Worlds Top News

Powering the IPO-lineup of more than Rs 20,000 cr

2007-10-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: So you thought the real estate sector mopped up the lion's share of the capital market this year? Just check these stats — blazing the trail this year is the power sector with an impressive IPO line-up of more than Rs 20,000 crore. This is around 35% more than the Rs 13,000- crore worth of IPOs mobilised in the real estate sector this year, including the mega DLF offering.

In fact, as many as seven companies, including Anil Dhirubhai Ambani's Reliance Power, have filed draft papers for IPOs with market regulator SEBI in the last couple of months. Already, funds worth Rs 3,900 crore from the capital market has come to the power sector this year. In addition, the sector is expected to raise over Rs 16,000 crore as companies such as Reliance Power, REC and NHPC line up to float their IPOs in the next couple of months.

Says Sanjeev Zarbage, assistant vice-president, research, Kotak Securities: "The power sector needs huge funds and that's why we are seeing a slew of companies wanting to tap the capital market. Since the economy is doing well, capital expansion is a natural way of catering to the services of the population.

Infrastructure has remained a major bottleneck in development for a long time. The power sector is expected to raise a lot of money from the markets in the next couple of years too. Apart from that, banking is another sector that will raise money through public issues to keep the credit growth going."

The action in the power sector is currently being fuelled by the growth in the services sector. "We are in the capacity building stage. The huge amount of money raised in the power sector will eventually support the other sectors to grow and, in turn, help the overall growth in the country.

Infrastructure is the other sector where we will see a lot of activity happening. Housing companies, commercial malls, airports and ports are the core infrastructure segments that will raise big amount of money from the markets. Power and infrastructure are the base of growth for any country," says Religare Enterprises COO Shachindra Nath.

The companies that have entered the capital market this year include Power Finance Corporation and PowerGrid Corp. Besides, there have been smaller issues from Suryachakra Power and Indowind Energy, which mopped up nearly Rs 135 crore collectively from their IPOs. The fund flow through capital market into the power sector was nearly Rs 1,300 crore in 2006 through IPOs of firms such as Lanco Infratech and GMR Infra.

Killers of Marandi Jr wore military fatigues

2007-10-27T21:25:00.002-07:00

CHILKHADIH (GIRIDIH): In military fatigues, they watched the orchestra for quite sometime -- and, the 2,000-strong audience thought them to be CRPF men deployed for security of former chief minister Babulal Marandi's kin who were also in the audience.

Suddenly, a few of them went onto the dais -- one of them took the microphone and announced, "We are Naxalites, here to kill Nunulal Marandi (Babulal's brother). Hand him over to us and we will spare others. But no one should leave the place."

As there came no response from the scared crowd, the announcer shouted, "We know he is here and is wearing a black jacket."

Nunulal, stealthily threw his black coat, mingled in the crowd and, like many others, hid himself behind the plastic chairs.

Not much later, the Maoists started firing indiscriminately. One of Nunulal's securitymen died on the spot; the other has been hospitalised.

The Maoists had apparently failed to identify, Babulal's 22-year-old son Anup Marandi who was also in the crowd.

However, Anup, who married only four months back, fell to the Maoists bullets. The survivors told TOI the Maoists did not explode bombs, but fired about 100 rounds from AK-47s.

Even children and women were not spared. The injured included three-year-old Nilesh Hansdah. "He was asleep in his mother's lap when a bullet hit his right leg," the child's father, Sagar Hansdah, said. Gundu Murmu's 12-year-old daughter Khiloni also received bullet injuries.

Three of the deceased had come from neighbouring Jamui district of Bihar. They had in fact been coming to the village every day for the last four days to watch the football matches organised in the village as part of Luxmi Puja celebrations. The orchestra had been organised on the last day of the soccer tourney.

This was the biggest ever massacre of civilians by Maoists in Jharkhand. Earlier, they targeted securitymen, and their victims included the SP of Lohardagga.

Chief minister Madhu Koda, who reached here along with UPA's state convenor Shibu Soren, announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the victims' families and also a government job. Koda announced recruitment of villagers with educational qualification up to class VII as police constables.

The chief minister said the state government would review its Naxalite policy and would soon come out with a surrender-and-rehabilitation policy for the Maoists to return to the mainstream society.

Soren, Koda and former CM Arjun Munda attended the condolence meeting held in the village. They also met Marandi and consoled him.

Aamir wanted to be a filmmaker, never an actor!

2007-10-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

'A friend in need is a friend indeed'. This thought goes down well with two friends - Aamir Khan and Amol Gupte. It may sound as though we are contradicting the ongoing controversy about the rift between two friends, but this is ironically true in Aamir and Amol's case.

Very few people know that Amol and Aamir are friends since their college days. Amol wanted to be an actor and shared screen space with Aamir in Ketan Mehta's film Holi . After that producer Nasir Hussain wanted to introduce Amol as an actor in his son Mansoor Khan's directorial debut Qyamat Se Qyamat Tak . They shot five rolls and realized that Amol couldn't act. Mansoor wanted a new face for his film and that's how Aamir Khan, the then assistant director to Mansoor, became Raj of QSQT.

However, Aamir never wanted to be an actor as he was highly inclined towards directing movies. But QSQT made him a 'star' and also earned him the Filmfare Best Debut Award. Meanwhile Amol who failed to become an actor became a writer and wrote scripts for more than 100 short films. He assisted Ketan Mehta on his film Mirch Masala in 1985. He wrote a film on a dyslexic child. Amol who wanted to be a director got this opportunity through his own script. After approaching several producers, it was finally Aamir who agreed to back the film.

A close friend of Aamir says, "Aamir is emotionally attached to this movie that deals with a young child, who suffers from dyslexia which is a specific form of learning disability that manifests primarily as a difficulty with reading and spelling." He continues, "Aamir will be seen playing the father to a young dyslexic child. In real life his son Junaid and daughter Aira suffer from the same disease. That's why this project is so dear to Aamir's heart."

