Month: July 2008
Cancer centre to open in UAE
Cancer centre to open in UAE
Alison McMeans and Tala al Ramahi
Last Updated: July 12. 2008 11:48PM UAE / July 12. 2008 7:48PM GMT
ABU DHABI // A research centre dedicated to fighting one of the biggest killers in the region is to be opened in the UAE, says the Ministry of Health.
The plan was outlined to health professionals at a GCC meeting last month by Dr Mona al Kawari from the ministry, but was revealed publicly only yesterday.
The health officials had come together from across the region to discuss the effects of cancer in their countries and the directives being undertaken to combat the disease.
The centre will collect information across the country in an attempt to find ways to combat the disease, and will focus on prevention as well as treatment.
“We are in the process of setting up a unified cancer centre,” said Dr Mona al Kawari from the MoH. “We will announce the final decision in October.”
The centre would be under the supervision of the health authorities of the different emirates, she added.
Between 1998 and 2002, 41,475 GCC nationals were diagnosed with cancer, according to GCC statistics. Cancer rates are on the rise in the UAE and in many cases late diagnosis and treatment lead to medical complications and death.
Breast cancer is one of the biggest killers of women in the UAE and is often diagnosed during later stages of the disease.
Dr Adel Anis Hajj, the head of oncology at Cedars Jebel Ali International Hospital said: “The idea is fantastic,” he said.
“It is not only important for the UAE, but it is important for every country. Cancer is a burden and our knowledge of treatment is developing.”
Combining information and expertise would have positive effects on the study of the disease, he said.
“The UAE, as well as any other country, especially in this part of the world, is in need of serious research projects, activities and better acknowledgement of what is going on in our country.”
He said researchers needed to find out what were the most common cancers, what the risk factors related to those cancers were and how awareness campaigns could be adapted to make more people aware of them.
The most common cancers, he said, were breast cancer and prostate cancer, and colorectal and skin cancers.
The cancer centre is likely to fall under the new National Health Council, announced last week to unify public and private health policies. Part of its mandate is to establish centres of excellence that focus on research and education.
* The National
Which credit card debt will you pay off first?
Which credit card debt will you pay off first?
Bloomberg Published: July 11, 2008, 23:29
You’ve charged it up – now it’s pay-down time. If you’re up to your eyeballs in credit card and other debt, paying the minimums and little else, it’s time to get serious.
The best way to get rid of debt, experts agree, is to attack the balance with the highest annual percentage rate first. When that one is paid off, move onto the debt with the next-highest interest rate.
But always attack that high-interest debt first.
On that debt, you want to “double, triple, quadruple minimum payments,” says Howard S. Dvorkin, president and founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, Florida. “When you’re done with that one, move on to the next one.”
Linda Sherry, editorial director with Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group in San Francisco, agrees: Size up bills by interest rates rather than the amount of the balance.
“The amount you owe doesn’t really matter when you’re paying an enormous amount of interest,” Sherry said. “Try to pay the highest interest rate ones first. Muster all the funds available and get the debt out of your life.”
An alternative plan: What about knocking off some low-balance bills first and eliminating a bill or two from that thick monthly pile?
Experts respond: Go ahead, especially if it will give you the boost you need to stick with a pay-down plan.
“It makes better financial sense to pay down the highest interest rate first. But people get discouraged. So they knock down lower balances first,” says Steve Rhode, co-founder of financial services organisation Myvesta.
“It’s a lot more gratifying for some people to pay off the smaller balances within a couple months. (They) feel like they’re making more progress.”
But once those smaller balances are gone, he says, go back to Plan A: Take the money that had been set aside to pay those bills and apply it to the balance with the highest interest rate. “Muster all the funds available and get the debt out of your life,” Rhode says.
Stick to your plan: The key to an effective pay-down plan is sticking with it. Don’t let up on the monthly payments as the card’s minimum payments inch down and as bills get paid off.
“Once you establish a payment plan with a credit card bill, stick with the payments until it’s gone and then roll it into another credit card and keep going,” says Christine Jones, a counsellor with American Credit Counseling Service, Florida.
