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Clinton recalls hunting with her father as a youth

Kenosha, Wis, Feb 17: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton revealed something about herself on Saturday that she acknowledged might surprise many people: she knows how to hunt.

Campaigning ahead of Tuesday's Democratic nominating vote in Wisconsin, a state with a strong tradition of hunting and where many voters strongly support gun ownership rights, Clinton said she firmly backed the right to bear arms.

"You know, you may not believe it but I've actually gone hunting," Clinton, 60, said at a question-and-answer session with voters at a crammed bratwurst restaurant in Kenosha.

"My father taught me to shoot 100 years ago," she said jokingly.

The topic came up when one voter asked Clinton what she would do to prevent incidents such as the shooting spree at Northern Illinois University on Thursday in which a man entered a lecture hall and killed five students and himself.

Officials later said the man had shown erratic behavior after he stopped taking medication.

Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, said steps should be taken to make sure those with criminal backgrounds or a history of mental illness did not get access to guns, though she did not offer specifics. But Clinton, who is hoping to put a stop to a streak of wins by rival Barack Obama, she said she would not take any steps that would infringe on the rights of "lawful gun owners."

"I think we've got to do two things simultaneously. We should be smart enough to figure this out -- protect the rights of lawful gun owners, whether it's hunting, collecting, target shooting, whatever the purpose is, it's a lawful right period," Clinton said. "But we've got to keep it out of the hands of criminals and terrorists and people who are mentally ill."

Later, a reporter who had followed her career for 2 1/2 years and was not aware of her hunting experience pressed Clinton on whether she had ever shot anything.

"Yes, Mike, I have," she told the reporter, Mike McAuliff of the New York Daily News. Clinton said she had shot a duck as well as "a lot of tin cans and a lot of targets and some skeet."

Bureau Report

Russian delegation visits India to woo tourists: The Economic Times

New Delhi, Feb 17: As part of celebrating 2008 as the `Year of Russia in India`, a delegation from Moscow is in the capital to woo the Indian tourists to the Eurasian country.

The delegation, including the head of the Russian Federal tourism agency and representatives of eight tourism companies, is here to promote the country`s picturesque places and various tourist destinations.

"We would like to develop Indo-Russian relationship on tourism front as the two countries have a great potential in this regard," Irina Yartseva, Executive Director of World without Borders, a Russian travel association, said.

"We are also thinking of setting up an information centre in New Delhi. This will assist the tourists in many ways like extending help regarding visas," Yartseva said.

Whether the travel association has the backing of the Russian government, she said, "we work very closely. They support us as our main activity lies in the catering to the foreign tourists."

To a question on whether tourism came late on the agenda of the two countries even though New Delhi and Moscow shared good relations from the cold war period itself, she said "there were no problems as such. The thing is that we are the beginners in this field."

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Biyani ready with Future Ventures IPO
Tuhina Pandey
Friday, February 08, 2008 (New Delhi) Stock markets are choppy and investors are finding every safe haven to anchor them in this volatility.
But Biyani is being the braveheart and within a couple of weeks of listing Future Capital, he is now ready with the next IPO - Future Ventures' - Biyani's venture capital company.

The IPO size is pegged at Rs 2,000 crore and the group is hopeful of raising Rs 3,200 – 3,500 crore. The promoters will pump in Rs 1,200 – 1,500 crore.

When contacted, the company spokesperson told NDTV that it is not in a position to share details but confirmed that they intend to list Future Ventures.

Biyani had in an earlier interview said that Future Ventures will be critical to the company’s supply chain business.

"Businesses like Future Venture will dominate the entire group’s business. The business will help master the distribution and supply chain," said Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group.

Wockhardt and Emaar could not woo retail investors to come in and so the minimum subscription clause of 30 per cent was not fulfilled for their IPOs. But Biyani is confident of bringing in more than the mandated retail investors on board.

The question though remains that how will the company convince them about its track record since very little is known about what Future Ventures does.

Sources informed NDTV that while Future Capital focuses on private equity play of bigger size, Future ventures would focus on small deals worth $1 mn - $10 mn for regional retailers and consumer brands.

Ksihore Biyani is a man in hurry but could this go against him? The markets have known to tame those who try to time the market. Experts are uncertain about the environment for listing but for Biyani, after having taken a 15 year long break from the markets since Pantaloon listed, unlocking value is more about now than the future.

Banks to observe two-day strike

Ludhiana, Feb 16: Bank employees would observe two-day nation-wide strike on February 25 and 26 to oppose the proposed merger of public sector banks.

The union has been opposing merger of SBI`s associate banks with the parent, outsourcing of work and extension of option to provident fund optees to join pension scheme, United Forum of Bank Employees said in a release issued here.

Besides, the union is also demanding restoration of compassionate appointments in banks, filling-up of vacant posts by recruitment in banks and services and early settlement of wages revision.

Last month, the union went on nation-wide strike after the conciliation meeting held in the office of Chief Labour Commission between Indian Banks Association and the employee association failed to yield any positive result.

Boards of SBI and State Bank of Saurashtra has already given in-principle approval for the merger and is awaiting government`s nod.

Other associate banks are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Indore and State Bank of Patiala.

Bureau Report

Layoffs to cost ***** about Rs 100 cr

New York, Feb 17: Internet major *****!, currently resisting a hostile takeover bid by software giant Microsoft, will incur about Rs 100 crores in severance payouts and other expenses related to its planned job cuts across the world, which includes about 40 people in India.

The internet firm, in a regulatory filing here on Friday, said, "In connection with the strategic workforce realignment, the company expects to incur pre-tax cash charges of 20-25 million dollars (about Rs 100 crore) for severance pay expenses and related cash expenditures associated with the workforce reductions.

