Bollywood has Rs.1 riding on Big B
ENT12Entertainment/Business/CinemaBollywood has Rs.1 riding on Big BMumbai, Oct 12 IANS About Rs.1 billion is riding on the shoulders of Bollywood mega star Amitabh Bachchan, who is currently recuperating in a hospital here after he complained of abdominal pain on his 66th birthday Saturday.The spokesperson of the Lilavati Hospital, Mohan Rajan's announcement here about Amitabh's speedy recovery might have warmed the hearts of his fans, but the producers of his under-production movies are still not counting their blessings for obvious reasons.Bachchan, who was in the midst of his 66th birthday celebrations at his bungalow Pratiksha in Juhu, was rushed to the Nanavati Hospital early Saturday afternoon after complaining of abdominal pain and breathlessness. He was then shifted to the Lilavati Hospital where he continued to be under observation. Bachchan was being treated in suite number 1101 on the 11th floor of the hospital.The doctors have said that test results are normal and that he will be released soon but the star won't be able to resume work for a long time.He has already started shooting for Leena Yadav's "Teen Patti", Sujoy Ghosh's "Alladin" and Soojit Sarkar's "Shoebite".Bachchan had, in fact, participated in the 10-day shooting schedule of "Teen Patti" in Mumbai. He was scheduled to wrap up the shooting of the film on his birthday. "Teen Patti", which also has Jackie Shroff, R. Madhavan and Raima Sen also in the cast, had been delayed as Bachchan had been busy shooting for "Shoebite". Though Yadav, who had directed Pritish Nandy Communications' "Shabdh" in 2005, had announced that "Teen Patti" is a "quickie", producer Ambika Hinduja had reportedly paid Bachchan Rs.50 million.Amitabh's illness will delay the movie and as a result, its budget is expected to exceed Rs.250 million.Bachchan had, of course, already finished shooting for "Aladdin". This Eros International's Rs.450 million fantasy movie, was earlier supposed to be produced by Ramesh and Rohan Sippy, but the duo backed out. It was courtesy Bachchan that the movie finally went to Kishore Lulla of Eros, according to a Bollywood trade source."Aladdin" has already gone over budget. After the debacle of their fantasy film "Drona", the producers have now decided to release the film next year. Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Ayesha Takia and Juhi Chawla too form the cast of "Aladdin"."Shoebite", which had recently hit the headlines because of a legal duel between two corporate entities - UTV and Percept Picture Company - over its copyright, is now halfway complete. The movie was to be earlier produced by Percept Picture Company under the title of "Johny Walker". As Percept delayed producing it, Sarkar took the script to UTV, who agreed to produce it under the new name, "Shoebite".This Rs.250-million movie also has Sarika and Diya Mirza in leading roles."The delay of 'Teen Patti' and 'Shoebite' will cost their producers dearly unless they have the insurance against the leading artistes. Eros is safe, because Bachchan has already finished shooting for the film," said a Bollywood trade source.Apart from these, there are few more movies which have already been announced with Bachchan in the cast. They include "Time Machine", "Pocket Maar", "Aankhen 2", "Bhairavi", "Komagata Maru," "Struggler", Talisman" and his home production "The Legend of Kunal". None of these movies, of course, has not gone on the floors as yet.It will take at least two months before Bachchan becomes fit enough to be able to shoot for his movies as the doctors have already advised him sufficient rest in spite of the speedy recovery he has shown at the hospital. --Indo-Asian News Servicejb/ar/vm 655 Words*12101854
2008-10-12 09:04:10Abu Dhabi media firm in Natl Geographic tie-up Reuters
Reuters - State-owned Abu Dhabi Media Co ADMC said on Saturday it has tied up with National Geographic to produce up to 15 films focusing on human being's relationship with the world and environme...