Unfortunately, many people quit before they get started. “The problem I see is that people make mental promises to themselves that they can’t keep,” says the DCA’s Rhode.
“They say they will pay $100 a month but it’s too big a stretch. They can’t do it and then they forget about it.”
Think before you act: To avoid falling into that trap, take a hard look at your finances and determine how much you can realistically afford to pay each month.
Rhode suggests that people track their spending every day for a month to get a firm handle on where their money is actually going.
“People will save 20 per cent just writing down where their money goes,” he says. “Because they will start cutting back.”
After tracking their spending, people can better decide how much they can afford to pay toward credit card debt. Experts say just $50 more a month can make a big difference.
Try these tips for saving $50 a month: Have movies and popcorn at home instead of going out. Use coupons for groceries and buy store brands.
Make pizza at home instead of ordering out. Buy in bulk and freeze dinner entrees. Give handmade cards and gifts. Shop at consignment, thrift and discount stores.
Pay more than the minimum. Once you start paying more than the minimum, the debts start to disappear.
It is also important to keep in mind that debt is not always bad. “Having a certain amount of credit balance is not negative,” Consumer Action’s Sherry says.
“Some debt is necessary to reach goals.” But most experts recommend that debt payments including car payments and credit cards eat up no more than 10 to 15 per cent of income. More could spell trouble.
AD Municipality, MoL to implement new safety standards
AD Municipality, MoL to implement new safety standards
By Ahmed Abdul Aziz (Staff reporter / KHALEEJ TIMES) 13 July 2008
ABU DHABI – The Abu Dhabi Municipality recently organised a one-day workshop on the occupational health and safety standards for representatives of more than 30 contracting companies in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, according to a senior official at the municipality.
‘The workshop aimed at completing a survey on the work sites to ensure implementing the safety measures to save the workers’ lives and protect their health,’ said Ibrahim H. Baqer, Director of Safety and Quality Department at the municipality.
Baqer told Khaleej Times that the Head of Occupational Safety and Health at the Ministry of Labour (MoL) and directors from 31 leading construction and contracting companies in the emirate attended the workshop.
He added the efforts on improving the safety standards in the emirate are in line with the Abu Dhabi 2030 strategy.
Tom Banies, Senior Health and Safety Engineer (HSE) at the municipality, said, ‘The aim of the survey is to understand how you can manage the entities to ensure the safety at the companies and to create a tool to manage the work environment.’
Twenty teams, each having three HSEs, would conduct the survey at the sites. The survey’s results would be available by the end of August this year.
Meanwhile, sources at the MoL affirmed that the Abu Dhabi’s Occupational Safety and Health Office will add the new suggested evaluation items to the inspection sheets.
More than 50 items have been identified for evaluation to implement the new safety standards.
They include site offices and welfare, fire precautions and evacuation, safe working on roofs, employers’ liability insurance compensation certificate, designers’ workplace hazards and risks assessment, pre-construction information and phase plan, highway traffic management, first aid specialists and noise level at the work site.
Livelihood regulations documented
Livelihood regulations documented
Saturday July 12 2008 11:13 IST Sudha Nambudiri for EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOCHI
KOCHI: Did you know that small food courts, mobile vendors and cobblers in Kochi are not issued licence?
Your neighbourhood mobile vegetable and fruit vendors do not have licence to sell. This was revealed in a study conducted by the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) and the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) under a ‘Law, Liberty and Livelihood’ project.
The study, which was aimed at documenting the livelihood regulations and barriers in the informal sector, was conducted in 63 cities across the country where the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)is being implemented.
“The purpose was to unveil the laws applicable to entry-level professions like mobile and stationary street vendors and to document them, thereby drawing public attention to the issues faced by the entry- level professions,” said Dhanraj, CPPR coordinator.
The study is funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), Mumbai. The outcome of the research project is easy-to-navigate website http://www.cppr.in or http://www.ccs.in on the rules and regulations in five informal sectors, including cycle rickshaws, autos and shops like meat or barber shops in these cities.
