Saving Dhaka’s heritage

From the back of a rickshaw in the busy streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, Taimur Islam shook his head and pointed to an old residential building being torn down. “There’s goes another one,” he said. “It never stops.”
Related slide show: A future Dhaka, through its past
Islam, an architect, is the head of the Urban Study Group, a small band of architects founded in 2004 that are campaigning to save the cultural heritage of Puran Dhaka, the most historic area in the city. The group has documented some 3,000 heritage buildings in Puran Dhaka, most of which have fallen into disrepair and are in danger of destruction. With about 700,000 inhabitants, the 24-sq-mile area is one of the most densely populated parts of an already packed city.
“It’s dirty. It’s messy. It’s crowded,” Islam said about Puran Dhaka, but that is part of its charm.
There are colourfully decorated rickshaws around every bend, tea shops on every block and kids playing cricket wherever they eek out the space. Calls for prayer echo from the mosques, and samosa sellers invite passers-by into their shops — oftentimes offering foreigners free samples.
To raise awareness of Dhaka’s heritage before it disappears, Islam runs two Urban Study Group walking tours a week for Bangladesh’s expatriate community and the rare tourist. A small donation of 500 taka is requested per person. Starting at 8 am and usually lasting until 11 am on Friday and Saturday, Islam guides people through the confusing warren of alleys to 400-year-old forts, tranquil Christian cemeteries and colonial mansions. He offers 10 different tour routes – each one shows a different part of Puran Dhaka and each is a fascinating three-hour history lesson through Dhaka’s past.
Dhaka became the Mughal capital of Bengal in the early 17th Century, during which the city was bustling trading metropolis. The Mughals built caravansaries (accommodations for camel caravans), palaces and bazaars, remnants of which can be seen on the walking tours. Trade flowed through the city, and a few merchants — many of them Hindu or Armenian — acquired great wealth, building stately colonial mansions next to the Buriganga River. Dhaka was one of the largest, most important cities on the subcontinent.
But it did not last. With the British takeover of Bengal in the mid-18th Century, Dhaka’s population and influence declined as the empire’s new colonial capital, Calcutta, flourished. By 1824, a visiting Anglican bishop from Calcutta called Dhaka a city of “magnificent ruins”.
After partition— when Pakistan, which included Bangladesh, split off from India in 1947 — most of the remaining Hindu merchants left, abandoning their homes. The wealthy Armenian community, which once numbered around 300 families, almost all died or left.
On one typical tour, Islam leads the group through the chawkbazaar, a 400-year-old bewildering maze of street market stalls, packed with everything from electronic goods to sweets. Just south of the bazaar lies the Barakatra, once the tallest structure in Dhaka. Built in the 17th Century, it housed 22 shops and acted as a grand inn for travelling merchants. Today, only about half the Mughal building stands, and ramshackle residences — even a public bathroom — have been cut into the building. You can still stand in one of the two remaining gateways and imagine trading caravans passing through.
Though the grand old merchant homes are falling apart, Islam’s tours take visitors into the courtyards to meet the families now living there. Bright saris hang on ornate, rusty railings. Kids play hopscotch in front of chipped colonnades. An 18th-century Armenian Church and a Christian cemetery dated to around 1600 – two quiet havens in the din of Puran Dhaka – offer respite from the often hot and dusty surrounds. The tour also includes pausing at one of Puran Dhaka’s small tea establishments for a short break of Bangladesh’s deliciously sweet tea.
The tours often end at the Buriganga River, which he calls the “beating heart of Dhaka”. On one tour, he takes the group to a rooftop overlooking the river, to see the heavily trafficked waterway filled with small, wooden boats, ferrying people and goods across.

Ovarian cancer clue raises blood test hopes

A chemical in the blood could one day help doctors spot early signs of ovarian cancer, research suggests.

A US team found a marker antibody in the blood of women with ovarian cancer, but not in healthy ones.

Ovarian cancer is hard to detect at an early stage, which means it can remain hidden until it is advanced and very difficult to treat.

A cancer charity said the early findings were intriguing but required further study.

The work was carried out by a team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

They tested women for antibodies to mesothelin, a substance found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells.

Some of the women had fertility problems (109), ovarian cancer (28), or non-cancerous ovarian growths (24), while the rest (152) were healthy.
The antibodies were found in the bloodstream of most of the women with ovarian cancer, as well as women with infertility due to problems with the ovary, the researchers said.

They were not present in healthy women or the women with non-cancerous ovarian tumours.

Lead researcher Dr Judith Luborsky said: "The finding is extremely important because at present medical tests are unable to detect ovarian cancer in its early stages, which is why death rates from this disease are so high."

Laura McCallum, Cancer Research UK's science information officer, said: "These early findings are intriguing, but further studies will need to be carried out in more women to confirm if this molecule could be useful in diagnosing cancer.

"Diagnosing ovarian cancer early is one of the most promising ways to prevent deaths from the disease and scientists, including our own, are continuing to look for new and improved ways of detecting it early so we can help more women survive."

The research is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, published by the American Society for Cancer Research.

Cancer discovery offers hope of tackling spread of disease

Scientists have discovered how cancerous cells can "elbow" their way out of tumours, offering clues for new drugs to prevent cancers spreading.

They say they have identified a protein called JAK which helps cancerous cells generate the force needed to move.

Writing in Cancer Cell, they say the cells contract like muscle to force their way out and around the body.

Cancer Research UK said the study provided fresh understanding of ways to stop cancer spreading.

When cancers spread, a process known as metastasis, they become more difficult to treat, as secondary tumours tend to be more aggressive.

It is thought that 90% of cancer-related deaths occur after metastasis.

JAK attack
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research, who investigated the chemicals involved in cell migration in melanoma - skin cancer - say cancerous cells can move in two ways.

They can "elbow" their way out of a tumour or the tumour itself can form corridors down which the cells can escape.

Lead researcher Prof Chris Marshall said both processes were being controlled by the same chemical.

"There is a common theme of using force, force generated by the same mechanism - the same molecule, called JAK," he said.

JAK is not a new culprit in cancer. It has been linked to leukaemia, so some drugs are already being developed which target the protein.

"Our new study suggests that such drugs may also stop the spread of cancer," Prof Marshall said.

"The test will be when we start to see whether any of these agents will stop the spread. We're thinking of clinical trials in the next few years."

Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of cancer information, said: "A huge challenge in successfully treating cancer is stopping it from spreading around the body, and keeping cancer that has already spread at bay.

"Discovering how cancer cells can funnel grooves though tissues, to squeeze away from primary tumours and spread to new sites, gives scientists fresh understanding of ways to stop cancer spread - literally in its tracks."

