Mega departments to help improve efficiency: "The country's numerous energy and finance administrative bodies are likely to be merged into two mega departments in a bid to streamline the sectors, a top policy planner said Wednesday.
Coal mining, crude oil, electricity and renewable energy bodies will be unified under a large new energy department, according to Zheng Xinli, deputy chief of the Central Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Similarly, the regulatory commissions on securities, banking and insurance that make up the financial regulation system will be merged into one mega department."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
New Video Surveillance Cameras - High-Tech Law Enforcement Spying Programs - Popular Mechanics
New Video Surveillance Cameras - High-Tech Law Enforcement Spying Programs - Popular Mechanics: "Security expert Bruce Schneier says that it is naive to think that we can stop these technological advances, especially as they become more affordable and are hard-wired into everyday businesses. (I know of a local pizzeria that warns customers with a posted sign: 'Stop stealing the spice shakers! We know who you are, we have 24-hour surveillance!') But it is also reckless to let the advances proceed without a discussion of safeguards against privacy abuses. 'Society is fundamentally changing and we aren't having a conversation about it,' Schneier says. 'We are entering the era of wholesale surveillance.'"
Epoch Times | Picturesque Lijiang River Is Drying Up
Epoch Times | Picturesque Lijiang River Is Drying Up: "The water level of China's famous scenic attraction, the Lijiang River in Guilin, Guangxi Province, is at the lowest level in 50 years. Part of the river course has dried up so much that riverbed rocks have been exposed. The famous golden waterway, which attracts millions of native and foreign tourists every year, no longer exists.
Riverbed rocks are exposed in the dried-up area of the Lijiang River. (The Epoch Times)
Riverbed rocks are exposed in the dried-up area of the Lijiang River. (The Epoch Times)
Guilin City is experiencing a drought and has had almost no rain since the fall"
Riverbed rocks are exposed in the dried-up area of the Lijiang River. (The Epoch Times)
Riverbed rocks are exposed in the dried-up area of the Lijiang River. (The Epoch Times)
Guilin City is experiencing a drought and has had almost no rain since the fall"
EC gives go ahead to Huawei-Symantec joint venture
EC gives go ahead to Huawei-Symantec joint venture: "The joint venture will develop security and storage appliances for telecommunications carriers, and will be based in Chengdu in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. It will be 51 percent owned by Huawei and 49 percent by Symantec."
Backgrounder: Major PLA-related joint anti-terror military trainings_English_Xinhua
Backgrounder: Major PLA-related joint anti-terror military trainings_English_Xinhua: "KUNMING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Indian armies kicked off their first-ever joint anti-terrorism military training code-named 'Hand-in-Hand 2007' in southwest China Friday morning. Both armies dispatched about 100 ground troops for the training."
[ Integrated mar.com ]
[ Integrated mar.com ]: "'How do you pull off a social engineering attack? You go where the people are. Where are the people? They're at social Web sites,' Abrams said. 'Web 2.0 is simply a technology with more marketing than security designed into it.' But even if those sites were stronger on the security side, that would be 'no match for a gullible user,' he noted."
Output at Xinjiang oilfield up -- china.org.cn
Output at Xinjiang oilfield up -- china.org.cn: "China began exploiting oil resources in the Junggar Basin, in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 1955 and drilled an oil well at Karamay the same year. The output at the Karamay field has been increasing steadily for 27 straight years since 1981."
Baidu Expands Patent Internet Searches In China - ChinaCSR.com - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) News and Information for China
Baidu Expands Patent Internet Searches In China - ChinaCSR.com - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) News and Information for China: "Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com has announced expansion of its agreement with the China Patent Information Center of the State Intellectual Property Office to supply authoritative and professional patent searching services for netizens, starting on January 1, 2008."
