Russian officials Visiti Dubai Municipality

DUBAI - A delegation from Moscow Municipality, which visited Dubai Municipality recently, was briefed about the activities of the Buildings and Housing Department in the Municipality.On behalf of the Director General of Dubai Municipality, Mohammed Abdullah Al Tawhidi, Director of Buildings and Housing Department received the Russian delegation, led by Vladimir Iris, Senior Deputy Mayor of Moscow city.

Tawhidi, who welcomed the delegation to Dubai, briefed the visitors about the history of Dubai Municipality and the different activities undertaken by it. He described the way Municipality serves the nationals as well as the expatriates in different fields through the various departments of the civic body, headed by Qassim Sultan, Director General.Tawhidi also briefed the delegation about the projects implemented by the Municipality, whose chairman is His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry.He also told the delegation about the important tasks undertaken by the Buildings and Housing Department through its different sections such as Government Housing Section, Building Control Section and the Building Licensing Section.

Tawhidi explained the different rules and regulations followed by the Department in this field and the methods for controlling the contractors and consultants who undertake the various construction activities in the city and its different stages.He also answered a number of queries from the members of the Russian delegation, who expressed their appreciation on the overall development witnessed by the country, especially the city of Dubai and the construction boom, urban development and the organised planning of Dubai.

Lab Official who questioned FBI Investigation into the September 11 WTC Colapse Fired

The tower's steel structure which collapsed in the crash was not exposed to 3000 degree celcius temperature required to melt down the structure. Samples collected from the debris was exposed to just 400 degree celcius, said a Lab official who has been since sacked by the company.. Full Report

Scope for 400 Community Radio Stations in the Country: Jaipal Reddy

PARLIAMENTARY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND CULTURE MEETS

Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Culture today said that there is scope for 4000 Community Radio Stations in the country. Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministries of Information & Broadcasting and Culture, Shri Reddy said that Community Radio(CR) has socio-economic and cultural relevance, as it caters to the information and entertainment needs of small communities and the programmes have local flavour. He informed the members that Information & Broadcasting being the nodal Ministry is trying to rationalize and simplify the procedure to facilitate intending organizations/communities, to set up CR stations.

Shri Reddy said that the Ministry is considering to put a time limit for clearance of proposals by the other Ministries involved in the process. The members were informed that the only Community Radio Station set up by the Anna University in Chennai in February 2004 was a success and had been emanating four hours daily programme. As on date a total of 60 applications had been received, of which 38 eligible applications had been sent to the other concerned Ministries for clearance. The members were further informed that letters of intent had been signed in 26 cases and licence agreements signed in 10 cases.

The members were in consensus about the usefulness of the scheme and, therefore, its adoption at a large scale. They, however, expressed concerns about the funding ability of the community/organizations in the far-flung and remote rural areas since the Communities Radio Stations are run on a no-profit basis. Also the restriction of advertisement time @ 4 min/hour leave little chance of generating enough funds to run the station. Some members felt that even the original start –up cost of Rs. 4-10 lakh may not be possible for rural communities and the Government should come out with supporting ways and means to overcome this problem. It was also suggested by members that adequate safeguards may be created to check any misuse of CR Stations. Coming out with a pragmatic solution to the funding problems, one of the members suggested that each MP may fund atleast two Community Radio Stations in his/her constituency from the MPLAD fund.

On the other agenda item, the strengthening of the libraries in the countries, the members felt that there was decreasing interest in libraries by the younger generation and the habit of using libraries need to be inculcated in them. The members who attended the meeting included, S/Shri Dinsha Patel, Dharmendra, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, Hannan Mollah, S. Sudhakar Reddy, Smt. Usha Verma, Bhartruhari Mahtab, P.K. Maheshwari, Vijay J. Darda, E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, Ajay Maroo, Shatrughan Sinha, S.C. Chandran and Sanjay Raut.

