Smartphone apps can improve public transit

 
Washington: A new study has suggested that smartphone apps may be the key to getting people out of their cars and onto mass transit.

The study of commuters in Boston and San Francisco found people are more willing to ride the bus or train when they have tools to manage their commutes effectively, reports Fox News.


The study asked 18 people to surrender their cars for one week. The participants found that any autonomy lost by handing over their keys could be regained through apps providing real-time information about transit schedules, delays and shops and services along the routes.

The results could have a dramatic effect on public transportation planning, and certainly will catch the attention of planners and programmers alike. By encouraging the development of apps that make commuting easier, transit agencies can drastically, and at little cost, improve the ridership experience and make riding mass transit more attractive.

The point is for transit agencies to provide enough information to put riders in control of their experience and have greater choice in when and where to ride.

Bengal polls: Singur's 'Nano' politics

Singur:  When Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took oath for a second term in 2006, one of his first decisions was to sign a deal with Rata Tata.

The Nano plant at Singur would have helped him retain his image of being the Left's poster boy for reforms.

Now, almost 5 years later, the silence around the abandoned Nano factory at Singur perhaps best explains what's gone wrong for the Left.

NDTV visited Singur but was stopped from entering or filming the Tata plant at Singur, located on the Kolkata-Delhi highway.

The guards told the NDTV team that the land still belongs to the Tata group even though all the machinery were taken out long back.

NDTV found the man who was the first to challenge the Tata group: Becharam Manna, a former jute mill worker and now a Trinamool candidate from Haripal, Singur's adjoining constituency.

Manna says if Trinamool comes to power, 400 acres of land from the Nano plant site would be returned to its owners. But what about the thousands of jobs that the project was expected to create?

"The Railway Ministry will build a factory here and give jobs," said Becha Ram Manna, leader Trinamool Congress.

Dr Udayan Das, a CPM supporter who runs a nursing home in Singur, says the Nano project was an opportunity that was lost.

Bengal's loss was Gujarat's gain.

The Nano project was meant to create over 10,000 jobs, both direct and indirect employment.

More importantly, for Bengal, it would have improved the investment climate.
"I run a nursing home here. It has taken 4 kathas of land to build to set up that nursing home. But we provide jobs to 50 families. In case of an acre of land only 4-5 persons can get employment," said the CPM supporter Dr Udayan Das.


Udayan, the son of three-time CPM MLA from the area, is part of a pro-industry group who have written to the Tatas to come back to the state.

In August 2008, Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna that not only made the Tatas leave Bengal but could well alter the course of the politics in the state.

No nepotism in selecting panel, says Anna Hazare

New Delhi:  Rejecting allegations of nepotism in the selection of the members of the civil society in the joint drafting committee for the Jan Lokpal Bill, social activist Anna Hazare said that people should not make a fuss about the composition of the committee. What mattered instead, according to Mr Hazare, was the need for experts on the panel for a proper and effective anti-corruption legislation.

"The committee is not permanent, it has been formed only for two months and we should not think that he or she is there or not there. We need experienced people because the law should be stringent, and law experts have been kept on it, and that was the whole reason I did not want to be on it," Anna Hazare told reporters here.

The Gandhian's statement came after yoga guru Baba Ramdev had on Saturday, criticised the civil society representation in the 10-member committee. Without taking names, he spoke of nepotism in the selection of the members, an accusation widely believed to be directed at co-chair of the committee, Shanti Bhushan and his advocate son Prashant Bhushan who is also in the body.

"I spoke to Kiran (Bedi) ji and will talk to Anna ji as people of the country are raising the issue that why nepotism has come in the five-member (civil society) committee which is representing the 121 crore population of the country," Baba Ramdev had said.

Playing down the controversy, RTI activist and Jan Lokpal Bill drafting committee member Arvind Kejriwal said that Baba had some misunderstanding which had been sorted out.

WikiLeaks disclosures inspired Indian anti-graft movement: Assange

London:  Revelations by the WikiLeaks are having a positive impact, believes its founder Julian Assange, who claims that the publication of secret US embassy cables by the Indian media had helped inspire an anti-graft movement in the country.
       
Questioned at a public debate about the whistleblowing organisation's own transparency, Assange told an audience of 700 people, many of them supporters: "We are directly supported on a week-to-week basis by you. You vote with your wallets every week if you believe that our work is worthwhile or not. If you believe we have erred, you do not support us. If you believe we need to be protected in our work, you keep us strong."
       
"That dynamic feedback, I say, is more responsive than a government that is elected after sourcing money from big businesses every four years," the Guardian quoted the Australian as saying in his first formal public appearance since being arrested in December following accusations of rape and sexual assault.
       
