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Zuckerberg Vows to Daughter He’ll Donate 99% of His Facebook Shares

2015-12-02T08:36:00.001+05:30

SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, announced on Tuesday that he and his wife would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares “during our lives” — holdings currently worth more than $45 billion — to charitable purposes.
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The pledge was made in an open letter to their newborn daughter, Max, who was born about a week ago.

Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, said they were forming a new organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to manage the money, through an unusual limited liability corporate structure. “Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities,” they wrote.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s charitable plans are the latest indication of a growing interest in philanthropy among Silicon Valley’s young billionaires, who unlike previous generations of business tycoons, appear eager to spread their wealth while they are still young. Mr. Zuckerberg is 31, and Dr. Chan is 30.

Yet they are entering largely uncharted waters with a charity effort of such scale. They have not yet detailed how the money will be spent and the pace at which the money will be given out indicates they plan to take their time.

The couple have had mixed results in earlier charitable efforts.

In 2010, Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan gave $100 million to improve the public schools in Newark. The money expanded high-performing charter schools but encountered fierce resistance from many parents, community activists and unions. Mr. Zuckerberg has said he learned a lot from the experience.

Still, Larry Brilliant, who works on philanthropic issues with many Silicon Valley figures including Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce.com, and Jeff Skoll, the co-founder of eBay, said that both the scale and timing of Mr. Zuckerberg’s commitment, coming so early in his career, were rare.

“I hope this will be a model for Mark’s generation,” said Dr. Brilliant, a physician who also previously ran Google’s charitable arm, Google.org.

The Silicon Valley way of philanthropy also demands more control over where the money is spent, though it remains to be seen if this hands-on formula will be successful.

“We must build technology to make change. Many institutions invest money in these challenges, but most progress comes from productivity gains through innovation,” they wrote in the letter to their daughter. “We must participate in policy and advocacy to shape debates. Many institutions are unwilling to do this, but progress must be supported by movements to be sustainable.”

In a securities filing, Facebook said Mr. Zuckerberg planned “to sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years.” He intends to retain his majority voting position in the company’s stock for the foreseeable future.

This week, Mr. Zuckerberg was also one of the billionaires who signed on to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group organized by the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to contribute toward a multibillion-dollar clean energy fund. The announcement coincided with a Paris summit meeting intended to forge a global accord to cut planet-warming emissions.

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Mr. Zuckerberg has referred to Mr. Gates as one of his childhood heroes for his zeal in building Microsoft into a colossus in the technology industry. Mr. Gates is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated worth of $85.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The index estimates that Mr. Zuckerberg’s total worth is $46.8 billion.

Mr. Zuckerberg has admired Mr. Gates’s philanthropic endeavors, too, becoming one of the first people to join the Giving Pledge, an initiative started by Mr. Gates and Warren E. Buffett to get wealthy individuals and their families to give away more than half of their wealth to charities during their lifetimes or after. Mr. Gates has pledged to give away at least 95 percent of his wealth.

“None of this would have happened without Bill Gates,” Dr. Brilliant said.

In a statement, Mr. Gates and his wife, Melinda, congratulated Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan.

“The example you’re setting today is an inspiration to us and the world,” they said. “We can be confident of this: Max and every child born today will grow up in a world that is better than the one we know now. As you say, ‘Seeds planted now will grow.’ Your work will bear fruit for many decades to come.”

Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan had previously pledged about $1.6 billion to charitable endeavors, according to a spokeswoman for the family.
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Recent Comments
mario_mic 18 minutes ago

Good for them wanting to do that but if I were them I would be a little selfish and just keep a billion to myself lol
Josh Folds 19 minutes ago

Zuckerberg giving 99% of his fortune is hardly a widow's mite. That still leaves he and his wife with more than most people will ever need...
Jack 19 minutes ago

What is common, besides being American billionaire philanthropists, among Zuckerberg, Gates, and Buffet? They are much more liberal than any...

See All Comments Write a comment

“Having this child has made us think about all of the things that should be improved in the world for her whole generation,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in a video. “The only way that we reach our full human potential is if we’re able to unlock the gifts of every person around the world.”

Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan have recently made visible investments and gifts in several kindergarten-through-high-school education projects.

In May, AltSchool, a private school start-up in San Francisco that develops personalized learning technologies, announced that it had raised $100 million from a group of investors, including a donor-advised fund financed by the Zuckerberg family at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

In September, Facebook announced that it was working with Summit Public Schools, a charter school network, to develop an online platform to help tailor education to the needs and interests of individual students.

In November, EducationSuperhighway, a nonprofit group that helps K-12 schools tap federal funds for high-speed classroom Internet connections, announced that the couple had agreed to donate $20 million to its work.

Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan have also given to health care causes, including a $75 million gift to San Francisco General Hospital, which was renamed in their honor.

The ultimate value of the Zuckerberg family’s charitable pledge is unknown. Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan intend to gradually transfer their Facebook stock or the proceeds from stock sales to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

If Facebook shares continue to appreciate, the value of the gift could be much higher than the current estimate of $45 billion.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and a billionaire as well, also applauded Mr. Zuckerberg’s announcement and said he shared the Facebook executive’s interest in education and innovation.

“The only question now is: How many of his peers in Silicon Valley and beyond will join him?” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announce baby girl – and massive charity initiative

2015-12-02T08:34:00.003+05:30

In a Facebook post to newborn child Max, the Facebook CEO says he will administer the initiative himself using 99% of shares in company’s stock.

The Zuckerbergs announced two births on Tuesday: a baby girl, and to one of the world’s biggest charities.

That sterling spoon you might have been considering for Mark Zuckerberg’s new baby may no longer be the most exciting gift to the Facebook billionaire’s daughter: after revealing his wife, Priscilla Chan, had given birth to their first child, Max, Zuckerberg announced the creation of a charity organization called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The couple have pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook shares in their lifetime, currently worth about $45bn.

The charity, which has “the mission of advancing human potential and promoting equality”, will be administered by the CEO himself and is already on track to be worth a potential $3bn by 2018.

Zuckerberg announced the move on Facebook in the form of a letter to his baby:

Dear Max,
Your mother and I don’t yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future. Your new life is full of promise, and we hope you will be happy and healthy so you can explore it fully. You’ve already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in.
Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today.
While headlines often focus on what’s wrong, in many ways the world is getting better. Health is improving. Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People are connecting. Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today.
We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation.
We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today. Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here.

Zuckerberg plans to finance the endeavor using his stock options. Some 99% of his shares will go to the charity – the tech tycoon owns 4m shares of class A common stock and 419m shares of class B, which have the majority of voting rights.

“[D]uring his lifetime, he will gift or otherwise direct substantially all of his shares of Facebook stock, or the net after-tax proceeds from sales of such shares, to further the mission of advancing human potential and promoting equality by means of philanthropic, public advocacy, and other activities for the public good,” the company said in the filing.
Joel Fleishman, professor of law and public policy sciences at Duke University, said he believed the announcement would spur giving among the super-rich.
“I follow this pretty closely and hardly a day goes by that somebody doesn’t say he’s going to give away all his assets to charity,” Fleishman said, noting that Zuckerberg’s early-years Facebook colleague Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna said they were going to give away their fortune, which amounts to some $8bn, as well. “It does exemplify the spirit of the times.”
Fleishman observed that the project had become particularly popular among the young and extraordinarily wealthy, who prefer “giving while living” to willing their assets to charity. “I celebrate his decision to do it as I celebrate Warren Buffet’s decision to give all that money to the Gates Foundation. People who’ve made all that money are by nature competitive; someone that young giving away that much money will undoubtedly stimulate others to do likewise.”
But it’s not the executive’s first foray into charity, nor the first this week. Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and others announced an initiative to invest in new energy sources to stem the rising tide of climate change on Monday.

