Poland Noticed Organized Attacks On Torrent

The appearance of the Pirate Pay and its plan to protect the entertainment industry’s interests seems to revolve around some anti-piracy method. The latter, apparently, works quite well by attacking torrent swarms.

This method appeared to be so effective that it is now mentioned in the worldwide news. Indeed, the massive amounts of traffic generated by those attacks have been so effective that even Poland’s Cyber Emergency Response Team noticed them. The technique is the following: in order to disrupt or temper with a torrent swarm, you have to send massive data packets, able to flood the group by reaching all members of the targeted swarm. Meanwhile, the targeted groups are exclusively Russian torrent swarms containing films. This is a major reason to suggest that it’s the hand of the Pirate Pay. Nevertheless, the origins of the packets have been recognized as coming from Russia, Canada, China, Australia, and the United States.

However, what is the most interesting in all this is that at least one of the companies involved in the attacks received money from the country’s largest copyright holder – Microsoft Russia. Of course, the Pirate Pay is also involved, as it was financed to fight piracy by applying its own flooding technique. One may wonder, first of all, how many companies from around the world have been bought off to carry out these attacks, and most of all, how legal is this technique? DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service) are usually against the law, and industry experts believe that this case is no exception.

Thus far, Russian file-sharers haven’t complained about any problems with BitTorrent networks.

North Korea to Discover File-Sharing

It’s been more that sixty years of censorship in North Korea, but now the country is slowly opening to the world, learning about such things as file-sharing.

The citizens of the country are starting to use real-life social networks in order to share copyrighted content like South Korean TV dramas and pop music on physical devices, including DVD and USB sticks. Although North Korean dictatorship keeps the population without an open web access, it turned out that the citizens have found a way to share their favorite copyrighted content on physical devices.

The US State Department has commissioned the report, which scrutinized hundreds of the country’s runaways who chose to leave North Korea via China and now live in South Korea. According to its results, North Koreans are often being aided by Chinese merchants to smuggle in South Korean TV dramas on different physical devices.

That’s where real life social networks become important: it turned out that they had a really huge impact on old concepts implemented by the abusive regime. It seems that those South Korean TV dramas about family and love triangles have shown the people the simplicity of their lives. As a result, the North Korean government had to stop telling its citizens that South Korea is poor.

Meanwhile, the North Koreans are allowed to own TVs, DVD players, and USB sticks. For us it’s hard to believe that such government still exists, but in the reality not so long ago a number of countries, including Romania, have released themselves from such kind of dictatorship. Perhaps, it is time for the North Koreans to follow their path.

Such kind of file-sharing is punishable by the country’s legislation – and the penalty greatly exceeds any of our laws. Nevertheless, the North Korean government couldn’t stop its people from doing so, because their motives became stronger than fear. In addition, the report revealed a decrease in numbers of people who report on their neighbors about unauthorized activities.

Meanwhile, the country’s officials agree to accept “gifts” to look away and even use unauthorized media content themselves! It is unclear what can follow – the future and the North Koreans will decide whether this will lead to a full-blown revolution, or just a change within its borders.

Mayor and Son Arrested for Hacking

Recently the mayor of a New Jersey town was arrested, together with his son. The police arrested the family after it was claimed they had shut down an online service advocating his recall.
 
According to press reports, Felix Roque, 55, the mayor of West New York (NJ), and his son, Joseph Roque, 22, have been arrested by the Feds. The prosecutors found out that the pair worked out how to shut down the website www.recallroque.com – they gained access to the GoDaddy account which was used to control the domain. The family managed to obtain e-mails and messages that have been sent among opponents.


The prosecutors explained that Felix and Joseph Roque wanted to discover who exactly was behind the recall website. 22-years-old Joseph Roque’s searches in Google included “hacking a Go Daddy site”, “recallroque log-in”, and “html hacking tutorial”. As a result, the young man worked out how to reset the e-mail account which was used to register their opponents’ domain with GoDaddy and obtain control of the GoDaddy account.


After the shutdown of the service, Felix Roque went further and used the messages retrieved from the compromised accounts in order to identify people who used to run and support the website and called them. Felix Roque claimed that he had friends in high levels of government and it was them who had shut www.recallroque.com down. He also promised that now everyone would pay for getting involved against the Mayor.


