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Nasheman News : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palanisami on Friday condoled the death of 45 CRPF troopers in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of two troopers from the state who died.
He expressed his grief at the death of the two troopers from Tamil Nadu – G. Subramanian and C. Sivachandran – in the Thursday suicide bombing in Pulwama district.
Nasheman News : While a suicide attack which killed 45 CRPF troopers evoked widespread condemnation and calls for action against Pakistan, Punjab cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu sounded a discordant note on Friday saying the dialogue with Islamabad should continue.
Sidhu, who takes every opportunity to harp on his friendship with Pakistan Prime Minister and former cricketer Imran Khan, said: “Whereever wars are fought and such things (Pulwama type attack) happen, dialogue also continues simultaneously. There is a need to find a permanent solution to (issues between India and Pakistan).
“Such people (terrorists) have no religion, no country and no caste. When a snake bites, its anti-dote is also snake poison,” Sidhu said, justifying his take on the matter regarding dialogue between the two nuclear neighbours.
Sidhu condemned the Pulwama terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy on Thursday which killed 45 troopers but added that the entire nation (Pakistan) could not be blamed for the actions of a handful people.
“This (attack) should be condemned by all. For a handful people, you cannot blame an entire nation. Those behind the attack must be punished,” Sidhu said.
Nasheman News :India on Friday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and lodged a strong protest over the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 45 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale summoned Mahmood to the MEA at 2 p.m. and issued a “very strong demarche” in connection with the terror attack on Thursday that also left 38 troopers injured.
Gokhale conveyed that Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action against the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), which claimed responsibility immediately after the attack, and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism and operating from Pakistani territory.
He also rejected the statement made by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry denying any involvement in the suicide attack, that has been called the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy began there in 1989.
The JeM, a Pakistan-based outfit, claimed responsibility for the attack in which a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force bus that was part of a large convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway around 3.15 p.m., killing 45 troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.
Nasheman News : A hacker who stole close to 620 million user records from 16 websites has struck again, this time breaking into 127 million more records from eight more websites.
According to a TechCrunch report late on Thursday, the hacker now has 18 million user records from travel booking site Ixigo and 40 million from live-video streaming site YouNow.
“Houzz, which recently disclosed a data breach, is listed with 57 million records stolen and Ge.tt had 1.8 million accounts stolen,” said the report.
According to the hacker’s listings, Ixigo used an outdated “MD5” hashing algorithm to scramble passwords, which these days is easy to unscramble.
“YouNow doesn’t store passwords,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Earlier, the same hacker claimed he had user records from several major sites like more than 151 million records from MyFitnessPal and 25 million records from Animoto.
It has been claimed that databases, which are aimed at making “life easier” for hackers, can be purchased from the Dream Market cyber-souk, located in the Tor network, for less than $20,000 in bitcoin.
The stolen information mainly includes account holders’ names, email addresses and passwords, according to the report that appeared this week.
The price appears to be relatively cheap because the information is targeted at spammers and credential stuffers who could use the information to also get access to other sites for which the users use the same usernames and passwords.
While some of these websites – particularly MyHeritage, MyFitnessPal and Animoto – warned their customers last year that they had been compromised, several others have started notifying users about the hacks.
Nasheman News : Two-time champion P.V. Sindhu began her quest for a third title with a win at the Yonex-Sunrise 83rd Senior National Badminton Championships here on Thursday.
The top seed beat Nagpur’s rising star Malvika Bansod 21-11, 21-13 to progress into the quarter-finals.
Harsheel Dani, meanwhile, caused the upset of the day by showing the door to the fourth seed and last edition’s semi-finalist Subhankar Dey 21-15, 21-17 in 43 minutes.
Eighty three world ranking spots separate the 22-year-old and Dey but that hardly mattered as the 131st ranked Dani produced a barrage of attacking shots to knock out the World No.48 Dey.
In one of the most-awaited men’s doubles matches of the day, second seeds Chirag Shetty and Pranaav Jerry Chopra edged veterans V Diju and Rupesh Kumar KT 21-8, 18-21, 22-20 in a clash of generations to enter the semi-finals.
Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad Garaga, one of the most promising men’s doubles pairs, beat Deep Rambhiya and Pratik Ranade 21-17, 21-14 to set up a meeting with the top seeds Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran, who took care of Saurabh Sharma and Rohan Kapoor 21-11, 21-18.
Kuhoo Garg and Anoushka Parikh notched up a commanding 21-10, 21-13 victory over Agna Anto and Sneha Santhilal in women’s doubles. Manu Attri and Maneesha K, meanwhile, knocked out the second seeds Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh 21-10, 21-16 to enter the mixed doubles semi-finals.
Sindhu overcame a slow start to find her rhythm. After lagging behind the Khelo India Games runner-up 0-4, the World No. 6 settled into the match and stormed ahead to 11-7. A flurry of unforced errors under pressure from Bansod absolutely did not help the youngster as the first game went to her highly accomplished opponent.
Bansod could not do much damage to Sindhu in the second game too. Her errors put the Rio Olympic silver medallist at an 11-4 advantage before the 2011 and 2013 champion wrapped up the match to set up a quarter-final showdown with Riya Mookerjee, a 21-11, 17-21, 21-18 winner over Kanika Kanwal.
The Round of 16 singles and the quarter-final matches in doubles started from Thursday on completion of the preliminaries on Day 2 of the Nationals. The top eight singles seeds and the top four doubles seeds had been exempted from playing until the pre-quarters and the quarters respectively.
In the other Round of 16 singles clashes, Asian junior champion Lakshya Sen hardly broke sweat in his 21-11, 21-8 demolition of Ansal Yadav. Top seed and 2015 champion Sameer Verma, meanwhile, had to retire hurt after winning the first game 21-16 and trailing 1-8 against Aryamann Tandon.
Sourabh Verma, a two-time winner, faced no hassles in his 21-8, 21-15 win over Kartik Jindal. Bodhit Joshi and Kaushal Dharmamer both had to work hard for three games before advancing to the last eight.
In women’s singles, Assam’s wonder kid Ashmita Chaliha, seeded fourth at this tournament, needed three games to prevail over Vaidehi Choudhari 21-13, 15-21, 21-12. Third seed Shriyanshi Pardeshi blew away Deepshikha Singh 21-3, 21-7 while junior national champion Aakarshi Kashyap stunned former winner Rituparna Das 21-18, 21-12.
Maharashtra girl Neha Pandit continued her heroics with a 21-14, 21-13 victory over 2018 Tata Open quarter-finalist Anura Prabhudesai and her statemate Vaishnavi Bhale got the better of Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka 21-13, 21-15.
While the top-seeded doubles teams in each section all safely made it to the semi-finals, Manu Attri and K. Maneesha knocked out second seeds Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh 21-10, 21-16 in mixed doubles.
Nasheman News : Authorities on Friday imposed curfew in Jammu city after mobs protesting against the terrorist strike in the Kashmir Valley turned violent, torching some vehicles and damaging several others.
District Magistrate Ramesh Kumar said the curfew had been clamped to maintain law and order.
Police said the violence began in the city’s Gujjar Nagar area.
Police used tear smoke and batons to bring the situation under control after which curfew was imposed, initially in Gujjar Nagar, Talab Khatikan, Janipur, Bakshi Nagar, Chenni Heemat, Bus Stand and some other places in old city area and later extended to entire Jammu.
Tension spread to other “sensitive areas” of the city as news about the violence in Gujjar Nagar spread.
“People are advised to maintain calm and not play into the hands of anti-social elements who want to exploit the situation for their nefarious objectives,” a police officer said.
One of the 45 CRPF soldiers killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing in Pulwama was identified as Naseer Ahmad of Rajouri district in the state.
A protest shutdown was called on Friday by the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).
Jammu transporters association, the local Bar association and the National Conference have extended support to the shutdown.
Rakesh Gupta, President of JCCI, an influential body of local traders and industrialists, told IANS: “We condemn the brutal attack and stand in solidarity with the families who have lost their dear ones in this attack.
“I appeal to the people belonging to different sections of the society to maintain the traditional harmony and brotherhood for which Jammu has been known ever since the fires of violence spread in the (Kashmir) Valley.”
