US economic recovery slows sagarmedia ♦ April 28, 2012 ♦ Leave a Comment US economy grew by an annualized 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Figures indicate the recovery is slowing down. US Department of Commerce released preliminary GDP figures for the January to March period. The annualized growth rate stood at 2.2 percent, against 3 percent during the last quarter of 2011. Consumer spending, which accounts for some 70 percent of GDP in the United States, grew by 2.9 percent while capital investments decreased by 2.1 percent. The difficult fiscal situation pushed state and local government expenditures down by 1.2 percent. The recent improvement of job figures inspired an optimistic outlook for the US economy. But caution may prevail due to the slowdown in the first quarter.
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Foreign Minister Gemba to tour South Asia, Middle East, Africa by sagarmedia Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba is on a 10-day tour of South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Gemba likely to discuss Iran’s nuclear program in Israel and the Middle East peace process with Palestinian officials. Gemba departed Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Saturday morning for Nepal. He will also visit India, Israel, the Palestinian-controlled area, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco. In India, Gemba and his Indian counterpart are expected to agree on a new framework to discuss cooperation in maritime affairs, designed to counter China’s expanding maritime activities. In talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gemba is expected to urge a peaceful resolution to Iran’s nuclear standoff. Israel has threatened a military strike on Iran’s facilities. On Visiting Egypt, where the first presidential election since the collapse of the Hosni Mubarak government is schedul
UN expands Japan’s continental shelf By sagarmedia on April 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment | Edit A UN commission has approved the first-ever expansion of Japan’s continental shelf. It gave the country an extra 310,000 square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean. That’s equal to about 80 percent of Japan’s land mass. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines where a country can extract minerals and other natural resources. It states that a continental shelf extends 200 nautical miles, or about 370 kilometers, from a country’s baseline. But under certain topographical or geological conditions, the UN can approve a wider area. Japan submitted a claim to expand its 4 million square kilometers of continental shelf in 2008. The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf approved an expansion of 4 areas, including east of the Ogasawara Islands and north of Okino-torishima, Japan’s southernmost island. China and
Spanish unemployment is on record high 24.4%
Spain's unemployment rose to a record high 24.4 percent in the first quarter. The figure released by the National Statistics Institute on Friday shows the number of unemployed people topped 5.6 million. That's an increase of nearly 370,000 from the previous quarter. Spain's unemployment rate is the worst in the eurozone. The country is suffering lingering economic stagnation after a housing bust four years ago.The government has introduced drastic spending cuts to reduce its debt levels, but these cuts are contributing to the country's economic contraction. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that the government would intensify reforms to improve the job situation. The worsening employment data came just after the rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Spain's government bonds by two notches to BBB+. Investors are concerned about whether the eurozone's fourth-largest economy can push through austerity m
Stem Cell Division in Central Drugs Standard Control Organization The Directorate General of Health Services, Office of Drugs Controller General(India) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has established a Stem Cell Division within Biological Division in Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (HQ) for the internal evaluation of all proposals including stem cell concerning with clinical trial and marketing authorization. Till recently, there was no mechanism in place to take note of the cases violating these guidelines or take action against the agencies found violating these guidelines. In a step towards this direction, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Govt. of India) vide order dated 1st September 2010 constituted a Core Investigational New Drug (IND) Panel of Experts namely “Cellular Biology Based Therapeutic Drug Evaluation Committee (CBBTDEC) under the chairmanship of Director General, ICMR & Secretary, DHR to advice