At the moment, both the mayor and his son are charged with three counts of hacking. Felix Roque has been elected after leading a successful recall against the former mayor

Second big quake Italy, 15 dead

An earthquake killed at least 15 people in northern Italy on Tuesday, damaging buildings and spreading panic among thousands of residents still living in tents after a tremor in the same region destroyed their homes just over a week ago.

Officials said several people were trapped under the rubble of houses and warehouses in the Emilia-Romagna region, where several building sites and workshops had just reopened after the previous quake on 20 May.

Civil protection officials said 15 people were confirmed dead. Seven people were killed in the 20 May quake that, like Tuesday’s, had its epicentre not far from the city of Modena.

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck northern Italy. Photo: AP

Italian television showed buildings shaking and collapsing, ambulances racing across towns and rescue workers battling to remove rubble.

Workshops and factories outside Cavezzo, a village about 30km from Modena, suffered considerable damage, a reporter said.

Sports car maker Ferrari and motorcycle firm Ducati closed their plants in the region for safety reasons.

“The situation is one of great fear and uncertainty,” said Salvatore Iannizzotto, provincial head for the Modena police.

“The population was becoming more relaxed and slowly moving back into their homes. They have now left their homes again.”

The 5.8-magnitude quake was felt across northern and central Italy, including in the most populous northern city Milan. The area was hit by several large aftershocks, one of 5.6 magnitude.

The quake was the most deadly to strike Italy since 2009 when a tremor partially destroyed the central city of L’Aquila, killing about 300 and leaving thousands homeless.

KKR beat CSK to win their first Indian Premier League

The moment Manoj Tiwary hit Dwayne Bravo to the square leg boundary for the second successive boundary, the delirious KKR players were all into the ground as their principal owner Shah Rukh was engaged in a frenzied celebrations.

The day however belonged to Bisla wasn't supposed to play this match had Laxmipathy Balaji not suffered hamstring injury. The decision to drop Brendon McCullum was widely debated but the lad from Himachal Pradesh put all the speculation to rest as he emerged as an unlikely hero among the galaxy of stars.

Despite losing Gautam Gambhir early, Bisla played a blinder as he took on the CSK attack by the scruff of their neck. Four boundaries of an Albie Morkel over set the tone and couple of clean sixes of Ravichandran Ashwin meant that the Knights were certainly there in the match.

The best part was that Bisla-Kallis duo saw Ben Hilfenhaus' first spell without taking any risks and then launched into the other bowlers. As Bisla started spanking the CSK bowlers,Mahendra Singh Dhoni suddenly started worrying.

Bisla's 50 came off only 27 balls but the former India colts player knew that he has a job at hand. Dwayne Bravo was bowling his slowers but in his two overs he was hit for two sixes over long.

The calm Kallis was ready to drop anchor as he nudged the singles and rotated the strike with ease. Bisla's fifth six was a majestic one off Ashwin over extra cover.

The duo added 136 runs for the second wicket before Bisla whose momentum was broken by the strategic time-out finally tried to slash Morkel only to offer an easy catch to Subramanium Badrinath.

Bisla departed with 52 still to get but Kallis ensured that KKR got one boundary per over. Finally it was Shakib Al Hasan and Manoj Tiwary who held their nerves to seal the issue.

Earlier it was Raina's blitzkrieg and Hussey's priceless knock that helped defending champions Chennai Super Kings post a commendable 190 for three after winning the toss.

Hussey (54, 43 balls, 4x4, 2x6) along with Murali Vijay (42, 32 balls, 4x4, 1x6) set the platform with blistering opening partnership of 87 runs. Raina (73, 38 balls, 3x4, 5x6) then complemented the opening duo's effort as he hit some of the biggest sixes in the tournament with a few of them flying out of the stadium. Along with Hussey, he added 73 in less than 7 overs.

Petrol price hiked Rs 7.50 per litre

Petrol prices have been increased steeply by Rs 7.50 a litre from midnight. The increase was on the cards with the rupee continuing its free fall against the US dollar. The rupee fell to a record life low of 56 per dollar on Wednesday.

State-owned oil companies have decided to raise petrol price by Rs 6.28 per litre excluding local sales tax or VAT. The hike translates into Rs 7.50 per litre in Delhi and is the steepest ever. Petrol in Delhi currently costs Rs 65.64 a litre and after the increase it will be priced at Rs 73.14 per litre.

Oil companies had already told the government that wanted to hike petrol price by at least Rs 4 per litre.

