Watch Video Merimbun Heritage Forest in Tutong District, which cover an area of 7 thousand and 800 hectares, is one of perpetual reserve forests. RTB’s crew toured the Tasek Merimbun with its greenery and wild life for this week’s segment of Kenali Negara Kitani, KNK or Know Your Country. Located in Mukim Rambai, about 24 .
MANCHESTER, England, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ — The US may have experienced a 12% decrease in the number of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic treatments, but the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons have a different story to tell. They found the UK experienced a 5% increase in demand from 2007 to 2008, and a 9% increase from 2008 to 2009.
Thanks to an 8.7% increase over the previous year, the UK plastic surgery industry reached a total market value of GBP536 million by the end of 2008. The reason for this is believed to be the addition of a number of new products and services that offer effective results with shorter recovery periods. A portion of the growth is also attributed to advancements in technology, which have improved a number of the current procedures being offered.
Financing options have also been attributed with a significant amount of the growth simply because it has made a number of larger procedures more affordable. Men have also been opting to have cosmetic treatments. In fact, this is currently the fastest growing demographic. Overall, procedures vary greatly in price, yet they have generally decreased slightly, which is a relief after several years of increases.
Breast enlargements may have cost an average of GBP4,350 in 2008, but in 2009, quoted prices ranged from GBP3,295 to GBP4,850, with GBP3,348 being an average. Patients do need to exercise caution when comparing the quotes offered by various clinics, however.
Many times, quotes only include two follow up care sessions and charge additional fees for the initial consultation. Other clinics include the initial consultation and a lifetime of follow up care appointments in their quotes. Also, the costs of an overnight stay in the hospital may or may not be included in the initial quote.
Rhytidectomies or facelift surgeries declined in a similar fashion in the UK. What once cost an estimated GBP6,750 in 2008 now falls around the GBP6,012 for the average facelift procedure. Patients will want to shop around and consider their choices carefully before making a final decision, however. Quoted prices did vary from GBP4,000 to GBP8,500, depending on the clinic chosen and the type of repairs necessary to achieve the desired results.
The average liposuction treatment was worth approximately GBP3,000 in 2008. In 2009, however, the same treatment averaged GBP2,881 and ranged anywhere from GBP2,000 to GBP5,150, depending on the clinic. Patients will find the actual costs for liposuction treatments will depend on numerous factors including how many areas require treatment, what the plastic surgery clinic defines as ‘one area, and the patient’s gender. Men will find they’ll pay more for liposuction than women because their fat cells are harder and more fibrous, which makes them more difficult to remove.
This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.
SOURCE CosmeticSurgeryGuru
RELATED LINKS
http://www.cosmeticsurgeryguru.com/
DUBAI, UAE, January 31 /PRNewswire/ — Delta Partners, the leading TMT
advisory and investment firm in emerging markets, is proud to announce it has
become a shareholder in Aricent.
Aricent is a global innovation, technology and services company focused
exclusively on communications. Aricent combines the leading innovation
capabilities of frog design with unparalleled domain expertise in
communications as a strategic supplier to the world’s foremost
infrastructure, application and service providers. The company’s investors
include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office and
The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.
Delta Partners aims to support Aricent to accelerate its positive
momentum of engagements with leading infrastructure, application and service
providers worldwide, and in the Middle East and African region in particular.
“We believe Aricent provides tremendous opportunities for our MENA Telecom
Fund. Aricent has a top-notch management team, a strong Board of Directors, a
shareholders base including some of the world’s most prominent investors, and
a robust record of growth,” said Rogier van Driessche, partner at Delta
Partners. “Given that we share a focus on TMT, we expect to play an active
role in supporting their business in our region,” added van Driessche.
“The Middle East and Africa regions represent some of the highest growth
markets for telecommunications, media and technology in the world,” said
Sudip Nandy, chief executive officer at Aricent. “We are very pleased to add
Delta Partners as a new investor in Aricent, and look forward to their
expertise and support of our business.”
The investment by Delta Partners into Aricent was executed through the
Delta Partners MENA Telecom Fund, a private equity fund focused on investing
in TMT companies, and it represents the sixth completed by the Fund.
About Delta Partners
Delta Partners is the leading TMT advisory and investment firm in
emerging markets. With more than 150 professionals the firm operates across
50 markets in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Emerging Asia.
Delta Partners provides three synergistic services: management advisory,
corporate finance and investments from its offices in the UAE, Bahrain, South
Africa, Spain and Singapore. Delta Partners delivers tangible results to its
clients and investors through its exclusive sector focus on telecom, media
and technology, and a unique approach to services, combining strategic advice
and a hands-on pragmatic approach.
