Tag Archives: georgia
Smitten more by drugs than bugs
Smitten more by drugs than bugs Afkar Abdullah / 13 August 2013 Come summer, bed bugs, cockroaches, ants, rodents and all sorts of unwanted guests decide to come calling, testing the nerves of people. While some residents ignore them and do not get bugged by them, the majority want to ‘finish them off’ instead of spending sleepless nights, but know not who will and how and when they can do it. For, master survivors as they are, it is not easy to ‘finish them off’ and they keep resurfacing a few months after each laborious pest control exercise. At times, one feels the whole world is conspiring to save these creatures as one could be prosecuted for manslaughter or negligence if the exercise goes horribly wrong as in the case of Iraqi girl Farah Ebrahim who died of pesticide poisoning in Sharjah on July 1 this year. Now, it has become a tussle between two types of fear: the fear of pests bugging us day in, day out and the fear of consequences like deaths of people, especially since the field of pest control has become a wilderness these days with illegal firms and individuals offering the service using chemicals which are hazardous and banned. Faced with pertinent questions about their role after a string of deaths and illnesses of people because of pest control over the years not only in the emirate but in other emirates as well, Sharjah authorities have intensified efforts to prevent pesticide poisoning and inform the public of their efforts. Speaking to Khaleej Times , Riyadh Al Alian, Deputy Director-General of the Sharjah Municipality, said 60 companies have been certified by the municipality to provide pest control services in the emirate. People must not hire the services of others. These companies, accredited and licensed by the municipality, are authorised to use only certain types of pesticides after ensuring that their employees are familiar with the methods of use and their dangers to human lives and environment. The municipality ensures these by enforcing certain regulations and standards on the pest control firms and by regular checks, he said. He added that all pesticides permitted for use are registered with the Ministry of Environment and Water. Restricted pesticides are used with permission and under certain conditions. However, unlicensed individuals use banned pesticides despite the best efforts to prevent their entry into the country, said Al Alian. These often lead to poisoning like the death of the Iraqi girl and the hospitalisation of her mother and brother after inhaling fumes of aluminium phosphide used in another flat in their building. What residents can do “I know all residents are worried because of the repetition of this type of accidents and many residents call the municipality and ask what is the municipality doing to prevent the entry of prohibited chemicals and exposing the people to harm. “The answer to this question is that there’s a list of companies licensed by the municipality to practise pest control. These companies are not using chemicals that are banned and restricted. The people must ask for the municipality licence before hiring a company to do pest control in their houses to avoid harm,” said Al Alian. People can also make sure that the company is using the permitted chemicals (See the table). If they find any banned chemicals, call the police who will seize the chemicals and prosecute the culprits, he added. And in case of suspected pesticide poisoning, immediately call the police and the paramedics. Dr Saqr Al Mualla, Executive Director of Al Qasimi Hospital, said, “Our team of professionals is frequently being updated on the cases and we are well prepared. We would like to stress that it is very important for those being affected by pesticides to immediately call the paramedics and police. The longer the patient waits, the higher the effects of these chemicals that can result in death.” Police efforts The police, meanwhile, said they are making all efforts, in coordination with the municipality and other authorities concerned and the public, to detect the places where prohibited chemicals which are used as pesticides are stored, a top officer said. Finding them and confirming the nature of the chemicals require a lot of research and inspections. The police also coordinate with the Customs authorities to prevent the entry of such chemicals into the country, though some still make an appearance. During recent inspections, the police found out that a lot of unlicensed and fake pest control companies were distributing business cards at flats in residential buildings offering the services. Their employees are illegals and absconders. Following the recently issued decree by His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and the Ruler of Sharjah, prohibiting distribution of posters and advertisements in the public and private areas, the police have intensified surveillance in all areas to curb such practice. More than 70 illegals practising distributing flyers and business cards in residential and commercial buildings were rounded up, the officer said. Individuals and companies that run such businesses of hire their services will be fined by the municipality and the police are authorised to prosecute them, he warned. Tough penalties The officer said the penalties for this type of violation are listed in the Federal Decree No. 41 for year 1992. This law lists the prohibited pesticides and provides that the trading, storing, possession, transportation and offering of these prohibited pesticides are forbidden. The breach of the law will attract a penalty of not more than six months’ imprisonment plus fines ranging