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Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio has been chosen as the highlight of the new Victoria’s Secret book.

The pictures had been taken before her pregnancy, and they are the attention catchers in the titillating page-turner aptly titled Supermodel Obsession, the Sun reported.

The model could be seen posing in a number of provocative poses, wearing a series of skimpy designs that show off her hot body.

Ambrosio is at the moment convalescing from the birth of her daughter Anja with long-term beau Jamie Mazur, and it will be some time before she can hit the catwalk again.

The Victoria’s Secret model has reportedly received numerous lucrative magazine deals for exclusive photos of her new born daughter.

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for introduction of the Companies Bill, 2008 in the Parliament to replace the Companies Act, 1956, the existing statute for regulation of companies in the country and considered to be in need of comprehensive revision

in view of the changing economic and commercial environment nationally as well as internationally.

Sub: The Companies Bill, 2008

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs took up a comprehensive revision of the Companies Act, 1956 (the Act) in 2004 keeping in view that not only had the number of companies in India expanded from about 30,000 in 1956 to nearly 7 lakhs, Indian companies were also mobilizing resources at a scale unimaginable even a decade ago, continuously entering into and bringing new activities into the fold of the Indian economy. In doing so, they were emerging internationally as efficient providers of a wide range of goods and services while increasing employment opportunities at home. At the same time, the increasing number of options and avenues for international business, trade and capital flows had imposed a requirement not only for harnessing entrepreneurial and economic resources efficiently but also to be competitive in attracting investment for growth. These developments necessitated modernization of the regulatory structure for the corporate sector in a comprehensive manner.

2. Earlier, a Bill called Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2003 had been introduced by M/o Corporate Affairs (MCA) (then Department of Company Affairs) in the Rajya Sabha on 7.5.2003. Later on, a large number of changes were found to be necessary in the Bill. A decision was, therefore, taken to carry out a comprehensive review of the Companies Act, 1956 and to introduce a new Companies Bill for the consideration of the Parliament.

3. The review and redrafting of the Companies Act, 1956 was taken up by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on the basis of a detailed consultative process. A `Concept Paper on new Company Law’ was placed on the website of the Ministry on 4th August, 2004. The inputs received were put to a detailed examination in the Ministry. The Government also constituted an Expert Committee on Company Law under the Chairmanship of Dr. J.J. Irani on 2nd December 2004 to advise on new Companies Bill. The Committee submitted its report to the Government on 31st May 2005. Detailed consultations were also taken up with various Ministries, Departments and Government Regulators. The Bill was thereafter drafted in consultation with the Legislative Department of the Central Government.

4. The Companies Bill, 2008 seeks to enable the corporate sector in India to operate in a regulatory environment of best international practices that fosters entrepreneurship, investment and growth and provides for :-

(i) The basic principles for all aspects of internal governance of corporate entities and a framework for their regulation, irrespective of their area of operation, from incorporation to liquidation and winding up, in a single, comprehensive, legal framework administered by the Central Government. In doing so, the Bill also harmonizes the Company law framework with the imperative of specialized sectoral regulation

(ii) Articulation of shareholders democracy with protection of the rights of minority stakeholders, responsible self-regulation with disclosures and accountability, substitution of government control over internal corporate processes and decisions by shareholder control. It also provides for shares with differential voting rights to be done away with and valuation of non-cash considerations for allotment of shares through independent valuers.

(iii) Easy transition of companies operating under the Companies Act, 1956, to the new framework as also from one type of company to another.

(iv) A new entity in the form of One-Person Company (OPC) while empowering Government to provide a simpler compliance regime for small companies. Retains the concept of Producer Companies, while providing a more stringent regime for not-for–profit companies to check misuse. No restriction proposed on the number of subsidiary companies that a company may have, subject to disclosure in respect of their relationship and transactions/dealings between them.

(iv) Application of the successful e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA-21) to all the processes involved in meeting compliance obligations. Company processes, also to be enabled to be carried out through electronic mode. The proposed e-Governance regime is intended to provide for ease of operation for filing and access to corporate data over the internet to all stakeholders, on round the clock basis.

(v) Speedy incorporation process, with detailed declarations/ disclosures about the promoters, directors etc. at the time of incorporation itself. Every company director would be required to acquire a unique Directors identification number.

(vi) Facilitates joint ventures and relaxes restrictions limiting the number of partners in entities such as partnership firms, banking companies etc. to a maximum 100 with no ceiling as to professions regulated by Special Acts.