Results of his previous philanthropic efforts have been mixed: In 2010, Zuckerberg partnered with then-mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker (who has since become the state’s junior senator) to improve the notoriously poor-quality schools in the city with a donation of $100m. The endeavor was widely criticized for the percentage of the gift that went to pay consultants, among other problems.

FWD.us, a political advocacy group started by Zuckerberg and Gates, has also stalled after its efforts to lobby for immigration reform failed, despite some $50m in backing from big-name tech personalities.

Osama cited Bapu as inspiration in 1993 speech

2015-10-02T07:28:00.000+05:30

cassettes were discovered. The cache soon passed many hands from an Afghan family to a cassette shop and then to a CNN cameraman, finally making its way to the Afghan Media Project at Williams College in Massachusetts, who asked Flagg Miller — an expert in Arabic literature and culture from the University of California, Davis — to unravel them, BBC reported.

More than a decade on, Miller has written a book about his findings, titled 'The Audacious Ascetic', which explores this unique collection. The tapes date back to the late 1960s through to 2001 and feature more than 200 different speakers — Osama among them.

He is first heard in a tape from 1987 — a recording of a battle between Afghan-Arab mujahideen and Soviet Spetsnaz commandos. An unexpected name to make an appearance in the tapes is Mahatma Gandhi, who is cited as an inspiration by Osama in a speech made in September 1993, the report says.

This is also the first speech in the collection in which Osama calls on supporters to take action against the US by boycotting its goods. "Consider the case of Great Britain, an empire so vast that some say the sun never set on it," says Laden. "Britain was forced to withdraw from one of its largest colonies when Gandhi the Hindu declared a boycott against their goods. We must do the same thing today with America," he says.

Laden makes no mention of violence till 1996, according to the tapes. "That changes in 1996, days after he is exiled from Sudan," Miller is quoted as saying. It is only in one of the final recordings found in the collection that there is any allusion to 9/11.

Water on Mars? Here’s why Nasa believes there can be signs of life on the red planet

2015-09-29T09:36:00.001+05:30

Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Horowitz crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. Image Credit: nasa.tumblr.com

The dark narrow streaks called recurring slope lineae are up to few hundred meters in length. They are hypothesized to be formed by flow of briny liquid water on Mars. Image Credit: nasa.tumblr.com

A photograph of Mars released by Nasa shows dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill which scientists believe to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Image Credit: nasa.tumblr.com

Ranbir Kapoor's special working birthday on the sets of 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'

2015-09-29T09:08:00.003+05:30

The baby-faced, towel-dropping Saawariya debutant turns 33 today. And in the 8 years since Ranbir Kapoor's debut film, he has been a part of many films. However, the birthday boy recently started shooting for Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in London, and had a working birthday this year.

However, that by no means meant it was any less special. Director Karan Johar shared an image of the birthday boy with three cakes and a big grin.

The sets of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil also saw a visitor over the weekend. Ranbir's early birthday gift perhaps?

Meanwhile, Ranbir's parents Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, took to social media to share wishes for their son. While Rishi Kapoor tweeted birthday wishes for Bhagat Singh, Lata Mangeshkar and his sister Rima Jain.

Meanwhile, Ranbir's parents Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, took to social media to share wishes for their son. While Rishi Kapoor tweeted birthday wishes for Bhagat Singh, Lata Mangeshkar and his sister Rima Jain, Neetu Kapoor uploaded an image of a much younger Ranbir:

Modi’s tears only drama? Why is it so tough to believe a strong personality can also break down?

2015-09-29T09:07:00.000+05:30

There was nothing unusual in the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke down at the Facebook Town Hall in San Jose. After all, this is not the first time that the country’s strongest political leader bared his emotional side to an audience that came to appraise him.

What was unusual this time was the fact that his emotional response occurred on foreign soil before an audience that did not belong to his ideological family. Those who have been watching Modi’s political journey will testify that the prime minister is never casual in his political demeanour, and not easily given to weak moments. Yet he found himself susceptible to a 'personal question' about his 90-year-old mother, and dropped his guard.

Why did he do it? Ask his opponents back home.
Are there elements of melodrama in this spectacle? Ask cynics who look at Modi’s actions from the prism of a pre-conceived notion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Mark Zuckerberg during the townhall.

The Congress has already dismissed it as 'drama'. But the fact of the matter, however, is that Modi’s moistened eyes are rarely if ever seen as a sign of vulnerability. On the contrary, his tender side, almost without exception, shines through from a position of strength.

Contrast Modi’s previous visit to United States of America with the ongoing tour that saw him meet a variety of top corporate honchos, IT czars and the top leadership of the world’s biggest economy. In his previous visit, there were clear instructions in the MEA — conveyed in unambiguous terms to US authorities — that Modi would be averse to any idea of patronising hospitality. He was on nine-day fast and had maintained body language that was distinctly stiff, if not outright cool at official functions.

There were reasons for Modi to be cautious, as he had been denied a US visa for over a decade on the allegations of his government’s (while he was Gujarat chief minister) complicity in anti-Muslim riots in the state.

Over the course of his nearly 18-month-long regime as prime minister, Modi has developed a personal chemistry with US President Barrack Obama and close connections with those who have been driving the world economy from the US. During his ongoing visit, Modi has seemed to be quite at ease whether in the corporate high-fliers, tech mandarins or media moguls. At the Facebook Town Hall, Modi chose to speak in Hindi to converse with the diverse audience, and was at his best talking about the relevance of social media when Mark Zuckerberg asked him a question about his mother.

Modi’s emotional outbursts always follow a pattern and come from the position of strength. And more often than not, after walking away with a victory — whether electoral, diplomatic, political or moral — this sees him walk away with his audience too.

Take for instance the days after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when he broke down upon being described by BJP patriarch LK Advani as a leader who had done the BJP a “favour” by accepting its leadership in a meeting of BJP MPs in Parliament. Having gained the status of undisputed leader of the party, Modi broke down and emotionally contradicted Advani by describing the party as his “mother”.

Modi was conscious of the fact that he was consistently resisted by Advani before the elections, but his tears — while in no way stage-managed — came from his newly-acquired position of strength and he was able to effectively marginalised Advani at the function and win over the audience, without once having to resort to insults or brickbats against the party veteran.

Similarly, after his victory in 2007 Gujarat Assembly election, Modi publicly cried among his party workers at the BJP’s state party headquarters in Ahmedabad. Having won the election after a bitter contest in which he faced stiff opposition from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Modi reacted emotionally to the charge that he had become larger than the party.

In another instance, in 2003, when Modi (who had won the 2002 Gujarat Assembly election) attended an RSS conference, the general impression was that he would be pulled down or admonished. However, when he was asked about the Godhra riots that took place the previous year, Modi looked out into the audience and wept. The moved audience comprising RSS and VHP members also shed tears and praised the compassionate chief minister after the conference.

There is little doubt that the prime minister has his moments of vulnerability. But weakness? Certainly not, these moments come from a position of strength.

PM Modi wraps up US visit: Climate change, UNSC, terrorism dominate 'Power Monday'

2015-09-29T09:04:00.003+05:30

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday participated in a Leaders Summit on UN Peacekeeping, after his summit meeting with US President Barack Obama.

"Partners in Peacekeeping. PM @narendramodi participates in Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping convened by @BarackObama," tweeted external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Earlier, Modi held a bilateral meeting with Obama, which was preceded by bilateral meetings with French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Modi said in his statement after meeting Obama: "President and I share an uncompromising commitment on climate change without affecting our ability to meet the development aspirations of humanity."

During the three meetings, Modi mentioned India's ambitious efforts on the climate change front like plans for adding 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022 and innovative programmes like solar panels over canals that would reduce evaporation while generating power and also obviate the need for acquiring land for the projects.

