Stockholm - Swedish furniture retail giant Ikea Friday named Mikael Ohlsson as its new chief executive officer.

Ohlsson, who began as a carpet seller at Ikea's store in the central city of Linkping some 30 years ago, was to replace Anders Dahlvig as of September 1.

Dahlvig has been head of the furniture giant that employs some 127,000 people for 10 years.

Ikea was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. It is not a listed company and does not disclose its profitability.

Imphal, April 24: Guru G. Gourakishor Sharma was recently conferred the coveted Padamshree award for 2008-2009 to honour his lifetime contribution to Manipuri Martial Art, Thang-Ta.

Born into a family having a long tradition of martial arts, the Manipuri martial art, “Thang-Ta” came naturally to Gourakishor, who since childhood developed deep interest in this art form.

India's national carrier, Air India, and the recently-created Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, AERA, will likely have new chiefs named on Friday, after a high-profile meeting - under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar - takes a decision regarding the persons to be at the helm of affairs of the two organizations.

Other known dignitaries to participate in the top-level meeting include Prime Minister's principal secretary TKA Nair, civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar, and public enterprises selection board chairman Naresh Narad.

Washington - Europe must do better in cleaning up its banking sector should the continent have any hopes for recovery from a devastating recession, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday amid signals that some of the continent's economies may be pulling back from the brink.

Ludhiana, April 24: Having won millions of hearts across the country and abroad, Punjab’s legendary singer Gurdas Maan has come up with ‘Mini Punjab’, whose music was launched recently here.

The Punjabi film ‘Mini Punjab’ spreads the message of universal brotherhood and educates about being positive, lively and compassionate in today’s life.

`Mini Punjab’ is a Punjab away from Punjab in Mumbai. The film depicts the life of the Punjabi community called `Mini Punjab’, and spreads the message of universal brotherhood.

According to a report released by rating agency Crisil, a nearly three-fold increase in gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banks is projected by the year 2011 - the figures are likely to go up from the last year's 2.3 percent of advances to 5 per cent of advances by 2011.

Speaking in absolute terms, the gross NPAs would from last year level of Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 1.9 lakh crore.

The report says increased gross NPAs would result from increasing defaults in payments by companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), because of their puny risk profile and severe strain on operating margins.