HIV on rise among injecting drug users

JOHANNESBURG: An estimated three million injecting drug users in 120 countries around the world are HIV positive, according to new research, but a lack of data from Africa, the Middle East and Latin America could be obscuring an even larger global health problem.

The study, published in British medical journal, looked at the prevalence of injecting drug use in 148 countries and the prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) in those countries. It found that in nine countries, including Estonia, Ukraine, Argentina, Indonesia and Kenya, over 40 percent of IDUs were HIV-positive.

TV distracts kids from play

NEW YORK: Even if young children are not watching TV, it may be distracting them from their play and depriving them of developing critical attention skills, a new study says.

Background TV is a disruptive and distracting influence. Our evidence is that TV keeps the children from sustaining their attention at a time when developmentally, they are beginning to organize their attention skills and sequencing behaviors, Health news reported.

When children aged three and younger played in a room with a television on that was tuned to adult programming, they played for about five percent less time than when there was no background TV.

More importantly, when there was no background TV, the children's play was more focused with longer play episodes, the study found.

Indian claims of safe Nuclear Regime exposed

JHARKHAND: The tall Indian claims of being a secured nuclear regime once again fell flat when a container full of radioactive material was seized in India.

The startling disclosure was made by no less than a person than Chief Minister of Jharkhand Madhu Khodha himself.

According to Mr. Madhu, the said material was stolen from federal atomic facility at Rajarappa, near Mumbai and smuggled to Iran by sea. He also disclosed that material was not in an ore form but was properly processed " It had all the capability of causing damage to population due to radiation", he added.

Earth Overshoot Day today against resources overuse

PARIS: Green groups will stage "Earth Overshoot Day" on Tuesday to draw attention to estimate that people are gobbling up 40 percent more in resources than the planet can currently replenish.

Over-population and gluttonous lifestyles are driving destruction of forests, fisheries, biodiversity and soil quality, while climate change is inflicting droughts and flooding that stress water supplies and agriculture, according to campaign organizers Global Footprint Network (GFN).

"Earth Overshoot Day" is determined by the last date in the year at which the planet's 6.7 billion people are living in balance with the planet's bio-capacity.

That means in 2008 the period from September 24 to December 31 represents the time in which more resources are being consumed than the Earth can regenerate this year.

Atom-smasher down for two months

PARIS: The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has shut down the largest physics project ever for two months due to a test incident.

The atom-smasher was constructed to recreate how the Big bang happened.

The world's largest particle collider will be down for two months as a section will have to be repaired because of a fault, a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said. James Gillies told media, "There has been an incident in a test. One section of the machine will have to be repaired."

The Large Hadron Collider was started on September 10, but it had to be shut down on Thursday last week because of a fault in the cooling system.

It was turned back on again on Friday, but the latest incident has once again forced operations to halt.

The LHC took nearly 20 years to complete and at six billion Swiss francs (3.76 billion euros, 5.46 billion dollars) is one of the costliest and most complex scientific experiments ever attempted.

It aims to resolve some of the greatest questions surrounding fundamental matter, such as how particles acquire mass and how they were forged in the "Big Bang" that created the universe some 13.7 billion years ago.

UN text message campaign on Peace Day

NEW YORK: Seeking global efforts against conflict, poverty and violation of human rights, the United Nations has launched a peace campaign through text messages on mobile phones and websites to mark the International Peace Day.

"On September 21, the International Day of Peace, I call on world leaders and peoples around the world to join forces against conflict, poverty and hunger, and for all human rights for all," said UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon in the text message.

The effort is part of a UN campaign that urges cell phone users in the United States to compose peace messages to be published on a website and delivered to world leaders gathered for the General Assembly beginning later this week.

Renowned violinist Midori Goto was appointed UN's Messenger of Peace in yesterday's ceremony which was kicked off with the traditional ringing of the peace bell.

150 workers fired in Ramadan work dispute

DENVER: Meat processor JBS Swift & Co has fired almost 150 Muslim workers after they refused to return to work in a dispute with the company over Ramadan fasting and meal breaks, company and union officials said on Thursday.

Manny Gonzales, spokesman for the United Food Workers Commercial Workers Local 7, said the employees were "unjustly terminated" from the meatpacker's plant in Greeley, Colorado, about 60 miles northeast of Denver.

"They (the workers) were not given adequate notice that they would be let go," Gonzales said. "We will file grievances for those who want their jobs back.Swift, owned by Brazilian meat company JBS, the world's largest beef producer, had another dispute with Muslim workers last year at the company's Grand Island, Nebraska, plant.

Several workers were fired after leaving their jobs to pray at sunset.

Phone number sell makes Guinness record in Qatar

DOHA: The Doha Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has made its way into the latest edition of The Guinness Book of World Records after a charity auction which saw the sale of the world's most expensive mobile phone number last year.

The sale of the number (6666666) to an anonymous buyer raised QR10m ($2.75m) at the event.

