Silver Scorpio - International News | Spot News | Top News | Flash News | Live News
BANGKOK, April 2 (Reuters) – Siam Commercial Bank PCL SCB.BK:
Financials
* Aims to achieve 2010 loan growth of 7-10 percent due to economic recovery, President Kannikar Chalitaporn told reporters
* Aims to tap large clients, expand car loans and small and medium sized businesses
* Thai economy is expected to grow 3.5-4.5 pct this year
Washington, Sep 18 (ANI): A jab of biomaterial gel into a spinal cord injury site may significantly improve healing, according to researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.
Dr. Mark Preul and Dr. Alyssa Panitch have found in a study that injection of an engineered hydrogel made up mainly of hyaluronic acid (a naturally-occurring body substance) into the spinal cord injury site decreases scarring, and promotes a realignment of the spinal cord fibres around the injury site.
The hyaluronic acid, which forms a scaffold-like configuration may help to structurally stabilize the spinal cord injury site.
The researchers traced cells in the brain stem after injury, and found much higher levels in the hydrogel treated animals as compared to animals that did not receive the treatment, and approached nearly normal levels.
Treated animals had higher functional scores than their non-treated counterparts.
“Spinal cord injury is devastating to civilian and military populations – especially to the young. There has been little progress toward paradigms of regeneration and few results that show real, sustained functional recovery. We’ve been so pre-occupied with regeneration, but that is a highly complicated and difficult to define goal. This project is a synergy of neurosurgeons and bioengineers that attempts repair of the SCI lesion cavity using a tissue-engineering biomaterials approach,” says Preul.
He added that the team aimed at finding ways to structurally allow the body to better heal itself.
“In this project we did not add anything to the hyaluronic acid. It may be that adding growth factors or cells into the gel matrix may allow even better results,” he said.
Preul said that the results show “we may be on a practical path that can give hope to the many people who suffer this sort of injury.”
The work was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in San Diego where it won the Synthes Prize for Spine Research. (ANI)
Srinagar, Sep 16 (ANI): The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is hosting a five day global meeting of the deer experts here-from October 9 to discuss conservation plans for the Hangul, which is also known as Kashmir Stag.
The meeting is also expected to chalk out a long-term effective management plan for the conservation of Hangul habitat.
Hangul is one of the endangered species of the world and has been listed in the Red Data Book of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to WII Director P.R. Sharma the experts would share their knowledge in the management and conservation of endangered deer species in general and Red deer and its subspecies such as Hangul in particular in the meeting.
Conservationists from Russia, East Tibet, Middle East, Afghanistan and China will deliberate on issues threatening the existence of the species and formulate strategies, take effective relocation and recovery plan at the meet.
The conference would help the Indian conservationists to enhance and updating scientific knowledge on globally successful species recovery, conservation programmes and aspects of deer ecology, Sinha said.
That the meet is being held in Srinagar itself mirrors the government’s concern to urgently save the Hangul, one of the four easternmost subspecies of Red deer that is endemic to Kashmir mountains in Jammu and Kashmir.
The population the Hangul, which is one of the four easternmost subspecies of Red deer, has declined from an estimated 2000 individuals in 1947 to about 170-200 individuals in recent years, due to poaching, excessive grazing of livestock, forest fires.
Deer are important part of woodland ecosystems and their effects are vital to the survival of plants and animals that depend on open woodlands. Their low numbers and restricted range is of great ecological concern amongst the conservationists throughout the world. (ANI)
London, September 15 (ANI): The first complete map of the lakes beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets reveals the continent’s secret water network is far more dynamic than we thought, and could be acting as a powerful lubricant beneath glaciers, contributing to sea level rise.
According to a report in New Scientist, Ian Joughin at the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues developed the map.
Unlike previous lake maps, which are confined to small regions, Joughin and colleagues mapped 124 subglacial lakes across Antarctica using lasers on NASA’s ICESat satellite.
The team also observed the lakes draining and filling.
