Oil falls, Saudi pushing output to highest since '81

Oil fell more than half a percent to near $134 a barrel on Monday as Saudi Arabia prepared to push production to its highest rate in decades, moving to soothe the market ahead of this weekend’s crisis meeting over record prices.U.S. light, sweet crude for July delivery fell 77 cents or 0.6 percent to $134.09 a barrel by 0209 GMT after dropping nearly $2 on Friday, when an industry newsletter reported that Saudi was poised for a big output boost next month.

London Brent crude fell $1.06 to $134.05 a barrel.

At the weekend, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said the world’s biggest exporter was set to increase output to 9.7 million barrels per day in July, the first official indication of its second supply boost in as many months.

"9.7, that is what he (Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi) said" on July output, the Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper quoted the UN Secretary General as saying after he met with Naimi.

That would be a rise of 550,000 bpd or over 6 percent since May and would take Saudi crude output to its highest monthly rate since August 1981, according to U.S. government data.

Oil traders said the news could spur heavier selling during more liquid European trading hours, but losses may be checked by fears that many refiners -- particularly in Asia -- will balk at buying more of the kingdom’s heavier, hard-to-process crude.

"It’s early days yet, we may see some more reaction over the course of today," said David Moore, an analyst with Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

"I think if there is to be an increase it will be helpful to the market, the question is whether it will be absorbed with increased appetite from Asia," he said.

Saudi King Abdullah "sees that oil prices are currently abnormally high and he is willing to do all that is possible to bring prices to their appropriate levels," state news agency SPA quoted Ban as saying after meeting the Saudi monarch.

The Saudi plan comes to light a week before the kingdom hosts an unprecedented meeting of producers and consumers to tackle market instability, its latest effort to turn back a rally that has boosted prices 40 percent this year alone, spurring protests around the world and endangering global economic growth. But some questioned whether Saudi oil would temper prices, which have also been buoyed by fears over whether the world can meet long-term demand for crude and the influx of investment funds seeking a hedge against the dollar and inflation.

"If they want to put pressure on prices they need substantial price discounts that would encourage greater stock building," said David Kirsch of Washington-based consultancy PFC Energy.

Saudi Arabia had pledged a month ago to increase supply by 300,000 bpd this month versus May to meet demand from buyers, primarily in the United States.

Oil had fallen nearly $2 a barrel on Friday after industry newsletter the Middle East Economic Survey reported Riyadh was considering a sizeable output increase to near 10 million bpd.

But prices are still double what they were a year ago and have surged six-fold since 2002, and financial leaders fear the rally could worsen the U.S. economic downturn.

Saudi Arabia is the only member of OPEC with the spare capacity to boost supplies quickly and significantly. It could pump around 2 million bpd more than it does.

Cost of living in smaller cities shoots up

Metros are not the only expensive places to live in as consumers have seen the retail prices of most essential food items having soared by up to 80 per cent in the last four years. The price rise in five non-metro cities in different regions of the country like Lucknow, Bhubaneswar and Shimla -- are either more or at least in line with that of metropolis.

The trend seen in the retail prices, based on an analysis of data available with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, come amid the wholesale price-based inflation figure having surged to its highest level in seven years at 8.75 per cent.

Besides, the economists expect the inflation figure to soon touch double-digit mark at 10 per cent, because of recent hike in fuel prices, which could further push up the retail prices.

Between May 24, 2004 and June 12, 2008, rice prices have gone up by over 73 per cent in Ahmedabad at Rs 15.25 per kg, while those in Shimla rose by about 63 per cent, Lucknow by 53 per cent, Bangalore by 50 per cent, Bhubaneswar by 44 per cent and Hyderabad by 30 per cent.

In the four metros, rice prices rose by 25-52 per cent. Wheat prices have spiralled by over 57 per cent to Rs 11 a kg in Lucknow, by 25 per cent in Bangalore, 30 per cent in Hyderabad and 21 per cent in Ahmedabad.

In four metros, wheat prices have gone up in the range of 42-48 per cent. Mumbai witnessed the highest rise of Rs 5 a kg to Rs 15.5. Wheat flour (atta) prices have become expensive by over 63 per cent in Lucknow at Rs 13 a kg. In Bangalore, it went up by 33 per cent, Hyderabad by 38 per cent, Bhubaneswar 22 per cent, Shimla 43 per cent and Ahmedabad by 50 per cent.

In comparison, the wheat flour became costlier by 42-62 per cent in the metros.

Like rice and wheat, pulses prices have also gone up sharply during last four years in all these cities.