Aamir's friend further explains that the film was earlier titled High Jump and was later changed to Tare Zameen Par as it was more apt for the film. Reportedly, Amol shot five rolls of the film, but as the result wasn't too impressive, Aamir took charge of direction. This, we hear, may have caused some friction between Aamir and Amol. But Aamir's friend clarifies, "Even after 'creative differences' between the two, Aamir Khan and Amol Gupte remain good friends. Amol who was supposed to direct the film has been credited as 'writer and creative director' of the movie and doesn't seem visibly upset at least."

Rahul Dravid's

2007-10-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

Rahul Dravid's exclusion from the ODI team for the Pakistan series is a clear indication that time might be running out for India's 'Big Three' - Sachin, Sourav and Dravid himself. On Saturday, the 34-year-old former skipper became the first to succumb to the heat generated by the recent success of the youngsters who won the Twenty20 World Cup.

As reported by TOI on October 24 and 27, Dravid's position in the ODI squad was under a cloud, especially after his recent poor run in the One-day series against Australia, when he scored 51 runs in six matches.

On Saturday, the national selectors, led by Dilip Vengsarkar, finally took the 'tough decision' of leaving out Dravid of the one-day team for the first two matches against Pakistan beginning on November 5. ODI and T20 skipper M S Dhoni was consulted over the phone about the selection and very much a party to the decision.

"One of the reasons for his omission is that we didn't want a situation where Dravid is in the 15 and not in the playing XI, like it happened with Sourav Ganguly earlier," said a selector.

Indian origin youths explore their roots

2007-08-30T10:49:00.001-07:00

Twenty-nine youths of Indian origin from nine countries have arrived here for the latest edition of an orientation programme that is meant to help them rediscover their roots.

Welcoming the participants to the Know India Programme (KIP) here Thursday, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said, "you have known about India from your parents and grandparents. This is a chance for you to see India with your own eyes."

He exhorted the participants to explore and experience the real India through the programme, organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.

"Don't just go back after taking in the sights in cities like Delhi," Ravi said, adding: "Go to the rural areas. See the villages. That is the real India."

This year, Goa is the host state for the programme that runs Aug 29-Sep 15. The organisers have chalked out a series of events in collaboration with the Goa government to showcase Indian life and culture to the youth, who have come from countries like Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, South Africa, Canada, Britain, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Israel.

The participants will spend the first three days in Delhi attending lectures on Indian history, constitution and governance. In between they will also visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Maruti Suzuki car plant in Gurgaon.

Thereafter, they will proceed to Goa where they will be taken around the Goa University, the National Institute of Oceanography, BITS Pilani's Sancoale campus, the Mormugao Port Trust and an eco-tourism site among other places.

A highlight of their Goa sojourn will be visits to villages in interior areas where they will get to know the rural way of life by attending mock panchayat sessions and doing field work on issues like democracy at grassroots level, women's empowerment and empowerment of youth.

This apart, they will also take in the sights and sounds of Goa.

The participants come from different backgrounds - one is a fashion designer from Malaysia, another a teaching assistant from Canada while a third is a project team leader in British auto giant Rolls Royce. They are all excited about their visit here.

Said Jaya Manikchand, an attorney-at-law in Guyana: "I didn't feel at all strange after landing in India. The people are very warm and hospitable."

Manikchand, whose grandparents migrated to the Caribbean nation from Uttar Pradesh, looked forward to taking part in the community development programmes being organised as part of the KIP.

"I want to take back ideas from here so I can replicate them in Guyana," she said.

Though she had to take a circuitous route from her country to India - from Guyana to Trinidad to Barbados to London and finally to Delhi - she summed up the mood of the participants when she said: "I didn't really like the journey. But now I know it was worth it."

Why men fall for younger women

2007-08-30T10:48:00.001-07:00

To have the most children, men should find a partner six years younger and women a mate four years older, Austrian researchers said on Wednesday.

The researchers tried to use evolution to explain why men often prefer younger women and what typically drives women’s desire for older men, said their leader, Vienna University anthropologist Martin Fieder.

While it is no surprise to hear that men pick younger women to bolster their reproductive fitness and that women choose older partners for security, the study is the first to quantify the age difference that results in the most children, he said.

"Nobody has shown before this has consequences for the number of offspring," Fieder said in a telephone interview. "We have shown for the first time this is the case."

The researchers wanted to find the most beneficial ages for both men and women to have the most offspring, so looked at the data with that in mind and came out with different numbers for each.

Writing in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters on Wednesday, the researchers said they collected information from Swedish national registries to track the number of births and age of parents going back 55 years.

The researchers looked at men and women who did not change their partners between the birth of their first and last child and found the age differences among couples that produced the most offspring.

For both men and women, having a partner of the optimal age meant having an average of 2.2 children compared with 2.1 children when they picked partners of the same age — a significant number in evolutionary terms that accumulates over time, Fieder said.

The findings are the result of a statistical analysis and do not mean that every man can find a woman six years younger and that every women would find a man four years older. "It was a very systemic pattern," Fieder said. "We don’t think it is random."

The study of couples during their typical child-bearing years also showed that both men and women who changed partners usually chose a person younger than the one they had before for their second one, Fieder said.

Nuke deal on hold, panel to go into Left concerns

2007-08-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

In a climb down, the Government today put on hold the operationalisation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal pending the findings of a committee constituted to go into the objections raised by the Left parties.

"The operationalisation of the deal will take into account the Committee's findings," a statement read out by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after a meeting of the Congress and Left parties, bringing to an end the three-week stand-off between the two sides on the deal.

The meeting decided to set up a committee, the composition of which would be announced shortly.

Though Mukherjee did not take any questions after the 30-minute meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence, the Left leaders said the statement makes it very clear that the Government will not operationalise the deal till the committee's findings are known.

Ever since the details of the 123 agreement were made public, the Left parties had demanded that the deal should not be operationalised while the government maintained that there was no going back on the issue.

