The latest milk powder scandal in China has taken a new turn with the concerned Chinese dairy saying it was distributing products imported from New Zealand. The New Zealand supplier has claimed its products were “100% safe”.
Synutra International, the Chinese dairy, made the statement after the government ordered a probe into accusations that babies had developed breasts after consuming milk powder sold by it.
Hormonal levels in at least three babies in Hubei province and one in Beijing have risen to the levels of adult women after consuming the milk products, sources said. The Chinese health ministry on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the allegations.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Indian origin Computer scientist claimed to have solved toughest riddle
Vinay Deolalikar, who works with the US multinational information technology corporation Hewlett-Packard in California, believes he has solved the problem of "P versus NP", Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.
The Massachusetts-based Clay Mathematical Institute has categorised "P vs NP" as one of the seven millennium problems. It is considered the "most difficult" one to be solved.
Gmail revamped
In a blog post Benjamin Grol, Gmail product manager said "An improved Contacts interface has been the number one requested feature from user feedback."
While the core Gmail experience has been changed significantly since its 2004 launch, the Contacts interface has not seen too many changes. The new version of Gmail's contact manager, which Google says is already in the process of going out to users, brings with it a number of changes and addons.
* Mail, Contacts, and Tasks links have moved to the top left of Gmail.
* Compose mail is now a button rather than a link.
AETN, Network 18 JV to launch History in India
AETN and Network18 have reached an agreement to form a joint venture, AETN-18 India on Wednesday which will now launch History, BIO and other popular AETN channels in the Indian market.
AETN is the fastest growing pay television company in the United States operating two of the top five Pay TV networks - History and A&E, and the number one women's network Lifetime. In addition, History is the number one factual channel in the US since 2009.
The joint venture between Network18 Group with a share of 51 per cent and AETN holding 49 per cent will be based in Mumbai. This venture will be owned by AETN and 'New TV18' eventually. Timelines for the launch of various channels will be announced shortly and all new business operations are subject to regulatory approval. BMR Advisers acted as transaction advisers to Network18 Group.
TRAI sets 2013 as deadline for digitalization in entertainment industry
Digitization will help companies improve signal quality and offer more interactive and value-added services.
In its recomendation, TRAI said the implementation of the digital broadcast signals should take place in a phased manner starting March 2011 in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
Cities with population over one million should be digitalised by December, 2011 while in all other urban areas, including municipal corporations, digitalisation should take place by December, 2012.
Infy to find successor of Narayana Murthy
Infosys Technologies, India's second ranked software exporter, will commence the task of finding a replacement for its chairman and chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy from January next year, a national financial newspaper reported on Monday citing three sources.
Infosys' nominations committee, including ICICI Bank's non-executive chairman KV Kamath and Cornell University professor Jeffrey Sean Lehman, has already begun discussions on the process, the paper reported.
"It has to start at the right time. The normal time for discussing such replacements is around two quarters ahead of the departure of the person, which is what the plan is," the report said quoting a person close to the process.
The software firm has also begun internal discussions on the size and composition of the board to face new challenges, the report said, adding an Infosys spokeswoman declined to comment.
Bharti to buy Telecom Seychelles
The acquisition comes on heels of Bharti acquiring Zain Telecom's Africa assets for USD 10.7 billion, for which the deal was closed in June.
"The Board of Directors has approved the acquisition deal on Wednesday morning," said Bharti Airtel CEO (International) and Joint MD Manoj Kohli.
US visa fee hike to be used to develop its Border security
Senators passed a similar plan last week. But since the House version passed in a voice vote Tuesday is slightly different it will go back to the Senate for final congressional approval before being signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The measure proposes to raise the fees on H-1B visas for companies who have more than 50 per cent of their employees on such visas for highly skilled professionals from $ 320 to $ 2,320. Similarly, the fee on L visas given to multi-national transferees will go up from $ 320 to $ 2,570.
The additional fees from the popular H-1B and L visas programmes would be used to build operating bases and deploy unmanned surveillance drones to better secure the US-Mexico border, one of the rare issues both Democrats and Republicans have agreed upon.
The legislation targets companies that lawmakers say "exploit" US visa programmes. A summary of the Senate version listed Wipro, Tata, Infosys and Satyam as such firms, saying that they fly thousands of employees to the US to work at as technicians and engineers for their clients.
Aamir & Peepli live
"Aamir was surprised when he started getting postcards from different Peeplis thanking him for making the movie. Even he wasn't aware that there were so many villages with the same name," a source close to the actor said.
"The hand-written letters have been pouring in and some people have invited Aamir to visit their village and meet them in person. Touched by the gesture, Aamir has asked his staff to keep all the letters in his archive. He is touched that the villagers made the effort to write to him personally," the source added.
There are over 1,000 Peeplis all over India. The movie is set in Peepli Bhadwai village of Madhya Pradesh.
Indonesia blocks 4,000 porn sites
The Indonesian government on Wednesday announced that it is blocking access to four million pornography sites on the Internet following continuing calls from the public to protect the nation's youth from the dangers of smut.
The censoring is across the board and encompasses any material deemed pornographic, including nudity, explicit sex whether heterosexual or not, sex organs and pornographic symbols.
Indonesia's Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said the step taken in conjunction with the holy month of Ramadan, was in line with the country's anti-pornographic laws that were passed on October 30, 2008.
"Right this moment, around 90 per cent of such sites are being blocked, we will carry out the blocking exercise in stages until all are blocked," he told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
These sites have been blamed by the Indonesian public as the cause of the moral decay currently taking place among young Indonesians.
Tifatul added that the move would be retained even after Ramadan and as long as the anti-pornography laws are in force.
