Jul 14
58pct of world will be obese by 2030
With waistlines increasing rapidly around the world, a research predicts that by 2030, almost 58 percent of the world’s population will be overweight or obese.
The data examined in “Global Burden of Obesity in 2005 and Projections to 2030,” authored by Tanika. Kelly, a doctoral candidate at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, claims that almost one-third of the world is already considered over-weight or obese.
The research holds a lot of importance, as it is the first to pool systematically peer-reviewed data from over 100 countries into one comprehensive global estimate for obesity.
The researchers compiled results from population-based studies that were published in peer-reviewed journals from January 1990 through August 2007. Overall, the researchers employed 72 national, 22 multi-site and 14 regional studies from 106 countries, covering approximately 88 percent of the world’s population.
The study reveals that till the year 2005, approximately 23.2 pct of the world’s adult population was over-weight and 9.8 pct was obese. More or less 937 million adults were overweight and 396 million were obese, and if similar trend continues the number of overweight individuals will double to 2.16 billion by 2030 and the number of obese adults will grow up to 1.12 billion during the same period of time.
“The high prevalence of overweight and obesity, combined with their concomitant health risks makes it a particularly relevant worldwide public health challenge,” the researchers said.
Public health initiatives have already been starting in many developed countries, unfortunately such programs are absent in the developing nations.
“Primary prevention of these conditions is a better alternative to the treatment of obesity, especially in areas where healthcare resources are limited,” said the authors.
The study is published in the latest issue of International Journal of Obesity.
Jul 14
Prakash attains career-best ATP ranking
Though Amritraj lost the final against Fabrice Santoro last night, he gained 191 points and became the first Indian to reach an ATP singles event final after veteran Leander Paes, who won the championship way back in 1998.
However, Prakash failed to emulate his father Vijay Amritraj who won the title thrice.
Apart from Prakash, no other Indian made any impact in the rankings list with Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi holding on to their 15th and 12th position, respectively, in the doubles ranking.
Tennis ace Sania Mirza too remained static at the 33rd and 18th spot in the WTA singles and doubles chart respectively. PTI
Jul 14
Ramchand Pakistani wins hearts at Cinefan
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Saumya B Verma, Ndtvmovies.com Monday, July 14, 2008: (New Delhi): There seems to be a lot of cross- border traffic from Pakistan to India this year, and we are talking films of course. After the much acclaimed and successful Khuda Ke Liye, we have Ramchand Pakistani which premiered in India at Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival in Delhi. This utterly human tale of a Hindu dalit family in Paksitan is a debut feature film by young Pakistani director Mehreen Jabbar, who has been directing shorts and teleserials before this. The film makes a strong political statement on the irony of geographical borders yet endearingly narrates the story of a young boy Ramchand who accidentally crosses over to India. His father follows him, and both are imprisoned since quite obvioulsly all is never well between the two neighbouring countries. While the film depicts the travials of the father son duo languishing in an Indian jail;not wihtout it’s characteristic wit and black humour, it also etches out an emotionally intense portrait of the lonley mother left behind waiting in the dark forever. Making a film based on the real-life incidents of a Pakistani Hindu family, Mehreen Jabbar, the director said, ” We have tried making a very ‘real’ film that every one can relate to. All characters are so human that be it a man walking on the road, or an investment banker, all would be able to identify with the human element in the film.” She added, “We want people to give it a chance as a simple film, and not bracket it as art house cinema, and then just keep it aside for the festival circuit only.” Though the film is not without its share of stereotyping, it has some excellent performances by the young boy who plays Ramchand, and Nandita Das as the mother of Ramchand. On being quizzed about her experience of working in the film, Nandita Das, emphasised the ‘enthusiasm’ of the whole team, that she thinks is often missing in Bollywood as the industry has slipped into a complacent phase. ” We worked as a family, and for me it made no differnce that I was working with a Paksitani team. Infact, since they speak the same language that I understand, it was easier for me to work in a Pakistani film , rather than shooting in Kerala or Tamil Nadu where I would have been at loss of words.” Nandita said. Ramchand Pakistani comes to India after creating waves at The Tribecca and The Seattle Film Festivals. Producer of the film Javed Jabbar along with his distributor , Percept Pictures , plans to release the film in India next month . He says, “Ramchand Pakistani is a ‘human document, it’s also an assertion of the Pakistani identity which I hope would not be seen as unidimensional anymore” We hope so too Mr Jabbar and, well, the film is quite multidimensional indeed!  |
Jul 14
BCCI warns against speculating player’s identity
The Indian board has warned against speculation on the identity of the player who tested positive for dope in the Indian Premier League. “Don’t jump the gun on any player because it is not fair until and unless the whole process is carried out,” said Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer.
Shetty said the BCCI will follow the ICC’s anti-doping code, recognised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), to deal with the situation and said the entire procedure make take a “few days”.
