India for greater IMF watch on major economies
INT60International/EconomyIndia for greater IMF watch on major economiesBy Arun KumarWashington, Oct 11 IANS India has asked the International Monetary Fund IMF to refocus and strengthen its traditional surveillance and lending functions as part of efforts to resolve the global financial crisis with the spotlight on important bigger countries."The twin crises - in the financial markets and the commodity price increases - bring to the fore the role of the Fund," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told the International Monetary and Financial Committee Meeting here Saturday.Noting that the Fund's role, particularly in the financial crisis, has been perceived as peripheral, he said it should be unambiguously tasked with the mandate of providing the global public good of financial stability.In the absence of the minister who has cancelled his trip, his statement was read out by Reserve Bank of India governor D. Subbarao, who is now leading the Indian delegation at the World Bank-Fund meetings as also at the meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.Suggesting that IMF may be best suited to play the role of the conductor in organising orchestrating efforts to resolve the crisis of global proportions, he said: "As a first step, the Fund's response should be refocusing and strengthening the Fund's traditional surveillance and lending functions."Exchange rates are important in the Fund's surveillance but financial sector stability, the orderly flow of capital, and the linkages between the real economy and the financial sector are equally critical if not more important issues," the Indian delegate said.Urging the Fund to adopt "a more wholesome, balanced and priority-driven approach to surveillance", he said: "I reiterate the need for greater focus on systemically important countries, since developments in such countries tend to impact all other countries, particularly smaller ones."Chidambaram also suggested a clear division of labour between the Fund and other international financial institutions IFIs avoiding overlaps in financing mandates and development of appropriate instruments that would appeal to different types of member-countries."The usefulness of a contingent credit line as an instrument of crisis prevention tailored for emerging market economies undertaking reforms has been well recognized and work on this aspect needs to be expedited," he said."A review of the Fund's lending function should also take note of the resource position of the Fund, he said noting that since the Eleventh Review of quotas in 1998 there has been no general increase in quotas."The issue of governance continues to be critical to the legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness of the Fund," the Indian delegate said describing "continuance of the process of realignment of quotas and voice" as the most crucial issue.India, he said, supported the proposed three-pronged process - work based on the Independent Evaluation Office IEO report; the recommendations expected from the Trevor Manuel Committee of Eminent Persons; and the inputs from civil society.--Indo-Asian News Serviceak/am499 Words*11102303
2008-10-11 14:00:12Youth robbed train to contest student election: police
NAT57National/CrimeYouth robbed train to contest student election: policeLucknow, Oct 7 IANS The Government Railway Police GRP Tuesday claimed it had solved the Oct 1 train robbery by arresting two suspects from Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh.The arrested were students of a degree college who, according to the police, had committed the crime to arrange funds for contesting student union elections.Rajnish Yadav and Ashok Yadav, the duo, along with about a dozen others, looted passengers of the Kalka-Howrah Mail, the police said."We caught the two through mobile surveillance and during interrogation it was revealed that both were students of the Karm Kshetra Degree College," inspector A.K. Singh of the GRP told IANS over telephone.Ashok was an aspirant in the upcoming student union election of the college and had installed a number of glow signs and posters throughout the city to gather support, the police officer said."We have gathered vital clues about the other youths who accompanied them in the robbery and have also recovered some of the booty," Singh said.Both Ashok and Rajnish are natives of Bharthana, the assembly constituency of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.--Indo-Asian News Servicerr/dd/sk/dg206 Words07102013
2008-10-07 11:02:06Assam CM orders helicopter surveillance
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday ordered helicopter surveillance of violence-hit Udalgiri on Monday....
2008-10-06 17:43:07U.S. military to deploy more surveillance planes to Afghanistan The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor - The military is expanding the number of airplanes for reconnaissance and surveillance in Iraq and Afghanistan in response to demands from the Pentagon chief to assume a...
