Hashim Amla – as good as gold
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Wednesday 25 July 2012
Over 100 hospitalised in Qatar after overeating
Over 100 hospitalised in Qatar after overeating
Over 100 people were admitted to the emergency department of a Doha hospital suffering from abdominal pains after the first night of Iftar during Ramadan, with other patients also suffering the effects of dehydration and kidney problems, it was reported on Tuesday.
“After Iftar on the first day of Ramadan, we saw large number of patients, which is usually the case during this period every year. Among them were 103 patients, who complained of abdominal pains, while some 62 patients complained of different forms of trauma,” Dr Warda Ali al-Sadd, chief consultant of the emergency department at the Hamad Medical Corporation told the Doha-based Gulf Times newspaper.
“Usually during summer we receive many patients having GE (gastroenteritis) and because many people tend to eat a lot during Ramadan, they usually fall victims of food that are not properly stored and which has got some bacteria accumulated on it. The people then suffer diarrhoea, stomach upset and vomiting after eating such food,” she added.
Other ailments reported by the department, which treats 1,500 patients a day, include those suffering from dehydration as a result of fasting.
Anti-Muslim riots engulf Assam: 19 killed?, Thousands flee
Anti-Muslim riots engulf Assam: 19 killed?, Thousands flee
At least 17 people, including a six-month-old child, were killed and many wounded in fighting between indigenous tribes and Muslim settlers at the weekend in India’s northeastern Assam state, police said on Monday.
Authorities imposed a night-time curfew to prevent more violence and federal troops moved into remote areas to deal with threats of more violence. About50,000 villagers fled their homes and took shelter in relief camps out of fear, said Donald Gilfellon, a senior civil servant in the Kokrajhar district, adding that 37 camps were set up to help the refugees and more would be opened if needed.
Sparking the clashes, unidentified men killed four youths on Friday night in the state’s Bodo tribe dominated Kokrajhar district, police and district officials said. In retaliation, armed Bodos attacked Muslims, suspecting them to be behind the killings. Police said unidentified groups set ablaze houses, schools, and vehicles, firing indiscriminately from automatic weapons in populated areas. The body of a six-month-old child was found by villagers on a river bank along with the body of a woman on Sunday, police said. “Seventeen people have died in the violence. Many people have left their homes because of insecurity and they are living in relief camps,” a senior police officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by phone.
Ringed by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, India’s northeast is home to more than 200 ethnic and tribal groups and has been racked by separatist revolts since India’s independence from Britain in 1947. Strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment against Bangladeshi settlers has emerged among Hindu and Christian tribes in recent years. “The situation is tense and more security forces are (being) sent to far flung areas,” SN Singh, Assam’s inspector general of police, told reporters.
Businesses, offices and schools remained closed on Monday, and streets were deserted. “We can’t think of going back home. Our village is vulnerable to attacks and the government failed to give us protection,” resident Hiranya Musaharay said by phone from Kokrajhar town where he was staying with relatives.
President Obama’s Statement On Ramadan
President Obama’s Statement On Ramadan
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Statement by the President on the Occasion of Ramadan
On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to Muslim Americans and Muslims around the world at the start of Ramadan. For Muslims, Ramadan is a time of fasting, prayer, and reflection; a time of joy and celebration. It’s a time to cherish family, friends, and neighbors, and to help those in need.
This year, Ramadan holds special meaning for those citizens in the Middle East and North Africa who are courageously achieving democracy and self-determination and for those who are still struggling to achieve their universal rights. The United States continues to stand with those who seek the chance to decide their own destiny, to live free from fear and violence, and to practice their faith freely. Here in the United States, Ramadan reminds us that Islam is part of the fabric of our Nation, and that—from public service to business, from healthcare and science to the arts—Muslim Americans help strengthen our country and enrich our lives.
