Hoping to extend Internet connectivity to underserved populations around the world, the United Nations and the Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) today announced a series of programmes to accelerate the adoption of broadband wireless technology in developing countries.

The "Wireless Internet for Underserved Populations and Local Communities" initiative was developed in follow-up to a June 2003 conference on wireless Internet opportunities for developing nations. It is also in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of measurable and time-bound targets adopted by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000 - and the Declaration of Principles adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the first-ever global forum on information technologies (ICTs).

Planned within the framework of the programme are over 15 conferences, seminars and interactive workshops for Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East designed to help officials and experts explore the use of broadband wireless Internet technologies in their countries and communities. Special emphasis will be put on training and capacity building, as well as cooperation at international and local levels and public-private partnerships.

"W2i has received requests from business organizations and governmental regulatory agencies in several countries to facilitate consensus among local stakeholders in emerging broadband wireless Internet standards," said Daniel Aghion, Executive Director of W2i.

Early underwriters of the initiative include IBM and Intel. "Intel is a strong proponent of enabling affordable Internet connectivity worldwide, and we are developing wireless technologies and working with organizations like W2i to help accelerate the adoption of broadband wireless technologies worldwide," said Julie Coppernoll, director of marketing for Intel's Wireless Networking Group.

UN ICT Task Force Chairman Jose Maria Figueres-Olsen said he looked forward to the impact these initiatives will have "in raising private and public stakeholders' awareness of the potential Wi-Fi and related technologies present as an economic development tool for underserved populations in developing nations and local communities around the world
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2004/wificonference.doc.htm

WASHINGTON — A two-day event opening at the United Nations today will attempt to tackle one of the most intractable issues in the technology world: how to govern the global Internet.
http://www.unicttaskforce.org/
http://www.icann.org/
http://www.uncitral.org/
The U.N. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Task Force is holding an Internet governance forum today and tomorrow at U.N. headquarters in New York. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was asked by officials at the World Summit on the Information Society in December to form a working group on governance and report back in 2005.

This week's forum is the preliminary phase of an "open, inclusive and transparent process worldwide," said Sarbulan Khan, executive coordinator for the ICT Task Force.

The forum will be followed on Saturday by a closed meeting of the 18-member task force, whose mission is to be a multi-stakeholder group promoting applications of ICT for development. The task force on Saturday will review results of the forum, as well as the task force's business plan. Several tracks will be pursued, such as regulatory reform and online education, Khan said.

The task force is "opening up the platform" and has "no preset agenda" for the event, Khan said. "There are no preconceived notions about where this is headed." Most important is that all the key stakeholders be brought together for the "first phase" of the process, which will end with the second WSIS meeting in November 2005 in Tunisia.

The aim is to help the secretary general get the most views, he said, and the event is open to anyone. It will look at the roles of Internet stakeholders, try to identify issues relating to governance and how they are being handled, then formulate a plan for work. The task force expects about 200 people, including key Internet leaders and officials from developing countries.

Speakers at the event will include Vinton Cerf, chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and representatives of governments, business groups and nonprofit organizations. Various U.N. bodies, the World Bank, academics and privacy advocates are among the participants. U.S. companies that will participate include Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

The task force will organize regional meetings between this week and June, after which Annan will decide on a small working group, Khan said. A meeting is planned for Shanghai in May, and meetings are being developed for Latin America and Africa.

In addition, ICANN, the International Telecommunication Union and the International Chamber of Commerce have held meetings or issued papers on governance since the December summit. "We are hoping this will widen the net" of people involved in the process, Khan said in an interview.

Several participants at the ICANN meeting said they planned to attend today's forum in a bid to be part of Annan's working group. Asked whether attending the forum would help one become part of the working group, Khan said, "I can assure you it will not be a criterion."

U.N. Makes Progress On E-Commerce Treaty

The U.N. Commission on International Trade Law's Working Group on Electronic Commerce on Friday adopted a draft text for an international e-commerce treaty. The text covers legal electronic transactions, data exchanges and e-mail messages, the United Nations announced Monday. The draft will be submitted to the commission's next full session in June.

Participants argue that a treaty will harmonize disparate national laws on e-commerce and help create more confidence in doing business online. Jonas Astrup of the International Chamber of Commerce said at the meeting that his group favors self-regulation by industry. The chamber is working on guidelines for businesses online.

With the signatures of Ecuador and the Republic of Congo, 100 countries and the European Community have as of this week signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO release, March 25).

The convention, unanimously adopted by the 192 World Health Organization members in May, requires countries to ban tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, set new labeling and clean indoor air controls standards, and strengthen tobacco smuggling legislation (U.N. release, March 25).

Nine countries have ratified the convention so far. It will enter into force and become legally binding 90 days after the 40th ratification or equivalent instrument. Countries failing to sign the document before the June 29 end of the signature period can join later through accession (WHO release).
http://www.who.int/tobacco/areas/framework/final_text/en/

[CAIRO] Egypt is taking the final steps towards the launch of its first satellite for scientific research in October.