For further information please contact:
Mia Mutic
Delta Partners
+971-(4)-369-2999
mmu@deltapartnersgroup.com
http://www.deltapartnersgroup.com
SOURCE Delta Partners
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 31 (NNN-NAN) — The Executive Council of the African Union (AU) has elected 15 countries, including Nigeria, as members of the AU Peace and Security Council.
Mr Ben Kioko, the AU Director of Legal Services, announced the election at a news conference in Addis Ababa on Saturday.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the council, which comprises African foreign ministers, met throughout the night and elected the members in the early hours of Saturday.
Nigeria was elected into the council for three years along with Libya, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
The others, elected for a two-year term, include Chad, Djibouti, Rwanda, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi. — NNN-NAN
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 31 (NNN-ENA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi here on Saturday discussed with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on ways to speed up financial and technical support pledged for African countries at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
Meles on the occasion requested for establishment of a team of senior authorities to facilitate the financial and technical support pledged for African countries at the conference.
The Premier also urged that the team should be formed and go operational as soon as possible.
Ban Ki-moon on his part said efforts are underway to establish the team and begin activities to facilitate the financial and technical support pledged for African countries.
The Secretary-General lauded Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s competence for leadership.
The Premier’s competence was demonstrated when he represented Africa at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, he added. — NNN-ENA
JOHOR BAHARU, Jan 31 (NNN-Bernama): The Home Ministry with the cooperation of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will continue monitoring blogs and websites that touch on the people’s sensitivities.
Its minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the authorities were now collecting evidence to bring the culprits to book for touching on sensitivities involving race, religion and the institution of Malay rulers.
“Our actions of late show our seriousness in bringing those responsible to court provided we have sufficient evidence to do so,” he told reporters.
Hishammuddin was met after attending a Johor Umno Liaison Committee meeting chaired by Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman, here, on Sunday.
Citing the case of blogger Aduka Taruna who was arrested for insulting the late Sultan of Johor, Sultan Iskandar ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail, Hishammuddin said the Home Ministry, MCMC and other relevant agencies would identify those guilty of the offence and bring them to court.
Hishammuddin said he was informed by Bukit Aman Commercial Crime CID director Koh Hong Sun that certain bloggers and websites were being monitored for touching on sensitive matters, but did not elaborate.
Asked on the reported call by some bloggers for Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to quit his post, he said the reports were not accurate.
“I understand that the bloggers involved do not know head or tail about what was discussed at the recent Umno Youth executive committee (exco) meeting,” he said.
Hishammuddin, who is also an Umno vice-president, did not dismiss the possibility that the reports were made due to some people’s personal interest, and said that such a call could do nothing to strengthen the party.
The blogs reported that some Umno exco members had demanded that Khairy step down as he failed to steer the direction of the movement to be in tune with the leadership of Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Tun Razak.
-NNN-BERNAMA
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 31 (NNN-KBC) — President Mwai Kibaki who is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the 14th Ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union, met and held discussions with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who paid him a courtesy call.
During the Saturday evening discussions, President Kibaki updated the UN Secretary General on the progress the country has made toward ushering in a new constitutional dispensation.
The President noted that with the consensus reached during the recently concluded meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee, the country was at the threshold of acquiring a new constitution.
Regarding the situation in Somalia, President Kibaki informed the Secretary General that the conflict in the horn of Africa country continues to pose serious challenges to Kenya .
The President noted that the influx of refugees poses security challenges besides straining the capacity of the country to offer services.
In spite of the security challenges involved, the Head of State however assured the Secretary General of the Kenya Government’s commitment to ensuring security in the country.
The Head of State also reassured that the security and safety of Nairobi based UN personnel and offices remained a top priority for the government.
The President called for greater cooperation between the Government and UN
agencies, particularly the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), in addressing the refugee situation in the country.
The President further called for greater involvement of the UN in addressing the security situation the horn of Africa .
On the Sudan , President Kibaki assured the UN Secretary General that, as a guarantor of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Kenya Government remained committed to the attainment of durable peace and stability in the Sudan.
On concerns expressed by the Secretary General, President Kibaki acknowledged that there were outstanding issues that need to be tackled among them the referendum law, the disputed 2008 census results, the National Elections and the sharing of wealth.
The Head of State, however, expressed optimism that the issues were manageable and would be amicably ironed out.
On his part, Mr Moon welcomed the progress that has been made in the implementation of reforms in Kenya and expressed optimism that the country would get a new constitution after the referendum scheduled for April this year.
The UN Secretary General further pledged the support of the United Nations in promoting peace and security in the Horn of Africa.
The talks were attended by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula and Kenya’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Mr. Franklin Esipila, among others. — NNN-KBC
By P. Vijian
COLOMBO, Jan 31 (NNN-Bernama): In Sri Lanka’s ethnic cocoon, the minority Malay population is searching for more political space to voice their socio-economic rights.
An estimated 50,000 Malays, mostly descending from the Indonesian archipelago and southern Malaysia, are the minorities among the minorities in the country’s 20 million population.
