Sensex could slide to 12,000 level

The fact that stock futures of many Nifty stocks were trading at a huge discount to their spot prices an unusual phenomenon lends some credence to this theory. A spiralling inflation and interest rate has already cast a shadow on several sectors such as banking, auto and real estate. On Friday, there was more bad news in the property space, with a downgrade of the debt papers issued by Sobha Developers. This is one of the first downgrades in the sector.

Bears tightened their grip as inflation climbed further to 11.42% and the political situation at the Centre remained fluid. “A further rise in the oil price will, unfortunately, continue to be particularly bad news for India,” broking house CLSA said in a note to clients.

“This is both despite and because of the Reserve Bank of India’s increasingly pre-emptive monetary tightening stance,” the note said, adding that “a re-test of the 12,000 level on the Sensex cannot be ruled out in these circumstances and that will be accompanied by a further weakening in the rupee.” The broking house, however, said a decline to 12,000 level would be a “massive long-term buying opportunity.”

For all the uncertainty over UPA government’s future, brokers feel that politics is not as big a cause for worry as inflation. “Market has discounted politics, because the government’s immediate priority is its own survival, and not any major policy measures,” said a veteran BSE trader, adding that it would not make much of a difference to sentiment if the government lasted for a month or three.

Elsewhere in Asia, Chinese markets declined by over 5%, while markets in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were down between 1% and 3%.

In the US, the Dow was trading marginally higher in early trade, though it was still close to its 21-month lows.
Even as stock prices are plunging rapidly, there is no talk of any brokering house or prominent market player facing a solvency crisis. This is because there are no major outstanding positions in derivatives as was there at the beginning of the year, just before the market went into a free-fall.

Bill Gates bids a teary farewell to Microsoft

Bill Gates said a teary goodbye on Friday to Microsoft Corp, the software maker he built into the world’s most valuable technology company based on the ambitious goal of placing a computer on every desk and in every home.

He leaves his full-time executive role at Microsoft, which he co-founded with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975, to focus on his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest charity, funded in part by his vast fortune.

At an event at Microsoft’s headquarters campus here, Gates, who will become a non-executive chairman and work part-time, joined Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on stage to deliver a short speech and field questions from employees.

"There won’t be a day in my life that I’m not thinking about Microsoft and the great things that it’s doing and wanting to help," said Gates, who wiped away tears as the group of employees rose to give him a standing ovation.

Ballmer, a Harvard University classmate who joined Microsoft at Gates’ behest, got choked up as he tried to describe Gates’ impact on the company and society at large.

"There’s no way to say thanks to Bill. Bill’s the founder. Bill’s the leader," said Ballmer. "We’ve been given an enormous, enormous opportunity and it was Bill that gave us this opportunity."

Gates will leave behind a life’s work developing software to devote energy to finding new vaccines or to microfinance projects in the developing world. He will still work on special technology projects at the company.

Once the world’s richest man, Gates’ personal fortune has been estimated at about $58 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. He has slipped to third place, behind investor and good friend Warren Buffett and Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim.

ONE BILLION AND COUNTING

Ballmer spoke about how he contemplated quitting Microsoft a month after joining the company and returning to Stanford University business school. Bill passionately implored him to stay and laid out the vision of the company.

"This is what Bill said to keep me. ’You don’t get it! You don’t get it! You don’t get it! We’re going to put a computer on every desk and in every home,’" said Ballmer.

There are currently more than one billion PCs worldwide, according to research firm IDC.

Gates and Ballmer recalled the many steps Microsoft took to evolve from a fledgling start-up to a company of more than 90,000 employees making everything from video game consoles to computer software.

The pair remembered the battles with computer industry titan International Business Machines Corp’s, an early partner turned rival when it rolled out a competing operating system to Microsoft’s flagship software, Windows.

"We went toe to toe with the biggest, most powerful computer company in the world and we beat them," said Ballmer.

The 52-year-old Gates said the company had made "a mistake" not recognizing earlier how Web search and online advertising -- businesses dominated by another start-up turned powerhouse, Google Inc -- could transform the software industry.

However, he cautioned skeptics not to count out Microsoft.

"I love that kind of thing where people are underestimating Microsoft," said Gates. "Yes, we make mistakes and we know it, but we come back and learn from those things. A lot of our best work is the result of that."

After 33 years, Gates said he sometimes finds himself lost in thought, driving to Microsoft without realizing it. He also said he will move out of his corner office -- making way for Ballmer -- into a smaller area one floor below.

"I am sure there will some day next month where I start thinking about software and I will start driving here to Microsoft, go up to the fifth floor and walk down to my office and they will be remodeling it," said Gates with a chuckle.

"In fact, they were wondering if I was leaving at four or five today, so they could get started on that."

Can't do without chai? Beware

After water,is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world. In India, it’s customary to offer a guest some tea before anything else; chai-naashta, cutting chai and masala chai are part of our everyday vocabulary. And yet, the ill-effects of tea are overlooked.

The most active alkaloid ingredient in tea is caffeine — an addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system. Tannin, also found in tea, may increase the risk of nasal and oesophageal cancer.

