Andra Wisnu , The Jakarta Post , Denpasar | Wed, 02/11/2009 12:23 PM | The Archipelago
A local man suspected of having bird flu rested in his home in Jagapati village, Badung, a place well-known for cockfighting, while officials continued to cull fowls in the area.
Putu Pranayoga, 20, was resting in his bedroom when The Jakarta Post visited. Dwi Tresna Ningsih, a field doctor who has been treating and observing Putu, said he began showing symptoms of influenza Monday, just a few days after the report of a possible bird flu outbreak in the area.
"We've given him Tamiflu *the medicine required to treat bird flu suspects* and we'll continue to observe him every five hours," Tresna said Tuesday.
She said Putu seemed to be getting better but declined to rule out the possibility of bird flu, saying that she was still waiting for results of Putu's blood test, which was sent to Jakarta on Monday.
"We can't know for sure until we've received the results of his blood tests, which we will get in two weeks," she said.
It is the latest resurgence of the much-dreaded avian flu in Bali since the death of a 29-year-old woman, who allegedly died after being infected by the H5N1 virus on August 2007.
The virus was first detected on Wednesday last week, when a villager reported the sudden and nearly simultaneous death of 15 fowls in the area to the Badung Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency.
The dead fowl tested positive of bird flu.
The agency has since culled as many as 133 fowls in the district, with further culling to continue in the days to come until all the villages' estimated 180-fowl population has been eliminated.
"We have culled 133 fowls so far, including the 40 we aim to finish off today. We'll continue the elimination for as long as it takes," said I Made Badra, head of the Badung Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency, in Jagapati on Tuesday.
According to Badra, the resurgence of the virus was related to the wet season, which may have weakened a certain fowl's immune system enough to catch bird flu, quickly spreading to others.
Another possibility, he said, was the transportation of an infected chicken from Java to Jagapati to use for cockfighting.
The Bali government has banned unlicensed live animal transportation into Bali and cockfighting, but the latter remains a staple in the island due to the religious and traditional nature of the so-called sport.
On the other hand, the ban on animal transportation seems to have been fully implemented since the detection of rabies virus late last year. However, Badra said there was a good chance that infected fowls escaped detection because they might have been transported before the rabies scare.
"For now we'll continue to urge the public to not transport live animals into Bali," he said.
"We should all really learn from what happens to people who come in contact with sick animals," he said, referring to the alleged death of the 29-year-old woman from bird flu and the recent alleged deaths from rabies.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Why Insurance Is Important ??
If you were to die could your family or dependants, pay for your funeral, organize the financial affairs, service pre-existing debt and continue their current standard of living without you? This is why life insurance is important.
If you were to be seriously injured could you pay for your hospital costs, ongoing treatment, time off work, pay the living costs for you and your family until you are fully recovered, if you are fully recovered?. This is why Total Permanent Disability insurance is important.
If you are injured and are unable to continue working are you able to service your debtors and maintain any standard of living? This is why you need income protection insurance.
If you were to be in a car accident with two other cars and it was determined that the accident was your fault, could you go to a car showroom and buy yourself a new car, pay for repair or replacement of the other two cars and pay for the medical bills of the other drivers and their passengers? This is why motor insurance is important.
Why Insurance Is Important
If you were to die could your family or dependants, pay for your funeral, organize the financial affairs, service pre-existing debt and continue their current standard of living without you? This is why life insurance is important.
If you were to be seriously injured could you pay for your hospital costs, ongoing treatment, time off work, pay the living costs for you and your family until you are fully recovered, if you are fully recovered?. This is why Total Permanent Disability insurance is important.
If you are injured and are unable to continue working are you able to service your debtors and maintain any standard of living? This is why you need income protection insurance.
If you were to be in a car accident with two other cars and it was determined that the accident was your fault, could you go to a car showroom and buy yourself a new car, pay for repair or replacement of the other two cars and pay for the medical bills of the other drivers and their passengers? This is why motor insurance is important.
If you are ill and need immediate treatment at a hospital but the wait is massive as the public health system is suffering lengthy delays and you deteriorate to the point that treatment is very costly. This is why health insurance is important.
If your home is broken into and your possessions are stolen, can you replace all the items taken and pay for all the damage to the property caused by the burglars? This is why home and contents insurance is important.
If you are running a business and someone is injured on your premises by falling over a step or is injured during a robbery, can you cover the cost of their medical treatment and any impending court costs and rulings? This is why public liability insurance is important.
If your business fails to meet a loan payment due to a cashflow problem can you afford to pay the default fees, or find money to pay for other leasing contracts, staff, utility payments and rent? This is why business expense insurance is important.
Insurance is generally low cost and the cost to cover all the above scenarios with insurance is far, far lower than trying to service them if they arise. Just one situation not going your way can far outweigh the cost of insurance. Are you willing to bet a 100% record?
At some point you will probably need to call upon some kind of insurance. The law of averages means at some point you may well get ill, or you will get burgled or your flight will lose your luggage or your car will crash, and you definitely will die at some point in the future.
Insurance is not just important it is necessary. Unless you are independently wealthy or have strong consistent income streams you cannot meet the level of expenditure expected if you are sacrificing insurance.
Recommendations
This is a common question we get asked - Who should I choose? You can see who Insurance Compared recommends
If you were to be seriously injured could you pay for your hospital costs, ongoing treatment, time off work, pay the living costs for you and your family until you are fully recovered, if you are fully recovered?. This is why Total Permanent Disability insurance is important.
If you are injured and are unable to continue working are you able to service your debtors and maintain any standard of living? This is why you need income protection insurance.
If you were to be in a car accident with two other cars and it was determined that the accident was your fault, could you go to a car showroom and buy yourself a new car, pay for repair or replacement of the other two cars and pay for the medical bills of the other drivers and their passengers? This is why motor insurance is important.
Why Insurance Is Important
If you were to die could your family or dependants, pay for your funeral, organize the financial affairs, service pre-existing debt and continue their current standard of living without you? This is why life insurance is important.
If you were to be seriously injured could you pay for your hospital costs, ongoing treatment, time off work, pay the living costs for you and your family until you are fully recovered, if you are fully recovered?. This is why Total Permanent Disability insurance is important.
If you are injured and are unable to continue working are you able to service your debtors and maintain any standard of living? This is why you need income protection insurance.
If you were to be in a car accident with two other cars and it was determined that the accident was your fault, could you go to a car showroom and buy yourself a new car, pay for repair or replacement of the other two cars and pay for the medical bills of the other drivers and their passengers? This is why motor insurance is important.
If you are ill and need immediate treatment at a hospital but the wait is massive as the public health system is suffering lengthy delays and you deteriorate to the point that treatment is very costly. This is why health insurance is important.
If your home is broken into and your possessions are stolen, can you replace all the items taken and pay for all the damage to the property caused by the burglars? This is why home and contents insurance is important.
If you are running a business and someone is injured on your premises by falling over a step or is injured during a robbery, can you cover the cost of their medical treatment and any impending court costs and rulings? This is why public liability insurance is important.
If your business fails to meet a loan payment due to a cashflow problem can you afford to pay the default fees, or find money to pay for other leasing contracts, staff, utility payments and rent? This is why business expense insurance is important.
Insurance is generally low cost and the cost to cover all the above scenarios with insurance is far, far lower than trying to service them if they arise. Just one situation not going your way can far outweigh the cost of insurance. Are you willing to bet a 100% record?
At some point you will probably need to call upon some kind of insurance. The law of averages means at some point you may well get ill, or you will get burgled or your flight will lose your luggage or your car will crash, and you definitely will die at some point in the future.
Insurance is not just important it is necessary. Unless you are independently wealthy or have strong consistent income streams you cannot meet the level of expenditure expected if you are sacrificing insurance.
Recommendations
This is a common question we get asked - Who should I choose? You can see who Insurance Compared recommends
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lumpur Lapindo (Lapindo Mud)
After being in Surabaya on business trip for the "I-don't-know-how-many"-th time, I decided to stop by the Lapindo Mud area on my way back to the airport. This is a newly famous "tourist object" in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo (just a few kilometres outside of Surabaya) which is a mud volcano that has been overflowing since mid-2006 until today (2 years of non-stop mud flow!!).
You can see from the pictures below (courtesy of CRISP - National University of Singapore) that the mud has now covered a huge area of what used to be villages.
2005
October 2008
The cause of this tragedy is still uncertain, but a recent Geologists' conference in Cape Town voted in favor of the view that the mudflow was induced by PT Lapindo Brantas' drilling in the area. The Indonesian government has concluded that PT Lapindo Brantas (which is owned by Bakrie Group) must compensate hundreds of people affected by the mud (these people have lost their homes & occupations). However until now, the company still hasn't paid the full compensation fee.
When arriving near the site, you can smell a bad odour apparently coming from the gases that accompany the mudflow. Dams and barriers have been build to prevent the mud from overflowing an even larger area.
To see the mud area, you must go on top of the dams. The local people have made steps from bamboo in order to get to the top. The "entrance fee" is Rp. 3000. If you are not content at looking from a distance, you can also get an ojek (motorcycle transport) that will take you nearer to the source. But of course, they will charge you more.
Since I had little time & also I had heard of news that there had been sudden eruptions that killed a few people, I was satified with the view from the top. Unluckily, I realized that my cell phone's battery was dead so I couldn't take any photographs. The following photos are from a few blogs I found :
(left: The dam/barrier, source : Ajnatz's blog; right : Steps made of bamboo, source : Denmas Rul's blog)
Lapindo mud (source: Denmas Rul's blog)
You can see from the pictures below (courtesy of CRISP - National University of Singapore) that the mud has now covered a huge area of what used to be villages.
2005
October 2008
The cause of this tragedy is still uncertain, but a recent Geologists' conference in Cape Town voted in favor of the view that the mudflow was induced by PT Lapindo Brantas' drilling in the area. The Indonesian government has concluded that PT Lapindo Brantas (which is owned by Bakrie Group) must compensate hundreds of people affected by the mud (these people have lost their homes & occupations). However until now, the company still hasn't paid the full compensation fee.
When arriving near the site, you can smell a bad odour apparently coming from the gases that accompany the mudflow. Dams and barriers have been build to prevent the mud from overflowing an even larger area.
To see the mud area, you must go on top of the dams. The local people have made steps from bamboo in order to get to the top. The "entrance fee" is Rp. 3000. If you are not content at looking from a distance, you can also get an ojek (motorcycle transport) that will take you nearer to the source. But of course, they will charge you more.
Since I had little time & also I had heard of news that there had been sudden eruptions that killed a few people, I was satified with the view from the top. Unluckily, I realized that my cell phone's battery was dead so I couldn't take any photographs. The following photos are from a few blogs I found :
(left: The dam/barrier, source : Ajnatz's blog; right : Steps made of bamboo, source : Denmas Rul's blog)
Lapindo mud (source: Denmas Rul's blog)
Why Australia on fire?
Why Australia's on fire
Burning building
Fire in Canberra destroyed hundreds of homes
Phil Mercer
By Phil Mercer
BBC correspondent in Sydney
Every year Australia faces the menace of bushfires.
The hot, dry summertime climate in the south-eastern states has combined with devastating effect with one of the worst droughts on record.
Add human error into this volatile mix, and a dangerous situation can become uncontrollable.
There are claims that mismanagement, inexperience and a lack of preparation by the authorities contributed to the scale of the recent disaster in Canberra.
The community is entitled to be outraged by the handling of the firestorm
Mike Cochrane, Canberra Firefighters' Union
The leader of the city's fire fighters union, Mike Cochrane, said: "The community is entitled to be outraged by the handling of the firestorm".
Eight years ago, the authorities in the Australian capital were warned in an especially commissioned report of the urgent need to reduce the fire hazards around the city.
It appears nothing was done.
Emergency road access into national parks was not established and strategic burning of undergrowth and trees was not undertaken.
Fire expert Phil Cheney said public pressure had prevented the emergency services carrying out the necessary precautions.
"The main restriction was probably concern about the smoke and perhaps the residents disliking having the bush burnt on a regular basis around them," he said.
Some politicians have blamed forestry officials for the crisis.
Hazard reduction is not some magic panacea, some magic wand that's suddenly going to take away the fire risk
Brian Gilligan
New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service
But Brian Gilligan from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service said no amount of preparation would have saved parts of Canberra from the most ferocious firestorm seen in 100 years.
