Punitive duties will be as high as 12.9 percent for autos from General Motors Co. (GM) and 8.8 percent for Chrysler Group LLC, China’s commerce ministry said today on its website. The U.S. units of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Daimler AG (DAI) will face duties of 2 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, it said.

“The move shows that China is always capable of intervening politically in its markets,” said Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Bankhaus Metzler. “The automobile industry is very dependent on China for growth, and there’s doubts about the pace of future expansion.”

Auto sales in China are rising at the slowest pace in 13 years, putting pressure on local Chinese producers to consolidate as GM and other foreign carmakers post gains. Automakers declined on concern higher duties may soften demand in the world’s largest car market.

Fiat SpA, which controls Chrysler, declined 21 cents, or 5.5 percent, to 3.55 euros in Milan trading. BMW fell 2.70 euros, or 5.1 percent, to 50.25 euros, while Daimler dropped 1 euro, or 3.1 percent, to 31.66 euros in Frankfurt. GM was down 54 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $19.57 in New York.

The move to increase import levies comes three months after the World Trade Organization rejected China’s appeal of a ruling backing U.S. duties on tire imports.

Larger Engines
The taxes announced today affect vehicles with engines that are above 2.5 liters in size, according to the ministry’s website. Honda Motor Co. (7267)’s U.S. operations and other automakers the ministry didn’t specify will also be subject to the tax. China currently imposes tariffs of 25 percent on imported cars.

The WTO in September rejected China’s appeal of a ruling by WTO judges last December that found tariffs on $1.8 billion of car and light-truck tires from China were legal. President Barack Obama imposed the duties of as much as 35 percent in September 2009 under a so-called safeguard provision designed to protect U.S. producers from a surge in imports.

“It’s more of a tit for tat thing -- they’ve been slapping duties on each other for a while now,” said Namrita Chow, a senior analyst at IHS Automotive in Shanghai. “This is hardly going to flummox the buyer of a high-end car. They’re really not going to be bothered by a few percent here and there.”

BMW and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz both build sport-utility vehicles at U.S. factories for global export. BMW is expanding its factory in South Carolina to produce as many as 300,000 X5, X6, and X3 SUVs next year from 270,000 in 2011.

‘Regrettable’ Dispute
The Daimler unit plans to invest $2.4 billion between 2010 and 2014 at its plant in Alabama to add equipment for the assembly of the C-Class sedan. The company currently makes the M-Class and GL SUVs as well as the R-Class wagon at the site. The plant produced 125,400 vehicles in 2010.

BMW doesn’t expect the new import duties to have a significant impact on its sales in China, spokesman Mathias Schmidt said by phone, adding that the failure to resolve the trade dispute was “regrettable.” Daimler’s Mercedes is reviewing the potential impact from the duties, spokeswoman Bettina Singhartinger said.

Slowing Sales
Chrysler sold 23,482 vehicles in China last year and aimed to increase deliveries to 40,000 this year, the company has said. The automaker declined to provide updated China sales results for 2011. Ariel Gavilan, a Chrysler spokesman, declined to comment on what affect the new duties may have on profit.

Klaus-Peter Martin, a GM spokesman, didn’t immediately return a telephone call about the matter.

China’s passenger-car sales rose at the slowest pace in six months in November, as monetary tightening and the removal of government incentives dented demand. Wholesale deliveries, including sport-utility vehicles and minivans, gained 0.3 percent to 1.34 million last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Dec. 9.

That compares with the 0.5 percent median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and is the slowest pace since May, when sales dropped 0.1 percent to 1.04 million cars.

China’s vehicle sales have slowed this year from 2010’s record 32 percent expansion pace as inflation, higher interest rates and the end of a two-year stimulus plan deter purchases. Chinese deliveries may expand at a slower pace than U.S. light vehicle sales for the first time since at least 1998, according to the Chinese trade group.

Mercedes is discounting locally produced vehicles in China by 6 percent to 10 percent, while BMW is offering some “small discounts” on inventory that is more than six months old, Jose Asumendi, a Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc analyst, said in a note to investors today, citing dealer visits in the country.

Volkswagen AG is discounting imported vehicles by 5 percent, and offering limited or no discounts for locally produced cars, Asumendi said.

With closest rivals BMW and Daimler forming industry alliances to help further the development of batteries and other electrical energy storage technologies for use in cars, it appears Audi too is getting in on the action, today announcing a new joint-research project of its own.

Dubbed “eProduction”, the new project, which is being sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is aimed at generating expertise in the assembly of batteries for use in electric cars.

