Citigroup's Pandit among America's least paid CEOs: Forbes

NEW YORK, May 1: Heading the world's largest bank does not guarantee fat paycheck to Citigroup's India-born CEO Vikram Pandit who finds himself at the bottom of the Forbe's CEO salary list for America's 500 biggest firms.

However, with his 495th rank, Pandit, is still placed higher than the world's richest man and legendary investor Warren Buffett in terms of compensation received for the latest fiscal year.

Buffett has been ranked 497th with a pay packet of 0.10 million dollars, as against 0.25 million dollars of Pandit.

The list, which includes at least six persons of Indian origin, has been topped by business software giant Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison with total compensation of 192.92 million dollars for 2007 that included one million dollar in salary and 182 million dollars from exercise of vested stock options.

Among the India-origin CEOs, beverages giant Pepsico chief Indra K Nooyi has been ranked highest at 139th, followed by Shantanu Narayen of software major Adobe Systems (154th), Raj L Gupta of specialty chemicals firm Rohm and Haas (399th), Surya N Mohapatra of healthcare equipment maker Quest Diagnostics (406th) and software solutions provider Cognizant Technology chief executive Francisco D'Souza (487th).

The Forbes list has put Chennai-born Indra Nooyi's pay packet at 12.74 million dollars. Nooyi has been heading Pepsico for about two years, while Pandit took over as he CEO of subprime crisis-ridden Citigroup in December last year.

In the banking sector, Pandit is ranked 30th, while Nooyi is on third spot in the food, drink and tobacco industry.

Ranks are based on total compensation for latest fiscal year, which includes salary and bonuses, other compensation, such as vested restricted stock grants and the value realised by exercising stock options, Forbes said. (PTI)

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Lanka looks for 'psychological victory' over LTTE in East poll

COLOMBO, May 1: The Sri Lankan Government is hoping to secure a "psychological victory" over the LTTE by holding successful Provincial Council polls in the East, which was fully liberated from the Tamil Tigers in July 2007.

The campaign has reached fever-pitch ahead of the key May 10 polls in the region's three districts -- Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee -- which have over 10 lakh eligible voters.

The security is beefed up in the former Tiger stronghold where bullet-proof enclosures for addressing rallies have become a common feature.

"So far there has been peace with no major untoward incident reported", a senior official associated with the election process told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Opposition United National Party led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and a top contender in the provincial council polls to the east, has alleged the security for its alliance was not sufficient.

"We have told the Deputy Inspector General of Police in Batticaloa that the security should be further strengthened for the safety of the members of UNP alliance", the UNP Parliamentarian Jayalath Jayawardene told PTI.

The MP, who is activity associated with the election campaign, alleged that the Tamil Makkal Vidhuthalai Pullikal (TMVP) activists were carrying arms and that this should not be allowed.

"Only security forces in uniform should be allowed to carry arms", Jayawardene said adding the UNP was not merely depending on the security forces for its protection.

"We are also having the protection of the common people and are risking our lives while campaigning", he said. (PTI)

Kids living in tree-lined streets less prone to asthma: study

NEW YORK, May 1: Children who reside in tree-lined streets are less prone to develop asthma, researchers have suggested.

It is the first time that tree density has been linked with asthma. There has been around 160 per cent increase in asthma cases globally in the last two decades. The rise in asthma cases is believed to be linked with reduced exposure to bacteria that leaves the immune system underdeveloped.

The findings, reported in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggests that a leafy suburban lifestyle goes some way to protecting children against the disease.

"Street trees were associated with a lower prevalence of early childhood asthmas," the team led by Dr Gina Lovasi wrote in the journal.

The analysis, based on data on asthma rates across New York, found that children in the greenest streets were least likely to develop asthma, although the degree of leafiness was not correlated with the number of more serious asthma attacks that led to hospitalisations. In New York City, asthma is the leading cause of admission to hospital among children under 15.

