RAILWAY PASSES TOTALLY EXEMPTED FROM INCOME TAX

     

International Journalists Body protests against Saudi capture of Video footage, Laptop of MSNBC Channel

New York : The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US based organisation monitor violation of freedome of press in any part of the world, has written a strong protest letter against an incident in which Saudi authorities confiscated videotapes and a laptop computer from Dr. Bob Arnot, a reporter for the U.S. cable television channel MSNBC.

On April 21, security officials at the Riyadh airport escorted Dr. Arnot off a flight to Dubai, in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. The officials demanded video footage that Dr. Arnot had gathered during his reporting trip to Saudi Arabia, said Ann Cooper, Executive Director of CPJ in a letter addressed to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud through the Saudi Embassy in New York.

After Dr. Arnot declined to surrender his footage, the officials proceeded to confiscate 18 videotapes and a laptop computer, according to NBC. Dr. Arnot and the other passengers were delayed for five hours before being allowed to board the plane and continue on the flight. Saudi authorities gave no reason for confiscating Dr. Arnot's materials. However, the journalist had worked on several potentially sensitive stories, including one in which Saudi schoolboys expressed anti-American sentiments. Officials at the school had asked Dr. Arnot to hand over the tapes after those interviews, but the journalist refused, an NBC source said.

"As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, CPJ views this incident as an act of censorship and a flagrant violation of the right to free expression, which is guaranteed under international law,' it said. ' We call on Saudi authorities to provide a public accounting of this incident and to return the tapes and computer to NBC immediately. We further ask Your Royal Highness to ensure that all journalists in Saudi Arabia may carry out their duties without future interference from the government," it said.(keralamonitor.com)

Panasonic launches innovative home cinema projector

June 10, 2002
Dubai; Panasonic, the leading Japanese electronic consumer brand has recently announced the launch of its state-of-the-art and technologically advanced new home cinema projector targeted at movie enthusiasts, families and the entertainment sector.

"The home cinema market has made rapid strides, and has steadily grown over the years. Detailed market forecasts indicate that digital projector revenues will increase from $4 billion in 2000 to almost $10 billion in 2005, an annual growth rate of nearly 20%," said Atsushi Hinoki, General Manager, Advertising & PR, Panasonic Marketing Middle East. "In keeping with the upward current market trends, Panasonic has launched its new home cinema projector PT-AE100, which provides the viewer with powerful and high-quality images in the comfort of his house," he added.

Some of the innovative features that will go a long way in adding value to the projector include a wide screen, which is a 16:9 aspect ratio LCD panel to produce powerful images and a short-throw lens that makes it possible to produce an 80-inch screen from a distance of just 2.5 metres. This enables the viewer to experience a large screen at home without utilizing a lot of space. It also includes a new high-quality optical system to produce bright and attractive images.

The new projector provides ready access to 80 inches of powerful, high quality images. The LCD panel and newly developed 120W lamp provide optimum brightness and contrast that is mandatory for a cinema. It also ensures that energy consumption has been reduced, meaning that the life of the lamp has been extended from 2000 hours to 5000 hours when economy mode is used. The latest technology also ensures that the fan noise is not a problem during the quiet moments of a movie, as Panasonic has developed a new and quieter version of the fan, as well as reduced the lamp light leakage by using two blades.

Another striking innovation is the liquid crystal feature that is prevalent in the PT-AE100 projector. However, a noteworthy factor is that its lightness and portability makes the projector ideal for use indoors as well as outdoors. It offers tremendous potential for use in business as well as in the entertainment sector.

Middle East Leads World With Software Piracy Drop

Mideast records highest drop in software piracy

Dubai, keralamonitor.com 10 June, 2002 - The Middle East has flown in the face of a global trend of increasing software piracy to post the highest fall in software of any world region, according to figures released by software industry association the BSA (Business Software Alliance). The region's piracy rates decreased by 6% to reach 51% in 2001.

"We're obviously totally delighted at this positive recognition of the huge efforts made by governments, legislators and enforcement agencies across the region," said Jawad Al Redha, regional director of BSA Middle East. "We've seen real movement forwards in our region and, although the region's piracy rates remain relatively high across the board, the momentum is undoubtedly there to continue to push for further reductions in piracy."

The United Arab Emirates recorded the region's lowest level of software piracy for the 6th consecutive year, with a reduction of 3% to reach 41%, thus achieving figures lower than those of western European countries such as France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Of all of the Arab Middle Eastern countries surveyed by the BSA in its Seventh Annual BSA Global Software Piracy Study, the highest reduction came from the Middle East's largest software market, Saudi Arabia, where the rate of piracy fell by
7%. The steep drop in piracy in the Kingdom actually makes it the second fastest-falling piracy rate in the world, behind Korea which fell 8% from 2000 to 2001. Saudi Arabia's retail market for business software is valued in the report at $20 million in 2001.

"If you look at the Middle East as a region since we started this global research project in 1994, we have seen the largest single regional fall in piracy rates," said Al Redha. "This has been achieved through real commitment and great efforts in many countries in the region, and that achievement has been reflected in a real growth in regional IT markets."