In meetings with both Cameron and Obama, joint efforts on cyber security came up for discussion.

New Delhi and Washington conduct a cyber security dialogue. Modi discussed cooperation on intelligence and cyber security with Cameron.

Asked at the briefing if Pakistan came up in the context of dealing with terrorism, Swarup said there were references to that country and it was recognised that all countries had to fight terrorism.

Answering a question if the Kashmir issue, which Pakistan has been raking up at the UN and in bilateral meetings, figured in the meetings that Modi had with the three leaders, Swarup said there was a broad acknowledgment that it was a bilateral issue and the three leaders would be happy to see India and Pakistan deal with it themselves.

Modi invited both France and Britain to "Make in India" by encouraging businesses to manufacture in India.

The stalled negotiations on European Union-India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement was mentioned by Modi in his meeting with Hollande.

Success of peacekeeping ops depends on UN's moral force
Pressing for UNSC reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi regretted that nations contributing to peacekeeping operations have no say in decision-making as he asserted that success of such mission depends ultimately on the "moral force" of the world body.

Addressing the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping hosted by US President Barack Obama here, he said India remains committed to the peacekeeping efforts and announced contribution of one additional battalion of Indian troops comprising 850 soldiers, three police units and higher representation of women peacekeepers to such missions.

"Success of peacekeeping ultimately depends not on the weapons they (soldiers) carry but by the moral force of the UNSC," he told the gathering including Obama, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and leaders from a large number of other countries.

"The problems arise to a large extent because troop contributing countries do not have a role in decision-making process," he added.

India is one of the largest contributors to the peacekeeping having provided 180000 soldiers to 48 of the 69 such missions.

Modi underlined the need for carrying out the "long pending task of reforms" of the UN Security Council to ensure its "relevance and effectiveness".

Modi welcomed holding of the peacekeeping summit at a time when the UN is in the 70th year of its existence. He said the security environment was changing with peacekeepers facing a range of complex challenges as demands are growing and resources are decreasing.

"Mandates are ambitious but resources are limited... Today's peacekeepers are called upon not only to maintain peace and security, but also address a range of challenges," the Prime Minister said.

Asserting that India's commitment to peacekeeping remains strong and will grow, he noted that the country had been contributing to such missions from the beginning and was the first to send its female unit to Liberia.

161 of Indian soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice during peacekeeping missions, he said. Modi pointed out that Indian soldiers had been working on peacekeeping missions since World War II during which it lost more than 24000 troops and nearly half of that went missing.

"This legacy of sacrifice is shared by three nations present here," he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan and Bangladesh. He said that a memorial wall for the fallen peacekeepers should be erected expeditiously, for which India will contribute financially also.

India and Pakistan seem to be at war; this time in cyberspace!

2015-09-29T08:55:00.003+05:30

#Cyber-war

India and Pakistan have long been known to be at war with each other. Either at the borders, or a game of cricket. And today, the war has gone digital.

How did the cyber-war begin?
Late Saturday night, the official website of the Kerala Government: kerala.gov.in, was hacked by a person identifying himself as Faisal Afzal aka ‘Faisal 1337′ for reasons unknown.
The text on the homepage at that moment was reportedly, “Official website of the RC Office,Govt of Kerala- New Delhi Hacked! Pakistan Zindabad.” Also mentioned below was, “We Are Team Pak Cyber Attacker. Security is just an illusion.” In an attempt to spread the word faster about his ‘so-called achievements’, the hacker also mentioned about his attack on his Facebook page.

Without a doubt, the news spread like wild fire all over social media. It was no longer about a government website or an Indian website being hacked. It had now blown into being an attack on India – by a Pakistani hacker!

How did India react
Within a few hours of the attack, an Indian hacking group returned the favour. Going by the name, “The Mallu Cyber Soldiers” the group claimed responsibility of the retaliation. It announced that over 100 Pakistani websites were hacked, as payback to the Pakistani hack of the Kerala Government’s website.

They also posted a message on their Facebook page, “!!Message to Script Kiddies of Pakistan ….Do not touch Indian Websites !!! Now your 46 Pakistan government websites got crashed and 4 educational websites got defaced. This is a small payback for hacking kerala.gov.in. Faisal 1337 go home kiddo, you are F*ucked.”

The group went on to share the list of the websites hacked, at that time as well. Few included Pakistan’s government website Pakistan.gov.pk, president.gov.pk and cabinet.gov.pk. But the ‘cyber-war’ did not stop there. In the same Pastebin message, the group ‘Hell Shield Hackers’ stated that the motive behind this attack was to retaliate against the attack on the Kerala government website.

“Indian Hackers haven’t hacked a single Pakistani site after 15th August 2015. But Faisal Afzal hacked kerala.gov.in .. Dude? We are not sleeping. If you even touch a Indian site, we will crush you up.. :3. Now feel the heat pakistan.gov.pk hacked,” the group said.

Reaction by the others
The Government from both nations have nothing to do with it. According to reports, the unofficial ‘cyber war’ between the two countries had actually began in 2010, and is waged by patriotic hackers on both sides, every day.

According to a report by The Times of India, State IT mission director K Mohammed Y Safirulla said the government was worried over a possible backlash following the afternoon’s developments. “I met the principal secretary and discussed the issue. Officials concerned have been asked to stay vigilant,” he said. The framework of many government websites were not updated for the past five years. “Hence, an immediate overall upgradation is not possible,” he said.

Cyber security expert Benild Joseph said, “Cracking of the Kerala Government website exposes the vulnerability of our official websites. It was just defacement and the officials concerned claim that the server is safe. Yet, the incident calls for a better cyber security mechanism. Since no expert can ensure full security, constant vigil and awareness about the latest vulnerabilities are the key to ensuring security.”

But how do you see this war as?
Indian hackers see this retaliation as a sign of ‘winning’ or ‘sweet revenge’. However, we wonder when this digital war would come to an end.
Hackers don’t target individuals or small groups of users, but rather prefer large organisations, governments or communities that store personal information of thousands or millions of users. On the one side, while the Modi government talks about digitising India, incidents such as these highlight the importance for improved cyber security.

Wash the blood off your hands: Activists send Zuckerberg hand sanitiser after meeting with PM Modi

2015-09-29T08:54:00.000+05:30

It seems like no matter how many foreign trips PM Narendra Modi undertakes, no matter how many speeches he makes, no matter how many CEOs he meets, the shadow of the Gujarat riots will always follow him.

On Sunday, PM Modi, who is on a trip across the United States, met up with the co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.

.

A 'townhall' was organized at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California which concluded with a standing ovation for the Prime Minister as he took questions about everything from social media, women's issues to his mother.

But soon after the meeting, a group of activists called the Alliance for Justice and Accountability, started a campaign called 'Zuck, Wash Your Hands!'. The campaign calls for people to send hundreds of bottles of hand sanitiser to Zuckerberg to help him 'wash the blood off his hands' – reference to Modi's failure to curb the religious riots that left nearly 1,000 people dead in Gujarat in 2002 when he was the chief minister.

"The American public – and in particular, the leaders of Silicon Valley – must remember that Modi is not simply a prime minister making a trade visit, he is a man responsible for genocide," said a spokesperson for the collective.

The website for the campaign reports that 250 packages of hand sanitisers has been sent to Zuckerberg so far, each containing the name of a victim of the Gujarat genocide.

When it comes to Modi vs Sharif, we have our backs to the wall: Pakistan daily

2015-09-29T08:53:00.000+05:30

Islamabad: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an astute politician with the ability to outsmart rivals and he is aiming for the "political and military dominance of India", said a Pakistani daily that noted he was “received like a star” in the US.

