I was scared as hell," Ferguson, 34, told Reuters. After a month bouncing from one friend’s house to another, she finally found a home within four blocks of the Georgetown Law School Student dormitories in downtown Washington: A live-in homeless shelter called the center for creative non-violence. Ferguson and her son share a curtained-off cubbyhole in the massive, dilapidated building — the largest homeless shelter in the country — with about 120 other women, 420 men and 12 children who are struggling to rebuild their lives. She had seemed to be getting back on her feet about two months after she moved to the CCNV when she was hired as a supervisor at a Hecht’s Department Store in downtown Washington. But she had to quit within two months, she said, because she could not find an affordable day care center for her son. She said she sought help from social services but the agency told her she was making too much money to qualify for aid. Sitting in the female quarters of the CCNV six months later, ferguson said she frustrated and tired of haggling with the system and dealing with the same problems every day. "I hate being here this long. It’s like you’re stuck. ... It’s like you’re not part of the real world when you’re in here." And she said she hates it even more for her son Isaiah. "He gets immune to things he would have never, ever seen in his childhood: mice, drunk men, drunk women." While the Clinton administration boasts the strongest US economy in more than 30 years, the lowest unemployment rate in three decades and a drop in the number of poor people from 34.5 million people in 1997 to 32.3 in 1999, the boom has yet to reach everyone, CCNV Executive Director Terry Bishop said. US homeownership is at a 20-year high of 67 percent and the Housing Department has the largest budget in two decades, but housing costs have soared and those who must rent are left behind, Fred Karnas, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said. A recent report from hud showed that at least 5.4 million people in the United States spend half their wages or more on rent. And hud estimates that nearly 600,000 people in the country are homeless every night. A study by the private urban institute conducted in 1997 found that of the nearly 37 million homeless in the United States, 69 percent were men and 31 percent were women. Nearly half of the women had at least one child, it said. Financial difficulties and drug addiction are the main reasons why men and women become homeless, Bishop said. While substance abuse has always been higher among men, bishop said, more women have turned to the streets because of drug addiction, particularly since crack cocaine hit the market in the 1980s. But most women who seek refuge at the CCNV do so because of domestic violence, Bishop said. Julia Lightfoot, Executive Director of the Clean and Sober Program in Washington, said homelessness affects women more than men because their problems are more complicated. Many lack self-esteem and take longer than men to recover from drug-addiction, she said. "They are beaten down physically and emotionally. Life on the streets is harder and it takes time to heal from all that." Gussie Flynn, Director of a Salvation Army Shelter in Miami-Dade County, Florida, said local Governments and the Federal Government must increase funding for homeless programs and help homeless people "reconnect" to society. "Welfare reform has done squat" because people are trained only for low-paying jobs, Bishop said. "What happened here was that when women were taken off the welfare rolls, the children not only lost welfare but health benefits such as health insurance, dental insurance and mental health care," Flynn said. Now, with the Christmas and new years holidays around the corner, Ferguson hopes she can leave the homeless shelter soon and be reunited with her two other children. As she waits to hear from the social services agency about putting her son in day care so she can start her new job at a nearby hospital, and from hud about her application for housing aid, Ferguson said she is "taking it one day at a time." "If I can walk out of this place with my head up, with my pride intact, then there’s nothing outside that could hold me back," she said. "And I do that every day." (REUTERS) |
|
Strike threat may force Nepal hotels to close KATHMANDU, Dec 6: Hotels in the tourist dependent kingdom of Nepal say a strike threat by employees may force them to close next week for an indefinite period. Hotel workers in the mountain state, which ranks among the world’s poorest nations, say they plan an indefinite walkout if their call for a ten per cent service charge on hotel bills is not met by December 11. "We’re unable to accept bookings from December 11 onwards in view of the strike called by the workers," Ajay Sthapit, a spokesman for the Hotel Association of Nepal, told Reuters. Tourism industry officials say a strike would be a big blow to the sector which is the country’s third main source of foreign exchange earnings after exports and international aid. Every year, tourists and climbers flock to the Himalayan nation which boasts eight of the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks. The Hotel Association said it would inform clients about a shutdown through travel agents or airlines. "Already booked guests would be requested to make their own arrangements," the hotel owners said in a statement late yesterday. Government officials said a senior panel was looking into the service charge demanded by the more than 200,000 hotel workers. Bishnu Lamsal, a member of the hotel workers’ action group, said the charge would boost the efficiency of employees, adding that hotels in other countries impose similar levies. The strike would result in a daily loss of 50 million Nepali rupees (672,000 dollars) to Nepal, Government officials said. Nepal earned 168.1 million dollars from tourism in 1999, up more than ten per cent from a year earlier. (REUTERS) |
|
Doors for talks with India still open: Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf today said the doors for talks with India were still open despite New Delhi’s rejection of tripartite talks, involving Islamabad, to settle the Kashmir issue. "I hope Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will positively respond to our offer.... Now the ball is in India’s court", he told a group of reporters here. "We are waiting for Indian Prime Minister response" as the reaction to Pakistan offer for three-way talk had come from the Indian External Affairs Ministry, he said. Stating that he was still waiting for Indian response "at the highest level", Gen Musharraf said "neither am I disappointed (at the rejection) nor the issue is closed." "I am still not closing the door entirely, may be a response from a more senior position could come because this is a very serious issue," he said. The External Affairs Ministry spokesman in New Delhi yesterday said that there was no room for tripartite talks. "We expect Pakistan to address our concerns and also those of the international community about cross-border terrorism, infiltration into India, and aiding and abetment of violence." General Musharraf said Pakistan ordered its troops to show maximum restraint at the border after India announced cease-fire in Kashmir during Ramazan. Pakistan, he said, has invited members of the APHC executive committee for talks and also asked India to hold talks with the APHC and complete the process during Ramazan. He said the APHC leaders should first come to Pakistan for talks and later hold talks in New Delhi. (PTI) |
