What is stopping Aishwarya Rai Bachchan from wearing 'a white shirt and jeans' at Cannes?

It has been 15 years at Cannes for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. And almost every outing, and outfit, has made news — good, bad and ugly.

This year, it was her purple pout that created a stir.

Starting with a gold cape dress, she followed it with a red number designed by Naeem Khan. During the premiere of Sarabjit, Aishwarya took her Rami Kadi ensemble to an edgier level by sporting a lavender lip. 16 May was indeed a busy day for Twitter, what with assembly polls and Aishwarya's choice of lipstick.

The former beauty queen describes fashion as "art". Which it is. In its purest self, it's an expression of individualism and creativity. But fashion on the red carpet isn't art; it's business. The Guardian writes that Cannes' screenings are by invitation and the official dress code is explained to guests: men should show up in black tie-black shoes, and women in elegant dresses with smart footwear.

Perhaps, that's what stopping Aishwarya. And other celebrities. That the fact that they might represent a brand (Aishwarya is the brand ambassador for L'oreal Paris). Or they might represent various jewellery businesses and fashion designers, who will have the satisfaction of seeing their creations on the red carpet. Aishwarya, this Cannes season, sported looks by four different designers.

How much is the red carpet business worth? A report by The Cut estimates that a red carpet day rate for a celebrity stylist is anywhere between $1,500 and $10,000. It details in neat mathematics, a breakdown of Charlize Theron's 2012 Golden Globes outfit. Another report, by New York Magazine, details the appearance fee for different celebrities. While Business Insider confirmed that jewellery designers, shoe designers and even tampon companies pay the celebrities who endorse their products. It is all about the money.

Source: www.firstpost.com

Saudi Arabia denounces Iran over decision to not send Hajj pilgrims this year

Saudi Arabia has denounced Iran over its decision not to send its pilgrims to the annual Hajj and has also criticised Tehran's demand regarding right to organise demonstrations during the Hajj and to have privileges.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said this in a joint press briefing with his British counterpart Philip Hammond in Jeddah yesterday.

He termed the Tehran's demand as unacceptable as it would cause chaos during the annual event.

Jubeir said, Saudi Arabia annually signs a hajj memorandum of understanding with more than 70 countries to guarantee the security and safety of pilgrims.

However, Iran this year refused to sign the memorandum.

Earlier, Iran's Haj and Pilgrimage Organisation announced that the country's pilgrims would not attend pilgrimage.

Iran has blamed regional rival Saudi Arabia for sabotage and failing to guarantee the safety of its pilgrims. Relations between the two countries plummeted after hundreds of Iranians died in a crush during last year's Hajj.

Earlier, Iran had boycotted the Hajj for three years after 402 pilgrims, mostly Iranians, died in clashes with Saudi security forces in an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Mecca in 1987.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com

Boat ran out of fuel, water came from everywhere: migrants recount horror

Survivor accounts have pushed to more than 700 the number of migrants feared dead in Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks over three days in the past week, even as rescue ships saved thousands of others.

The shipwrecks appear to account for the largest loss of life reported in the Mediterranean since April 2015, when a single ship sank with an estimated 800 people trapped inside. Humanitarian organisations say that many migrant boats sink without a trace, with the dead never found, and their fates only recounted by family members who report their failure to arrive in Europe.

“It really looks like that in the last period the situation is really worsening in the last week, if the news is confirmed,” said Giovanna Di Benedetto, a Save the Children spokeswoman in Italy.

Warmer waters and calmer weather of late have only increased the migrants’ attempts to reach Europe.

The largest number of missing and presumed dead was aboard a wooden fishing boat being towed by another smugglers’ boat from the Libyan port of Sabratha that sank Thursday. Estimates by police and humanitarian organisations, based on survivor accounts, range from around 400 to about 550 missing in that sinking alone.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com

Tanmay Bhat, Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar: Here's everything you don't need to know

Tanmay Bhat's parodies of Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar has, to use a technical millennial term, broke the internet.

If like the rest of the world, you're wondering what the fuss is about, here's what really went down:

Bhat, a comedian, who had earlier posted a monologue on feminism, presented a short skit on Snapchat last week. Using the app's face-swap feature (you can unfortunately swap your face with anyone's or anything's), he mimicked Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar in a video titled Sachin v/s Lata Civil War. Starting with imitating Sachin, Bhat spouted lines such as "Virat is good with the bat, and the ladies”, and moves on to 'roasting' or as some people from the internet like to say, insulting Lata Mangeshkar (he says she is 5,000 years old). He also imitates Lata making fun of Sachin saying that her fans will mourn her by singing her songs at the singer's funeral. The video ends with a lot of jibes and insults in Marathi.

Bhat then took to Twitter to further voice his opinions.
But even before he posted the video, Bhat reportedly put out a disclaimer as saying that he loved both the icons.

As the controversy grew, the Shiv Sena and the BJP called for police action against Tanmay Bhat. Shiv Sena even asked the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take strict action against the comedy collective All India Bakc*** (AIB) and Bhat for allegedly seeking to vitiate social harmony through videos on Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar. The BJP's Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar also requested that a police complaint be filed against Tanmay Bhat and AIB.

The MNS meanwhile said that it will lodge an FIR against Tanmay Bhat and demanded that the video uploaded by him be removed immediately.

The Mumbai police has initiated a probe following the complaints. DCP (Operations) Sangramsingh Nishandar said the inquiry is being conducted by special branch of the city police. The inquiry was initiated after Shelar complained about the issue to city police chief Datta Padsalgikar.

Sachin's wife, Anjali Tendulkar also voiced her opinion on Twitter.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com

26/11: Pak court issues notices to accused, government over plea to examine boat

 A top Pakistani court on Monday issued notices to the seven Mumbai attack case accused, including 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, and the government over the prosecution’s plea to form a commission to examine the boat used by the 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists to reach India.

“The Islamabad High Court has issued notices to the accused of Mumbai attack case and the government on the prosecution’s plea to form a commission to examine the boat at port city of Karachi,” a court official said. He said the court has also sought record of the case from the trial court — Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad. The official said the date for hearing of the case will be fixed later.

Boat’s name: Al-Fauz

The prosecution had challenged the trial court’s decision to reject its plea to form a commission to examine the boat ‘Al-Fauz’ used by Mumbai attack terrorists so that the vessel could be made “case property.”

Al-Fauz is in the custody of the Pakistani authorities in Karachi, from where the 10 militants, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, had left for India to carry out the Mumbai attack in 2008.

Attackers used 3 boats

According to the Federal Investigation Agency, the attackers used three boats including Al-Fauz to reach Mumbai from Karachi.

It said the security agencies had also traced the shop and its owner from where the culprits bought the engine and the boat while a bank and a money exchange company were also traced which were used for the transaction of money.

Killer diary

The 10 LeT militants had left Karachi on the boat on November 23, 2008.

En route to their destination, they hijacked another boat, killing four of its crew. They allegedly forced the vessel’s captain to take them close to the Indian shores.

The captain was killed when the vessel reached Mumbai’s coast.

Inordinate delay, understandably

The Mumbai attack case is facing inordinate delay as no proceedings practically have been held for more than two months. The Mumbai case hearing is scheduled to be held once a week.

The lawyers associated with the case say as all Pakistani witnesses in the case have recorded their statements, it may further be delayed if India does not send 24 witnesses to Pakistan. They say Pakistan is awaiting India’s response on sending the witnesses here for recording the statements in the case.

Charges against accused

Mumbai attack mastermind Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz,Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum are accused of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the Mumbai attack.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/

Iran says to miss hajj, Saudi 'blocking path to Allah'

Tehran: Iran said today its pilgrims will miss the pilgrimage this year because Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam's holiest sites, was raising obstacles and "blocking the path to Allah" for its faithful.

The Iranian Hajj Organisation said: "Saudi Arabia is opposing the absolute right of Iranians to go on the hajj and is blocking the path leading to Allah."

The Saudi side had failed to respond to Iranian demands over "the security and respect" of its pilgrims to Mecca, of whom 60,000 took part in last year's hajj, the organisation said.

In the latest dispute between regional rivals Tehran and Riyadh, "after two series of negotiations without any results because of obstacles raised by the Saudis, Iranian pilgrims will unfortunately not be able to take part in the hajj" in September, Iran's Culture Minister Ali Jannati said.

Saudi officials have said an Iranian delegation wrapped up a visit to the kingdom on Friday without reaching a final agreement on arrangements for pilgrims from the Islamic republic.

The Saudi hajj ministry said it had offered "many solutions" to meet a string of demands made by the Iranians in two days of talks.

Agreement had been reached in some areas, including to use electronic visas which could be printed out by Iranian pilgrims, as Saudi diplomatic missions remain shut in Iran, it said.

It would be the first hajj in almost 30 years to take place without the participation of pilgrims from Iran.

Source:http://zeenews.india.com

Have sought report on Rafale negotiations: Manohar Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought a report from the committee negotiating the price for the Rafale fighter jets as India looks at concluding the deal in a couple of months.

In an interview to IANS, the minister also said that concluding the deal by June-July will mean the first of two Rafale squadrons will be in place in two to three year’s time. Asked about the concessions sought by France on bank guarantees, the minister said any decision taken will be “within the legal framework”.