"Periodically we have extreme fire seasons and they occur regardless of land tenure or detailed land management. Hazard reduction is not some magic panacea, some magic wand that's suddenly going to take away the fire risk," he said.
Perfect conditions
One official said the conditions around Canberra had created "the perfect fire".
Flames up to 100 metres high tore through suburban streets.
The capital's Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, has defended the emergency response and said that even if the city had "fire trucks queuing up bumper to bumper" the disaster would not have been averted.
The enormity of Canberra's wildfire crisis - four people dead and more than 500 homes reduced to ash - will lead to a major rethink of Australia's relationship with the bush and how homes can be safely woven into the delicate fabric of the forests and scrubland.
A young boy looks through the rubble of his home
Salvaging the remains of a family home
Many of Australia's native plants burn easily. The eucalypts' high oil content makes them particularly fire prone.
Vast swathes of dry grass - common in mid-to-late summer - are also extremely flammable.
Urban design
Urban design expert Dr Danny O'Hare told Sydney's Daily Telegraph that it is time Australia learned to live sensibly - and securely - in the bush.
"After the disastrous fires in Melbourne in the 1980s, people rebuilt with the same kinds of houses using the same sorts of materials. We should be learning," he said.
Fire has shaped the Australian landscape.
It is essential for the regeneration of many plant species and was the most powerful tool used by Australia's Aborigines to manage the land before European colonisation.
Recent history is littered with death and devastation caused by forest fires.
In February 1983, more than 70 people were killed in South Australia and Victoria. 2000 houses were lost.
Two decades later, Australia is one of the world's most fire-prone countries and is still at the mercy of the wildfires.
Prime Minister John Howard has warned that the bushfire threat may never be conquered.
"Nobody can give an absolute guarantee about the ravages of nature", he said.
Burning building
Fire in Canberra destroyed hundreds of homes
Phil Mercer
By Phil Mercer
BBC correspondent in Sydney
Every year Australia faces the menace of bushfires.
The hot, dry summertime climate in the south-eastern states has combined with devastating effect with one of the worst droughts on record.
Add human error into this volatile mix, and a dangerous situation can become uncontrollable.
There are claims that mismanagement, inexperience and a lack of preparation by the authorities contributed to the scale of the recent disaster in Canberra.
The community is entitled to be outraged by the handling of the firestorm
Mike Cochrane, Canberra Firefighters' Union
The leader of the city's fire fighters union, Mike Cochrane, said: "The community is entitled to be outraged by the handling of the firestorm".
Eight years ago, the authorities in the Australian capital were warned in an especially commissioned report of the urgent need to reduce the fire hazards around the city.
It appears nothing was done.
Emergency road access into national parks was not established and strategic burning of undergrowth and trees was not undertaken.
Fire expert Phil Cheney said public pressure had prevented the emergency services carrying out the necessary precautions.
"The main restriction was probably concern about the smoke and perhaps the residents disliking having the bush burnt on a regular basis around them," he said.
Some politicians have blamed forestry officials for the crisis.
Hazard reduction is not some magic panacea, some magic wand that's suddenly going to take away the fire risk
Brian Gilligan
New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service
But Brian Gilligan from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service said no amount of preparation would have saved parts of Canberra from the most ferocious firestorm seen in 100 years.
"Periodically we have extreme fire seasons and they occur regardless of land tenure or detailed land management. Hazard reduction is not some magic panacea, some magic wand that's suddenly going to take away the fire risk," he said.
Perfect conditions
One official said the conditions around Canberra had created "the perfect fire".
Flames up to 100 metres high tore through suburban streets.
The capital's Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, has defended the emergency response and said that even if the city had "fire trucks queuing up bumper to bumper" the disaster would not have been averted.
The enormity of Canberra's wildfire crisis - four people dead and more than 500 homes reduced to ash - will lead to a major rethink of Australia's relationship with the bush and how homes can be safely woven into the delicate fabric of the forests and scrubland.
A young boy looks through the rubble of his home
Salvaging the remains of a family home
Many of Australia's native plants burn easily. The eucalypts' high oil content makes them particularly fire prone.
Vast swathes of dry grass - common in mid-to-late summer - are also extremely flammable.
Urban design
Urban design expert Dr Danny O'Hare told Sydney's Daily Telegraph that it is time Australia learned to live sensibly - and securely - in the bush.
"After the disastrous fires in Melbourne in the 1980s, people rebuilt with the same kinds of houses using the same sorts of materials. We should be learning," he said.
Fire has shaped the Australian landscape.
It is essential for the regeneration of many plant species and was the most powerful tool used by Australia's Aborigines to manage the land before European colonisation.
Recent history is littered with death and devastation caused by forest fires.
In February 1983, more than 70 people were killed in South Australia and Victoria. 2000 houses were lost.
Two decades later, Australia is one of the world's most fire-prone countries and is still at the mercy of the wildfires.
Prime Minister John Howard has warned that the bushfire threat may never be conquered.
"Nobody can give an absolute guarantee about the ravages of nature", he said.
Friday, February 20, 2009
International communitys silence is Aiding
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations
Media Release 06.01.2009
International Community's Silence is Aiding Genocide of Tamils In Sri Lanka
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the peak body Representing the Tamil Australians of Sri Lankan descent, is shocked and dismayed by the absolute silence maintained by the International Community, about the Genocidal military onslaught carried out by the Sri Lankan security forces against the Tamil people living in the Wanni region, in the north of the country.
AFTA has been continuously expressing its concerns about the unilateral decision taken in early 2008 by the Sri Lankan government to abrogate theceasefire agreement it signed in 2002 with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the liberation movement fighting to re-establish the lost sovereignty of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka. AFTA also has been highlighting the Genocidal intent of the Sri Lankan administration to the International Community from the time the present Rajapaksa regime began its military operations to occupy the Tamil Homeland.
After occupying by force, first the Jaffna Peninsula and later the eastern parts of the Tamil Homeland inflicting heavy Tamil civilian casualties, property damage and creating hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), the Sri Lankan security forces began their occupation of the northern parts of the Tamil Homeland in late 2007. Because of the indiscriminate artillery and multi barrel shelling and aerial bombardment, more than 300,000 people were forced to flee the advancing army of occupation and become IDPs in their own homeland while thousands fled across the sea to nearby India.
Some of the IDPs have been on the move for nearly a year now and have been living without permanent shelters, exposed to the heavy monsoon rains. For the past 5 months, the Sri Lankan Security forces have been locked up in fierce battle with the LTTE forces to occupy the LTTE's administrative nerve centre, the town of Kilinochchi, where diplomats have been meeting the leadership of the LTTE during the peace negotiations. After causing substantial damage to the infrastructureand after the civilians and LTTE forces had vacated the town, the SriLankan security forces have now occupied a ghost town. In the month of December alone, 9 civilians (including one child) were killed and 71 civilians (including 10 children) were injured due to aerial bombing (mainly with Russian made cluster bombs) and artillery shelling.
At the moment the whole population of the Wanni region affected by the current battles are confined to adjoining Mullaitheevu district and the security forces are claiming to be moving swiftly to occupy that district too. Aerial bombing is continuing and the Sri Lankan State has also imposed stringent economic, food and medical embargos on the war affected areas in the Wanni region where around500,000 Tamils live now.
While the Sri Lankan government is keen on occupying the Tamil Homeland, it has not even suggested a political solution to satisfy the longstanding aspirations of the Tamils. The current Rajapaksa administration has been hoodwinking the International Community citing that an All Party Committee convened by the President would come up with a political solution. Tamil people have no faith in such committees which do not have any representation from the Tamil National Alliance or the LTTE.
Latest reports suggest that this committee no longer meets. AFTA, while appreciating the efforts of the International Community to bring about a ceasefire between the Israeli security forces and the Hamas fighters of the Gaza strip, including the attempt to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council, is disappointed and dismayed by the continued silence observed for months now by the International community regarding what is happening in the Tamil Homeland of SriLanka.
AFTA is particularly concerned by the silence maintained by the so called Co-Chairs to the Sri Lankan peace process, namely the US, EU, Norway and Japan. AFTA is also shocked by the intransigent attitude shown by the Indian government even after the southern Tamil State of Tamil Nadu requested the Central government to enforce a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. AFTA is also concerned by the military assistance provided by some of these countries to the Sri Lankan security forces.
AFTA would like to point out that the Sri Lankan government which barredjournalists and Non Governmental Organisations, including UN agencies from entering Wanni all this time to hide the human tragedy happening there from the International Community, citing security reasons, has taken journalists to Kilinochchi to announce to the world about their recent successful occupation of the place.
AFTA does not believe that this Rajapaksa administration, under these circumstances will be in a position to offer a reasonable political solution to satisfy the Tamil people's aspirations. Therefore AFTA appeals to the International Community including the Co-chair countries, Australia and India to bring about a ceasefire immediately in Sri Lanka to prevent the human catastrophe waiting to happen in Wanni and to restore normalcy and persuade the Sri Lankan government to enter into peace negotiations with the LTTE to find a political solution that recognises the right to self-determination of the Tamil people.
Posted by Ana
Media Release 06.01.2009
International Community's Silence is Aiding Genocide of Tamils In Sri Lanka
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the peak body Representing the Tamil Australians of Sri Lankan descent, is shocked and dismayed by the absolute silence maintained by the International Community, about the Genocidal military onslaught carried out by the Sri Lankan security forces against the Tamil people living in the Wanni region, in the north of the country.
AFTA has been continuously expressing its concerns about the unilateral decision taken in early 2008 by the Sri Lankan government to abrogate theceasefire agreement it signed in 2002 with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the liberation movement fighting to re-establish the lost sovereignty of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka. AFTA also has been highlighting the Genocidal intent of the Sri Lankan administration to the International Community from the time the present Rajapaksa regime began its military operations to occupy the Tamil Homeland.
After occupying by force, first the Jaffna Peninsula and later the eastern parts of the Tamil Homeland inflicting heavy Tamil civilian casualties, property damage and creating hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), the Sri Lankan security forces began their occupation of the northern parts of the Tamil Homeland in late 2007. Because of the indiscriminate artillery and multi barrel shelling and aerial bombardment, more than 300,000 people were forced to flee the advancing army of occupation and become IDPs in their own homeland while thousands fled across the sea to nearby India.
Some of the IDPs have been on the move for nearly a year now and have been living without permanent shelters, exposed to the heavy monsoon rains. For the past 5 months, the Sri Lankan Security forces have been locked up in fierce battle with the LTTE forces to occupy the LTTE's administrative nerve centre, the town of Kilinochchi, where diplomats have been meeting the leadership of the LTTE during the peace negotiations. After causing substantial damage to the infrastructureand after the civilians and LTTE forces had vacated the town, the SriLankan security forces have now occupied a ghost town. In the month of December alone, 9 civilians (including one child) were killed and 71 civilians (including 10 children) were injured due to aerial bombing (mainly with Russian made cluster bombs) and artillery shelling.
At the moment the whole population of the Wanni region affected by the current battles are confined to adjoining Mullaitheevu district and the security forces are claiming to be moving swiftly to occupy that district too. Aerial bombing is continuing and the Sri Lankan State has also imposed stringent economic, food and medical embargos on the war affected areas in the Wanni region where around500,000 Tamils live now.
While the Sri Lankan government is keen on occupying the Tamil Homeland, it has not even suggested a political solution to satisfy the longstanding aspirations of the Tamils. The current Rajapaksa administration has been hoodwinking the International Community citing that an All Party Committee convened by the President would come up with a political solution. Tamil people have no faith in such committees which do not have any representation from the Tamil National Alliance or the LTTE.
Latest reports suggest that this committee no longer meets. AFTA, while appreciating the efforts of the International Community to bring about a ceasefire between the Israeli security forces and the Hamas fighters of the Gaza strip, including the attempt to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council, is disappointed and dismayed by the continued silence observed for months now by the International community regarding what is happening in the Tamil Homeland of SriLanka.
AFTA is particularly concerned by the silence maintained by the so called Co-Chairs to the Sri Lankan peace process, namely the US, EU, Norway and Japan. AFTA is also shocked by the intransigent attitude shown by the Indian government even after the southern Tamil State of Tamil Nadu requested the Central government to enforce a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. AFTA is also concerned by the military assistance provided by some of these countries to the Sri Lankan security forces.
