Important Notice for Free Software Supporters Using Gmail Service

Are you using Gmail? Nearly 50% of the FSF's 40,000 strong supporter mailing list has an @gmail.com email address.

JavaScript, once lauded for adding simple visual effects to web pages, is now used by web sites like Gmail to run powerful programs on your computer. These programs, like any other program running on your computer, should be free software. But right now, the vast majority of JavaScript programs do not respect your essential freedoms to run, study, modify and share them. They take control of your computer away from you; the same control we have been working for over 25 years to protect.

Because of the incredibly high percentage of Gmail-using free software supporters, we're taking action to raise awareness about how to use Gmail without using proprietary software. We'll also be working on longer term solutions, but the most immediate positive step to take is to stop running the proprietary programs.

Many people suggest that you shouldn't use Gmail at all, because it means losing control over your data and privacy. We agree that this is a very important factor for you to consider when choosing how you will handle your email.

But if you are a free software supporter already using Gmail, or have friends and family members who are, please help us build momentum for change by doing so without allowing the proprietary JavaScript to run on your system -- and helping others to do the same.

Source: http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/jstrap/gmail?39141

Hurricane Electric IPv6 New Exchange Point & Deployment Growth News | Inside Bauani's Mind

Hurricane Electric IPv6 New Exchange Point & Deployment Growth News

* New Exchange Point Connections

We have added exchange point connections to Equinix Paris, France-IX, and MICE (Minneapolis, MN).

* IPv6 Deployment Growth

The global IPv6 routing table has passed 5400 IPv6 prefixes.

Of the 37807 networks in the world running BGP, the number running IPv6 has increased to 3828, or 10.1 percent.

Of the Alexa top 1 million most popular websites on the Internet, there are now 3372 running IPv6 for their main
website.

Source: http://bgp.he.net/ipv6-progress-report.cgi

* Hurricane Electric Updated Network Map

We've expanded our network.

Updated Network Map: http://he.net/HurricaneElectricNetworkMap.pdf

Hurricane Electric now has over 6000 BGP sessions with over 1700 IPv4 and IPv6 networks at 45 different exchange points in North America, Europe, and Asia.

* Asia IP Transit Promotion

We are running an Asia IP Transit Promotion, Get 1 Gbps @ $5/Mbps in Equinix Tokyo 2 or Mega iAdvantage Hong Kong.

Email sales@he.net to get a formal quote.

---
If you like our services and are already a Yelp user, it would be a great help to us if you wrote a review on Yelp about Hurricane Electric.

Follow us on Twitter
http://twitter.com/henet

Become a Fan on Facebook
http://facebook.com/he.net

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/hurricaneelectric

Hurricane Electric IPv6 Tunnel Broker Project
http://tunnelbroker.net

Hurricane Electric IPv6 Certification Program
http://ipv6.he.net/certification




Source:
At Hurricane Electric, every day is an IPv6 day.
Hurricane Electric, 760 Mission Court, Fremont CA 94539

Bangladesh Probe says Yunus's Grameen 'flouting' Rules: Future of Grameen Phone

Future of Grameen Phone: The report also proposes that the Grameen Bank should take over the Grameen Telecom which has 34 per cent stake in Grameenphone, equivalent to $1.25 billion.


A Bangladeshi probe has accused Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus of turning his pioneering microfinance bank into a "massive conglomerate" against its own rules, the chief investigator said Tuesday.

The government investigation into Grameen Bank found a "large-scale trend in flouting of rules and regulations in the management of the bank", probe committee chief A.K. Monowar Uddin Ahmed told AFP.

The finance minister announced on Monday that the probe had cleared the bank of misusing Norwegian aid and of charging excessive interest on loans.

But Ahmed said the government ordinance that set up the bank -- which shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Yunus for their work providing small cash loans to the poor -- should be amended to tighten regulation of Grameen.

"It needs a new legal framework" to regulate the bank and its many sister firms, known as social businesses, which include a number of profitable foreign joint ventures, he said.

