Modern economies depend on energy and the limited supplies of oil and gas have seen a huge increase in prices. Both India and Pakistan face the problem of insufficient natural gas to meet the increasing domestic demand for energy.

All the gas production in South Asia is currently used to meet the domestic needs. Natural gas is used to supply the new power plants, in an attempt to diversify from expensive oil imports. The result is an increase in the natural gas usage over the last decade.

Iran on the other hand has abundant gas resources, especially with the natural gas reserves that have been discovered in Iran’s South Pars fields in 1988. Ever since then, the Iranian government has been trying to increase its gas exports abroad. Iran understands the potential of high profits from gas-hungry countries in South Asia, such as India and Pakistan.

More than a decade ago, in 1995, Iran and Pakistan have signed an agreement for constructing a natural gas pipeline from Iran’s South Pars gas fields to Karachi, which is Pakistan’s main industrial port. Later, Iran came up with the proposal of extending the pipeline to India. However, the Indian government was not keen on entering into an agreement with Pakistan, owing to the tense relationship between the two countries. India came up with an alternative plan, suggesting the creation of a deep sea pipeline, to avoid any threat to security of resources. All that was in the past.

The potential for developmental and economic gain from natural gas ultimately forced Iran, Pakistan and India to reassess the situation. With relations between India and Pakistan improving and compromise on the pricing structure by Iran, this pipedream is turning into reality.

This project can prove to be vital for all three countries. It will give Iran a chance to gain entry into one of the biggest markets for energy resources, while India and Pakistan, with their fast growing economies will have sufficient long-term supplies to meet the increasing domestic demands.

Iran, Pakistan and India are expected to sign a deal soon, for building a 1,724 mile long natural gas pipeline that would carry 2120 million cubic feet of gas per day initially. The pipeline will run from Iran to Pakistan and then to India. Although, initially the project was estimated to cost $4.5 billion, the cost has been revised and finalized at $7.5 billion.

This is called the IPI pipeline or the “peace pipeline,” based on the perceived impact on it could have on reducing tensions between India and Pakistan.

This pipeline would begin in Iran’s South Pars gas fields and run through Baluchistan (Pakistan,) into India.

Although, everything else has been finalized, the only issue that is still being discussed is the delivery point. While Iran wanted to deliver it on the Iran Pakistan border, India wants it on the border of India and Pakistan. These issues are currently being sorted out and continuous talks are on between the officials of all three countries, and the formal agreement is expected to be signed towards the end of the month. (more…)

MTN is proving to be hotter than other telecoms, going by the huge number of fans lining up to be acknowledged. Vodafone, China Mobile, Telkom South Africa, Bharti Airtel, UAE’s Etisalat, Reliance Communications have all entered the fray to win over MTN.

The reason for this interest in the largest mobile services company based in South Africa, is because a stake will give these other companies’ easy entry into the African markets. MTN has 68 million customers in 21 different countries with most of its subscribers in South Africa, Iran and Nigeria.

Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone operator may possibly be looking at the possibility of bidding for MTN, which is South Africa’s third-largest mobile phone group. Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone is said to have instructed his in-house acquisition team leader, Warren Finegold to examine the options to buy MTN.

The Sunday Telegraph said, “Vodafone is contemplating a bid for South Africa’s third-largest mobile phone group, a move that could cost it £19 billion, but would transform its presence in some of the world’s fastest growing telecom markets.”

Vodafone’s interest in MTN comes on the heels of the Indian Telecom company Bharti Airtel wanting to buy 51% stake in MTN, and the talk about the two companies being in discussions. However, MTN said that the offer from Bharti Airtel undervalues the company.

Vodafone had a setback last year when they failed to take control of Vodacom, which is Vodafone’s existing presence in South Africa. This deal would represent another route they take across the huge African continent.