Nasheman News : Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) would showcase its prowess at the five-day 12th edition of ‘Aero India 2019’ expo, starting here on February 20, to hard sell its military aircraft and helicopters, a top official said on Thursday.
“HAL will explore opportunities at the Aero India by showcasing its fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms and technologies as an industry player in the domestic and global defence market,” said HAL Chairman and Managing Director R. Madhavan in a statement.
The statement was issued ahead of the biennial air show at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force on the city’s northern outskirts near the Bengaluru International Airport.
The aerospace major is also organising the present edition of the air show, where 31 aircraft will be part of the flying display and 22, static display.
HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, HTT-40 (Basic Trainer Aircraft), upgraded Hawk Mk132 named Hawk-i, Civil Do-228 (civil version of Dornier 228 aircraft), Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Rudra, Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) will also be part of the flying display.
The fixed and rotary wing aerobatic teams Suryakiran (Hawk aircraft) and Sarang (ALH-Dhruv) will enthrall about six lakh visitors likley to attend the carnival of aircraft.
The defence behemoth will also showcase its LUH (PT-1), LCH (TD-2), ALH Rudra and ALH Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) as part of static display, HAL said.
At the expo, 360 exhibitors — 196 from India and 164 from foreign countries — will showcase their products.
HAL’s pavilion will include technological demonstration of the tail boom folding and main rotor folding of the Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH), which is ALH customised for the Navy.
“For the first time, HAL’s Supersonic Omni Role Trainer Aircraft (SPORT) simulator will be at the pavilion,” the statement added.
The SPORT aircraft will be used for fighter training after advanced jet training stage and before the induction of pilots into the frontline fighter squadron.
The exhibition space will also have a Jaguar aircraft simulator, HAL said.
As part of the air show’s ‘Innovate’ theme, the aerospace major will also display the technologies of Hindustan Turbo Fan Engine (HTFE-25) and Hindustan Turbo Shaft Engine (HTSE-1200) along with rotary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), models of avionics and mechanical system line replacement units and complex manufacturing capabilities.
Global aerospace majors, including Boeing (US), Lockheed Martin Corp (US), Dassault (France), Russian Aircraft Corp MiG, Saab (Sweden) and European aerospace firm Airbus, will also take part in the exhibition.
New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) In a stern message to Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the terrorists have committed their “worst mistake” by killing 45 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir and said their backers will pay “a very big price”.
Modi’s remarks a day after the Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the Thursday attack in Pulwama.
“We have given complete freedom to the security forces. We have full faith in their bravery and valour,” Modi said while addressing a programme to flag off the first indigenous engine-less Train 18, renamed as Vande Bharat Express, at the New Delhi Railway Station.
He said: “The terrorist groups and those who are giving them shelter are responsible and have committed their worst mistake. They have to pay a very big price.”
Modi also assured the nation that “those powers who are behind the attack will be punished for their deeds”.
Hitting out at Pakistan but without naming it, Modi said: “If our neighbour which is totally isolated in the world thinks it can destabilize India through its tactics and conspiracies, it is making a huge mistake.”
“If our neighbour which is facing the worst ever economical crisis thinks that it can make India unstable, then their dreams will not be fulfiled.”
The Prime Minister’s remarks came minutes after the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to withdraw the “Most Favoured Nation” (MFN) status given to Pakistan. The MFN status to Pakistan was given by India in 1996.
Modi urged the political parties to stay away from politicizing the issue.
“This moment is very important and emotional. All of us should stay away from politics and we should unite together against them,” he said.
The Prime Minister thanked the countries which have supported India and condemned this incident in the strongest of terms. “A strong reply will be given to this attack,” he said.
“When all the countries will fight together against terror, terrorism will be eliminated. The soldiers have sacrificed their lives for the country. I assure everyone that we will take every step to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book,” he said.
Modi then inspected the engine-less Vande Bharat Express along with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and flagged it off at 11.20 a.m.
Manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, it left from New Delhi at 10 a.m. for Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Modi.
![President Donald Trump delivered the State of the Union address, with Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, at the Capitol [File: Doug Mills/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/2/6/d16ddbf45de448a3b5814ec25476e94c_18.jpg?ssl=1)
President Donald Trump of the United States will sign a border security bill to avert another government shutdown, but will also declare a national emergency to obtain funds for his promised US-Mexico border wall, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.