(vii) Duties and liabilities of the directors and for every company to have at least one director resident in India. The Bill also provides for independent directors to be appointed on the Boards of such companies as may be prescribed, along with attributes determining independence. The requirement to appoint independent directors, where applicable, is a minimum of 33% of the total number of directors.

(ix) Statutory recognition to audit, remuneration and stakeholders grievances committees of the Board and recognizes the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Company Secretary as Key Managerial Personnel (KMP).

(x) Companies not to be allowed to raise deposits from the public except on the basis of permission available to them through other Special Acts. The Bill recognizes insider trading by company directors/KMPs as an offence with criminal liability.

(xi) Recognition of both accounting and auditing standards. The role, rights and duties of the auditors defined as to maintain integrity and independence of the audit process. Consolidation of financial statements of subsidiaries with those of holding companies is proposed to be made mandatory.

(xii) A single forum for approval of mergers and acquisitions, along with concept of deemed approval in certain situations.

(xiii) A separate framework for enabling fair valuations in companies for various purposes. Appointment of valuers is proposed to be made by audit committees.

(xiii) Claim of an investor over a dividend or a security not claimed for more than a period of seven years not being extinguished, and Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) to be administered by a statutory Authority.

(xv) Shareholders Associations/Group of Shareholders to be enabled to take legal action in case of any fraudulent action on the part of company and to take part in investor protection activities and ‘Class Action Suits’. (xvi) A revised framework for regulation of insolvency, including rehabilitation, winding up and liquidation of companies with the process to be completed in a time bound manner. Incorporates international best practices based on the models suggested by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

(xvii) Consolidation of fora for dealing with rehabilitation of companies, their liquidation and winding up in the single forum of National Company Law Tribunal with appeal to National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. The nature of the Rehabilitation and Revival Fund proposed in the Companies (Second Amendment) Act, 2002 to be replaced by Insolvency Fund with voluntary contributions linked to entitlements to draw money in a situation of insolvency.

(xviii) A more effective regime for inspections and investigations of companies while laying down the maximum as well as minimum quantum of penalty for each offence with suitable deterrence for repeat offences. Company is identified as a separate entity for imposition of monetary penalties from the officers in default. In case of fraudulent activities/actions, provisions for recovery and disgorgement have been included.

(xix) Levy of additional fee in a non-discretionary manner for procedural offences, such as late filing of statutory documents, to be enabled through rules. Defaults of procedural nature to be penalized by levy of monetary penalties by the Registrars of Companies. The appeals against such orders of Registrars of Companies to lie with suitably designated higher authorities.

(xx) Special Courts to deal with offences under the Bill. Company matters such as mergers and amalgamations, reduction of capital, insolvency including rehabilitation, liquidations and winding up are proposed to be addressed by the National Company Law Tribunal/ National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

The first ever reported computer virus has infected at least two laptops on board the International Space Station more than 200 miles above earth.

The worm virus, believed to be W32.Gammima.AG, steals personal information used to play online games from infected computers and then attempts to send the information back to a remote computer, according to SpaceRef.com, which broke the news on Monday.

The virus was not the first to hit a space station last month, just the first one that was reported, NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries told Wired. He described it as a “nuisance” that infected computers that are mostly used for applications like e-mail and not critical systems.

Officials were trying to figure out how the virus got on board. The space station has no direct Internet access–astronauts send and receive mail through a KU band data link, according to Humphries. Reports speculated it may have spread via a USB memory device.

The International Space Station is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the space agencies of Japan, Russia and Canada.

Drinking water that contains disinfection by-products at regulatory cut-off levels does not appear to raise a pregnant woman’s risk of delivering a small baby or delivering prematurely, new research shows.

Previous studies that have suggested adverse pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to drinking water disinfection by-products “are limited by poor exposure assessment,” the researchers note in the journal Epidemiology.

In the new study, funded in part by the US Environmental Protection Agency, researchers used improved exposure data to more accurately calculate the potential risks. Throughout the study, the researchers collected weekly or biweekly water samples at representative location in the water distribution system of three US communities.

In analyses involving more than 3800 pregnant women, Dr. Caroline S. Hoffman from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues found no link between exposure to drinking water disinfection by-products — in particular, total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), haloacetic acids, and total organic halides — and any increased probability of delivering a small “growth restricted” baby or delivering a low birth weight baby.

According to the investigators, the results do not support a harmful effect of residential TTHM or haloacetic acid levels within the regulatory limits on fetal growth. In addition, none of the individual TTHM or haloacetic acid types was consistently associated with fetal growth restriction.

