German posts guide to crack GSM code

German security expert has raised the ire of the cell phone industry after he and a group of researchers posted online a how-to guide for cracking the encryption that keeps the calls of GSM-standard cell phone users secret.

Karsten Nohl, 28, said he, working with others online and around the world, created a codebook showing how to get past the GSM encryption used to keep conversations on more than 3 billion mobile phones safe from prying ears. Nohl said the purpose was to push companies to improve security. “The message is to have better security, not we want to break you,” he said.

GSM, the leading cell phone technology around the world, is used by several wireless carriers in the US.

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Hyundai to unveil electric i10

In sync with global focus on green technology, India's largest car exporter, Hyundai Motors, will unveil the electric version of its compact car `i10' during the upcoming Delhi Auto Expo next year.

The company will also showcase its existing range of products and its concept vehicles with futuristic technology during the event starting January 5, the company spokesperson said.

"Hyundai i10 Electric is a zero-emission vehicle that reconciles motoring with the environmental aspirations of customers looking for a vehicle with the best possible ecological footprint," the company statement released on Monday said.

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Eat chapati, give up mutton, save the planet

Rice contributes more to global warming than chapatis and mutton curry is more damaging than chicken curry, according to a study of the impact of Indian food on climate.

Consumed in quantities producing the same amount of energy, wheat is eight times less damaging to the climate than rice and 52 times less than mutton, says the report, which has not been published yet.

The study by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) examines the carbon footprint of 24 food items used in Indian homes such as chapati, rice, vegetables and milk derivatives such as paneer.

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Beijing controls Internet with `whitelist'

China has issued new Internet regulations, including what appears to be an effort to create a "whitelist" of approved websites that could potentially place much of the Internet off-limits to Chinese readers.

The ministry of industry and information technology ordered domain management institutions and Internet service providers to tighten control over domain name registration, in a three phase plan laid out on its website (www.miit.gov.cn) late on Sunday.

"Domain names that have not registered will not be resolved or transferred," MIIT said, in an action plan to "further deepen" an ongoing anti-pornography campaign that has resulted in significant tightening of Chinese Internet controls.

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Longest night on December 22

It will be the year's longest night today, Dec. 22, as the sun reaches the winter solstice, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

"The sun will reach the Winter Solstice today at 1:47 a.m. (PST). This marks the time when the sun lies at its farthest point south of the equator," Prisco Nilo, Pagasa chief said.

Philippine nights will be longer than daytime. Earth has now completed another annual circuit around the sun, he added.

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Prince Charles: The sun king of Britain!

He's known as a faithful advocate for the environment and now it seems that Prince Charles is all set to become the future "sun king".

Yes, the heir apparent to Britain, who has gone to the extent of auditing his own carbon footprint in public, is placing solar panels on the rooftops of his Clarence House to generate his own electricity for heating and lighting.

In fact, Charles has already called in experts to see how the photovoltaic panels could be fitted onto the existing tiles on the 180-year-old Royal mansion without spoiling its historic look, `The Sunday Times' reported.

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Iraq to relaunch Air Force 20 years after Kuwait War

Iraq is to relaunch its Air Force which was decimated in the 1991 Gulf War and to train pilots for a squadron of 1824 fighter planes, Iraqi defence minister Abdel Qadr Obeidi announced on Wednesday.

Mr Obeidi said at the reopening of the Air Force Academy in Tikrit, in northern Iraq, that the facility would produce a new generation of pilots, navigators and ground crew.

"We are turning a new page in the history of the Iraqi Air Force," the minister said as he attended the arrival of four US-built T6A trainer aircraft piloted by Iraqi instructors.

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Experts turn to Twitter for 'real' quake reports

US seismologists have found a new way to 'follow' earthquakes around the world in real-time: Twitter the popular micro-blogging service that allows users to send messages in less than 140 characters.

Scientists at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have recently noticed that Twitter users in seismically active areas of the world were quick to note and report any temblors and movements of the earth that they felt. The experts say tapping into their 'tweets' on the website helps them pinpoint where and how brutally earthquakes hit, the science news website 'LiveScience' reported.

"Not only were 'Twitterers' quick to note quakes, there were reports that they were beating the USGS at getting out alerts of earthquake activity," USGS scientist Paul Earle was quoted as saying.

