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Looks like Google’s patience has been tested enough. First, in the pursuit of money, Google overlooked its “see no evil, do no evil” policy.  Now after being repeatedly getting hacked by the Chinese government and its army of hackers, Google seems to be realising that it was in bed with the devil by agreeing to the Chinese government’s demands of censoring content.

Its been just a matter of time when Google fell afoul of the Chinese authorities. When it comes to the Chinese, there are no friends or foes.  Just like the Americans, everyone and everything is just a means to the end.  Therefore am not surprised that inspite of Google agreeing to be censored, its servers and data were being hacked by the Chinese government.

Not that it affects the Chinese internet community anymore.  They use Baidu, Sohu etc for their search, email and other services.  Google was just another player in the market.  As for Google, pulling out will mean that it can occupy the moral high ground.  And also save its data and servers from getting hacked.  For most of its businesses came from American companies and they wouldn’t have taken kindly to news that would imply that Google’s services were getting repeatedly hacked.  That would have been bad publicity for Google.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Read the full article here

Pictures source: Richswebdesign & Atlasshrugs

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Time changes, people change, economies change and the powers wielded by countries change.  There was a time when Britain ruled half the world, today its nowhere.  There was a time when the US was the undisputed economic champion, today that aura is on the wane.

Its in these changing times we wonder if a group that consists of countries like Italy, Canada etc wield any power when the world is going throught the worst recession (courtesy the developed countries).  Of course the US, Japan and Germany are also a part of the G-7 group of countries, but do they really have any clout?  The G-7 as usual came out with a statement asking China to re-value it currency and hardly anyone cared a hoot.

After decades in charge, the club of rich, industrialised nations is fast losing sway as a share of global economic power shifts towards big developing countries. That was a lesson of the Group of Seven’s meeting in Istanbul at the weekend, when the absence of China showed the G7 could no longer tackle the world’s economic problems on its own.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the G7 implored China in a diplomatically worded statement to let the Chinese currency rise, as they have done for several years. But China showed no sign of complying, and the G7 spent much of its time to discussing whether it should meet less often, with less pomp and perhaps with fewer public statements.

G7 statements have all too often “interested nobody because there’s no follow-up most of the time”, said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund.

Read the full article here

The G-7 or the group of Industrialized countries comprise

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States

The G-20 comprises of

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,  South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Union

A G-7 official hit the nail on the head when he mentioned

“The moment you have to tell people you are still relevant, it’s because you are not relevant,”

Above picture source: Astrocrush

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South Korea and India signed an ambitious free trade agreement Friday that slashes tariffs, encourages investment and promotes exchange of skills in a bid to double fast-growing commerce between two of Asia’s biggest economies over the next decade.

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma signed what the two sides formally called a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, but which in reality is a free trade deal.

Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea

“This is a historic occasion,” Sharma said at a joint press conference with Kim.

Kim said it was South Korea’s first free trade accord with one of the fast-growing BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China. Sharma said it was India’s first comprehensive trade agreement with a major economy. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $15.6 billion dollars last year, according to South Korea, and has been steadily growing. In 2002, it amounted to just $2.6 billion.

“We will be able to have access to one-sixth of the global market,” Kim said, adding the agreement “will open a significant opportunity as well as strengthen our relationship with India into the future.”

Sharma said the economic relationship between the two countries “has enormous potential to grow” and could double over the next 10 years.

“That’s what we will be aiming at,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

The deal calls for abolishing or cutting tariffs for 90 percent of Indian goods in terms of value and 85 percent of South Korean products and increases investment opportunities, Seoul’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement. It also allows for greater human resources exchange between the countries, the ministry said, paving the way for Indian computer and software experts as well as English teachers to gain access to the South Korean market.

“India has great competitiveness in terms of its IT professionals and so they will be able to come to Korea to contribute to the growth of the national economy in Korea,” Kim said. “English teachers from India will be able to contribute to the development of education in Korea as well. “

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

Major South Korean corporations such as Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai Motor Co., LG Electronics Inc. and steelmaker Posco are already active investors in India. Negotiations for the deal began in February 2006.

