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HONG KONG/MUMBAI, October 25: Uday Shankar and Jadgish Kumar have been upped to the roles of CEO and COO of STAR India, respectively, effective immediately. Reporting to STARs CEO, Paul Aiello, Shankar will assume the position of CEO of STAR India, responsible for the companys overall business in the region. Shankar joined STAR India as COO in May, following a stint as CEO of STAR joint venture MCCS. Kumar, who is currently based in Hong Kong, will join STAR India as COO. Kumar will report to Shankar and work closely with him in optimizing operational efficiencies and driving the companys growth agenda. Kumar joined STAR in 1995 as STAR Indias CFO, and has held a number of titles, including senior VP of finance at the companys headquarters in Hong Kong since 2004 and as VP of the Digital Platform Group in Mumbai from 2001 to 2004.
Mazda's Sweet Little CX-7
Crossover vehicles are hot sellers right now. So why is one of the hottest models in the segment—Mazda's curvaceous CX-7—suddenly not doing so well? The answer seems to be that there are now so many excellent crossovers crowding onto the market that shoppers can afford to be far more finicky than they were even six months ago. For all of last year, North American sales of the CX-7 were up 86.6%, to 41,659. But the model peaked late last summer. Sales fell by 23.2% in October, 21% in November, rose a meager 1.9% in December, and fell again by 7.6%, to 2,555, in January. What pulled the rug out? Shoppers have a lot more crossover vehicles to choose from than before, for one thing. These include Honda's (HMC) wildly popular CR-V and Toyota's (TM) Rav4, as well as such new models as the Nissan (NSANY) Rogue, the redesigned Saturn Vue, and the redesigned Ford Escape.
A special bond between soldiers in Iraq
Graves works with Udo, a yellow Labrador retriever who holds the rank of sergeant 1st class, one higher than Graves. He is the fifth dog Graves has been teamed with.
Graves adopted his first dog after it retired from active duty. The dog died at age 16, from a heart attack while chasing a cat.
His fourth dog was aggressive and liked to bite, nothing like Udo, who is a specialized search dog. That means he isn't aggressive and can run off his leash, wearing a vest that holds a radio through which Graves issues commands.
"If something ever happened to him, I'd never work canine again," Graves said as Udo did a practice run across a field dotted with remnants of once-lethal explosives and other weapons.
Handlers are expected to keep their dogs "on odor" by putting them through such training every month, to ensure they don't lose the ability to detect TNT, C4, AK-47s, wires, metal and the other threats that insurgents have planted across Iraq.
Round and round they go: Region's bicyclers
The forgiving terrain and climate create the perfect storm for a love affair with the bike in the Sacramento region. No better backdrop for the Amgen Tour of California, a 600-mile race that passes through Sacramento on Tuesday. "This is a great cycling region," said John McCasey, executive director of the Sacramento Sports Commission. "They clearly recognize that." .
Diabetes lurks in suburbs
According to the ICES Toronto Diabetes Atlas, neighbourhoods with the highest rates of diabetes had low incomes and high concentrations of visible minority residents. Walking or cycling was difficult and there was poor access to healthy resources, such as grocery stores and diabetes education programs. Governments could help lower diabetes rates in these areas by: Designating some streets or parts of streets for pedestrian traffic only. Increasing the number of places that people can walk to in the suburbs, like parks, libraries, schools, daycares and shops. Changing zoning bylaws that prohibit stores from being built in residential areas. Providing tax incentives to encourage grocery stores and fruit stands to locate in high-need areas and for convenience stores to offer healthier "on the go" food options.
Black Britain's darkest hour
In the afternoon after work, I would be cycling home and I would see a gang of skinheads waiting for me. I would have to pedal so fast to try and get away from them.' The police were not trusted to offer protection, so Gulam would carry a metal chain for defence, while Asian bus drivers would keep hockey sticks with them on their routes. The speech radicalised those who opposed Powell. Blacks, whites and Asians met in church halls and planned protests against the damage being done to their town's reputation. (The Rock Against Racism movement also owed its creation to Powell after a drunken comment from Eric Clapton during a concert in Birmingham in 1976, when the musician told an audience to vote for Powell to stop Britain becoming 'a black colony' inspired the founding of the anti-racism movement.) The speech also implied that ethnic minorities would never be truly British.
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