Obama can “kiss my ass” for support: Bill Clinton

Former US President Bill Clinton has told friends that the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama will have to beg for his full support.

Clinton is still very bitter that Obama defeated his wife Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.

The Telegraph reported that the former President’s rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence. Obama’s superstitious too!

A senior Democrat who worked for Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends that Obama could “kiss my ass” in return for his support.

A second source said that the former President has kept his distance because he still does not believe Obama can win the election.

Obama is expected to speak to Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former President’s future campaign role is a “sticking point” in peace talks with Hillary’s aides.

Clinton last week issued a tepid statement, through a spokesman, in which he said he “is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next President of the United States.”

It has long been known that Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist.

The Telegraph quoted a Democrat source as saying that Clinton has been “angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn’t. I’ve spoken to a couple of people who he has been in contact with and he is mad as hell.”

Street’s empty: The party is over, at least for now

If ESOPs Were The ‘In-Thing’ Last Year, It’s A Word That’s Conspicuous By Its Absence Today; Foreign Broking Cos Go Slow On Hiring Plans Too

Ramesh (name changed) is a sub-broker with a brokerage house in Mumbai. In 2006-2007, he did not miss one trading day. This enthusiastic 32-year old would dutifully take the over-crowded Mumbai trains which would help him get to work in Dalal Street at 9 am.
Much before trade commenced, he was quick to catch up on what was going on and keep his clients updated. On a good day, his brokerage earnings would be in the range of Rs 8,000-10,000. The indication of how tough the going has been is evident from the fact that this is drastically down to Rs 500, and with some luck to Rs 1,000. Time is spent aimlessly looking for a new game on the PC since solitaire is now passé. Once lunch is done, Ramesh takes a long walk along Marine Drive wondering how he could possibly get past the 10-orders-per-day mark. Luckily for Ramesh or unluckily, there are a lot like him in today’s market.
For instance, a wealth manager with a private sector bank who earned a bonus of Rs 20 lakh last year is struggling to meet his quarterly target, this year. Around the same time last year, he found the discotheque a good way to loosen up. That is far from the case today, with an outing itself becoming a rarity. Last December, plans were afoot to buy that dream house till the market had other plans in store for him.
If ESOPs were the in-thing in 2007, it is a word that is conspicuous by its absence today. Employees at brokerages who are rewarded with this magic wand last year realise today that the market price is way below the offer price. “Since the going was good, while calculating my salary, I valued the ESOPs, and hence rejected an offer from a foreign bank, laments one such ESOP holder. Private sector bank employees working in affluent segments such as treasury and wealth management would earlier take their bonus and promptly look for the next big job offer. One employee who resorted to such hopping twice in the past three years, confirms he has no offer this year. Hit by the subprime crisis, many foreign banks recruit only if there is a clear case which has resulted in lower churn levels.
A private sector bank has deferred the joining date of fresh MBAs who were recruited while a bank with a broking business has already employed a consultant to recommend a cost-cutting exercise. That’s not all. The sales team at another private sector bank, which sold exotic derivatives to clients, was giving out huge bonuses in 2007.

Lady docs yet to storm super-specialty fields

Money Drives Boys To Engg Schools, Merit Beckons Girls to Medicine

Chennai: Traditionally, the physicians of the Gods have been men. Whether it was Paean, Dhanvantri or Imhotep, the seat of the physician across Greco, Indian and Egyptian mythologies has always been reserved for men. Women hardly donned the role of the healer of the Gods or the court physician. The twentieth century however has a different story to tell.
The march of the XX chromosome into the medical world has never been this strong. Recent data released by the directorate of medical education shows that 65 per cent of the applicants have been women this year. But closer examination would reveal that women have managed to dominate only certain fields of medicine.
A quick search on doctors at a leading chain of hospitals reveals that while women dominate obstetrics and gynecology department, there are hardly any women orthopaedicians or cardio-thoracic and neurosurgeons. The presence of women doctors are few and far between in fields such as plastic surgery and ENT too. The irony is evident. Though number of women donning the white coats has increased, their march into super-specialty fields that require higher marks and have fewer seats has been unsteady.
“In order to become a neuro or cardiac surgeon, you need to do a super specialty. This means a couple of more years in addition to the nine and a half years that you spend in getting a MBBS and MS,” says A Sunitha, a post-graduate student of medicine. “Since women often get married by then and have family commitments, many don’t find a reason in pursuing and wasting money over a course that they won’t get to finish or devote time to.”
Not surprisingly, year after year women opt to do a medical specialty (MD) at the post-graduate level as opposed to men who go on to choose a surgical specialty (MS) and thereafter, a super-specialty. Medics, however, opine that a majority of women opt out of doing an MS because super-specialty surgeons have to be available round the clock for emergencies, a requirement that levies excess pressure on women doctors.
“Another reason why women are probably not opting for superspecialty surgical degrees is that such surgeries can be very strenuous. You need to be very strong to withstand a six to seven hour surgery,” says Dr Uma Ramesh who has a triple Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in ophthalmology. Ramesh also feels that if hospitals introduced a limited or flexi-timing work culture, women would have it easier. Incidentally, ophthalmology is another field that has seen an increase in the number of women doctors.
But for the selected fields in which women dominate, patients such as Chandra Doraiswamy are grateful. “I feel that women make better doctors. They listen and care better and are more forthcoming in sharing their time with patients. Male doctors somehow shut you out,” he says.
The argument is one that is coloured by personal experience. Two members of the same family can have differing opinions of the same doctor, says Dr Abraham Isaac, professor of obstetrics and gynecology. “Just because women are supposed to be ‘natural’ nurturers, it doesn’t mean that they necessarily become good doctors. Not every mother, for instance, is great with her kids, At the end of the day, it boils down to the rapport between a patient and his or her doctor,” he says.
COURSES PREFERRED BY WOMEN
Obstetrics-Gynaecology: Most women think that lady doctors are more understanding. They are also more comfortable when they are being examined by a woman
Dentistry: No sudden emergencies. A doctor is not woken up in the middle of the night to attend to such cases
Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Psychology: Less demanding. Many patients who suffer from ailments falling under this category prefer women doctors
LEAST PREFERRED COURSES ARE THE SURGICAL STREAMS: Cardio-thoracic surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, gastroenteric surgery and urology. This is invariably due to long hours that go into performing complex surgeries which can prove to be strenuous. Most often, super-specialty surgeons are required to be on call at all times. This again interferes with family life of women doctors