Earlier on Tuesday, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy had said that there was an immediate need to raise fuel prices, but refused to say when the hike would actually take place.

The government had decontrolled petrol price in June 2010 but rates were last increased on November 4 last year. This despite oil price rising by 14 per cent and 7 per cent fall in value of rupee against the US dollar.

Price of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas were raised in June 2011.

State-owned oil firms, who had in the fiscal ending March 31, 2012 lost Rs 4,860 crore on petrol sales, are currently losing Rs 6.28 per litre on petrol

Petrol in Delhi currently costs Rs 65.64 a litre and after the increase it will be priced at Rs 73.14 per litre.

In Mumbai, the petrol now costs Rs 70.66 but after midnight it will go up to rs 78.16.

Kolkata too faces the pressure with the petrol now costing Rs 77.53 from Rs 70.03.

Similarly, the cost of petrol in Chennai will see a steep hike of Rs 7.50 to 77.05 from Rs 69.55.

Elephantine problem

A tiger death raises a million eye brows. An investigation is immediately sought. Conservationists make a hue and cry demanding the arrest of the poacher.

But they don't show same intensity of concern when an elephant dies due to poaching or electrocution. Invariably the blame is thrust on elephants for crop-raiding. Farmers who illegally draw power from electric lines and trigger-happy poachers get away scot free.

Like the critically endangered tiger, the elephant too is a Schedule One animal, drawn under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. In the last six years only one farmer has been apprehended. We have lost around 200 elephants due to illegal activities during then and now.

As it did in 2007, The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has taken up the onerous exercise of estimating elephant numbers across India. The onus will be on southern India which is home to almost 70 per cent of the elephant population in the country.

Teams led by elephant experts and research officers will scan the forest reserves and corridors to enumerate elephant numbers. The collated figures will show whether the numbers have either increased or decreased in five years. It will be indicative of the elephants' future.

Concerned that the elephant numbers were increasing while habitats were being fragmented, the MOEF had organised a debate on the need to cull elephants. Thankfully, expert and public opinion, which wanted population dynamics and demography to be studied over a five year period, stopped the government in its culling track.

Human intervention around in elephant corridors has been the biggest bane. It is hard to believe that the Karnataka government granted forest land to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Banngerghatta despite being aware that elephants regularly traverse into the outskirts of Bangalore. With CRPF clearing forest cover, the corridor to Turalli forest has been fragmented.

This is just one example of how insensitive we are to our own problems. We destroy the elephants' natural habitat, they will come to our kitchen looking for food.

On an average 50 elephants die every year due to electrocution, poisoning, poaching and shooting in South India. Almost 50 per cent of such deaths occur in Karnataka. But the government has done precious little to curb illegal activity. As such the gentle giants of our forests continue to perish frequently within and on the periphery of forests.

It is disturbing that Karnataka has lost seven elephants in a week. As statistics reveal two were shot by irate estate owners; one was electrocuted; two died under mysterious circumstances in Nagarhole; two were killed by tigers. Natural deaths are acceptable. But not when these intelligent and social animals are murdered.

NGOs insist that Karnataka has lost 117 elephants over three years due to electrocution, poisoning and poaching, but Ajay Mishra. Director, Project Elephant, contests the numbers. He believes electrocution deaths have reduced significantly.

Thanks to the result of solar fencing in Bandipur national park, only 13 pachyderms died due to electrocution during 2011-12. However, cases of shooting and poisoning have increased in the forest surrounding Kodagu, where coffee planters have been against erection of solar fencing and digging of elephant proof trenches (EPT). They must have a reason for that.

In the past, electrocution, poisoning and poaching incidents had been recorded as natural deaths by forest staff to avoid investigation and media attention. This subversive ploy had been brought to light by the Forest Cell when it revisited all cases of elephant deaths in 2007.

If we take the figures for southern India, elephant deaths caused by illegal means would rise manifold. Virtually every week we read or hear about tusks being seized by the police. Unless, poachers are dealt with firmly, the future of the elephant could be bleak.

Southern India is the only lung space available for this endangered animal. Let's not destroy and fragment its corridors.

Chinchon cruises home to win Singapore’s big race

French raider Chinchon scared off the punters in the parade ring on Sunday but there was no doubting his class when he stormed down the straight to win the S$3-million Singapore Airlines International Cup. The seven-year-old, trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias, tore through the field down the home stretch to win Singapore’s biggest race of the year by three lengths from Hong Kong’s Zaidan, while favourite Zazou ate up ground in the closing stages to finish fifth. 
 
