Launch New Mobile Information

Europe : Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC (KTS) and O2, a leading provider of mobile services to consumers and businesses in the UK, have today launched KTS MarketTerminal with O2.

The new KTS MarketTerminal with O2 service provides mobile access to essential international market data and news. It is delivered through O2's 'always on'data connections via GPRS, 3G and WLAN, turning a subscriber's laptop into a fully-live KTS MarketTerminal.

KTS and O2 are jointly marketing the new service, which, in an age when financial professionals are working increasingly outside the office, allows them to keep completely up-to-date with live international market information, access the latest market news and receive instant price and news alerts.

Subscribers receive always on access to KTS MarketTerminal with O2, which is available throughout the UK over O2's mobile data network. Included in the flat rate £200-per-month (ex VAT) package are the O2 connectivity subscription and O2 3G/GPRS Data Card for laptop computers.

The new service is principally for financial professionals who need live
international stockmarket data, news and other essential financial information when they are out of the office or away from their desktop.

Among the 15 Exchanges covered by KTS MarketTerminal with O2 are the London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Euronext, Deutsche Boerse and the Scandinavian exchanges, to name but some. News, data and analytics are supplied by the premium names in financial information, including Interactive Data, AFX News and Dow Jones Newswires.

Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer, Chief Executive of KTS PLC, said:

'Research shows that financial professionals are spending less time than ever at their desks. The new KTS MarketTerminal with O2 mobile service enables our clients to stay in touch with the markets while on the move. In a world where information is power and quick decisions make the difference between profit and loss, KTS and O2 are providing a mobile service that sets the standard in flexibility, speed, resilience and user-friendliness.'

Target customers for KTS MarketTerminal with O2 are primarily City institutions. Both companies' sales teams are marketing it to existing and potential clients. Technical support is being provided by KTS.

With this new service, KTS and O2 are aiming to take a leadership position providing business data across mobile networks, which independent experts Strategy Analytics estimate will grow from $61 billion in 2004 to just over $189 billion by 2009.

Mark Imrie, Head of Products of O2, said:

'KTS MarketTerminal with O2 will change the way financial professionals work. They will be able to stay informed and make crucial financial decisions when away from their desks without compromising on quality or the speed of market data and news. This new service fits perfectly with our strategy to strengthen our position as the leading provider of business services via mobile data connectivity.'

Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer concluded:

'We are delighted to be partnering with O2 in providing a new mobile service that will make it far easier for financial professionals to keep in touch with essential news and data, wherever they are. KTS MarketTerminal with O2 should set a new standard in flexibility. It's all about staying informed, anytime, anywhere.'

US army kills 9 Afghan soldiers by mistake

A US-led coalition airstrike mistakenly hit an Afghan army checkpoint yesterday, killing nine soldiers and wounding three, Afghan officials said.

The strike hit a checkpoint in the Sayed Kheil area of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan, said Arsallah Jamal, the province's governor.

The US said its forces "may have mistakenly killed and injured" Afghan soldiers in what may have been a case of mistaken identity "on both sides."

"As a Coalition forces convoy was returning from a previous operation, they were involved in multiple engagements," a U.S. military statement said. "As a result of the engagements, ANA (Afghan army) soldiers were killed and injured."

Apparent friendly fire incidents have happened before. In June 2007, Afghan police mistook US troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them, prompting US forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. Seven Afghan police were killed.

Meanwhile about 35 Taliban militants and three police were killed after about 100 insurgents attacked a district centre in southern Afghanistan, a provincial police chief said yesterday.

Heavy fighting started late Tuesday and lasted into early Wednesday after the rebels launched the attack in troubled Uruzgan province, police chief Juma Gul Hemat told AFP.

"More than 100 Taliban launched an attack to capture the district of Dih Rahwud. Our police bravely resisted and killed 35 Taliban whose bodies are left in the area," Hemat said.

"Three of our policemen were also martyred and nine others were injured in the fighting," he said.

International military war planes were called in to help the Afghan forces, he said. US and NATO forces in Afghanistan could not immediately confirm their involvement.

The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are fighting to take back power from the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The insurgency has picked up pace in the past three years, despite the presence of about 60,000 international troops helping Afghan forces to face a rebellion that Afghan officials say is now supported by militants arriving from Iraq.

