World e-Buzz

Boat made of plastic bottles arrives in Sydney

2010-07-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

Monday, 26 Jul, 2010

David de Rothschild, front right, skipper of the Plastiki, a boat made out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles, shakes hands with Ian Kiernan, the Founder and Chairman of Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World, in Sydney, Monday, July 26, 2010. The Plastiki arrives in Sydney four months after it set out from San Francisco on a journey across the Pacific Ocean meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste. — AP Photo

World

Storm halts work at Gulf of Mexico spill site

SYDNEY: A boat made out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles sailed into Sydney Harbour on Monday, four months after it set out from San Francisco on a journey across the Pacific Ocean meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste.

The crew of the Plastiki, a 60-foot (18.2 meter) catamaran that weathered fierce ocean storms during its 8,000 nautical miles at sea, left San Francisco on March 20, stopping along the way at various South Pacific island nations including Kiribati and Samoa.

“This is culmination of four years planning, so it’s a very exciting day,” Plastiki spokeswoman Kim McKay said.

The boat, skippered by environmentalist David de Rothschild – a descendant of the well-known British banking family – was being towed to the Australian National Maritime Museum for a welcome ceremony.

“We hope that Sydney-siders will turn out in force to help us celebrate,” de Rothschild said in a statement.

The six-member crew lived in a cabin of just 20 feet by 15 feet (6 meters by 4.5 meters), took saltwater showers, and survived on a diet of dehydrated and canned food, supplemented with the occasional vegetable from their small on-board garden. The boat is fully recyclable, and is powered in part by solar panels and windmills.

The Plastiki’s name is a play on the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl.

The crew briefly stopped in Queensland state last week, after battling a brutal storm off the Australian coast.

De Rothschild said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report that said pollution – and particularly plastic waste – was seriously threatening the world’s oceans.

-www.dawn.com

BlackBerry phones could threaten security: UAE

2010-07-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

News Paper: Dawn News

Monday, 26 Jul, 2010

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement carried late Sunday on the state news agency that BlackBerry devices operate “beyond the jurisdiction” of national laws because the data they carry is managed by a foreign company. –

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates’ telecommunication watchdog says BlackBerry smartphones are a potential threat to the country's national security and it is seeking changes in how the devices operate.

Authorities’ alarm over the phones comes a year after the Middle East country’s biggest state-run mobile operator was caught encouraging unwitting BlackBerry users to install software on the devices that could allow outsiders to peer inside. The government has never made fully clear what happened in that case.

The latest comments from the Emirati regulator raise questions about the gadgets’ legality in the country, home to the Mideast business hub of Dubai.

They also highlight the government’s efforts to control the flow of information in the Arab Gulf nation, which actively censors websites and other forms of media seen as harming national security or conservative local values.

“As a result of how Blackberry data is managed and stored, in their current form, certain Blackberry applications allow people to misuse the service, causing serious social, judicial and national security repercussions,” the regulator said.

“Like many other countries, we have been working for a long time to resolve these critical issues, with the objective of finding a solution that safeguards our consumers and operates within the boundaries of UAE law,” it added.

The TRA said the devices were launched in the UAE before “safety, emergency and national security legislation” regulating their use was enacted in 2007. It did not specify what changes it is seeking.

Efforts to reach TRA officials by phone were unsuccessful. The agency’s media office sent a copy of the statement carried by the official WAM news service but would give no further clarification.

A Dubai-based spokeswoman for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. said the Canadian company did not yet have any comment.

Just over a year ago, RIM criticized a directive by UAE state-owned mobile operator Etisalat telling the company’s more than 145,000 BlackBerry users to install software described as an “upgrade ... required for service enhancements.”

RIM said tests showed the update was in fact spy software that could allow outsiders to access private information stored on the phones. It strongly distanced itself from Etisalat’s decision, and provided details instructing users how to remove the software

-www.dawn.com

India develops 35-dollar ‘laptop’ for schools

2010-07-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

News Paper:Dawn News
Friday, 23 Jul, 2010

Indian Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal unveils ‘laptop’ computer device in New Delhi. India’s ministry of human resource development launched a 35 USD laptop as part of their new venture to provide high quality education to children across the country, according to a government official on July 23. – Photo by AFP

NEW DELHI: India has come up with a 35-dollar touch-screen “laptop” a computing prototype that it aims to make available to students from elementary schools to universities.

The gadget, developed by the elite Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, is part of a push to give students a better education and technical skills needed to boost India’s economic growth.

The first users are expected to be university students with introduction of the Linux-based computing device targeted for next year.

The ministry is going to install broadband Internet at all of its 22,000 colleges so students can use the 1,500-rupee device, government spokeswoman Mamta Verma told AFP on Friday in New Delhi.

The tablet gadget, which can be run on solar power, is equipped with an Internet browser, video-conferencing capability and a media player, among other facilities.

“This is part of the national initiative to take forward inclusive education,” Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters on Thursday.

“The solutions for tomorrow will emerge from India,” he said. Sibal said the cost of the motherboard, chip, processing and other components cost a total of around 35 dollars but the government may subsidise 50 per cent of the price for students.

Sibal said the government, which hopes the cost of the device can eventually fall to 10 dollars, is in discussions with global manufacturers to start mass production of the device.

India, whose 63 per cent literacy rate lags far behind many other developing nations, such as China with 94 per cent, is making efforts to improve its troubled education system, which lacks investment in schools and teachers

-www.dawn.com

Iran says scientist provided information on CIA

2010-07-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 21 Jul, 2010

American authorities have claimed that Shahram Amiri willingly defected to the US but changed his mind and decided to return home without the $5 million. – AP Photo

TEHRAN: A semiofficial news agency is quoting an “informed source” as claiming that an Iranian nuclear scientist who returned home last week from the United States provided “very valuable” information about the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA.

American authorities have claimed that Shahram Amiri willingly defected to the US but changed his mind and decided to return home without the $5 million he had been paid for what a US official described as “significant” information about his country’s disputed nuclear program.

