Jeddah: Two days after inflation figures threw up a 13-year high of 11.05%, largely attributed to the hike in fuel prices, finance minister P Chidambaram cautioned oil producers that they would also suffer in case the global economy slows down or slips into recession due to high oil prices. India, he said, had passed on barely 9% of the required price increase to customers three weeks ago and the result was that inflation crossed 11%. Even oil producing countries like Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela face double digit inflation up to 29.3%.

Caught between the tough lines they have pursued on the nuclear deal, both Congress and Left have now turned to allies to mediate to save the coalition from a seemingly irreconciliable situation.

Setting aside the speculation, Tata Ryerson MD Sandipan Chakravortty assured on Friday that the Tata small car Nano will be rolled out in October from the Singur factory only. Tata Ryerson is one of the key component manufacturers of Rs 1 lakh car, Nano.

Nagpur: Rising petroleum prices are likely to make PET products costly. With crude on the boil, polymers the raw material for making plastic products have become dearer by over Rs 10,000 per tonne within a month. As a result there is a likelihood of plastic packaging material manufacturers passing on the cost hike to endusers.

Beijing: The Chinese government has raised the price of petroleum products by 18 per cent. This is expected to cause a dramatic rise in inflation, which is at a 12-year high. But the government has taken care not to upset the middle class by exempting bus and rail passengers and LPG users across the country besides the earthquake hit Sichuan region from the ill affects of the price hike.

Whether air fares

Now, The Main Question: Did The Ice Ever Melt And Turn Mars Into A Habitable Place? After a decade of shouting, "Follow the water!' in its exploration of Mars, Nasa can finally say that one of its spacecraft has reached out, touched water ice and scooped it up. Now, scientists will be able to tackle the main question they hope to answer: Did the ice ever melt and turn Mars into a habitable place?

A French-US satellite, which will provide the most accurate monitoring ever of rising sea levels and track the effects of climate change, was launched into orbit on Friday from a California base. A rocket carrying the Jason 2 satellite took off from Vandenberg Air Force base. Jason 2 is a 510kg oceanography space lab designed to provide precise monitoring of rising sea levels and currents, which are among the most serious consequences of global warming.

Kudos to Jug Suraiya for writing the straightforward and hard-hitting Second Opinion,

While the government expectedly turned down the