The WikiLeaks founder, who is currently appealing against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault, told the audience at a packed debate organised by the New Statesman and the Frontline Club that whistleblowing was essential in a democracy because "the only way we can know whether information is legitimately kept secret is when it is revealed".

       
He cited the examples of Vietnam and "the disaster that was the Iraq war", saying that if whistleblowers had the courage to speak up earlier about both conflicts, "bloodbaths" could have been avoided.        

He said he "could speak for hours" about the impact of the publication of leaked US embassy cables, much of it through the Guardian, and that leak's positive impact.

The Hindu newspaper had in recent weeks published 21 front pages based on so-called "cablegate" revelations, Assange said, leading to the Indian opposition walking out four times from the Parliament and a growing anti-corruption movement in the country.
       
A US embassy cable made public by WikiLeaks had suggested that the UPA government had allegedly paid bribes to buy MPs in support of a trust vote on the Indo-US nuclear deal, creating a furore and prompting denials by the government.

Jan Lokpal Bill: Joint drafting committee likely to meet next week

New Delhi:  The newly-constituted joint drafting committee of the Jan Lokpal Bill is likely to meet next week.

Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is also the convenor of the joint panel, said the first meeting is tentatively slated for April 16 but it depends on the availability of the ministers.

The ten-member committee comprising ministers and members of the civil society will get down to preparing the draft of the anti-corruption bill.

The draft bill is likely to be ready by June end because the government intends to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of the Parliament that begins in July.

Tiger tally dips in Madhya Pradesh, govt demands census re-evaluation

Bhopal:  The Madhya Pradesh government has rejected the latest 2011 tiger census calling for a re-evaluation following a decline in the tiger tally.

Earlier tagged as the Tiger State with the highest number of big cats, it has now lost that status to Karnataka.

The state now has 257 tigers vis-à-vis the 300 recorded during the previous census.

The situation is especially worrisome at the famous Kanha National Park which now has just 60 tigers.

The government though has trashed the findings of the census.

"We don't agree with the numbers as survey at the Kanha National Park is yet to be completed. Once that happens, the tiger population figure will surely change", said state Forest Minister Sartaaj Singh.

As per the wildlife institute data, the tiger habitat in the state has shrunk by nearly 3000 square kilometres. The Opposition is blaming the government for the decline in the numbers.

"The falling numbers of wild animals in Madhya Pradesh is a cause for concern. Our state had the highest numbers of tigers at one point. The Forest Minister and the Chief Minister are responsible for this", said Choudhary Rakesh Singh, Acting Leader of the Opposition, Madhya Pradesh.

Even as the overall tiger count has gone up in the latest census, the falling numbers in the state has emerged as a big concern.

Fire alarm forces shut down of a reactor at Kaiga N-plant

Kaiga:  A nuclear power reactor at the Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) here was shut down after a smoke detection alarm went off yesterday.
   
A smoke detection alarm appeared in the control room of Unit 3 yesterday around 4.30 a.m. following which the 220 MWe nuclear power plant was shut down, the Nuclear Power Corporation said in a statement here.
   
"On inspection of the respective area, it has been found that there was nothing abnormal," Station Director J P Gupta said.
   
As an abundant precaution, the unit was shut down, he said.

   
The nuclear plant operator said routine surveillance tests were planned for Unit-3 before May, when the plant was to be shut down for a couple of weeks.
   
"Having the unit in shut down state, decision is taken to utilise this opportunity and carry out these tests now itself," the NPCIL said.
   
After completion of these surveillance tests, it is planned to bring back KGS Unit-3 online, by April 17, it said.
   
KGS Unit 3 began commercial operations on May 6, 2007.
   
The surveillance tests are carried out at nuclear plants once every two years.
   
The Kaiga site, in Uttar Kannada District of Karnataka, has four units of 220 MW each.
   
At present Unit-1, 2 and 4 are operating safely and generating about 560 MWe.
   
All the four nuclear reactors at Kaiga are Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors and powered by indigenous fuel.
   
India has 20 nuclear plants under operation which have a total installed capacity to generate 4780 MW power.

YouTube launches live streaming page

LOS ANGELES  - YouTube, the video site owned by Google, on Friday unveiled a page highlighting live programing and said users have asked for more live streams.
"With over 2 billion views a day, it's easy to think about YouTube as a place to watch videos recorded in the past," it said in a blog post. "But you've told us you want more - and that includes events taking place right now. In response, we've live streamed a number of popular concerts, sporting events, and interviews, but primarily on a one-off basis."
The initial rollout of YouTube Live will "integrate live streaming capabilities and discovery tools directly into the YouTube platform for the first time," the video site said.
Certain YouTube partners will start to stream live content on YouTube. "The goal is to provide thousands of partners with the capability to live stream from their channels in the months ahead," the site said. "In order to ensure a great live stream viewing experience, we'll roll this offering out incrementally over time."
Users can subscribe to their favorite YouTube live-streaming partners to be notified of upcoming live streams.
Among Friday's live offerings is a 7pm presentation of The DigiTour: Live from Google HQ!, described as "the first ever large-scale 6 week national tour bringing your favorite YouTube musicians to you."