A possible association between TTHM and delivery of a small baby was evident only for average residential concentrations above the current regulatory standard, Hoffman and colleagues found.

Their research, they add, also provides evidence that exposure to high levels of these drinking water disinfection by-products does not increase the likelihood of delivering preterm, before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

The Linux Foundation on Wednesday plans to announce an event enabling Linux users to interact with the Linux community, including high-level maintainers and developers.

The first Linux Foundation End User Collaboration Summit is planned for October 13 to 14 in New York City. Users can connect with the Linux kernel community, the foundation said. The intent is to bring together sophisticated end-users and senior Linux developers to hopefully accelerate innovation and adoption of Linux.

“The open source development model is unique. End users not only give feedback on the software; they’re a fundamental and critical part of the community, submitting patches and developing new features themselves,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation, in a statement released by the organization. “Before this event, however, there was no neutral forum that would advance and optimize this collaboration. The End User Summit will fill this gap and accelerate problem-solving for Linux.”

The free, invitation-only event will feature an address by Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian and a question-and-answer session with Zemlin. John Corbet from LWN.net will spotlight where the Linux kernel is headed during the next 12 to 24 months.

Also speaking is Paul Cormier, executive vice president and president of products and technologies at Red Hat.

There will be discussions between end-users and Linux maintainers, including Andrew Morton and James Bottomley. A panel will be held featuring Linux users from the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, AIG Credit Suisse, and Fidelity National Information Services.

Interested persons can apply for an invitation on the Linux Foundation’s Web site. Participants will be selected based on their potential for high-quality discussions with the kernel community, the foundation said.

Belgian pharmaceuticals group UCB plans to cut its headcount by 2,000 — 17 percent of its worldwide staff — as part of a restructuring, the company said Thursday.

Some 2,400 jobs would be cut worldwide while 400 new jobs would be created under a restructuring which aims to focus UCB’s operations on drugs for the central nervous system and immunology disease areas.

“By this project, UCB aims to increase focus on its core assets, re-deploy its resources, advance research and development and simplify its organisation, while successfully delivering UCB’s new medicines to patients,” it said in a statement.

Under the restructuring, the company aims to re-allocate 300 million euros over the next three years to working on drugs for the central nervous system and immunology.

Toyota lowered its global sales target for 2009 by 700,000 vehicles to 9.7 million Thursday, showing that even one of the world’s most durable automakers is being hurt by rising material costs, a slowing U.S. market and soaring gas prices.

“We have been going at top speed up to now,” President Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters at a Tokyo hotel after announcing the numbers. “It is time to set more cautious targets.”

Toyota Motor Corp had previously set a 2009 global sales goal of 10.4 million vehicles.

The lower target would still be a 2 percent increase from the company’s 2008 sales goal of 9.5 million. But even that figure was reduced last month from an initial 9.85 million units.

Toyota has been on such a potent growth track in recent years it is getting closer to ending General Motors Corp.’s 77-year run as the world’s top automaker by sales.

Japan’s top automaker sold more than 4.8 million vehicles worldwide in the first half this year, more than its U.S. rival’s 4.5 million vehicles. The sales tallies for this year are too close to call, as GM is also struggling with the same industry problems and restructuring its operations.

What is clear from these sales revisions is that Toyota, which had so far averted the serious problems of its money-losing American rivals, is now grappling with the same industry woes.

Watanabe said he saw as “fundamental” the slowdown in the U.S. market as soaring gas prices not only crimps car purchases but drives an unprecedented shift in consumer demand from trucks to smaller fuel-efficient models.

By region, Toyota is projecting stagnant sales next year for both North America at 2.7 million vehicles and Japan at 2.25 million, unchanged from projected sales figures for this year.

Other markets were expected to grow modestly.

In Europe, Toyota plans to sell 1.3 million vehicles, up 4 percent from a projected 1.25 million vehicles this year. In Asia, it aims for 1.75 million vehicles, up 6 percent from 1.65 million this year. Sales in other regions are expected at 1.7 million vehicles next year, up from 1.65 million this year.

In his annual outlining of the company’s business plan, Watanabe tried to sound an upbeat note by promising green vehicles. He said Toyota will speed up the delivery of a plug-in hybrid — which can be plugged into regular household electrical sockets — initially promised for sometime in 2010, to the end of 2009.

Gas-electric hybrids like the Prius deliver better mileage by switching between a gas engine and electric motor, and a plug-in hybrid can travel longer as an electric vehicle, using less gasoline than a regular hybrid.

Watanabe said Toyota is also planning to produce a next-generation electric vehicle in the early 2010s.