"Grameen Bank is now the kind of massive conglomerate we see in South Korea or Japan," he said.

The bank has huge influence in Bangladesh, and its sister companies have moved into solar panels, mobile phones and other consumer goods, but this expansion did not adhere to the original Grameen Bank law, the probe said.

Grameen Group has joint ventures with companies like French food giant Danone, Norway's Telenor through Grameen Phone -- Bangladesh's largest mobile company by subscribers -- and Japan's largest clothing retailer Uniqlo.

"The Grameen Bank has violated its own laws, rules and regulations... consistently on the way," the committee's report said, according to a copy obtained by AFP.

The review was launched after a Norwegian documentary claimed $96 million of aid was diverted in 1996 from Grameen Bank to other parts of Grameen group.

"Grameen Bank has become a person-oriented organisation, not a rules or system-based organisation," the report said, calling for an overhaul of the board structure and the restructuring of some sister companies.

"Together, Grameen Bank and its sister organisations have emerged as a big conglomerate, which needs to be redefined and restructured," the report said.

The Grameen Bank dismissed reports of irregularities as "untrue and baseless".

The bank is still awaiting a final decision on a separate government claim that Yunus was illegally reappointed managing director, with the Supreme Court due to review an order for his dismissal early next month.

Yunus was last month fired by a central bank order, which claimed he failed to seek the bank's approval when he was reappointed managing director of Grameen Bank indefinitely in 1999.

The High Court upheld the order in a March 8 ruling, saying the dismissal was legal and that Yunus had also exceeded Grameen Bank's mandatory retirement age of 60.

Backed by international lobbying, Yunus has defied the sacking order by filing a legal appeal and continuing to work at Grameen Bank's Dhaka headquarters.

The Supreme Court has said it would review the dismissal decision on May 2.

Supporters of Yunus, who has also been vilified in the Bangladeshi press, say his legal woes stem from a fallout with Hasina in 2007 over his short-lived attempt to found a political party


Source: 


1. http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/16798.html
2. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVI4KsYhqu6TBEsq1JPGfztos5Ag?docId=CNG.566d80b1e85ec3f4dbdf9df60aec90c4.441

Barriers Hamper Exports Bangladesh to India

Researchers in both countries have found that Bangladesh is not able to export its products to India for many reasons. Some of them are mentioned below:

Barrister Harun ur RashidIndia's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma arrived in Bangladesh on April 23, leading a 33-member delegation and a host of high profile businessmen, on a two day visit to Bangladesh to hold talks on bilateral trade. It is an opportunity to discuss bottlenecks in the increase of trade, especially Bangladesh exports to India.

During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January 2010, it was agreed that a comprehensive framework of cooperation for development between the two countries, including strengthening of bilateral trade, would be put in place.

In the joint communique issued following the prime minister's visit, it was agreed that, with a view to encouraging imports from Bangladesh, India would address removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers and port restrictions for Bangladeshi goods. Bangladesh also requested further reduction of India's negative list to increase its exports.

Trade deficit for Bangladesh with India has been huge for years. It is reported that Bangladesh's official imports from India during 2009-10 stood at over $3. 2 billion while Bangladesh was able to export only $304.63 million worth. However, in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh's exports stood at $359 million. Besides formal trade, informal imports from India are worth billions of dollars.

It is reported that Bangladesh official imports are in the following categories: more than 35% intermediate goods, a little over 30% final consumer goods, 15% basic raw materials and more than 10% capital goods, of total imports from India.