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Associated Press: New 'Great Game' for Central Asia Riches
The Associated Press: New 'Great Game' for Central Asia Riches: "Russia sees Central Asia as an inheritance from its imperial Czarist and Communist past. For China, with its appetite for raw materials and its awakening as a world power, Central Asia is the Wild West: a land of opportunity, a reservoir of resources and a corridor to the Middle East's oil fields and Europe's wealthy shopping districts."
Monday, December 10, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
China opens first Confucius Institute on air to offer Chinese language teaching_life_English_SINA.com
China opens first Confucius Institute on air to offer Chinese language teaching: "BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- China established its first Confucius Institute on the air here Thursday at China Radio International (CRI), offering Chinese language teaching in 38 foreign languages worldwide. The broadcast Confucius Institute, jointly set up by the Office of Chinese Language Council International, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), Confucius Institute headquarters and CRI, is to meet surging overseas demand to learn the Chinese language, according to Zhang Xinsheng, vice minister of education."
Report: Iran completely stops selling oil in U.S. dollars_world_English_SINA.com
Report: Iran completely stops selling oil in U.S. dollars_world_English_SINA.com: "Over the past months, Iran has massively reduced its dependence on the U.S. dollar in a bid to counter the United States' pressures on its financial system over Tehran's disputed nuclear program."
Chinese herbal medicine not to be used in '08 Olympics_English_Xinhua
Chinese herbal medicine not to be used in '08 Olympics_English_Xinhua: "BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Traditional Chinese herbal medicine will not be used to treat athletes during the Olympics in order to avoid doping problems, an official with the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG) said Saturday."
China's Sinopec, Iran sign oilfield development contract_English_Xinhua
China's Sinopec, Iran sign oilfield development contract_English_Xinhua: "TEHRAN, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- China Petrochemical Corporation, better known as Sinopec Group, and the Iranian oil ministry on Sunday signed a contract on the development of the Yadavaran oilfield in southwestern Iran."
Saturday, December 8, 2007
People swarm into Xinjiang to look for Khotan Jade_Society—China Economic Net
People swarm into Xinjiang to look for Khotan Jade_Society—China Economic Net: "Since Khotan jade was appraised as the national jade in 1999, its price has increased substantially. In Yulong Kashi River region, local people say that in the jade exploitation fever, hundreds of people earn a fortune of one million yuan a year and dozens of people even 10 million yuan a year."
BBC SPORT | Athletics | Peak performance
BBC SPORT | Athletics | Peak performance: "Ten minutes before the leader is due home in the world's toughest marathon, a small army of locals are chipping away with axes at the ice on the path metres from the finish. Once that potential hazard is removed, another more awkward obstacle presents itself. A herd of yaks is inching its way up the same narrow, uneven street in Namche Bazaar, the commercial capital of the Sherpa community in Nepal. The doughty creatures are unmoved by the kerfuffle surrounding them as they move slowly upwards with their supplies of rice, soybean oil and San Miguel beer. Welcome to the Everest Marathon, which was run this week (Wednesday) for the 12th time since its inception in 1987."
China supplies military trucks to Burma
China supplies military trucks to Burma: "December 6, 2007 - Several military trucks are believed to have been supplied to the Burmese junta by China. They were seen arriving on the Sino-Burmese border town of Ruili this morning, a local eyewitness said. The light weight medium FAW trucks, manufactured by Chinese owned Tongfeng Company, were seen lining up at Ruili town, a Burmese who works at the car servicing centre told Mizzima. ...A source close to the Chinese authorities told Mizzima that about 400 military trucks will be sent to Burma as the first batch and more are expected to be sent later. He also added that the Chinese authorities in early November sent six rocket carriers trucks through the Kyegaung-Muse Road."
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "Lenders must put aside 14.5 percent of deposits as reserves, starting Dec. 25, up from the previous 13.5 percent, the People's Bank of China said today on its Web site. The ratio is the highest since at least 1987 when the data began and the increase is twice as much as the nine others this year."
Friday, December 7, 2007
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China 'forced Miss Tibet to quit'
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China 'forced Miss Tibet to quit': "Tsering Chungtak said that China pressured the competition organisers to replace her 'Miss Tibet' sash with one reading 'Miss Tibet-China'."
