CHENNAI

THE HINDU

MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

13

Chinas tourism plan quells Brahmaputra dam fears

Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: Chinese plans to

build a major tourism project and national park in a Tibetan county have dealt a blow to hydropower lobby groups who have proposed the construction of massive dam on the Brahmaputras Great Bend, where the river begins its course towards India. The Chinese government announced on Saturday it had earmarked 400 million yuan ($63.5 million) to develop tourism in Nyingchi prefecture in south-eastern Tibet. The plans include an ambitious proposal to raise two billion yuan ($317.5 million) to build an international tourism town in the border prefecture. The golden tourism pro-

ject in Nyingchi follows the opening of Tibets rst national park in the same county in December in the Grand Canyon of the Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet. The plans appear to signal the governments moves to develop the region as a tourism hub, amid rising pressure from hydropower groups to tap the enormous potential of the canyon and the Great Bend, where the river spectacularly falls over 1,000 metres. A number of hydropower lobby groups have called on the central government to give the green light for as many as 28 proposed dams on the Yarlung Zangbo. China has, so far, only embarked on one hydropower project, a

Tourism hub, national park to come up in area of proposed mega dam Lobby groups have called for as many as 28 proposed dams on the Brahmaputra
run-of-the-river dam at Zangmu on the rivers middle reaches which officials say will not impact downstream ows. Of particular concern to Indian officials was a proposal by Sinohydro, an inuential state-owned hydropower company, to build a massive 38-gigawatt project at Motuo near the Great Bend, a dam that would surpass even the Three Gorges project in scale. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the plans impact on both the sensitive ecosystem of the region and on downstream ows. Wang Songping, deputy chief of Tibets regional tourism bureau, was quoted as saying by state media that the national park at the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon would be run by a committee responsible for environmental protection, and would follow an internationally-accepted practice in its management of tourism resources and minimise harm to the plateau ecology. The park stretches across several

counties in Nyingchi and Qamdo prefectures. The plan for the park has disappointed hydropower groups pushing for the projects. Zhang Boting, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Hydropower Engineers, told The Hindu in an interview last year that a dam on the Great Bend could save up to 100 million tonnes of coal. But he did acknowledge there were technical barriers to putting in equipment, with the river falling by over 1,000 metres over steep gorges. India and China will this month discuss the issue of trans-border rivers in a working group meeting. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during talks last week

on the sidelines of the Rio+20 summit that China was willing to strengthen communication with India on the issue, and would share hydrological data. The Nyingchi tourism project, officials said, also will include 22 model villages built over three years at the cost of 100 million yuan ($15.8 million), where residents will provide family hotel services for tourists. Indian officials rejected media reports which claimed the tourism project in the border prefecture would have bearing on the long-running boundary talks, pointing out that the relevant region was not part of the dispute and was a region where India did not hold any territorial claims.

Turkey calls for NATO meet

ANKARA/AMMAN: Turkey ac-

Accuses Syria of attack on jet

cused Syria on Sunday of shooting down a military reconnaissance jet in international airspace without warning and called a NATO meeting to discuss a response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Amid growing acrimony between the once-friendly neighbours, Syria said its forces had shot dead terrorists inltrating its territory from Turkey, which along with Western and Arab nations has backed the cause of Syrians ghting Mr. Assad. shelled the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Sunday, killing at least 20 people in the second day of bombardment in the oil-producing region, amid heavy ghting with antiAssad insurgents, opposition activists said. Mr. Davutoglu said the jet was unarmed and had been on a solo mission to test domestic radar systems, but acknowledged it had briey crossed Syrian airspace 15 minutes before it was hit. Our plane was shot at a distance of 13 sea miles from Syrias border in international airspace, said Mr. Davutoglu. According to the radar images, our plane lost contact with headquarters after it was hit and because the pilot lost control, it crashed into Syrian waters after making abnormal movements, he said. Throughout this entire period no warning was made to our plane. Some analysts said the aircraft, in violating Syrian airspace at a time of great sensitivity, could in fact have been testing Syrias Russiansupplied radar and air defences, which would be an obstacle to any possible Western armed action.

