HYDERABAD, July 30: Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has recommended two new ports – Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu – for export and import of drugs.
Pharmexcil Director General PV Appaji said the body has requested the ministries of Commerce and Health, besides Drug Controller General of India to notify these ports for import and export of drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
“These two are additional ports to the existing ones. We have recommended Krishnapatnam also to be notified as an official port for import and export of pharmaceuticals,” Appaji told PTI.
“There is a separate notification required for handling drugs. We have recommended to the Ministry of Health, DCGI and also we have recommended to the Ministry of Commerce. The other new port we have recommended is at Kattupalli managed by L&T near Chennai,” he said.
As per the information available, DCGI may authorise the ports to start handling pharma products pending a notification for the ministries concerned, he said.
“We are trying to convince him (the DCGI) to utilise his discretionary power and help pharma exporters,” he said, adding that a decision in this regard is expected in two to three months.
According to him, currently two-thirds of the total pharma exports from India are being carried out from seaports while the rest are by air and other means. The total Indian pharma exports for 2013-14 stood at Rs 90,000 crore.
Currently, Visakhapatnam sea port in AP handles pharma products.
On the proposed World Pharma Trade Centre at Hyderabad, Appaji said the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government had offered three acres of land for the purpose and negotiations are on with the Telangana government to take it forward.
Pharma exports from United Andhra Pradesh were about 30 per cent of total Rs 90,000 crore exports from India. Andhra Pradesh (united) with nearly Rs 30,000 crore exports used to be in the second position after Maharashtra in terms of overall pharma exports.
Appaji said the exports from Andhra Pradesh could be in the range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore. Some companies are enquiring about “special incentives” announced for Andhra Pradesh for setting up industries, he said. (PTI)
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Pharma body recommends two more seaports for exports
Twitter loss widens but user numbers propel shares
SAN FRANCISCO, July 30: Twitter has reported that its quarterly loss widened to USD 145 million despite revenue more than doubling, but its shares soared on word of healthy user growth.
Revenue at the popular one-to-many messaging service topped USD 312 million in the three months that ended June 30, with the number of monthly active users hitting 271 million, up 24 per cent when compared with the same period a year earlier, Twitter reported yesterday.
The loss adjusted for special items was less than the market had expected, and the rise in use evidently bolstered confidence of investors who pushed the stock up more than 28 per cent to USD 49.50 in after-market trading that followed release of the earnings figures. (AGENCIES)
BlackBerry to acquire German security solutions firm
NEW DELHI, July 30: BlackBerry will acquire German security solutions firm Secusmart GmbH as part of its efforts to ramp up enterprise service offerings.
Secusmart provides high-security voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping solutions for government organisations, enterprises and telecommunications service providers in Germany as well as globally.
“BlackBerry Limited has entered into an agreement to acquire Secusmart GmbH,” it said in a statement today.
The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals, the Canadian handset maker added.
“We are always improving our security solutions to keep up with the growing complexity of enterprise mobility – with devices being used for more critical tasks – and to store more critical information as security attacks becoming more sophisticated,” BlackBerry Chairman and CEO John Chen said.
The acquisition of Secusmart underscores the firm’s focus on addressing growing security costs and threats ranging from individual privacy to national security, he added.
“This acquisition bolsters our security solutions with leading voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping technologies, and furthers BlackBerry’s security leadership in end-to-end mobile solutions,” Chen said.
BlackBerry and Secusmart have previously partnered to offer Secusmart’s technology to customers that have the most demanding security needs. Last year the SecuSUITE for BlackBerry 10 solution was selected by Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security for classified communications for the country’s highest public officials.
Through this collaboration, the two companies have provided Secusmart-equipped BlackBerry smartphones to a significant number of German government agencies and almost all government ministries and leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, BlackBerry said.
“This transaction is a fantastic opportunity to accelerate growth in the market for high-end secure communications solutions, driven by the need to combat electronic eavesdropping and data theft,” Secusmart Managing Director said Hans-Christoph Quelle said. (PTI)
Lead futures gain 0.26% on spot demand
NEW DELHI, July 30: Lead futures rose 0.26 per cent to Rs 134.30 per kg today as participants enlarged positions amidst rising demand from battery-makers in the domestic spot market even as metal weakened overseas on rising inventories.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, lead for delivery in July traded higher by 35 paise, or 0.26 per cent, to Rs 134.30 per kg, with a turnover of 545 lots.
The metal for delivery in August gained 10 paise, or 0.07 per cent, to Rs 134.90 per kg in a business volume of 263 lots.
Analysts said pick up demand from battery-makers at the spot markets, influenced lead prices at futures trade but metal’s weakness at the London Metal Exchange (LME), limited the gains.
Globally, lead for delivery in three months contracts at the LME fell as much as 1.2 per cent to USD 2,239.75 a metric tonne.
Meanwhile, LME lead inventories climbed for the third time in four days to 214,650 tons, the highest since January 6, bourse data showed yesterday. (PTI)
Russia supplying air defense system to separatists: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, July 30: The Pentagon has said Russia was supplying air defense system to the Ukrainian separatists believed to have shot down the Malaysian airliner earlier this month killing all of the nearly 300 people on board.
