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Day 4: Japan Earthquake
Mar 15th
Two days after an explosion at reactor No. 1 in Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant on Saturday, another one, in reactor No. 3, blew the roof off a building on Monday.
The problems at Fukushima Daiichi could be the most serious involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986
A partial meltdown can occur when radioactive fuel rods, which are normally in water, remain uncovered for too long
The 2 reactors hit by explosions may have already suffered partial meltdowns. Full meltdowns could release catastrophic amounts of radiation.
Contrary to rumours, there was no report of any radiation travelling outside Japan’s territory. The country’s nuclear power watchdog said readings taken soon after the explosion showed no big change in radiation levels around the plant or any damage to the containment vessel.
Day 3 after the Japan Earthquake
Mar 14th
Japan struggled to avert a nuclear disaster and care for millions of people without power or water.
Estimated 10,000 people or more have got killed in this earthquake and tsunami.
Emergency declared at another Nuclear plant, Onagawa, with high radiation levels.
About 200,000 people around plants evacuated. No danger yet of radiation travelling beyond the country.
Japan faces risk of second explosion at Fukushima Nuclear plant, 240km north of Tokyo, where a blast in reactor 1 on Saturday blew away the roof.
Rising heat in all three reactors at the plant has raised fears of overheated fuel rods exploding or melting the container housing the core.
Meltdown of reactor 3 could be more serious as it is fuelled by plutonium and uranium. Other units have only uranium. Workers trying to cool rods with seawater.
Japan, with 54 reactors, is world’s 3rd largest generator of nuclear power.
Japan suffered world’s only Nuclear holocaust in 1945, killing 1.5 to 2.4 lakh people.
Japan Earthquake Catastrophe
Mar 11th
Huge waves swept away building, cars, ships, homes, airports etc. More than 1000 people are missing and 350 people have been already declared dead. Quake which triggered this measured at 8.2 magnitude had struck around 400kms away from the capital Tokyo. The impact had triggered the fire which has already engulfed the oil refineries.
Passengers train & ships with 100′s on board are missing. Tsunami warning is in place for entire pacific region.
Japan has shut down its 5 nuclear plants. No radiation leaks so far. 60,000-70,000 people evacuated to shelters in Sendai city. Fukushima Nuclear Plant is on high alert after one of its reactor showed overheating. USAF deliver coolant to Fukushima to avert the disaster.
Hawaii, Australia & Central America are in line of the Tsunami and are on high alert.
Tourism May Take a Hit with the Proposed service tax on room rates
Mar 11th
The government’s Budget proposal to impose 5% service tax on rooms charging over 1,000 per night is likely to Foreign tourists arrival. In states like Kerala and Goa, the state governments levy a luxury tax on room charges which is as high as 12.5%.The new proposed service tax would amount to a multiplicity of tax as both the proposed service tax (levied by Centre) and luxury tax (levied by states) are on the same base amount.
Kerala and Goa, two of the favourite destinations for foreign tourists, the total tax on room rents would go up to 17.5% on levy of the newly proposed tax.
States like Delhi and Tamil Nadu also charge a luxury tax of 10% and 12.5%, respectively. Proposed service tax on room rates of over 1,000 per night to make stay costlier.
AOL announces cuts to its India force
Mar 11th
Online media company AOL who has an office in Bangalore, India made official that it will only have a token presence in India, with just over 100 employees, down from about 1,000 from now.
The fears of AOL’s big layoff came true at a town hall meeting addressed by AOL India head Kumar Talluri and officials from the US on Thursday in Bangalore. The AOL Indian staff were told that about 500 employees, including the entire management team, would be laid off.
HP and MindTree are expected to acquire some divisions. Sources said that HP would take 200 employees and Mind-Tree 170. This in return of AOL giving them work commitments for a few years.
AOL’s $315-million acquisition of The Huffington Post in the US has rendered much of the employee base in India redundant. AOL issued the following statement on Thursday: “Moving forward, our focus in India will be on our core capabilities around building the most compelling consumer facing products primarily for the Indian and other Asian markets. We’ll be partnering Mindtree and HP to round out our business operations.”
For those being laid off, the company has announced severance packages amounting to four months of their salaries for most employees, and six months of their salaries for executives at the director level and higher. Employees will also get an additional week’s salary for every year that they have served in the company. All changes will come into effect by July’2011.
