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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

CEO Pay...Highly Taxing!

Report: 25 firms paid more in CEO pay than taxes - Yahoo! Finance: "Twenty-five of the 100 largest U.S. corporations paid their chief executives more last year than they paid in federal income taxes, according to a report released Wednesday.

The nonprofit Institute for Public Accuracy says the 25 CEOs averaged $16.7 million in salary and other 2010 compensation.

Most of the companies they ran, meanwhile, came out ahead at tax time. They collected tax refunds that averaged $304 million, based on a review of public filings. The think tank says the 25 firms that paid out more in CEO compensation than U.S. taxes reported average global profits of $1.9 billion.

The institute, based in San Francisco, describes itself as a national consortium of independent analysts and activists with progressive views who work with social movements to challenge corporate influence and military power."

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Drug companies and marketing expenditures

Yet another article on drug companies' spending to influence doctors. Who looks out for the public health and public health spending at large?

Pharma groups pay $150m to US doctors - FT.com:


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Monday, August 29, 2011

The Rich Face of Facebook

Facebook snatches NIT Warangal student for Rs 45 lakh salary - The Economic Times: "It's raining lucrative jobs at NIT Warangal which has had the best placement season so far. The 51-year-old institute started its recruitment drive on August 15 and already has a 21-year-old fourth year BTech computer science student securing the highest ever pay package of Rs 45 lakh per annum. The offer, made by Facebook, has created a record of sorts here. The institute confirmed that the student will be joining the technical wing of the social networking giant, as soon as he completes his course in March next year.

This has set a new benchmark at NIT Warangal in that the highest salary any student from the institute had bagged so far was Rs 20 lakh per annum. From the 2010-11 batch as many as three students had got jobs that paid them Rs 20 lakh per annum, sources at NIT said."

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Cali-no styro-fornia

California considers Styrofoam containers ban - Business - Going Green - msnbc.com: "The bill by Democratic state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, would prohibit restaurants, grocery stores and other vendors from dispensing food in expanded polystyrene containers, commonly known as Styrofoam, beginning in 2016. If signed into law, the measure would make California the first to institute a statewide ban on such containers. More than 50 California cities and counties already have similar bans
The bill would exempt school districts and city and county jurisdictions if they implemented programs that recycled more than 60 percent of their foam waste.
Lowenthal said litter from the foam containers is one of the most abundant forms of debris found in city streets, sewers and beaches.
"It's not biodegradable, it's not compostable, and if it's in the water for a long time, it breaks up into small beads and lasts for thousands of years. It costs millions to clean up beaches," he said."

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Men at Work- Not "Business as Usual"

A great album from the 1980s...Business as Usual, by Men at Work.

The American working man slowly fades away - Business - US business - Bloomberg Businessweek - msnbc.com: "What is going on here? For one thing, women, who have made up a majority of college students for three decades and now account for 57 percent, are adapting better to a data-driven economy that values education and collaborative skills more than muscle. That isn’t to say women have yet eclipsed men in the workplace. They continue to earn about 16 percent less than men and struggle against gender discrimination and career interruptions as they disproportionately take time away from the job to raise children. And both men and women have confronted job losses in the weak economy. In July, 68.9 percent of women aged 25-54 had jobs, vs. 72.8 percent in January 2008. (In 1969, however, fewer than half did.) After a long decline in men’s work opportunities, the recession worsened things with a sharp drop in male employment. Unemployed men are now more likely than women to be among the long-term jobless.

The economic downturn exacerbated forces that have long been undermining men in the workplace, says Lawrence Katz, a Harvard professor of labor economics. Corporations have cut costs by moving manufacturing jobs, routine computer programming, and even simple legal work out of the country. The production jobs that remain are increasingly mechanized and demand higher skills. Technology and efforts to reduce the number of layers within corporations are leaving fewer middle-management jobs.

