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Nokia plans to install Linux software on just one new smartphone next year, according to foreign media reports Tuesday.

The Finnish firm has started to invest more in Internet services in recent years, seeking to counter falling handset prices and increased competition in smartphones from the likes of Apple and Blackberry-maker RIM.

The Linux Maemo operating system is seen as key for Nokia in its rivalry with Apple Inc’s iPhone, and many analysts and industry players have been expecting the firm to roll out numerous Linux models already next year.

Nokia started to sell its first Linux phone, the top-of-the-range N900 model, this month.

“The potential of Linux computer operating system is in the high-end, and we have not yet fully harnessed that,” said Ari Jaaksi, head of Maemo at Nokia.

Nokia has used open source Linux Maemo since 2005 in its niche range of Internet tablets - sleek phone-like devices without connection to mobile networks.

“The key lesson we have had - almost everyone asked for a phone: ain’t there a cellular connection?” Jaaksi said.

The Maemo operating system will be updated in 2010, with full integration of Qt technology, which enables software developers to create one application for different operating systems, iPhone-like capacitive touchscreen support and a tighter integration of Nokia’s services.

Turkey’s telecommunications watchdog said Saturday the country is developing its own Internet search engine and aims to launch it in 2010, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

All major search engines used worldwide are based in foreign countries, which can not meet Turkey’s needs and could bring security problems, said Tayfun Acarer, chairman of Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communications Authority Board.

“I believe that our search engine will be popular in Turkic and Muslim countries and I am confident that these countries will trust our search engine,” Acarer was quoted as saying.

Turkey also initiated another project to allocate an e-mail address with a quota of 10 gigabytes to each of Turkey’s 70 million citizens to build a mobile network that matches citizens’ identity numbers, said Acarer.

He said the project is being tested and that its software infrastructure was already completed.

The network could replace foreign mail networks such as Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail in Turkey, Acarer was quoted as saying.

Russia plans to deploy another five battalions equipped with the advanced S-400 Triumph air defense systems in 2010, the Air Force commander said on Thursday.

“So far we have two S-400 battalions and both were deployed in the Moscow region,” Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.

“We are due to arm another five battalions with S-400s next year, but everything would depend on the industry’s capabilities,” Zelin said.

The S-400 Triumph is designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at distances of up to 400 km. The system is also believed to be able to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

A regular S-400 battalion comprises at least eight launchers with 32 missiles and a mobile command post, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russia’s new state arms procurement program stipulates the purchase of enough S-400 air defense systems to arm 18 battalions by 2015.

Bets there are in a wide range of areas–health care, financial services and consumer businesses. Some are surprisingly non-tech, including women’s shoes, lotteries and dairies. Many China-based companies getting funding are further along than the guys in a garage of Silicon Valley legend.

The end goal is the same: Make these companies profitable, sizable and publicly listed.

So-called growth capital investing may not turn up the NASDAQ and NYSE winners that Chinese tech deal-making did–think Tencent, Focus Media and Shanda. But many U.S. venture capitalists in China believe these later-stage investments can generate solid and steady returns–if not the huge returns of stellar tech deals.

Their reasoning? Growth capital in China can mimic the more adventuresome spirit of venture capital deal making–and with potentially less risk. Financing emerging businesses and helping them scale in the more mature, slower-growing U.S. market isn’t all that exciting, but China’s booming economy, wide-open market sectors and low costs offer a big runway for small businesses to scale quickly and profitably–precisely what entices venture capitalists.

In the U.S., Sequoia Capital made its name and fortune with such trophies as Google, YouTube and Oracle. The firm got into China in 2005 with a $200 million fund to seed the champions among Chinese start-ups. But by 2007, Sequoia had begun investing from two funds: $250 million for venture and $500 million for growth-stage businesses.

And guess what? Sequoia’s three exits so far from its 50 deals in China are all from the growth fund. Count them: two Hong Kong IPOs–sporting apparel retailer Peak Sport Products in September 2009 and underground shopping mall developer Renhe in October 2008–plus a NASDAQ listing in December 2007 of outsourcing vendor VanceInfo Technologies.

