Posts Tagged ‘group’
Written by Rahul on 04 September 2009
Hyderabad, Sep.4 (ANI): Forty-eight hours after the tragic death of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajsekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash, a fierce succession race has begun notwithstanding the Congress party’s decision to put off the selection of a new leader till early next week.
Seeking to cash in on an emotional wave of sympathy, loyalists of the deceased chief minister have reportedly unleashed a strident campaign for making his son, Jaganmohan Reddy, the new chief minister.
“Jagan knew the mind of Rajasekhara Reddy. He alone can finish the unfulfilled agenda of his father,” said government chief whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka who is marshalling the MLAs in favour of Jagan.
Congress sources in Delhi have thrown up other names as possible successors. They include Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of State for Defence M. Pallam Raju, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N T Rama Rao’s daughter and junior Union minister Purandeshwari Devi and acting chief minister M K Rosaiah.
Almost all the state ministers, about 22 MPs and several Congress legislators have pitched for Jaganmohan Reddy through the media even as hundreds of party workers gathered at the secretariat,
CM’s camp office, Gandhi Bhavan and various traffic intersections are vocally making a similar demand.
The Jagan group has reportedly met Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily at the Lake View guest house to pursue their demand even as many Congress MLAs faxed individual memorandum to the party headquarters in New Delhi in support of Jaganmohan Reddy as CM.
They also called on Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari and submitted a list of 122 signatures in support of him being made the chief minister.
According to sources, there was even an attempt to pressure the governor to swear in Jagan as acting CM immediately, but that was abandoned as Rosaiah had already been sworn in by the time the loyalists reached Raj Bhavan.
Jagan, 36, is a first time MP from Kadapa and is merely 100 days old in politics. While Veerappa Moily made it clear that Rosaiah was only an interim CM and that the Congress high command will chose YSR’s successor in the next few days. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 04 September 2009
London, September 4 (ANI): India has rejected applications from two US companies for patents on two key AIDS drugs in a move that could mean more people in poor countries will have access to life-saving medicines.
According to a report in Nature News, the decisions are the latest in a string of legal victories for Cipla, India’s largest generic drug maker.
The move could also signal that patent offices in emerging economies are set to take a tougher line than industrialized countries on which drugs deserve patents.
India’s patent office rejected claims by Gilead on Tenofovir – a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, which is a frontline drug against HIV/AIDS in poor countries – and by Tibotec on Darunavir, a newer and more expensive protease inhibitor used as a second-line drug.
Both drugs block enzymes that HIV needs to replicate.
The rejection of patents on the two drugs opens the way for India to not only produce cheaper generics for its own population, but also export them to countries where the drug is not patented – reaffirming India’s role as the ‘pharmacy’ of poor countries.
“We are delighted that we have been vindicated,” said Yusuf Hamied, chairman and managing director of Cipla.
The major battle was over Tenofovir, given its extensive use.
In 2006, Cipla and a group of Indian and Brazilian non-government organizations (NGOs) independently filed oppositions to Gilead’s patent applications on the drug – marking the first time foreign NGOs had joined Indian ones in contesting a drug patent, a move motivated by the fact that the decision could impact pricing of the drug in Brazil.
Gilead responded by striking a deal the same year with 13 other Indian generic manufacturers, giving them a license to make the drug for a 5 percent royalty.
“Gilead was worried that they might lose, so they offered licenses, but these came with a sting in the tail,” said Michelle Childs, director of Medecins sans Frontieres’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign.
Manufacturers could only buy the active ingredient – the most expensive part of a drug – from Gilead-approved suppliers, and they could only sell the drug to 95 of the poorest countries, not to middle-income countries such as China and Brazil which nonetheless have substantial poor populations.
Together these restrictions limited the price reductions the generic makers could offer, according to Childs.
“The Indian patent office decision now guarantees such countries access to a cheap generic supplier,” she said.
“Cipla decided to fight rather than sign up to the license; it took a risk and it has paid off,” said Childs. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 20 August 2009
Shimla, Aug.19 (ANI): The Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), the parent body of the BJP, is maintaining its silence over the expulsion of Jawant Singh from the party.
But informed sources in the BJP told ANI that the RSS has played a behind the scene role in Jaswant’s exit.
In fact, before starting off for Shimla, BJP president Rajnath Singh met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and discussed some of the recent acts of “indiscipline” committed by Jaswant Singh, including taking a diametrically opposing view to thearty line in his latest book-”Jinnah – India-Partition-Independence”.
