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Archives for April 2018

Former US First Lady Barbara Bush dies at 92

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The Former First Lady of the US, Barbara Bush, died on Tuesday at the age of 92 after having been in failing health for some time, a family spokesperson said.

“A former First Lady of the US and relentless proponent of family literacy, Barbara Pierce Bush passed away Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at the age of 92,” Bush family spokesperson Jim McGrath said in a statement.

The cause of her death has not yet been revealed, but on Sunday a family spokesman had said that Mrs. Bush decided to refuse further medical treatment, except for “comfort care”, Efe reported.

The wife of former President George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) and mother of former President George W. Bush (2001-2009) had suffered chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for some time, which affected her cardiac capacity and led to hospitalisation on numerous occasions over the past years.

“Barbara Bush was a fabulous first lady and a woman unlike any other who brought levity, love, and literacy to millions. To us, she was so much more. Mom kept us on our toes and kept us laughing until the end. I’m a lucky man that Barbara Bush was my mother,” George W. Bush said in a statement released by the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Born on June 8, 1925 in New York, Barbara Pierce — her maiden name — was the second woman in the US history to be the wife of one US President and the mother of another, the first being Abigail Adams in the early 19th century.

She became very popular in her country as an advocate for universal literacy, a cause for which she actively participated with various organisations and to which she felt very close as her son Neil was diagnosed as dyslexic.

The former first lady continued her crusade for literacy and created her own foundation, “The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy,” which globally supports organisations that promote reading habits among children and adults.

(IANS)

34 global tech firms sign key accord against cyber attacks

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Top 34 global technology and securities firms, led by Microsoft and Facebook, have signed a “Cybersecurity Tech Accord” to defend people from malicious attacks by cybercriminals and nation-states.

The watershed agreement will prevent them help governments launch cyber attacks against innocent citizens and enterprises. It will also protect against tampering or exploitation of their products and services through every stage of technology development, design and distribution.

The 34 companies include Cisco, HP, Nokia, Oracle, VMware, Dell, CA Technologies, Symantec, Bitdefender, F-Secure, RSA and Trend Micro, among others.

“The devastating attacks from the past year demonstrate that cybersecurity is not just about what any single company can do but also about what we can all do together,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement on Tuesday.

The “Cybersecurity Tech Accord” is a public commitment among 34 global companies to protect and empower civilians online and to improve the security, stability and resilience of cyberspace.

“This tech sector accord will help us take a principled path towards more effective steps to work together and defend customers around the world,” added Smith who has been arguing for a “digital Geneva Convention” for years.

The companies made commitments in four areas — stronger defence, no offence, capacity building and collective action.

“The companies will do more to empower developers and the people and businesses that use their technology, helping them improve their capacity for protecting themselves,” said cybertechaccord.org.

This may include joint work on new security practices and new features the companies can deploy in their individual products and services.

The Tech Accord remains open to consideration of new private sector signatories, large or small and regardless of sector, who are trusted, have high cybersecurity standards and will adhere unreservedly to the Accord’s principles.

“The real world consequences of cyber threats have been repeatedly proven. As an industry, we must band together to fight cybercriminals and stop future attacks from causing even more damage,” said Kevin Simzer, Chief Operating Officer, Trend Micro.

The victims of cyberattacks are businesses and organisations of all sizes, with economic losses expected to reach $8 trillion by 2022.

The cyber attacks in the past have caused small businesses to shutter their doors, hospitals to delay surgeries and governments to halt services, among other disruptions and safety risks.

“The Tech Accord will help to protect the integrity of the one trillion connected devices we expect to see deployed within the next 20 years,” said Carolyn Herzog, General Counsel, Arm.

On Monday, Cyber security representatives from the US and Britain warned of Russian state-sponsored cyber-attacks that are targeting network infrastructure devices such as routers and firewalls, to compromise government and private sectors globally.

According to a US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), the Technical Alert provided information on the worldwide cyber exploitation by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors.

(IANS)

Female passenger killed as US flight makes emergency landing

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A female passenger was killed after a US flight made an emergency landing in Philadelphia city due to engine failure, authorities said.

The Boeing 737-700, operated by Southwest Airlines, was flying from New York City to Dallas on Tuesday when one of its engines failed, reports Xinhua news agency.

Passengers said the plane was able to land “safely”, and initial reports said one person, who was hurt by crashed window, was taken to hospital.