The previous record price for a phone number was paid in China, where 8888-8888 sold for QR1.75m ($480,000).

Although the auction took place over a year ago, the record will appear in the 2009 edition of the Guinness World Records book, published worldwide yesterday.

"QtelQtelLoading... has a long track record of innovative campaigns for the local community and we are very proud to have the mobile number auction commemorated in this way," said Adel Al Mutawa, QtelQtelLoading... Executive Director (Group Communications).

Mohamed, most popular baby name in Brussels

BRUSSELS: Mohamed was the most popular name for new-born boys in Brussels in 2007, the Belgian statistics office announced Wednesday.

The boys’ names Amin (sixth most popular), Ayub and Mehdi (joint seventh), and the girls’ names Aya (third), Yasmine (fourth) and Salma (seventh) also made the top ten in a further confirmation of the European Union capital’s multi-culturalism.

Mohamed was also the seventh most popular name nationwide, beating traditional Belgian names such as Mathis (ninth) and Hugo (tenth) -although it lagged well behind the most popular names: Nathan, Lucas and Noah.

Belgian society is deeply divided between the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking Wallonia in the south, with Brussels an officially bilingual island in Flanders.

Since World War II the country has seen large-scale immigration, especially from North Africa, with Brussels and the port town of Antwerp attracting the bulk of the arrivals.

UAE: Expat Workers can Start Own Business
Abu Dhabi -- Workers and professionals can now start their own businesses without losing their jobs or changing their visas, said a top official at the Ministry of Labour.

Humaid bin Deemas, acting general manager of the ministry, told Khaleej Times that the decision was taken by Minister of Labour Saqer Saeed Ghobash on Wednesday.

It will allow expatriates who work in the private sector to set up their own business or become partners in a new company.

This decision replaces the old rule obligating any expatriate worker who wanted to start his business to cancel his visa and labour card at the ministry and get an investor visa.Bin Deemas said that the new decision would open more opportunities for workers in the country.

Expatriates who start their own business will, however, won't be allowed to work in the companies they set up with local partners.

Man! Beware of using beer, coffee and nuts!

LONDON: Beer, wine, coffee and nuts all contain high levels of chemicals linked to male infertility, a study has found.

The bar-room drinks and snacks are loaded with phytoestrogens - naturally-occurring plant compounds implicated in falling sperm counts.

Instant coffee powder, Brazil nuts, peanuts, brown ale and red wine scored particularly highly for the chemicals, the analysis, carried out at by the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, found.

Researcher Dr Gunter Kuhnle said the study showed the compounds are found in more foods and drinks than previously thought.

“The data we have collected has enabled us to put together an accurate table of which foods contain the highest levels of phytoestrogens,” he added.

Phytoestrogens, which also occur in high amounts in soya, have been linked to fertility problems in livestock.

And a study published earlier this summer linked soya to dwindling sperm counts in men.

A traditional Beijing rickshaw, upgraded

BEIJING: A traditional Beijing rickshaw has had a major upgrade, adding car parts and other decorations.

Is it a car? Is it a rickshaw? Is it an overpriced hard-to-ride vehicle or an attention-grabber that everyone wants a ride in? With the rear body of a Mini Cooper Clubman, safety belt and cozy seats, this vehicle looks like an ordinary car.

But, it's a rickshaw equipped with different car parts, designed to get attention by Beijing's BMW car dealer which sells Minis.

Named "the other rickshaw", the vehicle features four gold-plated dragons and other Chinese decorations. It also has its own plate number, known as Beijing 2008.

This rickshaw was designed and produced by Chen De Bao Company, a licensed BMW agent and it is claimed to be the only one in the world.

"People walking by were quite interested in this rickshaw. Many of them kept asking us that whether this rickshaw can be seen around Beijing streets or be sold in the future. But in fact, as part of the upcoming Mini-cooper XXL and Urban-bus auto promotional plan, we made this rickshaw and put it on exhibition. And it is the only rickshaw in the world of its type.

Parents can reduce exam stress in kids

ISLAMABAD: Exam for students means a dreadful time to deal with. Exam time is very stressful for both parents and children.

Stress in life is very helpful, as it inspires us to perform tasks and propels to achieve things enthusiastically, Health news reported.

However, too much stress is very damaging and it generally occurs when we lack confidence and worry that we are incapable of doing anything efficiently.

When exams are nearby, children often worry about their exams and buckle under some stress and pressure. Parents, on the other hand, also worry as much as their children do. For them, it is something like experiencing their most horrible phase in life with full of stress.

This stress leads to regular irritation, depression, fatigue, sleeplessness, headache, body pains, and lack of appetite.

