shameen

Dubai Launches Screening Programme

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Dubai, September 08: With an aim to analyse the actual prevalence of diabetes among the UAE nationals and residents in Dubai, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has launched a massive diabetes awareness and screening programme that will run through 2010.

Free screening and educational classes will be offered at hospitals, primary health centres, malls and sports clubs in the initial phase of the programme that will also cover schools and universities from the beginning of 2010.

Schools Will not be Closed in Capital

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Abu Dhabi, September 08: Schools in the capital will not be closed and classes will not be disrupted due to the H1N1 threat, according to a senior official of the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD).

“Closing (of) schools is a very unlikely and distant scenario, but, if deemed necessary we have developed a phased action management plan in conjunction with Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) which includes remote teaching and learning components,” Zaid Al-Siksek, chief executive of HAAD, said in a press statement.

Metro All Set to Go

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Dubai, September 08: The first highly anticipated run of the Metro will take place tomorrow night after His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, officially inaugurates the world’s first automated driverless rail system.

Observers say neat Afghan vote totals show fraud

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Kabul, September 08: At the Afghan polling station called Haji Nehmetullah House, every one of the 725 votes cast during the country’s Aug. 20 election went to President Hamid Karzai. At another site, Haji Akhtar Mohammad House, the incumbent got each of the precisely 400 ballots cast.

Allegations of ballot box stuffing, voter intimidation and other fraud have been lodged from all corners of the country following last month’s presidential contest. An Associated Press examination of returns shows what officials said Monday appear to be highly suspicious — and improbable — results.

Sudan’s Beshir gives award to UN peacekeeper

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Khartoum, September 08: President Omar al-Beshir granted the outgoing head of the UN peacekeeping force in the Darfur region one of the country’s top honours in a ceremony in Khartoum on Monday, a UN spokesman said.

Beshir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on suspicion on war crimes in Darfur, “praised” Rodolphe Adada and awarded him the Order of the Two Niles, Noureddine Mezni, press officer for the UNAMID peacekeepers, told AFP.

NATO air strike a “major error” – Afghan president

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Kabul, September 08: A NATO air strike believed to have killed scores of Afghan civilians was a major “error of judgement” by German forces, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview published on Monday.

Karzai, who is closing in on a first-round victory in a presidential election held last month, also revealed in the interview strained relations with the United States, saying criticism of his friends and family was intended to undermine his own position and make him more malleable.

Neuroscientist, chemist win 2009 Balzan prizes

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Milan, September 08: Discoveries on human memory and the development of a solar panel that imitates the workings of plants were among the achievements that earned four researchers Balzan prizes on Monday.

The awards — each worth 1 million Swiss francs ($943,000) — are meant to highlight new or overlooked fields of study, and half of the prize money must go toward funding research projects carried out by young scholars or scientists.

Obama thanks labor for hard-won rights at work

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Cincinnati, September 08: President Barack Obama declared Monday that modern benefits like paid leave and minimum wage “all bear the union label,” as he appealed to unions to help him win the health care fight in Congress.

Shortly after becoming president, Obama confronted a rapidly deteriorating economy, a clogged credit system, failing or ailing banks and a a shaky stock market. He used his speech on Monday’s Labor Day holiday to tick off a host of steps his administration has taken to steady the economy, and he made a special pitch for the health care overhaul he has pushed.

Afghan ‘blasphemy’ journalist pardoned, freed

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Kabul, September 08: An Afghan journalist imprisoned for 20 years for blasphemy for downloading an Internet article about women’s rights and Islam has been released, an international media rights group said Monday.

Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, 24, was freed early after President Hamid Karzai signed a pardon a few weeks ago, Reporters Without Borders (RSP – Reporters Sans Frontieres) said, citing the journalist’s lawyer.

Taliban call for probe into deadly Afghan air raid

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Kabul, September 08: The Taliban on Monday called on the international community to shed full light on a NATO air raid that killed dozens of people in Afghanistan last week, branding the incident a crime.

Friday’s air strike in the country’s northern Kunduz province killed 54 people, according to local officials, who say the dead were mostly Taliban fighters. Other sources, however, put the toll far higher.

UK court convicts 3 of plot to blow up airliners

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London, September 08: Three British Muslims were convicted Monday of plotting to murder thousands by downing at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners in simultaneous attacks designed by al-Qaida to be the deadliest terrorist strike since Sept. 11, 2001.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Assad Sarwar, 29, and Tanvir Hussain, 28 were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court in London of leading a plan to detonate bombs on aircraft bound for the United States and Canada, using liquid explosives hidden in soda bottles.

Britain to back IRA victims’ lawsuit against Libya

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Dublin, September 08: Britain’s sudden shift to support a lawsuit against Libya by Irish Republican Army victims raised hopes Monday that thousands maimed or bereaved by IRA bombs might one day receive compensation from the oil-rich nation.

Libya admits it shipped hundreds of tons of weaponry to the IRA in the mid-1980s, most critically the plastic explosive Semtex at the heart of the outlawed group’s biggest and deadliest bombs. Lawyers say they expect the regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi to pay 10 million pounds ($16 million) to each member on their growing list of IRA victims.