iPhone can’t act pricey

It’s cool and trendy. But can iPhone, the cult device from Steve Jobs Apple that turned one year old on Sunday, take on India’s hot market when it launches in the cold of the coming winter?

The jury is out but Apple needs to watch out. The touchscreen device must cope with a price conscious market – and a bunch of affordable look-alikes from big brands including Korea’s LG and Samsung.

“India is a big market where about a 100 million handsets were sold last year and this year about 120 million devices are estimated to be sell,” said Anshul Gupta, Senior Research Analyst, Gartner.

Experts say even if Apple gets a one per cent share, a million iPhones will be sold.

The iPhone 3G model which is bundled with services now costs about $199 and $299 (Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000) for the 8GB and 16GB versions respectively in the US while unsubsidised models in Europe are expected to sell for about $771 and $880.

In India, iPhone will have to cope with a handset-only pricing regime because operators are not going to sell it with services for now.

"If Apple can bring down the price it can take the Nokia’s N-Series of multimedia devices head on, we can expect some shift in market share between the two companies," Gupta said.

Nokia’s much-hyped N95 that has some cool features that compete with iPhone retails at around Rs 28,000.

Handset manufacturers like Taiwan’s Hi-Tech Corp and Korea’s LG and Samsung have already introduced their iPhone look-alikes in India priced between Rs 11,000 and Rs 30,000.

More such devices are on the cards for India while market leader Nokia is also expected to introduce its own touchscreen device by the year-end.

Apple has sold about six million iPhone so far, and expects to sell about 10 million by the end of 2008. According to Gartner, about 1.7 million units of iPhone were sold during the January-March period this year, of the total 32 million "smartphones" sold during the period.

Smartphones, which are like hand-held computers, carry many features that enable Internet surfers perform many functions on the go. With the download of sound and video and activities like online trading becoming popular, high-end mobile handsets will increasingly compete with the smartphones that are already in the market.

World's biggest tech myths

What's common between the Lochness monster, Yeti and radiation from PC monitor causing cancer? Well, they all are myths!

One of the long timer in the list of tech-related myths is that switching off power without shutting down damages the PC.

Also, many believe that as their email account is password-proof it can never be hacked.

Well, with little grounding there are many such myths that haunt the tech world.

Here we bring you some of the most common technology myths.

No magnets near my PC
This would have been true in the case of a floppy drive, however, hard drives and laptops are immune to magnetic radiation as they are free from magnetic composition.

And like this, thumbdrives, memory cards and CDs too are, so don't get hyper and go crazy with those fridge magnets.

Most of the storage devices, like SD cards are immune to magnetic fields.

PC monitor radiation causes cancer

No! It won't. Radiation from your cell phone might give you a brain tumour, but a monitor is harmless.

The radiation from your monitor is too weak and also at a different frequency, so rest assure you are totally safe.

In fact, according to several studies the amount of ultra violet radiation produced by a computer monitor is only a small fraction of that produced by florescent lighting.

Cookies track every move

Cookies do track your activities on a website. But they are simple things which will make sure that your next visit to the site is simple and hassle free.

Cookies are basically small text files that help the browser remember specific information like your ID and password, preferences, shopping cart information etc. Plus, they are usually deleted when you shut down your browser.

To delete cookies in IE, go to Tools, click Internet Options, click the Privacy tab, and click Advanced to override automatic cookie handling.

Stop' a USB device before unplugging

This applies only in a few cases. This is said to ensure that the USB device is not unplugged while data is being read from or written to it

. Doing so would corrupt the file being transferred or maybe damage the USB drive. However, when the USB is in an idle mode it can be unplugged without going through the entire process of 'Safely Remove hardware’.

For devices like keyboard, mouse, printers and scanners, you can just unplug them when not in use.

Never switch off before Shut Down

Many believe that turning power off without shutting down PC physically damages its hard drive. However, this is an age-old myth and has no grounding.

However, users do lose their data if they were working and have not saved before switching off the power.

Also, many users believe that one should shut down PC every couple of hour so that it can rest. The thought may be nice, but shutting down your PC every few hours may actually be harmful to your PC.

Components in the PC are most stressed when they have to either boot or shut down. Doing that every few hours will keep it under constant stress. However, this doesn't mean you must keep your computer on forever. Operating systems do need a shut down once in a while, because even the best operating systems crash if not given a rest.

Clearing recycle bin deletes data forever

Well many may relax when they delete their trash files.