He said the BCCI, which runs the IPL, had received a WADA notification from the ICC about a player testing positive but the identity of the player in question was still unknown at this stage. “We don’t have the name of the player yet. The code [given to each player during testing] is with the WADA, who will need to match it and give us the name after wich the IPL’s medical team will take over”, Shetty said.
Last week, IDTM, a Sweden-based independent agency, attested by the WADA, carried out tests on samples it had collected during random testing during the IPL at the WADA-approved laboratory in Switzerland. Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, confirmed on Sunday, that one sample was found “positive.”
No commentsJul 14
Brangelina’s twins’ pics worth $11m
They may be just a day old, but Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s twins are already worth 11 million dollars, what with a paper shelving out that kind of money for their first picture.
The ‘Tomb Raider’ actress delivered a boy named Knox Leon and a girl called Vivienne Marcheline yesterday at a maternity clinic in Nice on the French Riviera.
And the golden couple of has already sold the first photograph of the baby celebrities to a paper for a whopping 11 million US dollars.
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Animation is the emerging field in which the Indian animators are already doing wonders. |
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Gynaecologist Michel Sussmann said that 33 year old actress and the twins were in the pink of health. “Everything went smoothly. The children are doing very well, the mother is doing very well and the father is doing very well,’ The Daily Telegraph quoted Sussmann, as telling AFP.
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Though Pitt had already attended the birth by caesarean of their daughter , Sussman said that he “was very calm and was not at all disturbed’ by the operation. When the babies arrived he was very euphoric’ and Jolie had a “blinding smile.”
Both Pitt and Jolie top the list of highest paid stars, making 10-20 million dollars a film.
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Jul 14
Will ‘Kismat Konnection’&'Contract’ be lucky for box-office?
MUMBAI: After last week’s releases, which include “Mehbooba” and “Mukhbiir”, proved to be damp squibs at the box office, Bollywood trade circles have now set their eyes on “Kismat Konnection” and “Contract” that are releasing Friday.
After the poor performances of “Good Luck” and Rituparno Ghosh’s “Khela” as well, both the new movies are worth looking forward to because two fine directors, Aziz Mirza and Ram Gopal Varma, are at the helm.
While Mirza is known for making light-hearted romantic fare, Varma scores when he makes gangster movies dealing with subjects related to the underworld.
As Mirza has returned to direction after five years - his last directorial venture was “Chalte Chalte” - so has Varma visited a gangster movie to direct after six years since “Company” in 2002.
“Kismat Konnection” has generated a lot of expectations also because this is Shahid Kapur’s second release after last year’s hit “Jab We Met”, in which he was paired with his ex-love Kareena Kapoor.
Will his kismat (luck) stays with him through the release of “Kismat Konnection,” sans Kareena?
For Shahid-Kareena made a fantastic pair in “Jab We Met”. Will his pairing with Vidya Balan in “Kismat Konnection” work equally well for the both?
“Comparison is uncalled-for, because both ‘Jab We Met’ and ‘Kismat Konnection’ have approached romance in different ways. All three are good artists, but there are roles in which some fit and others do not. Vidya fits in the role of Priya she has done in my film,” Mirza said.
The other attractions of the movie are the boisterous presence of Juhi Chawla and the voiceover given by Shah Rukh Khan.
“Contract”, on the other hand, has no stars to boast of other than the director himself. Newcomer Adhvik Mahajan is playing the main lead in it.
Since Varma finds himself in his element when he directs gangster films, “Contract” is expected to be a hard-hitting movie like his previous hits - “Satya” and “Company”.
But, according to Varma, “Contract” is not exactly a gangster movie. It is mainly about the underworld’s links with terrorism told through a terrorist who is well aware of the gangland activities.
After the lukewarm response to “Sarkar Raj”, will non-star-cast “Contract” succeed at the box office?
“Since it is a theme-based film, it will be a slow-starter, but eventually may do well through word-of-mouth publicity,” said a trade analyst.
Some distributors of “Contract” reportedly, had suggested Varma to defer the release till August in order not to avoid clash with “Kismat Konnection”. But he refused to oblige them, reasoning that the two are diame
No commentsJul 14
England v South Africa 1st Test
FIRST TEST, Lord’s (day five):
England 593-8 dec v South Africa 247 & 275-1
England were unable to take a badly needed wicket in the opening hour of the final day of the first Test.
There was no help from the weather, no cloud cover to aid swing, with beautiful clear blue skies making the outfield gleam even more than usual.
Monty Panesar came close to a bat and pad catch but had just one over.
Michael Vaughan even tried a leg theory with four men in catching positions and James Anderson bowling short, but Hashim Amla showed no weakness.
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Jul 14
Toronto T20 organisers eye India for 2009 event
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Jul 14
Fannie/Freddie rescue plan perks up shares, dollar
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. rescue plan for troubled mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac propelled European shares sharply higher on Monday and lifted the dollar off near-record lows against the euro.
Government bonds were weaker on the growing risk appetite but Asian shares failed to benefit from improved sentiment.