While interior lakes tended to be static, many coastal lakes changed significantly. Some even appear to be connected by channels under the ice hundreds of kilometres long.
For instance, when upstream lakes under the Recovery glacier drained 3 cubic kilometres of water, lakes downstream gained a similar amount.
Water flowing under glaciers can act as a lubricant, causing land ice to accelerate into the sea and add to rising sea levels.
“The implications for the flow of ice are potentially quite significant,” said Andy Smith of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK.
“Those lakes with no clear drainage channels are of particular interest because they could be spreading a thin film of lubricating water under glaciers,” he added. (ANI)
London, Sep 14(ANI): England batsman Kevin Pietersen has said that he is making a slow and steady recovery from the Achilles tendon surgery and is targeting a return to action during England’s South Africa.
“I saw a couple of surgeons during the week and it is very slow at the moment. I’ve got an open wound in my leg and I’m only truly hoping to get back in time for the tour to South Africa,” The Mirror quoted Pietersen, as saying.
The 29-year-old has suffered complications in his recovery from the Achilles surgery that forced him out of the last three Ashes Tests, the seven match ODI series against Australia and the Champions Trophy.
Following absence of experienced players like Pietersen, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and wicketkeeper Matt Prior due to injury, the inexperienced team is in dire straits in the seven match ODI series, where Australia have taken an unassailable 4-0 lead. (ANI)
New Delhi, Sep.14 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday rebutted criticism of her government’s efforts on preparations for the Commonwealth Games to be held in the national capitalext year.
Reacting to Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Mike Fennell’s concerns about the organizing committee’s ability to deliver, Dikshit said that she had not received or read Fennell’s letter to Suresh Kalmadi, but was confident that the games preparations are going as per schedule.
Dikshit’s reaction came a day after Fennell sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to expedite preparations for the 2010 event.
In his letter to the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CWOGC), a furious Fennell asked Kalmadi to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Singh next month.
“Our main concern relates to the capacity of the Organising Committee to deliver operationally. Preparations for the Games are significantly behind, so much so that the Commonwealth Games Federation is extremely worried about the Organising Committee’s ability to deliver the games to any comparable standard to that of the last two editions of the Games in Manchester and Melbourne,” Fennell wrote in his letter
Fennell claimed that the vast majority of functional areas were considerably behind schedule and that an overhaul in the management culture and operation of the organising committee was needed, else the Games “will fail from an operational perspective”.
“With only a year to run until the Games, I feel I must personally brief the Prime Minister of India on the lack of preparations and to seek his input in developing an appropriate recovery plan. I have asked the Chairman of the Organising Committee to facilitate such a meeting on my return to Delhi in early October for our General Assembly,” he said. (ANI)
London, September 12 (ANI): An anonymous donor has offered a reward of 1 million dollars for information leading to a valuable collection of Andy Warhol paintings that were stolen from a house in Los Angeles.
The stolen artwork includes 10 famous pieces of renowned athletes, including those of boxer Muhammad Ali, footballer Pele, American football star OJ Simpson and tennis champion Chris Evert.
Detective Mark Sommer revealed the collection, commissioned by businessman and art collector Richard Weisman, had been hanging on the dining room walls in the house, reports Sky News.
A housekeeper informed the police after noticing the missing portraits, each measuring 40 inches square, on September 3.
Detective Sommer said: “This was a very clean crime. (The home) wasn’t ransacked.”
The robbers were said to be interested in the particular collection since several other Warhol paintings were left behind and nothing else was taken.
The cop added: “For some reason they had an interest in this collection.” (ANI)
London, Sep 11 (ANI): England midfielder David Beckham has been given a massive World Cup boost by coach Fabio Capello.
Capello said: “Beckham is always with us because, for me, he is an important player. He is good in the group and is good at every moment in training.”
“The problem with Ledley King is his knee. We must choose the best players and the fittest because in the past England have taken injured players,” The Sun quoted him, as saying.
Capello is also keeping tabs on the recovery of Owen Hargreaves and Joe Cole from long-term knee injuries.