Thursday, December 6, 2007
People's Daily Online -- Tianjin Binhai New District: new engine of Bohai Bay-rim
People's Daily Online -- Tianjin Binhai New District: new engine of Bohai Bay-rim: "The Bohai Bay-rim economic region is made up of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Liaoning, the so-called 3+2 area. Covering 518,000 square kilometers, the area, with a population of 230 million, or 17.5 percent of the national total, generates gross product of 3.8 trillion yuan, 28.2 percent of the country's total. There is another view that Shanxi and Inner Mogolia are also part of the Bohai Bay-rim area. However, it is generally agreed that, unlike the Pearl River Delta or the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Bay-rim is a complex economic region, integrating three economic sub-regions, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Shandong peninsula, and Liaoning peninsula."
Binhai area promises big growth
Binhai area promises big growth: "Infrastructure facilities will be strengthened to meet their growing needs. Tianjin is upgrading Binhai International Airport to a North China air hub: passenger volume is expected to surge from 2.15 million in 2005 to 6.5 million in 2010; and cargo shipments will jump from 96,000 tons to 500,000 tons during the same period, he said. The completion of an express train line by June 2008, just before the Beijing Olympic Games, will link the city to the capital with a half-hour ride. 'In the short run, the integration of air traffic service in Tianjin and Beijing will contribute to the Olympic Games; in the long run, it will make BNA into a transport centre in North China,' he said. At the ongoing National People's Congress annual session, Pi said he proposed building an oil reserve base in the area. For one thing, proven oil reserves in the Bohai Sea area are 3.2 billion tons, and Tianjin Port is being revamped for use of 300,000-ton oil tankers. In addition, oil pipelines have been laid from the port to many regions, he said. (China Daily 03/10/2006"
UT Library China Maps
(1971)
(1983)
The University of Texas has an interesting collection of China maps/infographics, like these two from 1971 (top) and 1983 (bottom), depicting various centers of industrial production. Interesting to see the concentration of activity in the East indicated by both maps. Urumqi's got 'cement' by 1983, but that's about it.
China Maps - Perry-Castaneda Map Collection - UT Library Online
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Mad Fermentationist
The Mad Fermentationist: "successes and failures with all things fermentable"
Xinjiang plans $182 mln project to conserve ancient canals_English_Xinhua
Xinjiang plans $182 mln project to conserve ancient canals_English_Xinhua: "The karez (subterranean canals) are considered along with the Great Wall and Grand Canal as the largest, most impressive man-made structures surviving from Chinese antiquity."
Someone else's trip (1895)
An Australian in China, 1895BEING THE NARRATIVE OF A QUIET JOURNEY ACROSS CHINA TO BURMA
BY GEORGE ERNEST MORRISON M.B., C.M. Edin., F.R.G.S.
Brazilians Giving Up Their American Dream - New York Times
Brazilians Giving Up Their American Dream - New York Times: "That decision — to give up on life in the United States — is being made by more and more Brazilians across the country, according to consular officials, travel agencies swamped by one-way ticket bookings, and community leaders in the neighborhoods that Brazilian immigrants have transformed, from Boston to Pompano Beach, Fla."
Monday, December 3, 2007
Taiwan betting on WiMax to win hotspot status - Yahoo! News
Taiwan betting on WiMax to win hotspot status - Yahoo! News: "Asia was the earliest commercial adopter of the WiMax standard, with South Korea the first country to set up wireless 'hotspots' thanks to heavy backing from Samsung. In Japan, mobile phone operators and their partners are jockeying to win two WiMax licences which will be awarded by the government by the end of the year. Taiwan has already handed out six WiMax licences and operators are due to start services by the end of 2008. It is far from certain whether WiMax and its backers - grouped around major industry players such as Intel, Sprint Nextel and Nokia - will prevail in making the technology the mainstream standard of the next generation of mobile broadband communications. However, Asia is investing heavily in WiMax research and infrastructure in the hope that its electronics makers can define technology standards, rather than just using those set by others."