The Irish-bred Chinchon had disappointed in the Cup last year and, despite solid form since then, looked like one to avoid as he snorted, swaggered and sweated under the watchful eyes of a packed parade ring at Kranji racetrack. However, once jockey Oliver Doleuze got on board, Chinchon got down to business. Biding his time as Zaidan and Flax struck for home, Doleuze unleashed his mount 600 metres from home and Chinchon answered, striding to the line. 

The victory was a poignant one for Chinchon’s connections as trainer Laffon-Parias had to return to France before the race due to the death of his father. “It’s very special for me tonight, to win this beautiful race,” a breathless Doleuze said after the race. “Especially for Carlos, who lost his dad yesterday.” In the S$1-million KrisFlyer Sprint, the absence of local sprint hero Rocket Man due to a ligament strain subdued the Singapore crowd and the mood darkened further when hot favourite Krypton Factor finished outside the places as Ato took the honours. 

The Patrick Shaw-trained four-year-old reeled in Mr Big in the last few strides to win the 1,200-m sprint race to the delight of jockey Barend Vorster and owner Dennis Evans. “I think the accolades must go to Barend for a fantastic ride, and to Pat for preparing him so well,” said Evans. “He’s not been at his best in his last few runs but tonight he’s shown how good he is.” reuters

Italian earthquake

The death toll in Italy’s magnitude 6.0 earthquake has risen to at least six, with more than 50 people reported injured, authorities say.

People rushed into the streets when the powerful earthquake struck northern Italy today.

The quake struck around 0200 GMT (midday AEST) in the Emilia-Romagna region and the area around Venice. The epicentre was 36 kilometres north of Bologna at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Advertisement: Story continues below

People gather on a street in front of the damaged Town Hall building on Sant' Agostino near Ferrara. Photo: Reuters

Four night-shift workers were killed in factory building collapses.

A 37-year-old German woman died near Bologna, while a centenarian woman was reported to have died of shock caused by the quake.

The quake lasted around 20 seconds and was followed by several aftershocks.

Earlier, another 4.1-magnitude quake was felt in the Lombardy region around Milan, Italy's financial and business capital.

Rescue services said the three people died on night shifts in the Modena and Ferrara areas.

Two people were injured in another region.

Several church steeples also partly collapsed and hospitals were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Mark Zuckerberg Wedding

The king of social media pulled a fast one on the world today, announcing his marriage to his long-time girlfriend who has seen his fortune skyrocket from college chump change to billions and billions more. Mark Zuckerberg wedding photos with his lucky wife Priscilla Chan-Zuckerberg are below, something the Facebook CEO posted on his own status page after the wedding.

He married his college sweetheart on May 19th, 2012, in a secret wedding that occurred just one day after the Facebook IPO, one of the most anticipated public offerings in US stock market history. Mark made billions on Friday, and celebrated in style by wedding Priscilla Chan the very next day on Saturday, in front of friends who were hoodwinked into expecting to celebrate her graduating from medical school.

She looked absolutely stunning in the white wedding dress you can see in the pictures above and below. Her wedding ring was designed by Mark himself, which consists of just a simple stone.

Mark attended high school in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy in 2002. He studied classical literature before moving on to his storied tenure at Harvard. You all know that he was a computer science major at Harvard where he founding Facebook, but many people do not know that Mark never graduated from the school. His birthday is May 14, 1984 (born in New York), which at age 27 years old makes him one of the world’s youngest billionaires. Mark’s Facebook page is here where he goes by his nickname Zuck.

Mark Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla has been by his side since they were both teenagers at Harvard. She graduated in 2007 from Harvard University as a pre-med student with a degree in biology. Directly after graduating she became a 4th grade teacher at a local school in the San Francisco Bay Area called the The Harker School. Simultaneously she began attending medical school at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). Although she will never need to work again in her life, she is going to contribute to society be becoming a medical doctor. Good for her.

In fact she just graduated from UCSF and the guest list was told that Zuckerberg’s wedding was going to be a graduation party for Priscilla. LOL. That is how hush hush the couple kept their secret wedding. About 100 friends and family showed up, and the media had no notice and neither did the guests. By the way, her Facebook page is here.