'Cot death risk' to small babies

Parents of underweight babies must be given more information on reducing the risk of cot death, says a charity.

According to latest research, babies born weighing less than 2.5kg (5.5lb) are five times more likely to suffer cot death than those of normal weight.

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths said 316 UK babies died in 2009 from sudden infant death.

Deaths have fallen by over 70% since parents began following risk reduction advice in the late 1980s.

But for the past few years the number of sudden infant deaths has hovered at around 300 a year.

FSID's chief executive, Francine Bates, said: "It's well known that parental smoking increases a baby's risk of cot death but babies who are born underweight are also an extremely vulnerable group, particularly during the first month of life, so it's vital that their parents are given advice on how to reduce their risk.
She added: "Low birthweight is not always the result of smoking during pregnancy and babies are born small for a variety of reasons.

"All mothers whose babies are born under 2.5kg should follow the recommendations to sleep their babies in a separate cot, in a room with them, for the first six months."

The latest figures, for England and Wales, are for 2009. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found 279 unexplained infant deaths, a rate of 0.4 per 1,000 live births.

Risk factors identified in the report included the baby's sex (boys are more at risk), low birthweight, being a single parent and teenage pregnancy.

Cot death risks also varied geographically. For 2005-2009, the region with the highest number of sudden infant deaths was the North West.

The charity includes cot deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland in its figures.

Scottish Power grid upgrade brightens job outlook

Plans for 1,500 energy jobs in Scotland over 10 years are being seen as one of the best prospects for job creation.

Scottish Power's recruitment announcement comes as latest figures suggest unemployment has started rising again, despite a period of improvement.

The electricity grid is to be upgraded to meet ambitious government targets for renewable power.

The Spanish-owned power giant said grid investment and an ageing workforce meant it would need more staff.

The electricity grid is to be re-oriented to transmit energy from remote areas that have much of the wind, wave and tidal resource, to the homes and businesses where it is needed.

Scottish Power, which runs the network across central and southern Scotland, said it planned to spend £3bn over the next decade on work including upgrading 500 miles (805km) of overhead lines.

There is expected to be three times more capacity to carry power across the border to England, or to bring electricity to Scotland when the wind drops.

Frank Mitchell, chief executive of Scottish Power Energy Networks, said massive investment was required to ensure Scotland's electricity network was fit for purpose for the 21st Century.

He said: "It is important that we have a modern and robust network to support our renewable energy ambitions and to provide reliability for those who generate electricity and the homes and businesses who rely on this electricity.

"Scottish Power is committed to investing billions of pounds in our transmission network, and we are also committed to offering employment opportunities throughout our supply chain for a new generation of energy industry workers.

"It is no secret that our industry has an ageing workforce, and we need to encourage new blood into the fold."

The firm, which is part Iberdrola, is expected to recruit for graduate engineers, apprentices and technicians from other industries for re-training.

It is hoped these energy jobs - some of which will be completely new while others will replace people who have retired - could help prevent further increases in unemployment across Scotland.

Latest official figures indicated that unemployment had risen in Scotland for the first time since last autumn.

Weekly Window

On the surface, it looks like just another big acquisition for Google. But the recent takeover of Motorola Mobility is another important chapter in the ongoing patent wars between Android and iPhone. Speaking about the $12.5 billion takeover on Google’s official blog — googleblog.blogspot.com — CEO Larry Page said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

There is an Indian connection to this breaking news. At the helm of Motorola Mobility is Sanjay Jha, who has been quoted as saying, “We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform and, now, through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

This comes as a boost to Android enthusiasts, especially after the Google-backed OS for mobile devices has taken some beating at the hands of Apple in recent times over alleged patent violations.

Crowdsourcing for Windows 8

Microsoft has opened a blog at blogs.msdn.com/b/b8 welcoming users to try the beta releases and communicate with the engineers about what enhancements and features they would like. In what appears to be an earnest appeal to users, Microsoft’s president for the Windows OS division Steven Sinofsky has posted this: “Windows 8 re-imagines Windows for a new generation of computing devices, and will be the very best operating system for hundreds of millions of PCs, new and old, used by well over a billion people globally. We've been hard at work designing and building Windows 8, and today we want to begin an open dialog with those of you who will be trying out the pre-release version over the coming months.”

Facebook fraudster

Just when you think you are almost safe on social networks, you come across some news that is bound to make you wary. In the U.K., police have arrested one Iain Wood on charges of stealing up to UK pounds 35,000 (roughly Rs.26 lakh) by gathering information from social networks such as Facebook, and eventually hacking into bank accounts. The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K. quotes the judge Guy Whitburn, who ordered the fraudster to be jailed for 15 months, as saying, “This is the first time I've come across a sophisticated fraud such as this, it was very well planned, complex and clever.” The moral of the story is clear: never put out too much personal information. But there is the lurking suspicion that this might not be the last time the world hears of such a crime.

Virtual touch helps keyhole surgeons to 'feel' tumours

A Leeds University study has combined computer virtualisation with a device that simulates pressure on a surgeon's hand when touching human tissue remotely.

This could enable a medic to handle a tumour robotically, and judge if it is malignant or benign.

Cancer specialists hope the new system will help to improve future treatment.

In current keyhole procedures, a surgeon operates through a tiny incision in the patient's body, guided only by video images.

Using keyhole techniques, as opposed to major invasive surgery, helps improve healing and patient recovery.

However, surgeons can't feel the tissue they are operating on - something which might help them to find and categorise tumours.

"The tactile feedback, the texture, the stiffness of tissue is taken away in laparoscopic surgery," said Dr Rob Hewson, co-superviser of the study.

Hard tissue
The team of undergraduates at Leeds University has devised a solution that combines a computer-generated virtual simulation with a hand-held "haptic" feedback device.

The system works by varying feedback pressure on the user's hand when the density of the tissue being examined changes.

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You can actually feel the response forces you would have felt on your hand”

Earle Jamieson
Leeds University
"You move the device around and, just like your computer mouse, it moves around the virtual 3D surface," engineering student Earle Jamieson told BBC News.

"The computer sends a signal to the device to tell it the force you are applying. You can actually feel the response forces you would have felt on your hand."

In tests, team members simulated tumours in a human liver using a soft block of silicon embedded with ball bearings. The user was able to locate these lumps using haptic feedback.

Engineers hope this will one day allow a surgeon to feel for lumps in tissue during surgery.

"Three or four surgeons tried an early version of our system, and thought it was potentially very useful," said Mr Jamieson.

"They are so used to using only visuals, they found it strange to be able to feel for something."

The project has just been declared one of four top student designs in a global competition run by US technology firm National Instruments.

However, Dr Hewson believes the work is still a long way from full medical use.

