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THE UK will provide up to £6 million of UK aid to support the victims of a devastating cyclone and torrential rains which may have left more than a thousand people dead in Mozambique, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt announced yesterday (Mar 18).
As a result, the UK will also send tents and thousands of shelter kits to Mozambique to help provide immediate shelter to those that have been forced to flee their homes.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: “I have made £6 million of UK aid available to help meet the immediate needs of people who have lost everything. We have deployed a UK team of DFID experts who are now on the ground in Mozambique helping to coordinate the UK’s response to this disaster, and we hope to have vital UK aid supplies in the region shortly. We stand ready to scale up our support if needed.
According to Save The Children, fears continue to grow as rivers in the worst affected areas burst their banks inundating large swathes of land.
Aerial assessments in Sofala province, in the centre of Mozambique, show that an area more than 50 km wide has been completely submerged. They also show that Buzi town, which is estimated to be home to more than 2,500 children*, could be under water within 24 hours.
“The scale of this disaster is growing by the minute and Save the Children has grave concerns about children and their families still at risk as flood waters continue to rise,” said Machiel Pouw, Save the Children’s response leader in Mozambique.
“The assessment emerging from Mozambique today is chilling. Thousands of children lived in areas completely engulfed by water. In many places, no roofs or tree tops are even visible above the floods. In other areas, people are clinging to rooftops desperately waiting to be rescued.
As well as scaling up the rescue effort, Mr Pouw said people displaced by the floods and those who are living without water, food, shelter and healthcare need urgent assistance.
Save the Children is a member of the COSACA consortium with Oxfam and CARE and is working in close coordination with the government and the National Institute of Disaster Management to support children impacted by the disaster.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is buying Divide, a startup that helps businesses manage their employees’ various mobile devices.
The terms of the deal were not announced Monday and a Google spokesman said the company would have no comment beyond a statement released by Divide.
Divide, which was founded by a group of former Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) information-technology staffers, will help Google’s Android business reach deeper into the mobile market within the workplace.
Google and other providers of mobile operating systems such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are trying to encroach on a market once dominated by BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), which has stumbled badly in recent years.
As BlackBerry has stumbled and the market for workplace mobile devices has become more diverse, companies have struggled to adapt as their employees have shifted to various operating systems.
Also Monday it was reported by The Wall Street Journal that Google is in talks to acquire video-streaming service Twitch. Neither company would comment on the report.
Google’s shares were up 1.77% at $537.67 in midday trading.
4G spectrum auction raises £2.34bn for UK, but who are the winners and losers?
EE will soon have a fight for 4G customers on its hands following the successful completion of the UK's 4G spectrum auction.
The much-delayed 4G spectrum auction in the UK has finally been completed.
Vodafone, O2, a subsidiary of BT, EE and Three have all successfully won spectrum being auctioned in the UK's 4G auction, paving the way for the wider rollout of 4G services.
The five winners of the auction — which has been delayed multiple times since 2008 due to the threat of litigation from operators — were announced on Wednesday. The resulting 4G services are expected to start going live between spring and summer 2013, the telecoms watchdog Ofcom said.
"This is a positive outcome for competition in the UK, which will lead to faster and more widespread mobile broadband and substantial benefits for consumers and businesses across the country. We are confident that the UK will be among the most competitive markets in the world for 4G services," Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, said in a statement.
The auction included 250MHz of spectrum (equivalent to two-thirds of the entire 3G spectrum already in use) in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands.
All bidders except for Telefonica (O2 in the UK) won lots in both frequencies. The sub-1GHz 800MHz spectrum is better at delivering widespread coverage, whereas the 2.6GHz band is needed to provide the capacity for the amount of traffic that moves across high-speed data networks.
Ofcom designed the auction to make way for a fourth smaller spectrum holder to be established as a wholesaler of 4G services in the UK in the interests of competition, which Hutchinson 3G UK (Three's parent company) successfully won.
The regulator insisted that one of the obligations of holding significant spectrum in the 800MHz band was to provide indoor 4G coverage to 98 percent of the UK, expected to be around 99 percent when outdoors. Telefonica (O2) successfully won this lot, paying £550m for the privilege, and committing to the coverage expectations by the end of 2017.
In total, the five bidders have committed to pay £2.34bn for the right to use the frequencies for 4G services. The cash will go directly to the UK government. However, it is significantly less than the nearly £3.5bn it was expected to raise according to the Treasury's budget estimations.
HKT UK and MLL Telecom were the only two bidders not to have successfully won any spectrum. As a result of not winning any blocks, MLL Telecom said it will continue to look at new technologies for its mobile customers.
