Asia Bizz » News & Updates

Radioactive water leaks found in Fukushima Nuclear plant

Agatha Vyland — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:24:41 +0000

Asia Bizz: Despite being declared stable, water leaks from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan have become more frequent. Last year, a massive earthquake and tsunami badly damaged the power plant which resulted in the meltdown of three reactor cores.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. is constantly facing challenges to keep the nuclear power plant under control. On February 3, 2012, the workers spotted a leak at the water processing unit that was releasing beta rays that could cause radiation sickness.

The spokesperson of TEPCO said that no one was injured and the leaks stopped as soon as the bolts were tightened on a tank. It was also revealed that 8.5 tons of radioactive water leaked earlier in the week.

The water leaked as the pipe became detached at No 4 reactor which is one of the six reactors at the plant. Earlier the company claimed that only a few litres of water leaked out. The officials are now investigating the exact cause of leak. The damage of the no 4 reactor building has been a cause of concern to the experts due to the collapse of its spent fuel cooling pool that could cause a major disaster. Due to the cold winter the water inside the plant has frozen.

More Related news

Renault plans to launch passenger car below Rs 4 lakh in India

Agatha Vyland — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:25:02 +0000

Asia Bizz: Auto manufacturer Renault announced on February 2, 2012 that it will soon launch a passenger car in the Indian market. The company even assured that the passenger car will be priced below Rs 4 lakh.

Marc Nassif, the country managing director of Renault India Pvt Ltd, said that Beyong Rs 4 lakh a car is their play ground today in India and they project to go below Rs 4 lakh. Marc disclosed the company’s plans at the sidelines of a programme to launch the Pulse, a hatchback in the B segment.

The country manager added that around 50 percent of the Indian passenger cars cost between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh. Renault launched the diesel version of the Pulse and was priced between Rs 5.77 lakh and Rs 6.25 lakh in the month of January 2012.

The company also said that the plan to launch passenger cars was a part of their global strategy. Talking about the sales target in the country, Nassif said that once they have five cars on the road and 100 outlets then they will plan to sell one lakh cars. This is expected to happen in the year 2013 or 2014 and will also depend on how the models are doing and the growth of the market.

More Related news

Dish TV launches truHD+ with unlimited recording

Agatha Vyland — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:30:36 +0000

Asia Bizz: Dish TV India has recently launched the Dish truHD+ service which features high definition content as well as unlimited recording of the TV programs. But beware, the word ‘unlimited’ might be a bit tricky in terms of recording the TV programs.

The TV programs actually get recorded in an external USB drive, which means that the user can record the TV programs according to the capacity of the hard drives that can be purchased. On the other hand, the system has incredibly reduced the cost of the set top box.

Now Dish truHD+ will be available in the Indian market at just Rs 2,690 only. The cost has incredibly reduced as the Tata Sky+ HD set top box costs Rs 5,990.

The only concern is the performance of the set top box as it is a known fact that the performance will be better in an internal disc than an external one. This has also left hope that the programs that are stored in an external disc can also be viewed on a computer, which is also prone to piracy. But overall, the idea of allowing recording on an external disc is a great idea just `due to the fact that the new arrangement has brought down the cost of the set top box.

Other News you might like

Mercedes Benz inaugurates Trendz concept store in Bangalore

Agatha Vyland — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:01:16 +0000

Asia Bizz: German luxury car maker Mercedez Benz inaugurated its Trendz concept store in Bangalore at the UB City Mall on February 1, 2012. The Trendz is a concept which allows the customers to experience the look and feel of the products of Benz.

Mercedes displayed the newly introduced SLS AMG Roadster which was also showcased at the Auto Expo 2012 in New Delhi. The display also had the DTM racing car.

One can even get themselves registered for the AMG Performance Driving Academy, which was launched in the country in the month of January. Debashish Mitra, the managing director of sales and marketing of Mercedes Benz India, said that the youth of today are ‘very demanding’ due to which they need to have something different for them.

Mitra added that the idea is to have a premium retail outlet where the customer can frequent. While talking about the new AMG Performance Driving Academy, Mitra said that it has got a tremendous response and will be held on two days every quarter. The managing director also shared that they had no idea that they would receive such a huge response.

More Related news

IIT Rajasthan loses Aakash 2 deal?

Anita — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:38:35 +0000

Asia Bizz: Just a day after the government of Indian announced that it gave away the task of carrying the tender proceedings for the upgraded Aakash 2 tablet to the DIT, reports say that the IIT Rajasthan have lost the tablet deal. The government has now decided to hand over all the responsibilities to the PSUs.

The decision came after the clash between Datawind and IIT Rajasthan over the host of specifications . The differences between the two entities rose to such a level that the supplies had to be cut.

This is indeed a big blow to the institution as the IIT Rajasthan has not only lost out to the deal of the Aakash 2 tablet manufacturing but has also lost out on the task of drafting the specifications to the Department of Information and Technology. The makers of the tablet, Datawind, might have got an extension till March, but their tenure after the month is undecided.

The government said that it would require a larger number of tablets in the country and they wanted the other entities to get the opportunity to grab the deal. A government official, in a statement, said that they have realised that the educational institutes are not capable of handling tenders as it involves large sums of money and handling vendors.