Worlds highest concentration of millionaires

NEW YORK: The US may have the largest number of millionaires, but tiny Singapore rules the world when it comes to the highest concentration.According to Boston Consulting Group’s latest Global Wealth report, an astounding one in 10 households in Singapore have investible assets of $1 million or more. That compares with 4.3% in the U.S., which ranks sixth.Singapore, of course, is very small – it has about a million households. And its 112,000 millionaires are dwarfed by the 4,884,000 millionaires in the U.S., according to Boston Consulting’s calculations.Of course, wealth surveys, by nature, are imprecise, given the small sample sizes, the agendas of the surveyors and the difficulty of polling the rich. Still, they can offer insights into broader trends and directional changes with the wealthy.If you want to know where to go to have the highest chance of bumping into a millionaire, here are the top five:

1 — Singapore — 10.6%

2 — Qatar — 7.9%

3 — Switzerland — 7.3%

4 — United Arab Emirates — 6.6%

5 — Kuwait — 5.3%

Interestingly, the chances of running into a millionaire are almost twice as high in the U.S. than in Saudi Arabia, which has a millionaire density of 2.2%. As for cities with the largest number of millionaires, the report found that nine of the top 15 are in the U.S., with New York topping the list, followed by London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Chicago.

70000 may suffer post-9/11 stress disorder: Study

NEW YORK: New data from a public health registry that tracks the health effects of 9/11 suggest that as many as 70,000 people may have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terrorist attacks.The estimate, released Wednesday by New York City's Department of Health, is based on an analysis of the health of 71,437 people who enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry.They agreed to be tracked for up to 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the study was based on answers they volunteered about their health two and three years after the attack.Of the estimated 400,000 people believed to have been heavily exposed to pollution from the disaster, data suggests that 35,000 to 70,000 people developed PTSD and 3,800 to 12,600 may have developed asthma, city health officials said.They include rescue and recovery workers, lower Manhattan residents, area workers, commuters and passers-by.

Special Report

Spending time outdoors good for kids eyes

ISLAMABAD: Parents now have another reason to show their kids outdoors to play, along with making sure they get enough fresh air and exercise. In a study, Australian researchers found that children who spent the most time outdoors were the least likely to suffer from myopia, also called nearsightedness or shortsightedness, Health news reported. "Our evidence suggests that the key factor is being outdoors, and that it does not matter if that time is spent in having a picnic or in playing sport," researcher said.

Special Report

World's tallest woman dies

WASHINGTON: An American believed to be the world's tallest woman has died, nursing home staff said Thursday.Sandy Allen, 53, who grew to be more than seven feet, seven inches tall died Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana.A spokeswoman for the Heritage House Convalescent Center in Shelbyville said Allen "had been in failing health in recent years and died of natural causes."She had been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest woman.By the time she was 10, Allen already stood six foot three. By 16, she was over seven feet tall, the Indianapolis Star daily said.It's believed that a tumor on her pituitary gland caused her abnormal growth.

Special Report

US consumers feel heat of rising prices

WASHINGTON: Rising prices stretched Americans' wallets further in July, according to a government survey Thursday which showed that consumer price inflation surged by a more-than-expected 0.8 percent.On an annual basis, the government's Consumer Price Index (CPI) -- a key barometer of price pressures -- leapt 5.6 percent to July, marking the biggest annualized spike since January 1991.Core prices, which strip out volatile energy and food costs, rose 0.3 percent in July from the prior month, the Labor Department said in a monthly survey.The 0.8 percent jump in the CPI during July was double the expectation of most economists, while the rise in the core rate was a notch above most forecasts.And while consumer prices soared on an annual basis by the largest margin in 17 years, the core reading -- which rose 2.5 percent in the year to July -- marked its most significant gain since February 2007.

Special Report

Wikipedia founder aims to break Google stranglehold

SINGAPORE: Watch out Google -- Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales hopes that Wikia Search, a project he spearheads, will break Google's domination of the world's Internet search engine market. Google and fellow titans Yahoo and Microsoft dominate the Internet search engine market, which Wales said was already causing some worry among web users. "Right now in the US in particular we have a really strong concentration of the industry," Wales said Thursday at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore. Industry statistics showed over 90 percent of Internet searches in the United States are done through the three firms, he said. "So a lot of people are really concerned about this... Do we really want all of our traffic, all of our editorial control of the Internet all being piped through one, two or three companies? "I don't think we do... I think we want to have a broader marketplace than that." Wales said Wikia Search will run on an open platform, similar to the principles behind Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia in which entries can be made and edited by anyone with an Internet connection.

SPECIAL REPORT

Rainwater advancing towards Moen-jo-Daro

LARKANA: Continuous rainfall for three days has inflicted damage to ancient Moen-jo-Daro mounds in Larkana due to negligence of the local administration. The rainwater rapidly advancing towards the Stupa of the ancient town can inflict irreparable damage to the Stupa, the high point of the Moen-jo-Daro.The walls of the ‘D’ area of the old city have been collapsed and efforts were underway to save three walls.Larkana and adjoining areas have received 17 millimeter rainfall in last three days, weather pundits said.