• Hop on board in the Maldives

    THE MALDIVES: Fancy some surfing Tania Ahsan grabs her board, dons her costume and heads for the Indian Ocean.
    2008-10-18 01:40:24

  • Maldives run-off date announced

    Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will face a former political prisoner in a run-off vote on 29 October to decide landmark multi-party elections.
    2008-10-10 11:26:17

  • Run-off likely in Maldives poll

    Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom appears headed for a run-off vote following its first multi-party presidential election.
    2008-10-09 01:26:10

  • Profile: President Maumoon Gayoom

    The Maldives president, Asia's longest serving leader, says his curbs on democracy have helped bring a tourist boom to the islands.
    2008-10-08 05:22:15

  • Maldives set for historic polls

    The first multi-party presidential polls in the Maldives are to be held on Wednesday with President Gayoom seeking a seventh term in power.
    2008-10-07 09:28:35

  • Is Asia's longest serving leader on way out

    The BBC's Roland Buerk in the Maldives reports on the run-up to elections on Wednesday, which could bring an end to President Gayoom's 30 years in power.
    2008-10-07 06:06:14

  • THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

    NAT24National/Environment/BusinessTransdot all set to 'clean up' KeralaThiruvananthapuram, Oct 7 IANS Into a decade of starting its sewage treatment division, city-based Transdot is all set to 'clean up' Kerala using its latest membrane bio-reactor MBR process, considered to be the most advanced waste water treatment technology.Speaking to reporters here Tuesday, after revealing its treatment plant using MBR process mounted on a four wheeler, chief of Transdot M.R. Narayanan said the company has booked a string of orders from within the country and abroad."This new MBR process combines suspended growth biological process with ultra filtration membrane system. We have treatment plants which have a capacity ranging between 25 KL and 500 KL and the price ranges from Rs.400,000 to Rs.5 million," said Narayanan.Over the years, the company has set up its treatment plants at 107 locations in the country and five in the Maldives and Sri Lanka.Transdot's waste water solutions ensure treated water that conforms to norms laid down by the Pollution Control Board PCB as well as major international agencies."Once treated, we get water to 85 percent of total treated quantity which can be used in toilets as also for gardening purposes. The water quality in our MBR process when compared to conventional treatment plants is far superior," said Narayanan, who co-owns the premier floating resorts Poovar Island Resorts near Kovalam beach.Last fiscal, the company earned a revenue of Rs.3 crore and in the next three years, using the latest MBR technology, it expects to do a business of Rs.15 crore.Already Transdot plants are installed in several plush resorts and the company has orders from the real estate sector too."We already have one plant at Kumarakom which treats 90,000 liters of waste collected from the houseboats. Another one is coming up at Alappuzha. The treated water is then let out to the environment," added Narayanan.--Indo Asian News Servicesg/pb/dg339 Words07101343
    2008-10-07 04:05:10

  • AHMEDABAD

    NAT8National/EducationParticipants at IIMA's faculty development course want moreAhmedabad, Oct 5 IANS Many of the 37 management teachers from India and abroad who participated in a special programme at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad IIMA, would like to come back to learn more."It was like being in a monastery for 16 weeks. It gave me academic discipline. And this is a visit to a Mecca of a management institution," said a participant of the 30th Faculty Development Programme FDP which concluded Saturday with a valedictory function. While a participant from Mumbai considered it "a great learning experience", another from Tamil Nadu said: "The entire content of FDP was useful, especially the critique writing, data analysis." A teacher from Kerala, who holds a PhD, commented: "The qualitative research is a value added area. It was exciting. I feel confident to take another PhD." A participant from Nepal said: "It is an everlasting experience at an esteemed institution like the IIM Ahmedabad." A teacher from the Maldives said: "Apart from the formal classroom learning, it taught me a lot about Indian people and their culture." IIMA launched the FDP in 1979. A multi-tier programme meant for management faculty from India and abroad, FDP is designed for management education requirements of teachers, researchers and trainers in training colleges and industrial organizations.Manjari Singh, chairperson of the 30th FDP, said: "They the participants were from different fields of management like finance, marketing and human resource and came with a rich array of experience. Their presentations reflected their learning amid diversity which has honed analytical skills of academicians." --Indo-Asian News Servicevnb/am/dg291 Words05101014
    2008-10-05 03:00:00

