Archive for the ‘last decade’ tag

Vulture population in country falls by 90 pc in last decade

Concerned by the decline in the vulture population in the country by more than 90 per cent in the last decade, the Pune forest department organised a workshop to sensitise forest officials about the critically endangered species, on the occasion of the International Vulture Awareness Day observed on Saturday.

City witnesses wettest August of decade

The city has received 575 mm rain in August which is the highest rainfall received by Ahmedabad in the last decade during the month. Overall this year, the city has received 1,038 mm rain against the annual rainfall of 774 mm.

Avoid Your Business Being Collateral Damage in a Cyber War

All around the world, governments declare they are gearing up for cyber war. I know, I know, to anyone who has been at this for any significant length of time, many of the news stories we are reading today could have, or should have, been written a decade ago, or more. The term “Cyber war” seems to be on everyone’s lips again. (Cue the theme music for “Groundhog Day” – again!) In one way, it is hard to take it seriously anymore; in another way, it is incredible that so many governments sound like they are just getting started, again. Nevertheless, even though the chest-beating seems to be a redux, and much of the blustering rhetoric seems to be recycled, the reality on the virtual ground in cyber space is that the capabilities (the offensive ones, at least) have evolved over the last decade, and so have the opportunities. Furthermore, the appetite to use them seems to have grown apace.

World’s Plants Wilting in the Heat

Drying effects of higher temperatures during the last decade reversed an upward trend in global plant growth. As plants wither, even more carbon could be released into the atmosphere, researchers say.

Iran and its N-plans: War or Peace?

OVER the last decade, Iran has incrementally become the focal point for US policy in the Middle East. The power and influence of Iran has risen as a result of the regime changes in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Iran is now a r…

Egypt oil, gas reserves rise to 18bn barrels

The Egyptian Petroleum Authority (EPA) has said that the country’s reserves of oil and natural gas have risen to 18.3 billion barrels in (2009-2010) in what makes the proven reserves rise to 20 billion barrels in the next two years, Kuna has reported. During the last decade, Egypt achieved the highest rate of success on prospecting and exploration activities in Northern Africa region, with the total reserves discovered of oil and natural gas exceeding those found in Libya, Tunisia and Algeria combined, EPA said.

All festivals in Guj in last decade peaceful, Modi

All festivals in the last decade have passed off peacefully without a single incident of communal violence in the state Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi today said.

Bahrain reports real GDP growth of 70% in last decade

Bahrain: Bahrain enjoyed real GDP growth of 70% over the past decade according to a report out this week from the Kingdom’s Economic Development Board (EDB). This represents a sustainable growth rate in real GDP of more than 6% year-on-year. [AMEInfo.com]

Will the US ever get Latin America? | Mark Weisbrot (Guardian)