Matters took a serious turn when Singh dared the Left parties to withdraw support to the government on the issue and they hit back warning of serious consequences if the government went ahead with the deal.

The statement by Mukherjee said in view of the objections raised by the Left parties on the Indo-US bilateral agreement on nuclear cooperation, it has been decided to constitute a committee to go into these issues.

Satyam bags large contracts from FIFA

2007-07-31T09:09:00.002-07:00

Satyam Computer Services Ltd said on Tuesday it had signed two multi-million dollar contracts with FIFA to provide technical support for major events of the world soccer body.

"This is the start of long-term relationship that will see Satyam working closely with FIFA over the next few years," FIFA's head of information technology solutions, Michael Kelly, said in a statement issued by Satyam.

Satyam said the contracts with FIFA include development of an event management system। At 0802 GMT Satyam's shares were up 1।2 per cent at Rs 484.50, while the Mumbai market's IT index was up 0.2 per cent. The benchmark index was up 0.9 per cent.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

IT cos can earn by hiring more

2007-07-31T09:09:00.001-07:00

The Indian IT industry’s business model is stuck in the linearity mode. Simply put, IT companies are stuck in a business model where they can earn more revenues only by employing more people. Though many IT companies have realised that it’s a big problem resulting in lower revenue per employee. Others think that linearity will continue as it’s in the nature of business.

Says Infosys HR head TV Mohandas Pai: “It’s in the nature of business where you make money by selling people’s time. The largest IT company in the world, IBM, has about 325,000 employees. The largest IT companies in India still have less than one lakh employees. Clearly there’s more headroom for growth.” However, IBM’s revenue with that headcount is around $90 billion and Indian companies do not come anywhere close in terms of revenues even if we extrapolate their headcount to IBM levels.

Infosys has about 76,000 employee strength as of June 30, 2007. It plans to hire about 26,000 employees this fiscal which may make it over one lakh plus employee company. TCS has about 95,000 employees, Wipro has 68,000 and Satyam’s headcount is about 40,000 employees.

Mid-cap industry players hold a different viewpoint. “Linearity between employees and revenues is an issue,” says 3i chief financial officer and executive director, Amar Chintopanth. “It’s clearly a challenge. One can break the linearity by moving towards more transaction based pricing. But this kind of model works better in software and BPO rather than IT maintenance services. One can build a combination of both transaction based and time and materials billing models. Innovative billing model will break the linearity.”

Very few Indian IT companies operate solely on product business which does not work on linear business models. Voice BPO commands a billing rate of $10-14 per hour. Programming commands rates close to $15-18 per hour which go up to $25 in some cases. Clearly, scaling headcount becomes the only way out for companies operating with such business models.

Coffee may prevent skin cancer

2007-07-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

US scientists have said the combination of daily exercise and a cup of coffee may prevent skin cancers.

Past researches have shown that moderate consumption of coffee may offer some health benefits.

Coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable, stop a headache, boost mood and even prevent cavities, the studies had found.

A new study by scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey shows that a low to moderate intake of caffeine combined with exercise can be good for health and prevent skin damage caused by the sun's ultraviolet rays.

They arrived at this conclusion after conducting a study on mice, reported health portal News Medical.

For the study, the researchers used groups of hairless mice, whose skin is extremely vulnerable to the sun.

One group was given caffeinated water to drink, the equivalent of up to two cups of coffee for humans, another group voluntarily exercised on a running wheel, a third group both drank caffeine and ran, while a fourth group neither ran nor drank caffeine and acted as the control group.

All the mice were then exposed to lamps that generated ultraviolet radiation that damages the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in their skin cells.

They were then examined for evidence of programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis, which is the process by which cells with badly damaged DNA destroy themselves as a natural defence against illness and infection.

The scientists found that compared to the ultraviolet radiation exposed control group, the caffeine drinkers showed an increase of about 95 percent in ultraviolet radiation induced apoptosis, the exercisers showed a 120 percent increase, while the mice that were both drinking and exercising showed a nearly 400 percent increase.

One of the study's authors Allan Conney said if apoptosis takes place in a sun-damaged cell, its progress towards cancer will be aborted.

The team who reported their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said drugs that induce apoptosis are currently being researched as a method of preventing different types of cancer but the combination of caffeine and exercise appears to have a similar protective effect.

Via : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

RBI hikes CRR by 0.5%, leaves other rates unchanged

2007-07-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Reserve Bank Governor Dr Yaga Venugopal Reddy has hiked cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points to 7 per cent while the CRR repo and reverse repo rates as well as the bank rates remain unchanged.

Inflation target for 07-08 remain at 5 per cent according to the first quarter credit policy review unveiled on Tuesday.

GDP forecast for FY-08 has been set at 8.5 per cent. The new CRR rate will come into effect from August 04.

The RBI has also removed 3000 crore reverse cap from August 06.

The other highlights of the policy are as follows:

• Hedge funds pose significant risks to the markets says credit policy.

• Financial stability to add to market stance says RBI.

• Inflation targeted at 4 to 4.5 % in the medium term. Holding inflation within 5.0 per cent in 2007-08 assumes priority in the policy hierarchy, while reinforcing the medium-term objective to condition policy and perceptions to reduce inflation to 4.0-4.5 per cent on a sustained basis.

• CRR to be used for managing liquidity.

• Domestic outlook was favourable.

• Monetary stance spelt out in February 2007 continues.

• Credit policy guided by domestic policy.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.com

Enron pushing for inexpensive mediation decision

2007-06-18T12:49:00.001-07:00

When Enron enters mediation today with the bankers, shareholders and former employees that are suing the company, it will have a Houston legal heavyweight in its corner.

Enron has received permission from a bankruptcy judge to retain the law firm Susman Godfrey to represent it in the mediation and to sue the banks should mediation fail.

"We need our most able counsel to be there," said Brian Rosen, a bankruptcy lawyer for Enron.

Susman will receive $250,000 a month during the mediation and up to 1.25 percent of any money Enron recovers. If lawsuits become necessary, Susman will receive $1 million a month and up to 3 percent of cash recovered. The maximum the firm can receive is $200 million.

