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Saturday,
May 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Cancer
drug from Novartis HP offers
power tie-ups PM’s
visit to boost trade with Malaysia CSIO inks
pact with Hind Aeronautics RBI
changes share financing rules |
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Apple
unveils new iBook Zee
breaks Star monopoly Spice
Telecom enters USA Meeting
on WTO today Chander
Mohan’s book released
Aksh Optifibre a good
pick
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Cancer drug from Novartis Zurich, May 11 Attention now turns to initial trial results due on Monday that may give clues about how well the innovative leukaemia drug can handle solid cancerous tumours as well. Widening the number of cancers that Gleevec might treat will determine if the drug, - known outside the United States as Glivec - is merely successful or will in fact become a major growth driver for the Swiss group, financial analysts say. They estimate it could be a billion-dollar drug if trials show it is effective in a range of cancers. Novartis is testing this now. Gleevec is one of five new drugs that Novartis, Europe’s number two drugmaker by market capitalisation, intends to roll out this year in a bid to match the pharmaceutical sector’s sales growth rate this year and then beat it in 2002 and 2003. Analysts said they were impressed that U.S. regulators had sped Gleevec through the approval process and then held a rare news conference to trumpet the oral drug that has shown dramatic power against a rare but deadly type of leukaemia. Gleevec helped about 90 per cent of patients in early stages of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a disease that causes a potentially lethal overproduction of white blood cells. Gleevec, a once-a-day pill, is the first in a new class of drugs that strike a specific target believed to cause cancer. The precise attack is designed to spare healthy cells and produce fewer side effects than other medicines. About 4,500 people in the USA develop CML each year. The disease is caused by the abnormal fusion of two bits of genetic code, resulting in a protein experts believe causes a potentially lethal proliferation of white blood cells. Gleevec was designed to stop that protein from producing dangerous cells. Novartis says it also inhibits two other proteins: the c-kit receptor linked to GIST and small cell lung cancers, and the PDG-F receptor, active in some kinds of brain, prostate and soft tissue cancer. Trials in GIST and glioblastoma brain tumours are under way. Gleevec’s side effects include abdominal discomfort, bone and joint pains, and fatigue, however, and the FDA cautioned that others may be discovered. Novartis changed the spelling from Glivec to Gleevec for the US market to avoid confusion with other medicines. The drug also was known as sti571. It has already been filed for approval in Europe, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Reuters |
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HP offers power tie-ups Chandigarh, May 11 Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal has expressed willingness to resolve the common issues among the states . Prof Dhumal who was here today to inaugurate Shimla Knowledge.com, while talking to the newspersons, said Punjab and Haryana have already given indications to hold meeting to resolve the issues and enter into joint ventures. "It will help the three states to tap the resources to their optimal efficiency and also save on costs. Though the issue relating to Himachal's share of power might be a hitch, we want to settle it at the earliest", he added. Himachal Pradesh has a capacity of generating more than 20,000 mw of hydel power, much of it yet remains to be exploited. "It will be economical for Punjab and Haryana to go in for hydel power which is cheaper as well as environment-friendly. That will help solve the power crisis in these states", he said. On the initiatives taken by the government, he said private parties are being encouraged to generate power and they are also free to use captive power— manufacture and use it for their own unit. The state government is now emphasizing the completion of projects in less than the planned time, he said narrating the example of the Parvati project which will be completed in eight years as compared to the planned time of 16 years. Admitting that the delays had occurred in completion of the much-demanded Chandigarh-Baddi link road, Mr Dhumal said it would be completed soon. While delivering the inaugural address, he said an equal importance will be given to biotechnology along with information technology by the state. The state is the first one to establish its separate BT department, he stated." Entertainment and tourism industries are also being promoted for which we are giving tax and other incentives". Mr Ajay Tyagi, Secretary, IT, Himachal Pradesh, said computer education in schools and the "Lok Mitra" project for intranet are among the few steps which the government has taken to encourage IT. The IT policy of the state will be shortly announced and the industry will be given major incentives. Mr P K Khosla, Adviser Bio technology, HP, said the state has immense potential for the biotechnology industry and those related to agriculture in this industry will be promoted. "HP will have two biotech parks and the state will also have a single window clearance system ", he said. Mr Sanjay Tyagi, Additional Director, STPI, Mohali and Mr Rajiv Bindal, MLA , Solan, were also present on the occasion. Besides the Shimla Knowledge. com 2001, an international exhibition and business summit will be held at Shimla from June 7 to June 9. Webcom in association with UN-APCTT will organise the exhibition. |
