First Trial Over for Indian Made H1N1 Vaccine

Ahmedabad: Zydus Cadila announced completion of the first phase of the H1N1 vaccine trial on Thursday. The Ahmedabad-based drug maker will now commence the phase II and phase III clinical trials in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Pune.

An Indian made H1N1 vaccine is on the way. The Ahmedabad based drug company Zydus Cedilla who is making the vaccine in India and has announced the completion of the first phase trial on Thursday. The vaccine has to go through the second and third trial in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Pune now which will take six more months.

The company’s press release said “Multi-centric trials extending for a period of six weeks are currently underway. On successful completion of the trials, the group will submit the results to the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for marketing approval.” The vaccine has been developed by a team of experts using conventional technology at the company’s Vaccine Technology Centre here, the statement said.

The Indian made vaccine will be available in market by April 2010. The company is proposing to produce six million doses initially. The H1N1 vaccine is in huge demand in India to the extent of 50 to 60 million dosages initially.

At the same time the vaccinations against H1N1 in India will begin from next week itself, using the 1.5 million doses of vaccine imported from the French drug manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur that has passed the safety test. The clinical bridge study results conducted on 100 adult subjects in Delhi and Pune were submitted to the Drug Controller General of India on Wednesday by the company. The trials were completed on February 21. The results were then checked thoroughly in Lyon before being submitted to DCGI.

DCGI Dr Surinder Singh told TOI, "The trials of the vaccine have proven its safety profile. By Friday, we will vet the results and give its clearance for use on humans in India. By next week, the vaccination should begin."

Sheryl Sandberg ideals are driving a dizzying expansion of facebook

Sheryl Sandberg turns 40 this summer and has more reason than most to feel conscious of the milestone. Her colleagues at Facebook, where she is chief operating officer, are all bright young techies, and her boss, Mark Zuckerberg, is only 25.

"I remember before the internet…," Sandberg says on a visit to the firm's modest London office in Soho Square. "When you say that in our headquarters, everyone kinda looks at you like, 'Did they have cars?'"

Not that Sandberg has lost any of the fire of youth: bright and vivacious, the former Google executive bubbles with the kind of evangelical enthusiasm you might expect from someone running what has become the world's leading social networking site, pulling away from rivals such as MySpace, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and the AOL-owned Bebo.

And while she plays down any suggestions of triumphalism, she does not hold back when it comes to the Californian company's global ambitions. "I think we think we're trying to change the world and having some success with that," she says. "We have really big aspirations around making the world a more open and transparent place. We define our aspirations more in terms of that mission than in terms of the company aspirations."

The way Facebook is doing that may not be apparent to its British devotees, who generally use the site to upload photos and share news and banter with their friends and acquaintances.

But outside the narcissistic west, Facebook claims to be a 21st-century torchbearer for democratic values. Like its upstart rival Twitter, it played a role in giving vent to political dissent in Iran after June's disputed elections, and has faced intermittent jamming as a result.

Sandberg also points to examples closer to home of Facebook's power to connect people. She herself was contacted through the site by a long-lost college "little sister", who had no idea her former mentor was its chief operating officer. "Finding my 'little sister' to me was profound. That's the stuff we are really ambitious about."

Rise of Twitter

But Facebook is a business, not a philanthropic exercise, and it has been growing with dizzying speed since Zuckerberg launched it from his Harvard dorm room in 2004.

The site hit 200 million registered users in April, of whom 18 million are in Britain. When Sandberg arrived from Google in March 2008, it was half that and still behind MySpace. The latter has been faltering of late and has had to cut jobs as a result, while Bebo is struggling too, and Friends Reunited – sold by ITV this month for £25m – is practically moribund.

It all looks very encouraging for Facebook, and Sandberg is keen to point out that half of users come back to the site every day. "On consumer internet I have never seen or heard of anything like it."

