Tokyo - Nintendo Co slashed its net profit and operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year that runs through March 31 after a stronger yen offset robust sales of game consoles, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese gaming company revised its net profit down by 16 per cent to 345 billion yen (3.54 billion dollars) and operating profit by 3 per cent to 630 billion yen from its August estimates.

But Nintendo maintained its sales forecast for the year at 2 trillion yen.

For the first half of this fiscal year, the company said it saw its net profit rise 9.4 per cent from the same period a year ago to 144.83 billion yen.

Manama, Bahrain - The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) said on Thursday that it would cut its key policy interest rate by 25 basis points, after reviewing the decision taken by the US Federal Open Market Committee a day earlier.

"Effective immediately, the CBB's rate on the one-week deposit facility is 1.50 per cent, down from 1.75 per cent previously," a statement by the CBB said.

According to the statement, the CBB's lending standing facilities remain available for its banks at their initiative to assist them to meet their liquidity needs. The Bahraini dinar is pegged to the dollar.

State-run power producer National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting has approved the proposal for initiating discussion with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) for entering into an MOU for formation of Joint Venture Company for setting up a Nuclear Power Project.

In the said proposed Joint Venture Company, NTPC would hold 49 per cent of the stake while the balance 51 per cent would be held by NPCIL.

The company would raise up to Rs 4,500 crore from domestic as well as international markets for meeting its expansion plans in the current financial year. The power producer plans to build 2,000 MW nuclear capacity by the year 2017.

Washington, Oct 30 : Scientists have developed a numerical model that can re-create the state of Switzerland''s Rhone Glacier as it was in 1874 and predict its evolution until the year 2100.

This is the longest period of time ever modeled in the life of a glacier, involving complex data analysis and mathematical techniques.

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have designed the model.

The Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology at ETH Zurich has been a repository for temperature, rainfall and flow data on the Rhone Glacier since the 1800s.

Washington, October 30 : An Italian study has revealed that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) have a significantly increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Dr. Valter Donadon from Pordenone Hospital of Italy, who investigated the relationships between DM2 and risk of HCC in a large population based case-control study, also found that DM2 pre-exists to the development of HCC in most cases.

Describing the study in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, Donadon said that the research team had enrolled 465 consecutive patients with HCC compared with an age and sex matched control group of 490 subjects.

Washington, Oct 30 : One may say that people who take up bowling are productively using their spare time to stay fit, but if not careful, these amateur sports might lead to health problems later in life, warn scientists.

A new study led by Dr. Navah Ratzon, a long-time occupational therapist and director of the Occupational Therapy Department at Tel Aviv University, has stated that a number of improper leisure sport activities may have negative effects on the musculoskeletal system.

"Increasing numbers of adults are pursuing amateur athletics during their leisure hours. But we''ve found worrying indications that this activity --­ when not done properly -- may have negative effects on the musculoskeletal system," she said.