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New Delhi, May 15 India, which is rich in land, people and natural resources, has become a less competitive Economy in the past one year, with the country slipping two ranks in the latest world’s competitiveness index. India has been given a score of 60.62 points, while that of China is 73.75. The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is a comprehensive report on the competitiveness of nations and is published since 1989. It provides several customised rankings, whether by size, wealth or regions.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - FedEx Corp. said Tuesday it has canceled its order for 10 Airbus A380 jets, the new jumbo double-decker plane that has been dogged by numerous delays. The company's FedEx Express unit has ordered 15 Boeing Co. 777 Freighters, and has options to purchase an additional 15, FedEx said in a news release. The company cited Airbus' production delays as the reason for the decision.

Deputy secretary-general Mark Malloch Brown said the US needs to tell its people why the UN matters Picture: AFP/Getty THE United Nations' British second-in-command was at the centre of a furious diplomatic row with the United States yesterday. The UN deputy secretary-general, Mark Malloch Brown, antagonised Washington after suggesting that the US administration was happy to use the UN as a diplomatic tool while failing to defend it from critics at home. Mr Malloch Brown told a conference in New York that "the prevailing [US] practice of seeking to use the UN almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while...

The following is the text of the statement announcing the killing of Al Qaeda’s top leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. The announcement was made at Press Conference in Baghdad: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Coalition Forces killed al-Qaeda terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and one of his key lieutenants, spiritual advisor Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, yesterday, June 7, at 6:15 p.m. in an air strike against an identified, isolated safe house. "Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baqubah when the...

BERLIN, June 2 (Reuters) - Russia and China can opt out but will not block U.N. sanctions that may be imposed on Iran if it refuses to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme, a diplomat from the European Union told Reuters on Friday. Citing a deal agreed by Germany, France, Britain, the United States, China and Russia in Vienna on Thursday, the diplomat said that the six world powers had agreed on a "catalogue of sanctions" that could be used if Tehran remains defiant. "There is something like a catalogue of sanctions and we can pick and choose from them. The...

12/1/2005 - SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- “Mayday. Mayday.” The distress call is familiar to most people who watch television and movies. But when it is made for real, it can make a pilot’s mouth go dry and his stomach cramp. That is the feeling pilot Naim Fazlija said he when he had to make the distress call to German radar controllers when his Piper Chieftain twin-engine lost its electrical system on a flight from the Netherlands to Geneva last month. The civilian charter plane was flying at 11,000 feet over a hazy Germany. Mr. Fazlija said he and...

Under absolutely oppressive Southern California Inland Empire August heat, the good guys showed up in force to support the President and the troops. There were a handful of FReepers there that I recognized including bittdrvr, Blurblogger, Joy Angela, Aloha Ronnie, and RonDog. Darn, come on, who am I forgetting? There had to be perhaps 300 there on our side, and it was refreshing to outnumber the airheads on the other side. The anti-war, anti-American protestors, not surprisingly had their share of foul mouths and those who smelled badly when they came to our side and walked through the crowd. It...

When I was in high school, every once in a while, our class would be visited by a graduate who was currently attending a college as a Freshman or Sophomore. As this college student would speak with his former teacher, we would be somewhat impressed with the “vast knowledge” of this person who seemed like a man of the world in comparison to us mere high school kids. Of course, these college guys weren’t really all that knowledgeable but they still appeared to make an impression on us little high school kids who didn’t know any better. And now...

Picture are 1024X768 just right click and save picture as... IF it saves it as a larger bmp just convert it to jpg or just leave it as bmp...

Fear of a hostile reaction has led US officials to warn its participants in the Games against overtly patriotic displaysBy Simon Hart in New York (Filed: 16/05/2004) American athletes have been warned not to wave the US flag during their medal celebrations at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens for fear of provoking crowd hostility and harming the country's already battered public image. The spectacle of victorious athletes grabbing a national flag and parading it around the stadium is a familiar part of international sporting competition, but US Olympic officials have ordered their 550-strong team to exercise restraint and avoid...

Greece Holds Olympic Flame Lighting Thu Mar 25,11:54 AM ET By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece - The flame that will burn at the Athens Games was lit Thursday amid the ruins of the ancient sanctuary where the Olympics were born 2,780 years ago. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Olympic Torch Olympic Flame Begins Trek Under Scrutiny (AP Video) In a ceremony held at an altar to Hera, a Greek goddess worshipped in Olympia during the original games, the torch was lit by a Greek actress playing the role of a high priestess. Thalia Prokopiou, one of...

<p>PARIS THE ATTITUDE of the George W. Bush administration and of the neoconservative policy community that supplies its ideas is condescending at best to those who question its actions.</p> <p>The members of the administration and their backers claim a moral realism that their critics, specifically their European critics, allegedly lack. The Washingtonians are ''grown-ups'' (in one particularly unfortunate recent formulation). Their ''realism'' consists in believing that there are evil leaders and governments in the world. They are under the impression that their critics are moral relativists, who do not recognize this.</p>