“Manchester United’s doctor said Hargreaves he will be back in two months. But then he has to play. I don’t know if he will be ready,” the England boss said.
“Cole told me he would be ready in the next five weeks. He is one more important player for us and I hope he will be ready quickly,” Capello added. (ANI)
New Delhi, Sep 10(ANI): Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday urged cooperative sugar factories to play a more pro-active role and shoulder the responsibility of importing more raw sugar, not only for better utilization of their processing capacity, but also to fulfill their obligation of providing adequate and affordable sugar to the nation.
Addressing the 50th Annual Meeting of the General Body of National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd. here, Pawar said the government has already taken steps to assist sugar factories to further help sugarcane farmers to improve productivity as well as sucrose content in sugarcane by way of soft loans at four per cent per annum from SDF.
Pawar said that in view of the significant drop in sugarcane production, there isn’t for increasing sugarcane producing area immediately. The Central Government has also decided to give a one time short term loan assistance from SDF at four per cent per annum for the purchase of inputs like seed, fertilizers and pesticides.
“The loan given to the sugar factories has to be passed on to the farmers at not more than four per cent interest in cash or kind, before March 31, 2010,” Pawar added.
Pawar also requested the delegates to assess their individual capability and capacity to pay during 2009-10 sugar season and give remunerative price to the farmers, keeping in view the long term requirement of sugarcane.
This will encourage them to increase acreage under sugarcane as well as invest more in the sugarcane crop by way of inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, he added.
Pawar further requested the sugar factories to utilize modernization and expansion loans before investing in projects for utilizing the by-products.
The minister also talked about two important aspects -increased availability of sugarcane by way of improvement in productivity as well as recovery of sugar and controlling the cyclical nature of the sugarcane and sugar economy- which need to be addressed not only by the Government, but also by the sugar factories as well as the sugarcane farmers.
Stating that the country is reeling under pressure of high sugar prices along with lack of availability of sugar, not only in the domestic market, but also in the international market, Pawar discussed some unprecedented steps taken by the Government to supplement the domestic production of sugar and also ensure availability of sugar to the more vulnerable sections of the society.
He expressed hope that these steps would not only increase availability of sugar in the market within September, 2009, especially during the festival season, but also have a positive impact in controlling the sugar prices. (ANI)
Urumqi (China), Sep. 9 (ANI): Despite a death penalty warning, 77 cases of needle attack were reported between Sunday and Monday evenings in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, police say.
So far, police have caught 45 suspects during the syringe scare, of whom 12 remain in police custody.
The procuratorate has approved the arrests of four. Eight people have been sent to drug rehab, according to Urumqi police authorities.
Despite signs of recovery in the city after assaults caused fear among residents and triggered mass protests, the Urumqi municipal government implemented traffic control Monday night on the city’s main streets.
Shops and businesses in the city center were ordered to close early. The control lasted from 9 pm Monday to 9 am Tuesday.
The Public Security Department of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region reiterated syringe attackers must be given punishment in order to protect residents and maintain social order.
The pledge followed a joint notice on Sunday of the court, the prosecutor’s office and the police bureau of Urumqi, which said an attacker may face a life sentence or even the death penalty.he department emphasized that those who stab others, no matter what means they use, are considered to have committed crimes and must be punished according to law.
Those who pretend to suffer syringe attacks and cause fear among the public will also face punishment, according to the public notice. (ANI)
Washington, Sep 8 (ANI): Doctors at Toronto Western Hospital have come up with a new minimally invasive, outpatient spine surgical procedure for treating cancer that has spread to the spine.
It is believed that almost 40-50 percent of metastic cancers end up in the spine and the most common primary cancers to spread to the bones of the spine are breast and lung cancer.
Spinal tumours can drastically affect a patient’s quality of life and result in pain and reduced mobility.
A spinal tumour or a growth of any kind can impinge on nerves, leading to pain, neurological problems and sometimes paralysis.
The new procedure involves a small incision in the back (the size of a loonie) in order to remove the tumour and stabilize the damaged spine.