An editorial in The Nation on Monday said that everyone loves a good old showdown between politicians - but in the case of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif versus his Indian counterpart Modi, "we have our backs to the wall".

"While Modi is received like a star is attending events and parties, PM Sharif only has the UN platform to make an impact. The odds are stacked against Pakistan," said the daily.

Both Nawaz and Modi are in New York for the Sustainable Development Summit hosted by UN SecretWhen it comes to Modi vs Sharif, we have our backs to the wall: Pakistan dailyary General Ban Ki-moon, where the new and ambitious post-2015 development agenda will be adopted.

"However, both parties have made it clear that there will be no bilateral meeting between them."

The daily said that Modi will not only speak to Silicon Valley’s biggest executives during his two-day visit to the US tech hub, but will also take questions from some of Facebook Inc’s 1.5 billion users at a Town Hall.

He is the first Indian leader to visit the US West Coast in more than 30 years. He also attended a dinner with 350 business leaders where Indian-born CEOs of Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Adobe Systems Inc moderated a panel.
He has also sought to encourage some Indians who have thrived around Silicon Valley to bring their knowledge back home.

"What is Nawaz Sharif doing?," the daily asked.
"Modi has been focused on connecting with the Indian diaspora in the US, while Nawaz Sharif was considering speaking to the US President in Urdu, to give our national ego a boost. It almost sounds like a joke. Increasingly, Pakistan has nothing to offer to the west, including personality and charisma," it added.
The editorial stressed that Pakistan must watch Modi’s “gait and gestures”.
“Modi is an astute politician, who has the ability to outsmart rivals with an amazing sense of timing. We on the other hand, are stuck with archaic, redundant policies of following the same deadbeat formula of ‘successes’,” it said.

Calling for a drastic improvement of the Pakistani image in the west, the daily said: “The US is helping India get armed to the hilt and soon we will lose our only advantage- our military strength. And that is Modi’s aim - the political and military dominance of India. He has a plan? Do we?”

Life on Mars? Nasa finds signs of flowing water on the red planet

2015-09-29T08:52:00.001+05:30

Cape Carneval: Mars appears to have flowing rivulets of water, at least in the summer, scientists reported Monday in a finding that boosts the odds of life on the red planet.

"Mars is not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past," said Jim Green, director of planetary science for Nasa.

Scientists in 2008 confirmed the existence of frozen water on Mars. Now instruments aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have yielded what researchers said is the strongest evidence yet that water in liquid form trickles down certain Martian slopes.

This undated photo provided by Nasa shows dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks on the surface of Mars that scientists believe were caused by flowing streams of salty water. (Nasa via AP)

And because liquid water is essential to life, the finding could have major implications for the possibility of microscopic life forms on Earth's next-door neighbor.

"It suggests that it would be possible for there to be life today on Mars," Nasa's science mission chief, John Grunsfeld, said at a Washington news conference.
The rivulets — if that's what they are, since the evidence for their existence is indirect — are about 12 to 15 feet wide and 300 feet or more long, scientists said. They apparently consist of wet soil, not standing water.

The water is believed to contain certain salts — not ordinary table salt, but magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. Like road salt used to melt ice and snow on Earth, such compounds can prevent water from freezing at extremely low temperatures.

That would explain how water could exist in liquid form on Mars, which has an average temperature of minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit.

In addition to supporting life, the presence of liquid water could make things easier for astronauts visiting or living on Mars. Water could be used for drinking and for creating oxygen and rocket fuel. Nasa's goal is to send humans there in the 2030s.

Michael Meyer, lead scientist for Nasa's Mars exploration program, said the only definitive way for now to determine whether there's life on Mars is to collect rocks and soil for analysis on Earth, something a US lander set for liftoff in 2020 will do.

"Water is one of the most precious resources necessary for a human mission to the red planet," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House science, space and technology committee, said in a statement. "The more evidence we find of it, the more encouraged I am for future Mars missions."

Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona at Tucson, a scientist on the project, said he, for one, believes the possibility of life on Mars to be "very high."
The source of the briny water is a mystery. Scientists said it could be melting ice, an underground aquifer, water vapor from the thin Martian atmosphere, or some combination.

The evidence of flowing water consists largely of dark, narrow streaks on the surface that tend to appear and grow during the warmest Martian months and fade the rest of the year. The streaks are in places where the temperature is as low as 10 below zero.

They were spotted by the Mars orbiter's high-resolution, telescopic camera, and another on-board instrument detected the chemical signature of salt compounds combined with water.

McEwen said that there appears to be a "significant volume" of water, speculating it could fill many Olympic swimming pools, but that it is spread thin.
Present-day Mars is nothing like ancient Mars. Three billion years ago, our most Earthlike neighbor had a huge ocean, but something radical happened, and exactly what remains a mystery.

The notion of water and life on Mars has been irresistible to earthlings for generations.

In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli spied what he called "canali" on Mars — Italian for "channels" — but the word was mistranslated as "canals" in English, causing imaginations to run wild. In the early 1900s, amateur astronomer Percival Lowell claimed to have spotted irrigation canals and theorized they were built by Martians.

In 2008, Nasa's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars and confirmed the long-suspected presence of ice in the soil. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the planet since 2006.

The latest findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The lead author, Lujendra Ojha, a doctoral candidate at Georgia Institute of Technology, first noticed the streaks on Mars in 2010. Ojha and colleagues speculated at the time that they were seeing flowing water.

For Nasa, at least, the timing couldn't be better. This Friday, the Nasa-approved movie The Martian has its premiere.

Modi in New York: On Day 1, PM woos Fortune 500 CEOs with promise of reforms

2015-09-25T13:27:00.002+05:30

A look at what happened on the first day of prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to New York on Thursday provides a rather clear idea about what his top priority is – he means business.

On the Day 1, he met CEOs of 47 Fortune 500 companies, media companies and key financial sector players and made strong pitch for making investments in India, according to media report.

It is significant that Modi’s appeal to invest in India comes at a time when the global economy is passing through a difficult phase with a looming threat of a crippling economic slowdown in China.

Here’s an explainer on whom he met and what he said on his first day in New York:

Whom did Modi meet?

Many top honchos of US business. Among the chief executives of the financial world were Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, Charles Kaye of Warburg Pincus, Henry Kravis of KKR, Bill Ford of General Atlantic, Peter Hancock of AIG Insurance, Chase Coleman of Tiger Global and Vicki Fuller of NY State Common Retirement Fund.

The prime minister later met US-India Business Council chair Ajay Banga, industrialist and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Lockheed Martin chief Marillyn A. Hewson and Aecom chief executive Mike Burke.

At the meeting with the theme "Media, Technology and Communications - Growth Story for India", top bosses of companies like News Corp, 21st Century Fox, Sony, Discovery, Time Warner, A&E and VICE Media met Modi. They represented 40 percent of global industry in this space, said an IANS report.

What did Modi say in these meetings?

For the Prime Minister, it was all about attracting capital and investment. At the meeting with 47 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, Modi assured continuity in economic reforms while pitching for more foreign investments into India. He said prompt decision-making was a priority for the government.

"Foreign direct investment all over the world has fallen. But in India, it increased by 40 percent. This reflects confidence in the Indian economy…. Reform in governance is my Number One priority. We are for simplified procedures, speedy decision-making, transparency and accountability," he has been quoted as saying.

In his meeting with media CEOs, Modi discussed the contentious issue of intellectual property rights. This is one area where the US and India have not been on the same page.

"We are committed to protecting IPR (intellectual property rights), that's essential to fostering creativity…. This is a technology driven era. We are a technology driven society," Modi reportedly told the CEOs.