“With eProduction we are taking the next important step on the road to electric mobility,” Audi board member Frank Dreves said at today’s announcement. “This will put us in a position to produce electrically powered cars in larger numbers--in a way that is efficient, safe, robust and sustainable.”

Key areas the initiative will be focusing on include battery performance and lifetime, as well as efficient arrangement of the battery cells themselves. Engineers will also examine related technologies such as high-voltage connections, electronic management systems, electromechanical components, and the housing, various sensors and actuators that round out the battery system.

Other members in the project include software experts Dassault Systèmes and engineering firm Fees Verzahnungs­technik. Seven universities and institutes are also involved. The German government will provide up to $15 million in research dollars as part of its own initiative to see one million electric cars on its nation’s roads by 2020.

Note, this is just the latest in a long string of initiatives from Audi aimed at the advancement of electric cars. In addition to the handful of e-tron prototypes and concepts, Audi has also launched several real-world trials and established new electric car development centers.

-- Boston Celtics stars Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce all voiced great displeasure Tuesday with a cram-session training camp cobbled together in the aftermath of the lockout in order to allow the NBA to engage in a condensed 66-game regular season starting on Christmas Day.

Garnett, who admitted he was "coming off emotional" and "being very, very, very up-front" with reporters, sounded off on NBA commissioner David Stern and a disjointed start to the new season.

"I think what you see, we're a rushed league right now," Garnett said. "Everybody is paying attention to the Chris Paul situation. But I don't know why everyone's shocked, because Stern has been pretty adamant about when he wants to do things and how he does things.
"Timing is everything. Chemistry is something that you don't just throw in the frying pan and mix it up with another something, then throw it on top of something, then fry it up and put it in a tortilla and put in a microwave, heat it up and give it to you and expect it to taste good. You know? For those of you who can cook, y'all know what I'm talking about. If y'all can't cook, this doesn't concern you."

Awkward analogy aside, Garnett is clearly ruffled by the way things have played out in recent days. The Celtics practiced with less than 10 bodies each of the first three days of camp, only getting a full roster worth of players on Monday. Now there's a mere 12 days until the season tips off Christmas Day in New York against the Knicks.

For a Boston team that puts a heavy emphasis on chemistry, this is hardly an ideal path.

"I feel very rushed," Allen said. "I can't say that I've been particularly happy with the way things have transpired over the last two or three weeks, but I think everybody is in a situation where we just have to do the best with what we have. We have to adjust to the situation at hand, and it's a challenge for all of us. We're all going through it, so there's nothing more you can do about it but prepare yourself physically and mentally."

Echoed Pierce: "We talk about it. This is something that could have been avoided, especially when you see all the different trades falling through, the disorganization of rosters at this point. There probably should have been a period where you had a free-agent signing period and then training camp. Christmas Day was something that was really pushed amongst the players as a key day, and that's why we've rushed the way we've been rushing."

When it was noted that a simmering Garnett was choosing his words carefully, he stressed that he didn't want to come off as mad, simply professional.

"I'm going to use Doc Rivers' saying here, and I hate this saying, but 'You gotta get past mad,' " said Garnett. "Come in, do your job, understand what this is, and that's what everyone is doing."

While Rivers has noted his team is not in basketball shape yet, Allen suggested that players are generally in good physical shape and it appears most of the Celtics players were ready to return to basketball activities when the lockout ended.

"Everybody's coming in and showing that they've at least kept their mind on playing the game and being ready for whenever we got back at it," he said. "There were some guys back in '99 [after the lockout] that when you saw them, it was like, 'Holy cow, this guy was on vacation for the last three months and didn't do a thing, didn't pick up a basketball or a weight.' In this locker room, that's not the case. And we knew it, because we got too many strong-minded individuals in this locker room. For us, working out is a way of life, so we never have to worry about that with our team."

SAt shri akal ji saareya nu !!!
Lao ji eh ik sachi ghatna hai ...Parr k jara gaur nal

"sajj dhajj k main yaaraan naal c yaar di baraate aaya
coat pant cho mehakaan uddan... mukhra c chammkaaya
gall wich lammi tie paayi naale... juttiyaan nu lishkaaya
taur meri c dekheyaan bann di... takk da harr koi aaya
nawi nawi main boli paa k rajj rajj bhangra paaya
sohni jehi ik naar ne aake menu phull faraaya
main v ohda naam puchan nu bhora nai sharmaaya
"aallo lai lo gobhi leh o " de hokke ne mere kann ch shor jeha paaya
neend cho uth k main pittya te thoda c pashtaaya
Rabb hi jaane ji ohne kithe mel rachaaaya

Armed robbers looted Rs 29 lakh from three employees of a factory in Kohar area of this industrial city today.
The employees of Kitty Bread factory were going in the factory van to deposit the money in a bank this afternoon. Some masked robbers came in a car and way laid the employees. They snatched the money from the employees on gun point and sped away. Police registered a case in this connection and started investigations.