However, this is no reason to cheer. In fact, Windows just marks the area of the disk occupied by such files as empty, but does not delete the data.

There are many file recovery software available such as TOKIWA DataRecovery that enables you to undelete files, even if they have been removed from the recycle bin. Such programmes can track the deleted files in the hard disk.

Recovery of the deleted files is possible as long as the disk area is not overwritten by any new disk.

Anti-viruses are foolproof

Though an anti-virus is a must-must, but one cannot just relax especially in a 24X7 connected world.

No single antivirus programme can completely safeguard you against virus, trojan, malware and spyware attack.

There may be chances that the anti-virus programme loaded in your PC may not be effective against spyware or other kinds of malware not classified as viruses.

Also, in case of a bigger attack, the security vendor may take long time to issue a security update.

Hence, users should make sure that their PCs are loaded with anti-spyware programme. Also, keep regularly updating your anti-virus software.

Courtesy: Indiatimes News Network

Slowdown a boom for BPOs

Unperturbed by the economic slowdown in the United States, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector is growing and cashing in on the opportunity of more business.

For the BPO sector, the US slowdown is the melting in the pot to look for more business in terms of opportunity.

This space in information technology even though US centric is looking formidable in facing the slowdown.

The sector is also looking at other economies and non-US geographies to fill more space.

Talking to a nes agency in an interview, Partha Sarkar, the CEO of HTMT Global Solutions, one of the most reputed BPO companies, said, "The US economic slowdown is an opportunity for BPO

Sarkar finds this trend is temporary and will stabilize soon.

Back office outsourcing has become a common practice among various BPO's which are primarily focused on providing a full spectrum of services, including customer support, accounting, administration, inventory management, data entry services, research, CAD design support, insurance and risk analysis for medium sized enterprises is profitable business ventures which has swept India and the Indian middle class.

Deepak Kumar, Sr Benefit Management Analyst, HTMT said, "Working in the BPO company is very valuable. It allows us to know the different cultures across the globe."

For Vandana Singh, Sr Claim Processing executive, at HTMT, working in BPOs is something different.

State Information Technology Secretary, Ashok Kumar C Manoli, said: "It is an opportunity. The State Government will provide support to BPO companies in the state."

In the current scenario, outsourcing is a boon for everyone. Outsourcing is all about giving some part of your business work or the entire services to the other companies.

Even though the US economic slowdown is a silent killer, the BPO segment is facing this under current in cashing in on opportunities.

IIT blames Internet for suicides

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has blamed enormous Internet surfing and constant use of mobile phones by the students for increasing number of suicides on the campus, officials said.

In a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed June 2 by the institute's alumni association, the premier institute said that as students are in regular touch with their family members, friends and relatives, several thoughts occupy them.

This in turn, at times, disturbs the students, who do not get peaceful time to study. And later, they take the extreme step for not performing well in the exams.

Earlier, when the mobile phones were not so popular, the students were not able to stay in touch with their families and hence got time to study, officials said.

Also, Internet surfing exposes the students to several sites having information that can cause a negative impact on the minds, leading students to suicides, officials added.

In another reply about the number of suicides, IIT-K said that till date six students of the institute have committed suicide.

Omendra Bharat, an IIT alumni, filed the RTI application to seek information on 14 issues, including the academic norms fixed for preparing the semester result of the students.

The RTI application was filed following the suicide by a student, Ritika Toya Chatterjee.

She killed herself May 30 after she failed in two of her final semester exams, despite having offers to join any of the six Indian Institutes of Management.

"Information regarding the semester grading of students and Ritika's grading is still to be provided along with the reply of twelve other questions we filed through RTI," said Bharat.

No Windows XP sales from today

REDMOND: Microsoft Corp is scheduled to stop selling its Windows XP operating system to retailers and major computer makers today, despite protests from a slice of PC users who don't want to be forced into using XP's successor, Vista.

Once computers loaded with XP have been cleared from the inventory of PC makers such as Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co, consumers who can't live without the old operating system on their new machine will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally "downgrade" to XP.

Microsoft will still allow smaller mom-and-pop PC builder shops to buy XP for resale through the end of January. A version of XP will also remain available for ultra-low-cost PCs such as the Asus Eee PC.

A group of vocal computer users who rallied around a "Save XP" petition posted on the industry news site InfoWorld had been clamoring for Microsoft to keep selling XP until its next operating system, Windows 7, is available. The software maker has said it expects to release Windows 7 sometime in 2009.

Last week, Microsoft said it would provide full technical support for six-year-old Windows XP through 2009, and limited support through 2014.

India looks to 'foreign' help to save nuke deal

Having left the nuclear deal almost until the eleventh hour, India and its international allies are trying to scrounge for ways to save the nuclear deal — and looking for ways to "telescope" the next few stages.

Left to itself, the next stages of the IAEA ratification and the NSG approval could take months that would go beyond the timeline of both the UPA government and the Bush administration. But the better part of the nuclear world like the UK, US, Russia and France are all openly backing the India-US nuclear deal at this moment.

Diplomatic sources said India would be able to count on many more helping hands, because nobody really wants to see India lose this opportunity.

At the IAEA stage, Indian officials haven't yet been given the green signal from the government to go ahead to the next step. But (if and) when they do, they will initial the finalized draft, which then becomes a finalized text. While this text will be sent to the board of governors by the IAEA secretariat, there is a possibility that NSG leaders like UK, US, Russia and France could circulate the finalized text at the NSG.

