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Archives for September 2018

Pakistan may become 5th largest n-state by 2025:

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Pakistan is expanding its uranium-enrichment and plutonium production facilities, triggering fears that it may become the 5th largest nulcear-weapon state and have 220 to 250 warheads within the next seven years, a report has said.

The report published on August 31 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists authored by members of the Federation of American Scientists says that Pakistan was also developing several delivery systems.

“Pakistan continues to expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads, more delivery systems, and a growing fissile materials production industry… We estimate that the country’s stockpile could… grow to 220 to 250 warheads by 2025, if the current trend continues,” said the 12-page report.

The report first appearted in Jane’s Defence Weekly, a London-based magazine that reports on military and corporate affairs said on Wednesday.

(IANS)

Google launches new Search engine for scientific community

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Google on Thursday launched a new search engine for the scientific community that will help them make sense of millions of datasets present online.

The service, called Dataset Search, will help scientists, data journalists and geeks find the data required for their work and their stories — or simply to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.

The new search engine will work like Google Scholar, the company’s popular search engine for academic studies and reports.

“Dataset Search lets you find datasets wherever they’re hosted, whether it’s a publisher’s site, a digital library, or an author’s personal web page,” Natasha Noy, Research Scientist, Google AI, said in a blog post.

To create Dataset search, Google developed guidelines for dataset providers to describe their data in a way that the company (and other search engines) can better understand the content of their pages.

“These guidelines include salient information about datasets: who created the dataset, when it was published, how the data was collected, what the terms are for using the data, etc,” Noy said.

Google then collects and links this information, analyses where different versions of the same dataset might be, and finds publications that may be describing or discussing the dataset.

“We encourage dataset providers, large and small, to adopt this common standard so that all datasets are part of this robust ecosystem,” said Google.

People can find references to most datasets in environmental and social sciences, as well as data from other disciplines including government data and data provided by news organisations, such as ProPublica.

Dataset Search works in multiple languages with support for additional languages coming soon, said Google.

Kolkata best city for 4G availability in India: OpenSignal

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As 4G penetration increases in India, Kolkata has emerged as the top city with a 4G availability score of an impressive over 90 per cent, London-based wireless coverage mapping company OpenSignal said on Thursday.

Kolkata topped the list of 22 telecom circles in the country.

However, the other 21 circles saw 4G (LTE) reach scores over 80 per cent, including top circles like Punjab with 89.8 per cent, Bihar on 89.2 per cent, Madhya Pradesh with 89.1 per cent, and Orissa on 89 per cent.

According to OpenSignal’s latest 4G availability metrics, the results reflect the outstanding availability growth in India — quite remarkable for a country which has only had 4G since 2012.

“We analysed our data for 4G availability across all of India’s 22 telecoms circles in the 90 days from the start of May 2018, and found Kolkata came top with a hugely impressive score of 90.7 per cent,” OpenSignal said in a statement.

Many of the top telecoms circles for 4G availability were in the East and North of the country, reflecting a similar trend in OpenSignal’s analysis of LTE reach in India’s cities six months ago.

In its April survey, Patna had beaten Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai to top the 4G availability metric that measures where users get access to an LTE connection most of the time.

Mumbai had ranked 15th while Delhi grabbed the 17th spot in 4G availability in India’s 20 largest cities.

This time, Delhi was 12th while Mumbai 13th on the 4G availability list.

“The Indian government has just kicked off the process for a major spectrum auction in the country, which should allow the operators to make further improvements in these highly impressive 4G availability scores,” said OpenSignal.

Reliance Jio has played a key role in increasing 4G penetration in India, helping the rural population get 83 million 4G subscriptions out of the total 238 million 4G subscribers by December 2017, said market research firm CyberMedia Research (CMR).

According to the CMR, 35 per cent of the 4G subscribers in India will use a 4G-enabled feature phone by 2020, taking the total 4G subscribers to 432 million.

Trump calls op-ed by senior official ‘gutless’

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An unnamed senior US administration official has assailed President Donald Trump’s “amorality” and reckless decision-making in an op-ed and said he or she is part of a “resistance” working to thwart Trump’s worst impulses.

“The dilemma — which (Trump) does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” the New York Times piece read. “I would know. I am one of them.”

Trump labelled the anonymous writer “gutless” and the newspaper as “phony”. His press secretary said the mystery writer was a “coward” who should quit, the BBC reported.

The NYT said disclosing the name of the official, who is known to the publication, would jeopardize the official’s job, and that publishing the piece anonymously was the only way to deliver an important perspective to readers.

Major newspapers almost never publish unnamed op-ed pieces. At The New York Times, it is very rare, but not entirely unprecedented, the CNN said.