US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Robert Sumwalt later confirmed one passenger had died from the accident.

Southwest Airlines said in a statement that 143 travellers and five crew members were on the flight.

Photos shared on social media by passengers showed the engine was badly damaged. Local news reports said the damage was caused by an explosion.

According to multiple accounts, passengers on board the plane went through terrifying moments as the plane dived, and some were said to be crying or vomiting.

The Philadelphia fire department said at a press conference the plane came down “in a fairly rapid manner”, and preliminary examination of the flight record showed the aircraft dropped 5.2 km in five minutes.

A passenger made a brief Facebook live on his account at the final moments of the flight, saying “Engine exploded in the air and blew open window three seats away” from him.

The NTSB has announced an investigation into the incident.

All air traffic at Philadelphia was put on hold.

(IANS)

Google testing landmark-based navigation to tell directions

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In order to make navigation easy, Google is reportedly testing a new feature in Maps that will use landmarks, including restaurants, as points of reference to give directions to a commuter.

“So instead of telling you to turn right onto Acacia Avenue, for example, it might tell you to turn after the KFC,” a report in Engadget said late Tuesday.

It said that the feature has only been seen in the New York City and Google has not announced whether the update would be rolled out widely.

The news comes a day after Google announced that it has joined hands with CyArk — a California-based 3D laser scanning non-profit — to build virtual reality (VR) representations of historical sites around the world that are at risk of destruction due to human conflict or natural disasters.

The joint effort — called the Open Heritage project — would use CyArk’s (short for cyber archive) laser-scanning technology to capture and archive the imperiled archaeological wonders from all over the world, the Verge reported.

The archived data could be re-created in VR format, so that it can be preserved and explored online either on a computer, through a mobile device, or while wearing a VR headset.

Founded in 2003 to digitally record, archive and share the world’s cultural heritage, CyArk has recorded over 200 monuments in all seven continents.

The company uses laser-scanning system, as well as high-resolution photography captured by drones and DSLR cameras.

Google and CyArk are also planning to release the source data of the models.

The Open Heritage models will be available online and on the Google Arts and Culture mobile apps for iOS and Android. Those mobile apps will also support the VR tours through Google’s Daydream platform, the report said.

(IANS)

US struck Syria without certainty on nerve agent

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US President Donald Trump’s administration carried out a retaliatory strike on Syria last week even though intelligence agencies did not have absolute certainty that the Assad regime had used the nerve agent sarin against civilians, a media report said.

The decision to proceed with the strikes on the night of April 13 met a standard of evidence needed that officials felt they could accept, intelligence and defence sources told CNN on Tuesday.

Administration officials were adamant that whatever was used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to attack civilians in Douma on April 7 was a chemical agent and that alone justified taking action.

The lack of complete information played a role in deciding not to strike a larger set of targets including airfields, aircraft and helicopters, a defence official told CNN.

Other factors, like Russian positioning, also played a role in the decisions.

On Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of Defence James Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chair Joseph Dunford held a classified briefing for senators on the Syria strike that was launched in coordination with France and the UK.

Before the briefing, officials would not comment on whether the intelligence had become more certain post-strike.

Witnesses reported seeing at least one helicopter overhead at the time of the Syrian attack that had taken off from an airfield.

But at the time, intelligence officials did not have a full picture of the event, which would have included intercepts of conversations and verified paths that helicopters flew, the sources told CNN.

Prior to the US strike, full confirmation could not be made of whether Syria had used sarin in its attack.

“It’s a hard, long process, especially in an attack like this without physical access to victims, site. Therefore we had to work with closest allies quickly to ensure we had confidence in the intelligence picture, enabling policymakers to choose best course of action,” an intelligence official told CNN.

The Trump administration determined a “standard of evidence had been met”, the official added.

(IANS)

Veteran journalist T.V.R. Shenoy passes away

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Veteran journalist T.V.R. Shenoy passed away at a private hospital here on Tuesday night, family sources said. He was 77.
He is survived by his wife Sarojam and daughter Sujatha and son Ajith.

His body will be flown to Delhi, where the last rites would be performed.

Conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2003, he had been working as a journalist in Delhi for a long time.

Hailing from Cherai in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, Shenoy began his career with Indian Express and in 1965, joined the Delhi bureau of Malayala Manorama and served with them for well over a quarter of a century.

He was a former Editor of The Week magazine and Sunday Mail and wrote on diverse issues as a columnist.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while condoling the death of Shenoy, remarked that he was the foremost Malayali journalist in the country.

