| |
Read More
- Former Croatia international and manager Igor Stimac will be appointed as the Indian men’s team coach after the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) technical committee recommended him for the post.
- The committee, headed by Shyam Thapa, interviewed the four candidates for the post Stimac, Albert Roca, Hakan Ericson and Lee on Thursday and zeroed in on Stimac. The Croat was the only candidate who flew to New Delhi to give the interview in person.
- “The technical committee has chosen Igor Stimac as the Indian football coach. He gave a splendid presentation and his experience speaks volumes. Stimac has an impressive knowledge of Indian football and we found him as the perfect choice,” Thapa told Sportstar.
- In his 14-year managerial career, Stimac coached the Croatian national team between 2012 and 2013, and has also worked with clubs like Hajduk Split, Cibalia, NK Zagreb and Zadar, Iranian club Sepahan and Qatari club Al-Shahania.
|
Read More
- Trans fat, also called the worst form of fat in food, responsible for over 5,00,000 deaths globally from coronary heart disease each year, could be eliminated from the industrially produced global food supply by 2023 if the World Health Organization (WHO) has its way.
- The WHO has welcomed its partnership with the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) to achieve this target. It said: “Eliminating industrially produced trans fat is one of the simplest and most effective ways to save lives and create a healthier food supply.”
- WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a statement, said they had met the IFBA representatives, including chief executive officers from several of the 12 companies comprising the alliance on May 2 to discuss actions to eliminate industrial trans fats, and reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats in processed foods.
- Regulatory action - The meeting also stressed the value of regulatory action on labelling, marketing and urged industry for full adherence to the WHO code of marketing of breast milk substitutes.
- Dr. Ghebreyesus said, “The commitment made by the IFBA is in line with the WHO’s target to eliminate industrial trans fat from the global food supply by 2023. Of particular note was the decision by IFBA members to ensure that the amount of industrial trans fat in their products does not exceed 2 gram per 100 g fat/oil globally by 2023.”
- Speaking about the relevance of this meeting and deadline for India, Medanta Hospital founder and heart surgeon Naresh Trehan said, “India has among the highest number of coronary heart disease cases in the world and we must try to beat this deadline.”
|
Read More
- Dyson Ltd.’s electric car may have a long wheel base, an interior cabin with reclining seats and an aerodynamic design, according to patents awarded to the company.
- The patents, filed about 18 months ago and made public Wednesday, are the first glimpse of the car being built by the U.K.-based company known for pricey vacuums, hair dryers and air purifiers.
- In an email to staff, founder James Dyson said the patents ‘don’t reveal what our vehicle will really look like or give any specifics around what it will do,’ but they do ‘provide a glimpse of some of the inventive steps’ the company is weighing.
- The patents also indicate Dyson is mulling a vehicle with larger wheels to improve efficiency. Dyson’s email also hinted at a car with a low center of gravity to improve handling.
- The company posted a new automotive page to its website detailing its history in the automotive world and how its experience working on motors could contribute to a car.
- Dyson joins a growing list of technology companies getting into the car business. Tesla Inc. has pioneered electric vehicles, Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit leads in self-driving technology, while Apple Inc. has had an automotive project since about 2016.
- Dyson first disclosed plans to build an electric car in 2017, saying it would invest 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) on the vehicle and accompanying batteries. Last year, the company said it would build a facility in Singapore to develop the car it hopes to introduce by 2021.
- In his email to staff, Dyson said that testing of the car would ramp up next month and that more than 500 people are working on the project.
|
Read More
- India’s Reliance Industries has acquired British toy retailer Hamleys, the energy-to-telecoms conglomerate said on 9th May.
- Reliance Industries, which runs the world’s biggest single-location crude oil refinery in western India, has been gradually transforming itself into a consumer-facing behemoth through its retail and telecoms ventures.
- Through its Reliance Brands subsidiary, the company signed an agreement to buy Hamleys from Hong Kong-listed C Banner International Holdings.
- Reliance did not disclose the price, but in 2015 C Banner had bought it for 100 million pounds ($130.2 million) from France’s Groupe Ludendo.
- The acquisition marks the first foray of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries in an overseas retail brand.
- “The worldwide acquisition of the iconic Hamleys brand and business places Reliance into the frontline of global retail,” said Darshan Mehta, chief executive of Reliance Brands. Reliance Retail has the licence to sell Hamleys products in India.
- Founded in 1760, Hamleys resonates with a sense of nostalgia for adults and children alike, with its flagship Regent Street store in Central London recognised around the world
- Hamleys has withstood global recessions, and world war bombings and has changed hands several times, the latest being the 2015 sale by Groupe Ludendo.
- The toy seller runs 167 stores across 18 countries, the majority of which are in India. Reliance, which owns the master franchise, operates 88 Hamleys stores across 29 Indian cities.
|
Read More
- Snakehead fishes of the family Channidae are predatory freshwater fishes comprising 50 valid species, many of which are important food fishes
- Researchers at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) have discovered a new species of “snakehead fish” lurking in the subterranean waters of Kerala.
- The bizarre fish has been scientifically named Aenigmachanna Gollum (Gollum Snakehead- common name) after ‘Gollum’, a character from the ‘The Lord of the Rings’, a creature that went underground and during its subterranean life changed its morphological features.
- The fish is not only a new species, but also a remarkable new genus of the snakehead family channidae (which is currently represented by two other genera, Channa in Asia, and Parachanna in Africa), said Rajeev Raghavan, Asst Professor at the Dept of Fisheries Resource Management, Kufos.
- Snakehead fishes (Varaal – in Malayalam) of the family Channidae are predatory freshwater fishes comprising 50 valid species, many of which are important food fishes.
- Some are also popular in the aquarium fish trade, and others have been introduced around the world with several species becoming highly invasive.
- Normally subterranean fishes show many unique characters which are interestingly absent in Aenigmachanna.
- This suggests two possibilities either it represents a lineage that only recently began a subterranean lifestyle and still has maintained its surface-life features, or that it lives in a habitat in which regular excursions to the surface-water still occur.
|