The hope is that it may be possible to work on the NSG exemption and the IAEA governors' approval almost simultaneously. This would be unusual, said sources, but not impossible, because most of the IAEA governors are NSG members.

The NSG deliberations will take a minimum of two months before any exemption can be forthcoming. At this stage, it will already be September-October, which would include forcing many Europeans to forego their vacation in August.

If this tight timetable can be followed, US President George Bush could be writing out a presidential determination on the deal by October. The determination is to the US Congress to approve the package — 123 agreement, IAEA safeguards (which should have been approved by the governors by then) and the NSG waiver.

If the Congress receives the determination before it breaks for elections in November, it could take it up during the lame duck session before January 2009. This would involve its own "telescoping" but that would be the US' responsibility, not India's.

All of this is terribly ambitious depending on virtually precision timing and coordinated efforts by many countries apart from India and US to get this deal done. It's a kind of racing the clock that, in many ways, has characterized the deal so far — with its numerous near-death experiences.

The government seems determined, said sources. On Monday, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma said in Dubai, "The nuclear deal with the US will help in ending nearly four decades of nuclear apartheid for India during which there were no transfer of technology. In the coming years, India will need a lot of energy, especially nuclear energy, to fuel its growth which has nearly touched 10%," he said.

Time running out on nuclear deal: US

The United States has said it is becoming increasingly unlikely that there will be enough time to push through the Indo-US civil nuclear deal once heralded as the cornerstone of a new strategic relationship.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that it is becoming increasingly difficult "to assume that we could be able to get an agreement through the US Congress".

US officials have said that India needs to complete its end of the pact before the US Congress starts its summer break in July because many lawmakers will be busy campaigning for crucial November elections.

Turbulent times

Analysts believe that given the sharp 47 per cent spike in ATF prices in Q1 FY09, there is little choice for carriers than raise prices. While raising prices when customer demand is dipping might be risky, what are the areas they can look at? Says Kapil Arora, partner, Risk Advisory Services, Ernst & Young, India, "On the operations front, companies can bring down the costs of ticketing, optimise the routes they fly and improve turnaround times for maintenance. On the revenues side, they could increase the value added services chunk by bundling holiday packages, selling food separately or charging for baggage clearance." He believes that companies must invest heavily on technology and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to run a more efficient, leaner organisation. Airlines have responded by resorting to job cuts, route rationalisation, reducing or doing away with travel agent commissions and by hiking prices to offset the ATF hike. While Air India, Jet Airways and SpiceJet have increased fuel surcharge by a minimum of Rs 300, Kingfisher and Air Deccan have announced higher base fares ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 3,000. In addition to hiking prices, companies have cut operations between Tier2 and Tier3 cities and shorter haul routes. What will be the impact of the higher ATF prices on growth and expansion of operations of companies? Hazy future

The increase in ticket prices due to the rise in ATF costs have dealt a double whammy to the sector. Airlines are now having to cope with growth, which is coming in single digits as customers are leaning to cheaper modes of transport while costs are spiralling out of control. For the January-March 2008 period, passenger traffic grew at 10.5 per cent which was less than half of the 25-30 per cent achieved in the last couple of years. If fares continue to go up, growth rates are expected to be in low single digits or slip into the negative. Earlier, with high growth rates, airline companies had ordered for about 480 aircrafts, which was to be inducted between now and 2012. Analysts say the assumptions were based on demand growth, expansion into new sectors and the prevailing ATF cost structure. Companies are expected to either cancel the order or lease it out to other carriers. Analysts believe that the low cost carriers (SpiceJet, Indigo and Go Air) will be the first to be hit as they target the visiting friends and relatives or leisure segment, whereas the professionals or the business segment constitutes the bulk of the customer base for full service carriers.

BATTLING IT OUT
Market Share in CY07	(%)
Jet Airways + Jet Lite	29.8
Indigo	7.6
Air India + Indian Airlines	19
SpiceJet	8.8
Kingfisher + Deccan	29.3
Go Air	4.2
Others	1.3
Source: DGCA

The LCCs, which have about 45 per cent of the market in the country, were expected to garner 60 per cent in the next three years, but with the consolidation (Jet Airways-Sahara, Kingfisher-Deccan and Indian Airlines-Air India) this looks unlikely. Ernst and Young believes that for the sector to survive, there has to be a rationalisation of ATF prices, consolidation offering synergies in operations and distribution, and improvement in airport infrastructure, which will bring down holding times on the ground and in the air. In addition, Arora believes that companies with deep pockets, ability and patience to withstand this bad patch and good quality management will survive. And, who are these players? Analysts say that if crude stabilises at current levels, none of the airlines will make money. However, if crude prices falls below $100 levels, Jet Airways and SpiceJet are the best placed to turn corner. (See: Turbulent future) While Jet Airways has a robust business model with a good mix of domestic and international routes combined with a value-based carrier Jet Lite, SpiceJet is the lowest cost carrier in the industry currently. Even for companies which are running a tight operation it is difficult to fathom how they will fund their operations considering that the sector witnessed losses of $1 billion in the last fiscal and lenders are sitting tight. Without additional funds, the outlook for the sector looks rather bleak. Says Nikhil Vora, managing director, IDFC-SSKI, "Future prospects for the companies look dim. What can be more stark than a sector with a market capitalisation of $3 billion sitting on losses of about $1.5 billion.