The censoring is across the board and encompasses any material deemed pornographic, including nudity, explicit sex whether heterosexual or not, sex organs and pornographic symbols.
Indonesia's Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said the step taken in conjunction with the holy month of Ramadan, was in line with the country's anti-pornographic laws that were passed on October 30, 2008.
"Right this moment, around 90 per cent of such sites are being blocked, we will carry out the blocking exercise in stages until all are blocked," he told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
These sites have been blamed by the Indonesian public as the cause of the moral decay currently taking place among young Indonesians.
Tifatul added that the move would be retained even after Ramadan and as long as the anti-pornography laws are in force.
UK scientists find superbug gene
British scientists have found a new gene that allows any bacteria to become a superbug, and are warning that it is widespread in India and could soon appear worldwide.
The gene, which can be swapped between different bacteria to make them resistant to most drugs, has so far been identified in 37 people who returned to the UK after undergoing surgery in India or Pakistan.
The resistant gene has also been detected in Australia, Canada, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden. The researchers say since many Americans and Europeans travel to India and Pakistan for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery, it was likely the superbug gene would spread worldwide.
In an article published online Wednesday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, doctors reported finding a new gene, called NDM-1.
The gene, which can be swapped between different bacteria to make them resistant to most drugs, has so far been identified in 37 people who returned to the UK after undergoing surgery in India or Pakistan.
The resistant gene has also been detected in Australia, Canada, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden. The researchers say since many Americans and Europeans travel to India and Pakistan for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery, it was likely the superbug gene would spread worldwide.
In an article published online Wednesday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, doctors reported finding a new gene, called NDM-1.
Villagers of Mumbai Shore collecting items washed away from sinking vessels
Nine containers from the vessel MSC Chitra washed ashore at Uran yesterday, and villagers wasted no time in rummaging through them. They broke the containers and started taking the tea powder and biscuits from them, little realising that they could be contaminated.
The entire shoreline of Uran was flooded with open tea bags, medicines and biscuit packets swimming in oil. While some containers broke when the high tide lashed the containers against the rocks, others were broken by the villagers looking for some bounty.
US Govt review finds glitch in electronics of Toyota cars
An examination of the crashes also found only one instance in which an accelerator pedal became trapped under a floor mat, and none in which a pedal became stuck or sprang back too slowly, according to a preliminary report to Congress.
Toyota has recalled nearly nine million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide to correct problems involving floor mats and sticky pedals, and lawmakers and some drivers have long suggested that a malfunction in the electronic throttle control system of the vehicles might explain some of the reports of sudden acceleration.
3000 online bank accounts robbed in UK by Cyber attack
In one of the most sophisticated cyber attacks, hackers have robbed nearly 675,000 pounds from about 3,000 online bank accounts in Britain.
The scam was carried out by using a computer virus -- described by experts as the most dangerous malware programme ever created -- that emptied the bank accounts while showing customers fake statements, the Daily Mail reported.
Internet security firm M86 Security, which discovered the scam, said the hackers stole a total of 675,000 pounds from the unnamed British bank.
The scam was carried out by using a computer virus -- described by experts as the most dangerous malware programme ever created -- that emptied the bank accounts while showing customers fake statements, the Daily Mail reported.
Internet security firm M86 Security, which discovered the scam, said the hackers stole a total of 675,000 pounds from the unnamed British bank.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
India's judicial system to be reformed - Moily
"The Government of India would like to improve quality of the judiciary through reforming the legal education. We need to make India the most preferred destination of investment," Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily said last night.
Moily, a former chief minister of Karnataka and Chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, said: "any investment above Rs five crore will be decided in commercial courts within a year."
Sahara to face disciplinary actions for placing Queen's Baton replica.
Sahara is in trouble for displaying a replica of the Queen's Baton for the Commonwealth Games in Lucknow on Saturday. The authorities plan to take legal action against company officials for disrespecting the baton, an official said.
After the customary run of the baton, it was taken to Rai Bareli. But some officials of Sahara displayed a replica at Sahara Shahr, the residence of Sahara India chairman Subroto Roy, in Gomti Nagar.
"Legal action would be taken against the Sahara officials for showing disrespect to the Queen's Baton and displaying it without permission," said Lucknow's district magistrate Anil Sagar.
Sonia asks Jaiswal to probe in Boy's death in Kanpur
The parents have blamed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's security for their son's demise and alleged that he died due to roadblocks erected during the Prime Minister's recent visit to Kanpur.
They claimed they were not allowed to take the shortest route to the hospital to give their son medical treatment on time.
Y.S.R. Jagan Mohan slams state Congress Leadership
In the first open attack on the leadership since resuming his yatra on Thursday, the young MP claimed that ministers and legislators wanted to accompany him but were being prevented from doing so.
"What crime I have committed? I am asking you if it is justified to ask ministers and legislators not to accompany me," said Jagan, without naming Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, who asked his cabinet colleagues and legislators not to join the yatra.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Google china's license renewed
Writing on the company blog, chief legal officer David Drummond said: "We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China."
Google – which has a 30% market share of Chinese search traffic – recently began directing Google.cn visitors to its uncensored Hong Kong site, saying the new approach ensured it stayed true to a commitment not to censor searches from internet users in China.
Indian vehicle sales will up by 12% by March'11 - SIAM
Due to favourable factors like the rising income, easy access to finance and new launches in the next six months, the increase of cars will hit an all-time high of 22 lakh units.
The current statistics clearly indicate the promising growth of the car market. During the first quarter of 2010-2011, Indian auto market saw a growth of 33 percent as 5.54 lakh units of cars were sold.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
