Heartfelt homecoming for Chile’s rescued miners

COPIAPO: Chile’s rescued miners head home on Friday to a hero’s welcome after their miracle survival for two months deep underground, and now yearn to put the psychological trauma of their ordeal behind them.

The first three of the 33 miners were cleared to head home from a hospital late on Thursday, returning to neighbors’ cheers and confetti a day after their rescue from the depths of a collapsed mine.

“This is really incredible. It hasn’t sunk in,” said 52-year-old Juan Illanes amid roaring cheers, still wearing the dark sunglasses he and his fellow miners were given to protect their eyesight as they acclimatize after 69 days underground in a dark tunnel.

He said being trapped after the cave-in had taken him “to the limit.”

The remaining 30 miners were due to head home on Friday after medical tests.

Most of the men are surprisingly healthy

Venice filmfest opens with Tarantino, Portman on red carpet

VENICE: Natalie Portman and jury head Quentin Tarantino shared the red carpet Wednesday as the prestigious Venice film festival kicked off with the screening of Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan”.

Fans screamed for autographs as a minor galaxy of Italian television starlets jockeyed for the limelight on the way into the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido for the opener of the 67th edition of the Mostra.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was in attendance, but entered the venue separately. Once inside, he received a standing ovation from the assembled glitteratti.

Ballet dancer, actress and goodwill ambassador Carla Fracci, 74, was also on hand to view the psychological thriller, one of the first US films to open the Mostra in years.

American films have returned in force to the lagoon city for the 2010 Mostra, with five in competition including

Oil turns higher in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices turned higher in Asian trade Thursday on bargain-hunting and helped by a fall in the dollar, but analysts said sentiment suffered from slower US energy demand and weaker stocks markets.

Analysts said it was unlikely oil prices would break out of the psychological 80-dollar level in the near term as the global economic recovery still faces several challenges.

In addition, oil consuming and producing nations appear comfortable with the current range of 70-80 dollars a barrel, they said.

New York”s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, was up 20 cents at 77.19 dollars a barrel in afternoon trade.

London”s Brent North Sea crude for September rose 12 cents to 76.18 dollars.

Analysts said the weaker dollar spurred some buying because oil is traded in the US currency, making the commodity cheaper for holders of stronger units.

The dollar lost ground in Asian trade Thursday after a warning from the US Federal Reserve that the world”s top economy was slowing in some areas, confirming the view that recovery is stalling.

Asian stock markets also fell Thursday on concerns about the US economic recovery.
Ken Hasegawa, energy desk manager at Newedge brokerage in Tokyo, said oil prices were likely to trade within range in the near term.

“We need a very strong recovery worldwide in order to see a sharp rise in oil prices,” he told media.

Reports of a sharp and unexpected jump in US crude stockpiles further weighed on the oil market, which was already suffering from the effects of weaker American consumer confidence.

KSE-100 Index surges big on

KARACHI: After a consecutive bearish spell, the equities at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) surged by over 2 percent to close just below 9,800 here Wednesday on rumours of return of “Badla” financing (margin financing) in the market.

The benchmark KSE 100-Index bolstered by 2.24 percent or 214.49 points to close the day at 9,789.69, KSE 30-Index jumped by 2.52 percent or 237.41 points to end at 9,652.51 and KSE All Share Index ballooned by 2.15 percent or 144.50 points to finish at 6, 864.33.

Bulls were there right from the start as after the opening bells, the main index started its roller-coaster ride and kept on surging all day long. Analysts said that there were rumours in the market that the KSE authorities have decided to re-introduce the margin financing in the market, which caught the investors” interest big time and they took positions in an oversold market. Towards the final couple of hours, the key index managed to hit the 9,800 levels after a span of 45 days as the last time it traded above the psychological barrier was on May 24, 2010 when it eventually ended below the 9,800 level. The market achieved its intraday high of 9,800.39 before closing just 11 points lower.

According to dealers Wednesday started with a flurry of positive trade as news or rumours of margin financing system”s re- introduction buoyed investors.

Hopes regarding a fruitful meeting between the KSE authorities and the government officials, due on Friday, also came to support bulls as the key index remained in the green zone all day long.

Investors showed keen interest in trading activities on the rumours of return of the badla financing system at the KSE which was quite evident with the market volumes improving for the second straight day to 50.551 million shares from 29.778 million shares, thus showing an increase by 20.773 million shares.

Lotte Pakistan PTA Limited was the top volume gainer of the day with trading of 5.978 million shares, followed by Jahangir Siddiqui Company Limited, TRG Pakistan Limited, Amtex Limited, and Azgard Nine Limited with turnovers of 3.998 million, 3.198 million, 3.155 million, and 1.798 million shares respectively.

