In what happens to be yet another latest buzz keeping Aston Martin in the limelight, MI6’s Secret Agent Commander James Bond’s ‘ride’ from the classic flick Goldfinger is coming under the hammer at the next RM Auctions.

This car which was one of two Astons produced exclusively for the film had guns, cannons, rockets, bells and whistles emerging from it in the classic car chase featuring it against a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in the movie and is currently said to be in absolutely stunning condition and held by philanthropist Mr. Jerry Lee for the last 40 years. Now he is letting it go under the hammer and carry on its proceedings to his charitable foundation which aids people with poverty.

The car is absolutely a one-off with stark styling features which caste inspiration on even current generation ultra-cool Astons like the Vantage and the One-77. Back then Aston just came out of racing and wanted a new marketing strategy which emerged to be James Bond. Next up, came Goldfinger and this car had to become one of the most famous cars in the world overnight. The car used in the film featured a smoke screen, rear vision blocker, rear bumpers that jutted out to ram a chaser, rockets, machine guns, an ejector seat and get this, a navigation system.

Mr. Lee took up the car for $12,000back in 1969 after which it made few and far separated public appearances and now, expectations are rife that it could go out for as much as $5 million. Do you have a lumpsome of money lying rusty in your bank account? Contact RM Auctions for their London Auction!

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Board of County Commissioners of Clark County (Nevada, USA), home to the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, will reverberate with Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on July six. Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, will deliver invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Clark County Commission on this day. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayer. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, will recite from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start and end the prayer with “Om”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.

Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say “Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya”, which roughly translates as “Lead me from the unreal to the Real, Lead me from darkness to Light, and Lead me from death to Immortality.” Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to urge Commissioners to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Zed is one of the panelists for “On Faith”, a prestigious interactive conversation on religion produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com. He has been awarded “World Interfaith Leader Award” by National Association of Interchurch and Interfaith Families.

Regarding Nevada cities, Rajan Zed read the opening prayer of Henderson City Council on May 18 and Carson City Board of Supervisors on February 18; and shall read the opening invocation of Boulder City Council on June 22 and Sparks City Council on July 12.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. Clark County, with about 150,000 hotel/motel rooms and larger than the state of New Jersey, attracts about 42 million tourists annually for its world class entertainment and casinos and is one of the fastest growing areas of the country. Rory Reid is County Commission Chairman while Virginia Valentine is County Manager.

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Babs Verblackt - CNS
(CNS): The development of new vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) is progressing in promising ways, but many issues remain to be further researched, European scientists explained on 3 June 2010 at a symposium in Spain.
At the first day of the International Symposium "Research and development of new tuberculosis vaccines" in Zaragoza, Spain, researchers reinforced the need for new vaccines against tuberculosis (TB), pointing out that TB is a continuously growing health problem and the only currently available vaccine, BCG, has limited efficacy in adults and safety issues in HIV-infected newborns.

"I don’t need to remind people here of the state of the problem," said Dr Ann Rawkins of the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response of the Health Protection Agency, United Kingdom, referring to the 2 million TB-deaths and 9 million new TB cases worldwide per year. "The international goal of elimination of the [TB] disease by 2050 can not be reached unless we get new diagnostic tests, new drugs and new vaccines. A large number of new vaccine candidates are currently at various stages of development." The BCG vaccine is widely used and given to newborns worldwide. It protects against severe forms of childhood TB. But BCG has little to no efficacy in preventing pulmonary TB in adults, the most common and most infectious form of TB worldwide. Furthermore, because of safety issues in HIV-infected newborns, the World Health Organization (WHO) advises not to use BCG in babies known to be infected with HIV.

Research into new TB vaccines either aims to improve the BCG vaccine, to boost the immunity BCG gives, or to replace it. Professor of Immunology Hazel Dockrell of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stressed the need to know exactly what the BCG vaccine is doing. "BCG has been around for a very long time, it was first given to a child in 1921, it is surprising we don’t know more about it," she said, elaborating on various questions surrounding BCG. "We need to understand what sort of immunity BCG gives and what features of BCG should be improved."

Research done by Dockrell and colleagues shows that both young adults and infants in the United Kingdom and Malawi give a different sort of immune response to BCG vaccination. "That matters because many new vaccines now in development are boosting vaccines, aiming to improve BCG. But will they work better than BCG in areas where BCG itself doesn’t induce good protection?"

Professor Paul-Henri Lambert from the University of Geneva stressed the importance of safety issues for new TB vaccines. "Rare adverse events can kill newly developed vaccines. A theoretical risk of safety issues has often hampered the development of a new vaccine. And unjustified allegations can lead to limiting use of a good vaccine," he said.
Prof Douglas Young, Fleming Professor of Medical Microbiology at the Imperial College in London highlighted the importance of more diversity in TB vaccine research. Most vaccines currently in development focus on boosting the body’s natural immune response. "But it might as well be that the vaccines we’re making at the moment are exactly the vaccines TB wants us to make," Young warned.