In post-war Sri Lanka, the Malays are worried if their social-political mobility would be stifled without proper political representation in the island’s multi-ethnic make-up, as a bulk are still in the economically-backward segment.
“About 30 per cent of the Malays are in the middles-class while 60 per cent are in difficult circumstances, living below the poverty line.
“They don’t have regular income or proper housing, access to universities and government jobs are difficult because these are allocated according to ethnic proportion, and Malays are less than one per cent (of the population),” Sri Lanka Malay Association president Iqram Cuttilan told Bernama in the capital.
In the island state, Singhalese make up 74 per cent of the population, 12 per cent are Tamils, while another 12 per cent are Moors, who are Muslims (Muslim community is made up of the Moors, Malays and Indian Muslims).
The Malays, who were brought into Sri Lanka as soldiers by the Dutch in the late 1600s, still profess Islam, speak the Malay language, and continue to preserve their own culture and heritage of their forefathers.
But now, the new generation of Malays wants to be equally represented in the mainstream Sri Lankan society which, to some degree, has been ethnically polarised.
“We are lobbying the government to nominate a Malay MP (member of parliament) to represent Malays in Parliament. We are not being heard in the parliament, the minority rights cannot be articulated now,” said Iqram.
The Malays have assimilated well into the Sri Lankan society and lived side by side with the other ethnic groups for decades.
Many are multi-lingual, with Singhalese, Tamil, Malay and English widely spoken among the Malay community. But their voice remains muzzled.
The pearl-shaped island had been torn apart by ethnic conflict for the past 30 years, when a Tamil separatist group took up arms against the Sri Lankan establishment, demanding a separate homeland for its two million people.
The war ended disastrously last May.
Even in last week’s sixth presidential election, votes of unhappy Tamils (in the north) and Muslims (in the east) clearly swung to the opposition, once again signalling their dissatisfaction of being marginalised.
-NNN-BERNAMA
DAVOS, Jan 31 (NNN-TNA): Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva expressed satisfaction regarding unofficial discussions with foreign government and private business leaders on a possible move to allow agricultural countries to export more of their produce.
Now attending the three-day 40th World Economic Forum (WEF) 2010 in the Swiss city of Davos, started Friday, Abhisit said he had spoken with government and business leaders on Friday.
Major issues discussed at the meeting include the need for reform of the global economic system, agricultural products and food security problems, he said. Participants reportedly agreed unanimously that agricultural nations should be allowed to widen their markets.
With the problem of agricultural products protectionism persists, he said, noting that the leaders of developed countries and representatives of key agricultural agencies ?unanimously agreed that reducing protectionism barriers must be resolved first.?
?If the problem is eliminated, it could lead to more use of innovative technology and equipment,? Abhisit said.
Prior to the meeting, the Thai premier met with World Economic Forum founder and CEO Klaus Schwab, who will lead prominent businessmen to attend the Thailand Round Table 2011 in June.
The ongoing WEF conference in Davos is being attended by national leaders, heads of international organisations
-NNN-TNA
BANGKOK, Jan 31 (NNN-TNA): As his political partners in the coalition government plan to submit a draft amendment of the current Constitution to Parliament, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva reaffirmed Sunday that his ruling Democrat Party stands firm to not amend it and its decision is for the benefit of the Thai people.
In his weekly address broadcast on television and radio, Abhisit, now attending a three-day 40th World Economic Forum 2010 in Davos, Switzerland, said it was agreed among political parties while forming the coalition government that controversial articles in the 2007 constitution should be left untouched if an amendment, if made, could cause a rift in the government.
Small parties in the coalition are now pushing for charter amendments, especially regarding changing the electoral system from multi-seat to single-seat constituencies and that all international agreements must receive prior parliamentary approval.
Abhisit emphasised once again that the Democrat Party believed that the current voting system is better than the multi-seat constituencies.
Opposition Puea Thai Party has insisted that the 2007 constitution, implemented following a bloodless coup in September 2006, be scrapped and to reintroduce the now abolished 1997 constitution.
When reminded that leaders of coalition parties have issued open letters calling for a free vote of Parliament when the proposed amendment is debated in the chamber, Abhisit said he is unworried and was confident that his party?s decision will benefit the majority of the people.
Meanwhile, Dusit Poll said it had conducted a survey in Bangkok and 19 provinces nationwide and found that majority of the respondents believed that the problem could be solved if leaders of parties in the coalition government are invited for talks aimed at finding ways to solve the crisis.
The survey was conducted among 1,549 respondents between January 28-30.
Law and constitutional experts should also be invited to brainstorm on advantages and disadvantages between the 1997 and the 2007 charter, according to Dusit Poll.
Although respondents expressed concern over the push to amending the charter, they were also confident that the Democrat Party will eventually be able to solve the problem.
-NNN-TNA