"There are a lot of technical challenges to overcome before this can be integrated into surgical devices."

NATO: Downed chopper reportedly fired on by rocket-propelled grenade

Coalition forces embroiled in a firefight with insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday had called for assistance but instead had to race to the crash scene of a downed NATO helicopter carrying their reinforcements, officials said Monday.
Everyone inside the CH-47 Chinook was killed, marking the worst single-day loss of American life since the beginning of the Afghan war, NATO reported.
The inbound helicopter -- loaded with 30 U.S. service members, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan troops -- crashed after being "reportedly fired on by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade," the statement said.
Twenty-five of those on board were U.S. special operations forces, including 22 Navy SEALs. Five air crew members were also on board.
Two military transport aircraft carrying the remains of the 38 U.S. and Afghan personnel have departed Bagram, Afghanistan, and are headed to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday. The flights are expected to arrive on Tuesday.
"In life they were comrades in arms, and in death they are bound forever in this vital cause. We cherish this selfless sacrifice," Gen. John R. Allen, International Security Assistance Force commander, said in a statement. He pledged to continue the fight in Afghanistan.
"Today, as we pay our respects to these magnificent troops, we recommit ourselves for the future and for the freedom, peace and stability of Afghanistan," he said.

Because the catastrophic nature of the crash made the remains difficult to identify, all 38 sets are being taken to the United States. The Afghan remains will be returned to their families once identifications can be made.
"Their loss is a stark reminder of the risks that our men and women in uniform take every single day on behalf of their country," U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday. "Day after day, night after night, they carry out missions like this in the face of enemy fire and grave danger."
Obama said he has spoken with U.S. military officials in the field and with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "We will press on and we will succeed," he said. But the president added that "now is also a time to reflect on those we lost" and on the sacrifices of all who have served, as well as their families.
The president discussed the incident at the end of televised remarks focused on the economy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking earlier, said, "The thoughts and prayers of the entire nation are with the families and with the loved ones of those we lost in Afghanistan over the weekend. They were far from home, but we know that they were also where they wanted to be.
"As heavy a loss as this was, it would even be more tragic if we allowed it to derail this country from our efforts to defeat al Qaeda and deny them a safe haven in Afghanistan," Panetta added. "Instead, we will send a strong message of American resolve from this tragedy, we draw even greater inspiration to carry on the fight."
Until Monday, military officials had been largely tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding the crash, which occurred in the rugged Tangi Valley area of Wardak province, about 60 miles southwest of Kabul.
The events leading up to the crash began when insurgents -- armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles -- engaged in small-arms fire with coalition forces on the ground, NATO reported. ISAF forces were carrying out an operation targeting a known Taliban leader in the area.
Several militants were killed in the gun battle, officials said. Coalition troops called in additional forces to assist in the operation as the firefight continued.
"Those additional personnel were inbound to the scene when the CH-47 carrying them crashed, killing all on board," NATO said.
The troops on the ground immediately left the scene of the insurgent firefight "to secure the scene and search for survivors."
NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Cartsen Jacobsen said the crash site has been cordoned off, while recovery efforts continue.
An investigation is under way, he said.
"The recent fighting season has not materialized as the insurgents had predicted," Jacobsen told reporters in Kabul. "But the insurgents are resilient and far from defeated."
Jacobsen told reporters there was no indication of newer, more sophisticated weapons, responding to rumors that Taliban insurgents may have been the beneficiaries of better equipment during the exchange.
Saturday's crash represents the second downed NATO helicopter by insurgent fire in recent weeks. A helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan in July, though no casualties were reported.
Despite Saturday's loss, Afghan and NATO operations do not appear to have relented.
On Monday, more than 100 demonstrators in Ghazni province protested what they say is the killing of two people during a NATO raid, according to provincial council chief Hamid Ullah Nawroz.
ISAF spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff confirmed that there was a joint Afghan-NATO raid late Sunday evening in the area that killed two insurgents, uncovered a munitions cache and detained "numerous suspected insurgents."
Meanwhile, NATO says one of its helicopters made a hard landing Monday in southeastern Afghanistan.
The Navy transport helicopter went down in Paktika province, though "initial reporting indicated there was no enemy activity."
No casualties were reported.

Scott secures impressive four-shot win

Australian Adam Scott carded a five-under-par final round 65 to claim an impressive four-stroke victory in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational event in Ohio.
Scott, with Tiger Woods' former caddie Steve Williams now permanently on his bag, led by one shot going into the final round.
And although a host of players came close to joining him on top of the leaderboard, an impressive final round performance -- capped by a birdie on the 18th -- ensured the 31-year-old Scott secured the eighth PGA Tour victory of his career.

Scott's 72-hole total of 263 (-17) gave him victory ahead of American Rickie Fowler and England's world number one Luke Donald -- who both posted rounds of 66.
Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Australian Jason Day finished joint fourth after recording matching rounds of 69, although teenage sensation Ishikawa briefly threatened before bogeys on 15 and 18 saw him fall back towards the end of his round.
Meanwhile, U.S. Open champion Rory McIlory completed a consistent four days with a second successive 67 to finish a further two strokes back with Zach Johnson and Kyung-Tae Kim.
"I felt good today. I stayed so patient and I picked my moments," Scott told reporters.
"It was a bonus having Steve's experience alongside me -- he knows this place better than anybody."
Woods, who claimed seven victories on the famous Firestone course -- each one partnered by Williams -- closed with a level-par 70 to finish 18 shots off the pace on his return to action since aggravating left knee and tendon injuries at the Players Championship in May.

Red Shirts miss out as Thai PM picks cabinet

Thailand's first woman prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, has left controversial leaders of the Red Shirt protest movement out of her first cabinet, avoiding political confrontation in the divided nation of 65 million.
The movement helped propel Ms Yingluck's Puea Thai party to a landslide victory at general elections last month.
Ms Yingluck elevated a former deputy defence minister, General Yuthasak Sasiprapa, to the key post of defence minister in a move seen as placating the armed forces which ousted her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, from power in a 2006 coup.
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Although General Yuthasak is seen as an ally of Mr Thaksin, he is expected to work well with the military's top brass, who have vowed not to undermine Ms Yingluck's six-party coalition government that will control three-fifths of parliament.
Thailand's business community has welcomed the appointment of the Finance Minister, Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, a former general secretary of the financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A surprise appointment was the relatively unknown Puea Thai MP, Surapong Towichakchaikul, as foreign minister.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej has approved the appointments.
Ms Yingluck, a 44-year-old former businesswoman with less than three months of political experience, has steered clear of controversy and pledged to deliver on populist policies, including a sharp increase in the minimum wage, the construction of high-speed rail lines and providing free tablet computers to schoolchildren.
But her victory sharpened the divide between Thailand's rural and urban poor who support the Red Shirt movement and Bangkok's political and military elite.
One of her most difficult decisions will be whether to pardon Mr Thaksin on corruption charges, allowing him to return to Thailand from self-imposed exile in Dubai without having to serve two years in jail.