DataWind unveils Ubislate series By sagarmedia on April 27, 2012 | Datawind’s next-generation UbiSlates series UbiSlate7+ and UBiSlate 7C models were introduced at respective MRPs of Indian Rupees 2,99 and Rs 3,999.The two models differentiated with a resistive screen on the UbiSlate7+ to the four-point multi-touch projective capacitive screen on the UbiSlate 7C,both models come with embedded GPRS modems in addition to WIFI connectivity allowing ubiquitous internet access. The 7″ screen tablets support the Android 2.3 operating system that delivers a rich touch-screen graphical user interface which significantly reduces the learning curve for new computer users in joining the world wide web.A powerful 800 Mhz Cortex a8 processor allows smooth usability of a broad range of applications.The embedded HD videos coprocessor delivers high quality video content making it a perfect multimedia device. DataWind CEO,Suneet Singh Tule said,”Over the l
Ban Ki-Moon Meets Sonia Gandhi By sagarmedia on April 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment | Edit Ban Ki-Moon praised India’s economic development Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Meets UPA Chairman Sonia Gandhi of India’s Governing Coalition Sonia Gandhi (right), Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, the ruling coalition of parties in India’s Government, greets Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and his wife, Yoo Soon-taek (centre), as they arrive at her residence in New Delhi, India. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received an honourary doctorate degree during a ceremony at Jamia Islamia University in New Delhi, India on Friday 27 April 2012. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today praised India’s economic development and called on the country to build on it by implementing policies that reduce inequalities among society and take into account environmental and social factors. “Growth is not enough. The
7th National Quality Conclave of Quality Council of India on
“Improving Quality of Public Services- the Role of Public and Private Sectors” Unique initiative by QCI for Quality Evaluation and Recognition of Gram Panchayats results in prestigious Quality tag for 10 Gram Panchayats from the state of Karnataka. New Delhi, 27 th April 2012 – The 7th National Quality Conclave, organized by Quality Council of India, (QCI), India’s apex accreditation & quality promotion body, functioning under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, was formally inaugurated today by Shri Shri Subodh Kant Sahay, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Government of India, in the presence of Shri Arun Maira , Chairman, Quality Council of India and Member, Planning Commission, Dr Giridhar J Gyani , Secretary General Quality Council of India and other distinguished dignitaries,at Hotel Le Meridien , New Delhi . The theme of "Improving Quality of Public Services: The Role of Public and Private Sectors" has been designed to discuss a
Grounding of Mirage Aircrafts By sagarmedia on April 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment | Edit Following the accidents of Mirage 2000 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 24.2.2012 and 5.3.2012, all routine training flying on the Mirage 2000 fleet has been temporarily stopped as a precautionary measure. Based on the results of the initial investigations of the accidents, certain checks have been instituted by the IAF. Commencement of flying of the Mirage 2000 fleet is being undertaken in stages post completion of checks. During the last two years (2010-11 and 2011-12) and current financial year 2012-13 (upto 19.4.2012), two Mirage 2000 aircrafts have crashed. Technical Defect was the cause of both accidents. There was no loss of life in the accidents. Monetary loss to the Government is in terms of value of the two crashed aircrafts and compensation for loss of civil property. Every IAF aircraft accident is thoroughl
Upper house uproar over Bofors issue By sagarmedia on April 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment | Edit The Elder house or the upper house of Parliament termed “Rajya Sabha” on Thursday witnessed two adjournments in the pre-noon session after uproar by Opposition BJP and AIADMK over a former Swedish police chief’s allegation that payoffs were made in purchase of Bofors guns. Chairman Hamid Ansari said the Question Hour will not be suspended and asked members to resume their places. “Please allow Question Hour to proceed… The Question Hour cannot be suspended,” he said and took up the first listed question of the day. But as the opposition members were unrelenting, he adjourned the House for 15 minutes. When the House met again, similar scenes were repeated with BJP members shouting slogans. Ansari repeatedly asked the members to take their seats and raise the issue during Zero Hour. “Please sit down. Allow
“R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India” By sagarmedia on April 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment | Edit “R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India” a joint funding initiative by Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Wellcome Trust (WT), London, U.K Implementation of a joint venture Programme for affordable Healthcare in India and establishing of a Special Purpose Vehicle The Union Cabinet today approved the implementation of a joint venture programme on “Department of Biotechnology – Wellcome Trust R&D for affordable Healthcare in India” along with establishing of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be operated as an independent not-for-profit Section-25 Company to deliver the programme. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Wellcome Trust (WT), London, U.K., one of the world’s largest bio-medical research charities, propose to establish a joint funding initiative entitled “R&D for Affordable Healthcare in