The unidentified source is quoted by Fars news agency as saying Iran’s intelligence agents were in touch with Amiri while he was in the US and that they won an intelligence battle against the CIA

-www.dawn.com

Australian laser system to track space junk

2010-07-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Dawn News
Tuesday, 20 Jul, 2010

This handout illustration image created by Australia’s Electro Optic Systems aerospace company shows a view of the Earth from geostationary height depicting swarms of space debris approximately 50,000 of the half-million or more debris objects greater than 1cm in Low Earth Orbit. Debris on the eastern side of the image are in the Earth’s shadow and so not visible to the eye. – AFP Photo

SYDNEY: An Australian company Tuesday said it had developed a laser tracking system that will stop chunks of space debris colliding with spacecraft and satellites in the Earth’s orbit.

Electric Optic Systems said lasers fired from the ground would locate and track debris as small as 10 centimetres across, protecting astronauts and satellites.

“We can track them to very high precision so that we can predict whether there are going to be collisions with other objects or not,” Craig Smith, the company’s CEO, told AFP.

Smith said the technology improved upon existing radar systems because it could detect tiny objects, left behind by disused rockets and satellites, which can still devastate hardware because they are travelling at ultra-high speeds.

He said there were an estimated 200,000 objects measuring less than one centimetre floating in orbit, with another 500,000 of a centimetre or larger.

“It ranges from bus-size bits of rocket bodies all the way down to a little half-a-millimetre fleck of paint,” Smith said from the company’s headquarters in Canberra.

“The trouble is that they’re all travelling at about 30,000 kilometres an hour. So unless you're in the same orbit you have hyper-velocity impacts, which can be devastating to a satellite.” Electric Optic Systems said it had developed the technology thanks to a four million dollar grant from the Australian government.

Smith said the company has received interest in the lasers, developed at Canberra’s Mount Stromlo Observatory, from around the world.

But he said the system would work best with a network of tracking stations placed at strategic points around the globe.

“A network is better than a single station of your own because particularly in lower earth orbit things are not always coming over your head when you want them to be,” said Smith.

-www.dawn.com

China satisfied with Google search engine tweaks

2010-07-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Google’s market share in China continued to slip in the second quarter, falling to 27.3 per cent from 29.5 per cent in the first, according to data from research firm iResearch. – File Photo

News Paper: Dawn

BEIJING: China is satisfied that US Internet giant Google Inc is complying with Chinese laws after it tweaked the way it directs users to an unfiltered search page, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The comments from a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology official largely echoed previous Chinese statements, but are still likely to be seen as good news for the company as Beijing has been coy about its long-term future in China.

Google is trying to achieve the delicate balance of ending self-censorship of searches, while holding onto its business foothold in a country where control of information has been key to ensuring the Communist Party’s decades in power.

Google’s market share in China continued to slip in the second quarter, falling to 27.3 per cent from 29.5 per cent in the first, according to data from research firm iResearch.

Before its high-profile spat with Beijing, Google was slowly gaining ground on China’s top search engine Baidu. At the end of last year, Google’s market share was 32.8 per cent.

Guxiang, a company that operates Google's websites in China, had committed to “abide by Chinese law,” and ensure the company did not provide illegal content, said Zhang Feng, head of the ministry's communication development division.

“After examination, we have concluded that it has basically met the requirements according to the relevant laws and regulations,” Zhang told a news conference.

Google unexpectedly warned in January it might quit China over censorship concerns and after suffering a hacker attack it said came from within the country, but eventually terminated its Google.cn search service and started rerouting users to its unfiltered Hong Kong site.

In early July the company ended automatic redirection, saying Beijing was unhappy about the system and would not renew Google’s operating license if it continued.

Visitors are now invited to click through to the Hong Kong page instead of being sent straight there. China's firewall remains in place however, meaning most sensitive sites turned up on searches are inaccessible from within the country's borders.

Google’s move was seen as a sign that the firm would fight to hold onto as much of its China business as possible, and Beijing said earlier this month it had renewed its Chinese operating licence after the company “made improvements”.

Guxiang accepted that government regulators will have the right to supervise content provided by the firm, Zhang said, declining to comment on directly on Google’s provision of the link to its uncensored Hong Kong page.

“As for the question of Hong Kong, this is an operational act made by the company itself,” he added, without elaborating.

China’s decision to allow Google to continue operating in China apparently resolved a months-long censorship dispute that had threatened the US company’s future in the world's top Internet market by users.

The move also removed another thorn in US-China relations and reflects Beijing’s desire to be seen as friendly to major foreign firms in spite of ideological differences, analysts said. –

-www.brecorder.com

Innovation shines in Pakistan’s first entrepreneurial challenge

2010-07-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

News Paper: Dawn

KARACHI: Novel ideas with traces of business opportunities were presented in Pakistan’s first entrepreneurial challenge in Karachi.

Several commercially viable ideas from 13 universities were submitted, from which five were short listed and three were awarded cash prizes at the “IBA Invent” challenge.

Students across Pakistan presented commercial projects based on research, development and market needs. Students presented innovative ideas about custom made furniture; community based mushroom cultivation and marketing, desalination tanks for agriculture, wireless charger for small devices and electricity back up systems.

After a panel of judges reviewed the proposals, workable, innovative and commercially feasible projects were awarded cash prizes.

A handheld power backup device, “UJALA”, invented by NED university students receieved a cash award of Rs.5 lakhs. Students from LUMS got a second prize of Rs.3 lakhs for “SHAFAAF”, a project meant to desalinate water for irrigation. “Khoombi” a strategy for community based cultivation and marketing devised by FAST, Lahore, was awarded the third prize of Rs.2.5 lakhs

The Dean and Director of IBA, Dr Ishrat Husain, said that knowledge-based services were the future of Pakistan.

-www.dawn.com

The World's Most Beautiful Cars

2010-07-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

News Paper: Daily Messenger

Monday, 19 Jul 2010

The World's Most Beautiful Cars

Looks aren't everything. Given a rainy day on a pock-marked street, even a luxury roadster will look and feel less than stellar.

