Di Memorial stalls plans for Diana dollMUMBAI: A US toymaker's plan for a doll to commemorate the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, has been vetoed by the trustees of her memorial fund.But they are having talks with the company, `Hasbro', which wants to use Diana's name on products such as ``games, puzzles and other things.''According to Marketing Week magazine, Hasbro had planned to produce a Sindy doll with Diana's head to mark the first anniversary of her death last August.The company denied the talks with the memorial fund had ever included what it termed a `Sindy Diana doll'.A spokesman for the fund said, ``Hasbro approached the fund with a whole variety of proposals. One of them was of course, a doll.''This latest development came as former British Prime Minister John Major, an executor of the late Princess Diana's will, appealed to trustees of her memorial fund to show more ``care, consideration and sensitivity.''`Green' plasticLONDON:Genetically engineered plastics grown on plants could begin to replace millions of fossil fuel-fed tonnes of plastics within the next decade, Kieran Elborough, a scientist at Britain's University of Durham said.The plastics would not only be fully biodegradable, they would eliminate the environmental and financial costs associated with large-scale petrochemicals-to-polymer refineries fed by oil products.By so doing, plastics grown on the leaves of the genetically-engineered oilseed rape plant that has already been under cultivation in Britain for two years would cut the consumption of crude oil.``These plastics should be as cheap as petrochemically derived ones,'' Elborough told Reuters.``They could be slightly more expensive, but if the customer accepts the product, he will be prepared to pay a little more in view of its biodegradable and green economic value.''Long daysWASHINGTON: El Nino, the phenomenon disrupting the weather in the Pacific and the Americas, has made thedays longer than usual, the US space agency has said.February 5 was the longest day of all, about 0.6 milliseconds above normal, and the cumulative increase since El Nino began late last year amounts to about a tenth of a second - the time it takes to blink.The extra day length has since slipped back to about 0.4 milliseconds and the earth will eventually speed up again as El Nino dissipates, said a statement from the NASA.