Gram prices shot up by 80 per cent in Lucknow at Rs 36 a kg, 73 per cent in Shimla, 57 per cent in Ahmedabad, 48 per cent in Bhubaneswar, 35 per cent in Bangalore and 60 per cent in Hyderabad. In metros, the prices rose by 50-57 per cent.

Tur (arhar) prices increased by 48 per cent in Lucknow at Rs 43 a kg, 42-43 per cent in Shimla and Bhubaneswar, 37 per cent in Ahmedabad, 29 per cent in Hyderabad and 6 per cent in Bangalore. In metros, the rates went up by 33-50 per cent.

In vegetable oils section, the prices of groundnut oil prices advanced by 43 per cent in Ahmedabad at Rs 73.5 a litre, 26 per cent in Shimla, 19 per cent in Lucknow, 29 per cent in Hyderabad and 31 per cent in Bangalore. In metros, the prices rose in the range of 24-73 per cent.

In metros, mustard oil became expensive by up to 50 per cent in three metros. But prices have declined in Mumbai.

Mustard oil prices rose by 49 per cent in Ahmedabad at Rs 65.5 a litre, 48 per cent in Lucknow, 46 per cent each in Shimla and Bhubaneswar, and 22 per cent in Hyderabad.

Vanaspati prices soared 42 per cent in Ahmedabad to Rs 65 a kg, 31 per cent in Shimla, 22 per cent in Lucknow, 30 per cent in Hyderabad, 21 per cent in Bhubaneswar and 17 per cent in Bangalore. In metros also, it rose by 19-35 per cent.

Milk prices increased by 43 per cent in Bhubaneswar, 23 per cent in Bangalore, 29 per cent in Hyderabad, 20 per cent each in Lucknow and Shimla. In metros, Kolkata witnessed 65 per cent rise in milk prices at Rs 28 a litre. Other three metros saw rise of 29-43 per cent.

Vitamin D keeps heart in shape

The list of benefits conferred by Vitamin D has just got longer. It also keeps the heart fit as a fiddle, besides developing strong bones, healthy immune system and protection against cancer, according to new research. In studies on rats, Robert U Simpson and his team at the University of Michigan have reported the first concrete evidence that treatment with activated vitamin D can protect against heart failure.

Treatment with activated vitamin D prevented heart muscle cells from growing bigger - called hypertrophy - in which the heart becomes enlarged and overworked, sometimes leading to heart failure.

They also prevented heart muscle cells from the over-stimulation and increased contractions associated with the progression of heart failure.

Heart failure is a progressive, disabling condition in which the heart becomes enlarged as it is forced to work harder and harder, even for routine daily activities.

Many heart patients or those with poorly controlled high blood pressure go on to experience a form of heart failure called congestive heart failure, in which the heart’s inability to pump blood around the body causes weakness and fluid build-up in lungs and limbs.

Many people with heart failure, who tend to be older, have been found to be deficient in vitamin D.

“Heart failure will progress despite the best medications,” said Simpson. “We think vitamin D retards that progression and protects the heart."

Simpson and colleagues have explored vitamin D’s effects on heart muscle and the cardiovascular system for more than 20 years.

Way back in 1987, when Simpson showed the link between vitamin D and heart health, the idea seemed far-fetched and research funding was scarce. Now, a number of studies worldwide attest to the vitamin D-heart health link.

The findings of the study are being published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.

Smoking harmful for both sexes

Women who smoke are no more likely than men to get lung cancer but, among non-smokers, women appear to have a higher risk than men, US researchers reported on Friday. Women who had never smoked were 1.3 times more likely to develop lung cancer than men who had never smoked, Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues found.

"We noted slightly higher age-standardized incidence rates of lung cancer in women who had never smoked than in men who had never smoked," Freedman and colleagues wrote in the Journal Lancet Oncology . His team looked at a survey of 279,214 men and 184,623 women aged 50 to 71 first questioned in 1995 or 1996.

"The questionnaire asked participants about their past and current smoking status, demographics, alcohol intake, tobacco smoking, physical activity, and included a food-frequency questionnaire of 124 items," the researchers wrote.

They were watched until 2003. "During follow-up, lung cancers occurred in 4,097 men and 2,237 women," the researchers wrote.

Among men who had never smoked, 99 got lung cancer, compared with 152 women who never smoked.

The researchers did not ask about how much anyone had smoked or whether they were exposed to second-hand smoke. Experts agree that second-hand smoke also causes lung cancer.

"But when we compared smokers with similar smoking histories we noted that men tended to have slightly higher incidence rates than women.

"Our findings suggest that women are not more susceptible than men to the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking in the lung," Freedman’s team wrote.