But when it comes to attracting attention on a showroom floor, appearance does matter--a lot. Take, for instance, the case of Jaguar's new XJ sedan.

"From what we hear from our customers, the styling is really what gets people into the door for that vehicle," says Gary Flom, president and CEO of Manhattan Automobile Company. "And the XJ is a revolutionary car in terms of beauty, aesthetics and styling. It's a remarkable car that absolutely makes a huge difference for Jaguar--and I think sets a new benchmark in terms of the styling for a long, large sedan."

The $113,000 XJL Supersport is just one of 10 cars on our list of this year's most beautiful. Others, like the $240,000 Ferrari 458 Italia and $183,000 Mercedes SLS AMG, are much more sporty than Jag's large sedan--but they all have an allure that's hard to resist.

To compile our list of this year's most beautiful cars, we asked some of our best luxury-car experts for their nominees: Manhattan Automobile Company's Gary Flom; Tamara Warren, a longtime automotive journalist and creator of the car and design blog Go Tryke; Mike Caudill, the automotive analyst for Driven Media; and Noah Lehmann-Haupt, CEO of Gotham Dream Cars. Cars nominated for the list must be in production for 2010--no pre-production models are allowed, like the admittedly beautiful Fisker Karma, or the sleek new Range Rover Evoque.

A Perfect Four Door

The $197,850 Aston Martin Rapide received multiple nominations from our judges. Its "swan-wing" doors (they open up and out at a 12-degree angle, for ease of egress), low roofline and 20" rims expertly give a sporty edge to an otherwise elegant four-door sedan. Other notable design features include a broad rear end and the B-pillar-less sides, which actually make it seem more like a coupe. Inside, a swooping center console moves from front to rear, wrapped in hand-stitched leather and flanked by brand-new sport seats in the front of the vehicle.

Gotham Dream Cars' Noah Lehmann-Haupt, no stranger to stunningly beautiful rides, says Astons, in general, are the most beautiful cars ever made--and the Rapide doesn't disappoint. "One thing Aston has nailed time and time and time again is the look of their cars," he says. "The Rapide is just a perfect four door."

Working With Vintage Design

Another four-door winner, but with a more staid bearing, is Bentley's new flagship, the $285,000 Mulsanne. Seen from a distance, the car's long, flat hood and imposing grille communicate a healthy dose of motoring authority, and its 6 3/4-liter, V8 engine (it has 505 bhp and goes from 0-60 in 5.1 seconds) bolsters that authority with actual performance on the road. Inside, exotic woods, specially tanned leather hides and solid stainless-steel brightware are hand-crafted for maximum luxury, while the signature bulls-eye air vents and glass-like switchgear give a vintage feel.

The Mulsanne was inspired by the company founder W.O. Bentley's "crowning achievement," according to Bentley: an 8-liter coach first shown at the 1930 London Motor Show. But that car has been translated in a way that merits new attention.

Go Tryke's Tamara Warren says that for old-is-new cars like the Mulsanne and Mercedes' SLS AMG (based on the 1950s-era 300SL), modernizing a design is largely a matter of material. "With the advent of lightweight materials like carbon fiber and recycled aluminum, designers can incorporate renaissance design cues with sleek, well-proportioned contemporary shapes that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye--and still capable of responsive performance," she says.

Another throwback on our list is the $43,680 Dodge Challenger SRT8. It costs much less than, say, the $301,000 Alfa Romeo 8C Spider, and its V8 HEMI engine and brawny attitude (angled center console, pistol-grip shifter, dual round headlamps, flared hood) don't scream refinement. But that's not what muscle-car lovers want anyway, Caudill says.

"What's so cool about that car is that if you want a retro muscle car, you don't need to buy a 1964-and-a-half Mustang when you can buy a 2011 Dodge Challenger and get that same home-grown American feel," he says. "It's real American muscle with a retro throwback, big old motor in there."

Of course, much like the XJ, the Challenger isn't as flashy as a Ferrari or an Alfa Romeo. But it does hold a legitimate place in the chronicles of design. After all, beauty depends on the eye of the beholder.

-www.dailymessenger.com

Record monetary expansion in FY10 By Shahid Iqbal

2010-07-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

News Paper: DAWN
Sunday, 18 Jul, 2010

The State Bank reported that the government’s massive borrowing from scheduled banks rose to one third of the entire stocks of the private sector borrowing. - File Photo.

KARACHI: The greater monetary expansion in fiscal year 2009-10 failed to come to the expectations of the monetary authority responsible for targeting inflation through tight fiscal policy.

The latest figures issued by the State Bank give a disappointing picture of the monetary policy as the monetary expansion went up by 12.46 per cent during the fiscal year just ended against 9.56 per cent of the preceding year.

The State Bank had been indicating that the monetary expansion would remain within the target of around nine per cent as it was a year ago. However, the result showed that inflationary pressure kept the economy under grip and it might persist in the new fiscal 2010-11.

The government’s massive borrowing also created some new records, though it changed the trend and borrowed mostly from scheduled banks.

The government’s borrowing from scheduled banks led to cross the mark of one trillion as it borrowed Rs309 billion in FY10.

During the last two years the government borrowed half a trillion (Rs536 billion) from scheduled banks reflecting banks’ approach towards investing in government papers, while attracting some criticism from the State Bank of Pakistan, which feels that little room was left for private sector credit growth.

The private sector increased its borrowing from banks during the fiscal as it borrowed Rs112.9 billion against a small figure of Rs17 billion borrowed during the preceding year.

However, it was still much below the borrowing then required to achieve an economic growth of six per cent.

The State Bank reported that the government’s massive borrowing from scheduled banks rose to one third of the entire stocks of the private sector borrowing.

The stocks of government borrowing at the end June 2010 were Rs1.047 trillion, while the stocks of private sector were Rs3.019 trillion.

