Month: September 2007
Ramadan begins tomorrow
Ramadan begins tomorrow
By a staff reporter / KHALEEJ TIMES 12 September 2007
ABU DHABI — The holy month of Ramadan begins tomorrow and Thursday, September 13, will be the first day of the month of fasting, the moon sighting committee announced yesterday.
The committee said in a statement following its meeting held under the chairmanship of Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhahiri, Minister of Justice, that Wednesday, September 12, will be the 30th day of Shaaban.
Ramadan Special offers
30% of women in UAE have osteoporosis
30% of women in UAE have osteoporosis
By Dina El Shammaa/GULF NEWS 05 September 2007
Abu Dhabi: Around 30 per cent of women in the UAE suffer from the common bone disease osteoporosis, said Dr Shivanand Shetty, an orthopedic surgeon at the New Medical Centre.
The age of onset is around 50-years-old. Osteoporosis is a major risk factor for fracture. Dr Shetty spoke to Gulf News regarding reasons behind developing osteoporosis. Risk factors that enhance osteoporosis include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of calcium in one’s diet and lack of exercise.
However, osteoporosis can be avoided at an earlier stage, said Dr Shetty. Until the age of 30 there is constant turnover of the bone in the skeletal system. Bone formation and resorption takes place at an equal rate.
Diet
Peak bone mass (adequate deposit of calcium in the bone) is reached by the age of 30. To achieve peak bone mass one needs a diet adequate in calcium, vitamin D and good exercise during the early phases of life. Osteoporosis runs in families; having a parent or sibling with osteoporosis puts a person at greater risk.
“I advise patients to drink a lot of milk and consume dairy products as well as green vegetables. One whose diet is not adequate in calcium requires calcium supplements and regular exercise,” said Dr Shetty.
One of Dr Shetty’s patients, Shahnaz Ihsan, a housewife, aged 56, spoke to us regarding her experience with osteoporosis.
“Exactly three years ago I started to feel immense pain in my back, my bones were cracking and I visited the doctor who prescribed medicine .. and now feel so much better,” she said.
Ihsan advised other woman to seek medical help if they start to suffer menopausal
symptoms.
Do you wish to know more about Osteoporosis? Read on:
Osteoporosis
Normal bone is dense and strong. Bones with osteoporosis become porous because of deterioration of the bone tissue, which leads to bone fragility and increase in fracture risk.
Bone undergoes a process of constant remodeling consisting of the breakdown of old bone and re-building of new bone. This resorption (by osteoclasts) and formation (by osteoblasts) occurs at an approximately equal rate thereby maintaining strength of the entire skeleton.
Around the ages 30-35, peak bone mass is attained and the process of bone loss begins. The greater the bone mass accrued prior to this time, the less chance exists for complications from bone loss later.
Osteoporosis is the most type of bone disease and affects both men and women. The condition is characterized by low bone mass, loss of bone architecture, and reduced bone strength. Because people with osteoporosis have brittle bones, they are at increased risk for developing fractures. The most common types of fractures in people with osteoporosis include spinal vertebral fractures, hip fractures, and wrist fractures.
There are two types of osteoporosis:
Primary osteoporosis – bone loss that occurs as a consequence of the normal aging process and most often affects postmenopausal women.
Secondary osteoporosis – bone loss that occurs as a consequence of other factors such as a chronic medical condition, nutritional deficiency, or certain types of medications.
There is currently no cure for osteoporosis. The best treatment available for osteoporosis is prevention. The goals of treatment of patients with osteoporosis include:
To slow the progression of the disease once it has started.
To minimize the risks of complications that may cause pain and reduction in function.
Exercise and attention to safety issues help to maximize mobility and reduce the risk of falls and fractures.
Currently, in the United States, several medications are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and are considered as first-line medications. These medications include:
* Biphosphonates
* Raloxifene
* Nasal calcitonin
* Teriparatide
Opec extraordinary meeting to be held in Abu Dhabi on Dec 5
Abu Dhabi: The 146th extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will be held in Abu Dhabi on December 5, the organisation said in its schedule of forthcoming events.
The third Opec summit will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 17 and 18.
International media reports on Monday said Opec will probably maintain its oil production targets, resisting calls for more supply because of concerns that demand may falter as US economic growth slows.
