Government is unlikely to impose administrative charges on the successful bidder of 3G spectrum. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has earlier proposed to levy administrative tax of 2% of the highest bid amount as fees to use 3G frequencies. 3G spectrum auction process is scheduled to start on January 16. However, the Department of Telecommunication said that the proposed administrative charges would reduce the government's revenue by about Rs 5,000 crore. The regulator would discuss the stand taken by department of telecommunication in its next meeting.

London, Dec 17 : Great Britain and 14 of the Continent's 17 best swimming nations, want limits and controls to be placed on performance-enhancing suit technology in time for the World hampionships in Rome in July 2009.

The move, in support of similar demands in the United States, comes at the end of a year that, by the close of the European Short-course Championships in Croatia, had featured 105 world and 136 European records.

The head coach of British Swimming, Dennis Pursley, has given his backing to the revolt by leading European coaches over swimsuits, The Independent reported.

The government would do all possible efforts to attract more tourists in India. It has proposed special incentives and packages to promote tourism. The central government has declared 2009 as the year to `Visit India' to make country as a favorite tourism location.

London, Dec 17 : The song that British soul/pop singer Alexandra Burke sang, and which also broke a chart record, is said to have been inspired by `sex'.

Burke, who is the winner of the fifth series of the X Factor show, sang her own version of the song `Hallelujah', a song which is originally Leonard Cohen's and whose lyrics were inspired by bedroom antics.

Washington, Dec 17 : A new study has linked ecosystem changes in many temperate North American and Western European lakes to climate warning.

The study, conducted by researchers at Queen's University and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment in Canada, reports that striking changes are now occurring in many temperate lakes similar to those previously observed in the rapidly warming Arctic, although typically many decades later.

"Our findings suggest that ecologically important changes are already under way in temperate lakes," said Queen's Biology research scientist, Dr. Kathleen Ruhland, from the university's Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL) and lead author of the study.

Public Sector oil marketing companies today announced to cut aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices by 11 per cent following steep decline in crude oil prices in the international market. Crude oil prices fell to a four-year low of around $40 a barrel last fortnight following slow demand due to global financial crisis.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) contributes 50% of the operational cost of an airline. ATF demand has fallen by over 5% to 0.37 million tonnes in November as compared to a year-ago period. However, demand for petroleum products rose by 1.6% in November to 10.9 MT.