Scientists to unveil milestone in Higgs Boson or God Particle hunt

London: Scientists hunting the elusive subatomic 'Higgs' particle will unveil findings on Wednesday that take them nearer to understanding how the Big Bang at the dawn of time gave rise to stars, planets and even life.

Physicists who have been smashing particles together near light-speed at the CERN laboratory near Geneva have already seen tantalising glimpses of the "Higgs boson", the missing piece of the fundamental theory of physics known as the Standard Model.

The world of science now awaits a mass of evidence big enough to be deemed a formal discovery. The secrecy surrounding Wednesday's announcement has fuelled speculation that nearly 40 years of research have reached a climax.


Data harvested from CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the biggest particle accelerator in the world, could also shed light on the make-up of the poorly understood 'dark matter' and "dark energy" that make up 96 percent of the universe. It may even point the way to research into the possibility of parallel universes.

CERN is planning to beam the announcement live around the world to a physics conference inMelbourne, Australia. Related events are planned in countries involved in the project, including Britain. The unusual level of stage management has fuelled the sense that big news is on the cards.

On Monday, U.S. physicists said they had found the strongest evidence yet of the existence of the Higgs in a mass of data collected from the now-mothballed Tevatron particle accelerator, run by the Fermi National Accelerator Lab outside Chicago.
"It will be interesting to see how it lines up with CERN's results on Wednesday," said CERN spokesmanJames Gillies.

Some scientists working on the project have told Reuters they expect the unveiling of a formal discovery while others expect it to fall just short.

With thousands of physicists involved, divided into two separate teams called Atlas and CMS, CERNinsists the full picture will not be clear to anyone until a seminar shortly before Wednesday's announcement.

"Even CERN's director general won't know much before the seminar reveals the exact results," said Pauline Gagnon, a Canadian particle physicist working on Atlas. "They are being finalised at the last minute after much scrutiny."

The Higgs particle, although crucial for understanding how the universe was formed, remains theoretical. It is the last undiscovered piece of the Standard Model that describes the fundamental make-up of the universe. The model is for physicists what the theory of evolution is for biologists.

Scientists say the existence of dark matter and dark energy suggests the Standard Model, if validated by a Higgs discovery, is just the first layer of a more complex theory that includes the vast bulk of the universe that is now poorly understood.

"The Standard Model has a few major flaws; the Higgs boson discovery would only fix one of them," said Gagnon.

"We still have no clue regarding what makes 96 percent of the content of the universe. This should keep us physicists busy for a few more decades."

Air India pilots to call off their strike soon

Air India pilots have ended their 57-day long strike on Tuesday. The pilots have given the decision to join back to work in writing to the Air India management. A total of 434 pilots were on strike and all of them have agreed to end the strike.

Sources say Air India management will now consider the reinstatement of 100 odd pilots who were terminated earlier.

Agitating Air India pilots told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that they will call off their strike with immediate effect.

Air India management assured the court that it will sympathetically consider the pilots' grievances, including reinstatement of sacked pilots.

Child survives fall from 10th floor of Mumbai high-rise

Mumbai: A four-year-old girl miraculously survived after falling from the 10th floor of a building in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

Although the incident happened about three weeks ago, the matter came to light only after Pari Yadav's parents decided to file a complaint against her baby sitter on July 2 after the little girl was discharged from the hospital.

Pari was with the baby sitter when she fell from the balcony of the creche located on the 10th floor of Monarch Orchid, Sector 19, Kharghar. 


Incidentally, the Yadavs reside on the 9th floor of the same building.

Pari was rushed to the hospital after she landed on a bushy tree, which cushioned her fall.

"Since both of us are working, for a year we have been keeping our baby at the creche on the 10th floor of our building."

"On June 11, the baby sitter, Alka Shukla informed us that our baby fell down from the balcony and she has admitted her to a hospital. The doctor informed us that she has received thigh and eye injuries," said Anupam Yadav, the girl's mother.

"I have filled a complaint against the baby sitter at Kharghar police station, and I believe it is a clear cut case of negligence. I accept that it was a mistake to keep my baby with such irresponsible people at the same time it is also the duty of the baby sitter to keep a watch on the activities of the kids," Yadav further added.

Police Inspector Pramod Bovte, who is also the investigation officer in the case, said, "We have registered a case of negligence against the baby sitter based on the complaint by Pari's parents. We will investigate the matter further to know what actually transpired.