House rejects FCC's 'open' Internet rules

WASHINGTON  - The House of Representatives voted on Friday to reject Internet "neutrality" rules that were adopted last year to keep big Internet service providers from blocking certain traffic
House Republicans, in a 240-179 vote, pushed through a measure disapproving the Federal Communications Commission's rules. Tech and telecom giants such as Verizon Communications Inc and Microsoft Corp could be affected.
The outlook for further progress by the Republicans in rolling back the FCC's actions was uncertain, however.
While a similar measure has been offered in the Senate and has 39 co-sponsors, the White House said on Monday that President Barack Obama's advisers would recommend that he veto any such resolution.
The FCC's rules, approved in late December, banned Internet service providers from blocking traffic on their networks, while allowing providers -- such as Verizon, Comcast Corp and AT&T Inc -- to "reasonably" manage their networks and charge consumers based on usage.
Republicans argued in House debate that the FCC's rules needlessly impose government regulation on the Internet.
"The FCC has never had the authority to regulate the Internet," said Republican Representative Cliff Stearns.
House Republican Leader Eric Cantor called the House's vote "an important step to bring down the FCC's harmful and partisan plan to regulate the Internet."
Democrats argue that the FCC rules are needed to curb the growing market power of large service providers.
Disapproving the FCC rules "would give big phone and cable companies control over what websites Americans can visit, what applications they can run, and what devices they can use," said Democratic Representative Henry Waxman.
Democratic Representative Anna Eshoo called the Republican push against the FCC's rules "an ideological assault on a federal agency and its ability to provide basic consumer protections."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday dismissed challenges to the FCC rules that had been filed by Verizon and MetroPCS Communications Inc, ruling that the challenges were premature.
"In most parts of the country, companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast have a virtual monopoly over access to the Internet," Waxman said. "Without regulation, they can choke off innovation by charging for the right to communicate with their customers."

Nazi warplane lying off UK coast is intact

 
LONDON  - A rare World War Two German bomber, shot down over the English Channel in 1940 and hidden for years by shifting sands at the bottom of the sea, is so well preserved a British museum wants to raise it.
The Dornier 17 -- thought to be world's last known example -- was hit as it took part in the Battle of Britain.
It ditched in the sea just off the Kent coast, southeast England, in an area known as the Goodwin Sands.
The plane came to rest upside-down in 50 feet of water and has become partially visible from time to time as the sands retreated before being buried again.
Now a high-tech sonar survey undertaken by the Port of London Authority (PLA) has revealed the aircraft to be in a startling state of preservation.
Ian Thirsk, from the RAF Museum at Hendon in London, told the BBC he was "incredulous" when he first heard of its existence and potential preservation.
"This aircraft is a unique aeroplane and it's linked to an iconic event in British history, so its importance cannot be over-emphasized, nationally and internationally," he said.
"It's one of the most significant aeronautical finds of the century."

Arunachal, Kashmir inseparable parts of India: Pilot

Jalandhar, Apr 10: Terming Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir as inseparable parts of the country, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot today said that thinking of seceding these two states from a 1.21 billion strong country is a farce.
Pilot was speaking in a function here organised by Hind News group, for the distribution of funds for martyrs'' family.
"No one can threaten us on the basis of terror or power and we can not be cowed down," said Pilot.
Politicians should provide a good leadership for youngsters so that they can contribute in better way in shaping the country, Pilot said.
Meanwhile, speaking in Chandigarh, Pilot said that union ministry is planning to use broadband connections to connect all panchayats within the next two years period.
He said that the department would use optical fibre for connectivity purposes in rural parts of the country.
"The centre is working hard and in the coming days world class infrastructure will be available for IT...we will create e-governance and make it a reality," Pilot said after inaugurating BSNL''s Value Added Services (VAS) in Punjab.
These services included ''dial a video'', ''live share services'' and ''video SMS services''.
He said that BSNL explores those areas where private players are not interested in putting up their infrastructure. These included areas of Madhya Pardesh, Chhatisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and others, he added.
He said that the BSNL would expand its towers from existing 226 in 2010-11 to another 254 in 2011-12.
"The BSNL is also looking to put up solar equipments in place of generators to operate mobile towers," he said.
Pilot also said that in the next two years 1.5 lakh post offices in the country will be connected through computers.
On the issue of Lokpal bill, he said that the bill will be soon introduced in the parliament. "The issues raised by socialist Anna Hazare are pertinent...corruption is eating our society...we should ensure that the issue of Lokpal bill takes quickest possible time," he said.

