India to Pass China as Fastest-Growing Major Economy

All it the brighter side of the current downturn. India may pip export-dependent China in the last quarter of FY09 and emerge as the Fastest growing nation among all large economies.

As China's GDP growth rate dropped to 6.8% during the October-December quarter and is expected to go down further, the Indian government has become hyper-active to achieve at least a 6.5% growth in Q4 to register a win over China.

If India achieves a better growth rate than China even for one quarter, the message will go across to the world and help India in wooing foreign capital, waiting to chase growth stories. Already, government officials in India have been highlighting reports of a few investment analysts who doubted China's official GDP numbers and claimed that it could just be in the positive territory in the last quarter.

A secretary in the government of India confirmed to SundayET that India has a brighter chance of overtaking China in the last quarter of FY09, or Q1 in case of China which follows the calendar year.

"China is heavily dependent on exports and the way things are unfolding China's GDP for January-March quarter would be quite low. We have so far achieved 7.9% and 7.6% growth in the first two quarters, according to the provisional numbers. Though our Q3 number, to be announced by month end, is expected to be less than the comparable number in China (6.8% in Oct-Dec, 08), the softening of interest rates will stimulate demand and ensure a faster growth rate than China in Q4," he said.

Though the Chinese economy grew at 9% during 2008, down from the revised 13% growth rate in 2007, the last quarter number (6.8%) has made the Indian authorities hopeful that India might be able to pip China in GDP growth. As China's export constitutes 37% of its economy against 13% in the case of India, the recession in the developed world will make China suffer the most.

PM's economic advisory council (EAC) member Satish C Jha said he won't be surprised if India grew faster than China. "The situation in China is worse than us. Exports are drastically coming down and China is hit hard. Our economy is driven more by domestic demand and our rural economy is much more resilient than that of China. If our stimulus packages are implemented properly, I won't be surprised if India pips China in GDP growth," Mr. Jha said. 

Quoted from: http://www.businessweek.com

Scene stealer: The aXXo files

Scene stealer: The aXXo files from The Independent

Monster.com is Latest Data Breach Victim

Tuesday January 27, 2009
Monster.com, the popular job-searching web site, has reported that attackers were able to compromise the Monster.com database and gain access to user information. With the job market in a freefall and tens of thousands more job cuts announced just this week, I am sure usage of sites like Monster.com are skyrocketing. According to this PC World article about the breach, "Monster.com user IDs and passwords were stolen, along with names, e-mail addresses, birth dates, gender, ethnicity, and in some cases, users' states of residence." Apparently since no credit card or social security number information was stolen, Monster.com is not subject to the same sort of disclosure laws as other data breach victims like TJX or Heartland Payment Systems.

The announcement from Monster.com is short on details, ostensibly because they are still investigating. They have not discovered any attempts to use or exploit the stolen data, but they have also not announced the number of affected users and they have implemented modified or additional security controls. Monster.com states in their alert message about the breach that they have no intention of sending emails to affected users or doing anything more than posting the announcement.

The PC World article states that Monster.com "advised users to change their passwords and reminded them to ignore e-mails they may get that purport to be from the company and that ask for password information or instruct the user to download anything."

Quoted from: http://netsecurity.about.com/

Super Bowl Game Interrupted by Porn

In Tucson, GoDaddy didn't produce the most offensive half-minute of Super Bowl air time. Not even close.

After Larry Fitzgerald scored Sunday to put the Cardinals ahead late in the fourth quarter, Comcast Cable's subscribers saw the feed switch from local NBC affiliate KVOA to a pornographic film for about 30 seconds. According to reports, shocked viewers saw full male frontal nudity and heard outrageous dialogue from adult cable channel Club Jenna.

Those watching on satellite or other cable companies were unaffected. A Comcast spokeswoman told the Associated Press the company was "mortified." Jennifer Khoury also said, "Our initial investigation suggests this was an isolated malicious act."

Which, if true, would make it possibly the greatest prank in the history of pranks. And probably a felony, too.

New Airbus joint-venture with China announced

European aeronautics giant Airbus announced Friday that it is to create a new joint venture to produce parts and composite materials in China.

"Airbus and a group of Chinese industrial partners today signed a contract which will lead to a joint-venture production centre in Harbin, China," the group said in a statement.

"This centre will produce parts and composite elements due for use under the A350 XWB programme and within the A320 family of Airbus craft," and will be operational come September this year, with a second plant due to open in 2010.

The shareholding will see 50 percent held by the Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Company Limited (HAIG); 20 percent by Airbus China; with Hafei Aviation Industry Company Limited (HAI), Avichina Industry et Technology Company Limited (AVICHINA) et Harbin Development Zone Heli Infrastructure Development Company Limited (HELI) each taking a 10 percent stake.

Airbus in September opened a new plant in the Chinese port of Tianjin, the the firm's first outside of Europe.

Quoted from: http://www.channelnewsasia.com

Personal comments:
Yeah...I think China is getting stronger and stronger. One think that I wish as an Indonesian, I really hope one day Indonesia can lift their economic level as high as Europe countries and the USA...Amieeennn!!!