Neil Shen, Sequoia’s founding managing partner in China, says that by no means has he given up on scoring a big hit with early-stage tech investing. But it simply makes sense to follow where the money-making is now–despite the fact that Shen has his heart in venture investing, given his own entrepreneurial background. Shen founded two NASDAQ-listed Chinese companies, travel booking service Ctrip and economy hotel chain Home Inns.

A look at the growth deals in Sequoia’s China portfolio–including China LiNong International, a highly profitable and rapidly expanding supplier of freshly packaged and premium-priced vegetables–shows just how far this legendary tech investor has strayed from its Sand Hill Road roots.

Sequoia is hardly the only U.S. venture firm in China that’s branching out from the higher-risk deal making that’s central to the Valley culture. It’s a who’s who of Sand Hill Road–Kleiner Perkins, GGV Capital, Accel Partners and NEA–that have opted to spend more time and money cultivating a broad array of later-stage emerging companies in China.

The challenges of early-stage tech deal making are pronounced in China, requiring good connections with government officials, hand-holding with entrepreneurs who lack managerial experience in a capitalist-like economy, expert lawyers to navigate regulations and intellectual property issues–and most of all, patience to realize a payback for all the hard work and time.

Growth deals by comparison seem so much easier. All it takes is a well-conceived business model in the right market sector and an economic boom that can send revenues skyward. With limited partners demanding better performance results now, the appeal of growth capital is undeniable.

Venture capital firms, such as GSR Ventures, ePlanet Ventures and DCM, still committed to looking for the next big tech breakthrough from China are no longer in the majority. Yet this core group remains convinced that Internet, clean tech, gaming and mobile deals will hit the next home run. Now that fewer rival firms are bidding for an equity stake in Chinese tech startups and upping deals valuations, they could be right.

Certainly, with less competition, early-stage tech investors in China could do better than growth capitalists who took what looked like the surer path to riches.

A senior Chinese leader has called on the publicity and ideological sectors to vigorously publicize the success and fresh experiences in tackling global financial crisis and promoting industrial upgrading.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, made the remarks during an inspection tour to southern Guangdong Province between Wednesday and Sunday.

Li urged the sectors to work hard to further boost confidence of the cadres and people, and step up support for achieving the goals of economic and social development this year.

During the inspection, Li called on the province to lay a solid foundation for its sounder and long-term development by unswervingly implementing the CPC Central Committee’s policies on promoting economic growth, improving people’s livelihoods and safeguarding social stability.

Li also expected the province to be a pioneer in shaping outstanding companies in the cultural sector.

In addition, Li stressed schools should play a vital role in ideological and moral education among the minors. He called for more efforts to crack down on illegal information on the Internet and mobile phones and create a healthy environment for the teenagers.

A fire destroyed on Friday early morning some 106 houses, most of them made of cane, in Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, leaving some 500 people homeless, the Ecuadorian Firemen Corps said.

To the moment the causes of the fire are unknown, according to the authorities the fire took place in the sector called “Esmeraldas Chiquito Cooperative,” a zone of low income in the south of Guayaquil, the most populated city of the country.

According to the authorities the fire began about 00:30 a.m. local time.

Ecuadorian Health Minister Caroline Chang visited the place and said there were not reports of deaths. However, she said 14 children are hospitalized with asphyxia symptoms.

Chang also said that three mobile unites of her Ministry are given clinic and psychological attention to the victims.

Meanwhile, on Friday morning, the National Secretariat of Risk Management, the Economic and Social Inclusion Ministry, the Urban Development and Housing Ministry, the Ministry of the Litoral and the government of Guayas began to recover information to establish the exact number of affected people.

The Housing Ministry was analyzing the possibility of declaring an emergency in order to give to the victims cement houses in a term of 45 days.

