Tag Archives: horse-racing
Dogs being taught to use phones and tabs
Dogs being taught to use phones and tabs Staff Reporter / 21 August 2013 If you’re not already tired of being technologically outwitted by your toddlers, it could be about to get worse — an American dog school is teaching pets to use phones and iPads. Anna Grossman holds her iPad while her dog Amos touches the screen with his nose at her studio in New York. — AFP School for The Dogs in New York has been teaching clever canines to “use” the touch-manipulated devices for the past year. The dogs select either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ icons on the screen, with their noses. Dog trainer Anna Grossman wrote about the experiment conducted with several dozen dogs and their owners on the company’s website, explaining the tech idea came to her after she read a spoof article about a girl who had done the same thing. Grossman wrote the benefit of teaching the unusual trick was to get dogs to be more compliant in more serious matters. “The more silly behaviours your dog can learn to do reliably on cue, the better he’ll be at understanding you when you need to teach important stuff.” The trainers say one of the first things dogs learn at the school’s classes is how to touch things with their noses, goaded by the promise of an edible reward, which shows dogs “(they) can affect the outcome of (their) environment simply by touching something with (their) nose”. Grossman wrote teaching dogs “nose touches” was the first step to teaching commands such as to come or shut the fridge door. The social-media savvy school also offers dog lessons over Skype, pens a ‘Dog Blog’ and has a Facebook feed updating the hijinks of subscribers’ dogs. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Law to ban smoking in vehicles with children
Law to ban smoking in vehicles with children (Wam) / 20 August 2013 The anti-tobacco federal law, which will come into force next year, will ban smoking in private vehicles if a child younger than 12 years is present in the car. The Ministry of Health has announced the executive regulations of the anti-tobacco flaw, which were approved by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in the Cabinet’s Resolution No. 24 issued on July 21, 2013. The said resolution will come into effect six months from the date of its issuance. The regulations are part of the government’s efforts to establish an effective national anti-tobacco strategy to protect public health. The ban on the vehicles aims to protect children from being exposed to cigarette smoke. The law also aims to reduce smoking among youth. A study carried out in Abu Dhabi showed that 28 per cent of children aged 15 years and younger, are smokers, while 30 per cent of people aged 18 and above are smokers. The law bans any content that advertises tobacco products, such as newspaper advertisements, TV commercials and animations. It also bans importing tobacco products that are not in line with technical standards set by the UAE, and any violations regarding such imports can lead to a one year prison sentence and a fine ranging from Dh100,000 to Dh1 million, in addition to the confiscation of products. The law also provides specifications on the packaging of tobacco products. All products must now display a large warning label on the front to raise awareness on the dangers of tobacco, and not to mislead them. Violators will be fined Dh100,000 to Dh1 million, and the fines can be doubled if the offence is repeated. Tobacco products cannot be displayed near items marketed for children, or sportswear, health, food and electronic products. Tobacco products are also forbidden to be sold in locations that are 100 metres away from places of worship, and 15 metres away from kindergartens, schools, universities and colleges. Shisha cafes will also have to be at least 150 metres away from residential areas. The regulations also specify that these cafes’ working hours will be from 10am to 12pm. Shishas will not be served to customers younger than 18 years of age, and the cafes will be forbidden from delivering shishas to apartments. Growing or producing tobacco for commercial purposes will also be forbidden, and current manufacturing plants have been given a grace period of 10 years to sort out their situation, and tobacco farms have been given a two-year grace period. The UAE ratified the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO, in November 2005. The UAE anti-tobacco law was drafted by the Ministry of Health in 2006. In December 2009, the UAE issued its own federal anti-tobacco law. Continue reading
Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood chief
Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood chief (AFP) / 20 August 2013 Egypt’s government Tuesday pressed its fierce campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohammed Mursi, effectively decapitating the group by arresting its supreme guide. The detention of supreme guide Mohamed Badie could throw the Brotherhood into further disarray as it struggles to withstand an onslaught by the army-installed authorities. It also raises fears of new violence in the country, where nearly 900 people have died in days of clashes between security forces and the supporters of Mursi. In the latest bloodshed, militants killed 25 policemen just hours after 37 Muslim Brotherhood prisoners died in police custody. Judicial sources meanwhile said fresh accusations had been levelled against Mursi, who has been detained at a secret location since his July 3 ouster by the army. And former president Hosni Mubarak won conditional release in the third of four cases against him, but remained in detention on the last case. The interior ministry said police picked up Brotherhood chief Badie near Rabaa Al Adawiya square, where more than 280 Mursi supporters were killed on Wednesday as police cleared their protest camp. A senior Brotherhood official, Ahmed Aref, said on its website Monday that Badie’s arrest would change nothing. “The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood is just one individual… among the millions who oppose the coup,” he said. Dozens of senior Brotherhood members have been arrested or are at large, after being accused of crimes including inciting the deaths of protesters before Mursi’s ouster. Violence continued to rock the country and draw international opprobrium. On Monday morning, militants killed 25 riot police in two buses in the Sinai peninsula, in the deadliest such attack in decades. The interior ministry blamed the attack on “armed terrorist groups” and Egypt closed its border with the Palestinian Gaza strip, near where the attack occurred. Security sources said another policeman was killed in north Sinai, bringing the number of security force members killed in Sinai since Mursi’s ouster to 75. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply disturbed” by the deaths and called for a “full investigation to ascertain the facts surrounding this incident.” Egypt’s foreign minister Nabil Fahmy said Monday in Sudan that his country was on the “right path.” But the international community has fiercely condemned the violence, with rights group Amnesty International decrying it as “utter carnage”. The group’s secretary general Salil Shetty warned the country’s government had “stained its human rights record”. And Human Rights Watch called on Egypt’s rulers to “urgently reverse” instructions for police to use live ammunition against protesters. In response to the violence, EU ambassadors held an urgent meeting in Brussels and foreign ministers were due to review the bloc’s ties with Egypt on Wednesday. The European Union has said nearly five billion euros ($6.7 billion) in aid to Egypt is under review since Mursi’s ouster. The United States has cancelled joint military exercises with Egypt but stopped short of suspending $1.3 billion in annual aid. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel urged Egypt’s interim government to take an “inclusive approach to reconciliation” but admitted Washington’s influence was limited. Continue reading