Google's Page makes first changes to management

 
SAN FRANCISCO  - Google Inc CEO Larry Page streamlined decision-making in six key product groups, including social networking and mobile, as the Internet search giant revs up efforts to compete with Facebook and Apple Inc.
Page, in his first major reorganization since taking the reins as CEO earlier this week, placed executives leading the groups directly under his supervision, eliminating management layers thought to slow product development, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Social networking chief Vic Gundotra, Android head Andy Rubin, Chrome senior vice president Sundar Pichai and Youtube head honcho Salar Kamangar have been given a direct reporting line to Page and greater autonomy, the sources said.
Also given a direct line to Page were search senior vice president Alan Eustace and advertising chief Susan Wojcicki, the sources said.

Saudi activists press release of reformers on YouTube

RIYADH  - A group of Saudi activists launched a 10-minute YouTube video protesting against the imprisonment without charge of some Saudi intellectuals which has attracted over 9,000 hits in less than 24 hours.
The video, "Saudis Missing", was posted late on Friday and shows interviews with a lawyer and family members of some of the prisoners who had called for reform in the absolute monarchy. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R99d7SVgyQU)
Saudi Arabia does not tolerate any form of dissent. It has no elected parliament or political parties and political life is dominated by the ruling Al Saud family.
"I hope and call for their release without any conditions and for them to receive apologies for what is happening to them," lawyer Bassim Alim said on the video.
"The way they were arrested, interrogated and imprisoned, is all in violation of the most basic regulations and this means that there is no basis for a trial or charges."
A spokesperson from the Interior Ministry could not immediately comment.
The video shows family members of some reformers who were arrested in 2007 during a meeting in Jeddah and are still being held without trial.

India to launch advanced remote sensing satellite April 20

Bangalore, April 9 : India will launch an advanced remote sensing satellite April 20 to study and manage natural resources, the space agency announced Saturday.
Preparations to launch the 1.2-tonne Resourcesat-2 spacecraft onboard the polar launch satellite vehicle (PSLV-C16) were progressing well at the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
Sriharikota, in Andhra Pradesh, is about 80 km northeast of Chennai,
The polar orbit rocket will also carry a 92 kg Youthsat, a joint Indo-Russian nanosatellite for stellar and atmospheric studies, and a 105 kg microsatellite X-sat for imaging applications, built by the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University.
'The launch authorisiation board will review the readiness of the rocket, satellites and ground stations April 16. The countdown will begin April 18 for the scheduled lift-off April 20 at 10.12 a.m.,' the statement said.
The upcoming event will be the space agency's first launch mission after the failure of its geo-satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) Dec 25 due to snapping of 10 connectors within a minute after the 418-tonne rocket took off from the spaceport, carrying an advanced communication satellite.

Declare coastal nuclear sites 'critically vulnerable': Swaminathan

Mumbai, April 9 : India must learn from the tragedy in Japan and declare coastal areas where nuclear power reactors are located as 'critically vulnerable' under the Coastal Regulation Zone Act, eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan said Saturday.
The recent triple tragedy in Japan of earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear disaster had many lessons for a country like India, said Swaminathan, a Rajya Sabha Member.
'There is now public concern about the safety of nuclear power plants located along the coast such as Kalpakkam and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. Besides appropriate steps in reactor design and engineering, we should promote bio-shields comprising mangrove and non-mangrove species in coastal areas where nuclear power plants are located,' he said.
For achieving this purpose, he urged such areas be declared 'critically vulnerable CRZ-1'.
In his address at the 10th convocation of the Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Swaminathan said Japan's tragedy has taught us to explore ways of living in harmony with nature rather than science attempting to overpower it.
Advocating sustainable development, Swaminathan said that if we do not take the environment into account, problems are bound to crop up.

Iran, N.Korea eyed Swiss technology - cable leaks

 
ZURICH  - Iran, Pakistan and North Korea wanted to buy materials for possible military use from Swiss companies, a newspaper reported on Saturday, citing U.S. diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks that criticised Swiss officials for being less than transparent.
Iran was keen on magnetic digital compasses, while Syria was interested in a high-speed camera, North Korea in precision machinery and Pakistan in parts for its missiles, French-language Le Temps said.
The cables from 2006 to 2010 contain assessments by U.S. diplomats in the Swiss capital of Berne on how Swiss authorities, including the State Secretariat for Economics (SECO), were responding to interest in so-called dual-use technologies, which can be used in nuclear pogrammes but also have other applications.
"The Swiss officials are never completely open or frank and have the tendency of giving legalistic responses that are technically correct but sometimes incomplete," the paper quoted the cables as saying.
Antje Baertschi, a spokeswoman for the SECO, declined to comment on the cables and said official secrecy rules meant she was unable to comment on any Swiss companies.

