World Vignettes

But they are having talks with the company, Hasbro8217;, which wants to use Diana8217;s name on products such as 8220;games, puzzles and other things.8221;

According to Marketing Week magazine, Hasbro had planned to produce a Sindy doll with Diana8217;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 doll8217;.

A spokesman for the fund said, 8220;Hasbro approached the fund with a whole variety of proposals. One of them was of course, a doll.8221;

This latest development came as former British Prime Minister John Major, an executor of the late Princess Diana8217;s will, appealed to trustees of her memorial fund to show more 8220;care, consideration and sensitivity.8221;

Green8217; plastic

LONDON: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 Britain8217;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.

8220;These plastics should be as cheap as petrochemically derived ones,8221; Elborough told Reuters.

8220;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.8221;

Long days

WASHINGTON: 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 8212; 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.