Air Conditioned Bike Developed In Europe

The motorcycle is the preferred choice of transport for many Indians. It is cheaper than cars to buy, run and maintain. However the only complaint about bikes is that it cannot protect the riders from the rigours of nature. While the hot sun bakes motorists in summer, they have to contend with rains in the monsoon and chilly winds in the winter. Here is a solution that will keep you protected at all times – an air conditioned bike!

Peraves Monotracer, a Europe based bike manufacturer has developed a motorcycle with a cabin. This sports bike that has been designed for traveling in high speeds also has an air conditioner that keeps you cool in the sweltering heat of summer. However being cool comes at a rather high cost. Peraves Monotracer has priced its air conditioned bike at 52,500 Euros. Its the kind of money with which you can buy a luxury car.

The air conditioned bike gets all the features of a sports car and a superbike. The cabin is finished in carbon fibre. The bike is powered by a powerful air breathing engine that generates awesome amounts of power. Designed to run more on the German Autobahns, this air conditioned bike might not perform as well on our Indian roads.

With its staggering price tag, the air conditioned bike is unlikely to garner high sales. We should only wait for another company to build a more affordable bike that the one created by Peraves Monotracer.

News from - http://auto.oneindia.in/two-wheelers/2011/air-conditioned-bike-europe-230711-aid0152.html

Billionaire Seeks to Unload a Private Island

Allan Island, named for a Navy hero, is a 292-acre island north of Seattle, WA.

Try telling billionaires the U.S. housing market is in the dumps. Many of the world’s richest have eagerly been snapping up lavish properties from coast to coast this year. Venture capitalist Yuri Milner broke price records with his $100 million Silicon Valley home purchase, Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone shelled out $85 million on Los Angeles’ Spelling Manor, and industrialist scion Alexander Rovt rescued Manhattan’s Henry T. Sloane Mansion out of foreclosure for $33 million, to name but a few. Even Mark Zuckerberg became a homeowner. But while many billionaires have been busily buying up real estate, one is actually selling.

Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder that ranks 57th on the Forbes World’s Billionaires list with $13 billion, is offloading his private island. Allan Island, situated near Anacortes, Wash., is back on the market and at a reduced price, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Realtor.com. Allan Island has bounced on and off the sale block since 2005, when its initial price tag was $25 million. It took a $5.5 million price chop in 2006 before re-emerging with the current $13.5 million asking price. Windmere Real Estate has the listing. Allen bought the island in 1992, reportedly to build a vacation home, before snatching up the Sperry Peninsula site on nearby Lopez Island in 1996 and abandoning his original plans.



Allan Island, named for a Navy hero (not the billionaire), is an almost entirely undeveloped 292-acre island jutting out of the Pacific Ocean, north of Seattle. It is one of 172 islands comprising the San Juans archipelago. The land boasts one modest house — a caretaker’s cabin fitted with water, septic and generator. There’s also a 2,400 foot grass airstrip and a boat dock, the only two means by which a person can access the island. Jeep trails wind through the acreage and beaches dapple the coastline. The island does not, however have electricity. That would cost about $3 million to pipe in, says Wally Gudgell, the property’s listing agent and a 40-year veteran of private island real estate sales.



The sole island house is a caretaker's log cabin, outfitted with water, septic and generator.

The uninhabited, mansion-less island may seem like a daunting amount of work for a vacation home, but it comes with a legal option that sweetens the deal: approval for the subdividing and construction of up to 44 five-acre lots. Forty of those potential parcels tout ocean views. Three working wells capable of supplying all the lots are already in place. It means the island may sell as a commercial investment, for example to a developer hoping to erect an eco-resort. The business possibilities, similar to those offered at Jackson Wyoming’s $175 million ranch, are already luring prospective buyers.

“We’ve had it on and off the market for several years and we’ve had it in escrow several times and for various reasons — some on the buyer side, some on the seller side — we didn’t consummate a transaction,” explains Gudgell. “We’ve had buyers from every background looking at it and making offers on it.” He anticipates a deal will stick, especially with the lowered price tag.

The land holds approval for up to 44 subdivisions, most with ocean views.