The Dissident vs. the Dictator

Not since Yasir Arafat was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 has the reputation of a human rights award been so besmirched.
In early July, news leaked that a German nonprofit organization, Quadriga, would bestow its annual honor—given to “role Models for Germany”—to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Yes, that Vladimir Putin, the man who, in his 11 years ruling Russia, has presided over the country’s slide into authoritarianism, a withering of the rule of law, and a foreign policy of aggression toward its neighbors.
According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Quadriga selected Putin, whom it described as, “in the tradition of Peter the Great, a switchman in the direction of the future” for his fostering “stability through the interplay of prosperity, economy and identity.” An outcry erupted in the German media, and a national leader of the country’s Green Party, along with a respected historian, resigned from Quadriga’s board of trustees.
But ultimately it was the threat from Vaclav Havel, playwright, anti-communist dissident and the first president of a free Czechoslovakia, to return the prize he had won in 2009 that persuaded the foundation to change course. The very same day that Havel’s disapproval was reported by the Czech newspaper Lidové noviny, Quadriga announced that it would cancel the award celebration, originally scheduled for October 3rd, the date that East and West Germany were reunified. The foundation said that it “most deeply” regretted the displeasure expressed by Havel, whose intervention was all the more stirring considering his poor physical condition: the former president has not made a public appearance since March. (“The truth is that Russia has become a threat to its neighbors,” Havel told my co-blogger Michael Zantovsky for a World Affairs profile that appeared earlier this year. “I don’t care whether this be considered liberal, or conservative, or progressive.”)
Anyone with a passing understanding of contemporary Russia can understand the outrageousness of recognizing Vladimir Putin for a contribution to human rights. Doubly ironic is bestowing an award in recognition of the reunification of Germany to a former KGB officer who recruited Germans to spy on their countrymen. Stationed in Dresden from 1985 through 1990, Putin worked hand-in-hand with the Stasi, the East German secret police and one of the most ruthless intelligence services known to man, whose files, according to the historian Timothy Garton Ash, stretched for 110 miles when opened after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The initial decision to give Putin the award may owe partly to the fact that the vice chairman of Quadriga’s selection committee, Lothar de Maizière, was forced to resign from the cabinet of ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl over rumors that he had worked for the Stasi. But the Quadriga controversy was more than the result of some personal favor. And the organization’s choice to rescind its prize to Putin at the behest of Havel is not only a story of the dueling reputations of world figures. The whole episode is illustrative of a worrying trend in German foreign policy that has seen it move closer to Russia at the expense of its traditional Western allies and the new democracies to its east.
Germany’s relationship with Russia hinges on its heavy consumption of Russian-supplied gas. Germany, the industrial powerhouse of Europe, is the biggest customer of Gazprom, the Russian energy conglomerate, which Putin has assiduously used as an instrument of foreign policy over the past decade. German-Russian relations reached their peak under the former Social Democratic chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who once described Putin “an impeccable democrat.” Just weeks after stepping down as chancellor in 2005, Schröder became chairman of the board of Nord Stream, a project that would transit Russian gas directly to Germany through a pipeline under the Baltic Sea. By avoiding land routes and bypassing transit countries in central and Eastern Europe, Nord Stream will allow Russia to cut off gas to these nations while continuing to ship it to Germany. Not for nothing did the late American congressman and human rights advocate Tom Lantos deem Schröder a “political prostitute” in 2007.
Relations between the two countries thawed under Schröder’s Christian Democrat successor, Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany and was thus all-too-familiar with the reality of Russian dominance. But over the past five years, relations have slowly returned to the Schröder-esque status quo. When Putin’s handpicked successor and puppet, President Dmitri Medvedev, mentioned the word “candidate” in passing during a speech at a conference in Hanover in July, Merkel replied, “Candidate, that’s lovely to hear.” With a Russian presidential election coming up next year, the remark was hardly accidental. This utterance amounted to, in the words of International Herald Tribune columnist John Vinocur, “an approximate political endorsement by a German chancellor of a non-announced candidate for president” in a country where elections are a farce. More significant was Merkel’s March decision, highly controversial within Germany, to abstain from the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya, distancing Germany from France, the UK, and the US and putting it on the side of Russia and China.
To be sure, Germany has serious economic considerations to weigh regarding Russia that cannot be written off. But being Gazprom’s largest customer and Russia’s biggest trading partner comes with its own levers. Trade is a two-way street; without a German consumer, Gazprom and its subsidiaries would not be able to collect fees. The relationship between Germany and Russia, in other words, is one of co-dependence, and, on the German side, could become more independent were Berlin serious about weaning itself off Russian gas. The German government’s knee-jerk decision in the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima disaster to end its use of nuclear power demonstrates a lack of seriousness when it comes to energy generation.
As with many aspects of contemporary German political life, another reason for Berlin’s timorousness toward Moscow is in some part attributable to historic guilt from the Second World War, when Nazi forces committed heinous acts against Soviet citizens and starved millions of Soviet troops to death in Operation Barbarossa. It is this very sort of admirable, if at times misplaced, feeling of responsibility for the past, however, that doesn’t exist in Russian leaders of the Putin mold. “There’s a sense we should avoid conflict at any cost,” Rolf Fuecks, director of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, recently told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty about the attitude of the German political establishment toward Russia. The uproar over the Quadriga award, however, indicates that many Germans do not approve of the way in which their country’s foreign policy has been headed.
“People, your government has returned to you!” Havel triumphantly declared in his 1990 New Year’s Address, his first major speech as president of a free Czechoslovakia. The loss of a human rights prize is hardly bound to make Vladimir Putin blanch; the former KGB man is not known for his sentimentality. But how fitting that a lifelong dissident who sacrificed so much to return government to his people should strike a blow for freedom against a dictator who has stolen government from his.

Onlive 'cloud console' to get UK launch

Onlive is to launch its cloud-based gaming service in the UK on 22 September.

The system, which has been available in the United States for more than a year, allows users to play games without a console.

Processing is done in data centres on specialised servers and streamed over the internet.

The company says it hopes to do deals with service providers to stop people exceeding their download limits.

As well as being available on PCs, Macs and tablet devices, Onlive offers its own micro console that can be plugged directly into HD televisions.

"There are some sacrifices," said Scott Lowe, executive editor at games website IGN.

