How could cannabis alter the teenage brain?

28 August 2012 When a teenager smokes cannabis are they permanently damaging their brain and dulling their intellect for a lifetime? The dangers of smoking cannabis, and the potential health benefits, have been a source of controversy for many years. The latest study on the drug suggested heavy and prolonged cannabis smoking as a teenager resulted in a permanently lower IQ. You can read Dominic Hughes's report on the findings here. But how could cannabis have this effect on the brain and why might teenagers be particularly susceptible? The drug is made from the cannabis plant and contains more than 400 different chemicals, which could have a range of effects on the mind and body. It includes psychoactive chemicals, which act on the brain. The main element is a chemical called...

Read More

Coca-cola cup : Maharjan guides Army School to win

KATHMANDU, AUG 29 - Army School thrashed Deep Jyoti School 5-0 in the Coca-Cola Inter School Boys/Girls National Football Tournament on Tuesday. Ranjit Maharjan of Army School opened the scoring in the 11th minute followed by Sansar Gurung and Sanjeeb Rana Magar who both scored a brace to complete an emphatic victory. In the second match of the day played at the ANFA Technical Center in Chyasal, Path Finder School defeated Nepal Adharsha Madhyamik School 3-2 with Pawan Rai, Yusuf Rai and Sudhakar Neupane scoring a goal each. Nisat Pun scored twice for Nepal Adharsha but his effort was not enough to save his team from defeat. The third match of the day saw Gyanodaya Co-ed School outclass Sidhartha Boarding School 8-1 in a one sided affair. Roshan Shrestha scored four for Gyanodaya...

Read More

Red Cross halts most Pakistan aid after beheading

GENEVA , AUG 29 - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday it was halting most of its aid programs in Pakistan due to deteriorating security and the beheading of a British staff doctor in April blamed on Taliban insurgents. The independent agency, which had already suspended operations in three of Pakistan's four provinces in May pending a security assessment, said it would carry on working in the country "but on a reduced scale". "All relief and protection activities are being stopped. All projects of rehabilitation, economic projects, have been terminated," said Jacques de Maio, head of ICRC operations in South Asia, on one of the organization's blog. "We have closed a number of offices. We are also terminating all visits to detainees in Pakistan," he...

Read More

Typhoon hits N. Korea, still reeling from floods

SEOUL, AUG 29 - A powerful typhoon that killed at least 10 people in South Korea hit the North early Wednesday, knocking down hundreds of trees, destroying power cables and causing blackouts in a country already struggling to rebuild from earlier flooding. Big rainstorms often mean catastrophe in North Korea because of poor drainage, deforestation and decrepit infrastructure, but the extent of wind and rain damage in the country wasn't immediately clear Wednesday. Pyongyang, the capital, saw strong winds but little apparent damage. Cars splashed through slightly flooded streets, spraying people on crowded sidewalks. Typhoon Bolaven began pummeling the North late Tuesday, on the country's first Youth Day since new leader Kim Jong Un took over in December. Weather officials had warned...

Read More

Tourists going it alone won’t do a world of good

POKHARA, AUG 28 - While trekking from Tilicho lake in Manang to Jomsom in Mustang, Kasper Ldjten from the Netherlands went missing on August 7. Fortunately, the very next day, a team from the Nepal Army High Altitude and Mountain Warfare School and the Durgadal battalion found and rescued Ldjten. It then came to light that Ldjten had been travelling without a guide. Recently, there have been many incidents of tourists going missing while trekking without a guide. Secretary of the Pokhara chapter of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN), Narayan Sapkota, said that cases of tourists being robbed, raped or murdered might have taken place in the absence of a knowledgeable local guide. “Besides safety and security, not hiring a guide results in a decline in revenue collection,...

Read More

Life insurance cos to have shares in reinsurance co

KATHMANDU, AUG 29 - The Insurance Pool, which is being converted into a reinsurance company, will also have the involvement of life-insurance companies as shareholders after the transformation. The existing shareholders of the pool include the government and 17 non-life insurance companies. The memorandum of association prepared for the establishment of the company has adopted a provision for involving life insurance companies as minority shareholders in the company. The Insurance Pool was established a decade ago to give reinsurance coverage to damages by terrorist activities after foreign-based reinsurance companies denied to give risk coverage to such damages. “While the existing shareholders will have 50 percent stake in the new company, 20 percent will be offered to life-insurance...

Read More