Caution about global cooling

A TOP Russian scientist has warned that the earth will experience global cooling in next 50 years which will be followed by a period of global warming in the early 22nd century “On the basis of our solar emission research, we have developed a scenario of global cooling of the earths climate by the middle of this century and the beginning of a regular 200-year-long cycle of global warming at the start of the 22nd century,” said Dr Habibullo Abdusamatov of the Russian Academy of Sciences astronomical observatory.

Source : HT

Fossils in north China may explain extinction of dinosaurs

PALAEONTOLOGISTS CLAIMED on Sunday that dinosaur fossils discovered in north China may help to explain the secrets behind the extinction of the gigantic animals. They said the fossils come from about 10 dinosaurs and have enormous scientific research value.

Source : HT

Offset your carbon emissions by sending a text message

MOBILE PHONE users will be able to offset their carbon emissions by sending a text message using a scheme launched by conservation charity the World Land Trust. For each text received, the WLT will off¬set 140kg of C02 through various re¬forestation projects worldwide. This is the equivalent of the amount of C02 produced by a return flight from London to Paris, 16 people sit¬ting down for a restaurant meal, eight nights in a hotel or two nights on a cruise ship.

Source : HT

National Technical Research Organisations (NTRO) New Cyber Chief

ANIL CHOUDHRY, who retired as secretary (Internal Security) to Home Ministry, has now been appointed in the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) to monitor the functioning of its cyber unit. The NTRO is part of the National Security Council. Choudhry along with M.B. Kaushal, is the only IPS officer to have retired as a full secretary to government of India. Choudhry had a long stint of more than two decades in the Intelligence Bureau and worked closely with National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan.

Source : HT

Delhi Government Decided to Construct 36 New Hospitals

IN THE run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government has decided to construct 36 hospitals. Some of the hospitals will offer cancer treatment facilities.

“Some of these hi-tech hospitals will be built in the Trans-ya-muna area of Delhi,” said a senior official at the CMs office.

“Initially the government had set aside Rs 150 million for the construction of the hospitals, but more funds will be made available,” the official said.

Source : HT

ICAI sign MoU with CERT

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Centre for Applied Research and Training (CERT), Abu Dhabi, on Sunday signed an MoU to conceptualise and devise an international curriculum in accountancy This will integrate local needs keeping in mind various requirements of different levels of accountancy and audit professionals, a press release said. The MoU was signed by ICAI president Manoharan T.N., and CERT chairman Tayeb Kamali. The existing education and skill sets in the area of accountancy and auditing would be reviewed and a strategic plan prepared for the development of accountancy and auditing profession in the UAE, ensuring independence and impartiality.

Source : HT

Exide 100% EOU

Battery major Exide Industries Ltd will set up a 100 per cent export-oriented unit adjacent to its existing facility here in East Midnapore district, CMD S.B. Ganguly said here. The company would in-vest Rs 60 crore which would be spent over three years, Ganguly said at the foundation laying ceremony of the new unit here. The export-oriented unit would manufacture fork-lift truck traction batteries which would be exported to countries like Australia, Japan, Singapore, he said.

Source : HT

China passes bankruptcy law

Chinas parliament adopted a long-awaited corporate bankruptcy law on Sunday, aiming to protect both creditors and workers of bankrupt enterprises, Xinhua news agency reported. The bankruptcy law, which will come into effect on June 1,2007, has taken 12 years to make its way through the legislative process in the National Peoples Congress. The current rules governing bankruptcy were established 20 years ago when China had a planned economy coordinated by bureaucrats in Beijing. The new law would allow regulators to seek the bankruptcy of failed banks, insurers and securities companies, bolstering official sway over the financial sector.

Source : HT

Volkswagen plans 400m euro plant in India

Volkswagen plans to invest up to 400 million euro ($511.1 m) to set up a plant in India, Der Spiegel magazine has reported. The firms supervisory board would make a decision on the move at a meeting next month, though it was not expected to be contested, the magazine said. “As is known, VW is examining entry into the Indian market. We are not commenting on further details,” a Volkswagen spokesman said on Saturday.

Source : HT

GMR plans 250-acre aerotropolis in Delhi

GMR-led JV company, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), plans to develop an Aerotropolis around the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the capital, which could provide facilities like convention centres, malls and golf course. “DIAL proposes to build a world-class Aerotropolis by developing 250 acres of land around the Delhi Airport for commercial activities,” a company official said.

Source : HT

Microsoft enters into alliance with MTV

Microsoft India on Thursday entered into a strategic alliance with MTV Networks India for promoting its game console cum entertainment device Xbox 360. Through this partnership MTV Networks India will kick-off activities surrounding ‘Viacom Business Solutions’ which involves creating television content around a product or service. MTV had previously experimented with brands like Sprite in India through this model. Microsoft also announced that it will launch Xbox 360 in India on September 23.

Source : ET

Future Group plans retail brand outlets

FUTURE Group — owners of the Pantaloons, Big Bazaar and Central chain of stores — has plans to make it big in the fashion apparel segment. The group intends to take its topline label apparel brands such as John Miller and Bare national through retail brand outlets. This apart, the group is also contemplating hiving off some of these brands into a separate division or a company. Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani told ET: “While plans to take some of these high selling private labels national through separate format stores of 1,500-2,000 sq ft has already been finalised.”