“We do believe that some of the air defense systems that continue to flow up to the border and then across the border are of sufficient range and equivalent capability as to what we saw shoot down the Malaysia airlines flight,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.
White House and Pentagon officials had previously charged that a Russian surface-to-air missile system fired by the separatists in eastern Ukraine brought down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.
“It is not an insignificant capability that we continue to see flow into the hands of the separatists,” Kirby said, demanding Russia to stop supporting the separatist movement.
He said Russian military personnel, around 10,000 in number, continue to gather at the border with Ukraine.
“These are combined arms-type battalion tactical groups. They are capable across a wide spectrum of military operations, so it’s not just infantry. It’s artillery. It’s air defense. And in some cases, you know, armoured capability,” he said.
“These are very capable, very ready forces,” he added.
Kirby claimed that advanced weapons systems, including multiple rocket launchers, artillery weapons, tanks, and air defense systems, continue to move across the border.
“We continue to see that movement across the border, ostensibly to support the separatists,” he said. (PTI)
Guargum futures plunge 3.96 per cent on subdued demand
NEW DELHI, July 30: Extending its losing streak, guargum prices plunged by Rs 590, or 3.96 per cent, to Rs 14,320 per quintal in the futures trading today as speculators engaged in reducing their positions amidst weak spot and export demand.
At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange counter, guargum prices for delivery’s in August month contracts plunged by Rs.590, or 3.96 per cent to Rs.14,320 per quintal, with an open interest of 11,526 lots.
On the similar lines, delivery in October month contracts plummeted by Rs.620, or 3.94 per cent to Rs.15,120 per quintal, having an open interest of 5,669 lots.
Marketmen said sentiments remained distinctly weak with guargum prices falling further due to weak domestic and export demand against increased supplies. (PTI)
Cate Blanchett was desperate to play dwarf in ‘The Hobbit’
LONDON, July 30: Cate Blanchett, who plays ethereal elf Lady Galadriel in ‘Lord of the Rings’, instead wanted to be a dwarf on the movie adaptation of JJR Tolkien’s books.
The 45-year-old ‘Lord of the Rings’ reprised her role in ‘The Hobbit’. Blanchett, however, said she was disappointed for not getting a chance to dress up as one of the hairy mythical creatures in the film trilogy, reported Contactmusic.
“I was so desperate to play a dwarf. The facial hair. You go into the wig room. Oh my god. The beard,” she said. (PTI)
6 die when swept away by swollen river in Mexico
HERMOSILLO (Mexico), July 30: Six people have died and four are missing in northern Mexico after their vehicles were swept away by a swollen river near the US border.
A statement from officials in Sonora state says more than 200 rescue crews were searching yesterday for those missing in and around the Cabullona River in the municipality of Agua Prieta, which is across the border from Douglas, Arizona.
It says a group of about 35 people in 4-wheel drive pickup trucks and ATVs were leaving the area Sunday when one of the vehicles got stuck in the river. When people in other vehicles tried to help them, the river swept them away. (AGENCIES)
North Korea ship damaged Mexican coral reefs
MEXICO CITY, July 30: A North Korean cargo ship damaged nearly an acre of coral reefs off Mexico’s eastern coast when it ran aground two weeks ago, Mexican authorities have said.
The MU DU BONG freighter was heading to the port of Tuxpan when it hit 250 coral reef colonies in the Gulf of Mexico on July 14, the environmental protection prosecutor’s office said yesterday.
One of the habitats included Elkhorn coral, or Acropora palmata, an at-risk reef-building species shaped like elk antlers, the agency said in a statement.
Seven other species were struck by the vessel, including coralline rock on a protected list.
The accident was apparently due to a navigational error by the captain as he guided the ship toward Tuxpan, where the vessel was due to pick up cargo bound for Cuba.
Rescuers removed the 6,500-tonne ship on Saturday, using underwater cameras, buoys and other special equipment.
The environmental prosecutor’s office said the North Korean embassy has pledged to reimburse the costs of the rescue. (AGENCIES)
At least 20 dead, dozens missing in shipwreck off Libya
TRIPOLI, July 30: More than 20 migrants have died and dozens are missing after their makeshift boat sank off the Libyan coast, the navy has said.
“A navy patrol on Monday rescued 22 clandestine migrants who were clinging to debris from their boat,” spokesman Colonel Ayoub Kassem told AFP yesterday, adding that more than 20 bodies were plucked from the water.
Survivors said some 150 people had been aboard the vessel, which sank some 100 kilometres east of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Search operations for possible other survivors continued today.
The migrants from south of the Sahara desert had sought to reach the Italian coast or nearby Malta after crossing restive and lawless Libya.
Hundreds of would-be immigrants die in the process every year, while others are detained by Italian police once they reach the southern EU member’s territorial waters or the islands of Sicily or Lampedusa.
This year nearly 80,000 migrants have landed in Italy so far, many more than the 2011 record of a total of 63,000, according to authorities in Rome. (AGENCIES)