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Schroeder, Putin sign gas pipeline deal
Berlin: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin have sealed an agreement to build a Baltic Sea gas pipeline, aimed at boosting Russia's gas sales to Europe and in turn securing uninterrupted energy supplies for Germany.

The agreement "has created a fully new quality of economic cooperation," Schroeder said. "This cooperation is not against anyone, but is for German and Russian interests." Putin praised the good relations between Germany and Russia as "an important factor in the stability and security not only in Europe, but in the whole world."

News of the signing was met with displeasure in eastern Europe, where Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka called it a "political" decision to bypass the region.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gazprom will retain a majority 51 percent of the US$5bn project, with BASF and E.On each taking 24.5 percent stakes.

According to the plans, the 1,200-kilometer pipeline will be commissioned in 2010, and will eventually carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas each year from Vyborg, in northeast Russia, to Greifswald, in northern Germany.
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Symantec merges with Veritas
New Delhi: Symantec Corporation, the software solution provider for data security, on Friday has announced a merger deal with 'Veritas', once its rival in the market.

Post-merger, Symantec also announced its first joint software, with the launch of E-mail Security and Availability solution. This software allows customers to drive down their costs by reducing large volume of unwanted spam, stopping viruses, automatically and managing the lifecycle of older mails through archiving.

This merger will see the creation of a single entity, which will providing a single source for industry solutions to help secure and manage critical information assets.
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