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Archives for August 2018

Asiad 2018: Sandeep disqualified during men’s 50km race walk

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India’s Sandeep Kumar was disqualified during the men’s 50 kilometre race walk at the 18th Asian Games here on Thursday.

Sandeep received three official warnings during the race which led to his disqualification.

Hayato Katsuki of Japan won gold with a time of four hours, three minutes and 30 seconds. Wang Qin of China took silver with a time of 4:06:48 while South Korea’s Joo Hyunmyeong clocked 4:10:21 to bag the bronze medal.

Katsuki was trailing during the initial stages of the race before taking the lead at the 45km mark which he held till the end.

(Ians)

Serena Williams moves on to third round of US Open

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Serena Williams, former world No. 1 and seeded 17th in the tournament, maintained her good performance at the US Open to advance to the third round by winning 6-2, 6-2 against German Carina Witthoeft.

The youngest of the Williams sisters needed only 67 minutes to seal the victory on Wednesday as she attacked her German rival with 13 aces, 30 total winners and 15 unforced errors in the second match she ever had against Witthoeft, the world No. 101, with a score of 2-0 in the series, reports Efe news.

The next rival of the six-time champion of the US Open will be her older sister Venus, 16th-seeded and two-time winner of the last Grand Slam of the year, where she beat the Italian Camila Giorgi 6-4 and 7-5.

Venus went to the third round in the US Open for the 17th time in her career and for the fifth consecutive year.

The duel between the two sisters, who share in total 30 Grand Slam titles, 23 by Serena and seven by Venus, will become the great attraction of the third round.

The Williams sisters will meet for the 30th time as professionals in the two decades they have been competing, including five times before on the Flushing Meadows court.

But the next round will be the second time in which they face each other as rivals in the third round of a Grand Slam, following the match at the 1998 Australian Open, their first professional match they played

Asiad 2018: Mouma bows out of women’s singles TT competition

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Mouma Das crashed out of the women’s singles table tennis competition at the 2018 Asian Games here on Thursday.

The 34-year-old Indian paddler suffered a 0-4 defeat against Taiwan’s Szuyu Chen in a Round of 32 affair.

Chen outclassed Mouma 11-6, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 to advance to the pre-quarters of the competition.

India’s Manika Batra will be up against Thailand’s Nanthana Komwong in another Round of 32 match later on Thursday.

India to host space expo in Bengaluru on September 6-8

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India will be hosting the 6th edition of Bengaluru Space Expo in this tech capital from September 6 to 8, a top official said on Wednesday.

“The space expo on September 6-8 brings the industry and space agencies from various countries on one platform allowing to explore business opportunities,” said S. Rakesh, the Managing Director of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

At a time when the global space industry is growing with increasing number of private players, it is important for the industry to understand the scope of business in the sector, Rakesh told reporters here.

The biennial space expo, which was started in 2008, is held jointly by the ISRO, Antrix and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The three-day conference over space technologies with the theme “Creating dynamism in Indian space ecosystem” is expected to have about 100 exhibitors, 50 speakers and 600 delegates from various countries including France, Russia and the Middle East region, among others.

“Representatives and heads of space agencies from France, Russia and Taiwan will also take part in the event,” CII vice-president Vikram Kirloskar added.

The expo allows the industry to explore the technologies behind satellite production, design and development of launch vehicles.

With Indian space agency aiming for two launches a month ahead, there is a need for the industry to play a larger role in understanding the business, stressed Rakesh.

The platform will feature panel discussions by the industry and space experts on Indian space ecosystem, launch vehicles — opportunities for industry, space transportation and space infrastructure.

The expo will also have a dedicated zone for India’s proposed maiden manned space mission Gaganyaan, ISRO chairman K. Sivan said.

Of the $330 billion worth global space market, India’s share is only about one per cent, which it aims to increase by stepping up its number of launches, Rakesh added.

(PTI)

Hackers now executing low-profile attacks to steal money: Trend Micro

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Bengaluru, Cybercriminals are moving away from attention-grabbing ransomware attacks to more covert methods intended to steal money and valuable computing resources globally including in India, cyber security leader Trend Micro said on Thursday.

Crypto-jacking — where a hacker steals cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin from digital wallets — attempts are making the biggest impact so far this year, said the report titled “Midyear Security Roundup 2018.”

Trend Micro recorded a 96 per cent increase in cryptocurrency mining detections in the first half of 2018 compared to all of 2017, and a massive 956 per cent increase in detections versus the first half of 2017.

This indicates that cybercriminals are shifting away from the quick payout of ransomware in favour of the slower, behind-the-scenes approach of stealing computing power to mine digital currency.

“In the wake of several breaches over the last few years, the country is reeling under the spate of attacks that have compromised databases belonging to banking institutions, government email servers, and Indian enterprises at large,” said Nilesh Jain, Vice President-South East Asia and India, Trend Micro.