The banks and financial institutions came under pressure of massive default, which crossed Rs440 billion forcing them to adopt a cautious approach. The cautious approach found the easy way to earn risk free money by investing in the government papers. This approach finally damaged the private sector contribution for the overall economic growth.

Analysts said the government would continue to borrow during the current fiscal as the spending will remain higher than the revenue generation because the hope for a jump in the economic growth is not in sight.

They said the agreement with IMF to avoid default on external front forced the country to compromise over economic growth by keeping the policy interest around 12 per cent. For the experts there was no hope that monetary policy would be eased in near future, which means the private sector would remain underperformed due to high cost of borrowing.

Bankers said in presence of inflation hovering around 12 and 13 per cent no one should hope for declining of interest rate. They said easy money would further escalate the inflation, which could be counter productive for the economy.

“The economy will improve once the terrorism inside the country stops and the massive spending on this war mostly in the North of Pakistan will be used for development projects,” said Abid Saleem, an analyst.

He said the political stability will stabilise the economy and will create hopes for the ever-increasing unemployed people in the country.

-www.dawn.com

BP puts Gulf oil spill cost at nearly $4 billion

2010-07-19T09:46:00.001-07:00

News Paper: DAWN
Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

In this image taken from video provided by BP PLC the containment stack is shown at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday. – AP Photo

LONDON: Oil company BP says that the cost of dealing with the Gulf of Mexico spill has now reached nearly $4 billion.

The company, which last week managed to place a temporary cap on the leak, said Monday it has made payments totaling $207 million to settle individual claims for damages from the spill along the southern coast of the United States.

To date, almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made, totaling $207 million.

Including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, payment of claims and U.S. government costs, BP says it has now spent $3.95 billion.

The company adds that it is still too early to quantify the eventual total cost.

-www.dawn.com

Nokia Siemens buys Motorola networks

2010-07-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

News Paper: DAWN
Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

In this file photograph the company logo of Nokia Siemens Networks is displayed in front of the headquarters in Munich, southern Germany. –AP Photo

HELSINKI: Nokia Siemens Networks will acquire the majority of Motorola’s wireless operations for $1.2 billion in a major thrust to gain a stronger foothold worldwide, the company said Monday.

The Finland-based company said the deal is “expected to significantly strengthen Nokia Siemens Networks’ presence globally, particularly in the United States and Japan.”

Nokia Siemens said it will “gain incumbent relationships with more than 50 operators,” including top American wireless carriers and cable companies, including Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp.

It will also improve its position with China Mobile, Clearwire, KDDI, Sprint and Vodafone.

Nokia Siemens Networks a joint venture between Finland’s Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG of Germany has seen dwindling profits in recent years, worsened by the global economic downturn.

The new contract, expected to be completed by year-end, would improve profitability and “have significant upside potential,” Nokia Siemens said.

The deal is a step in the process of breaking up Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola. The company has planned for years to spin off the cell phone division, but steep losses in the unit have forced it to postpone the move. It's now scheduled for the first quarter of next year.

The handset division, to be called Motorola Mobility, will take with it the division that makes cable set-top boxes.

That will leave Motorola Solutions, the remainder, focused on government and corporate clients, with products like police radios and bar-code scanners. It’s also keeping one part of its wireless network portfolio: the division that makes iDEN equipment, used in the Nextel part of Sprint Nextel Corp.’s network. Motorola invented that technology and is the dominant supplier of equipment.

Its push-to-talk feature is appreciated by dispatchers and work crews, but has been overshadowed in the mainstream by other technologies that provide broadband data speeds.

Nokia Siemens CEO Rajeev Suri described the deal as an “exciting acquisition ... with significant benefits for customers, employees and our shareholders.”

“Motorola’s current customers will continue to get world-class support for their installed base and a clear path for transitioning to next generation technologies while employees will join an industry leader with global scale and reach,” Suri said.

Parent company Nokia shares were trading up 1.4 percent at euro 6.86 in afternoon trading in Helsinki

-www.dawn.com

Clinton arrives in Kabul ahead of conference

2010-07-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

News Paper: DAWN
Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

KABUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Kabul Monday for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of an international conference on the future of the war-torn country.

Clinton was due to meet Karzai on Monday evening, as well as the new commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus.

The conference, starting on Tuesday, aims to chart a future of peace and development for Afghanistan and show supporters the country is acting on past pledges.

“An enormous amount of ... preparation has been done by the Afghans. They have a good team working on it. It's going to be very substantive and demonstrate more Afghan leadership,” Clinton said during her flight to Kabul.

The meeting is being billed as a bid by the Afghan government to follow a process of transition from dependence on Western backers to running the country alone and responsibly after tens of thousands of US-led Nato troops go home.

Karzai and UN chief Ban Ki-moon are to chair the conference, and Ban urged the Afghan leader to unveil “concrete” steps to improve governance and promote national reconciliation.

Clinton said all sides had a role to play in fighting corruption. “We've asked for steps to be taken. We also have to get a hard look at ourselves,” she said.

“Our presence, all of our contracting, has fed this problem. It's an international issue. We have to do a better job in channeling our aid.”

-www.dawn.com

Indonesian Muslims facing Africa during prayers

2010-07-19T09:40:00.001-07:00

News Paper: DAWN

Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

An Indonesian man prays at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday.. Indonesia’s highest Islamic body acknowledged Monday it made a mistake when issuing an edict in March saying the holy city in Saudi Arabia was to the country’s west. – AP Photo

JAKARTA: People in the world’s most populous Muslim nation have been facing Africa not Mecca while praying.

Indonesia’s highest Islamic body acknowledged Monday it made a mistake when issuing an edict in March saying the holy city in Saudi Arabia was to the country's west.

It has since asked followers to shift direction slightly northward during their daily prayers.

“After a thorough study with some cosmography and astronomy experts, we learned they've been facing southern Somalia and Kenya,” said Ma’ruf Amin, a prominent cleric of the Indonesian Ulema Council, or MUI. “We’ve revised it now to the northwest.”