For Washington’s foreign policy elite, changes in Latin America are viewed through the narrow lens of a cold war mentalityIn the film Guantanamera, the last by renowned Cuban director Tomás Gutierrez Alea, the Yoruba creation myth is presented as a metaphor for the difficulties of bringing about change. In this myth, humans were at first immortal, but the result was that the old suffocated the young, and so death had to be created.Here in Washington, it is often only death and retirement that allows for the possibility of change ? and yet the institutions remain immortal and often immutable. Nowhere is this more true than in the foreign policy establishment here.In the last few weeks I have visited five countries and participated in numerous events surrounding a recently released documentary ? like Guantanamera, South of the Border is also a road movie ? which Oliver Stone directed and I wrote with Tariq Ali. Returning to Washington, the wide gulf that separates the US foreign policy elite from the vast majority of its neighbours to the south hits you as a form of culture shock.For these people, the historic changes that have swept Latin America ? and especially South America ? over the last decade are viewed through the narrow lens of a cold war mentality that scores every change in terms of how it affects US power in the region.Jorge Castañeda is a former foreign minister of Mexico who teaches at New York University and has become a leading spokesperson in the media for the Washington foreign policy establishment. In a recent article, he divides the continent into Americas-1, meaning those that are either neutral in the confrontation between the United States and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (and Cuba), or openly opposed to the so-called Bolivarian governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela; and Americas-2 ? the radical left. For Castañeda, as for US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, it is particularly annoying that as recently as 7 June, the Bolivarian countries were able to block Honduras’s re-instatement into the OAS, despite the essentially free and fair elections that were held there last November.But it was not just the Bolivarian countries that can’t accept elections held under a dictatorship as free and fair. Brazil, Argentina, and governments representing most of the hemisphere are in the same camp. In fact, when the Rio Group issued a statement in November of 2009 saying that the immediate restitution of Mel Zelaya was a necessary condition for elections to be recognised, even the Obama administration’s rightwing allies ? Colombia, Peru, and Panama ? felt obliged to sign on.The Honduran coup, carried out by US allies and US-trained military officers against the democratically elected President Mel Zelaya, was a watershed event in relations between Washington and Latin America. It was nearly one year ago, on 28 June, that the remaining hopes that the Obama administration would treat its neighbours to the south differently than the Bush team did, were destroyed. While the Clintons’ close confidant and adviser Lanny Davis counselled and lobbied for the coup regime, the Obama administration did everything that it could to help the dictatorship survive and legitimise itself. This despite unanimous resolutions in the OAS and the United Nations calling for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of President Zelaya, two words that the Obama administration would never utter, as it ignored for more than five months the murders, closing of independent media, and other massive human rights violations that made the free and fair elections last November in Honduras a sick joke. The European Union and Organisation of American States did not even send observers.But with Washington still struggling to legitimise the Honduran government ? despite the murder of dozens of political activists and nine journalists since the elected government took power ? it is typical to portray this effort as a struggle against enemy governments rather than a fight with most of the region. What these people cannot recognise, or perhaps even understand, is that this is about independence and self-determination, as well as democracy.Michele Bachelet of Chile and Lula da Silva of Brazil were as upset as the Americas-2 governments when the Obama administration decided last August to expand its presence at seven military bases in Colombia. And it was Felipe Calderón, the rightwing president of Mexico, who hosted the February conference in Cancún that decided to create a new organisation for the Americas, which could eventually displace the OAS, without the United States and Canada. The role of the US and Canada in blocking the OAS from taking stronger measures against the dictatorship in Honduras undoubtedly played a role in motivating this move.Of course, Washington has the power to make its cold war vision of the hemisphere at least half real, by singling out the more leftwing governments for special treatment. In Bolivia, the election of Evo Morales brought changes analogous to the end of apartheid in South Africa, with the country’s indigenous majority gaining a voice in their government for the first time in 500 years. One would think the Obama administration would have enough common brains to get on the right side of that one. But no, they have carried over the trade sanctions that the Bush team had imposed on Bolivia under the so-called Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), de-certified Bolivia as not co-operating in the War on Drugs, and still refuse to disclose exactly whom they are funding in Bolivia ? ie, which opposition groups ? with money from the US State Department.I had the privilege of watching South of the Border in a soccer stadium filled with more than 6,000 people in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a few weeks ago. At one point in the film Evo Morales tells the story of Tupak Katari, an indigenous leader who fought against the Spanish colonialists in the 18th century. Evo recalls Tupak Katari’s last words, before he was drawn and quartered by the Spanish: I die as one, but I will come back as millions.Evo then looks into the camera and says: Now we are millions.Unlike in Washington, every person in that stadium knew exactly what he meant.US foreign policyUS politicsUnited StatesMark Weisbrotguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Managing Smartphones in Your Business

Over the last decade, smartphones have evolved from relatively simple mobile communications devices to robust palm-sized computing platforms that have transformed travel time from a loathsome efficiency drag to a productive part of any workday. Workers can now go more places with less downtime. But this benefit is offset somewhat by the increased burden they place on IT administrators to effectively provision and maintain them, and the security risks of carrying sensitive data on portable devices.

Senior National Account Manager – Grocery Retail Multiples, Excellent Basic Salary+Package – Flexible/Homebased, UK

Tyrrells Potato Chips is one of the most exciting and entrepreneurial stories of the last decade. Born out of a passion for quality and simplicity, a premium brand was established within a niche and growing category. Over the last eight years, Tyrrells have collected over 50 major awards which continue to reinforce their superior taste, entrepreneurship, manufacturing excellence, …

Snakes may be in decline worldwide: Study

Distinct populations of snake species on three continents have crashed over the last decade, raising fears that the reptiles may be in global decline, according to a study published today.

The Four Dimensions of Intelligent Innovation

A new approach to ideation and development that Booz & Company calls Intelligent Innovation. Over the last decade, companies have made great strides in retooling their innovation engines. Leaner and faster, they can get products from concept to customer in record time. But even a Ferrari does not know where to drive. While there are still plenty of opportunities to enhance execution, inspiration and insight are increasingly the critical challenges for innovation executives. But improving these capabilities demands different, more outward-looking techniques.

