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www.business24-7.ae Fri, 09 May 2008
The UAE's economic boom has been rivalled only by the rapidly expanding waistlines of its residents, which have left in their wake an over-stretched healthcare sector hungry for investment.
Enormous prosperity has bred a changing culture that leans more towards sedentary lifestyles and sugary, fast-food diets. And as a result, major health problems have rocketed in the UAE and the wider Middle East.
Dr Maha Taysir Barakat, consultant endocrinologist, medical and research director at the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre (ICLDC) in Abu Dhabi, said: "There has been a staggering increase of Type 2 diabetes in younger people in the UAE. Children as young as 10 are being diagnosed with the disease, many due to obesity coupled with physical inactivity and unhealthy diet.
"We must make moves now to counteract this trend. If we do not, there will be an additional burden on our society, governments and the healthcare system, specifically."
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BBC Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:11:02 GMT
There must be an end to the "sanctioned infliction of pain" on young offenders, MPs and peers have said.
There is no excuse for the "unacceptable" use of violence on children as young as 12, the Joint Human Rights Committee said.
Its report on privately run detention facilities said changes to guidance effectively gave staff free reign to use violence to enforce discipline.
The report on four detention facilities in England for children aged between 12 and 17 found restraint techniques were used about 3,000 times a year - equivalent to 10 times per child.
"What is in effect state-sanctioned infliction of pain against children to ensure 'good order and discipline' should not continue."
The sanctioned distraction techniques involve bending an offender's thumb back or jabbing them in the lower ribs.
The committee found that the sanctioned techniques in effect contravened governmental assurances that it "does not sanction violence against children".
It suggested the techniques also flew in the face of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which has stated that restraint "should not involve the deliberate infliction of pain as a form of control".
In December the government suspended two techniques following the inquests into the deaths in custody of two teenage boys.
One of the banned practices, classed as a distraction technique, involved a jab to the septum under the nose.
The other, a restraint technique, involves holding someone with their arms crossed behind their back.
Adam Rickwood, 14, killed himself in 2004 shortly after the former was used on him.
In the same year, 15-year-old Gareth Myatt died after three officers held him in another type of restraint method known as a "seated double embrace".
Deborah Coles, of Inquest, a pressure group that campaigns on behalf of the families of those who die in custody, said there needed to be a sea-change in the culture surrounding use of restraint techniques in STCs.
She told the BBC News website: "All you need to do is look at the deaths. As far as we are concerned there are still methods of restraint that are painful and that can be psychological damaging.
"What you need is to have a very, very different culture operating where you are working with the needs of the children."
Frances Crook, from the Howard League for Penal Reform, said young detainees were often unused to complying with instructions - and staff would respond by hitting them.
"These are children who have usually come from backgrounds where they have been physically abused, where they have experienced violence - sometimes sexual abuse, as well," she said.
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BBC Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:59:41 GMT
Two British girls were sent to an orphanage for 30 hours and strip searched after their mother became ill during a holiday in the US.
Gemma Bray, 15, and her 13-year-old sister Katie also had their clothes taken off them and were asked if they had been abused or were suicidal.
Their mother Yvonne Bray of Appledore, Devon, says their human rights were infringed by the authorities.
She was hospitalised with pneumonia during a trip to New York.
"What should have been the trip of a lifetime turned out to be a complete disaster from start to finish," Ms Bray told BBC News.
"I was going to give the girls money for their Christmas, but with the exchange rate being so good, I decided to book the trip to New York.
"This was their Christmas present and it was totally ruined."
The family flew out to New York on 27 December. When Ms Bray began coughing later that day, she initially put it down to her asthma and the air conditioning on the flight.
The following night, she became more unwell with laboured breathing and was admitted to the Queen's Medical Centre in Harlem.
But Ms Bray was told her daughters could not stay with her at the hospital as they were minors.
"A doctor told me they would make the arrangements, then a few hours later a social worker arrived and said they'd try to find a foster family for the girls," she said.
"Instead of that they were taken to a orphanage and subjected to the kind of treatment you wouldn't even expect criminals to go through."
The frightened teenagers had their clothes, including their underwear, removed and were issued with a uniform of T-shirt and jeans before being spilt up and given a medical examination.
"Being away from Mum when you are alone in New York in an strange place with people you don't know - it's just scary," said Katie.
"At first it was so shocking - it was as if it wasn't happening but then it hits you.
"You didn't know how long you'd be there or if Mum would get better."
Photographs were taken and the girls were told they would not be allowed to visit their mother in hospital.
When the duty social worker told Ms Bray her daughters could not leave the orphanage, she discharged herself from the hospital against medical advice.
She said: "I was so cross. I didn't sign anything saying they could be examined or interrogated - they even asked them if they had been raped.