He said Indonesians need not worry, however: The miscalculation did not affect God’s ability to hear their prayers.

“God understands that humans make mistakes,” he said. “Allah always hears their prayers.”

Indonesia is a secular nation of 237 million people, 90 per cent of whom are Muslim, most of them moderate. The influential Ulema Council often issues fatwas, or edicts, including several controversial rulings against smoking and yoga.

Many devote Muslims follow such decrees, because ignoring them is considered a sin.

-www.dawn.com

Israel nabs Hamas cell accused of deadly shooting

2010-07-19T09:39:00.001-07:00

News Paper: DAWN

Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

Also Monday, Israeli forces demolished a cluster of tents and shacks belonging to Palestinians in the northern West Bank. One of the Palestinians, Ziad Adnan Saeh, said “They didn’t leave anything of our belongings. They were threatening to shoot us if we come close, so all of us left and now look what happened.” – AP Photo

JERUSALEM: Israel has arrested five Palestinians accused of being members of a Hamas cell responsible for killing an Israeli policeman in the West Bank, the Shin Bet security service said Monday.

It said the men, all in their 20s, confessed to killing the policeman near the West Bank town of Hebron on June 14 and handed over three Kalashnikov rifles they used. The arrests were carried out a week after the attack, which wounded two other policemen, but were only made public Monday in a statement released to the media.

The names of the arrested men were not released, and it was not possible to confirm the details with their families or lawyers. Hamas Web sites mentioned the arrests but did not explicitly link the group to the attack Monday.

The men were from the southern West Bank village of Deir Samit, which is under full Israeli security control, according to Palestinian security officials. The officials said the Israelis arrested around 20 men and they did not know which of them had confessed to shooting the police officer.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because the Palestinian Authority had not officially commented.

Violence has diminished in the West Bank in recent years, thanks in part to increased security cooperation between Israelis and forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which has limited power in the territory under Israel's overall security control.

The Palestinian Authority, controlled by the secular Fatah movement, has launched its own crackdown against Hamas, driving the Islamic group underground in the West Bank.
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and has cracked down on Fatah members there.

On Monday, Gaza’s Hamas rulers banned top Fatah officials from leaving the territory for a meeting in the West Bank, according to Amal Hamad, a Fatah member from Gaza.

Also Monday, Israeli forces demolished a cluster of tents and shacks belonging to Palestinians in the northern West Bank, according to the Israeli military and footage from AP Television News. Israeli house demolitions have angered Palestinians, who say they are forced to build without permits because of discriminatory planning rules, and have drawn criticism from the international community.

One of the Palestinians, Ziad Adnan Saeh, said Israeli soldiers arrived early Monday and ordered him and others away before knocking the structures down. “They didn’t leave anything of our belongings. They were threatening to shoot us if we come close, so all of us left and now look what happened,” he said.

The Israeli military’s Civil Administration said the military knocked down nine temporary agricultural structures because they were put up without permits in an army firing zone, endangering the Palestinians working there.

The Palestinians were given three weeks to contest the demolition orders in court but did not do so, the Civil Administration said in a statement.

-www.dawn.com

WHO: 5.2 million people on AIDS drugs in 2009

2010-07-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

News Paper: DAWN
Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

VIENNA: The number of people taking crucial AIDS drugs climbed by a record 1.2 million last year to 5.2 million, the World Health Organization said Monday.

Between 2003 and 2010, the number of patients receiving lifesaving antiretroviral treatment increased twelve-fold, according to the Geneva-based body.

“We are very encouraged by this increase. It is indeed the biggest increase that we have seen in any single year,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the WHO’s HIV/AIDS department.

Hirnschall, in a recent interview with The Associated Press, said the jump was due to improved access to treatment around the globe. However, he noted that progress has been more significant in sub-Saharan Africa than elsewhere.

“That’s obviously where the greatest need in terms of numbers is, but that’s really where we have seen the most impressive scale-up in terms of treatment access,” Hirnschall said.

Not only have African leaders understood the seriousness of the situation and shown political commitment, there has also been international solidarity in terms of providing funding for projects in the region, he added.

But “it’s not over ... there’s still a long way to go,” warned Hirnschall, who is currently in the Austrian capital for an international AIDS conference.

In Eastern Europe, meanwhile, there are proportionally fewer people on treatment than in other parts of the world because drug users often are not included or given sufficient access, he said.

Drug users are “criminalized, they are stigmatized, they are obviously a group that suffers inequities and human rights violations, and that’s obviously a serious concern for all of us,” he said.

While in Africa AIDS is a mainly heterosexual epidemic, in Eastern Europe a lot of the infection occurs in drug users, he noted.

Complete statistics on the global situation will be released in a report in September.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, welcomed news of the upswing in people receiving treatment but warned that going forward it could be impeded by insufficient funding.

“The big worry right now is that this upward movement could be interrupted,” said Tido von Schoen-Angerer, who heads the group’s campaign for access to essential medicines. “We can’t turn back now.”

Von Schoen-Angerer said there already were signs of funding woes on the ground, with clinics in Uganda being forced to turn away patients.

''There’s a fear we’ll see this at a greater scale,” he said.

-www.dawn.com

India’s real estate firm files prospectus for $513m IPO

2010-07-18T03:39:00.002-07:00

Sunday, July 18, 2010

MUMBAI: Indian real estate firm Embassy Property Developers plans to raise as much as 24 billion rupees ($513 million) through an initial public offering of shares, according to the prospectus filed last Monday.

UBS, Nomura, Citi and local investment bank Edelweiss Capital are book running lead managers for the issue, according to the draft prospectus available on the Edelweiss website.

Embassy Property is considering a pre-IPO placement of up to 57.5 million shares for up to 11.75 billion rupees with certain investors, the prospectus showed. It may offer a five-percent discount to retail investors on the issue price, it said.

The timeline for the IPO has not yet been set.

Indian companies have raised a total of about $11 billion through share sales through mid-June this year from 56 issues, compared with $16 billion raised in 2009 from 87 offerings, according to Thomson Reuters Data.

