A study, reported at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans said that the number of people over 65 years who were hospitalized for heart failure had more than doubled over the last 25 years. The report is the first to document the increase in the disease across the country and estimates that this will cost the United States $34.8 billion this year for direct and indirect treatment costs and the incidence would keep increasing unless prevention measures are adopted quickly.

The U.S. District Court for Southern New York asked Mark Papermaster to stop working with IBM till further orders. Mark Papermaster is a former employee of IBM who recently served as a vice president of IBM's blade development unit. IBM filed a case against him in the US court following apprehension of disclosure of important trade secrets of IBM.

IBM said in the filing that Papermaster possess sensitive company information and secrets regarding business strategy and long-term opportunities. He would surely disclose secrets to Apple which would cause huge losses to IBM. Meanwhile, Apple said that it has hired Papermaster for his general skill as an engineer and his strong management skills.

Many national and international flights were delayed due to poor visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Changing wind direction and smog caused some inconvenience to passengers up to Saturday afternoon.

Director in-charge of IGI meteorological office, Dr R K Jenamani said pollution and heavy dust build up raised lower visibility problem. The situation may remain as it is for another 24 hours causing inconvenience to low flying aircraft and helicopters.

External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee said that India would resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue and would not accept any third party mediation. Commenting on the stance likely to be taken by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Kashmir issue and tax breaks, the minister said that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and both countries are discussing it according to the Shimla Accord and the Lahore agreement. He, however, declined to comment on the tax issues.

Going for its retrenchment drive, private air carrier, Jet Airways sacked about 25 expatriate pilots including captains of Boeing 737 aircraft. The expatriated staff of Jet was drawing salary of USD 15,000 to 18,000 per month besides many incentives and perks such as five-star hotel accommodation and business class conveyance to their home country. Jet had, earlier, sacked around 400 support staff before Diwali but retained them after stiff opposition of government and political class.

Indian Railways has decided to postpone the railway recruitment exam across centers in Maharashtra. However, the railway recruitment board would hold it on scheduled date across all 10 centers in Bihar. The exam was scheduled on November 9 by the Railway Recruitment Boards of Patna and Muzaffarpur to fill 106 vacancies of section engineer, technician, health inspector, radiographer and lab assistant.

It is, possibly, postponed in Maharashtra following insecurity of candidates of other states and high number of Maharashtra aspirants. However, Ranchi RRB chairman, J K Guriya said exam is deferred due to administrative reasons.