As it enters its 50th year of conception, the state-run HLL Lifecare, as Hindustan Latex is now called, is spreading itself into a wide range of "sexual wellness" products -- an industry estimated at Rs.8,500 crore ($1.3 billion) in India annually.


50 years on, Nirodh-maker eyes products beyond condoms


IANS Automatic

Chicago, Feb 28 (IANS/EFE) The house in south Chicago where blues legend Muddy Waters lived for two decades, now appears abandoned with its windows blocked by plywood.


Blues legend Muddy Waters's Chicago house seek better days


President Barack Obama, with the largest number of Indian Americans in his administration, keeps dipping into the expanding talent pool of the three million-strong Indian American community, to take care of issues ranging from combating terrorist propaganda abroad to nation's health at home.


Obama taps Indian Americans to fix things at home and abroad (Diaspora Feature)


With over a score of direct Obama appointees in high places, two governors, a House member, a state attorney general and eight state legislators, Indian Americans have over the years gained power and influence far beyond their numbers. And their power keeps growing.


America's Desi power players (To go with 'Obama taps Indian Americans to fix things at home and abroad')


Paris, Feb 24 (IANS/EFE) A street artist who goes by the name of Combo has become a symbol of tolerance in France after being badly beaten for covering a wall on a Paris street with graffiti calling for coexistence between Christianity, Islam and Judaism.


Paris graffiti artist emerges as tolerance symbol for France


Popular Pakistani singer Atif Aslam and India's Mohit Chauhan spread the message of peace and love through their duet performance here Sunday.


Atif, Mohit rocked Gurgaon with duet performance


An Indian-American surgeon is on a mission to save thousands of lives that are lost on Indian roads every day with an innovative training programme for trauma first responders using a $200,000 simulator dummy.


Indian-American surgeon on a mission to save lives on Indian roads


It is an academy with a difference. The sprawling 10-acre Minerva Academy campus near here has a singular focus - to train young men and women to be part of the military.


35,000 and counting: Minerva's role in Indian armed forces (Defence Feature)


She comes from a family of chefs and co-owns Southall-based Brilliant Restaurant that specialises in Punjabi cooking with a Kenyan twist. Dipna Anand, a London-based Indian chef, says the city has welcomed Indian curries with open arms.


'Indian cuisine is pretty big in Britain'


Donetsk (Ukraine), Feb 10 (IANS/EFE) Thousands of people who fled to underground shelters in the city of Donetsk are still there, waiting for a diplomatic solution that will allow them to resume a normal life in eastern Ukraine, currently the stronghold of the pro-Russian militias opposing the government in Kiev.


Afraid to go home, thousands huddle in Ukraine city shelters


A movement that a handful of woman activists started in the early 1980s to save forests in the Himalayan terrain of the picturesque Lahaul Valley, populated mainly by Buddhists, has yielded the fruit of labour.


Where women take up cudgels to save forests (Environment Feature)


Stand up comedian Russell Peters, who will be in India as part of his upcoming Almost Famous world tour, will perform in Bengaluru Feb 21.


Russell Peters to perform in Bengaluru Feb 21


Fildes Bay (Antarctica), Feb 6 (IANS/EFE) Antarctica has become a laboratory for research on climate change as a result of the impact that global warming is having on some of the continent's regions and its role in regulating the Earth's climate.


Antarctica, a laboratory for climate change research


On weekends Chetan Jain, 23, goes trekking to neighbouring Kasauli or Morni hills or loses himself in the picturesque Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary. Jain's urge to capture nature with his digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) is driving him to wake up early to follow his newly-found passion.


Amateur photographers begin young in Chandigarh (Lifestyle Feature)


Bogota, Feb 5 (IANS/EFE) Colombia, the world's second-largest producer of flowers after the Netherlands, is cranking up its offerings, cutting and packaging some 500 million stems to meet the global market's demand on Valentine's Day, industry representatives said.


Colombian flower exports blooming ahead of Valentine's Day


The global economic slowdown did restrict "impulsive buyers" from splurging at the four-day India Art Fair (IAF) but it didn't defuse the enthusiasm of the national and international galleries from participating in the annual event, despite not generating enough sales. For the majority, participation is a way of educating people in contemporary arts and building a pool of future collectors.


India Art Fair: Investing today for a better tomorrow (IANS Review)


Sydney, Jan 27 (IANS/EFE) One of the largest glaciers on the planet, Totten, is melting due to ocean warming, a phenomenon that demonstrates the vulnerability of East Antarctica and its role in increasing the level of the oceans.


Ocean warming melting one of largest Antarctica glaciers


, For Raj Kumar, literature is far from being the reason to be at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival. Instead of wanting to meet velebrated authors and listen to their take on various issues, he is busy selling kachoris and samosas just outside the fest venue at Diggi House here.


Of kachoris and samosas at Jaipur Lit Fest (Foodie Trail-Jaipur)


Thanks to an innovative green technique involving some 1,200 indoor plants adopted by a business centre in south Delhi, one can actually breathe "Davos quality" air in the national capital -- where the smog is three times worse than Beijing's.


In polluted Delhi, breathe 'Davos' air in this biz centre (Environment Feature)


It takes 11-year-old Aditya Ray only seconds to multiply a five-digit number with a four-digit one. This, he says, is because of Vedic mathematics, "which has made my calculations quicker and accurate". By traditional method, Ray would have taken over a minute to get the answer.


Vedic maths gets vote of confidence from students, teachers (News Spotlight)


Major landmarks in British capital London were illuminated in the colours of the French flag Sunday, in a show of solidarity with France, where terrorist attacks last week killed 17 people.

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