Jordan, Kuwait and Lebanon all posted relatively steep reductions of 4%, while the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain fell by 3%. In face of the worldwide trend for static or even increased piracy rates, these are significant drops. "We've seen markets outside the Middle East climb by several percentage points, whereas, if you look at our regional rates, we can see that we have not only seen a decrease, we've seen a decrease in the face of a strong global trend," said Al Redha.

In a recessive technology market, and with the decrease in software prices, the actual dollar losses incurred through software piracy have fallen by 6.7% globally to a worldwide IT industry loss of $10.97 billion. The Middle East technology market saw a loss of retail revenue from pirated software of just under $138 million in 2001.

"We're leading the world in our fight to combat the theft of software and intellectual property, but we still have a long way to go. We're still seeing massive losses in our market, losses of revenue to governments and losses of revenue to developers, resellers and others who are developing technology opportunities for tomorrow. This is great news, for sure, but we can't stop now. We need to increase our efforts, and we need continued cooperation between the industry, the governments and the public to achieve that" said Al Redha.

The BSA report is based on a research methodology developed by IPR (International Planning and Research), and combines extrapolations of demand and installed products with data on shipments provided by BSA member companies. The research is limited to business applications and does not cover home or recreational software products.

Regional Summaries:

Western Europe: At 37%, Western Europe continued to be the region with the second lowest piracy rate, but it experienced the second highest dollar losses, totaling nearly $2.7 billion, accounting for 24% of the total global losses due to software piracy. The largest dollar losses occurred in Germany ($681 million), Italy ($468 million) and France ($527 million). The highest piracy rates were in Greece (64%), Spain (49%) and France (46%).

Eastern Europe: At 67%, this region had the highest piracy rate of all the regions, with an increase in dollar losses from $404 million in 2000 to more than $434 million in 2001. Russia and the Ukraine/Other CIS countries continued to have the highest piracy rates in Eastern Europe, both at 87%. Poland, the third largest country in the region, reduced its piracy rate from 54% to 53%. The Czech Republic continued to have the lowest piracy rate in the region at 43%

 

North America: North America continued to be the region with the lowest piracy rate at 26%, up one percentage point from 25% in 2000. Over the past seven years, the region's piracy rate has declined from 32% to 26%. Yet, North America accounted for the third highest piracy dollar losses, totaling $1.9 billion, down from $2.9 billion in 2000. In 2001, the piracy rate in the United States increased one percentage point to 25%. Total losses due to software piracy in the United States were more than $1.8 billion, down from $2.6 billion in 2000. The decline from 2000 to 2001 is the result of several factors including: the U.S. dollar was strong in 2001 relative to local currencies and software prices as reported in U.S. dollars continued to fall, advancing a trend of declining prices that has evolved over the last decade. In Canada, the piracy rate remained the same at 38%, but the dollar losses due to software theft was more than $189 million, down from $304 million in 2000.

Asia/Pacific: Several countries in Asia/Pacific experienced piracy rate increases in 2001. The rates in Malaysia and India increased to 70% and the rate in the Philippines increased to 63%. Most other countries showed small rate changes: Indonesia's rate decreased one percentage point from 89% to 88%. Japan's rate remained at 37%, while Australia's rate decreased from 33% to 27%. New Zealand continued to be the country with the lowest piracy rate in the region at 26% and Vietnam remained the country with the highest piracy rate in the world at 94%. The regional dollar losses increased from $4.7 billion in 2000 to $4.8 billion in 2001.

Latin America: For the third consecutive year, Latin America continues to see a decline in its piracy rate, now at 57%. Software piracy in Latin America cost vendors nearly $865 million. The countries with the highest piracy rates were Nicaragua (78%), Bolivia (77%) and El Salvador and Guatemala (both at 73%). Brazil and Mexico, the two largest economies in the region, saw a decline in their piracy rates to 56% and 55%, respectively. The piracy rate in Argentina, the third largest economy in the region, increased to 62%.

Central Government Concedes Railway Employees Demands

RAILWAY PASSES TOTALLY EXEMPTED FROM INCOME TAX

The Central Government has decided to totally exempt the privilege passes and privilege ticket orders (PTOs) of railway employees from income tax. With this decision, the railwaymen including the officers will not have to pay income tax on the value of their privilege passes and PTOs. The decision was conveyed by the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha to the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar when the latter met him last night to discuss the issue. The Railway Minister announced the information in a meeting with the representatives of Railwaymen's Organisations and Federations here today.
The decision was taken due to wide spread protests from the Railway employees.

The representatives expressed gratitude towards the Minister for his earnest efforts in settling the issue in favour of railway employees. They also conveyed their thanks through the Railway Minister to the Finance Minister for accepting the railwaymen's genuine demand. The representative who met the Railway Minister included U.M. Purohit, President, All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF); J.P. Chaubey, General Secretary, AIRF; Shri K. Hasan, Secretary General, Indian Railway Promotee Officers Federation (IRPOF); Shri Ved Prakash of National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR); Shri Indra Ghosh, General Secretary, Federation of Railway Officers Association (FROA) and Shri U.S. Jha, General Secretary, All India RPF Association. Railway employees have alleged that the BJP government has taken back the concession which was granted by the British Company during the colonial period.

