incommunicado

(NYT, 26 Sept 2006)

Google to Push for More Electrical Efficiency in PCs

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 25 — Google is calling on the computer industry to create a simpler and more efficient power supply standard that it says will save billions of kilowatt-hours of energy annually.

In a white paper to be presented Tuesday on the opening day of the Intel Developer Forum here, two leading data center designers at Google will argue that the industry is mired in inefficiency for historical reasons, dating to the introduction of the first I.B.M. PC in 1981.

Toxic Shock: How Western Rubbish Is Destroying Africa
By Meera Selva
Independent
September 21, 2006

Western corporations are exploiting legal loopholes to dump their waste in Africa. And in Ivory Coast, the price has been death and disease for thousands. Meera Selva reports

One August morning, people living near the Akouedo rubbish dump in Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast, woke up to a foul-smelling air. Soon, they began to vomit, children got diarrhoea, and the elderly found it difficult to breathe. "The smell was unbelievable, a cross between rotten eggs and blocked drains," said one Abidjan resident. "After 10 minutes in the thick of it, I felt sick."

"OpenFlows released a survey of open content projects in five non-western regions: Arab countries, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Brazil and South East and Eastern Europe. The aim of the study is to assess the potential of the open content production process for areas and fields which are under served by the commercial players.

"In a report to General Assembly President Jan Eliasson, Ambassadors Johan Lovald of Norway and Rezlan Jenie of Indonesia advise on how to enhance NGO relations with the General Assembly. After consultation with Member States and NGOs, the report recommends some possible avenues, but comes short of specific pl

Goldstein, A., N. Pinaud, and H. Reisen. "The rise of China and India: what's in it for Africa?" OECD Development Centre (2006)

[via ELDIS

This brief examines the impact which China's and India's rise has on African countries. Since 2001, China and India have jointly contributed approximately 30 per cent to global output growth and helped hold world output growth above the 4 per cent threshold-level crucial to improving the terms of trade for primary commodity producers.

CCACCA, Coordinated Coalition against Cyber Crime in Africa is a non-governmental, non-profit and non-partisan organization with the motto: “towards a crime-free Internet” is calling for papers, articles and comments. Are you a victim of cyber fraud? Tell us the story and let us share in your pains. Are you a fraudster? Please let us into your world and tell us few things we don’t know. Do you have questions or comments you like to make concerning cyber fraud schemes? Do not hesitate to send them to us at: ccacca4africa@yahoo.co.uk.

The Cyber Investigator takes a clinical and psychological peep into the cyber crime network of African young people who spend 60% of their day and 99% of their night in the cyber café sending hundreds of mails to hundreds of email addresses illegally extracted from different search engines. Their target: the uninformed, innocent, gullible and most especially greedy people.

A typical successful cyber fraudster is often times a graduate in specialized courses such Psychology, Sociology, Communication Studies etc. He employs meticulous efforts in composing scam mails. When he finishes writing the bogus funds transfer story he wishes to “sell” to a would-be victim, there are few things he must do:

100-Dollar Laptop: UN Secretary General’s Office shouldn’t be used for exploiting the poor

My eyes were stuck to the news that the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan, while launching a 100-Dollar Laptop, on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia, said “the invention is an impressive technical achievement. The project promises to provide flexible technology that can be used in any place, even in the desert without energy supply”. It is also reported that the U.N. is backing the project even with financial support thinking that it could help to promote education in the Third World. A professor and his team mates of MIT (USA) have claimed the credit for the project and the invention (!).

In the recently held Copenhagen Conference on Africa 06 on the future cooperation between Denmark and the African continent, organised and conducted by the Danish government, the chair man of the African Union, Malian Alpha Oumar Konaré stated the following: ‘Africa need partners with a new attitude. Partners from all over the world, but partners who will follow the new rules: Respect the African development and adopt our priorities’. The reporter adds:’ Other than just developing the traditional sectors such as health and educational institutions Konaré is also looking for more respect from foreign donors countries – or partners as he consequently calls them [my italics]

Promoting Human Development through Trade
By Kamal Malhotra*
Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
April 5, 2006

I speak in my individual capacity, and nothing I say here is the official position of the United Nations.

Principles of Justice.

When I think of justice from the framework that I work with, I think of enhancing human development as an outcome of justice. When I look at that goal and I look at a vision for the future in terms of a trade regime which is friendly to human development, there are four simple principles of international trade that I would like to highlight.