"TB might be perfectly happy with the way the natural immune response works, getting enough opportunities to transmit," he said, elaborating on the global diversity of TB strains and how these strains orchestrate the body’s immune reaction. While current research is centered around cell-mediated immunity, "there is a landscape of diversity which is not yet exploited" Young said, encouraging his fellow scientist not to neglect the immense variety of immune response.
The symposium on new TB vaccines is being held during 3-4 June 2010 and is organized by the University of Zaragoza, Spain, the foundation Ramon Areces and TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI). (CNS)
Babs Verblackt – CNS

(The author is a freelance journalist, a Fellow of CNS Writers’ Bureau and Associate Communications at TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative - TBVI)

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On July 12, five major civic bodies of Nevada would have opened their official business with Hindu invocation this year, some of them for the first time.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed is delivering invocation from Sanskrit scriptures at the beginning of meetings of these bodies. After Sanskrit delivery, he reads the English translation of the prayer. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Starting with capital Carson City Board of Supervisors on February 18, Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, read the opening prayer at Henderson City Council on May 18; and shall recite the opening invocation of Boulder City Council on June 22, Board of County Commissioners of Clark County on July six, and Sparks City Council on July 12. Many of Nevada civic bodies, like City Council of Reno, do not open with any invocation at all.

Rajan Zed usually recites from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He starts and ends the prayer with “Om”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.
Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Zed says “Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya”, which he then translates as “Lead me from the unreal to the Real, Lead me from darkness to Light, and Lead me from death to Immortality.” Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he urges civic leaders to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Rajan Zed is one of the panelists for “On Faith”, a prestigious interactive conversation on religion produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com. He has been awarded “World Interfaith Leader Award” by National Association of Interchurch and Interfaith Families. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

Sometimes referred to as “Sin State”, sparsely populated but  bigger than about 160 countries/territories including United Kingdom, Nevada is known for legalized gambling, limitless tracts of desert, glitzy Las Vegas, art-fueled Burning Man festival, licensed brothels, azure Lake Tahoe, easy marriage/divorce proceedings, nuclear testing, and “The Loneliest Road in America”. Jim Gibbons is the Governor.

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On the occasion of World Environment Day, 5th June 2010, ALD Automotive India, one of the leading Car Leasing & Fleet Management Companies is launching its “Go Green” CSR Initiative. For every vehicle leased by the company from 5th June 2010 to 6th July 2010, a mid-range mountain bicycle would be provided at no additional cost. This is to promote traveling shorter distances by means of a bicycle which will save on fuel, reduce pollution in and around our cities and also provide better health. This offer during the World Environment month is an initiative to help to care and protect our environment. As an international mobility company, ALD Automotive’s responsibility is to act everyday to limit fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. 

ALD Automotive’s focus on the economy, environment and road safety is demonstrated in many countries through its “Blue Fleet “program. Through ALD Blue Fleet, it helps companies to design car policies and activities to inspire employees to focus on fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and road safety. In the Indian market, such initiatives have begun in a small way but there is still a long way to go in this area as the car market continues to grow and mature.

Operating in India for the last 5 years, ALD is an established player in the vehicle operating lease business and an industry benchmark for professionalism, transparency and service delivery in India. With a fleet of around 8,000 and a Corporate Customer base in excess of 350, ALD is the No.2 ranked player in the local market. ALD Automotive is headquartered in Mumbai and has branches in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The benefits of operating lease compared to other forms of car acquisition such as outright purchase, loans or finance lease is gaining more acceptance and this is helping ALD Automotive to expand its business.

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Second-hand tobacco smoke is dangerous to health. It causes cancer, heart disease and many other serious life-threatening diseases in adults. "Almost half of the world’s children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, which worsens their asthma conditions and causes dangerous diseases. At least 2 lakhs workers die every year due to exposure to second-hand smoke at work" said Professor (Dr) Rama Kant, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General’s Awardee in a media interface to mark World Environment Day (WED 2010), on 5th of June.

Incidentally, this year 2010 is the Year of the Lung to recognize that hundreds of millions of people around the world suffer each year from treatable and preventable chronic respiratory diseases like asthma. This initiative acknowledges that lung health has long been neglected in public discourses, and understands the need to unify different health advocates behind one purpose of lung health, had informed Dr Nils Billo, Chair of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) in Cancun last year at the launch of the Year of the Lung campaign.
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It causes 1 in 10 deaths among adults worldwide. Ensuring a tobacco smoke-free environment is the only way to protect ourselves from the lethal ill effects of tobacco smoke, said Prof Rama Kant.

According to WHO, there are some 4000 known chemicals in tobacco smoke; more than 50 of them are known to cause cancer in humans. Tobacco smoke in enclosed spaces is breathed in by everyone, exposing smokers and non-smokers alike to its harmful effects.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 2 lakh workers die every year due to exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke at work.

