India

15 January 2008 -- Indian health officials have confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu in the eastern part of the country, near Bangladesh, is the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.

The new outbreak has already killed about 35,000 birds in the state of West Bengal. The state's minister for animal resources, Anisur Rahaman, Tuesday said the poultry deaths were reported from farms in the Morgram village in the Birbhum District, and in south Dinajpur.    » read more »

NEW DELHI , January 11, 2008 - The Government of India and the World Bank Group have joined forces to fight fraud and corruption and systemic deficiencies in India ’s health sector, announcing immediate steps to investigate indicators of wrongdoing and implement further safeguards. The Government of India has announced its intention to reexamine ongoing and future projects to ensure that they incorporate the lessons from a Detailed Implementation Review (DIR).    » read more »

13 January 2008 -- Officials in India's eastern city Kolkata say army soldiers have now joined efforts to extinguish a fire raging for two days in the country's biggest wholesale market.

The soldiers joined firefighters who have struggled with water shortages and equipment that was unable to reach flames burning on the upper levels of a 12 story building in the market complex.

Some firefighters have been reported injured in the effort. More than 2,500 shops were reported destroyed.    » read more »

08 January 2008 -- Dow Chemical, the world's second-largest chemical manufacturer, is facing difficulties trying to expand in India. The company is haunted by the 1984 leak of methyl isocyanate, one of the most lethal chemical compounds invented by man, from a Union Carbide pesticide factory in the Indian city of Bhopal. Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001 and many Indians want Dow to take responsibility for the 1984 disaster before it is allowed to increase its operations in India.    » read more »

08 January 2008 -- India's Tata Motors is expected to unveil the world's cheapest car on Thursday.

The new vehicle is expected to cost about $2,500.

A news report says the company worked to keep costs down by keeping the vehicle small, light and as simple as possible.

The report says the car has one windshield wiper instead of two, and no frills such as radios or power steering. Much of the vehicle is expected to be made of plastic.

Only about eight Indians out of every 1,000 now own a car, so there may be a large market for the vehicle in the nation's fast-growing economy.    » read more »

16 December 2007 -- India is emerging as a production hub for Asian car manufacturers rolling out new compact models for the global market. The market for small, low-priced cars is on the rise worldwide.

Suzuki Motor Corporation says a new compact hatchback targeted at European customers will start to roll out of a plant near New Delhi in December of next year. The company says the car will produce lower greenhouse emissions than its European rivals.

The Japanese company plans to export nearly two-thirds of the 150,000 cars due to be made here annually.    » read more »

December 12, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Horseshoe Magnets

Units: About 153,000

Importer: United Scientific, of Waukegan, Ill.

Hazard: Surface paint on the magnets contains high levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standards.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.    » read more »

13 December 2007 -- Indian defense officials say the country will have a shield in place by 2010 to protect India from incoming missile that could be fired by Pakistan or China. National security experts, however, are less convinced.

One of India's top defense research scientists has revealed plans for a complete ballistic missile defense system to be deployed within three years.

Military analysts are greeting the announcement this week by V.K. Saraswat, chief controller of the Defense Research Development Organization, with some skepticism.    » read more »

New Delhi, India, 4 December 2007 – At today’s plenary session on tech sector growth during the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit taking place in New Delhi, Edward J. Zander, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Motorola, USA, and a Co-Chair of the India Economic Summit, said India has already proved itself as a leader in the IT support and services sectors. He stated it has "all the ingredients" for continued success: good levels of education, well-established centres of excellence, and a good relationship between the private and public sectors.    » read more »

New Delhi, India, 3 December 2007 – Today’s plenary session, during the World Economic Forum’s 23rd India Economic Summit, held in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), focused on one of India’s biggest challenges – the massive migration from rural communities to increasingly overburdened cities. Over 100,000 people a month migrate to Delhi alone. "As long as all opportunities are concentrated in metropolises, you will not be able to stem this tide.    » read more »

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and Network18 (through its Group company Global Broadcast News, GBN) today announced that they have completed the formation of their 50/50 joint venture in India called Viacom 18 Media Private Limited. The companies announced their plans for the joint venture in May 2007.    » read more »

October 31, 2007 -- AOL today announced the next steps in its ambitious global expansion effort with the launch of new local language versions of the AOL India portal, aol.in, and the launch of Truveo's popular video search engine serving eight countries, including India.    » read more »

31 October 2007 -- Washington -- Multinational apparel giant Gap Inc. acted quickly after discovering that a Gap contractor in New Delhi employed children.

“We strictly prohibit the use of child labor. This is non-negotiable for us -- and we are deeply concerned and upset by this allegation,” Gap North America President Marka Hansen said.    » read more »

30 October 2007 -- India and Germany have agreed to work towards finding solutions to combat climate change.

In a joint statement released Tuesday, the two sides said there is an urgent need to find effective ways to fight global warming.

The statement followed talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. Ms. Merkel put climate change high on her agenda during her visit to India - one of the world's biggest polluters.    » read more »

29 October 2007 -- Officials with the Global Forum for Health Research say developing countries face a widening range of health problems due to changes in lifestyle. The officials say developing countries need to improve access to health care for the poor to prevent deaths from non-communicable diseases.

The head of the Global Forum for Health Research, Stephen Matlin, says the health problems that developing countries face have changed enormously in the past 10 years.    » read more »