Other than providing a shorter recovery time, its benefits also include allowing patients to receive radiation treatment shortly after surgery.
Traditional surgical methods involve a longer and more painful recovery process, thus making patients to wait weeks before resuming radiation treatment.
The combination of surgery and radiation leads to better outcomes and quality of life. (ANI)
London, Sep.7 (ANI): England cricket hero Andrew Flintoff is suffering from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf after knee surgery.
The 31-year-old all-rounder underwent an operation following the conclusion of this summer’s Ashes tournament.
A Sky News report said Flintoff could be sidelined for a minimum of six months.
An England and Wales Cricket Board statement read: “Andrew Flintoff recently suffered a common complication of surgery, a minor deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. This will require a simple course of treatment and will not complicate his recovery from surgery.”
Flintoff retired from test cricket after playing in four of the five Ashes tests against Australia. England won the series 2-1.
He had announced his retirement before the second test at Lord’s following the latest in a series of career-threatening injuries.
But ‘Freddie’ is hoping to continue playing one-day and Twenty20 internationals. (ANI)
London, Sep 3 (ANI): England cricket team director Andy Flower has expressed confidence that injured batsman Kevin Pietersen will make a full recovery and would return for the tour of South Africa.
Pietersen was forced out of the Ashes series following an Achilles injury, and has suffered a further setback after developing an infection in the scar tissue making him unavailable for the ODI series against Australia.
“He is still struggling a little with that wound in his Achilles. I spoke to him yesterday but I think we are confident in saying he will be back for South Africa,” The Independent quoted Flower, as saying.
Flower further said that he has advised Peitersen to use the time as a break from the busy schedule of an international cricket player.
“Sometimes you never know what is good or bad luck. It is enforced time away and he didn’t want it and we didn’t want it, but since it’s there and there is nothing anyone can do about it, I think he has got to make the most of it,” Flower said.
“I think that is what he is doing. He is spending time with his family and his wife and getting a break from the international game,” he added.
Flower also said that he was unsure about all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s career, who had underwent a knee surgery after the Ashes series.
“If he can come back and play one-day international and Twenty20 cricket for us and bat at six or seven and bowl like he can bowl, that will make us a force to be reckoned with in one-day cricket,” Flower said.
“Whether he will or not I don’t know, I just hope he does,” he added. (ANI)
New Delhi, Sep. 1 (ANI): Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that the new sugar season will begin with much lower stocks, as the production will be hit by lower sugar recovery from cane after the failure of monsoon rains.
“The production of sugar in India during year 2008 and 2009 sugar season has not been adequate to meet the domestic demand of the country. We started with very comfortable opening balance that was around 10 million tonnes of sugar on 1st October 2008. However we expect sugar production during 2009 and 2010 definitely less…somewhat 8-22 billion tonnes,” Pawar told reporters.
Recently, the head of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd, J.B. Patel had said India’s opening stocks would be at 2.7 million tonnes, down three quarters from 10 million tonnes on October 1, 2008.
India’s dwindling stocks and rising demand have helped raw sugar futures surge to the highest in nearly three decades on prospects of large purchases by the world’s top sugar consumer.
Weak monsoon rains have further raised supply concerns in India.
Many Indian farmers abandoned cane cultivation last year as they found wheat more attractive after the government raised the purchase price for the grain handsomely.
India had exported five million tonnes of sugar last year, but it swiftly turned into a large importer to counter low supply and rising prices.
Sugar industry officials say the government should lift controls on the sugar sector to correct the demand-supply mismatch. (ANI)
Washington, August 28 (ANI): A new study has determined that nitrous dioxide, popularly known as ‘laughing gas’, has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities, and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century.
The study was authored by A.R. Ravishankara, J.S. Daniel and Robert W. Portmann of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) chemical sciences division.
For the first time, this study has evaluated nitrous oxide emissions from human activities in terms of their potential impact on Earth’s ozone layer.
As chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have been phased out by international agreement, ebb in the atmosphere, nitrous oxide will remain a significant ozone-destroyer, the study found.
Today, nitrous oxide emissions from human activities are more than twice as high as the next leading ozone-depleting gas.
Nitrous oxide is emitted from natural sources and as a byproduct of agricultural fertilization and other industrial processes.
Calculating the effect on the ozone layer now and in the future, NOAA researchers found that emissions of nitrous oxide from human activities erode the ozone layer and will continue to do so for many decades.
ESRL tracks the thickness of the ozone layer, as well as the burden of ozone-depleting compounds in the atmosphere. It maintains a large portion of the world air sampling and measurement network.
NOAA scientists also conduct fundamental studies of the atmosphere and atmospheric processes to improve understanding of ozone depletion and of the potential for recovery the ozone layer.
“The dramatic reduction in CFCs over the last 20 years is an environmental success story. But manmade nitrous oxide is now the elephant in the room among ozone-depleting substances,” said Ravishankara, lead author of the study and director of the ESRL Chemical Sciences Division in Boulder, Colorado.
The ozone layer serves to shield plants, animals and people from excessive ultraviolet light from the sun.
Thinning of the ozone layer allows more ultraviolet light to reach the Earth’s surface where it can damage crops and aquatic life and harm human health.
Though the role of nitrous oxide in ozone depletion has been known for several decades, the new study is the first to explicitly calculate that role using the same measures that have been applied to CFCs, halons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing ozone-depleting substances.
According to scientists, nitrous oxide is also a greenhouse gas, so reducing its emission from manmade sources would be good for both the ozone layer and climate. (ANI)
New Delhi, Aug 27 (ANI): The Union Cabinet today accorded approval for increasing the authorized share capital of the National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC) from Rs.850 crores to Rs.1000 crores.
The share of the Government of India, the State Governments and individuals/institutions will be Rs.650 crores Rs.260 crores and Rs.90 crores respectively.
The NMDFC is a not for profit company, registered under Section 25 of the Companies’ Act with share contribution from the Government of India (65 per cent), the State Governments (26 per cent) and individuals/institutions (9 per cent).
It provides financial assistance to people belonging to minorities living below double the poverty line for self-employment.
The NMDFC is greatly dependent on Central equity contribution. The enhanced authorised share capital will enable the Central Government release its full budgetary provision of Rs.125 crores towards equity of NMDFC in 2009-10.
The equity contribution from the Government of India, together with contribution from the State Governments and individuals/institutions and also the recovery of loans from beneficiaries will be spent for providing term loans and micro finance through State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) and for providing micro finance through NGOs.
The NMDFC also provides educational loans and has promotional schemes like vocational training.
NMDFC’s schemes are targeted for economic upliftment of people from minority communities living below double the poverty line through self employment.
The budgetary provision of Rs.125 crores will be released to the NMDFC by way of equity contribution of the Central Government during 2009-10.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India and the NMDFC, 66,000 beneficiaries are to be covered during 2009-10.
NMDFC’s schemes envisage to cover minority communities in the entire country through State Channelizing Agencies and NGOs.
As on March 31, the NMDFC has disbursed an amount of Rs.1190.84 crores covering 4,34,329 beneficiaries belonging to the minority communities through their term loan and micro finance schemes. (ANI)
London, Aug 26 (ANI): A Brit girl, who earned the nickname Human Tortoise for the body cast she had to wear, has finally been able to get rid of it after 12 years.
Megan Parker, who lives with mum Tina, dad Robert and brother Zac in Colchester, Essex, was diagnosed with curvature of the spine at just six weeks old, and, at 18 months, she was given the “shell” to help correct her twisted back.
She has had to undergo more than 40 operations, including repeated surgery to tighten titanium rods as she grew.
But now, at age 14, she is free to look forward to a normal life.
“There is so much that I want to do now, but I have to take things steady because it’s still early days,” the Sun quoted her as saying.
“It has completely opened up the world to me.