Making Customer Centricity Pay in Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Ten Leading Companies

In these challenging financial times many companies may be tempted to drop customer-centric business models that have become popular over the last decade. However, a recent Booz & Company study has found that companies that truly have a customer-centric business model have been able to reduce product development costs and increase customer retention and revenues–imperatives for all businesses, particularly when competition for scarce customer dollars is fiercer than ever.

Rethink Your Strategy: An Urgent Memo to the CEO

As a business leader, you need to readjust your mind-set for a future that looks very different than it did just a few months ago. In the last decade, there have been three bubbles in rapid succession–in Internet and telecom companies, real estate, and commodity prices. During bubbles, the pressures on the strong and the weak are the same: to ride the wave of growth, regardless of whether it’s based on permanent value or transient speculation. But the speculative bubbles have burst, and now, the most critical thing is to see the dynamics clearly–not as an investor, but as a decision maker with a company to steer. Given the potential for discontinuous changes in the structure of your industry, playing your hand well means changing your stance. It also means preparing your company to move aggressively to seize strategic opportunities.

Facebook is the just the latest sensation to contract a case of megalomania (Guardian)

Total control of the internet is beyond everyone’s wildest dreamsSadly, there is no cure for megalomania. But venture capitalists ought to start funding the search for a cure, because it’s costing many of them a lot of money, and is likely to cost even more in the future.Here’s how it works. A smart entrepreneur ? a Harvard dropout, say, or some guy who made a lot of money by selling off his last venture to some clueless multinational ? starts up a web business which grows like crazy by attracting millions of subscribers who use its services for free. Pretty soon, it’s got 400 million of them and everyone is saying: Wow! 400 million users! That must be good for something.Then several things happen. Firstly, the proprietor of the sensation du jour starts drinking the Kool-Aid and contracts the aforementioned megalomania. He begins to fantasise that he could own the whole internet. Secondly, thousands of other entrepreneurs think Wow! He could own the whole internet. We need to make sure our stuff has hooks into his stuff. Otherwise, we’re toast. And then the mainstream media, whose insights into this could be written in 96-point Helvetica bold on the back of a postage stamp, are going around saying, Jeez, this stuff is the real deal. How do we get onside?The Facebook phenomenon provides a perfect illustration of this process. At the moment, it looks like an all-conquering monster, and is being reported accordingly. According to conventional wisdom, if the last decade was dominated by Google, this coming decade will belong to Facebook. And the company is beginning to behave as though it believed this.On 21 April, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced some moves aimed at consolidating Facebook’s supposed grip on the web. From now on, for example, visitors to an increasing number of high-profile websites will find a Like button on the page. Click on it and the news that you approve of the site’s content will automatically be integrated into your Facebook profile, for the delectation of your friends. (Interestingly, there’s no dislike button, which tells you all you need to know about the motivation behind this technology).This move caused jaws to drop all over the blogosphere. I think Facebook just seized control of the internet, wrote one excited commentator. And Slate’s technology writer, as he listened to Zuckerberg’s presentation, tweeted that Facebook is going to be everywhere. Facebook is basically going to be the web.Meanwhile, over at Spotify, the wildly successful music streaming service, they’ve also been making big changes. On 27 April they announced a major upgrade to their service. Among the new features is ? yes, you guessed it ? Facebook connectivity. All your friends who are using Spotify will appear on your screen, and you can drag and drop playlists to them. So now all your Facebook buddies will know you’re partial to Status Quo, the soppier end of Norah Jones or Classic FM compilation albums. Or worse.But that’s just the cosying-up-to-Facebook end of it. Spotify’s announcement also suggested that they, too, have been drinking the Kool-Aid. From now on, Spotify users will have a library. This is a virtual container that holds any song in a Spotify playlist that you’ve saved, any MP3 files on your hard drive and any songs or albums that you’ve starred as favourites. Henceforth, Spotify can search any folder on your computer for audio content and play it just like a stream from the web, or like iTunes does with your offline library of songs.What that means, in the words of one commentator is that you can now use Spotify to entirely replace iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp or any other music playback software on your computer. It can even sync local files wirelessly to an iPhone, if you’re a Spotify Premium subscriber, and support for Android handsets is promised soon. Translation: Spotify will be the Only Thing You’ll Ever Need ? the solution to all your problems. Megalomania rules OK.What’s comical about this stuff is not so much its implicit arrogance ? the assumption that we all want to share using Facebook ? as its historical naivety. The history of the web is littered with the whitened bones of enterprises that once dreamed of total control. So until the cure for megalomania is invented, the only known antidote is a mantra. Repeat after me: the net is bigger than any single enterprise. And nobody owns it.InternetFacebookSpotifyitunesJohn Naughtonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

‘Water crisis should be solved in two-three years’

Shivmurty Naik, Mira-Bhayander civic chief, has been part of the area’s transformation over the last decade — first as commissioner in the municipal council and twice as commissioner after it became a full-fledged municipality.

