Friday, April 16, 2010

According to a United Nations survey, more people in India, the second most populous country in the world, have access to mobile phones than to a proper toilet. Over half a billion cell phones are active in India, but only 366 million people there have access to a toilet.

“It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, about half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet,” commented Zafar Adeel, Director of United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (IWEH).

India’s 545 million cell phones serve about 45 per cent of the population of more than one billion. Only 31 per cent (366 million) have access to modern hygienic amenities as of 2008. The United Nations University (UNU) recommends achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which aims to cut in half the number of people lacking safe water and proper sanitary arrangements. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there would be a deficit of one billion people from that target aimed for 2015.

“Anyone who shirks the topic as repugnant, minimises it as undignified, or considers unworthy those in need should let others take over for the sake of 1.5 million children and countless others killed each year by contaminated water and unhealthy sanitation,” Adeel added.

“Popular education about the health dangers of poor sanitation is also needed. But this simple measure could do more to save lives, especially those of young people, improve health and help pull India and other countries in similar circumstances out of poverty than any alternative investment. It can also serve as a very significant boost to the local economy,” he said. “The world can expect, however, a return of between $3 and $34 for every dollar spent on sanitation, realized through reduced poverty and health costs and higher productivity — an economic and humanitarian opportunity of historic proportions.”

The nine recommendations made by the UNU include changing the MDG target from 50 per cent by 2015 to 100 per cent coverage by 2025. Another suggested reform was to assign 0.002 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to improving sanitation. Approximately 358 billion dollars would be required to achieve that MDG target, considering that a toilet costs 300 dollars.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

On Friday morning, Student’s Day was celebrated in the most schools across Chile. Student’s Day was created in May 11, 1990 by Chile’s Ministry of Education. The same day, the Supreme Decree N° 524 was validated, whereby also authorized the functioning of Student’s Centres in the High Education schools.

At Colegio Preciosa Sangre, Pichilemu celebration started at 8:30 AM local time (1230 UTC). Students, grouped by grade, shared a cup of milk and sandwiches. Competitions and games were originally planned to take place in the school’s yard, but due to adverse weather, these were moved to an old, large room. The school was split into two teams, Roja (red) and Verde (green). The event was organized by Nicole Grez, Carol Piña, and Paola Sepúlveda, amidst others, and the judges included Angélica Miranda and Mother Loreto Fuentes.

The first of the activities was the performance of a Pichileminian metal band, that covered Metallica’s songs. Subsequently, started the games. The first one consisted of the imitation of a well-known musical artist. The Roja alliance prepared the imitation of Ráfaga’s Luna Luna. The Verde alliance performed a sketch with Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy. Both alliances gained points for this activity.

The next activity in the morning was gymkhana, that consisted if three steps for students from first to eight grades of Basic Education:

1. Put a thread through a needle.
2. Eat a pear while playing with a basketball ball.
3. Pump up and burst an inflatable globe.

From the first to fourth grades of High Education:

1. Take out a coin from a plate full of flour.
2. Eat a sandwich with hot chilli, and drink a glass of Coke.
3. Put a thread through two needles. (Between this step and the fourth, they have to chew the same pear).
4. Pump up and burst two globes.

Results

In the group of 1st to 4th Grade (Basic), 5th to 8th Grade (Basic) and 1st to 4th Grade (High), the Verde team won.

Subsequently, some girls from the Cheer-leading team performed a dance with some teachers from the school. Later, a game of the 3-legs jump took place. It mainly consisted of: samples of well-known songs were played, when they stopped, the pairs had to jump until they reached the microphone, and sing the rest of the song. Three groups of four grades were formed, as in the gymkhana game. Each group had to listen 3 songs.

Results

1st to 4th Grade (Basic)

1. Mazapán – Una Cuncuna Amarilla : Draw
2. Américo – Que Levante La Mano : Verde team won
3. Shakira – Loba : Verde team won

5th to 8th Grade (Basic)

1. Mazapán – Caballito Blanco : Rojo team won
2. Sin Bandera – Suelta Mi Mano : Rojo team won
3. DJ Méndez feat. Crossfire – Lady : Rojo team won

1st to 4th Grade (High)

1. Los Jaivas – Mira Niñita : Rojo team won
2. Shakira – Waka Waka (Esto es África) : Draw
3. Wisin & Yandel – La Minifalda : Draw

Finally it was determined that the Rojo team won this game. The penultimate game took place at 12:05 local time (16:05 UTC), and it consisted of:

1. First round: collect 15 turnkeys.
2. Second round: collect 10 clocks.

All of this had to be done in just 30 seconds. In the first round, the Verde team collected 11 turnkeys, and the Rojo team, 10. In the second round, the Verde team collected 6 clocks, while the Rojo team, 7.

The last game was tugar tugar, which consisted of dancing known songs, including The Rickrollerz’s Never Gonna Give You Up, Cosculluela’s Prrum, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, Américo’s Te Vas and Chilean cuecas. After some time, the jury took out some pairs. There were six pairs, with a student from each grade. As the game came to a close, only two pairs remained. Finally, the game was won by the verde team.