The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve called on Sunday for sweeping measures to lend money and buy equity if necessary in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) owned by shareholders.
The plan is an attempt to calm investors after stocks of both plummeted more than 40 percent last week on fears the companies, the cornerstones of the U.S. housing market, were under-capitalized.
Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee $5 trillion of debt, close to half the value of all U.S. mortgages. Foreign central banks, mostly in Asia, hold $979 billion of the bonds and mortgage-backed bonds sold by the agencies.
“The ramifications of all this seem to suggest that the U.S. realized they cannot tolerate further pressure on the U.S. housing sector,” said Nomura rate strategist Charles Diebel.
Five-year debt spreads between Fannie/Freddie and U.S. Treasuries were holding at about 80 basis points after shrinking almost 30 basis points on Friday in the biggest one day move ever.
Typically, Fannie/Freddie debt would trade fewer than 10 basis points over Treasuries. Some investors have said the likely government bail out make the GSEs’ debt attractive. Continued…
The Frankfurt-listed shares of Fannie and Freddie were up almost 18 percent.
EUROPEAN SHARES BOUNCE
The U.S. plan triggered a relief rally in Europe, with the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 climbing more than 1.3 percent.
“The U.S. authorities are doing everything they can to prop up the financial system … It’s good news in an unremitting cycle of gloom,” said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank in London.
Sentiment was also boosted by British bank Alliance & Leicester, which said it was at an advanced stage of discussions about a takeover offer. A&L shares soared 45 percent.
Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei stock average abandoned early gains to close down 0.2 percent.
Banks initially rose sharply after the U.S. Treasury/Fed plan was unveiled, but investors locked in profits later before stepping to the sidelines to wait for U.S. trade.
The benchmark Nikkei finished at 13,010.16, having lost 29.53 points, its lowest since April 15. The broader Topix was down 0.4 percent at 1,280.72.
DOLLAR BOUNCES Continued…
The dollar bounced off a near-record low against the euro.
“(The U.S. plan) is something that improves sentiment generally in the market, with risk appetite and so on, and it will also be positive for the dollar,” said Johan Javeus, FX strategist at SEB Merchant Banking in Stockholm.
“But we are still in a trend which is quite dollar negative so it may be a temporary relief.”
The euro was down 0.6 percent on the day at $1.5845, having earlier come within half a cent of April’s record highs of $1.6018.
The dollar index, which tracks its progress against a basket of six major currencies, added 0.7 percent to 72.281, bouncing off a 2-1/2 month low set before the U.S. announcement.
The greenback was also up 0.5 percent at 106.76 yen.
Euro zone government bonds were generally weaker. Two-year bond yields were 2 basis points higher, while 10-year yield bond yields were just less than 1 basis point lower at 4.465 percent.
(Additional reporting by Kirsten Donovan and Rebekah Curtis, editing by Mike Peacock)
No commentsJul 14
Mkts end in red amid extreme volatility; IT dn 6%
Markets ended in negative terrain amid extreme volatility through the day as selling pressure was seen in technology, FMCG, pharma, select banking and realty stocks while buying in metal, oil & gas and auto stocks. The Sensex swung nearly 290 points and Nifty 114 points.
Infosys, TCS, BHEL, Satyam, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Ranbaxy Labs and HDFC were draggers of markets while Reliance Ind, ONGC, SBI, Tata Steel, SAIL and L&T were being supportive.
The Sensex closed at 13,330.51, down by 139.34 points or 1.03% after hitting an intraday high of 13,559.36 and low of 13,269.62. Nifty lost 9.03 points or 0.23% to settle at 4039.70. It has hit a high/low of 4118.10 and 4004.25, respectively.
Amongst frontliners, Satyam plunged 8.19%, Infosys -7.66%, HCL Tech 5.82%, TCS -4.40%, Unitech -4.05% and Hindalco -3.74% while Sterlite Ind gained 4.36%, HUL 3.92%, ONGC 3.62%, NTPC 2.78%, M&M 2.64% and Tata Motors 2.51%.
Market breadth was negative; about 1162 shares have advanced while 1757 shares declined. Nearly 227 shares remained unchanged.
Most active counters on the bourses were Reliance Ind, Reliance Infra, Ranbaxy Labs, Infosys Tech, Reliance Capital and NDTV.
Turnover traded by markets stood at Rs 54,916.22 crore. This includes Rs 10,353.99 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 40,096.24 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 4,465.99 crore from BSE Cash segment.
On the global front, Asian markets closed in red barring Shanghai Composite. Hang Seng was down 0.77%, Taiwan Weighted -1.21%, Kospi -0.57%, Straits Times -0.78%, Nikkei -0.23% and Jakarta Composite -0.76%. However, Shanghai Composite gained 0.76%.
European markets were trading strong, at the time of writing market report. FTSE and CAC surged over 1% each and DAX up 0.7%.
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