Prachanda to be the next Nepal PM

Maoist supremo Prachanda, whose party has registered a surprise victory in recent Constituent Assembly polls, on Sunday declared that he would lead the next government in Nepal.

"I will soon become the head of the first republican government," Prachanda said during a victory rally in Kirtipur Municipality of Kathmandu.

Ahead of the April 10 polls, Prachanda was projected by the Communist Party of Nepal-Moist party as the future President. But as the interim constitution does not have the provision for electing a President, he is expected to head the government as Prime Minister, party insiders said.

The CPN-Maoist has emerged as the single largest party by securing 118 seats out of a total of 240, for which polls were held under the first-past-the-post voting system. The results of eight constituencies, for which re-election was held on Saturday, are yet to be announced.

However, Maoists are unlikely to win majority in the 601-member Constituent Assembly as they have so far received only 30 per cent votes under the proportionate voting system for 335 seats. The prime minister will fill the remaining 26 seats through nominations.

Prachanda said he would give special emphasis to the development of Kirtipur, a constituency having strong anti-King feeling and from where the Maoist chief got elected to the assembly. Prachanda has also been elected from Rolpa district.

He also assured the voters that Nepal would be declared a republic in the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly, which will be held within three weeks of the announcement of all the results.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/20nepal.htm

The Universe in One picture

The Universe in One picture

HIV/AIDS prevalence in indian states.

The vast size of India makes it difficult to examine the effects of HIV on the country as a whole. The majority of states within India have a higher population than most African countries, so a more detailed picture of the crisis can be gained by looking at each state individually.

The HIV prevalence data for most states is established through testing pregnant women at antenatal clinics. While this means that the data are only directly relevant to sexually active women, they still provide a reasonable indication as to the overall HIV prevalence of each area. 27 Data for six states are also available from a survey of the general population. 28

The following states have recorded the highest levels of HIV prevalence at antenatal and sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics over recent years.

Andhra Pradesh in the southeast of the country has a total population of around 76 million, of whom 6 million live in or around the city of Hyderabad. The HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics was 1.26% in 2006 - higher than in any other state - while the general population prevalence was 0.97% in 2005-2006. The vast majority of infections in Andhra Pradesh are believed to result from sexual transmission. HIV prevalence at STD clinics was 24.4% in 2006.

Goa is a very small state in the southwest of India, and is best known as a tourist destination. Tourism is so prominent that the number of tourists almost equals the resident population, which is about 1.3 million. The HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics was found to be 0.50% in 2006. Prevalence at STD clinics was 8.6% in 2006, indicating that Goa has a serious epidemic of HIV among sexually active people.

Karnataka - a diverse state in the southwest of India - has a population of around 53 million. In Karnataka the average HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics has exceeded 1% in all recent years. Among the general population, 0.69% were found to be infected in 2005-2006. Districts with the highest prevalence tend to be located in and around Bangalore in the southern part of the state, or in northern Karnataka’s "devadasi belt". Devadasi women are a group of women who have historically been dedicated to the service of gods. These days, this has evolved into sanctioned prostitution, and as a result many women from this part of the country are supplied to the sex trade in big cities such as Mumbai. 29 The average HIV prevalence among female sex workers in Karnataka was 8.64% in 2006, and 19.20% of men who have sex with men were found to be infected.

Mumbai (Bombay) is the capital city of Maharashtra state and is the most populous city in India, with around 20 million inhabitants. Maharashtra is a very large state of three hundred thousand square kilometres, with a total population of around 97 million. The HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics in Maharashtra was 0.75% in 2006, and surveys of female sex workers have found around 20% to be infected. Similarly high rates are found among injecting drug users and men who have sex with men. The 2005-2006 survey found an infection rate of 0.62% in the general population of Maharashtra. This state is home to around one in five of all people living with HIV in India.

Tamil Nadu - When surveillance systems in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, home to some 62 million people, showed that HIV infection rates among pregnant women were rising - tripling to 1.25% between 1995 and 1997 - the State Government acted decisively. Funding for the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), which had been set up in 1994, was significantly increased. 30 Along with non-governmental organisations and other partners, TANSACS developed an active AIDS prevention campaign. This included hiring a leading international advertising agency to promote condom use for risky sex in a humorous way, without offending the many people who do not engage in risky behaviour. The campaign also attacked the ignorance and stigma associated with HIV infection. 31

The HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics in Tamil Nadu was 0.25% in 2006, though several districts still have much higher rates. The general population survey of 2005-2006 found a rate of 0.34% across the state. Prevalence among injecting drug users was 24.20% in 2006 - the highest of all states and union territories.

Manipur is a small state of some 2.2 million people in the northeast of India. The nearness of Manipur to Myanmar (Burma), and therefore to the Golden Triangle drug trail, has made it a major transit route for drug smuggling, with drugs easily available. HIV prevalence among injecting drug users is around 20%, and the virus is no longer confined to this group, but has spread further to the female sexual partners of drug users and their children. 32 The HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics in Manipur has exceeded 1% in all recent years. The 2005-2006 survey found that 1.13% of the general population was infected - the highest of all states surveyed.