Angélica Miranda and Mother Loreto Fuentes, both judges, congratulated both teams and gave the total results:

The same Pichileminian metal band that performed at the beginning of the games, played again, as students left the building.

The Student’s Day was celebrated on Wednesday, the 12^th in Los Ángeles. The teachers congratulated the students and at once, they enjoyed activities that included artistic acts, deportive activities and certainly, free food, depending on the scholar journey.

In the José Manso de Velasco School, one of the teachers disguised as Américo, and revolutionized the students. In the Liceo Comercial, they elected a Queen. The most popular took place in Sternenkinder, a special school, locally known as NEE (Necesidad Educativa Especial), that enjoyed an event prepared by a local discotheque.

In Valdivia, the Education Seremi (boss) of the Los Ríos Region, Carlos Crot, visited the students of Instituto Superior de Administración y Turismo (INSAT) while they were celebrating their day, on Wednesday, congratulating all the students of the region. The event took place in a room of the establishment. Crot was the Principal of the Institute until just some weeks ago, when he had to leave to become Seremi.

The Student’s Day was celebrated on Thursday 13, in Parral. The Mayor of the city, Israel Urrutia Escobar, managed to take a Savory and Chocapic (both part of Nestle) tent to Parral. Savory’s ice cream were given for free to people that could get in front of the Municipality building.

The activity had been repeated in other communes affected by the February 27 earthquake. Some of them are: Talcahuano, Coronel, Chillán, Talca, Constitución, and some other minor towns. More than five thousand ice creams were given. “I appreciate the companies that have came along to our call. This activity excites us and entertains not just the childs, but their parents. Today is the Student’s day and we wanted to celebrate it properly […],” said Israel Urrutia.

Students from the Santiago Urrutia Benavente School and Pablo Neruda School, ensured this was one of the best activities made in a long time, because they thought it was a fantasy that people could give ice creams to those who want and to play freely.

The Student’s Day was celebrated on Thursday 13 here, too. In many educational establishments of the city, activities were performed to celebrate this day. In Instituto Superior de Comercio, the students enjoyed a dance-tón (bailetón), El Pingüino reported. The Clerk of the Municipality of Punta Arenas, Orlando Estefó, congratulated the students, “by making history every day by day, as the main actors in the educational process.”

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

As of 1600 hours local time (08:00UTC) Western Australia became the first state to resume normal internal movement of horses. The decision to lift restrictions was taken after all horses known to have entered the state in the two weeks prior to the outbreak of Equine Influenza in New South Wales were tested and confirmed not to be infected.

Western Australian Agriculture and Food Minister Mr Kim Chance said “The 15 imported horses from New South Wales, three from Queensland and one from South Australia have now all tested negative to equine influenza…”

Mr Chance said that the restrictions on bringing horses into the state were still in place and that horse owners should remain vigilant about Biosecurity. Anyone traveling to WA that has been in contact with horses should shower, change their clothing and foot wear and disinfect any equipment.

The sports governing body in WA, Racing and Wagering Western Australia recommenced track work from 1600 with harness racing to resume Friday and thoroughbred racing to resume on Saturday at Belmont Park.

Additional thoroughbred race meeting has been scheduled for York/Beverley on Tuesday 4th September. The cards for Belmont on the 5th and Northam on the 6th have been amended.

Friday, May 14, 2010

At least 21 miners in China are dead after an explosion at a coal mine in the southwestern Guizhou province earlier today, according to reports.

The incident occurred at the Yuanyang mines in the city of Anshun. According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, there were ten other workers in the mine who were rescued. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, although it is being investigated, Xinhua reports. The colliery is operated by the government of the local township.

A rescue worker present at the scene says five of the survivors were hospitalised due to carbon monoxide inhalation. “We arrived at the mine to carry out the rescue at midnight, and helped bring three of the survivors out of the shaft,” he told Xinhua.

Despite an initiative to increase the safety of collieries, Chinese mines are among the most dangerous in the world; official statistics say 2,631 workers died in 1,616 separate incidents last year, although the figure is down 18% from 2008.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner asked Uruguay to halt construction of pulp mills that bring up environmental concerns. He was answered by Uruguay who responded by saying that they would not halt construction. Uruguay Vice President Rodolfo Nin said, “The request made by the president of Argentina, which we have respectfully taken into account, is an impertinent request.”

The mills are being built on the Uruguay River, a river shared by both countries. The mills cost $1.7 billion to make. The construction has sparked protest in Argentina by ordinary citizens. Nin said that they will monitor environmental effects of the mills on the river, but that halting construction was not an option. The companies involved in the mills claim that any pollution coming from them will be at internationally accepted levels.