State-run Engineers India will launch its follow-on share sale to raise up to $270 million on July 27, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said earlier on Monday.

India has also invited bids for appointing up to four banks to manage a follow-on public offering in state-run Power Grid Corp of India.

-www.dailytimes.com.pk

Indian court says Hindu gods can’t trade in shares

2010-07-18T03:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 18, 2010

MUMBAI: An Indian court has ruled that Hindu gods cannot deal in stocks and shares, reports said Saturday, after an application for trading accounts to be set up in their names. Two judges at the Bombay High Court on Friday rejected a petition from a private religious trust to open accounts in the names of five deities, including the revered elephant-headed god, Ganesha. “Trading in shares on the stock market requires certain skills and expertise and to expect this from deities would not be proper,” judges P.B. Majumdar and Rajendra Sawant said, according to Indian newspapers. The trust, owned by the former royal family of Sangli, in western Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, brought the case after successfully securing income tax cards and savings accounts for the deities. But National Securities Depository Limited (NDSL) rejected the trust’s application for permission to open trading accounts, arguing that it would be difficult to take action against the gods in the event of irregularities. “Gods and goddesses are meant to be worshipped in temples, not dragged into commercial activities like share trading,” the judges said. Ganesha, also known as Lord Ganpati, is one of the most popular and well-known gods of the Hindu pantheon and is worshipped widely in Mumbai and Maharashtra

-www.dailytimes.com.pk

Chinese machinery maker plans $1.5bn HK IPO

2010-07-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 18, 2010

SHANGHAI: Chinese machinery maker Changsha Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science And Technology Development Co is looking to raise $1.0 billion-$1.5 billion in a Hong Kong listing in the fourth quarter of 2010, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service.

Shenzhen-listed Changsha Zoomlion said this week that it planned to issue up to 15 percent of its enlarged share capital in the Hong Kong listing to expand its business globally and enhance its technology.

Based in the central province of Hunan with a market capitalisation of about $5.5 billion, the company had hired Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley for the share offering, said IFR.

The company said it would seek the approval of shareholders at a meeting on July 22, and the offering could be implemented within 18 months.

Changsha Zoomlion representatives were not immediately available for comment

-www.dailytimes.com.pk

British oil and gas firm shelves IPO plan

2010-07-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 18, 2010

LONDON: British oil and gas firm Fairfield Energy has shelved plans for a $500 million stock market listing, the company said, after weak markets spooked potential investors.

“In the light of market conditions, (Fairfield) has decided against proceeding with its initial public offering of shares and listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange at this time,” the company said.

Fairfield, controlled by private equity companies led by Warburg Pincus, had offered shares at 220-420 pence, valuing the firm at up to $1.1 billion.

The lack of demand for Fairfield bodes ill for the IPO market as its shares were offered at a discount to the company’s peers at the lower end of the range. The range valued the shares at between 0.55 and 0.7 times net asset value (NAV). Rival EnQuest trades at around 0.8 times NAV.

The next major British IPO, due next week and likely to be the last before the summer hiatus, is online grocer Ocado which has been criticised by many analysts and fund managers for an aggressive valuation. A spokesperson for Ocado insisted on Thursday the listing is proceeding as planned.

“The Ocado team have had a great reception in the United States and are continuing with a busy roadshow schedule during which the management team are meeting a very large number of potential investors,” the spokesperson said.

Fairfield announced plans to float and raise up to $500 million last month, with the proceeds to be spent on boosting production from its North Sea oil fields, exploration and possible acquisitions.

Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse were joint global co-ordinators on the deal.

Books closed on the sale at around 1530 GMT on Wednesday after which the company’s board met to decide on how to proceed.

“They just weren’t prepared to sell it cheap,” a source close to the company told Reuters on Thursday. reuters

-www.dailytimes.com.pk

US stocks brace for earnings tsunami

2010-07-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 18, 2010

NEW YORK: After a rough start to earnings season, US stocks face a tidal wave of corporate results next week amid growing worries the US economic recovery is slowing.

Stocks fell off a cliff Friday after a sagging consumer confidence index and mixed earnings spooked investors.

“What was looking like a nice week turned into a huge sell-off,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. Detrick noted that the unfortunate combination of disappointing earnings and troublesome economic data “was all it took for the bears to take control.”

Over the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.98 percent, to finish Friday at 10,097.90 points. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index gave back 0.79 percent at 2,179.05 points. The S&P 500 index, a broad measure of the markets, dropped 1.21 percent to 1,064.88 points. “Nonetheless, after a nearly five percent jump last week — a 1.2 percent drop for the week isn’t all that bad,” Detrick said.

Aluminum giant Alcoa, the first Dow member to report financial results, got the ball rolling Tuesday with a swing into profit in the second quarter and a brighter outlook on global demand for the metal.

Investors cheered, sending the Dow into a triple-digit gain and driving the markets to the only strong rally all week. The major indices finished lower Thursday after seven consecutive days of gains that had lifted the blue-chip Dow about seven percent. But investors ran for cover Friday after worrying US bank results and the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index plummeted in July to its lowest reading in 11 months. The Dow dived 2.52 percent, the Nasdaq lost 3.11 percent and the S&P 500 shed 2.88 percent.

“Consumers remain worried about many things, including enacted and potential policy changes, high unemployment, weak house prices, lost wealth, and small raises. Also depressing sentiment is limited access to credit,” said Scott Hoyt at Moody’s Economy.com.

The week ahead will highlight the state of the distressed housing market, where prices continue to fall after the market began to collapse about three years ago. Reports are due on June housing starts and building permits, on Tuesday, and existing-home sales on Thursday.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to provide two days of semiannual testimony on monetary policy to Congress, to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday and the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Thursday.

In minutes of the latest Fed policy-setting meeting published this week, the central bank lowered its 2010 economic growth forecast to 3.0-3.5 percent from the 3.2-3.7 percent range predicted just months ago.

