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Vodafone has joined forces with Western Union on an international mobile money transfer pilot; residents in the U.K. town of Reading will be able to send money to the mobile phones of relatives and friends in Kenya.

Money transfers has already become a success in Kenya via the M-PESA (”M” for “mobile” and “Pesa,” the Swahili word for “money”) system, which, for example, can be used by someone in an urban area to forward money to relatives in rural areas, and people in rural areas can pay off a loan in an urban area.

The service is marketed by Safaricom, in which Vodafone holds a stake, and there are currently around 4 million M-PESA customers, and that number is growing by approximately 200,000 users a month, according to Caroline Dewing, a spokeswoman at Vodafone.

“What we are doing is extending M-PESA internationally, and we are partnering with Western Union to do this, because they have such a huge foot print in terms of stores and knowledge in the space of international remittances,” Dewing said.

A person who wants to transfer money will be able to go into a Western Union store in Reading and say that they want to transfer some money to a Safaricom cell phone in Kenya. For the receiver in Kenya it will work just like any M-PESA transfer.

“They’ll get a text message saying you have been given X amount of money, and they can then choose how to store that: money on the phone, send it on to someone else or go to an M-PESA agent and cash it,” Dewing said.

Convenience and the ability to send smaller amounts for a low fee are the two major benefits compared to traditional money transfers. Sending up to ?100 costs ?4.90 (US$7.35), and ?100 to ?200 is ?6.90, according to Dewing.

The trial will be conducted for three to four months. During those Vodafone will test all elements of the service and also see if the fee structure works, according to Dewing.

The goal is to roll it out between the U.K and Kenya, and then on to other markets within the near future, said Dewing, who declined to be more specific.

Using the mobile for either money transfers or as an electronic wallet is getting a lot of attention from the financial and telecom sectors.

Western Union is, for example, already working with Orascom Telecom, Globe Telecom and SMART Communications.

Last month, phone manufacturers were urged to include NFC (Near Field Communications) functionality in mobile handsets in order to speed adoption of mobile payment systems by the GSM Association, which is also involved with Western Union.

Payment card companies are also getting on board. In October, MasterCard announced PayPass, an over-the-air provisioning service.

In September, Visa announced it was working with Nokia on payment-related services and applications using the Android platform.

Vodafone currently sees opportunity in the mobile money transfer market, simply because there isn’t a traditional banking infrastructure in place in countries like Kenya, and in the developed world “we have credit cards coming out of our ears,” according to Dewing.

The push from operators and phone vendors is about making people even more dependent on the phone, according to Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics Research.

“It continues the trend of adding more application and functionality to the phone. Making the mobile phone the single device you never leave home without, along with your door keys, and that might come to a mobile phone as well with biometric fingerprinting or something like that in the future,” said Webb.

Challenges include getting people to trust the services and getting the retail sector on board, but Webb expects both to fall into place eventually.

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Calcium is the one nutrient that comes to mind when most people think of preventing osteoporosis, a loss of bone mass that often increases with age and can lead to fractures. Calcium is an important nutrient for building bone and for slowing the pace of bone loss that comes with age. But it’s not the single magic bullet for preventing osteoporosis, and some scientists suggest that too much calcium or dairy products may be unhealthy. Keep in mind that there are other nutrients and foods that help keep your bones strong — most importantly vitamin D, but also vitamin K, fluoride, and possibly fish.

The dietary reference intakes (DRI) for calcium is 1,000 mg a day for adults up to age 50 and 1,200 mg a day for people over 50, when bone loss accelerates. With age, the intestines absorb less calcium from the diet and the kidneys seem to be less efficient at conserving calcium. As a result, your body uses more of the calcium stored in your bones for a variety of important metabolic functions.

Scientific studies have yielded different results regarding how much calcium you really need for preventing age-related bone loss. For example, a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2003 found that calcium intake during youth pays dividends many decades later. In this study of 3,215 women, those women over age 50 who, as children, drank very little milk (less than one serving a week) were twice as likely to fracture a hip as women who had consumed more than one serving a day. But calcium intake during adulthood may not have the same benefit. Seven studies done in the United States and Europe that have followed thousands of people for many years have found no correlation between a high intake of calcium in adulthood and fewer bone fractures. For example, in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, people who drank two or more glasses of milk a day were no less likely to break a hip or forearm as people who drank one glass or less a week.

Men should be aware that some preliminary findings suggest that high calcium intake from milk may increase the risk of prostate cancer. For women, studies have suggested a possible link between calcium from milk and increased risk of ovarian cancer. In both cases, the risk came from milk specifically, so even if research confirms the danger, it’s not clear whether the culprit is calcium or something else about milk.

