At the vast open-plan headquarters of Indian telecoms start-up Jio, billionaire oil tycoon Mukesh Ambani stands in short sleeves beneath a digital tracker that logs every new subscriber to his service.

The 59-year-old is India’s richest man, and his Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) oil & gas group is the country’s most profitable.

Now, though, he’s betting at least $20 billion on building, from scratch, a national digital empire stretching from phones and hardware to home entertainment and custom-made apps.

The ambitious Jio project could make Reliance the most comprehensive provider of telecom and internet services across India – and give it unprecedented access to the country’s untapped ‘big data’: how millions eat, shop and have fun.

“For Reliance… data is the new oil, and intelligent data is the new petrol,” Ambani said in March, explaining his drive to move closer to India’s consumers. (more…)

NEW DELHI: In a big blow to cement manufacturers, fair-trade regulator, the Competition Commission of India, (CCI) on Wednesday slapped a penalty of over ₹6,700 crore on 10 cement companies and the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) for indulging in cartelisation.

The order has been passed by the CCI following directions issued by the Competition Appellate Tribunal in December, an official statement said.

While penalties on Jaiprakash Associates and UltraTech are ₹1,323.60 crore and ₹1,175.49 crore, respectively, for ACC Ltd it is ₹1,147.59 crore. (more…)

It’s waxy. It’s a lot like fat. And it’s found in every cell of your body. Yes, we’re talking about cholesterol—a topic that probably doesn’t come up too often at the dinner table since it’s not exactly, uh, appetizing.

There’s no denying that mental health problems are a big issue. What’s more concerning is that we are now seeing more and more children presenting with these difficulties.

It is estimated that up to one out of five youths living in the United States experience a mental disorder in a given year.

Spotting the signs of mental distress in children can be really difficult. It varies from person-to-person and between different ages. There is no one sign or special test, and there is a big overlap between what’s normal and what’s not.

Sometimes signs of a specific problem may obvious. However, many behaviors that might seem concerning will pass as your child grows and don’t necessarily mean a diagnosis. (more…)

Thousands of women having heart attacks are misdiagnosed – often with fatal consequences.

The condition is 50% more likely to be missed in women than in men, with many female patients wrongly told they have other conditions such as indigestion.

Women whose heart attacks are not diagnosed are 70% more likely to die, according to a British study presented at the world’s biggest heart conference. (more…)

Bhutan

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Passport validity needs only to cover the duration of your trip, up to and including the day of return to the UK

The rule applies to British passport-holders travelling within the EU, although ultimately it is the responsibility of the traveller to check the requirements of the country they are travelling to. (more…)

The Taiwanese company Acer on Wednesday launched the Spin 7, world’s thinnest convertible laptop. The laptop is the first in the world to measure less than a centimetre in thickness; 0.43 inch or 10.98 to be precise and weighs in at 1.2 kg. It’s razor sharp thickness puts Apple’s MacBook to shame.

The general manager of Commercial & Detachable Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer Inc, James Lin said that the portable nature of the Spin & allows the users to go to extremes in the matter without compromising on the quality.

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The Spin 7 sports a 14-inch HD touchscreen display and is protected by a covering of Corning Glass. The laptop comes with a complete aluminium unibody with black chassis and polished silver hinges. (more…)

Free voice calls, low data usage charges, lucrative schemes for students – Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries had something for everyone at the launch announcement of its much awaited Reliance Jio. In a big-bang launch for Reliance Jio, Ambani at the 42nd RIL AGM said that all voice calls for Jio customers will be free. Announcing the launch tariffs, Ambani said, we have a plethora of plans. “We start from Rs 19 per day data plan for the occasional data user. Then there is a Rs 149 monthly plan for the light data user. The data plan for the heaviest user goes up to Rs 4,999 per month,” he said. Reliance Jio, even before its full scale launch, has sent jitters in the telecom industry, with incumbents like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular aggressively offering freebies and discounts to woo new customers and retain existing ones. Read more here. (more…)

சைக்கிளில் சென்று ஆசிரியர் பணியைத் தொடங்கிய டி.ஆர்.பச்சமுத்து இவ்வளவு பெரிய கல்வி சாம்ராஜ்யத்தை உருவாக்கிய பின்னணி இது!

சென்னை மேற்கு மாம்பலத்தில் மெட்ரிகுலேஷன் பள்ளியில் இருந்து பச்சமுத்து வளர்ச்சி அத்தியாயம் தொடங்கியது. கடன் வாங்கித்தான் அந்த பள்ளியை தொடங்கியதாக அவருடன் நெருக்கமானவர்கள் சொல்கிறார்கள். கல்வி சாம்ராஜ்ஜியம் மட்டுமல்லாமல் அரசியலிலும் பச்சமுத்து கால் பதித்தார். காட்டாங்கொளத்தூரில் பல ஏக்கர் பரப்பளவில் பிரமாண்டமாய் காட்சி அளிக்கிறது எஸ்.ஆர்.எம் பல்கலைக்கழகம். இந்த அளவுக்கு அவரது வளர்ச்சி ஏற்பட்டது மற்றவர்களை வியப்புக்குள் ஆழ்த்துகிறது. ஆனால், அவர் கடந்து வந்த பாதைகளை விவரிக்கிறார் பச்சமுத்துவின் நெருங்கியவர்கள்… (more…)