But the world of social networking is still in its infancy and users can be fickle. The rise of Twitter, the sector's phenomenon of the moment, has posed a challenge. Rumour has it that Facebook tried to buy the upstart for $500m; whether or not that was the case, it last week succeeded in snapping up another potential rival when it paid $50m (£30m) for FriendFeed, a tiny Silicon Valley start-up. And who knows what might come along next year?

"We understand that we are not going to be the only property doing these things, and to the extent that there are properties like Twitter who are showing the world how important this is, we are happy to see that," Sandberg says. "What Twitter is doing is a very specific thing, which is short updates in real time, and so that's obviously very important, much as our status updates are very important to us."

Sandberg is unconvinced by the idea that social networking will conform to the "winner takes all" pattern that has seen Google, Amazon, YouTube and Wikipedia end up as dominant players in their respective areas.

"We think our growth is based on the fact that we provide the best product," she explains. "What you'll see from us is a real commitment to being a technology-led company.

"[We're] trying to put out the very best technology in the world, which enables people to share with all the privacy controls they want – I think we are by far the leader in that area worldwide – and as efficiently as possible. That doesn't mean there isn't room for other players and we won't see others, but we're happy that we think we have executed pretty well and we want to continue to do better."

She dismisses the idea that Facebook might be undercut by a similar product run, Wikipedia-style, on a not-for-profit basis. "Wikipedia is very inexpensive for two reasons. One, the technology's not doing the algorithmic stuff; you do a search and it's given you that search. And the second is that it's edited for free by the world ... The technology underlying Facebook is very expensive and more similar to Google-like technology than it is to Wikipedia."

Which brings the conversation to the thorny question of whether Facebook is able to convert its undeniably huge reach into sustainable profitability. Sandberg says the company has been profitable for six quarters before interest and tax, and is close to being cashflow profitable in 2010. Zuckerberg has also said that revenues will grow 70% this year – but no one outside the company knows the numbers. Some suggest revenues of $500m this year.

The recent investment of $200m by the Russian company Digital Sky Technologies – giving it a 2% stake and implying a total valuation of $10bn – should not be taken as a sign that Facebook needed any cash, Sandberg says. "You raise money when you can, not when you need it," she says, invoking a mantra she learned at Harvard Business School. "This just gives us a little bit more flexibility." Nor are there plans to go public "any time soon".

Microsoft also owns a 1.6% stake, for which it paid $240m in October 2007, but Facebook has resisted all moves to buy it out.

The company's business model is straightforward, says Sandberg: it's advertising. Although it is working on other revenue streams, such as allowing transactions involving the third-party applications on the site, advertising is sufficient to build revenues, she says. And to work, the ads have to be subtle. "This is not a property where we let advertisers walk up to users. This is a property where we invite advertisers to invite users to interact with them."


Article Courtesy : http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/aug/20/facebook-ceo-sheryl-sandberg-interview

From Chunk To Hunk.

Former overweight, fat guy David Smith has gone from chunk to hunk.

After losing a whopping 29 stone (403 pounds) and having more than 30lbs of excess skin removed.

The 31-year-old used to tip the scales at 45 stone - the same as a brown bear or a young bison - and was dangerously close to eating himself to death. He said that he used to weigh 630 pounds and that he was so fat that he had to be weighed at a local garage on scales normally used for cars and trucks’

David, from Phoenix, Arizona, befriended local radio DJ and fitness instructor Chris Powell in 2003, in the nick of time who coached him through a grueling two year long exercise regime. He has now started dating and is waiting for the right girl to come forward

Chris says that in June of 2003, he was contacted by a ‘Good Morning Arizona’ viewer asking for help. His name was David Smith. He weighed 630 pounds and was given only about 4 more years left to live. At first, Chris just wanted to sit down and talk to him. Chris knew that he could change his body, but he needed to see if David was ready to make the change in his lifestyle. Within 10 minutes of talking to David, Chris knew that he would devote the next couple years of his life to changing David.

Basically Chris came to understand that David was never given a chance in life and had no one to teach him or no one to believe in him. So he drove out to his house every other day for a year and a half to work with him.

