Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS), the countrys largest software exporter by revenues, will be finalising its wage and recruitment plans shortly, said companys chief financial officer and executive director, S Mahalingam.

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

Members of the Action Committee Against Narcotics noted a decrease of 2.3% (from 14,241 to 13,909) in the total number of reported drug abusers in 2009 over 2008 at their quarterly meeting today (March 16).

A government spokesman today (March 16) reminded residents that the Red Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) for Thailand (Bangkok) is still in force. Residents intending to visit there should adjust their plans. Those already there should attend to their personal safety and avoid places where there are demonstrations and large gatherings of people. The spokesman also urged residents to remind their relatives and friends who are in Bangkok to pay attention to the alert.

The Department of Health today (March 16) advised Raimondi College Primary Section, a primary school in Wan Chai, to suspend classes for seven days starting tomorrow to stop the possible spread of influenza in the school.

Following is the transcript (English portion) of the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, speaking to the media about Wing Lee Street today (March 16):

Police have conducted a territory-wide anti-drink driving operation from March 12 to March 15 and arrested twelve drivers for drink-driving related offences.

Orange.fr: from April 2010, Orange will be offering all web users direct access to the Française des Jeux "ParionsWeb" service, within the sports and gaming sections on the portal. Lottery games will also be available in the gaming section of the portal

Novell Conferencing is simple to use with a powerful interface and offers a cost-effective alternative to other Web meeting solutions on the market. Through a new agreement with Dimdim, the easy, open and affordable Web conferencing solution company, this Web conferencing technology improves the Novell collaboration portfolio and offers integrations with products like Novell GroupWise for seamless collaboration.

DALLAS - Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB) today announced the national launch of U by Kotex - an innovative feminine care solution that offers bold new packaging, feminine product design and empowers women to change the conversation surrounding women’s health.

Through the Tieto and Microsoft alliance, TSPs can extend their core network infrastructure and capabilities to build new and enhanced communication services, increasing the total value of services delivered to their end-customers. Integrating unified communications in a telecommunications network environment requires deep technical expertise and knowledge of the industry, including knowledge of regulatory requirements, network equipment and communication protocols, as well as understanding of existing services and operation models.

MINNEAPOLIS and ATLANTA - Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today introduced Every Patient First, a health equity initiative that, in partnership with health care providers, professional societies and patient advocacy groups, aims to reduce disparities in access to health care in the United States. The announcement was made at the 59th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in Atlanta.

MILPITAS, Calif. – LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) today announced the sampling of the industry’s first series of 6Gb/s SAS switches to OEM customers. The new LSITM model SAS6160 and SAS6161 switches significantly extend the capabilities of SAS in direct-attached storage (DAS) environments by allowing multiple servers to connect to one or more independent external storage systems. SAS616x series switches are designed to provide a low-cost and easy-to-use shared storage option for rack-mounted server and storage installations in cloud computing, mega data center and small- to medium-sized business environments.

UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians who led a national clinical trial of the treatment.

Westmont, NJ