2008-10-06 15:49:07Watch out for HIV, Bengal cautions puja revellers
NAT4National/Health/CultureWatch out for HIV, Bengal cautions puja revellersBy Soudhriti BhabaniKolkata, Oct 4 IANS As West Bengal gears up to celebrate the mega festival of Durga Puja, health authorities and some NGOs are cautioning youth about the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS during the five nights and days of revelry.Owing to the trend of high alcohol consumption and a carefree lifestyle during the puja days beginning Oct 5, sexually transmitted health disorders among youngsters could go up, they say."It's true, the young population is more susceptible to HIV/AIDS on festivals. Youngsters often tend to lead a reckless life because of the sudden change in their daily routine and the leniency shown by their parents on such occasions," D.N. Goswami, West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and Control Society WBSAPCS programme officer, told IANS."Generally, on festive days young members are given some amount of freedom by their families. They don't have to follow family restrictions and they can spend the nights with their friends outside."They often drink to celebrate. Excessive drinking develops into a tendency to visit red light areas which makes them more vulnerable to STD," Goswami said.There are about 12 red light pockets in the city in addition to the large concentration of sex workers in Sonagachi.The total number of registered AIDS cases in West Bengal stood at 3,888 till March 2007, while India has 2.5 million HIV/AIDS cases.Tarit Chakraborty, president of the Bengal Network of Positive People BNP , an NGO working with the HIV/AIDS cases, said: "We've observed that susceptibility among the young generation increases because of brothel visits and unsafe sex. Most of them, especially in an inebriated state, are not very careful about using condoms."BNP , with more than 4,500 members across the state, is dealing with thousands of cases of STD infections in West Bengal since 2001."We've also seen many people who stay in other states - like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh - come to West Bengal during the pujas. They are also very potent carriers of HIV and facilitate the spread of sexually transmitted infections," said Chakraborty, who is also the regional coordinator of Indian Network of Positive People."Drug abuse also increases during this time," he added.According to the 2001 Census, people aged 15-24 years constituted 18.28 percent of West Bengal's 80 million-plus population.West Bengal health director Sanchita Bakshi told IANS: "In the festive season, of course, there is a serious risk factor of getting infected by sexually transmitted diseases."There's no study available with the government about the HIV prevalence rate in the particular season. But the government and a number of NGOs are working in tandem to disseminate awareness during the coming puja festival by launching extensive campaigns in all major pandals," she said.Chakraborty said: "We are also trying to carry out a state-wide campaign against HIV infection. We've formed a music band and a drama team with our own members - all of them positive cases. We conduct stage shows to make people aware about this ailment."Our performances are based on true stories and we try to draw a picture of the physical and mental suffering one faces after getting infected," he added.The first case of HIV infection in West Bengal was detected in 1986. In the last few years, HIV has spread to the general population and is no longer restricted to the most at-risk groups.A study by the National Behavioural Surveillance Survey NBSS in 2001 revealed that 66.40 percent of female and 78.10 percent of the male respondents of the state's urban areas had knowledge about the sexual route of HIV transmission.But in the rural areas, the corresponding figures were much lower at 32.30 percent for females and 56.60 percent for males.-Indo-Asian News Servicesb/ssp/pg687 Words**04101001
2008-10-04 00:05:06Tamil Tigers' intelligence chief's hideout bombed: Sri Lanka Lead
INT60International/Terrorism/DefenceTamil Tigers' intelligence chief's hideout bombed: Sri Lanka LeadColombo, Oct 3 IANS Hunting for top Tamil Tiger leaders, Sri Lankan Air Force fighter jets carried out yet another air raid Friday, targeting "a secret passage" of the LTTE's intelligence wing leader Pottu Amman in the restive north, defence authorities here said. "The well identified secret passage, which is used as terror intelligence headquarters at Kanagapuram, located four kilometers west of Kilinochchi town, was engaged around 2.30 p.m Friday," air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said. He said the target was precisely taken out by the Air Force jets, based on real-time information gathered through continuous ground and air surveillance.The second air raid for the day came barely six hours after the air force fighter jets bombed "the main office complex" of LTTE's political wing