These are some of the newest ways of storing power, says Stanford University researcher Yi Cui, assisitant professor of material science and engineering.

Stanford scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to quickly produce ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in the form of everyday paper.

Post doctoral students in the lab of Yi Cui, light up a diode from a battery made from treated paper, similar to what you would find in a copy machine.

The paper batteries are treated with a nanotube ink, baked and folded into electrical generating sources.

Simply coating a sheet of paper with ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires makes a highly conductive storage device, said Yi Cui.

“Society really needs a low-cost, high-performance energy storage device, such as batteries and simple supercapacitors,” a Stanford statement quoted him as saying.

Like batteries, capacitors hold an electric charge, but for a shorter period of time. However, capacitors can store and discharge electricity much more rapidly than a battery.

Cui’s work was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news585914.html

Helen Hodgetts and Dylan Jones, professor of psychology at Cardiff University, examined the cost of such interruptions in terms of the time taken to complete a simple seven-step computer task.

“Our findings suggest that even seemingly brief and inconsequential on-screen pop-up messages might impact our efficiency, particularly given their frequency over the working day,” says Hodgetts.

They found that, even after only a five second interruption, people take longer than normal to complete the next step in the task they are working on.

But in a more realistic work environment, where there is more information to retrieve after the interruption, the loss of concentration could have a greater impact on performance.

Other results from the study show that an interruption lag — a brief time between a warning for a pop-up and the interruption itself — can reduce the time we lose trying to find our place again.

A warning sound was found to be most effective because it allows us to consolidate where we are in the current task before transferring our attention to the interruption.

Conversely, a flashing warning signal on the screen can be just as disruptive as the interruption itself, said a Cardiff release.

Researchers suggest that e-mail alerts and similar pop-up messages should be as small and discreet as possible and should not obscure the original activity.

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news585905.html

From next year, workers in this category will need to have 12 months experience instead of six months as at present with their employer before they can be transferred to the UK, official sources said.

The immigration category will be closed as a route to permanent settlement in the UK.

This means that IT professionals who come to the UK under inter-company transfer will not be allowed to settle here permanently even after the mandatory stay of five years.

Immigration officials also denied reports that the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category of the points-based system was providing a loophole for Indian IT companies to bring foreign workers into the UK.

Under an intra-company transfer, an employer can fill vacancies in its UK operations by bringing across some of its existing foreign-based staff.

It has been claimed that this enables jobs in the IT and other sectors to be taken by migrants who are paid less than resident workers.

The Home Office, however, said that this was not true. “Workers coming to the UK in the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category must be paid the going rate”, it said.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/news/diaspora/tighter_visa_rules_for_uk-bound_indian_it_workers.php

The draft leaked and was first published by the British newspaper The Guardian.

The document says global emissions will peak by the end of the next decade, but does not include any emissions targets for 2020 or specific proposals for the creation of a green fund to help the poorest countries.

The Denmark draft also says control of climate change finance would be passed to the World Bank.

Draft pro-rich

Developing countries say the document is the work of rich nations who wanted to abandon the existing Kyoto Protocol’s principle of only industrialised nations taking on emission targets due to their historical responsibility for climate change.

The developing nations are up in arms against these plans of the Denmark draft:

* Specific emission cuts for developing countries
* ‘Most vulnerable’ category among developing countries
* Developing countries can emit not more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050
* Rich countries can emit 2.67 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050

It also sees everything coming under a single new deal, whereas an alternative text from developing countries wants an extension to the Kyoto Protocol.

Sticking points

Here are the sticking points in the leaked Danish proposal, the documents show that at the broadest level, developed and developing worlds are split on three key points:

* Level of cuts from rich countries
* Target date by which global emissions should peak
* Final shape of any future deal

(Read: Sticking points at Copenhagen)

The draft prepared by India, China, South Africa and Brazil sees emission reductions from developed countries coming under the Kyoto Protocol, but the Danish draft sees all of this coming under one single new agreement.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/climate_summit_uproar_over_leaked_copenhagen_draft.php

“It is a report which is devoid of any credibility, its futility media has referred to as the dud report. I cannot help but say this report is a fraud on the fact finding process,” said Arun Jaitley.

Speaking at length in the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader Arun Jaitley took on retired judge Justice Liberhan, the author of the report, as well.

A lot of questions have been raised about the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s role at the time and the fact that the report largely lets the central government off the hook.

Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh said Rao’s role cannot be seen as separate from the Congress during the Babri demolition.

Initiating the debate, Amar Singh said both Congress and BJP were equally responsible for the incident of December 6, 1992.

He said while BJP had sown the seeds of hatred, Congress and the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao remained a mute spectator.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/liberhan_report_a_fraud_says_bjps_arun_jaitly.php

The Prime Minister said, “I was not in the House yesterday, but got to know that some untoward incident in the house in regard to Vajpayeeji …I apologise for that.”