EE's 4G service is set to go live in one week, but the cheapest package costs £36 per month and will only get you 500MB of data usage.The company wants to make the most of its head start over its rivals.
"Looking forward we see the allocation of the spectrum through the auction opening the door to increased levels of connectivity and mobility in the UK. MLL Telecom will continue to support our mobile operating customers, build networks in remote areas and help the public sector with their networks while driving new areas such as connecting the growing number of small cell deployments," Gary Marven, chief executive of MLL Telecom, said in a statement.
Winning bidders have until midnight GMT on Thursday to pay the outstanding money for lots they have won. The next stage of the process will be to allocate exactly where in each band each operator's spectrum will sit, with a view to having services live on the bands by the start of summer 2013.
The completion of the spectrum auction will bring the desire for a competitive 4G environment in the UK closer to fruition. EE has been the only company able to operate a 4G service so far, offering services since the end of 2012 and enjoying a headstart on the competition. However, according to figures released by EE for its full-year 2012 performance, 4G uptake may not be going as well as it had hoped . EE described the uptake of super-fast wireless data as "solid, early 4G momentum" but did not break out 3G and 4G subscriber figures individually in its 2012 results on Tuesday.
The much awaited air-conditioned double-decker train between Delhi and Jaipur — announced in the last Railway Budget will become operational within the current financial year that ends on March 31, according to North Western Railway.
However, with the deadline barely one-and-a half month away, it is going to be a difficult task for the department.
The railway officials say the delay is due to non-availability of the coaches which are still being manufactured. “The train would become operational once we get the rakes. The train is likely to be launched anytime in March,” said Lalit Bohra, CPRO of North-Western Railway.
The ambitious high speed train will be second such train after the AC double-decker train that was launched between Dhanbad and Howrah in October last year. Railway officials say the technical difference between the rakes of the two trains is the major cause behind the delay.
The daily train scheduled to run between Jaipur and Sarai Rohilla station in the capital will have 70 per cent more seating capacity than Shatabdi Express.
The train to Pink city, a major tourist destination, is highly awaited ever since it was announced. Railway officials say there is heavy passenger rush on the Delhi-Jaipur route and the new rail services will provide affordable AC travel to all. The double-decker service is also expected to significantly reduce the rush for Volvo buses and use of personal vehicles on this route.
The double-decker coaches would have common doors for boarding. A flight of stairs would take passengers to the lower floor, which is partly under the platform level.
Another flight of stairs would take passengers to the upper floor. Like Shatabdi express, the train would have only sitting arrangement with racks for luggage.
At present there are only two fully air-conditioned trains for Jaipur from Delhi - Ahmedabad Rajdhani Express and Delhi-Ajmer Shatabdi Express.
"I really hope someone is feeding my turtles."
On his exile from the U.S.
"Sometimes I look up at the moon and remember that other people around the world are looking up at that same moon, and that kind of ruins it for me."
"I occasionally wear a wig of long blond hair for practice in case it ever happens in a game."
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul performed a careful dance on foreign policy in his presidential announcement speech on Tuesday, reassuring party hawks with tough talk on Iran and ISIS while playing to libertarians with calls to slash foreign aid and military commitments.
Paul has been torn throughout the year between the libertarian wing personified by his father, former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, and the GOP’s more traditional national security wing. Libertarian activists back a policy of non-interventionism that typically includes the elimination of foreign aid, pulling out of international institutions, and an intense skepticism of military action. They also are strongly concerned about government overreach in prosecuting the war on terror, especially on issues of surveillance. Most Republicans favor a more muscular approach, however, and the rise of ISIS and a potential sweeping nuclear deal with Iran have put these issues at the front of the presidential debate.
Paul has adjusted to this new reality by backing military action against ISIS after initially expressing skepticism, endorsing material support for Israel after initially calling for an end to all foreign aid, proposing an increase in defense spending after previously calling for cuts, and, on Tuesday, by playing up his determination to put a nuclear agreement in front of Congress, which could tie Obama’s hands.
Paul has broken with his party on Iran in the past and the next few weeks will be a delicate period. Early in his career, he accused Republicans of over-hyping the threat they posed, and he was one of just two Republicans who refused to sign onto a bill to increase sanctions this year, warning it could derail talks between Iran, the White House, and other major world powers.
With Republicans up in arms over Obama’s nuclear framework with Iran, however, Paul joined in bullying the White House from the right on Tuesday while nodding to his dovish supporters in the same breath.
