Egypt's Hosni Mubarak in hospital after 'heart attack'

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, say state media.

He was taken ill while meeting prosecutors investigating the killing of hundreds of protesters and allegations of corruption, reports say.

The manager of the hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh said Mr Mubarak's condition was "almost stable".

Mr Mubarak, 82, stood down on 11 February following an 18-day popular uprising against his rule.

State TV quotes medical sources as saying that Mr Mubarak, had refused to eat or drink since being summoned by the public prosecutor on Sunday.

Mr Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are also under investigation and are being questioned at the prosecutor's office in al-Tor in South Sinai governorate, where the former president is said to have been when he suffered the reported medical emergency.Scuffles

"There is a state of confusion inside the hospital and only patients are allowed in," Ashraf Swaylam, a news reporter for the state-run station Nile TV, said earlier.

The hospital was accepting no patients except for emergency cases, another local media report said.

Protesters picketed the hospital, denouncing the president and carrying a sign reading "Here is the butcher", AP news agency reported. They scuffled with supporters of Mr Mubarak.

Mr Mubarak underwent gall bladder surgery in the German city of Heidelberg last year and there were reports that he had remained in poor health, although his aides had denied this.

A BBC correspondent says it is understood that the former president's doctors had asked Egypt's ruling military council for permission to send him back to Germany for treatment, but that this was refused.

Mr Mubarak has been banned from leaving the country, along with his sons and their wives, and the family's assets have been frozen.

In a pre-recorded audio message on Sunday, he broke his silence of the last two months to say his reputation and that of his sons had been damaged and he would work to clear their names.Square cleared

Correspondents say he has been keeping a low profile in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort, after fleeing to his holiday villa there when he was overthrown.

In a separate development, soldiers and police are said to have ended a five-day occupation of Cairo's Tahrir Square by hundreds of protesters.

They had been demanding civilian rule and swifter prosecution of disgraced former officials, principally Mr Mubarak.

There were clashes on the first night of the occupation and tensions had remained high.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13053376

Texprocess 2011: solutions to improve sustainability in the apparel industry

The question of ethical business is not a new one to the clothing industry and if something does not appear right to the western clothing consumer they will shout about it, media will dishonour the company in question, and brands can be ruined. Sweat shops, child labour, poor wages, forced overtime are all issues which are now addressed by nearly every exporter. 

Now we have further challenges for the industry. Corporate social responsibility, eco-friendliness, sustainability, traceability of hazardous substances are all now required, and all throughout an elongated and complex global supply chain. From the issue of forced child labour in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan, to the amount of water involved in dyeing tee shirts with different compositions of cotton, noxious chemicals used in the finishing processes, methane emitting sheep destroying the ozone layer, forced overtime in Chinese clothing factories. Every aspect of the supply chain has ramifications as to the acceptability of a garment. Texprocess from 24 to 27 May 2011 in Frankfurt am Main shows new systems and technologies helping to realize more sustainablitity in the textile and clothing industry. 

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the ever increasing demands on resources, caused by human overpopulation, the 

impact of contemporary western lifestyles, expanding industrialisation, the huge disparity between rich and poor, and other issues which are bringing widespread degradation and destruction of the natural environment on which all life ultimately depends. This concern is affecting all aspects of life, including the purchasing decisions of the end customers. They want to know that the garment they are buying, and the way it has been produced, is sustainable, i.e., it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; it embraces the main interdependent and indivisible areas of environmental protection, economic and social development. 

The textile and clothing industry is a diverse one, as much in the raw materials it uses as the techniques it employs. At each of the six stages typically required to make a garment, the negative impacts on the environment are as numerous as they are varied. Spinning, weaving and fabric manufacture undermine air quality, use much electricity, and create noise. Dyeing and printing consume vast amounts of water and chemicals, and may release numerous volatile agents into the atmosphere and water that are particularly harmful to our health. Garment making tends to be carried out in low cost labour countries where labour ethics may still be questionable and certainly require monitoring.

A focus on textile sustainability enables the entire value chain to find cost savings and production efficiencies and pass those savings on to customers while reducing the impact of textile production on people and the environment.

Facts: 

Textile waste occupies nearly 5% of all landfill space; one million tons of textiles will end up in a landfill every year.

According to the World Bank 20% of industrial fresh water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing. In 2009, the world used three trillion gallons of fresh water to produce 60 billion kilograms of fabric; it takes 700 gallons of fresh water to make one cotton t-shirt.

0ne trillion kilowatt hours is used every year by the global textile

industry which equates to 10% of total global carbon impact.

There is a request from more and more buyers around the world for goods and products to be acquired from suppliers whose key 

parameters such as quality controls, compliance with mandatory standards, and presence of critical components or hazardous substances must be traceable up to and including the supply of raw materials. There is a wealth of eco-certification, and legislation such as REACH. Systems and controls need to be in place to monitor these, such as IT systems, RFID, and much else. Machinery and equipment is becoming more environmentally friendly with lower noise emissions, lower energy usage, and using less oil lubricant. 

Much of this will be on show at the brand new biennial exhibition, Texprocess, which is being established by Messe Frankfurt as the new leading international trade fair for processing textile and other flexible materials. This event for the garment and textile processing industry will be held in Frankfurt am Main from 24 to 27 May 2011, parallel to the already well established Techtextil, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens. Texprocess will promote all the latest international technological innovations in the sector with products covering the entire supply chain from design, pattern production, cutting, making up and finishing to logistics, information technologies and technical accessories.

source:http://www.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/media/technische_messen/texprocess/frankfurt/texte/nachhaltigkeit.html

Finance dominates IIM-Calcutta placements

The finance sector ruled the finalplacements process at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) with renowned firms from the field making up 31.3 percent of the offers.

"IIM-Calcutta is known as the 'Finance Campus of India', and this year the finance sector contributed the largest number of offers, nearly 31.3 percent. Finance was closely followed by the consulting and marketing sectors," Pritish Gandhi, recruitmentcoordinator, IIM-C, told media persons here.

"International investment banks like UBS, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America hired students from IIM-C. Students have already received pre-placement offers (PPO) from firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland," said Gandhi.

"This year Japanese Investment Bank and Daiwa Securities recruited exclusively from IIM-Calcutta and extended offers to six students," said Gandhi

Consulting firms like Mckinsey and Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain and Company and AT Kearney and Essex Lake Group also recruited exclusively from IIM-Calcutta during the March 3-7 final placement process.

"All 383 students who participated in the placement process had successfully received job offers by the end of the fifth day," said Gandhi.

For students with considerable work-experience, lateral placements in senior positions saw a huge increase of 57.6 percent in the number of offers, up from 92 last year to 145 this year.

More than 50 firms participated in the lateral placement process, including recruiters like Barclays Bank, Olam International, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Shell.

They hired in "unprecedented numbers" after modest hiring or completely giving a miss to placements during the recession period, said Gandhi.

The highlight of the lateral placement process was the participation of private equity firm Gaja Capital, which recruited exclusively from IIM-Calcutta and selected three students. Additionally, MCap Fund Advisors also visited the campus for lateral recruitments.

The IIM-Calcutta this year also introduced "deferred placements" process wherein students who want to pursue entrepreneurship, work in social sector, join a government organization involved in national service or pursue higher education are allowed to sign out of current placement process and join it anytime in the next 3 years.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/IIM/Finance_dominates_IIM-Calcutta_placements_13670/