Meanwhile, Francisco Estarellas, representative of the Economic and Social Inclusion Ministry said that “more than 500 people” were affected by the fire.

China’s military is close to fielding the world’s first anti-ship ballistic missile, which could turn the Pacific Ocean region close to China into a “no-go” zone for the US fleet, Bloomberg on Tuesday cited a report from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) as saying,

According to the news report, the missile, with a range of almost 1,500 kilometers, would be fired from mobile, land-based launchers and is “specifically designed to defeat US carrier strike groups.”

Paul Giarra, a defense consultant who studies Chinese weapons, called the missile “a remarkably asymmetric Chinese attempt to control the sea from the shore.”

“No US military operations – air or ground – are feasible in a region where the US Navy cannot operate,” Giarra, president of Global Strategies and Transformation, based in Herndon, Virginia, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.

“China is indeed developing anti-ship ballistic missiles. It is not a secret. During the 60th anniversary National Day military parade, China exhibited such missiles,” Dai Xu, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times.

“However, the media report is rather exaggerated. The presumptions that it could threaten the US Navy force may be caused by the fear of a military attack from countries in the region, since five US carriers are based and operate freely in international waters near China,” Dai added.

Bloomberg also quoted an e-mail from Scott Bray, who wrote the ONI report, as saying China also is developing an over-the-horizon radar network to spot US ships at great distances from its mainland.

Andrew Krepinevich, the president of the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments in Washington, told Bloomberg that the new missile would support China’s “anti-access” strategy to detect and, if necessary, attack US warships “at progressively greater distances.”

In September, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said China’s “investments in anti-ship weaponry and ballistic missiles could threaten America’s primary way to project power and help allies in the Pacific – particularly our forward bases and carrier strike groups.”

However, Dai said people are overestimating the development and function of the missile and even the Chinese military.

“In fact, attacking an aircraft carrier with the missile is not an easy thing as many US media have said. To detect and lock on to a moving target in the ocean, such as aircraft carriers or other large warships, is still a very challenging issue, because ballistic missiles are mainly used for attacking large fixed targets,” he added.

General Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, also said during his visit to the US in October that Beijing’s rapid military modernization, including the deployment of advanced weapons in the Pacific, is only to meet the minimum requirements of national security.

“American defense expenditure is 4.8 percent of its GDP, while Chinese is only 1.4 percent,” Xu said.

“Military superiority does not depend on one or a few pieces of advanced weapons, but rather on comprehensive strength,” said Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the China Association for Military Science.

“China has never tried to achieve demands by force. In order to counter the military threat from outside, developing modern weapons and getting prepared is necessary. It is important for China’s defensive strategy in the Pacific,” Luo added.

Philippine security forces foiled a deadly terror attack Monday in the volatile southern Philippines.

Troops have recovered and defused an improvised pipe-type bomb attached to a mobile phone which was planted by suspected Muslim separatist rebels in front of bus depot in the southern city of Cotabato at around 09:00 a.m., said city police Chief Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane.

Dangane said witnesses who saw motorcycle-riding men left a blue bag containing the bomb immediately informed police.

No one group claimed for the foiled attack but the Philippine military blamed rouge Muslim rebels in previous incidents.

In July this year, six people were killed and over 50 wounded when a homemade bomb exploded outside a Roman Catholic Church in Cotabato.

Could the real Nigerians stand up? That was the questions thousands of Kenyan soccer supporters were asking and when Obafemi Martins emerged from the bench, he proved the king pin to secure Nigeria a 3-2 win at Kasarani.

The loss was Kenya’s tenth against Nigeria in their 12 encounters having drawn twice. It eventually buried Kenya’s hopes of making a return to the Africa Nations Cup in Angola in January. Kenya last featured in this tournament six years ago in Tunisia.

Nigeria emerged the top team in Group 2 with 12 points and qualified for the world’s top soccer event after Mozambique beat Tunisia 1-0 in the other Group 2 qualifier tie in Maputo on Saturday.

