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Wednesday, 13 April 2011

British Massacre - Batang Kali Survivors and kin seek inquiry and damages

Putting justice in order: Claimants (from right) Wooi Kum Thai, Loh Ah Choi, Lim Kok and Chong Hyok Keyu holding posters of protest at a press conference here yesterday.
By P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my

Survivors and kin of Batang Kali episode seek inquiry and damages




KUALA LUMPUR: Survivors and relatives of the Batang Kali massacre are going ahead with their quest for a review of a decision not to have a public inquiry despite pressure from British authorities.

The group is also seeking a review of the decision by the British government in November last year not to make any form of compensation to the families of those killed.

Their lawyer Quek Ngee Meng said the group was facing £100,000 (RM492,280) in legal fees after the British Legal Aid Authority refused them legal aid.



“We were only informed that our application for legal aid had been rejected on March 18,” said Quek, adding that the group’s solicitors in London submitted a final appeal to the Special Costs Control Review Panel for legal aid yesterday.

He said they were also facing pressure from the British government solicitor who had offered to dismiss the fees if they stopped pursuing the case.

The group filed their claim for review at the High Court of Justice Administrative Court in Britain on Feb 25.

Twenty-four unarmed villagers were killed by British troops in 1948 during the communist insurgency in then Malaya in an incident described by the colonial authorities “as suspected guerillas fleeing the scene”.

The founder of the Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre, Tan Kai Hee, said the group had evidence of cover-up and political interference by the British authorities into the case’s investigation and prosecution.

He said soldiers involved in the killing had confessed that they were pressured into giving false statements on the incident.

A report by the Guardian newspaper in Britain on Saturday also revealed that the British government had pressured Malaysian authorities into stopping a police investigation.

China's Huawei, Motorola settle legal dispute over technology, secrets





China's Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and Motorola Solutions Inc. have agreed to settle a legal dispute over technology secrets, paving the way for Motorola to complete the sale of its unit to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).

Huawei and Motorola Solutions will drop suits against each other, with Motorola agreeing to pay an unspecified technology transfer fee to Huawei as part of the settlement, the two companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

According to the agreement, Huawei, China's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, will allow Motorola Solutions to transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei to NSN for a fee. NSN can receive and use confidential Huawei information on service networks Motorola has deployed.

Huawei filed a lawsuit against Motorola and NSN in January, claiming that Motorola had not provided any assurances it would prevent disclosures about Huawei technology to NSN. Motorola Solutions had sought an agreement to help finalize the sale to NSN, which was announced in July 2010.



Motorola, itself, sued Huawei in July of last year, alleging theft of trade secrets via former Motorola employees to Huawei in 2008.

"We regret that these disputes have occurred between our two companies. Motorola Solutions values the long-standing relationship we have had with Huawei," Greg Brown, President & CEO of Motorola Solutions, said in the statement.

In 2000, Motorola partnered with Huawei, enabling Motorola to resell certain Huawei products under the Motorola name. Over the next 10 years, Motorola purchased 880 million U.S. dollars in technology from Huawei that covered core networks and wireless access networks.

"Huawei acted properly and above board at all times and developed its products independently and without the use of any Motorola trade secrets," said Guo Ping, Vice Chairman of the Board and Executive Vice President of Huawei, in the statement.

"This is a great victory for Chinese enterprises over intellectual property rights," said Chen Jinqiao, secretary-general of a telecommunications experts panel with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The end of all pending litigation between Huawei and Motorola could help end unfair speculation over Huawei's business ethics and improve its ties with the United States, Chen said.

Huawei once claimed that a series of unproven allegations and misperceptions had hurt its ability to do business in the United States. It publicly asked the United States to launch a formal investigation into its business in an attempt to clear its name.

The unusual call followed the outcome of a recent U.S. government foreign investment review that forced Huawei to sell assets it bought from 3Leaf, a small U.S. company. Three years ago, Huawei had to drop a larger proposed investment in 3Com under similar pressure.


Source: Xinhua
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Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Berners-Lee calls for higher purpose of Web

by Martin LaMonic





Tim Berners-Lee at MIT.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the underpinnings of the World Wide Web, isn't just concerned about getting browsers on more mobile devices. Architects of the Web need to consider how it will affect all humanity as it evolves.

Berners-Lee was one of the speakers here this afternoon at Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything, a conference organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
In his talk, Berners-Lee reprised his role in writing the protocols now used on the Web and how a few chance encounters led to the World Wide Web Consortium being first located at MIT. Looking ahead, he said that the W3C, which manages the development of technical Web standards, needs to adapt to the "ridiculous" number of mobile devices, including mobile phones and tablets.

But even as engineers hammer out the next version of HTML, they have a duty to fulfill a weighty social purpose of the Web, he said. As the way that people connect in society, the Web supports justice, government transparency, and human rights to freedom, he said.



"The challenge before us is getting everyone involved. At the same time that we're a technology consortium, it's incredibly important to push things" in how the Web affects society and culture," he said. "It's not only just about making a cooler device or a cooler Web site. One thing that's changed about the Web is that it's so big and so ubiquitous."

The Web should serve to connect more people and bridge cultural gaps and misunderstandings among people, Berners-Lee said.

One tablet per child

Berners-Lee was part of the lineup of people who spoke on the topic of "computing for everyone" today, which included Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the MIT Media Lab and chairman of One Laptop Per Child. 
 
Negroponte said that the inexpensive laptops made by One Laptop Per Child have been distributed to 2.4 million people in 40 countries, making an "extraordinary impact" on people in poor countries. As an example, he showed a photo of young child in Peru using a laptop to teach his grandfather how to ready and write, which raises the child self-esteem and raises his profile in the community.

He said the nonprofit will release engineering diagrams for a $75 tablet although it's not yet clear whether it will make the device itself. Multitasking will be a feature because they will be used by students who quickly switch between different tasks, such as playing chess and reading books.

Because OLPC is a nonprofit with a social mission, he said he regretted the negative press it has received. When asked what he would do differently, he said "I might not have pissed on Microsoft and Intel so hard. I used to think it was a badge of honor...If you put me back five years, I would have done it more gracefully."

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