However, resident at Monarch Orchid are not too convinced about the Yadavs' allegations against the baby sitter. 
 
According to a resident who did not wish to be named, the creche has been providing service for years and so far there were no complaints against them and this is just one "unfortunate incident."

MTNL stops promotional plans offering per minute billing

State-run telecom company MTNL has stopped its promotional offer for plans under which customers were charged on a per minute basis.

This will lead to MTNL customers paying up to 50% more compared to the previous rates on calls.

"As per Trai, we can not offer more than 25 tariff plans. We are consolidating tariff plans and as a result stopped some of the promotional plans. There is no increase in tariff but we are rationalising tariff plans," MTNL's Executive Director for Wireless Services A K Bhargava told PTI.

The company's new changes in tariff are applicable only on plans in which customers were billed on a per minute basis. However, the company has not announced any change in plans under which users were charged on per second basis for calls. As per new tariff, a MTNL customer will have to pay 30 paise for a minute compared to 20 paise charged earlier for calls made to another MTNL user.

The company has made changes in tariff plan called '3G Jadoo pay per minute plan' meant for pre-paid connection users and post-paid plans namely Super Value, Super Freedom and Plan C.

For calls made to users outside  MTNL's network, customers will have to pay 50 paise per minute instead of 40 paisa that they were charged earlier.

"Even after rationalising, we are offering the lowest tariff," Bhargava said.

MTNL had over 57 lakh mobile phone users on its network by the end of April 2012 as per TRAI data.

Top 10 stocks to trade today

Asian shares inched up on Tuesday as manufacturing data around the world highlighted the drag on growth from the protracted euro zone debt crisis, raising expectations for the Federal Reserve to take further steps to underpin the fragile economy. U.S. manufacturing contracted for the first time in nearly three years, while in the euro zone the jobless rate rose to a record high in May and a measure of factory activity held steady at its lowest level since June 2009.Asia was hit by crumbling orders from abroad.

Here are top 10 stocks to watch and trade today:

1) State Bank of India: SBI aims to raise at least $500 million through a five-year overseas bond sale as soon as this month, two sources with direct knowledge said, potentially reopening the dollar bond market for Indian issuers after a four-month lull. The street would watch the development closely as the largest state-owned bank needs capital infusion to maintain growth.

2) Hero MotoCorp: The June 2012 sales data was lower than street estimate. June sales stood at 5,34,000 vehicles, rising 4 per cent over last year. However, it was a 4 per cent fall over May 2012.

3) CESC: Although the retailing investment by the Kolkata-based utility company continues to report losses and is a big drag, analysts think the stock is fairly valued. Citi has put a buy with a target price of Rs 345. The current market price is Rs 298.

4) United Spirits: The market for liquor is considered an attractive one by the street. Yet, rising debt is a concern and the market is awaiting clarity on the Kingfisher Airlines situation. Despite a relatively low valuation, Nomura has put a neutral rating on United Spirits.

5) Zee Entertainment: There is a significant improvement in viewership rating that could push up advertising revenue. The digitization in 4 metros could bring a significant upside. UBS has put a buy on the stock with a price target of Rs 170. The current market price is Rs 149.

6) ACC: Cement companies reported an improvement in total sales for the month of June 2012. ACC saw sales rise to 1.96 million tonnes from 1.91 mt last year. Ambuja Cement also reported a gain at 1.79 mt from 1.67 mt in the year ago period.

7) Reliance Power: There is a buzz on the street that Ming Yang, a Chinese energy company could buy a stake in Reliance Capital-owned Global Wind Power. Reliance Power also has decided to co-develop clean energy projects in India.

8) Fortis Healthcare: The net debt on the books of the company stands at $ 1.3bn. The debt-equity ratio for 2011-12 is 2.1. There is a possibility of the company diluting equity in step down subsidiaries to inject cash, according to Anand Rathi Securities.

9) Reliance Industries: Nikko Resources, a partner of RIL in energy exploration blocks has cut estimates of gas output and discoveries in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Analysts estimate that this cut could be worth Rs 3 per share for Reliance Industries.

10) Jubilant Foodworks: Jubilant shares jumped 5 per cent on Monday. The stock could remain in the limelight due to a buzz in the market over a bonus issue of shares. The gain is despite a significantly high valuation of the stock.