"You lose a little bit of the clarity and the graphics don't stack up as well as something like a PC or a console, but you do get most of the major gist of the experience."

Mr Lowe said that Onlive had a number of advantages over a traditional games console, including the fact that users did not need to install software or wait for updates to download.

He also praised its responsiveness. Playing fast moving games over an internet connection poses a number of technical challenges, including latency - the time the remote system takes to execute a command.

"They have put a lot of effort into making all the hardware really low latency and through all of our testing, they do deliver," said Mr Lowe.

In an attempt to keep latency down, Onlive has opened a new European server facility in Luxembourg, placing its computing systems closer to the people that are going to be using it.

Data hungry
Once concern with a service that relies on constantly streaming video - albeit compressed - over the internet is that users with monthly download limits may quickly exceed those.


Onlive makes money selling software through its marketplace
Onlive's lowest connection speed of 1Mb/s would consume around 450MB per hour. Some broadband packages cap usage at relatively low limits such as five or 10 GB per month.

The company has suggested it may do tie-up deals with some internet service providers so that users do not get penalised for using Onlive.

The system also reduces some of the need for multi-gigabyte downloading associated with consoles, according to Onlive founder Steve Perlman

"People use Onlive differently than they would use XBox Live or PlayStation," he told BBC News.

"There's quite a lot of overtime [on a console] you wait for the disk to install or the download then there might be an update to download.

"With Onlive, everything is instant, you just click a button an play the game."

Mr Perlman said, as a result, that gamers tended to spend the same amount of time playing as console owners, but less time online overall.

UK pricing information for Onlive is not yet available.

HP reshuffles PC unit

Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's largest computer maker, is reorganizing its personal-computer division as part of a push to broaden use of the software it gained from the acquisition of Palm Inc.

Jon Rubinstein, Palm's former chief executive officer, will take charge of product development and innovation for the Personal Systems Group, which encompasses PCs, tablets and smartphones. Senior Vice President Stephen DeWitt will run a new unit responsible for developing and promoting the WebOS computer operating system. Both will report to Todd Bradley, who runs PSG.

Hewlett-Packard is counting on the integration of WebOS to differentiate its products from rival machines, including Apple Inc's iPad and those using Google Inc's Android.

Hewlett- Packard CEO Leo Apotheker said in February that all of the company's PCs will feature WebOS by the end of next year, a shift away from machines that only run Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system.

Rubinstein helped create the iMac and iPod at Apple before becoming Palm's CEO. He will now be Hewlett-Packard's senior vice president of product innovation and will work on projects that span the Palo Alto, California-based company, including the printing group, DeWitt said.

"We're fortunate to have Jon doing that voodoo that he does," DeWitt said. "He's going to bring his knowledge, experience and passion for building products across the PSG portfolio."

Apotheker's reorganization
Apotheker is reorganizing business units to revive growth and take back market share after slicing $1 billion from the company's annual revenue forecast in May. Corporations are "wary" of large-scale information-technology spending amid concerns about global economic growth, Apotheker said at a July 9 technology conference in Aix-en-Provence, France.

On June 14, Hewlett-Packard said executives in charge of global sales, software and data-center equipment and services would report directly to Apotheker.

Hewlett-Packard bought Palm last year to add mobile devices and software to its product lineup.

DeWitt's role
DeWitt, who joined Hewlett-Packard in 2008 from a closely held computer maker named Azul Systems Inc, had been responsible for sales, marketing and operations of personal systems in North America. Stephen DiFranco, a former general manager at Hewlett-Packard, is now a senior vice president, taking DeWitt's former role. The personal systems group was responsible for $40.7 billion in sales last year.

DeWitt will take charge of engineering, research and development, and sales and marketing for WebOS. Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad tablet computer, which runs on WebOS, went on sale July 1, accompanied by an advertising campaign featuring Jay-Z and other celebrities.

"It's critical for us to expand our programs" and entice more developers to create applications for the platform, DeWitt said.

The WebOS operating system includes the ability to run multiple applications at once and lets developers design apps that talk to each other. For example, information from Facebook can be shared in users' contact lists. It also lessens Hewlett- Packard's reliance on Microsoft's Windows software.

'Kicking the tires'
Bradley said in an interview that July 1 was a "soft launch" for the TouchPad and that more advertising will commence on July 17. The company also plans to issue a software update for the tablet in about 10 days, he said.

"We've had two weeks of kicking the tires at retail," he said. "We've got a phenomenal tablet product."

Still, the company must compete with Apple's best-selling iPad tablet and devices running Android software. Hewlett-Packard has "a really good opportunity to become No. 2 in tablets fairly quickly," Rubinstein said in a June interview.

Hewlett-Packard also is in talks to license the WebOS mobile software to other hardware makers, Apotheker said in an interview in Beijing last month. Samsung Electronics Co. held talks to use WebOS in its smartphones, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.

Former Microsoft exec is US CIO

Former Microsoft executive Steven VanRoekel has been named America's top IT czar to succeed Indian-American Vivek Kundra, who is leaving the top Obama administration job to pursue a Harvard fellowship.

The White House made the announcement yesterday. VanRoekel, 41, said he would use his new role as Chief Information Officer (CIO) to introduce new technologies to improve government service as well as focus on cutting costs in an age of austerity.

"The productivity gap between where the private sector has gone over the last two decades and where government has gone is ever-widening," VanRoekel told reporters at the White House, attributing this largely to the government's slow uptake and lack of spending on new technology.

This "can be done in a way that actually saves money, saves resources and everything else," he was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.

VanRoekel spent 15 years at Microsoft -- including a stint as Bill Gates's assistant -- before becoming the managing director of the Federal Communications Commission in 2009. At the FCC, he oversaw the implementation of many of Kundra's projects, such as a shift to so-called cloud computing.

The US government is the world's largest customer for IT services and products. VanRoekel will oversee an annual spending budget of USD 80 billion.

Kundra, 36, was appointed America's first federal CIO in 2009 and has been credited with USD 3 billion in savings, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

Kundra's "cloud-first" policy encouraged government departments to shift to cloud computing where possible, allowing employees to access more services online and reducing the need to buy certain hardware for every office.

He has said that two federal departments, the General Services Administration and the Department of Agriculture, stand to collectively save USD 42 million over five years after shifting their e-mail systems to the cloud.