“Whatever happens will be within legal framework, governmental framework, and according to what has been done in past,” he said.

As per reports, Fence has rejected Indian request for a sovereign guarantee or bank guarantee for the deal, and instead offered to provide a “comfort letter” from the prime minister.

“At this stage, I do not want to interfere into or influence the committee that is discussing (the deal). I have told them they should discuss it and put up a report on this… what is the conclusion of the discussions,” he said.

“If the Rafale deal concludes by June-July we will have a squadron of Rafale in two-three year’s time,” the minister said.

He said that deal is in its final stage.

The deal for purchasing 36 Rafale combat jets in fly-away condition was inked during the prime minister’s visit to France last April.

A negotiating team was constituted to decide on the deal and is holding talks with the French side.

The deal comes with a clause for delivering 50 percent offsets, expected to generate business worth at least three billion euros for Indian companies.
Source: Financial express

300 people evacuated from Korean Air plane at Tokyo airport

About 300 passengers and crew members were evacuated from a Korean Air Boeing 777 at Tokyo’s Haneda airport after one of the engines caught fire, officials said today.

TV footage from the airport showed the plane, which was bound for South Korea’s Gimpo International, surrounded by red fire trucks and with the area around its left wing doused in foam. The plane’s inflatable emergency evacuation slides had all been deployed.

“The flight (Boeing 777) had a fire on Engine No.1,” a Korean Air spokesman told AFP.

“The plane bound to Kimpo (Gimpo) Airport from Haneda had 302 passengers and 17 crew members on board. (The) fire was apparently put out.”

Smoke was seen coming from the plane as it was about to take off at around 00:40 pm (0910 IST), officials of the Japanese transportation ministry and the airport told AFP.

Passengers and crew were evacuated and there were no reported injuries, NHK and Jiji Press said, citing police and fire department sources.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com

Barack Obama pays tribute at Hiroshima nuclear memorial

Barack Obama on Friday paid tribute to the 140,000 people killed by the world's first atomic bomb attack and sought to bring global attention to his unfulfilled vision of a world without nuclear weapons, as he became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima.

"Death fell from the sky and the world was changed," Obama said, after laying a wreath, closing his eyes and briefly bowing his head before an arched monument in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park that honors those killed on August 6, 1945, when US forces dropped the bomb that ushered in the nuclear age. The bombing, Obama said, "demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself."

Obama did not apologize, instead offering, in a carefully choreographed display, a simple reflection on the horrors of war and his hope the horror of Hiroshima could spark a "moral awakening." As he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood near an iconic bombed-out domed building, Obama acknowledged the devastating toll of war and urged the world to do better.

"We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell ... we listen to a silent cry." Obama said.

A second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki three days later Hiroshima, killed 70,000 more.

Obama also sought to look forward to the day when there was less danger of nuclear war. He received a Nobel Peace Prize early on his presidency for his anti-nuclear agenda but has since seen uneven progress.

Source:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Rs. 1,000 Crore Spent On Modi Government's 2-Year Ads': Arvind Kejriwal

full-page newspaper ads marked the two-year anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government today, a sharp tweet came from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been accused of spending crores on publicity.

Mr Kejriwal cited sources to allege that the central government has spent "Rs. 1,000 crore" on the ads.

The Modi government has planned a mega show at Delhi's India Gate on Saturday to mark the two-year celebration that will begin with the prime minister's rally in Uttar Pradesh this evening.

Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi was criticized recently for setting side Rs. 526 crore in its budget for publicity.

The Congress has alleged that the AAP government spent Rs. 100 crore for self-promotion just between February and May. The party said an RTI query had revealed that Rs. 14.5 crore had been spent just on newspaper ads and the rest on TV, radio ads and hoardings. The money, alleged the party, could have been spent by Delhi government on the salary of poor sanitation workers and pension.

In his tweet today, Mr Kejriwal said his government had spent Rs. 150 crore in a full year.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com

In 1998, He Helped Save Her After A Devastating Fire. In 2016, He Watched Her Graduate College.

Peter Getz held Josibelk Aponte in 1998, after a fire ripped through a Connecticut apartment. Getz, a patrolman at the time, performed CPR on the 5-year-old victim as she was being rushed to the hospital, working in the back of a police cruiser, the Hartford Courant reported.

The fire was fatal, killing one of Aponte's relatives. But Aponte survived. The Courant reported that when she awoke after the incident, she was "surrounded by her family and the first responders who saved her."

"I did what I was trained to do, what I had to do," Getz told the newspaper this week.

"I almost died, but I was given a second chance at life," Aponte said, according to the Courant. "And it was because of Peter and all the authorities, everyone who came to help that day."

Aponte is grown now, 23 years old. This week, she graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University. And Getz, who is now retired, was there for the commencement, watching along with her family.

"Pretty proud of her, for all the adversity that she has overcome," Getz told The Washington Post. "Both physically and mentally, having to go through that, and losing one of your loved ones, that you were very close to. That she had stayed the course and that she had come out as a shining star."

Getz said he was dispatched to the scene of the blaze along with other officers, who worked on crowd and traffic control. Fire crews who responded to the apartment found two victims inside the building, including the 5-year-old Aponte.

"Josi was unconscious and basically in cardiac arrest, and I took Josi from the fireman, because he was in full bunker gear - there was no ambulance available," Getz said. "And since we were kind of close to the hospital, I was not going to wait for an ambulance, so I had another officer drive my cruiser, and I did CPR on her on the way to the hospital."

It really was a group effort, Getz said. Dispatchers took down the correct information, and let responders know that people were in the apartment. Firefighters made their way through a smoke-filled apartment, he said. Someone drove the cruiser to the hospital, where medical personnel took over.

"This is how the process is supposed to work," Getz said.

He was photographed cradling Aponte during the incident, a moment that was captured by a Courant photographer. And in the years that followed, he said, he kept tabs on her, "to make sure that she was on track." Then, about two years ago, Aponte got in touch with the retired Hartford police detective.

"She started to reach out to me and sent me an email," he said. "I think she Facebook-stalked me, is what she calls it."

And they've been communicating ever since.

"Honestly, a lump came in my throat," Getz said, describing how he felt when he received the first message from Aponte. "It was kind of cool, you know, that somebody would even remember you from that long ago. I mean, I always remembered her. There's a picture on my desk that her mom gave me a year or two after one of her birthdays."

When asked if he considered Aponte to be family, Getz said: "Oh yeah."

"I mean, physically, not in my house," he said, "but she'll always be a part of me and a part of my family."

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/

Stockholders Okay Twitter CEO's Plan to Donate Shares to Employees

Celebrating Twitter's 10th birthday at its annual meeting on Wednesday, stockholders of the micro-blogging site have approved CEO Jack Dorsey's pledge to give away one-third of his shares to employees.

Last October, Dorsey had pledged to donate shares to a pool to be "granted over time to Twitter's employees and other service providers," Forbes reported on Thursday.

The 6.8 million shares that the Twitter CEO plans to donate were worth about $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,343 crores) when he promised to give them to employees in October.

Since then, Twitter stocks have slid more than 50 percent owing to stalled users growth and falling revenues, lowering the value of the promised shares to $98 million (roughly Rs. 658 crores), the report added.

Twitter shares fell sharply about 12 percent after the micro-blogging website - which managed to add 5 million people to take its monthly active user base to 310 million - missed the first quarter revenue estimates last month.

The company posted $595 million revenue in the first quarter ending March 31. It was up 36 percent from $435.9 million (roughly Rs. 2,924 crores) in the same quarter last year but missed the $607.9 million (roughly Rs. 4,079 crores) expected on average among analysts, Forbes reported.

Twitter posted a net loss of $79.7 million (roughly Rs. 534 crores) compared with a year-earlier loss of $162.4 million (roughly Rs. 1,089 crores).

Twitter has predicted revenue for the second quarter between $590 million (roughly Rs. 3,962 crores) and $610 million (roughly Rs. 4,096 crores) much lower than the $678 million (roughly Rs. 4,551 crores) analysts expected.

"Revenue came in at the low end of our guidance range, as brand marketers did not increase spend as quickly as expected in Q1," the company tweeted.

According to Dorsey, the engagement on Twitter is growing. Direct messages are up about 50 percent year-over-year and tweets shared via direct message are up more than 75 percent quarter-over-quarter.

Twitter said more than 800 million people visit the site and there are more than 1 billion monthly unique visitors to pages that syndicate Twitter content.

The company also said that new follows on the service are up about 48 percent.

Dorsey hinted that Twitter's deal with the National Football League (NFL) to stream 10 games this fall will help the company earn better traffic.

Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com

Spread of Locky Virus in Mantralaya PCs Contained, Data Safe: Official

The state's Information Technology department has managed to contain the spread of Locky virus, a file-encrypting ransomware, in computer systems at Mantralaya and all the data are safe, a senior official claimed.

The virus had affected about 150 computers, mostly in Revenue, Public Works Department and some isolated computers in other departments of Mantralaya and these computers have now been isolated and being sent for forensic tests, Principal Secretary, IT department, V K Gautam, said.

All the data on the Maharashtra Local Area Network (Maha LAN) are safe, he said.