Bring Tibet rail to Nepal, Kathmandu tells Beijing - www.phayul.com
Bring Tibet rail to Nepal, Kathmandu tells Beijing - www.phayul.com: "Kathmandu is keen on creating a viable “China option” to reduce dependence on India. Already, the two sides have agreed to widen the single-lane Kathmandu-Lhasa road."
In Alaska, Whalers Fear Oil Drilling May Curtail Way of Life - New York Times
In Alaska, Whalers Fear Oil Drilling May Curtail Way of Life - New York Times: "traditional way of life is coming into conflict with one of the modern world’s most urgent priorities: finding more oil."
Why China cracked down on my nonprofit | csmonitor.com
Why China cracked down on my nonprofit | csmonitor.com
Nick Young recounts the government shutdown of his online NGO newsletter China Development Brief, which he started in 2002 and ran for nearly five years before its termination by Chinese authorities in 2007.
Nick Young recounts the government shutdown of his online NGO newsletter China Development Brief, which he started in 2002 and ran for nearly five years before its termination by Chinese authorities in 2007.
A Troubling Case of Readers' Block - washingtonpost.com
A Troubling Case of Readers' Block - washingtonpost.com: "Americans are reading less and their reading proficiency is declining at troubling rates, according to a report that the National Endowment for the Arts will issue today. The trend is particularly strong among older teens and young adults, and if it is not reversed, the NEA report suggests, it will have a profound negative effect on the nation's economic and civic future."
Nasdaq-NYSE Rivalry Comes to China
Nasdaq-NYSE Rivalry Comes to China: "Not so long ago, listing their shares on Nasdaq was a no-brainer for Chinese tech companies looking to tap overseas money... But in 2007, Nasdaq has faced greater competition in China from exchanges in Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, and elsewhere."
FT.com / Mergermarket - China Railway up 70% on debut
FT.com / Mergermarket - China Railway up 70% on debut: "Several analysts said the more important indicator would be how the company’s shares fare over the next few weeks once the initial euphoria that can surround listings in Shanghai has died down. Shares in PetroChina have fallen 37 per cent in Shanghai from their high on the first day of trading in October. China Railway’s performance comes after shares in both Sinotruk, a heavy truck maker, and Sinotrans Shipping, a dry bulk carrier, last month fell by more than 13 per cent on their first day trading in Hong Kong. Moreover, investor appetite for smaller IPOs across Asia has started to wane amid volatility in equity markets triggered by fears of a US slowdown."
UK headed for cyber 'cold war' - Times Online
UK headed for cyber 'cold war' - Times Online: "'The definition of security is changing,' a NATO official said. 'National infrastructure is critical - politically, economically and commercially, and now that we know these kinds of attacks are happening, there is an increasingly push to give the issue a higher profile on the political level.'"
How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook -- Facebook -- InformationWeek
How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook -- Facebook -- InformationWeek: "If there was any doubt about Facebook's lack of qualification to displace the Internet with a benevolent dictatorship/walled garden, it was removed when Facebook unveiled its new advertising campaign. Now, Facebook will allow its advertisers use the profile pictures of Facebook users to advertise their products, without permission or compensation. Even if you're the kind of person who likes the sound of a benevolent dictatorship this clearly isn't one."
IEEE Spectrum: Internet Censorship: As Bad As You Thought It Was
IEEE Spectrum: Internet Censorship: As Bad As You Thought It Was: "The report’s authors, the OpenNet Initiative—a multidisciplinary team at the University of Toronto, and Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford universities—sent investigators to 41 countries that had been rumored to filter Internet content, whether to silence political dissent or to block access to pornography or religiously and culturally divisive material. ONI set out to objectively confirm or invalidate the reports. It found that the situation was worse than the rumor mill suggested. “The big thing is that the scope, scale, and sophistication of Internet content filtering is on the rise worldwide, and it’s really an alarming increase,” says Deibert, one of the book’s editors and contributors. ONI discovered systematic Internet filtering in 25 countries, with nine of them—China, Ethiopia, Iran, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen—blocking content in every category it investigated."