Kundra is also credited with improving transparency by putting vast amounts of government data online, with Web sites such as usaspending.gov and itdashboard.gov. PTI AKJ AKJ 08051909 NNNN

NASA craft sends images of Asteroid Vesta ‎

Vesta is the most geologically diverse of the large asteroids and the only known one with distinctive light and dark areas much like the face of our Moon. Hubble images have revealed a diverse world with ancient lava flows and a gigantic impact basin that is so deep, it exposes the asteroid’s subsurface, or mantle.
Vesta’s surface shows a geology similar to that of terrestrial worlds such as Earth and Mars. Ground-based spectroscopy of Vesta indicates regions that are basaltic, which means lava flows once occurred on its surface. This is surprising evidence that the asteroid once had a molten interior, like Earth does. This contradicts conventional ideas that asteroids are essentially cold, rocky fragments left behind from the early days of planetary formation.
One possibility is that Vesta agglomerated from smaller material that includes radioactive debris (such as the the isotope Aluminum-26) that was incorporated into the core. This radioactive “shrapnel” probably came from a nearby supernova explosion. This hot isotope may have melted the core, causing the asteroid to differentiate: heavier, dense material sank to the center while lighter rock rose to the surface. This is a common structure for the terrestrial planets.
After Vesta’s formation, molten rock flowed onto the asteroid’s surface. This happened more than four billion years ago. The surface has remained unchanged since then, except for occasional meteoroid impacts.

MSI Launches Affordable Tablet PCs

Taiwanese PC manufacturer Micro-Star International (MSI) has launched a new Enjoy range of tablets at affordable prices. The new tablets will be available in two variants; a 7" (800x480) for Rs 13,999 and a 10" (1024x768) for Rs 14,999.

Powered by Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread operating system, these tablets with multi-touch capacitive displays sport a 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and 512 MB RAM. They come equipped with a 2 MP rear as well as front camera for video calling. Adobe Flash 10.1 support is present and therefore no compromise has been made towards delivering a good web browsing experience.

Connectivity is achieved using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. With an inbuilt storage capacity of 4 GB, these feature a microSD slot to add up to 32 GB. The 3.7 V 4000 mAh Lithium-ion claims to provide a battery backup of 5 hours for the 7" tablet and 4 hours for the 10" version. The tablets also feature ambient light sensor to help with a better battery life.

MSI had launched its WinPad tablets based on Windows last year, and this series is seen as the Android counterpart. However, the company has decided to skip certain features such as GPS and 3G, with MSI India General Manager Eric Kuo stating that the market is not yet ripe for these. You can order these tablets online at the MSI India website.

Huawei to launch cloud-based smartphones

BEIJING/HONG KONG: China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No 2 network equipment maker, will unveil cloud-computing mobile phones in an attempt to replicate its telecom gear success in the smartphone market.

The company, known for its low costs, is betting its cloud-computing smartphones will help the firm grab market share from the likes of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics, analysts say. Huawei will launch its "Vision" smartphones at a media event in Beijing.

Cloud computing refers to data and software stored on computer servers rather than individual PCs and accessed over the Internet. Cloud computing smartphones will allow users to download applications without needing much storage space on their devices.

Last month, China's Alibaba Group launched its first self-developed mobile operating system and smartphone running on its cloud computing-based operating system.

Founded in 1987, Huawei has grown rapidly. The Shenzhen-based company reported revenue of $28 billion last year. It aims to boost revenue to $100 billion in the next 10 years.

Huawei's devices division, which focuses on consumer products such as smartphones, tablets and wireless cards, contributed about 17 percent to total revenue.

However, the company plans to boost its revenue in the consumer electronics space and aims to become the world's third largest cellphone maker within five years.

In July, Huawei Device executives said the firm aimed to ship 20 million smartphones this year, higher than a previous target of 12 million-15 million units.

In June, Huawei unveiled its MediaPad, a 7-inch Android-based tablet computer in Singapore, and is also developing a 10-inch device to be launched this year.

The privately-held company employs more than 110,000 people, about half of whom are based outside China.

Huawei's U.S. expansion plans in the network equipment sector have hit roadblocks on suspicions the company maintains links with China's military.

Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's low-profile founder who started the company with just 21,000 yuan ($3,200), served in the People's Liberation Army until 1983.

Man dupes 70 students of over 1cr

Delhi Police has arrested a man from Ranchi for allegedly duping 70 students of a coaching institute of over Rs 1 crore by promising them admissions in premier Merchant Navy institutes of Kolkata and Mumbai . The accused, Vikas Kumar 28, promised admissions in institutes like METRI (Maritime Educational Trainee and Research Institute) and General Purpose Rating Course (GPR Course), which are mandatory for getting jobs in merchant navy.

Kumar, a former merchant navy official and son of a retired principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, was caught from his in-laws' residence at Ranchi following investigations into a complaint filed by a south Delhi based institute. DCP Chhaya Sharma said, "On July 21, Vinod Rana, director of IPMT, IPSR and IPSR Maritime, approached police seeking to register a case against Kumar. Rana's institute provides coaching to students to crack entrance tests for merchant navy. Rana claimed that Kumar came to his office and admitted of having good connections with prestigious institutes in Kolkata and Mumbai" .

Kumar told Rana he had got 30 students admitted and asked him to send 70 more students for admission in Kolkata and Mumbai. He even asked to transfer the money in two different accounts. "Rs 1.05 crore was transferred to his account . On Kumar's assurance, the institute sent 70 students along with the principal of Institute . In July, the students approached the institute and informed that Kumar was nowhere to be found," said Sharma. "He had switched off his mobile and was not even at his residence. It also came to light that he was using mobile numbers of different states ," Sharma added.

Mixed Tata outlook on steel

The spectre of a slowdown that has started to hover over the Indian economy — a direct fallout of the Reserve Bank of India’s surprise decision last week to raise its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 8 per cent — will not crimp demand for steel in the country, Tata Steel chairman Ratan Tata said here today.

However, the prevailing economic situation in Europe could pose a “challenge” for the Rs 1,18,753-crore steel giant, Tata told shareholders at the company’s 104th annual general meeting today.

Tata gave a cautiously optimistic assessment of Tata Steel’s global operations, tethering his faith to the fact that basic industries in every country would need steel as no other material can replace it. Demand for steel will rise irrespective of the different growth rates in various economies, he said.

“So long as there will be infrastructure projects in India that will grow, steel will continue to be in demand in this part of world,” he said, clearly indicating that the company’s Indian operations will continue to see robust growth.

Tata admitted that the prevailing economic situation in Europe could pose a challenge to Tata Steel as the region would continue to experience a very moderate growth rate.

“This may be impacted further by some events in terms of uncertainty like in the US at the present moment. Japan will have to endure the enormous burden of restructuring and reconstruction after the earthquake and tsunami. While GDP growth in China and India will continue to be high, they will be lower than the past few years because of government measures in both countries to control inflation,” he said.

The Tata Steel chief, however, added “this does not mean that the company will be adversely impacted or that the prospects for the months ahead are dismal”.

He said the European operations of Tata Steel would benefit from action taken in terms of securing raw material.