The impact has been greatest on moderately skilled men, especially those without a college education, though even men with bachelor’s degrees from less selective schools are beginning to see their position erode. “There’s really been this polarization in the middle,” Katz says, as men at the top of the education and income scale see their earnings rise while those in the middle gravitate downward."

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Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Big Tab

Growing Obesity Tab May Rise to $66 Billion - Bloomberg: "U.S. health-care spending will rise by as much as $66 billion a year by 2030 because of increased obesity if historic trends continue, researchers said.
Almost 100 million Americans and 15 million Britons are already considered obese, based on body-mass index, a ratio of weight to height, Y. Claire Wang, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, said yesterday at a London news conference.
Another 65 million American adults and another 11 million British adults would join them in the next two decades based on past trends, said Wang, one of the authors of a four-part series on obesity published in today’s Lancet. The increased cost represents about 2.6 percent of the U.S.’s annual health-care bill. In the U.K., costs would rise as much as 2 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) a year, or 2 percent of yearly health spending."

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Pharmacists paying dearly

Pharmacy robberies sweeping US - US news - Crime & courts - msnbc.com: "A wave of pharmacy robberies is sweeping the United States as desperate addicts and ruthless dealers turn to violence to feed the nation's growing hunger for narcotic painkillers.
From Redmond, Wash., to St. Augustine, Fla., criminals are holding pharmacists at gunpoint and escaping with thousands of powerfully addictive pills that can sell for as much as $80 apiece on the street.
In one of the most shocking crimes yet, a robber walked into a neighborhood drugstore Sunday on New York's Long Island and gunned down the pharmacist, a teenage store clerk and two customers before leaving with a backpack full of pills containing hydrocodone.
"It's an epidemic," said Michael Fox, a pharmacist on New York's Staten Island who has been stuck up twice in the last year. "These people are depraved. They'll kill you.""

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Chinese Toys Disney's Profits

Disney factory faces probe into sweatshop suicide claims | World news | The Observer: "Disney's best-selling Cars toys are being made in a factory in China that uses child labour and forces staff to do three times the amount of overtime allowed by law, according to an investigation.

One worker reportedly killed herself after being repeatedly shouted at by bosses. Others cited worries over poisonous chemicals. Disney has now launched its own investigation.

It is claimed some of the 6,000 employees have to work an extra 120 hours every month to meet demand from western shops for the latest toys.

The factory, called Sturdy Products, makes toys for the giant Mattel company, which last month announced quarterly profits of £48m on the back of strong sales of Barbie dolls and Cars 2 toys. Sturdy Products, in the city of Shenzhen, also makes toys for US superstore chain Walmart. Among the brands produced are the Thomas the Tank Engine range, Matchbox cars, Cars, Toy Story, Barbie and Fisher Price products, Scrabble and the Hot Wheels sets."

The undercover investigation was carried out with the help of human rights group Sacom (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour), which helped to expose abuses in Apple's Foxconn plant in China this year.

Workers were interviewed away from the factory, and an investigator then spent a month working inside it to gather more information. He found evidence of the use of child labour and illegal working hours, along with concerns over the use of poisonous chemicals.

Sacom's accusations against the factory include:

■ The employment of a 14-year-old. Staff also reported the presence of other child workers, according to the investigator.

■ Routine excessive overtime. Employees produced a "voluntary" document they said they had to sign agreeing to work beyond the maximum overtime legal limit of 36 hours a month, along with wage slips that suggested they were averaging 120 hours of overtime a month.

■ A harsh working environment in which workers complained of mistreatment by management. One worker injured on the production line was shouted at and ordered back to work despite needing medical treatment.

■ Concerns about the chemicals in use and poor ventilation. Employees claimed three workers had fallen ill. They said they had to hide pots of adhesive and thinners during audits of the factory by its client companies.

■ They also claimed that they were paid by the factory to give misleading answers during audits and that they were fined for failing to hit targets. The calculation of wages for different workers was described by Sacom as arbitrary.