Iran won’t halt nuclear work: Ahmadinejad

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Tehran, September 08: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday Iran will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with world powers over “global challenges.”

His statements came as the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog warned of a “stalemate” over Iran’s nuclear program. Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency began meetings in Vienna that could set the stage for a toughening of sanctions against Iran.

Liquidity adequate in the system: RBI Dy Governor

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Mumbai, September 07: Reserve Bank Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty on Monday allayed fears of excess liquidity in the banking system saying it was just ‘adequate’.

“In our view, it is adequate liquidity (in the financial system),” Chakrabarty said, when asked if there was excess liquidity as feared in certain quarters.

The apex bank will take necessary measures if it finds that the liquidity is excess in the system, Chakrabarty said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

Sensex breaches 16K, Nifty at 15-month high

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Mumbai, September 07: Key indices of the Indian equities markets, buoyed by renewed buying interest and stable markets elsewhere in Asia, closed at their highest levels in 15 months Monday.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,739.27 points, closed at 16,024.85 points (provisional), up 335.73 points or 2.14 percent higher than Friday’s close.

The Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), too, hit a 15-month high to end at 4,787.55 points, up 2.29 percent.

Tata Steel sales jump 25% in August

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Mumbai, September 07: Tata Steel Ltd, the world’s No. 8 steelmaker by output, said on Monday that August steel sales at its Indian operations rose 25 percent from a year earlier to 492,000 tonnes.

The local operations contribute about a quarter of the group’s total annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes, which includes Corus, Europe’s second-largest steelmaker.

The strong performance came on the back of an 81 percent jump in sales of long products, used in construction, from a year earlier.

OIL IPO subscribed 91% in an hour

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Mumbai, September 07: The initial public offer of state-run Oil India on Monday got subscribed 91 percent within an hour of opening of the issue.

The OIL IPO, which is the second stake sale by a PSU company after NHPC last month, received bids for over 2.40 crore shares as against 2.64 crore shares on offer, as per data available on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The oil explorer is planning to raise up to Rs 4,982 crore through the IPO, which would close on September 11. OIL will be listed on the bourses on September 29.

Kraft Foods offers to buy Cadbury for 10.2 bln pounds

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London, September 07: Britain’s Cadbury, the world’s second biggest confectionery group, has rejected a USD 16.7 billion bid approach by Kraft Foods Inc but North America’s biggest food group still hopes it can clinch a deal.

Kraft said on Monday it had offered 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share in the hope that it can create a “global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals” with combined revenues of about USD 50 billion.

Nomura cuts India’s FY10 growth forecast to 6%

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Mumbai, September 07: India’s economic growth could slow to 6 percent from 6.3 percent in 2009/10 dragged by contraction in agricultural growth, Nomura said in a recent note.

The government expects Asia’s third largest economy to expand by 6.3 percent in the current fiscal year and the central bank sees it growing by 6 percent with an upward bias.

Nomura cut its 2009/10 agriculture gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 2.2 percent from 3.5 percent due to deficient monsoon rains.

Switzerland, India to ink pact on tax evaders: Report

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New Delhi, September 07: Switzerland expects to conclude an agreement with India next year that would allow New Delhi to trace Indian tax evaders holding Swiss bank accounts, a report on Monday said.

India’s Congress-led government has been under Opposition pressure to get details of accounts held by Indian citizens in the country’s secretive banking system.

Switzerland’s Vice-President Doris Leuthard said she was confident a deal could be struck between the two governments.

“I think next year this new treaty can be accomplished,” she was quoted as saying by a news agency.

Pranab sticks to six per cent-plus growth forecast for FY’10

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New Delhi, September 07: The second and third quarters of FY’10 are unlikely to see the economy expanding at the pace it did in April-June period, but that does not warrant a downward revision of growth forecast, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

The government estimates that the economy would grow by more than six percent this fiscal. While the first quarter growth was a healthy 6.1 percent, the numbers for the following two quarters are expected to be inadequate.

Global economic winter to cool India’s growth to 5%: UNCTAD

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New Delhi, September 07: With the global “economic winter” being far from over, the UN body UNCTAD on Monday projected much lower growth of five percent for India in 2009 against official and RBI forecasts of above six percent in the current fiscal.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its Trade and Development Report,2009, expects Indian economy to expand by five percent in 2009.

Oil falls below $68 on US demand worries

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Perth, September 07: Oil prices fell below USD 68 a barrel on Monday on concerns that high unemployment in the United States, the world’s top energy consumer, will weigh on demand.

But analysts said a weak US dollar, combined with a firm equities market, would help limit oil’s decline.

US crude for October delivery fell 46 cents to USD 67.56 a barrel by 2359 GMT. The contract settled 6 cents higher at USD 68.02 a barrel on Friday.

London Brent crude fell 39 cents to USD 66.43 a barrel.

Global regulators flag sweeping new bank rules

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London, September 07: Banks will have to set aside more profits as a cushion against hard times and face limits on how much debt they can run up under proposed new global rules agreed by top central bankers and regulators on Sunday.

The new framework for bank supervision and risk management follows a call by Group of 20 finance officials on Saturday to tackle bank capital requirements and make sure financial institutions insure themselves better against market upheavals and economic downturns.