Apple iPhone 4S: May become highest-selling gadget

Apple Inc's new iPhone debuted with a splash across the globe, spurring thousands to queue around city blocks and snap up the final gadget unveiled during co-founder Steve Jobs' life.

Shares of Apple leapt 3 percent to close at a record after people thronged stores in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Paris, New York and San Francisco to get their hands on the iPhone 4S, ignoring criticism about the lack of a design revolution and reports of software glitches.

Fans in Sydney, Tokyo, Frankfurt and London made sure Jobs, who died last week, remained part of the iPhone 4S launch, with flower, candle and photo shrines erected outside stores. A black-and-white picture of the visionary leader in Covent Garden carried the line: "Let's make a dent in the universe."

In New York and San Francisco, hundreds showed up as expected but the mood proved more subdued than was typical on an iPhone launch day.

"I have a lot of respect for how he led the company and so the turnout, and especially the preorder sales, is a mark of appreciation for him," insisted Chris Centers, who was one of the people who has lined up outside the store.

One of the buyers had also stopped by to lay flowers at the San Francisco store's glass wall in honor of Jobs.

The new model looks similar to the previous iPhone 4 but has an upgraded camera, faster processor, enhanced security and voice-activated software, which lets users ask the phone questions. The voice software drew glowing reviews.

Unveiled just a day before Jobs died, it was initially dubbed a disappointment, partly because it looked identical to its predecessor. But anticipation of the "Siri" voice software helped it set an online record in orders on October 7.

Rivals' woes may have provided a boost. Research in Motion struggled for days to fix an international outage of its email and messaging services.

Also, about one in four people who thronged Apple stores from Tokyo to San Francisco told Reuters they were ditching BlackBerries, discarding Nokias or even giving up Google Android-based phones, hoping for something better.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device sold without Jobs at Apple's helm will protect the company against a growing challenge from the likes of arch-rival Samsung Electronics.

Analysts believe the South Korean company, which powers its phones with Google's Android software, surpassed Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of unit sales in the third quarter.

Apple does not release sales on launch day, so gauging initial figures is difficult. However, the company took more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after the release of the iPhone 4S, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, which was sold in fewer countries initially.

Sprint -- joining Verizon and AT&T in Apple's roster for the first time -- said on Friday it had chalked up a launch-day sales record for any device -- by around noon.

Jobs "made everything better and the products he released were thought through in such detail," Duncan Hoare, a foreign exchange trader, said as a loud roar greeted the opening of an Apple store in London. "It was about the beauty of something and the simplicity."

Glitches?

The iPhone -- seen as the gold standard for smartphones -- is Apple's highest-margin product and accounts for 40 percent of its annual revenue. The newest iteration uses chips from Qualcomm Inc, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked the device open on Thursday.

Despite the enthusiasm at stores, Friday's launch was marred somewhat by widespread complaints on the Internet this week about problems downloading iOS 5, the latest version of Apple's mobile software.

There were also problems with iCloud, Apple's online communications, media storage and backup service formally launched on Wednesday; users reported glitches such as losing their email access.

Queues in Paris were smaller than those normally seen for a brand-new iPhone, with some fans there wondering if the somewhat underwhelming introduction had put people off. But in London and elsewhere the lines were as long as ever.

"Despite the initial disappointment that this wasn't an iPhone 5, the reality is we're still seeing the usual frenzy that we've got used to on launch day," analyst Ben Wood at CCS Insight told Reuters. Analysts expect global sales of a few million phones on the first weekend, he added.

Analysts point to several factors in Apple's favor, including a $199 price that matches up well with rival devices, and availability promised on more than 100 carriers by the end of 2011, far more than its predecessors.

Underscoring the enthusiasm for the new phone, Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp had to temporarily stop contract applications after its computer system was overwhelmed with more requests than it had expected.

Some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments to reach 30 million or more, almost twice as many as a year ago.

"I am a fan, a big fan. I want something to remember Steve Jobs by," said Haruko Shiraishi, waiting patiently with her Yorkshire terrier Miu Miu at the end of an eight-block queue in Tokyo's smart Ginza shopping district.