Although a lot of money, a 3 percent contingency is low in legal circles.

Generally, lawyers taking an individual's case on contingency will charge 20 to 45 percent. But lawyers handling class-action cases, institutional clients or gigantic sums often contract for lesser percentages.

"I'll probably have to hide my head around Joe Jamail for doing a contingency case for 3 percent," said Lee Godfrey, referring to the notable Houston trial lawyer.

"Nobody knows how many lawsuits might need to be filed," said Godfrey, a named partner. "If we can't negotiate this out, it will be a long project with multiple litigation and multiple defendants. We will be confronting a war."

Federal judges overseeing Enron's bankruptcy and civil lawsuits appointed a mediator to negotiate with key parties to jump-start a wide-ranging settlement. By opening the door to other parties, the mediator may have defeated his own purpose.

Several lawyers involved in the giant would-be class-action lawsuits said this week that by inviting more than just the few attorneys designated by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon of Houston and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez of Manhattan, the newly appointed mediator will bog down the process and render it useless.

The first scheduling meeting is to be held this morning by the mediator, 83-year-old senior U.S. District Judge William Conner, of White Plains, N.Y.

Harmon and Gonzalez ordered that only Enron and its creditors, a group of financial institutions, and the shareholder and employee plaintiffs in the would-be class-action suits would come to the table with Conner.

A mediator could help broker deals to resolve the civil and bankruptcy cases that have already run up hundreds of millions of dollars in legal bills. The financial institutions have the deep pockets, and if they could negotiate a settlement in the civil suits and the bankruptcy, where they are creditors and will likely be accused of aiding in the company's downfall, the rest of the defendants would likely fall in line.

But opening this nonbinding mediation to the dozens of parties and hundreds of lawyers could make even taking attendance a daunting task, much less finding a quick solution.

Conner is a Wichita Falls native who received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas in 1941 and 1942. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve during World War II and was appointed to the federal bench in 1974.

Conner has presided over cases from antitrust to securities fraud and presided over litigation arising from New York City's 1970s fiscal crisis. He has also handled a number of media- and entertainment-related cases.

Another judge named to mediate lawsuits

2007-06-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

The federal judges overseeing Enron Corp.'s bankruptcy and huge civil lawsuits Monday appointed a new mediator, an 83-year-old federal judge, to see if the company and some key parties can negotiate a settlement.

Senior U.S. District Judge William C. Conner, of White Plains, N.Y., was appointed mediator late Monday by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon of Houston and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez of Manhattan. Conner, an appointee of Richard Nixon, will mediate with Enron and its creditors, a group of financial institutions and the shareholder and employee plaintiffs in the would-be class-action suits.

Harmon and Gonzalez first ordered these groups to another mediator, New York-based U.S. District Judge Kevin T. Duffy, in the case in late May. They withdrew Duffy's name a week later at his request. In the meantime, the financial institutions and the lead plaintiffs have suggested mediators but the judges picked someone else.

Conner has presided over a variety of cases, from anti-trust to securities fraud, and presided over litigation arising from New York City's 1970s fiscal crisis. He has also handled a number of media- and entertainment-related cases.

In 1991, he became one of the first federal judges to allow TV cameras in the courtroom when he let a crew tape a copyright dispute over photos of the late actor James Dean.

Ideally, a mediator could help broker deals to resolve the civil and bankruptcy cases that have already eaten up hundreds of millions of dollars in legal bills.

These negotiations could also postpone the inevitable clashes as the two giant civil cases move into discovery. The parties in the civil cases, the bankruptcy and even the Enron Task Force prosecutors are likely to vie for control of the questioning of the witnesses, suspects and defendants.

The mediation is not binding, and what is discussed there cannot be used back in the courtroom. To streamline matters, most of the defendants are not required parties to these talks.

The financial groups ordered to mediation are J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch & Co., Barclays PLC, Lehman Brothers Holding, UBS Paine Webber and UBS Warburg, LLC, Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs.

There is currently no working scheduling order or trial date in the shareholder and employee class-action lawsuits.

Court sides with Wall Street banks

2007-06-18T12:46:00.002-07:00

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to investors suing over their losses in the crash of technology stocks seven years ago. In a 7-1 decision, the court sided with Wall Street banks that allegedly conspired to drive up prices on 900 newly issued stocks.

The justices reversed a federal appeals court decision that would have enabled investors to pursue their case for anticompetitive practices.

The case deals with alleged industry misconduct during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.

The outcome of the antitrust case was vital to Wall Street because damages in antitrust cases are tripled, in contrast to penalties under the securities laws.

The question was whether conduct that is the focus of extensive federal regulation under securities laws is immune from liability under federal antitrust laws.

An antitrust action raises "a substantial risk of injury to the securities market," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote. He said there is "a serious conflict" between applying antitrust law to the case and proper enforcement of the securities law.

In dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said the securities laws contain language that preserves the right to bring the kind of lawsuit investors filed against the Wall Street investment banks.

In 2005, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the conduct alleged in the case is a means of "dangerous manipulation" and that there is no indication Congress contemplated repealing the antitrust laws to protect it.

Investors allege that the investment banks, including Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, agreed to impose illegal tie-ins, or "laddering" arrangements. Favored customers were able to obtain highly sought-after new stock issues in exchange for promises to make subsequent purchases at escalating prices. The investment banks allegedly conspired to levy additional charges for the stock.

As a result of the conspiracy, the investors say, the average price increase on the first day of trading was more than 70 percent in 1999-2000, 8 1/2 times the level from 1981 to 1996.

Private class-action lawsuits, say plaintiffs' attorneys, provide a significant supplement to the limited resources available to the Justice Department to enforce the antitrust laws.

Lawyers for Wall Street investment banks say it is a highly technical matter where the line is drawn between legal and illegal activity in the sale of newly issued stock. It must be left to highly trained securities regulators to decide, rather than to courtroom juries in antitrust lawsuits brought by investors, the industry says.