“I could never wear girly clothes before – and I had never had my hair cut at a salon because I couldn’t bend my head over the sinks. It just shows why you should never give up hope,” she said.
Megan has even proved that she’s on track for a full recovery by taking up go-karting.
“Driving a go-kart was one of the first things she had wanted to do and it brought tears to our eyes when she finally did it,” Tina, 39, said.
“She is my miracle girl – she’s been through so much. The surgeons have been incredible and have transformed her life.
“She can play with friends as she has always wanted to. I feel like my little girl has finally come out of her shell – in both ways,” she added. (ANI)
London, Aug.26 (ANI): Doctors have said they are “confident” of saving stabbed footballer Calum Davenport’s leg.
The West Ham player is making a good recovery and was moved from intensive care to a general ward.
It was feared the 26-year-old Premier League defender may lose his left leg after being stabbed several times on Saturday.
A main artery was severed in the attack, allegedly carried out by his pregnant sister’s boyfriend Worrell Whitehurst.
Calum’s family, who are keeping a bedside vigil at Bedford Hospital, were said to be “over the moon”.
Calum’s mum Kim, 50, who was also injured in the attack, has been discharged from the same hospital.
Whitehurst, 25, from Derby, is charged with grievous bodily harm. (ANI)
Dubai, Aug. 25 (ANI): Despite the worst recession in modern history, the world’s tallest tower, Burj Dubai, continues to retain its reputation as one of the most expensive addresses in Dubai, according to Middle East property experts.
Apartment prices in the tower are stabilising, experts say, with a two-bedroom apartment on the 57th floor available for one million pounds, Sky News reports.
In contrast, the market is showing less signs of recovery elsewhere in the Emirate.
“This is something we have noticed. As the world has had its financial problems some countries have gone into recession. But this is one area where a lot of the development dreams have actually been realised,” the report quoted Andrew Chambers, MD of Asteco, a UAE-based property consultancy, as saying.
“What we are finding is that, while prices have been dropping everywhere across the Middle East, Downtown Burj Dubai is one area where they are still consistently higher than they are in a lot of other areas,” he added.
In what has been dubbed “the Burj effect”, the neighbouring property in the Downtown Burj Dubai district is also benefiting from being close to the record-breaking skyscraper.
“The Burj effect is that people are living here, they can commute around here, they see the metro about to open here, and so they have got restaurants, they have got the hotels, they have got all the facilities that they have always been promised.
“I think this has given hope to other areas. It will help this city and I think the Emirates all over”, Chambers was quoted in the report, as saying.
But not all market observers share Chamber’s optimism.
Matthew Green, head of research and consultancy CB Richard Ellis (UAE), thinks the Burj Dubai offers a unique prospect that other Dubai addresses cannot match.
“For the Burj Dubai and the surrounding area, everything is based on the opening of the tallest tower towards the end of the year.
“It will be the tallest tower in the world for years to come and that is really making it a bit different within the current market. Exclusive post codes are not recession proof but it seems investors in the world’s highest tower can afford to stand a little taller than most”, the report quoted him, as saying. (ANI)
United Nations, Aug.25 (ANI): UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed French UN ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert as the first Special Envoy in charge of humanitarian affairs for Pakistan.
Ban’s spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said Ripert would assist the Pakistan Government and the international community to respond to the current humanitarian crisis in the country.
“Ripert is to assist the government of Pakistan and the international community in responding to the present humanitarian recovery and reconstruction needs related to the country’s displacement crisis,” The Dawn quoted Montas, as saying.
Ripert, who will step down as UN ambassador at the end of this month, would be on the post for an initial period of six months.
Ripert, 56, has addressed humanitarian issues concerning several countries such as Myanmar, Darfur and Sri Lanka in the Security Council in the past.
According to an estimate more than 1.9 million people have been displaced in Pakistan following the military’s massive offensive against the Taliban and other extremist groups since mid April.
However, the UN has said that about two-third of the internally displaced people (IDP) have been able to return home after the offensive. (ANI)
Copyright © 2013 · eleven40 theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in