To this day, the three-point safety belt remains the car’s single most important safety feature. It is the most widely used and most significant safety innovation in the automobile’s history.

The early days:

It is the belt that links together man and car. It is the belt that restrains the car’s occupants in an impact. At the same time, the occupants are held in place in the car and do not risk being thrown around inside the passenger compartment or hurled out of the vehicle in more complex accident scenarios.

It was only towards the end of the 1950s that the car safety belt evolved into its current design, thanks to Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin.

There were different types of belt before that. Back in the 1930s, US doctors were beginning to impose demands that cars should be equipped with safety belts.

The two-point lap belt was the most common solution, but there were also different variants of the three-point safety belt. The problem was that they did not protect their users sufficiently, especially not at high speeds.

Former aviation engineer Nils Bohlin -who before moving to Volvo worked on the development of catapult seats, among other things – understood early on the forces generated in a collision.

An innovation for the world to use freely:

The most important properties of Nils Bohlin’s design were that the system consisted of a lap belt and a diagonal body belt, that the belt straps were anchored at a low attachment point beside the seat, that the belt geometry formed a “V” shape with the point directed toward the floor, and that the belt stayed in position and did not move under load.

The very same principles apply to this day – every time you use the safety seat belt.

In the Nordic market, the Volvo PV544 and Volvo Amazon (120) were the first cars to feature this world innovation. Volvo was thus the first car maker to equip its cars as standard with three-point safety belts. The invention was patented with what is known as an open patent that is to say anyone who wanted was granted free use of the design.

A giant step towards increased safety had now been taken, but the three-point safety belt still did not achieve an immediate breakthrough. It would take another few years before the vast majority of customers and the rest of the automobile industry realized the safety belt’s effectiveness as a lifesaver.

Roula Beiruty, marketing Manager of Volvo Cars Middle East said: “Use of the safety belt is the most significant factor for boosting traffic safety. The three-point safety belt has been saving lives for 50 years. There are no exact figures for how many lives the safety belt has saved as there are no traffic safety statistics globally coordinated. However, it is estimated that more than a million people were saved by [i] the safety belt, and it has saved many times that number of people from serious injuries.”

As one of the leading car manufacturers in the field of road safety, Volvo gave to the world one of the most important safety innovations which is the 3 point seatbelt. Volvo will pursue its research in the world of road and car safety in order to create a safer road environment for all motorists and passengers.

For a long time, IWC was the preferred address for women who wanted jewellery watches that satisfied their every desire for artistic expression in a variety of materials. That was some decades ago though. Now, the strikingly beautiful tonneau case of the fine Da Vinci Automatic has inspired us to offer the elegant woman of today an exciting gift. As useful as it is tasteful, this everyday watch with its easily readable dial and practical, large date display immediately reveals its good lineage.

The sparkling diamond frame puts the Da Vinci Automatic into the realm of highest aesthetic form, and the new fresh colours of the dial and hour numbers at “12.00” and “6.00”, in place of the stroke indices, add to the impression. For those who like to adorn themselves in a noble manner, the Da Vinci Automatic is practically irresistible.

More powerful, and also more extravagant, the colour combination of the Ref. 452308, also in the rose gold case but with a tobacco-hued dial, shows off the rose gold Da Vinci hands and indices. The colour of the dial is augmented by the brown crocodile leather strap.

IWC opens the door once again to the exclusive jewellery watch. The fireworks, set by a master hand, can begin. The Da Vinci Automatic not only shows a totally new side, it also proves to be the ideal setting for a variety of precious stones.

The Da Vinci Automatic Precious Stones comes in four rose gold models set differently with different dials: The Ref. 452323, with its fine arc-ground silvered dial has rose gold hands and numerals. The glass mount is set with about 56 brilliants. This model has a bordeaux satin strap.

The 2009 programme is inspired by The Enlightenment, an unprecedented era of cultural advancement in the 18^th century which witnessed an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. Gulf-based holidaymakers are expected to visit this unique festival in great numbers this summer, their traditional time for travelling to the United Kingdom.

“Gulf-based expats and Arabs alike feel a strong connection to Scotland, its people, and its culture.  Thus, the annual Edinburgh Festival welcomes them home in style and entertains them richly for days. It has become, for many, the ultimate alternative UK holiday,” says Carol Maddison, VisitBritain Marketing Manager, UAE.

The Edinburgh International Festival is regarded as the premier festival destination in the world. The rich variety of the Edinburgh International Festival programme encompasses the vibrancy of Edinburgh’s festivals which place Scotland at the forefront of cultural creativity and innovation.