2008-10-11 05:00:00LUXEMBOURG
BUS31Business/Diplomacy/EnergyEU finally agrees on new rules for gas, energy marketsLuxembourg, Oct 10 DPA European Union EU energy ministers Friday agreed to new rules for its gas and electricity markets after a long and heated debate, diplomats said. The deal brings to an end a year of bitter wrangling between member states after the EU's executive, the European Commission, proposed laws aimed at increasing competition in the bloc's energy market. And it sets out exactly when and how European energy companies will be able to take over rivals in other EU states - a question which emerged as the most thorny question in recent months. At the heart of the commission's proposal is the idea of "unbundling", by which companies that both produce and transport energy are forced to give up control of their transmission systems. The proposal is meant to do away with unfair practices whereby, for example, electricity generators who also own transmission gridsrefuse to let other generators use them - thereby stifling competition and forcing prices up. EU member states agreed to that principle in June, although they insisted that the companies should not have to sell off or hand over their transmission systems to new managers as long as they maintained a clear separation between the branches of the company. But that compromise sparked a debate over whether a "bundled" company, with full ownership of transmission and production, would be able to take over energy companies in another EU state - and thereby raise the spectre of unfair practices. Ahead of Friday's meeting, the Netherlands had pushed for the right to be allowed to block such deals, while Germany had argued that would be contrary to EU competition rules. A compromise deal hammered out after lengthy debate Friday ruled that companies which generate electricity or gas will not be allowed to take over energy-transmission companies in EU states which practise full unbundling. But it also said that they would be allowed to take over transmission systems in "bundled" countries, and energy generators across the EU, unless the national government ruled otherwise, and the EU's executive, the European Commission, approved the ruling. The commission has to rule on such issues within two months, the compromise deal says.--DPAsnb/vt395 Words10102232
2008-10-10 13:02:06Metro Cash & Carry bags APMC licence in Bengal
NAT60National/BusinessMetro Cash & Carry bags APMC licence in BengalKolkata, Oct 10 IANS With ruling Left Front partner Forward Bloc relenting, Metro Cash & Carry India, the Indian arm of German wholesaler Metro AG, was Friday granted licence to sell farm commodities and other food items to hotels, restaurants, provision stores and other institutional buyers in West Bengal.A Memorandum of Understanding MoU outlining the conditions for Metro's operations was inked between the company officials and the state agriculture marketing board chief Naren Chatterjee at the state secretariat, Writers' Buildings here."We are delighted that we have received our APMC Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee licence as it is crucial to our business model," Frits van Peski, member of the Executive Board of Directors, Metro Cash & Carry India, said in a statement.Forward Bloc, which controls agriculture and agricultural marketing departments in the state and also heads the licensing authority State Agriculture Marketing Board, had earlier opposed renewal of the licence to Metro Cash & Carry India, but relented after pressure from front allies including major partner Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI-M. Peski thanked Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Agriculture, Consumer Affairs and Agri Marketing Departments Minister Naren De, and Chatterjee for facilitating the renewal. According to the MoU, Metro would have to pay one percent transaction fee on every purchase and sale executed by the company. It would not be allowed to do contract farming of any agriculture produce and livestock and every vendor of farm produce would have to be registered with the state marketing department."We are keen to start our operations to demonstrate the benefits of our unique business-to-business concept to our customers in Kolkata", said Martin Dlouhy, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry India. "We have approximately 350 trained local employees eager to serve our registered professional business customers. We should have the outlet fully up and running in six to eight weeks."This store will be Metro's fifth outlet in India. Of their other four, two are in Bangalore and one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai, where various small and medium businesses like kirana retail stores, hotels and restaurants have partnered the whole seller.The German company started the project of constructing this 100,000 sq ft outlet for an investment of $30 million in Eastern Metropolitan Bypass couple of years back. The entire project got delayed due to land disputes.After eight months of legal battle between the state government and the previous owner of the land, the company finally got permission to resume construction of its first store in the city and started work last November.The state government granted a licence to trade in APMC commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 and was to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007 the licence was unilaterally withdrawn by the APMC authorities. The company filed for issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008.--Indo-Asian News Serviceag/ssp/rn/dg516 Words*10101909
2008-10-10 10:00:00Scientists identify a new material that could improve gas mileage