In his meeting with top financial sector CEOs, Madi made he the biggest pitch yet to woo US investments. He assured them their concerns will be resolved and bottlenecks removed. He outlined efforts made during the last 15 months to increase investment in key areas like infrastructure.

According to the MEA spokesperson, the Prime Minister said: "...Any bottlenecks which should not be there, will not be there."

He also rolled out statistics about the GDP growth (7.3% last year; and one that's sparked debate back home) and also cited the World Bank and IMF’s expectations about the Indian economy. Terming startups a "personal sector" on the lines of private and public sectors, the Prime Minister outlined his vision for "Start-Up India, Stand-Up India" at the meeting.

All in all, as Kalpana Morparia, the India CEO of JP Morgan, said: "It was not a political discussion, it was about investing in India."

What the CEOs said? Will investments flow?

CEOs did share their concerns as well as experiences of doing business in India, says the PTI report. And Swarup is confident that investments will flow.

When asked if the government had given any assurances on investments, Swarup said: "Yes, all of them."

"They talked about their figures. Somebody has a $5 billion investment, somebody has a $10 billion. They all, as I said, were very bullish on India especially on insurance sector where cap (on foreign equity) has now gone up to 49 percent….So, they were all, as I said, fairly bullish on future prospects in India," he was quoted as saying in an IANS report.

Even Morparia of JP Morgan, said she was "absolutely" certain about investments flowing into India.

“The difference that we see is that Mr. Modi not merely understands the issues, but responds when they are raised and promises action. That is reassuring,” a report in The Hindu quoted a senior executive part of the meetings as saying.

Porsche's Mueller takes reins at Volkswagen: Here's how largest emissions scandal unfolded

2015-09-25T13:24:00.001+05:30

Days after admitting that the world's top-selling carmaker had rigged diesel emissions to pass US tests during his tenure, longtime CEO of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn stepped down on Wednesday.
Winterkorn, VW's boss since 2007, had come under intense pressure since the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) disclosure Friday that stealth software makes VW's 2009-2015 model cars run cleaner during emissions tests than in actual driving.

Here's a breakdown of the emissions scandal that wiped out nearly €25 billion (around $28 billion) in the first two days of trading after the revelations:
18 September: EPA says VW intentionally violates clean air standards, faces fines of up $18 billion
The US EPA said that Volkswagen intentionally skirted clean air laws by using a piece of software that enabled about 500,000 of its diesel cars to emit fewer smog-causing pollutants during testing than in real-world driving conditions.
All the vehicles contain a device programmed to detect emission levels when they are undergoing official testing, the EPA said. The device works only when the testing is going on and not otherwise. The controls are turned off during normal driving situations, the EPA said, allowing the cars to emit more than the legal limit of pollutants.
The EPA called the company's use of the so-called "defeat device" illegal and a threat to public health. The cars, all built in the last seven years, include the VW Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat models, as well as the Audi A3.
The EPA said VW faces fines of up to $37,500 per vehicle for the violations — a total of more than $18 billion.
20 September: VW chief "sorry" after EPA says firm skirted clean air law
The CEO of Volkswagen apologized after VW customers said they felt duped after the EPA revelation.
"I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public," Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn said in a statement. He said VW has ordered an investigation and promised that the company would cooperate with regulators.
"Let's be clear about this. Our company was dishonest. With the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board, and with all of you. And in my German words, we have totally screwed up," the head of Volkswagen's US division, Michael Horn, said while unveiling a new Passat model in New York.
The influential magazine Consumer Reports suspended its "recommended" rating from the Jetta and Passat diesels until it could get a recall repair and re-test the cars.
21 September: Volkswagen share price slump, prosecutors come calling
Around €15 billion ($16.9 billion) was wiped off the market value of Volkswagen following EPA revelations. Volkswagen's share price was down a stunning 19.4 percent at near three-year low of €130.20.
The Obama administration announced it is expanding its investigation of what it's calling "defeat devices" in diesel vehicles, to make sure other manufacturers aren't using similar schemes to thwart federal Clean Air laws.
In Germany, the transport minister said VW models will be examined for any similar manipulation. South Korea also said it will investigate emission levels of Volkswagen diesel vehicles.
22 September: Millions of cars fitted with suspect software worldwide, NY AG opens investigation
Volkswagen said some 11 million cars worldwide were fitted with suspect software and set aside €6.5 billion ($7.3 billion) to deal with costs of emissions scandal.
New York Attorney General Eric T Schneiderman said he has opened an investigation into the Volkswagen cars and he will collaborate with other states to enforce consumer and environmental protections in the case.
23 September: Volkswagen CEO steps down, takes responsibility for scandal
Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned on 23 September, days after admitting. No replacement was announced.
Winterkorn took responsibility for the "irregularities" found by US inspectors in VW's diesel engines but insisted he had personally done nothing wrong.
"I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part," his statement said. "Volkswagen needs a fresh start ... I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation."
Acting chairman, Berthold Huber, said company directors are "resolved to embark with determination on a credible new beginning." He also added that a successor will be discussed at a board meeting on 25 September that was originally intended to approve extending Winterkorn's contract through 2018.
24 September: VW cars with suspect software in Europe too, further resignations expected
The software at the center of Volkswagen's emissions scandal in the US was built into the automaker's cars in Europe as well, though it isn't yet clear if it helped cheat tests as it did in the US, Germany said.
A member of Volkswagen's supervisory board also said that he expects further resignations at the automaker in the wake of the scandal.
Porsche chief Mueller takes over, S&P threatens to downgrade credit rating
The head of German luxury sports car maker Porsche, Matthias Mueller, has been picked to succeed Martin Winterkorn as the chief executive of scandal-battered auto giant Volkswagen, the business daily Handelsblatt reported.
In an article to be published in its Friday edition, the newspaper said 62-year-old Mueller has been chosen to take the driving seat vacated by Winterkorn.
Standard & Poor's threatened to downgrade Volkswagen's credit rating over the scandal. A day after fellow rating agency Fitch had placed VW's credit on "rating watch negative," S&P said it had similarly put Volkswagen's long-and-short-term corporate credit ratings on "Credit Watch with negative implications."

FIR registered against Farhan Akhtar, Ranbir Kapoor

2015-09-22T12:35:00.003+05:30

Ranbir Kapoor

An FIR has been registered against Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar and actor Ranbir Kapoor for criminal breach of trust and forgery for promoting an online shopping site which is allegedly "duping" customers. The FIR has been registered by a lawyer Rajat Bansal, a resident of Keshav Nagar area in Madiyaon police station (Lucknow), against Farhan and Ranbir under IPC sections 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (forgery) on September 19, police said.

Besides, FIR under the same sections has been lodged against directors of online portal askmebazaar.com - Sanjiv Gupta, Anand Sonbhadra, Piyush Pankaj, Kiran Kumar Sriniwas Murti and marketing officer Puja Goyal.

Bansal in his FIR alleged that he had ordered a 40-inch LED TV from the site on August 23 and had paid Rs 29,999 for the same through his debit card, but he did not get the product within 10 days, as promised.

He alleged that due to promotion of the site by Farhan and Ranbir, people fall in trap of the site, which also sent him the bill but not the product.

Police is probing the matter. The officials of the portal could not be contacted.

Konkona Sensharma: My mother is shy around my son

2015-09-22T12:28:00.003+05:30

A day before this meeting with Konkona Sensharma happened, her husband Ranvir Shorey and she took to Twitter to announce their separation. Both of them also conveyed their decision to co-parent their young son Haroon.

Konkona is clear she will not answer any questions pertaining to the above because she has never spoken about her personal life. However, the National Award-winning actress is happy to discuss Talvar, which releases on October 2 and has been receiving praise from many quarters. Here's how our conversation went...

What attracted you to Talvar?