"The virus first showed its presence around Friday last week, which probably sneaked into the Maha LAN through a spam mail," Gautam said.

After gaining entry into the system, the virus begins encrypting the DOC, PPT or other files into Locky files, the official said.

"When one tries to access these encrypted files, the system asks the user for lock key and then asks to pay for it in Bitcoins for granting access to the files," he said.

He added that the virus is actually very dangerous for the world of finance and corporates, wherein data related to financial accounts and other sensitive information gets locked and the user is asked to pay for the access to own data.

"The virus begins to send spam mails using the official e-mail ID deceiving the user in opening it or its mail attachments allowing the virus to enter the system," he said.

Users need to guard against accessing spam mails of such nature by clicking on to the senders' e-mail address to know the real sender and better still use only the official government e-mail Intra-net rather than private e-mails like Gmail, Yahoo and others, Gautam added.

"There are around 53,000 computers in various government departments in Mantralaya that are on the Maha LAN," he said, adding that following the incident, the IT department has fortified its server and data center and that no damage has been caused to the government files.

Both the Centre and the state government have a policy that mandates all its employees to use the official government intra-net rather than private e-mail, he said.

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Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com

EgyptAir plane 'did not swerve' before crash

The head of Egypt's state-run provider of air navigation services says that EgyptAir flight 804 did not swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared off radar, challenging an earlier account by Greece's defence minister.

Ehab Azmy, head of the National Air Navigation Services Company, told The Associated Press news agency on Monday that in the minutes before the plane disappeared it was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet, according to the radar reading.

He said: "That fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar."

According to Greece's defence minister Panos Kammenos, the plane swerved and dropped to 10,000 feet before it fell off radar.

Greek civil aviation authorities say all appeared fine with the flight until air traffic controllers were to hand it over to their Egyptian counterparts.

Meanwhile the search for the plane, which crashed with 66 aboard on Thursday, continues, with French navy ships arriving in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday.

The 10 crew and 56 passengers included 30 Egyptian and 15 French nationals.
The vessel is equipped with sonar that can pick up the underwater "pings" emitted by the recorders. It is specialised in maritime surveillance, and rescue and marine police missions.

Moreover, teams searching for the black box flight recorders have been facing technical constraints.

Air crash investigation experts say the search teams have around 30 days until the batteries die to listen for pings sent out once every second from beacons attached to the two black boxes, as they scour 17,000 square kilometres of sea north of the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

At this stage of the search, they would typically use acoustic hydrophones, bringing in more advanced robots later to scan the seabed and retrieve any objects once they have been found.

French investigators say the Egyptian jet sent warnings indicating that smoke was detected on board. The signals did not indicate what caused the smoke, and aviation experts have not ruled out deliberate sabotage or a technical fault.

Ships and planes scouring the sea have found body parts, personal belongings and debris from the Airbus 320, but are still trying to locate the black box recorders that could shed light on the cause of the crash.

The search for EgyptAir's Airbus A320 is especially challenging because its wreckage lies in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean, at a depth of 2,000-3,000 metres, which is on the edge of the range for hearing pinger signals.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com

Facebook drops news outlet input in ‘trending topics’ review

Facebook says it is dropping its reliance on news outlets to help determine what gets posted as a “trending topic” on the giant social network, a move adopted after a backlash over a report saying it suppressed conservative views. Facebook’s General Counsel Colin Stretch outlined the change in a 12-page letter sent Monday to Republican Sen. John Thune, chairman of the commerce committee, which oversees the Internet and consumer protections.

The move comes less than a week after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Glenn Beck and more than a dozen other conservative commentators to address concerns stemming from a report in the tech blog Gizmodo. The Gizmodo report, which relied on a single anonymous former Facebook worker with self-described conservative leanings, claimed that Facebook downplays conservative news subjects on its trending feature.

As part of the changes outlined Monday, Facebook will stop looking to news outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and Drudge Report to automatically nominate topics for its trending feature. It also automatically nominates topics based on a spike in user posts about a subject.

“In our meetings last week, we received feedback that any list — even a good one — inherently raises questions of which publications are included versus which are not,” said Facebook spokeswoman Jodi Seth. “Based on this feedback, we felt that the best approach would be to clear up this issue by removing these lists entirely and focus on surfacing the conversation on Facebook.”

Trending topics are seen on the right side of the screen on computers, or after tapping on the search bar in a mobile app. As part of its review, Facebook found that members of the team working on trending topics could temporarily suppress topics if news outlets weren’t reporting on them enough.

But said it found no evidence of systemic political bias, though it couldn’t discount that a lone wolf might be able to game its system. “It is impossible to fully exclude the possibility that, over the years of the feature’s existence, a specific reviewer took isolated actions with an improper motive,” it said.


Source: http://tech.firstpost.com

NSA surveillance: Obama warns Congress against 'reckless' decision

As Rand Paul threatened to “force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program”, Barack Obama on Saturday made a last-ditch plea to Congress to pass a bill that limits some surveillance powers, saying it would be “irresponsible” and “reckless” to allow such authorities to expire at midnight on Sunday.

“This is a matter of national security,” Obama said in his weekly address. “We shouldn’t surrender the tools that help keep us safe. It would be irresponsible. It would be reckless.”

Obama blamed “a small group of senators [who are] standing in the way”, understating the gridlock in Congress caused by several groups who support or oppose the reform-minded bill, the USA Freedom Act, over a status quo renewal of powers under the Patriot Act.

Republicans and Democrats are divided into three primary factions that do not necessarily fall in party lines. Surveillance hawks, including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, want a clean, temporary reauthorization of NSA and FBI powers. Another faction, backed by the White House, supports the USA Freedom Act as a “reasonable compromise” between privacy and security.

A third Senate faction, including the Republican Paul and Democrat Ron Wyden, believe the USA Freedom Act does not go far enough in limiting surveillance powers.

On Saturday, while insisting he would not “obstruct”, Paul promised to block any version of the renewal of the authorities, suggesting another after-midnight debate on Sunday.

“I acknowledge the need for a robust intelligence agency and for a vigilant national security,” Paul said in a statement. “But we do not need to give up who we are to defeat them … There has to be another way. We must find it together.”

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed the bill with bipartisan support earlier this month.

Feuding between these groups prevented either a renewal of the Patriot Act or passage of the USA Freedom Act before a legislative recess, obliging senators to reconvene over the weekend for a final attempt to vote. On Friday, Paul suggested he would filibuster the vote and force the expiration of Patriot Act provisions.

The president framed the USA Freedom Act as a set of positive reforms, including the end of the NSA’s bulk collection of American phone records – as revealed in the Guardian by the whistleblower Edward Snowden – the transition of those records to telecom companies, and greater transparency regarding the mostly secret Fisa court decisions that authorize surveillance warrants for intelligence agencies.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com

How the Pentagon punished NSA whistleblowers

By now, almost everyone knows what Edward Snowden did. He leaked top-secret documents revealing that the National Security Agency was spying on hundreds of millions of people across the world, collecting the phone calls and emails of virtually everyone on Earth who used a mobile phone or the internet. When this newspaper began publishing the NSA documents in June 2013, it ignited a fierce political debate that continues to this day – about government surveillance, but also about the morality, legality and civic value of whistleblowing.

But if you want to know why Snowden did it, and the way he did it, you have to know the stories of two other men.

The first is Thomas Drake, who blew the whistle on the very same NSA activities 10 years before Snowden did. Drake was a much higher-ranking NSA official than Snowden, and he obeyed US whistleblower laws, raising his concerns through official channels. And he got crushed.

Drake was fired, arrested at dawn by gun-wielding FBI agents, stripped of his security clearance, charged with crimes that could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life, and all but ruined financially and professionally. The only job he could find afterwards was working in an Apple store in suburban Washington, where he remains today. Adding insult to injury, his warnings about the dangers of the NSA’s surveillance programme were largely ignored.
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“The government spent many years trying to break me, and the more I resisted, the nastier they got,” Drake told me.

Drake’s story has since been told – and in fact, it had a profound impact on Snowden, who told an interviewer in 2015 that: “It’s fair to say that if there hadn’t been a Thomas Drake, there wouldn’t have been an Edward Snowden.”

But there is another man whose story has never been told before, who is speaking out publicly for the first time here. His name is John Crane, and he was a senior official in the Department of Defense who fought to provide fair treatment for whistleblowers such as Thomas Drake – until Crane himself was forced out of his job and became a whistleblower as well.

His testimony reveals a crucial new chapter in the Snowden story – and Crane’s failed battle to protect earlier whistleblowers should now make it very clear that Snowden had good reasons to go public with his revelations.
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During dozens of hours of interviews, Crane told me how senior Defense Department officials repeatedly broke the law to persecute Drake. First, he alleged, they revealed Drake’s identity to the Justice Department; then they withheld (and perhaps destroyed) evidence after Drake was indicted; finally, they lied about all this to a federal judge.

The supreme irony? In their zeal to punish Drake, these Pentagon officials unwittingly taught Snowden how to evade their clutches when the 29-year-old NSA contract employee blew the whistle himself. Snowden was unaware of the hidden machinations inside the Pentagon that undid Drake, but the outcome of those machinations – Drake’s arrest, indictment and persecution – sent an unmistakable message: raising concerns within the system promised doom.