The Supreme Court concluded that "antitrust courts are likely to make unusually serious mistakes" that hurt defendants. As a result, investment banks must avoid "a wide range of joint conduct that the securities law permits or encourages."

In other action, the court also added one case to its calendar for next term. It will consider whether an investor in a large 401k retirement plan can sue to recover losses to his individual account that are the fault of the plan's manager.

Other Wall Street institutions in the case before the Supreme Court were Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.; Citigroup Global Markets Inc.; Comerica Inc.; Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.; Fidelity Distributors Corp.; Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC; Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Co. Inc.; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; Janus Capital Management LLC; Lehman Brothers Inc.; Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.; Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.; Robertson Stephens Inc.; Van Wagoner Capital Management Inc.; and Van Wagoner Funds Inc.

Airbus order revives Boeing rivalry

2007-06-18T12:46:00.001-07:00

Having just signed a deal that could signal the recovery of troubled aircraft maker Airbus, the chief executive of Qatar Airways knows full well he has thrown the cat among the pigeons.

"I think you should be delighted that we are paying $16bn (£8bn) to a European company," Akbar Al Baker says.

"Today we are really putting ink on paper for the purchase agreement."

Ahead of the Paris air show, Airbus had failed to secure more than 13 orders for its mid-size, long-range A350 WXB, a rival to American aerospace giant Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which had already clocked up 584 orders.

New confidence

We are at the beginning of a new story

Louis Gallois, Airbus chief executive

In placing an order for 80 of the expensively redesigned A350s, Qatar has revived the rivalry between the two companies, despite much talk of the Airbus plane's faulty design and delayed arrival in the market place.

"This project is taking off in the best way," declares a beaming Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus.

"Now we are at the beginning of a new story."

Having announced more than $30bn in orders during the first day of the show - equivalent to what analysts had expected from all the aircraft-makers here combined - it seems Airbus' deal-makers have defied gravity in a manner only matched by the A380 super-jumbo's spectacular air display.

The giant 555-seat aircraft still turns heads, two years after its first fly-over in Paris, though there are many who bemoan the fact that the big bird has yet to be delivered to customers.

Qatar Airways has given Airbus a huge boost

The A380 delays, which have been caused by wiring problems, have cost Airbus dear and sparked concerns about the company's ability to deliver the A350 on schedule.

Mr Gallois is eager to ensure airlines that this time all is under control.

"We have learnt a lot [from the problems with the A380], and you can be sure we will take care of that," he says.

"I don't like the campaign right now that the [A350] aeroplane is not defined. It is defined, performance is defined, we are committed to achieve the performance, and we are offering guarantees to our customers."

No delays

Boeing's technologically advanced Dreamliner is set for a debut on 8 July and "we expect to deliver the first 787 in May next year", Scott Carson, head of Boeing's commercial airplanes division, tells BBC News in an interview.

Airbus lags far behind, with an estimated arrival date of 2013.

AIRCRAFT DELIVERED IN 2006

Airbus: 434

Boeing: 398

But at this stage the choice between the two aircraft has become easier for buyers since Boeing's swelling order book means it is operating a waiting list for new orders.

In other words, regardless of which plane a carrier was to choose at this stage, they would probably not take delivery till 2013 in any case.

Consequently, the two aircraft makers are back on a level-playing field as they vie for the attention of Emirates, which is planning to place an order for 100 aircraft.

Boeing executives are confident about the Dreamliner

The airline says it will place the entire order with just one of the companies, choosing either the A350 XWB or the 787 Dreamliner.

"We've got some talking to do to both Boeing and Airbus with regard to the commercial terms of the deal," says Emirates president Tim Clark.

"But I think we're in a good position to make an aircraft decision in the next few months.

Some observers say Qatar could also be in the market for more aircraft, though when asked whether he would be placing orders with Boeing anytime soon, Mr Al Baker remains mum.

"You get Mr Gallois worried when you talk about Boeing," he quips. "You shouldn't be talking about Boeing here."

Wendy's to consider sale

2007-06-18T12:45:00.001-07:00

Hamburger chain Wendy's International Inc. on Monday slashed its 2007 earnings forecast and said it would explore a possible sale of the company instead of other restructuring options.

Wendy's had said in April it would weigh options to boost strategic value, including a possible sale. The latest announcement shows that the fast-food chain sees a sale as a more likely option.

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A selection of Wendy's menu items in an undated image courtesy of the company. The hamburger chain said on Monday it would explore the possible sale of the company instead of other restructuring options. REUTERS/Handout

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"We believe recent sales and profit trends may have diminished board faith in the current strategy, and seem to have heightened resolve to sell the company," said David Palmer, an analyst with UBS Equity Research.

Shares of Wendy's, which has a market capitalization of about $3.5 billion, fell 3.2 percent. Wendy's stock had surged in April after the fast-food chain first said it was exploring a sale. Since then, the stock has risen about 20 percent.

The operator of the No. 3 U.S. hamburger chain cut its 2007 earnings forecast to a range of $1.09 to $1.23 a share, down from previous guidance of $1.26 to $1.32 a share. It cited lower-than-expected same-store sales and higher commodity costs for the reduced outlook.

For the first quarter, same-store sales rose 3.8 percent in the United States at company-operated restaurants, and rose 0.7 percent in the second quarter through June 15, Wendy's said.

Wendy's said the past two months had been challenging and it adjusted its pricing to bring its products in line with rivals such as McDonald's Corp. .

The new pricing strategy has hurt Wendy's short-term performance, but should generate more positive operating margins over the long-term, the company said.

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK SUSPENDED

Due to the potential sale of the company, Wendy's suspended its earnings outlook for 2008 and 2009.

Despite the weak fundamental performance at Wendy's, a private equity buyer could still squeeze value out of the chain by recapitalizing the debt, refranchising more company-owned restaurants and reinvigorate the brand through improved marketing, UBS's Palmer said.

Currently about 22 percent of Wendy's 9,900 restaurants are operated by the company, while 78 percent are run by franchisees, Palmer said.

