Monday, March 4, 2002		Lens on IT

Afghan boys and a woman wearing a traditional burka watch a video game console at a newly-opened arcade in Kabul, Afghanistan. With the departure of the Taliban regime, modern diversions such as this are cropping up in the city.

AOL Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin delivers a speech during a ceremony in Beijing to celebrate the first anniversary of AOL Time Warner's Chinese channel CETV. AOL Time Warner is the first foreign broadcaster allowed to beam entertainment programmes to southern Guangdong province.

Minister of Communication & Information Technology Pramod Mahajan, conferring a special award to the HFCL Managing Director, Dr. R.M. Kartia in New Delhi, HFCL has won the award for exploring new export market constituted by Electronics & Software Export Promotion Council.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, right, plays a car racing game on Xbox, together with Yoshiki, a member of the now-defuct rock group, X-Japan, at a Tokyo shop. Gates was in Tokyo last week to launch Microsoft's newest video game console on the Japanese market.

— Reuters photos