|
UN passes resolution granting few concessions to Iraq UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6: The Security Council has extended the four-year old ‘oil-for-food programme’ for Iraq, granting some concessions that Baghdad was demanding including faster delivery of electricity equipment, more fund for the poorest and additional 530 million dollars to help its ailing oil industry. The Council has also agreed in principle to release up to 600 million euros of Iraq’s oil income in cash from the tightly controlled UN account, to train and pay maintenance workers in its already dilapidated oil industry. The opponents, however, said that proper safeguards should be observed to ensure that the money does not reach the Iraqi Government. In return, Iraq is expected to work with the United Nations and the Council’s approval is needed to spend additional amount. The unanimous resolution came yesterday night, only hours before the programme was due to expire at midnight and after days of intense debate between Iraq’s supporters led by France and its opponent headed by the United States. The 15-member member Council decided to cut down the money given to the fund from which compensation is paid to individual and corporations who were victims of Iraqi aggression against Kuwait in 1990 from 30 per cent to 25 per cent of revenue received from sale of Iraqi oil. The five per cent would be strictly used for humanitarian projects to address the needs of most vulnerable groups, the resolution said. The programme was established to enable Iraq, under strict economic embargo, to sell oil to finance its purchase of food, medicines, oil equipment and other essential goods under strict United Nations monitoring. Thirty per cent of the revenue received was to be paid to the compensation fund and a small percentage retained for un expenses. Countries advocating Iraqi case had pressed for allowing it to spend a large amount of oil revenue locally to improve its oil industry. For the first time since the oil-for-food’s programme’s establishment, the Council expressed its "readiness to consider, in the light of the cooperation of Iraq in implementing all the resolutions of the Council, allowing a sum of 15 million dollars to be drawn from the escrow account to be used as payment of the arrears in Iraq’s contribution to the budget of the United Nations." The Secretary-General has been asked to prepare a report by the end of march containing proposals for the use of additional export routes for petroleum and petroleum products, pipelines that might be utilized. Meanwhile, Iraqi and the UN officials were negotiating on an oil-pricing formula for the month of December. Iraq has already suspended export of oil after its proposal for pricing formula was rejected. US and Britain have relented by dropping references to smuggling of petroleum and its products by Iraq. (PTI) |
|
UN chief calls off poll help for Ivory coast UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6: Secretary-General Kofi Annan has canceled UN assistance for upcoming elections in Ivory Coast because an opposition candidate was barred by the country’s Supreme Court from participating in the poll. Annan said yesterday that because of the court’s decision and subsequent violence in the country, conditions were "no longer conducive for the involvement of the United Nations in the forthcoming legislative elections." "The United Nations has therefore decided that it will suspend its electoral technical assistance and withdraw its offer to coordinate the activities of international observers," he said in a statement. At least 20 people were killed in the past week during protests by Ivorians against the exclusion of Alassane Ouattara, the main opposition leader, from running for the presidency in October and for parliamentary elections, scheduled for Sunday. "The United Nations calls on all parties to shun violence and favor dialogue so that calm will prevail," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said. The world body had planned to send three staff members to coordinate international observers at next week’s legislative elections following a visit to Ivory Coast last month by Annan’s Special Envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian Foreign Minister. Turmoil broke out in the West African country in October after Army ruler Gen. Robert Guei was overthrown following a Presidential election and socialist Laurent Gbagbo took power. The Supreme Court had barred all but five candidates, including Ouattara, from participating in the Oct. 22 elections. Annan also announced that Colin Granderson, a Trinidadian diplomat, would head an international probe to "help shed light on the serious human rights violations that took place in October" at the request of the Ivory Coast Government. Granderson, who had headed an international human rights monitoring group in Haiti, is expected to travel to Abidjan shortly, along with other UN officials and report on his visit to Annan by December 18. (REUTERS) |
|
New warhead for Pakistani anti-tank guided weapon LONDON, Dec 6: Pakistan has developed a new version of its Baktar Shikan Anti-tank Guided Weapon (ATGW) with an improved warhead and it will enter service with its army in 2001, Jane’s defence weekly has said. The Baktar Shikan is a locally-produced copy of the Norinco (China North Industries Corporation) Red Arrow 8. The semi-automatic commando-to-line-of sight ATGW has a maximum range of 3,000m and a minimum range of 100m. The missile weights 11.2kg at launch. The standard system has a day sight and a thermal-imaging night sight is now offered, the weekly said in its latest issue. The current Baktar Shikan has a single High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) war head which is claimed to be capable of penetrating 800mm of conventional steel armour at zero degree. The new tandem heat warhead has been developed by Pakistan’s National Development Complex (NDC) which has considerable experience in the development of heat warheads for missiles and recoilless rifles as well as Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA). The warhead is claimed to be highly effective against both era and composite armours which are being fielded on an increasing number of main battle tanks to give a high level of protection against both kinetic energy and heat attack. (PTI) |
|
|