For the first month they focused on nutrition…because once you understand nutrition, you understand how to control the body. Chris taught him food combinations, meal timing, and how to portion foods to maximize results. To make sure that his program was successful, it had to be enjoyable and easy, Chris gave him cheat days every other day to look forward to, and began the phases of The Carb Cycle Solution - first resetting his metabolism, then moving through the phases to maximize weight loss. Whenever his weight loss plateaued, they would simply reset his metabolism and cycle him through the phases again, until he reached his goal weight.

As David lost weight, he began to turn his life around. No sooner he could fit into a car, he got his driver’s license, received his GED, and got his first job. He began working at a gym and studying to become a personal trainer to ‘pay it forward’ to help others in need. As he began spending more time at work, Chris needed to find a way to help him control his nutrition outside of the house. So he made a containerized system for him to carry, portion, and time his meals at work – and so the concept of the STAX Nutrition System was born.

Determined David managed to slim down to a healthy 16 stone thanks to the tough training but was left with unsightly flabby skin. That meant he had to endure four separate operations in just 12 months to remove all his previous bulk.

He also needed laser surgery on his eyes and some dental work to fix his teeth, which had destroyed by too much sweets and fizzy drinks.

Now the fatty turned fitty has got rid of his double chins, man boobs, and bursting gut and replaced them with bulging biceps, toned pecs and a flat stomach.

As a result, he has now become a FITNESS COACH himself and bagged himself his first girlfriend.

David says that he was written off by everyone, even myself, but all of a sudden he woke up from deep despair and realized that feeling sorry about his life wasn’t going to solve his problems. So, he decided to change his existence and started exercising.

Now he is a completely different person, not just physically but mentally too.

David Today

He has now lost 401 pounds in 26 months and all of that naturally.

The first few months were really hard, and the training was really tough. He had struggled to walk five feet without becoming out of breath. He slowly got better until the flab was literally falling off me. But then after working so hard to lose weight, he was left with all this excess skin which made me look ridiculous. He had to undergo four operations in a year to get rid of it all. It's not the nicest thing going under the knife but it was something that had to be done. Then, his teeth began to rot because of all the sugar from sweets and the fizzy drinks I consumed and so he had to have his teeth capped at the dentists.

He has been called a lot of things lately, but it has all been positive for the first time in his life. He has even actually overheard girls say that he is kind of cute a couple of times. His skin is now gone and he feels like his life is finally ready to begin. Now since he has started dating for the first time, people take his photo because they think that he is hot rather than comically obese.

He says that he might be the oldest person in the world to be a virgin, or never been on a date, or never had a first kiss. He knows his perfect woman is out there somewhere and he has done all this for her and for their children, and their children's children.

Fitness guru Chris Powell, who has appeared in the magazine Cosmo said that David was basically dead inside but now he is really living life and inspiring millions of people - it is indescribable. You will see what an incredibly wonderful person he is, how he overcame his obstacles…and why he is my best friend.

Chris is like a brother to me. He never gave up on me. He has not only saved my life, he has taught me a lot about this new world. We go out on the weekends, see movies, and get a bite to eat, or just hang out. Our friendship has blossomed out of something so barren, that it is incredible how it has happened. We are two unlikely best friends - its so funny how life works. He made me feel like a human even when the outside world thought not.

Not only has my life changed, but I’ve inspired others as well…and hopefully many more to follow. It has been amazing watching the events of a path in the road that I would have never chosen. Chris always says that David has changed his life more than he changed mine. Either way, we are going to be best friends forever.

Throughout the process, we became the best of friends. It is now our vision to educate, motivate, and inspire anyone and everyone that the human body is an amazing machine that can be transformed through nutrition and exercise.

Now he hopes to inspire children and adults in Britain that there is a way back from obesity.

