Science & Technology News

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Only four percent of the directors of publicly listed Indian companies are women, but a landmark law passed last year means companies must act quickly to put more women on their boards, a report said. The report “Women on Boards”, by Biz Divas, a national network of professional women, and law firm Khaitan and Co, said that men hold 8,640 boardroom positions and women 350 in the country’s 1,470 listed firms. “Archaic cultural stereotypes on the roles of men and women in society are largely to blame, while widespread illiteracy and socio-economic problems further worsen the problem.” The Companies Act, 2013 , passed by parliament in August last year, makes it mandatory for public and private firms with an annual turnover of at least three billion rupees ($50 million) to have at least one female director by Oct. 1, 2014. BIG BUSINESS, FEW WOMEN India has two companies in the Fortune 500, Reliance Industries and Indian Oil, but only one of their total of 30 directors is a woman, the report noted.

By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, at a meeting with Southeast Asian nations this weekend, will press for a voluntary freeze on actions aggravating territorial disputes in the South China Sea, in spite of Beijing’s rejection of the idea. Daniel Russel, the State Department’s senior diplomat for the East Asia region, said ahead of Kerry’s trip to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) that the call was not new and was “not rocket science,” but “common sense.” A priority for Kerry would be to lower tensions in the South China Sea, where about $5 trillion of maritime trade passes annually, and China and four members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have rival claims.

By Alister Doyle OSLO, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 40 to 70 percent by mid-century will be needed to avert the worst of global warming that is already harming all continents, a draft U.N. report showed. The 26-page draft, obtained by Reuters on Thursday, sums up three U.N. scientific reports published over the past year as a guide for almost 200 governments which are due to agree a deal to combat climate change at a summit in Paris in late 2015. It says existing national pledges to restrict greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, a U.N. ceiling set in 2010 to limit heatwaves, floods, storms and rising seas. “Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming to 2 degrees C … remain possible, yet will entail substantial technological, economic, institutional, and behavioural challenges,” according to the draft due for publication in Copenhagen on Nov. 2 after rounds of editing.

Only four percent of the directors of publicly listed Indian companies are women, but a landmark law passed last year means companies must act quickly to put more women on their boards, a report said. The report “Women on Boards”, by Biz Divas, a national network of professional women, and law firm Khaitan and Co, said that men hold 8,640 boardroom positions and women 350 in the country’s 1,470 listed firms. “Archaic cultural stereotypes on the roles of men and women in society are largely to blame, while widespread illiteracy and socio-economic problems further worsen the problem.” The Companies Act, 2013 , passed by parliament in August last year, makes it mandatory for public and private firms with an annual turnover of at least three billion rupees ($50 million) to have at least one female director by Oct. 1, 2014. BIG BUSINESS, FEW WOMEN India has two companies in the Fortune 500, Reliance Industries and Indian Oil, but only one of their total of 30 directors is a woman, the report noted.

By Se Young Lee and Sohee Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – As its smartphone sales stutter and a generational leadership succession looms, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is under pressure to reinvent itself – to be more innovative, but not lose the rigor and focus that made it a global powerhouse. The flagship of South Korea’s dominant conglomerate, or chaebol, is also trying to address shifting cultural values at home by curbing some of the excesses hardwired into corporate Korea. “It’s 1-1-9 for evening company outings now: one type of alcohol, in one place and only until 9 p.m,” said a Samsung employee in his eighth year at the firm. Samsung last month posted an unexpectedly sharp drop in second-quarter earnings, squeezed by falling market share in smartphones, and with no obvious driver in sight to reverse the decline.

Chinese authorities say they have blocked messaging apps KakaoTalk and Line as part of efforts to fight terrorism, South Korea said on Thursday, the first official explanation of service disruptions in China that began a month ago. South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said China had confirmed it had blocked “some foreign messaging applications through which terrorism-related information” was circulating.

By Julie Steenhuysen and Sharon Begley CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – With hundreds of patients in Africa suffering the devastating effects of Ebola, health experts are scrambling to determine which drugs might offer the best experimental treatment, and researchers are being pressed by government officials to speed up their work. One, produced by tiny California biotech Mapp Biopharmaceutical, gained international prominence this week when it was given to two U.S. aid workers who contracted Ebola in West Africa and have since shown signs of improvement. Others are from Vancouver-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and privately-held Profectus BioSciences, of Tarrytown, NY. U.S. drugmakers are fielding questions from government officials about their ability to supply treatments in sufficient quantities should the request come.

By Se Young Lee and Sohee Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – As its smartphone sales stutter and a generational leadership succession looms, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is under pressure to reinvent itself – to be more innovative, but not lose the rigor and focus that made it a global powerhouse. The flagship of South Korea’s dominant conglomerate, or chaebol, is also trying to address shifting cultural values at home by curbing some of the excesses hardwired into corporate Korea. “It’s 1-1-9 for evening company outings now: one type of alcohol, in one place and only until 9 p.m,” said a Samsung employee in his eighth year at the firm. Samsung last month posted an unexpectedly sharp drop in second-quarter earnings, squeezed by falling market share in smartphones, and with no obvious driver in sight to reverse the decline.

By Matilda Egere-Cooper LONDON (Reuters) – Film fans can break through the fourth wall and walk straight into 1955 and Hill Valley, the fictional California town that was the setting for the 1985 blockbuster “Back to the Future”. The latest incarnation of Secret Cinema, which aims to provide a full-scale immersive movie experience, brings to vivid life Robert Zemeckis’ science-fiction comedy. It’s Twin Pines Ranch, where plucky protagonist Marty McFly, portrayed by Michael J. Fox in the film, crash-lands his DeLorean time machine. Grounds near the Olympic Park in east London boast bungalows, retro billboards, a gas station, diners and a reproduction of the town square that featured in the film.

By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – International development banks on Monday committed $260 million in emergency loans for three West African countries hit by the deadly Ebola virus as nearly 50 African leaders gathered in Washington for a U.S.-hosted summit focusing on the region. The World Bank said it would provide as much as $200 million in emergency funding to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. “I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. “The international community needs to act fast to contain and stop this Ebola outbreak,” he added.