- Ethiopian Government announces US $2.2 billion budget
- Church appeal for conflict IDPs in western Upper Nile of Sudan
- Korea donates 1,000 footballs to Ethiopian children
- Alcohol and drug abuse on the rise in Mogadishu
- Jordan Telecom to Hold Convergence 2002 in July
- ICICI Home Finance reaches $15 billion loan outstanding
- IBM's PC eXperience in Pakistan, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan
- Middle East Trade show organiser in British Honours List
Police Training Network formed linking state police
by M.P.Prasannakumar, KM Correspondent.
Indian Courts go high tech. New Delhi: June 25, 2002.The Union Home Secretary inaugurated the Police Training Network (POTNET) designed and developed by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in New Delhi today. The Network first of its kind in the police set up of the country will be linking all the Police training Colleges/Police Academies of the States/CPOs with each other. Under the e-Governance scheme this will be an important Network that will link all Police Training Colleges/Academies of States and CPOs to establish a 'Police Training Network'.
The POTNET which has been developed by the Computer section of the Hyderabad based Academy has eight features. It has a common police training website where details of all Police Training Colleges/Academies can be found, it has facilities for uploading/downloading the training material and data, group and individual e-mail facilities supported by the Academy's messenger server and this Network also enables presentation broadcasting as well as online chat service amongst the Police Training Institutions of the Country.
There is a built in search feature for searching various data from the database of this network. This network also has a Discussion Group where lively discussions can be had on the electronic bulletin boards on any topic of professional interest. Finally, this network also provides access to the library database of SVP NPA, Hyderabad. Speaking on the occasion the Home Secretary, Kamal Pande said what is important is its better utilization in the day-to-day work of the Police set up of the country. He also emphasized on the feedback and updating of information in the POTNET.
Upgradation of computerization of all the High Courts on par with the level of computerization in the Supreme Court has been taken up in the current financial year 2002-2003. Although computerization in almost all High Courts has been done by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) long back, except in the three newly created High Courts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, there is need to upgrade the level of their computerization. The upgradation of computerization in all the High Courts is intended to enable them to start accepting electronic filing of documents, listing of cases and providing copies of court orders through the internet or e-mail.
Church appeal for conflict IDPs in western Upper Nile of Sudan
NAIROBI, 25 June (IRIN) - Church World Service (CWS), an umbrella group of Christian organisations in the US, has appealed for urgent support for relief efforts to assist thousands of families displaced in Rubkona County, southern Sudan, by government military action in the oil-rich area.
CWS said in a statement on Monday that it was helping partner organisations in the area to assist some 4,000 families (comprising 3,000 internally displaced and 1,000 host families) around Chotchar and Touc.
The flat scrub of the Upper Nile region offered no protection from the government's aerial bombardments or attacks by helicopters, it said, and people had crossed many small rivers and swamps in search of whatever limited security they could find.
The government has launched "a massive dry-season offensive in the oilfields [including western Upper Nile]... aided by thousands of its forces, redeployed as a result of the Nuba Mountains ceasefire [in Southern Kordofan]," John Prendergast, co-director for Africa of the International Crisis Group, told a US Congressional hearing on 5 June.
Khartoum has consistently denied that it is targeting civilian populations in oil areas, saying that it aims to make the areas safe for oil operations, and has accused the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) of escalating military operations and causing the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Unity State/western Upper Nile.
The internally displaced people (IDPs) who are being reached in western Upper Nile are receiving blankets, family-sized mosquito nets, cooking pots, tarpaulins for makeshift shelters, fishing equipment and hand tools, according to CWS.
Families hosting the IDPs were also receiving mosquito nets and fishing equipment, while CWS's local partners were bring trained on ways of improving their capacity to respond to this and future emergencies, it said."Support is urgently needed for these relief and recovery efforts," the agency added. CWS is the relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations, and works with indigenous organisations in more than 80 countries "to support sustainable self-help development, refugee and emergency needs, and help address the root causes of poverty and powerlessness".[http://www.churchworldservice.org/]
CWS called on the public to urge the US to stay involved in Sudan as long as human rights continued being violated, and to continue in its search for peace. It also urged people to urge the US Senate leadership to push forward with the Sudan Peace Act so that the discussion of capital market sanctions could move forward.
Humanitarian, religious and human rights groups have repeatedly spoken of a link between oil exploration and extraction in Upper Nile, and alleged a "scorched earth" policy by the government to depopulate oil areas and make them safe for oil production.They have also claimed that oil revenues had enabled the Sudanese government to double its military expenditure in the last two years, escalating the violence in the 19-year-old civil war.