The perk-up effects of tea are short-lived and followed by withdrawal symptoms such as lethargy, headaches and acute irritation.
Tea does not bode for your stomach either. It is known to slow down digestion and impedes the action of ptyalin, a digestive ferment of saliva which acts like cooked starch. Excessive tea consumption could also lead to stomach troubles like gas formation and diarrhoea.

Women beware, tea could aggravate symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome. According to a research conducted under Dr Annette Rossignol, an associate professor of public health at Oregon University,
women in China who drank between one to four cups a day were twice as likely to have Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) than those who didn’t. Drinking eight cups of tea increased the PMS occurrence up to 10 times.

INCONTINENCE

Too much tea could also lead to incontinence or frequent or urgent impulse to urinate. According to a recent study by St George’s Hospital in London, caffeine could exert pressure on bladder by causing the muscles surrounding it to contract. Experiments show that five cups of tea increases urine by 400 to 500 per cent in people vulnerable to kidney related ailments. This continued stimulation of kidneys by caffeine found in tea might damage them.

Tea also contains oxalate, over consumption of which can cause kidney damage. It is known to soak up free calcium and other minerals found in the body. It could also promote kidney stone formation and effect other parts of body.

OTHER ILL-EFFECTS

The respiratory and cardiac muscles are stimulated by tea as coronary arteries get dilated resulting in the increase in the rate of blood flow. The quickening of respiration lowers levels of carbon dioxide and increases the heat production by 10 to 20 per cent. Caffeine too is found in teas — instant teas have 35 to 50 mg of caffeine, while iced tea contains about 65 to 80 mg; brewed tea has the highest amount of caffeine — 110 mg!

REPLACEMENTS

Have a cup of green tea instead, it has 50 per cent less caffeine (only 12 to 60 mg per 150 ml) and tannin. Flower teas such as jasmine also have very little caffeine content. Herbal infusions such as tulsi, ginger, peppermint, chamomile and cranberry are even better. They are no caffeine and multiple health benefits.

LEGENDS OF THE BREW

It is said that one night, sage Bodhirama found it difficult to stay awake during his meditations and kept falling asleep again and again.Angry with himself, he tore off his eyelashes and threw them near the tree
he was meditating under. Those eyelashes grew into the first tea bush. And this is why tea has become one of the most important things for those who meditate or want to stay awake.

Does Viagra give athletes an edge?

Viagra, a little blue pill more usually taken for its off-the-field benefits, is now being studied for its role in boosting athletes’ performance. Some sports authorities say the drug is now finding a following among athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency is currently studying Viagra’s effects in athletes but hasn’t yet banned it. Experts are divided over whether it actually offers athletes an edge.

“It’s possible,”’ says Anthony Butch, director of the Olympic Analytical laboratory at the University of California Los Angeles, a WADA-accredited facility.

Viagra, also known as sildenafil, is manufactured by Pfizer Inc. It was originally developed as a heart drug; its use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction was only accidentally discovered.

The drug works by increasing the effects of nitric oxide which makes blood vessels expand. That should theoretically allow blood cells to travel to the lungs more efficiently and to also receive more oxygen. It may also improve heart function.

Viagra is also approved to treat pulmonary hypertension, a condition where the blood vessels of the lungs tighten. Doctors have used the drug experimentally to treat pregnant women with high blood pressure and to ward off jet-lag.

But whether Viagra makes athletes faster, higher or stronger is uncertain.

“Just because you have more nitric oxide doesn’t mean that you are going to be a better athlete,” says Butch. “If you have all the nitric oxide you need and if you generate more from Viagra, it’s not clear what effect that would have,” he says. Still, some preliminary studies have shown that cyclists who took Viagra improved their performance by up to 40 percent.

“If you have more oxygen going to your muscles, that’s more energy and that makes you a better athlete,” says Dr Andrew McCullough, a sexual health expert at New York University School of Medicine. “Even if it only gives you a 10 percent increase, in peak athletes, that is enough to win,” he says.

McCullough says Viagra is only likely to help athletes like runners, cyclists or skiers: sports where endurance and speed are the key. Viagra does not work directly on muscles so it will not make athletes physically stronger.

If Viagra does give athletes an unfair advantage, they will be able to take it at the upcoming Beijing Olympics without worry, since it is not on the prohibited list of medicines. McCullough said taking Viagra could theoretically help people breathe better in heavily polluted cities, like the Chinese capital.

Many scientists at laboratories that conduct drug testing say they haven’t noticed a suspicious spike in samples containing Viagra. “We see it as much as we see ibuprofen or aspirin or antibiotics that are not prohibited,” says Christiane Ayotte, director of a WADA-accredited laboratory in Canada. “Athletes may be taking it, but they may be taking it for non-doping purposes,” she says.

Ayotte said it would be unrealistic to ban Viagra. “Are athletes going to have to submit therapeutic-use exemptions for Viagra?” she says, “That would be quite humiliating.”

Still other doctors say that Viagra’s more well-known effects on sex lives may be the ultimate explanation for any enhanced athletic abilities. “It could be that athletes are taking Viagra and then having vigorous sexual activity,” says Dr Gerard Varlotta, director of sports rehabilitation at New York University’s Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. Varlotta doubts that Viagra itself could improve an athlete’s performance.

“If athletes are euphoric after sex after taking Viagra, they may be euphoric about their athletic endeavours,” Varlotta says.