“Name one whistleblower from the intelligence community whose disclosures led to real change – overturning laws, ending policies – who didn’t face retaliation as a result. The protections just aren’t there,” Snowden told the Guardian this week. “The sad reality of today’s policies is that going to the inspector general with evidence of truly serious wrongdoing is often a mistake. Going to the press involves serious risks, but at least you’ve got a chance.”

Snowden saw what had happened to Drake and other whistleblowers like him. The key to Snowden’s effectiveness, according to Thomas Devine, the legal director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), was that he practised “civil disobedience” rather than “lawful” whistleblowing. (GAP, a non-profit group in Washington, DC, that defends whistleblowers, has represented Snowden, Drake and Crane.)

Source: http://www.theguardian.com

Snowden calls for whistleblower shield after claims by new Pentagon source

Edward Snowden has called for a complete overhaul of US whistleblower protections after a new source from deep inside the Pentagon came forward with a startling account of how the system became a “trap” for those seeking to expose wrongdoing.

The account of John Crane, a former senior Pentagon investigator, appears to undermine Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other major establishment figures who argue that there were established routes for Snowden other than leaking to the media.

Crane, a longtime assistant inspector general at the Pentagon, has accused his old office of retaliating against a major surveillance whistleblower, Thomas Drake, in an episode that helps explain Snowden’s 2013 National Security Agency disclosures. Not only did Pentagon officials provide Drake’s name to criminal investigators, Crane told the Guardian, they destroyed documents relevant to his defence.

Snowden, responding to Crane’s revelations, said he had tried to raise his concerns with colleagues, supervisors and lawyers and been told by all of them: “You’re playing with fire.”

Source: http://www.theguardian.com

A lifelong focus: Photographer Santiago Lyon's forced resilience

What makes a person choose a profession in which they know that scores of their colleagues, some of them friends, will be killed each year, while hundreds of other colleagues will be arrested and some will go missing, never to be found? Why choose a profession that entails running toward grave danger while those around flee from it? If you can answer these questions, you begin to gain some insight into the complex world of the front-line journalist.

In the case of Santiago Lyon, his choice of combat photography has a preordained element to it. His father, New York-born and a journalist with an overriding passion for bullfighting, named him after Santiago Martin (“El Viti”), one of the great matadors, hinting at a life of adventure to come. Soon the young Lyon was leading a peripatetic existence, shuttling between his mother and schooling in Ireland, and his father and the newswire services in Spain and Portugal.

Some of his earliest memories are of hanging around the Associated Press bureau in Lisbon, paging through their annual reports, beautifully produced hardcover books filled with photographs from around the world. He remembers standing on a chair in the AP darkroom in Lisbon after a military coup that overthrew the Salazarist regime of Marcelo Caetano and being asked by an indecisive photographer to pick out the prints for publication. Too young to grasp the political significance of the moment, he fondly recalls the stillness of the darkroom and the “miracle” of an image appearing in the wash. He also vividly recollects how the tranquillity of the darkroom vanished on a later trip to Madrid where, to his amazement, he saw that a huge blowup of Eddie Adam’s infamous Vietnam street execution photograph now filled a wall in the bureau.

With nature and nurture in seamless alignment, it comes as no surprise to learn that Lyon, after completing high school and securing a place at Trinity College in Dublin, took a gap year to work at Agencia EFE, a Spanish international news agency. Here, he had the evocative-sounding title of “copy taster.” His job was to identify stories of interest from Central America and translate them from Spanish into English. The news was dominated by lurid accounts of war and massacre. Lyon never made it to Trinity. He laughs that he is still on his gap year.

Being a copy taster may have opened the door to a distant world of conflict, but for Lyon, it was too far removed from events on the ground. Determined to taste the turmoil himself, he decided to become a photographer, swayed by the advice of a senior colleague who told him “they see all the stuff up close.” He left Agencia EFE, bought a used camera from an AP photographer, began work as a contract freelancer and set his sights on the revolutionary fervour of Central America. By the time he was 23 years of age, he had arrived in Mexico City as Reuters’s chief photographer for the region.

The desired posting was not entirely to his liking, for it came with considerable administrative responsibilities. Still, for someone who, by his own admission, “relished going into trouble,” the Civil War in El Salvador offered a long-sought-after entree into the world of a combat photographer. Lyon remembers feeling terrified during his first exposure to warfare, but in the same breath recalls Winston Churchill’s observation that “there is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at with no result.” He quickly learned to appraise risk and observed how his more senior colleagues responded to the disturbing sight of people killed deliberately – by adopting what he saw as “forced resilience,” putting aside their feelings.

When sent to photograph the first Gulf War in 1990, his administrative duties were thankfully over, but a new, unexpected challenge arose. He was one of a number of journalists taken captive by Saddam Hussein’s forces at war’s end. His six days of captivity, in which he was well treated, were less troubling than the episode’s aftermath. In London, after his release, he recalls that a letter was slipped under his door. “While I understand the lure of a good story,” wrote one of his managers, “I want you to know you wasted valuable management time securing your release…” Lyon was also taken to task for “losing valuable company equipment.” There was no expression of concern for his safety, no relief that the captivity had ended well. Incensed by his employer’s mercenary attitude, Lyon left to join the Associated Press soon thereafter. He was posted to Cairo and it was from the Egyptian capital that he was sent to cover the break-up of Yugoslavia.

The wars in the Balkans consumed Lyon, physically and emotionally, as it did many of that generation’s journalists. The longevity of the conflict, its proximity to countries the journalists considered home, the re-emergence of ethnic cleansing within living memory of the Holocaust and a dismay at what was seen as Europe’s recidivistic bloodletting all combined to create a set of circumstances that dragged in journalists and held them captive. To many in the press, the Balkan conflict was the Spanish Civil War redux, presenting a clear moral choice between right and wrong, aggressor and victim, democracy and authoritarianism. Couched in this emotional language, it becomes easier to appreciate how journalists came to view the conflict in such a personal way. Removing or weakening the buffer of objectivity, however, ran the risk of breaching the emotional floodgates, as many were to discover.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com

Egyptair Jet From Paris to Cairo Crashed, French President Says

An Egyptair flight with 66 people on board crashed while en route from Paris to Cairo on Thursday, the French president confirmed.

Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:09 p.m. Paris time (5:09 p.m. ET) and vanished over the Mediterranean Sea.
Image: An Egyptair Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC
The missing Egyptair Airbus A320 — with the registration SU-GCC — sits on the tarmac at Cairo airport on Dec. 10, 2014. AP

French President Francois Hollande told a press conference that the plane had crashed, but said it was too soon to speculate as to the cause.

"No hypothesis can be ruled out," he said.

Egyptian and Greek authorities are searching for the plane, which was flying at an altitude of nearly 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar shortly before it was due to land.

Almost immediately after entering Egyptian airspace the plane swerved sharply and then lost altitude before it dropped off radar, Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told a press conference.

When the plane vanished it was about 175 miles away from Egypt's coast, according to officials.
[Ex-NTSB Investigator on MS804: 'Commercial planes don't make abrupt turns']
Ex-NTSB Investigator on MS804: 'Commercial planes don't make abrupt turns' 3:00

There were 56 passengers — including three children — along with seven crew and three "security" personnel on board the Airbus A320, Egyptair said. The airline initially had said a total of 69 people were on board but later revised the figure.

Related: Missing Egyptair Jet Raises Fears of 'Worst-Case Scenario'

Airbus — the maker of the plane — said in a statement that it regretted to confirm that "an A320 operated by Egyptair was lost" over the Mediterranean Sea.

French and Egyptian officials stressed they were closely cooperating to determine what caused the crash. Radar showed no adverse weather in the area at the time of the jet's disappearance.

Egyptian and Greek authorities were focusing search efforts in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek military confirmed that one of its frigates and two of its aircraft were assisting in the operation about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of the island of Karpathos.

Two helicopters also were on standby on Karpathos, Greek Cmdr. Vasilios Beletsiotis told NBC News.

The U.S. Navy confirmed that — at the request of the Greek government — a Navy P-3 aircraft would soon be joining the search.
""The current indications are leaning toward some sort of abrupt incident as opposed to some sort of gradual malfunction""

Egyptair said the flight was carrying 30 Egyptian nationals along with citizens from 11 other countries — including Canada, France, the U.K., Belgium and Iraq.

Britain's Foreign Office told NBC News it was "in urgent contact with local authorities in Paris and Cairo" and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened a crisis hotline.

Greek air traffic controllers had a normal interaction with the Egyptair pilot as he flew above the island of Kea, according to the head of the country's civil aviation authority.

Kostas Lyntzerikos told NBC News the plane exited Greek airspace at 3:26 a.m. local time (8:26 p.m. ET) and disappeared from radar screens two minutes later — at which point controllers notified Egyptian authorities.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com

French Officials Fear Missing EgyptAir Flight Crashed

An EgyptAir flight en route to Cairo from Paris disappeared from radar today, as French officials fear the plane crashed over the Mediterranean Sea.

The flight went missing about 174 miles off the Egyptian coast, shortly after entering Egyptian airspace, the airline said overnight.