Numerous speakers suggested at the 5 June US Congressional hearing on Sudan that the US should move forward with this act (currently languishing in legislative limbo) in order to provide leverage on oil companies involved in Sudan, and thus on the Sudanese government, to engage meaningfully in a peace process.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter H. Kansteiner said the White House was opposed to sections of the proposed legislation which would sanction access oil companies active in Sudan, because it would set "a precedent for political interference in US capital markets".American companies are already barred from investing in Sudan, which remains on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The Sudanese ambassador to the US, Khidr Harun Ahmad, has said pressure groups intent on distorting Sudan's image are promoting the Sudan Peace Act.Sanctions against international firms engaged in oil production in Sudan would "eliminate even the modest gains in the standard of living of ordinary Sudanese, both north and south", he said, in a note for the record of the US Congress hearing.(keralamonitor.com)
Jordan Telecom to Hold Convergence 2002 in July
1200 invited business and government leaders to attend Leading technology conference in Jordan on July 16th
Amman, 25th June 2002: keralamonitor.com Convergence 2002 is to take place in Amman, Jordan, on the 16th July 2002. The largest technology event in the country, the Convergence conference is to be held under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, and will be hosted by Jordan Telecom Group in partnership with the Jordanian Ministry of ICT (information and communications technology) and Intaj, the Jordanian technology association.
“We are delighted to be able to announce the second Convergence event in Amman, and we are looking forward to sharing the new ideas, approaches and opportunities that have been opened up by the tremendous advancements we have seen in Jordan’s telecommunications and information technology sectors over the past year,” said Dr. Shabib Ammari, Chairman of Jordan Telecom.
Held under the banner “Building business on communications services”, Convergence 2002 aims to showcase the wide range of technology-based business opportunities that are opening up in Jordan today, as well as to examine and assess some of the challenges facing Jordan’s business community. A one-day event, the conference is to feature a keynote session, three panel sessions and a number of demonstrations and showcases of leading-edge technology services and innovations.
“The growth in awareness of technology at all levels is vitally important to us,” said Dr. Fawaz H. Zu’bi, Minister of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT). “Convergence is a part of the process of developing a deeper knowledge of the role of information and communications technologies in business and therefore is an important event for us. We’re committed to working together with Int@j and Jordan Telecom to ensure that we continue to build a more dynamic and vibrant ICT sector in Jordan.”
“We’re excited at the prospect of working with Jordan Telecom on the second Convergence event in Jordan,” said Ra’ed Bilbessi, CEO of Intaj. “We’re looking forward to communicating the excitement we feel for Jordan’s move to build on the opportunities that technology opens up to Jordanian businesses. We’ve seen new legislation, new investments and major new steps forward in realising the vision encapsulated in Jordan’s REACH national technology strategy, and Convergence is a great platform for sharing the results of these important moves with Jordan’s stakeholders.”
Jordan Telecom held the first Convergence conference, Convergence 2001, in Amman in February 2001 in order to mark the launch of the Jordanian national high-speed data network. The event was attended by well over 1,000 delegates from the Jordanian government and business community. Convergence has now been established as an annual event. (keralamonitor.com)
Ethiopian Government announces US $2.2 billion budgetADDIS ABABA, 25 June (IRIN) - The Ethiopian Council of Ministers has approved a US $2 billon budget for the year of 2003 – an increase of four percent over last year. The money will be used for salaries for all government employees and for massive investment in the country’s crumbling infrastructure.
Projects to be financed include those for poverty reduction and capacity building across the country. More than half the total – some $1.3 billion – is allocated to the federal budget, the balance to be channelled to the regions towards boosting basic services like health and education.
"This is the federal government budget," a spokesman from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) told IRIN. The regions would also collect their own taxes, he added, but subsidies to the regions had increased by almost 20 percent. He said the budget also included funds from foreign loans and grants – totalling over 6 billion Ethiopian birr (around $720 million). Over $1.2 billion of the total budget would be raised through federal taxes.
The spokesman said the budget had expanded due to increased costs and demands on the government. "The demand for expenditure is always higher than what we have," he added. "We are raising extra money from domestic sources and external sources." He also confirmed that since the end of the bloody two-year conflict with Eritrea, funds were once again pouring into the country.
Nonetheless, Ethiopia continues to face massive economic problems. Almost half its 65 million population live on less than a dollar a day. The finance ministry also revealed that over the past decade about $7.6 billion in aid and loans had reached the country from international organisations and the donor community. The money had been spent on the agricultural, health, food security, infrastructure development and capacity building sectors, as well as democracy and good governance.