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PM’s visit to boost trade with Malaysia New Delhi, May 11 The PM’s visit to Malaysia was due to take place in early February but had to be rescheduled in view of the Gujarat earthquake. Malaysians recognise their age-old cultural ties with India. The presence of a sizeable number of persons of Indian origin (PIOs) which is two million approximately out of the total population of 22 million, the largest group of PIOs in any one country, is tangible evidence of this. There is, however, an occasional tendency to downplay the links, particularly of the pre-Islamic era, on account of a strong overlay of Islam on the Malay identity and the compulsion to project an independent cultural persona for the Malay archipelago. The strong influence of India cannot, however, be denied, in view of the fact that it permeates the social mores of the nation, the etymology of the language, common family traditions as well as the rituals of royalty. An estimated 25,000 -30,000 Malaysians, mostly of Indian origin, have studied in Indian universities. India and Malaysia have had long-standing commercial links dating to the pre-Christian era. Malay’s rubber wealth, called the “life blood” of the its economy, was created by Indian labour. In modern times, Indian industry has been associated for the last three decades, with the transformation of Malaysia from an exporter of primary products into an industrialised and broad-based economy. The first Indian joint venture, Godrej commenced operations in 1968, and in 70s and 80s, Malaysia hosted the largest number of Indian joint ventures in any country. Indian involvement in Malaysia is in palm oil refining, power, railways, civil construction, training, information technology. Presently, there are 27 India joint ventures in Malaysia in areas like textiles, edible oils, steel furniture, chemicals, information technology. Cumulative Indian investment in Malaysia (from 1980 till October 2000) is estimated to be over US$ 335 million. During this period, India was the 13th largest investor in Malaysia. Mr Vajpayee will have wide-ranging talks with his Malaysian counterpart, Mr Mahathir Mahamad on May 14 followed by signing of agreements. A $1.3 billion rail line-project-for-palm oil arrangement is among the projects likely be signed between the two Prime Ministers. An MoU on cooperation in the field of civil services, personnel management and public administration has also been finalised. An MoU on cooperation in the field of tourism is also under discussion between the two governments. In Kuala Lumpur, the Prime Minister also visit Petronas Towers, world’s tallest structure, on May 15, from where he will go to the World Trade Centre where he will deliver a key-note address to a large gathering of businessmen on “Enhancing Malaysia-India partnership: a shared vision for the 21st century”. He will have a dialogue session with Mr Mahathir Mahamad at the World Trade Centre followed by signing of business agreements. The two Prime Ministers will jointly visit Malaysia-India technology fair. The Malaysian Prime Minister will make a farewell call on Vajpayee in the afternoon. Before leaving for India on Wednesday, Vajpayee will address the members of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations followed by a brief interactive session. |
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CSIO inks pact with Hind Aeronautics
Chandigarh, May 11 The memorandum was signed between the CSIO Director, Dr R P Bajpai and the General Manager of HAL's Korwa division, Mr A. K. B. Parikh on May 8 at HAL's production facilities near Lucknow. HAL has 13 divisions and the one at Korwa is engaged in production of avionics and air-to-air missiles. Disclosing this here today, Dr Bajpai said the CSIO will undertake research and development as well as pre-production fabrication of equipment based on functional requirements forwarded by HAL. The tie-up is stated to be a continuous process and not bound by a time span or limited requirements. Equipment to be produced under the memorandum includes avionics and related paraphernalia, mainly concerned with flight controls and communications rather than weapon systems. Dr Bajpai said besides new generation communication equipment, other items to be taken up for development includes display gadgets for the cockpit, optical devices, electronic components for various sub-systems, sensors and fire-warning alarms. The equipment to be developed by the CSIO would be compatible with the MiG series of combat aircraft, Jaguars, Sukhoi-30 as well as trainers in the IAF's inventory. While R&D will be carried out by the CSIO, all funding will be done by HAL based on estimates provided by the CSIO. Once development is complete and the equipment has passed all mandatory tests, full scale production will be taken up by HAL. The CSIO has already produced several gadgets for the armed forces. It has recently produced a head-up display unit for the light combat aircraft as well as the MiG series and technology for has been transferred to Bharat Electronics Limited for large-scale production. A PAN camera developed by it for remotely piloted aircraft such as the Nishant also attracted attention from the Navy which approached it for four units some time back. In addition, several ultra-sound and infra-red based snow sensors developed for the Army's Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment have been installed in high altitude areas along the Line of Control for forecasting of snow avalanche formation zones.