They said more study needs to be done to see if female non-smokers actually do have more of a risk of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer worldwide, with almost 1.2 million deaths per year — 162,000 deaths a year in the United States alone.

Even young men popping viagra

It’s no longer the oldies who are taking anti-impotency pills. Now-a-days, even younger men are turning to enhancers to meet the increasing bedroom demands of their modern female partners, claim experts.

According to them, today’s modern women, inspired by strong female characters in films like ’Sex and the City’, have become more vocal about their sexual desires and demand a higher level of stamina and imagination in the bedroom.

As a result, men aged between 18 and 40 years feel increasingly emasculated — in fact, the pressure is causing many of them to experience "performance anxiety" and is also leading to the diagnoses of erectile dysfunction, the experts in Britain have claimed. Dr John Tomlinson of Sexual Dysfunction Association said that he was hearing from an "enormous" number of 18 to 40-year-olds worried about sexual problems.

"Men may feel emasculated by modern women and feminism has taken its toll. But most of problems are psychological.

I am sure many of these men are fuelling the counterfeit drugs industry by buying their Viagra online," British newspaper the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

According to him, advertisements glamorising the well toned male body, make an impact on men who presume it is what women expect. John Dean, a specialist in sexual medicine, said when Viagra was introduced ten years ago, it would have been unusual to treat men in their 30s. Now, however, it is common, he said.

Added sex therapist Denise Knowles of counselling service Relate: "Pornography affects how men see themselves and how they think women will see them. Further pressure comes from the myth that men should know what to do in the bedroom and that women are difficult to satisfy."

Why punish those who attempt suicide?

Should a person who attempts suicide, apparently due to some mental sickness, be punished if he or she survives after the incident? This issue has come under the focus of Law Commission Chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan, who is believed to be looking at proposals which suggest that those who make suicide attempts should not be treated as criminals.

Justice Lakshmanan’s study, which may include a fresh look at Section 309 of IPC that prescribes a maximum punishment of one-year jail for such offenders, is also likely to reflect on the need to show compassion and sympathy towards those who survive attempts to end their life.

The Commission’s recommendations on the issue are likely to have a major bearing on the way the law treats millions of suicide attempt makers in a country where 13 suicides are committed every hour and, according to rough estimates, over 10 attempts are made for each suicide.

Section 309 of IPC says that whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.

The tricky question of whether to treat suicide survivors as criminals or patients has even caught the attention of the Supreme Court on several occasions.

The Supreme Court in 1994 struck down section 309 as unconstitutional on the ground that it amounted to punishing the victim-accused twice. This verdict was, however, reversed in 1996.

A Law Ministry official said "The proposals under the Commission’s consideration revolve around giving the victim-accused, who already is under mental stress, a second chance to lead a normal life."

Indian career couples too tired to have sex!

A lady Bollywood director married to a mountaineer for the past seven years has not found time to consummate their marriage so far. Worse, they did not find anything unusual in this till their friends pushed them to a psychiatrist for consultation!

This may be an exceptional case but experts at ’Psychiatrists as sexologists’, a two-day consultation on sexual medicine by the Indian Psychiatrists Society (IPS) on Saturday sent the alarm bells ringing with the statistic that more and more couples are voluntarily shunning action in the bedrooms because they are too tired after long hours at work.

"A survey has revealed that couples of this generation devote 70 per cent time to their work and just 18 per cent time to their marriage. This is worrisome as this lack of intimacy is breaking up a lot of marriages," says senior psychiatrist Dr Mahendra Watsa of Mumbai.

Dr Watsa said that as the number of such too-fatigued-to-have-sex couples increases in his clinic as they come with emotional and marital problems, he has started advising them to avoid newspapers in the morning and get busy in the bedrooms!

Psychologist Raj Brahmabhatt said that young men and women in most metro and mega-cities have got busy in the rat race. "Couples these days are chasing luxury flats, cars and farm-houses which they want within three years of their careers. Where is the time to get physically intimate?" says Dr Brahmabhatt who admitted to having seen a lot of couples who confess to having no desire for sex at the end of the day.

The most affected are couples involved in the BPO and IT industry. "The working hours are gruelling. There is a boom of marital discords in south India as most techies work 14-18 hours a day.

Unfortunately, emotional and physical intimacy does not respond akin to pressing a computer button," said psychiatrist Dr TSS Rao.

"The world feels that India is multiplying but there is a growing number of couples not wanting to becoming parents out of choice. They do not have time to conceive and devote time to parenthood," says psychiatrist Dr PC Shastri, who feels that working couples should set themselves we-alone dates and once-a-week bedroom date to regain romance!