Representatives from member states, including Libya and Iran, have maintained over the past fortnight that there is no need to boost output from those targets set last year.
Ministers from Iran and Kuwait also said over the weekend that the organisation’s production limit of 25.8 million barrels a day should not be changed, echoing comments from top officials in Venezuela, Algeria and Qatar.
UAE’s Minister of Energy and Opec president Mohammad Bin Dha’en Al Hamili said yesterday that “supplies to the oil market are sufficient,” state news agency WAM reported.
Oil prices have risen 24 per cent this year and touched a record $78.77 a barrel in New York on August 1 after members of the organisation curbed exports to drain inventories.
Contribution
Opec countries have made significant contributions to their reserves in recent years by adopting the best practices in the industry.
As a result, the proven reserves of the organisation currently stand well above 900 billion barrels.
Output: Group produced 30.37m bpd in August
Opec produced 30.37 million barrels per day in August, or over a third of the world’s 85 million bpd supply.
Opec countries hold more than three-quarters of the world’s oil reserves. The bulk of Opec oil reserves is located in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq contributing 56 per cent to the organisation’s total.
The real Judge’s judgement
The real Judge’s judgement
lNNER VOICE/Nadia Ahmed/Hindustan Times September 10, 2007
Once upon a time there was this learned man named Ali Haji who was very religious. He used to offer Salat (namaz) five times a day and was also very regular in reciting the holy Qur’an daily.
His neighbour, man named Rehan, was his good friend but the only thing Ali Haji disliked about Rehan was that he was not regular in offering the Salat or reciting the holy Qur’an. Rehan used to offer Salat whenever he felt in need, and as soon as his wish was fulfilled he used to stop offering the Salat or reciting the holy Qur’an!
One day Ali Haji, who was very irritated, scolded Rehan thus: “Rehan, vou never offer Salat regularly and always say that since the Almighty fulfils your wishes whenever you ask Him, there’s no problem!”
Ali Haji then cursed him, “Take my word for it, you are not true to your religion and you will certainly go to Hell for this!”
That very night the Almighty appeared in Ali Haji’s dream and said “Ali Haji, who are you to judge who is true to Me and who is not? So what if Rehan offers Salat only when in need? For he calls Me from the bottom of his heart with true faith in Me. Now you will be placed in Hell and Rehan in Heaven.”
So now this simply shows that we are nobody to judge or object to anyone because of their faith or devotion towards their idea of God, be it a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh or anyone. What really matters is not the quantity of our worship of the Almighty but the quality. It may be good to make people offer regular prayers but we must not judge them by their ‘inabilities’ or ‘abilities.’
Especially when it comes to matters of faith, it’s not our business to judge the sincerity of a person’s relationship with God, who is One. After all it is not us but the Almighty who is the ultimate power who decides everything, especially who loves Him and how.
Parents can now control kids’ mobiles
Parents can now control kids’ mobiles
AGENCIES
SYDNEY: An Australian company claims to have developed the world’s first software suite that enables parents to completely control their children’s mobile phone usage.
The programme lets users filter inappropriate websites, control all SMS and MMS messaging and block expensive premium SMS numbers.
Meg Dennis, co-founder of Leopard Labs, which developed most of the suite, said, the software would help parents keep their children’s phone bills in check, besides ensuring that the kids were not exposed to adult content.
The software would also prevent cyber bullying, Dennis said.
“You can say I only want people in my address book who know my kid to access them [and] anyone outside that address book will get rejected,” Dennis said.
“It’s not about stopping access; it’s about facilitating it and making it a great user experience for kids and parents as well,” she said.
She said the software also had the provision to filter out specific words from SMS messages, but she did not expect that particular feature to be widely used, as it was easy to bypass using abbreviations.
According to a Sydney Morning Herald report, the software also contains an anti-virus programme from Kaspersky Lab to protect against mobile malware and spam, which security companies say is on the rise as mobile phones become more like computers.
“What we see happening is mobiles becoming the device of choice to access the Internet … and the mobile world is very similar to the PC world in that it needs those types of controls available,” Dennis said.
Dennis said the complete software package, called mozone, which Leopard Labs had been working on since 2005, would be available to buy from the company’s website in November.
Though the price has not yet been decided upon, it would be “completely affordable”, she said.