James Fallows (November 27, 2007) - "The" way vs "a" way (Japan v China dept)
James Fallows (November 27, 2007) - "The" way vs "a" way (Japan v China dept): "Japan is all about the way of doing things. Practice, ritual, perfectionism, as much fanatical attention to the process as to the result. China is all about finding a way to do things. Improvisation, little interest in rules, putting up with whatever is necessary to attain the result."
Can Greed Save Africa?
Can Greed Save Africa?: "Thanks to the global commodities boom of the past few years, sub-Saharan Africa's economies, after decades of stagnation, are expanding by an average of 6% annually—twice the U.S. pace. And like bees to honey, investors are swarming into the region in search of the enormous returns that ultra-early-stage investments can bring."
Zenfolio | Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images
Zenfolio | Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images
Photographs of China, taken by Professor Thomas H. Hahn of Cornell University. Themes in the collection include Chinese modern art, urbanization and architecture, cityscapes, sacred sites and mountains.
Photographs of China, taken by Professor Thomas H. Hahn of Cornell University. Themes in the collection include Chinese modern art, urbanization and architecture, cityscapes, sacred sites and mountains.
Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power - New York Times
Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power - New York Times
The rate at which the Google computing system has grown is as remarkable as its size. In March 2001, when the company was serving about 70 million Web pages daily, it had 8,000 computers, according to a Microsoft researcher granted anonymity to talk about a detailed tour he was given at one of Google's Silicon Valley computing centers. By 2003 the number had grown to 100,000.
Today even the closest Google watchers have lost precise count of how big the system is. The best guess is that Google now has more than 450,000 servers spread over at least 25 locations around the world. The company has major operations in Ireland, and a big computing center has recently been completed in Atlanta. Connecting these centers is a high-capacity fiber optic network that the company has assembled over the last few years.
WiMAXTrends :: Articles
WiMAXTrends :: Articles: "However, Wan Yi, director of the wireless and mobile department at the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), has said in a statement that approval of WiMAX as a 3G technology would “unbalance” the mobile industry, and that is has been politically driven by the US government in a bid to promote a US-dominated platform in a sector where American vendors have not always held the reins. He told China Comms: “3G technology sits on a triangle of W-CDMA, CDMA and TD-SCMDA, and WiMAX would have a big impact on this triangular structure. Major W-CDMA and CDMA vendors are all opposed to it.” In fact, the main opposition predictably comes from the only two majors to remain entirely outside the WiMAX fold, Ericsson and Qualcomm."
The Appeal of Mobile WiMAX in Emerging Countries — WIMAX
The Appeal of Mobile WiMAX in Emerging Countries — WIMAX: "Emerging countries may take the lead in mobile WiMAX growth due to two trends:
* Demand for affordable, flexible broadband, coupled with the lack of wired broadband.
* Widespread 3G, lack of spectrum, and non-committal operators will delay mobile WiMAX in many developed markets."
* Demand for affordable, flexible broadband, coupled with the lack of wired broadband.
* Widespread 3G, lack of spectrum, and non-committal operators will delay mobile WiMAX in many developed markets."
Asia seen as proving ground for WiMax - Communications - News - ZDNet Asia
Asia seen as proving ground for WiMax - Communications - News - ZDNet Asia: "For his presentation to the ICT expo, he used the case study of Pakistani operator Wateen Telecom, which was able to rollout a nationwide WiMax network in just nine months. Yet another proving ground for WiMax is Taiwan, where Motorola was recently awarded network contracts with WiMax licence holder Far EasTone Telecom. 'To get the sense of WiMax you have to visit Taiwan and see how the IT world is getting behind it,' he said."