Mizoram - The small northeastern state of Mizoram has fewer than a million inhabitants. In 1998, an HIV epidemic took off quickly among the state’s male injecting drug users, with some drug clinics registering HIV rates of more than 70% among their patients. 33 In recent years the average prevalence among this group has been much lower, at around 3-7%. HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics was 1% in 2006.

Nagaland is another small northeastern state, with a population of two million, where injecting drug use has again been the driving force behind the spread of HIV. In 2006, the HIV prevalence at antenatal clinics was 0.93%, and the rate among female sex workers was 16.40%.

http://latest-news-portal.blogspot.com/2008/04/must-know-hivaids-prevalence-in-indian.html

Funny Viagra print ad

A great , funny print ad promoting ' Vîagra' on a newspaper of Slovania !
www.ayurvedastreet.com

Indiisches Konzern Tata greift Ferrari an

Der Kauf von Jaguar und Land Rover fegte die letzten Zweifel vom Tisch. Ratan Tata baut seinen weltumspannenden Konzern weiter aus. Inzwischen sitzt er bei Fiat im Aufsichtsrat.

Damit verfolgt der mächtige Inder mehrere strategische Ziele. Laut "auto motor und sport" hat Rata Tata angekündigt, sich bei Ferrari einkaufen zu wollen, das zum Fiat-Konzern gehört. Sein Kleinstwagen-Projekt plant Tata mit Motoren von Fiat. Umgekehrt könnte künftigen Alfa Romeos mit Jaguar-Antrieben Beine gemacht werden.

Womöglich liegt da der Schlüssel, wie Ratan Tata das verlustreiche Ford-Erbe wieder flott machen will. Da Jaguar tief in den roten Zahlen steckt, hatte Ford die Marke nur zusammen mit Land Rover verkauft. Der Geländewagenhersteller fährt Gewinne ein. Doch zusätzlich zum „Schnäppchenpreis“ von 2,3 Milliarden Dollar muss Tata weitere Milliarden in die beiden ehemaligen britischen Vorzeigemarken pumpen.

Neue Perspektiven mit Fiat?

Der Weltmarkt für Autos wandelt sich. Der US-Absatz verzeichnet heftige Einbrüche. In Europa machen den Herstellern die verschärften Umweltanforderungen zu schaffen. So wie sie jetzt aufgestellt sind, haben weder Land Rover noch der Luxusbauer Jaguar eine Chance zu bestehen. Aber über Partner wie Fiat eröffnen sich neue Perspektiven.

Wer sich anschaut, wie sich das Tata-Imperium in Indien entwickelt hat, darf dem Gentleman mit guten Umgangsformen eine weitere Erfolgsstory zutrauen. Im Januar hatte der Tata das billigste Auto der Welt vorgestellt. Der Preis von umgerechnet 1700 Euro für den kleinen Nano mit dem Smart-Gesicht verblüffte die Fachwelt, auch wenn im Fall des Exports nach Europa ein deutlich höherer Preis erwartet wird. Mit 6000 Euro wegen höherer Sicherheitsanforderungen rechnen Experten hierzulande, falls der Tata überhaupt kommen sollte. 250.000 Nano sollen pro Jahr zunächst für den heimischen Markt produziert werden.

Sozial und beliebt

Der Tata-Konzern wurde 1869 in der britischen Kolonialzeit von Jamsetji Tata gegründet und ist Koloss mit 98 Tochterfirmen - von der Telekommunkationsanlage über Tee bis zum Lastwagen. Der jährliche Umsatz liegt bei 28,8 Milliarden Euro. 289.500 Menschen arbeiten für das Unternehmen.

Auch wenn Tata in der Vergangenheit nicht davor zurückschreckte, tausende Mitarbeiter zu entlassen, gilt der kinderlose 70-Jährige mit dem milden Lächeln als sozial und beliebt bei seinen Angestellten. An der Spitze des Weltkonzerns stehen zwei große Stiftungen, die mit 65,8 Prozent die Mehrheit an der Holding mit allen Tochterfirmen halten.

http://www.rp-online.de/public/article/auto/verkehr/550902/Tata-greift-Ferrari-an.html

Mumbai 2007 industrial rents almost double

Mumbai’s industrial property rents almost doubled last year, rising at the fastest pace in the world, real estate advisory Cushman and Wakefield Inc. said in a report.

Annual industrial rents in the country’s financial capital surged to nearly €80 (Rs5,056) a sq. m, New York-based Cushman said in its Industrial Space Across the World report.

Istanbul was second with 60% growth and Bogota, the capital of Colombia, ranked third.

“One of the key trends in the industrial market remains the movement of manufacturing operations to cheaper locations such as India, China, South America and Central and Eastern Europe,” Cushman and Wakefield said.

Global average rents rose by more than 6%, outpacing the 4.5% increase in 2006, with Asia showing the biggest gains, boosted by economic growth in India and China.

London’s Heathrow district was the world’s most expensive industrial location, with average rents of €211 per sq. m a year, Cushman said. It was followed by Hammersmith and Gatwick, both in the UK.

Dublin, the world’s most expensive city outside the UK, was fourth with an occupancy cost of €159.5 per sq. m. Tokyo and Sydney were Asia’s most expensive cities for industrial space, coming in at fifth and seventh, respectively, on the world list.

http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/15235610/Mumbai-2007-industrial-rents-a.html

Best National Geographic Photo Contest 2007 - People