Private islands hold a special niche in real estate. Gudgell says they speak to a smaller pool of buyers and can take much longer to market and sell. Notable island owners are Johnny Depp, who owns a cay in the Bahamas; Mel Gibson who owns Mago Island in Fiji; and magician David Copperfield, who rents out Musha Cay for tens of thousands a night. Fellow billionaire Richard Branson owns Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands where, as my colleague Clare O’Connor reported, his home unfortunately burned to the ground when lightening caused by Hurricane Irene struck.

News from - http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/billionaire-seeks-to-unload-a-private-island.html

Toyota Launches Etios Diesel

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) further expanded the Etios product range by announcing the launch of the diesel variants of Etios and Etios Liva.





Etios Diesel is priced in the range of 6.44 lacs - 7.87 lacs ex showroom Delhi and is available in GD, GD (SP), VD and VXD grades





The vehicle is are powered with a refined 1.4 litre D-4D Common Rail Diesel Engine that generates maximum power of 68 PS @ 3800 rpm and highest torque of 170 NM @ 1800 – 2400 rpm.





The 1.4 litre D-4D Common Rail Diesel Engine with intercooler offers an ideal combination of driving performance and best- in - class mileage.





The high performance engine of the Etios provides flat torque leading to less gear shifting finally resulting in improved fuel efficiency.





The engine recorded a best – in – class mileage of 23.59 kmpl, as certified by accredited test agency.





The vehicles similar to its petrol variants are being offered in a range of vibrant colours – Symphony silver, Serene Bluish Silver, Celestial Black, Harmony Beige, Vermilion Red, White and Ultramarine Blue (only in Etios Liva).





The exteriors and interiors of the petrol variant have been carried over to the diesel variant.


News from - http://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/toyota-launches-etios-sedan-in-india-slideshow/

England hold nerve to inflict more misery on India

London, (AFP): England inflicted more misery on India as Craig Kieswetter's quick-fire 51 inspired a three-wicket win over the beleaguered tourists in the third one-day international at The Oval on Friday.

Thanks to Kieswetter's big hitting and a nerveless 40 from Ravi Bopara, England reached their Duckworth-Lewis target of 218 in 43 overs with seven balls to spare and now have an unassailable 2-0 lead with two games in play in the five-match series.

While Alastair Cook's team can move about India into fourth place in the one-day world rankings by winning the last two matches at Lord's and Cardiff, MS Dhoni's side would simply settle for leaving the country with at least one victory to their name.

The injury-hit Indians were defeated 4-0 in the Test series, lost the lone Twenty20 international and have been beaten in two of three 50-over matches, with the other rained off. It took just four balls for James Anderson to give England the perfect start after Cook put the world champions in as Ajinkya Rahane edged to Jonathan Trott at first slip.

India needed Rahul Dravid to steady the ship but the 38-year-old's aging legs let him down as he was brilliantly run out by Anderson in the sixth over after rashly attempting a quick single.

Anderson soon added Parthiv Patel to his list of scalps and India's struggles continued when Virat Kohli became the fourth man to go, caught behind off Anderson with the score on 25.

Suresh Raina fell when he mistimed a wild slog off Broad, edging to wicketkeeper Kieswetter to put India deep in trouble at 58-5. But, to the relief of the massed ranks of Indian supporters, Dhoni made his 39th one-day 50 in 69 balls and, aided by some overly defensive field settings from Cook, he was able to rebuild India's

Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni put on 112 before the skipper skied a mistimed drive to Cook off Tim Bresnan. Despite that blow, a 59-run partnership between Jadeja, who finished with 79 from 89 balls, and Ravichandran Ashwin ensured India made a respectable score.

But England openers Cook and Kieswetter, who hit three big sixes, took the hosts past 50 without loss by the ninth over. Munaf Patel broke the partnership when he trapped Cook lbw for 23 with the score on 60. Kieswetter brought up his 50 in 41 balls, yet he perished moments later as Jadeja found some spin to knock out his middle stump.

India's spinners suddenly posed a serious threat and England were reduced to 89-3 after Ashwin bowled Trott. The hosts added six more runs before rain stopped play for an hour, leaving England with a new Duckworth-Lewis target of 218.

