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IndianExpress: Having already established itself as the educational destination for students worldwide, Pune is all set to now impart training to professionals from beyond the countries shores.

On Friday, the Symbiosis International Office inaugurated a Management Development Programme (MDP) in collaboration with Oman-based Khimji Ramdas Industrial Group to train 35 of its employees from all management levels.
 
The inauguration ceremony, held at the Symbiosis Vishwabhavan was presided over by Symbiosis Director S B Mujumdar and KR Group Senior Partner Anil Khimji.

The management programme, which will be a part of the Symbiosis Study India Programme, will be conducted over five weeks starting August 21 and will conclude on September

IndianExpress: A gang of five dacoits, armed with guns and choppers, raided the Solapur Janata Cooperative Bank branch at Gultekdi Market Yard, looting cash of over Rs 3 lakh on Friday morning.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) C D Daithankar said a man visited the bank soon after the branch opened and asked for a withdrawal slip. Soon after he left, four men armed with choppers and guns barged inside.

The robbers held the bank staff and customers at gunpoint and obtained the keys of the strongroom. The security alarm of the strongroom had been switched off by the staff to prevent the siren from going off as they intended to open the strongroom themselves

IndianExpress: The Study Group set up by the state to find ways and means of finding alternative sources of revenue to compensate for the loss from octroi may have proposed a steep increase in property tax, but one of its own members has put up a dissent note.

And it has come from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Johny Joseph, who unlike his counterpart in Pune — Nitin Kareer — has expressed reservations on the proposals.

 While Kareer has called it ‘‘a rationalisation of tax structure’’ and said it would affect only old properties in downtown parts of the city, Joseph has made it clear in his note that the tax increase will not bring in any additional revenue to the BMC and thereby it was not advisable to abolish octroi.
 

IndianExpress: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s City Improvement Committee on Friday approved the proposal of constructing an 80-ft wide road from Tangent showroom to Vaibhav Hotel.

The decision is aimed at reducing traffic congestion on Senapati Bapat and Ganeshkhind roads.
 
The proposal was mooted after the CIC members visited the Senapati Bapat Road and Ganeshkhind Road last week to inspect the traffic condition. CIC chairman Vikas Mathkari alleged that the design of the three flyovers under construction near Agriculture College and University Chowk was faulty.

IndianExpress: WHEN the State Excise Department conducted a survey on illegal hooch brewing in Yerawada, Bhatnagar, Phugewadi and Uruli Kanchan recently, it found a large number of women were running the business.

State Excise Department superintendent (Pune Region) Yatin Sawant said women constituted about 20 per cent of those in the business. ‘‘They also act as fronts to provide protection to the men,’’ he said.

Sources in the department said over 50 women were indirectly involved in the hooch business in Pune region. However, the department can do precious little to crack down on them because it faces a severe shortage of women personnel, especially of the constable and sub-inspector rank.

IndianExpress: Till 1980, the thick evergreen forests of Bheemashankar, situated some 130 kms off Pune were a favorite spot for hunters and poachers from Mumbai and Pune. Their favorite target would be Shekru — the multi-coloured, shy Indian Giant Squirrel.

Some 25 years on, the same forest is a major draw for wildlife lovers, with Shekru being declared the state animal of Maharashtra.

Listed as endangered species, Shekrus have been provided safer habitat in the forest reserve, with wildlife lovers doing their bit to spread awareness about them. The results are there for all to see as the last one year has seen a 10 per cent growth in their number.

IndianExpress: After the State and 319 hospitals agreed to abide by the recommendations made by a 12-member committee headed by Charity Commissioner S B Dhumal, the Bombay High Court on Thursday approved the suggestions.

Reserve beds for poor patients, give emergency treatment to them and set up a poor patients’ fund: These were some of the panel’s many recommendations.
 
In April, after some of the five-star hospitals had expressed their reluctance to accept the recommendations, the court had directed the State and the association of charitable hospitals to review the recommendations and reach a conclusion.

DailyTechNews: Dell first stunned the tech industry by announcing back in May that it would adopt AMD Opteron processors for its server systems. In the past few weeks there has been increasing speculation over Dell’s use of AMD processors in notebooks. Although there was confirmation of the move from an unnamed Dell executive as well as from a general manager of AMD’s Taiwanese operations, the company still has not released an official statement regarding the use of AMD processors in the mobile sector. The company did, however, announce today its plans to incorporate AMD processors into its Dimension desktop range next month along with dual-socket and multi-processor servers using AMD Opteron processors.