Concerns were raised about conditions at Sturdy Products when a 45-year-old female employee, Hu Nianzhen, jumped to her death from a factory building in May after she was allegedly shouted at by managers.

Colleagues subsequently described the environment in the factory as tense and complained about the demanding workload. "A female worker committed suicide," one said, "because she was always scolded. However, I feel helpless because it is not easy for me to find another job."

Encouraging girls to apply for IIT

IIT entrance test fee waiver for girls - The Times of India: "NEW DELHI: In a bid to encourage girls to appear in the IIT's prestigious joint entrance examination (JEE), girl candidates wouldn't have to pay any application fee from next year. The application fee for boys, however, would be raised from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,800. "

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Friday, August 26, 2011

Everything Nutty about Lowering Cholesterol

The Hindu : Health / Diet & Nutrition : Oats, nuts can help reduce cholesterol: Study: "Worried about your cholesterol? Make sure you eat plenty of oats and nuts rather than just avoiding fatty foods, scientists say.

Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada found that a diet rich in foods, such as oats and nuts, was more effective in lowering cholesterol levels than by cutting out saturated fats alone.

The diet that worked best in the study also included soy products such as milk, tofu and meat substitutes, while eating more peas, beans and lentils was encouraged, the Daily Mail reported.

The researchers discovered that a six-month change to the diet could result in a “meaningful” 13 per cent reduction in blood levels of LDL cholesterol, also called bad cholesterol.

Following the diet for longer would give a predicted reduction of almost 11 per cent in heart disease risk over a ten-year period, the researchers claimed."

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Not Right Ho...

New files suggest greater link between Wodehouse and Nazis - News, People - The Independent: "PG Wodehouse made a series of radio broadcasts from Germany in 1941 that caused uproar in Britain, forcing the author to express his "horror " after stumbling into propagandist interviews that lead to accusations he was a Nazi sympathiser.

Now, new material released from the National Archives at Kew reveal Wodehouse, the humourist best known as the creator of the Jeeves stories, may have been less innocent than he maintained.

According to the files, British intelligence had "serious doubts" about Wodehouse's explanation for the broadcasts. The interviews caused outrage in Parliament and the British press. In response, Wodehouse denounced the broadcasts as a "hideous mistake".

However, the files reveal that Wodehouse knew the German propagandist, Werner Plack, who arranged the broadcasts, more intimately than he admitted. He referred to Plack as "a friend" in a private letter, and had met him at parties in Hollywood, where Plack had previously worked as a film extra."

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Indian Growth Story

Million vacant government posts due to skill shortage to hurt India's growth - The Economic Times: "There are over a million vacancies for the country's most coveted jobs - employment in the Central government - and they're just not getting filled.

These include the police and defence forces, which together have nearly 700,000 vacant posts, valued for the security of tenure and reliable, inflation-linked pay and pension schemes that they offer.

But there are also several vacancies for skilled professionals such as doctors, scientists, statisticians and economists. These, if left vacant, could dent India's growth prospects in the near future.

The latest NSSO survey shows India's workforce grew by only 2 million between 2004-05 and 2009-10, inviting the charge that growth has bypassed the job market. The numbers would have looked 50% better if the government had filled those 1 million vacancies. "

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Using stealth language to complain about taxes

The rising impact of stealth taxes - Yahoo! Finance: "Two of the new stealth taxes were created by last year's landmark health care reform bill. First, the Medicare payroll tax is going up . The tax is now 2.9% on all wages; employers and employees each pay 1.45%. Starting in 2013, individuals making more than $200,000 (and couples making more than $250,000) will have to kick in an additional 0.9% on wages above that amount.