French President Francois Hollande, speaking at the Elysee Palace in Paris, told a news conference that authorities there fear the flight with 66 people aboard had crashed, but said it was too soon to speculate on the cause.

"When we have the truth we need to draw all the conclusions," Hollande said. "At this stage, we must give priority to solidarity toward the families" of the victims.

Sharif Fathi, Egypt's civil aviation minister, agreed with Hollande's assessment in a news conference today.

"It's too early to talk about terrorism," he said.

According to the airline, 56 passengers, three EgyptAir security personnel and seven crew members were aboard the aircraft, an Airbus A320 manufactured in 2003.

EgyptAir flight 804's 56 passengers included one child and two infants, the airline said.

There were no Americans onboard, according to the airline.

The nationalities of those onboard is as follows: French, 15: Egyptian, 30; British, 1; Belgium, 1; Iraqi, 2; Kuwaiti, 1; Saudi, 1; Sudanese, 1; Chadian, 1; Portuguese, 1; Algerian, 1; and Canadian, 1.

Grieving relatives of passengers gathered at the Cairo International Airport in Egypt this morning, awaiting word on their missing loved ones.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com

EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo crashed - Hollande

An EgyptAir flight reported missing between Paris and Cairo has crashed, French President Francois Hollande confirmed.

The Airbus A320 with 66 people on board disappeared from radar at 02:30 Cairo time (00:30 GMT), soon after leaving Greek airspace.

Greece's defence minister says Flight MS804 made "sharp turns" and plunged before dropping off the radar.

A major search is under way in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos.

Greek and Egyptian armed forces are involved in the effort, and France has offered to send boats and planes.

    Live updates

    What we know

Mr Hollande said he was keeping an open mind about the cause of the crash.

"We will draw conclusions when we have the truth about what happened," he said.

"Whether it was an accident, or whether it was - and it's something that is on our minds - terrorism."

There were 56 passengers - including three children - seven crew members and three security personnel on board. They included 30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens and a Briton.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/

EgyptAir flight MS804 to Cairo disappears from radar

EgyptAir flight 804 travelling from Paris to Cairo has disappeared from radar with 56 passengers and 10 crew members on board, the airline has said.

French President Francois Hollande said in a televised address that the plane had crashed early on Thursday.

The plane made "sudden swerves" mid-air and plunged before dropping off radars in the southern Mediterranean, Greece's defence minister said.

"At 3:39am the course of the aircraft was south and south-east of Kassos and Karpathos [islands] ... immediately after it entered Cairo FIR and made swerves and a descent I describe; 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees to the right," Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told a news conference.

Greek authorities mounted a search in the area south of the island of Karpathos without result so far, he said.

However, Egypt's civil aviation ministry said in a statement it was too early to confirm if the passenger plane had crashed.

According to EgyptAir, the plane took off from Paris' Charles De Gaulle Airport shortly after 11pm local time.

Greece is deploying military aircraft and a frigate to an area in the southern Mediterranean its defence ministry said.

The search for the missing EgyptAir plane was taking place at sea, about 130 nautical miles southeast of the island of Karpathos, the Greek defence ministry told Reuters news agency.

"One C-130 aircraft and an early-warning EMB-145H plane are already operating in the area. Another C-130 plane is on standby at Kasteli airport on the [southern Greek] island of Crete," Greece's military command said.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com

Trump, Clinton campaign will be nasty—and that's good news

As the presidential election looks to be featuring two of the most polarizing candidates in modern American politics, we can expect a hard sell of potential stories and ads to try and make Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton more appealing. But the real deciding factor will once again be an avalanche of negative advertising, designed to tear down the policies and besmirch the personal behavior of the other side. Already, commentators are expecting an historical use of negative campaigning. And voters should be thankful for this.

Appropriately, negative ads and campaigns get a very bad rap. They turn off voters, demonize opponents for perfectly acceptable policy disputes and coarsen the political culture — all of these are legitimate complaints. But negative campaigns are still a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic potential of positive ads.

 Positive campaigns may be loved in theory, but in reality they are not idealized "Lincoln vs Douglas" debates, with each side courteously presenting their argument. They are instead frequently issue-free, focused on the perceived personal benefits of the candidate's previous career and sunny pictures of family.

By now, with a stream of embarrassing sex scandals hitting the papers—and with a grandfatherly former Speaker of the House now serving time due to his action related to sexual assaults—we should hope that voters won't buy into the tightly controlled stories about happy political families. But those stories, and the other inspirational pieces about rising from nothing to seek high office, are all part of the same problem of positive campaigns: They are really designed to tell as little as possible about a candidate's actual policy.



Even when they do manage to deal with issues, positive policy proposals are presented in a facile manner, frequently with untruths and a complete unwillingness to face up to the likelihood of success versus failure. Donald Trump's critics have loudly proclaimed that most of his ever-changing policy proclamations are impossible to carry out.

Trump and his supporters have said the same about some of his competitors' plans, and will undoubtedly try to use the same arguments against Clinton. The only way for voters to actually judge these arguments is negative campaigns. Positive ads will not expose the elisions. Only negative ones have any hope of blasting holes and exposing the policy weaknesses of a candidate's pie-in-the-sky plans.

But that is not the biggest benefit of negative ads. They are simply more truthful and fact-based than negative ones. Vanderbilt University Professor John Geer, the author of In "Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns," has noted that negative ads may be unpleasant but they end up presenting vastly more factual information—60 percent more on average—than the shiny happy positive variety.

What negative ads do is present a strong policy contrast for voters, giving them a chance to draw a real distinction between the two candidates. Negative ads distort information—context is always left out and they take the absolute worst possible interpretation of any action by an opponent. But they are usually very issue-based and much more precise and detailed than the positive and glowing ads in favor of a candidate.


Source: http://www.cnbc.com

London Mayor Sadiq Khan backs 'more accessible' Garden Bridge plans

The newly-elected London mayor said the planned £175m footbridge linking Temple with the Southbank "must be a genuinely public and open space".

Mr Khan, who has previously questioned the project's transparency, insisted on amendments in exchange for his support.

The Department for Transport and Transport for London have each invested £30 million in the project.

Mr Khan, said: "The early days of this project clearly fell short of our expectations on transparency.

"I will let the sunshine in, which is why we are today publishing the previously undisclosed full business plan for the Garden Bridge alongside a list of its funders."

The bridge to be closed for fewer than 12 days each year for private fundraising events

•The Bridge to be closed for fewer hours when it closes for fundraising events - the current plans are for it to be closed from midnight to midnight

•A guarantee children from local schools will get to visit and be involved in planting and maintenance

•The Garden Bridge Trust to build a strong working relationship with all of London's parks


Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, said Mr Khan's decision was "highly disappointing" and he should be seeking to recoup all Transport for London funding allocated to the project.

Caroline Russell, Green Party London Assembly Member, has also expressed her disappointment in the move.

"The Garden Bridge should be scrapped and the Mayor should focus on delivering bridges in East London where people need routes for walking and cycling across the river," she said.

Source: http://www.bbc.com

As India Considers Action For Wrong Maps, Pak Objects - And Is Told Off

With India considering a proposal that would punish publishers or creators of maps that distort Kashmir with a stiff fine and time in prison, Pakistan has complained to the United Nations -triggering a brusque response from Delhi.

"Pakistan or any other party has no locus standi in our internal legislative matter," said a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, Nafees Zakaria, a spokesperson for Pakistan's Foreign Office said India was trying to propagate an "incorrect and legally untenable" map, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

A letter sent to the UN by Pakistan urged India "to stop acts that are in violation of international law".

As reported first by NDTV a few weeks ago, the Home Ministry has sought feedback on a plan that makes it essential for anyone offering maps online to get a license from the government. Services like Google Maps gather information from satellites and crowd-sourced data. These could become illegal without sanction.   

The proposal also offers a prison term of up to seven years and a fine of Rs. 100 crore for anyone who publishes an incorrect map of  India's borders, including in Kashmir. India has in the past acted against media companies who showed inaccurate maps, but if it becomes law, the bill would impose specific penalties for the first time.

Last year, the government took the Al Jazeera news channel off air for nearly a week, saying it had repeatedly shown incorrect maps of Kashmir.

In 2011, The Economist placed white stickers over a diagram of borders in 28,000 copies on sale in India.

The government's new proposal could be submitted for review to parliament when it meets next in July.

Source: NDTV.com

Sinead O'Connor missing: Pop singer found in US

Wilmette Police told the BBC she had been located, after earlier saying they were "seeking to check the well-being" of the 49-year-old.

Police were alerted after she went on a bike ride at 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Sunday, and did not return.

O'Connor became a global star in 1990 with the worldwide hit Nothing Compares 2 U, a song written by Prince.

Local media report that she had been staying with friends in the Chicago suburb for the past several weeks.
She has recorded 10 solo albums but has also made headlines with controversial outbursts throughout her career.

In 1992, she ripped apart a photo of Pope John Paul II during a live television broadcast and has been a strong critic of the Catholic Church over its handling of the child abuse scandal.

Source: http://www.bbc.com

Let's Make You Investigating Officer, Nitish Kumar Snaps At NDTV Reporter

Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, was unable to keep his legendary cool today as he confronted questions about why powerful politicians linked to his government appear to have central roles in recent big crimes.

