Month: February 2013

Mobile operators will make more money from data than from voice by 2018, a report has said.

GSMA, the organisation that represents the mobile industry, pointed out that the surge in connected devices and the growth of machine-to-machine communications were creating huge demand.

In a report it lays out some of the ways that mobile is transforming lives, particularly in the developing world, the BBC reports.

Israel and the US have carried out the first successful test of the Arrow 3 missile defence interceptor, the Israeli defence ministry said.

The interceptor, designed to shoot down long-range missiles, was fired into space from a coastal military launching pad in central Israel.

A senior defence source told The Jerusalem Post that the interceptor took off over the Mediterranean Sea, “obtained hypersonic speed, and reached an altitude of 100 km, entering space”.

Officers from Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) have seized 187 kg of heroin with an estimated black market value of $180 million.

FSKN head Viktor Ivanov said the entire consignment of high-grade Afghan heroin was stashed inside black radishes.

The shipment, which originated in Uzbekistan’s Tashkent region, was initially sent to a Russian company based in Orenburg, Siberia.

Four people were detained when the heroin consignment was seized at the Dolgoprudny market, north of Moscow, he said.

He did not specify when the operation took place.

–IANS

Moscow’s position on Syria stems from its concern for the Syrian people, and not the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

“Russia’s position is not predetermined by support of personalities; it is dictated by concern about the fate of the Syrian people, our long-standing friend and partner, and the fate of a country which has a very long history,” Lavrov said at a news conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid Mouallem.

The deputy director of a Russian military shipyard has been hospitalised with head injuries following a beating by unidentified attackers.

The incident took place in the northern city of Severodvinsk, police said.

Eduard Baal, who works at the Zvyozdochka shipyard near the White Sea, was attacked at his apartment building after returning from work late Friday, but the incident was revealed only Monday.

“He has a brain concussion and numerous bruises on his body,” the regional interior ministry said.

At least 17 Amur tigers died in Russia’s far eastern territories over the past year, most of them due to human action, wildlife experts said.

Another eight big cats were saved from death by environmental officials and activists, the Primorye region-based Phoenix Fund said. Most of the animals were cubs orphaned by hunters.

The statistics were based on media reports about tiger-related incidents.

More than half of Russians display a generally positive attitude toward the US, but only 39 percent feel the same way about bilateral relations, says an opinion poll by the state-run All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Study (VTsIOM).

According to the survey, 55 percent of Russians view the US positively, a two-percent increase since September 2012.

Thirty percent are negative about the US, a two-percent drop.

Those positive about the US included supporters of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia (61 percent), young people (62 percent) and residents of large cities (66 percent).