Hotel tariffs to melt in slowdown heat

The country's five- and four-star hotels could soon revise downwards their tariffs as the world's second fastest-growing economy heads for a slowdown. According to Crisil Research, the average room rates in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are likely to fall 5-10 per cent in the next few months. Industry experts said the occupancy rates could fall from 75-80 per cent now to 65-70 per cent soon. Hotels said this is because of companies cutting their travel budgets to deal with the slowdown in business. Some large companies are even known to have hired flats in many cities to control their hotel expenses. "The industry could face rate consolidation (slashing of rates) in the next year. The rates will be slashed when the contracting season begins from October 2008 and the impact of the same would be visible on their revenues in second quarter of 2009," said Siddharth Thaker, the executive director of HVS Hospitality Services, a hotel consultancy.

DROP DOWN
City	Current room rates (avg)	Projected	Decline	Decline %
Bangalore	14,000	12,700	1,300	9.29
Chennai	7,200	6,800	400	5.55
Hyderabad	7,500	7,100	400	5.33
Figures in Rs Source: Crisil Research

Large players like ITC Hotels and East India Hotels, which runs the Oberoi chain, denied any move to reduce their room rates, though some hotels told Business Standard that such a move was indeed on the cards. A five-star hotel in north Mumbai is mulling a rate cut, while it has added other services like free breakfast and free airport-drop for its clients. The hotel charges around Rs 12,000 per room at present. Another player in the leisure segment has already revised the rates for its properties in Goa and Kerala. This could impact the price of hotel stocks in the market. "If business recorded in the next couple of months is weaker than usual, there could be downgrading of hotel sector stocks," said a Mumbai-based investment analyst. Though hotels are unwilling to talk about it openly, several travel houses, which book hotels for customers, said they had recorded a significant drop in travel bookings. Mumbai-based Sree Raj Travels, for instance, has seen a drop of over 36 per cent in international travel bookings between January and May 2008. This comes at a time when new hotels are coming up across the length and breadth of the country. With 39 hotels under various stages of development, Bangalore will have 3,000 rooms by 2008-09, as compared with the present 2,300, an increase of 30 per cent. Hyderabad will have around 2,200 rooms by 2008-09 as compared with the existing 1,600, an increase of 38 per cent. The most dramatic increase will be in Chennai, where the supply will go up by 30 per cent in a year, while the demand is projected to rise 15 per cent. To make matters worse, the cost of building a hotel could go up by 20 per cent in the current situation, experts said. Construction of the building makes 50 per cent of the cost of any hotel.

Spain beat Germany to lift Euro Cup

Convincing victory

Spain finally ended their 44-year wait for a trophy when Fernando Torres's exquisite first-half goal gave them a deserved 1-0 victory over Germany in a fast and furious Euro 2008 final on Sunday.

Spain, appearing in their first final since 1984 and seeking only their second trophy following their 1964 Euro success on home soil, were worthy winners as their crisp passing, wonderful technique and defensive discipline left Germany flailing.

Torres's goal after 33 minutes was also fit for a final as he showed all the speed, determination and quality of finish that summed up his team's whole campaign

Left to pull out if govt goes to IAEA

A day after Sonia Gandhi asked the Congress to get ready for elections, CPM announced that it would snap support to the UPA government if it took the “harmful” Indo-US nuclear deal to the IAEA. The government can now have the deal either at the cost of elections or by getting the Samajwadi Party’s 39 members to back it in the Lok Sabha.

The government is betting on the second option because no one, neither Congress or its allies, is ready for polls with double-digit inflation expected to shoot up further. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has held that he would decide on the matter when the UNPA meets on July 3.

Mulayam remained noncommittal on the issue on Sunday, when he exhorted his party workers to prepare for Lok Sabha elections. This was interpreted in political parlours as the SP chief ’s resolve to drive a hard bargain with Congress.

On Sunday, the CPM politburo, attended by chief ministers of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, said the decision to snap support would be taken in consonance with the other three Left parties. CPM’s partners — CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc — should be making similar pronouncements next week by when the Left, with 59 members in the Lok Sabha, would also know if SP intends to bail out the government.

Significantly, RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Prasad said at a rally in Bharuch, “The UPA government will complete its fiveyear term and the nuclear deal will also go through.’’ This is the first time that the leader of a major constituent of the UPA has asserted in public that the India-US civilian nuclear deal will go through, reflecting the progress made in Congress’s talks with SP.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, meanwhile, said going to the IAEA board to get the safeguards agreement approved would be a “flagrant violation” of the understanding reached at the November 2007 meeting of UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal. “In case the government decides to go ahead with such a harmful agreement, which has no majority support in Parliament, the CPM will withdraw support to the UPA government in concert with other Left parties,” Karat said, reading out prepared statement.

The Left’s idea of what would constitute a “decision” hinges on the elusive last meeting of the UPA-Left committee, as announced on Wednesday. Left leaders insist that this meeting should pen down the committee’s finding that there is no consensus on the matter. “The result should be taken to the highest level after which the PM may clarify whether he is moving with the deal or not,” a Left leader said.

The Left’s stand is now crystal clear and a formal announcement of the committee’s futility would serve no purpose. Also, with the PM slated to attend the G-8 summit in early July and IAEA talks scheduled soon after, the government has no time for niceties.
FINAL STRAW
CPM politburo says the decision to snap support would be taken in consonance with the other three Left parties

RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Prasad says in a rally that the UPA government will complete its five-year term and the nuclear deal will also go through

Telugu Desam Party, UNPA’s second important constituent, has backed the Left stand. So, SP’s lifeline to the government may also mean the death of UNPA

Rupee to test 47-level vs USD, GDP growth 6% by year-end'

Continuing flight of foreign capital from Indian equity markets and the persisting global financial crisis, hit by surging crude oil prices, are likely to send the domestic currency crashing to 47-level against the US dollar in the coming months, the experts have warned.