Perspective on the Bailouts

So far, the bailouts are going to cost American taxpayers $ 4.6 trillion dollars. to put that number in perspective, here are the dollar amounts involved in a few other past expenditures:

Marshall Plan:
Cost: $12.7 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion

Louisiana Purchase:
Cost: $15 million,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion

Race to the Moon:
Cost: $36.4 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion

S&L Crisis:
Cost: $153 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion

Korean War:
Cost: $54 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion

The New Deal:
Cost: $32 billion (Est),
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)

Invasion of Iraq:
Cost: $551 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion

Vietnam War:
Cost: $111 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion

NASA:
Cost: $416.7 billion,
Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

Yep--$ 4.6 trillion is a lot of money.

Did Abramovich steal a £1.2 bn stake in oilfield?

Chelsea's surprise defeat in Rome on Tuesday night may have disappointed Roman Abramovich but it may not preoccupy him for long. He has a match of a quite different kind on his mind. Lawyers in London are expected to decide this week whether to pursue a case against him on behalf of investors who have made a startling allegation. Abramovich, they say, effectively stole their £1.2 billion oilfield. The Russian billionaire has strenuously denied the allegation and many will find it an outlandish proposition.

At 42, Abramovich is one of the world's richest men with a fortune estimated at £15 billion and although there have been dark murmurings about how he managed to rise from street trading in Moscow to controlling one of Russia's biggest oil concerns, no one has ever proved he acted improperly. Now a long-running argument over ownership of a fabulously rich Siberian oilfield is reaching its endgame here in London. Abramovich has just won an important round in this fiercely-fought legal battle in the High Court but the Evening Standard has learned an appeal is being discussed.

If it goes ahead, it would plunge the Chelsea owner back into a legal maelstrom that has swirled around him for more than three years. At its heart is a claim that he and his company, Millhouse Capital, swindled investors - including more than 4,000 British shareholders - in a deal over a Russian oilfield described by one expert as "the pearl of western Siberia".

The Priobskoye field sits on a vast bog and can be worked only in winter when the ground freezes. It is more than 1,500 miles from Moscow and is one of the most hostile places on earth but in its southern part, wells are producing 150,000 barrels of oil a day. Half of these riches were owned by a British-based company, Sibir Energy, but according to its chief executive, Henry Cameron, they were stolen in what he described in a letter to shareholders as "barefaced corporate robbery".

Cameron is an Aberdeen lawyer who was dealing with the Russians when the Soviet fishing fleets came to Scotland in the Eighties. He switched to oil and, backed by British investors, headed a company that became Sibir. Part of its holding was a licence to drill for oil in Priobskoye. Sibir, through another company called Yugraneft, joined forces with Abramovich's oil giant, Sibneft, to exploit the Priobskoye field.

In his office in Mayfair, Cameron revealed how a venture he believed could make his investors rich turned into one of the oil industry's most bitter disputes. He speaks coolly, with all the detail of a complicated case at his command. But there is no disguising his anger.

Last week Mr Justice Christopher Clarke concluded in the High Court that the English courts were not the right place to decide the allegations against Abramovich. The billionaire was neither resident nor domiciled here, he said, adding that the case was about "the conduct of Russians, in Russia under Russian law". He dismissed Yugraneft's claims and said they were "an abuse of process".

Cameron is unrepentant. His team of lawyers is looking at grounds for an appeal and a decision is likely within the next few days. It will be watched closely by British companies who deal with Russia.

Some may wonder why, after this High Court setback, Cameron would seek to carry on fighting. The reason, he says, is that he believes a wrong was committed and he wants justice.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Christopher Clarke noted the Cameron camp's contention that "what has happened is nothing less than fraud on a grand scale". Cameron says trouble started soon after his company, Sibir, and Abramovich's Sibneft agreed their deal to exploit the Priobskoye field.

At first, Cameron says, everything seemed to go well. Then Sibir started talks to buy into Moscow's huge oil refinery, the only one in the city and considered one of the Russian oil industry's great prizes. Also bidding for the Moscow refinery was Abramovich's Sibneft, which had long sought control of this strategic asset.