Last month, Wendy's hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as its financial advisers for a possible deal.

"Our goal is to move forward expeditiously," said Wendy's Chairman James Pickett.

The special committee of the board is also weighing a possible securitization financing, which could be used by the potential buyer or in a recapitalization of the company.

Highfields Capital Management, which owns 8.5 percent of Wendy's, last month urged the fast-food chain to sell itself to the highest bidder, according to media reports. Last year, Wendy's succumbed to pressure from billionaire investor Nelson Peltz to shed its secondary brands.

US Offers Support to New Palestinian Government

2007-06-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Bush Administration has lifted its economic and political embargo against the newly-formed western-backed government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. VOA's Stephanie Ho reports from Washington.

Condoleezza Rice, 18 Jun 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she conveyed Washington's strong support in a phone call to new Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

"I congratulated him on his new post and I told him the United States would resume full assistance to the Palestinian government, and normal government to government contacts," said Condoleezza Rice.

President Abbas named the prime minister and a new Palestinian cabinet Monday. This follows his dismissal of Hamas member Ismail Haniyeh from his post as prime minister after Hamas seized control of Gaza last week in fighting between Hamas and Mr. Abbas's Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank.

Speaking to reports in Washington, Rice added that in a further show of support, the U.S. government is also lifting restrictions concerning private economic ties with the Palestinian government.

"We intend to lift our financial restrictions on the Palestinian government, which has accepted previous agreements with Israel and rejects the path of violence," she said. "This will enable the American people and American financial institutions to resume normal economic and commercial ties with the Palestinian government."

She said the Bush administration would work with Congress to restructure $86 million in assistance already promised to President Abbas's Palestinian Authority.

The U.S. government will also contribute an additional $40 million to the United Nations to help Palestinians, particularly those living in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. State Department considers Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, a terrorist group.

"Through its actions, Hamas sought to divide the Palestinian nation," said Rice. "We reject that. It is the position of the United States that there is one Palestinian people and there should be one Palestinian state."

Meanwhile, the White House says President Bush assured Mr. Abbas of U.S. support for his new government in a phone call.

The U.S. moves come as the European Union also announced plans to restart direct aid to the new Palestinian government in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated his country is ready to work toward peace with the new Palestinian government. Israeli officials say Mr. Olmert also promised to consider releasing hundreds of millions of dollars of Palestinian tax revenues frozen when a Hamas-led government took power last year.

Mr. Olmert met Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. He is scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Bush at the White House.

Boy Killed By Black Bear In Utah

2007-06-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Wildlife officers shot and wounded a bear Monday, just hours after an 11-year-old boy on a family camping trip was snatched from his tent and killed, a rare fatal attack in Utah's Wasatch Mountains. But the bear is still on the loose.

With 26 dogs assisting them in the search, authorities were confident that the bear that was shot was the same one that ripped through the tent shortly before midnight Sunday.

"The dogs are on the scent. ... We're hopeful this bear will be taken shortly," Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said at a morning news conference.

The boy, his mother, stepfather and a 6-year-old brother were sleeping in a large tent in a primitive camping area, about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

The boy, sleeping alone in a separate section of a large tent, screamed before he was dragged away in his sleeping bag, said Lt. Dennis Harris of the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

The boy's stepfather heard the scream, and immediately got up and ran out of the tent to try to find out what was going on. But there was no sign of the boy, Harris told CBS station KUTV.

A host from a nearby campground contacted police, who feared the boy had been kidnapped. Deputies blocked off the canyon, checking vehicles.

But they soon found evidence of a bear attack, including the ripped tent and what they believed were bear tracks.

Following the tracks, they found the boy about 400 yards from his tent, in the direction of another campsite where a bear sighting had been reported earlier in the weekend, Harris said.

It was not known what provoked the bear, though a bear can smell food for miles.

"They stick their nose in the air. It's like radar," said Hal Black, a biologist at Brigham Young University in Provo.

Karpowitz said it was the first fatal attack by a black bear in Utah.

"When it's hot and dry like this, bears are short of food," Karpowitz said.

In July 2006, a black bear bit the arm of a 14-year-old Boy Scout while he slept in a tent, also in Utah County. The female bear returned to the campground and was killed. The boy was not seriously injured.

The Utah wildlife agency and the U.S. Forest Service were pursuing the wounded bear with the help of a helicopter. It was described as a male, possibly 300 pounds and "jet black."

American Fork Canyon is a popular camping destination and home to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Harris said the family was camping about two miles up a dirt road.

"All he wanted to do was come up and have a good time with his family. And then something like this happens," Harris said. "It's probably the most devastating thing that can happen to a family."

"It's shaken everybody up. We're all distraught," said Scott Root, conservation outreach manager at the Utah wildlife agency. "It could put a lot of fear in the public."

Sunil Mittal to join board of StanChart

2007-05-02T06:41:00.003-07:00

MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel founder and chief Sunil Bharti Mittal will join the board of Standard Chartered PLC as an independent director. On Tuesday, the UK-based financial services major announced that Mittal will join the company as an independent non-executive director, effective August 1. The inclusion of Mittal on the bank’s board reflects the growing importance of the Indian market among global financial firms.

Mittal, 49, will be one of the nine independent directors on the board of over 150 years old Standard Chartered Bank. Along with Mittal, John Peace, chairman of Experian Group Ltd, a FTSE100 company, and Burberry Group PLC will also join the borad as an independent director.

‘‘Sunil is one of India’s most successful and highly respected entrepreneurs and I am very pleased that we have additional board representation from such an important market,’’ a Standard Chartered Bank release quoted Mervyn Davies, the company’s chairman.

Mittal is also the chairman of of Bharti Enterprises, controlling shareholder of Bharti Airtel, a US$35 billion market cap entity. It is also the leading mobile services company in India and one of the country’s top five companies by market cap. Last November, the Forbes magazine had ranked Mittal the sixth richest Indian, who had a combined family fortune of $6.9 billion. Other than his flagship telecom business, the group also has interests in life insurance, is planning to foray into organised retail and asset management businesses.