AFTA would like to point out that the Sri Lankan government which barredjournalists and Non Governmental Organisations, including UN agencies from entering Wanni all this time to hide the human tragedy happening there from the International Community, citing security reasons, has taken journalists to Kilinochchi to announce to the world about their recent successful occupation of the place.
AFTA does not believe that this Rajapaksa administration, under these circumstances will be in a position to offer a reasonable political solution to satisfy the Tamil people's aspirations. Therefore AFTA appeals to the International Community including the Co-chair countries, Australia and India to bring about a ceasefire immediately in Sri Lanka to prevent the human catastrophe waiting to happen in Wanni and to restore normalcy and persuade the Sri Lankan government to enter into peace negotiations with the LTTE to find a political solution that recognises the right to self-determination of the Tamil people.
Posted by Ana
North Korea Nuclear
The problem of N. Korea is swarming the news lately. For the few in the know, little of that superficial news is of interest. For the majority -some of whom have been asking me for my thoughts- the day-to-day details like "what'd Kim Jong-Il have for dinner" etc. overwhelm the important macro-causes that underly this grave world crisis.
I thought I would, for the few interested, offer a "N. Korea 101" (by my perspective) and, more importantly perhaps, offer a few unorthodox remedies of my own.
N. Korea and S. Korea have been split since the war between the two (which was fought between 1950 and 1953). In a nutshell: in world war two, japan kicked ass all over southeast asia, we then kicked ass all over japan. what ended up left was (like with europe) a mish-mash of redrawn states, with half democratic/capitalist (allied with the United States), and the other half communist (allied with the soviet union/china). Korea was no exception. By most expert accounts, Kim Jong-iL's father invaded the south in an attempt to unify the two under his dictatorial control. The US came to the aid of the South (fearing - as we feared with Vietnam - that if the south was allowed to fall, so too would many other split states...we called it "Domino Theory"). Allot of ass was kicked on both sides, and a stalemate eventually called. The UN sanctioned a split between the two states at the 38th parallel: hence, North Korea, South Korea.
After his fathers death, KJ-iL, assumed control of the country. I won't bore y'all with tales of what a total nutbag he is, but for fun, and if bored enough, google his name with key-words like kidnapping, and freak. Suffice it to say, he is LITERALLY crazy.
This is probably where our problem starts. You see, KJI has made the acquisition of nuclear weapons his primary ambition for almost 20 years. At first, as with Reagan when he made a lot of noise about SDI (the strategic defense initiative) during the 80's, Reagan scared Russia to the bargaining table without even needing to develop the technology. Well, KJI did that with Clinton; threatening to develop a nuclear weapons program unless we gave him stuff. Clinton did. He gave him Nuclear power plants, oil, cash, and food. It's hotly debated, but KJI monkey-fucked us. That is to say, he took our loot and developed nukes anyway. I'm fairly sure that if KJI didn't have a nuklear ability when Bush took office, he was years into development, and months away.
Finger pointing doesn't mean much now however. He got 'em.
Nukes that is. Roughly enough Highly Enriched Uranium to develop 8-13 warheads by most expert accounts. As opposed to our nukes, his are simple (gun design), crude (likely to suffer high failure rates), and low yield (in the 50 kiloton range vs. ours...more in the 30 megaton range!). However, a nuke is a nuke when you're talking about negotiating power, and KJI is milking it for all it's worth.
Our biggest fear is that he'll sell one of his nukes to terrorists. This isn't Saddam Hussein type overblown rhetoric, he really has them, and has a very active market for weapons systems (buys/sells missile technology freely with iran and russia among dozens of nations around the world). This is uncontested fact.
OK, so, to the present:
KJI is a true despot, and sadly, the civilized world doesn't remember what that means. It means he has a "to the last man" attitude when it comes to threats to his power. This is a mind boggling but accurate statistic: roughly 2,500,000 N. Koreans died of starvation in just four years (between 94-98). KJI however has a 100k per year liquor habit, numerous compounds, dozens of barely 12 year old virgins delivered every year, and over 12k US movies to watch when he's done drinking, fucking, and basically being a maniac. A real fuck-rag of a dude.
When we "negotiate" with parties like this, we forget (as the civilized world) that we're negotiating with one man. ONE MAN! One man who, if confronted with the choice between a total megafuck of a war, where 22 of his 23 million citizens died (but a war where he'd be viewed as a hero by the surviving 1 million) vs. avoiding a war all-together but remembered as a failure by all 23 million souls...he'd certainly choose war.
CERTAINLY
That seems like a simple to understand concept, and, in my view is. But the political topography being authored by the US and co-shaped by Japan, China, Russia, and South Korea flatly ignores that paradigm.
If I'm right in my assumption about what a pigfucking cat-puncher he is, then we need a new approach, one - I might add - that could have use not just with N. Korea, but in many despot controlled nations around the world.
In a sentence, my prescription for turning this mess around is this:
Augment his benign power, while containing his malignent power.
More specifically, increase the weight and importance of those areas of power, reward, and fulfillment KJI gets that don't materially harm our national interest. Simultaneously, we should work to diminish the importance (to him) of those areas of power that do conflict with our national interest.
Do we really care if KJI lives out the rest of his existence fulfilled or miserable? Trick question. Yes, we do. And again, that's the point of my suggestion. To the extent he's happy as a fat fucking shitbag of a despot, we have leverage. Remember the old axiom: "never negotiate with someone who has nothing to lose". Our foreign policy "experts" may not. As a consequence, when a country does something against our interest we "ratchet up pressure". We don't negotiate, rather, we act like Dick Cheney did on the phone last month with famous writer Bob Woodward when, angered by an unfavorable piece done on him, called BW's inarguable factual position "bullshit", then hung up on him. LOL! These mother fuckers crack me up. That is, until I remember the stakes: millions -perhaps tens of millions- of lives.
We should absolutely be negotiating with NK, with KJI, and with any nation (Iran included) that is desirous of negotiating with us. Not "back channel", not "multi party". Direct. As we did with our arch enemy -the soviet union- for decades. It isn't appeasement to negotiate with an enemy.
Fundamentally, we ought to figure out ways to enrich KJI, using NK as a proxy, in attempt to increase our political control, give KJI more to lose, and diminish the risk of a worst-case-scenario.
There are some things we should be doing that we aren't, and some we are, that we shouldn't. Among those we shouldn't, and perhaps most obviously shouldn't, is our embargo against NK.
Does it really help us to encourage and enforce a trade embargo against N. Korea (as we've recently sucessfully lobbied to do)? We need only look 90 miles south to the small communist island nation of Cuba for crisp indisputable evidence to the contrary. Embargos against nations with the intent to foment dissent/break will/or otherwise cause a fundamental change to national policy is, almost totally, dead wrong.
If tomorrow, by some bizarre magic, I could totally posess the body of the President....well, I'd do a lot of funny shit. However, one of the less funny, and most important things I'd immediately do would be to schedule a summit to be held in Seoul South Korea between the US and NK. This geographic and negotiatory gesture of good will would -regardless of summit outcome- work wonders to diminish the Presidents reputation as a warmonger, and to restore the US's credibility as a peace-making super-power.
In the summit, I'd agree to lift trade embargo's on all non-military trade. In addition, I'd work to establish a Surrogate Labor State (straight up in China's face) in North Korea. What do you care if your pillows are made in China vs. NK? You don't, but you should. Stuffing down into cloth for our sleeping comfort pays better than digging through garbage, or, more accurately, not working at all. And that's basically what they're doing up there in NK.
Let's get 'em stuffing our pillows. Let's get 'em sewing our boxer shorts. Let's give 'em something to lose.
Lay out a plan for KJI that basically says "yo, you fucked this joint up. bad. but we're here to save the day. let's get your economy booming (theirs is 1 40th the size of S. Korea...so that's not hard). let's make you the hero. we've got work/money for your unemployed masses, and they'll love you for it".
Shit, labor would be cheaper there. It's just one NEGOTIATED deal away, and suddenly, massively, things start changing there. Capitalism is seeded, and starts digging in its deep, and once intact, impossible-to-oppose tentacles into a system that, today, lives entirely without it.
Wal-Mart wins, the ppl of N Korea win, KJI is a hero, and we're vastly less likely to see war.
This is one of many dozens of schemes we could negotiate. The US houses the largest body of brainpower, influence, and power the world has ever known. Only through negotiation however will it be felt. Well, technically I'm wrong. There is another way it could be felt, and, absent negotiation will: through war.
Posted by Christian Hunter
I thought I would, for the few interested, offer a "N. Korea 101" (by my perspective) and, more importantly perhaps, offer a few unorthodox remedies of my own.
N. Korea and S. Korea have been split since the war between the two (which was fought between 1950 and 1953). In a nutshell: in world war two, japan kicked ass all over southeast asia, we then kicked ass all over japan. what ended up left was (like with europe) a mish-mash of redrawn states, with half democratic/capitalist (allied with the United States), and the other half communist (allied with the soviet union/china). Korea was no exception. By most expert accounts, Kim Jong-iL's father invaded the south in an attempt to unify the two under his dictatorial control. The US came to the aid of the South (fearing - as we feared with Vietnam - that if the south was allowed to fall, so too would many other split states...we called it "Domino Theory"). Allot of ass was kicked on both sides, and a stalemate eventually called. The UN sanctioned a split between the two states at the 38th parallel: hence, North Korea, South Korea.
After his fathers death, KJ-iL, assumed control of the country. I won't bore y'all with tales of what a total nutbag he is, but for fun, and if bored enough, google his name with key-words like kidnapping, and freak. Suffice it to say, he is LITERALLY crazy.
This is probably where our problem starts. You see, KJI has made the acquisition of nuclear weapons his primary ambition for almost 20 years. At first, as with Reagan when he made a lot of noise about SDI (the strategic defense initiative) during the 80's, Reagan scared Russia to the bargaining table without even needing to develop the technology. Well, KJI did that with Clinton; threatening to develop a nuclear weapons program unless we gave him stuff. Clinton did. He gave him Nuclear power plants, oil, cash, and food. It's hotly debated, but KJI monkey-fucked us. That is to say, he took our loot and developed nukes anyway. I'm fairly sure that if KJI didn't have a nuklear ability when Bush took office, he was years into development, and months away.
Finger pointing doesn't mean much now however. He got 'em.
Nukes that is. Roughly enough Highly Enriched Uranium to develop 8-13 warheads by most expert accounts. As opposed to our nukes, his are simple (gun design), crude (likely to suffer high failure rates), and low yield (in the 50 kiloton range vs. ours...more in the 30 megaton range!). However, a nuke is a nuke when you're talking about negotiating power, and KJI is milking it for all it's worth.
Our biggest fear is that he'll sell one of his nukes to terrorists. This isn't Saddam Hussein type overblown rhetoric, he really has them, and has a very active market for weapons systems (buys/sells missile technology freely with iran and russia among dozens of nations around the world). This is uncontested fact.
OK, so, to the present:
KJI is a true despot, and sadly, the civilized world doesn't remember what that means. It means he has a "to the last man" attitude when it comes to threats to his power. This is a mind boggling but accurate statistic: roughly 2,500,000 N. Koreans died of starvation in just four years (between 94-98). KJI however has a 100k per year liquor habit, numerous compounds, dozens of barely 12 year old virgins delivered every year, and over 12k US movies to watch when he's done drinking, fucking, and basically being a maniac. A real fuck-rag of a dude.
When we "negotiate" with parties like this, we forget (as the civilized world) that we're negotiating with one man. ONE MAN! One man who, if confronted with the choice between a total megafuck of a war, where 22 of his 23 million citizens died (but a war where he'd be viewed as a hero by the surviving 1 million) vs. avoiding a war all-together but remembered as a failure by all 23 million souls...he'd certainly choose war.
CERTAINLY
That seems like a simple to understand concept, and, in my view is. But the political topography being authored by the US and co-shaped by Japan, China, Russia, and South Korea flatly ignores that paradigm.
If I'm right in my assumption about what a pigfucking cat-puncher he is, then we need a new approach, one - I might add - that could have use not just with N. Korea, but in many despot controlled nations around the world.
In a sentence, my prescription for turning this mess around is this:
Augment his benign power, while containing his malignent power.
More specifically, increase the weight and importance of those areas of power, reward, and fulfillment KJI gets that don't materially harm our national interest. Simultaneously, we should work to diminish the importance (to him) of those areas of power that do conflict with our national interest.