Researchers from Columbia University in New York found that asthma rates among four-to five-year-olds fell by almost a quarter for every 343 extra trees per square kilometre in an urban area, the report said.

"There may be something else healthful about the areas that had more trees. For example, trees could be more abundant in areas that are well maintained in other ways," Lovasi said. (PTI)

Nepal bans food grains export

KATHMANDU, May 1: Nepal Government has decided to ban exports of rice, wheat and paddy in a bid to tackle the soaring food prices in the country.

The ban on export of food grains comes on the heels of similar restrictions imposed by other south Asian nations, including India.

The ban became effective from yesterday, a Government notice said.

The problem became acute in Nepal as Bangladesh cut down the export of rice to Kathmandu following an international rise in the prices of staple food.

Nepal has been importing food grains from India and third countries for the past few years to meet its growing demands at home. The ban on export of food grains came following reports that Nepalese farmers in the region bordering India have started selling their rice and wheat across the border to fetch higher prices.

Meanwhile, Nepal Government has started taking precautionary measures against the spread of bird flu in the wake of the outbreak of the disease in bordering towns of India.

Officials at a press meet here stressed on the need for mobilising animal quarantine check posts at the border areas as there is greater possibility of the deadly virus entering the country.

Experts here have pointed out the need for strictly halting the imports of chicken and other bird products from foreign countries including India. (PTI)

Peres calls upon world leaders to act against 'global threats'

JERUSALEM, May 1: Nobel laureate and former Israeli President Shimon Peres has called upon the world leaders to act against modern day 'global threats', to ensure that events like Holocaust never occur again.

"If the countries of the world had dealt with the Nazi threat in a timely, sober way, they could have prevented (Nazi leader) Hitler from degrading them and murdering tens of thousands of people," Peres said at a ceremony last evening, marking the Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Lashing out at Holocaust deniers, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel would remain a place of "protection and shelter" for the Jewish people.

"The voices of those who deny the Holocaust are also being heard. To them, the haters, the deniers, and all the conspirators of evil and to all of those who allow them to function within their realms, we say today, this shall never happen again," Olmert said.

He also expressed anguish at anti-semitism being expressed "provocatively and venomously" in different parts of the world, just 63 years after the Holocaust.

The ceremony held at 'Yad Vashem' or the 'Holocaust Museum' opened with the lighting of torches and a series of speeches by Israeli leaders, including Peres and Olmert.

Hundreds of people filled the main plaza as six Holocaust survivors lit beacons, commemorating the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

All restaurants and places of entertainment are closed throughout the country since yesterday evening and a series of events have been planned across the country in memory of those who were killed in the Holocaust. (PTI)

Pak's women traffic officers face harassment from violators

LAHORE, May 1: Pakistan's first batch of women traffic wardens in this eastern Pakistani city are becoming victims of harassement with men trying all sorts of tricks to gain their attention.

The eight wardens who zoom past Lahore's busy arteries on heavy duty 250cc motorcycles to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and women's safety are themselves becoming victims of harassment.

They are troubled by men who deliberately break traffic rules to get their attention even if it is just to get challans. Some have even gone to the extent of feigning breakdowns of their vehicles.

"Last week I broke my bike's lights so that the warden would come up to me and talk. She did and the new lights just cost me Rs 150," a 20-something biker bragged on a local TV channel.

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the traffic police in Lahore inducted eight women wardens in April to patrol the cultural capital on bikes and enforce traffic laws.

Smartly dressed in grey-blue uniforms, these women, who are in their early 20s, have proved to be real head turners.

"Women are very happy when they see us. Sometimes when they see us they salute us and their children are also thrilled," Sadia Anwar, one of the wardens, said shortly after she took to the roads on her bike.

The women wardens were given special training along with their male colleagues. They are expected to extend emergency services to commuters and are perceived to be more honest and patient in their dealings with traffic violators. (PTI)

UK setting up 'secret' hostels to house criminals

LONDON, May 1: Authorities in Britain are covertly setting up hundreds of privately-run hostels in residential areas across the UK to house criminals released early from overcrowded jails, a move that has sparked anger among local residents.

