What does a chiropractor do?

When you hear the word chiropractor you might immediately think of the word “quack”. There is a great deal of disagreement about the effectiveness of chiropractors and what they can and can’t do to help improve your health. Chiropractors are most commonly associated with relieving back pain. Some chiropractors may claim to be able to improve other health conditions such as asthma, chronic ear infections, and a myriad of other common medical conditions. You probably either love chiropractors or think that they use their techniques to keep reeling patients back into their office for repeated treatments. There may be truth to both of these schools of thought.

There is great evidence that chiropractors can help improve back pain and other musculoskeletal problems by realigning the vertebrae of the patient’s spine. A chiropractor can manipulate vertebrae and cause them to move back into place. Repeated manipulations may be necessary because the vertebrae want to slip back into their old positions. A good chiropractor will use his hands to manipulate the vertebrae back into alignment. Some chiropractors use mechanical devices or small hammer-like tools to tap vertebrae back into place.

Some chiropractors subscribe to the theory of subluxation. Subluxation theory supposes that the misalignment of vertebrae puts pressure on components of the nervous system that in turn causes all sorts of health problems within the body. These chiropractors will tell you that chiropractic care is a necessary part of your health and well being. If you visit a chiropractor that subscribes to subluxation theory you will most likely be put on a regimen of regular chiropractic care indefinitely. There has not been any significant scientific proof that chiropractic care provides any improvement in non-musculoskeletal problems but it may provide a strong placebo effect to patients who are suffering from them.

A chiropractor may often point to the ‘popping’ noise that occurs when he adjusts your vertebrae as evidence of misalignment. Chiropractors often use this sound to reinforce your belief that you need ongoing care. What many patients don’t know is that it is possible to make this ‘popping’ noise by manipulating normal aligned vertebrae.

Your first visit to a chiropractor can include any number of tests. A chiropractor will first ask you for your medical history and an indication of where you are experiencing pain. Some chiropractors will perform x-rays on your spine to check of misalignments and specific problems. Chiropractors who subscribe to the theory of subluxation may have special sensor scopes that they use on your spine to detect areas of warmth that would indicate restriction of nerves. Once your trouble areas are determined you may undergo a series of adjustments to your spine. Spinal adjustments are usually not painful.

You will probably be asked to return for a number of regular visits for continued manipulation. The chiropractor may take additional x-rays to determine the status of your condition. If you are visiting a chiropractor for pain in your back you should stop your treatment as soon as you are feeling better. Repeated chiropractic care has not been shown to be of benefit unless the patient is still having pain.

Many insurance companies are now covering chiropractic visits. Chiropractic care can be an effective tool for relieving back pain without medication just as physical and occupational therapy can be. Be wary of chiropractors that subscribe to the theory of subluxation and those that indicate the need for indefinite repeat visits. Check with your family doctor about the effectiveness of chiropractic treatments for conditions other than mechanical musculoskeletal pain.

What Does a Civil Engineer Do?

A civil engineer practices civil engineering, the branch of engineering which focuses on the design, construction, and maintenance of public works. These professionals may be employed by municipalities or by private firms which have landed contracts to build such public works. The qualifications to become a civil engineer vary by nation, but generally the position requires at least a four year degree, and in some cases formal certification will be needed as well before someone can advertise as a civil engineer.

Who are Maoist rebels?

The Naxalites, Naxals or Naksalvadis are a Maoist communist group in India, leaders of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency.

Map showing the districts where the Naxalite movement is active 

Their name comes from the village of Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal where the movement originated, and the group are far-left radicalcommunists, supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced to the split in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to formation of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In recent years, it has spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

As of 2009, Naxalites are active across approximately 220 districts in twenty states of India accounting for about 40 percent of India's geographical area,They are especially concentrated in an area known as the "Red corridor", where they control 92,000 square kilometers. According to India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, 20,000 armed cadre Naxalites were operating apart from 50,000 regular cadres working in their various mass organizations and millions of sympathisers, and their growing influence prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare them as the most serious internal threat to India's national security.

The Naxalites are opposed by virtually all mainstream Indian political groups. In February 2009, Central government announced its plans for broad, co-ordinated operations in all affected states (Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal), to plug all possible escape routes of Naxalites.

Q+A: What's happening in turbulent Thailand?