A second, much heftier increase also takes effect in 2013, in the form of an unprecedented new 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income. It will strike filers whose "modified adjusted gross income" -- roughly speaking, wages plus investment income -- tops $200,000 for individuals or $250,000 for couples. (The tax will apply to whichever is less: investment income or the amount by which modified adjusted gross income exceeds the income threshold.) Investment income will include taxable capital gains, dividends, interest income, annuities, royalties, and rents. The thresholds for both of the new Medicare taxes will not be indexed for inflation. So they'll snag an increasing number of taxpayers over time.

A second, much heftier increase also takes effect in 2013, in the form of an unprecedented new 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income. It will strike filers whose "modified adjusted gross income" -- roughly speaking, wages plus investment income -- tops $200,000 for individuals or $250,000 for couples. (The tax will apply to whichever is less: investment income or the amount by which modified adjusted gross income exceeds the income threshold.) Investment income will include taxable capital gains, dividends, interest income, annuities, royalties, and rents. The thresholds for both of the new Medicare taxes will not be indexed for inflation. So they'll snag an increasing number of taxpayers over time.

Finally there's the taxation of Social Security benefits. In 1984, when the Social Security system faced a funding crisis, Congress enacted a law to make the wealthiest recipients pay income taxes on their benefits. Specifically, up to 50% of Social Security benefits became taxable when half of these benefits, plus a retiree's other income -- including retirement plan payouts and investment income -- exceeded $25,000 a year ($32,000 for couples). Back then, only about 10% of retirees had incomes that topped that level. In 1994 a second layer of tax was put in place: 85% of your Social Security benefits became taxable if half of your Social Security benefit plus your "other" income topped $34,000, or $44,000 as a couple.

Once again, none of those crucial thresholds were indexed to inflation; today the Social Security tax still kicks in at $25,000. As a result, about a third of retirees are now paying federal income tax on their Social Security benefits. A decade from now, an estimated 45% will owe the tax.

Don't expect relief from the government on any of those stealth taxes. Your best bet is to generate as much income as possible from sources that don't trigger them. One way to accomplish that is to put your retirement savings into a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), where contributions are made with after-tax dollars, and all future investment gains and withdrawals are tax-free. At the end of the day, you may never be able to shield yourself completely from stealth taxes. But you can at least minimize the bite.

--A former compensation consultant, Janice Revell has been writing about personal finance since 2000.
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Prairie to the rescue

Prairie Grass Landscapes in Austin, Tex. - NYTimes.com: "WITH 70 days of 100-plus temperatures so far and no rain in sight, Austin is in the grip of its worst one-year drought on record. And gardeners are quickly finding out which plants can survive brutal heat and drought.

Native trees like cedar elms and hackberries are dropping their leaves. Ash junipers in the Hill Country are dying. Shallow-rooted azaleas and crape myrtles are toast, and most lawns are brown, except for those watered by private wells.

Animals are suffering, too. Coyotes and rabbits are showing up in city gardens in search of water and food. Hummingbirds can’t find nectar because many plants aren’t flowering.

The first week of August, when daily temperatures climbed to 107 or so, a bison escaped from a ranch in Manchaca, on the southwest side of the city, and wandered into the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center seven miles away, where it spent several days grazing in the savanna grasslands.

Gardeners are embracing those prairie grasses with equal enthusiasm because of their heat and drought tolerance. These natives can be found in many of the city’s lawns, ornamental gardens and even green roofs. Remarkably, these deep-rooted plants can adjust to shallow soils, helping to cool houses and absorb rain — when there is some.

“If we get a rain, these grasses will all turn green,” said Lars Stanley, 59, an architect and metal artist, standing on a roof planted with natives that covers the studio he built in East Austin with his wife, Lauren Woodward Stanley, 45, an architect. “It reduces our cooling level immensely.”.."

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A " Meat"y way to be environmentally friendly

Forget organic, reduce meat consumption to save the environment, says study: In order to protect the environment, consumers should forget about switching to organic foods and concentrate on eating less meat, according to new research.
The study, from researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), reports that in addition to leading to increased risks of certain diseases, consuming excessive levels of meat may also lead to environmental damage.