Source : ET

MTNL to target 141 broadband clients

MTNL has charted an ambitious target of 14 lakh broad¬band customers, up from the current 3 lakh, in the next one year. The PSU telco is banking on value-added services to ex¬pand the user base for the broadband service, offered under the Triband brand.

MTNL is also set to launch IPTV, to offer video on demand and over 100 channels by Octo¬ber this year. The tariff for IPTV services will be at par with rentals being charged by cable operators. “We are conducting market tri¬als and are ready for the launch. We will offer 50 channels to begin with and scale it later to 100,” MTNL general manager - broad¬band Peeyush Agrawal, said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The basic package for IPTV will also offer 100 chat sessions, he added. The company has tied up with IOL Broadband, optic fibre company Aksh and the Mumbai-based Time Broadband. These companies will offer a content delivery platform to MTNL.

Mumbai accounts for 1.6 lakh of MTNLs 3 lakh broadband customers. “We are looking at 7 lakh more customers in Mumbai within one year. We hope to see a similar addition in Delhi,” Mr Agrawal said.

Source : ET

Etihad Air launches loyalty scheme

Etihad Airways on Wednesday launched its loyalty programme which will give bonus miles to passengers. The airline is also looking at partnering with Indian carriers such as Air India, Indian, Air Sahara and Jet Airways to expand the reach of its new scheme. The UAE-based carrier plans to double the number of its flights between Abu Dhabi and India as well. The airline already has ticketing arrangements with these four Indian carriers.

Source : ET

Indian flights to Varanasi, Khajuraho

Indian is launching new flights to Khajuraho and Varanasi from Delhi from September 15, 2006. The airline has also scheduled a daily flight on the Varanasi-Kathmandu route. The carrier has increased the frequency of operations on several routes such as Chennai-Bangalore, Delhi-Raipur-Vizag-Chennai, Chennai-Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata-Agartala, Kolkata-Silchar and Silchar-lmphal.

Source : ET

Godrej upbeat on home and office furniture venture

Godrej and Boyce, the retailing arm of Godrej, is upbeat about its home and office furniture venture with the company betting big on the changing lifestyle pattern of consumers. The company is targeting a revenue of Rs 100 crore by the end of this fiscal besides increasing the number of its retail oudets Godrej Lifespace from the present 22 to 90 in the next two to three years. “We are bullish about the furniture venture as we see the demographic patterns highly favourable for the growth of this division. Our vision is to become a Rs 300 crore company by the end of 2010,” said vice-president Shyam Motwani.

Source : ET

Kingfisher gets NEs preferred airline status

Vijay Mallyas Kingfisher Airlines on Wednesday entered into an agreement with the North East Tourism Development Corporation for promoting tourist destinations in the seven north¬eastern states and was conferred the status of preferred airline by the corporation. “We signed an agreement with Kingfisher and it will be our strategic partner in tourism promotion in the region,” NETDC chairman and Assam governor Lt Gen Ajai Singh said.

Source : ET

Rail Tel Corp opens cyber V cafe at Pune station

RailTel Corporation of India, an undertaking of the ministry of railways, on Wednesday opened an internet cafe at the railway station here, taking the number of such outlets to seven in the country. The initiaive is part of RailTels plan to set up 300 cyber cafes at important railway stations in two phases. In phase-I, 82 stations have been identified. At present, Rail Tel Cyber Express cafes are functional at six railway stations - New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gorakhpur, Asansol and Jhansi.

Source : ET

Cycle sector grow on fancy cycles segment

If you thought bicycles, once a lifeline of rural India, are passe in todays world of swanky mass rapid transport systems, sleek electric trains and fancy motorbikes, think again. They have in fact made a strong comeback riding the growth in fancy cycles segment. The old, standard black cycles that once dotted country roads are riding downhill, but the fancy cycle segment — comprising junior, teenager and women bicycles — has docked swift growth, like in most western countries. At present, this segment accounts for almost 40% of the total production of 1.6crore units produced in the country.

Source : ET

Cong to work out land displacement policy following SEZ acrimony

THE CONGRESS, which is under fire from farmers in states such as Haryana over land acquisition for special economic zone (SEZ) projects, is mulling over a displace¬ment and rehabilitation policy aimed at reduc¬ing acrimony between land oustees and the ad¬ministration on the issue of compensation. The move to articulate the partys stand on the sub¬ject of land oustees comes even as the UFA gov¬ernments SEZ policy is taking-off under com¬merce minister Kamal Nath. Based on a Draft National Development, Displacement and Re¬habilitation Policy put out by the National Ad¬visory Council (NAC) — which is known for coming out with seemingly impractical social¬ly oriented proposals—the plan is targeted at all land oustees of developmental projects such as those of irrigation, mining and SEZs among others, a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member said. “The Andhra Pradesh govern¬ment is already working on a policy to make farmers or landowners partners in the develop¬ment work undertaken in SEZ plots. The state government is working out a proposal to give them their fair share in the appreciated price of land, acquired from them at low prices,” he said. The issue could be raised at a meeting of Congress chief ministers scheduled at the end of September. The CMs meeting is set to discuss two major issues- agriculture and internal secu¬rity. Work on the NAC concept paper, which was written in May 2005, has already begun within the pany. A senior Congress leader said if compensation in keeping with the appreciated land prices and housing in the developed land were provided, then owners and farmers would not protest when faced with the prospect of losing their land to development projects-Congress president Sonia Gandhi was also sounded out on the problems faced by farmers who lost their land to mega SEZ projects by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee recendy.

Source : ET