“While Fed chairman Bernanke’s remarks may not deviate significantly from the recent minutes, the hearing will nevertheless draw attention given concerns on the US outlook and potential Fed actions in the second half of 2010,” UBS analysts said in a client note.

Still, investors are expected to zero in on a slew of earnings reports as the season picks up steam. A dozen of the Dow’s 30 blue-chip stocks will be reporting, including IBM, Texas Instruments, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, Microsoft and 3M. Among other big firms slated to release results are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Apple, Yahoo! and Apple.

“So far we would give the earnings reports and guidance a B-plus. At the same time, we would give the reaction to the reports a C-minus,” said Patrick O’Hare, chief market analyst at Briefing.com.

“We are just getting started then, which means the weeks ahead should be filled with plenty of drama as it relates to the economic outlook and the achievability of earnings growth estimates in the back half of the year.”

-www.dailytimes.com.pk

Hillary Clinton arrives in Islamabad for strategic talks

2010-07-18T02:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 18 Jul, 2010

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, centre, walks on the red carpet upon her arrival at PAF Base Chakala in Islamabad, July 18, 2010. — Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan on Sunday, hoping to buttress a shaky partnership that US officials say is key to the escalating war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Clinton's two-day visit will include talks with top military and civilian leaders as well as pledges of economic aid which Washington hopes will demonstrate to a sceptical public that the United States is a trustworthy partner in the struggle against Taliban insurgents on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

US officials kept details of Clinton's visit under wraps prior to her arrival amid sharp security concerns following a wave of suicide bombings and militant attacks in Pakistan.

One day before she arrived, suspected militants in a tribal region on the Afghan border ambushed a convoy of vehicles being escorted by security forces, killing 18 people.

Security will be equally tight during her next stop in Afghanistan, where she will take part in an international conference on Tuesday.

The conference is aimed at fleshing out Afghan President Hamid Karzai's pledge to assume more responsibility for both security and governance in the country ahead of US President Barack Obama's July 2011 target date to begin drawing down US forces.

The Obama administration regards Pakistan as a pivotal player in the US-led struggle against militant groups in both countries, but the two sides are divided by a history of distrust and sometimes diverging goals over a war that is increasingly unpopular.

Public opinion polls have shown many Pakistanis doubtful about long-term US intentions, citing previous examples of abandonment particularly after the Soviet's withdrew from Afghanistan.

US officials, meanwhile, are wary of the role that Pakistan is playing in Afghanistan and believe it needs to do more to fight its own home-grown Taliban militants, which Washington blames for the attempted bombing in New York's Times Square on May 1.

“When this administration came in there was a huge trust gap between Pakistan and the US,” said Vali Nasr, a special adviser to Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Pakistanis are beginning to develop much more knowledge about what our intentions are, and with that comes trust.”

Iran MPs pass bill for 20 per cent uranium enrichment

2010-07-18T02:56:00.000-07:00

The bill titled “Combatting US and British plots to protect nuclear achievements” stipulates that Iran also “retaliate” against inspection of its ships and refusal to give fuel to Iranian planes at international airports, Fars said. – AFP Photo

TEHRAN: Iranian MPs on Sunday passed a bill obligating Tehran to continue 20 per cent uranium enrichment, defying mounting Western pressure to halt such work, Fars news agency reported.

“The outlines of the bill were adopted by 171 MPs out of 200 present,” Fars said about the legislation, which still needs to be rubber-stamped by the hardline Guardians Council watchdog before becoming law.

The bill titled “Combatting US and British plots to protect nuclear achievements” stipulates that Iran also “retaliate” against inspection of its ships and refusal to give fuel to Iranian planes at international airports, Fars said.

“If the bill is finally passed the Atomic Energy Organisation will be required to make provisions for the production and supply of 20 per cent enriched fuel to meet the needs of research reactors for medical uses,” Fars said.

Western powers have demanded that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment programme, fearing that Tehran would use the material to build a nuclear bomb.

Tehran insists that its atomic programme is a peaceful drive to produce energy.

Iran stepped up its uranium enrichment to 20 per cent in February to make fuel for an aging research reactor in Tehran amid international concern.

On June 9 the UN Security Council imposed a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend enrichment.

Under the new resolution member states can carry out high sea inspections of Iranian ships suspected of carrying equipment and material for nuclear use.

Iranian media had also recently reported that several Iranian planes had been refused fuel at international airports, which was denied by the foreign ministry

-www.dawn.com

Strong earthquake shakes Alaska island region

2010-07-18T02:55:00.000-07:00

USGS geophysicist said residents of the Dutch Harbor a port community situated 930 miles west of Anchorage reported feeling a “weak shaking” from the quake. – AP Photo

ANCHORAGE: A powerful earthquake shook an Aleutian Island region of Alaska but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury, and no threat of a tsunami, officials said.

The 6.7 magnitude temblor struck at 9:56 p.m. Saturday and was centered in the Bering Sea about 155 miles southwest of Dutch Harbor, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake hit about 21 miles beneath the seabed.

There was no danger of a tsunami, the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said.

USGS geophysicist Jessica Sigala said residents of the Dutch Harbor a port community of about 2,000 people situated 930 miles west of Anchorage reported feeling a “weak shaking” from the quake.

Alaska’s Earthquake Information center said there have been no reports of injury or damage.

A magnitude 6 quake is capable of causing severe damage.

The quake, though in a fairly remote area, was one of the largest in recent years in Alaska, the country’s most seismically active region.

A 5.0 magnitude temblor shook Anchorage and other communities in southcentral Alaska 10 days ago but caused no damage. In May, two quakes measuring about 6.0 magnitude rumbled under the Bering Sea off Alaska but were too far from land to be felt

-www.dawn.com

Google search for Vatican directed to 'paedophile site'

2010-07-18T02:42:00.003-07:00

A screenshot of Google page after searching “Vatican” on July 17, 2010. -Photo by AFP

ROME: An Internet search for the Vatican through Google threw up a link to a website called www.pedofilo.com, the Italian word for paedophile, on Saturday.