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Expect plenty more growth for China - Yahoo! News
Expect plenty more growth for China - Yahoo! News: "Xie’s interesting shtick is that China is far less reliant on trade with the U.S. than in the past. It is selling heavily to places like Africa, India and Russia, which now have cash to buy. South-South trade, as it were, is becoming a reality. And this will keep China’s economy churning. Here are some excerpts: “Everybody in the world has too much money except the United States. Think about it. Even Russia has a $500 billion in foreign reserves. Even India has over, like, $200 billion in foreign reserves. India never had that kind of money before. This has very important implications for what happens next year. Emerging economies do not need to cut back. They can expand. You go to Dubai, and it’s a bubble. Yes, it is a bubble. But they have money, it’s their own money. They are not borrowing money... “Even Africa has a lot of money. So emerging market trade in China is already half of China’s trade growth. As American consumers need to rest, need to pass, suddenly emerging market trade is happening. And emerging market trade is right up China’s alley because emerging markets export commodities, exactly what China needs - oil, copper, iron ore – exactly what China needs. And China exports cheaper consumer products and on"
India's culture for growth | The Courier-Mail
India's culture for growth | The Courier-Mail: "India is intense, and very different from China. Analyst Morgan Stanley estimates that for every dollar India spends on infrastructure China spends seven. And it shows."
Investing | Africa - Reuters.com
Investing | Africa - Reuters.com: "KAFUE, Zambia (Reuters) - The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA) will lend $2 billion to African businesses for infrastructure development, agriculture, mining and other capital projects, the bank's president said on Friday."
Evergreen Marine to Inaugurate New Dock | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
[Taiwanese Company] Evergreen Marine to Inaugurate New Dock | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Taiwan strictly regulates investment in infrastructure projects in China. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949. But Taiwanese companies often bypass the restrictions by investing via their subsidiaries or other overseas firms."
Marin Independent Journal - Dick Spotswood: Why Marin, U.S. need to pay attention to Asia
Marin Independent Journal - Dick Spotswood: Why Marin, U.S. need to pay attention to Asia: "Which presidential candidate will promote infrastructure investment necessary to create a competitive edge in a global economy? Hong Kong's transit system is the world's most modern with the ultimate subway, excellent buses, a massive seaport and efficient airport. Likewise Singapore. Mainland China is on the verge of spending billions to upgrade its rails, ports and airfields. America will be lucky to simply maintain our existing antiquated roads and bridges. Do most Southeast Asians agree with the policies of the Bush-Cheney administration? No. Yet even in predominately Muslim Malaysia, Americans are treated with respect, though nothing beats the Vietnamese cabbie driving in the midst of a typhoon near Hue. When I identified myself as a Californian, he smiled, saying 'U.S. Number One!' It's clear that with a serious initiative by our next president to restore America's one dependable foreign policy weapon, our historical moral authority to lead toward a more equitable world, we can make major strides regaining our tragically lost global prestige. What must sophisticated Marinites look for in a presidential candidate to steer America through this era of economic transition? First, economic and geopolitical sophistication. Bubba will no longer do, whether exemplified by arrogance from the nativist political right or isolationism on the left. Any new president needs to "get it" when it comes to Asia. Second, the next administration needs to comprehend that our economic survival depends on the three "i's" of innovation, infrastructure and initiative."