Researchers in both countries have found that Bangladesh is not able to export its products to India for many reasons. Some of them are mentioned below:

* Bangladesh's main exportable products are largely within the ambit of India's negative list of goods that has 480 items, which include vegetable and textile products and readymade garments and knitwear;

* Non-tariff barriers in India, such as testing and certification, technical standards and banking impediments are some of the identifiable non-tariff barriers. (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution is being modernised with technical assistance from India);

* Ordinarily, a quality standard certificate from Bangladesh is not accepted by India, Bangladeshis are not allowed to open bank accounts in northeastern states of India, and import-export number is issued from Kolkata, which is at least 1,680 km from Agartala;

* Non-tariff measures are turned into non-tariff barriers while complying with sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade;

* There are poor logistics for land ports, only certain commodities can pass through land ports, cumbersome customs requirements, manual clearance, excessive inspection as an excuse for security, no customs cooperation or joint inspection, lack of harmonisation of standards, lack of warehouse facilities in land ports, and no testing facility near any land port. (These impediments also apply for Indian exporters as well);

* Visa restrictions make it difficult for business people to travel to India to promote trade from Bangladesh.

It is reported that the Bangladesh commerce minister raised these points with India last October, but the progress is disappointing.

During the visit, the Indian commerce minister has reportedly agreed to consider Bangladesh's long-standing demand for duty free access of 61 items (including 54 garment items) on the negative list. It is reported that India agreed to increase it to 10 million pieces from the existing 8 million pieces of readymade garments.

Bangladesh wanted to inaugurate the "border haats" in April last year to facilitate trading in the currencies of the two countries, but due to centre-state bureaucratic tangle in India it was delayed. The Indian minister agreed to inaugurate two "border haats" in Sunamganj and Kurigram in June.

Observers suggest that although the political atmosphere between the two countries is characterised by mutual goodwill and trust, progress on trade related issues on Indian side is very slow and unsatisfactory.

Noted Indian columnist Kuldip Nayar, in his recent article after visiting Bangladesh in mid-April writes: "It (Dhaka) has given the transit facilities to enable northeastern states to have better and quicker connectivity with the rest of India … I have never been able to understand why New Delhi drags its feet when it comes to trade with Bangladesh … India is too squeamish when it comes to dealing with neighbours." (DS, April 23)

India's unilateral acceptance of free trade regime for Bangladeshi goods will hardly dent India's large economy or market. In addition, this may lead to gradual integration of Bangladesh's economy with that of northeastern states of India

Researchers have suggested some steps to improve bilateral trade, such as joint ventures between the private sectors for local, regional and global markets, while trade complimentaries can be developed by vertical specialisation through production sharing,

The visit of the India's commerce minister will hopefully accelerate the removal of all kinds of trade barriers for Bangladesh exports and fulfill the aspirations and hopes generated in Bangladesh following the landmark visit of the Bangladesh prime minister to India last year.

Many Bangladeshis believe that India, with its vast resources and more than a trillion dollar economy, will be forthcoming in remove trade barriers. It seems that the implementation process of the areas agreed at the highest political level has been painfully slow, which is disappointing for the public in Bangladesh.

The clear commitments at the highest political level of both countries to increase exports from Bangladesh by removing tariff, para-tariff and non-tariff barriers need to be implemented sooner than later.

Both nations need to be mindful that the economic scenario around South Asia is changing rapidly. Economic globalisation has made it compelling that both countries seriously consider integrating their economiea, and then with the region including South East Asia and China. Speed and de-regulation are the 'mantras' of globalisation and key to success in economic growth and development.

It is interesting to note although global trade by South Asian countries has greatly increased with other countries, trade within Saarc remains below 3%, while within Asean it is 25%. Prior to the 1947 partition, it was 20% within three territories -- India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh -- that constituted British India.

The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.


Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=183285

Informatics Masters Bursary from Manchester University

The 2011 Development Leaders Bursary - worth £6,150 - is available for developing country applicants to the one-year MSc ICT4D programme http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/06237/?code=06237&pg=2

It is also tenable on the MSc Mgmt & Info. Systems programme:

http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/01388/index.asp?code=&pg=2

Application and eligibility details at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/postgraduate/taught/funding/

Richard Heeks

Director

Centre for Development Informatics

University of Manchester, UK

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/cdi