Every professional in the corporate world knows the importance of a business card. It is the first impression of your professional identity. A business card serves to remind the other person of who you are, whom you work for and how to contact you. Here are some tips on how to present your business card the correct way.

Hold the temptation to offer your business card as soon as someone shakes your hand. It is important to know the person before you hand over your card as the security aspect matters. The other person may turn out to be someone you would not want to give your contact numbers.

It is poor etiquette to present your card to an executive who has not asked for it. If he wishes to have your card, offer it to him. You may however offer it unasked to a potential client. Again make it a personal action to show interest in the other person, instead of going around distributing stacks of it at a meeting which would seem you are only interested in making a sales pitch.

The card should be held horizontally with the letters legible to the recipient. Hold the card with your palm turned upwards and your thumb on the white margin of the card. Finally take care that the card being presented is not dirty or damaged as it will give an unfavorable impression of your professional and personal identity.

-Kalyani Mookherji

Healthy eating is something that many business executives find a bigger challenge than that office presentation due in thirty minutes. Chased by deadlines and practically surviving on coffee for the greater part of the day, a nutritious diet is often the first casualty of a hectic corporate life.

The simplest way to a healthier eating regimen for a busy professional is to cut down on artificial ingredients and instead go for natural foods, fruits and vegetables. If this seems easier said than done, here are some tips on stick to nutritious foods.

The first step is to shop at healthy stores like Trader Joes or Trader Jacks as these will give you greater choice of foods with low ingredients. Ideally one should choose foods with five ingredients but if this seems too radical then you can draw the line at packages with seven ingredients.

As far as possible, avoid foods which contain artificial sweeteners as they are zero on nutrition and high on calories. If you decide on a sandwich for lunch, be careful with dressings like mayonnaise which pile up calories. Instead you can go for a natural yoghurt-based dressing or season your salad with lemon juice.

Finally, cut down on junk food. If you are tempted to pick up a burger during a ten-minute break, reach out for a banana or a whole-grain cookie instead and follow it up with a nutritious drink. If you must go to a fast food restaurant, make healthy choices like salads, fruit-based desserts or an orange juice. Lastly, persevere and don’t give up as your health is definitely worth that extra effort.

-Kalyani Mookherji

Tysabri, the drug developed to treat multiple sclerosis by Biogen Imac Inc and Elan Corp suffered another setback as fresh cases of dangerous side effects were reported. The shares of both biotechnology companies fell even as patients and physicians expressed concerns about the safety of undergoing MS therapy, linked to the drug.

In a regulatory filing, both companies admitted that two patients in Europe who were undergoing multiple sclerosis therapy with Tysabri had developed potentially fatal complications. The side effects were related to a rare type of viral brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy which could even be deadly. These comprised of the first instances of infections since the return of Tysabri to the markets in July 2006, after having being pulled out for seventeen months for a similar reason.

After news of the potentially fatal side effects of Tysabri was released, stocks of both pharma companies suffered a decline. While Biogen shares fell by 28 percent to $50.01, American deposit receipts of Dublin-based Elan sank by 50 percent to rest at $9.93. If patients decide to give the drug a miss, Tysabri could lose out on as many as 3000 consumers which, according to one estimate, would have brought in $90 million in revenues.

-Kalyani Mookherji

Come October and Lockheed Martin Corp plans to lay off up to 200 of its workers employed in three space facilities. This is in keeping with NASA’s schedule to wind up the manned space shuttle program within the next two years in favor of the newer Constellation program.

Lockheed Martin employs around 2445 workers at the three sites of NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville as well as Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The company estimates that there would be around 100 job cuts at Huntsville, 25 at the Kennedy Center and the remaining 75 at the Michoud facility.

Lockheed Martin has been building the external fuel tanks for the space shuttle flights ever since 1973 and till date has manufactured 124 of these tanks. In the next two years, the company plans to deliver the remaining tanks to NASA which will send the last scheduled flight in 2010. At the end of this year, Lockheed plans to deliver two of the last fuel tanks to the space mission.

According to NASA, the newer Constellation program would develop the next generation rockets and vehicles, intended to land on the moon and later on planets like Mars. However the NASA has announced that the transition might lead to a cutback of almost 8000 contractor jobs, of which 1300 would be at the Michoud Facility alone.

-Kalyani Mookherji

Nortel Networks Corporation reported second quarterly losses running up to $113 million. the Canadian company which manufactures telecommunications equipment announced that its losses had tripled from the same period last year due to revamping costs as well as losses incurred from currency exchange.

Nortel’s losses were attributed to difficult market conditions in the United States where the economic slow down has especially affected sales related to CDMA wireless technology. The company said orders for its equipment fell from $2.68 billion a year back to just $2.15 billion last quarter. One of the reasons for this reduction in sales was its failure to get targeted orders from its joint venture with the South Korean company, LG Electronics.

While the losses incurred by Nortel stood at $37 million or 7 cents a share last year, in the second quarter of 2008, they had already ballooned to $113 million or 23 cents a share. Of this, the company had lost as much as $67 million to revamping charges alone. In an attempt to offset further losses and bring down expenses, Nortel has been compelled to order hundreds of layoffs and move many of its jobs to outsourcing centers in Asia where costs are much lower.