"There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. Neither ventilation nor filtration, even in combination, can reduce tobacco smoke exposure indoors to levels that are considered acceptable. Only 100% smoke-free environments provide effective protection" said Prof Rama Kant. Prof Rama Kant is also the Head of the Department of Surgery at CSM Medical University (upgraded King George’s Medical College - KGMC) and serves as the elected President of UP Chapter of Association of Surgeons of India (ASI), elected Governing Council member (2010-2012) of ASI, and President of Lucknow College of Surgeons (LCS).

Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, recognizes that exposure to tobacco smoke causes death, disease and disability, and asks countries to adopt and implement legislation that provides protection from second-hand smoke.

Many countries around the world have already introduced laws to protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke in public places. India is one of them.

"An Act on no-smoking in public places has been brought out by the Centre two-and-a-half years ago, but it remained only on paper. Now, we have made a modification in the already enforced rule and from 2 October 2008, the modified rule will be enforced strongly across the country," had said then Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister in early 2008. On 2nd October 2008, India did become smoke-free as we had a ban on smoking in public places. But in terms of implementation of this smoke-free policy, a lot more needs to be done as the current situation is truly appalling.
The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act-2003, of the Government of India had notified revised Rules on the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places on 30 May 2008, and as per the revised Rules, smoking is banned in shopping malls, cinema halls, public/private work place, hotels, banquet halls, discotheques, canteen, coffee house, pubs, bars, airport lounge, railway stations and other public places, from 2nd October 2008 onwards.

Contrary to common belief, smoke-free environments are widely supported by both smokers and non-smokers.
Having a smoke-free environment often saves money for bars and restaurant owners, reducing their risks of fire and consequently their insurance costs. It often results in lower renovation, cleaning and maintenance costs too. / (CNS)

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If you have used glassware sold by McDonald outlets painted with the design of the characters of the movie “Shrek”, you are strictly advised not to read any further.

Movie toys packed into Happy Meals have been a tested strategy adopted by McDonald’s over the years. Only this time it got a little dangerous.

McDonald’s will recall about 12 million “Shrek” drinking glasses because the officials at The US Consumer Product Safety Commission found traces of Cadmium in the paint used to design the sides of the glasses. The Federal regulator also asked people to immediately stop using these glasses because a long term exposure to cadmium can lead to bone softening and severe kidney problems.

McDonald’s while announcing the recall maintained that the glasses are safe to use and that they issued a recall out of “an abundance of caution”. However only time will tell if the brand image of McDonald’s will take a hit from this incident. 

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If the latest announcement by AT&T is any indication, the days of unlimited data downloading and web surfing are numbered. On Wednesday AT&T dropped a bombshell for data hogs by announcing that it would no longer offer an unlimited data plan to the users of iPhone and other smart phones. What led AT&T to take such an extreme action? It appears that a small fraction of users were using the network very extensively slowing it down for all others. The new policy of the company spells out the prices according to the network usage by the clients. The other important question is why AT&T?

AT&T is losing out the most from this unlimited data usage plans seemingly because most of customers use AT&T network for their iPhone and they are generally the ones using it most extensively. Its interesting to watch whether the other telecom players in United States and elsewhere follow suit.

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US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Indian foreign minister S.M.Krishna began talks on various issues ranging from agriculture to investments. The representatives of the two biggest democracies met and held a series of strategic talks.

The foundation stone of this defining relationship was laid by the George W. Bush government during the nuclear energy trade. Mr. S.M.Krishna who was available for comments said, “We are happy about the creation of a new financial framework and partnership trade agreement, which would help both of us to reach new heights in bilateral trade and investment.”

The two ministers talked on improving bilateral trades and liberalization of U.S. export controls that apply to U.S. The talks even ambled on the co-operation in the environmental and clean energy programmes.

Going by the recent changes in the rapport shared between the two countries, clearly visible from the opening of boundaries to question Headley, Pakistan has surely gathered some fodder for thought. Hope Pakistan learns from the mistakes of Afghanistan and Taliban.

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These are hard days for them. Coming just months after Securities and Exchange Commission came down heavily on Goldman Sachs for failing to inform its customers about the synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO’s), the British financial regulator The Financial Services Authority (FSA) slapped a fine of £33.32 million for failing to keep the client’s money separate from the firm’s money.

This error occurred after the merger of JP Morgan and Chase. It is interesting to note that the FSA has been criticized for allowing British banks to take too much risk in the run up to the subprime crisis. The amount of fine to be paid by the bank is after a discount of 30% as FSA found that JP Morgan cooperated throughout the length of the investigation and agreed for an early settlement. Also, what may surprise many is the fact that JP Morgan reported the issue on its own after it detected the error on its part.

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