Led by Professor Matthias Zessner from the TU Vienna, the research team argued that a low meat diet has substantial ecological advantages, whilst finding that switching to organic food is less effective than eating more vegetables and less meat.

Study details

Zessner and his team calculated that in Austria alone, 3600 square meters of soil are needed to feed the average person. They then worked out how this would change if people adhered to nutritional advice and guidelines.

“This would not only lower cancer rates and reduce the number of cardiovascular diseases, the area required for the production of food would be reduced from 3600 square meters to 2600 square meters per person,” said Zessner.

Mumbai - a "heavy"weight place

World's getting fitter, Mumbai fatter - The Times of India: MUMBAI: Team Anna's relay hunger strike is an aberration if one takes stock of the obesity march in Mumbai. The average Mumbaikar loves the choicest fast food, ignores physical activity and seems cavalier about approaching the XL size, a characteristic of the richer nations, such as the US. Ask Vile Parle-based endocrinologist Dr Rama Vaidya about the obesity march and she offers an illustrative tale: "The height has to be the day I got three patients within a short span of time, each weighing over 100 kg.''

In addition to the Mumbaikars' penchant for putting on weight-National Family Health Surveys say city-bred Indians are three times more likely to be overweight than rural folk-there is also the particularly Indian problem of accumulating fat against muscle mass. This, doctors say, is a genetic propensity.

Sustainable Art

The Hindu : Arts / Crafts : A stitch in time: Medha Bhatt Ganguly, an alumna of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, is not enthused by the bright lights of the fashion world or the “lucrative jobs” at export houses that most of her classmates made a beeline for. Instead, she derives her inspiration from village artisans who have been practising their trade for years.

She travelled across her native Rann of Kutch to research the traditional crafts of its Rajput communities for her diploma project and was so inspired by the sustainability of this handicraft technique that she chose to specialise in traditional patchwork appliqué art made out of textile scraps! Today, through her brand ‘the forest floor,' Medha gives a fresh lease of life to waste, which would have otherwise ended up in landfills, and more importantly, uses her “interest in connecting with people” to empower rural women.

“My travels in the region really opened up a new world. There, inside dark huts, amid drab landscapes, were the most beautiful appliquéd trees on all kinds of household linen. The artisans of the Kutch taught me the value of re-using old fabrics to create useable furnishings, and that too with the barest of resources. For instance, to make stencils they often cut out beedi wrappers or whatever is available at hand, into desired shapes. This is environmentally-friendly handicraft at its best,” says Medha, who mostly uses old dupattas, saris, bagfuls of leftover material from tailors, and so on sourced from her family and friends to stitch her designs.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Not even a small nudge...

Survey: Small raises for salaried workers in 2012 - Yahoo! Finance: A new survey says salaried U.S. workers can expect another year of modest raises in 2012.

After increasing salaries by 2.6 percent this year and last year, companies are planning a 2.8 percent bump in 2012, benefits and human resources consultancy Towers Watson reported Monday.

That's somewhat smaller than raises in the last decade. From 2000 to 2006, the year before the Great Recession began, salaries rose an average 3.9 percent for workers who were not executives.

And the modest bump may not help add much buying power for shoppers. In the 12 months through July, prices for consumers have risen 3.6 percent, according to the government's latest calculations.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Cannot Bank on these

Banks closed in Fla, Ga, Ill; 2011 total is 68 - Yahoo! Finance: Regulators on Friday closed one bank each in Florida, Georgia and Illinois, lifting to 68 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

The pace of closures has eased in 2011 as the economy has slowly improved and banks work their way through the bad debt accumulated in the Great Recession. By this time last year, regulators had shuttered 118 banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Lydian Private Bank, based in Palm Beach, Fla., with $1.7 billion in assets and $1.24 billion in deposits. Also shuttered were two smaller institutions: First Southern National Bank in Statesboro, Ga., with $164.6 million in assets and $159.7 million in deposits, and First Choice Bank in Geneva, Ill., with $141 million in assets and $137.2 million in deposits.