I did Talvar because I liked the script and my role. It is a mainstream film but slightly different because investigative thrillers have not been Bollywood's forte. What attracted me to it was that it had a certain ambiguity. I found that very interesting. There is a fine line between guilt and innocence. I also loved the treatment of this film. It highlights three aspects of the investigation. I have not done anything like this before. Talvar is nice because it is not like we are trying to solve the case through the film. We are just highlighting the investigation. For me, the three different scenarios and my own part in those three scenarios was interesting. To me as a performer, this whole 'did she do it, did she not' thing was truly interesting. I was also drawn to the project because of the fantastic people involved with it. There is Irrfan of course, Neeraj Kabi, Vishal Bhardwaj and his team and Meghna Gulzar.

Did you follow the Aarushi Talwar murder case in 2008?

It was such a high-profile case that one couldn't avoid it. The facts kind of filtered down to you, but it wasn't as if I made any special effort to follow the case at length.

One sees less of you, especially in Bollywood. Is this deliberate?

I had three Bengali releases this year. I have travelled to a couple of festivals with those films. I have a small child and I have written my own script. It keeps me fairly occupied. Nowadays I do less work in Hindi than before because I have a kid. Besides, I have to get interesting work to do it.

I've cut down on work due to various factors. I do not mind extending myself to a certain amount if I really have something substantial to do. However, if it is something silly then I do not have so much of an incentive. I like to keep busy because it gives me a lot of balance and perspective. At the same time, I also enjoy spending time with my son. It is a great example for Haroon to see me as a strong, working mother. If I can be that for him, it is great.

Just before she returned to the studios for round two, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had said that when she leaves home for shooting, she tells her daughter Aaradhya, 'Mummy has to go to office' because shooting is hard for a child to comprehend. Do you also tell Haroon something like that?

In Haroon's case, this didn't happen because he has been coming for shootings since he was a child. He understands that shooting is work. And he knows that when shooting is on, mummy cannot be disturbed.

Frankly, I like having him around even when I am at work. If I am in Mumbai, he hangs around in my vanity van. Of late, I have done a lot of work in Bengal. When this happens, I take him with me to Kolkata. Sometimes I leave him with my mother (Aparna Sen) who lives there.

Does your mother spoil her grandson?

She tries but she is also kind of shy when she is around him. She goes, 'Oh no, I don't think he likes me.' Incidentally, I have just finished a short film with mum called Saari Raat. It has travelled to festivals abroad, but I do not know when it is releasing.

You have done interesting work with your mother and now with Meghna Gulzar. Any observations on women directors?

As far as women directors in India go, I think we should have more of them. We do not have enough. Beyond that, I cannot say anything on this subject based on gender. Women directors can have every negative quality that we associate with men in terms of them being not so sensitive, etc. There are so many men who are more sensitive than women. Frankly, it is hard to differentiate like that.

One hears you will veer towards direction yourself?

Yes, I hope to direct. I have written a script. But it is a long and arduous task to raise funds for a non-mainstream film.

When the promos of Talvar were out, you got a lot of support from your friends in Bollywood. Does Mumbai feel like home now?

I am happy that people reacted to the Talvar promos so positively. It felt good. As far as living in Mumbai goes, I have lived in this city for slightly over a decade now. I am beyond settled here.

Pune firm set to roll out cure for dengue

2015-09-22T11:36:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: Asia's largest vaccine maker, Pune-based Serum Institute will develop a biologic drug to treat all four strains of the dengue virus, and is in the process of applying to the Ministry of Science and Technology for a "fast-track approval" to roll-out the treatment in the country. The biologic treatment (monoclonal anti-body) once rolled out will be given as an injection to cure dengue, and cost between Rs 5,000-10,000 for a single dose. Only one dose will be required.

Serum, which has tied up with US-based biotechnology company Visterra to use its technology to develop the monoclonal antibody, hopes to commercialize the treatment within 12-18 months of getting the regulatory approvals, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla told TOI.

While Serum's biologic drug could become one of the first treatments to roll out, other biggies like Sanofi and Novartis are also in the race to launch a vaccine may happen over the next few years.

"We hope that the government will give a fast-track approval to our application as dengue has assumed alarming proportions, and could become a public health crisis", Poonawalla told TOI, adding, it would then initiate clinical trials to prove its safety and efficacy on a few 100 to 1000 subjects.

If the trials are successful, Serum could perhaps become the first company to offer a cure for the dreaded infection which has shown the worst outbreak, with several deaths, and cases doubling this year.

Under the terms of the agreement, Serum Institute has an exclusive license to commercialize the treatment for the Indian subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. It has paid Visterra a $5 million upfront payment, and up to $34 million based on the achievement of certain development and commercial milestones.

Serum Institute will fund and be responsible for the clinical development of VIS513 in the licensed territories, including the filing of regulatory applications. The companies will establish a joint steering committee to coordinate the development for the Indian subcontinent.

The Pune-based company is also working on a dengue vaccine, like the other global biggies to be given as a preventive. The development of a vaccine will take three to four years, as it has to be tested on a wide-range and number of subjects, he added.

Amongst the vaccines, Sanofi has emerged as a front-runner, having completed Phase II trials, a company official said.

About half the world's population is at risk of contracting the virus, with no specific treatment for dengue/ severe dengue, but early detection and access to proper medical care lowers fatality rates below 1%, according to the World Health Organization.

The market for the vaccine could be huge, and reach $400 million in 2020, according to GlobalData estimates, while others say it could more than triple, and bring in $1.4 billion a year at its peak.

Visterra's humanized monoclonal antibody, VIS513 has reportedly worked to neutralize all four serotypes of dengue virus, with the "animal model" studies showing promising results, he added. The US company is already running its own trials in Singapore, Serum will need to do clinical studies here on Indian subjects by importing the clone.

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti faces arrest after Delhi High Court rejects bail plea

2015-09-22T11:35:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has rejected the bail application of AAP MLA Somnath Bharti in the domestic violence case filed against him by his wife Lipika.

The former Delhi law minister had moved High Court after a city court had cancelled his bail plea earlier and issued an arrest warrant against him.

Bharti's wife Lipika had filed a complaint of domestic violence with the Delhi Commission for Women on June 10 alleging that her husband had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010. She had also given a complaint to police in this regard. Meanwhile, Bharti's counsel have decided to move Supreme Court for seeking bail.

Bharti's wife Lipika had filed a complaint of domestic violence with the Delhi Commission for Women on June 10 alleging that her husband had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010. She had also given a complaint to police in this regard. Meanwhile, Bharti's counsel have decided to move Supreme Court for seeking bail.

Modi, Sharif to stay in same hotel in New York during UNGA

2015-09-22T11:34:00.002+05:30

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif will stay at the same hotel here, as speculation grows on whether the two leaders will meet when they arrive in the city for the landmark 70th UN General Assembly session this week.

Modi, who arrives on Wednesday evening, will stay at the iconic Waldorf Astoria Hotel, as will Sharif when he reaches New York on the evening of September 25, sources said.

While there has been no official announcement about any possible bilateral meeting, it is interesting to note that Modi and Sharif will be staying at the same hotel.

It remains to be seen whether the two leaders will come face-to-face by chance during their stay in the hotel.

Modi will address the Sustainable Development Summit hosted by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon on September 25, when the new and ambitious post-2015 development agenda will be adopted. Sharif is scheduled to address the high-level meeting on September 27.

Modi will be in California on September 26 and 27 and will return to New York on September 28, when apart from meeting US President Barack Obama, he will attend the high-level peacekeeping summit at the United Nations headquarters.

Since Sharif will also be attending the summit, the multilateral gathering will provide a forum for the leaders of India and Pakistan to come face-to-face.

