My Scribles

St Louis jury has awarded a California woman more than $70 million in her lawsuit alleging that years of using Johnson & Johnson's baby powder caused her cancer, the latest case raising concerns about the health ramifications of extended talcum powder use.<br> The jury ruling ended the trial that began September 26 in the case brought by Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012.<br> The suit yesterday accused Johnson & Johnson of "negligent conduct" in making and marketing its baby powder.<br> "We are pleased the jury did the right thing," said Jim Onder, an attorney for the plaintiff. "They once again reaffirmed the need for Johnson & Johnson to warn the public of the ovarian cancer risk associated with its product."<br> Carol Goodrich, a spokeswoman with Johnson & Johnson, could not immediately be reached for comment.<br> In a statement provided to th...

Cyclone Kyant over the Bay of Bengal is unlikely to make a landfall, but the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha may expect a wet Diwali, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday. “Cyclonic storm Kyant over east-central Bay of Bengal moved further west-southwestwards and lay centred at 1130 hrs IST 450 km southeast of Gopalpur, 520 km east-southeast of Vishakhapatnam and 730 km east-northeast of Machilipatnam. It is most likely to move west-southwestwards towards westcentral Bay of Bengal during the next 72 hours,” the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said.

Flying Delhi to San Francisco (SFO) over the Pacific Ocean instead of the Atlantic, as it had done till last week, has earned Air India the record of operating the world's longest nonstop flight. The Pacific route is almost 1,400km longer than the Atlantic one, and the flight covered 15,300 kilometres in 14.5 hours. Despite the route being longer, the flight took almost two hours less thanks to tailwinds — winds that blow in the same direction as an aircraft and thus make it go faster.<br> "The Earth rotates from west to east, and winds flow in that direction too. Flying west means facing strong headwinds (that decreases an aircraft's actual ground speed), and flying east means getting strong tailwinds, which does the opposite," said a senior AI official. "While taking the (western) Atlantic route to SFO, we usually face headwinds of 24kmph. This means that if our aircraft is doing 800kmph, its actual ground speed is 776kmph. Taking the (eastern) Pacific ...

With GST's nationwide rollout just around the corner, everyone seems to be a little confused about what the implications on the automotive industry might be. More importantly, no one really knows if cars will become cheaper or more expensive as compared to what they are today. SIAM has put out a draft on what it thinks should be the structure for GST for India to make life easier for both consumers and the automotive industry in general. According to SIAM, the proposed tax structures should be divided into three slabs. They are as follows: 1. All small cars, MUVs, two wheelers, three wheelers and commercial vehicles should be clubbed into a standard GST rate. 2. All other cars (other than small cars) to be clubbed into a second GST structure that will be 8% higher than the standard tax structure. 3. All hybrid-electric and full-electric vehicles to be clubbed into the third tax bracket which will be 8% less than the standard GST taxation rate. The two part structure for...

The United States presidential election of 2016, scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016, will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. Voters will select presidential electors, who in turn will vote for a new president and vice president through the Electoral College. The term limit established in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the incumbent president, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, from being elected to a third term. The 2016 election will determine the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States. The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February and June 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who in turn elect their party's presidential nominee. Businessman and reality...

India raised Rs. 65,789 crore ($9.9 billion) in an auction of airwaves, a fraction of the Rs. 5.6 lakh crore that the government had sought, as several mobile-phone carriers shunned the sale to preserve cash amid intensifying competition in the industry. Bharti Airtel Ltd., the nation's largest carrier, bought Rs. 14,244 crore of spectrum, the company said in a statement. Third-ranked Idea Cellular Ltd. said it had added airwaves to enable it to offer mobile broadband in most of the country. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India's newest carrier, said it spent Rs. 13,700 crore, while Vodafone Group Plc's Indian unit also participated. No bids were received for spectrum in the 700 megahertz band that had the highest minimum price. "The lack of enthusiasm was majorly due to its unrealistic pricing, high debt and single-digit growth that the industry is currently reeling under," said COAI, an industry lobby group, in an e-mailed statement. "On many an occasio...