The company expects to recognise the majority of the foregoing charges in the first quarter of 2008, with the remaining costs being recognised over the remainder of 2008."

*****! had recently announced plans to cut down its worldwide workforce by 1,000 employees, which was followed by about 40 people being told to quit at its India operations in Bangalore.

When contacted, the company's spokesperson for India had confirmed the move but declined to reveal the exact number of employees sacked there.

The company had announced the job cuts at the time of announcing a 23 percent drop in its fourth quarter profits 205.7 million dollars, late last month. The move was aimed at reducing its annual expenditure.

Bureau Report

Real estate market booms in Ahmedabad
Joydeep Ray
Sunday, February 17, 2008 (Ahmedabad)
Email |Print |Blog|Comments: Read (0) Post |Rate the story The real estate development in Ahmedabad has seen tremendous growth over the past two years. The property prices have shot up faster than even Delhi or Mumbai and investors are making beeline to buy them.

Arunesh Mukhopadhyay, an NRI is looking to buy a house in Ahmedabad. Mukhopadhyay has his roots in Kolkata but he is not interested on investing in property there.

According to him buying a property in Kolkata will not bring in a return like investing in a property in Ahmedabad.

This city is moving much faster and so the cash. The land prices have more than doubled in the last two years, which explains the rush at the first ever summit of housing and real estate developers.

In the last two years many companies have opened up in the city. Consequently, the demand for houses has gone up so has the price. A year ago, a two-bedroom flat at a prominent location used to cost Rs 12 lakh but today it is just under Rs 25 lakh.

"The way property prices got doubled in last one year in Ahmedabad, thanks the town planning, people are buying more and more properties as these houses are bringing in not only faster return on investment but steadily," said Rushabh Patel, Secretary, GIHED.

A city that was earlier considered suitable for industries is now seeing a real estate boom for residential purposes as well. Over the past year the property prices have shot up faster than even Delhi or Mumbai.

"We are looking for lands in far away places as customers are ready to buy there also, mostly NRIs and people coming from outside," said Haresh Patel, Director, Kunj Properties.

The people of Gujarat have always seen the stock market as an investment option, which definitely pays but has risks as well. So many are now investing money earned from stocks in property as it is relatively less risky and assures them better and faster returns.

Iran says OPEC output cut not ruled out

Tehran, Feb 17: Iran on Sunday declined to rule out that the oil cartel OPEC would cut production at its next meeting in early March, a move vehemently opposed by oil-consuming countries.

Asked whether the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would cut its output quota at its next meeting in Vienna on March 5, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari replied: "We will certainly need to examine the state of the market and also the global oil reserves and then decide."

"It is normal for OPEC to cut its production in March every year," he told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony in Tehran, referring to the downturn in demand following the end of winter in the northern hemisphere.

OPEC earlier this month at an extraordinary meeting in Vienna left its official daily output ceiling at 29.67 million barrels of oil.

The freeze came despite US calls for an output increase to help bring down high oil prices that Western countries fear will stunt economic growth and fuel inflation.

US President George W Bush has personally called on OPEC and its kingpin Saudi Arabia to hike output in response to the continued strength in prices.

Oil prices remain solid at around 95 dollars a barrel after striking a high above 100 dollars at the start of the year, despite fears of a US recession.

But Iran and its fellow US foe and close ally Venezuela have openly mulled defying the United States by cutting production in March amid concerns about the effects of a US economic slowdown on oil prices.

Bureau Report

India Inc losses Rs 1.6 lakh per staff on net surfing

New Delhi, Feb 16: India Inc may soon have to check internet usage during working hours, with an average five hours a week spent on personal web surfing, causing companies an annual loss of about Rs 1.6 lakh per employee.

These are the findings of a survey of IT managers in 450 organisations across five cities of the country, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. The national capital came tops with employees here spending a maximum 12.35 hours every week on non-work related internet surfing.

The survey, conducted by internet security firm Websense and research firm Nielsen Company, further found that enterprises are incurring a yearly productivity loss of about Rs 1,60,000 per employee due to personal surfing.

The IT managers said that banking and finance websites were the most accessed websites (74%) by the employees, followed by personal email or web chat (62%) and news media (53%). Close to 32% of the IT managers also said in the survey that they felt their employees were accessing free software download sites.

The Nasdaq-listed Websense said the survey assesses the impact of the internet at work and gauges awareness of Internet security risks among IT managers. The respondents included IT managers from large, small and medium enterprises providing Internet access to employees at work.

“The survey findings are an eye-opener and highlight how essential it is for Indian IT managers to prioritise their IT security spend into technologies that protect organisations from emerging Web-based security threats and confidential data loss,” Websense’s regional director (SAARC and India) Surendra Singh said.

According to the survey, the IT managers believed that employees sending work documents to personal email IDs, clicking on links sent by unknown sources and employees sending an official -mail to wrong IDs pose great security risk to their companies. However, close to 31% IT managers in Chennai and 26% from Delhi seemed unconcerned about employees engaging in any of the above activities, Websense said.

About 42% of IT managers believed that their organisation was well secured against Internet security threats, while 26% agreed that their Internet security measures were average. More than half the IT managers (57%) said they conducted weekly or monthly security assessments, highlighting a proactive approach towards the potential IT threats, while 95% had deployed anti-virus and firewall solutions.

A majority of IT managers (67%) agreed to have an Internet usage policy in place for employees. However, just over one quarter (28%) admitted they have no way to enforce the Internet policy.

Bureau Report

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