Ian Bell didn't help England's cause when he was run out for 23 by Dhoni after he started for a single and turned back too late. Youngster Ben Stokes showed his lack of experience as he bowled round his legs by Ashwin and were England wobbling at 138-5.

Fortunately for England, Bresnan and Bopara - staking his claim for a permanent place in the team with 40 in 41 balls - turned the tide with a crucial 60-run stand for the sixth wicket. Jadeja returned to dismiss Bresnan and Ashwin bowled Bopara, but Stuart Board and Graeme Swann were able to see England home.

News from - http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article?id=item/2.0/-/story/cricket.yahoonews.com/england-hold-nerve-inflict-more-misery-india-20110909/

9/11 transformed South Asia geopolitics

When the architects of 9/11 were traced to shadowy caves in Afghanistan, the US sent thousands of troops to smoke them out and topple the Taliban regime and arm-twisted Pakistan into cooperating in the "war on terror", fuelling events that brought New Delhi and Washington closer strategically and transformed the geopolitics of South Asia.

The US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime and installed a moderate Pashtun leader in Kabul. But little did Washington realize the military operation would drain the US exchequer even a decade later: trillions of dollars have been spent in the war without any apparent end.

Post 9/11, the contours of South Asian geopolitics were re-mapped.

Pakistan, which had slipped in the strategic calculus of the US after the Soviets quit Afghanistan, bounced back in the reckoning but with its image tarred as the epicentre of global terrorism and incalculable costs to its society and economy.

Knowing Pakistan's influence over the erstwhile Mullah Omar regime and the ISI-military combine's leverage with the jehad machine, Washington had no choice but to declare Islamabad its "major non-Nato ally" and "a frontline state" in the war against terror.

Pakistan cashed in on US desperation to nail the 9/11 architects and got at least $15 billion in counter-terror and military assistance from the US over the next decade.

"Pakistan used 9/11 to milk the US and get huge funds in the garb of operations against militants but failed to track top Al Qaeda operatives and kept on hoodwinking Washington," Satish Chandra, former deputy national security adviser of India, told IANS.

For India, 9/11 vindicated what it had said all along and provided it an opportunity to scale up its diplomatic offensive to get the world to look at Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism, albeit with mixed results.

"Earlier, it was their terrorism (international) versus our terrorism (Pakistan). The American establishment has come to see through Pakistan's policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds," former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh said.

He added that the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai - widely seen as a shade of 9/11 - brought New Delhi and Washington closer.

But the most important long-term consequence of 9/11 was the path-breaking transformation of India-US relationship. Its crowning moment was the landmark 2008 nuclear deal.

"The big change is in the India-US relationship. Under President Bill Clinton, we were talking about counter-terror cooperation. 9/11 changed all that and brought more substance to counter-terror cooperation," said Mansingh, a former envoy to the US.

"In a sense, following 9/11, the US decided to de-hyphenate its relations with India from that of Pakistan," said Mansingh.

George Bush, the then US president, famously underlined this shift when he said that India and Pakistan were "two different nations with two different histories".

Building upon the Bush legacy, President Barack Obama declared the India-US relationship to be the defining partnership of the 21st century.

Another major consequence of 9/11 was India's return to Afghanistan as a key stakeholder -- in its reconstruction.

The topping of the Taliban regime, which New Delhi was ranged against, helped India to re-establish its footprints in a country Pakistan regards its strategic backyard.

On the flip side, India's re-entry into Afghanistan, with over $1.5 billion in aid, has become a new theatre of rivalry with Pakistan.

For other countries in the region, like Sri Lanka, 9/11 meant greater global support in handling the Tamil Tigers, who were eventually crushed in 2009.

Ten years after 9/11, South Asia has woken up to the need for greater trans-national cooperation to combat terror. Despite many terror attacks and a bruising global recession, India is seen as an emerging power with one the fastest growing economies.

Pakistan is in a relative terminal mess.

According to Shahid Javed Burki, Pakistan's former finance minister, the country has had to face "overwhelmingly negative consequences" after 9/11.

Around 15,000 Pakistanis have died in terror attacks. Home-grown militia Tehrik-e-Taliban has even targeted the military in Rawlapindi. Islamabad's duplicity in the war on terror was exposed when 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in its territory.

News from - http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5426340&page=0