Lawsuits to strengthen Net traffic rules possible

BOSTON  - Public interest groups are keeping the option of lawsuits against the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on the table to fight for stronger Internet "neutrality" rules, an executive at a public interest law firm said on Saturday.
So-called net neutrality rules adopted by the FCC in December would prevent network operators from blocking lawful content but still let them ration access to their networks.
Public interest groups criticized the rules, intended to preserve the openness of the Internet, saying they had been bent too heavily to the will of big industry players like AT&T Inc and Comcast Corp.
"To go and say the FCC should have made stronger rules is something that my organization and others could be prepared to argue," said Matt Wood, associate director of the nonprofit public interest law firm Media Access Project.
Net neutrality advocates speaking at the National Conference for Media Reform, hosted by the public interest group Free Press, were not discouraged by lawmakers' attempts to overturn the rules this week.
House Republicans, in a 240-179 vote, pushed through a measure on Friday disapproving the FCC's rules. The resolution would overturn the order and prevent the FCC from adopting any rules related to it.
"It removes the FCC's jurisdiction in this space," Markham Erickson, an attorney and executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, said on Saturday at the conference.
A similar measure has been offered in the U.S. Senate and has 39 co-sponsors, but the White House said on Monday President Barack Obama's advisers would recommend he veto any such resolution.
MORE LEGAL CHALLENGES
Erickson doubted the measure would ever make it to the president's desk. "My sense is the vote in the Senate will be less of a substantive vote on net neutrality and more of a caucus vote on trying to keep the Democrats aligned as one party voting against this," he said.
He added the Senate would likely take up the measure toward the end of the summer or early fall and vote down the resolution to deter Republicans from making a habit of trying to repeal regulations.
"At its core, the debate about net neutrality is really the notion that users should decide what they want to see and do online," Free Press' policy counsel Aparna Sridhar said.
The Internet traffic rules -- aimed at ensuring consumer access to content such as huge movie files while letting Internet providers manage their networks to prevent congestion -- still face legal challenges.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted on Monday the FCC's motions to dismiss as premature lawsuits filed by Verizon Communications Inc and MetroPCS Communications Inc.
A spokesman for Verizon said the company plans to file a second lawsuit following the traditional process for overturning rulemakings, which requires rules to first be published in the Federal Register.
Wood predicted more lawsuits to come, challenging the substance of the rules as well as the FCC's statutory authority to implement them. He also said that while lawsuits from public interest groups are "very much on the table," it would not be an easy case to make.
"We're certainly looking at judicial avenues, but right now everybody's kind of in a holding pattern" until Federal Register publication, Wood said.

Soon, Twitter and Facebook will be available on your cars!

Sydney, April 10 : Car owners could soon upgrade the software systems on their car, upload apps and even interact with social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
The basis for the cutting-edge technology has just arrived in the updated, Australian-made Ford Territory, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Territory's advanced hardware is the latest in an electronics-led revolution of cars that will increasingly bring smartphone interaction, vehicle-specific apps, cloud computing and even the potential to use tablets such as the iPad as a colour screen for the car.
The updated Territory comes standard with a USB input that the brand says, has ''upgradeable architecture'' and the ability to ''provide updates for customers''.
Ford Australia electrical integration manager Con Papadomanolakis said the system - which will be introduced to the Falcon large car by the end of this year - will more closely mimic the speed of software development in portable electronic devices, such as the iPhone and smartphones from other brands.
He said that there is scope to introduce customised on-board apps as well as internet connectivity and even interactivity with social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
''Certainly, the capability is there and it's something we'll look at in future,'' Papadomanolakis said of social media interactivity and on-board apps.
''[Using] software, you can deploy future functions as they become available. You'll be able to download updates through the USB [input plug in the car],'' he added.

China tells US not to interfere in its human rights issues

Beijing, Apr 10 : China has urged the US to stop interfering in its internal affairs under the pretext of human rights issues.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China and the US have disagreements on human rights issues, about which they are willing to engage in dialogues based on equality and mutual respect.
But Lei said that the US should stop interfering in China's internal affairs with the human rights reports.
"We are firmly against interfering in our internal affairs under the pretext of human rights issues," The Xinhua quoted Lei, as saying.
His comment came after the US State Department released an annual report on human rights around the world and criticized China's human rights status.
China rejected the human rights reports and has said the Chinese government attaches importance to protect human rights.
With continuing economic growth, constantly improving democracy and law system, ever booming cultural development, all ethnic groups in China enjoy extensive freedom and rights, Lei said.
The spokesman urged the US to reflect more on its own human rights issues rather than acting as a "preacher of human rights".