The satellite, known as Egyptsat 1, is being built by the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences in collaboration with Ukraine, which is providing technical expertise and training. Construction is currently underway, and several ground stations are being built to receive satellite data, monitor and analyse climatic phenomena and forecast future changes.

According to Egypt's minister of Higher Education and minister of State for Scientific Research, Moufid Shehab, work on the satellite is being carried out at the science and technology park Mubarak City for Scientific Research and Technological Applications, near Alexandria. Sixty young Egyptian scientists are being trained in satellite technology as part of the initiative, he says.

The Egyptian government first announced its intention to build the satellite — which will be used for peaceful purposes, especially desert exploration — in August 2002, after signing an agreement with Ukraine on bilateral cooperation in state-of-the-art technology.

Egypt has already launched a number of satellites for nonscientific purposes. It launched Nilesat 101 and Nilesat 102 in 1998 and 2000, respectively. These satellites now deliver more than 150 digital television channels as well as radio and multimedia services to more than 5 million homes over the whole of North Africa, from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. The government has also recently announced plans to launch its first 'reconnaissance satellite' for civilian research within two years, with assistance from Western governments.

As the human population continues to grow, the demands human beings place on the environment increase. The demands are becoming all the greater because these rapidly increasing numbers of people also wanted to live better lives. More and cleaner water...
And this demand is getting Sevier day by day and not enough water for all, I got this News which really shocked me specially when I remembered the UN report on the 13th of August 2002 ‘If Current patterns of development continue, nearly half of the world’s population will suffer from water shortages within the (next 25 year), the use of fossil fuels, along with greenhouse gas emissions, will grow and the world’s forests will continue to disappear,

And That was my First shocking News and what I had been thinking of all the last days is it really Time for war for a drop of water, isn’t it time that we take it really serious and work on the next generations awareness of such issues and planning for a better Water Recourses Management . And make every one realize the importance of the drop of water he waste and could cause His country to go to war. I think it is really time to take it very seriously to avoid such pressing issue by more awareness about the water issues and the importance of water recourses Management and collaboration between countries to Face this pressing problems ……….

And here is the News :

Ministers from 10 countries that share waters from the Nile River started an emergency meeting in Uganda days ago prompted by increasing fears that tensions over how to share the world's longest river could lead those nations to war, the London Times reports.

Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda are attending the meeting, held under the auspices of the U.N.-backed Nile Basin Initiative.

The conference was called after Tanzania announced it is building a pipeline to extract drinking water for 1 million families in the country's west. Under a 1929 treaty between colonial Britain, which then represented all East African countries, and Egypt, none of the nations on the banks of the Nile could begin a project that would affect the volume of the river's flow without Egypt's express consent.

The Nile is formed by the Blue and White Niles. The White Nile begins from Lake Victoria and is joined by the Blue Nile, which draws water from western Ethiopia, in Sudan's capital city of Khartoum. The combined river flows through northern Sudan and Egypt. Based on the 1929 treaty, Egypt receives 55 billion cubic meters from the 83 billion cubic meters the river generates annually.

The Egyptian government, which has already said it will consider going to war if countries attempt to alter the Nile status, reaffirmed its position yesterday saying it will reject any proposal to decrease its quota of water.

"The talks will have to comply with one permanent feature: not to touch Egypt's historical rights," said Egypt's Irrigation Minister Mahmud Abdel Halim Abu Zeid.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya have been putting increasing pressure on Egypt, saying that water from the Nile could help combat famine in those countries.

"It is simply not fair to ask eight African countries, badly in need of economic growth, to ignore such a natural resource on its doorstep," said one East African diplomat (Jonathan Clayton, London Times, March 9).

According to BBC Online, 160 million people in the region depend on the Nile to survive, especially Egyptians, since the country has no other significant source of water. (Almost 80 million on them are Egyptians) but to Egypt the river is a matter of life and death, as the country has almost no other source of water.


"Right now all the ... countries are on the table negotiating for a new agreement, for an arrangement on how everybody, all the countries, could benefit from the Nile water resources," said executive director of the Nile Basin Initiative secretariat, Meraji Msuya (Martin Plaut, BBC Online, March 7).

The meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, will continue throughout this week (Henry Wasswa, Associated Press, March 8).
The talks - held under the auspices of the Nile Basin Initiative - come amid growing regional tensions over the world's longest river.
A 1929 treaty said no work would be done on the river that would reduce the volume of water reaching Egypt.
But the 1929 treaty - signed between Britain and Egypt - is now being questioned.
Tanzania is building a pipeline to extract drinking water.
Kenya is calling for a revision of the treaty, and Ethiopia is planning to use the water for irrigation.

guyes please i need to know from you how we could solve this sever danger coming to our area in a youth prespective ?
http://www.nilebasin.org/
http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20040309/449_13826.asp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3541617.stm