The link, among the first options offered by the search, apparently surfaced early Saturday, Italian news agency ANSA reported, adding that it connected to an apparently empty site.

A spokesman for Google

Italy

, Simona Panseri, told ANSA it was not clear if this was a result of hacking.

“I cannot confirm if it is an attack because I have not had any more precise information from the

engineers to understand the nature of the problem,” he told the agency.

The Vatican is battling allegations of abuse by paedophile priests and allegations of high-level cover-ups in several European countries, after similar scandals swept Australia and the United States in 2004
-www.dawn.com

Top five spending priorities for hard times

2010-07-17T07:08:00.001-07:00

No company is immune from the economy's ebb and flow. So it's no surprise that, in the face of a fearsome downturn, IT shops are scrambling to figure out where they should cut.

The big three analyst firms; Forrester, Gartner, and IDC are busily slashing their IT spending projections. Just last week IDC predicted that in the United States, IT spending will decline to 0.9 percent, down sharply from a pre-crisis forecast of 4.2 percent growth.

With numbers like those, IT might feel inclined to panic. But now is the time to stand tough, advises Andrew Reichman, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research.

At brokerage and investment banking firm Morgan Keegan, for example, CIO John Threadgill acknowledges that he has to come up with better reasons for the technologies to which he allocates IT resources. But after he eliminates or delays costs where feasible, Threadgill and his CIO colleagues must continue investing in certain areas, no matter how crazily the economy bounces up or down. "We'll continue to spend where we need to," says Threadgill.

So which technologies get funded rain or shine? The five technologies IT shops must continue to invest in despite the recession. "The common theme," says Frank Gens, IDC chief analyst and senior vice president, "any technologies that can save companies money or reduce expenses will continue to thrive."

1. Storage: Disks and management software

"There are some things that just won't go back in the bottle," says Mark Raskino, Gartner fellow and Vice President, emerging trends and technologies. "Storage is one of those."

2. Business intelligence: Niche analytics

As data continues to accrue, the need to glean insights from it grows, agree analysts from Forrester, Gartner, and IDC.

CIOs will keep spending on general business intelligence, but more resources will go toward much focused analytics, explains Andrew Bartels, Principal Analyst, Forrester. The "analytics that help companies identify and retain their most profitable customers will be key," he added.

Fenn adds that companies always need behaviour analytics. In the supply chain, for instance, analytics that trigger alerts when suppliers are running into problems, such as delaying supply or payment, can deliver real value to companies.

The broader range of data sources will lead to greater need for analytics," he further added. "There are many different masters, as companies tap analytics to cut costs, avoid errors, predict behaviour of customers before they lose them and grow market opportunities."

3. Virtualisation: Optimising resources

Virtualisation is the data-centre version of getting the most out of what you already have. Up-front investment in virtualisation tends to be fairly low, but can deliver quick and substantial returns. "Virtualisation will continue to be popular because it allows companies to defer other costs - in this case, that's mostly hardware," IDC's Gens says.

Spec-savers began tapping virtualisation before the downturn. "Virtualisation is a key tactic we've been doing for some time to minimise hardware acquisition costs," Khan says, "and that will continue."

Virtualisation has advantages beyond hardware cost reduction. "Everybody's moving to virtualisation," Forrester's Reichman says. "You're likely to be more efficient with server and storage resources in the long run, and if you have expertise, that return is likely to come fast. A down economy might be the right time to throw down and do it, especially if you can time it with hardware refreshes."

"Converting from a physical to a virtual infrastructure is particularly beneficial during tough economic conditions," Biddlecombe says. "Virtualisation has allowed us to save on power and cooling costs as well as the amount of time our IT staff spends on server admin. It provides us with more efficient use of capital as well as increased flexibility during challenging times."

4. Security: Data and end points

No surprises here. IDC's Gens, in fact, says that security is "always the number one concern of IT. As you see more resources out there on the Internet, there's concern that they're secure."

Companies will have a particular focus on securing network end points, devices, and those applications that serve them, according to IDC's Minton. "Whether you're in a recession or not, no company wants to be on the front page of bad lists because their data was breached," he adds.

Threadgill lists security as the second of Morgan Keegan's top two spending priorities, behind only storage. And Spec-savers' Khan adds that his budget will include security technologies, namely firewalls, tools for securing end points, and data encryption for mobile devices and remote PCs. "There's no reduction in security expenses," Khan says. "If anything we're increasing our security spending."

Gartner and Forrester agree that companies will continue to ratchet up security. Raskino adds that layoffs and, in turn, new hires will be yet another driver. "An economic downturn and recovery create massive churn," he says. "The processes and tools for managing and disabling access are going to be critical."

5. Cloud computing: Business solutions

Analysts from Forrester, Gartner, and IDC say that certain pieces of cloud computing will continue to expand and perhaps even accelerate due to the downturn.

Gens sees many companies moving to the cloud for the applications and services most often sought by business types, who are actually circumventing the IT department to get what they need. These include such business solutions as sales-force automation, productivity, and marketing campaign software. "The more pure IT stuff-infrastructure, infrastructure software and application development; those are tech buyers, so there are fewer potential customers," Gens says.

"Cloud-based data backup and file storage services are a really good idea that can be much more cost-effective than going it the old-fashioned, in-house way," Reichman says.

Gartner's Raskino adds to the list of cloud resources CIOs will find valuable during a recession such services as e-mail, storage, and lightweight productivity apps. "This is a good time to have a cost-centric argument, so IT might even take a risk to get a payoff with cloud technologies, if they're mature enough," he says.

Looking toward recovery

IT spending will make a full recovery and enjoy growth rates nearing six percent by 2012, according to IDC.

Whether such projections hold or not, Reichman argues that IT shops must trim their sails and stay the course. "You cannot stop growing," he explains. "Most companies are already fire-fighting, but you've got keep the lights on, keep things going forward, because the data-centre is always in a recession anyway. So keep moving."