Senior BJP leader and political adviser to Rajnath Singh Prabhat Jha told ANI over phone from Shimla that Jaswant Singh was expelled on grounds of indiscipline.
“We have lost ground in the elections.He was such a senior parliamentarian, a member of the core committee and parliament. He should have maintained discipline,” Jha said.
When asked whether the RSS had played a role in Singh expulsion, Jha said: “It is the decision of BJP.”
Earlier in the day, the BJP parliamentary board decided to axe Singh following the release of his book, which eulogises Jinnah and demeans Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Singh had also annoyed the party when he objected to the appointment of L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley as Leaders of Opposition in the lower and upper houses of parliament.
He distributed a note titled Inaam (prize) and Parinam (result)in the party core group meeting in which he reportedly also asked uncomfortable questions and also expressed disappointment over the elevation of junior leaders like Sushma Swaraj to the post of Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Singh confirmed to reporters in SHimla today that he had distributed this paper. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 17 August 2009
New York, Aug.17 (ANI): Bollywood actresses Shilpa Shetty wowed fans of Indian cinema at was touted as one of the largest India Day Parade’s and Festivals on Sunday here.
Shetty performed the role of Grand Marshal of the parade.
It was an event packed with jaw dropping performances, incredible food, and all that is famous about Indian culture.
The parade, which has showcased India’s culture on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue since 1981, saw the participation of industrialist Vijay Mallya as the chief guest.
The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), an umbrella group of cultural, educational and community organisations in the New York tri-state region, organized the parade,
Its president Yash Paul Soi had earlier flagged off the event at the Indian consulate in New York on June 10.
The parade began on 41st Street, winded down Madison Avenue and culminated in a variety show on 23rd Street, drawing an estimated 50,000 people.
Last year, Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra was the grand marshal at the event, which celebrated India’s 61st anniversary of independence.
In past, actors and actresses Govinda, Madhuri Dixit, Dev Anand, astronaut Sunita Williams and music conductor Zubin Mehta have marched with the crowd.
This year’s guest list included New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, New Jersey governor John Corzine, New York Governor David Paterson, and President Bharrat Jagdeo of the Republic of Guyana.
The organisers also paid homage to the martyrs of the first struggle for the independence of India in 1857.
The FIA has already announced plans to campaign for two statutes of Mahatma Gandhi-one on Ellis Island and the second inside the campus of the United Nations.
The process for fund raising for these two projects has already begun. The FIA has also said that it campaign to get Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary (October 2) celebrated in public schools in the New York region.
he event, which is the 29th annual India Day Parade, also saw the particiupation of beautiful newcomer actress Reshma Shetty from USA’s Network new original series “Royal Pains” as well as the dance group Broad Street Baadshahz. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 14 August 2009
London, Aug.14 (ANI): A 22-year-old woman with a prosthetic arm has won her case for wrongful dismissal against clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch because she did not fit its “look policy”, The Independent reports.
Riam Dean, a law student, who was awarded over 9000 pounds as compensation, was forced to work in the stock room of the US firm’s London store.
Dean was born with her left forearm missing, and was first granted special permission to wear a cardigan to cover the joint where her prosthetic limb was attached.
Later, she was told the cardigan did not adhere to the firm’s dress code and that she could no longer work on the shop floor.
Dean, from Greenford, Middlesex, started working at the company’s flagship Savile Row store in June last year but worked only five shifts before resigning.
A tribunal has now ruled that she was wrongfully dismissed and unlawfully harassed but did not uphold her claim for disability discrimination.
The central London tribunal awarded Dean 7,800 pounds as compensation for injury to her feelings, 1,077.37 pounds for loss of earnings and 136.75 pounds damages for her wrongful dismissal.
It concluded she was unlawfully harassed for a reason which related to her disability and said Abercrombie and Fitch failed to comply with its duty to make reasonable adjustments, and that she was wrongfully dismissed.
It, however, said Dean’s claims of direct disability discrimination were “not well founded”.
Dean’s mother, May, said her daughter was “very, very pleased” at the outcome, but declined to comment further.
Since her dismissal, Dean has befriended disabled professional model Sophie Morgan, and the two have launched Imperfect, a clothing range and campaigning group.
No one was available for comment at Abercrombie and Fitch last night. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 13 August 2009
New Delhi, Aug.13 (ANI): An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was set up by the Centre on Thursday to tackle drought situation in nearly one-fourth of the country.
EgoM includes Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Power Minister Sushil Shinde.
