Fake drugs constitute 25% of domestic medicines market in India
the biggest centre of spurious drugs is national capital region (NCR), which includes Delhi and its suburbs of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida. Estimates indicate that fake medicines constitute nearly one-third of all drugs sold in NCR. The shocking revelation has been made in a paper, “Fake and Counterfeit Drugs In India –Booming Biz”, by industry body ASSOCHAM. The paper shows that fake drugs constitute US$ 4.25 billion of the total US$ 14-17 billion of domestic drugs market. If the fake drugs market grows at the current rate of 25%, it will cross US$ 10 billion mark by 2017, according to the paper.
Grandmother Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison After Protest at U.S. Drone Base
In New York, a peace activist and grandmother has been sentenced to a year in prison for her role in peaceful protests at a base where U.S. drones are piloted remotely. Mary Anne Grady Flores had been issued an order of protection aimed at keeping her away from Hancock Field Air National Guard Base after she participated in an act of civil disobedience there in 2012. Last year, Grady Flores says she attended another peace action, but did not participate, instead photographing it from the roadway, beyond what she believed was the base’s boundary. She was later told the base’s property extended into the road. On Thursday, Judge David Gideon of the DeWitt Town Court sentenced her to the maximum sentence of a year in prison for violating the protection order and fined her $1,000. Mary Anne Grady Flores was taken into custody following the sentencing. She is appealing the verdict. Earlier in the day, her supporters marched six miles from the drone base to the courtroom carrying a coffin bearing the words “First Amendment.”
German government cancels Verizon contract
The German government has cancelled a contract with U.S. telecoms firm Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N as part of an overhaul of its internal communications, prompted by revelations last year of U.S. government spying. Berlin subsequently demanded talks with Washington on a “no-spy” deal, but these collapsed after the United States appeared unwilling to give the assurances Germany wanted. Verizon has been providing network infrastructure for the German government’s Berlin-Bonn network, used for communication between ministries, since 2010, the statement said. The contract is set to expire in 2015.
React to the killing of innocents in Middle East
Also boycott following Israeli related companies
Intel
Motorola
Hewlett-Packard
Amazon.com
IBM
Pampers
Coca-Cola
Caterpillar
GAP, Banana Republic, Calvin Klein, BOSS, M&S, DKNY which uses Delta-Galils textile
Gillette
Head & Shoulders
Vicks
Old Spice
Procter & Gamble
Johnson & Johnson
Revlon
McDonald’s
Nestle
Milkmaid
Maggi
KitKat
L’Oréal
Please reduce oil use as energy source as well as fertilisers, plastics etc in the chemical industry.
This list is not complete.