-Kalyani Mookherji

In the latest sign of growing troubles for the US auto industry, General Motors reported massive losses of $15.5 billion in the second quarter of 2008. The news comes at a time when the giant auto manufacturers of Detroit are incurring steady losses as soaring gasoline prices and a stagnant economy continue to restrict sales.

The significant losses incurred by GM are being attributed to falling sales of its vehicles all over the country which especially include trucks and sports utility vehicles. Other reasons for the downturn in earnings include charges for thousands of job cuts as well as closure of many of its plants. Last week another Detroit auto giant Ford had also reported a loss of $8.7 billion in its second quarter earnings.

This seems to be bleak time for the American auto-manufacturing industry. The spiraling oil prices have compelled people to move towards smaller and more fuel-efficient cars rather than bigger and fuel-guzzling vehicles like sports utilities which were once the mainstay of sales from manufacturers like G.M and Ford. With the economy in doldrums and the average consumer fighting price rise on every front, it is unlikely that automobile sales would show profit in the rest of the year.

-Kalyani Mookherji

The first pictures of twins born to Hollywood stars, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been jointly bought by People magazine and the British tabloid Hello! for a whopping $14 million. The rights to publish exclusive pictures of the newborn twins close the deal on the most expensive celebrity pictures to have been ever sold.

The popular celebrity magazine People has bought the North American rights to publish the pictures of the twins, Vivienne Marcheine and Knox Leon. The pictures are expected to appear on the covers of its forthcoming issue which will hit the stands on Monday while they will be first launched online at the website of the magazine on Sunday evening. The London-based tabloid, Hello! on the other hand has acquired worldwide rights for the publication of the pictures.

The money from the deal is expected to go to a charity founded by Jolie and Pitt which takes up the cause of children from around the world. The $14 million tag on the exclusive pictures of the Brangelina twins is more than double the previous amount that People and Hello magazines had coughed up for the first photos of Jennifer Lopez’s twins which according to Forbes had sold for $6 million.

-Kalyani Mookherji

A US pharmaceutical company Actavis Totowa LLC has recalled all prescription drugs from pharmacists and hospitals which have been manufactured at one of its facilities in New Jersey. This is because the facility in question failed to meet the manufacturing standards set by health authorities.

Inspection by Food and Drug Administration officials at an Actavis facility in Little Fall, New Jersey revealed major lapses in operation of the facility which fell far short of standard manufacturing practices. As a result Actavis has decided to call back all the drugs manufactured at the particular facility. For the time being the drugs in question are being recalled at the retail level, from stores, pharmacies and hospitals.

In a press release the company said that the recall does not apply to the end consumers. Patients who are already taking the drugs should continue to do so according to instructions on the prescription. This is because stopping any important medication midway, without seeking medical advice and proper replacement drugs, could land patients in greater risk.

The prescription drugs which have been recalled by Actavis number around sixty-five and include pain killers, diet medication, anti-depressants as well as drugs to treat hypertension.

-Kalyani Mookherji

In an attempt to deal with spiraling costs of foreign fuel, Democrat presidential nominee Senator Barak Obama left the door open on expansion of offshore oil drilling in the US. This option would however be considered only if it formed part of a comprehensive package of energy measures designed to free the gridlock of energy bills in Congress.

The Democrat position has traditionally been opposed to opening up any new areas for offshore oil drilling. This is to prevent any further damage to the delicate ecological habitats along the shorelines. Key environmental groups which strongly back Senator Obama have been staunch in their opposition. However he has maintained that oil companies should first start drilling on the millions of acres that have already been leased to them but remain unutilized.

The Republicans on the other hand claim that new areas of the continental shelf could be tapped for offshore drilling without damage to the environment. With soaring gasoline prices, people now seem to veering to the Republican stance, even in places like Florida where prospects for offshore oil drilling have been traditionally opposed. The change in public opinion has not escaped the Democrat camp as is evident from Senator Obama’s modification of his earlier position.

-Kalyani Mookherji

European oil companies posted huge profits in the second quarter of 2008 even as concerns about fast depleting oil reserves failed to boost the confidence of investors. The impact was seen falling share prices of two leading oil companies in Europe, Total and StatoilHydro.

Soaring prices of crude oil and low taxes have helped European energy giants to rake in outstanding profits at the end of the second quarter. Company reports of Total revealed that it had posted a pre-tax profit of $7.4 billion which is a leap of 38 percent from its second quarterly profits last year. StatoilHydro too reported a huge rise in operating profits which was as high as 78 percent from the figures of previous year.

However, the larger than ever earnings posted by the European oil companies have not immediately translated into rising stocks. While the share prices of Total dipped by 0.7 percent, the StatoilHydro stock took a further beating by falling almost by 6.7 percent. The slide in the stock values was attributed to investor worries that the huge profits incurred were the result of continuously high production levels and this would inevitably lead to depletion of oil and energy reserves. While it is unlikely that the second half results of the oil companies would suffer, their profits however might come down as crude prices stop shooting up and demand comes down.

-Kalyani Mookherji