In Parliament on Tuesday, during the discussion on the Liberhan Report, Beni Prasad Verma, a Congress MP, made derogatory remarks about former Prime Minister Vajpayee. The BJP protested immediately by shouting through the Home Minister’s reply to the House. Home Minister P Chidambaram then apologized for  the remark, but the BJP said it would boycott the Lok Sabha till Verma apologises.

Verma had said, “Yesterday Rajnathji was expressing his disapproval of words such as ‘little men’ which used against people like Advaniji and Vajpayeeji. English is a very simple language as compared to which Hindi is more expressive. So in Hindi, people who were behind the Babri Masjid demolition should rightfully be termed as small people.”

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/pm_apologises_for_beni_prasads_remark_on_vajpayee.php

The latest move by these two private banks will intensify the competition in the mortgage finance market. Last week, home loan major HDFC cut its rates to 8.25%, while SBI is continuing with its 8% offer.

ICICI Bank will offer a fixed rate of 8.25% for two years to new customers. The rate will be valid for loans sanctioned between December 1 and January 31, 2010, and the first disbursement should be before March 31. From the third year onwards, the customer will move to a floating rate structure which will depend on the interest rate prevailing at that point of time, the bank said.

Like HDFC’s 8.25% product, ICICI Bank’s product is also applicable to all new customers, irrespective of the amount of the loan. However, SBI offers low interest rates in two slabs for loans of up to Rs 30 lakh and above Rs 30 lakh.

Kotak Bank’s 8.49% offer is also for all new loans for all loan amount, but this will be valid for 30 months. Kotak Bank will keep this offer open only till January 31, 2010. Its customers will also be shifted to a floating rate structure after the 30-month period. At present, Kotak’s home loans are available in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune and Chennai, a bank release said.

Over the last few months, SBI had been offering home loans at 8% fixed for the first year and subsequently moving to higher rates. Compared to HDFC’s 8.25% offer, SBI offers home loans of up to Rs 30 lakh at 8% for the first year, 8.5% for the second and third years and from the fourth year onward it moves to a floating rate, the bank said on its website. The hugely advertised 8% rate from SBI had generated substantial interest among home buyers since it was launched.

For HDFC, the main reason for offering a lower rate was its ability to bring down its costs of funds, due to the availability of ample liquidity in the system. Banks continue to park around Rs 1 lakh crore with the RBI through reverse repo, indicating availability of enough funds in the system.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Now-ICICI-takes-on-SBI-HDFC/articleshow/5316848.cms

During the debate on Tuesday in Lok Sabha behaviour of MPs hit a new low in Lok Sabha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to decide if they will allow Parliament to function after party BJP MPs did not allow Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to answer and shouted slogans throughout the government’s reply after Congress member Beni Prasad Verma made personal remarks against Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.

The BJP has threatened it will not allow Parliament to function till Verma apologises.

Verma called Vajpayee ‘low minded’ and ‘mean’. He went on to call LK Advani a Karachi man.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/babri-report-debate-leads-to-storm-in-parliament/106748-37.html

So Manisha is taking long vacations with him in different cities of the world, far away from the media’s eye. But we hear through people close to Manisha that she is mighty impressed with Dorris, a sports counselor, author and entrepreneur.

According to a close friend, Manisha wanted to move in with Dorris to test what life would be like when they stay together, because she wants to be sure before tying the knot. It is a late marriage for Manisha and she doesn’t want to regret her decision. Manisha actually went to Paris for around four months and lived in with him to see his habits.

“Manisha also wanted to see how much she would have to adjust to make the relationship work smoothly. She believes that unless you stay with the person, you don’t get to know how he really is.” said a close of Manisha Koirala.

It is also believed that the two might have already said ‘I do’ in Paris in a secret ceremony.

However when contacted, Manisha rubbished the gossip of a secret wedding. But she confirmed that Dorris and she have been spending quality time with each other in Paris and many other world cities. “I went on my own to Paris and met Chris much later. Chris and I have travelled to many places together,” she replied.

Source: http://www.samaylive.com/news/manisha-may-marry-with-christopher-dorris/670071.html

“It is not about what religion or community you come from, it is what you bring to the table, what capability you have,” he said in an interaction with students of the Aligarh Muslim University.

He was replying to a question that having come a long way after Independence how much more time will it take for India to have its first Muslim prime minister.

“Today, Manmohan Singh is not the Prime Minister of India because he is a Sikh. He is the Prime Minister because he is the most capable person to do the job.

“And let me tell you something that even when you do have a Muslim prime minister, he will be a prime minister because he is the most capable person,” 39-year-old Gandhi said.

He told a questioner, “You need to step up and the number of leaders coming out of your community needs to go up.

You got today a Sikh prime minister that nobody would have ever imagined in a country of over a billion people that we would have a Sikh prime minister. Sikhs are a very small percentage of this country.”

Gandhi said his effort was to involve people from different communities and from different parts of India in the political system.

Source: http://www.samaylive.com/news/muslim-can-become-pm-if-he-is-capable-rahul/669932.html