However this is likely not over, as Kirchner claims that they might take the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Argentina is the shape of a circle which makes people confused. Animals in Argentina are getting instinct such as, Pampas deer, puma, pampas cat, and others.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Comply or Die, the racehorse who won the 2008 Grand National has died at the age of 17. His death was announced by his former trainer, David Pipe. He died over at the weekend in Gloucestershire, where he had been staying with jockey Timmy Murphy. He was cremated on Monday and his ashes will return to Murphy.

Murphy was the jockey in the saddle when Comply or Die won the 2008 Grand National. Speaking to the Press Association, he spoke about the horse’s death. He said, “He was part of the furniture at home so it’s very sad. He gave me the greatest day of my career, obviously that can never be taken away. He paraded at Cheltenham and Aintree and was getting ready to do some dressage in the summer. I’m not actually sure how he died, to be honest, but it wasn’t nice to come home to. He was cremated on Monday. He was a happy horse and he was also very clever.”

During his racing career he made £798,809 in prize-money after winning a total of eight races.

The 2008 Grand National victory was his greatest achievement and he almost matched it when he came second place in 2009. He retired in 2011 but remained active, often being paraded at race grounds such as Aintree and Cheltenham. He also participated in some hunting activities. Pipe said, “Since his retirement he had been a lead-horse at Timmy Murphy’s establishment before trying his hand at dressage, a discipline in which he had proven very successful”.

Tributes have been paid to Comply or Die on social media by horse racing fans with several tweeting their appreciation and memories.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The hunt for alleged kidney harvester, Dr. Amit Kumar, has led investigators to Brampton, a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of Ontario, Canada.

Indian investigators allege that Kumar is the kingpin of a ring that removed kidneys of poor laborers in India for transplantation to the highest bidding patients, usually foreigners. After a request by Indian police via an Interpol “red notice”, Canadian police located a house in Brampton owned by Kumar, who has been dubbed “Dr. Horror” by the Indian press.

The house is occupied by a woman, presumed to be his wife, and two young children. Kumar purchased the 5,600 sq ft (~510 m²) home on February 2, 2007 for C$610,000. Reportedly, additional upgrades were performed at the home, including an in-ground pool, at a cost of C$100,000. The family drives an expensive SUV. The children, two boys aged 4 and 5, are said to be enrolled at private schools.

Dr. Kumar, a nephrologist, born Santosh Rameshwar Raut, was known to his neighbors. He told them that he was a cardiovascular surgeon in India, but that he wanted to buy a hotel in Canada and, after one last trip to India to tie up loose ends, permanently relocate to Canada.

“We are completely shocked,” a neighbor told the Toronto Star. “We used to joke at parties that he must be loaded to get such a beautiful wife, but nothing prepared us for this.” Another neighbor told the paper, “It’s very unusual for someone to come here from India and buy a big house like this and a Lexus. Doctors in India just don’t make that kind of money.”

Meanwhile, investigators are no closer to Amit Kumar, than they were a few days ago. It is widely believed that he is trying to flee India for Canada via Nepal, a country for which he is alleged to have a passport.

Police in Mumbai, however, believe he is still in India. “He is very much in India,” commissioner Rakesh Maria said on Tuesday. “We suspect he will never leave.”

“He will stay in India — it won’t be easy to conduct his illegal activities anywhere else,” he said. “In a country like Canada, it would almost be impossible to find [kidney] donors in large numbers.”

However, after a request by the Haryana state government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon take lead in the investigation.

“We haven’t yet received a final word to start investigations,” CBI Director Vijay Shankar said. “We will begin working on the case as per legal process.” Thus far, police in Gurgoan, Moradabad, Mumbai and Rajasthan have been investigating the case separately.

The case has called attention to medical tourism, the practice of traveling abroad for health care at more affordable rates. Kumar is alleged to have charged US$50,000 for a kidney transplant. The donors are said to have been paid the equivalent of US$1,200. Even so, the donors, according to widespread reports and testimonials, may not have realized what they were getting into when they went with a stranger for a well-paying job.

The Toronto Star interviewed a medical tourism travel agent, who operates openly. Aruna Thurairajan, who runs Overseas Medical Services in Calgary, Alberta, says that she frequently gets calls from patients in need of a kidney. Thurairajan refuses to give referrals for transplants because it “gives medical tourism a bad rap.”

“Money is a big factor for people to decide where to go. Often they want to bargain how much to pay the vendor [organ donor]. Some of them can be quite selfish and mean. They think they can buy the kidney for peanuts. That’s why the likes of [Amit Kumar] can prosper. So the patient should also be blamed along with him, because the patient bargains down the price,” said Thurairajan.

But the victims of this illegal trade are not exclusively the poor day laborers but sometimes the clients themselves, according to a report by Hindustan Times. The investigation cited a driver for a close associate of Amit Kumar and claims that at least three foreigners died on Dr. Kumar’s operating table. He was able to name three Turkish nationals who all died in India between 2003 and 2005, officially from cardiac arrest. The driver, Harpal, says that the bodies were brought to a hospital in Ballabgarh, Faridabad, where the local authorities colluded with the doctors to list the cause of death as heart failure.