Do we really care if KJI lives out the rest of his existence fulfilled or miserable? Trick question. Yes, we do. And again, that's the point of my suggestion. To the extent he's happy as a fat fucking shitbag of a despot, we have leverage. Remember the old axiom: "never negotiate with someone who has nothing to lose". Our foreign policy "experts" may not. As a consequence, when a country does something against our interest we "ratchet up pressure". We don't negotiate, rather, we act like Dick Cheney did on the phone last month with famous writer Bob Woodward when, angered by an unfavorable piece done on him, called BW's inarguable factual position "bullshit", then hung up on him. LOL! These mother fuckers crack me up. That is, until I remember the stakes: millions -perhaps tens of millions- of lives.
We should absolutely be negotiating with NK, with KJI, and with any nation (Iran included) that is desirous of negotiating with us. Not "back channel", not "multi party". Direct. As we did with our arch enemy -the soviet union- for decades. It isn't appeasement to negotiate with an enemy.
Fundamentally, we ought to figure out ways to enrich KJI, using NK as a proxy, in attempt to increase our political control, give KJI more to lose, and diminish the risk of a worst-case-scenario.
There are some things we should be doing that we aren't, and some we are, that we shouldn't. Among those we shouldn't, and perhaps most obviously shouldn't, is our embargo against NK.
Does it really help us to encourage and enforce a trade embargo against N. Korea (as we've recently sucessfully lobbied to do)? We need only look 90 miles south to the small communist island nation of Cuba for crisp indisputable evidence to the contrary. Embargos against nations with the intent to foment dissent/break will/or otherwise cause a fundamental change to national policy is, almost totally, dead wrong.
If tomorrow, by some bizarre magic, I could totally posess the body of the President....well, I'd do a lot of funny shit. However, one of the less funny, and most important things I'd immediately do would be to schedule a summit to be held in Seoul South Korea between the US and NK. This geographic and negotiatory gesture of good will would -regardless of summit outcome- work wonders to diminish the Presidents reputation as a warmonger, and to restore the US's credibility as a peace-making super-power.
In the summit, I'd agree to lift trade embargo's on all non-military trade. In addition, I'd work to establish a Surrogate Labor State (straight up in China's face) in North Korea. What do you care if your pillows are made in China vs. NK? You don't, but you should. Stuffing down into cloth for our sleeping comfort pays better than digging through garbage, or, more accurately, not working at all. And that's basically what they're doing up there in NK.
Let's get 'em stuffing our pillows. Let's get 'em sewing our boxer shorts. Let's give 'em something to lose.
Lay out a plan for KJI that basically says "yo, you fucked this joint up. bad. but we're here to save the day. let's get your economy booming (theirs is 1 40th the size of S. Korea...so that's not hard). let's make you the hero. we've got work/money for your unemployed masses, and they'll love you for it".
Shit, labor would be cheaper there. It's just one NEGOTIATED deal away, and suddenly, massively, things start changing there. Capitalism is seeded, and starts digging in its deep, and once intact, impossible-to-oppose tentacles into a system that, today, lives entirely without it.
Wal-Mart wins, the ppl of N Korea win, KJI is a hero, and we're vastly less likely to see war.
This is one of many dozens of schemes we could negotiate. The US houses the largest body of brainpower, influence, and power the world has ever known. Only through negotiation however will it be felt. Well, technically I'm wrong. There is another way it could be felt, and, absent negotiation will: through war.
Posted by Christian Hunter
Sea level inscrease by 1 meter on 2100 ?
Sea level is predicted to rise one meter at the end of the century to 21. This report so that a leading German research institute on Thursday (10/10). According to the institute, the increase is far higher than the most optimistic projection was that the UN climate panel, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Change Clomate).
“We should be prepared in the face of sea level rise as high as one meter in this century,” said Joachim Schellnhuber, head Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), which provides advice to the government in environmental policy.
The level of ice melting in the Himalayas and Greenland has been increased to twice or even three times in recent years. Partly due to the increase of greenhouse gas emissions from different electricity generation of China.
In February 2007, the first volume of historical reports, IPCC predict the increase in various ocean surface between 19 centimeters to 59 centimeters in 2100. Increase in sea level may be only one meter so will make the islands in the Pacific Ocean, such as Tuvalu, will be submerged and floods swamp Bangladesh and will threaten the cities, from New York to Buenos Aires.
www.rinart-woodwork.com
“We should be prepared in the face of sea level rise as high as one meter in this century,” said Joachim Schellnhuber, head Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), which provides advice to the government in environmental policy.
The level of ice melting in the Himalayas and Greenland has been increased to twice or even three times in recent years. Partly due to the increase of greenhouse gas emissions from different electricity generation of China.
In February 2007, the first volume of historical reports, IPCC predict the increase in various ocean surface between 19 centimeters to 59 centimeters in 2100. Increase in sea level may be only one meter so will make the islands in the Pacific Ocean, such as Tuvalu, will be submerged and floods swamp Bangladesh and will threaten the cities, from New York to Buenos Aires.
www.rinart-woodwork.com
2 Type gas aggravate the glasshouse effect
Besides carbon dioxide, there are two other gases that accelerate global warming. Both are methane and nitrogen trifluoride derived from ancient plants and technology, flat-panel screen.
According to observers environment, the gas is the second cause greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In fact, both gas gives almost the same effect like the carbon dioxide caused. Recent research shows in the past few years, the second gas effect is increasing outside estimates. The weather increase also surprised observers.
This methane gas is still the biggest concern after carbon dioxide. The gas is considered a greenhouse gas effect after the second based on the amount of carbon dioxide warming effects and the number produced in the atmosphere.
Methane comes from natural gas, coal mining, and sewage plants. The most worrying scientists is that the plants decompose. Several thousand years ago, billions of tons of methane formed from decaying vegetation in the Arctic North Pole. Plants that decompose and become immobile on the seabed. When the north pole start warming, methane stored in the seabed can accelerate the warming in the area.
Scientists have been trying to learn how the process will begin. Currently, the data collected are still preliminary data, there has been no conclusion. But the scientists said what they see in the beginning is the beginning of the release of methane in the polar north.
Based on their observations, in the last eight years the rate of methane in the atmosphere is still stable, it is estimated that every 40 minutes by supervisors monitor near the seaside cliffs. But in 2006, the results indicate increasing of methane gas. The amount of methane gas in the air jumped from around 28 million tons in June 2006 to October 2007. Currently, the number has reached 5.6 billion tons of methane in the air.
“If this continues to happen, then the effect will be worse,” said MIT scientist atmosphere Ron Prinn, head of the study methane, as said in the geophysical journal Research on Oct. 31 edition. “When the rate of methane continues to increase, of course, will accelerate climate change,” he said.
On the other hand, the rate of nitrogen in the air triflorida is estimated to increase fourfold the last few years, and 30 times since 1978. However, the increase was only contribute 0.04 percent of the total effect of global warming caused by carbon dioxide. Gas is usually used as solvents, such as in manufacturing television and computer monitor, and the panel.
The nitrogen triflorida with the scale of the dihiting per trillion in air during this threat is considered insignificant. According to Ray Weiss geophysics professor at the Oceanographic Institution, an initial effort to know the amount of gas in the air to diremehkan considering the amount that is not too large.
But gas is actually classified as one of the gas that is more dangerous because hundreds of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, methane is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide from per molecule basis. Carbon dioxide gas that is still the most dangerous because the measure is very high and fast growth.
According to scientists, environmental Orjan Gustafsson of the University of Stockholm, a survey this summer found the rate of methane in the east Siberian Sea increased from 10,000 times higher than normal rate. Scientists in the field of environmental Stephen Scheneider from Stanford University, also warned the increase in two gas is a new phenomenon.
“We need to be sure with all these new things as a global trend that needs to skeptical,” he said.
www.rinart-woodwork.com
According to observers environment, the gas is the second cause greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In fact, both gas gives almost the same effect like the carbon dioxide caused. Recent research shows in the past few years, the second gas effect is increasing outside estimates. The weather increase also surprised observers.
This methane gas is still the biggest concern after carbon dioxide. The gas is considered a greenhouse gas effect after the second based on the amount of carbon dioxide warming effects and the number produced in the atmosphere.
Methane comes from natural gas, coal mining, and sewage plants. The most worrying scientists is that the plants decompose. Several thousand years ago, billions of tons of methane formed from decaying vegetation in the Arctic North Pole. Plants that decompose and become immobile on the seabed. When the north pole start warming, methane stored in the seabed can accelerate the warming in the area.
Scientists have been trying to learn how the process will begin. Currently, the data collected are still preliminary data, there has been no conclusion. But the scientists said what they see in the beginning is the beginning of the release of methane in the polar north.
Based on their observations, in the last eight years the rate of methane in the atmosphere is still stable, it is estimated that every 40 minutes by supervisors monitor near the seaside cliffs. But in 2006, the results indicate increasing of methane gas. The amount of methane gas in the air jumped from around 28 million tons in June 2006 to October 2007. Currently, the number has reached 5.6 billion tons of methane in the air.
“If this continues to happen, then the effect will be worse,” said MIT scientist atmosphere Ron Prinn, head of the study methane, as said in the geophysical journal Research on Oct. 31 edition. “When the rate of methane continues to increase, of course, will accelerate climate change,” he said.
On the other hand, the rate of nitrogen in the air triflorida is estimated to increase fourfold the last few years, and 30 times since 1978. However, the increase was only contribute 0.04 percent of the total effect of global warming caused by carbon dioxide. Gas is usually used as solvents, such as in manufacturing television and computer monitor, and the panel.
The nitrogen triflorida with the scale of the dihiting per trillion in air during this threat is considered insignificant. According to Ray Weiss geophysics professor at the Oceanographic Institution, an initial effort to know the amount of gas in the air to diremehkan considering the amount that is not too large.
But gas is actually classified as one of the gas that is more dangerous because hundreds of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, methane is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide from per molecule basis. Carbon dioxide gas that is still the most dangerous because the measure is very high and fast growth.
According to scientists, environmental Orjan Gustafsson of the University of Stockholm, a survey this summer found the rate of methane in the east Siberian Sea increased from 10,000 times higher than normal rate. Scientists in the field of environmental Stephen Scheneider from Stanford University, also warned the increase in two gas is a new phenomenon.
“We need to be sure with all these new things as a global trend that needs to skeptical,” he said.
www.rinart-woodwork.com
global crisis
The global financial crisis of 2008–2009 is an ongoing major financial crisis.[1] It became prominently visible in September 2008 with the failure, merger, or conservatorship of several large United States-based financial firms. The underlying causes leading to the crisis had been reported in business journals for many months before September, with commentary about the financial stability of leading U.S. and European investment banks, insurance firms and mortgage banks consequent to the subprime mortgage crisis.[2][1][3][4]
Beginning with failures of large financial institutions in the United States, it rapidly evolved into a global credit crisis, deflation and sharp reductions in shipping[5][6] resulting in a number of European bank failures and declines in various stock indexes, and large reductions in the market value of equities (stock)[7] and commodities worldwide.[2] The credit crisis was exacerbated by Section 128 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which allowed the Federal Reserve System (Fed) to pay interest on excess reserve requirement balances held on deposit from banks, removing the longstanding incentive for banks to extend credit instead of hoard cash on deposit with the Fed.[8][9][10][11][12][13] The crisis led to a liquidity problem and the de-leveraging of financial institutions especially in the United States and Europe, which further accelerated the liquidity crisis, and a decrease in international shipping and commerce. World political leaders and national ministers of finance and central bank directors have coordinated their efforts[14] to reduce fears but the crisis is ongoing and continues to change, evolving at the close of October into a currency crisis with investors transferring vast capital resources into stronger currencies such as the yen, the dollar and the Swiss franc, leading many emergent economies to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund.[15][16] The crisis was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis and is an acute phase of the financial crisis of 2007–2009
wikipedia.org
Beginning with failures of large financial institutions in the United States, it rapidly evolved into a global credit crisis, deflation and sharp reductions in shipping[5][6] resulting in a number of European bank failures and declines in various stock indexes, and large reductions in the market value of equities (stock)[7] and commodities worldwide.[2] The credit crisis was exacerbated by Section 128 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which allowed the Federal Reserve System (Fed) to pay interest on excess reserve requirement balances held on deposit from banks, removing the longstanding incentive for banks to extend credit instead of hoard cash on deposit with the Fed.[8][9][10][11][12][13] The crisis led to a liquidity problem and the de-leveraging of financial institutions especially in the United States and Europe, which further accelerated the liquidity crisis, and a decrease in international shipping and commerce. World political leaders and national ministers of finance and central bank directors have coordinated their efforts[14] to reduce fears but the crisis is ongoing and continues to change, evolving at the close of October into a currency crisis with investors transferring vast capital resources into stronger currencies such as the yen, the dollar and the Swiss franc, leading many emergent economies to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund.[15][16] The crisis was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis and is an acute phase of the financial crisis of 2007–2009
wikipedia.org
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
ISLAM IS NOT THE SOURCE OF TERRORISM, BUT ITS SOLUTION
by Eren Salih
As Muslims, we strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the two big cities of the United States of America on September 11, 2001 that caused the death and injury of thousands of innocent people, and offer our condolences to the American people. These attacks carried a very important issue related to the true source of terrorism to the top of the world agenda. By this occasion, it was announced to the entire world that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that it summons people to compassion and justice. Many world leaders, leading media organizations, television and radio stations told their own people that true Islam forbids violence, and commands peace between people and nations. The Western circles that have come to a full grasp of the religion of Islam and are well-informed about the true Islam commanded by God in the Koran noted clearly that the words of Islam and terror cannot stand side by side, and divine religions by no means permit violence.