Other foods and nutrients can help guard against osteoporosis. In building bone, calcium has an indispensable assistant: vitamin D. This vitamin helps the body absorb calcium, and some researchers think that increasing vitamin D can help prevent osteoporosis. But many people don’t get enough vitamin D. A study of people admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found that more than half had a deficiency. This problem is most common among people who live in northern regions of the country, because they don’t spend much time in the sun. Exposure to sunlight prompts the skin to manufacture vitamin D. If you don’t make enough vitamin D yourself, you can also get it from milk and other dairy products, fortified breakfast cereals, eggs, and vitamin supplements.

Other substances may help fight osteoporosis. The Nurses’ Health Study found that women who got more than 109 mcg of vitamin K a day were 30 percent less likely to break a hip than women who got less. To get enough vitamin K, eat one or more servings daily of dark green lettuce, broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts, or kale. Vitamin K helps regulate calcium and build bone. Additionally, some studies show that isoflavones in soy can slow bone loss and therefore might help prevent osteoporosis.

Fluoride is another substance that may play a role in building bone. Fluoride has been tested in many experiments over the last few decades with contradictory results. While some studies have shown that fluoride builds bone, several trials in the 1980s indicated that taking fluoride supplements did not reduce spinal fractures. But more recent research has shown that a newer slow-release version increases bone density and reduces spinal fractures. Fluoride therapy is used in several countries to treat osteoporosis, and the FDA is considering its use here. Whether the fluoride normally added to public drinking water reduces bone fractures remains a controversial question.

A word of caution: Don’t take fluoride supplements on your own. Taking too much fluoride can actually be bad for your bones by making them brittle. The amounts of fluoride added to drinking water are safe.

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To organize an online presence, you need to have your website live on the internet. This involves getting a hosting account with one of the accessible web hosting companies where you can publish your website. The type of account depend on the type of website, size of website and other cognate issues like the number of users and projected bandwidth usage.

Most web hosting companies proffer cheap hosting services which are favorable for small businesses and personal websites. This ranges from free accounts to those costing upright a few dollars per month. This should not however be confused with sub-standard hosting services though some are known to offer poor technical and purchaser help to such account holders.

It’s prudent to find out the history of the web host company before buying web space from them. The very new entrants in the merchandise may not have a proven record but those which have operated longer already have a history you can gauge with if they are the perfect choice for your website or not. Testimonials from users and go over again organizations can help you before you put a penny on their table and avoid foreseeable disappointments.

Web host account features deviate from one company to the other, you may never use some of them but a company offering advance packages is better than a plain account, who knows your site might hit and necessity to incorporate the idle features on to your site to add more functionality.

Check and check again for hidden costs when signing for a web mob account, consider the size, bandwidth capacity offered and additional costs if the quota is surpassed. Some web swarm companies may lure UN suspecting customers with “Cheap Hosting Accounts” only to unveil new arcane costs upon signing for the said accounts.

There are a variety of guinea pig illnesses that can affect your pet. Most conditions can be treated with better success if they’re caught early. This article will discuss some of the most common conditions that can affect cavies.

Guinea Pig Scurvy

Guinea pigs are unable to make their own vitamin C, so they need it in their diets. If they don’t get enough vitamin C, then they will likely develop scurvy. Some of the main signs of this condition include diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, and lethargy. Other common symptoms of scurvy are eye and nose discharge and difficulty walking.

Guinea Pig

Guinea Pig Heat Stroke

Cavies can generally handle colder weather better than they can hotter temperatures. When exposed to high temperatures for a prolonged period, they are susceptible to suffering a heat stroke. This is especially a problem with long-haired breeds. You need to monitor your pet when temperatures go above 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months. If the increased temperature is coupled with humidity above 70 percent, the likelihood of problems developing increases.

Guinea Pig URI

One of the next common guinea pig illnesses is a UTI, or upper respiratory infection. This condition is caused by bacteria. It causes symptoms such as difficulty breathing, eye and nose discharge, sneezing, and coughing. An upper respiratory infection needs to be treated with an antibiotic safe for use in cavies. If left untreated, your guinea pig will almost certainly die.

Guinea Pig Ear Infection

Your pet can also develop an ear infection. Like a UTI, it is also caused by bacteria. The most noticeable symptoms are head tilting and difficulty walking. You will need to seek help from a vet so that your pig can take antibiotics to treat the condition. The antibiotics can be administered in either oral or topical form.

These are some of the most common guinea pig illnesses. If you’re new caring for cavies, then there are many things you need to learn about proper guinea pig care.

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Drying and Preserving Valentine Roses

Valentine Roses are a popular flower for giving at any time of the year but none more so than on Valentines Day for which the Red Rose has become an expression of love.

The Rose, in all it’s shapes and sizes, is well worth the trouble of drying although the flowers do tend to shrivel a little and the color tends to turn darker especially with the true red roses.

To preserve your roses try one of the following methods.