Thai troops battled anti-government protesters in Bangkok on Friday, attempting to seal off their encampment after an assassination attempt on a renegade general unleashed a fresh wave of violence.

Troops had yet to completely block roads leading to the area of luxury hotels and ritzy department stores occupied by protesters for nearly six weeks, raising questions over whether the government could soon end the protests.

The crisis, in which 30 people have been killed and more than 1,400 wounded since April, has paralyzed parts of Bangkok, devastated the vital tourism industry and scared away investors.

Here are some questions and answers on the crisis.

WILL THE MILITARY TRY TO DISPERSE THE RED SHIRTS?

The army said on Friday it has no intention of trying to enter the "red shirt" protest encampment, which sprawls over 3 kms (2 miles) of road in central Bangkok to disperse them.

The army spokesman said anyone who wanted to leave can leave safely. The army will focus on sealing off roads in an area of Bangkok that is at least 10 square kilometers, Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. The military has repeatedly expressed reluctance to enter the protest area. It cannot be ruled out, however, and as time goes on will become increasingly likely.

WHY IS THE MILITARY SKIRMISHING WITH PROTESTERS?

Hundreds of red shirt protesters are trying to keep the army from setting up the security cordon around the sprawling encampment they have occupied for almost six weeks. They have tried to set up at least one checkpoint outside the encampment, fortified with walls of kerosene-soaked tires, bamboo rods and concrete, which troops on Friday said they would not tolerate. Troops are also trying to push protesters, armed with rocks, slingshots and homemade rockets, back into the encampment. Some may also have guns, the military says.

HOW DOES SHOOTING OF ROGUE GENERAL AFFECT PROTESTS?

The latest bout of violence erupted after Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, a suspended army military strategy specialist better known as "Seh Daeng" (Commander Red), was shot in the head, apparently by a sniper, while talking to reporters on Thursday evening.

He underwent brain surgery and was in critical condition.

Khattiya had been branded a terrorist by the Thai government, which accused him of involvement in dozens of grenade attacks that have wounded more than 100 people.

But in recent days he was equally critical of other red shirt leaders, accusing them of embracing Abhisit's proposed "national reconciliation" which unraveled after protesters refused to leave the streets.

Speculation was rife as to who might have tried to assassinate him, with fingers pointing at the military, shadowy militants who have appeared in previous incidents of violence, and the ranks of red shirts themselves.

"It's a clear attempt to decapitate the red shirt military leadership," said Anthony Davies, a security consultant with IHS-Jane's.

"It's a smart tactical move that will cause confusion in the red shirts' military ranks and send a message to the leadership that if they don't want to negotiate and come out, they can expect extreme consequences."

The head of a political party allied to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the iconic figure of the protest movement, called for the red shirts to abandon the protest encampment after the shooting. The 22-member red shirt leadership council has struggled to find common ground on how to end the protests and appeared in disarray on Friday. Its chairman and several others have not been seen in days.

WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS OF A POLITICAL DEAL NOW?

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva withdrew his offer of a November 14 election and says he will offer no more olive branches to the red-shirted demonstrators after their refusal to budge from their protest site in an upmarket shopping and hotel district.

The red shirts had agreed to Abhisit's five-point reconciliation plan and the November 14th poll date, but then insisted the premier and his deputy, Suthep Thaugsuban, be prosecuted for ordering troops to break up a rally at their previous protest site at the Phan Fah bridge on April 10, a botched effort that left 25 dead and more than 800 wounded.

Abhisit said the deal was non-negotiable and ordered the red shirts to leave. They have refused and his government says it will scrap the polls -- which were due to take place more than a year early -- but proceed with the reconciliation plan without the red shirts on board.

WHAT OPTIONS DOES ABHIST HAVE LEFT?

The latest turn of events indicates Abhisit and his army-backed government will try to settle the immediate crisis, by laying siege to the protesters.

That could take days -- or months, depending on the protesters' ability to sustain themselves behind their fortifications.

The military has repeatedly said it is unwilling to undertake an operation to break up the protest site, which has been occupied by 10,000 to 20,000 people at various times. A crackdown at the well-guarded site could turn out to be another bloodbath, with heavy casualties on both sides. It would no doubt be a chaotic battle security forces have no guarantee of winning

HOW WILL THE CRISIS IMPACT MARKETS AND THE ECONOMY?

The crisis has scared off investors, decimated the tourism industry and begun to hit the wider economy.