This essay maintains that the source of the terror that we condemn is definitely not a divine religion, and that there is no room for terrorism in Islam. This is made clear in the Koran, the main source of Islam, and in the practices of all Muslim rulers, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, being the foremost of them.
As you know, for centuries, various acts of terrorism are being carried out in different parts of the world by different groups for different purposes. Sometimes a communist organization, sometimes a fascist group, and sometimes radical and separatist factions assume responsibility for these acts. While countries like America often become the target of the attacks of racist and marginal terrorist groups, the European countries become the center stage for violent acts carried out by terrorist groups. 17 November in Greece, RAF and Neo-Nazis in Germany, ETA in Spain, Red Brigades in Italy and many other organizations seek to make their voices heard through terror and violence by killing innocent and defenseless people heinously. Terrorism changes with the developing and changing world conditions and steps up its impact and power with the new means made possible by the developing technology. In particular, mass communication tools such as the Internet extends the scope and influence of the terrorist activities considerably.
Besides USA and Europe originated Western organizations, there are also other terror organizations of Middle East origin. Some terrorist attacks are carried out by these groups in all corners of the world. Yet there is an important point to be remembered here. The fact that the perpetrators of various terrorist acts carry Christian, Muslim or Jewish identities cause some people to develop some erroneous ideas and put forward some claims which do not concur with divine religions. The fact remains however, that even if the terrorists have Muslim identities, the terror they perpetrated cannot be labelled “Islamic terror”. In the same way, it would not be called “Jewish terror” if the perpetrators were Jews or “Christian terror” if they were Christians. That is because, murdering innocent people in the name of religion is unacceptable. We need to keep in mind that, among those who were killed in Washington or New York, there were people who loved Jesus (Christians), Prophet Moses (Jews) and Muslims. Unless forgiven by God, murdering innocent people is a great sin that brings torment in Hell. Thus, a religious person who has fear of God can never commit such an act. The aggressors can commit such violence only with the intention of attacking religion itself. It may well be that they carried out this violence to present religion as evil in the eyes of people, to divorce people from religion and to generate hatred and reaction against pious people. Consequently, every attack made in the name of “religion” on innocent people is actually an attack made against religion.
Religion commands love, mercy and peace. Terror, on the other hand, is the opposite of religion; it is cruel, merciless and it demands bloodshed and misery. This being the case, while looking for the perpetrators of a terrorist act, its origins should be sought in disbelief rather than in religion. People with a fascist, communist, racist or materialist outlook on life should be suspected as potential perpetrators. The name or the identity of the terrorists is not important. If he can kill innocent people without blinking an eye, then he is a disbeliever, not a believer. He is a murderer with no fear of God, whose main ambition is to shed blood and to give harm. For this reason, “Islamic terror”, “Jewish terror”, “Christian terror” are quite erroneous concepts. That is because, neither the religion of Islam, nor other religions can by no means concur with terror. On the contrary, “terror” (i.e. murders committed against innocent people) in Islam is a great sin and Muslims are responsible for preventing these acts and bringing peace and justice to the world.
The full-text of this article is available on http://www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com
As Muslims, we strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the two big cities of the United States of America on September 11, 2001 that caused the death and injury of thousands of innocent people, and offer our condolences to the American people. These attacks carried a very important issue related to the true source of terrorism to the top of the world agenda. By this occasion, it was announced to the entire world that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that it summons people to compassion and justice. Many world leaders, leading media organizations, television and radio stations told their own people that true Islam forbids violence, and commands peace between people and nations. The Western circles that have come to a full grasp of the religion of Islam and are well-informed about the true Islam commanded by God in the Koran noted clearly that the words of Islam and terror cannot stand side by side, and divine religions by no means permit violence.
This essay maintains that the source of the terror that we condemn is definitely not a divine religion, and that there is no room for terrorism in Islam. This is made clear in the Koran, the main source of Islam, and in the practices of all Muslim rulers, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, being the foremost of them.
As you know, for centuries, various acts of terrorism are being carried out in different parts of the world by different groups for different purposes. Sometimes a communist organization, sometimes a fascist group, and sometimes radical and separatist factions assume responsibility for these acts. While countries like America often become the target of the attacks of racist and marginal terrorist groups, the European countries become the center stage for violent acts carried out by terrorist groups. 17 November in Greece, RAF and Neo-Nazis in Germany, ETA in Spain, Red Brigades in Italy and many other organizations seek to make their voices heard through terror and violence by killing innocent and defenseless people heinously. Terrorism changes with the developing and changing world conditions and steps up its impact and power with the new means made possible by the developing technology. In particular, mass communication tools such as the Internet extends the scope and influence of the terrorist activities considerably.
Besides USA and Europe originated Western organizations, there are also other terror organizations of Middle East origin. Some terrorist attacks are carried out by these groups in all corners of the world. Yet there is an important point to be remembered here. The fact that the perpetrators of various terrorist acts carry Christian, Muslim or Jewish identities cause some people to develop some erroneous ideas and put forward some claims which do not concur with divine religions. The fact remains however, that even if the terrorists have Muslim identities, the terror they perpetrated cannot be labelled “Islamic terror”. In the same way, it would not be called “Jewish terror” if the perpetrators were Jews or “Christian terror” if they were Christians. That is because, murdering innocent people in the name of religion is unacceptable. We need to keep in mind that, among those who were killed in Washington or New York, there were people who loved Jesus (Christians), Prophet Moses (Jews) and Muslims. Unless forgiven by God, murdering innocent people is a great sin that brings torment in Hell. Thus, a religious person who has fear of God can never commit such an act. The aggressors can commit such violence only with the intention of attacking religion itself. It may well be that they carried out this violence to present religion as evil in the eyes of people, to divorce people from religion and to generate hatred and reaction against pious people. Consequently, every attack made in the name of “religion” on innocent people is actually an attack made against religion.
Religion commands love, mercy and peace. Terror, on the other hand, is the opposite of religion; it is cruel, merciless and it demands bloodshed and misery. This being the case, while looking for the perpetrators of a terrorist act, its origins should be sought in disbelief rather than in religion. People with a fascist, communist, racist or materialist outlook on life should be suspected as potential perpetrators. The name or the identity of the terrorists is not important. If he can kill innocent people without blinking an eye, then he is a disbeliever, not a believer. He is a murderer with no fear of God, whose main ambition is to shed blood and to give harm. For this reason, “Islamic terror”, “Jewish terror”, “Christian terror” are quite erroneous concepts. That is because, neither the religion of Islam, nor other religions can by no means concur with terror. On the contrary, “terror” (i.e. murders committed against innocent people) in Islam is a great sin and Muslims are responsible for preventing these acts and bringing peace and justice to the world.
The full-text of this article is available on http://www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com
It's time to rethink Zionism
from Annie's letters
The desire for ethnic purity that drove out Palestinians and bars the way to democracy in Israel is the rotten fruit of an old debate
The results of last week's parliamentary elections in Israel
brought to the surface some of the most rotten fruits of a
debate that has been going on throughout the state's
existence: the idea that a mono-ethnic Jewish state is feasible,
legitimate and desirable. In other words, it enhanced the
predicament of the moral and practical consequences of the
Zionist state ideology.
In 1948, during its war of coming-to-be, Israel had driven
out of its territory 750,000 Palestinians; another 250,000
were pushed out during the 1967 war. Ever since then, the
Israeli left-right division has been marked by the desire for
territorial expansion, promoted by the right, and the aspiration
for ethnic purity, propagated, curiously, by the Zionist "left".
It has always been the "left" that pushed for "division" of the
land and "separation" between Jews and Arabs in order to
secure a big Jewish majority inside Israel. The right, historically,
seemed unconcerned by and large with the consequences of
having a large number of Palestinians living under Israel's
occupation, as long as they do not get to enjoy citizens' (or
other, civil) rights. The Labour party always had a leg in both
camps. It had agreed to partition in 1947, seeing it as a chance
to get as much Arab-free land as possible, and recognising the
opportunity to ethnically clear it off most remaining Arabs
during the following war. It was the same Labour party, however,
that was responsible for Israel's great victory in the 1967 war,
which led to vast territorial expansion and at the same time to
the inclusion of millions of Palestinians in the territories under
Israel's rule.
An annexation of these territories, known as Gaza Strip and
the West Bank, has always been unthinkable for the Labour
party and its satellites on the left, as it would involve granting
citizenship to the Palestinians who live in them, hence
compromising the majority of Jewish citizens in Israel. The
right had toyed with the idea of annexation, but was deterred
by the same dilemma. The temporary solution had been to
keep building settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza,
while hoping that somehow, miraculously, the Palestinians
would disappear, or that a huge influx of Jewish citizens would
somehow flood the country and tip the balance in a conclusive
way.
In the fringes of the left there were always voices calling for
either a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel. To its left,
there was an even smaller group calling for what nowadays
can be described as the South African solution: one state,
with equal rights to both Jews and Palestinians living in it.
The latter idea had never become popular among Jewish
Israelis, but over the last 10 years it had turned into a threat
that haunts the dreams of all Zionists. The phrase "the
demographic danger" became a legitimate part of the discourse
calling for a two-state solution. What started as a lefty support
for Palestinian national self-determination had turned in this
century into a tool for propagating apartheid. From that point,
it was easy for anybody on the right, from Ariel Sharon to Tzipi
Livni and Binyamin Netanyahu, to adopt it, and for George
Bush's administration to embrace it. Accordingly, that obscure
entity the "Palestinian State" was to be of crippled borders that
would compromise its already questionable viability. It was to
be a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantustan Bantustan.
The Arab citizens of Israel, traditionally ignored by left and
right Zionists as a "barely tolerable" minority, embody the
impossibility and futility of the attempt to achieve ethnic
purity by means of division. A few years of rising racism
inside Israel turned its Arab citizens into a "ticking bomb"
of the "demographic danger", and unleashed unprecedented
attacks against them by the right wing, with little to no
response from the Zionist left. Avigdor Lieberman gained
his startling achievement in Tuesday's elections by riding
this wave to its natural conclusion. His revolutionary idea –
giving up not only territories in the West Bank and Gaza
but even territories of Israel proper, in order to get rid of
as many Arabs as possible – confused and embarrassed
the Zionist left. It had also exposed the absurdity and moral
unacceptability of the whole Zionist idea by taking it to its
only rational conclusion. If having a Jewish state is the most
desirable goal, than getting rid of the non-Jewish citizens is
the only rational way to go about it. And hey, it is all to take
place in a very benign way: no more talks of "transfer", but
an adoption of the "lefty" slogans of division. And all this
under the new sinister banner "No loyalty – No citizenship".
The fact that Lieberman can easily claim to be a genuine
successor of Israel's founder, Labourite David Ben Gurion,
should be an alarm bell in the ears of any Israeli liberal. It
is time for any Israeli with an enlightened self-image to look
at the mirror and see Avigdor Lieberman staring back. It is
time to stop the procrastination over the question whether
Israel can be both Jewish and democratic. Lieberman provided
the answer loud and clear: it cannot. At this late hour, when
the shadow of proto-fascism is hovering over the land, it is
time to join forces with Palestinian citizens in the battle against
ethnic purity, and for a true democracy. It is time to stop
fidgeting, and to admit that mono-ethnicism cannot be a
framework for liberal values. It is time to apologise to
MK Azmi Bshara, who was dabbed "an Arab nationalist" by
Israeli liberals because of his call for "a state of all its citizens".