Though the agreement has been signed, several steps remain on the South Korean side for it to take effect, such as ratification by the National Assembly, according to the ministry. India, however, has completed all necessary procedures for the deal to take effect, the ministry said. The latest deal highlights South Korea’s national strategy of aggressively pursuing free trade agreements.

Seoul signed a free trade deal with the United States in 2007, though it has yet to be ratified by legislatures in both countries amid political sensitivities and suspicions regarding free trade among some lawmakers. Seoul also has a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and said last month it has concluded negotiations with the European Union. South Korea’s biggest trading partners include China, the EU, the U.S., ASEAN and Japan.

Above news source: AFP

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At a time when we are recovering from the disappointment of the most hyped team in T-20 World Cup, India’s crashing out in the super 8s.  Here’s some news to cheer up.  Saina Nehwal became the first ever Indian to win a Super Series tournament when she won the Indonesian Open badminton title with a victory over Lin Wang of China

Ace woman shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after she clinched the Indonesian Open title with a stunning victory over higher ranked Chinese Lin Wang in Jakarta.

Saina clinched her maiden Super Series title beating Wang 12-21 21-18 21-9 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller that lasted 49 minutes. Her triumph on Sunday is the best ever performance by any Indian woman and at par with All England Championship titles won by Prakash Padukone and her current coach Pullela Gopichand.

In the thrilling final, world number eight Saina came from behind to outsmart world number three Wang and avenge her last week’s Singapore Open Super Series loss to the same rival.

Saina took time to get into the groove as she struggled to gauge the gameplan of Wang in the first game. Wang opened a 4-9 lead and rode on her smashes and better net play o pocket the first game as Saina was left to do the catchup act.

But the Indian ace rallied her way back in the second game. Saina levelled the score at 5-5 and then moved together with her Chinese rival till 17-17 before surging ahead to pocket the second game 21-18.

News source here.  Image source here.

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Shouldn’t these have been done earlier considering the fact that much of the products that originate from China are not only spurious, of inferior quality,  harmful to humans and the security of the nation (especially the cellphones with no IMEI numbers).

The government on Wednesday put quality restrictions on mobile phones, dairy products and toys in a measure aimed mainly to block their imports from China and which may trigger another round of wrangling at the WTO between two of Asia’s biggest economies.

The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade said mobile handsets without the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number, which helps authorities to track the sale and use of the phones, cannot be imported from now on. An estimated eight lakh such phones come into the country every month from China. These are unbranded and cost a lot less than the branded variety.

Security agencies had raised concern over the use of these phones, many of which, they said, were being used by terrorists to set off bombs and communicate among themselves. Since these sets do not have the 15-digit IMEI number, or cloned numbers, the authorities find it difficult to track the sale or usage. Approximately 30 million such phones are in use at present.

The DGFT also banned till January 2010 the import of toys that do not meet international safety standards and norms. This move too will hit imports of toys mainly from China and several other countries. India had blocked import of toys from China in January on health grounds, after concerns over their safety were raised in developed markets. But the restriction was eased later after Beijing questioned the restrictions on the ground that New Delhi did not put such curbs on toys from other countries.

More than a dozen countries in Asia and Africa had also banned milk and dairy product imports from China, while several others had recalled the products suspected to be contaminated. India, world’s largest milk producer, does not import milk products from China. The ban is being seen as a preventive measure.

Meanwhile, the government has asked its missions in the African region to step up vigil against bootlegged drugs being sent to those markets with fake `Made in India’ tag. The commerce department last week lodged a complaint with the Chinese embassy here and the Indian embassy in Beijing and sought action against the impostors.

The Indian action comes after Nigeria’s pharma regulator reported the detention of a large consignment of fake drugs for treating malaria. The consignment carried `Made in India’ labels but was produced in China. A laboratory test of a recent consignment of anti-malaria drugs Maloxine and Amalar tablets proved these were fake. Had the drugs flowed into the market, about 642,000 lives would have been affected.

/Newslink/

Hope the ban stays long enough.

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