Engineering Education

The Hindu : Education / Issues : Where have engineering teachers gone?: Higher education in the country, particularly engineering education, is facing a crisis. It is pulling on with half the teacher strength it requires. The government pressed a red button the other day when it was revealed in Parliament that the country faced a shortage of more than 3,00,000 teachers in its institutions of higher learning. In engineering education alone, the shortage is more than 1,50,000.

This finding revealed in the most recent government assessment of faculty shortage across the country has come as a shock. What is more shocking is the increase in the faculty shortage to 54 per cent from the 40 per cent a few years ago. The government has swung into action by allowing institutions to hire expatriate Indians to make up for the shortage. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has permitted the 15 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), premier engineering institutes in the country, to appoint non-resident Indians (NRIs) and people of Indian origin (PIOs) as permanent faculty as part of measures to tide over the teacher shortage. Foreign nationals, however, are not allowed permanent appointment.

But is this move a solution? Experts call it inadequate.

The Lok Sabha was told last week that 1,693 teachers were required immediately for the 15 IITs and 1,522 for the 30 National Institutes of Technology (NITs). But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

From 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the teaching posts are lying vacant in the country’s top engineering institutions. The situation is worse in hundreds of private self-financing colleges...

"Recycled" School

India's 'recycled' school teaches environmental lessons - The Economic Times: JAMKHANDIKAR (PUNE): On a regular school day, four-year-old Kush Bhattacharya can leave his mathematics class to run barefoot on grass, hide from his friends in a cave made of cow dung and return to recite nursery rhymes in a red bus that doubles up as a classroom.

Kush is a student at the Aman Setu school in Pune, an educational and technological hub three hours drive from Mumbai.

Almost every part of the school premises is made out of recycled material, including roofs made out of old hoardings, walls built from plastic bottles and hand-stitched uniforms made out of eco-friendly 'khadi', or handspun, cloth.

"It isn't a marketing thing, it's what we believe and how we live," says Madhavi Kapur, who started the school in 2008 with just four students. The school now has more than 140 students studying up to grade five.

"We didn't have too much money to begin with, and one of my (former) students, who is an architect came up with the idea of using recycled materials to build the school on a piece of land leased to me by my brother," she said.

Starting off with a modest 600,000 rupees ($13,500) Kapur and architect Saurabh Phadke devised ways to build walls from mud and old cement bags. They were then tamped down and plastered with mud.

Consisting of just two one-storeyed structures which house four classrooms, students at Aman Setu, which means bridge of peace, sit on rattan mats on a cowdung-plastered floor, use text books handed down from other students and grow their own vegetables in a small garden.

Children get to feed fish in a tank, watch a robin's egg hatch and travel to school by community transport - all in an effort to make them more environmentally conscious.

Kapur also acquired an old bus from the government transport authority, stripped it down, and refurbished it as a classroom.

"We don't mind them walking out of a maths class, feeding their favourite fish, taking a barefoot walk in the grass and then coming back in. We want them to be one with the surroundings," says teacher Bano Bhagwat, as she teaches a gaggle of excited kids how to make lemonade.

It might sound like a school straight out of a fairy tale, but it wasn't all smooth sailing.

"Parents weren't willing to send their kids to a school which had an old bus doubling up as a classroom. We started off with just four students, and I've had a hard time convincing parents that it was a safe environment" Kapur said.

Now that the school has grown she has an entirely different problem persuading parents that they should not tear down the concrete building down the road -- into which they have already moved some classes -- for a more environmentally friendly structure.

"We have moved to a bigger structure down the road. But that is a concrete building, and parents don't want their kids to move there. They want me to stay here." says Kapur.