from Dh20,000 to Dh100,000 If the breach of the law caused the death of a human being or health injury, Articles 342 and 343 of the penal code shall apply as under “mistakenly causing the death of a human being”, the penalty for which shall be imprisonment for not less than a year to not more than seven years and/or fine which would be around Dh10,000. – afkarali@khaleejtimes.com Norms for firms Following the last two cases of pesticide poisoning, the Sharjah Municipality has recently tightened the licensing procedures for companies offering pest control services. Under these, the company must first get a preliminary licence from the Economic Department for a period of three months, after which a Municipal Review will be conducted by the Department of Solid Waste. For this, the company must have a pest control engineer who has any of the following qualifications: Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Health, Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering or a certificate to prove an equivalent qualification. The engineer will be subjected to a test. If the person passes the test, the company is given permission by the municipality to practise “anti-insect activity”. In the absence of such an engineer with the company, the company is given a temporary permit for a period of four months with the payment of an insurance amount, till it appoints a qualified engineer. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com List of permitted pesticides Pesticide Name Use/effects Icon Thermal fogging to combat flying insects (Flies like mosquitoes and Alhamosh sand flies) Vectron Tetra cipzapi Sprinkled to kill crawling insects and larvae and collect flying insects Proteocap Aquahelfos ABTE 500 EC Anti-mosquito larvae Mosquito dunks Growth regulator SOLFAC UL Sprayed to control flying insects Detral Suber GokiLath LF Snake out To expel snakes Racumin Powder Rodent control in the palm trees, sewage and other places NocuRat Wax Blocks Siege PRO Used against ants SOLFAC10% w/w passt Quick Bayt To fight flies Atlast Maxforce GEL To fight German cockroaches Continue reading
England wins 4th test, clinches 3rd straight Ashes
England wins 4th test, clinches 3rd straight Ashes (AP) / 13 August 2013 With shadows lengthening across the Riverside ground and time rapidly running out, Alastair Cook tossed the ball one final time to the man who had put his England team on the brink of winning a third straight Ashes series. Stuart Broad didn’t let his captain down. Steaming in from the Lumley End backed by roars of the crowd, Broad sent down another fierce delivery that Australia tail-ender Peter Siddle lofted harmlessly to mid-off, where James Anderson took a simple catch. England had won the fourth test — and confirmed its dominance over its greatest cricketing rival in the process. “We’ll enjoy what is a very special day,” Cook said, “and one that I’m going to look back on with huge fondness.” A day of 15 wickets and high tension at Chester-le-Street will forever be remembered for Broad’s devastating bowling performance. Set a victory target of 299 on day four, Australia collapsed from 168-2 to 224 all out in just shy of two hours in a final session Monday that saw nine wickets fall in total. Broad took six of them, finishing with 6-50 and career-best overall figures of 11-121. And, of course, the man-of-the-match award. England won by 74 runs to take a 3-0 lead in the five-match series. The final test is at The Oval starting Aug. 21, where Australia is looking simply to save face. “We got outplayed, Stuart Broad bowled a couple of outstanding spells and as soon as we lost Chris Rogers (for 49, to make it 109-1), we found it difficult,” Australia captain Michael Clarke said. “We’ve got to play better than that,” he added. “We need some time to let this sink in.” Retaining the urn, which they did after the drawn third test at Old Trafford last week, was one thing. But winning a third Ashes series in succession for the first time since the so-called “Botham’s Ashes” of 1981 really is something to savour for a team that lost eight on the bounce between 1989 and 2003. Despite their improvement over the past two weeks, the Australians’ winless streak in tests moved to eight — a sorry record for such a proud cricket nation. England, whose unbeaten run in tests stretches to 11, lost the final five wickets of its second innings for the addition of 96 runs to the overnight 234-5. That meant it stayed in the driving seat in a fluctuating test. Ryan Harris took four wickets to claim a career-best 7-117 — becoming the first Australian since Shane Warne in 2001 to take so many victims in one Ashes innings — but agricultural knocks of 45 from Tim Bresnan and 30 not out from Graeme Swann proved crucial in taking the game away from the tourists. Even so, things looked rosy for the Australians when Rogers and David Warner put on an opening stand of 109 — the team’s best first-wicket partnership of the series. Rogers edged Swann to Trott at first slip but Warner stayed in the groove, upper-cutting Broad for four and smashing Swann over extra cover for the only six of the match. Even when Usman Khawaja (21) was trapped lbw to Swann to make it 147-2, Clarke came in, hit three quick fours and ensured the momentum was still with the tourists. Then it all went wrong. Warner edged a beauty from Bresnan to wicketkeeper Matt Prior to go for 71, and Broad bowled Clarke (21) with a pearler off the seam. The crowd came to life. England’s fielders suddenly chirped up. “Cooky threw me the ball and said, ‘Spice it up a bit,’” Broad said. “I got a good partnership going with Tim Bresnan, we tried to hit the deck as hard as we could