About 150 hostels in major cities, run by property management firm Clearsprings, will house suspects awaiting trial and offenders released before the end of their sentences, the Daily Telegraph of Britain said today.

Under the scheme, to be opened over the next month, the offenders are fitted with electronic tags. Almost 90 prisoners were freed early every day in March, the highest number since the scheme began last summer, the report said.

Unlike state-run facilities, they will not be constantly staffed, leaving offenders unsupervised for much of the day. "Placing offenders in housing where they receive almost no supervision or support is no way to provide effective rehabilitation and places the public at unnecessary risk," Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, was quoted as saying in the report.

The plan also sparked anger among local councils and probation officers, who claim they were not consulted opening of the new facilities. Residents would feel "absolute horror" about the plans, said Ertan Hurer, a councillor in Enfield, north London.

"It's for people who have not been found guilty. The courts rule they are a safe risk to be put into the community while waiting trial," British Prisons Minister David Hanson said, defending the scheme. (PTI)

Pakistanis mix fun with satire on nation-creating portals

ISLAMABAD, May 1: Pakistanis have finally opened their account on nation-creating portals, a popular simulation game on the Internet where make-believe nations can be run by humane dictators or rogue prime ministers.

Though most members of these nation-creating portals give vent to their frustrations by creating Utopian images of nations, Pakistanis seem to be having fun at these websites.

A nation floated by a Pakistani -- "The Theocracy of Pakistani Doodle" -- on nationstate.Net has banned Harry Potter books.

It is a place where students make a living by selling kidneys, corporations donate huge sums of money to favoured politicians and is ranked 61,040th on a list of cultured civilisations.

The creators, who are anonymous, describe the nation as a very large, pleasant country, renowned for its compulsory military service.

"Its hard-nosed, hard-working population of 82 million have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like and take part in free and open elections, although not too often," reads a statement posted by its creators.

It's easy to create a nation on these sites, most of which are free. Members are encouraged to create a Utopian paradise, a totalitarian state, a mix of the two or whatever combination they can think up.

On the nationstate.Net site alone, at least two million nations have been floated. However, Pakistanis have been late entrants and there are just a handful of "Pakistani" nations there.

The states can choose not to join the United Nations by being rogue states, but they cannot go to war even if the defence budgets are over 80 per cent. (PTI)

Scotch lovers in India drive exports to record global high

LONDON, May 1: Growing demand from Scotch whisky lovers in India has driven global exports to a record high, according to the latest industry figures released by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

The spurt in Scotch exports to India has been recorded after the government abolished additional import duty on imported spirits last year.

Exports to India rose by 36 per cent worth 33 million pounds.

The Scotch whisky industry believes India is one of the largest markets and exports to that country are set to rise exponentially due to the growth of the middle class.

The figures show that Scotch whisky exports earned 90 pounds every second for the UK balance of trade last year, with the value of shipments increasing by 14 per cent to reach a new record of 2.8 billion pounds.

The SWA revealed export volume was also at a historic high in 2007, growing 8 per cent, with the equivalent of 1,135 million bottles of Scotch whisky shipped overseas.

Bottled blended Scotch whisky exports broke the 2 billion barrier for the first time, with shipment value up 15 per cent (to 2.22 billion pounds). Bottled malt exports also rose by 11 per cent in value (to 454 million pounds).

SWA Chairman Paul Walsh said: "This record export performance generating 90 pounds every second for the UK balance of trade underscores just how important Scotch whisky is to our economy." (PTI)

UN to frame a plan to tackle global food crisis by June

NEW YORK, May 1: The United Nations is aiming to have in place a comprehensive plan to tackle the global food crisis by the beginning of June, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes has said.

The UN's action plan "around which the institutions and leaders of the world can coalesce," is to be readied in time for a meeting of the world body's agencies in Rome to be held in June, he said.