This is the point in the story at which personalities appear to play a part. Sibir's biggest shareholder is Chalva Tchigirinsky, a construction tycoon who counted the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, among his friends. The mayor controlled the oil refinery through the large stake held by the City of Moscow.

Mr Luzhkov was no friend of Abramovich. Luzhkov once noted the hundreds of millions of pounds Abramovich was sinking into Chelsea Football Club and said: "He is spitting on Russia." His words stung Abramovich. He has invested heavily in Russian football. Charities in the country, especially those for Jewish causes, have benefited greatly from his wealth. He judged Luzhkov's rebuke unwarranted and unfair. Injury was added to this insult, it seemed, when Luzhkov teamed up with his friend Tchigirinsky to stop Abramovich's march on the Moscow refinery.

Mr Justice Clarke noted in his High Court judgment: "In April 2004 Mr Abramovich is said to have told Mr Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, that the reason he had diluted Yugraneft's interest in Sibneft-Yugra was to repay Mr Tchigirinsky for his having blocked attempts by Sibneft in 2001 and 2002 to take over the Moscow oil refinery."

The reference to "diluted interest" is at the centre of the alleged scam. In September 2002, an extraordinary meeting of representatives in the partnership to drill for oil in the Priobskoye field took place in Moscow. Abramovich's Sibneft representative met an executive who had been given power of attorney to act for Yugraneft, David Davidovich. Davidovich was an adviser to Eugene Schvidler, Abramovich's closest aide. At the meeting it was decided to increase the shares in the Priobskoye partnership by bringing in three new companies, all registered offshore.

The effect of the new share distribution was to cut Yugraneft's holding from 50 per cent to five per cent. Another meeting was held a few months later. Again, Davidovich had power of attorney to act for Yugraneft. And again, Yugraneft's share of the Priobskoye venture was cut, this time to one per cent.

"We knew absolutely nothing about it," Cameron said. "People have said: 'How can something like that happen without your knowing?' Well, if you're not expecting it, why would you check? You don't check the deeds to your house to make sure you still own it."

Mr Justice Christopher Clarke disclosed in his judgement precisely how Cameron and his colleagues found out the half-share they thought they had in one of Russia's richest oilfield's was actually worth a mere one per cent.

"In December 2003," the judge said, "an employee of Ernst and Young, who were Sibneft's auditors, hinted to Mr Betsky of Sibir that the dilutions may have occurred and followed that up with an email of 6 December which suggested that he should check the ownership status of Sibneft-Yugra."

Sibir did check. What Cameron and his associates found led them to believe the company had been the victim of fraud. Sibir brought a case in the Russian courts but without success.

Cameron's people discovered their shareholding had ended up with companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. They took their argument there but again it failed. The courts decided they had no jurisdiction.

So where were the shares? Cameron says it is impossible to put a precise value on the holding without an extensive valuation but an estimate is around $2 billion, or £1.2 billion. That amount of stock cannot simply disappear. Nor did it. As the High Court case revealed, in its accounts issued in 2004, Abramovich's company, Sibneft, carried this note: "In December 2003 the company increased its share in Sibneft-Yugra up to 99 per cent for the nominal consideration." The offshore companies had been absorbed into Abramovich's oil empire.

The following year, 2005, Abramovich sold out to Gazprom, the state-backed Russian energy giant. He is believed to have received £5.5 billion for his assets, which, by then, included virtually all the Priobskoye shares. As Cameron says, his company's half-share of the oilfield is now owned by Gazprom and there is little hope of recovering it.

But if his lawyers can find a way to prove Abramovich took it improperly, he says, there may yet be a chance of claiming the value back from him. Certainly, Abramovich could afford it. One of the effects of the recent litigation was to prompt an inquiry into his wealth. It revealed that many of his companies are registered offshore, with ownership of Chelsea Football Club held by Chelsea Ltd, which is owned by Isherwood Investments, a Cypriot company, which in turn is owned by Taverham Holdings, registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The complex network of companies controlled by Abramovich holds most of his assets. The High Court case laid bare, for the first time, his vast fortune. The judge noted that his £30 million house in Knightsbridge represented just 0.5 per cent of his net worth. He has houses and property in Britain, France, Sardinia, the United States and St Barts in the Caribbean. He also has two ski chalets in Colorado, a French château and three homes in Russia. He uses two executive jets and chooses from a fleet of helicopters and cars. He also has "several yachts on which he spends a great deal of time", the High Court documents record.