Washington, Oct 10 ANI: A Northwestern University-led research team has identified a promising new material that could efficiently convert waste heat into electricity to help power cars and improve gas mileage.The researchers discovered that adding two metals, antimony and lead, to the well-known semiconductor lead-telluride, produces a thermoelectric material that is more efficient at high temperatures than existing materials."We cannot explain this 100 percent, but it gives us a new mechanism - and probably new science - to focus on as we try to raise the efficiency of thermoelectrics," said Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.Current thermoelectric technology is only used in niche markets, such as solid-state refrigeration and cooling, because the materials are not very efficient. With new materials and increased efficiency, devices based on thermoelectrics could find widespread use in the automotive industry, solar energy conversion and the conversion of waste heat from nuclear reactors, smokestacks and industrial equipment."It's a big accomplishment to recover some of the heat or energy that would otherwise be lost and convert it into useful energy," said Kanatzidis. "That's what thermoelectrics can do, but we need to make them more efficient to really be practical," he added.Thermoelectric materials are only 5 to 6 percent efficient today, but a new generation of materials based on recent discoveries including this one at Northwestern, could produce devices with 11 to 14 percent efficiency, says Kanatzidis. The long-term goal is to reach 20 percent.Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electricity by taking advantage of temperature differences. Electrons move from the hot end of the material to the cold end, creating positive and negative electrodes and an electrical voltage.A thermoelectric device, for example, could be attached to a car's tailpipe. The side of the material in contact with the tailpipe would be the hot side, and the side exposed to the air would be the cold side. The temperature difference would be enough to generate electricity, which would be returned to the car's engine for additional torque. Such devices also could be used in large industrial plants, such as those for power, chemical production and glass making.Car companies are working on the thermoelectrics problem as part of their strategy to raise the overall gas mileage of vehicles, according to Kanatzidis. Researchers hope to raise mileage by 5 to 10 percent per gallon using thermoelectrics, which would be significant. ANI
2008-10-10 08:00:00Ginkgo extract may help prevent stroke damage
Washington, Oct 10 ANI: Daily dose of a standardized extract from the leaves of the ginkgo tree can prevent or reduce brain damage after an induced stroke, say researchers.After working with genetically engineered mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins came to the conclusion.The study has been published in Stroke.The scientists say their work lends support to other evidence that ginkgo biloba triggers a cascade of events that neutralizes free radicals known to cause cell death."It's still a large leap from rodent brains to human brains but these results strongly suggest that further research into the protective effects of ginkgo is warranted," says lead researcher Sylvain Dore, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. "If further work confirms what we've seen, we could theoretically recommend a daily regimen of ginkgo to people at high risk of stroke as a preventive measure against brain damage," the expert added.In the study, researchers gave ginkgo biloba EGb 761 - a lab-quality form of the extract - to normal mice and HO-1 knockout mice, mice lacking the gene that produces the enzyme heme oxygenase-1HO-1. HO-1 breaks down heme, a common iron molecule found in blood, into carbon monoxide, iron and biliverdin. HO-1 has been shown to act as an antioxidant and have a protective effect against inflammation in animal models.Dore and his team gave 100 milligrams per kilogram of EGb 761 extract orally once daily for seven days before inducing stroke in the mice by briefly blocking an artery to one side of the brain.After stroke induction, the mice were tested for brain function and brain damage. One such test, for example, involves running patterns, another tests reaction to an external stimulus. Similar tests were conducted on mice that did not receive the ginkgo extract. Neurobehavioral function was evaluated before the study and at 1, 2 and 22 hours after stroke using a four-point scale: 1 no deficit, 2 forelimb weakness, 3 inability to bear weight on the affected side, 4 no spontaneous motor activity.Results showed that normal mice that were pretreated had 50.9 percent less neurological dysfunction and 48.2 percent smaller areas of brain damage than untreated mice. hese positive effects did not exist in the HO-1 knockout mice."Our results suggest that some element or elements in ginkgo actually protect brain cells during stroke," says Dore. ANI
2008-10-10 02:56:38"Bold traveller" bug could be a 'goldmine' of clues to life on other planets
London, Oct 10 ANI: A bug, discovered deep in a goldmine and nicknamed "the bold traveller" has got astrobiologists excited because of its unique ability to live in complete isolation of any other living species, suggesting it could be the key to life on other planets.According to a report in New Scientist, a community of the bacteria Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator has been discovered 2.8 kilometers beneath the surface of the Earth in fluid-filled cracks of the Mponeng goldmine in South Africa. Its 60 degree Celsius home is completely isolated from the rest of the world, and devoid of light and oxygen.Dylan Chivian of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, studied the genes found in samples of the fluid to identify the organisms living within it, expecting to find a mix of species. Instead, he found that 99.9 percent of the DNA belonged to one bacterium, a new species. The remaining DNA was contamination from the mine and the laboratory."The fact that the community contains only one species stands one of the basic tenets of microbial ecology on its head," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute.A community of a single species is almost unheard of in the microbial world. It means the ecosystem's only species must extract everything it needs from an otherwise dead environment."Virtually all other known ecosystems on Earth that don't use sunlight directly do use some product of photosynthesis," said Pilcher.Chivian's analysis