Fulfilling the long pending demand of the Scheduled Castes' (SCs) community, the Punjab government has transferred one acre land of Punjab Agro Corporation Ltd on the Jalandhar Bypass to the state SC/BC Welfare department for the construction of Dr B R Ambedkar Bhawan in Ludhiana.
Stating this here today, an official spokesperson said that a decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Meanwhile, Mr Badal directed the Chief Administrator Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) to immediately release Rs One crore for the construction of the Bhawan.
The spokesperson said that Rs ten lakhs as first installment had already been released to Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, the execution agency for the construction of the Bhawan, which would be completed within a time frame of nine months. The foundation stone of the Ambedkar Bhawan at the site would be laid on December 15 during a public function organised by the district administration.

 Hundreds of teachers of private colleges across Punjab and Chandigarh went on a three-day strike Tuesday to protest the state government's failure to implement their demands, especially a pension and gratuity scheme.
The teachers have been joined in by college managements and other non-teaching staff. The strike call has been given by the Joint Action Committee of the Non-Government Colleges Management Federation, the Federation of Associations of College Principals, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers' Union (PCCTU) and the Federation of Non-Teaching Employees of Punjab.
December examinations of nearly 170 private colleges, which thousands of students were to take, were the immediate casualty of the strike. The exams slated for Dec 13, 14 and 15 have been postponed by college authorities till the agitation continues.
Earlier this month, the teachers had gone on cease work and sit-in strike besides taking mass casual leave. PCCTU president Jagwant Singh said the strike was called after the Punjab government's failure to accept its demands, including that for implementing an already announced pension and gratuity scheme for hundreds of college teachers.
            "The Punjab government has failed to implement its own notification of December 2001 on a pension and gratuity scheme for teaching staff. Punjab is the only state where college teachers do not have a pension and gratuity scheme," Jagwant Singh said. The demands also include lifting of ban on recruitment, implementation of revised pay-scales on the basis of parity with those working in government colleges, he said.
The PCCTU has been observing a two-hour strike in all colleges since early November to press its demands. Jagwant Singh said teachers would hold candlelight processions Tuesday followed by protests outside residences of Punjab ministers and legislators Wednesday and road blockade Thursday.

The government today said the current fiscal may end with inflation of around 7 per cent, driven by moderation in demand side pressures and record foodgrain production this year.
This is due to the demand side pressures moderating, as a consequence of the calibrated withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus and the tightening of credit by the RBI, along with record foodgrain production this year, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said. "...As a result, overall WPI inflation is likely to decline from December onwards and the current fiscal may end with headline inflation of around 7 per cent," Meena said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
On the steps taken by the government to contain the rising inflation, he said, among other things, the import duties on pulses and edible oils (crude) have been reduced to zero. Besides, the exports of edible oils (except coconut oil and forest-based oil) and pulses (except Kabuli chana and organic pulses up to a maximum of 10,000 tonnes per year) has been banned, Meena said.
In addition, the Forward Markets Commission has suspended futures trading in rice, urad and tur dal. Stock limit orders were extended in the case of pulses, paddy and rice up to September 30, 2011, Meena said. Among other measures, the government also reduced duty under Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) for skimmed milk powder to 5 per cent from 15 per cent for import of up to an aggregate of 10,000 tonnes in a financial year.
It also allowed import of 30,000 tonnes of milk powder and 15,000 tonnes of milk fat at zero duty to the National Dairy Development Board during 2010-11 under TRQ, Meena said. The government also reduced customs duty on crude oil and import duty on petrol and diesel, he said. "As part of the monetary policy review stance, the RBI has taken suitable steps with 13 consecutive increases in policy rates and related measures.
This is to moderate demand to levels consistent with the capacity of the economy to maintain its growth without provoking price rise. "As per the most recent announcement of the RBI on October 25, 2011, the repo rate and reverse repo rate have been revised to 8.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively," Meena said. In reply to another query, he said the headline wholesale price index (WPI) year-on-year inflation stood at 9.73 per cent in October.

baba fight

Post 9/11 - Hatred Attacks Sikhs In America