When I asked the Chief Minister today about this, referring to Manorama Devi, the woman leader from his party who has gone underground because the police wants to arrest her, Mr Kumar snapped, "You tell me where Manorama Devi is. I will make you the investigating officer."

Last week, Manorama Devi's son, Rocky Yadav was arrested for shooting a Class 12 student dead in Gaya in Bihar. Mr Yadav, 24, was allegedly unable to bear that the student, Aditya Sachdeva, had overtaken him. Though it took two days to locate Mr Yadav, hiding in a factory owned by his family, his mother has been charged not with helping to orchestrate his temporary escape, but because liquor was found in her home. Bihar is a dry state.

"I am not obsessed with prohibition," the Chief Minister told reporters today, retaliating to the opposition's charges that his administration's focus on ensuring alcohol is not sold in Bihar has come at the cost of maintaining law and order. "It's not all jungle raj in Bihar," the Chief Minister said, referring to the opposition BJP's accusation that Bihar is being torn apart by lawlessness.

On Friday night, senior journalist Rajdeo Ranjan was shot dead in Siwan in Bihar.  Mr Ranjan, the bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan, was travelling on his motorcycle when a group of men shot him five times. Mr Ranjan, 46, had reported extensively on criminal Mohammed Shahabuddin, in jail since 2005 for a series of murders. Mr Shahabuddin maintains close links to Lalu Yadav, whose party co-governs Bihar with Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United or JDU. It was during Lalu's stints as Chief Minister of Bihar that the term "jungle raj" became a top descriptor for the state.

The police have arrested a man named Upendra Singh, seen as a right-hand aide of Mr Shahabuddin, Read more ndtv.com

Live: Chennai recorded lowest polling in TN

 Tamil Nadu witnessed brisk polling in 232 Assembly constituencies with over 25 per cent voters exercising their franchise by 11 a.m. Over 300 companies of paramilitary personnel are involved in election duty. The polling will continue till 6 p.m. today.

There were also reports of polling machines developing technical snags in Tirunelveli and Theni districts.

Stalin demands CBI inquiry into distribution of money

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam treasurer M.K. Stalin demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged money distribution in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies where the election have been postponed. Mr. Stalin alleged that a senior minister including Chief Minister Jayalalithaa were involved in the irregularities.

 Rajinikanth ducks query on cash distribution

Superstar Rajinikanth urged people to vote, saying it is the duty of all citizens to exercise their franchise.

 Live updates:

6.22 pm: Harbour constituency posted lowest turnout -- 53 per cent.

6.21 pm: Police arrested a man who attempted to damage ballot unit with a rival in a polling station in Ramnad district but polling was not disrupted.

6.20 pm: One person was arrested with Rs. 10,000 cash for trying to distribute cash to voters, says EC.

6.19 pm: 'Exit polls can be released after 6 pm today.'

6.18 pm: One polling officer died during polls. A presiding officer was changed in Madurai contituency.

6.17 pm: Polling by and large peaceful in the State, says EC

6.14 pm: Pennagaram has recorded the highest voting in the state -- 85 per cent.

6.13 pm: Actual polling percentage expected to be known by 8 pm, says Mr. Lakhoni.

6.11 pm: TN EC chief Rajesh Lakhoni addresses the press. Chennai has recorded lowest polling.

Overall turnout in Tamil Nadu till 5 p.m. 69.19 per cent.

6.00 p.m.: Voting ends in 232 constituencies. Those who reached the queue by 6 p.m. were issued tokens to cast their votes.

5.49 p.m.: Turnout till 5 p.m.: Coimbatore district: Mettupalayam 73 pc, Sulur 74 pc, Coimbatore South 58.94 pc, Valparai 69.80 pc, Thondamuthur 57.93 pc.; Coimbatore north 57 pc; Singanallur 59.80 pc.

Madurai district voter turnout till 5 p.m. 67.68 p.c.; Tiruppur district 69.17; Tirunelveli district 67.86; Namakkal district 77.63 per cent;

Source: thehindu.com

Yoga, meditation may reduce Alzheimer's risk: study

Yoga and meditation practise may help minimise the cognitive and emotional problems that often precede Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

Researchers found that yoga and meditation are even more effective than memory enhancement exercises like crosswords. They found that a three-month course of yoga and meditation practise helped minimise the cognitive and emotional problems that often precede Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia - and that it was even more effective than the memory enhancement exercises that have been considered the gold standard for managing mild cognitive impairment.

"Memory training was comparable to yoga with meditation in terms of improving memory, but yoga provided a broader benefit than memory training because it also helped with mood, anxiety and coping skills," said Helen Lavretsky from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the US.

People with mild cognitive impairment are two-and-a-half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, researchers said. The study is the first to compare outcomes from yoga and meditation with those from memory training, which incorporates activities ranging from crossword puzzles to commercially available computer programmes.

The research of 25 participants, all over the age of 55, measured changes not just in behaviour but also in brain activity. Researchers studied participants who had reported issues with their memory, such as tendencies to forget names, faces or appointments or to misplace things. Subjects underwent memory tests and brain scans at the beginning and end of the study.

Out of the participants, 11 received one hour a week of memory enhancement training and spent 20 minutes a day performing memory exercises - verbal and visual association and other practical strategies for improving memory, based on research-backed techniques.

The other 14 participants took a one-hour class once a week in yoga and practised meditation at home for 20 minutes each day. After 12 weeks, there were similar improvements among participants in both groups in verbal memory skills - which come into play for remembering names and lists of words. But those who had practised yoga and meditation had better improvements than the other subjects in visual-spatial memory skills, which come into play for recalling locations and navigating while walking or driving.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com

WHO clears air: Delhi no longer most polluted, that’s Zabol in Iran

DELHI IS no longer the world’s most polluted city, says WHO. The national Capital is now the 11th most polluted city in the world, based on average annual PM 2.5 readings of 3,000 cities in 100 countries, according to the WHO’s latest urban air quality database for 2016.

Released on Thursday, the database shows that the annual PM 2.5 levels for Delhi were down from 153 micrograms per cubic metre in the WHO’s 2014 report to 122 micrograms per cubic metre.

The 2014 report was based on 2010 data while the latest report includes data from 2012, 2013 and a part of 2014 for India, a year before the new AAP government took charge in Delhi. As for other global cities, the data spans a period of 2008-2013, depending on the numbers available from those locations. The report states that global urban air pollution levels increased by eight per cent, despite improvements in some regions.

The latest PM 2.5 level rankings show Iran’s Zabol topping the list with 217 micrograms per cubic metre followed by Gwalior with 176 and Allahabad with 170. Patna at sixth place (149) and Raipur on seventh spot (144) are the other Indian cities in the top 10. In total, the top 20 global cities with highest PM 2.5 levels includes 10 Indian cities, including Kanpur, Ludhiana and Firozabad.


Source: http://indianexpress.com/

IPL 2016: Despite talk about DD's youth, SRH were beaten by their experience

During the telecast of Delhi Daredevils' game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, Simon Doull interviewed team mentor Rahul Dravid. In the interview, Doull asked Dravid about the franchise's combination. "It is an interesting mix. We had 13 players from last season's squad and 13 new players coming in; a balance of youth and experience. We have looked to find the right balance," Dravid replied.

A lot has been said — and written — about the Daredevils' set-up this year. Most of it have been about how the youngsters have been brought in, with Dravid an obvious choice to lead them, hand-in-hand with Paddy Upton. It has worked so far; Karun Nair has looked good in the middle-order, Sanju Samson has started scoring runs again, Rishabh Pant has created waves in his few outings, while Quinton de Kock has been rock-solid at the top.

Shreyas Iyer's loss of form is a complete reversal of his Ranji fortunes, but it is the quintessential sinusoidal curve of any cricketer’s life. As such, only Pawan Negi has been a failure under this new regime, and most of it is because of that immense price tag and subsequent high expectations.

These have more or less been the main talking points, and they have superseded talks about Zaheer Khan's brilliant leadership, JP Duminy's revival, Amit Mishra's wrong ones, Chris Morris' all-round play, the excitement of Sam Billings' knocks and the sheer power in Carlos Brathwaite's sixes.

In a way, Billings, Brathwaite and de Kock do belong to that youngster classification. And it makes sense for the discourse to be about the youngsters, for the Daredevils climbed as high as second in the points table thanks to their performances. The seniors played a guiding hand in the first half of the season, until the team management decided to ring in unnecessary changes. Back-to-back losses against Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab saw them lose momentum.

Thursday night's game in Hyderabad assumed significance, as Delhi had a fight on their hands to stay ahead of the curve in the race for knock-outs. Mumbai Indians had started to catch up, while Kolkata Knight Riders, Gujarat Lions and the Sunrisers themselves were looking to pull out a gap. It was in this setting that the seniors in the Daredevils camp put their hands up, collectively, and made a firm impression.

The game started in a pattern that is becoming increasingly synonymous with their think-tank. Chop and change, whether out of necessity or not. Against the Sunrisers then, there was some sharp use for the former as Zaheer pulled out. Duminy was leading once again, and may yet do so for a couple more games. Against a strong batting order led by the explosive David Warner, they obviously felt the need to bolster the pace attack, and brought in Nathan Coulter-Nile. Billings and Brathwaite were dropped.