Giving an insight into the sort of raw material security that Tata Steel is building, he said though the company had sold its stake in Riversdale Mining to Rio Tinto, it continued to have a 35 per cent stake in a Riversdale subsidiary —Riversdale Energy (Mauritius) Ltd — which is a joint venture with Tata Steel. This will ensure that the company has a controlling offtake in coal from the facility, which has reserves estimated at 500 million tonnes (mt). This facility will supply coal to Tata Steel Europe initially.

The company also has other properties that will enable it to have a better control over raw materials. Earlier, an overseas arm of Tata Steel acquired a stake in Canadian miner, New Millenium Capital Corp. This company will have access to over 4mt of iron ore from the project. This is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2011-12.

Responding to some shareholders’ queries, Tata said the funds from sale of investment in Riversdale would be used as capital expenditure in new projects.

The AGM saw various shareholders asking Tata, who is due to retire in 2012 ,to stay on. Replying to a specific question, Ratan Tata said the committee entrusted with the task of finding his successor would identify the person who would eventually take the group further ahead.

RIM refreshes BlackBerry Torch, Bold lineup

Research In Motion (RIM) has announced plans to launch 5 new BlackBerry smartphones based on its BlackBerry 7 Operating System (OS). RIM, in conjunction with carriers and distribution partners around the world, is rolling out two new BlackBerry Bold models and three new BlackBerry Torch models, all running the new BlackBerry 7 OS.

The launch of this family of handsets will be RIM's largest global launch ever and more than 225 carriers and distribution partners have already commenced or completed over 500 certification programs for these 5 new handsets.

The three touchscreen phones, running on the new BlackBerry OS 7, each boast an improved screen display and pack a 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm, the most powerful ever for a BlackBerry phone. All three devices will launch with carriers globally by the end of August, RIM said.

The browser for the new phones is 40 percent faster than the original Torch, RIM's last major phone launch which hit shelves almost a year ago.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 are RIM's thinnest smartphones ever, each offering a large keyboard and touch display. The new BlackBerry Torch 9810 smartphone combines a large touch display with a slide-out keyboard. The BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860 introduce an all-new, all-touch design featuring what the company claims is the largest display on a BlackBerry smartphone to date.

But since co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis has already promised "superphones" next year using the QNX-based operating system running RIM's PlayBook tablet computer, analysts are looking beyond the launch.

"This is a necessary product refresh in advance of the big bang that we hope and expect will happen with QNX-based phones," said CCS Insight vice-president of research John Jackson.

RIM shipped 13.2 million phones in the three months to late May, its first fall in shipments versus the prior quarter since at least mid-2007, as it pushed this launch back to August.

RIM's newly-promoted global head of sales Patrick Spence said BlackBerry heritage was as a leading communications tool and "what we're talking about now with BlackBerry 7 is really enhancing that experience."

The Bold upgrade will feature a near-field communications (NFC) chip that can turn the phone into a mobile wallet. It was first shown at RIM's BlackBerry World conference in May.

RIM's North American market share has dipped sharply in the past year as high-end Android devices proliferate and Apple's iPhone was added to Verizon's lineup. Globally the fall has been less severe but from a smaller starting point, according to data compiled by research firms CCS Insight and Gartner.

"What would constitute success for these guys is essentially holding the fort," CCS's Jackson said. "A stop-loss outcome would be a success for these products in developed markets."

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company has seen its share price fall in kind, down 65 percent from a February peak, as its earnings and outlook have missed expectations and its PlayBook has yet to make a dent in the iPad's dominance of the tablet market.

It closed at $24.15 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, another fresh low at levels last seen five years ago, giving the company a market capitalization of $12.7 billion.

Nokia's next Symbian OS Belle leaked

It is commonly believed that Nokia has sidelined its Symbian OS after aligning with Microsoft Windows Phone 7. However, it seems that though the struggling mobile giant may not have grand plans for the OS, it surely has not stopped developing the OS.

A recent video on CNET shows the company working on the successor of its latest Symbian operating system Anna. The supposedly leaked video shows Nokia N8 running the upcoming version of the OS codenamed Belle. The key features that the new OS will reportedly offer include new widget layout, virtual keyboard, updated notifications tab, redesigned interface and improved camera UI.

The screenshots of the upcoming Symbian Belle on My Nokia Blog show the OS offering a universal toolbar placed at the bottom of the screen. The images also suggest OS' web browser offering a multitab view.

Nokia currently offers two handsets E6 and X7 on Symbian Anna platform. The cellphone maker has just recently added its 1GHz processor-powered Nokia 500 to its Symbian Anna portfolio.

Meanwhile, Nokia and Microsoft have sent out joint press invites in Germany for August 17. Nokia is expected to unveil its first Windows phone at the event.

Patients forced to move out of urinal

Despite various promises of free healthcare for the poor, thousands of patients don't have roofs over their heads.

Ask seven-year-old Khushi Singh who lives with her family inside an unused toilet just outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Suffering from a severe lung disease, she has frequent fainting spells and is often fighting to just to breathe.

"My daughter had been advised to stay away from dust and dirt but there what to do, we are helpless," said her mother Shakuntla.

Her father Radhe Shyam is battling brain tumour.

Two years ago, he sold off all his land in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to pay for treatment. When the money ran out he took a loan. Today, they have nothing.

Three other families have made this toilet their home.

Hem Kumari has blood cancer; she and father came from Jharkhand. He has taken up a job as guard nearby but it's hardly enough. Forty five-year-old Ramrati from Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, is waiting for a heart-valve replacement surgery date while living in this men's urinal. She has been in the capital for two weeks.

These women had come to the hospital with dreams of getting better. Now, they have nowhere to go, no money and their only accommodation is under trees or on the pavement.

And to add to their plight, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has constructed the urinal, has asked them to vacate their make shift home. Now they are shelter less.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called the incident "unfortunate", adding, "There is a lot of pressure on AIIMS. What started out as just a referral hospital has become one of the best facilities in India. The doctors aren't doctors but angels for treating the VIP's and the poor equally."

India targeted in biggest-ever cyber attack by China

In the biggest-ever series of cyber attacks uncovered, hackers were found to have broken into the networks of the Indian government, United Nations and US defence firms.

Security company McAfee, which discovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it. However, one security expert said the evidence points to China as some of the targets had information that would be of particular interest to Beijing.

The long list of victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of India, the US, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada. One of the longest attacks was on the Olympic Committee of an Asian nation in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said an expert. In the case of the UN, the hackers broke into the system of its secretariat in Geneva in 2008, hid there for two years, and combed through secret data.