Since the beginning of 2008, the rupee has depreciated by over 8 per cent against the US dollar in a downward rally, which started after a sharp appreciation of over 11 per cent in the Indian currency spanning over a year-long period.

During its last appreciation leg, the rupee rose from about 45-level to a high of close to 39 per dollar mark, while it is currently inching towards 43-level amid continuing pull- out of foreign capital from India and surge in oil price.

Global brokerage and equity research major CLSA's analyst and a renowned portfolio manager Christopher Wood has said in the latest June edition of his famed "Greed and Fear" report that further rise in oil price would continue to be particularly bad news for India.

"This is both despite and because of the Reserve Bank of India's increasingly pre-emptive monetary tightening stance. The RBI raised on Tuesday the repo rate and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 bps each to 8.5 per cent and 8.75 per cent, respectively.

"Certainly, a re-test of the 12,000 level on the Sensex cannot be ruled out in these circumstances. And that will be accompanied by a further weakening in the rupee," Wood wrote.

Separately, research and analytics firm Evalueserve's Chairman Alok Aggarwal has written in a whitepaper that the rupee is expected to fall to 47 against the US dollar and GDP growth could slow down to six per cent by the fourth quarter of this fiscal.

"Should the present global financial crisis not subside, crude oil continue to trade upwards, FII outflow from India continues unabated, and the Indian government do more harm than good to the country's fiscal health in an election year, we are revising down our earlier forecasts.

"We now believe that the Sensex could drop to 12,000 in the near term, the Rupee could depreciate by another five to six per cent against the US dollar, and the GDP growth could slow to approximately six per cent by the fourth quarter of this fiscal year," Aggarwal wrote.

He also pointed out that deterioration of external and internal factors have thrown obstacles in the country's growth story.

"We also believe that the Indian government's hands are tied in an election year and it is likely to be a net negative contributor," he said.

Noting that the Indian economy is in a tight spot in the short term, the whitepaper said a number of external and internal factors are likely to create pressure on economic growth, corporate earnings and the stock market.

Further, it added that as the country's financial markets are relatively immature, small capital inflows and outflows tend to have an exaggerated impact.

Here’s your reminder

Want to be alerted about mail or card you need to send next Thursday? Turn to these services.

Feeling rushed off your feet all the time, what with meeting needs of the present and trying to plan for future commitments? You could be wishing you had an online Jeeves of sorts, somebody who could do the groundwork, organising your schedules for you, and better still, reminding you at the right moment – send so and so this card, prepare for important meeting, and so on.

Just turn to the Internet and you might start breathing easy on this front. The Web has self-organiser tools, or e-mail scheduling services, that will act as your virtual personal assistant. Using these, you can send e-mails and files in the future — once or periodically, using flexible schedules — something our regular e-mail services don’t offer.

With such a reminder utility, we can send e-mail messages/reminders to ourselves or to others about the commitments — such as an important appointment with the boss, a business meet, interviews, your family members’ birthdays, other to-do lists.

Go on, try the following e-mail scheduling services :

www.Lettermelater.com : With this Web service, you can send e-mails to anyone you wish, with the ability to have them sent at any future date and time you decide.

Most Web-based email services don’t offer the convenience to schedule e-mail messages. If you click ‘send’, the mail is delivered instantly and a feature missing from these regular services is the ability to schedule e-mail delivery.

With this Web site, you can write e-mails with your existing e-mail address, and they will get sent at the exact date/time that you specify.

Once you get registered with the Web site, you can schedule and send reminders/e-mails by logging on to the site. The messages can be sent in ‘txt’ or ‘html’ formats.

Apart from the above, you can also send scheduled messages directly from your primary e-mail program (GMail, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc) by simply e-mailing it to ‘ me@lettermelater.com’. The Web site clearly explains the steps you need to follow to send scheduled messages from your e-mail program that has an account with LetterMeLater.

By using ‘cc’ and ‘bcc’ options, you can forward scheduled e-mails to as many people as you wish.

You can also track and manage scheduled e-mails online. Your e-mail will be the return address on the e-mails you send. Your recipient can see your e-mail address and reply.

For those averse to sign-up/registration formalities, the Web site has another user-friendly feature called ‘Quick Send’. Here, there are no sign-up procedures, you can directly go to the ‘Quick Send’ option and send scheduled messages/reminders instantly.

But the e-mails you send with this format will have the return address of webuser (at) lettermelater.com.

According to the Web site, the time zone has been auto detected. If the time given does not match your local time when the page was last loaded, you must make the necessary adjustment. It has a flexible date format. You can also enter specifications such as ‘now’, ‘next week’, or ‘tomorrow at 2 p.m.’

www.timecave.com: Want to make sure you don’t forget something, whether it’s an important date or appointment? Use Time Cave, a free reminder service, to meet your commitments.

The Web site does scheduling of your e-mail delivery, like the other one we saw.

All you have to do is get signed-up with the Web site to access this service. Just drop an e-mail message or reminder into Time Cave and instruct it when to come out. It provides options such as days, weeks, months, or even years to schedule your e-mail delivery.