In other areas, the senator was more comfortable sticking to his old rhetoric. Paul, who reportedly said he would be “happy to dissolve” the United Nations in January, didn’t hold in his call to eliminate humanitarian aid abroad on Tuesday.
If Paul wins, it will be by adding mainstream GOP voters to his father’s outsider coalition. But working to please everyone could just as easily end up pleasing no one and erode his core support. The challenge for Paul moving forward will be to prove palatable to non-libertarian Republicans without losing the libertarian base that powered his father’s campaign.
1) Quiz: President Rand Paul?
Take the full Rand Paul quiz.
Al-Busaidi at Bait Al-Falaj, Oman on Monday.
The Defence Minister of Oman expressed his satisfaction on the level of brotherly relations and bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Air Chief said that both Pakistan and Oman enjoyed cordial and brotherly relations.
He reiterated his resolve to further enhance these exemplary relations.
Earlier, the Air Chief also called on Commander Royal Navy of Oman, Rear Admiral Abdullah Bin Khamis Al-Raisi.
With his first set of practices now behind him, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie cornerback Shaquille Richardson has finally gotten the chance to be coached on a field by CarnellLake, who initially recruited him to go to UCLA. As a result, the Arizona product already knows several things that he needs to work on in order to get better.
Richardson is the second fifth-round cornerback that Lake will work with in as many seasons. Last year, Terry Hawthorne was selected in the fifth-round of the 2013 NFL Draft, but after a knee injury caused him to miss most off the offseason practices and training camp, he was gone as quick as he arrived.
With veteran Ike Taylor now likely entering his final year in the league, the Steelers hope that Richardson will be his successor in 2015 and it’s up to Lake to make sure that happens.
Being as the Steelers only selected one cornerback in the draft this year, Richardson knows that he has a golden opportunity to excel. In addition, he also knows that there’s some pressure that comes with that distinction.
“Sure, but I think I do best under pressure, so I’m excited to come in here and fill any void that they need me to fill,” he said.
With the rookie camp now behind him, Richardson might have to wait a while before showing more as head coach Mike Tomlin listed him as one of two draft picks that could miss OTA practices because of college graduation rules. Arizona is on the semester system, however, so we’ll have to wait and see if this gets straightened out in Richardson’s favor.
Either way, Richardson believes in himself and his abilities.
Computex, the world's second-largest computer show, opened in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 31. The show, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, will feature 1,288 exhibitors and 2,853 booths and is expected to draw up to 140,000 visitors. This Batman-theme desktop casing, seen at the House Your Style booth, is a definite attention-grabber.
This funky-looking monitor-and-speaker contraption on display at Computex is a PC system offered by Puro.
Cylume sticks, you think? These bluish glowing devices from LanReady Technologies are a combination of wireless adapter and antenna.
Asustek's new Vento 3600 case for powerful game computers looks more like a sports car or spaceship than a computer.
Nvidia's striking lime-green booth at the Taipei show is kind of hard to miss.
Taiwan-based Asustek's dominance in notebooks is reflected in the sheer number of new models it displays at the fair. Among those on show are the W2, A3, A4 and A6 laptops.
BenQ's PW200 allows users to back up data from flash cards or hard drives directly into this tiny disc.
In Hall 2 of the Computex computer fair, visitors will find computer systems, motherboards and add-on cards.
Among many MP3 players on display at Computex are these two models offered by Mio Technology.
Acer is promoting its latest Ferrari 4000 notebook, a machine coated in a sleek black-and-red carbon fiber casing with the coveted "prancing horse" emblem to target image-conscious users. The machine runs on a Turion 64 processor.
Computex, the world's second-largest computer show, expects to open its doors to 140,000 visitors in Taipei, Taiwan.
The Thailand Automotive Institute’s five-year master plan for 2012-2016 is focused on increasing output by an average of 10 per cent annually.
The plan is also aimed at making the country one of the top 10 auto-manufacturing nations within the same time scale and increasing the use of local content in the industry from 40 per cent now to 50 per cent.
In addition, the institute’s long-term development goal is to increase production step by step over the next several decades. Targeted output is 3.3 million units in 2020, rising to 4.5 million units by 2030, 5 million units by 2040, and 5.6 million units in 2050.
Witoon Simachokedee, permanent secretary of the Industry Ministry, said yesterday that the plan would be submitted to the industry minister for approval soon.
If successful, the plan will enable the Kingdom to achieve value creation and sustainable growth of the auto industry as it focuses on becoming a global manufacturing hub.