“We have also seen few Public Cloud providers getting compromised this year. Next year, the customers who don’t take adequate measures to their applications or data which are hosted in Public Cloud, might even get compromised,” he added.

Another shift in the first half of the year is toward unusual malware types, such as fileless, macro and small file malware.

Trend Micro recorded a 250 per cent increase in detections of one particular small file malware “TinyPOS” compared to the second half of 2017.

“The recent change in the threat landscape mirrors what we’ve seen for years that cybercriminals will constantly shift their tools, tactics and procedures (TTPs) to improve their infection rates,” said Jon Clay, Director of Global Threat Communications for Trend Micro.

[IANS]

Parrikar heads to US for treatment

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Panaji Amid demands for dismissal of his government by the opposition and confusion in the state BJP ranks over leadership issues, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar left for the US from Mumbai early on Thursday, for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

“The Chief Minister left by a 1.30 a.m. flight. He is expected to be back in a week’s time,” sources close to Parrikar said.

Parrikar was admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital last week, hours after he returned to Goa from a New York medical facility, following a second round of treatment abroad.

The Congress in the state has appealed to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to dismiss the BJP-led coalition government in the coastal state due to the severe health crisis that has hit the state cabinet.

Four out of the 12 cabinet ministers including Parrikar, have been suffering from serious ailments, which has forced them to abstain from discharging their official duty to full capacity.

On Wednesday, there was confusion in the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as alliance partners, over facilitating an “alternative arrangement” in the absence of Parrikar.

While Union Minister of the State for AYUSH and North Goa MP Shripad Naik told reporters on Wednesday, that he would be meeting party chief Amit Shah along with the members of its state core committee to form an alternative arrangement, some members of the committee later said that there were no such plans on the anvil.

The Chief Minister’s Office was later forced to issue a statement saying Parrikar himself would be overseeing functioning of the coalition government from the US.

Parrikar was diagnosed in February and was treated in a New York medical facility from March to June. On August 10, Parrikar had again left for the US for review of his treatment.
(10:40)
Panaji, Aug 30 (IANS) Amid demands for dismissal of his government by the opposition and confusion in the state BJP ranks over leadership issues, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar left for the US from Mumbai early on Thursday, for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

“The Chief Minister left by a 1.30 a.m. flight. He is expected to be back in a week’s time,” sources close to Parrikar said

Parrikar was admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital last week, hours after he returned to Goa from a New York medical facility, following a second round of treatment abroad.

The Congress in the state has appealed to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to dismiss the BJP-led coalition government in the coastal state due to the severe health crisis that has hit the state cabinet.

Four out of the 12 cabinet ministers including Parrikar, have been suffering from serious ailments, which has forced them to abstain from discharging their official duty to full capacity.

On Wednesday, there was confusion in the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as alliance partners, over facilitating an “alternative arrangement” in the absence of Parrikar.

While Union Minister of the State for AYUSH and North Goa MP Shripad Naik told reporters on Wednesday, that he would be meeting party chief Amit Shah along with the members of its state core committee to form an alternative arrangement, some members of the committee later said that there were no such plans on the anvil.

The Chief Minister’s Office was later forced to issue a statement saying Parrikar himself would be overseeing functioning of the coalition government from the US.

Parrikar was diagnosed in February and was treated in a New York medical facility from March to June. On August 10, Parrikar had again left for the US for review of his treatment.

[IANS]

Militant killed in encounter in J&K

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militant was today killed in an encounter with security forces in Hajin area of Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Hajin area following information about presence of militants there, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after militants opened fire towards security forces positions.

(Ians)

Kerala’s devastation: Why can’t we learn from others?

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Twenty years ago, in August 1998, then Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji proposed, in a meeting of China’s State Council, a total ban on logging in the forest slopes of Sichuan province. It was in response to the devastating flood-crisis that China was facing in the Yangtze river basin.

That policy was enacted overnight, while the floods in Yangtze river were still at its peak and rescue operations were in full swing. It was just a year after the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, but Zhu was in no mood to analyse if that extreme event was due to climate change.

He cited that similar devastation had occurred due to Yangtze floods in 1870, 1931 and 1954 when climate change was not around. Zhu declared severe punishment for logging in the same meeting and incentivised afforestation with ambitious targets by 2000 and 2010.

The same month, but now 2018, India is facing the devastation in Kerala, the worst ever since 1924. With over 400 dead and a million homeless, the questions are gushing like the waters from the flood gates of its dams. Is it a natural or man-made disaster? Is it climatic event or due to global warming?

It is easy and convenient to link the causative chain to climate change. Indeed, global warming has led to a rise in ocean and atmosphere temperatures (nearly one degree Celsius over pre-industrial times) which has resulted in the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events over the last six decades.