My view of the Social Network movie is they did a great disservice to the relationship by practically leaving her out of the movie entirely. Because Priscilla isn’t one of those plastic trophy wives, and because she is of Asian heritage, I believe some prejudice ideas (by omission) were present in the Hollywood movie. Now she is having the last laugh as his beautiful wife.

Mark announced the marriage himself later in the most appropriate way imaginable. He changed his Facebook status to “married” and posted the wedding photos. Yes Mark Zuckerberg pulled a fast one on the world, and we can all marvel at the magic trick while we wish the couple the best of success in their high-profile marriage.

Someday Mark Zuckerberg’s children will read the story and get a good laugh. But first, of course, a Priscilla Chan-Zuckerberg pregnancy will need to be announced to the world, which will undoubtedly happen again via the social media site. We cannot wait for the news of Facebook babies running around their Palo Alto, California home. But no she is not pregnant yet to our knowledge!

In a way the wedding has been in the cards for a long time because Mark once said that he would marry Priscilla after she graduated. That promise is now a promise kept.

kkr beat again pune

 Kolkata Knight Riders sealed the second place in the points table with a crushing 34-run victory over Pune Warriors in their final group league encounter of the Indian Premier League on Saturday. 


Defending a small total of 136 on a difficult pitch, the KKR spinners restricted Warriors to a paltry 102 for eight in stipulated 20 overs. 

 

While KKR with 21 points will get a maximum of two matches in the playoffs to qualify, the Warriors led by Sourav Ganguly hit a new low losing nine consecutive matches - a record in the IPL. If Deccan Chargers manage to win the last match, the Warriors will finish last in the points table. 
e Knight Riders' spinners did a commendable job as all of them shared the spoils. Shakib Al Hasan (2/18 & 42 runs) was man-of-the-match with his all-round show while Yusuf Pathan(2/12), Iqbal Abdulla (1/20), Sunil Narine (1/15) everyone chipped in with crucial wickets. 

The ability to fight was simply not there in Warriors whose campaign was rocked primarily due to poor form of their skipper who had one of the worst strike-rates (less than 100) for a top-order batsman in T20 cricket. 

 
The target of 137 wasn't big enough but the slowness of the track with some sharp turn definitely made things difficult for the home team whose confidence had already hit nadir. With two left-arm spinners and two off-spinners in the KKR line-up, it became a Herculean task for Warriors batsmen to negotiate. 

Robin Uthappa's horrible IPL ended with a tame catch at covers of left-arm spinner Abdulla's bowling. Michael Clarke was stumped off Yusuf Pathan's bowling. 

Jesse Ryder (22, 2x6) hit couple of huge sixes but tried a cross batted shot to an off-break to get bowled. The bowler was Pathan. 

Skipper Ganguly (5), who is still undecided about whether he should call it quits after his worst IPL season, padded a straighter one. With four wickets down within first 11 overs, it wasn't an easy job for the inexperienced Warriors batsmen to negotiate quality spin-attack. 
rlier, some disciplined bowling effort by Pune Warriors helped them restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 136 for four. 

Brendon McCullum (41, 43 balls, 5x4) and Shakib (42, 30 balls, 3x4, 2x6) added 67 runs for the third wicket in 7.3 overs on a track where stroke making was difficult but still it looked that KKR were 20 runs short. 

 
For Pune, left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell was the pick of the bowlers with impressive figures of two for 18 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Michael Clarke also got a wicket each. 

KKR's in-form captain Gautam Gambhir was out early when he failed to clear the mid-on fielder off Parnell's bowling. The opening pair managed only 21 in 4.3 overs. 

McCullum and Jacques Kallis (13) couldn't up the ante on a pitch where the ball wasn't exactly coming on to the bat. A desperate Kallis tried to hit the left-arm spin of Clarke inside-out but only managed to bottom-edge it onto the stumps. 

Then McCullum-Shakib partnership started. The right-left combination did nudge singles and twos as KKR crawled to 45 for two in the first 10 overs. 

It was the 12th over of the innings when McCullum who was playing sedately cut loose hitting a couple of boundaries. 
he next over, Shakib hit Clarke for two huge sixes and in between those two shots was dropped by Parnell in the deep mid-wicket. 

The 100 came up in the 15th over with 56 being scored in between overs 11th and 15th. 

However once McCullum was gone trying to clear extra cover, the scoring rate dipped once again. Shakib who was playing was bowled by Bhuvneshwar's yorker. 

