US missile shield to encircle Chinese economic tiger

It was a very stress-filled moment: Hillary on Operation Abbottabad

China warns India for exploring Oil in the Disputed Areas of South China Sea

“India will pay a heavy price for exploring oil in the disputed areas of South China Sea”, said a leading Chinese official a day after China lost political ground on the issue at the ASEAN summit that ended in Cambodia. “China will not stand any joint cooperation in our claimed maritime areas,” said Wu Shicun, president of the government-run National Institute of South China. Wu was referring to joint exploration project by ONGC-Videsh and a Vietnamese oil company in South China Sea. Beijing had lobbied hard to block discussion on the South China Sea dispute at the summit but it failed to keep the dispute out of the agenda. Three ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Philippines are in a bitter dispute over the ownership of the 52 islands in South China Sea. “There are a lot of economic and political risks” for the Indian oil company, Wu said, adding that the Indian company involved in exploring oil in the disputed area should do a proper cost benefit analysis. About 40% of the area in the two offshore blocks under exploration by India falls in the disputed zone, he said. He added that the Chinese government will not dilute its claims over the disputed islands because “nationalism prevails strongly in China.” China directly controls only seven of the 52 islands in the Spratly Islands area of the sea. But it claims ownership of 90% of the area.

India is ready to build International North-South Corridor to reach Central Asia

India will make a concerted push into Central Asia by taking charge of a crucial transportation network through Iran into Central Asia and beyond. After getting a thumbs up from 14 stakeholder countries in the region in January, experts from all the countries will meet in New Delhi on March 29 to put final touches to the project — the International North-South Corridor. The project envisages a multi-modal transportation network that connects ports on India’s west coast to Bandar Abbas in Iran, then overland to Bandar Anzali port on the Caspian Sea and through Rasht and Astara on the Azerbaijan border onwards to Russia. India will build the missing sections of the rail and road link in Iran, thus skirting US sanctions and paying for Iranian oil not with hard currency but through infrastructure projects like the corridor. Once complete, the International North-South Corridor would connect Europe and Asia in a unique way — experts estimate the distance could be covered in 25-30 days in what currently takes 45-60 days through the Suez Canal. This has been a win-win proposition for India since the North-South Corridor agreement was signed between India, Iran and Russia in September 2000. But over the years, the project fell into disuse. Iran made little attempt to complete construction on its side, expending little political or administrative energy. Neither did Russia or India, which preferred to talk about it but did little to push it. Meanwhile, 11 other countries, including all the Central Asian states, joined up. Several recent developments have changed India’s timid approach. First, China has been building an extensive road and railway network through Central Asia, aiming to touch Europe. It is fast, efficient and already on the ground. While this has made Central Asia accessible to China and others, it is worrying these countries no end. Over the past few years, Central Asian states have repeatedly approached India to play the balancing role. Second, with Pakistan in a state of almost chronic instability, India can never hope to access Central Asia through Pakistan. Its best bet remains Iran.

Dubai Metro "Guinness Record Holder for longest Driver-less metro in World"

Since its construction and opening a year ago, the Dubai Metro has increased passengers exponentially and carried 30 million passengers, according to official figures released on the eve of the anniversary.

The Metro will celebrate its year anniversary on 9 September, and has achieved high standards in areas like operational efficiency, punctuality in journey schedules and high global safety standards.

The Metro has seen numbers rise significantly, according to statement carried by government news agency WAM, the emirate's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), with a 183 percent growth rate from October 2009, to August 2010, with numbers rising from 1.8 million to 3.3 million respectively.

Similarly, the average number of daily passengers increased from 54,683 a year ago to 116,340 this summer.

The statement also confirmed that a record was set on 1 July, when a total of 130,529 passengers used the service.

"The number of monthly passengers served by the metro broke the two million barrier in December 2009 and continued to grow steadily to hit 3,193,087 passengers in May 2010; the number still showed further growth to clock 3,301,959 passengers last August.

These indicators reconfirm that RTA is proceeding ahead with its drive to achieve its strategic objective of raising the share of mass transit modes in the number of person trips to 30 per cent by 2020, and the indicator is currently pointing to a 12.6 per cent.

"The massive investments pumped by the Government of Dubai into developing the infrastructure of the mass transit sector have proved to be both successful and effective," said RTA chairman Mattar Al Tayer.