Prime Minister Narendra Modi discusses India's widening global role, the manufacturing of defense equipment and the country's relationship with Pakistan in an interview with Gerard Baker, Editor in Chief of The Wall Street Journal. Published May 25, 2016. See also: Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) | Twitter and PMO India (@PMOIndia) | Twitter
Narendra Modi's First Two Years: Five Ways India Has Changed:
Narendra Modi took office as prime minister of India, the world's largest democracy, two years ago, pledging to improve the nation's fortunes. Here are five ways India has changed since then. Published May 25, 2016.
Tweets about Narendra Modi English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the most widely spoken language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census)--The World Factbook
Former ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade
[Icannphotos (CC BY-SA 2.0)]
Fadi Chehade apologizes to Brazil for 'misunderstanding' his farewell letter to the ICANN Board of Directors, which was published on the ICANN website:
The insult:
“... Finally we set our fourth objective to evolve the multistakeholder model, which included increasing participation and promoting ethics and transparency. Among our concerns in this realm: The pressure from governments such as Brazil, China, India and Russia to bring the IANA Functions under the control of the United Nations via a multilateral instead of a multistakeholder governance model ...”--Fadi Chehade, Farewell Letter to the ICANN Board (pdf) Feb 19, 2016 (emphasis added)
UPDATE: GEM-TECH 2015 WINNERS:
Videos (playlist) above feature the winners of the ITU/ UN Women Gem-Tech 2015 Awards, as well as the 2015 Global Achievers. Published on Dec 14, 2015 - more info here
LIVE UN Web TV(go to link) coverage15-16 December of WSIS+10 meeting Includes 2 side events:
Side event: Women’s Empowerment in the Digital Age: Implementing WSIS Outcome and Agenda 2030. 15 December, 1PM EST
Side Event: Enabling a Trusted Connected World. 16 December, 1:15PM EST
GA High-Level Meeting: The plenary, on 15-16 December in accordance General Assembly rules of procedure, will feature consecutive statements from Member States and non-government entities.
The annual GemTech Awards, organized by UN Women and ITU on the evening of 14 December, recognize outstanding efforts to ensure that girls and women achieve digital equality in all its dimensions.
Side events, organized by Member States, UN agencies, and non-government stakeholders between 14 and 16 December, will offer interactive exchange on key topics cited in the review and future action.
WSIS+10 Agreed outcome document (pdf), excerpts (emphasis added): 13. We reaffirm that Internet governance should continue to follow the provisions set forth in the outcomes of Tunis and Geneva.
16. We reiterate our commitments to the positive uses of the Internet and other ICTs and to take appropriate actions and preventive measures, as determined by law, against abusive uses of ICTs as mentioned under the Ethical Dimensions of the Information Society of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. We also recognize the importance of ethics as set out in Action Line C10 in building the information society and strengthening the role of ICTs as enablers of development.
.... 4. Internet Governance
60. We reaffirm paragraph 55 of the Tunis Agenda, and in this regard we recognize that the existing arrangements have worked effectively to make the Internet the highly robust, dynamic and geographically diverse medium that it is today, with the private sector taking the lead in day to day operations, and with innovation and value creation at the edges. However, 4 billion representing two-thirds of people residing in developing countries remain offline.
61. We further recognize that there are many crosscutting international public policy issues that require attention and are not adequately addressed.
62. We recognize paragraph 29 of the Tunis Agenda and that the management of the Internet as a global facility includes multilateral, transparent, democratic and multistakeholder processes, with the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, technical and academic communities, and all other relevant stakeholders in accordance with their respective roles and responsibilities.
63. We reiterate the working definition of Internet governance set out in paragraph 34 of the Tunis Agenda, as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision making procedures and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.”
64. We reaffirm the principles agreed in the Geneva Declaration that the management of the Internet encompasses both technical and public policy issues and should involve all stakeholders and relevant intergovernmental and international organizations, within their respective roles and responsibilities as set out in paragraph 35 of the Tunis Agenda.
65. We take note of the hosting by Brazil of the NETMundial Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance in Sao Paulo on 23 and 24 April 2014.
66. We recognize that there is a need to promote greater participation and engagement in Internet governance discussions of governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, the technical and academic communities, and all other relevant stakeholders from developing countries, particularly African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing states, middleincome countries, as well as countries in situations of conflict and postconflict countries and countries affected by natural disasters. We call for strengthened stable, transparent, and voluntary funding mechanisms to this end.
67. We note the important regulatory and legislative processes in some Member States on the open Internet in the context of the Information Society and the underlying drivers for it, and call for further information sharing at the international level on the opportunities and challenges.
68. We acknowledge the role of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a multistakeholder platform for discussion of Internet governance issues. We support the recommendations of the report of the CSTD Working Group on improvements to the IGF, which were taken note of by the General Assembly in its resolution 68/198, and we call for their accelerated implementation. We extend the IGF mandate for another 10 years with its current mandate as set out in paragraph 72 to 78 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. We recognize that during this period, the IGF should continue to show progress on working modalities, and participation of relevant stakeholders from developing countries. We call on the CSTD, within its current reporting, to give due consideration to fulfilment of its Working Group report recommendations.
ITU Interviews Robert Pepper, V P, Global Technology Policy Cisco Systems, Inc. -- Interview with Dr Robert Pepper, V P Global Technology Policy Cisco Systems, Inc. at ITU 150th Anniversary Celebration, Geneva, Switzerland, 17 May 2015. see: IoT -- Internet of Things
Published on April 8, 2015: "The year 2015 marks a major milestone in the history of the International Telecommunication Union. ITU’s 150th Anniversary celebration is an opportunity for ITU and its Members to honor the past as well as launch activities for the future."
Written Testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy: "... the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and digital economy sectors are critical and EB (Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs) has led the effort to advance U.S. priorities on Internet governance, ensuring an open and global Internet, free from governmental controls. EB led the United States delegation to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) highest-level treaty conference late last year, securing agreement that there would be no expansion of ITU’s role in Internet governance or cybersecurity. EB is leading the U.S. push to expand access spectrum for mobile broadband and pave the way for remotely piloting aircraft and myriad space science activities at the ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) later this year, seizing the opportunity to advance U.S. innovation and economic growth, further strengthen national security, and accelerate U.S. research and leadership."--Testimony of Kurt Tong, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, May 6, 2015.
In the recent past there were attempts to have ITU involved in the DNS and domain name issues:
ITU-T Newslog - Procedures for Registration with the Top Level Domain .int: "Procedures for Registration with the Top Level Domain .int ITU-T Study Group 2 has approved at its December 2005 meeting, a Recommendation outlining procedures for registration with the domain ".int". ITU-T Recommendation E.910 clarifies the principles and procedures for the registration of names under the Internet top-level domain ".int" and the process by which qualified international organizations can register for domain names under ".int". Importantly it outlines what criteria an international organization must meet in order to qualify for such a domain." and Multilingual Domain Names: Joint ITU / WIPO Symposium: "The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted a Joint Symposium on Multilingual Domain Names from 6-7 December 2001, at the International Conference Center of Geneva (CICG). Day one of the Symposium was led by ITU and dealt with technology and policy issues. Day two was led by WIPO and dealt with intellectual property and dispute resolution issues."
