Melbourne, Apr 14 : IBM worldwide has begun cost cuts in order to battle the effects of the global financial crisis and will scrap office amenities such as tea and coffee, and even company-funded home internet access.

From May 1, IBM will cease to reimburse Internet access for staff working from home. Direct pay corporate managed and contracted home Internet services will also be scrapped.

"IBM will cease the reimbursement of home internet access for employees," The Australian quoted the company, as saying in an email to staff.

Melbourne, Apr 14 : IBM worldwide has begun cost cuts in order to battle the effects of the global financial crisis and will scrap office amenities such as tea and coffee, and even company-funded home internet access.

From May 1, IBM will cease to reimburse Internet access for staff working from home. Direct pay corporate managed and contracted home Internet services will also be scrapped.

"IBM will cease the reimbursement of home internet access for employees," The Australian quoted the company, as saying in an email to staff.

Washington, Apr 14 : Scientists from The University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston are developing a robotic device to help recovering stroke and spinal cord injury patients.

The prototypes, brainchild of two faculty members in the Laboratory of Adaptive Technologies at The University of Texas Health Science Centre, are armed with a scissor-like claw that can perform a variety of functions, including moving a glass of water or snatching a pen off the floor.

Islamabad, Apr. 14 : The intention behind the United States providing preconditioned financial aid to Pakistan is that it wants to establish master-slave relations with the country, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has said.

PTI Spokesperson Dr. Shireen Mazari said her party considered the proposed bill with conditionalities unacceptable, and it should be totally rejected.

London, April 14 : A sexagenarian Aussie artist showed off the "third ear" he has had surgically implanted into his skin during a festival on Monday.

Stelarc, 62, claimed at the Edinburgh International Science Festival that the extra ear on his arm had become a permanent part of his body.

"It is a permanent part of me now - after six months it becomes fused to the arm and has its own blood supply," the Mirror quoted him as saying.

Washington, April 14 : Scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have come up with a way to convert human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into neural progenitor cells, which may be ideal for transplantation.

Lead researcher Dr. Alexei Terskikh says that the new method to create these committed neural precursor cells (C-NPCs) does not produce mutations in the cells, and may be useful for clinical applications.

When the C-NPCs created using the Terskikh protocol were transplanted into mice during an experiment, they became active neurons and integrated into the cortex and olfactory bulb.