According to the Kerala Municipality Act, a person who enters a trade or any other business in streets has to get permission from the secretary of the Corporation in advance of 30 days (D and O Schedule M O H 12/10013/94). At present, no licence is being given to fruit sellers.
In Kochi, the licence is regulated by the Corporation under the purview of the Kerala Municipalities Act and Rules 1994. It issues two types of licences, namely, dangerous and offensive trade licence and prevention of food adulteration licence.
The fee is fixed by the council. “If you are a late eater, it’s wise that you grab your manna early as it is mandatory that all shops close at 10 pm,” said Caroline C who coordinated the study.
No restaurant or eating-house will be opened between 10 pm. and 5 am. Hotels, bakery, sweets and meat shops require both licences.
Photo Speaks – Newly opened Public Beach at Abu Dhabi Corniche
Photo Speaks – Newly opened Public Beach at Abu Dhabi Corniche
Women’s Day Out
Women’s Day Out
Friday July 11 2008 10:29 IST Express Features
It’s a women’s-only musical extravaganza that is sure to rock the city.
Organised by Livejam, a social and non profit organisation committed to imparting rays of hope to a generation that is hurt due to the after effects of broken homes, drugs and alcohol, they have a variety of events planned out for women.
Urban youth is their primary focus. It will be an avenue for women to relax, take a break and enjoy themselves with their girlfriends, and also socialise with other women in the city.
Women’s Day Out is being organised in Kerala for the first time and the objective is to prepare and empower women. It is a direct result of their research into the lives of women who are more into multitasking than their male counterparts, handling home, family, kids, career and all at one go.
The highlight of the event is a live concert by Kontagious, a six-member band from Chennai. They will set the floor on fire with their Bollywood numbers.
A talk by former Miss Teen Washington and the third runner-up at the Miss Teen America event Sungeetha Jain is on the cards. A motivational speaker of international repute, she has spoken at several conferences and women’s events in India and abroad.
Sungeetha is the first woman in the world on a wheelchair to have won a beauty pageant in 1993 competing against normal, healthy and mobile women. She met with a terrible accident at the age of 10 that left her crippled.
She is a woman with an inspirational life-story, a saga of never knowing when to give up, but rising above all odds and obstacles in life to become a success story.
Livejam has a variety of events planned out for the women in Kochi. Their primary focus is to evolve a women’s forum to better the life of women in the city by addressing practical problems and issues of daily life.
They also provide a platform to encourage and promote budding musicians and artists. The two-hour cultural extravaganza will be held at AJ Hall, Kaloor, on Saturday from 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm. Entry through invites only.
For details, call 9287341146, 9447154264.
France’s Total suspends its investment in Iran
France’s Total suspends its investment in Iran
Tamsin Carlisle for THE NATIONAL Last Updated: July 10. 2008
Total, the French energy company, has suspended investment in Iran over concerns about rising political risk, but is still targeting long-term involvement in the country’s oil and gas sector.
“We cannot invest in Iran for the moment, but Iran remains a priority country, and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is a long-term partner for us,” Lisa Wyler, a company spokesman, said yesterday.
The announcement, a day after Iran test-fired a series of missiles following weeks of mounting tensions with the US and Israel over its nuclear ambitions, casts fresh doubt on the Islamic Republic’s ability to develop a supply of gas for export from its vast South Pars offshore gasfield.
Total has a memorandum of understanding with NIOC to develop phase 11 of South Pars, a giant Gulf project being developed in 25 stages. But in comments to the Financial Times newspaper in the UK, Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of Total, said it was too risky for the company to invest in Iran in the current political environment.
Total, which helped develop an earlier phase of South Pars, had previously said it saw short-term difficulties in reaching a deal for phase 11. Iran had been urging the company to commit to an agreement by the middle of the year.