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RBI changes share financing rules Mumbai, May 11 Based on the feedback received from the RBI-SEBI technical committee, the central bank said that the ceiling of 5 per cent prescribed in the November (2000) guidelines would continue but would now apply to total exposure of a bank to stock markets including loans and advances to individuals for investment purposes in shares and debentures. To avoid concentration of bank finances to a few stockbroking entities, RBI proposed that each bank should fix, within the overall ceiling of 5 per cent, a sub-ceiling for total advances to all the stock brokers and market makers (both fund and non-fund based) and to individual stockbroking entities, its associates and interconnected companies. However, the existing instructions in regard to advances to individuals and financing of initial public offers (IPOs) remain unchanged. The revised guidelines became effective from today. On financing of arbitrage operations, RBI said, banks should not undertake arbitrage operations themselves and extend credit facilities directly or indirectly to stockbrokers for arbitrage operations in stock exchanges. While banks are permitted to acquire shares from the secondary market, they should ensure that no sale transaction is undertaken without actually holding the shares in its investment account. In order to rationalise the margins, the RBI introduced a uniform margin of 40 per cent on all advances and guarantees with a minimum cash margin of 20 per cent in respect of guarantees issued by the banks. Earlier, the minimum cash margin was 25 per cent for issue of guarantees, 25 per cent for advances against demat shares and 50 per cent for advances against physical shares. RBI also insisted segregation of responsibilities relating to investment and surveilance functions within the bank and investment against shares would have to be done by a separate and independent audit committee of the board which would review the total exposure of the bank to the capital market.
UNI |
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Apple unveils
new iBook London I bought an earlier iBook and have become intimately acquainted with its strengths, and shortcomings. The old iBook was strong, had a great screen and six hours’ battery life (five in real life). But all this came at the expense of hard disk space, size and weight. After a long day, the old iBook felt like lead. Has Apple addressed these problems? First impressions suggest yes, they have. Gone are the oval expanses of rubber and plastic around the screen and keyboard. The elegant white shell is tight to the edge of display and keyboard, and the box is thinner. And iBook has lost weight, too — more than two pounds — without losing any of its strength, claims Apple (I couldn’t test online’s loan machine in the same way as I had my own iBook — by throwing the rucksack containing it over my shoulder after a trip on an escalator). The exterior shell is smooth and feels well built, with no flimsy flaps to snap off. The new machine gains a lot of flexibility. Once, the ability to connect a lead and the laptop to an external screen or TV was reserved for the PowerBook, the iBook’s more expensive sibling. Now the iBook has its own monitor and TV out sockets, so you could deliver a presentation on a projector, watch DVDs on a big screen or plug in an external monitor to mirror what is on the iBook’s screen while at your desk. The 12.1-inch screen is sharp and bright, and comes with a high default resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. You get a lot on the screen— the same as the iMac’s 15-inch monitor — but the downside is that type can appear small. Sound has been improved a little, with two tinny stereo speakers replacing the previous one tinny speaker. By arrangement with The Guardian |
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Zee breaks Star monopoly New Delhi, May 11 Zee aired 11 of the top 50 programmes during this week against only 10 on SET; also, its soap opera “Koshish Ek Aasha”, was slotted at the prestigious 10th position, thus breaking Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Plus’ virtual monopoly over the top 10 weekly programmes, as per market research agency A C Nielsen. Also, as per the agency’s latest survey findings, Star Plus continued its onslaught unabated having on air nine of the top 10 programmes in the week under review; 29 of the top 50 programmes were aired on this channel, thus making it the most-watched satellite channel throughout the country. However Star’s cash cow “Kaun Banega Crorepati” continued to languish at the ninth slot with only 5.7 per cent TVR, giving credence to the belief that gameshows and their popularity has begun to wane. The reigning star of Indian television, “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” continued to be the topmost programme with highest rating of 13.2, more than double that of past favourite “KBC” and significantly higher than the next favourite “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki”. That “Kuynki....” is still gaining in popularity as well as viewership was evident from the fact that the family drama not only cornered the four topmost slot in the top 50 list, it totalled eight mentions across the list, the highest for any programme in the week under review. Setting yet another trend, the two new debutants on Star Plus also opened their accounts on this list: “Ji Mantri Ji” the Hindi adaption of “Yes Minister”, managed 2.9 per cent TVR on its very first day and was comfortably ensconsed at the 29th position; also “Kahin Kissii Roz” managed to touch 2.2 per cent TVR and sneaked into the 50th slot.