It is time to rethink Zionism.
The desire for ethnic purity that drove out Palestinians and bars the way to democracy in Israel is the rotten fruit of an old debate
The results of last week's parliamentary elections in Israel
brought to the surface some of the most rotten fruits of a
debate that has been going on throughout the state's
existence: the idea that a mono-ethnic Jewish state is feasible,
legitimate and desirable. In other words, it enhanced the
predicament of the moral and practical consequences of the
Zionist state ideology.
In 1948, during its war of coming-to-be, Israel had driven
out of its territory 750,000 Palestinians; another 250,000
were pushed out during the 1967 war. Ever since then, the
Israeli left-right division has been marked by the desire for
territorial expansion, promoted by the right, and the aspiration
for ethnic purity, propagated, curiously, by the Zionist "left".
It has always been the "left" that pushed for "division" of the
land and "separation" between Jews and Arabs in order to
secure a big Jewish majority inside Israel. The right, historically,
seemed unconcerned by and large with the consequences of
having a large number of Palestinians living under Israel's
occupation, as long as they do not get to enjoy citizens' (or
other, civil) rights. The Labour party always had a leg in both
camps. It had agreed to partition in 1947, seeing it as a chance
to get as much Arab-free land as possible, and recognising the
opportunity to ethnically clear it off most remaining Arabs
during the following war. It was the same Labour party, however,
that was responsible for Israel's great victory in the 1967 war,
which led to vast territorial expansion and at the same time to
the inclusion of millions of Palestinians in the territories under
Israel's rule.
An annexation of these territories, known as Gaza Strip and
the West Bank, has always been unthinkable for the Labour
party and its satellites on the left, as it would involve granting
citizenship to the Palestinians who live in them, hence
compromising the majority of Jewish citizens in Israel. The
right had toyed with the idea of annexation, but was deterred
by the same dilemma. The temporary solution had been to
keep building settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza,
while hoping that somehow, miraculously, the Palestinians
would disappear, or that a huge influx of Jewish citizens would
somehow flood the country and tip the balance in a conclusive
way.
In the fringes of the left there were always voices calling for
either a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel. To its left,
there was an even smaller group calling for what nowadays
can be described as the South African solution: one state,
with equal rights to both Jews and Palestinians living in it.
The latter idea had never become popular among Jewish
Israelis, but over the last 10 years it had turned into a threat
that haunts the dreams of all Zionists. The phrase "the
demographic danger" became a legitimate part of the discourse
calling for a two-state solution. What started as a lefty support
for Palestinian national self-determination had turned in this
century into a tool for propagating apartheid. From that point,
it was easy for anybody on the right, from Ariel Sharon to Tzipi
Livni and Binyamin Netanyahu, to adopt it, and for George
Bush's administration to embrace it. Accordingly, that obscure
entity the "Palestinian State" was to be of crippled borders that
would compromise its already questionable viability. It was to
be a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantustan Bantustan.
The Arab citizens of Israel, traditionally ignored by left and
right Zionists as a "barely tolerable" minority, embody the
impossibility and futility of the attempt to achieve ethnic
purity by means of division. A few years of rising racism
inside Israel turned its Arab citizens into a "ticking bomb"
of the "demographic danger", and unleashed unprecedented
attacks against them by the right wing, with little to no
response from the Zionist left. Avigdor Lieberman gained
his startling achievement in Tuesday's elections by riding
this wave to its natural conclusion. His revolutionary idea –
giving up not only territories in the West Bank and Gaza
but even territories of Israel proper, in order to get rid of
as many Arabs as possible – confused and embarrassed
the Zionist left. It had also exposed the absurdity and moral
unacceptability of the whole Zionist idea by taking it to its
only rational conclusion. If having a Jewish state is the most
desirable goal, than getting rid of the non-Jewish citizens is
the only rational way to go about it. And hey, it is all to take
place in a very benign way: no more talks of "transfer", but
an adoption of the "lefty" slogans of division. And all this
under the new sinister banner "No loyalty – No citizenship".
The fact that Lieberman can easily claim to be a genuine
successor of Israel's founder, Labourite David Ben Gurion,
should be an alarm bell in the ears of any Israeli liberal. It
is time for any Israeli with an enlightened self-image to look
at the mirror and see Avigdor Lieberman staring back. It is
time to stop the procrastination over the question whether
Israel can be both Jewish and democratic. Lieberman provided
the answer loud and clear: it cannot. At this late hour, when
the shadow of proto-fascism is hovering over the land, it is
time to join forces with Palestinian citizens in the battle against
ethnic purity, and for a true democracy. It is time to stop
fidgeting, and to admit that mono-ethnicism cannot be a
framework for liberal values. It is time to apologise to
MK Azmi Bshara, who was dabbed "an Arab nationalist" by
Israeli liberals because of his call for "a state of all its citizens".
It is time to rethink Zionism.
ATM banking saves you time - and saves you money
By Charlene Clayton
Automated teller machines (ATMs) are nothing new, but not all cardholders make full use of all the facilities that ATMs offer. Due to ignorance or technophobia, many clients still opt for more cumbersome and costly methods of banking.
If you hate waiting in long queues at the bank, ATM banking is the way to go. It offers you the convenience of being able to do most of your banking from a machine which is often situated outside your bank, so that you have access to your bank account 24 hours a day.
ATM banking is also considerably cheaper than other methods of payment, such as issuing cheques or doing transactions over the counter inside the bank. With ever-increasing bank charges eroding your cash, you have to be mindful of these costs.
The one drawback of ATM banking is that it has become the target of thieves, whose most popular modus operandi is to distract you, watch you punch in your personal identification number (PIN), which they memorise, and then surreptitiously swop your card for a dud or a stolen card. The thieves make off with your card and with your PIN memorised, they draw money from your account.
The key, therefore, is to take special care when doing transactions at an ATM.
Most banks have a daily withdrawal limit of R1 000 on their ATM cards, but this amount can be increased or decreased by you. It is preferable to keep this limit as low as possible because if criminals obtain your card and PIN they will be limited to draw this sum of money. By lowering your limit you are reducing your risk should your card be lost or stolen. But criminals can also draw an electronic cheque to the value or whatever balance you have in your account or up to your maximum withdrawal limit. Furthermore, criminals can shop at certain stores with your ATM card, so it is vital that if it is lost or stolen, you report it to your bank immediately. Also remember that if your card is legitimately retained by an ATM, the machine will issue you with a slip. If you are not issued with a slip, cancel your card immediately.
Some people feel intimated to use an ATM and are afraid to press the wrong button, but once you become familiar with the use of an ATM, it makes banking more convenient.
How to bank at an ATM
You get access to an ATM by means of a card which is issued to you when you open a bank account such as a cheque account or a savings account. Usually you are then allocated a PIN by the bank, but some banks allow you to choose your own PIN.
You may link all your accounts - cheque, savings, credit card, bond and money market accounts - to one card. You can even link the cards of family members, such as your children, so that you can pay their pocket money electronically into their accounts.
You can also pay your monthly bills using an ATM, but you have to first go into your bank and arrange for the service provider or individual you want to pay, to be set up as a beneficiary. To do so, you will need the bank account details of the individual or service provider. Once the accounts have been linked by your bank, you can pay them at an ATM when it is convenient for you.
Remember that it may take a few days for payments to register on the account of the person or service provider that you have paid, so if accounts are due on a specific date, you need to do these transactions two to three days before to avoid paying interest on money you owe.
What you can do at an ATM
ATMs were the first electronic banking service to be introduced to consumers. Other forms of electronic banking are telephone and cellular phone banking and internet banking.
There is a wide range of transactions that you can do at an ATM, including:
# Draw cash from your account;
# Transfer money between your accounts, for instance, between your current account and your credit card account, in order to pay your credit card account;
# Pay any of your normal monthly bills, such as municipal, telephone or clothing accounts;
# Make other payments, such as your children's pocket money or your domestic worker's salary, provided the recipients have bank accounts;
# Print balances or statements on your accounts; and
# Deposit cash or cheques into any of your accounts.
Costs
Apart from the monthly service fees which you are charged on your bank accounts, you are also charged a fee for every transaction you make and that includes transactions done at an ATM. But it is a lot cheaper to bank at an ATM than it is to do your banking at a teller inside the bank. This is the banks' way of encouraging consumers to use ATMs.
Fees vary between banks and according to the type of transaction. For cash withdrawals and cash deposits, the fees depend on the amount involved in the transaction, while there tend to be set fees for account payments and money transfers, irrespective of the amount involved. Mini statements and balance inquiries are generally free if you use your bank's own ATM network (it doesn't have to be the ATM outside your specific branch), but a fee is charged for these transactions at the ATMs of other banks because your bank will have to pay the other bank because you used the other bank's ATM.
You can also expect to pay for a replacement ATM card should you lose your card or if it is stolen.
Automated teller machines (ATMs) are nothing new, but not all cardholders make full use of all the facilities that ATMs offer. Due to ignorance or technophobia, many clients still opt for more cumbersome and costly methods of banking.
If you hate waiting in long queues at the bank, ATM banking is the way to go. It offers you the convenience of being able to do most of your banking from a machine which is often situated outside your bank, so that you have access to your bank account 24 hours a day.
ATM banking is also considerably cheaper than other methods of payment, such as issuing cheques or doing transactions over the counter inside the bank. With ever-increasing bank charges eroding your cash, you have to be mindful of these costs.
The one drawback of ATM banking is that it has become the target of thieves, whose most popular modus operandi is to distract you, watch you punch in your personal identification number (PIN), which they memorise, and then surreptitiously swop your card for a dud or a stolen card. The thieves make off with your card and with your PIN memorised, they draw money from your account.
The key, therefore, is to take special care when doing transactions at an ATM.
Most banks have a daily withdrawal limit of R1 000 on their ATM cards, but this amount can be increased or decreased by you. It is preferable to keep this limit as low as possible because if criminals obtain your card and PIN they will be limited to draw this sum of money. By lowering your limit you are reducing your risk should your card be lost or stolen. But criminals can also draw an electronic cheque to the value or whatever balance you have in your account or up to your maximum withdrawal limit. Furthermore, criminals can shop at certain stores with your ATM card, so it is vital that if it is lost or stolen, you report it to your bank immediately. Also remember that if your card is legitimately retained by an ATM, the machine will issue you with a slip. If you are not issued with a slip, cancel your card immediately.
Some people feel intimated to use an ATM and are afraid to press the wrong button, but once you become familiar with the use of an ATM, it makes banking more convenient.
How to bank at an ATM
You get access to an ATM by means of a card which is issued to you when you open a bank account such as a cheque account or a savings account. Usually you are then allocated a PIN by the bank, but some banks allow you to choose your own PIN.
You may link all your accounts - cheque, savings, credit card, bond and money market accounts - to one card. You can even link the cards of family members, such as your children, so that you can pay their pocket money electronically into their accounts.
You can also pay your monthly bills using an ATM, but you have to first go into your bank and arrange for the service provider or individual you want to pay, to be set up as a beneficiary. To do so, you will need the bank account details of the individual or service provider. Once the accounts have been linked by your bank, you can pay them at an ATM when it is convenient for you.
Remember that it may take a few days for payments to register on the account of the person or service provider that you have paid, so if accounts are due on a specific date, you need to do these transactions two to three days before to avoid paying interest on money you owe.
What you can do at an ATM
ATMs were the first electronic banking service to be introduced to consumers. Other forms of electronic banking are telephone and cellular phone banking and internet banking.
There is a wide range of transactions that you can do at an ATM, including:
# Draw cash from your account;
# Transfer money between your accounts, for instance, between your current account and your credit card account, in order to pay your credit card account;
# Pay any of your normal monthly bills, such as municipal, telephone or clothing accounts;
# Make other payments, such as your children's pocket money or your domestic worker's salary, provided the recipients have bank accounts;
# Print balances or statements on your accounts; and
# Deposit cash or cheques into any of your accounts.
Costs
Apart from the monthly service fees which you are charged on your bank accounts, you are also charged a fee for every transaction you make and that includes transactions done at an ATM. But it is a lot cheaper to bank at an ATM than it is to do your banking at a teller inside the bank. This is the banks' way of encouraging consumers to use ATMs.
