Microfinance Monitor NEWS WITH GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

By Zenobia Khaleel KOZHIKODE: As one gazes down the Kallai Bridge to the listless river below, the log strewn water, the floating debris, and the overcrowded banks paint a sorry picture that belies Kallai’s glorious past and the focal part it played in shaping the commercial landscape of Calicut. In its long sustained heyday, the Kallai timber industry was second ...

As the world Muslims begin fasting during the holy month of Ramzan from Friday, Google has come out with some venerable Ramzan traditions online. Besides, sharing the Islamic prayers live from Mecca on a dedicated YouTube channel, it will attract millions of people from around the world to experience and comment on the event through video. “Ramadan is about more ...

Batman returns to cinemas for the Dark Knight Rises this month but unless he has invested in a new cape, he may fall into some trouble. But Physics students have calculated that the superhero’s method of using his cape to glide from tall buildings – as seen in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’ – would result in him hitting the ground ...

The 37-year-old Marissa Mayer, who was sidelined by Google’s co-founder Larry Page has marched out to rejuvenate a frail and falling tech major in the vicinity — Yahoo. But the third CEO in less than a year is beset with challenges bequethed from her five failed predecessors in the last five years. Not merely Google but also Facebook and Microsoft ...

Google has teamed up with Dale Dougherty, publisher of MAKE Magazine, to launch a new online summer camp billed “Maker Camp” which encourages 13- to 18-year-olds to get creative with up to 30 different types of fun projects themed around creativity and “the art of making.” Evoking the words of young maker Joey Hudy who said: “Don’t be bored. Make ...

By Shajahan Madampat The cyberspace is abuzz with discussions on yet another fatwa, this time from a Moroccan cleric who declared necrophilia lawful. According to the cleric, it is religiously permissible for a man to have sex with his dead wife provided it is done within six hours of death. Although the fatwa seems to have been issued some time ...

CERN experiments observe particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson CERN, the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research, will soon turn into a Mecca for the world physicists with its pathbreaking research into confirming that there exists a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 GeV, which is scientifically known as Higgs Boson but for commoners the “God’s Particle” narrated ...

India has set aside Rs.100 crore for providing free medicines to all patients attending a government hospital fom October under the free-medicines-for-all scheme. Nearly 22 percent of the country’s population is dependent upon the government hospitals which is expected to increase to 52 percent by 2017. Currently, there are 160,000 divisional hospitals, 23,000 primary health centres, 5,000 community health centres ...

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) of Jaganmohan Reddy will remain a test of confused political message for many parties in future. Whether it was Telugu Desam or the ruling Congress, both were confident to sideline YSR Congress this time but to their dismay, it romped home with a thundering 15 out of 18 assembly seats belittling the Telangana versus Andhra divisions. ...

India-born former head of the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm Rajat Gupta, 63, was convicted by a US court on Friday for insider trading, which means he will be facing 20 years in the United States jail. The jury has charged Gupta on five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit the fraud by providing inside ...