Silicon power ; Semiconductor demand in India is increasing, but manufacturing of semiconductors remains a distant dream.

Today, semiconductors are used in virtually every piece of modernelectronics, from mobile phones (the SIM card is a semiconductor)and telecom equipment to consumer electronics, infrastructuralequipment and automotive systems. Though semiconductor demand isslackening at present, the proliferation of semiconductor-enabledproducts and the expected increase in uptake of hardware andhandsets once the next-generation network regime (3G) is in placewill ensure a strong demand for the product.

According to a report by the Indian Semiconductor Association(ISA) and consultancy firm Frost&Sullivan, the Indian market forsemiconductors touched $5.9 billion (Rs 28,910 crore) last year, …

Radioactive Substance in Ex-Spy's Body

LONDON - Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by radiation, Britain's Health Protection Agency said Friday. Agency scientist Roger Cox said polonium-210 had been found in Litvinenko's urine. Earlier, Home Secretary John Reid …

Solana says Gaza cease-fire possible this week

The European Union's foreign policy chief said Friday that a national unity coalition government in Israel of the moderate Kadima and more bellicose Likud political parties would benefit talks seeking an overall Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

A narrower government led by hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu "would be more difficult," Javier Solana said.

On the search for an end to the latest outbreak of violence between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Solana said international negotiators in Egypt are could announce within 48 hours a cease-fire agreement to stop the strife in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants.

Israeli …

Penny Marshall assails edited `Big'

Penny Marshall didn't like the little version of "Big."

The former "Laverne and Shirley" star was in Madison, Wis.,Monday to lobby on behalf of a proposed federal law to protect theartistic integrity of films and told reporters she was angered afterseeing an edited version of "Big" on an airplane. An intimate scenehad been edited to a montage of the actors' …

Advertising syndication cuts cost for local ads

The high cost of advertising is being reduced through a syndication program built by AdvantEdge Advertising.

The firm, headed by President Randy Hecht, began obtaining the exclusive rights to America's greatest local television campaigns, which in many cases were sitting in storage. The ads are now made available to other local users at a fraction of the original production cost.

AdvantEdge's goal is to become the country's largest provider of …

Former Uruguayan dictator detained in disappearance of dissidents

Uruguay's last military dictator, Gregorio Alvarez, was charged Monday with the forced disappearance of political prisoners, cheering human rights activists who have long campaigned for his prosecution.

Alvarez, now 82 and retired, was the army general who led Uruguay from 1982 until shortly before the country restored democracy in 1985.

Arrested without incident at his home on Monday, he was sent to a military prison to await trial in connection with the disappearance of some 40 Uruguayan political prisoners who were seized by military rulers in neighboring Argentina and secretly returned to Uruguay in 1977 and 1978, prosecutor Mirtha Guianze said.

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Dolphin doc gets the net

What's your reaction to the Tokyo Film Festival rejecting "The Cove"? The film won't hit my town until next month, but I have been following it with interest. I didn't realize that Japan was restricting artistic expression as much as the Chinese these days. Can anything be done to shame the organizers of the Tokyo Film Festival into changing their mind?

K.V. Anderson, Fort Collins, Colo.

A. The documentary is strongly critical of the Japanese practice of luring dolphins to a trap by using sonar, then selling some of the animals to theme parks and labeling the (mercury-tainted) flesh of the rest as whale meat. The film has been widely acclaimed (94 percent on the …