Disinvestment Cell in Department of Company Affairs.

New Delhi : The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has set up a separate Disinvestments Cell to facilitate quick completion of procedural requirements under the Companies Act and to speed up disinvestments process. The Cell examines all matters concerning the proposals circulated by the Ministry of Disinvestments on priority basis.

Apart from presenting the views of DCA relating to various disinvestments proposals, it takes up pro-active measures to give quick clearance under various provisions of the Companies Act even before the actual disinvestments process like approval for payment of special dividend in the matter of VSNL and approval of de-merger proceeding in the disinvestments process of ITDC hotels and others like IBP begins. Apart from this, matters requiring approvals under the Companies Act after formal decisions regarding disinvestments are also being taken up on priority basis. Besides, approvals under Section 108A of the Companies Act are being issued on time. The DCA has been acting as facilitator for disinvestments process in the Government to accelerate its pace.

Despite controversies surrounding the BSNL and other disinvestment, the Central Government is keenly speeding up privatisation of state enterprises.

Brazilian Journalist Murdered

New York, June 10, 2002-The Committee to Protect Journalists said it is deeply saddened by the murder of journalist Tim Lopes, whose death was officially confirmed by the Rio de Janeiro police on June 9. Lopes, an award-winning investigative reporter with TV Globo in Brazil, had disappeared several days earlier while working on assignment in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, at an impoverished community, known as a favela.

On June 2, the 50-year-old Lopes traveled to Favela Vila Cruzeiro. His driver met him at the favela at about 8 p.m., but the journalist told the driver that he needed more time to finish his work. They agreed to meet again at 10 p.m., but Lopes never arrived. This was Lopes' fourth visit to Vila Cruzeiro, and this time, he was carrying a hidden camera.

According to TV Globo, Lopes was working on a report about parties hosted by drug traffickers in Vila Cruzeiro that allegedly involved drugs and the sexual exploitation of minors. The inhabitants of the favela had told Lopes that they were powerless against drug traffickers and had complained about the lack of police action.

 

CPJ Urges Uzbekistan to free local press

Tashkent, June 10, 2002-A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today completed a nine-day mission to Uzbekistan by calling on President Islam Karimov to free three jailed journalists and to change government policies that severely restrict press freedom in the country.

In recent weeks, Uzbek officials formally abolished prior censorship. But local newspaper editors have been warned that they will be held personally accountable for what they publish, limiting the impact of this step.

Uzbek authorities also encourage self-censorship by threatening critical journalists with imprisonment. Other tactics include lawsuits in politicized courts, harassment by police and security forces, arbitrary implementation of media regulations, and politically motivated tax inspections.

CPJ found that the government's harsh policies have succeeded in creating a culture of self-censorship in the country. Local journalists rarely cover official corruption, human rights abuses, or the activities of opposition political parties and Islamic organizations.CPJ met with Uzbek government officials, local journalists, foreign correspondents, Western diplomats, and human rights activists in Samarkand and Tashkent, the capital.

Three civilians were killed in terrorist attacks: India

Three civilians were killed in Baramulla and Kupwara districts in different incidents by the terrorists. Exchange of Artillery and Mortar fire between India and Pak troops in Siachen has taken place and one Pak bunker was destroyed. In retaliatory fire by Indian troops in Kargil, Dras and Mushkan Sectors, two Pak soldiers were injured during similar exchange of fire in Punch Sector resulting in injury to three civilians due to Pak firing. Two terrorists each were killed in Punch district and Badgam district during encounters with Indian security forces, claimed the Government of India in a statement.

Zimbabwen Journalist face trial, 2 years imprisonment.

New York, June 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the upcoming trial of Andrew Meldrum, a U.S. journalist based in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on charges of "abusing journalistic privilege" and publishing "false information."

Meldrum, who writes for the London Guardian, The Economist, and contributes to Radio France Internationale, is due to appear in court tomorrow, June 12. If convicted, Meldrum faces up to two years in prison and a fine of as much as 100,000 Zimbabwean dollars (US$1,818).

A permanent resident of Zimbabwe, where he has been living and working for two decades, Meldrum was taken into police custody on May 1. He is accused of violating Zimbabwe's draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act in connection with an April 23 story, later discovered to be inaccurate, stating that youths from the ruling ZANU-PF had beheaded opposition supporter Brandina Tadyanemhandu in Mashonaland West Province.

Two Zimbabwean reporters, Lloyd Mudiwa and Collin Chiwanza of the independent Daily News, were also arrested on March 30 for reporting the same inaccuracies. The Daily News retracted the story a day later in a front-page apology to the ZANU-PF after it was established that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which initially provided the information to reporters, had been misled by the alleged victim's husband.

Charges against Chiwanza were dropped on May 7, but Mudiwa is still preparing to stand trial. Meldrum will be the first journalist tried under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which embattled Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, signed into law on March 15. Ten journalists, including Mudiwa, are awaiting trial under the same law.