Yusuf Pathan (15 n.o., 10 balls) and Manoj Tiwary (8 n.o.) couldn't produce much fireworks in the final few overs as it looked that KKR are 20 runs short. Both looked woeful out of touch.

Austria giving 18 mn euros to train Afghan police

Austria will give 18 million euros ($23.6 million) for police training in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, a top official said.

The money will be delivered in three equal payments per year from 2014 to 2016 through the United Nations Development Programme's Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan, secretary of state for foreign affairs Wolfgang Waldner said in a statement.

The announcement comes as NATO leaders prepare for a May 20-21 summit on Afghanistan in Chicago, where they will discuss winding down the alliance's forces in the country and the transfer of their security efforts to the local police and military.

NATO has set a 2014 deadline for troop withdrawals, though France's new President Francois Hollande reiterated his decision to pull French troops out by the end of this year when he met his US counterpart Barack Obama Friday in Washington.

Austria is not a NATO member but will have a high-level delegation at the Chicago summit including Chancellor Werner Faymann, Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger and Defence Minister Norbert Darabos.

Tata Steel Q4 net slumps

The European operations of Tata Steel impacted the company severely during the fourth quarter of 2011-12 when it reported a consolidated net profit of Rs.433 crore, a 90 per cent drop from the year-ago quarter figure of Rs.4,176 crore.

Tata Steel reported a marginally higher consolidated turnover of Rs.33,999 crore (Rs.33,824 crore) and a 28 per cent drop in operating profit of Rs.3,419 crore.

The consolidated steel deliveries fell 6.5 per cent to 6.22 million tonnes.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Karl-Ulrich Kohler, MD & CEO, Tata Steel Europe, said, “the continuing eurozone crisis kept EU steel demand well below pre-crisis levels in the March quarter.” In addition, operational difficulties that affected strip product output caused the European operations to perform worse than in the year-earlier period. However, he said there was an improvement in the company's performance over the third quarter, when the cost-price squeeze, due to high raw materials volatility, was “at its most extreme”.

Tata Steel Europe reported a 7 per cent drop in turnover at Rs.19,923 crore (Rs.21,488 crore) and a 90 per cent drop in operating profit at Rs.146 crore (Rs.1,557 crore) during the quarter.

Tata Steel, in India, reported a 3.3 per cent drop in operating profit at Rs.2,975 crore on a 13.7 per cent higher sales of Rs.9,479 crore.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs.12 per share for 2011-12.

For the whole of 2011-12, the company reported a 40 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs.5,390 crore (Rs.8,983 crore) on a 12 per cent higher turnover of Rs.1.33 lakh crore. Its operating profit was 21 per cent lower at Rs.13,533 crore.

Tata Steel Europe reported an operating profit of Rs.1,777 crore (Rs.4,691 crore) on a turnover of Rs.82,153 crore (Rs.73,844 crore). Mr. Kohler said production in Europe was disappointing during the year. “There is no great outlook for the first two quarters. This is a transitional year for us and then we will run with the market. We are on a five-year transformational journey to overcome the deficits of the old Corus. The key piece this year will be the re-launch of our blast furnace at Port Talbot which will then have a life of 20 years.”

Tata Steel, in India, reported a 0.6 per cent lower operating profit of Rs.11,559 crore on a 15.4 per cent higher turnover of Rs.33,933 crore for the year.

H. M. Nerurkar, Managing Director, Tata Steel, said, “Our performance was much below our expectations and while we had expected the market to grow 8-10 per cent, it grew only 4 per cent during the year. There were issues relating to iron ore and mining throughout the year. Although there are more and more cost pressures, we have largely got captive iron ore but levies and freight are only going up. We plan to sell one million tonnes more steel this year.”

Koushik Chatterjee, Group CFO, said, the company had a capital expenditure plan of around $2.5 billion for the current year, adding that its debt-equity ratio was now 1:1, “in spite of spending $3.6 billion on our three million tonne Jamshedpur expansion. Going forward, the Orissa plant will incur around $5-8 billion and project finance work is on. There will be incremental jumps in debt but we will continue to chase a 1:1 ratio.” In terms of outlook for the current year, he said, “global consumption will increase but production may reduce. The Indian steel industry is expected to grow 6.9 per cent in 2012 while Europe could grow 1.2 per cent and stable raw material prices are expected.”