Other members include Rural Development Minister C P Joshi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy.
As many as 161 districts out of over 600 have been declared as drought-hit in the country.
The EGoM will take decisions and approve new and innovative schemes, besides examining the existing schemes for suitable modification.
The term of reference for the EGoM includes assessment and monitoring of the situation arising out of drought and deficient rainfall. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 13 August 2009
Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Aug 13(ANI): A group of students wearing anti Swine Flu masks on Thursday participated in a cleanliness drive to clean the River Ganga in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi city.
Students opined that although several action plans have been announced in the past to clean up the river and millions of rupees spent, but the non-stop inflow of civic waste and industrial effluents into the river has kept it devoid of its beauty.
“We are cleaning up River Ganga. It is our national river. And, it is said that the nation comes up before religion. We used brooms, cleaned the banks of the river and removed dirt from the river,” said Taufiq, a student.
Participating students said that despite being declared as the ‘National River’, no steps had been taken to improve the condition of the Ganga, forcing them to team up to lend their bit in cleaning the river ahead of Independence Day.
Under a looming threat of the swine flu pandemic, students were also seen wearing facemasks and gloves during the exercise.
“We have worn gloves and masks because of the swine flu threat. It has been worn to prevent its spread among students and tourists coming here,” said Mayank Shekhar, another student.
In 1996, the Supreme Court had banned the discharge of effluents from various tanneries and factories located on banks of the river in Kanpur.
As of now, tonnes of waste are dumped into the river everyday. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 11 August 2009
Washington, Aug 11 (ANI): Insufficient sleep may contribute to the development of insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance, which in turn may increase the long-term risk of diabetes, concludes a new study.
The study has been accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).
Sleep curtailment is characterized by physical inactivity and overeating.
The new study examined whether reduced sleep duration itself may increase the risk of developing diabetes when combined with physical inactivity and overeating.
Researchers in this study subjected a group of healthy middle-aged men and women to two controlled 14-day periods of sedentary living with free access to food and 5.5 or 8.5 hour bedtimes. When the subjects had their bedtimes decreased from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours they showed changes in their response to two common sugar tests, which were similar to those seen in people with an increased risk of developing diabetes.
“Our findings raise the possibility that when the unhealthy aspects of the Westernized lifestyle are combined with reduced sleep duration, this might contribute to the increased risk of many overweight and sedentary individuals developing diabetes,” said Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago and a senior author of the study.
“If confirmed by future larger studies, these results would indicate that a healthy lifestyle should include not only healthy eating habits and adequate amounts of physical activity, but also obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep,” the expert added. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 10 August 2009
London, Aug 10 (ANI): A new study has revealed that stress and dieting can lead to a positive cannabis test long after the drug was last used.
Lead researcher Jonathon Arnold, from the University of Sydney in Australia, says that the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is instantly absorbed by fat cells and over the next few days is slowly diffused back into the blood.
Since THC is taken up by fat more readily than it diffuses out, the researcher says that continual intake means some THC can remain in the fat cells.
It has been suggested that stored THC can be released at a later date in situations where the body’s fat is rapidly broken down.
During the study, Arnold and colleague Iain McGregor exposed THC-laden fat cells taken from rats to the stress hormone ACTH.
The researchers found that the hormone increased the speed of release of THC from the cells.
They later injected rats with 10 milligrams per kilogram of THC (equivalent to a person smoking between five and 10 cannabis cigarettes, depending on their strength) every day for 10 days.
Two days later, they injected a third of the rats with ACTH, deprived another third of food for 24 hours, with the rest as controls.
They found that rats that were not given food had double the blood level of THC acid, a metabolite of THC, compared with the controls.
The other group exposed to ACTH also showed a statistically significant increase in THC acid levels.
Arnold said that the main implication of the work could be for legal cases in which athletes or employees have tested positive for cannabis but claim they haven’t recently consumed it,
“But the clincher would be for us to show these results in humans,” New Scientist magazine quoted him as saying.
The study has been published in the British Journal of Pharmacology. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 10 August 2009
Wana, Aug 10 (ANI): Militant commander Hakeemullah Mehsud said that no scuffle occurred between him and Waliur Rehman.
Talking to Geo News, Hakeemullah said he is quite safe, hale and hearty.
He also claimed that Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud is alive, adding if the Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik could not present any evidence regarding the death of Baitullah Mehsud, he would table the proofs to deny the reports regarding his death.