The neatly-designed Time Cave will hold onto your message. Once the message’s time comes, it will be delivered to your e-mail or whomever you addressed it to. According to the Web site, all messages you send to any e-mail address, other than your own, will appear to come from your e-mail ID, not from Time Cave’s. Only messages you send to yourself appear to come from Time Cave.

Jesus ‘bleeds’ in Mumbai church

Christians, Hindus and Muslims from across Maharashtra continue to descend on St Michael's Church in Mahim to witness — what they believe — is a miracle.

The dark red patch around the heart on a painting of Jesus Christ has grown since it was discovered on Friday afternoon, and so has the queue around Mahim's packed streets. Hundreds of people visited the church by Saturday night.

Almost euphoric, people queued for up to six hours to spend just two seconds in front of the painting. They were allowed to touch and kiss the protective glass before being moved along. Many broke down after seeing the 'miracle', some wept and several fainted.

However, the Catholic Church in India denied this miracle. “The Church is cautious about declaring something a miracle," said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai. “God can work miracles, but it is too early to say that this is a miracle. It’s probably due to climate conditions from the monsoon. People should not get euphoric about this, but if it brings them closer to God, it is a good thing. I’ll visit the church soon to see it for myself.”

Clearly flustered by the unprecedented attention and a sleepless night, Parish Priest Father Raphael, stated that this was no miracle. “People can interpret it as they want to, but the picture is not bleeding and this is no miracle,” he said. Despite early chaos — when a stampede entered the church after the mark was first discovered — volunteers and police controlled the crowd and 500 metres long queue was formed. Ambulance crews were also on hand.

News of the ‘miracle’ spread fast and believers from Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat have made the pilgrimage to see the 3 by 4 foot painting. Several local schools gave children the day off to visit the church.

“It is a sign from God that Jesus has returned in this time of violence, sin and evil to give the message that he is dying for us again,” said David Serrao, a pastor at St Michael’s. “The blood started as a small red drop and was discovered by children playing in the church. It has now spread as Christ’s heart bleeds.” It is not just Christians that are flocking to Mahim. Large numbers of Hindus and Muslims are also coming to witness the image.

Maryam Shah travelled with her husband and three children from Malad. “I cried when I saw the blood,” she said. “We are Muslims but that does not matter when something like this happens. People of all faiths should appreciate the message.”

How even fallen trees help curb global warming

A 14,000-year-old oak tree has provided evidence that submerged trees store carbon far longer than trees that fall in forests.

Researchers came across the tree in Missouri in the US, possibly the oldest discovered in the world, when they were studying the ability of trees to store carbon.

While a tree is alive, it has a great ability to store carbon, thus keeping it out of the atmosphere. When it begins to decay, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere.

Discovering that certain conditions slow this process reveals the importance of proper tree disposal as well as the benefits of riparian forests, or forests through which water flows.

“If a tree falls in a forest, that number is reduced to an average of 20 years. In firewood, carbon is only stored for a year,” said Richard Guyette of Missouri University who led the study. “Carbon plays a huge role in climate change, and information about where it goes will be very important someday soon,” said Michael C Stambaugh, a co-author of the study. Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Ecosystems.

Girl in hospital after TV reality show

The hospitalisation of a teenage girl, who had fallen ill after participating in a dance show on television, has sparked a fierce debate about reality shows and their impact on a young impressionable mind.

The 16-year-old Shinjini Sengupta is now at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, (NIMHANS) Bangalore, where she was shifted from a city private hospital after she seemingly lost her ability to speak or move her limbs freely.

According to family sources, she developed these symptoms once she got eliminated after dancing her way to the hearts of the three judges in two earlier rounds. The comments made by the judges, which included celebrities, were being linked as possible triggers along with rising parental aspirations, which were always pushing the single-child to become achievers in every field.

While doctors attending on her here made an early diagnosis of an infection in her nervous system, she was shifted to NIMHANS for more detailed tests . The doe-eyed high-school girl participated in two rounds of the dance show on a TV channel and started showing first signs of depression in a tele-serial where she had won an audition.

Gear up for polls, Sonia tells party

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asked party office-bearers to prepare for elections. She set a deadline of August 31 for them to come up with specific programmes, strategies and a proposed list of candidates.

At a meeting with party leaders here, Ms. Gandhi took feedback from general secretaries in charge of the poll-going States on their preparedness for elections and asked them to involve State, district and block-level functionaries in setting in place organisation structures. She wanted simultaneous preparation for Lok Sabha elections as part of an aggressive strategy to re-energise the party in the run-up to the polls.

In answer to a question, chairman of the AICC media committee M. Veerappa Moily who attended the meeting said, “Yes, there was a sense of urgency to the meeting.”

The States scheduled to go to the polls in November-December include Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram and the National Capital Region of Delhi.

Ms. Gandhi told the meeting that she had received the A.K. Antony panel’s report on revitalising the party and sought the views of the leaders on it.

Passports under Tatkal service to be ready in a day

The project, launched in December last year and to be completed within 19 months, will also ensure that an applicant gets his passport within three days of application if police verification is not required.

Highlighting these aspects of the new passport issuance system in Amritsar, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday the steps are being taken to make the system applicant-friendly while balancing the needs of security.

Mukerjee said verification will be expedited through electronic linkage of the Passport Facilitation Centres with the police authorities in state capitals.

The minister, who inaugurated a Passport Centre, also said that e-passports with biometric information will be issued to the general public beginning September next year.

He said ''about 50 lakh passports were issued last year all over India by the Central Passport Organisation, compared to 22 lakh seven years ago. The total demand for passports is expected to grow to over 80 lakhs in 2010.