This international festival has something to please everyone, from artists to philosophers, scientists and academics.

Some of the highlights of the 63^rd Edinburgh International Festival are listed below:

• -       The Enlightenment, A Festival of ideas. A series of talks and discussions with artist, philosophers, academics in partnership with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Nature – the international weekly journal of science and the Wellcome Trust.
• -       The biennial visual arts programme under curator Juliana Engberg sees nine international artists respond to ideas behind the Festival programme in The Enlightenments, including seven new commissions.
• -       The British Council’s biennial Edinburgh Showcase with more than 30  productions ranging from young unknowns to established artists from the UK, and encompassing new writing, physical and visual theatre, live art and mixed-media installations
• -       World premiere of Scottish playwright Rona Munro’s The Last Witch, a Festival Commission co-produced with Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre and directed by Dominic Hill.
• -       World premiere of Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli’s Fair is foul, foul is fair, commissioned by the Festival for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and made possible by Donald and Louise McDonald.

“The Edinburgh International Festival is indeed ideal for Cultural Exchange. For 12 years on from its inception, the British Council’s biennial Edinburgh Showcase has also been a great venue for intercultural dialogue. This year, the Showcase will stage more than 30 productions, and up to 250 international programmers, venue and festival directors from more than 50 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, will attend the Showcase in the middle of the world’s biggest Festival of performing arts,” commented Michel Bechara, Director of Projects, British Council, UAE.

“The Festival and the Showcase provide the best opportunity for Gulf-based Theatre and Culture promoters as well as for all travellers, to explore the rich diversity of the Scottish culture and heritage,” added Bechara.

Visitors can also make the most of all the cultural events taking place this year in Scotland. In celebration of Homecoming Scotland 2009, the country will thrive with cultural celebrations that focus on the 250^th anniversary of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet and an international cultural icon.

The closing celebrations will take place over St Andrew’s Day weekend in November and promise to be every bit as special as the launch.

May 2009 saw dramatic price rises in Calcutta where the average price during this month rose to $2.876 per kg – almost 50 us cents per kilogram higher than in the same month last year.   Likewise, Sri Lankan tea output has fallen by a massive 24% this year,  with Jan-June 2009 crop totalling 130 million kilograms (versus 171 million kilograms in the Jan-June 2008 period).   Available data for April shows that Sri Lankan Tea  Export shipments also fell by a substantive 44%, compared to the same month in 2008.
With tea being consumed in almost every home across the region, householders can now be expected to experience first hand, a trend of rising tea prices in their grocery budgets. This falls on the back of very serious underperformance from tea harvests from the three largest tea growing nations of India/Sri Lanka/Kenya – who together account for over 60% of Global annual Black Tea production.

The Aquatimer family will include the following watches from 2009 onwards: – Aquatimer Deep Two – Aquatimer Chronograph Edition Galapagos Islands – Aquatimer Chronograph – Aquatimer Chronograph in red gold – Aquatimer Automatic 2000 All have the following features in common: the case dimensions have increased slightly to 44 mm, and in one particular instance even to 46 mm. Another immediately obvious feature shared by the revised family is the rotating diving bezel, now located externally once again. IWC has always incorporated two possibilities for measuring dive times in its diver’s watches.

The first Aquatimer was equipped initially with a rotating inner bezel, which was operated via the second crown. The system is particularly secure as far as unintentional adjustment is concerned, although it is not so user-friendly when the diver is wearing gloves. The OCEAN 2000 watch model dating from 1982 – a result of the collaboration with Porsche Design – had already adopted an external rotating bezel, which the GST Aquatimer from 1997 also retained.

The Aquatimer generation of 2009 embraces this technology once again in the form of an external rotating bezel of an entirely new design. This can be rotated even when wearing gloves – and for safety reasons only in the anti-clockwise direction.

The new Aquatimer is equally suitable as a sporting all-rounder and for professional underwater use. For example, a lightweight hook-and-loop strap is appropriate when diving to allow the watch to be worn over the neoprene diving suit. Wearing such a strap out of the water would be unusual, to say the least.

Aquatimer Automatic 2000: Its name is a watchword. In terms of water resistance, the Aquatimer Automatic 2000 with its tested pressure resistance of 200 bar still holds the record in the watch family. It features a black dial and a black external rotating bezel with the familiar luminous yellow 15-minute segment of the previous Aquatimer in stainless steel. The colour yellow is also used for the minute hand, which indicates the dive time, to ensure a clear distinction. A second variant has a white dial with orange or white numerals on a white or dark blue background on the rotating bezel and an orange hour hand. It is powered by the 30110 calibre automatic movement. The Aquatimer Automatic 2000 is available with an optional stainless steel bracelet or a rubber strap.