ASEAN, Japan agree to boost cooperation on nuke plant safety

Jakarta, Apr 10 : The Japanese Foreign ministers and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conducted a meeting in Indonesia, aiming to boost the safety of nuclear power plants in the wake of devastating earthquake and tsunami that has triggered the nuclear crisis in Japan.
The two sides "support Japan's resolve to take a leadership role in the international undertaking to improve the safety of nuclear power plants, and its willingness to share experiences learned from the accident with ASEAN member states," said the Japanese ministers.
It was the first time ASEAN has convened a foreign ministerial meeting in response to a disaster that occurred outside the territory of the 10-member grouping, Japanese officials said.
ASEAN acknowledged Japan's assurance to provide information to the international community "with maximum transparency" on the response to the accident involving the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Kyodo reports.
The meeting was conducted as ASEAN member states such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are considering building nuclear power plants to meet the rising demand for electricity.
Indonesia, which was hit by the 2004 Sumatra quake and tsunami, proposed "special meeting" for Japan as ASEAN appreciates Tokyo's "unwavering support" for member states in times of need.

Indonesian woman 'whipped in public over extramarital affairs'

London, April 10 : An Indonesian woman was caned in front of a baying mob after being caught having extramarital affairs.
Irdayanti Mukhtar, 34, received nine lashes by Sharia Police for having a relationship with another man, even though she is said to be in the process of divorcing her husband, reports the Daily Mail.
The harsh punishment was meted out in front of a crowd of 200 people outside the Al Munawwarah Mosque in Jantho, Indonesia.
The jeering crowd recorded the brutal beating on their mobile phones and camcorders and shouted for more beatings in the strict Muslim city.
Mukhtar had been sentenced to the punishment the previous day by a Sharia court where prosecutors said that she was guilty of being in 'close proximity' to another man.
Under Sharia law the offence carries a maximum beating of nine strokes with a cane or a minimum of three.eighbours had seen Mukhtar with the man and had barged in on her while the couple were in her bedroom, although it is unclear what they were actually doing.
The mob then dragged them to the local police station to be charged.
It is believed Sharia Police are also investigating a claim that Mukhtar was molested by the crowd before they took her to be charged.
Shortly after the caning on Friday, Mukhtar collapsed and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
She was one of four people, including the man she was caught with, to be caned for extramarital affairs.

Syrian tanks deploy in force to deter more unrest

AMMAN  - Syrian tanks deployed overnight in flashpoint areas, residents said on Sunday, in an effort to prevent further outbreaks of pro-democracy unrest, intensifying a crackdown on mass protests now in their fourth week.
Once-unthinkable public dissent challenging President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule has spread across Syria despite his attempts to defuse resentment by making some gestures towards reform in the tightly-controlled country of 20 million.
Witnesses said on Saturday security forces had used live ammunition and tear gas to scatter thousands of mourners in the southern city of Deraa, where protests first erupted in March, after a mass funeral for protesters killed on Friday.

Libya rebels fight Gaddafi forces for strategic town

 
AJDABIYAH, Libya  - Libyan rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi battled for control of the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiyah on Sunday after government troops fought their way inside.
Ajdabiyah is the gateway to the rebels' stronghold of Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, and has been the launch point for insurgents during a week-long fight for the oil port of Brega further west.
Rebels said Gaddafi's forces killed at least four rebel fighters in the second day of fighting for Ajdabiyah.
"I saw the four this morning. Their throats were slit and they were all shot through the chest and dumped on the road. Their car was also riddled with bullets," said a rebel, Mohammed Saad, at a checkpoint on the eastern edge of Ajdabiyah.
Insurgent Hassan Bosayna said eight Gaddafi fighters and four rebels were killed in fighting on Saturday, with one of the rebels shot in the forehead by a sniper.
Another rebel, Muftah, said: "There are Gaddafi forces inside Ajdabiyah in sand-coloured Land Cruisers and we know there are Gaddafi snipers in civilian clothing in the city as well."
A Reuters reporter near Ajdabiyah's eastern gate heard shooting and artillery fire and saw plumes of black smoke, suggesting Gaddafi's forces had pushed towards the centre.
The mostly untrained rebels have tried to reorganise and re-equip but were unable to hold ground last week against Gaddafi's better-armed forces in the fight for Brega.