Even as Ramadan holds profound meaning for the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, it is also a reminder to people of all faiths of our common humanity and the commitment to justice, equality, and compassion shared by all great faiths. In that spirit, I wish Muslims across America and around the world a blessed month, and I look forward to again hosting an iftar dinner here at the White House. Ramadan Kareem.
Tuesday 24 July 2012
Ramadan Reader: Q&A on everything to do with Ramadan
Q&A on everything to do with Ramadan
Preparing for Ramadan
Tarawih
Expiatory Payment (Fidya) for Missed Ramadan Fasts
Things that Break the Fast
Fasting and Illness
Laylat al-Qadr
Making Up Missed Fasts
Breaking One’s Fast/Not Fasting Due to Hardship
Fasting and Pregnancy
The Spiritual Retreat (I`tikaf)
General Ramadan Answers
Ramadan Advice and Inspiration
Inactivity as dangerous as smoking
Inactivity as dangerous as smoking
A new report says one-third of the world’s adults are physically inactive, and that 5 million people die every year as a result of a sedentary lifestyle — a rate that is as high as deaths from smoking. The report, published in the prominent medical journal “The Lancet,” says three out of every 10 people aged 15 years or older across the globe are not meeting basic recommendations for weekly physical activity.
That figure amounts to 1.5 billion people worldwide.
The situation for adolescents is even more worrying, with four out of five 13- to 15-year-olds not getting sufficient exercise.
The “Lancet” report, whose publication is timed to coincide with the start of the Summer Olympic Games in London at the end of July, describes the problem as “pandemic.”
The journal says that at a minimum, people should do either 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times a week, or 20 minutes of vigorous activity three times a week, or a combination of the two.
Moderate activity is defined as brisk walking, cycling, or gardening.
Jogging and lap swimming are included among more vigorous activities.
The human body requires exercise to help bones, muscles, the heart, and other organs function at their best.
Regular exercise has become less common in recent years, particularly in developed countries like Britain and the United States, which have some of the highest obesity rates in the world.
Problem Is Spreading
And the problem is seen as spreading to less wealthy nations, as people spend more time in cars and in front of computers.
Physical inactivity is seen as increasing with age, and is more prevalent among women than men.
A sedentary life is tied to a number of health problems, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer,and colon cancer.
The “Lancet” report says a lack of exercise could be blamed for more than 5.3 million of the 57 million deaths worldwide in 2008.
Such figures, the journal says, puts inactivity on a par with smoking as one of the world’s leading causes of death.
Physical inactivity is seen as the cause behind more than 18 percent of deaths in Serbia and 15 percent of deaths in Iraq.
This figure drops to 6 percent in Georgia, 5.6 percent in Russia, and 4.9 percent in Ukraine.
Other figures that the study mentioned include numbers for Bosnia-Herzegovina (9 percent) , Croatia (6.3 percent), Iran (9.9 percent), Kazakhstan (8.4 percent), and Pakistan (10.8 percent).
The “Lancet” says reducing inactivity by 10 percent could eliminate more than 500,000 deaths every year.
The journal calls for global efforts to promote physical exercise with initiatives such as improving safety standards for pedestrians and cyclists, providing more physical education classes in schools, and creating more spaces like parks where people can exercise for free in public.
Saudi Arabia calls for special Islamic summit
Saudi Arabia calls for special Islamic summit
Saudi Arabia has called for an extraordinary summit of Muslim leaders next month to address the risks of “sedition” threatening Muslim countries.
King Abdullah has called for “an extraordinary Islamic solidarity meeting to ensure… unity during this delicate time as the Muslim world faces dangers of fragmentation and sedition,” Saudi state news agency quoted Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal as saying.
King Abdullah wishes to convene the summit in mid-August in a bid at “unifying the ranks” of Muslims, the report said.
No further details concerning the agenda of the meeting were presented.
But the announcement comes amid a spike in deadly violence across Syria, where opposition activists say more than 17,000 people have been killed since an uprising erupted in March 2011 against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Saudi Arabia and the other energy-rich Sunni nations of the Gulf have repeatedly voiced support for Syrian rebels against the Assad government.
