CIA report: India and China global players by 2020
Washington: An in-house CIA think tank has said in its report has likened the rise of the India and China to the emergence of the United States as a world power, a century ago.

The report says that India and China will increasingly flex powerful political and economic muscles as major new global players by 2020. The two nuclear-armed Asian giants-one a vibrant democracy, the other a one-party state-will ''transform the geopolitical landscape'' because of their robust economic growth, expanding military capabilities and large populations, the National Intelligence Council report has predicted.

The rise of these new powers is a virtual certainty,'' the Council said in report titled Mapping the Global Future. Partly as a result, the Council expects the world economy to be about 80 per cent larger than in 2000, and per capita income at least 50 per cent higher.

The report however points out that the United States ''will see its relative power position eroded'' and the world will face a ''more pervasive sense of insecurity'' from terrorism, the spread of unconventional weapons and political upheaval that could reverse recent democratic gains in parts of Central and Southeast Asia.

The 120-page report is intended to help the White House and other policymakers prepare for probable challenges by tracing how key trends may develop and influence world events over the next 15 years.

The report, the third in a project launched in the mid-1990s, is based on the thinking and comments of more than 1,000 US and foreign experts who participated in more than 30 conferences and workshops over the last year. The text and a computer simulation of possible scenarios are available online at www.cia.gov/nic.

The report warns that though the US will retain enormous advantages and will continue to play a pivotal role in economic, political and military affairs, it ''may be increasingly confronted'' with managing fast-shifting international relations and alignments.

The report warns that Washington will probably face ''dramatically altered alliances and relations with Europe and Asia.'' It says that the European Union will increasingly supplant NATO on the world stage. The United Nations and international financial institutions also ''risk sliding into obsolescence unless they adjust'' to the changes in the global system, the report says.

''While no single power looks within striking distance of rivalling US military power by 2020, more countries will be in a position to make the United States pay a heavy price for any military action they oppose,'' the report said.

The key to the future, the Council says is the international flow of information, capital, goods and services. Those ever-expanding transfers will become so powerful and so irreversible, driven especially by the expanding middle class in Asia, such globalisation ''will substantially shape all the other major trends in the world of 2020.''
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Praful Patel: Open skies pact with US by next month
New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said that an open skies agreement with the US may be inked as early as next month. The pact may be inked when the US Transportation Secretary arrives in Delhi.

The open skies agreement, proposed by the US more than six months ago, is a far-reaching arrangement that removes all restrictions on number of cities, aircraft or airlines. US has signed such an agreement with 66 countries and hopes to add India to its list at the earliest.

Some of the salient features of the agreement are:

• Flights to any point in each other's territory
  
• Enshrining privileges amounting to seventh freedom rights that would allow an airline of either country to carry traffic to any point beyond each other's territory
  
• No restriction on tourist and cargo charters
  
• Allowing airlines to pick up traffic for intermediate points.

The only roadblock could be the US condition for a separate clause on aviation safety. India does not provide for such an exclusive provision as it follows the standard norms set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Another issue which both sides would seek to address is to get more US airlines to operate directly to India. Most US airlines have code-sharing arrangements with European carriers and very few of them operate regular flights to India. In contrast, there are 20 non-stop services to China.

Flights to US register 85 per cent booking, indicating a high demand. In 2003, passenger traffic between both countries was 1.5 million.
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Maran: Low-cost computers to be launched by June
Chennai: Low-cost computers, would be launched across the country in June this year, in a move to make computers affordable to the rural masses, Union IT and Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said on Friday.

Private computers makers have been told to launch the 'economy-grade' computers, which will be priced at Rs10,000 per unit, Maran said at a press conference after launching BSNL's broadband Internet services.

"The computer will not have all the latest features. But, it will provide all the basic functions," he said.

To take computers to the villages, Maran also announced the launch of local language computer operating systems (OS).

Computer major Microsoft has already launched Hindi language operating systems recently. The launch of Tamil language Windows operating systems by Microsoft, which was postponed due to the tsunami tragedy, will be held next month, Maran said. The ministry will also take steps to promote the use of indigenous software to encourage domestic software companies, he said.
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EU to review anti-dumping measures against India
New Delhi: The European Union on Friday has agreed to review anti-dumping measures against products from India and has also decided that Indian goods not meeting sanitary standards would not be destroyed.

"They (European Union) have agreed to review anti-dumping measures against products from India," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said after a two-hour long meeting with the new EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

"They have also agreed not to destroy consignments which do not meet phyto-sanitary standards," he said.
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