India hits the spend button

With rising incomes, working Indians are spending more on housing, education, healthcare, transport and communication than they did previously.

While the average monthly income has risen from Rs 810, in 1982, to Rs 1,486, in 1999-2000, the average family expenditure, at constant prices, has increased to Rs 1,138 in 1999-2000, against Rs 778 a decade ago.

Constant prices are based on prices and conditions of 1981-82 and are used to analyse real growth or change in living conditions.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, as much as 41 per cent of working class families live in independent houses. The expenditure on housing has risen to 16.01 per cent as against 9.84 per cent, at constant prices, in 1981-82.

“A lot of credit for growth in working class housing goes to the Centre’s tax incentives given over the last seven to eight years,” said Renu Sud Karnad, joint managing director, HDFC.

The survey also found that between 1982 and 1999-2000, the average size of a family has decreased (from 4.5 to 4.46), while the number of earning dependants has increased (0.18 to 0.32) and non-earning dependants has decreased (3.1 to 3).

Food continued to remain the biggest expense for families but now consumes a lesser amount of the total expenditure. From 56.95 per cent in the last decade, it now forms 47.48 per cent of total expenses.

Medical expenses have increased from 2.54 per cent to 4.54 per cent, while education costs have risen from 3.15 per cent to 6.19 per cent. Medical expenses have risen from 2.54 per cent to 4.54 per cent and education from 3.15 per cent to 6.19 per cent.

Clothing expenses have seen a sharp drop — from 10.03 per cent to 4.99 per cent — with more demand for readymade garments. The percentage of families with debts has dropped from 50.17 per cent in 1982 to 38.11 per cent.

Obama talks tough on outsourcing

Taking a tough stand against outsourcing, the presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama said that the choice is between giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas or give benefit to those corporations that keep jobs domestically.

“We can keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, or we can give tax benefits to companies that invest right here in New Hampshire,” Senator Obama said at a joint appearance with Senator Hillary Clinton in Unity, New Hampshire.

“We can have a tax code that rewards wealth and hands out billions of dollars more to big corporations and multimillionaires. Or we can provide a $1,000 tax cut to 95 per cent of families in America, start rewarding work and not just wealth, and eliminate income taxes for seniors making $50,000 a year or less,” Obama said, adding that's an agenda for change that we can believe in. That's the choice that we can make in this election.

“We can allow millions of Americans to work full-time but still not make enough to support their families, or we can raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation, and ensure that hard work pays off in America,” the Illinois Senator said.

“I don't care black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor. It doesn't matter. There's this sense of what this country is fundamentally about, a fundamental goodness, and that if we tap into that, I am absolutely convinced that we can lift this country up to new and greater heights.

“This is one of those moments in our history when we have to tap the decency of the American people. This is our chance to turn the page on the policies of the last seven and a half years. This is our chance to bring a new energy policy to America and new ideas to America,”Obama said at a historic moment during the campaign trail.

“So here's the choice in this election. If you like the direction America is going, then vote for Senator McCain, because you'll definitely get more of the same. But if you think we need a new course, a new agenda, then vote for Barack Obama and you will get the change that you and we need and deserve,” Senator Clinton said in her opening comments

Law panel backs mercy killing for terminally ill

Taking the first step towards legalizing euthanasia or mercy killing, the Law Commission has decided to recommend to the government to allow terminally ill to end their lives to relieve them of long suffering.

Euthanasia, literally meaning 'good death’ in ancient Greek but popularly referred to as mercy killing, had been a taboo word in India though it is allowed in some western countries under the assistance of physicians. It allows those whose death is virtually certain to avoid their painful journey to the end.

The core of the recommendation to make euthanasia legal stems from several SC judgments which ruled that 'life does not mean animal existence’. "If a person is unable to take normal care of his body or has lost all the senses and if his real desire is to quit the world, he cannot be compelled to continue with torture and painful life. In such cases, it will indeed be cruel not to permit him to die," says the report, receiving final touches from Commission chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan.

"Hence, a terminally ill man or man in a persistent vegetative state can be permitted to terminate it by premature extinction of life," says the report which is likely to be submitted to the government in the next couple of weeks.

Explaining the step towards legalizing euthanasia in India, Commission sources say the majority of its members feel that permission to prematurely end an extremely painful life would only accelerate the process of death which has already commenced. "In such cases, causing death would result in end of his sufferings," the sources said. Aware that premature end of life would not be approved by Indian society, the panel explained: "When an individual is suffering from incurable disease or severe pain, mercy killing should be permitted to see that his agony comes to an end."

The Commission also proposes another radical reform — decriminalize attempt to suicide. This means the panel is recommending deletion of Section 309 of the IPC, which punishes a person who survives an attempt to end life with one year imprisonment and a fine.

Justice Lakshmanan and other members of the Commission feel that it is of no gain to punish a person, who under extreme duress decides to end his life but survives in the attempt. The recommendation to repeal Section 309 was earlier made by the Law Commission in 1971, which was accepted by the government. Steps were initiated to amend the IPC, but the move fell through in 1972.

In 1994, a two-judge bench of SC termed the provision unconstitutional, but two years later a five-judge constitution bench upheld its validity making attempt to suicide an offence. "Those who attempt suicide are distressed and in psychological pain and for them to face the ignominy of police interrogation heightens the distress, shame, guilt and further suicide attempt," he feels.