The op-ed came on the heels of reports based on a damning book about Trump’s presidency by veteran journalist Bob Woodward and amplified the sense that top advisers to the President have serious concerns about his conduct in office and leadership abilities.

It is likely to compound Trump’s sense of paranoia that he is surrounded by advisers who may be duplicitous and untrustworthy, the CNN report added.

Trump quickly lashed out on Wednesday, dismissing the op-ed as “really a disgrace”. He demanded for the name to be revealed.

“We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times that’s talking about he’s part of the resistance inside the Trump administration,” Trump said. “This is what we have to deal with. And you know the dishonest media … But it’s really a disgrace.”

He then pivoted to his accomplishments, claiming that “nobody has done what this administration has done in terms of getting things passed and getting things through.”

Trump later tweeted a pointed and unsubstantiated attack on the NYT, questioning if the author of the op-ed exists. If the author does exist, the organization should publicly identify the individual, Trump said.

“Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?” Trump tweeted.

“If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”

(IANS)

Rail, road services hit in Bihar shutdown against SC/ST Act

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Trains were forcibly halted, railway tracks, national and state highways blocked in Bihar as upper caste communities on Thursday tried to impose a shutdown called to protest against the SC/ST Act, police said.

Hundreds of people from the upper caste communities took to streets across the state early in the day to protest against the The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The protesters burned tyres, blocked roads and rail traffic in Patna, Gaya, Begusarai, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, Madhubni, Bhojpur, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura ,Nawada and Bhagalour districts. Traffic remained disrupted for hours.

They also raised slogans against the central government and Prime Minister Narendar Modi and demanded reservation for the poor among the upper castes in jobs and educational institutions.

The protest was called by over two dozen groups including the Sawarn Sena and the Bhumihar-Brahmin Ekta Manch on the social media.

Security has been tightened in the state with additional forces deployed at sensitive places.

(IANS)

Ganga floods Varanasi ghats, 20 dead in UP rains

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A swelling Ganga river has inundated the temples on Varanasi ghats and forced cremations at the Manikarnika to be shifted to upper platforms, a Uttar Pradesh official said on Thursday.

The river rose by over two metres in the last 24-hours. The famous Ganga aarti from the boats has also been banned.

It is flowing just two metres below the danger mark at 69.91m. The Sheetla temple and Ratneshwar Mahadev temple were submerged.

The water level of Varuna river here has also increased. It has flooded the old bridge area, Konia, Kazzakpur and many other low-lying areas.

Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been pressed asked to keep a tab on the rising waters and brace for any eventuality.

An NDRF team consisting of 20-25 personnel have been posted on the Assi Ghat, Dashvashmedh Ghat and Rajghat.

Waters of the Varuna river increased due to increased monsoon activity and release of five lakh cusecs of water from the Matateela dam in Lalitpur a few days back, a district official said as rains continued to wreak havoc in many parts of Uttar Pradesh.

In the last 24 hours, 20 persons have been killed in rain-related incidents, including wall collapses, house cave-ins and lightening.

According to the office of the Relief Commissioner, three persons have died in Gonda, two in Mirzapur, one each in Meerut, Sitapur and Bahraich while three persons have died in Kushinagar, one in Unnao, two in Bijnore, one in Auraiyya, one in Jaunpur and one in Etah.

Sports minister of Uttar Pradesh, Chetan Chauhan would be visiting Farukkhabad later in the day to distribute relief and other material in the district.

He told IANS that he will be taking a boat ride to meet the marooned villagers and give them relief material, food items and medicines.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is also scheduled for an aerial survey of flood-hit districts of Barabanki, Basti, Sitapur and Gonda.

Heavy rains have been battering most parts of the state for the last 10 days, leading to flooding of many regions and water logging in major cities and towns.

There was, however, clear skies in Lucknow on Thursday, though the Met forecast two more days of heavy rains in the city and around.

(IANS)

Kovind greets Bulgaria on its unification day

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Visiting Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday greeted the people of Bulgaria on the occasion of its 133rd Unification Day.

“The most cordial wishes for the nice and hospitable Bulgarians on the occasion of the unification of Bulgaria. I am glad to be in Sofia to share this Skroven moment,” the President said in a tweet.

Kovind arrived here on Tuesday from Cyprus on the second leg of his three-nation visit to Europe that will also take him to the Czech Republic.

This is the first presidential visit from India to Bulgaria in 15 years.

On September 6, 1885, the Principality of Bulgaria unified with the autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Roumelia, a few years after its liberation from the Ottoman rule.

(IANS)

Facebook, Twitter to face new US probe over censorship concern

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After Wednesday’s congressional hearings, Facebook and Twitter will now face questions from the Justice Department (DOJ) over allegations of political bias, an issue flagged by US President Donald Trump.