'Scared' Musharraf dumps plan to return to Pakistan

 
Islamabad, April 10: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has abandoned his plans of returning to Pakistan from self-exile in Britain after the Pakistani military leadership refused to provide him extra security to counter multiple threats to his life.
Musharraf, who launched his own political party All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) in October 2010, has claimed several times that he would return to lead the party and contest the next elections.
Musharraf's associates said the former president has been seeking guarantees of security from the current military leadership beyond that to which he is entitled to as a former president.
"He is scared ... naturally, the level of threat he faces is much higher than the usual security. That's why he wanted to be dead sure that enemies couldn't get him if he comes back," The Express Tribune quoted a friend of Musharraf, as saying on the condition of anonymity.
"And of course who else, other than the military, the army, can provide that sort of security," the person added.
But Musharraf's hopes faded when the current hierarchy of the Pakistan military cold-shouldered his demands for extra security to spearhead his politics in Pakistan.
"It looks they (military generals) are not interested in him and his political designs anymore ... it is not their tradition to support a former chief's political gamble ... because they are of no use," commented another associate on possible reasons for which the APML leader might have been denied the extra security.
Al Qaeda, which operates in Pakistan's tribal areas with its local partners, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been on the hunt for Musharraf.
The former general was twice targeted by Al Qaeda's 313 brigade and the Amjad Farooqi group of the Punjabi Taliban even when he was the president.
"And now he can be an easy prey for them ... they might still want to get him whenever possible," said another friend of Musharraf.

More than 1,000 defy Egypt army order to quit square

 
CAIRO  - More than 1,000 protestors ignored an army order to leave Cairo's main square on Sunday, taking their calls for a quick move to civilian rule and a deeper purge of corrupt officials into a third day.
Barbed wire blocked roads into Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11.
Protesters cried "revolution, revolution" and brandished an effigy of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council now ruling Egypt and is also defence minister.
"What is wanted is a civilian council," read one slogan. Another said: "Topple the Minister of Defence."
Medical sources said 13 men were wounded by gunfire and two had died on Friday night during the biggest rally since Feb. 18, when millions turned out across Egypt to celebrate Mubarak's downfall.
In scenes reminiscent of the protests that brought down Mubarak, soldiers and police used tasers and batons to try to drive the protesters out of Tahrir.
After failing to remove all of them, the army backed out of the square.
There was little security presence in the square on Sunday morning. A burnt out vehicle crouched as a reminder of the violence and men were sweeping rubbish into piles.

Egyptians protest, defy army bid to disperse them

 
CAIRO - About 2,000 Egyptians defied soldiers who tried to disperse a protest overnight in Cairo's Tahrir Square and vowed on Saturday to keep demonstrating until former President Hosni Mubarak was tried and other demands met.
Some protesters, angry at the army's use of tasers and batons to drive them out of Tahrir overnight, hurled rocks at a smouldering army truck. Two other army vehicles were burned out. Soldiers were not in the central square area on Saturday.
After a protest by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians during the day on Friday, the army surrounded the square to clear it for the curfew from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Gunshots echoed around the square during the night as the army clashed with protesters.
Protesters in the rock-strewn square showed off casings of live rounds they said were used. One demonstrator pointed to a pool of blood. In one street near the square, a Reuters witness counted about a dozen trucks carrying troops lined up.

LJP for CBI probe into alleged embezzlement of public money

Patna, Apr 10 : Alleging rampant corruption in Bihar under the NDA rule, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) today said there should be a CBI probe in the "loot of Rs 407 crore by various departments."
"The CBI should investigate the loot of Rs 407 crore by 23 departments under the NDA regime as "exposed by the CAG in its latest report," LJP National General Secretary Satyanand Sharma and the party''s Principal General Secretary Raghvendra Singh Kushwaha told reporters here.
The NDA government could not evade responsibility for corruption and loot of public money this time as 935 cases of embezzlement of public money, out of 1021 cases referred by the CAG, had taken place since it came to power in 2005, Kushwaha said.
The LJP claimed there had been spate in atrocities against the dalits as proved by the firing on people of Mushar community in Murlichak locality in Jagdev path here by the ''builders goons'' last week in which a dalit woman was killed and four others injured.
The dalits residing in various parts of the state capital and elsewhere in the state were living in constant fear as the land grabbers, stated to be close to the ruling coalition, were trying to capture their properties under the patronage of political masters, the LJP leaders alleged.
Demanding action for prevention of atrocities against the dalits, the LJP asked the state to set up SC/ST police stations in all districts as well as special courts to try the cases.