While the energy consumption of the information technologies continues to attract headlines, Lexmark’s Life-Cycle Analysis[1] found that most of a printer’s carbon footprint actually comes from paper use – compared with around ten per cent in terms of energy. Similarly, the usage phase accounts for the vast majority (between 55 and 68 per cent) of an inkjet MFP printer’s overall footprint.

After developing an eco-simulator for enterprises, Lexmark then extended the tool for consumers, so that people, as an individual, can understand how their own printing habits and paper use can negatively contribute to the climate change, resources depletion and pollution in general. In this way, they can start to reduce their own environmental footprint – by printing less and saving more.

The eco-simulator calculates the environmental impact of users’ printing, translating it into global warming and ozone pollution potential, as well as showing the amount of non-renewable resources that are involved in the process. This is crucial in knowing the exact impact of each user’s individual printing – and in helping consumers reduce their footprint.

To help users print less and save more, the eco-simulator asks simple questions around users’ printing habits:

• Do you use single or double-sided printing?
• Do you use one-up or two-up printing?
• Do you keep your printer during three years or extend your usage to five years?
• Do you print in Wi-Fi?
• Do you use standard or high-yield ink cartridges?

The eco-simulator then calculates the environmental impact of the user’s printing habits based on a full Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) of their Lexmark printer, taking into account every stage of its existence – from manufacturing through to disposal. The results are brought back to one year printing impact for 3 important environmental impacts. They show the benefits of the new printing behaviours in simplified and easy to understand indicators.

“The Olympic Games are the greatest sporting event in the world and we are incredibly honored to play a part and celebrate the achievements of American athletes,” said David Lauren, Senior Vice President of Advertising, Marketing and Corporate Communications.

For the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Polo Ralph Lauren has designed and created a collection of authentic sporting apparel which embodies the spirit of American athleticism and sportsmanship. Celebrating the rich history of the Olympic Games with a nod to the Lake Placid Games of 1932, the clothing will showcase a classic Americana and patriotic palette of red, white and blue.

“We are thrilled that Polo Ralph Lauren will be returning to outfit Team USA at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver and London,” said USOC Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Baird. “Polo Ralph Lauren is an iconic American company and we greatly appreciate the elevated style and classic look that will be donned by U.S. athletes at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and throughout the Games. It is a look that we feel all Americans will be proud to wear as they support Team USA in 2010 and 2012.”

Apparel from the entire Polo Ralph Lauren U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Parade Outfit collection will be available for sale, along with a full assortment of the athlete village wear pieces for men, women and children, in Polo Ralph Lauren retail stores, Ralphlauren.com, USOlympicshop.com, U.S. Olympic Shops and exclusively at select department stores.

This announcement reinforces Polo Ralph Lauren’s leadership in major sporting initiatives. In addition to the Company’s involvement with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, the Company serves as the Official Apparel Sponsor for both Wimbledon and the U.S. Tennis Open. Polo Ralph Lauren currently also sponsors an elite roster of professional golfers, as well as the Blackwatch Polo Team.

Jean Paul Gaultier, one of the world’s most influential designers, has created five single-edition bottles, each enveloped in sparkling crystals whose transparency represents the essential quality of Evian natural mineral water — its purity. The magic of crystals shines throughout the collection. Each bottle, a unique, single-edition piece, offers its own subtle and joyful tribute to the purity and exquisiteness of Evian natural mineral water. Jean Paul Gaultier’s creativity finds the perfect complement in the skills of the prestigious House of Baccarat, where three centuries of know-how are evident in the craftsmanship of these five works of art.

The Haute Couture collection of five bottles has been on a world tour, stopping at prestigious locations in only seven capital cities, including Paris, New York and Shanghai and Dubai. The five bottles reunited at the end of their world tour in April, in Paris, where they were auctioned at the Champs-Elysées auction house for the benefit of the RAMSAR Convention, supported by Evian for years.

Mr. Khalil Naciri, Senior Brand Manager for Evian, remarked: “The auction of the bottles was a tremendous boost for a worthy environmental cause with which Evian is proud to be associated. The proceeds of the auction will go to the RAMSAR Convention, which Evian has been actively supporting for the past 10 years.” Mr. Naciri also added: “The Haute Couture bottles created by the one & only Jean Paul Gaultier are a unique collection, and are masterpieces to art”

The collection was sold for 16 000 € and the proceeds were donated to the RAMSAR Convention, to preserve wetlands around the world.