The USA, Japan, Italy, Sweden, German and the Netherlands were among the major donor countries to Ethiopia, having provided in total about $2.5 billion. International organisations like the EU, African Development Bank and UN agencies had provided huge sums totalling $5.1 billion in loans and aid, the ministry added. Foreign loans and grants secured during the past decade had been equivalent to between six and 19.9 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.
According to MOFED about 71 percent of the grants and loans has been utilised. The ministry also said that over $900 million of the country’s debt had been cancelled or rescheduled during the 10 years. Under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, some $1.9 billion in debt relief over the next 20 years had been achieved. Ethiopia’s debt is estimated at $5.5 billion. More than 13 per cent of the country’s budget is spent on debt servicing – twice what it spends on health care.The draft budget prepared by the MOFED has been accepted by the Council of Ministers, but has yet to be endorsed by the country’s 548-member Council of People's Representatives which meets on 8 July.(keralamonitor.com)
IBM's PC eXperience Hits the Road in Pakistan, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan
Dubai, UAE, 25 June 2002 - IBM's 'eXperience Roadshow' is visiting the Middle East markets with a series of information-sharing sessions for its business partners to brief them on IBM's latest PC-based solutions with their outstanding manageability, wireless, security and performance capabilities that address the business needs of their customers.The roadshow which kicked off in Pakistan last month, and visiting Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, will have the next stop of its tour in Egypt on July 1st, 2002.At the 'eXperience Roadshow', IBM will demonstrate the new technologies in its latest range of the stylish ThinkPad notebooks and NetVista desktops, as well as having a special focus on the xSeries range of eServers and their unique Enterprise X-Architecture, which has revolutionised the Intel server marketplace.Business partners will also be briefed on the latest updates on IBM's Project eLiza initiative, IBM's blueprint for developing computers that can monitor themselves and adapt to changing conditions.(keralamonitor.com)
Korea donates 1,000 footballs to Ethiopian children
ADDIS ABABA, 25 June (IRIN) - World Cup host Korea donated 1,000 footballs to Ethiopian children on Tuesday and said soccer could play a role in fighting HIV/AIDS. The children were handed the footballs by the Korean ambassador, Kim Chang-soo, who said the World Cup should promote the rights of young people.
Gizaw Teklemariam, president of the Ethiopian Olympic Committee and Football Federation, said the donation would help keep young people healthy. "This is especially important at this time when our young people are facing the bitter reality of the HIV/AIDS epidemic," he said. In Ethiopia, the virus has orphaned one million children and infected more than 250,000.
Ibrahim Jabr, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in Ethiopia, said football could play a key role in fighting the virus. "With determination and hard work, it is possible to win against great odds," he said. "This is an important message for us in Ethiopia. This country faces developmental challenges. Football is an important factor to build self-esteem among the young people of Ethiopia, and hope for a better future.
"For Ethiopia, there is no alternative to winning the war against HIV/AIDS, and there is a role for football in this effort. Young players have the potential to become examples of successful lifestyle choices, upholding the dignity of the human spirit and celebrating being healthy."
Youth soccer development teams being set up across Ethiopia will use the footballs, which come with 20 pumps. Korea used the occasion of the World Cup to sponsor the World Festival for Children along with UNICEF.
Ambassador Kim said the Korean football team could act as an inspiration to overcoming great odds. He said by working as a team they had managed to defeat nations that rely too heavily on individuals. Wintana Tadese, 16, who received the balls on behalf of Ethiopian children, said football kept young people active.(keralamonitor.com)
Alcohol and drug abuse on the rise in Mogadishu
NAIROBI, 25 June (IRIN) - Alcohol and drug abuse are rapidly increasing and claiming lives in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, according to humanitarian and official sources.The increase was related to the large number of unemployed youths and freelance gunmen in the city, "who have nothing better to do", one aid worker told IRIN on Tuesday.Echoing that view, Mogadishu police chief Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdid told IRIN he believed that "nearly 50 percent of all the crimes committed in Mogadishu are either drug- or alcohol-related".
"Recently we have noticed an increase in the number of establishments selling alcohol," he added.Qeybdid said two kinds of alcohol were being sold in the city - a locally concocted brew, popularly known as alaq, and imported beers and spirits.