shows that D. audaxviator gets its energy from the radioactive decay of uranium in the surrounding rocks. It has genes to extract carbon from dissolved carbon dioxide and other genes to fix nitrogen, which comes from the surrounding rocks. Both carbon and nitrogen are essential building blocks for life as we know it, and are used in the building blocks of proteins, amino acids. D. audaxviator has genes to produce all the amino acids it needs.D. audaxviator can also protect itself from environmental hazards by forming endospores - tough shells that protect its DNA and RNA from drying out, toxic chemicals and from starvation. It has a flagellum to help it navigate.It also represents the kind or organism that could survive below the surface of Mars or Saturn's sixth largest moon Enceladus.According to Chivian, "One question that has arisen when considering the capacity of other planets to support life is whether organisms can exist independently, without access even to the Sun.""The answer is yes and here's the proof. It's philosophically exciting to know that everything necessary for life can be packed into a single genome," he added. ANI
2008-10-10 02:52:38North Korea bans IAEA monitors from all nuclear facilities
INT75International/DiplomacyNorth Korea bans IAEA monitors from all nuclear facilitiesVienna, Oct 9 DPA North Korea has banned inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA from all facilities at its nuclear complex in Yongbyon, the agency said Thursday. According to an IAEA document sent to member states, Pyongyang told inspectors Thursday: "Since it is preparing to restart the facilities, Agency monitoring of the shut down and sealing of these facilities ... is no longer appropriate." The reclusive communist regime also announced it had stopped disabling its nuclear facilities. Two weeks ago, Pyonyang started limiting inspectors' access in Yongbyon by stopping IAEA monitoring of its plutonium reprocessing facility. Experts with the Vienna-based agency are permanently stationed at the nuclear complex to make sure it remains shut down as agreed under the six-party agreement. After its nuclear weapons test in 2006, North Korea agreed in 2007 with the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to freeze and disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy aid and an easing of sanctions. "IAEA inspectors will remain in Yongbyon pending further information by the DPRK," said IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Besides the reprocessing plant that was used to produce plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, the IAEA had been monitoring a reactor, a spent fuel pond, and a fuel fabrication facility in Yongbyon. In late September, the reclusive communist country told the IAEA that it was planning to restart reprocessing and had inspectors remove seals and cameras. North Korea's actions are seen as a reaction to Washington's reluctance in dropping the East Asian regime from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism. The US insists Pyongyang should first agree to procedures to verify its nuclear declaration, allowing international inspectors to check claims made by Pyongyang about its nuclear programme. --DPAsy/vt338 Words09102112
2008-10-09 12:03:13ArcelorMittal profits to rise despite financial crisis: Mittal
INT64International/Diaspora/EconomyArcelorMittal profits to rise despite financial crisis: MittalLondon, Oct 9 IANS Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, said Thursday he expects the world’s largest steelmaker to increase profits this year despite the global economic downturn."Despite the current financial crisis, the Chinese economic slowdown and the strong destocking taking place on steel markets, we are pleased to expect profitability improvement in the second half of this year,” Mittal said.In a statement issued to shareholders ahead of a meeting with investors Thursday ArcelorMittal reaffirmed third quarter EBITDA earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation guidance in excess of $8.5 billion. The company, which produces 10 percent of the world’s steel, also announced that it expects EBITDA as well as cash flow from operations to be higher in the second half of 2008 compared to the record first half of 2008.Shares in the Luxembourg-based steel giant soared 10 percent Thursday after it confirmed the H2 guidance.--Indo-Asian News Servicedds/sk/vt167 Words*09101727
2008-10-09 08:03:18Awry protein linked to breast cancer
INT24International/Health/ScienceAwry protein linked to breast cancerSydney, Oct 9 IANS A developmental protein like Notch that sometimes goes awry has been linked to breast cancer, according to a new study. The breast cancer team at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research WEHI, led by Jane Visvader and Geoff Lindeman from the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium, have identified important roles for Notch genes in regulating breast development and function. This discovery has important implications for breast cancer, since elevated levels of Notch have been linked to breast cancer. The advance builds on the group's 2006 discovery of the breast stem cell in mice, according to a release. Research carried out by Toula Bouras and colleagues has uncovered dual functions for Notch in breast tissue. First, Notch helps restrict breast stem cell number, so that when it is 'switched off', there is a resultant expansion in breast stem cells. Second, Notch is important for ensuring that stem cells produce the sleeve of cells that normally line breast ducts. These 'luminal' cells may be the cells that give rise to common types of breast cancer, according to the WEHI release. Thus, Notch helps to orchestrate the formation of breast tissue: it plays an important role in controlling stem cell numbers and instructs stem cells to produce luminal cells. Significantly, Bouras and colleagues found that errant activation of Notch resulted in uncontrolled growth of luminal precursors, leading to the formation of breast tumours. --Indo-Asian News ServiceSt/jg264 Words09100941
2008-10-09 00:02:09
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