Sitting for Long Hours Can Kill, says Study

People, who used to sit for 11 or more hours a day, are 40 percent more likely to die over the next three years regardless of how physically active they are otherwise, a new study suggests.

Australian researchers from the Sydney University analysed self reported data of roughly 222,000 people aged 45 and older and found that death risks arise after 11 hours of total daily sitting. It could cause weight gain and worsen the health condition. 

“These results have important public health implications, Inactive participants who sat the most had double the risk of dying within three years compared to active people who sat least” said study lead author Dr. Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health.

The findings of the study were published in the ‘Archives of Internal Medicine’.

While the study exposed a link between total sitting hours and death risk, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship, said the experts.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association pointed towards the solution of this concern.

She explained that a large section of the people used to sit for long hours to meet their job demand which cannot be avoided. Hence, one should try to spend the rest of the hours of the day standing, walking or engaging in other movement.

The research was commissioned by the Cardiovascular Research Network and supported by the National Heart Foundation Australia's NSW Division.

Moving one step forward, Heart Foundation CEO Tony Thirlwell said that being inactive was a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for over 17 million deaths a year worldwide.

Telenor sues Unitech, seeks $14 billion Damages

In a major development, Norway-based telecom giant Telenor has filed a lawsuit against its partner Unitech, seeking damages worth $14 billion.

The move came after the Supreme Court cancelled the 2G spectrum licenses of major telecom companies as the fallout of the 2G scam, involving then Telecom Minister A Raja.

Telenor had tied up with Unitech to provide mobile services under the banner of Uninor. After the Supreme Court cancelled 22 of their licenses, Telenor felt that they expected nothing from this tie-up with Unitech.

The Norwegian company has sought “indemnity and compensation” from its Indian partner. Telenor may look out for another telecom company in India to carry out their business, it is believed.

Why Women are better Entrepreneurs than Men?

With the rapid increase of women-owned businesses, this belief has become compelling that women make better entrepreneurs as compared to men. Women are endowed with innate qualities of an entrepreneur in today's consumer driven world. Females are having marvelous perception, are more engaging and overall have attractive communication skills.

There are some 5 basic attributes of women which make them stand ahead of men in entrepreneurship race.

1. Temptations to multi-task - Women are multi tasking, which is clearly visible through women handling the work at office, simultaneously performing house hold activities as well. They don’t panic and take the appropriate decisions.

2. Lesser testosterone ego - Many men become numb-skulls when there are decisions to be made and their ego comes into play. Men consider themselves as perfectionist and would never change their ideas. Females care very less about their ego as long as their work gets done. This is a major factor that can affect entrepreneurial careers of men and women.

3. Self-Motivation - For a successful business, self motivation is very much needed. Self motivation helps you to advance in taking up risk and encourage you in shouldering the social responsibilities.

Women are having positive attitude and never to say die spirit, which keeps them charged. Whereas most men lose hopes with one strong hit, and never try to regain the loss. They always seek for some encouraging words from others.

4. Better convincing capability - Women are coming into their own because the way of marketing is changing. They might not be hard-sellers like men but they have a great way to impress through a softer way of approaching which is necessary in today's scene. Females are very good at adapting their approach personalizing to an individual.

5. Better educated and professionally qualified - It’s no longer required to mention that women have been getting better and better in education. They are readily going for business administration courses thus getting better knowledge about the entrepreneurship skills.

There are many women entrepreneur who have set examples in the world. Priyanka Malhotra, Rajashree Birla and Manju Bharatram are the names which would always remain in the golden history of Indian entrepreneurship.

There are infinite number of women who have been excellent performers in setting up a business and taking it to the peak. So there is no second opinion that women are better entrepreneur than men and will always remain the best in this field for ever.

Govt may cancel Kingfisher Airlines' License

Kingfisher Airlines owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya will be in trouble as the government may cancel the airline's license if the company fails to meet the safety norms and viability conditions.

Talking to the reporters on Tuesday, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said that the private airline has not met any of its plans. The cash-strapped airline is now operating 18 flights, but it has failed to stick to its recovery plans.

Despite the warnings on different fronts, the airline has not been able to rectify its mistakes. Expressing his concern over the safety for passengers, he said, if it is not able to pay for fuel, how the airline will run, if pilots and others staff will not be paid their monthly salaries, it would put stress in them, which can be harmful for passengers, the minister added.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) may intervene to the matter and may cancel its license if the airline fails to meet any of its recovery plans.

Service Tax Hike to hit Common People

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is said to have disappointed people of India in the Union Budget 2012-13 hiking the service tax, which suggests that the budget is not for common man (Aam Aadmi).