head, B. Nadesan, in the rebels' administrative capital of Kilinochchi, located about 350 km north of here.The air force Friday said that the main office complex of Nadesan located 500 metres west of Triarukulam in the northern town of Kilinochchi was engaged around 9.20 a.m, causing extensive damage to the building complex.It is not known whether these two top rebel leaders were present at the targets at the time of the attacks.In an e-mail to the media on the air attack, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE claimed that air force has "targeted the office complex of Tamil Eelam police headquarters, located in the centre of Kilinochchi town"."The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation's store situated alone with the police headquarters also badly damaged in this attack. This latest attack came after heavy artillery and MBRL barrage by the Sri Lankan Army, targeting in and around Kilinochchi town," the LTTE statement claimed. Nadesan, who had briefly served in the Sri Lankan police service, joined the LTTE decades ago and was made head of the "LTTE police force" by elusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.He was later appointed as the political wing head of the outfit after S.P. Thamilselvan was killed in an air raid in November 2007. The military said troops advancing from various directions were just 3.5 km away from Kilinochchi town and were determined to capture it in the near future.The LTTE has been fighting the Sri Lankan government to carve out a separate state for Tamils in the northern and eastern part of the island for the past three decades. Thousands have died in fighting between the LTTE and the military since late 2005. --Indo-Asian News Servicekaru/vm/vt454 Words03102227
2008-10-03 13:03:15Skype unaware Chinese partner was monitoring, storing messages
INT32International/Security/TechnologySkype unaware Chinese partner was monitoring, storing messagesBeijing, Oct 3 DPA Skype, the online text message and voice service, acknowledged Friday that its Chinese partner had been archiving politically sensitive text messages. Skype president Josh Silverman said the company was unaware that the Internet chat of users in China, especially political discussions, was being stored on computer servers by Chinese mobile firm TOM Online, a unit of Hong Kong-based TOM Group Ltd. In a statement, Silverman said the US company owned by auction giant eBay was "very concerned" about the monitoring and storage as well as a security breach that was discovered by Canadian researchers. The messages and personal information was stored on insecure publicly-accessible servers together with the encryption key required to decrypt the data, found Ottawa-based Citizen Lab. TOM has since acted to make its servers more secure. "It was our understanding that it was not TOM's protocol to upload and store chat messages with certain keywords, and we are now inquiring with TOM to find out why the protocol changed," added Silverman. TOM-Skype made it publicly known in 2006 that it filtered text messages for politically sensitive words, such as "Tibet" or "democracy," and blocked transmission of those judged suspect and assured users that censored messages were discarded. "It is common knowledge that censorship does exist in China and that the Chinese government has been monitoring communications in and out of the country for many years," said Silverman, adding that TOM, like every other communications service provider operating in China, has an obligation to be compliant if they are to be able to operate in China at all. The regulations include the requirement to monitor and block instant messages containing certain words deemed "offensive" by the Chinese authorities, said Silverman. Skype users from other countries communicating with one of the 70 million TOM-Skype registered users were also subject to having their communications monitored, however, stressed Silverman, if both users have standard Skype software the messages "are, and always have been, completely secure and private." Nart Villeneuve, a senior research fellow at Citizen Lab, discovered the surveillance system when he used an analysis tool to monitor data generated by the TOM-Skype software, according to the New York Times. Villeneuve found that when he typed a particular swear word into the text messaging program an encrypted message was sent to an unidentified Internet address and then stored on TOM Online computers. He discovered he could examine the messages online as they were readable with a simple web browser. After encrypting the log files he found hundreds of records of messages that had been stored and could learn the user names as well as message content.--DPAdkg484 Words03101452
2008-10-03 05:00:00DEAUVILLE FRANCE