  • 61 percent global mobile penetration by December: UN

    BUS15Business/Technology/International61 percent global mobile penetration by December: UNGeneva, Sep 25 IANS Led by the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China, global mobile phone penetration will touch 61 percent before the end of this year, a statement by a UN agency said here Thursday.Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré of the UN's leading telecommunications agency, the International Telecommunication Union ITU, announced in New York Wednesday that worldwide mobile cellular subscribers are likely to reach the four-billion mark before the end of this year, the statement said.Touré was speaking at the high-level events on the Millennium Development Goals MDGs in New York, where he also participated in the UN Private Sector Forums addressing the global food crisis and the role of technological innovation in meeting the MDGs. The MDGs were adopted following the UN Millennium Declaration by member-states in 2000, representing an international commitment to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education and promote gender equality among several other goals.It also called for developing a global partnership for development that would include making available the benefits of information and communication technologies ICTs. ICTs have been recognized as an important tool to achieve the MDGs. "Since the turn of the century, the growth of mobile cellular subscribers has been impressive, with year-on-year growth averaging 24 percent between 2000 and 2008," Touré said.He added that while in 2000, mobile penetration stood at only 12 percent, it surpassed the 50 percent mark by early 2008. It is estimated to reach about 61 percent by the end of 2008."The fact that four billion subscribers have been registered worldwide indicates that it is technically feasible to connect the world to the benefits of ICT and that it is a viable business opportunity," said Touré. "Clearly, ICTs have the potential to act as catalysts to achieve the 2015 targets of the MDGs."The impressive growth in the number of mobile cellular subscribers is mainly due to developments in some of the world's largest markets. The BRIC economies are expected to have an increasingly important impact in terms of population, resources and global GDP share. These economies alone are expected to account for over 1.3 billion mobile subscribers by the end of 2008.Market liberalisation has played a key role in spreading mobile telephony by driving competition and bringing down prices. India's mobile operators increasingly compete for low-income customers and average revenue per user in India has reached around $7, one of the lowest in the world, the statement said. While mobile broadband subscribers remain concentrated in the developed world, a number of developing countries such as Indonesia, the Maldives, the Philippines and Sri Lanka in the Asia-Pacific have launched third generation or 3G networks.India too has started the process of introducing 3G services.Broadband uptake enables a range of socially desirable and valuable online services, specifically targeting the MDGs in areas such as e-government, e-education and e-health, the statement said. --Indo-Asian News Servicearj/ank/dg533 Words25091848
    2008-09-25 10:05:10

  • Qatar tops Middle East, North Africa in corruption rankings

    INT49International/SocietyQatar tops Middle East, North Africa in corruption rankingsDubai, Sep 24 IANS Qatar led the Middle East and North Africa MENA region in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index CPI 2008 released by the Berlin-based NGO Transparency International TI.Qatar topped the region with a rank of 28th and scoring 6.5 on a scale ranging from zero highly corrupt to 10 highly clean.It shared the position with Spain, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.Other Gulf states to follow Qatar are the United Arab Emirates UAE at 35th position 5.9 points, Oman at 41st 5.5 and Bahrain at 43rd 5.4.While Oman shared its rank with Mauritius, Bahrain was at the same level as Macau.The other two Gulf Cooperation Council GCC countries, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, were ranked 65th 4.3 and 80th 3.5, respectively.While Kuwait shared the rank with Cuba, corruption levels in Saudi Arabia were seen at the same level as in Brazil, Thailand and Burkina Fasso.Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden shared this year's top spot with the highest score of 9.3, followed by Singapore at 9.2. At the bottom is Somalia at 1.0, slightly trailing Iraq and Myanmar at 1.3 and Haiti at 1.4.The list covered 180 countries across the world.In a statement, Johann Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau, who carries out the CPI survey for TI, underscored the disastrous effects of corruption and gains from fighting it. "Evidence suggests that an improvement in the CPI by one point on a 10-point scale increases capital inflows by 0.5 percent of a country's gross domestic product and average incomes by as much as four percent," he said.The TI report named Qatar, Oman and Bahrain along with Albania, Benin, Cyprus, Dominica, Georgia, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nigeria, Poland, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, South Korea, Tonga and Turkey as the countries showing significant improvements in rankings from last year.Bulgaria, Burundi, Finland, France, Italy, Macao, Maldives, Norway, Portugal, Somalia, Timor-Leste and Britain were named as noteworthy examples of deterioration from last year.TI, in its report, also warned that in low-income countries, rampant corruption jeopardised the global fight against poverty, threatening to derail the UN Millennium Development Goals MDGs. "According to TI's 2008 Global Corruption Report, unchecked levels of corruption would add $50 billion - or nearly half of annual global aid outlays - to the cost of achieving the MDG on water and sanitation," it said."Not only does this call for a redoubling of efforts in low-income countries, where the welfare of significant portions of the population hangs in the balance, it also calls for a more focussed and coordinated approach by the global donor community to ensure development assistance is designed to strengthen institutions of governance and oversight in recipient countries, and that aid flows themselves are fortified against abuse and graft," it added.TI said this is the message it would take to the ongoing 63rd UN General Assembly session where member states would meet Sep 25 to take stock on progress in reaching the MDGs, and ahead of the UN conference on financing for development to be held in Doha, Qatar.Meanwhile, following the release of the CPI 2008, the Bahrain Transparency Society BTS has attributed that country's rise from 46th position in 2007 to 43rd this year to announcements made by the Bahrain's Tender Board and the publication of oil prices on the National Oil and Gas Authority's website.In a statement to the official Bahrain News Agency, BTS president Abdulnabi Alekry expressed the hope that Bahrain would achieve a more advanced ranking and better CPI score.He also revealed that BTS was currently preparing a national transparency report to be presented at the Athens Transparency Conference in November this year. He said that the society has been in contact with reporters, auditors and economists to compile this report. --Indo-Asian News Serviceab/sh/dg703 Words24091541
    2008-09-24 06:04:09
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