Standard Chartered Private Equity arm to invest 85 Crore on Privi Organics
Mar 10th
Privi Organics, a Mumbai-based aroma chemical manufacturer and exporter is among the talks with a 85 crore investment made on it by the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank.
Most of the products manufactured by Privi Organics are used by fragrance and flavours companies. The Privi Organics also exports products to over 25 countries. It is planning an expansion of its manufacturing facilities at Mahad in Maharashtra and the fund infusion will partly be used to finance this expansion.
According to a report by SRI Consulting, the speciality chemical segment was among the hardest hit, leading to the shut down of a number of plants globally.
The specialty and fine chemicals market is pegged at $860 million and most of the products in this segment are used as additives in the textile, leather, paper, cosmetics and detergent industries. The global chemical industry underwent a major downturn during the recession.
“The aroma chemicals space presents significant opportunities for Indian companies, as India emerges as a key manufacturing center for aromatic and speciality chemicals,” said Rahul Raisurana, Managing Director, Standard Chartered Private Equity.
Apple iPad 2
Mar 10th
Yes, the appearance of Steve Jobs on stage might have overshadowed the iPad itself, but there is no doubting that the new iPad does improve the original one in more than one way, even though it retains the same screen size and resolution. There is greater processing speed beneath the hood thanks to the dual core A5 processor, better graphics, a gyroscope and something we had been predicting all along — dual cameras for video calling. But those are just specs — where the iPad really scores is in the fact that it retains its very sleek design (it is now slimmer than the iPhone 4) and the brilliantly intuitive interface, courtesy iOS. Top that off with the fact it still serves up more apps than any other tablet and has managed to maintain its astonishing ten hour-plus battery in spite of the graphics and processing boost, and you can see why it is likely to remain the tablet to beat. A smart folding cover will be sold alongside, giving Apple a headstart over third-party accessory vendors. Some negatives remain; the cameras are not the greatest in town and it still does not have a memory expansion slot.
RIM BlackBerry Playbook
Mar 10th
When it was first announced in September 2010, the PlayBook was seen by many as the perfect antidote to all the ills of the iPad. It had powerful dual cameras, a 1 GHz dual core processor, awesome multitasking, HDMI port, ran Flash effortlessly, had a stunning display—and of course, BlackBerry’s formidable mail and messaging muscle. And all that holds true even today, but six months is a long time in technology, and the PlayBook has lost some of its sheen already. Doubts have been expressed about the number of apps that will be compatible with its new operating system (support for Android apps has not been ruled out) and not everyone is happy with the fact that it will need to be paired with a BlackBerry handset to be able to access a 3G network. That said, it remains very portable thanks to its 7-inch display and at 10 mm is one of the thinnest around. It has the specs to take on any of the tablets in this list. The pricing is going to be critical though.
HP TouchPad
Mar 10th
Palm’s Web OS was considered by many to have been every bit as good as iOS and Android but was unable to match the popularity of those two because of the company’s limited resources at that time. So when HP took over Palm, there was great expectation that Web OS would return not just on phones but also on tablets and HP has confirmed that recently. It may look relatively bulky and even plasticky compared to its sleek competitors, but the TouchPad is no slouch, combining a very powerful processor with a display that is on par with the iPad in terms of size and resolution. Then there is Web OS with its smooth, activity card based multitasking prowess. The TouchPad is also the only tablet in our list to feature just one camera — a front facing one for video-calling – which has triggered speculation that it might actually turn out to be the most economical tablet of them all when it finally gets released.
HTC Flyer
Mar 10th
With almost every Android tablet manufacturer opting for larger displays, dual core processors and Android 3.0, HTC has dug its heels in and gone for a 7-inch display, a single core 1.5 Ghz processor and Android 2.4. Suicidal, some might say (although HTC has since tweeted that the tablet will be upgraded to Android 3.0 ), but then they will have not seen the sleek aluminum frame of the Flyer which makes it one of the best looking tablets around. HTC has also placed its HTC Sense interface on top of Android, giving it a look and feel that is very similar to those seen on some of its handsets — good if you like it, bad if you do not. What we think really works for the Flyer, however, is the fact that it is the most portable of all the tablets in this list and is also likely to be one of the first to be running Android 2.4, which is likely to support more apps than the still nascent 3.0. HTC has decided to swim against the tide in terms of size and specs with the Flyer — only time will tell if their gamble pays off!