“On account of his five decade professional career happening in Delhi, he was often the ‘ambassador’ of Kerala in Delhi,” he said, adding that while people differed with him on political aspects of his writings, he was always highly-respected by all.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said that he has lost an “elder brother” as he, while being an MP, always used to discuss various issues with Shenoy, who was a friend, philosopher and guide to him.

“Shenoy was a towering journalist and his loss is going to be a loss for journalism,” he added.

(IANS)

Will accommodate tickets aspirants in future Karnataka government: Congress

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The Congress on Tuesday said that the aspirants, who did not figure in the list of party candidates in Karnataka, would be accommodated in its future party government in the state.

Party President Rahul Gandhi has been engaging with the tickets aspirants and the MLAs who have been denied ticket to pacify them, said party spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill.

“It is unfortunate that all aspirants cannot be given tickets for the limited number of seats. We respect the feelings of those people who have not got the ticket.

“The Congress will engage with those ticket aspirants, pacify them and would make them part of future government in Karnataka and I am sure they will have a smiling face once again,” he said.

Karnataka’s ruling Congress on Monday set up a special cell to quell the revolt brewing in the party from a dozen sitting legislators and scores of aspirants whose names did not figure in the 218 candidates declared to contest the May 12 assembly elections.

On BJP’s ticket distribution, Congress said even in their party there is a lot of dissidence and disgruntlement over ticket distribution.

“BJP’s policy is to back the corrupt and corrupt practices. It gets proved by their ticket distribution. The BJP has given tickets to Yeddyurappa (former Karnataka Chief Minister) and Reddy brothers.

“By giving them tickets, BJP has made it very clear that it is going to fight election riding on the shoulders of the corrupt,” said Shergill.

(IANS)

Ten killed in Bengal storm, rail, road, air traffic disrupted

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Ten persons were killed and rail, road and air traffic was disrupted in West Bengal as twin storms accompanied by rains lashed through the city on Tuesday night felling trees, uprooting electric poles and triggering house collapse.

Mobile and Internet services were hit with the storm snapping overhead wires and damaging mobile towers.

Of the ten persons killed, four each died in Kolkata and Howrah districts. One death was reported from Bankura and another from Hooghly following the twin norwesters that had gale speed of up to 98 km.

In Kolkata, two persons travelling in an autorickshaw died on Lenin Sarani near the city centre when a tree fell on the vehicle. One person was killed when a house collapsed in the Anandapur area in the eastern part while a pedestrian was killed when a tree fell on his head in Behala on the southern outskirts.

Three died in Belur and one in Dumurjola of Howrah district, state police control room officials told IANS.

One person died after being struck by lighting in Indus of Bankura district. Electrocution claimed one life in Hooghly district.

The metrological office said a norwester — seasonal storm common in this part of the world — with gale speed of 84 km per hour hit the city and other South Bengal districts around 7:42 p.m.. Another storm struck Kolkata and adjoining districts with a wind speed of upto 98 km soon after at 7:55 p.m..

The twin storms played havoc with the public transport system, as trams and trains halted on their tracks with the overhead wires snapping. Flight services were affected for 100 minutes at the NSCBI Airport as planes bound for Bhubaneswar, Delhi and Agartala took off late.

Suburban train services of South Eastern Railway and Eastern Railway went haywire as trains were stopped at various stations. In South Eastern Railway’s Howrah division, services were disrupted in Howrah-Bardhaman and Howrah-Tarakdewhar sections, badly inconveniencing thousands of passengers.

A flyover railing got uprooted and fell on platform numbers 19 and 20 of Howrah station. However, no one was injured.

Two mobile towers in Uttarpara and Hindmotor of Hooghy district gave way, throwing vehicular traffic off-gear.

In Eastern Railway’s Sealdah division, train movement was disrupted in various sections.

The Kolkata Metro Railway services were hit when a tee fell between Dum Dum and Noapara stations, as passengers got stuck in the tunnel.

(IANS)

Commonwealth wants Modi’s commitment to beat malaria

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With one in seven Indians at risk of contracting malaria and an unfortunate break in the “dramatic success” of the last decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment at the Commonwealth summit in London this week to beat the disease is eagerly awaited, say experts

“India is central to this achievement (eradication of malaria from Commonwealth countries). We look forward to hear the strategy India is working on to achieve its commitment of eliminating malaria by 2030,” said James Whiting, Executive Director, Malaria No More (MNM), UK.