The budget was highly criticised and the experts have described it as hopeless and disappointing. The tax payers were expecting I-T exemption limit up to Rs 3 lakh. However, the exemption was raised to Rs 2 lakh.

While a common man is still struggling in the regime of high price rise and high interest rate, the hike in service tax will definitely hit the common man's pocket.

Pranab increased service tax from 10% to 12% and widened the service tax net by exempting just 12 services. The excise duty was also hiked by 2%.

The hike in service tax suggested that the general commodities like TV, Fridge, AC, cars, Food, Mobile bills, electronic items, tobacco products, milk, milk products, branded cloths and branded jwellery etc will be costlier.

It suggested that eating out, air travel and foreign trips will be costlier. For luxury cars, individuals will have to pay 24 per cent duty instead of 22 per cent. However, the Corporate Tax remained same.  

Pranab promised to moderate the inflation in few months, but the budget will increase the burden on the common men particularly in cities.

While presenting the union budget 2012-13 in Lok Sabha on Friday, the Finance Minister referred a line from Shakespeare’s 'Hamlet': "I am Cruel to be Kind". His line was true and he appeared cruel for common men.

Cheaper: Stock trade, processed food, ready-made garments, cancer and HIV medicines.

Costlier: Big cars, ACs, Refrigerators, Phone bills, Restaurants, Cigarettes, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Air Travel, Foreign Trips, Bidi, Gutkha, Paan Masala, Health Club, Fitness Centre, Cyber Cafe, Beauty Parlour, Hotel Stay, Gym.

Asha Bhosle files complaint against Sadhana

Singing legend Asha Bhosle has filed a complaint against veteran actress Sadhana, accusing him of encroachment and trespassing at her Khar bungalow.

According to reports, Sadhana has been staying at Asha Bhosle's bungalow as a tenant for almost 50 years now. Asha, with the help of builder Yusuf Lakdawala, has been trying to get possession of the house. However, Sadhana has been defiant.

In November 2010, Yusuf was arrested after Sadhana filed a complaint against him, accusing the builder of harassment. She alleged that Yusuf had been threatening to throw her out of the 3,000 sq. ft. house.

Later, Yusuf filed a defamation case against Sadhana, which led to her arrest in October 2011. She got the bail later.

Twitter acquires M-Blogging Firm Posterous

Social networking site Twitter has informed through a blog that it has acquired the mobile blogging firm ‘Posterous’. This is the biggest ‘new hire’ at Twitter yet, with over 36 people joining the micro-blogging company.

"Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better," Twitter wrote in a blog post.

Posterous is a San Francisco based blogging platform that had started working in May 2008. One can send email with attachments of photos, MP3s, documents and videos after signing in to this site. However, it is particularly designed for mobile blogging.

Posterous is also quiet well in free application for live streaming. Lead411 had recognized the company as one of the “Hottest Silicon Valley Companies” in 2010.

Twitter has also intimated that it will give its user ‘ample notice’ if it is going to make any changes to the prevalent services.

Vijay Mallya pumps in $32 Million into F1 Team

Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya has pumped in $32 million into his Formula One team Sahara Force India ahead of the 2012 Formula One season opener in Melbourne on Sunday.

While the crisis-hit Kingfisher airline owned by Mallya is struggling to recover the loss, he intends to invest in his Formula One team.

The Scotsman reported on Monday that Watson, the personal investment company used by the liquor baron, has loaned Force India nearly $10 million while Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines and his beer and spirit arm has generated the remaining $22 million through sponsorship.

The Silverstone-based team is eyeing for the better performance than last year. Mallya is looking confident of a better year in F1 field with young drivers. Subrata Roy led Sahara Group, which had bought a 42.5 percent stake in the F1 team last year, would invest $100 million into the mid-field outfit.

US Special Forces stationed in India!

The US Special Forces teams have been deployed in India as well as four South Asian countries as part of the counter-terrorism co-operation with the nations, revealed a top Pentagon commander.

The teams have been deployed by US Pacific Command as part of its effort to enhance their counter-terrorism capabilities particularly in the maritime domain, Admiral Robert Willard, the PACOM Commander said on Thursday.

The US forces were stationed in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India, Willard said while responding to a question on co-operation with India on counter-terrorism issues on Thursday.

As the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) is the biggest threat to Pakistan's neighbouring countries, the US is working very closely with the nations to help them to counter terrorism.

While responding to a question from Congressman Joe Wilson that what the efforts are being made to counter threat from LeT, Willard said that the Pakistan-based LeT was responsible for many terror strikes in India including 2008 Mumbai attacks. He said that both the US and India are working together against LeT.

The LeT, which has close links with Al Qaeda and other terror outfits, has been carrying out operations in Afghanistan and aspires to spread terrorism in Asia, Europe and North America, Willard said.