In a separate statement, SPA reported that the Saudi monarch has called for launching a campaign to raise funds “in support of our brothers in Syria” starting on Monday.
“The donations will be from all the kingdom’s regions” urging all Saudis “to participate in the campaign”.
Monday 23 July 2012
Yemenis suffer from extreme poverty during Ramadan
Yemenis suffer from extreme poverty during Ramadan
The family of Bakri al-Malhani is one of the poorest families in Yemen’s capital Sanaa whose members believe fasting is their last resort amid extreme poverty that is affecting about half of the country’s population.
“We have nothing for Ramadan. We and our kids will sleep all the day and hope we can manage a single meal at the end,” the father Bakri al-Malhani said.
Al-Malhani lives with a heart illness which forced the family to depend on its four boys, the elder 13 years old, to work for 2 U.S. dollars or maximum 3 dollars a day.
“My four boys collect empty water bottles at neighborhoods and sell them for about 500 Yemeni riyals, about two dollars, a day,” al-Malhani said. “What the kids earn does not help to buy bread. Honestly, we, the parents, fast many days throughout the year to let our children have the minimum average of food,” he added.
Al-Malhani’s family lives in a two-room apartment in the Shamlan district, northwest of Sanaa, with equipment of only a television and two mattresses for the parents and their five kids, including a girl baby. They rented the apartment for 10,000 Yemeni riyals (47 dollars) a month.
The family is among hundreds of thousands of poorest households in the country which have not received their social security allowances for a long time.
Mansour al-Fayadhi, executive director of the social welfare fund, said hundreds of thousands of the poorest families have been deprived from their social security allowances, some for four months and others for more than a year.
“The lack of funds is to be blame,” he said.
Furthermore, one of the problems affecting the poorest here is that external aid to Yemen is not distributed according to suitable mechanisms, al-Fayadhi added.
The United Nations has warned about 45 percent of the population, 10 million, are suffering from food insecurity and that malnutrition is affecting about 1 million children below five in Yemen.
The transitional program for development and stabilization 2012- 2014, which was prepared by the Yemeni government in coordination with key donor countries and agencies, said the Yemeni economy is not expected to grow this year.
Marzouk Mohsen, director of the Yemeni Economic and Social Development Research Center, said Yemen has been listed among the world’s top 10 countries experiencing severe food insecurity.
“About 10 million people suffer from food insecurity including one and a half million facing starvation,” he said.
Yemen is facing a range of challenges including declining national resources, the impact of the latest developments on its economy, funds shortages and budget deficit, extreme poverty and an alarming population growth rate, about 3.5 percent a year, he said.
“The population growth rate, one of the world’s highest is a key factor for increasing poverty rates and lack of access to basic services in such circumstances,” he explained.
According to studies prepared by local and foreign agencies, poverty and food insecurity come on top of the economic challenges and priorities in the country at the moment.
Officials at the International Cooperation and Planning Ministry said the government is doing its best to help the poorest families, though there is no direct response at the moment.
“The government is looking forward to the donor meeting to get some aid and to start helping the poor effectively and practically, ” a senior official said.
As Ramadan starts, the poorest are most affected at a time when Yemeni families are struggling to cope with basic supplies amid price hikes.
The prices of basic services such as sugar and wheat increased in the past two weeks by about 10 percent compared to the prices in the prior weeks and about five percent from the prices fixed by the authorities. Economists and officials said traders are exploiting the situation ahead of Ramadan at the expense of the consumers.
Muhammad al-Hallani, director general of the operations room at the trade and industry ministry, said there are sufficient supplies of basic produces.
“The concerned authorities have already failed to monitor the situation and combat the price manipulation,” he said.
“However, we hope the taskforces recently dispatched to monitor the prices and control all violations will put an end to illegal practices,” he added.
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