ABC
ABC issued a statement saying it was “surprised by the action” after content on its website about unrest in Myanmar between Muslims and Buddhists was included on the blocking list. India’s Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde insisted in a statement the government was “only taking strict action against those accounts or people which are causing damage or spreading rumours.” Shinde added that the government sought to block the Myanmar online photos because they were “disturbing the atmosphere here in India.”
The government said photographs of clashes in Myanmar were circulating on the Internet with fake captions claiming the scenes were from the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where 80 people have died in recent ethnic violence. Vivek Sood, senior Supreme Court lawyer and an author on Internet legalisation, called the government’s step “a gross abuse of power.”
“It’s completely illegal under the Indian IT Act,” he told The Economic Times. Indian journalist Kanchan Gupta, who is often critical of the government, had his Twitter account targeted by a government blocking order in a move he called a “political vendetta”. Al Jazeera webpages on the blocking list, including a report on the exodus from Bangalore, appeared unaffected by the government orders, the channel’s Delhi bureau chief Anmol Saxena told AFP.
Ministers earlier complained they had not received co-operation from websites and social network groups. The government on Thursday said Twitter had agreed to remove six fake accounts parodying Prime Minister Singh. The prime minister’s office issued a statement on Friday quoting Twitter that they have “removed the reported profiles from circulation due to violation of our Terms of Service regarding impersonation”. United States State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said as India “seeks to preserve security, we are urging them also to take into account the importance of freedom of expression in the online world”.
IKEA
More Sri Lankan investments in India – IKEA to invest.
The Union minister of Commerce has decided to redefine small and medium enterprises (SME) to make it possible for investment by the Swedish furniture giant IKEA . Union minister Sharma announced this at the India road show here.
IKEA furniture manufacturer has sought some changes in policy to come in with an investment of over Rs 10,500 crore into India. As per current definition, SME is a unit with $1 million investment that can go in for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). IKEA pointed out that once it started sourcing from SME in India, the growth would be fast and SMEs would have to exceed the investment limit.
Sharma said that the moment SME started selling its products to companies abroad its investment would need to go up and under the present law it would cross the limit given and make it not eligible for FDI. Sharma said that the present law was penalizing SME for doing well.
The government to attract FDI had relaxed the foreign direct investment rules last year to allow 100% FDI in single-brand retail . Earlier it was 51% but imposed numerous conditions such as mandatory local sourcing kept off foreign players.
A few investors such as Skechers, Pavers England, Promod and Tommy Hilfiger did express interest but were deterred by stringent norms in upcoming national manufacturing investment zones (NMIZ).
Sharma announced three additional national manufacturing investment zones (NMIZ) will be
coming up in Andhra Pradesh and two in Karnataka. Work on 12 more zones will start by the end of August. Talking about Sri Lankan companies’ investment , Sharma said Sri Lankan companies especially the textile firm Brandex, MAS textiles and Toray are coming to invest heavily in India.
He said Brandex apparels aims for fourfold increase in its exports from Vizag unit in the coming years. Not only Brandex is very upbeat on increasing its investment in India, every Monday about 50 million lingerie pieces are exported by them to Victoria Secret.
CEO Yahoo
CEO sketches out new Yahoo, vows business refocus.
Yahoo Inc CEO Scott Thompson unveiled details of how the struggling Internet company will be reorganized, addressing employees just days after unveiling the deepest round of job cuts in years.
Thompson, who took over last year from the brash and occasionally foul-mouthed Carol Bartz, said in an internal memo on Tuesday that the company would be organized along three core divisions, effective May 1.
Once a dominant Internet media and search powerhouse, Yahoo’s growth has been eclipsed by Google Inc and Facebook. The company announced last week it would lay off 2,000 people and set in motion a broad restructuring to try to revive the business.
“To be very clear, our highest priority is winning in our core business, and that will earn us the right to pursue new growth opportunities,” Thompson said in the memo ahead of an all-hands staff meeting later on Tuesday.
The company’s three new divisions include a consumer arm, which will focus on media content under Ross Levinsohn; “connections” like Flickr, search and e-mail; and e-commerce.
A new “regions” division will deal with advertisers, while a technology division will handle Yahoo’s infrastructure and platforms.
“You will hear more from our business leaders about their plans to move each of these groups forward in the coming days and weeks,” Thompson said in the memo.
“Ultimately, only our customers will decide whether we win or lose in the market.”
As expected, the new structure does away with a centralized products group that straddles several client types, formerly headed by Blake Irving, who will depart in coming weeks and is not expected to be replaced homecoming dresses online .