Railways hikes freight rates by 6%

Inflation is likely to shoot further as railways has announced a 6% hike on its freight charges for all commodities to meet the growing financial burden that the state-run transporter is facing due to rising operating cost.

The hike will have a cascading effect on prices. And, will certainly hit the aam aadmi, bearing the brunt of rising food inflation, hard.

With increase in transportation cost of commodities like foodgrains, coal, fertilizer and iron ore, traders will pass on the burden to the consumers.

The circular, issued by the Railway Board, shows that freight prices of all commodities have been revised from existing 7% to 10% as busy season charge on the base freight rate.

The hike, which comes into effect from Saturday, follows an increase in freight charges levied in March. The busy season charge will be levied on all commodities except containerized cargo and certain automobile traffic, and is likely to continue till June 30, 2012. The poor financial condition and rising operating cost has forced railways to amend its earlier decision taken in March.

In March, railways had levied a busy season charge of 5% on coke and coke group and 7% on all other commodities between October 2011 and March 2012. Now, the rates have been revised to 10%.

Under the dynamic pricing policy, railways has increased development surcharge on all goods tariff from 2% to 5%. The hike, which came after four years, will be levied on normal tariff rate.

Rail officials have defended the move, arguing that operating cost has increased due to rise in prices of oil, steel and employees' salaries by 15%-20%. Railways, they claimed, is passing a partial burden of the increasing operation cost, while the rest is being met by increasing efficiency and productivity.

An official pegged the burden on the industry between Rs 1,200 crore and Rs 1,500 crore.

Obama to challenge China on trade as election nears

The Obama administration, under fire for not taking a harder line on China over its currency, appears set to move against the Asia export powerhouse on other fronts as next year's US elections approach.

The United States is likely to launch fresh challenges against China at the World Trade Organization, probably stoking tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

"I expect the United States will be bringing more cases against China in the coming year," said James Bacchus, who as a former WTO appellate judge used to sit in judgment of international trade disputes.

Already firmly in campaign mode, President Barack Obama recently boasted of taking a tougher line on trade than his predecessors. China, its currency and other trade issues have already become a big issue in the election campaigning.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has ratcheted up his criticism of China, despite his party's traditionally pro-free trade stance.

"If you are not willing to stand up to China, you will get run over by China, and that's what's happened for 20 years," the former Massachusetts governor said on Tuesday.

He was speaking shortly after the U.S. Senate passed legislation to crack down on Chinese currency practices that US lawmakers blame for millions of lost jobs.

Sensitive to how the criticism of China plays with US voters, Obama has not yet explicitly said he would veto the bill. In any case, the legislation is unlikely to pass the House of Representatives where Republican leaders have voiced concern that it might breach WTO rules and could spark a trade war which would damage U.S. corporations.

But Obama is likely to want to show voters his mettle on trade issues and trade experts say he has plenty of options to pursue which, unlike the Senate currency bill, are likely to conform with WTO rules.

New government data on Thursday that showed the U.S. trade deficit with China hit a record $29 billion in August and is also likely to set a record for the year could add to the pressure on Obama to act.

Last week, U.S. trade officials notified the WTO of some 200 Chinese government subsidy programs and scolded Beijing for not taking the action itself as required under WTO rules.

U.S. officials at the WTO's headquarters in Geneva also recently took China to task over agricultural policies that they said unfairly discriminated against foreign suppliers.

One case likely to surface in coming months is a complaint against Chinese export restrictions on rare earth minerals used in variety of high tech and clean energy goods, Bacchus said.

Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he also believed U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk's office was laying the groundwork for a number of new trade cases against China.

"I think USTR is moving aggressively to ensure strong enforcement of U.S. trade rights and I think that is a high priority in the White House," Schott said.

Both Obama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have recently sharpened their criticism of Beijing's failure to protect U.S. intellectual property, an area that the United States has successfully challenged in the past at the WTO and could be ripe for additional complaint, Bacchus said.

In another warning sign for China, U.S. lawmakers have been pressing for action against Chinese government subsidies for its solar industry and other "green" technologies, an area prominently included in the USTR report to the WTO last week.