The peacekeeping summit will be addressed by the UN secretary-general and Obama.

India is the single largest contributor to UN peacekeeping and so far 180,000 Indian troops have participated in 44 of the 69 operations mandated by the Security Council. Pakistan is also among the troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions.

Modi will depart for India late September 28 or the early morning of September 29 but Sharif will remain in the city.

He will address the annual debate of the General Assembly on September 30, a day before external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj addresses the gathering of world leaders on October 1.

The Waldorf Astoria has traditionally been the hotel of choice for US Presidents when they visit the city for the annual UN General Assembly sessions.

However, last year a Chinese company purchased the hotel, triggering concerns of potential cyber intrusions by Chinese hackers if Obama stayed there.

The President and his staff will be staying instead at the New York Palace Hotel this time.

The New York Palace has traditionally been the hotel where Indian heads of government stayed when they came for the UNGA. Last year Modi and before him Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stayed at the New York Palace.

Government exempts WhatsApp, social media from purview of encryption policy

2015-09-22T10:19:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: Shortly after a controversy erupted over government's proposal to investigate on every message that an individual will send via WhatsApp, SMS, or Google Hangouts, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology clarified in a draft that social media websites and applications will be exempted from the purview of the Encryption Policy.

According to the draft posted by Deity, there are certain categories of encryption products that will be exempted from the purview of the draft national encryption policy.

The mass-use encryption products, which are currently being used in web applications, social media sites, and social media applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc are being exempted from the purview of the draft National Encryption Policy, said a proposed addendum to the policy posted on the department's website.

Encryption products used in Internet banking and payment gateways, and those used for e-commerce and password-based transactions will also be exempted.

Deity had earlier stated that all messages sent through encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp (Android version supports encryption), Google Hangouts or Apple's iMessage, must be stored for 90 days.

The move triggered widespread privacy concerns and generated heated debate.

The draft of New Encryption Policy proposes that users of encrypted messaging service on demand should reproduce same text, transacted during a communication, in plain format before law enforcement agencies and failing to do so may lead to imprisonment of the user as per the provisions.

The proposed policy, issued by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, would apply on everyone including government departments, academic institutions, citizens and for all kind of communications -- be it official or personal.

Generally, all the modern messaging services like WhatsApp, Viber, Line, Google Chat, yahoo messenger etc, come with high level of encryption and many a time security agencies find it hard to intercept these messages.

"All information shall be stored by the concerned B/C entity for 90 days from the date of transaction and made available to Law Enforcement Agencies as and when demanded in line with the provisions of the laws of the country," the draft said.

The draft has defined 'B category' as all statutory organizations, executive bodies, business and commercial establishments, including all Public Sector Undertakings, Academic institutions.

The 'C category' as per the draft are all citizens including personnel of government and business performing non-official or personal functions.

In case of the user has communicated with foreigner or entity abroad then the primary responsibility of providing readable plain text along with the corresponding encrypted information would be that of the user in the country.

Besides this all service providers located within and outside India that use encryption technology for providing any type of services in India must register themselves with the government, as per the draft. .

The draft proposes to introduce the New Encryption Policy under section 84 A of Information Technology Act 2000. This section was introduced through amendment in 2008.

The sub-section 84 C that was also introduced through the amendment has provision of imprisonment for violation of the act.

"Encryption products may be exported but with prior intimation to the designated agency of Government of India. Users in India are allowed to use only the products registered in India. Government reserves the right to take appropriate action as per Law of the country for any violation of this Policy," the draft said.

The last date for public to comment on the draft is October 16, 2015.

"Having a draft on issue is a welcome step. It looks at everything with prism of law enforcemnnt. It will create a license raj. There is very much concern around privacy of citizen. The policy wants messages to be given on demand. If my private information is sought by government, it should be done through courts," Arun Sukumar,Head, Cyber Initiative, said.

Indian IT companies among world's worst paymasters

2015-09-22T10:15:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: Indian IT companies are among the 10 worst paymasters in the world, says a survey -- a mid-level IT manager draws an average salary of $41,213 while his Swiss counterpart gets over four times more.

According to recruitment platform MyHiringClub.com's Worldwide IT Salary 2015 survey, India was ranked 7th on the list of lowest paymasters for information technology (IT) managers, down by one position from last year's.

While Indian IT managers drew an average salary of $41,213, Bulgaria topped the list with a meagre $25,680, followed by Vietnam and Thailand averaging at $30,938 and $34,423, respectively.

"The impact of outsourcing and off-shoring on IT roles in North America and Western Europe helps explain the pattern of global pay," MyHiringClub.com & FlikJobs.com CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

The list includes Indonesia at the fourth spot with average wages of $34,780, followed by the Philippines ($37,534), India ($41,213), China ($42,689), Czech Republic ($43,219), and Argentina ($51,380).

"Lower-level roles are being moved to regions where talent is cheaper. The jobs that remain in Western Europe and the United States may be fewer in number, but are more demanding and complex. However, there is an increasing evidence of India's growing stature and presence in the high-end value chain, where cost advantages may not be the only drivers of future growth," Kumar added.

At the other end of the spectrum, when it comes to countries that pay out the best IT salaries, Switzerland again topped the list with an average annual remuneration of $1,71,465. The same job if taken in Belgium, second on the list, would fetch $1,52,430, the survey said.

Denmark came in at third on the best-paying list, with salary in the IT sector averaging at $1,38,920. The US and the UK were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with average packages of $1,32,877 and $1,29,324, respectively.

"India remains one of the most favourite outsourcing destinations due to this low-cost factor, but the future might bring with itself a completely different scenario," the survey predicted.

Bengaluru first Indian city to get Uber car-pool service

2015-09-22T10:14:00.003+05:30

BENGALURU: Taxi-hailing app Uber will be rolling out UberPool in Bengaluru in the coming weeks, making it the first city in India chosen for its car-pooling pilot. With UberPool, riders can share a ride and split the cost with another person who happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route. Uber will notify users with the co-riders' first name. Riders can save up to 50% while adding only a few minutes of time per trip.

UberPool will launch soon in beta in select cities in India, starting with Bangalore, to gain insights from commuter adoption and usage. The service is currently present in San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Austin and Paris and assists commuters to get around their cities, reducing the number of cars on the road, congestion in cities and parking challenge.

Following the recent car-pooling initiative by the Bangalore Traffic Police to increase the utilization of cars on the road, Uber's carpooling service will make an attempt to make fewer cars on roads a reality. Bhavik Rathod, GM Bangalore, Uber said, "India is a top global priority for Uber along with China and UberPool. Today, we're thrilled to announce that we'll be bringing UberPool to India very soon."

"With UberPool we'll aim to achieve this vision, one we share with policy makers, to make Bangalore a city of the future -- one that looks a whole lot greener, cleaner, and more efficient thanks to fewer cars and more shared rides," he said.

In San Francisco, for instance, UberPool continues to be one of the most affordable and popular ways for riders to get around the city. Uber said that riders taking UberPool in San Francisco have also saved nearly 200,000 gallons of gas.

Uber that was launched in India less than two years ago, is available in 22 Indian cities -- more than in any other country outside the US. It has 1.65 lakh drivers on its platform.

Deleting WhatsApp, Google Hangouts messages could become illegal in India

2015-09-22T10:09:00.001+05:30

As per the draft, "all citizens including personnel of Government / Business (G/B) performing non-official / personal functions, are required to store the plaintexts of the corresponding encrypted information for 90 days from the date of transaction and provide the verifiable Plain Text to Law and Enforcement Agencies as and when required as per the provision of the laws of the country."

