Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, on Friday promised 10 billion dollars to develop vaccines for the world’s poorest nations.

The Microsoft tycoon announced at the World Economic Forum that the money will come over the next decade from the foundation he runs with his wife Melinda, and that vaccines will become the top priority for the foundation.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has now committed more than 25 billion dollars to various health projects, especially targeting AIDS and polio and other diseases that hit poor countries.

“We must make this the decade of vaccines,” Bill Gates said in Davos. “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. “Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.”

Increased vaccination could save more than eight million children by 2020, he added, but called on governments and the private sector to do more. “Increased investment in vaccines by governments and the private sector could help developing countries dramatically reduce child mortality by the end of the decade,” Gates said in a statement.

Melinda Gates added: “Vaccines are a miracle — with just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime. “We?ve made vaccines our number-one priority at the Gates Foundation because we?ve seen first hand their incredible impact on children?s lives,” she added.

Gates began working full time at the Foundation after leaving Microsoft in July, 2008. He is in Davos as the world’s leading philanthropist and his activities again overshadowed those of the political and business elite at the Swiss ski resort. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou held new meetings seeking to shore up international support for his country’s austerity programme as its borrowing costs shoot up and debt problems in Greece and other countries put pressure on the euro.

Reaffirming his determination to cut the 12.7 percent budget deficit, the prime minister acknowledged the country’s troubles over the past year including serious riots in Athens before his socialist PASOK party won an election. “The riots that we had last year were at the height of the scandals in our political life,” he said. “Banks were being bailed out then, there was corruption and there was no legitimacy in the political system.

“We have re-established legitimacy and there is great support for us even from the younger generation.” Papandreou said: “It is important that whatever we do it is seen as just. It may be painful but it must be seen that we are all paying for the burden.” And he insisted that the government would protect the unemployed.

“We do have to make sure that in carrying out this austerity programme we don’t push the bottom rung out into desperation,” he said. Other leaders held talks on climate change, focusing on a summit to be held in Cancun, Mexico this year after the widely criticised UN summit in Copenhagen in December.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the cost to governments of climate change would be central to the success of any campaign but admitted there are “low expectations” for the summit. He said the battle against climate change must also be a battle to create a new kind of jobs. “We aim to reach a robust, substantial and comprehensive agreement,” he said.

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India’s beloved acting duo Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol have been invited by the NASDAQ stock exchange to ring their opening bell on Monday, February 1 in New York City.

The stars of director Karan Johar’s upcoming feature film MY NAME IS KHAN have accepted the invitation and will become the first Indian actors to open the market when they ring in the first trading day of February at 9:30am ET. This prestigious event is usually reserved for CEOs of major corporations and is broadcast live on many television networks across the globe. With over 3,700 companies listed, the NASDAQ has more trading volume than any other stock market in the world.

Shahrukh and Kajol have starred together in many successful films over the years including DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE and KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI which are both modern classics in Hindi cinema. Their much-awaited on-screen reunion will take place on February 12 when in MY NAME IS KHAN releases in theaters worldwide. Shot across much of the United States, the film will also have a star-studded premiere at the 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival during the week of its release.

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Update:
Shahrukh & Kajol ring the NASDAQ opening bell, here’s the video:

The owner of popular confectionery chain Haldiram, Prabhu Shankar Agarwal, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted by a city court in an attempt-to-murder case.

Four others who were also convicted in the case have been given life sentence.

Agarwal, who has an outlet at Burrabazar, and four others, including Gopal Tiwari, the hired killer, Raja Sonkar, Monoj Thakur and Arun Khandelwal were charged with attempt to murder of a tea stall owner which was in front of the outlet.

Judge Tapan Sen of the Bankshall Court awarded the sentence to Agarwal, history-sheeters Gopal Tiwari, Arun Khandelwal, Manoj Sharma and Raju Sonkar under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) besides 10 years rigorous prison terms under section 307/34 (attempt to murder/common intention).

Tiwari was also found guilty under the Arms Act and sentenced to seven years in one section and three years in another. All the sentences would run concurrently, the judge said in his order.

On March 30, 2005, Gopal Tiwari entered the house of Pramod Sharma, the tea stall owner, and shot him from a close range. Luckily he was hit in the leg and managed to escape.

On the basis of a complaint filed by Sharma, the police arrested Agarwal. Subsequently, it was revealed from the interrogation of Agarwal that there were four others involved in the crime.

The judge of the fourth fast track court, Tapan Sen, held the five guilty and the quantum of their punishment would be declared on Friday.

Tiwari was lodged in a correctional home while Agarwal and the four others, who had secured bail, appeared before the court. They were taken into custody today, the police said.

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Normal weight older people are at a greater mortality risk than their overweight counterparts after crossing the age of 70, a new study has claimed.

According to the research, appeared in Journal of The American Geriatrics Society, overweight people aged over 70 years are less likely to die in the next 10 years than the normal weight people of the same age.

The researchers from the University of Western Australia, who looked at data taken over a decade among more than 9,200 men and women aged between 70 and 75, found that mortality risk was lowest for participants with a BMI classified as overweight, with the risk of death reduced by 13 per cent compared with normal weight participants.

The benefits were only seen in the overweight category not in those people who are obese.

Obesity and overweight are most commonly defined according to body mass index (BMI), which is calculated by dividing bodyweight (in kg) by the square of height (in metres).

“Concerns have been raised about encouraging apparently overweight older people to lose weight and as such the objective of our study was to examine the major unresolved question of, what level of BMI is associated with the lowest mortality risk in older people?” said lead researcher Prof Leon Flicker.

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