New Delhi, Mar 18 : The Government of India has approved the proposal of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture for continuation of India''s participation in the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organization (BOBP-IGO) beyond April 2008.

The BOBP-IGO has been functioning in India since April 2003 with its headquarters at Chennai.

Presently, Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka are the members of the BOBP-IGO.

The BOBP-IGO has played a stellar role in the sustainable development of fisheries in the Bay of Bengal region.

Jammu, Mar 18: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will visit Jammu and Kashmir today to review the security situation in the State.

According to official sources, Chidambaram will take stock of the security situation with top police, intelligence and Army officials in Jammu.

The Minister will be briefed about the situation across the border especially reports suggesting of high-scale infiltration from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir during summer.

Actor Nandita Das’s directorial debut Firaaq, which deals with the impact of violence on human psyche and relationships, is ready for release on March 20.

The film has bagged acclaim and awards in international film festivals.

The critically acclaimed actress, who already proved her guts with exceptional performances in ‘Fire, ‘Earth’ and ‘Bawandar’, said that she is not ambitious in any way.

To add more to its wardrobe, Acer recently has launched the new 10.1-inch Aspire One D150 laptop in the Indian market.

The latest version of the Acer Aspire One comes with a 10.1 WSVGA LCD display featuring Acer CrystalBrite technology. Moreover, the laptop has the ability to put 2 GB of memory.

The new 10.1-inch Aspire One D150 laptop packs in the new edition of the Atom processor N270 having a slightly higher clock speed of 1.60GHz, and backs memory at a fast rate.

The Aspire One also packs in an Intel 945GSE chipset with Intel GMA950 graphics.

Indian IT firms termed BJP's tech vision as a good opportunity for IT firms, facing the heat of global slowdown and tight financial conditions.

Bharatiya Janata Party recently announced its IT vision document, after consultation with heads of leading IT firms, in which the party committed to create 12 million IT-enabled jobs for rural Indian segment by increasing the use of technology in different economic domains.

Housing finance firm, LIC Housing Finance (LICHF) slashed home loan interest rates by 75 basis points, covering all existing customers who have availed loans at different maturities.

LICHF Chief Executive Officer, RR Nair, said, "The incremental cost of funds has come down to around 8.25-8.75 per cent, as against over 11 per cent in October. So we have decided to pass on the benefits to existing customers."

The new home loan interest rates would be applicable from April 1 in the range between 10-10.50 per cent across various maturities as compared to earlier interest rate of 10.75-11.25 per cent.