and we managed to do it.” Steve Smith (2) dragged a 90 mph delivery from Broad onto his own stumps as he attempted a pull and the paceman then trapped Brad Haddin lbw for 4. He wheeled away in celebration, puffing his cheeks and with his eyes bulging. In 55 minutes, the whole middle order had been removed. So had Australia’s hopes of squaring the series. “He really charged in,” Cook said of Broad. “When everything clicks and he’s bowling in the high 80s with the control Broady has, it’s incredibly hard to bat. “Words can’t justify how good a spell of bowling that was.” Then it was just a case of wrapping up the tail. Harris (11) was plumb lbw to Broad, who then bowled Nathan Lyon for 8 to bring up his second five-fer of the match. With darkness descending and spectators straining their eyes, England was allowed an extra half-hour to take the last wicket — and they needed 16 minutes of the allotted time. In that crazy final session, Australia lost nine wickets for 104 runs, with Broad hitting one of those purple patches he is known for. “The guys are very proud in that dressing room,” Broad said. “There’s a group in there who have won three (series) from three, and there is a real hunger in there that you want to achieve more.” That’s something the bruised and battered Australians won’t want to hear. They will have their chance for revenge in the return series Down Under starting in November. Continue reading
India ‘milestone’ as it launches own aircraft carrier
India ‘milestone’ as it launches own aircraft carrier (AFP) / 12 August 2013 India launched its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier on Monday, a landmark moment in the $5 billion project that seeks to project the country’s power and check the rising influence of China. When the INS Vikrant comes into full service in 2018, India will become the fifth nation to have designed and built its own aircraft carrier, pushing ahead of China to join an elite club that includes Britain, France, Russia and the United States. “It’s a remarkable milestone,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony said as he stood in front of the giant grey hull of the ship at a ceremony in the southern city of Kochi. “It marks just a first step in a long journey but at the same time an important one.” The ship, which will be fitted with weaponry and machinery and then tested over the next four years, is a major advance for a country competing for influence in Asia, analysts say. “It is going to be deployed in the Indian Ocean region where the world’s commercial and economic interests coalesce. India’s capability is very much with China in mind,” Rahul Bedi, a defence expert with IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, told AFP. On Saturday, India announced its first indigenously-built nuclear submarine was ready for sea trials, a key step before it becomes fully operational. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it a “giant stride” for the nation. “All these are power projection platforms, to project India’s power as an extension of its diplomacy,” Bedi added. New Delhi is spending tens of billions of dollars upgrading its mainly Soviet-era military hardware to bolster its defences. Successes in its long-range missile and naval programmes have been tempered by expensive failures in developing its own aircraft and other land-based weaponry, leaving the country highly dependent on imports. INS Vikrant is two years behind schedule after problems in sourcing specialised steel from Russia, delays with crucial equipment and even a road accident in which vital diesel generators were damaged. Overall, India lags far behind China in defence capabilities, analysts say, making the success in beating its regional rival in the race to develop a domestically-produced aircraft carrier significant. China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, which was purchased from the Ukraine, went into service last September. Beijing is reportedly planning to construct or acquire a bigger ship in the future. Jane’s claimed earlier this month that it has seen evidence that China might be building its first carrier in a shipbuilding facility near Shanghai. India already has one aircraft carrier in operation — a 60-year-old British vessel acquired by India in 1987 and renamed INS Viraat — but it will be phased out in the coming years. India’s ally Russia is also set to hand over a third aircraft carrier — INS Vikramaditya — later this year after a bitter row over the refurbished Soviet-era warship caused by rising costs and delays. The INS Vikrant, which means “courageous” or “bold” in Hindi, is a 40,000-tonne vessel which will carry Russian-built MiG-29 fighter jets and other light aircraft. While its hull, design and some of its machinery is domestically made, most of its weaponry will be imported as well as its propulsion system, which was sourced from GE in the United States. “Its primary role will only be to defend our naval fleet and it will not be used for ground attacks,” retired rear admiral K. Raja Menon told AFP. “It’s a defence carrier so it will attack platforms that are coming to attack our (naval) fleet …without air defence our fleet just cannot survive,” Menon said. C. Uday Bhaskar, a retired naval officer and former director of the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, said the ship would “enhance India’s credibility” — but it “would not alter the balance of power with China”. “China’s nuclear expertise and ship-building capabilities are of a higher order,” he told AFP. The Indian navy is currently working on 39 ships and has begun planning to make another two aircraft carriers, Bedi said. Continue reading