But Abramovich does not spend much time in Britain. The judge said the Chelsea owner spent only 57 days here last year on visits mostly connected to football matches. This fact has proved a major stumbling block for Cameron's lawyers.

The ruling that Abramovich is not domiciled in Britain leaves them searching for a way to bring the Priobskoye oilfield case before a British court. So far, they haven't found one, but Henry Cameron is determined not to give up. "We are not done yet," he said.

Abramovich's spokesman, John Mann, declined to comment. "We'll let this ruling, and previous rulings on this case, speak for themselves," he said.

Article Courtesy:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23583545-details/Did+Abramovich+steal+a+£1.2+bn+stake+in+oilfield/article.do

Fiscally Vulnerable Countries - World Bank Report

A new World Bank report on Thursday named 28 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East facing financial strains due to high food and fuel costs and now from a cascading credit crisis.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the world should not forget the "human rescue" needed in developing countries as it focused on the spreading market crisis.

Among the "fiscally vulnerable" countries are Jordan, Cambodia, Lebanon, Jamaica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Fiji, Haiti, Seychelles and Mauritania.

The Report, published ahead of weekend International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings of finance and development ministers, said many of these countries had little or no room to take on new debt to afford the higher prices.

"Currently these countries, on average, are set to receive no increase in project and program aid," Zoellick said.

The Report on financially-strained countries said policy actions to deal with higher food and energy prices were causing the fiscal pressures.As prices climbed, governments have tried to shield the poor by imposing fuel and food tax rate cuts, increasing subsidies and underpricing electricity from oil and gas.

Zoellick also noted that it was important that the world's industrial countries did not forget their promises of aid to the poorest countries.

Zoellick said the G7 industrial countries were "far behind" on the promises they made at a 2005 summit of world leaders at Gleneagles, Scotland, where they pledged to double aid to Africa by 2010.

"The poorest cannot be asked to pay the biggest price," Zoellick said. "For the poor, the costs of crisis can be life-long," he added.

Number seeking arrears advice soars

The number of people seeking help after falling behind with their mortgage has soared by more than 50% during the past year, figures have showed.

Charity Citizens Advice said it had seen a 51% surge in people contacting it because they were in arrears on their mortgage or a secured loan during the three months to the end of September, compared with the same period last year.

There was also a 10% jump in people contacting it because they were unable to keep up with payments on their fuel bills.

Overall during the past 12 months, staff in bureaux in England and Wales have seen a 35% rise in people with mortgage and secured loan arrears problems, receiving 77,324 new enquiries since October last year.

But the charity said there had been a small reduction in the number of people contacting it because they were struggling with unsecured debts, such as credit, store and charge cards and unsecured loans

More details at :
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23570873-details/Number+seeking+arrears+advice+soars/article.do

London tycoons lose billions in meltdown

The financial meltdown has cost London's tycoons billions.

Their losses will have a massive impact on the city's economy, forcing hundreds of shops, bars, hotels and restaurants to close.

Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was the biggest single loser after seeing £20 billion wiped off the fortune that made him Britain's richest man.

UK property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz is facing losses of up to £1 billion after borrowing heavily from Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Dozens of wealthy Russian and east European oligarchs with properties in London have also suffered huge falls in their fortunes......

However, these are just paper losses for most, they have money to reinvest and the market will recover and they will be quids in again. Its a financial loss if anyone is forced to cash in now...and now is the time to buy...(I hope!)


More details at :
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23569740-details/Bonfire+of+the+billionaires+will+hurt+London/article.do