In the broader market, a total of 378 scrips traded hands during the day where gainers outclassed losers with a ratio of 264 to 99 while prices of 15 other stocks remained unchanged.

Nestle Pakistan emerged as the top price gainer of the day with 77.95 rupee (92 US cents)increment to close at 1,636.95 rupee (19. 26 US dollars) whereas UniLever (NYSE:UL) Pakistan Foods led the losing numbers with 48 rupee (0.56 US cents) decrement to finish the day at 940 rupee (11 US dollars).

KSE-100 Index Crossed Much Awaited Level Of 10,000 Points

Bullish trend continued in the Karachi Stock Exchange on Friday and the KSE index reached the much awaited level of 10,000 points during its last trading session of the week.
The KSE-100 index closed at 10,025 after gaining 146 points towards the end of the session as healthy buying spurred the index to breach the psychological level of 10,000 points after 19 months.
Trading began on a positive note, though volumes were still relatively low as only 181 million shares were traded today. Foreign investors have been quite active at the bourse, while some local pickings also helped the market’s cause. The twin blast in Lahore did damage the sentiment of the investors.

Depression And Obesity Are A Two-Way Street

NEW YORK : People who are obese are at increased risk of becoming depressed, and people who are depressed are at increased risk of becoming obese, Dutch researchers have found.

“There is a reciprocal association over time between depression and obesity,” Dr. Floriana S. Luppino, of Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands, told Reuters Health by email.

Obesity, Luppino and colleagues found, increases the risk of depression in initially non-depressed individuals by 55 percent and depression increases the risk of obesity in initially normal-weight individuals by 58 percent.

Luppino said the analysis was not designed to determine a given person’s risk of depression, only to figure out how much obesity increased that risk. However, for comparison, a recent study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health found that nearly one out of four cases of obesity is associated with a mood or anxiety disorder.

These findings, the NIMH notes on its website, appear to support what other studies have found – that obesity, which is on the increase in the US – is associated with increasing rates of depression and other mental health problems.

The new findings stem from pooled data from 15 published studies that looked at whether being overweight or obese is associated with depression, and vice versa.

The studies, which collectively involved more than 58,000 people, used body mass index, or BMI, to gauge how fat or thin a person is. For reference, a US adult with a BMI of 25 or more is considered overweight, while one with a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese.

Being obese, Luppino told Reuters Health, not only increases the risk of depression, but is more likely to fuel the onset of clinical depression, rather than merely depressive symptoms.

In contrast to obesity, the association between depression and being overweight (but not obese) did not run the other way, Luppino noted. Being overweight increased the risk of depression in initially non-depressed individuals somewhat, but depression did not increase the risk of being overweight over time.

The findings, reported in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, also suggest that the link between obesity and later depression is more pronounced among Americans than among Europeans.

Why? “A dose-response association — meaning the higher the BMI, the more people get depressed — might explain the association,” Luppino said. And the average American weighs more than the average European.

However, the effect of the psychological distress should not be neglected, the researcher said. “Overweight and obesity, can induce low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction,” Luppino explained, “especially in Western countries where thinness is often considered a beauty ideal. Both low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction are known to increase the risk of depression.

Asia Trading Oil Stable Near 70 Dollar

SINGAPORE: Oil surged back near 70 dollars in Asian trade Wednesday on better retail sales in the United States and bargain-buying following recent price falls.

New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, was up 79 cents to 69.98 dollars a barrel in morning trade.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 44 cents to 72.81 dollars.

Crude prices rallied as traders returned to the market following a slump that saw oil dip well below the psychological 70-dollar level, analysts said.

“It’s the same old story,” said Tony Nunan, an energy risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.

“When we have a large drop (in prices), it seems that people come in the next day (and buy) based on the economic recovery story.”

Nunan said better-than-expected performances posted by major US retailers such as DIY firm Home Depot Inc also helped boost prices as it was seen as a sign of improving US consumer confidence.

Home Depot raised its forecast for fiscal 2009 after reporting a less-than-expected 7.2 percent decrease in earnings in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

The company said it expected earnings per share of between zero to seven percent over last year. It previously forecast a loss of between zero and seven percent.

However, Nunan warned that a large crude stockpile in the United States will continue to weigh down on prices amid weak energy demand.

Consumption patterns in the United States can influence prices because the US economy is the world’s biggest energy user.

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Asia Trading Oil Stable Near 70 Dollar was first posted on August 19, 2009 at 11:13 am.