China quake kills two

Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: A moderate 5.7-mag-

Smokescreen

Ordinance to uphold Gilanis decisions

Anita Joshua tempt of court, the Supreme Court had last Tuesday orISLAMABAD: In a bid to end the dered that he cease to be the uncertainty over decisions Premier with retrospective taken by the ousted Gilani effect from April 26 when he government since April 26, got convicted in the case. President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday issued an ordinance Budget in question giving constitutional protecThis had put a question tion to every decision taken mark on all the decisions takby the previous dispensation. en by the Gilani dispensation, While showing the former including the federal budget Prime Minister Syed Yusuf and various appointments Raza Gilani the door for con- some of them in the judiciary itself. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party has decided to eld Mr. Gilanis son Abdul Qadir Gilani in the elections for the seat NA 151 vacated by the former Premier. Gilani Jr. is presently a member of the Punjab Assembly. Consequent to his disqualication by the court, the senior Mr. Gilani has been debarred from contesting any election for the next ve years.

Search on
Turkeys Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the search for two missing pilots was still under way, in coordination with the Syrian authorities. He denied it was a joint operation. He said the RF-4 Phantom jet had been clearly marked as Turkish and dismissed Syrias assertion it had not identied the aircraft before opening re. Mr. Davutoglu said he also planned to set out Turkeys case at the United Nations Security Council where Western powers are seeking, against Russian and Chinese opposition, to push through a motion that could allow stronger measures against Assad. Moscow fears this might lead to military action that could undermine its interests in Syria. What began as demonstrations against Mr. Assad developed last year into armed rebellion, tipping the country towards a sectarian civil war, with thousands already killed across Syria. Syrian tanks and artillery

nitude earthquake left at least two people dead and more than a 100 injured in southwestern China on Sunday, state media reported. Rescue teams were dispatched to the remote mountainous counties of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces to sift through the rubble of collapsed homes in the countryside, even as officials began a relief operation in two worsthit counties. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the earthquake struck Ninglang county in Yunnan at 3.59 p.m.Most damage occurred in counties near the provincial border of Yunnan and Sichuan. The region is home to the Yi ethnic minority group, state media reported. Sichuan province was the scene of one of Chinas worst ever earthquakes when a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 left more than 70,000 people dead.

No U.S. plan of extraditing Assange

Mr. Carr said he has received no hint from two discussions with American officials that they have a plan to extradite Mr. Assange to the U.S. Australian-born 40-yearold Mr. Assange has sought political asylum at Ecuadors embassy in London, fearing No hints he could face the death penalThere is not the remotest ty in the U.S. over the Wikievidence that is the case, he Leaks release of secret was quoted as saying by the diplomatic cables. Australian news agency AAP. Mr. Carr said Mr. Assanges eign Minister Bob Carr on Sunday said there was no indication from the U.S. of a plan to extradite to the country WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London.
MELBOURNE: Australian For-

BATTLING FLAMES: A helicopter drops retardant on a wildre in Colorado, U.S., on Friday. The re is burning on over 68,000 acres and has destroyed at least 189 homes. PHOTO: AP

argument was with one government the Swedish government who want to question him about sexual assault allegations. Mr. Carr said some U.S. authorities had yet to state that they were not interested in extraditing the Australian. They havent been able to rule out that one corner of the American administration is considering it, but I would expect the U.S. wouldnt want to touch this, he said. PTI

Sensitive space
Turkey is prickly about its own airspace and that of north Cyprus, where Turkish troops are deployed. Only last month it scrambled jets to intercept an Israeli plane it said had violated northern Cypriot airspace and demanded an explanation. The Foreign Ministry said Turkey knew the coordinates of its jets wreckage, 1,300 metres underwater, but had not found it. Reuters