Kazakh bank discusses China dreams - General - FinanceAsia.com - The network for financial decision makers
Kazakh bank discusses China dreams - General - FinanceAsia.com - The network for financial decision makers: "I'm told BTA plans to open a bank in China or purchase one of the Chinese banks. Have you narrowed down your potential targets? Tatishev: We applied to the National Bank of China for a license to open a bank in Urumchi. Now, we are waiting for permission to start our work. And as soon as we are granted the license we will gradually build the infrastructure. It is the closest province to Kazakhstan and we have very large trade interests in the area, so it is a logical place to look at. We are, in fact, planning to increase our presence in two countries: Turkey and China. Solodchenko: We definitely look to China for growth. As mentioned, we are now in the process of receiving permission from the Chinese regulators to open up a subsidiary in Urumchi. We’ve chosen Urumchi because it is biggest city and closest to the Kazakh border. Most of the trade between our countries goes through Urumchi. We see these trade flows increasing year-to-year. And that trade is increasing mostly in the segment that as a bank we are most interested in, which is small- and medium-sized enterprises and retail businesses. We will serve both import and export trade deals. And this will make it easier for our clients. According to Chinese legislation we have to stay in the market for four y"
iTWire - World on the brink global cyber warfare?
iTWire - World on the brink global cyber warfare?: "'Evidence suggests that governments and government-allied groups are now using the Internet for espionage and cyberattacks on the critical national infrastructure (financial markets, utility providers, air traffic control) of other countries. There were more reported cases in 2007 than any previous year. This growing threat is acknowledged by the United States Department of Defense,' the McAfee report states."
The Hindu : National : High-speed passenger trains proposed
The Hindu : National : High-speed passenger trains proposed: "NEW DELHI: The Railway Ministry is busy evolving plans to run high-speed passenger trains on dedicated tracks to cut the travel time between major cities. Nine State governments have agreed to cooperate with it on the issue of land and sharing of costs."
The Hindu : National : Antony for urgent steps to develop frontier areas
The Hindu : National : Antony for urgent steps to develop frontier areas: "Nathu La: Upset at the poor infrastructure along the border with China in Sikkim, Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Sunday said he would “vigorously” pursue urgent steps to develop the frontier areas. “It is an eye-opener. There is no comparison between the two sides. Infrastructure on the Chinese side is far superior. They have gone far in developing their infrastructure,” Mr. Antony said after visiting this border post located at an altitude of 14,140 feet."
The East African - Business Agenda
The East African - Business Agenda: "Internet service providers in Nairobi have raised the red flag over abusive and unsolicited campaign material flooding the web as spam mail as the campaigns in Kenya head for the December 27 polls."
The growth in Internet usage has created a new campaign platform targeting those who do not normally attend campaign rallies.
It is also a much more discreet and cheaper method of disseminating propaganda compared with the leaflets and posters used in past elections.
It is estimated that Kenya has almost two million Internet users, providing a huge forum for election campaigns.
Scoop: Additional undersea cable essential - InternetNZ
Scoop: Additional undersea cable essential - InternetNZ
"InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) welcomes the announcement by the Minister of Communications David Cunliffe that the Government will look at subsisiding an undersea fibre optic cable to provide additional international connectivity for New Zealand. Additional international telecommunications links are essential for New Zealand, to reduce reliance on the Southern Cross connection and to ensure the robustness of New Zealand's connectivity to the rest of the world."
"InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) welcomes the announcement by the Minister of Communications David Cunliffe that the Government will look at subsisiding an undersea fibre optic cable to provide additional international connectivity for New Zealand. Additional international telecommunications links are essential for New Zealand, to reduce reliance on the Southern Cross connection and to ensure the robustness of New Zealand's connectivity to the rest of the world."
Trans-Pacific Express cable ready in 2008: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research
Trans-Pacific Express cable ready in 2008: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research
"China Telecom and China Netcom have signed an agreement with three overseas operators to build a Trans-Pacific Express Cable Network connecting the US, South Korea, China and Taiwan."
Undersea Africa-to-Europe cable project receives funding – Daily Commercial News
Undersea Africa-to-Europe cable project receives funding – Daily Commercial News
“'Typical cost of Internet access in East Africa is $200 to $300 a month, which is one of the highest in the world,' Thunell told journalists. 'We expect that prices will drop about two-thirds when this project is in place and then continue downward.'
The Indian Ocean seabed near eastern Africa is the world’s only seabed without a fibre-optic cable, which means the region must rely heavily on limited and expensive satellite links for its Internet access."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)