Toyota will also start making the Prius hybrid in the U.S., at its Mississippi plant, to meet growing demand for fuel-efficient models, while scaling down production of trucks and other gas-guzzlers there, he said.

The automaker now makes the Prius in Japan and China, though it makes the hybrid Camry sedan in the United States. Toyota has said it is also starting Camry hybrid production in Thailand and Australia in the next couple of years.

Hybrids still make up a small portion of any automaker’s sales.

And the latest revisions underline how Toyota’s momentum of growth has been shifting to lower gear.

Toyota, which makes Lexus luxury models and the Corolla subcompact, reported a 28 percent drop in its April-June quarterly net profit. It is forecasting its first full-year profit decline in seven years as it faces more problems from the weakening U.S. market.

Watanabe acknowledged Toyota may be going through a period in which its sales growth momentum was slowing, but he insisted that provided different opportunities for the company.

“It is sad. We had hoped that more people would be buying our cars,” he said. “But improving the quality of our cars is our utmost priority. This kind of time can prove important.”

Toyota shares closed unchanged in Tokyo at 4,770 yen ($44).

Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday reported four new deaths in patients taking Byetta, even as the companies tried to shore up the safety profile of their popular diabetes medication.

The announcement comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration said two Byetta patients died of acute pancreatitis, sinking shares of both drugmakers. An executive from Eli Lilly said the FDA was aware of the additional deaths but did not announce them because they involved a milder form the pancreatitis. The condition can cause nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

“They were concentrating on the more severe forms of the condition, but we felt it was important to get this information out there,” Eli Lilly Medical Director James Malone told the Associated Press.

Malone stressed that all four patients had complicating medical conditions, ranging from leukemia to gallstones, which were likely the primary cause of death.

Since the FDA announcement, Eli Lilly shares have fallen over 3 percent, while shares of Amylin Pharmaceuticals have fallen nearly 20 percent. San Diego-based Amylin co-developed Byetta and makes about 80 percent of its revenue from the injectable drug. The drug accounted for about 3 percent of Lilly’s sales last year.

Prescriptions for the twice-daily treatment fell 2.1 percent last week, according to pharmaceutical data firm IMS Health.

Company representatives scheduled a conference call Tuesday evening to stress how rare the reported problems have been.

In an interview ahead of the call, Malone said that media coverage of the deaths with Byetta “tended to be a bit sensationalized.”

He noted there has only been one report of pancreatitis for every 3,000 patients taking the drug for one year.

While the company cannot rule out a connection between its drug and the pancreas problems, Malone said there have been reports of similar problems with rival medications.

“With all other diabetes medications we know there has been pancreatitis and some of those people have died,” said Malone. “So it’s not a unique phenomenon with Byetta.” He added that diabetes patients are already three times more likely to develop pancreatitis compared with healthy patients.

The FDA said last week it would seek a stronger, more prominent warning for Byetta, but details of the new label are still in the works.

Malone also tried to ease concerns about the timeline for company’s long-acting version of Byetta — which is formulated for use once a week, instead of twice a day. He said the companies still hope to bring the drug to market by mid-2009 and that there are no plans for additional studies, despite the FDA’s safety concerns.

Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals split worldwide sales of Byetta, which grew over 50 percent to $650 million last year. Wall Street continues to maintain a positive outlook for the drug and the next-generation formula.

Leerink Swann & Co. analyst Jonas V. Alaenas, reaffirmed an “Outperform” rating on Amylin Monday, calling the pancreatitis concerns “overblown.” Last week, Goldman Sachs analyst Meg Malloy reaffirmed a “Buy” rating with a similar comment.

Approved in 2005, Byetta was the first in a new class of diabetes medications that have shown improved ability to control blood sugar levels. The drug is expected to face competing products as soon as next year.

In June, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk reported data showing its experimental drug liraglutide was more effective than Byetta at controlling blood sugar levels. Swiss firm Roche is also working on its own next-generation diabetes medication.

Considering competition from Novo Nordisk and others, Robert Hazlett expects long-acting Byetta to make $100 million in sales during its first year on the market, compared with earlier analyst estimates of up to $700 million.

Lower revenues from the drug would also impact biotech company Alkermes Inc., which helped develop the longer-acting formula and is slated to receive royalties from its sales.

NASA confirmed on Wednesday that a computer virus sneaked aboard the International Space Station only to be tossed into quarantine on July 25 by security software.

A “worm type” virus was found on laptop computers that astronauts use to send and receive email from the station by relaying messages through a mission control center in Texas, according to NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries.