Earlier, an aide to Baitullah Mehsud, Maulana Noor Saeed, has rubbished reports of him being killed by a US drone strike last Wednesday, and said that he is alive, but ill.
Saeed was quoted by the BBC, as saying that Baitullah will issue a video message some time on Monday to quash speculations regarding his demise.
Turkistan Bhittani, a commander of the opposition Abdullah Mehsud group said clashes took place between those contending for Baitullah’s position, in which several important commanders, including Waliur Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud, were killed.
Saeed told the BBC that “no such clash had taken place and there was no difference of opinion withen the Taliban.”
‘The opposition group is spreading rumours against us,’ the BBC quoted Saeed as saying.
According to Saeed, Baitullah went to his father-in-law Ikramuddin’s home last Wednesday. He had left the area before the drone strike occurred. Baitullah’s wife, however, did die in the attack.
Saeed said if Baitullah speaks live to the media, there is a danger that he will be targeted through a drone attack. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 29 April 2009
London, April 24 (IANS) Pop legend Michael Jackson has found himself at the centre of hit-and-run allegations after his driver allegedly smashed into an ambulance on his way to pick up the singer from a Los Angeles hospital.
The chauffeur has been accused of sideswiping an ambulance and breaking off its wing mirror as he went to meet Jackson at Cedars Sinai Medical Center Wednesday, reported femalefirst.com.
The incident was reported to cops at the Beverly Hills Police Department, who have confirmed a hit-and-run accident occurred involving ‘a dark coloured SUV’ that was ‘being followed by a group of paparazzi at the time of the collision.’
However, authorities have yet to confirm the ‘Thriller’ hitmaker’s involvement, stating ‘the suspect is unknown at this time’.
No one was injured in the crash and police are currently investigating the incident.
The reason behind Jackson’s hospital visit was unknown, but the singer who was wearing a surgical mask during the trip, has been plagued by rumours of ill health for months.
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Written by Rahul on 20 April 2009
Treviso, Italy – Food security and efforts to stabilize global food prices were set to dominate the first-ever meeting of agriculture ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) which began Saturday.
But the potentially divisive issue of protectionism was also likely to crop up in the talks which are being held near the northeastern Italian city of Treviso and are scheduled to run until April 20.
Setting some of the tone on the topic on Saturday, was Italian Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia, whose country currently holds the G8 presidency.
Declaring himself a “believer in the (free) market,” Zaia however added that “if the alternative is closing hundreds or thousands of farms, then I don’t have doubts: I will fight to maintain (import) duties.”
But speaking to reporters on Saturday ahead of the talks with his counterparts from the other G8 nations – US, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Russia – Zaia confirmed that food security remained the main issue.
A policy document, prepared by the Italian presidency ahead of the talks calls for “immediate interventions” aimed at doubling by 2050 global agriculture production to ensure that the world’s fast-growing population have enough to eat.
Zaia said provisions to boost food security would be contained in a final document prepared by the G8 agriculture ministers for the end of the three-day meeting.
However, with food security being about both “quantity and quality,” Zaia said he intended to put forward Italy’s case for the “defence of genuine products.”
“Out of 10 food products in the world billed as Italian, only one actually comes from Italy,” he said.
The need to fight counterfeit foods such as cheese “made in China but being sold as Italian mozzarella,” was linked to ensuring health standards and should be of major international concern he added.
Zaia said the measures contained in the document would also be fruit of consultation with agriculture ministers from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, Australia and Egypt who have also been invited to attend several sessions of the meeting.
“I am confident the document we adopt here will be accepted by the G8 summit,” Zaia said, referring to the main meeting of G8 government leaders scheduled for July.
G8 agriculture ministers also plan to look at ways to stabilize prices, especially in the wake of the sharp increase for commodities such as wheat and rice in 2008 – a situation that triggered riots in dozens of nations.
While prices have since fallen by as much as 40-50 per cent, they are still well above their pre-crisis levels with global cereal prices for example, still some 70 per cent higher than in 2005.
The price hike has had a major impact in pushing the number of the world’s undernourished people to 963 million, as estimated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. (dpa)
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Written by Rahul on 20 April 2009
Washington – In a landmark ruling Friday, US President Barack Obama’s administration found that greenhouse gases threaten US air quality and public health, setting the stage for new limits on industry emissions that cause global warming.
The so-called “endangerment finding” by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had long been anticipated by environmental groups and marks the latest shift on US climate policy since Obama took office in January.
The ruling, which now has to be submitted for public comment for 60 days, would allow the government to regulate greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide under existing clean air laws in the United States.