To this extent, global warming is indeed responsible for higher rainfall. But that does not explain “extreme” and “localised” rainfall. Blaming each of such weather disasters on climate change has in reality become a way for the authorities to absolve themselves from their essential responsibility of preventing the consequential colossal damage to life, infrastructure and ecosystems. Unprecedented rainfall could not have been prevented, whether it is due to global warming or not, but the resulting catastrophe could have been contained.

Indiscriminate logging in Kerala has reduced the forest cover between 1920 and 1990 by 40 per cent, according to the report of Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel. Nearly one million hectares of the forest land has been lost between 1973 and 2016, as per an Indian Institute of Science report. This has reduced the soil’s capacity to hold the mud-slides. Illegal mining, including that of sand and stones that “bank” the flood waters, is rampant in Kerala. Over-enthusiastic water tourism has allowed the infrastructure and habitat to be vulnerably exposed to the flood waters. The uncoordinated dam-water management has left the communities and wildlife to find their own ways to save their lives.

Is there way out?

There are numerous examples and initiatives to learn from and to participate in. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Agency predicted the Kerala floods just a few days in advance. Collaboration with GPM and initiating disaster management measures “just-in-time” could still would have helped.

Switzerland (about the same size as Kerala) has 200 major dams as against Kerala’s 61. Switzerland’s designated central authority coordinates safety and the operation of the flood gates. Collaborating with Switzerland on such dam-management and inundation-mapping would prepare India in future. In Kerala, dam safety analysis had not been done for any of its 61 dams.

China has now acquired huge experience in disaster and flood management; five most deadly floods in human history were all in China. Cooperation with China would go a long way in managing and containing the flood damage.

[IANS]

Film on triple talaq in the works

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Mumbai, “Road to Sangam” director Amit Rai is working on a neo-noir thriller “Mansuba”.

Produced by Addiva Films, “Mansuba” will explore the subject of how victims of triple talaq become prey to social anarchy.

“‘Mansuba’ underlines the weakening social fabric of the nation. It also presents a perfected version of the truth as it gets venomously distorted, perversely manipulated and then suddenly turned over on its head,” Rai said in a statement to IANS.

Explaining the rationale behind the film, writer-producer Naghma A Qaiyyum said: “‘Mansuba’ is shocking and thought provoking. The film is also in line with our endeavour is to produce good cinema and back strong content driven films.”

To this, Kahkkashan Firoz, Managing Director at Addiva Films, added: “It’s a story that people will bond to, created in a genre which is becoming extremely popular with Indian moviegoers. We are very confident the film will be appreciated for its entertainment appeal as well as strong substance.”

Creative Producer NM Pasha said: “The aesthetic and design language of the film is of utmost importance to truthfully bridge the rich historical, political and cultural ethos of this story.”

On the film’s cast, co-producer Viren Thambidorai said: “We are roping in A-list stars for the film to ensure that the film reaches its intended impact and audiences.”

However, no names have been announced yet.

NIA arrests Hizbul supremo Syed Salahuddin’s son in terror funding case

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today arrested Syed Shakeel Yousuf, son of globally wanted terrorist Syed Salahuddin, in connection with a 2011 terror funding case for allegedly receiving money from his father.

An NIA spokesman said in Delhi that Shakeel, at present working as a laboratory assistant at a prestigious government hospital, was picked up from Rambagh locality of Srinagar and placed under arrest.

The spokesman said, “In an operation today morning, NIA team along with the police and CRPF arrested Shakeel in a terror funding case”.

He is the second son of Salahuddin who has been arrested by the NIA in connection with the case. Earlier in June this year, his another son, Shahid, who was working in the agricultural department of the Jammu and Kashmir government, was arrested in the same case.

The NIA alleged Shakeel used to receive funds through a US-based international wire transfer company from Aijaz Ahmed Bhat, another accused in the case who is absconding and based in Saudi Arabia

The agency alleged Shakeel was “one of several Indian contacts of Bhat” who had been in telephonic contact with him for receiving money transfer codes

The case, registered by the NIA in April 2011, relates to transfer of money from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir through hawala channels via Delhi, which the agency believed was used in funding terrorism and secessionist activities

The NIA has so far filed two charge sheets against six people including G M Bhat, a close aide of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga. All four are in judicial custody

Two others — Mohammed Maqbool Pandit and Bhat — were also charge sheeted by the NIA but are absconding. An Interpol Red Corner notice has been issued against them Shakeel’s father Mohammed Yusuf Shah — better known as Syed Salahuddin — was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department of State.

Besides heading terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, he is the chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terrorist outfits operating in the Kashmir Valley. The NIA had also registered two others cases related to terror funding — one in November 2011 and the other in May this year.

The agency had filed a charge sheet against 10 people including Syed Salahuddin in the April 2011 case. In the recent case, the NIA arrested 10 people including some close relatives and aides of Geelani.

(PTI)

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