While it seemed a bold — and blind — decision at first, the Daredevils made it work. As such, for this stupendous victory over the table-topping Sunrisers, they have their seniors to thank who brought out their best performance of the season yet, that too collectively.

Duminy was as bold as Zaheer with his bowling changes. Never mind that Warner was setting the field ablaze once more, he persisted with Jayant Yadav up top and got the wicket he was looking for. The ball turned just enough to beat Warner's mighty swing and crashed into his stumps. The score read 67/1 in the 9th over, and that moment was the difference between Hyderabad ending up with 146 and not 20 runs more.

Of course, it is not to say the other batsmen were not up to scratch. But it has been well documented that Hyderabad  are mighty dependent on Warner, and play around him. Despite their high-flying standing, and the return of both Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh, they haven't yet found that pivot in the middle-order that they can revolve around in the latter half of the innings.

This is the weakness that Mishra and Morris exploited. In the early part of the season, the leg-spinner started off as their go-to man after the powerplay ended. As time progressed, he has been better utilised in the middle stages, and bamboozled the batsmen once again with a clever mix of googlies and slower leg-breaks. However, the two wickets he got were both of quicker ones, two seam-up deliveries that turned late into leg, both backed up by good fielding efforts.

So often, the word "platform" is used for batsmen as they lay charge in the death overs. On this instance, Mishra's spell laid the stage for Morris and Coulter-Nile. The leggie had put immense pressure on the batsmen to get a move on, struggling at 113/3 with five overs to go. Both the Australian and South African were right on the money with their bowling, at the start and the end of the innings. To say that they put on the squeeze on Sunrisers' scoring would be an understatement, as they came away with combined figures of 4-28 in their four overs. With Mohammad Shami coming to the party as well, Sunrisers were never allowed to get away.

It was then no surprise that their young batting polished up the chase with ease, never mind the shocking decision that went against de Kock.

With the business end of the season now taking off, Delhi needed this win to get their challenge going again after two consecutive defeats. And the handsome manner in which they won underlined that they have the wares to fight the tough battles ahead, both in terms of youth and experience.


Source: http://www.firstpost.com

Nargis Fakhri takes a month off for health reasons

Nargis Fakhri is out of country to address her health issues and not because of either a rumoured calling-off of a wedding with Uday Chopra or a decision to quit showbiz, the actress' spokesperson has said.

Nargis' sudden disappearance from showbiz -- even the promotions of her film "Azhar" -- has left fodder for gossip mongers.

There are media reports that Nargis was all set to announce her wedding with actor-producer Uday, but he called it off. Rumours were also rife that following the apparent relationship hitting rock bottom she had a 'nervous breakdown' and left the producers of all her upcoming films in a lurch.

However, the "Rockstar" actress' spokesperson has a different story to tell.

"Nargis has been extremely overworked working on three films simultaneously over the last year. For someone who is used to doing one film at a time, this was quite a bit for Nargis.

"In addition, she has been unwell right through the 'Azhar' promotions with multiple injuries - torn hamstring, anterior knee ligament thinning and mild socket dislocation along with burning of the stomach lining due to lead and arsenic poisoning.

"Due to these multiple issues and her overall exhaustion, she had a fever of about 101 degrees right through her promotions," read the official statement by the spokesperson.

The representative added that it is due to Nargis' deteriorating condition that she had to request Sajid Nadiadwala -- producer of her next film "Housefull 3" -- and "bow out of its promotions to go back home to New York for a month to address all her medical issues and recuperate".

In "Azhar", Nargis portrays Mohammad Azharuddin's second wife Sangeeta Bijlani. Next up, she will be seen in "Housefull 3" and "Banjo", and she will be back in action soon.

"She has no plans to leave B-Town and will be back to sets to complete the pending patchwork for her film 'Banjo' in the second week of June.

"In addition, she has already verbally agreed to two other projects for 2017 before she left and will complete the paperwork when she's back. That coupled with her brand commitments that extend over multiple years, is testament of her being here to stay for good," the spokesperson added.

Confirming that Nargis left mid-way through the work for "Housefull 3" due to her health, Nadiadwala said: "Our priority is Nargis's health. We do hope that she recuperates fast and can be there around the release of the film as she is an integral part of 'Housefull 3' team."

SOurce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Mark Zuckerberg Announces Investigation Into Anti-Conservative Bias

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to accusations its company's "trending" topics list was suppressing conservative media, saying on Thursday the company was conducting an investigation.

No evidence of alleged manipulation had been found, but "if we find anything against our principles, you have my commitment that we will take additional steps to address it," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

Tech news outlet Gizmodo reported on Monday that a former Facebook worker alleged that articles from politically conservative outlets -- particularly when written about conservative subjects -- were deliberately omitted from Facebook's sidebar of popular stories.

The social media giant has denied the allegations amid outrage over the claims.

Facebook said the popularity of news stories was determined by an algorithm, then audited -- never manipulated -- by review team members to confirm that the topics were in fact trending news items.

However according to Gizmodo, which also spoke to other former employees, stories covered by conservative media that were trending enough to be picked up by Facebook's algorithm were only included if they were also covered by "mainstream sites" such as The New York Times, the BBC or CNN.

There was no evidence that management mandated or was aware of any political bias at work, Gizmodo reported, noting that one former worker "described the omissions as a function of his colleagues' judgements."

Gizmodo reported that workers were told to put stories deemed as important by management in the trending news feed even if they weren't generating much buzz.

The charges unleashed a fierce debate in the US media and on the social network itself, which has around 1.6 billion users around the globe.

In his post, Zuckerberg also announced plans to invite "leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum" to talk with him about accusations of political bias at Facebook.

SOurce: http://www.ndtv.com/

Italy May Out PM Modi Meeting If...': Agusta Middleman's New Claim

Italy will out a private conversation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he allegedly asked for information against Sonia Gandhi if Delhi does not release an Italian marine, claims Christian Michel, a man India wants extradited from the UK for its investigations into the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Mr Michel, an alleged middleman, has suggested in an exclusive interview to NDTV that the Italian government "may do something unpleasant" if a marine charged with murder is not released by India. The "unpleasant" move would be to "admit to a meeting" between PM Modi and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, he said.

Both governments have emphatically denied that PM Modi met with his Italian counterpart in New York on the sidelines of a UN conference and offered to release the two marines facing trial in India on murder charges in exchange for information about the Agusta chopper deal that could embarrass or implicate Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Michel insisted that the meeting did happen, arguing that the governments had only denied a formal bilateral. "Under the auspices of the UN bilateral discussions there was no meeting. I am talking about a casual brush-by meeting which has plausible deniability attached to it," he said, claiming that the Italian embassy in Delhi briefed Agusta's parent company Finmeccanica about the meeting, which in turn informed him.

He refused to reveal the name of the embassy official citing "very delicate negotiations" between the two countries on whether the marine will return to Italy. The two marines are accused of killing Indian fishermen in 2012; one of them has been allowed to return over health reasons while the other remains in Delhi. Italy says the marines mistook the fishermen for pirates.

"They (Italy) are very upset with the Congress for not supporting them on marines issue. They have a new government and a new opportunity to solve the issue. There is a suggestion of the deal on the table of the way of doing it...the trouble with the suggestion of the deal is it requires an illegal act to have happened involving Mrs Gandhi, which hasn't happened... and I knew it would be a mess," Mr Michel told NDTV.

On the possibility of India not sending the marines home, Mr Michel replied: "If the basis of a deal is flawed, the deal will collapse...the honourable prime minister is in a horrible position - if he lets the marine go, he will be accused of a deal. If he doesn't let him go, the Italians may do something unpleasant - admit to a meeting".

The scandal over kickbacks allegedly paid by Agusta middlemen in India resurfaced after a court verdict in Milan last month. The BJP has alleged that documents attached to the verdict give new proof that Congress leaders helped Agusta swing the deal to provide a dozen choppers to India.

Mr Michel raises very awkward questions for the Congress after he confirmed that he did describe Sonia Gandhi in a 2008 note as "the driving force" of the decision to acquire new helicopters for use by top politicians.

"The note is genuine. We were asked who are the important people in India today and we sent the message," he said. Asked to explain why the note suggested the British High Commissioner should "target" Mrs Gandhi and her advisers, Mr Michel said: "It is a note about lobbying, not kickbacks."

SOurce: http://www.ndtv.com

World's Oldest Person Dies In New York At The Age Of 116

The world's oldest living person, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones, died on Thursday in New York City, a research group said.

Jones' death makes Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, a 116-year-old woman in Italy, the oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Jones, who was born in the southern U.S. state of Alabama in 1899, was the daughter of sharecroppers and granddaughter of slaves.

After graduating from high school she moved north in 1922 to New Jersey and then New York, where she worked as a housekeeper and childcare provider, according to Guinness World Records and the Vandalia Senior Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where she lived.

Jones, who retired in 1965, had said that lots of sleep is the secret to her longevity and that she had never smoked or drank alcohol.

