Forbidden Blackberry fruits

If President Barack Obama flies into United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 11, he may not be able to read his email on cellphone there.

That is if the UAE makes good its threat to block BlackBerry email, instant messaging and web-browsing starting October 11 over how its maker handles electronic data.

The US President loves the BlackBerry – the smart phones made by Canadian firm, Research In Motion (RIM) – so much that he refused to give it up for security reasons when he moved to the White House.

Mr Obama and other BlackBerry lovers like Rwandan President Paul Kagame would run into similar communication problems in other countries like India, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Indonesia, which have expressed displeasure with some BlackBerry services.

Authoriies are uncomfortable with their inability to monitor or review electronic communications on the device in criminal, terrorist or national-security investigations. It is a tiff that made RIM Co-Chief Executive Michael Lazaridis blow his top in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Mr Lazaridis said officials in those countries don’t understand how the internet works and that the company cannot grant special access to encrypted data. “This is about the internet,” Mr Lazaridis told the Journal. “Everything on the internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can’t deal with the internet, they should shut it off.”

Officials in Washington are not taking chances. “So we are directly affected by what has been suggested,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told the Associated Press.

“We are taking time to consult and analyse the full range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there’s also a legitimate right of free use and access,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

In America, 40 billionaires and their families pledged on Wednesday to give more than half of their fortune to charity in a drive organised by Mr Bill Gates and Mr Warren Buffett. The group includes CNN founder Ted Turner, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Hollywood director George Lucas.

The idea, which was announced six weeks ago as “The Giving Pledge,” is to convince billionaires across the country to give up most of their money – 50 per cent or more – to charity. “The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract,” a statement released Wednesday through by givingpledge.org said.

“We’ve really just started, but already we’ve had a terrific response,” Mr Buffett, the chief executive of the investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, said. Mr Gates, with a Sh4.2 trillion ($53 billion) fortune, is ranked second on the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest people, while Mr Buffett is third with Sh3.7 trillion ($47 billion).

Wheat export ban

Elsewhere, Russia is to ban the export of grain from August 15 to December 31 this year after drought and fires devastated crops. “I think it is advisable to introduce a temporary ban on the export from Russia of grain and other agriculture products made from grain,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

Russia, one of the biggest producers of wheat, barley and rye, exported a quarter of its 2009 grain output. Mr Putin’s announcement sent wheat prices to a 23-month high, setting the stage for wheat shortages in some markets. Prices had hit 22-month highs last week due to concerns about the impact of the drought and fires on Russian wheat exports.

However, many commodities analysts insist there is a surplus of wheat in global markets following record harvests in 2008 and 2009. They say that speculators have been driving wheat prices artificially high because they are hoping to make a profit from the worries over Russian exports.