MoEF REJECTS FOREST CLEARANCE TO KALU DAM MMRDA, KIDC and Mah Govt has a lot to answer for In a significant decision, on the 2 nd April 2012, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests rejected granting Forest Clearance to Kalu Dam, coming up in the Western Ghats of Murbad Taluka in Thane District. Kalu is just one of the 10+ large dams coming up around Mumbai, which are all showing blatant disregard for any environmental, social or procedural laws. Kalu Dam would have submerged nearly 1000 hectares (2200 acres) of forest in the global biodiversity hotspot of Western Ghats, just 7 kilometres from the Kalsubai Sanctuary. Apart from forest land submergence, the dam was set to submerge 18 villages and affect 18000 inhabitants, mostly Tribals who have been entirely dependent on their forests and river for survival. The Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC), who was building this dam, being financed by the Mumbai Metropolitan
President Obama is hitting the campaign trail. by sagarmedia on April 26, 2012 Naresh – Big news: In 10 days, President Obama is hitting the campaign trail. On Saturday, May 5th, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama are holding the first two public rallies of the campaign in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia. He’ll speak about how far we’ve come, and lay out the very real stakes in this election: Are we going to continue to move forward, rebuilding an economy that’s meant to last, with a growing middle class and more Americans getting a fair shot? Or are we going to go back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy and left too many folks struggling to catch up? That’s the choice. These kinds of events are one of the hallmarks of this organization. Millions of people first came to know and support candidate Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008 when they met him at rallies and town halls in their communities. We’re now entering the ge
SonaPapers unveils the new “Natural Evolution” The finest paper from the stable of Cordenons, now available with enhanced features New Delhi, April 25 th , 2012: Sona Commercial Pvt. Ltd. (SCPL) today, unveiled the new “ Natural Evolution ”, swatch book by H.E. GiacomoSanfelice di Monteforte, Ambassador of Italy to India , and eminent photographer & photo journalist, Padamshri Mr. Raghu Rai, at an event organized in New Delhi. Natural Evolution is a premium superfine paper produced from one of the most respected mills in the world, GruppoCordenons, SpA, Italy . In India, this paper is solely distributed and marketed by Sona Commercial Pvt Ltd . , India’s first multisite FSC Certified Paper Company. On this occasion Mr. Sanjay Suneja, Managing Director, SCPL , said:“It is a matter of great pride for us to bring this quality paper to India. We are proud of our association with Cordenons, a brand of great repute and synonymous with quality and l
RANBAXY LAUNCHES SYNRIAMTM – INDIA’S FIRST NEW DRUG Dedicates New Age Cure For Malaria to the Nation, on World Malaria Day Gurgaon, India, April 25, 2012: Opening a new chapter in the history of Research & Development in India,Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (Ranbaxy) today launched India’s first new drug, Synriam TM , for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria, in adults. At a function held in New Delhi, Mr. GhulamNabi Azad, Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India and Mr. VilasraoDeshmukh, Hon’ble Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, unveiled India’s first new drug Synriam TM with Ranbaxy dedicating the New Age Cure for Malaria to the Nation, on World Malaria Day. The new drug, has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for marketing in India and conforms to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) for using
International Sugar Council Session Begins Exchange of Technological Innovations Must to Make Sugar Industry Vibrant –Prfo. K.V. Thomas The agro-climatic conditions in the country, sowing pattern and other factors like biotic affect the sugarcane production and make the industry cyclic in nature, resulting in low production of sugar, necessitating imports during certain years. This is one of our major concerns and it has been our concerted endeavour to break this cyclicality with multipronged policy interventions. This was stated by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution at the opening session of the International Sugar Organization’s (ISO) 41st council session here today. He said that with two consecutive years of comfortable production in the past and an excellent sugar season on hand, coupled with a favourable assessment projected for the next year; we are at the doorsill of achievi