"They had to shower in front of strangers. What they went through would be a breach of anyone's human rights, let alone two girls on holiday."
Ms Bray has now received a letter from the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) to say she is now being investigated.
"It's disgraceful, but I'm trying to totally dismiss this," Ms Bray said.
"It seems like a standard letter because the children have been entered into the child care system.
"I'm not guilty of anything other than getting ill in a country without family or friends."
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BBC Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:08:41 GMT
The rapidly rising incomes of the richest 10% of the population are the major factor contributing to growing inequality in Britain.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an independent think tank, the incomes of the top 10% have risen faster than those of the population as a whole since Labour came to power in 1997.
And that increase has been particularly concentrated at the very top of the income distribution - among the half million individuals in the top 1% of the income scale.
According to the IFS's Mike Brewer, it is this growing disparity between those at the top and bottom of the income scale that explains why inequality has not changed under Labour.
"It seems there are two interesting phenomena, at either end of the income scale, that are driving trends in overall income inequality," he said.
Between the 1996-97 tax year and 2004-05, the income of the richest 1% grew at an annual rate of 3.1%, compared to 2.3% for the population as a whole, and the income of the top 0.1% grew by 4.4%.
The growth was particularly strong in the Labour's first term, where the income of the super-rich grew by 8% per year.
The IFS suggests that the rising stock market between 2005 and 2007 may have further boosted the income of the rich - a view confirmed by the 20% increase in the wealth of those in the Sunday Times rich list in 2007.
In contrast, those at the bottom of the income distribution - and especially the poorest 15% of households - saw their income go up at below-average rates, and in some cases even fell.
WHO ARE THE VERY RICH?
Male: 90%
Middle-aged: 80%
Live in London/SE: 70%
Work in finance, property, accountancy, law: 60%
Average income: £785,000
Source: IFS, top 0.1% of GB taxpayers, 2004/5
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BBC Mon, 21 May 2007 17:36:26 GMT
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NEWS SUMMARY
Video games, child aggression unlinked
Children's contributions marked
Teenagers sold alcohol in sting
Mother and three children rescued
Dad's blues affects baby's vocab?
Tree-lined streets lower asthma risk
Lottery cash benefits play areas
Depressed fathers 'hit learning'
Demand for child poverty action
Boy, 15, admits raping girl, nine
Man tries to abduct baby on beach
Jersey 'abuse' coverage criticism
R Kelly porn trial set to begin
Skills scheme gets royal approval
Early baby survival 'unchanged'
Bouncy castle supervision 'vital'
Dead baby 'may have been shaken'
Jab urged after diphtheria death
Man jailed for baby shake death
Childhood abuse ups suicide risk
Baby's bed death is unexplained
Row over Bart Simpson grave plan
Vietnam arrests six child smugglers
Baby virus closes hospital ward
200M kids lack proper health care
A wave - then a 10-year mystery
Breastfeeding 'helps to boost IQ'
Mom arrested over 3 frozen infants
Crash children recovering at home
Baby bottle chemical label call
Variation in child asthma care
Train supports homeless children
Dieting does not reduce fat cells
Plea to watch youths more closely
Fat cell numbers 'set for life'
Six taken to hospital after fire
Kit helps pupils enjoy monument
'We don't leave our children alone'
'Within days she seemed calmer'
Diet treatment call for epilepsy
Baby death doctor retains licence
New children's homes costing £3m
Rural bus service stops running
Mother admits baby manslaughter
Pupils find bear bones at school
Fritzl cellar family in crisis
Delusions 'haunt' sick children
'Monster' threatened to kill family
Plea to turn to reusable nappies
Tree-lined streets 'cut asthma'
Physical toll of Austrian captivity
Baby rice may result in cancer
Crash diets 'may reduce lifespan'
Immigration officer raped child
Children accused of fire-raising
Children's pictures of fatherhood
Playgroups 'cut leukaemia risk'
Firecrews rescue family from home
In pictures: Austria abuse scandal
Midwife did not follow guidelines
Jabs call after measles outbreak
Breaking cancer news to the young
Daughter hidden, abused for 24 years
'Help people be more active' call
Tragedy hits German air show
In pictures: Malaria and conflict
Children in hospital after fire
Head teacher 'force-fed children'
Work starts to fit mobility unit
Babysitter's case 'not credible'
'Hero' rescues children from fire
Tesco in the dock over new name
Man jailed for dangerous driving
Man and child die in house fire
One in four teenagers 'unhappy'
Fears grow for mother and child
Salt baby death inquiry dropped
Can you influence a baby's sex?
Shannon mother's ex refused bail
Force probes historic sex cases
Database to help children in need
Six rescued from city house fire
Police join 'peaceful park' calls
Hunting the internet predators
Father admits killing baby girl
Park searched for mother and son
Atkins diet hedgehog slims down