Fees vary between banks and according to the type of transaction. For cash withdrawals and cash deposits, the fees depend on the amount involved in the transaction, while there tend to be set fees for account payments and money transfers, irrespective of the amount involved. Mini statements and balance inquiries are generally free if you use your bank's own ATM network (it doesn't have to be the ATM outside your specific branch), but a fee is charged for these transactions at the ATMs of other banks because your bank will have to pay the other bank because you used the other bank's ATM.
You can also expect to pay for a replacement ATM card should you lose your card or if it is stolen.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
UN votes for Iran nuclear sanctions
The UN Security Council has unanimously approved an amended European draft resolution which calls for a ban on trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The draft ordered all countries to ban the supply of specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programmes.
Shortly before the vote at the Security Council on Saturday, diplomats quoted Russia as telling its colleagues on the council that it would support the sanctions.
An annex to the draft lists persons and organisations involved in nuclear and missile programmes that will have their assets frozen.
Iranian rebuff
Iran, however, vowed on Saturday to drastically ramp up its uranium enrichment capacities and rejected the UN sanctions as "invalid" and "illegal".
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the foreign ministry spokesman, said that Iran would carry out its plan to install and make operational 3,000 uranium enriching centrifuges at a key nuclear plant, in defiance of the UN resolution.
Such a move would be an important step for Iran towards enriching uranium on an industrial scale. So far it has two cascades of 164 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in the central city of Natanz.
"This new resolution will not be an impediment to Iran's nuclear progress," Hosseini said in a statement published by Iranian official media.
"The Iranian nation, relying on national abilities and within the framework of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and its undeniable rights, will go ahead with its peaceful nuclear plans."
Defiant note
In the run-up to the UN vote, the Iranian president had sounded defiant.
"The bullying powers today, in confronting Iran's peaceful nuclear technology, are faced with a sea of courageous people," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech.
The UN text warns Iran to comply with the demands, or the council will "adopt appropiate measures under Article 41 of Chapter Seven" of the charter, a reference to non-military sanctions.
"Today we are placing Iran in the small category of states under Security Council sanctions," Alejandro Wolff, the acting US ambassador, told the council before the 15-0 vote.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN ambassador, who was successful in watering down parts of the resolution, emphasised that the resolution did not permit any use of force.
A Western diplomat privy to the talks said that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had insisted on seeing the final text before the vote.
Putin called George Bush, his US counterpart, to discuss the resolution and they agreed on the need to act, Blain Rethmeier, a spokesman for Bush, said.
'Unified position'
The two leaders "stressed the importance of maintaining a unified position on Iran's nuclear programme", Rethmeier said.
During negotiations, a mandatory travel ban was dropped at Russia's insistence.
Instead, the draft resolution called on all countries "to exercise vigilance" regarding the entry or transit through their territory of those on a UN list that names 12 top Iranians involved in the country's nuclear and missile programmes.
It asked member states to notify the Security Council committee that will monitor the sanctions when the listed Iranians show up in their country.
The vote took place exactly two months after Britain, France and Germany first introduced a draft resolution following Iran's failure to comply with an August 31 council deadline, to halt its sensitive nuclear fuel work.
Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, UN
The draft ordered all countries to ban the supply of specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programmes.
Shortly before the vote at the Security Council on Saturday, diplomats quoted Russia as telling its colleagues on the council that it would support the sanctions.
An annex to the draft lists persons and organisations involved in nuclear and missile programmes that will have their assets frozen.
Iranian rebuff
Iran, however, vowed on Saturday to drastically ramp up its uranium enrichment capacities and rejected the UN sanctions as "invalid" and "illegal".
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the foreign ministry spokesman, said that Iran would carry out its plan to install and make operational 3,000 uranium enriching centrifuges at a key nuclear plant, in defiance of the UN resolution.
Such a move would be an important step for Iran towards enriching uranium on an industrial scale. So far it has two cascades of 164 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in the central city of Natanz.
"This new resolution will not be an impediment to Iran's nuclear progress," Hosseini said in a statement published by Iranian official media.
"The Iranian nation, relying on national abilities and within the framework of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and its undeniable rights, will go ahead with its peaceful nuclear plans."
Defiant note
In the run-up to the UN vote, the Iranian president had sounded defiant.
"The bullying powers today, in confronting Iran's peaceful nuclear technology, are faced with a sea of courageous people," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech.
The UN text warns Iran to comply with the demands, or the council will "adopt appropiate measures under Article 41 of Chapter Seven" of the charter, a reference to non-military sanctions.
"Today we are placing Iran in the small category of states under Security Council sanctions," Alejandro Wolff, the acting US ambassador, told the council before the 15-0 vote.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN ambassador, who was successful in watering down parts of the resolution, emphasised that the resolution did not permit any use of force.
A Western diplomat privy to the talks said that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had insisted on seeing the final text before the vote.
Putin called George Bush, his US counterpart, to discuss the resolution and they agreed on the need to act, Blain Rethmeier, a spokesman for Bush, said.
'Unified position'
The two leaders "stressed the importance of maintaining a unified position on Iran's nuclear programme", Rethmeier said.
During negotiations, a mandatory travel ban was dropped at Russia's insistence.
Instead, the draft resolution called on all countries "to exercise vigilance" regarding the entry or transit through their territory of those on a UN list that names 12 top Iranians involved in the country's nuclear and missile programmes.
It asked member states to notify the Security Council committee that will monitor the sanctions when the listed Iranians show up in their country.
The vote took place exactly two months after Britain, France and Germany first introduced a draft resolution following Iran's failure to comply with an August 31 council deadline, to halt its sensitive nuclear fuel work.
Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, UN
TELEDYNE RD INSTRUMENTS MARINE MEASUREMENTS THE TELEDYNE RD INSTRUMENTS FAMILY OF CURRENT PROFILING PRODUCTS
What is an ADCP?
An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) is a type of sonar that measures and records water current velocities over a range of depths. Teledyne RD Instruments actually designed and delivered the industry’s first ADCP in 1982. The ADCP is now considered an essential tool for oceanography, estuary, river, and stream flow current measurement worldwide.
How do they work?
An ADCP transmits sound bursts into the water column. Suspended particles carried by water currents produce echoes (from these sound bursts) which are “heard” by the ADCP. Echoes arriving later, from deeper in the water column, are assigned greater depths in the echo record. This allows the ADCP to form vertical profiles of current velocity. The ADCP senses in four orthogonal directions simultaneously. Particles within the current flow moving towards the instrument exhibit different frequencies from those moving away. This is the famous Doppler shift, which enables precise measurement of current speed and direction.
What do they do?
When the ADCP is mounted in a moving vessel, the information obtained is used to measure water current speed, vessel speed and direction, and also distance above the sea bed. The ADCP also shows the distribution of suspended material. When the ADCP is mounted on the seabed to look upwards it measures current velocity and direction and with a simple software add-on the direction of waves. So with a Teledyne RDI ADCP you can:
•Survey the patterns of currents, suspended sediments, and zooplankton.
•Simplify difficult measurements—e.g. river discharge and biomass.
•Receive rapidly updated hi-res data in shallow water and observe short-lived events or small sized features.
•Measure vessel movement through water or over the bottom.
•Determine position and altitude of underwater vehicles such as AUVs and ROVs.
•Collect high-resolution time series of currents at many depths using a single instrument.
What makes Teledyne RDI’s ADCPs unique?
With well over 10,000 Doppler products delivered worldwide, Teledyne RDI’s Workhorse ADCP products have become the de facto standard instrument used worldwide by scientists and field engineers to improve their understanding of water current circulation. Only Teledyne RDI’s proven ADCP products can provide:
•BroadBand processing for significantly improved data quality, power efficiency, and error detection over competing narrowband systems.
•2-dimensional phased array transducer design for significantly reduced size, weight, and deployment complexity.
•4-beam configuration designed to ensure data redundancy for quality and reliability.
•A highly flexible design, which ensures that your base instrument is designed to meet your current needs and future needs as well. Teledyne RDI’s ADCPs have become synonymous with high-quality data, ease of operation, and unsurpassed value. Each and every one of our products is backed by:
•Teledyne RDI ADCPs are versatile enough to be used in a wide range of marine applications.
How is my data displayed ?
Teledyne RDI offers an array of software suites designed to quickly convert data into a variety of graphical display options, allowing you to quickly and easily view and assess the data you’ve collected. Versatile software packages allow you to study the results of long-term self-contained deployments, or watch your real-time measurements as they unfold. For those new to data collection, Teledyne RDI’s software offers Wizards that quickly walk you through your system setup and data collection functions. For those with advanced or highly specific data requirements,Teledyne RDI offers the most comprehensive and powerful ADCP software in the industry. From rivers to deep-ocean projects, Teledyne RDI has a software solution to meet your project needs. Top right: ADCP data from New York Harbor showing sheer going out of the harbor at the surface and into the harbor at the bottom. Above right: The east-west velocity field as measured by a 38 kHz Ocean Surveyor mounted on the JAMSTEC R/V Kaiyo, which was steaming at 13 kts off the coast of Mindanao (Philippines). The x axis is ensemble number (five minutes per ensemble), the y axis is range in meters and the velocity range is indicated by the color bar at the top of the plot. Note the deep, strong eddy centered at 1,000 m depth. Teledyne RD Instruments, Inc. specializes in the design and manufacture of underwater acoustic Doppler products for a wide array of current-profiling and precision navigation applications.
Where is an ADCP used ?
Offshore Energy Applications:
1. Oil & Gas:
Long range current profiles and wave measurement in support of deepwater oil and gas exploration, drilling and production. Real-time current measurement for decision making during drilling, riser deployment & recovery and ROV operations. Full water column current profiles to detect VIM phenomenon and help model VIV. Seismic, Cable and Pipe Laying Vessel Operations: Real-time current profiles for streamer cable feathering angle prediction and correction, pipe lay and cable lay operations to calculate accurate touchdown position, ROV operations.
2. Renewable Energy
Tidal/Wave/Offshore Wind, Current and wave measurement for site selection, design and performance monitoring, and environmental impact studies.
Coastal Applications:
3. Biological Oceanographic
Wave and current measurements for oceanographic/meteorological data collection, display/analysis to quantify the biological/ ecological condition of coasts and estuaries.
Environmental Management: Oceanographic and meteorological data collection, display/analysis to properly manage coastal development and quantify the environmental effects of development and conduct environmental impact studies.
4. Fisheries/Aquaculture
Current and wave data for site assessment and short or long-term environmental monitoring.
5. Navigation Safety
Current and wave measurements for oceanographic/meteorological data collection, display/analysis to increase the safety of vessel navigation within or approaching a terrestrial port.
6. Coastal and Ocean Engineering
Academic Coastal Oceanography: Current and wave measurements for research areas including near-shore circulation, tidal currents, meso/micro scale turbulence, waves and wave current interaction.
Oceanographic Applications:
7. Integrated Ocean Observation Systems (IOOS) and Ocean Observatory Initiatives (OOI)
Real-time current and wave data support the integrated long-term monitoring, predicting and modeling of ocean environments with time scales ranging from minutes to decades.
8. Deep and Mid-Water Depth Moorings
Moored ADCPs for oceanographic research based on the measurement of seasonal, annual, and decadal variability of ocean currents.
9. Oceanographic Research Vessels
Large-scale, detailed measurements of ocean currents and motility of entrained biomass populations using vessel-mounted ADCPs. Current and wave measurements for oceanographic/meteoro.
10. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Gliders logical data collection
Display/analysis to properly design coastal ADCPs installed onboard AUVs and gliders collect current structures and public works projects, provide long-term monitor-profile data over an extended range and duration for academic, and assess impact to the littoral environment. commercial, and military applications.
An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) is a type of sonar that measures and records water current velocities over a range of depths. Teledyne RD Instruments actually designed and delivered the industry’s first ADCP in 1982. The ADCP is now considered an essential tool for oceanography, estuary, river, and stream flow current measurement worldwide.
How do they work?
An ADCP transmits sound bursts into the water column. Suspended particles carried by water currents produce echoes (from these sound bursts) which are “heard” by the ADCP. Echoes arriving later, from deeper in the water column, are assigned greater depths in the echo record. This allows the ADCP to form vertical profiles of current velocity. The ADCP senses in four orthogonal directions simultaneously. Particles within the current flow moving towards the instrument exhibit different frequencies from those moving away. This is the famous Doppler shift, which enables precise measurement of current speed and direction.