Nissan India hit by change in assembling units' definition

The effects of adverse macro economic environment are likely to impact Japanese car major Nissan's ambitious 9 product rollout plan in India.
After a devastating tsunami hit its operations in Japan, the company is concerned about a change in definition of completely knocked down units (CKD) by the Indian Finance Ministry and import duties levied on them.

In the Budget for 2011-12, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee​ had redefined the meaning of completely knocked down (CKD) units, ostensibly to encourage local production of automobiles, which may alter the rate of customs duty on different imported parts.

“A definition for ‘CKD unit’ of a vehicle, including two-wheelers, eligible for concessional import duty is being inserted to exclude from its purview such units containing a pre-assembled engine or gearbox or transmission mechanism or chassis where any of such parts or sub-assemblies is installed,” the Budget document read.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers had objected the new definition for completely knocked down (CKD) units of vehicles introduced in the Budget for 2011-12 will significantly increase the cost for high-end players and also hamper the introduction of new products.

NDTV learns that the company's nine product rollout plan by the end of 2012 is likely to be substantially delayed by over a year and half.

Sources say of the nine products, four were to be assembled locally using completely knocked down units . The cars were the Teana sedan and SUVs X-Trail, Qashqai and Murano.

Unless the vehicles also use knocked down engines, the new regulations see duty hike up from 10 to 30 per cent making these cars too expensive.

This has compelled the company to reconsider the feasibility of launching these products for the Indian market.

While the company has already started the imports of semi-knocked down units of the Teana sedan, it has still not finalised the assembly of X-Trail, Qashqai and Murano.


Even the volumes oriented sub-Micra small car to be priced between Rs. 2 and 4 lakh has also been delayed till 2013-14.

Nissan management agrees the change in duty structure has made them rethink their plans but refused to get into timelines of specific launches.

Kiminobu Tokuyama, CEO & MD of Nissan India said, "We have a very aggressive product line up for India."

But the numbers don't point towards a good show by the company so far. The Nissan Micra has sold merely 18,000 units in 10 months since its launch in the domestic market. On the other hand, Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i20 or Ford Figo have recorded sales 3-4 times over the Micra numbers during the same period.

Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor of Autocar India, "Distribution is a lifeline for any company. There is a logic in outsourcing it to experts but the performance has not worked so far. Numbers are just too small for what this car is capable of delivering."

On a brighter note, the company's exports from India remain robust and it has already shipped over 1 lakh Micras. With the small entry sedan SUNNY coming next from the company by Diwali and a co-branded Innova like MPV from its joint venture with Ashok Leyland just six months away, Nissan India hopes to turn things around quickly.

Why you should think twice about buying a new BlackBerry

Research in Motion finally answered the pleas of the BlackBerry faithful for a new device with a promotional blitz today, announcing multiple phones for different carriers around the world. In the U.S., AT&T has committed to selling three BlackBerrys, including a next-generation Torch, the touch-screen version of its smash-hit Bold phone, and a touch-screen-only phone called the Torch 9860. Sprint Nextel said it too will be carrying the Bold and a variant of the all-touch-screen phone called the Torch 9850.
In fairness, I haven't had a chance yet to play with the new BlackBerrys. But there are serious business and technology issues that should make you think twice before you buy one of the new ones unveiled today. From an operating system destined for irrelevancy to the continued lack of worthy applications, this latest line of smartphones from RIM may be dead on arrival. If you need to change phones, and your company isn't forcing you to use a BlackBerry, you're better off moving over to the iPhone or an Android smartphone.
Sounds harsh, but I'm not the only one down on the BlackBerry. According to a survey taken by NPD Connected Intelligence, roughly a third of those asked about their next smartphone said it would be either an Android handset or iPhone. A paltry 8 percent said they were looking for a BlackBerry. It's hard to say that cost is the issue. While pricing isn't available, they will likely be priced competitively with the iPhone and other high-end smartphones.
The latest BlackBerrys run on the newest version of its operating system, BlackBerry OS 7. While an improvement over past operating systems, in reality it represents only a minor update over OS 6, found in the original Torch that debuted a year ago. It was originally known as OS 6.1, but was renamed to 7 because the company claimed the update was so big. A more cynical person would suggest RIM was engaging in overly enthusiastic marketing to better sell its devices.
Big update or not, it's not going to be around for very long. RIM said it is moving to its next-generation operating system, called QNX, next year. The software already powers the PlayBook tablet, which despite getting panned by reviewers, worked smoothly as an operating system.
If customers buy a BlackBerry now, they're left with an operating system that will be out of date halfway through their two-year contract. Nokia is dealing with the same dilemma as it manages its transition to Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. In the meantime, the company is positioning its older Symbian platform as a mass-market smartphone phone.

Research in Motion finally answered the pleas of the BlackBerry faithful for a new device with a promotional blitz today, announcing multiple phones for different carriers around the world. In the U.S., AT&T has committed to selling three BlackBerrys, including a next-generation Torch, the touch-screen version of its smash-hit Bold phone, and a touch-screen-only phone called the Torch 9860. Sprint Nextel said it too will be carrying the Bold and a variant of the all-touch-screen phone called the Torch 9850.
In fairness, I haven't had a chance yet to play with the new BlackBerrys. But there are serious business and technology issues that should make you think twice before you buy one of the new ones unveiled today. From an operating system destined for irrelevancy to the continued lack of worthy applications, this latest line of smartphones from RIM may be dead on arrival. If you need to change phones, and your company isn't forcing you to use a BlackBerry, you're better off moving over to the iPhone or an Android smartphone.
Sounds harsh, but I'm not the only one down on the BlackBerry. According to a survey taken by NPD Connected Intelligence, roughly a third of those asked about their next smartphone said it would be either an Android handset or iPhone. A paltry 8 percent said they were looking for a BlackBerry. It's hard to say that cost is the issue. While pricing isn't available, they will likely be priced competitively with the iPhone and other high-end smartphones.
The latest BlackBerrys run on the newest version of its operating system, BlackBerry OS 7. While an improvement over past operating systems, in reality it represents only a minor update over OS 6, found in the original Torch that debuted a year ago. It was originally known as OS 6.1, but was renamed to 7 because the company claimed the update was so big. A more cynical person would suggest RIM was engaging in overly enthusiastic marketing to better sell its devices.
Big update or not, it's not going to be around for very long. RIM said it is moving to its next-generation operating system, called QNX, next year. The software already powers the PlayBook tablet, which despite getting panned by reviewers, worked smoothly as an operating system.
If customers buy a BlackBerry now, they're left with an operating system that will be out of date halfway through their two-year contract. Nokia is dealing with the same dilemma as it manages its transition to Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. In the meantime, the company is positioning its older Symbian platform as a mass-market smartphone phone.