Back words by actions, Pranab tells Advani on Lokpal Bill

Thiruvnanthapuram, Apr 10 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today hit back at BJP leader L K Advani over remarks against the government on Lokpal Bill, asking why NDA failed to get it enacted while in power and said UPA was ready to do away with referring the bill to Parliament''s Standing Committee as per norms if the Opposition agreed.
"What had Advani done? What prevented him from getting the Lokpal bill passed when he was the Home Minister when the NDA was in power?" Mukherjee asked and asserted that UPA Government was ready to get the Lokpal Bill passed in the next session of Parliament if the Opposition cooperated with it.
Responding to queries on Advani''s demand that the Lokpal Bill should be introduced and passed in the next session of Parliament itself, Mukherjee said, "We are glad to get it passed if the opposition co-operated for it.
"I really welcome the suggestion. BJP is the principal opposition party. If he (Advani) prevails upon his members we will be too glad to get it passed without sending it to the Standing Committee. But instead of making announcements from the platform, let him ensure that his members in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will co-operate with us," Mukherjee told reporters at the KPCC headquarters here.
Attacking Advani for dubbing the UPA government as "the most corrupt ever seen by independent India", he sought to know what the BJP-led NDA Government had done for the enactment of the Lokpal Bill when it was in power from 1998 to 2004.
On yoga guru Baba Ramdev''s criticism about nomination of father-son lawyer duo Shanti and Prashant Bhushan as civil society members in the Lokpal drafting panel, he said these names were proposed by activist Anna Hazare himself.
"The agreement between the campaigners and the government was that the the nominees of the panel would be decided on 50:50 ratio. It was agreed that the government nominees would be selected by the Prime Minister and the civil group representatives by Hazare himself," he sai

Prime minister is alert and bold: Pranab Mukherjee

 
Chennai, April 9 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday rejected the opposition's description of Manmohan Singh as 'weak' and asserted that the prime minister was very alert and proactive.
Releasing the Congress party's poll manifesto four days ahead of the assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Mukherjee said: 'The prime minister is alert, sensitive and bold, and takes appropriate actions.'
Refuting the suggestion that the massive nationwide support received by social activist Anna Hazare for his fast had anything to do with the scams - 2G spectrum allotment, Commonwealth Games and others - during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule, Mukherjee said 'the investigations are on and the law will take its own course'.
According to him, the Lokpal Bill was not made into a law for the past several decades due to the absence of political agreement on its provisions.
He said several proposals have been made, like bringing the Prime Minister's Office and the judiciary under the Lokpal Bill.

Google Nexus S 4G visits the Feds

It is always an exciting day in the life of a new handset when it makes that trip to Washington D.C. to meet the FCC. The Samsung manufactured Google Nexus S 4G was the handset garnering all that attention the other day. Officially, it was model number SPH-D720 that made the trip to the nation's capital and the sketch of the phone along with the FCC documents reveals that to be the Google Nexus S 4G.

With the FCC paperwork indicating that the device being tested is a CDMA model that uses WiMAX, that points to a phone being offered by Sprint. And the next 4G phone to be offered by the nation's third largest carrier will be the Google Nexus S 4G.

Sure, other Android phones have 4G connectivity, but the beauty of the Google Nexus S 4G is that it is "Pure Android" which should put it near the front of the line for the next Android OS build after the included Gingerbread. In fact, running stock Android should allow the phone to always have the most up to date build of Google's open source OS.

As for the launch of the phone, we recently reported that April 24th appears to be a likely date to expect the phone's release by Sprint, with a price of $199.99 expected for those signing a two-year contract.

source: FCC via AndroidCentral

All signs point to the Google Nexus S 4G getting thumbs up from the FCC prior to a possible April 24th launch on Sprint

T-Mobile to introduce unlimited plans on April 13th?

A leaked screenshot reveals the intention of T-Mobile to add an unlimited voice, text and data plan to the carrier's lineup. Starting April 13th, the "Truly Unlimited Data + Talk + Text" plans are expected to be available. Even More customers who buy a subsidized phone and agree to a 2 year contract will be able to buy a $79 per month plan. Those bringing their own compatible phone and have no contract to honor, can sign up for just $59.

There is a catch. Remember, the word "unlimited" has nothing to do with speed. If you exceed 2GB of data usage in 1 month, your network speed will be throttled lower. And there is one last thing. The Unlimited plans are good for individual accounts only, no family plans can apply.

source: TmoNews

A leaked screenshot shows that T-Mobile is expected to introduce "Unlimited" plans on April 13th

Exceed 2GB of data usage in a month and your speed will be throttled lower

Apple investigating connectivity issues with the Verizon iPad 2

Just the other day, we reported about the problem that some owners of the Verizon version of the Apple iPad 2 were having getting a 3G connection to Verizon's network. The problem was reported on Apple's discussion forum where over 80 replies discussed the problem. All of the complaining apparently has reached the ears of those at Cupertino responsible for fixing the problem. A spokesman for Apple told All Things Digital, "We are aware that a small number of iPad 2 customers have experienced connectivity issues with the Verizon 3G network and we are investigating it. "No problems with connectivity have been reported with the AT&T model of the tablet.

The best news for those Verizon customers having problems connecting to Big Red's 3G pipeline with the iPad 2 would be if the connection failure is due to the device's OS. That is because an upgrade to  4.3.2 is expected in the next few weeks. Along with fixing some bugs and some security issues, the upgrade could solve the connectivity problem.

source: AllThingsDigital via  AppleInsider