Baghdad merchant of Bollywood dreams Mao was like a father to me, says the Dalai Lama
BAGHDAD: Adil Hamid Khalaf

has, like many Iraqi traders, his tiny store stocked to the brim with VCDs and DVDs. What sets him apart is he can extol, in halting Hindi no less, the glory of 1950s Bollywood classics. Mr. Khalafs high prices for new movies he charges as much as $10 whereas others offer knock-offs for 40 cents and passion for Indian lms from a bygone era mean sales are fewer than ever. Unfazed, however, the 65-year-old wistfully recalls what he believes was a better era for Bollywood cinema, and life in Iraq in general. He excitedly relays anecdotes from his latest meeting with Indian lm legend Amitabh Bachchan, whom Mr. Khalaf refers to as a good friend. Lambu! Lambu! Mr. Khalaf exclaims, using the Hindi word for tall to describe the 1.88-metre actor, with blown-up

Adil Hamid Khalaf in his shop in Baghdad. PHOTO: AFP

photographs of their nearannual meetings at Mr. Bachchans Mumbai home plastered across the walls of the three-metre-by-onemetre shop in Baghdads Najah cinema complex. He shows off a Rado watch he says was gifted to him by Mr. Bachchan on a recent visit, and quickly pulls out a fading photograph of him standing alongside the actor and his son Abhishek. Mr. Khalaf, who originally met Mr. Bachchan in 1978, visits him as often as he can and speaks to him in Hindi, which he has learned by watching Bollywood lms countless times over the

years. But after recalling his meetings with Mr. Bachchan and other age-old Indian movie stars photos alongside Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty and Amrish Puri also adorn the walls of his shop he returns to his laments that Indian cinema has suffered by becoming too Westernised. Mr. Khalafs business began as a venture with four friends who, after enjoying Indian lms at Baghdads cinema halls in the 1960s, began selling cassettes of movie songs. At that time, movie theatres in the capital did good business broadcasting Arab, Indian and Western lms, with some cinema halls dedicated solely to showing Bollywood icks. Now, no halls dedicated to Indian movies remain and the Capitals movie theatres are widely derided by Baghdads residents. AFP

Ex-Premier extradited to Libya

TRIPOLI: Tunisia has extradited former Libyan leader Muammar Qadhas Prime Minister to Libya, a Libyan security official said on Sunday, making him the rst senior official to be sent back for trial under the country's transitional leadership. Defence Ministry official Mohammed al-Ahwal told Reuters that a helicopter transferred Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi to Tripoli on Sunday. Mahmoudi is now in Tripoli and we are holding him in a prison, Mr. Ahwal said. Mr. Mahmoudi served as the Libyan dictators Prime Minister from 2006 until he ed to neighbouring Tunisia around the time that rebel ghters took the capital Tripoli in August. His extradition could establish a precedent for other countries who have given refuge to or arrested members of Qadhas old entourage. Reuters

Hasan Suroor
LONDON:

In remarks that might surprise those who have only heard him snipe at the Chinese government and its leaders, the Dalai Lama on Sunday disclosed that he had such good relations with Chairman Mao Zedong that he regarded him as a father. He also irted with Communism as a young man, he said. Recalling his close relationship with Mao in a BBC interview, the Tibetan religious leader recounted how, at formal dinners, the Chinese leader would make him sit by his side and personally serve him in the best Chinese tradition. He [Chairman Mao] appears to me as a father and he himself considered me as a son. [We had] very good relations. The only problem was that on many occasions, when official dinners were held, Chairman Mao always used to bring me to his side. So, then

as Chinese tradition, Chairman Mao himself would use his chopsticks to put some food in my plate. So, in a way it was a great honour, but in a way I feel little fear...he coughing too much, a chain smoker, so I might get some germs [laughing]. The Dalai Lama acknowledged with a laugh when asked by the interviewer, Andrew Marr, whether as a young man he was attracted

by some aspects of Communism. He then approvingly cited Marxist economic theory which, he believed, offered a solution to the current economic crisis in the West. When I was in China, I learnt Marxist economy theory, which has an emphasis on equal distribution, rather than just prot. Since we human beings created this [economic] problem, we also have ability to overcome it. In spite of our difficulties, we should not give up our hope...we must keep our self condence, that is very important, said the 76-year-old Nobel Laureate. Asked whether after over 50 years in exile, he thought he could ever go back to Tibet, he said the older Tibetans wanted him to return as soon as possible before their death, but other politically sensible people believed that under the present circumstances, he should remain outside in a free country.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