The occupation of Bangkok's ritziest shopping area by protesters has forced hotels, malls and offices to close doors and cut jobs. The tourism sector makes up 6 percent of the economy, but employs 15 percent of the national workforce. So loss of tourism has a knock-on effect on economic activity.

Foreign investors have turned negative since violence flared in April and have sold 17.4 billion baht ($539 million) in Thai shares over the past five sessions, cutting their net buying so far this year to 21 billion baht as of Tuesday.

Stocks fell another 1.2 percent on Friday.

The cost of insuring Thai debt jumped the most in 15 months and Thai bond yields fell to a nine-month low on Friday as the wave of violence prompted investors to rush to the relative safety of government debt.

Five-year credit default swaps, used to hedge against debt default but also to speculate on country risk, jumped by more than 30 basis points to 142.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Wednesday the protests could cut growth by 0.3 percentage point off his 4.5-5.0 percent growth forecast. Kasikorn Research Center said growth could be cut by as much as 2 points if there were more clashes.

Consumer confidence fell in February and March, after hitting a 21-month high in January, due to political turmoil, sinking to its lowest since July 2009, with sentiment eroded by political unrest and the possibility of a crackdown.

Who are the Somali pirates?

So who are these modern-day buccaneers I keep hearing about?

HOW DID THEY START?

* When warlords toppled former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia collapsed into anarchy. That led to a wave of illegal fishing, plus dumping of toxic and industrial waste, in Somali waters by foreign fleets from Europe and Asia.

* Toward the end of the decade, local fishermen and militia formed groups with names like the "Somali Coastguards" and the "National Volunteer Coastguards," to drive away or apprehend the vessels from South Korea, Italy, Spain, Thailand and elsewhere.

* Seeing how easy it was to capture ships, those groups metamorphosed this decade into old-fashioned pirate gangs, becoming ever more sophisticated in methods and bold in range.

HOW DO THEY OPERATE?

* In the early days, pirates with a few guns used fishing boats to approach vessels, and then simply tried to scramble on board or throw up ropes.

* As they gained money from ransoms, plus experience, they bought speedboats, tracking devices and more powerful weapons. Typically these days, a "mother ship" first spots a target, and a couple of speedboats are then launched to approach the vessel on either side and board with hooks and ladders.

* Pirates sometimes fire shots over the bow to scare sailors. Often, boats will try defensive action like zigzagging in the sea or even spraying the pirates with water from high pressure hoses. Most vessels, however, are unarmed, in keeping with international maritime practice, so sailors normally surrender quickly once the pirates are on deck.

* Hostages say they are generally well treated, with the pirates viewing them as common men caught up in a wider game: the pursuit of million-dollar ransoms from owners. Some have described the pirates slaughtering and roasting goats on board to feed them, and passing round satellite phones to let them call loved ones back home.

HOW MANY ARE THERE?

* Although traditional elders disapprove and condemn them as "immoral," the number of pirates is growing, with hundreds now working in a network of gangs.

* Many poor and unemployed young Somalis see piracy as a dazzling alternative to their hard lives, given the quick money to be made. Somalis say they are lining up to go to sea.

* The gangs are based in villages and small towns along Somalia's long coast, in lairs like Eyl, Hobyo and Haradheere.

HOW MUCH MONEY ARE THEY MAKING?

* Ship owners have been paying increasingly high ransoms with regularity. Earlier this year, the pirates made more than $6 million from the negotiated release of the Saudi supertanker the Sirius Star and the Ukrainian vessel the MV Faina.

* Ransoms during 2008, when 42 vessels were captured, ranged from $500,000 to $2 million, experts say.

* The pirates reinvest some of their money in better equipment and boats. They also spend plenty of it on flashy living, taking new wives, building palatial villas and buying 4x4 vehicles. Some get involved in smuggling.

* Financiers and masterminds, who are generally older than the young pirates, take a large cut of ransoms.

* Local rulers also take a share to allow the pirates to operate unchecked out of their territories.

WHAT CAN THE WORLD DO?

* All analysts agree that the best way to suppress piracy off Somalia is to achieve stability onshore, where civil conflict has raged for the last 18 years.

* Fourteen attempts to restore central government have failed since 1991, and a 15th one is in its infancy. The United Nations and others are hopeful that the administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, set up earlier this year, is the best chance in recent times of bringing peace to Somalia.