One of two coordinators of a high-powered task force set up to organise responses to the global rise in food prices, Holmes said the breadth and complexity of the issue needed to be recognised, but there was no need to panic.

"I think it is clear we can fix these problems. The solutions can be found. They are very difficult, some of them, in the short term, but they can be done," he said.

UN System Influenza Coordinator David Nabarro, is the other coordinator of the task force announced by Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon to organise responses to the global rise in food prices.

On the role of grain-based biofuels in the current crisis, Holmes said, "It is something that needs a new look without wanting to fall into knee-jerk reactions of saying all bio-fuels are bad or good".

The Under-Secretary-General also said the crisis was not affecting every country in the same way.

"In some places and for some groups, particularly those living on less than a dollar a day, that could become a matter of life and death," he said.

The task force is chaired by Ban and consists of the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Trade Organisation among other agencies. (PTI)

Anti-graft body indicts Bangladesh's two ex-premiers

DHAKA, May 1: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Emergency-ruled Bangladesh has finalised graft charges against two detained former premiers along with several others for awarding gas exploration contracts to a Canadian oil firm.

ACC officials today said they finalised the chargesheet yesterday to be pressed "soon" under the tough Emergency Power Rules and the Corruption Prevention Act against former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, and 18 others.

"They are being charged for corruption and abusing power in signing contracts with Niko Resources causing a huge loss of Taka 23,630.50 crore (USD 1=Taka 70) to the national exchequer," an ACC official said.

The co-accused, he said, included three former ministers of the subsequent governments, 11 retired and in service bureaucrats and a Niko official.

The two ex-premiers were already facing several corruption charges but this is the first one where both were accused in a single case.

The ACC alleged that grounds were prepared for awarding the contracts to "unqualified" Niko during Hasina's 1996-2001 Awami League regime while the subsequent BNP government, led by Khaleda Zia, struck the final deal when it was in power from 2110-2006.

The Commission also alleged that the anti-state joint venture agreement was signed by Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) regime, causing a loss of Taka 13,777 crore to the state.

The anti-graft body accused Hasina and other co-accused of finalising the gas extraction work at Chhatak, Kamta and Feni gas fields in northeastern Bangladesh to Niko declaring them "abandoned" to gain personal financial benefit.

Legal experts said if convicted, the accused could be jailed for as high as 22 years under three sections of the penal code. (PTI)

Protests outside Carrefour stores in China; 9 detained

BEIJING, May 1: Protests erupted today outside Carrefour stores in Beijing and four other Chinese cities, with hundreds of people waving banners and shouting slogans amid anger at foreigners over Tibet and the Olympic torch relay. No violence was reported.

The French retailer is the latest target of Chinese anger at pro-Tibet protesters who have tried to disrupt the torch relay. Rumors on Chinese Web sites accused Carrefour of supporting the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, but the company denied that.

In Beijing, police detained seven men and two women outside a Carrefour in the Haidian university district.

One man was stopped as he ran around with a sign that said "Protest Carrefour, Protest CNN" as about 200 bystanders cheered. Two women and two men who were detained wore T-shirts that said "Anti-Riot and Explore the Truth" in English, a reference to deadly anti-Chinese riots in Tibet in March. CNN has been a focus of criticism by Chinese who say foreign news reports on Tibet are biased.

Protesters carried banners and chanted slogans at Carrefour stores in Changsha in central China, Fuzhou in the southeast, Chongqing in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast, the government's Xinhua News Agency reported.

Several hundred people protested in Changsha, Xinhua said. It did not say how large the other demonstrations were.

In Changsha, protesters held banners saying, "Support Olympics," "Oppose Tibet Independence," "Love China" and "Unity is Power," according to Xinhua. It said passers-by signed their names on the banners and joined in chanting slogans.

Phone calls to Carrefour spokespeople in China were not answered. (AGENCIES)