User, not device, at the heart of Nortons new matrix

Strategy recast to address threats to online security from mobile, social network landscapes
Karthik Subramanian
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Its no longer about protecting ones PCs from viruses and malware. Norton by Symantec, best known for its PC protection software, is recasting its focus, putting at the centre of its matrix the user, and not the device. This was evident at the end of two days of talks, sneak peeks into upcoming products and extensive interactions the company organised with a section of the international media here on Tuesday and Wednesday last. Engineers and spokespersons at the Next at Norton conference listed a number of upcoming products based on the approach from an App adviser that would recommend non-malicious software for mobile phones to a Wi-Fi hot spot privacy analyser which would screen threats in open Wi-Fi zones

The company tries to re-brand itself a holistic provider of digital security Most computing happens on mobile platforms, which has come under attacks in the past year
to a Facebook App that would determine whether ones newsfeed contained links from scamsters. Norton did not announce specic dates for the launch of the software, or even the names under which it would retail. It was more a sneak peak into the companys evolving strategy. protect my PC, Janice Chaffin, group president of the consumer business unit of Norton by Symantec, said in her opening remarks. But these days, the call is to protect me when I am on the Internet. Some of the threats emerge from new ecosystems like social networks.

Not just about PCs

The company seems determined to shrug off its image of being an anti-virus and anti-malware software maker to re-brand itself a holistic provider of digital security in many forms the growing digital lifestyles require. Earlier, people used to say

Copy-paste attacks
Nishant Doshi, architect, security technology and response, noted that with users spending more time on Facebook and Twitter than with email or les, cyberthreat started to become very potent on social networks. Instances of copy-paste

attacks in which unsuspecting users end up copypasting java codes on their browsers URL address eld were on the rise. Mr. Doshi pointed to instances of scamsters having duped people on social networks into involuntarily signing up for services like weekly quizzes for exorbitant sums. There were recorded instances of premium SMSs being misused by the scamsters to create a new genre of cybercrime on social networks. Most of the computing today happens on mobile platforms, which seems to have got prone to sustained attacks in the past year. According to Thomas Parsons, director, development (security technology and response), Norton has identied so far this month more than 13,000 malicious APKs (the .exe equivalent carrier les) in the Android

to sniff information from computers. But the recent discovery of the W32.Flamer malware, which targeted computers in the Middle East, boasted of a level of sophistication akin to software development companies, he said. Among other initiatives, Norton is partnering networking and telecommunicaFrom ction to reality tions hardware Reviewing the status of cy- manufacturer Broadcom to berthreats over the past year, take embedded security to Patrick Gardner, vice-presi- the next generation of 5G dent, engineering, security wireless systems. technology and response, said cyberwarfare had gradu- No version numbers Security software which ated from being a science ction to reality, as was evident Norton will start releasing in some of the most sophisti- from this fall wont feature cated attacks in the past two version numbers. The company is also gearyears. Stuxnet malware, discov- ing up for the release of the ered in 2010, targeted the Windows 8 operating system, Iranian nuclear enrichment and has staked a claim that its facility at Natanz. Duqu mal- software will help the next ware, discovered last year, generation of Windows perdrew on Stuxnet executables form faster. ecosystem. The malicious software on mobile phones often delivers the dual blow of accessing the phone records of the user and slowing down performance. Norton launched a website dedicated to mobile security, www.mobilesecurity.com, to create awareness among phone users.

There are instances of scamsters having duped people on social networks into involuntarily signing up for services like weekly quizzes for exorbitant sums. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS
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