Analysts say that the whole thing is still in the initial stages and the deal may not even come through. If Vodafone does go ahead and makes an offer to buy MTN’s international and domestic business, then it will pick up assets in more than 20 emerging markets. People who are familiar with Vodafone’s thinking feel that it may not go ahead with offering to buy MTN or it may only opt to buy the international business. (more…)

Engineering which was once the most popular profession in Japan and had thousands of aspirants waiting to be an engineer, has lost its charm, creating a void.

Japan is witnessing lack of interest from young people in joining the engineering and technology related fields.

This decline has grown so drastic that the industry has begun campaigns adverting engineering and showing it in all its glory as interesting and cool.

Once upon a time, their skill in engineering is what brought Japan to this level, giving it the distinction of being called the “super power” of the engineering and technology fields.

The American influence is being witnessed in the way youngsters in Japan think. Just as young people in America choose professions that pay better, in fields such as medicine, finance or other creative fields like the arts, rather than following in their fathers’ footsteps of becoming a salaried engineer working in a big manufacturing firm, Japanese youngsters too are steering towards the more glamorous and high-paying fields. (more…)

You must have heard the term, “Fortune 500” when talking about companies. Fortune Magazine, for the last 45 years has been publishing a list of the largest companies annually, meaning companies with the largest revenue for the previous year. Since Fortune calculates the revenue of companies using data available publicly, only companies having common stock that trades on a stock exchange are eligible. Even US subsidiaries of foreign companies are not included. The top 500 in the list are Fortune 500 companies.

Basically, Fortune 500 companies are among the most profitable and powerful companies in America. You would have heard of blue-chip companies like General Electric and Philip Morris, both are ranked very high on the Fortune 500 list.

Looking at the profits these companies make, the topmost company on the list made above $210 billion in revenue and even the lowest ranked in the list, Qualcomm made $3 billion.

The economic strength of a city is said to be quantified by the presence of Fortune 500 companies. The companies that fall into this category represent a variety of industries that have diversified with alliances from several business entities or partnerships. The cities that headquarter these companies also gain recognition globally and these companies contribute to the education, cultural and arts in the area.

We know what Fortune 500 companies are but do we know what gives them the edge over other businesses and puts them on this prestigious list?

There are several factors that go into making them the top few. The first one being their attitude. These companies are humane and understand that their power lies in their employees. If you look into the rise of each of the Fortune 500 companies, you will notice that they followed wonderful human resource practices like good pay, benefits and keeping the spirit of the employees high. (more…)

The year 2007 was marked with more than a few bad tidings. A falling housing market, a slew of products tainted with lead, popular children’s toys transforming into a date rape drug, and even a claim that Keith Richards snorts his father’s ashes. No year is perfect, but 2007 certainly has a place in the record books

Subprime Crash
The housing market that looked so rosy is in a nosedive – or at least the subprime market is. Lenders found ways to expand their subprime lending during the peak housing years, only to find themselves looking at serious trouble when the market tightened up and patrons began defaulting on their loans. Merrill Lynch, the number one subprime lender has reported its worst quarterly loss in its 92 year history. Merrill is in good company with many other lenders feeling the pain of foreclosure, and things certainly aren’t looking much rosier for the first few months of 2008.

Fun, Games and Lead
It was a bad year to be in charge of product production in China. It seems every product that was manufactured in China this year encountered problems. Popular toys of Sesame Street characters, Thomas the Tank Engine and Barbie were tainted with lead. Dog food was killing dogs, and even toothpaste contained deadly chemicals.

As companies tried to mitigate the damage and recall products, the news just kept getting worse. At one point, Mattel recalled an extremely popular set of Thomas the Tank Engine play sets and send along a new boxcar to help customers handle the recall more gracefully. Then, three months later, the company was forced to recall the box cars, too. Ouch. (more…)

It’s a widely acknowledged fact that many of America’s best inventors weren’t born in the Untied States. But few realize exactly how many scientists and mathematicians from other corners of the globe actually affect American inventions and thus America’s position as a world leader in innovation.