Custody deaths on rise

Custody deaths in India have gone up by 42 per cent in the last decade, a rights group said on Tuesday.

India, China lead in slum rehab efforts

China and India have in the last decade improved the lives of more slum dwellers than any other country in the world, a UN-HABITAT report has said.

Madonna named most played artist

Madonna has overtaken the Beatles as Britain’s most played musician of the last decade, beating the long-standing front-runners into second place.

India set to overtake China: PC

Having shrugged off the impact of the global economic crisis, India appears poised to overtake China’s high growth rate in the next ten years, feels the home minister, P. Chidambaram.

“While the last decade was remarkable and exciting, this decade will be more exciting for India. There is more possibility that India could overtake China’s growth rates,” he said at function late on Tuesday.

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In the last decade, has Al Sharpton furthered anti-black racism or helped to heal anti-black racism?

In the last decade, has Al Sharpton furthered anti-black racism or helped to heal anti-black racism?

Global deforestation slowed over last decade: UN

ROME – Deforestation slowed in the last decade, in the first sign that global conservation efforts are bearing fruit, but an area the size of Costa Rica is still being destroyed each year, the United Nations said on Thursday.

March 25: Political history of Mysore and Coorg (1565–1760)

The political history of Mysore and Coorg (1565–1760) is the political history of the contiguous historical regions of Mysore state and Coorg province in west-central peninsular India, beginning with the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565 and ending just before the rise of Sultan Haidar Ali in 1761. After the Vijayanagara Empire’s fall, the Sultanate of Bijapur, the Sultanate of Golconda, the fledgling Maratha empire, and the Mughal empire, invaded the region intermittently. By the turn of the eighteenth century, the northwestern hills were being ruled by the Nayaka rulers of Ikkeri, the southwestern, in the Western Ghats, by the Rajas of Coorg, the southern plains by the Wodeyar rulers of Mysore, Hindu dynasties all; whereas the eastern and northeastern regions had fallen to the Muslim Nawabs of Arcot and Sira. Mysore’s expansions had been based on unstable alliances. When the alliances began to unravel, political decay set in. The declining Mughal empire raided the Mysore capital, Seringapatam, to collect unpaid taxes; the neighbouring Raja of Coorg began a war of attrition with Mysore over western territory; and soon, the Maratha empire invaded again and exacted more concessions of territory. In the chaotic last decade of this period, a little-known Muslim cavalryman, Haidar Ali, seized power in Mysore. (more…)

Indian farms worst hit in tropical region

India has witnessed the maximum dip in agriculture growth among 41 tropical countries in the last decade, courtesy climate change, says a joint study of NASA and Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), reports Chetan Chauhan.

It s okay to be a jholawala these days

I don’t know if you have realised this but the terms of debate in Indian politics have changed quite dramatically over the last decade, writes Vir Sanghvi.

First Look: 2011 Volvo S60

First Look: 2011 Volvo S60

It wasn’t that long ago that Volvos were essentially considered to be safety boxes on wheels.

It wasn’t that long ago that Volvos were essentially considered to be safety boxes on wheels. But over the last decade or so, the cars from Gothenburg have evolved into curvaceous vehicles that retain the safety of their boxy predecessors. The 2011 Volvo S60, perhaps the most elegant Volvo yet, is set to debut at the 2010 Geneva motor show this March.inline_mediumwraptextright32340921/features/news/1002_2011_volvo_s601002_01_z+2011_volvo_s60+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

Photo Gallery: 2011 Volvo S60 – 2010 Geneva Auto Show Coverage, New Car Reviews, Concept Cars – Automobile Magazine

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Is the govt trying to talk up the economy? (Mint)

The government?s spin doctors have already begun to talk up the economy; they are suggesting that the recovery in India is for real and very soon the economy would revert to the 8%-plus growth trajectory that it averaged in the last decade