NIXI Appointed Registration

Pursuant to the announcement by the Government of the policy on ".in" internet domain registration, the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, has designated and appointed National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI ) as ".in" Registry (.INR) for ".in" country code tope level domain name. Internet Domain Names worldwide have assumed greater significance in recent times with the Internet increasingly being used as an effective medium for commerce, governance, education and communication. The system of registration of Internet Domain Names can facilitate the proliferation of Internet in a country. Many countries have, therefore, adopted liberal and market friendly policies to register large number of Domain Names under their country code, broadly consistent with globally accepted policy and procedures of Domain registration.The NIXI , as ".INR" will implement the policy in accordance with the institutional framework and implementation mechanism contained in the ".in Internet Domain Name Policy Frame Work and Implementation" document dated 28.10.2004 of the DIT.

As part of the new policy, the domain zone .gov.in will be exclusively reserved for registering domain names under Government Departments/Ministries/States and Union Territories, .ac.in and .edu.in will be exclusively reserved for educational institutions and .mil.in will be reserved for Defence organisations. The designated Registrars for the abovementioned zones will be as follows:

Domain Zones

Registrar

.gov.in

National Informatics Centre (NIC)

.ac.in

.edu.in

ERNET India

.mil.in

An organisation nominated by the Ministry of Defence

The internet domain name registration system greatly proliferates the Internet, connecting all ISPs of the country to the National Internet Exchange and is aimed to achieve efficient internet traffic routing and cost reduction, thereby improving the quality of service for the internet users in India. This will also help in increasing the PC penetration and bring cyber connectivity to every citizen. The new policy for .in Domain Name registration covers the following main elements:

* Unlimited generic .in registration will be offered at 2nd level of Domain Name and also at the 3rd level in the globally popular zones of Domain registration, e.g., .co.in, .net.in and .org.in.

* Registrations will be carried out by Registrars to be appointed by the .in Registry through an open process of selection on the basis of transparent eligibility criteria.

* Registrations will be offered by the Registrars following a competitive pricing policy and best market practices. The minimum fee charged by the .in Registry will be Rs. 250 and Rs. 500 per year for registrations at 3rd and 2nd levels respectively.

* The .in Registry will adopt Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and will be assisted by a Dispute Resolution Committee to resolve disputes involving the Registry. It will also appoint Arbitrators to address disputes involving the Registrars and the registrants.

* The entire process of registration will be online and should be completed in less than 24 hours of the receipt of the request from a registrant.

* The .in Registry will announce a ‘Sunrise period’ of 90 days to enable registered trademark owners, registered companies and owners of intellectual property having a legitimate interest in protecting their brand to secure registration of their Domain Names after due verification.

* The zones for Government, Military and Educational Institutions will be reserved for exclusive use by the respective organizations. Registrations for these will be offered by NIC, an organization nominated by the Ministry of Defence, and ERNET, respectively.

* The .in Registry will have the authority to deny or suspend any registration if it conflicts with the sovereign national interest or public order.

* The names of Constitutional Authorities, States/Union Territories and specific names used by the .in Registry will constitute the reserved category of names, which will not be available to the general public.

Prime Minister calls up Pakistan Prime Minister to Welcome him to India

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Mr. Shaukat Aziz on telephone here today evening and welcomed him and Mrs. Aziz to New Delhi. Dr. Singh said that he was looking forward to their meeting on Wednesday. He also conveyed his greetings to Pakistan President Mr. Pervez Musharraf. Dr. Singh told Mr. Aziz that the world has “lived through times where what was simply unacceptable in international relations has become a norm. Who could say some twenty years ago that the Berlin Wall would be a thing of the past.” Dr. Singh said that his “hope and prayer” is that “we can set in motion a similar process in this sub-continent. I earnestly and sincerely will work to that end.” Reciprocating warmly to Mr. Singh’s call, Mr. Aziz conveyed President Musharraf’s “warm regards” and said, “I know that having you here at the helm of affairs is a source of strength to all of us.”