The virus is reported to be malicious software that logs keystrokes in order to steal passwords or other sensitive data by sending the information to hackers via the Internet.

The laptop computers are not linked to any of the space station’s control systems or the Internet.

“The bottom line is it is a nuisance for us,” Humphries told AFP. “The crew is working with teams on the ground to eradicate the virus and look for actions to prevent that from happening in the future.”

The virus had no adverse effect on space station operations, according to Humphries.

The space station orbits Earth once every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 350 kilometers (217 miles).

NASA is reportedly looking into whether the virus got into the computers by hiding in a memory drive used to store music, video or other digital files.

Humphries said this is not the first computer virus stowaway on the Space Station.

“This is not a frequent occurrence but it has happened before,” Humphries said.

Real news from the virtual world:

CONTINENTAL CONGRESS: The Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, is the biggest annual video-game event in Europe, and it keeps getting bigger. This year, more than 203,000 people (which includes normal civilians, not just gaming professionals) got a look at the latest offering from 547 exhibitors spread out over more than 1 million square feet. That’s a lot to take in over the entire four-day show, much less in one day.

Sony was the star of this show, thanks to an assortment of hardware introductions. There’s a new PlayStation 3 with a 160-gigabyte hard drive — twice the storage of the current console — that will sell for $500.

There’s also a revamped PlayStation Portable, priced at $200, with a new LCD screen and a built-in microphone. And there’s a cute new wireless keypad, which attaches to the PS3 controller and is meant to make it easier to chat with your friends in Sony’s “Home” virtual world.

Perhaps the hottest gadget of the show, though, was Sony’s PlayTV, which essentially turns the PS3 into a digital video recorder. It only works with Europe’s digital terrestrial TV standard, though, and there hasn’t even been a suggestion that Sony might bring a similar device to the United States.

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_BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: There wasn’t a whole lot of new software at Leipzig — although, of course, it was the first time that most Europeans got a glimpse of the games we saw at E3 in July. But there were a few intriguing new titles that we’ll probably see in the U.S. as well.

Sony led the way, again, with “Heavy Rain,” a moody PS3 thriller from “Indigo Prophecy” developer Quantic Dream. The company also scored with “EyePet,” a virtual critter that reacts to your movements through the PlayStation Eye camera attachment. One game, however, that’s not likely to cross the Atlantic is “SingStar: Queen” — as in the rock band Queen. The “SingStar” karaoke series has never quite caught on stateside, but who wouldn’t want to sing like Freddie Mercury?

Konami offered an intriguing new action game, “Lords of Shadow,” which it described as “a dark fairy tale” and “an epic battle between good and evil” set in the Middle Ages. Sega has revamped its zombie-hunting franchise with “House of the Dead Overkill,” which has the flavor of a missing episode from Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse.” And Ubisoft has something for fans of “Super Monkey Ball” and “Ape Escape“: the virtual pet we’ve all been waiting for in “Monkey Madness.”

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_TOWER DEFENSE: All the fun stuff at Leipzig was overshadowed by a controversy over a piece of art that was on display at the show. As part of an exhibit celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Space Invaders,” the French-American artist Douglas Edric Stanley created a version of the game in which you’re trying to prevent the familiar aliens from destroying the World Trade Center.

“Like the original, this trial is ultimately unsuccessful, thus creating an articulated and critical commentary about the current war strategy,” Stanley explained on his Web site. Naturally, some New Yorkers whose relatives died in the Sept. 11 attacks had a different interpretation, telling the New York Daily News they found the art “distasteful” and “disgusting.”

Taito, which holds the “Space Invaders” copyright, put out a press release describing Stanley’s use of the game as “wholly unauthorized” and said it was considering legal action against him. Finally, Stanley unplugged the installation, saying, “The American response to this work has been, frankly, immature, and lacking the sophistication and consideration that other parts of the world have so far shown the work.”

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_NEW IN STORES: The summer role-playing game drought ends with three epics: Square Enix’s “Infinite Undiscovery” (for the Xbox 360), Namco Bandai’s “Tales of Vesperia” (360) and NIS America’s “Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice” (PlayStation 3). … With the pennant races heating up, Nintendo’s “Mario Super Sluggers” (Wii) steps up to the plate. … The only place you’ll see a certain golf superstar this year is in EA Sports‘ “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09″ (most systems). … Forget about high gas prices and take a spin in Activision’s “Ferrari Challenge” (PS3, PlayStation 2, Wii, DS). … Atari brings the indie gem “Nplus” to the DS and PlayStation Portable.