What do they do?
When the ADCP is mounted in a moving vessel, the information obtained is used to measure water current speed, vessel speed and direction, and also distance above the sea bed. The ADCP also shows the distribution of suspended material. When the ADCP is mounted on the seabed to look upwards it measures current velocity and direction and with a simple software add-on the direction of waves. So with a Teledyne RDI ADCP you can:
•Survey the patterns of currents, suspended sediments, and zooplankton.
•Simplify difficult measurements—e.g. river discharge and biomass.
•Receive rapidly updated hi-res data in shallow water and observe short-lived events or small sized features.
•Measure vessel movement through water or over the bottom.
•Determine position and altitude of underwater vehicles such as AUVs and ROVs.
•Collect high-resolution time series of currents at many depths using a single instrument.
What makes Teledyne RDI’s ADCPs unique?
With well over 10,000 Doppler products delivered worldwide, Teledyne RDI’s Workhorse ADCP products have become the de facto standard instrument used worldwide by scientists and field engineers to improve their understanding of water current circulation. Only Teledyne RDI’s proven ADCP products can provide:
•BroadBand processing for significantly improved data quality, power efficiency, and error detection over competing narrowband systems.
•2-dimensional phased array transducer design for significantly reduced size, weight, and deployment complexity.
•4-beam configuration designed to ensure data redundancy for quality and reliability.
•A highly flexible design, which ensures that your base instrument is designed to meet your current needs and future needs as well. Teledyne RDI’s ADCPs have become synonymous with high-quality data, ease of operation, and unsurpassed value. Each and every one of our products is backed by:
•Teledyne RDI ADCPs are versatile enough to be used in a wide range of marine applications.
How is my data displayed ?
Teledyne RDI offers an array of software suites designed to quickly convert data into a variety of graphical display options, allowing you to quickly and easily view and assess the data you’ve collected. Versatile software packages allow you to study the results of long-term self-contained deployments, or watch your real-time measurements as they unfold. For those new to data collection, Teledyne RDI’s software offers Wizards that quickly walk you through your system setup and data collection functions. For those with advanced or highly specific data requirements,Teledyne RDI offers the most comprehensive and powerful ADCP software in the industry. From rivers to deep-ocean projects, Teledyne RDI has a software solution to meet your project needs. Top right: ADCP data from New York Harbor showing sheer going out of the harbor at the surface and into the harbor at the bottom. Above right: The east-west velocity field as measured by a 38 kHz Ocean Surveyor mounted on the JAMSTEC R/V Kaiyo, which was steaming at 13 kts off the coast of Mindanao (Philippines). The x axis is ensemble number (five minutes per ensemble), the y axis is range in meters and the velocity range is indicated by the color bar at the top of the plot. Note the deep, strong eddy centered at 1,000 m depth. Teledyne RD Instruments, Inc. specializes in the design and manufacture of underwater acoustic Doppler products for a wide array of current-profiling and precision navigation applications.
Where is an ADCP used ?
Offshore Energy Applications:
1. Oil & Gas:
Long range current profiles and wave measurement in support of deepwater oil and gas exploration, drilling and production. Real-time current measurement for decision making during drilling, riser deployment & recovery and ROV operations. Full water column current profiles to detect VIM phenomenon and help model VIV. Seismic, Cable and Pipe Laying Vessel Operations: Real-time current profiles for streamer cable feathering angle prediction and correction, pipe lay and cable lay operations to calculate accurate touchdown position, ROV operations.
2. Renewable Energy
Tidal/Wave/Offshore Wind, Current and wave measurement for site selection, design and performance monitoring, and environmental impact studies.
Coastal Applications:
3. Biological Oceanographic
Wave and current measurements for oceanographic/meteorological data collection, display/analysis to quantify the biological/ ecological condition of coasts and estuaries.
Environmental Management: Oceanographic and meteorological data collection, display/analysis to properly manage coastal development and quantify the environmental effects of development and conduct environmental impact studies.
4. Fisheries/Aquaculture
Current and wave data for site assessment and short or long-term environmental monitoring.
5. Navigation Safety
Current and wave measurements for oceanographic/meteorological data collection, display/analysis to increase the safety of vessel navigation within or approaching a terrestrial port.
6. Coastal and Ocean Engineering
Academic Coastal Oceanography: Current and wave measurements for research areas including near-shore circulation, tidal currents, meso/micro scale turbulence, waves and wave current interaction.
Oceanographic Applications:
7. Integrated Ocean Observation Systems (IOOS) and Ocean Observatory Initiatives (OOI)
Real-time current and wave data support the integrated long-term monitoring, predicting and modeling of ocean environments with time scales ranging from minutes to decades.
8. Deep and Mid-Water Depth Moorings
Moored ADCPs for oceanographic research based on the measurement of seasonal, annual, and decadal variability of ocean currents.
9. Oceanographic Research Vessels
Large-scale, detailed measurements of ocean currents and motility of entrained biomass populations using vessel-mounted ADCPs. Current and wave measurements for oceanographic/meteoro.
10. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Gliders logical data collection
Display/analysis to properly design coastal ADCPs installed onboard AUVs and gliders collect current structures and public works projects, provide long-term monitor-profile data over an extended range and duration for academic, and assess impact to the littoral environment. commercial, and military applications.
DNA and DNA Testing
First established in 1985 by Sir Alec Jeffreys, DNA testing has become an increasingly popular method of identification and research. The applications of DNA testing, or DNA fingerprinting within forensic science is often what most people think of when they hear the phrase. Popularized by television and cinema, using DNA to match blood, hair or saliva to criminals is one purpose of testing DNA. It is also frequently used for other benefits, like wildlife studies, paternity testing, body identification, and in studies pertaining to human dispersion.
While most aspects of DNA are identical in samples from all human beings, concentrating on identifying patterns called microsatellites reveals qualities specific and unique to the individual. During the early stages of this science, a DNA test was performed using an analysis called restriction fragment length polymorphism. Because this process was extremely time consuming and required a great deal of DNA, new methods like polymerase chain reaction and amplified fragment length polymorphism have been employed.
The benefits of DNA testing are ample. In 1987, Colin Pitchfork became the first criminal to be caught as a result of DNA testing. The information provided with DNA tests has also helped wrongfully incarcerated people like Gary Dotson and Dennis Halstead reclaim their freedom. To find out more about the history, methods and possibilities related to DNA testing, click on any of the links below.
Livescience.com
While most aspects of DNA are identical in samples from all human beings, concentrating on identifying patterns called microsatellites reveals qualities specific and unique to the individual. During the early stages of this science, a DNA test was performed using an analysis called restriction fragment length polymorphism. Because this process was extremely time consuming and required a great deal of DNA, new methods like polymerase chain reaction and amplified fragment length polymorphism have been employed.
The benefits of DNA testing are ample. In 1987, Colin Pitchfork became the first criminal to be caught as a result of DNA testing. The information provided with DNA tests has also helped wrongfully incarcerated people like Gary Dotson and Dennis Halstead reclaim their freedom. To find out more about the history, methods and possibilities related to DNA testing, click on any of the links below.
Livescience.com
All About Cloning
Biological cloning is the process of creating a genetically identical copy of another living being, be it human, plant, or animal. Clones can occur both naturally and unnaturally through advances in technology. Clones occur naturally during the asexual reproduction of some organisms and unicellular micro-organisms, or when two genetically identical individuals are produced accidentally, as when two identical twins develop from one single fertilized egg.
Unnaturally occurring genetic animal cloning has been a highly scrutinized and controversial issue around the world since the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Genetic cloning occurs when a body cell is taken from an embryo in an early stage of development. The nucleus is then transferred to an unfertilized ovum from which the nucleus has been removed. The daughter cells from the earliest divisions are removed, and grown in culture or implanted into host mothers. Genetically identical offspring to that from which the original cell was taken is then produced.
Access additional information on cloning below, including the very latest cloning news, information on human cloning, animal cloning, the on-going fight for and against cloning, cloning ethics and more.
Livescience.com
Unnaturally occurring genetic animal cloning has been a highly scrutinized and controversial issue around the world since the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Genetic cloning occurs when a body cell is taken from an embryo in an early stage of development. The nucleus is then transferred to an unfertilized ovum from which the nucleus has been removed. The daughter cells from the earliest divisions are removed, and grown in culture or implanted into host mothers. Genetically identical offspring to that from which the original cell was taken is then produced.
Access additional information on cloning below, including the very latest cloning news, information on human cloning, animal cloning, the on-going fight for and against cloning, cloning ethics and more.
Livescience.com
All About Viruses
A virus is defined as any of a various number of submicroscopic parasites that can infect any animal, plant or bacteria and often lead to very serious or even deadly diseases. A virus consists of a core of RNA or DNA, generally surrounded by a protein, lipid or glycoprotein coat, or some combination of the three. No virus can replicate without the help of a host cell, and though they can be spread, viruses lack the ability of self-reproduction and are not always considered to be living organisms in the regular sense.
Some of the most common or best known viruses include the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is the virus that causes AIDS, the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores, smallpox, multiple sclerosis, and the human papilloma virus, now believed to be a leading cause of cervical cancer in adult women. The common human cold is also caused by a virus.
Since a great deal of mystery still surrounds the origins of most modern viruses, ways to cure these viruses and the diseases they cause are still in the very early stages of development.
Find out more about viruses today. Begin by browsing the information below including the latest on common types of human viruses, deadly human viruses, new human viruses, news of virus vaccinations, as well as number of other facts and details about viruses and the human body.
Livescience.com
Some of the most common or best known viruses include the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is the virus that causes AIDS, the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores, smallpox, multiple sclerosis, and the human papilloma virus, now believed to be a leading cause of cervical cancer in adult women. The common human cold is also caused by a virus.
Since a great deal of mystery still surrounds the origins of most modern viruses, ways to cure these viruses and the diseases they cause are still in the very early stages of development.
Find out more about viruses today. Begin by browsing the information below including the latest on common types of human viruses, deadly human viruses, new human viruses, news of virus vaccinations, as well as number of other facts and details about viruses and the human body.
Livescience.com
Monday, February 16, 2009
New Weapon Against Cigarette/Tobacco
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Tobacco is a difficult enemy to fight. More weapons are needed in the war against tobacco. Scientists at the Environmental Cancer Research Program at Northeastern University (http://www.neu.edu/ecrp) are building a new weapon against tobacco.
Question. What is the new weapon against tobacco?
Answer. The new weapon is detection technology that discovers unknown genotoxic (gene-damaging) chemicals.
Click the above image for a larger view.
Question. How does the new weapon work?
Answer. The detection technology weapon has two stages. In the first stage, DNA, the composition of genes, is used as bait to catch genotoxic chemicals. In the second stage, the captured chemicals are detected and identified in a chemical detection machine called a mass spectrometer. DNA makes a good bait since it is an important target in the body for many toxic chemicals such as those in tobacco smoke. Damage to DNA in the broadest sense is the basis of all cancer.
Question. What will the new weapon be aimed at?
Answer. The new weapon can be aimed at the genotoxic chemicals of tobacco at every stage of their action, from the starting tobacco products to the human tissues that are damaged in tobacco users and bystanders. This means that tobacco smoke, chewed tobacco extract, and blood or tissue samples from tobacco-exposed people can be analyzed for genotoxic tobacco chemicals with the new weapon.
Question. How will the new weapon fight tobacco?
Answer. Tobacco is harmful because it contains addictive and toxic chemicals. However, the details of the toxicity are not fully understood. The detection technology weapon can contribute new information about the genotoxic chemicals in tobacco products. The more we know about the toxic chemicals in tobacco, the better we can fight it. For example, the new information may be helpful in bringing new regulations and lawsuits, including personal injury, against the tobacco companies. The new information may counter a claim by a tobacco company that its new cigarette or chewing tobacco is safer.
Question. What kind of data does the new detection technology weapon provide?
Answer. Below is an example of data provided by the detection technology weapon. The vertical lines in the upper part of (A) of the figure come from genotoxic chemicals in cigarette smoke. This is the first time that cigarette smoke has been imaged in this way. The lower part (B) of the figure confirms the specificity of the detection technology weapon.
bwt%20blog/newweapon.html
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