Under the plan, manufacturing will concentrate on development in four areas: "green" vehicles, using alternative energy such as biodiesel, ethanol and compressed natural gas; light-weight cars with a high standard for energy saving; autos equipped with information technology to facilitate driving; and high-safety manufacturing in all vehicles types – passenger cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Witoon said there would be no "product champion" concept as there had been in the two previous master plans, which focused on pickup and eco-car manufacturing, respectively.
Instead, the new plan will concentrate all vehicles that can use a variety of energy sources, notably hybrids and electric vehicles, in line with the global manufacturing trend of the industry. The forecast is that both hybrid and electric cars will be much more popular by 2020.
Patima Jeerapaet, president of the Thailand Automotive Institute, said the plan focused on five key development areas: technology and research and development; the excellence of skilled labour, and human-resources development; strengthening the competitiveness of manufacturers; encouraging a good environment from basic infrastructure upward; and the setting up of a policy-steering committee for the auto and auto-parts industry.
The government should encourage the establishment of an auto-testing centre in Thailand, which would be used as the testing centre for Asean, said Patima.
Thailand has agreed with other Asean countries to develop such a test and R&D centre. The proposal is being studied by the National Economic and Social and Development Board.
The centre would require an investment of Bt8.1 billion, with construction divided into two phases. The first phase, for a standard-testing centre worth Bt3.2 billion on 200 rai of land close to a deep-sea port and automotive and parts manufacturing plants in the East of the country, would be completed by 2015.
The second phase, costing Bt4.9 billion, would focus on a centre for product testing and an R&D facility for new products, including parts.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh recently piloted the landmark Land Acquisition Bill that has evoked mixed response among farmers and industrialists. Ramesh spoke at length to Raj Chengappa, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune Group of Newspapers, at his New Delhi office last week about the significance of the Bill.
Go to Kumaon or Garhwal and you will hardly find a village that has any old houses left. Cement boxes have replaced the beautiful old homesteads made by local craftsmen.
This is our season for spring cleaning as we clear up and throw out old rubbish to prepare our homes for the arrival of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. In Kumaon, we paint her feet with rice paste to guide her into our homes. In other parts of the country, similar rituals are a part of the preparations for the grand finale of the Indian festive season.
There has been mixed reaction to the passing of the new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill recently.
If the farmers think that the Bill is not progressive enough and the industry thinks it is restrictive, then I must have done something right. It is a middle-path Bill. We had to compromise at every step and take various stakeholders, farmers’ organisations, tribal organisations and industry associations along. And most importantly, we had to take state governments and political parties along.
The process of consensus building is lacking in our competitive political environment but I am pleased to say that this Bill was passed with universal support in Parliament. It is the golden mean as it tries to address everyone’s concerns to some extent. Clearly, the time was right to replace a 119-year-old law which was draconian and anti-democratic and had created and spawned a large number of land-related agitations across the country because of the manner in which the land was acquired.
What is the fundamental shift you have brought through this Bill?
The 1894 Land Acquisition Act was amended thrice. I could have also amended the Act the fourth time but the basic structure, to use the Supreme Court’s language in relation to the Constitution, is flawed because it empowers the collectors and the state governments through the institution of the collector to decide what is the public purpose, how much land has to be acquired, where it has to be acquired, what compensation has to be paid and what is the urgency clause. These matters were left to the collector’s discretion and we needed to make a paradigm shift in the acquisition process. What we have done: first of all, the very title of the Bill is no longer land acquisition 2013, it is right to fair compensation, transparency, resettlement and rehabilitation. Incidentally, this title was suggested by Rahul Gandhi. He came up with a very interesting argument. He told me, “Look you called it Land Acquisition Act 2013, but you are facing a lot of opposition to the Act, so why can’t you have a name that nobody can oppose?” I asked him what he meant. He said, “After 9/11 Bush came up with Patriot Act. He could have called it something else but who can oppose a Patriot Act?” That is how we thought of it. The purpose of the Act is threefold — to provide fair compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation, and transparency in land acquisition. These are the three objectives and land acquisition is the consequence of these objectives being met.
How did you determine the word fair compensation?
We have built into the Act the methodology to be adopted for determining what fair compensation is. It is four times the compensation in rural areas and two times in urban areas. It is not based on the circular rate alone as this is a very artificially depressed value of land. So, we have said that you take the last three years and you take the highest sale deeds for the past three years and then you take the average and compare it with the circular rate. If it is higher than the circular rate, four times will apply to that, or two times, as the case may be.