She further said Mozone will presently support only the Symbian platform, used by Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Panasonic, which represent 72 per cent of the world’s smartphone market, adding that support for other platforms would be added early next year.
Understanding central bank autonomy
Understanding central bank autonomy
10 Sep, 2007, 0442 hrs IST,Mythili Bhusnurmath, TNN
NEW DELHI: Research has already established that there are significant benefits for macroeconomic performance from central bank autonomy (CBA). CBA helps countries achieve lower average inflation, cushions the impact of political cycles on economic cycles, enhances financial system stability, and boosts fiscal discipline without any real additional costs or sacrifices in terms of output volatility or reduced economic growth.
Now an IMF paper that looks at trends over time in CBA of 163 central banks representing 181 countries (India is not included in the sample) delves deeper into the issue, more specifically into two aspects of such autonomy: political and economic autonomy.
Political autonomy is defined as the ability of central banks to select the final objectives of monetary policy, based on eight criteria: (1) governor is appointed without government involvement; (2) governor is appointed for more than five years; (3) board of directors is appointed without government involvement; (4) board is appointed for more than five years; (5) there is no mandatory participation of government representative(s) in the board; (6) no government approval is required for formulation of monetary policy; (7) central bank is legally obliged to pursue monetary stability as one of its primary objectives; and (8) there are legal provisions that strengthen the central bank’s position in the event of a conflict with the government.
Economic autonomy assesses the central bank’s operational autonomy on the basis of seven criteria: (1) there is no automatic procedure for the government to obtain direct credit from the central bank; (2) when available, direct credit facilities are extended to the government at market interest rates; (3) this credit is temporary; (4) and for a limited amount; (5) the central bank does not participate in the primary market for public debt; (6) the central bank is responsible for setting the policy rate; and (7) the central bank has no responsibility for overseeing the banking sector or shares responsibility.
Assessing the performance of the sample group of central banks against these two yardsticks, the paper concludes: Average CBA scores have increased significantly over the last couple of decades: overall CBA (political and economic autonomy) has about doubled, but the economic element of autonomy is significantly ahead of the political component.
Advanced economies started off from relatively high levels of autonomy in the late 1980s but continued to strengthen their CBA in the subsequent years. Since their economic autonomy was already quite high, most progress has been towards boosting the political autonomy. However, the political component of autonomy still lags behind the scores for economic autonomy.
Among emerging markets, overall CBA has more than doubled over time and has surpassed CBA, typical in the advanced countries in the late 1980s. Measures of economic and political autonomy show similar levels of improvement, with economic autonomy remaining higher than political autonomy.
In developing countries, political autonomy of central banks has improved only marginally and remains low. The good thing, however, is that economic CBA has increased significantly over the past couple of decades.
According to the authors, political autonomy is much harder to win than economic autonomy. In developing countries, governments often continue to be involved in the selection of central bank boards and tenures tend to be short; the government is generally represented on the board and central banks have a limited legal protection in the event of a conflict with the government.
The four main principles of any legal framework for CBA include:
Setting price stability as the primary objective of monetary policy
Governments may have several competing economic objectives, particularly in the short term. Accordingly, they may tend to ignore the medium-term inflationary effects of an expansionary monetary policy. This time-inconsistency causes a credibility problem. Entrusting price stability to an autonomous agency ( i.e., the central bank) helps strengthen credibility.
Curtailing direct lending to governments
Most central banks have provisions in place that limit their ability to provide unrestricted credit to the government. Today, almost all central bank laws stipulate that lending to the government, if allowed at all, cannot be automatic, and must be temporary, subject to quantitative limits and at market-related interest rates.
Ensuring full autonomy for setting the policy rate
Most central banks have been granted full autonomy for setting their policy rate. At the most basic level, this condition is necessary for the central bank to pursue its goals. A corollary to that consensus view is the desire to ensure that the central bank has full autonomy for the design of its monetary policy instruments, i.e., the tools to achieve the operational target of monetary policy.
Ensuring no government involvement in policy formulation
No government approval should be required for the formulation of monetary policy. A corollary to that principle is the existence of procedures to resolve conflicts between the central bank and the government.
With the exception of the second — curtailing direct lending to government — we do not make the grade on any of the remaining counts. No wonder that differences between the government and the RBI will increasingly see the central bank on its back foot, with unhappy long-term consequences for the economy?
ClicksandWrites 
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