Tunisia took the second spot in the group standings with 11 points, while Mozambique finished third with seven. Kenya remains at the bottom with three points.

Only the winners of the group sail through to the World Cup finals in South Africa while the top three, Tunisia, Nigeria and Mozambique will be heading to Angola for the continental championships.

It was the visitors who found their rhythm first as they surged forward to seek an early opener. They won a free kick from the edge of the 18-yard box.

In the 12th minute, Odemwinge dribbled through the Kenya defence to set up Yakubu Ayiegbeni whose effort went wide with only Willice Ochieng to beat in goal.

Denmark based Emmanuel Ake received a pass from Oliech from center field throw, dribbled past one Nigerian defender and returned it to Oliech who beat Vincent Enyeama in goal in the 15thminute.

Nigeria responded and put Kenya to pressure to see the Super Eagles gain three corners. Poor defence from the set piece saw Kenya right back Julius Owino and Ochieng clearing from the goal line.

Yusuf Alitanda came in for Olofinjana who had been injured in the 30th minute. But with the battle set in the midfield both team found it hard to angle their strikes on the two goals.

Only Odemwinge weak effort from the 20 yard area tested Ochiengin goal while Harambee Stars would have gone two up had Oliech’s cross found its target as it cut through the Nigerian defence in a counter attack.

Deep into injury time, Oliech cut through the Nigerian defence but could not squeeze a shot in the narrowed corner near the post with Enyeama body blocking the shot.

Nigeria defence led by captain Joseph Yobo and Victor Obinna were not the best pairing and in more than one occasion exchanged words as their leaky defence exposed them.

Mike Enyeama opened up Kenya defence in the 58th minute but his effort was weak. Next it was Yobo whose long-range free kick rebound off the cross bar. But in the 62nd minute, substitute Obafemi Martins scored when Odemwinge put him through.

Three minutes later it was Yakubu Ayiegibeni who scored from another defence error from Kenya.

The tide went in favour of Kenya as they settled their nerves but, it proved as a hard nut to crack the Nigerian defence. But when all looked lost, Allan Wanga emerged from the substitution bench to head Harambee Stars level in the 79th minute.

But Kenya defence was exposed five minutes later as Nigeria utilized their set piece from a short corner to provide Martins with a chance to score from close range to lead 3-2 in the 84th minute.

That marked the end of the battle as Nigeria opted to waste time and succeeded to hold the scores at 3-2 in their favor.

New Zealand joined other countries in the trip to South Africa after they beat Bahrain in the playoff in Asia.

Nigeria will join Cameroon, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, who sealed their tickets with a match to play, in the World Cup, which will be played in South Africa from June 11 to July 11.

Security measures were beefed up in and around Bangladesh’s southeastern Chittagong Press Club and court building following bomb threats Thursday afternoon, though it turned out to be a hoax, officials said.

President of the Chittagong Press Club Abu Sufian and General Secretary Rashed Rouf received the bomb threats through SMSs (Short Message Service) on their mobile phones at around 12:30 p.m. local time Thursday.

President of the Chittagong Press Club, Abu Sufian, told Xinhua Thursday over phone from Chittagong, some 242 km away of capital Dhaka, “The text messages said that bombs would be detonated in the press club and the court building anytime within 2 p.m. local time.”

The country’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion searched the spots but they did not find anything, he said, adding bomb threats turn out to be a hoax.

The SMSs, dispatched to the office bearers of the press club, did not mention name of any organization which issued the threats, but political observers here believe that any of the banned extremist groups in the country might have hands on the bomb threats.

Three Islamic militants were arrested from the Chittagong city last week allegedly for planning bomb attacks on the U.S. and the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

Sufian said the security measures in and around the press club and the court building in Chittagong, the second-largest city and main seaport of Bangladesh, have been beefed up with additional forces.

Earlier, Bangladesh Police in August this year received an anonymous call threatening to blow up the country’s National Press Club in capital city Dhaka, though it also turned out to be a hoax.