* Ahmed is a moderate Islamist with widespread support inside and outside Somalia, but he faces an insurgency by pro-al Qaeda militant Islamists and his government really controls little but a few parts of the capital Mogadishu.

* At sea, more than a dozen countries have provided ships for a flotilla of naval patrols off Somalia since the end of 2008. That brought an initial dip in the number of attacks, especially in the Gulf of Aden, where the patrols were concentrated. But the ever more brazen pirates have simply moved their operations further out into the Indian Ocean.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES?

* Though world attention has been focused on Phillips the American and his rescue, Somali piracy causes enormous hardship and stress for the hundreds of hostages still caught up in it, mainly from the Third World. Released captives say they live in constant fear of being killed by the pirates or during a rescue attempt, and worry about wives and children far away. Some said pirates beat them, though in general their treatment is humane.

* Some shippers have decided to incur the extra cost and time of sending cargoes round South Africa instead of through the Gulf of Aden into the Suez Canal en route to Europe.

* Insurance premiums have risen for the whole industry.

* Somalia has suddenly come into President Barack Obama's foreign policy in-tray. Americans will shudder at the memory of a disastrous U.S. intervention in the early 1990s, including the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" battle when 18 U.S. servicemen were killed.

Who is the Taliban?

The Taliban (Pashto: طالبان ṭālibān, meaning "students"), also Taleban, is a Sunni Islamist political movement that governed Afghanistan from 1996 until it was overthrown in late 2001 during Operation Enduring Freedom. It has regrouped since 2004 and revived as a strong insurgencymovement governing local Pashtun areas and fighting a guerrilla war against the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the NATO-ledInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The movement is primarily made up of members belonging to ethnic Pashtun tribes, along with volunteers from nearby Islamic countries such as Uzbeks, Tajiks, Chechens, Arabs, Punjabis and others. It operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, mostly around the Durand Line regions. U.S. officials say their headquarters is in or near Quetta, Pakistan, and that Pakistan andIran provide support, although both nations deny this.

Mullah Mohammed Omar, in hiding, leads the movement. Omar's original commanders were "a mixture of former small-unit military commanders and madrasah teachers,"while its rank-and-file was made up mostly of Afghan refugees who had studied at Islamic religious schools in Pakistan. The Taliban received valuable training, supplies and arms from the Pakistani government, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and many recruits from madrasas for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, primarily ones established by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam(JUI).

Although in control of Afghanistan's capital (Kabul) and most of the country for five years, the Taliban regime, which called itself the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It has regained some amount of political control and acceptance in Pakistan's border region, but recently lost one of its key leaders, Baitullah Mehsud, in a CIA missile strike. However Pakistan has launched an offensive to force the Taliban from its territory.

The Taliban enforced one of the "strictest interpretation[s] of Sharia law ever seen in the Muslim world", but occasionally modifies its code of conduct. In mid-2009, it established an ombudsman office in northern Kandahar, David Kilcullen describes as a "direct challenge" to the ISAF.

What is the war in Afghanistan all about?

The War in Afghanistan is an ongoing coalition conflict which began on October 7, 2001, as the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom(OEF) that was launched, along with the British military, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. The UK has, since 2002, led its own military operation, Operation Herrick, as part of the same war in Afghanistan. The character of the war evolved from a violent struggle against Al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters to a complex counterinsurgency effort.

The first phase of the war was the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom, to remove the safe haven to Al-Qaeda and its use of the Afghan territory as a base of operations for terrorist activities. In that first phase, U.S. and coalition forces, working with the Afghan opposition forces of the Northern Alliance, quickly ousted the Taliban regime. During the following Karzai administration, the character of the war shifted to an effort aimed at smothering insurgency, in which the insurgents preferred not to directly confront the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops, but blended into the local population and mainly usedimprovised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide bombings.

The stated aim of the invasion was to find Osama bin Laden and other high-ranking Al-Qaeda members to be put on trial, to destroy the whole organization of Al-Qaeda, and to remove the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbor to Al-Qaeda. The Bush administration stated that, as policy, it would not distinguish between terrorist organizations and nations or governments that harbor them. The United Nations did not authorize the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The second operation is the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was established by the UN Security Council at the end of December 2001 to secure Kabul and the surrounding areas. NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003. By July 23, 2009, ISAF had around 64,500 troops from 42 countries, with NATO members providing the core of the force. The NATO commitment is particularly important to the United States because it gives international legitimacy to the war.[30] The United States has approximately 29,950 troops in ISAF.[31]

The US and UK led the aerial bombing, in support of ground forces supplied primarily by the Afghan Northern Alliance. In 2002, American, Britishand Canadian infantry were committed, along with special forces from several allied nations, including Australia. Later, NATO troops were added.