"Now, they are giving me lessons in the environment. But for me, tearing down a concrete structure is also not ecologically sound."

For now, Kapur hopes to replicate her eco-friendly teaching methods at the concrete school as well, with plans for a rain water harvesting facility, a vegetable garden, and of course, a fence made of old plastic bottles.'

"This is a way of life, we plan to continue it no matter where we go," she says.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Progress on Cancer Research

BBC News - Three cancers share genetic link: A gene has been linked to at least three cancers in different tissues in the body, US researchers say.

Their findings, reported in the journal Science, showed a fifth of melanomas (skin cancer), Ewing's sarcomas (bone) and glioblastomas (brain) had a defective copy of the gene STAG2.

It controls the way genetic material is divided between cells.

A cancer charity said the study provided researchers with new ways of tackling the disease.

Human genetic information is bound up in 23 pairs of chromosomes. When a cell divides in two, there should be 23 pairs in each of the two cells produced.

However, this does not always happen. Too many or too few chromosomes - known as aneuploidy - is common in cancer.

Chromosomes to cancer

Researchers at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, have found a gene which controls that separation of genetic material.

Defective copies of STAG2 were found in 21% of Ewing's sarcoma tumours, 19% of glioblastoma and 19% of melanoma.

Professor Todd Waldman said: "In the cancers we studied, mutations in STAG2 appear to be a first step in the transformation of a normal cell into a cancer cell.

"We are now looking at whether STAG2 might be mutated in breast, colon, lung, and other common human cancers."

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

$40 million in support- not "chicken feed"

USDA comes to aid of chicken industry with $40M purchase - chicagotribune.com: "The United States is stepping in to help bail out another American industry -- chicken farmers and meat processors.

The nation's chicken industry is having a difficult year. Chicken producers are struggling with higher costs of running their business at the same time that consumers are buying less meat.

This has created a glut of chicken products.

Total chicken production in the first half of 2011 rose 4 percent, from a year earlier, while demand for chicken has cooled, according to the National Chicken Council.

So, retail prices for chicken product have dipped.

The Department of Agriculture, keenly aware of these issues, announced Monday that it will make a special purchase of up to $40 million of chicken products, which the government will then donate to federal food assistance programs such as soup kitchens and its national Feeding America programs."

Hiding behind the SMoke

Cigarette makers sue, saying new labels violate 1st Amendment - chicagotribune.com: "Four large cigarette makers have sued the Food and Drug Administration, alleging that new labels designed to warn consumers about the risks of smoking forces them to disseminate the government's anti-smoking message, violating the Constitution.

The lawsuit was filed by Lorillard Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Commonwealth Brands Inc. and Liggett Group with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Lorillard said.

These companies said a FDA regulation requires cigarette packs, cartons and advertising to display graphic warnings by Sept. 22, 2012. They are seeking a court order to delay the regulation and declare that it violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."

Monday, August 15, 2011

Shark Fins in the Soup

Having just returned from China, where fancy establishments tout shark-fin soup and other shark delicacies, it is easy for me to relate to this story. It is refreshing to see people like Ms. Derek support the sharks. Humans can do just fine eating other foods.

Bo Derek backs Calif. bill banning shark-fin trade - Yahoo! Finance: "Actress Bo Derek won't be ordering shark-fin soup anytime soon.

She joined lawmakers at the California state Capitol on Monday promoting a bill that would ban selling, trading or possessing shark fins, which are used in a soup that is considered a delicacy in some Asian cultures.

'Sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years, and yet many stocks may be wiped out in a single human generation due to the increasing demand for shark fins,' Derek told the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Derek, who is a U.S. secretary of state special envoy opposing wildlife trafficking, said shark-finning has created a global environmental crisis."

Flying Low, Down Under

Qantas to slash 1,000 jobs, start new Asia airline - Yahoo! Finance: "Qantas Airways Ltd. said Tuesday it plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs as part of a major shakeup of its international business that will include the launch of a new Asia-based airline.