The oldest verified person was Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 at 122 years and 164 days, the research group said.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.in

US navigation operations in South China Sea not an act of provocation: White House

Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area.

The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed concerns of the international community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource- rich sea.


However, the White House yesterday refused to describe the situation in the South China Sea as headed towards tension.

"I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.


The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.

"We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that international law allows," Earnest said, adding that th ..


A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what international law regards as an island's territorial sea. The reef is now an island with an airstrip, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.

Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Iraqi officials: Attack on cafe north of Baghdad kills 13

A group of gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad early Friday, leaving at least 13 people dead and 15 wounded, Iraqi officials said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault in Balad, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the Iraqi capital. The attack came on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people — attacks that have been claimed by the Islamic State group. The deadliest struck the sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 63 people.

The Balad attack started with three gunmen, armed with machine guns, who opened fire into the crowd in the cafe shortly after midnight Thursday, the officials said. Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The IS bombings this week exposed lingering gaps in Baghdad's defenses, which are manned by an array of security agencies and militias that don't always cooperate. They also point to the resilience of the extremist IS group, which has increasingly resorted to bombings in civilian areas far from the front lines as it has lost some territory to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.

On Thursday evening, hundreds took to the streets in Baghdad's Sadr City to demand government accountability for the security breaches. Protesters carried signs calling for the interior minister to resign while others called for the minister of defense and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to also step down.

Anti-government protests first erupted last summer as temperatures soared and millions were left without electricity. While al-Abadi proposed a series of government reforms in August 2015 that he claimed would combat corruption, very little has been implemented. Repeated delays in Iraq's parliament sparked another wave of protests this year, led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In late April the cleric's supporters stormed Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and the parliament building.

Since the unprecedented breach of the compound, which is home to many of Baghdad's ministries and foreign embassies, the country's government has been largely gridlocked as many lawmakers are boycotting parliament.

Iraqi officials and analysts warn that the deepening political crisis may be distracting Iraq's security forces from the fight against IS. The Iraqi government claims IS only occupies 14 percent of the country's territory after a string of battlefield losses, but the extremist group still controls key border areas between Iraq and Syria as well as Iraq's second largest city of Mosul.

SOurce: http://www.newindianexpress.com

Turkey: Eight soldiers, 21 PKK militants killed as violence widens in southeast region

Eight Turkish soldiers and 21 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Friday, according to the military and media reports, as violence in the largely Kurdish southeast widened a day after two bombings.

After the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst violence since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province, the military said in a statement.

Two more soldiers were killed in a separate incident when a military helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region, it said.

Fifteen militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, broadcaster NTV reported, citing the Turkish military.

On Thursday, four suspected bomb makers were killed and 17 people wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck, the government said.

That blast was just hours after an explosives-laden car blew up near a military base in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, wounding six soldiers and a civilian.

No one has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing in Istanbul.

Turkey has suffered a series of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a PKK offshoot.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) says it has split from the PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, but experts who study the two militant groups say they retain close links.

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com

2 Britishers, Mexican become first foreigners to scale Everest in 2 years

Two British and a Mexican climber on Thursday became the first foreigners to scale Mount Everest in two years together with three Nepalese guides, officials said.
The six climbers reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak early Thursday and were heading to lower camps, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

The Brits are Kenton Cool and Robert Richard Lucas, and the Mexican is David Liano Gonzalez.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/mount-everest-climbers-two-britishers-mexican-foreigners-nepal-2796943/#sthash.24u3sktf.dpuf

Two British and a Mexican climber on Thursday became the first foreigners to scale Mount Everest in two years together with three Nepalese guides, officials said.

The six climbers reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak early Thursday and were heading to lower camps, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

The Brits are Kenton Cool and Robert Richard Lucas, and the Mexican is David Liano Gonzalez.
Source:http://indianexpress.com

Google's own interpretation of Amazon's Echo is coming soon

All of a sudden, it's as if everyone is working on voice-controlled personal assistants, and reports suggest that Google's version of something similar to Amazon's Echo could land as soon as the Google I/O event next week -- which would make sense. According to sources at Recode, it's currently being developed under the codename, Chirp.

Interestingly, Nest (now a part of the same company) shied away from the idea of an Echo like device, citing privacy concerns about talking to Google, its search engine, algorithms and other internet magicks. Recode's sources suggest voice search and intelligent responses from your Google devices will be the centerpiece of Google's showcase, alongside virtual reality developments. Okay, Google. Show us what you've got.

Source : http://www.engadget.com/

SC on Subrata Roy's wealth: Why is such a rich person not paying dues?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday was surprised at the extent of wealth Sahara group's chief Subrata Roy has and wondered why "such a rich person didn't pay a fraction of wealth and stayed in jail for two years".

The court was hearing a plea to extend the parole of Roy, who is now out from jail after his mother's death. During the proceedings, Sahara's counsel Kapil Sibal submitted details of all the properties of the Sahara group in India and abroad in a sealed cover and requested the court not to disclose the details of properties.
Subrata Roy.

Subrata Roy.

On May 6, the court had directed release of Roy on parole for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of his mother Chhabi Roy and allowed him to visit Haridwar and Ganga Sagar for the rites and ceremonies.

Prior to this, the bench had directed the Sahara group to furnish details of all its properties in a sealed cover to ascertain the fact as to whether they are sufficient for paying back the entire amount to the investors.

Roy has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014, on the orders of the apex court in relation to a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.

The bench comprising chief justice T S Thakur and justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, which eventually gave relief to Roy on Wednesday, noted that the fresh list of properties provided in the sealed cover speaks that "value of your properties was far more than your liability".

When the court saw the list of Roy's assets it expressed surprise why "such a rich person didn't pay a fraction of wealth and stayed in jail for two years."

"Why person with this kind of fortune shall be hesitant to make payment," the bench asked.

Sibal replied, "What is your fear? I will run away. I am going to give an undertaking that I will get Rs 500 crore in two months."

Seeking extension of interim parole for Roy till August 4, Sibal said the Sahara chief has already spent more than two years in jail and his client was ready to give an undertaking that he would pay a substantial amount of money in a span of 180 days.

"We have already suffered a lot. We have learnt the lesson. We have done everything we could do. We have even authorised SEBI to sell our properties at circle rates. Give us an opportunity. Give me a chance, I will arrange the money once I come out," Sibal said.

According to a report in the Times of India, Sibal submitted two checks - of Rs 500 crore that can be encashed in August and another Rs 4,500 crore as a guarantee. However, the court finally

However, the court finally gave Roy extension until 11 July and asked him to pay up Rs 200 crore to Sebi before that date. If he fails to do this, he will have to surrender and go back to jail. The court has also allowed him to travel anywhere in India.

The court's surprise is understandable. But, as R Jagannathan said in an earlier article in the Firstpost, in the case of Sahara there are always more questions than answers.

"...The group primarily operates in areas where regulation is weak or where regulators are not sure of their jurisdiction. Sahara has also been very nimble about shifting from one regulatory jurisdiction to another in order to stay ahead of the law-enforcers. What is crystal clear is that the group is primarily into money-raising schemes that operate on the edges of the law," he had pointed out in the copy arguing that it is a fit case for an SIT investigation.

Remember, the group's claim that it had repaid most of the investors in the illegal OFCD had raised many an eye brow in 2012.

In August 2011, the group was to pay back Rs 24,029 crore to 29.6 million investors. But in just one year, the group claimed that it has paid up and the amount is just Rs 5,120 crore. This revelation had raised suspicion as it came just before the Supreme Court order of August 2012 that barred the group from making any refunds directly to the investors.

How did the group manage to decrease the amount to be repaid to just Rs 5,120 crore in just one year? This remains a mistery even now.

In other words, the Supreme Court has just added one more to the list of unanswered questions about a group mired in mistery and controversy.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com

Call Drops: Airtel Announces Self Regulation on Service Quality

A day after the apex court waived call drop penalties from telecom service providers, Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced a 25 percent more stringent voluntary call drop benchmark.

It said in a statement it has set a benchmark of 1.5 percent for mobile call drops against the current Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) prescribed norm of 2 percent under the quality of service regulations.

"Based on the calculation of the call drop rate during network busy hour on a monthly average, any amount calculated for exceeding the 1.5 percent voluntary benchmark, subject to a maximum of Rs.100 crore per annum, will be contributed by Airtel towards the education of underprivileged children in rural areas," the statement said.

After the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Consumers expect mobile operators to provide good services. I as the minister will keep a check that they are doing it."

"At Airtel, we are absolutely passionate about serving our customers and have deployed globally benchmarked technologies and processes. This self-regulation on Quality of Service further underlines our commitment to our customers despite the challenges of limited spectrum availability and acquisition of sites in urban areas," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

"We have already rolled out Project Leap, our pan-India network transformation programme, under which we transparently report our site deployments and invite our customers to log their network issues and site requirements," he added.

Following the new benchmark, Airtel will contribute Rs.1 lakh for every 0.01 percent increase in call drop rate beyond 1.5 percent every month in each circle of operation, the statement said.

"Airtel has decided to apply this standard benchmark across the country despite the constraint of difficult operating conditions in some areas, in particular hilly regions such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and North East," it added.

Airtel's mobile network in India serves over 250 million subscribers across the country.

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Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com