Slightly more than 10% of the working population in the United States is foreign born. But 25% of those working in the science and engineering workforce are from other countries. Nearly 50% of those with science and engineering doctorates are born outside of the United States. So what does that actually mean for the country?

Foreign Inventors
In 1975, two percent of patents in the United States were given to inventors born in China. Today, Chinese contributions have risen to eight percent. Statistics from Indian inventors show the same trend peaking at five percent in 2000, but Indian innovations have dropped a bit since that year. Chinese inventions haven’t increased recently either. That combined with the dropping of Indian contributions, along with the drop of Europeans and American born inventions, signals that the innovative nature of the county might be in trouble. (more…)

Cable companies that have affiliated themselves with large apartment complexes have definitely reaped rewards over the years. For years apartment complexes have signed on with a single provider which was quite lucrative for the cable company, but rather limiting for the residents of the apartments. The apartments were supposed to negotiate bulk rates with the provider, but this was not always the case. Now, the FCC might do away with cable monopolies, at least in regard to apartment complexes.

The Value of Competition
There is no doubt that a freely competing market offers a great deal of savings to consumers. When all residents of a particular apartment complex are forced to purchase services from a single provider, the value of a free market is completely missing. The FCC views this as a monopoly and has held hearings to nullify any contracts between apartment complexes and cable companies.

This is a blow to the cable company in question, but is a boon to the many other companies offering services who have previously been excluded. (more…)

You work hard to create it, and you work hard to make it a success. But are you working hard enough to protect your business from the bad guys out there online? The answer might be that yes, you are doing everything you can. But then you must wonder about your employees. Are they doing everything they can to protect your business?

A recent discussion with a leading industry analyst along with a survey administered by Microsoft made it obvious that many of the security features you have in place on your site are simply forcing your employees to find other ways to share the very same information you are trying to protect.

Your employees aren’t a bad bunch, and they aren’t breaking any laws. But if your firewall is so strong it makes it hard to work with a colleague on a project, most employees simply find another way than the standard route to share knowledge. While you might appreciate the ingenuity of your employees, sharing data in unconventional ways does open the door rather widely to security breaks and high levels of risk.

Your Business at Risk
Web-based emails and chat platforms have become main stains for companies. But despite their heavy use, most feel the online platforms aren’t secure. This doesn’t prevent their continued use, however. The safety issue is simply something that must be dealt with, at least until a better solution can be found.

More then three fourths of major decision-makers use at least one public web tool to communicate with partners. These individuals include IT managers, chief intelligence officers and supply chain managers - the very people who are often responsible for setting up communications and security measures throughout the company. (more…)

Americans have always been hard workers. The Puritan work ethic and the American dream mesh to fuel our dreams and desires with solid hard work. Despite those who get plenty of press for wanting to live off the government or wait around to strike it rich via lottery or lawsuit, most Americans know full well that the prizes in life are awarded to those who work to get them.

Office Hours
Recent studies and comparisons have shown that Americans spend far more time in the workplace than other developed nations. The average American spent 1,804 hours at work – be it an office, shop or farm. This breaks down to about 35 hours a week, assuming no holidays or time off, which we know is not the case. By comparison, Norwegians worked 1,401 hours and the French worked 1,564.

Not only are Americans putting in extra time, they are actually producing more while they are there. Americans generate $35.63 for every hour working. This is beaten only by Norway which is not part of the Untied Nations which created the study. (more…)

A restaurant is more than great food and service. Equipment, decorations, attire and more alls plays a part in the overall appearance and success of a business. Upon walking into an eating establishment, it becomes obvious in moments what the overall feel of the restaurant will be. This feel helps potential patrons decide what sort of expectations to set for the quality of food and service.

A restaurant that appears to be slapped together without a great deal of foresight and guidance may not inspire the confidence of those deciding to sample the wares, but an establishment that is well lit, decorated with a sense of air and purpose will impress patrons and set the foundation for a fantastic culinary experience. (more…)