The United States may need to tread carefully in that area since it has its own programs to support renewable power.

TENSE ATMOSPHERE

Analysts cautioned the highly charged political atmosphere in Washington -- as Republicans and Democrats struggle for position ahead of presidential and congressional elections in 2012 -- could be misread by Beijing.

China faces a leadership succession of its own in 2012-13, adding to the potential for tensions between the two countries to worsen.

"We've been seeing for some time in (the United States) a serious flirtation with increased protectionism," said Doug Paal, a China expert and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"I have been telling the Chinese that they should take this seriously, but I've been warning them that next year is the one that they're really going to have to worry about."

Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said any tit-for-tat measures had the potential to blow up into something much more serious.

"There is a real and present danger that symbolic measures initiated by either side spiral into a more serious trade conflict as both sides strive to flex their muscles for the benefit of domestic audiences," Prasad said. "Much acrimony lies ahead but the big question is whether it will spill over into open warfare that could be mutually harmful."

Satyam case: Supreme Court grants bail to five

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to four erstwhile Satyam Computers Services Ltd employees and an official of its statutory auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accused in one of India's biggest corporate frauds.

Satyam Computers Services Ltd's former senior manager V Venkatapathy Raju, former assistant manager C S Srisailam, former vice president G Ramakrishna, former head of its internal audit V.S. Prabhakar Gupta and PwC employee Subramani Gopalakrishnan were granted bail.

An apex court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Dipak Misra said they will be released upon the satisfaction of the trial court and they will deposit, if not done already, their passports to the trial court.

The four former officials of Satyam Computers Services Ltd along with the firm's erstwhile owner Ramalinga Raju and his brother are facing prosecution for fudging the company accounts and showing inflated profits which became one of the greatest corporate scams.

The surfacing of the scam and consequent collapse of the company left lakhs of shareholders and others duped

12-year-old takes gun for toy pistol, shoots friend dead

NEW DELHI: An innocent game of chor-police turned bloody as a 12-year-old boy fired at his playmate with a loaded gun assuming it was a toy pistol. The pistol was bought by the boy's uncle Mukesh (21), who was staying with him at a rented room in Raghuvir Nagar, west Delhi.

A profusely bleeding Chandan, 10, was rushed toDDU Hospital, where he succumbed to bullet injury later. He was a student of Class-VI at a Raghuvir Nagar school and was staying with his parents in the same building.

"The incident was reported on Saturday around 7.15pm. We have arrested Mukesh, who was staying in the accused child's room for the past one year. Since Mukesh is also from Azamgarh, the boy's father allowed him to stay in the room.

During interrogation, Mukesh revealed that he had bought the pistol from one of his contacts in Uttar Pradesh and had hidden it in a trunk in the room,'' said additional commissioner of police (West) V Renganathan.

Sources in the police said initial investigation revealed that the 12-year-old boy had no idea that it was a real, loaded gun. "We have sent the boy to a remand home. We are waiting for the juvenile court's direction to proceed in the case,'' said an investigating officer.

The boy's father, Ramchandra Singh, has also been arrested for allegedly trying to destroy evidence. Ramchandra rubbed the blood stains off the floor immediately after the incident.

Gajendra Pal Singh, owner of the building and who runs an electronics shop, told the police that he kept tenants to earn extra money. "Ramchandra hails from Azamgarh and had come to Delhi three months ago with his 12-year-old son. Mukesh had moved into the room a month back. A few days ago the boy had seen his "uncle" playing with the gun and thought that it was a toy,'' said Gajendra.

Gajendra said Chandan was the son of a bank collection agent Sanjeev Kumar. Chandan and the accused boy soon became close friends. "On Saturday, I heard a loud thud. I rushed to the portico only to find Chandan lying in a pool of blood. I immediately called the police. I also informed Chandan's mother. Doctors at the hospital said Chandan had received a bullet wound on his head,'' Gajendra told the investigating officer.

"We are investigating whether the two arrested men were planning to commit a crime. The accused boy's mother, who stays in Azamgarh , has been informed,'' said Renganathan. 