HFCL's Maloo may invest in Zicom

2007-05-02T06:41:00.001-07:00

MUMBAI: There seems to be an alliance brewing between Vinay Maloo of Himachal Futuristic Communications (HFCL) and Pramoud Rao of Zicom Electronic Security Systems (Zicom), which could result in Maloo investing in the electronic security business.

When contacted by TOI, Rao, MD of Zicom said nothing is on the cards. He added that Maloo and he knew each other and meet on social occasions, but that is about where the whole thing ends.

Sources said Maloo is very keen on partnering with Zicom. To facilitate the interest, Zicom is in the process of floating a new company, Zicom Global. Maloo is expected to buy a 26% stake in this entity. The idea being that Zicom Global will take up large electronic security projects on a built-operate-and-transfer (BOT) basis; but only in the overseas market.

It could not be ascertained as how the structure of the arrangement would eventually shape up as plans are yet to be firmed up. A London-based investment banker is believed to be working on the deal.

Even as this nuances of this relationship are being worked out, Zicom, as part of its expansion plans is close to acquiring a 51% stake in a Dubai-based fire fighting and safety equipment firm. ‘‘We have just got a board approval for raising upto $35 million by way of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and/or other foreign securities. Many investors including funds have approached us to invest in these financial instruments,’’ Rao said.

Rao started Zicom in 1994 in partnership with Manohar Bidaye, the chairman of company and is now the largest electronic security systems provider in the country with a turnover of nearly Rs 80 crore (FY2006). The promoters hold 31.2% stake in the company which is valued at Rs 176 crore, based on Monday’s closing price of Rs 174 on the BSE.

Zicom’s products include access control systems, CCTV surveillance, fire alarm systems and remote video surveillance catering to residential and institutions. Recently, the company forayed into retailing and has launched stores under the Zicom brand.

Vinay Maloo hit headlines when he joined hands with media moghul Kerry Packer in IT, communications and entertainment (ICE) space. The association led to the Packer picking up a stake in HFCL. Lot of hype surrounded HFCL which saw its stock zooming past the Rs 1,000 mark in early 2000. The scrip now trades in the range of Rs 20-Rs 23 on BSE. The beleagured Rs 756 crore group has not been doing well for some time now.

Exports at $124.6b in 2006-07

2007-05-02T06:40:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit widened to nearly $57 billion in 2006-07 as against $39.63 billion in 2005-06 due to surge in crude oil import bill.

Exports in 2006-07 rose 23.9% to $124.63 billion, in line with a target of $125 billion, while imports jumped 29.3% to $181.4 billion led by oil, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The import bill for crude oil went up to $ 57.27 billion as against 4 43.95 billion in 2005-06, showing a growth of 30.31%.Last month, commerce minister Kamal Nath forecast exports from India to grow to $160 billion in 2007-08 and would reach to $200 billion by 2008-09.

The cumulative value of imports during April-March, 2007 was $181.36 billion as against $ 140.23 billion in 2005-06. Exports in March 2007 jumped 15.38% year-on-year to $12.5 billion, pushing the exports during the year to $ 124.63 billion.

Imports for March grew 18.62% to $16.38 billion taking the total imports during the year to reach to $ 181.36 billion, according to the data released by the commerce ministry. The country’s trade deficit stood at $3.79 billion in March taking the full year deficit to $56.73 billion in the entire fiscal.

Crude oil imports stood at $4.59 billion in March, 2007 as compared to $4.20 billion in the corresponding period last year, registering a growth 9.39%.Non-oil imports grew 16.55% to $11.78 billion during March 2007 as against $10.11 billion in the same month last year.

Calcutta HC opens CBI report on Nandigram

2007-05-02T06:39:00.003-07:00

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court, which on Wednesday opened a CBI report on the police action in Nandigram in which 14 persons were killed, directed the West Bengal government to place before it a status report on the troubled area by Thursday.

A division Bench comprising Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice P C Ghose, after going through the CBI report, said the central investigating agency had given its report on the basis of its findings till March 23 and was inconclusive.

The Bench quoted a paragraph of the report which said the CBI could not come to any definite conclusion yet.

The court directed state Advocate General Balai Roy to submit a status report on the situation in Nandigram till date to get a clear picture.

Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for one of the several petitioners in the case, submitted that situation in Nandigram was very volatile and that one person was killed and some others injured in fresh clashes last Sunday, while some artistes and intellectuals who had gone to the troubled area to distribute relief were assaulted on Tuesday.

The court directed that the CBI report, except for the one paragraph that it read out, would remain in sealed cover till further direction.

The matter would be heard again on Thursday.

The Chief Justice had, just a day after the police action on March 14, directed the CBI to enquire into the police firing at Nandigram and to submit a report before it.

Calcutta HC opens CBI report on Nandigram

2007-05-02T06:39:00.001-07:00

Growing trees with human DNA

2007-05-02T06:38:00.004-07:00

To replace the unused "junk" DNA in trees with entire human genomes, two art students are planning to grow trees containing the genetic identity of human beings.

Scientists have advised the pair that it is perfectly feasible. The "humanised" trees would be unaffected by the change, but still carry the biological essence of the DNA donors. One possibility envisaged is that the trees could replace gravestones as a way of preserving the memory of loved ones, says a report in The Telegraph.

According to the report, Georg Tremmel, an Austrian studying design at the Royal College of Art in London and a Japanese colleague, Shiho Fukahara, hope to create the first hybrid trees within a year.

"Life is DNA," said Tremmel, "The basic idea is that if you can pass your DNA into a tree you would have another chance to prolong your life in storage."

Jupiter-like planet discovered light years away

2007-05-02T06:38:00.003-07:00

Astronomers searching for signs of a Solar System like our own said on Thursday that they had found a planet very similar to Jupiter orbiting a star resembling the Sun, 90 light years away.