“This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statements.
Former president George W Bush had rejected imposing mandatory limits on climate-damaging pollution and the decision comes nearly two years after the US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must consider regulating greenhouse gases under the existing Clean Air Act, a 1990 US law governing air pollution.
The US is taking its first steps as a nation to confront climate change,” said Vickie Patt of the climate group Environmental Defense Fund. “EPAs action is a wake up-call for national policy solutions that secure our economic and environmental future.”
The EPA’s ruling could pave the way for tougher federal standards on emissions from cars, power plants and other sources global warming.
But it remains unclear how far the administration will use this authority. Congress is considering new legislation this year to create a cap-and-trade system that would force polluting companies to pay for their emissions.
Jackson, while not yet announcing any new limits, said the “solution” to global warming was finding ways to encourage green energy technologies. (dpa)
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Written by Rahul on 09 April 2009
Bielefeld, Germany – Only one out of 10 Germans desire eternal life, according to a survey of 1,002 people conducted in January by the opinion research company Emnid based in Bielefeld, Germany.
The survey also showed that only 2 per cent of those questioned would like to live to be 150 or 300 years old, while 8 per cent desire a life span of 110 years. Fifty-six per cent would like to live to be 90 years old, and 16 per cent said they would be satisfied with 70 years.
How long people want to live apparently is dependent on age: 20 per cent of the participants in the survey between the ages of 14 and 20 said they wanted to live forever. Among people in the middle age group the percentage saying they wanted eternal life sank to 10 per cent, while in the over-60 group it was 3 per cent.
The differences are apparently due to concerns about illness and other problems that increase with age, according to April edition of Reader’s Digest, which commissioned the survey. (dpa)
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Written by Rahul on 09 April 2009
Wellington – A 29-year-old woman who gave birth on an international flight to New Zealand last month admitted Thursday to abandoning the baby girl in an aircraft toilet.
Karolina Maika was convicted and discharged after the Manukau District Court was told she was suffering a major depressive episode.
The judge heard that she had concealed her pregnancy because the child was conceived out of wedlock, which would have caused shame and embarrassment to her family and village in the Pacific island state of Samoa.
Police withdraw a charge of assault, saying they were satisfied injuries to the baby, who was found by a cleaner after the plane arrived at Auckland on March 19, were suffered during birth and not inflicted subsequently, news reports said.
Maika was flying to New Zealand in a group recruited to work as seasonal fruit pickers. The airline said it did not know she was pregnant and the court heard that she was not aware before she boarded the four-hour flight from Samoa’s capital, Apia, that she was in labour.
Maika is in the custody of immigration officials awaiting deportation to Samoa and the baby is in the care of New Zealand’s child welfare department. (dpa)
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Written by Rahul on 09 April 2009
With the New England Journal of Medicine’s last week published study about a newer DNA test for human papillomavirus (HPV) being more effective in detecting cervical cancer than the conventional Pap Smears – which involves a small scraping of cells from the cervix- a lot of questions have arisen about whether the HPV test will substitute Pap Smears! As women suffering from cervical cancer are looking for further details and elaborations about the HPV test, some of the pertinent clarifications on HPV test vis-a-vis Pap Smears have come from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
According to ACOG’s current recommendations, yearly Pap screens are helpful in detecting cervical cancer in young women aged 21 or those who have been having sex for nearly three years, whichever of the two conditions comes earlier.
For women aged 30 years and above, with three negative Pap results, ACOG puts forth three alternatives to choose from, namely – continuing with yearly Pap testing; or switching over to screening every two or three years; or adding screening with an HPV-DNA test.
Kenneth Noller, ex-ACOG President and Chairperson of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tufts Medical Center, said that both HPV and Pap Smears have nearly the same results when used repetitively over some years, though extensive HPV testing in younger women group may lead to “unnecessary testing, treatment, and worry!”
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Written by Rahul on 09 April 2009
One of India’s foremost tea sector firms, the Goodricke Group Ltd is planning to venture into the value-added segment of ready-to-drink teas, by the end of this year. As a result, over a period of three years, the company’s current six million kg sale of tea through packets will likely increase to ten million kg.
In 2008, the packet tea-related operations of Goodricke showed a sustained growth trend despite tough competition. The company has not only managed to set itself up as a lucrative business centre, it has also made inroads into new territories with the aim to fortify its presence at a variety of retailing ends. The company has also initiated the online ordering facility.