In May, faced with similar pressure to sign contracts, Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company, and Repsol, the Spanish energy concern, pulled the plug on plans to develop phase 13 of South Pars, which had been slated to supply proposed Iranian gas liquefaction facilities. Iran said it would postpone that development and would instead accelerate some other stages of the project.
All three European countries had also received advice from their respective governments to curtail investment in Iran in order to support UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its controversial nuclear programme.
The US believes Iran’s insistence on pursuing uranium enrichment indicates that the Gulf state has covert plans to develop nuclear weapons. It has recently stepped up its rhetoric, urging its European allies to back efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, said the UK would have “no choice but to intensify sanctions” against Iran if the county continued to defy UN resolutions calling for it to suspend nuclear enrichment. “Britain will urge Europe, and Europe will agree to take further sanctions against Iran,” he said on Monday.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, but has rejected UN-mediated offers of Western nuclear technology if it shutters its enrichment programme.
The Gulf state, long seen as a potential gas exporter to Asian and European markets, holds the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia. However, its net gas exports are negligible.
Meanwhile, Qatar has developed the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export business based on gas production from its offshore North Dome gas field, contiguous with South Pars. Together, the Qatari and Iranian fields form the world’s biggest single hydrocarbon deposit. Gholamhossein Nozari, the Iranian oil minister, said Total’s decision would not derail Iran’s gas development plans. “This is our message: we will proceed with development with or without them,” he said.
Still, analysts doubt that Iran could build functional LNG facilities without access to proprietary technology held by a handful of Western oil companies.
Total was the last such company to consider investing in South Pars.
Other European energy companies still operating in Iran include Italy’s Eni and Norway’s StatoilHydro.
Statoil, which is well advanced in the development of South Pars phases six, seven and eight, to supply gas for reinjection into ageing Iranian oil fields, said yesterday it would complete its contracts.
Eni said it did not plan new investments in Iran.
That has left Iran heavily dependent on non-Western energy partners – including the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, and the Malaysian state-owned Petronas Gas – to help it develop South Pars and other big energy projects. But these companies are technologically outclassed by their Western rivals, analysts said.
Politics may not be the only factor that has led the West to pull out of Iran’s energy sector. The “buyback” contracts favoured by Iran for energy development provide scant financial incentives for foreign partners.
tcarlisle@thenational.ae
CA institute to start new course for `Accounting Technician’
CA institute to start new course for `Accounting Technician’
Mumbai, Jul 9 : The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is planning to introduce a second tier qualification called, `Accounting Technician’, to meet the large demand for accountants in the country.
Dhiraj Khandelwal, Secretary, ICAI (western region) said the proposal is currently under consideration of the Corporate Affairs Ministry and the institute is hopeful of getting permission to start the new course in a couple of months. The new course will have a duration of two years .
He said the demand for accountants in the country is huge and the introduction of the new course will help meet that demand.
Those wanting to join the course will need to appear for the entrance examination similar to the regular CA course. Students who would complete one year articleship and pass one group will be given the certificate of Accounting Technician.
Khandelwal said he is expecting a good response for the course with at least 4 to 5 lakh students appearing for the entrance examination.
Public Relations Management Course
Public Relations Management Course
Applications have been invited for PG Certificate Public Relations Management Course to be conducted by Centre for Adult Continuing Education & Extension under University of Kerala. Graduates in any discipline are eligible to apply. Course duration is 5 months. Course fee Rs 4500. Classes will be held during Saturdays and Sundays. Application fee Rs 100. For application forms one has to produce a receipt of having remitted Rs 100 favouring Director, CACEE at A/c 57002299878 of SBT. Applications should reach the office on or before 21st July. For more information call 0471-2302523
University of Kerala offers courses under Distance Mode
University of Kerala offers courses under Distance Mode
The University of Kerala has invited applications for various degree, PG, PG diploma and certificate programmes to be offered under distance mode. The scheme and syllabus of these programmes will be similar to that of regular courses. Contact classes and assignments will be there as part of the study programme. The details of academic programmes and eligibility can be had from the university’s website http://www.keralauniversity.edu Applications should reach the office on or before 31st August 2008.
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