India’s “deviant research” roadshow: helping amateur inventors improve lives; Honey Bee Network now repository for more than 10,000 inventions

Examples of “deviant research”, so called because they were developed by amateurs trying to solve problems that dogged their daily lives, rather than to make money, were outlined in New Scientist (22/9/2007, p.56).

Deep concerns about regional arms race; US spends $A18 billion to dramatically expand military base in Guam; Aus intelligence listens in on neighbours

Australia’s involvement in the four-nation Operation Malabar in the Bay of Bengal highlighted deep concerns about a regional arms race, according to Ross Peake, National Affairs Writer, in The Canberra Times (8/9/2007, p.B5).

Australia-India Uranium sale deal to be covered by bilateral safeguards agreement: would ensure any Australian uranium sold to India would be used for exclusively peaceful purposes, says Fed Government

Senator Helen Coonan, Senator for NSW, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs in reply to the questions asked by Lyn Allison, Senator for Victoria, Leader of the Australian Democrats, Commonwealth Senate, upon notice on 8 August 2007, regarding the potential Australia-India uranium sale deal that would see the export of uranium from Australia to India in contravention to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty obligations, said the supply of uranium to India did not contravene Australia’s international legal obligations under the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) provided the uranium was covered by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and conclusion of a bilateral safeguards agreement with India was conditional on a number of other steps, including India concluding a suitable safeguards agreement with the IAEA covering all designated civil nuclear facilities.

Affordable light replaces darkness; light emitting diodes (LEDs) replace polluting kerosene lamps in technology spreading beyond India

Sri Kamulu Kasi, a potter in the Kondh tribal village of Ghusuraguda in India’s Orissa state, often worked now after the sun set, while his children studied, according to Project Spotlight.

Electricity as a weapon in an unwinnable war: Sri Lanka orders blackouts, to deny Tigers visibility: home generators essential Colombo white-ware

With Lankans in front of TVs, gripped by their cricketing heroes jousting with Gilchrist in the cricket world cup final they would lose in Barbados, the Tigers’ jerry-built “air force” staged a raid on the capital. The Government ordered the power supply cut, to deny the Tigers visibility. But Lankans have long known that the Ceylon Electricity Board cannot service the national grid, so home generators are de rigueur.

India’s continuing absence from APEC a serious gap; a ‘future engine’ of global economy, says Aus Chamber of Commerce chief

India’s continuing absence from APEC was a serious gap in its membership, and one that should be remedied by APEC leaders, said Peter Hardy, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in The Australian Financial Review (3/9/2007, p.B15).