Air Drying Valentine Roses

The best results are obtained when all the petals of the bud can be seen.

Pick Valentine roses only on a dry day after any dew has evaporated.

Roses with firm buds that are just about to open are are best for air drying, To air dry hang the roses in a dark, dry, cool place with good ventilation. The buds will open

up over a few days the the whole process takes couple of weeks.

When dry a little hair lacquer sprayed on will protect the rose and make it last longer.

Preserving Valentine Roses

This can be done using a desiccant such as silica gel. alum, sand or borax. Place your desiccant into a bowl making sure that the desiccant is entirely dry. Remove the stem of the rose and push a short length of florist wire through the centre of the the rose and replace the stem.

Push the wire stem into the bowl of desiccant and carefully spoon the desiccant over the rose. Seal the container and leave to dry out. Silica takes about 48 hours, but alum and borax take about 2 weeks and sand can take up to about 4 weeks.

Your desiccant can be used again by carefully drying out in an oven. When cooled it should be ready to use again.

Dried and preserved roses are also nice to use when making pot pourri as they nearly always retain their scent. Add extra scent with a drop or two of rose oil into the pot

pourri mix then displayed in open bowls of petals with similar colouring or in or use in sachets mixes for clothes drawers or the airing cupboard.

Copyright 2005 J Black

More articles and ideas for creative living can be found

online at http://www.netwrite-publish.com

This article is free for republishing

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_30384_35.html

When people approve of about stocks and things like stock trading software, their first response is always that the stock market would be a good item to get into, as long as they knew what they were doing. And it’s true, for most people, the stock market is going to be a great place to cut d understand money. It is a wonderful time to invest, because prices are low and they are only going to get higher, so you are going to be able to make means quickly and easily when you invest in the stock market. Therefore, what you want to figure out is whether a stock trading software is as a matter of fact going to work for you - and if it is going to work, how can you make it perfect for yourself.

Many people know that investing in the assets weigh up market is important, but they aren’t sure exactly how it works, and investing without the right knowledge can be downright hazardous for many people simply because of how dangerous it can be to invest blindly. Therefore, stock trading software looks good - it’s a way to conformation out how to invest wisely, and even better, it is a way to make sure that you are investing in the right stock options. But- does it profession?

The bottom line is that a good stock trading software will work for you - as long as you know what you would like it to do for you and as lengthy as you let it do its job. Stock trading software is something that you might just find to be very important to your overall investments, simply because it is going to give you a chance to actually be successful in the end.

First of all, stock trading software works in a unique way - by doing two things for you at once. The first thing that it does is tip off a exaggerate sure that you have the right education about the stock marketing, so that you know what you are doing. This is very important because if you want to make liquid assets and if you want to be successful with it, you want to be sure that you are focusing on how to do it correctly. Getting the right education is important, and it is in fact needed in order to be successful on the market.

Therefore, you know that a stock trading software is going to employment when it comes to education. It will be able to give you the basics that you need to have in order to have a little bit of know-how when it comes to what you need to do. For many people, this is customary to be a great way to be a success, simply because they’ll feel as if they already know what they are doing. But, that isn’t the only way that a stock trading software is going to business for you, either.

The second way that a stock trading software is going to work is that it is going to give you a chance to figure out positively what you should be trading, and is even going to give you suggestions about this. With the right stock trading software, you can input the things that you want to get out of the stocks into the computer, and the software will light on up with a list of the various types of stocks that you should be trading. Many types of software will also give you a customized list of exactly what you should be trading, and what is prospering to be the most successful for you. This is perhaps the best way that a stock trading software is going to work for you.

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BERLIN (Dow Jones)–German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday efforts to rescue the banking sector, hit hard by the financial crisis, have worked out.

“We fundamentally succeeded in rescuing banks,” Merkel said at a conference organized by the Initiative New Social Market Economy, or INSM.

However, she added that there still needs to be a “timely sensible” restructuring of the country’s state-owned Landesbanken.

“We are still working on this problem,” Merkel said. “The Landesbanken must restructure.”

The chancellor also said the Basel II rules, which govern the amount of capital banks need to hold against potential market losses, must be changed to avoid any negative impact on economic growth.

Merkel said she doesn’t expect domestic demand to replace exports as the main driver of Germany’s economy.

The chancellor also sharply criticized the recent liquidity policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve, calling for a return to what she called “sensibility.”

She said the independence of the European Central Bank “must be retained and things which other central banks are doing, must be reduced.”

“I regard with great skepticism whatever powers for example the Fed has and also the Bank of England,” Merkel said. “We must together return to an independent central bank policy and to a policy of reason, otherwise we will be in exactly the same situation in 10 years time.”

She added that an international financial market regulatory framework is needed.

-By Andrea Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; +49-(0)30-2888-4126; andrea.thomas@dowjones.com

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