INT64International/Diplomacy/Crime/DefenceEU to deploy anti-piracy fleet off Somalia coastDeauville France, Oct 1 DPA The European Union EU will soon deploy a warship fleet tasked with defending commercial vessels from attacks by pirates off the Somali coast, officials said Wednesday. The move follows reports that pirates took control of a Kenya-bound cargo ship carrying 33 Russian-built T-72 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and munitions and held 20-member crew hostage. Last week's seizure was only the latest in a growing list of attacks by pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden. Plans for a European maritime convoy operation were being discussed by EU defence ministers meeting in Deauville, France. "Piracy has increased to such an extent that an EU mission has become necessary," said German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung. "This is about security at sea and free maritime trade," Jung added. Diplomats said the EU fleet would consist of three warships, one supply ship and three maritime surveillance aircraft. "We have to be able to do something even if we know that the stretch of sea involved is extremely vast and fighting pirates is not easy," said French Defence Minister Herve Morin, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU. Germany has said it is ready to supply one frigate. France already has a frigate in place while Spain is operating a surveillance aircraft in the region. The EU has already set up a cell in Brussels tasked with coordinating searches and the deployment of naval resources. The EU fleet could become operational as early as December, sources from the French presidency said. Its objective would be to escort convoys of European fishing, merchant and cruise vessels.--DPAskp/dg306 Words01101840
2008-10-01 09:15:11Iraqi air force acquires new US aircraft
INT56International/DefenceIraqi air force acquires new US aircraftBaghdad, Sep 28 Xinhua Iraqi air force has acquired reconnaissance aircraft from the US to boost its capabilities to fight insurgents in the war-torn country, defence ministry said in a statement Sunday. "The ministry has received new American Kinh Air surveillance aircraft a few days ago," the statement said quoting Iraq's Defence Minister Abdul Qader Muhammad Jassem as saying. The planes are equipped with latest technologies, Jassem said, but did not specify how much was paid for the delivery or the number of planes acquired.To mark the occasion, a ceremony was organised in Baghdad Sunday.The minister said Iraqi pilots had been trained to fly the planes that can transmit live images to military bases to help direct ground forces. Some media reports said earlier that Iraqi air force had planned to purchase around 36 US F-16 fighter jets.--Xinhuasnb/sk157 Words28092131
2008-09-28 12:00:00Agra air base ready to receive AWACS
NAT29National/DefenceAgra air base ready to receive AWACSAgra, Sep 27 IANS The air force base here has completed all preparations, including the extension of the runway and setting up of an avionics lab, to receive the new Israeli Phalcon airborne warning and control systems AWACS, termed as the "eye-in-the-sky".“All the necessary preparations have been made for the induction of the AWACS. The runway has been extended, equipment is ready and avionics lab has been set up. The ground exploitation system needed to sift the information gathered by the AWACS is ready,” Air Commodore Shouvik Roy, air-officer-in-commanding of the base, told IANS.The first of the three AWACS, being installed by Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. IAI on Russian II-78 platforms, was expected to be delivered by October. However, certain technical issues have delayed the delivery of the system. The AWACS will bolster India's air-surveillance capability multi-fold by enabling early detection of incoming hostile aircraft and directing suitable counter measures. The $1.1 billion deal for the AWACS was signed in 2004.“This is one of the major inductions. We are well within the time schedule in terms of our preparation. An IAI team was here and they were satisfied with our infrastructure,” Roy said.The Agra air force base is the largest air base in the country and has strategic importance as the squadrons of IL-78 mid-air refuellers, AN-32 transport aircraft, Avro transport aircraft, surface-to-air missile and a radar unit are located here. “The AWACS will enhance our capability and would be a tremendous assets for us. Integration of AWACS and training of manpower is going on in Israel,” Roy added.The three aircraft, which were taken from Russia to Israel by IAI, are being modified in a hangar at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion international airport.The Indian Air Force is likely to purchase three more AWACS, taking the number to six. The delivery is slated to be completed by 2012.The team, comprising of Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal N.A.K. Browne and director general acquisition Shashi Kant Sharma, has just returned from Israel after discussing the issues resulting in the delay of AWACS.--Indo-Asian News Servicers/sh/jg387 Words*27091528
2008-09-27 06:04:09
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