The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength. Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production, and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul.

By the end of 2008, the Taliban had severed any remaining ties with al-Qaeda. According to senior U.S. military intelligence officials, there are perhaps fewer than 100 members of Al-Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan.[38] The Taliban can sustain itself indefinitely, according to a December 2009 briefing by the top U.S. intelligence officer in Afghanistan.[39]

On December 1, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he would escalate U.S. military involvement by deploying an additional 30,000 soldiers over a period of six months. He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date. The following day, the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, cautioned that the timeline was flexible and “is not an absolute” and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, when asked by a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee if it is possible that no soldiers would be withdrawn in July 2011, responded, "The president, as commander in chief, always has the option to adjust his decisions."

On January 26, 2010, at the International Conference on Afghanistan in London which brought together some 70 countries and organizations, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told world leaders that he intends to reach out to the top echelons of the Taliban within a few weeks with a peace initiative. Karzai set the framework for dialogue with Taliban leaders when he called on the group's leadership to take part in a "loya jirga"—or large assembly of elders—to initiate peace talks.

So in plain terms ie mine:

Taliban is a government organization in Afghanistan and Al- Qaeda is an terrorist organization to which they support therefore the US and other countries want to remove the Taliban thus the war in Afghanistan began!

Q&A: Greece's financial crisis explained

European Union leaders have hailed an agreement to use funds from both Europe and the International Monetary Fund to help financially-crippled Greece as important for the euro zone.

So what's the problem in Greece?
Years of unrestrained spending, cheap lending and failure to implement financial reforms left Greece badly exposed when the global economic downturn struck. This whisked away a curtain of partly fiddled statistics to reveal debt levels and deficits that exceeded limits set by the eurozone.


How big are these debts?
National debt, put at €300 billion ($413.6 billion), is bigger than the country's economy, with some estimates predicting it will reach 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2010. The country's deficit -- how much more it spends than it takes in -- is 12.7 percent.


So what happens now?
Greece's credit rating -- the assessment of its ability to repay its debts -- has been downgraded to the lowest in the eurozone, meaning it will likely be viewed as a financial black hole by foreign investors. This leaves the country struggling to pay its bills as interest rates on existing debts rise. The Greek government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, which inherited much of the financial burden when it took office late last year, has already scrapped most of its pre-election promises and must implement harsh and unpopular spending cuts.

Will this hurt the rest of Europe?
Greece is already in major breach of eurozone rules on deficit management and with the financial markets betting the country will default on its debts, this reflects badly on the credibility of the euro. There are also fears that financial doubts will infect other nations at the low end of Europe's economic scale, with Portugal and the Republic of Ireland coming under scrutiny. If Europe needs to resort to rescue packages involving bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, this would further damage the euro's reputation and could lead to a substantial fall against other key currencies.


So what is Greece doing?
As already mentioned, the government has started slashing away at spending and has implemented austerity measures aimed at reducing the deficit by more than €10 billion ($13.7 billion). It has hiked taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol, raised the retirement age by two years, imposed public sector pay cuts and applied tough new tax evasion regulations.


Are people happy with this?
Predictably, quite the opposite and there have been warnings of resistance from various sectors of society. Workers nationwide have staged strikes closing airports, government offices, courts and schools. This industrial action is expected to continue.


How are Greece's European neighbors helping?
Led by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, all 16 countries which make up the euro zone have agreed a rescue plan for their ailing neighbor. The package, which would only be offered as a last resort, will involve co-ordinated bilateral loans from countries inside the common currency area, as well as funds and technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to a joint statement on the EU Web site, a "majority" of the euro zone States would contribute an amount based on their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population, "in the event that Greece needed support after failing to access funds in the financial markets."

This means Germany will be the main contributor, followed by France. Although the announcement did not mention any specific figure, a senior European official quoted by Reuters said that the potential package may be worth around 20 billion euro (US$26.8 billion).

However any European-backed loan package requires the unanimous approval of European Union members, meaning any euro zone country would have effective veto power.