"This is the closest we have got to a real Solar System-like planet and advances our search for systems that are even more like our own," said UK team leader Hugh Jones of Liverpool John Moores University.

The planet was discovered by British, American and Australian astronomers using the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales.

With a mass twice that of gas giant Jupiter, the planet circles star HD70642 in the constellation Puppis once every six years.

In relation to its own distance from its star, if it were in the Solar System it would be about half way between Mars and Jupiter.

"The long-term goal of this programme is the detection of true analogues to the Solar System," the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council said in a statement.

"This discovery of a Jupiter-like gas giant planet around a nearby star is a step towards this goal.

"The discovery of other such planets and planetary satellites within the next decade will help astronomers assess the Solar System's place in the galaxy and whether planetary systems like our own are common or rare," it added.

Handsome men produce best sperm: Study

2007-05-02T06:38:00.001-07:00

Handsome men produce the best quality semen and beautiful women seem to have good voices, according to scientists.

When researchers at the University of Valencia in Spain tested the quality of male sperm and then later asked women to rank the attractiveness of the donors it produced some interesting results.

"They found that men with the most attractive faces also make the best quality sperm," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

In another study, researchers at the University of Nottingham in England compared the quality of female voices and their facial features. After playing recordings of 30 young women to men, who ranked them in order, the researchers asked them to look at their pictures and choose the most striking faces.

"The men judged women with the nicest voices as the most attractive, on average," the magazine added.

Is there an Indian Linux bootable CD?

2007-05-02T06:37:00.003-07:00

I want to try Linux as the free alternative to the Windows and MS Office on my PC. Is there any Indian Linux that I can try without having to install it on my hard disk? (Robbie Sharma)

Lify is your answer, a new distribution of GnuLinux that fits on just one CD. Insert it in your PC and start the machine. Your PC ignores the C drive and the Windows on it, and boots straight into GnuLinux. Made by Indians for India, LiFY contains the Linux OS, the free OpenOffice software, the Mozilla web browser and mail application, graphics, multimedia, music software, and a good selection of education software for all age groups. All free. You can also freely copy and share the CD with your friends and neighbours. Find the CD with the latest edition of LinuxForYou magazine, or you may contact linuxforu.com. Or try your local Linux User Groups, from linux-india.org. LiFY is based on Knoppix, and is easier to install LiFY on your hard disk as well. It can run from an old Pentium I or Celeron PC, to the latest generation CPUs.

I am bored of all my computer games, and want something really different and exciting to play during these summer holidays. Any suggestions? (Jaideep Singh Kohli)

A new kind of game has just been launched, called 'Journey to Wild Divine'. The game features a biofeedback USB interface designed to allow a player or players to navigate through the game using their mind-power, breath, and heart rate. This is a wild and visionary concept which works so fluidly that you can blow on the screen and objects move as if propelled by your breath. The game features an awesome soundtrack, including Grammy-nominated artists and spanning many genres. This is the new generation of gaming, and you have never experienced anything like this before. Find out more at www.wilddivine.com

What are 16-bit and 32-bit types of software. Does a 16-bit software slow down the performance of a PC? How can I find out which type of software I have? (Suresh Bhardwaj)

Take a computer with its given speed, stated in MegaHertz or GigaHertz. When the data inside it zips along in 16-lanes of highway, and when it zips along in 32-lanes of highway, obviously the latter gives you faster performance. Most new software are 32-bit. Excitingly, new 64-bit chips are being launched. Several distributions of GnuLinux have a 64-bit version. The only way to find out the version of your software is by checking with the software manufacturer.

How can I connect my television to my computer and use my CD-player to see movies? (Mohit Rajvanshi)

Just install a video-out card. Several cards are available from Rs 1,200 to Rs 3,500.

I want to learn how to become a hacker, learn the art of writing computer viruses, and also how to break secure systems. How can I become a professionally-qualified computer hacker? (Saurabh Suri)

The University of Calgary in Canada is going to start teaching select computer science students to write software viruses in a special new disconnected lab. More information on this controversial course at www.ucalgary.edu. If you think Indian engineering colleges should also teach similar academic courses, email your colleges stating reasons for your request.

I am a mathematics researcher and find the prohibitive licenses and prices of mathematics software restrictive. Do free, alternative mathematics software packages exist? (Amitabh Trehan)

Several. According to mathematics experts in India, the leading ones are as follows: n Octave, which is a GPL implementation of a subset of MatLab. n R, a GPL implementation of of 'S'. n Maxima, MIT Macsyma, symbolic math. n GSL, the Gnu Scientific Library. n GnuPlot, for scientific graphics. n SciLab, from INRIA, France. n Mayavi, for 2D and 3D scientific data visualisation. It is written and maintained by Prabhu Ramachandran, one of the founding members of Chennai Linux User Group, and currently working on his Ph.D. in Aeronautics at IIT Madras. n Mupad, for numerical mathematics. n Yacas, for symbolic algebra. Do a google-search to find their sites, please.

I have an old Pentium with Win98. Some CDs don’t work in my drive, and I have been advised to upgrade to a new CD drive. Will the new generation of drives work on my PC? Can I also upgrade to Windows XP? (Hari Shankar)

The new CD drives will work. The software drivers know how to adjust the speed should the system performance be slower. Just ensure the drives ship with a Win98 driver, else check on driverguide.com. WinXP may install, but you will find you may need to upgrade your hard disk, add generous amounts of RAM, and would still find performance issues. The 'throughput' of your Win98 would be more than XP on this machine.

Can a CD lens be used for a CD-burner as well? (Siddharth Anand)

Sure, but would typically clean the 'reading' lens and other mechanism. If problems persist, you need a professional support engineer.

Can I combine my old Cyrix 233 Mhz processor and my Intel Cerelon 766Mhz processor in some way so that I can get the combined power? (Sameer)

Depends on your work. The most popular way is to create a 'supercomputer'. The free and alternative way to do this is to use Beowulf, a linux supercomputer cluster. You will still not match the performance of today's or even a generation older CPUs. Better to sell the components and just buy a new computer.