The draft also proposes similar guidelines for B2B or enterprise users where data exchange is even more critical and for B2C communication. "On demand, the user shall be able to reproduce the same Plain text and encrypted text pairs using the software / hardware used to produce the encrypted text from the given plain text. Such plain text information shall be stored by the user/organisation/agency for 90 days from the date of transaction and made available to Law Enforcement Agencies as and when demanded in line with the provisions of the laws of the country," it adds. This implies that e-commerce websites will have to keep a plain-text copy of user details leaving their information vulnerable to hackers.

The policy also mentions that Service Providers located within and outside India, using encryption technology for providing any type of services in India must enter into an agreement with the government for providing such services in India. The government will designate an appropriate agency for entering into such an agreement with the service provider located within and outside India. This means WhatsApp, Apple and Google will have to sign agreements with the Indian government to provide services in the country as they use encryption technology. This will make the process more bureaucratic and create roadblocks for app providers. In its current form the policy could have a detrimental effect on the privacy of citizens and expose sensitive data to potential abuse.

"All vendors of encryption products shall register their products with the designated agency of the government. While seeking registration, the vendors shall submit working copies of the encryption software / hardware to the Government along with professional quality documentation, test suites and execution platform environments. The vendors shall work with the designated Government Agencies in security evaluation of their encryption products," the draft adds.

However, mass use products like SSL/TLS that are used for financial transactions are exempted from registration. Users in India are allowed to use only the products registered in India though. So using a service not registered with the government will be illegal. "Government reserves the right to take appropriate action as per Law of the country for any violation of this Policy," the draft categorically states.

The document has been drafted by an expert group set up under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) which comes under the union ministry of communications and information technology. All citizens can send their comments on the draft policy to akrishnan@deity.gov.in by October 16 and give suggestions.NEW DELHI: You may soon need to keep a copy of all messages sent through encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp (Android version supports encryption), Google Hangouts or Apple's iMessage, for 90 days, if the proposed National Encryption Policy is implemented in its current form. Online businesses too would need to keep your sensitive information including passwords in plain text for the same period of time, thus exposing your information to potential hacking attacks.

The government has published a draft of the policy document online to seek feedback from citizens and organisations. It details methods of encryption of data and communication used by the government, businesses and citizens.

Here are some implications for citizens and companies if the policy is implemented in its current form ...

According to the draft, citizens may use encryption technology for storage and communication. However, encryption algorithms and key sizes will be prescribed by the government through Notification from time to time. This means that the government will determine the encryption standards for all and entities like Google and WhatsApp will have to follow the encryption standards prescribed by the Indian government.

What's bizarre is that the draft lists specific guidelines for all citizens who use encryption services including instructions that individuals should store in plain text versions of communication for 90 days. So this may imply that you'll have to store your WhatsApp messages for 90 days or face action in case asked to reproduce.

What's appalling is that the government expects all citizens to be aware of encrypted communication and the way to store messages in plain text securely. A large number of users may in fact not even know that WhatsApp and iMessage use encryption.

Google to unveil new Nexus phones on September 29

2015-09-19T15:09:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: Google sent out invitations to the press on Friday night for a September 29 event. The company will likely introduce new Android smartphones and an updated version of the Chromecast.

The invitation has a clever play on words: "Join us for some tasty new treats and much s'more" -- a reference to Android M 'Marshmallow,' the newest version.

Google's new gadgets have leaked several times in recent weeks. First, we'll get two new Android phones, one made by LG and another made by Huawei. The Android new blog Droid life reported this week that the LG model will be called the Nexus 5X. The Huawei model will be called the Nexus 6P.

Google is also expected to announce an updated version of the Chromecast, the device that plugs directly into your TV and lets you stream content from services like Netflix. 9to5Google was the first to report that a new Chromecast is coming.

TRAI to host open house discussion on call drops on Oct 1

2015-09-19T15:08:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: Sectoral regulator TRAI will conduct an open house discussion on call drops on October 1 even as it refused to extend the date for sending comments on its consultation paper on the issue.

The last date to send comments on the consultation paper on compensation to the consumers in the event of calls drops is September 21 while that of counter-comments is September 28.

Some stakeholders have sought to extend the last date for sending comments, which have not been agreed by the authority, TRAI said in a statement.

TRAI said it will hold an open house discussion regarding the paper on October 1.

The regulator is likely to come out with recommendations on call drops and compensation to consumers by mid-October.

It has proposed that any call which gets dropped within five seconds would not be charged, and in case a call gets dropped any time after five seconds, the last pulse of the call should not be included for the purpose of charging.

Call drops have become a severe problem in recent months and concerns have been raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well, on the issue.

Katti Batti: Cut the crap, please!

2015-09-19T14:57:00.002+05:30

After a series of well- written scripts, it is the film that will test the star power of Kangana.

Katti Batti could have been an important film. Designed to exploit Kangana Ranaut’s rebellious image, it is a film which examines the perks of a live-in relationship. It is also a film which tries to put a girl in control of the relationship. In a role reversal of sorts, she wants the relationship to be a time pass when the boy is looking for eternal love. When he talks of values, the lissom lass doesn’t want to be a lesson in moral science. Here the boy uses phrases like main ghabra gaya tha while the girl has the acumen to hide her pain so that her man doesn't suffer.

Unfortunately, director Nikhil Advani fails to package; the word they use for kneading narratives these days, his intentions for the second week in a row. If Hero was close to zero, it does marginally better because of the covalence between the lead players.

There is an emotional core somewhere but the director has covered it with layers of gloss to please the market forces, which seems to suggest that every emotion has to be packed in a comic pill. Every frame has to be eye-catching, matters of heart can wait. So you can gather lot of trend in hairdos and interior design but when it comes to the architecture of human emotions, the writing disappoints.

Advani is like that sub-editor who is more interested in writing headlines and doesn’t care to back them with substance. Perhaps, that is why the promos evoke more interest than the real thing as somebody has put all the best lines and situations in the three- minute teasers. He hopes editing gimmicks will do the trick for him but as the narrative goes back and forth in time it only adds to the confusion and exposes the hollowness of the whole idea.

A middle class young architect Maddy (Imran) is smitten by Payal (Kangana) who is keen to have just a casual relationship. She obviously comes from an elite fractured family. She moves into his house but after five years of bonding one day she leaves him. As Maddy goes looking for answers, he faces questions from within and without. Many of their actions look crazy but then Advani wants us to believe that this generation is like that. A little childish, a little crazy. This explains the title. Perhaps that’s why we have a song called “Main Sirphara, Tu Sirphiri” (I am crazy, you are crazy) in the film.

But then when a film that is being positioned as a rebel among the tribe of rom coms, only pushes stereotypes and tries to manipulate tear ducts towards the end for a few ounces of sympathy, it irks. A caricature of South Indian boss, a society of frustrated lovers, a turtle as a pet, the script is replete with situations which have ceased to be funny for many years now. The saving grace is that the turtle is called Milkha.

After a series of well- written scripts, it is the film that will test the star power of Kangana. Can she pull off a weak script solely on the basis of her performance? She has this amazing quality of making us laugh and cry at will and as Payal she explores her wild side to the hilt. But then she is expected to conform because she is the hero now and the hero always has a back story to justify the transgressions. The idea lies in the introductory scene where Maddy asks her name and Payal shows her ankle which has a tattoo of lightening and an anklet. Like us, Maddy also thinks she must be Bijli but Kangana wants to be a more generic Payal now. The idea of a please-all heroine at the helm is not bad but Katti Batti is not that film to give it a shot. Imran Khan is a good support. He plays second fiddle to Kangana with remarkable sincerity. Your heart goes out for him when he questions his value in the scheme of things and laments being used as a puppet.

The feeling is mutual. As after two hours of cuddling and canoodling, when the big reveal happens it is not only manipulative but also amounts to a cop out.