The flagship Australian carrier, which is struggling to offset losses from its international operations, will buy between 106 and 110 Airbus A320 aircraft, and retire older planes as part of the five-year plan. It will also defer the delivery of six Airbus A380 superjumbo planes for up to six years.

The changes are expected to affect around 1,000 jobs, Qantas said."

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Fraud Indian way

Mahindra Satyam begins crackdown against fraud employees - The Economic Times: "According to Mahindra Satyam Chief People Officer Hari T, the background verification of some of the 21,000 employees currently working in India will be completed by September-end and he warned that any employee found to have got into the company through fraudulent means will be slapped with a cheating case.

Fraud incidents have so far been exposed at the company's Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore offices, Hari said.

He said the fraudsters even managed to hoodwink the verification process and tried to join the company.

'We are now doing multiple checks of the employees whom we suspect. We have instructed our background verification agencies to personally visit the office where the candidate claimed to have worked earlier. Some fraudulent and organised agencies even run call centres, which when called for verification vouch for the candidate,' Hari told PTI.

He said the company is very serious about such practices and they have already filed cases against seven such people and are in the process of filing cases against three dozen others.

He said the issue became noticeable when the experience certificates of certain organisations were found suspect."

Friday, August 05, 2011

Not Watered Down...

Facebook Comes Before Tap Water as India’s Poor Get Smartphones - Bloomberg: "In a two-room shanty with no running water in northern Mumbai, Darshana Verma makes tea on a small stove. On a bench nearby, her 18-year-old son, Vishal, messages Facebook friends on the keypad of his Nokia smartphone.
“This is the Internet age,” said the 36-year-old domestic helper, who spent more than half her $300 monthly income on Samsung Electronics Co. and Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) mobile phones for her children. “Facebook is there, all these things happen there now -- they make friends, maybe they can even find jobs there.”
Cheaper Internet-ready phones may make India Facebook Inc.’s biggest market after the U.S. next year with more than 50 million users, according to Nielsen Co. As Google Inc.’s rival social network also gains in popularity, companies including Pepsi Co. are boosting Internet advertising to reach the 352 million children under age 15 who are coming online."

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Steeling for a Cut

More than six lakh trees to be cut for Posco project - The Economic Times: "BHUBANESWAR: Over six lakh trees and some 1,800 betel vines will have to be sacrificed to set up Posco's Rs 52,000 crore mega steel project in Orissa's coastal Jagatsinghpur district.

The trees to make way for the greenfield project include about three lakh casuarina and as many horticultural plants, official sources said.

Local people have voiced strong opposition against the move to clear the trees, arguing that they will be exposed to cyclone, tsunami and other natural calamities.

While a large number of women are guarding the forest area, male members of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the organisation opposing the project, have posted themselves at Gobindpur village to prevent entry of security personnel and government officials to enter the plant area."

Monday, August 01, 2011

Swimming in the Potato of Luxury...

Don't call them spuds: luxury £400 potatoes arrive in British supermarket - Home News, UK - The Independent: "A little-known potato variety known as the 'caviar of the potato world' will make its British debut this week.

La Bonnotte, a type normally grown only on a small island off the French coast, can sell for up to £400 a kilogram. But Tesco has sourced a new supply grown on Jersey, and will be selling them from tomorrow for just £2.65 a kilogram. La Bonnotte commands its high price because of its rarity and the way in which it is picked. Usually only around 20 tonnes are grown each year and they are handpicked because they are too fragile to be harvested by machine.

Andy Blackett, Tesco's senior potato buyer, said: 'La Bonnotte are the caviar of the potato world and kilo for kilo are among the planet's most expensive foods along with white truffles, saffron, macadamia nuts and Beluga caviar. 'The French normally snap most of them up as soon as they become available and occasionally they are offered to top restaurants over here, but to get such a large quantity is a real coup.'"