PTI |
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Spice Telecom enters USA Chandigarh, May 11 The roll out of international roaming services has been planned keeping in view the size and density of immigrant Punjabi population in different parts of the world. Spice subscribes having international roaming facility can now use their cell phones in 20 countries and keep in touch with their relatives, friends and business associates. Subscribers will be able to roam internationally without having to worry about change of SIM cards or phone numbers, even in the USA. Spice has formed an alliance with
Radiolinja-Finland (unilateral) to facilitate their in-roamers to use their cell phones in the Spice Punjab network. When outside India, the moment the subscriber switches on his phone, it will automatically register with the GSM network in that particular area, the subscriber would be able to make local, STD and ISD calls, Vinod
Sawhny, MD of the company said.
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Meeting
on WTO today Chandigarh, May 11 Lt.-Gen(retd)
J.F.R.Jacob, Administrator, UT, will inaugurate the meet while Dr V.S. Sheshadri, Joint Secretary, WTO, Government of India, will deliver the keynote address. Dr Udesh Kohli, India's representative at UN Secretary General, will be in the chair, and Dr Aquil Busrai, Executive Director, Motorola, will speak on the subject of "WTO: Genghis or Gandhi." The session on agriculture will be addressed by Dr G.S. Kalkat, former Vice-Chancellor, PAU. The session on industry and anti-dumping will have Dr A. Sahay, Chairman, Scooters India Limited, Lucknow, as the main speaker. Dr KN Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh, will be the chief guest at the valedictory function. |
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Chander
Mohan’s book released New Delhi, May 11 Inaugurating the Technology-day 2001 national award function here, the Vice-President also released a book ‘Making from Zero to the Blue Chip’ written by the former Managing Director of Punjab Tractors, Mr Chander Mohan. Saying that technology has emerged as a profoundly decisive force, Mr Kant added “your latest invention can become obsolete even before you have had the time to savour the delight of your achievement”. Mr Kant said the strategy for improving quality of life in the new situation should focus on the complementary relation between the technological and traditional sector. He asked scientists to further advantages in the Information Technology sector with research and industry support. Unless this happens there is the possibility of India remaining a mere supplier of low-wage IT workers, he added. |
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Aksh Optifibre a good pick THE horizontal movement at the Indian bourses continues unabated with the prices of key pivotals retracing its small gains almost immediately on registration. With SEBI dragging its feet on the issue of scrapping ‘badla’ & ‘ALBM’, there seems to be no respite in sight and uncertainty continues to loom large. Overall, the sentiment remains largely negative with no positive news inflows on the horizon. Chronic bull operators, willing to take a punt could consider taking up long positions at the counters of HCL Technologies at Rs 438 (square up at Rs 471) and Hindustan Lever at Rs 203 (square up at Rs 216). Bear operators could consider taking up short positions at the counters of Sterlite at Rs 141 (cover up at Rs 129). The dark horse pick of this week is Aksh Optifibre which has an impressive order-book position on hand. |
cr
Hyundai Heavy posts $ 63m loss Denso, Kenwood to ally on 3G phones IEA cuts oil demand forecast Prudential bows out of AIG contest Mitsubishi fined for price fixing |
bb
Lambodra tie-up VSNL 3D Networks HIV detection kit Jet Airways Price bids |
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