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Tea, coffee cut risk of diabetes

A recent Australian research could send cuppa addicts on a high as it claims that taking several cups of coffee and tea in a working day can cut down the risk of developing diabetes by more than 25 per cent.

A study conducted by The George Institute for International Health here also found that the risk could be reduced by 40 per cent - but one would need to drink a fresh cuppa for almost every hour of the working day.

"In those individuals drinking more than three to four cups of coffee per day, the reduction in risk of developing diabetes was even greater," Associate Professor Rachel Huxley told AAP report. "...

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Central Asia welcomes China with new gas pipeline

Central Asia welcomed China's foray into their energy-rich region today as Chinese leader Hu Jintao prepared to open a new pipeline connecting a Turkmen gas field with China's restive Xinjiang region.

Leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan assembled in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat today to greet Hu on the eve of a ceremony to commission the 1,833-kilometre pipeline that snakes across Central Asia via their countries.

The pipeline marks a new stage in China's involvement in the former Soviet region and represents a snub to Russia which still sees the mainly Muslim region as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

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Norway fumes as Obama cuts short Nobel trip

US President Barack Obama's trip to Oslo to pick up his Nobel peace award on Thursday is in danger of being overshadowed by a row over the cancellation of a series of events normally attended by the prizewinner.

Norwegians are incensed over what they view as his shabby response to the prize by cutting short his visit.

The White House has cancelled many of the events peace prize laureates traditionally submit to, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference and an appearance at a children's event, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honour at the Nobel peace centre.

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It'll be victory rally today

The TRS converted its Shanti Yatra scheduled for Thursday into a "victory rally" after the Centre announced that it had begun the process to form Telangana state.

The shroud of fear that covered the city lifted all of a sudden after the Centre's announcement.

The TRS leadership held that since the people had been mobilised for the rally, and most of them had reached the city, it would be impractical to call it off.

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Plan for 5,000 cameras watching Mumbai is put on pause

An ambitious electronic surveillance plan for Mumbai proposed by the city police shortly after 26/11 has been indefinitely delayed with the Maharashtra Government rejecting an offer from the Government-run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and looking afresh for bids.

On January 9 this year, as first reported by The Indian Express, the Mumbai Police, under then Commissioner Hasan Gafoor, proposed to the state Home Department a citywide 5,000-camera closed circuit television (CCTV) network, linked to monitors in the control room at police headquarters. Its objective: round-the-clock vigil at the airport, train and bus stations, malls, hotels, cinemas, even shoreline shantytowns like the fishermen’s colony where the Lashkar terrorists landed last year.

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Central Board of Secondary Education to start school ratings

Parents will soon be able to decide which school to choose for their children with the help of an "official rating system." The Central Board of Secondary Education has begun the process of evolving an official rating system for schools affiliated to it.

The CBSE will rate a school on the basis of its academic results, infraI structure, teacher-student ratio and facilities available in it. "The consultation l process has been started and suggestions invited from l various stakeholders," l sources said.

The human resources development minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, had proposed a school accreditation mecha nism as part of his wider educational reform agenda while announcing his 100day agenda at the beginning of the UPA government's second term.

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Tata to shut down Corus plant, 1,700 jobs at stake

Tata Steel-owned Corus on Friday announced its decision to close its biggest steel mill in Teeside in northeast England, which would result in a loss of about 1,700 jobs.

Corus, which is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of more than £12 billion, said on Friday that it would close the factory by the end of January next year. The Tata-owned firm blamed an international consortium's breaking of a binding contract for its decision to partially implement the proposal announced in May this year of mothballing some of the facilities belonging to the Teesside Cast Products (TCP).

"The decision to partially mothball TCP follows strenuous efforts by Corus over the past eight months to secure a long-term future

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Rajesh Khanna cinema's superstar, says Sharmila

Sharmila Tagore gives her votes to Rajesh Khanna as cinema's superstar. "People say that about Amitabh Bachchan, but I feel it is Rajesh Khanna. It was dangerous to even go out with him then. People from nine to 90 loved him.

He'd be mobbed everywhere. Young girls would marry his picture. We had never seen anything like it before", said Tagore of her Aradhana co-star.

Aradhana, one of Hindi cinema's big hits and Rajesh Khanna's first film, was supposed to be a quickie film, made between Shakti Samanta's other major projects.

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