MARATHI

JAYANT VAIDYA, a senior lecturer and consultant surgeon at Dundee University, Scotland, is leading a team of surgeons who have discovered a new method for the early detection of breast cancer they hope will make it easier for doctors to determine if a lump is cancerous. This could lead to advances in the understanding of the disease. 
The team discovered malignant tumours remain cold when surrounding breast tissue is heated to about 20 degrees Celsius.
They conducted tests on tumours removed from six women shortly after they underwent surgery at the Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. 
Vaidya said: “Nothing like this has been done before. We heated up a specimen and used a high-resolution thermal imaging camera to take a picture. We found the tumour stayed cold while the rest of the tissue heated up. Then we did the same thing on another five samples and every single one had the same outcome.”
The team hopes that a probe could be developed to insert into the breast and heat the area around the tumour, which could mean bypassing a painful biopsy.

United States

SANJAYA MALAKAR, the most talked about contestant in last year’s edition of “American Idol”, has signed up with Nationwide to star in the latest spots of the insurance company’s popular “Life Comes At You Fast” ad campaign targeting the South Asian community.
In the ad, the 18-year-old, known for his wild hairstyles, seeks guidance from a swami in a monastery in India. The swami tells him to get a retirement plan and a haircut!
Thrilled to feature in the ad, Sanjaya was quoted as saying in a press release: “My experience on ‘American Idol’ was a great example of how life really does come at you fast. The ad is a funny take on the serious subject of planning for retirement.”

BENGALI

SUBRATA ROY of the University of Florida has designed a plasma-propelled flying saucer. He has submitted a patent application for a circular, spinning aircraft reminiscent of the spaceships in Hollywood films. He calls it a “wingless electromagnetic air vehicle,” or WEAV.
The proposed prototype is small—less than six inches across—and will be powered by on-board batteries. The propulsion system for Roy’s saucer sprouts from his extensive US air force-funded plasma actuator research.
Roy says the design can be scaled up and should work in a much larger form. In miniature, the design has many uses. “The most obvious functions would be surveillance and navigation,” he says.

MARWARI

L.N. MITTAL, Britain’s richest man, is in negotiations to buy a neo-Georgian house in London for £117 million for his 32-year-old son Aditya.
The palatial home, located in Kensington Palace Gardens, a street dubbed Billionaires’ Row in West London, is fully furnished and with an art collection.
When the deal goes through, the house will be the Mittal family’s second property in the tree-lined private avenue near the Royal residence that was home to Princess Diana.
Mittal is close to an agreement with the owner, Noam Gottesman, a 47-year-old Israeli-American financier.
The four-storey house has at least five bedroom suites plus extensive servants’ quarters and is described as an institutional neo-Georgian building typical of a type built from the 1920s onwards. 
“It is the limited opportunities to acquire such a house as this, the rarity of these houses coming on the market, that makes it so expensive,” a property industry insider said. 
Just a few months ago, Mittal put his £40 million house at Bishops Avenue on sale after the owners got council permission to build luxury apartments overlooking his property.

GENERAL

THE SINGAPORE government has invited overseas Indians from South East Asia and the Pacific nations to hold a two day jamboree in October this year.
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi stated that the Indians have accepted the invitation and that the event will be attended by NRIs from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Fiji and other neighbouring countries. 
A similar meet was organised in New York previously to showcase the strength of Indian Americans who are among the most prosperous ethnic communities in the US.
Some 25 million people of Indian origin are spread over 130 countries, with 400,0000 in Singapore and 4.1 million in Malaysia.

India

THE PROPOSED PIO/NRI University, which will be set up in Bangalore, will be run by the Manipal Academy of High Education (MAHE), says Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
The university will have deemed university status and is planned to commence from the 2009-2010 academic year. Fifty per cent of the students will be resident Indians.
The MAHE Trust is to detail the cost of setting up the institution and also select the name, and maintain a fee structure that is to be reasonable and affordable.