In a meeting in September, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, along with state attorneys general, would look into whether Facebook and Twitter are “intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms”, CNET reported on Wednesday.

The DOJ announced the meeting on a day when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared before the US Congress, admitting to the lawmakers that they were “too slow to act” and “ill-prepared” to tackle foreign interference on their platforms.

According to The Washington Post, Sandberg told the US Senate Intelligence Committee that they were too slow to spot this and too slow to act. “That’s on us.”

The social networking platforms attracted criticism for being vulnerable to Russia-linked influence campaigns.

Trump has accused Google, Facebook and Twitter of trying to “silence” conservative voices.

Appearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday in a hearing on online censorship of conservative opinions and misinformation activities ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections, Dorsey said Twitter will remain an “impartial” “global town square”, and it does “not shadow-ban anyone based on political ideology”.

“To serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivised to keep all voices on the platform,” he said.

Twitter has constantly denied the claims by Republicans that conservative accounts were shadow-banned or their opinions were censored on the platform.

Earlier in the day, Dorsey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

Following the meeting, Twitter shares fell six per cent on Wednesday, CNBC reported.

(IANS)

1 dead in Sri Lanka protests

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One person died and over 80 were hospitalised as a massive protest rally held by the opposition ended in the Sri Lankan capital on Thursday, media reported.

According the Colombo National Hospital, the one death was due to cardiac arrest, Xinhua news agency reported.

While eight were hospitalised from food poisoning, eight others had sustained minor injuries and over 70 were hospitalised due to excessive alcohol consumption.

Sri Lanka’s Joint Opposition held the rally on Wednesday to protest against the rising cost of living, the government’s economic policies and call for a snap parliamentary poll.

The protest was organised by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eldest son and parliamentarian, Namal Rajapaksa. The former president and his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also participated in the rally.

Joint Opposition legislators said thousands had attended the rally but an exact figure could not be confirmed.

The protest which started on Wednesday afternoon, ended early on Thursday.

(IANS)

Arrested activists were involved in planning large-scale violence

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The Maharashtra Police on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the five activists arrested on August 28 were involved in planning large-scale violence. The police filed a counter-affidavit after the court issued it a notice the day after the arrests. The five activists – Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao – are currently under house arrest.

In its affidavit, the police claimed that the activists were in the process of creating large-scale violence and destruction of property, which would result in chaos. The police said this was part of the agenda of the banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist). The five were arrested not because of their dissenting opinions against the government but because of evidence that they were active members of the Maoist outfit, the police added.

During a hearing on August 29, the Supreme Court observed that “dissent is the safety valve of democracy”.

The material found from computers, pendrives and memory cards of the activists clearly showed their active membership of the CPI (Maoist), and indicated a design to commit criminal offences with potential to destabilise the society, the police said in the counter-affidavit affirmed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivaji Panditrao Pawar, Swargate Division, Pune.

“The material gathered from others based upon which the five accused persons were arrested, clearly show that they were involved in selecting and encouraging cadres to go underground in ‘struggle area’, mobilising and distributing money, facilitating selection and purchase of arms, deciding the rates of such arms and suggesting the routes and ways of smuggling such arms into India for its onward distribution amongst the cadres,” the affidavit reads.

Police said the arrested activists along with one other “absconding underground accused” arranged public meetings under the banner of Elgaar Parishad. Elgaar is a corrupted version of “Yalgaar” which means “the attack”, police said.

To contend the petitioner’s argument that the arrested activists were well-respected human rights crusaders, police have referred to a case under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Vernon Gonsalves in which he was convicted for his involvement in Maoist activists.

The Maharashtra Police also said that the investigators had decided to videograph the entire procedure of the raids to avoid future allegations of foul play.

House arrest of the activists would mean they can ensure destruction of evidence elsewhere and can alert other potential accused, the affidavit reads. The police requested the vacate the previous order of house arrest to allow the investigators to take the accused under police custody.

Who filed the plea in Supreme Court
Academics Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Devaki Jain and Satish Deshpande, among others, had filed the petition challenging the arrests. They had alleged that the arrests were arbitrary and were made without evidence. The plea sought an independent inquiry into the arrests. The Supreme Court stayed the transit remands for those arrested to be taken to Pune, and instead asked them to be put under house arrest till the next hearing on September 6.

The arrests came hours after the Pune police raided the homes of 10 human rights activists in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Delhi, Faridabad and Goa. Those arrested were among the 10.

The Maharashtra Police have earlier claimed that the activists were involved in an “Elgar Parishad” event in Pune on December 31, which was followed by caste violence in the nearby village of Bhima Koregaon the next day. The police have said the activists’ speeches at the event were meant to incite hatred. They also claimed to have seized thousands of letters exchanged among “underground” and “overground” Maoists.

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