In an attempt to bypass Congress to get money that politicians have denied him for his wall, Trump on Thursday appeared headed towards triggering a swift court challenge from Democrats on constitutional grounds.
“President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action – including a national emergency – to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” Sanders said.
“The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country,” she added.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responded to the announcement, saying she was prepared to respond appropriately to a national emergency declaration.
Pelosi said there was not a crisis at the border with Mexico that required a national emergency order.
She has not said if House Democrats would legally challenge the president. But Pelosi did say if Trump invoked an emergency declaration it should be met with “great unease and dismay” as an overreach of executive authority. READ MORE
She added that such a declaration would mean Trump was making an “end run around Congress”.
The top Democrat in the Senate echoed Pelosi’s harsh comments.
Senator Chuck Schumer said if Trump declared a national emergency to build the wall, he would be committing a “lawless act”. He also warned that Congress would take steps to stop the president.
He added that Trump would be committing “naked contempt for the rule of law and congressional authority”.
Thursday’s White House announcement came as Congress prepared to vote on bipartisan legislation that would provide more than $300bn to fund the Department of Homeland Security and a range of other federal agencies through September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. Funding is due to expire for those agencies on Friday.
Later on Thursday, the Republican-controlled Senate passed the bill 83-16. It then went to the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, which also passed it, 300 to 128, sending it to Trump. READ MORE
The bill does not provide the $5.7bn Trump requested for his border wall – a demand that triggered the previous shutdown, which lasted for 35 days. Democrats oppose the wall, calling it ineffective, immoral and expensive.
The bill does allocate $1.37bn in new money to help build 88.5km of new physical barriers on the border. It is the same level of funding Congress appropriated for border security measures last year, including barriers but not concrete walls.
A border wall was a central 2016 campaign promise by Trump. He originally said Mexico would pay for the wall along the 3,200km border, an idea Mexico dismissed.
“Just so you know – we’re building the wall anyway,” Trump said at a rally in the border city of El Paso, Texas, earlier this week.
Agencies
![Azhar's current whereabouts remain unknown, having not been formally charged by Pakistan with a crime [Divyakant Solanki/EPA]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/2/15/18de808e61054fd2acd6f5f4561d7ae7_18.jpg?ssl=1)
Formed in 2000, Jaish-e-Muhammad (Army of Muhammad) is a Pakistan-based armed group that aims to undermine and overthrow Indian control over Indian-administered Kashmir through attacks on security and government targets.
The group was founded by Masood Azhar, who previously fought under the banner of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and has been linked to al-Qaeda.
Azhar founded JeM after he was released from Indian custody in 1999, in exchange for more than 150 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked and diverted to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Azhar is said to have formed JeM with the support of then al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban, according to the United Nations.
The group is said to have actively supported the Afghan Taliban’s fight against US-led NATO forces since 2001.
JeM has carried out several high-profile suicide and other attacks against Indian targets since its formation.
Notably, in 2001 it was implicated in attacks on the legislative assembly building in Indian-administered Kashmir and on the Indian parliament in New Delhi, killing at least 39 people.
Azhar was arrested by Pakistani authorities for his alleged involvement in the parliament attack, but was released a year later after a court ruled authorities had presented inadequate evidence against him.
Pakistan outlawed the JeM as a “terrorist organisation” in 2002, prompting the group to target Pakistan, twice unsuccessfully attempting to assassinate then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
In 2016, Pakistan once again detained Azhar, after India alleged JeM was responsible for an attack on an Indian airbase in the town of Pathankot, killing at least six people.
Later that year, JeM was linked to an attack on an Indian security forces base at Uri, killing 19 people.
On Thursday, JeM claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 42 Indian soldiers in the Indian-administered Kashmir town of Pulwama, the worst such attack on Kashmiri soil.
Azhar’s current whereabouts remain unknown, having not been formally charged by Pakistan with a crime nor making public appearances since his detention.
China, a key Pakistani ally, continues to block his listing on a United Nations sanctions list, a long-standing Indian request.
Agencies