Pakistan: Fig leaf of sanctions is finally removed
Washington: In a memorandum to the Secretary of State, American President George Bush has issued a waiver on military coup-related provisions of foreign operations; export financing and related appropriations for various programmes.

Bush has said that this would "facilitate the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan and is important to the United States efforts to respond to, deter or prevent acts of international terrorism." This follows the Bush administration's decision last week to give a new status to Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally.The move clears the way for millions of dollars in direct economic assistance. For some time now, operations on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have been stepped up in order to degrade the Al-Qaeda network.
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Telecom off shoring: Competition hotting up for India
New Delhi: Many countries are fast emerging as challengers to India's status as the default choice as an offshore supplier for the communications industry. This has emerged in a new survey by Deloitte Research, of 42 global telecommunications operators representing all three major industry segments - fixed, mobile and cable.

The second-tier challengers include Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, and South Africa. In addition, many countries in the third and fourth tiers are aggressively vying for offshore business.The survey found that global telecommunications operators are increasingly using offshoring as a strategy to decrease operational costs and enhance services and by the year 2008, 5 per cent of the industry's 5.5-million labour force, or 2,75,000 positions, will be offshored in the communications industry.
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Tagore's Nobel Prize memorabilia stolen
Kolkata: Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Prize medallion, the citation, memorabilia and other art objects were stolen from the Tagore museum at Shantiniketan.Along with his Nobel Prize medallion and citation, his paintings, gold ring, gold pocket watch, wife Mrinalini Devi's Baluchari sari and gold bangles, silver utensils, a peg measure and shoes have been stolen. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.
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PC sales cross 800,000 units in Q3
New Delhi: Personal Computer sales have crossed eight lakh units during the October-December quarter, recording 87 per cent growth over the same period a year ago, according to the hardware industry association, MAIT.

While the assembled PC market accounted for 55 per cent of the PC sales in Q3, Indian brands cornered 15 per cent while MNC brands accounted for the remaining 30 per cent.
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GAIL, Tata and BP to jointly bid for Dabhol
Ahmedabad: Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Tata Power and British Petroleum (BP) will jointly bid for the Indian assets of US energy firm Enron. This is subsequent to the board of the state-run GAIL approving the plan on Wednesday.The agreement is expected to be signed by the end of this month.
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