He noted that alaq, which contained dangerous chemicals, and was mostly consumed by the poor and uneducated youths, constituted a major problem. "We have had people die from it, and people who were made blind by it," he said. Qeybdid admitted that the police were incapable of containing the problem. "We lack the necessary training and equipment to deal with this phenomenon," he said.
The main problem in dealing with alcohol traders was their ability to move their establishments around, he added. "We close one and immediately they open somewhere else." However, the police chief went on to say said that his force was having more success in fighting the war against drugs. Over the past three months, he said, it had arrested at least 20 people and confiscated 2,000 kg of cannabis in the city.
Areas around the Bakara market (Mogadishu's main market) and the districts of Hamar Jajab, Hodan, Hamar Weyn and Shangani in south Mogadishu, accounted for most of the alcohol- and drug-related problems, the humanitarian source told IRIN. He also singled out Jaqshid and parts of Karan in the north as areas with such problems. Qeybdid said the police needed assistance if they were to succeed in their fight against the menace, and appealed to the international donor community to help with training, drugs and alcohol awareness education, and equipment. (keralamonitor.com)
ICICI Home Finance reaches $15 billion loan outstanding
Mumbai: June 25, 2002. CRISIL has assigned a "AAA (so)" (pronounced 'Triple A structured obligation') rating to Series I and Series II Mortgaged Backed Pass Through Certificates (Series I and Series II PTCs) issued under the securitisation programme of ICICI Home Finance Company Limited (ICICI HFC). The PTCs are backed by mortgage loans originated by ICICI HFC.
The ratings indicate the highest degree of certainty regarding timely payment of the financial obligations under both the instruments. The ratings are based on the strength of the cash flows from a selected pool of 1,354 contracts having future receivables of Rs.457.2 million for Series I PTCs and 285 contracts having future receivables of Rs.318.1 million for Series II PTCs, the credit enhancement in the form of cash reserve to the extent of Rs. 45.7 million for Series I PTCs and Rs. 30.2 million for Series II PTCs and subordination of opening overdues of the respective pools. The transaction is further strengthened by the payment mechanism designed to ensure full and timely disbursement of the financial obligations, and the legal opinion indicating the true sale of receivables by ICICI HFC.
Both the pools backing Series I PTCs and Series II PTCs have a door to door maturity of 10 years and are of high credit quality as the pools have an adequate level of seasoning and have been drawn from individual residential housing loan portfolio, which is relatively better performing compared to loans to builders. The pools have low average maturity of less than 4 years and the interest rate profile of the underlying loans is relatively favourable thereby reducing the risk due to prepayments and conversions. The instrument has a premium structure whereby the identified pools of receivables will be sold to the Indian Residential MBS Trust (Series I and II), which will then issue Series I and Series II PTCs to investors aggregating to the discounted value of the future cash flows from the respective pools.
ICICI HFC is a 100% subsidiary of ICICI Bank. The principal business of ICICI HFC is to provide financial assistance for acquisition of houses, buildings and any form of real estate and also for the purpose of construction, renovation, development or repair of such houses or buildings or any form of real estate. As on 31st March 2002 the total housing loans outstanding for ICICI HFC amount to Rs. 15.82 billion. For the year ended 31st March 2002, ICICI HFC registered a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 102.63 million.
CRISIL has so far rated 12 issuances of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) amounting to a total volume of about Rs.9,250 million beginning March, 2000. The earlier rated MBS have been backed by mortgages originated by HDFC, LIC Housing Finance, Can Fin Homes and Citibank. In the period since the placement of these MBS, the mortgage pools have been performing very well with high levels of collection efficiencies thus vindicating the position of residential housing loans at relatively low risk profile levels in the risk continuum of receivables encompassing, inter alia, commercial vehicles, construction equipment and car loan receivables.
Middle East Trade show organiser in British Honours List
Dubai: keralamonitor.com Virginia Kern, Executive Chairman of Fairs & Exhibitions (F&E), the company which pioneered Middle East trade shows and the name behind the Dubai air show, has been awarded a Member of the British Empire (MBE) medal in Britain's Jubilee Honours List. The award, to be presented by Queen Elizabeth, is in recognition of over 25 years service in promoting trade relations with the Middle East. Virginia has headed F&E since 1982, taking control of the company from her father Bill Kern, who introduced trade shows to the region in 1958.
"This is as much a recognition of my father's work as it is my own," said Virginia. "I have carried on F&E's original mission of building sector-specific trade shows in the Middle East from which many international businesses, including British firms, have benefited."I also see the award as re-emphasising the importance of the Middle East both to UK trade and that of other countries." (keralamonitor.com)