Elaborating on Goodricke’s newly-announced move on the sidelines of the company’s Annual General Meeting, Managing Director and CEO A. N. Singh said that the new ready-to-drink teas – which will initially be available in four flavors including orange, lemon and peach – would cost less than Coca Cola and Pepsi and Coca Cola.
Regarding the company’s ongoing efforts in the sphere of ready-to-drink teas, to be produced at its instant tea factory at Aibheel in Bengal, Singh said: “We need some clearance from the government for introducing ready-to-drink teas in the Indian market and we are working on that.”
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Written by Rahul on 08 April 2009
Vienna – Austrian companies forming a syndicate agreed Monday to sell their 7 per cent stake in Austrian Airlines AG to Deutsche Lufthansa AG, in a further step towards creating Europe’s largest carrier.
The syndicate includes investment companies of the banks Raiffeisen and Bank Austria, as well as the Vienna Insurance Group, according to a statement by Austria’s state industry holding OeIAG.
OeIAG agreed last December to sell its stake of 41.6 per cent in Austria’s ailing flag carrier to Lufthansa.
But the German airline also made an offer to all other shareholders, making it dependant on getting a total of 75 per cent of the shares until May 11.
Last week, Austrian Airline’s service staff and pilots agreed to an austerity plan of shorter working hours and pay reductions.
The takeover deal is pending on approval from the European Commission. (dpa)
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Written by Rahul on 08 April 2009
Carnation Auto, promoted by Jagdish Khattar, former chairman and managing director of Maruti Suzuki, has signed a joint venture pact with the Variety Group to set up multi-brand auto solution hubs in Andhra Pradesh.
The venture would offer service and maintenance, sale of secondhand cars, insurance services, and accessories i. e. all services under one roof. The company, in near future, has also plan to sell new cars.
Under the arrangement, Carnation would hold a 51 per cent stake in the latest JV while Variety will hold the remaining stake in it.
According to company officials, the Hyderabad-based group will invest Rs 40 crore in phases for setting up about 10 auto solution hubs including four in Hyderabad.
It may be noted that Carnation Auto has received Rs 250 crore of investment, including Rs 108 crore by Premji Invest and ICICI Ventures. In addition, the company already has JV partners in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Carnation Auto intends to open about 100 outlets across the country at an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore in the next four years to set up a pan-India network of outlets to provide automobile solutions.
According to reliable sources, out of total planned outlets, about 40-50 outlets are expected to go on stream by March next year. For the current financial year, Carnation Auto is expecting revenues of Rs 300 crore.
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Written by Rahul on 08 April 2009
Nairobi – Hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo are still displaced and suffering abuse and hunger as a result of an operation targeting Hutu militia, the British arm of Oxfam said Tuesday.
Rwandan and Congolese troops joined forces in January to target the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – an armed group created by Hutu militia who took part in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
The subsequent fighting saw around 250,000 displaced in the east of the country – as many as during heavy fighting between government troops and Tutsi rebels late last year.
Oxfam said there had been reports of reprisal attacks on civilians, insecurity and widespread looting.
“Homes and shops are being looted and ransacked, women and girls are being raped, and civilians are being forced to flee, many for the third or fourth time,” Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in DR Congo said.
“The war is far from over for ordinary Congolese,” he added. “These terrible human tragedies are happening in remote areas far away from television cameras, but this does not make the suffering less real for those concerned.”
Oxfam is to step up its emergency response to reach an extra 150,000 people displaced in the provinces of North and South Kivu.
The operation began after DR Congo and Rwanda reached an agreement to allow Rwandan troops across the border to tackle the FDLR – something Rwanda has been keen to do for a long time.
Rwanda’s first act in crossing the border was to arrest rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda, a long-term ally of the Kigali government.
Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defence of the People then promised to integrate into the Congolese army, bringing an end to the conflict that flared up in October.
However, while many of the civilians who fled last year’s fighting have now returned home, the fight against the FDLR – taking part in different areas of DR Congo – has forced many others to flee.
The United Nations has faced continuous criticism of its role in DR Congo – the 17,000-strong force was unable to protect civilians during the fighting last year – and Oxfam said that once again a lack of resources was hampering efforts to protect the general populace.
“More than four months after the UN Security Council approved 3,000 additional peacekeepers, not one extra soldier has arrived,” said Nicole Widdersheim, the Head of Oxfam International’s New York office.
“Until the reinforcements come, MONUC (the UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo) needs to ensure that the troops on the ground are doing all in their power to protect people.”(dpa)
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