More Related news

Aakash sequel expected to be launched by Feb 2012

Honda launches upgraded version of Dio in India

Freddie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:26:34 +0000

Asia Bizz: Japanese auto giant Honda Motors has recently launched the upgraded version of its Dio for the Indian market. The Dio MotoScooter was first launched in the year 2003 and since then this is the first time the Dio has been given an upgrade.

The new Dio was also introduced at the Delhi Auto Expo 2012 held in January. The scooter has been priced at Rs 42,632 ex showroom Delhi.

The upgraded Dio has a 110 cc four stroke engine which is also seen in Honda Activa as well as Aviator. Apart from a powerful engine, the new Dio has also been upgraded in terms of its looks.

In terms of fuel efficiency, it can deliver a mileage of 55 kmpl; the older version had a 102 cc engine. The other features like tubeless tires and combi brake system are the new highlights for the new Dio. Moreover, the company has also said that the new Dio has an improved leg space and with wider seats. The new Dio also has a maintenance free battery and a viscous air filter. This is also the first automatic scooter in the country to be introduced with tubeless tires, which ensures better stability and braking efficiency for its already sporty stance.

More Related news

Amazon.com enters Indian market through Junglee.com

Agatha Vyland — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:14:53 +0000

Asia Bizz: With the launch of Junglee.com on February 2, 2012, popular American online retailer Amazon.com is also entering the Indian market. Junglee.com is the toned down version of the global online retailer.

The best thing about the website is that users are allowed to compare prices of items, but the most actual purchases must be made through a network of third party retailers. The Indian shoppers can now shop for shoes from Reebok, clothes from Fabindia, computer gadgets from Microsoft India and luxury leather bags from Hidesign.

Some of the items like Kindle are sold directly by Amazon.com, but it will be subject to steep international shipping along with customs fees. Amit Agarwal, the vice president of Amazon.com, said in a statement that they are excited to give customers in India a single line starting point where they can shop from a wide range of products sold by the local as well as international retailers.

Agarwal added that online shoppers can also make informed purchasing decisions. The internet penetration in the country is low, but the online retailing is a fast growing business. In India, the e-commerce market is expected to grow from $10 billion in the year 2011 to $200 billion by the year 2020.

More Related news

Amazon.com to set up first fulfillment centre in India

Ranchi administration issues ‘No Helmet, No Petrol’ measure

sharjil s — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:50:01 +0000

Asia Bizz: In a good move by the administration of Ranchi, petrol pump owners have been instructed not to give fuel to motorists who do not wear helmets. The officials have asked the fuel stations to display a notice in their premises.

The fuel station owners have also been told to note down the number of the two wheeler if the rider without a helmet tries to get petrol by force. The measure has been taken to ensure the safety of the riders in the city.

One of the officials said that KK Soan the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi has directed all the owners of the petrol pump not to give fuel to two wheeler riders without helmets. The pump owners have also been asked to install CCTV cameras in their premises.

More than 43,000 two wheelers have been registered in the city. Even in the past, the police launched a special drive against those not wearing helmets. Reports said that the police had also started garlanding riders without helmets. On the other hand, the petrol pump owners are sceptical on the move as it would increase their work and also expense to install CCTV cameras.

There are more than 95 petrol stations in Ranchi.

More Related news

Kingfisher Airlines launch Kingfisher Xpress

Tele companies allowed to share 2G waves with conditions

Anita — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:08:00 +0000

Asia Bizz: The apex decision making body of the Indian telecom ministry, the Telecom Commission, has decided to allow the mobile phone companies to share spectrum. But the facility has been limited to the 2G spectrum only.

The second generation (2G) spectrum is widely used for vanilla voice services. This means that the telecom companies cannot share the 3G spectrum.

Earlier, telecom companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Idea Cellular had taken the Indian government to court after the companies were asked to terminate their 3G roaming deals. With this move, the companies had hopes that it would put an end to the controversy.

The companies have signed up 3G customers across the country on the bilateral roaming agreements which allows these firms to use each other’s air waves to offer high end data services even in the regions where the 3G spectrum is not available. The operators state they were not aware of the TC decision as the government did not announce it. The new condition to the sharing includes only the operators which have airwaves in a particular region can share it. And two companies can share air waves only if their combined holdings do not exceed more than the prescribed in the M&A norms.

Other News you might like

Nokia Asha 300 available for sale online

Samron Jude — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:34:17 +0000

Asia Bizz: Mobile phone manufacturing giant Nokia recently announced the launch of its dual SIM phones from the Asha series in the Indian market. The new Nokia Asha 300 will be available for sale from the Nokia Priority dealers and also on online shopping website Flipkart.com.

The Nokia Asha 300 phone has been priced at Rs 6, 835 and the new Asha series is a fresh range of mobile phones for the Indian market to compete in the low priced phone in the segment.

Some of the features of the Asha 300 include a 5 megapixel camera, 2.4 touch screen with a 240 X 360 pixel resolution and runs on S40 operating system. The new Asha 300 also has a touch and type based input along with an 1GHz processor.

The memory of the handset can be expanded up to 32 GB. The connectivity features of the Asha 300 include Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth. The new Asha also has some entertainment features like a music player, FM radio and video recording capability.

The launch of the new Asha series is yet another move by the Finnish mobile provider to become a dominant player in the Indian mobile market.