New Audi A6 2.0 litre TDI launched

The Audi A6 has always been a successful executive sedan all over the world. The new A6 comes with a lighter body which has been constructed out of aluminium and high tech steels which has also made it stiffer. These words – lighter and stiffer are always a good indication in the automobile industry. A lighter car is more fuel efficient and Audi say that their car has been tested by an independent body and found to return a scarcely believable 18.9 km/pl under real Indian road conditions. A stiffer car means a more rigid body cell which improves handling. A stiffer car is also safer in the event of a crash due to increased structural integrity, this means that more energy is required to bend the structure of the body keeping the occupants safe.

 Audi have incorporated the lightweight technology called ‘Audi ultra’ in the new A6 which was originally developed for their 24 hour Le Mans endurance racing series. Audi has won the Le Mans series ten times and were the first car maker to enter a diesel powered car in Le Mans.

As is the case with executive sedans the new Audi A6 comes loaded with gizmos and technology such as a multimedia system, safety features and other innovative features. Audi have reduced the NVH levels for lower cabin noise due to precision tuning of various mechanical components and hydraulic damping in the drivetrain bearings and the axle. The new car is 4.92 meters long, 1.87 meters wide and 1.46 meters high. The four cylinder 2.0 liter turbo charged engine has been calibrated to deliver 177 horsepower.

 Michael Perschke, the Head of Audi India commented on the new A6 by saying, “It gives us great pride in showcasing that the new Audi A6 has again established a new benchmark globally and now proven on Indian roads. With the reversion of the weight spiral, we were able to make the new A6 lighter than its predecessor thanks to the use of hybrid materials and using our years of experience with aluminium. We have now proved on Indian road conditions that our diesel technology leadership is very relevant and successful. This technology made us the winner at the world famous endurance race - 24hrs of Le Mans this year again. The new A6 2.0 TDI is a new benchmark globally and in India for sporty, yet efficient driving, paired with Audi’s progressive design. We achieved consumption levels with a 1585 kg weight car, which many smaller cars in India cannot achieve. This clearly signifies our philosophy - "Vorsprung durch Technik". With the arrival of this important model and the 2.0 TDi engine in India, we are confident that we might even increase our forecast for this year based on a strong response to the new A6."

 The Audi A6 has proved to be a very good executive sedan and has given its competition something to worry about over the years. The new car with its light weight body and incredible fuel efficiency will make for a very good car and will give its competition a run for its money.

Decline in shark population worldwide

Sharks are in big trouble on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and worldwide, according to scientists who claim to have developed the world's first way to measure rates of decline in shark population.

"There is mounting evidence of widespread, substantial, and ongoing declines in the abundance of shark populations worldwide, coincident with marked rises in global shark catches in the last half-century," said lead scientist Mizue Hisano at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

He added: "Overfishing of sharks is now recognised as a major global conservation concern, with increasing numbers of shark species added to the International Union for the Conservation of nature's list of threatened species.

"First, many countries with coral reefs don't keep reliable records of catches or fishing effort. Second, around 75 per cent of the world shark catch consists of illegal and unreported finning. Third, sharks may be caught, discarded, and not reported when fishers are targeting other species."

The scientists have developed several alternative models, which combined birth rates and growth rates for sharks with a variety of different methods for estimating mortality.

They then used state-of-the-art statistical methods to combine the uncertainty associated with each of these methods and arrive at a more robust long-term population prediction for two GBR shark species -- the grey reef shark and the whitetip reef shark.

As a further check on their results, the scientists used their population projections to see how well their models could explain differences in shark abundances on fished and unfished reefs, based on how long the unfished reefs had been protected.

The team found that results obtained by all methods of assessing shark population were in close agreement that sharks are declining rapidly due to fishing.

"Our different approaches all painted a surprisingly consistent picture of the current state of population decline, but also of the potential recovery of these species if they are adequately protected.

"More broadly, we believe that our study demonstrates that this approach may be applied to a broad range of exploited species for which direct estimates of mortality are ambiguous or lacking, leading to improved estimates of population growth," Hisano said.