7.5 - tone pair of jeans

Peruvian seamstresses hoping to snag a Guinness World Record for sewing the largest pair of blue jeans celebrated on Friday, one day after cranes buckled while trying to lift the giant 7.5 tone pants. Workers laid the pair on the ground and put big balloons inside the legs to show off the size of the jeans, which are 43 meters long and 30 m wide. They have pockets, red buttons and a brown belt.

Suzuki targets TATA

As all we know about Tata’s Rs 1 lakh car here is new information. Suzuki Motor Corporation, 54% owner of India’s largest carmaker Maruti Udyog, is developing a 660cc engine and a new low-cost small car platform from scratch to counter the Tata Motors Rs 1 lakh car. With it, Suzuki hopes to provide the most formidable competition to date to Ratan Tata’s dream project. Being developed under a blanket of secrecy at its headquarters in Hamamatsu in Japan, the car will roll out of Maruti’s Gurgaon plant by the end of 2008—around the same time that Tata Motors plans to launch its new small car. “We are working on a mini car which would be lower than 800cc in engine capacity,” Maruti’s director, sales & marketing Shuji Oishi confirmed to FE. Suzuki believes it will be able to price the car in the same bracket as the Tata small car. Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant has admitted that his company’s car may be priced higher than the Rs 1 lakh target due to increasing raw material costs. “The Tata car would be higher than Rs 1.25 lakh. Our car would be priced competitively but the price won’t be Rs 1 lakh,” Oishi said. The Suzuki and the Tata cars will be the first sub-800cc cars in the Indian market. The Suzuki car will offer over 50 bhp power with a 660cc petrol engine. In comparison, the Tata small car is expected to offer 30 bhp with a 700cc petrol engine. The 796cc Maruti 800 offers 37 bhp, while the Alto 800 offers 47 bhp.Also fdaware.com.

U.S. Open

Rafael Nadal, albeit briefly, managed to snatch the number one from Roger Federer after he won the Gold medal at the Beijing Olympics Federer though was back at the helm after he won the year's last grand slam - U.S. Open. It was Federer's Fifth consecutive US Open title. Serena Williams won the women's single title. India too had something to write home about when Leander Paes won his eighth doubles title and fourth mixed doubles title partnering Cara Black at the US open. He had also reached the finals of the Men's doubles event but failed to clear the Final hurdle.

Global warming

The idea that global warming is caused by changes in solar output rather than human activity has been dealt a further blow by a new analysis of temperature, volcanic and solar-radiation data by a physicist in Germany. The research, carried out by Pablo Verdes from the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences in Germany, does not rely on climate models, which cannot account for all global-warming mechanisms. Instead, the work reveals a strong statistical link between rising temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions.

US Military hands over Anbar province to Iraq

In what was milestone achievement for the US military, it handed over the responsibility for security of the western province of Anbar in Iraq to the Iraqi authorities. Anbar was a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency and one the most violent regions in Iraq. The province saw a reduction in violence as the Iraqi security was increased and due to local forces called the "awakening councils". This has been the first handover near the borders of Baghdad. The U.S. military would now reduce its number in this region.Also fdaware.com.