Malaria is included as an issue in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London on April 19-20, which will be attended by Modi. A day before CHOGM on Wednesday, a Malaria Summit is being held to get political and financial commitments from the head of nations.

“We would also be looking forward to hear about the financing part of the Indian strategy to eradicate malaria,” Whiting told IANS. MNM is a global non-profit convening the campaign on behalf of the global malaria community and is registered as the Malaria Elimination Trust in India.

According to government estimates, it will cost Rs 10,653 crore to eliminate malaria in India by 2030.

India has the third largest burden of malaria incidence in the world after Congo and Nigeria. In India, Odisha is the biggest victim of malaria constituting close to 41 per cent of India’s malaria incidence as of 2016, the NGO said in a statement.

According to the World Malaria Report 2017, 60 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2016 occurred in eight Commonwealth countries and 90 per cent of the Commonwealth population (2.4 billion or two-third of global population) lives in malaria affected countries.

“The malaria campaign has seen a dramatic success in the last 10-15 years both in India and globally,” said Whiting, adding that there has been a fall of 60 per cent in global malaria deaths since 2000 saving nearly seven million lives.

In recent times, India has achieved remarkable progress in its fight against malaria as it has reduced its malaria burden by nearly half from two million cases in 2000 to one million cases in 2016, and malaria related deaths have gone down by two-thirds during this period.

However, for the first time in 15 years, progress towards ending the disease has stalled. The WHO’s malaria report confirmed cases and deaths are no longer falling. Malaria affected around 216 million people globally in 2016, an increase of five million cases over the previous year.

The MNM statement said: “Due to the nature of malaria, this fight can only go two ways: forwards or backwards. There is no standing still. We are currently on a cliff edge – continue to battle the disease or risk an acute and deadly resurgence.”

And, precisely for this the pressing decision the heads of Commonwealth nations, most importantly India, face is to either continue towards ending the disease with renewed financial and political commitments or put the hard fought progress in jeopardy.

A total of 24 members of the Commonwealth are actively tackling the disease, 20 have eliminated malaria and eight have never had malaria. Sri Lanka and Maldives have already eliminated malaria and Malaysia hopes to eliminate by 2020, the MNM said.

“The Malaria Summit 2018 will discuss on the amount of money required to eliminate malaria and the smart new ways of spending that money including new ways of gathering the data. Tomorrow’s summit will be attended by 16 heads of state,” said Whiting.

(IANS)

Facebook begins fact-checking news in poll-bound Karnataka

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With Karnataka heading for the polls in May, Facebook has announced a third-party fact-checking programme in the state to fight spread of fake news on its platform.

The social media giant on Tuesday partnered with BOOM, an independent digital journalism initiative, for a pilot programme that will first roll out in the southern state.

Karnataka goes to election on May 12, and the counting of votes will take place on May 15.

“Starting today, BOOM, certified through the International Fact-Checking Network, non-partisan international fact checking network at Poynter, will be able to review English language news stories flagged on Facebook, check facts, and rate their accuracy,” Facebook said in a blog post.

Facebook has 217 million monthly active users in India.

“We are beginning small and know it is important to learn from this test and listen to our community as we continue to update ways for people to understand what might be false news in their News Feed,” it added.

Once a story is rated as false, Facebook has learned to reduce its distribution by 80 per cent.

“When a fact-checker rates a story as false, we will show it lower in News Feed, significantly reducing its distribution. This, in turn, stops the hoax from spreading and reduces the number of people who see it,” Facebook said.

Pages and domains that repeatedly share false news will also see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetise and advertise removed.

If the third-party fact-checkers write articles debunking a false news story, Facebook will show it in “Related Articles” immediately below the story in News Feed.

“We’ll also send people and Page Admins notifications if they try to share a story or have shared one in the past that’s been determined to be false,” Facebook noted.

According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it is important to make sure no one interferes in any more elections, including in India.

“Our goals are to understand Facebook’s impact on upcoming elections — like Brazil, India, Mexico and the US midterms — and to inform our future product and policy decisions,” he said while testifying before the US Congress last week.

“The most important thing I care about right now is making sure no one interferes in the various 2018 elections around the world,” he told a panel of 44 Senators.

Zuckerberg said Facebook will ensure that its platform is not misused to influence elections in India and elsewhere.

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