Print Friendly Version International China must modernise its food safety

China must modernise its food safety system, the United Nations said yesterday, arguing an outdated and disjointed approach may have worsened a crisis over contaminated milk that killed four babies.

In a new report on food safety in China, the UN urged Beijing to adopt a "modern" food safety law and introduce other measures that would help build trust in the government's ability to ensure the nation's food was safe.

"The present system is managed by several laws and an old philosophy that government is responsible for everything," Jorgen Schlundt, the director of the UN's World Health Organisation department of food safety, told journalists.

"We have to change that kind of philosophy because we need the food producers to be responsible for food safety," he said.

The report was issued as China continued to deal with the fall-out of a scandal in which the industrial chemical melamine was found to have been commonly mixed into milk to give it the appearance of higher protein levels.

Four babies died and at least 53,000 babies fell ill after drinking tainted milk powder, and contaminated Chinese dairy products have been recalled around the world, once again tarnishing the global image of the "Made in China" brand.

The United Nations has recommended that China tighten oversight focusing on high-risk areas of the food chain and modernise its food safety system as more reports of world hesitation over Chinese products flow in.

Chinese dairy products have been recalled around the world, once again tarnishing the global image of the "Made in China" brand after four babies died and at least 53,000 babies fell ill after drinking tainted milk powder recently.

Meanwhile Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said yesterday it will set new quality standards for its suppliers amid a scare over toxic milk products from China.

Mike Duke, vice chairman of Wal-Mart's international division, said the company is expecting "greater transparency ... from our supplier partners" beginning next month.

They will be required to "tell us the name and location of every factory they use to make the products we sell," according to Duke's prepared remarks delivered at a company conference in Beijing. "Essentially, we expect you to ask the tough questions, to give us the answers and, if there's a problem, to own the solution."

Wal-Mart will apply the new standards to apparel first and eventually use them on all its products, Duke said.

The measures by Wal-Mart, China's largest foreign retailer, come as confidence in Chinese exports has been shaken after a series of product safety scandals.

Last year, high levels of industrial toxins were found in exports ranging from toothpaste to toys.

Wal-Mart sold Chinese-made cribs which were part of a recall this week by New York-based Delta Enterprises. The 600,000 cribs of various models with spring-loaded safety pegs were manufactured in China and sold between January 2000 and January 2007.

Another 985,000 cribs were recalled because of the potential for missing safety pegs. Those products were manufactured in Taiwan and Indonesia and sold between January 1995 and September 2007.

The recall was instituted after the deaths of two babies.

In the southern Chinese territory of Macau, government officials said late Tuesday that three more children have developed kidney stones.

In South Korea, the Agriculture Ministry says traces of melamine were found in five egg products imported from China.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says less than 2.5 parts per million of melamine are not harmful in most foods, except baby formula. Only one of the five products in South Korea had traces higher than that level.

Admission Rules DU white panel teachers back madrasa students

The BNP-Jamaat backed 'white-panel' teachers of Dhaka University (DU) will back the madrasa students on the issue of relaxing admission criteria of several departments of the university for them.

The white-panel teachers yesterday said they would urge DU Vice Chancellor Prof SMA Faiz to ask the departments concerned to 'cancel' or 'relax' the conditions that disqualify the madrasa students from getting admission to several departments of the university.

"We shall meet the vice chancellor today at 12:30pm and urge him to ask the departments concerned to revise the admission criteria," said white-panel convener Prof Sadrul Amin while talking to The Daily Star last night.

The white panel teachers made the decision after a three-hour-long meeting at the teachers' lounge at the arts building last night.

Seven departments -- Department of English, Bengali, Economics, Mass Communication and Journalism, International Relations, Women and Gender Studies and Linguistics -- under the arts and social science faculties have introduced some conditions that disqualify the madrasa students from admission to those departments.

The meeting, however, condemned the attack on the VC office by madrasa students demanding cancellation of the university authorities'

Talking to The Daily Star on Tuesday, the chairmen of four out of the seven departments, said they decided to introduce the conditions to maintain academic standards not to exclude madrasa students from the admission process.

However, Prof Amin, also the dean of the arts faculty, said academic standards would not be hampered if the madrasa students get admitted to those departments.

"I don't believe that the academic standards would be hampered. Madrasa students can do well in those departments," Prof Amin added.