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The Express Tribune April 06, 2018 Kamran Yousuf Condemning the Indian army’s recent crackdown in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), Pakistan’s civil and military leadership on Wednesday decided to launch a diplomatic offensive at the international level against India for its brutal use of force against innocent Kashmiris. The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) – the highest decision making forum on issues of national security and foreign policy – in the wake of Indian security forces clashes with protesters and alleged militants on Sunday in IOK’s Shopian district. At least 20 people, including 13 suspected militants, were killed in gun battles in the worst incident of violence in the region this year. Indian security forces also wounded about 70 people when hundreds of protestors tried to prevent them from carrying out operations against suspected militants. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi presided over the NSC meeting a...

Financial Express April 06, 2018 IndiGo was the only airline that had shown interest in buying into Air India even before the government formally invited EoIs from airlines and other interested parties in writing. In a move that could put a spanner in Air India’s divestment process even before it gathers steam, the country’s largest carrier by fleet, market capitalisation and market share, IndiGo on Thursday indicated that it may not bid for the national carrier,on the basis of the preliminary information memorandum, spelling details of the process brought out by the government in March, in its current form. IndiGo was the only airline that had shown interest in buying into Air India even before the government formally invited EoIs from airlines and other interested parties in writing. “From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India’s international operations and Air India Express. However that option is not available under the cur...

The Economic Times April 06, 2018 NEW DELHI: India has abstained from the voting on Russia's proposal for a new, joint investigation into the poisoning of ex-spy Skripal and his daughter in England which was voted down at the international chemical weapons watchdog Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at The Hague.  Russia lost the vote by 15 votes to six, while 17 member states abstained. India was among the member states that abstained from the voting on Wednesday, persons familiar with the matter told ET.  China, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Algeria and Iran were among the countries that backed Russia's motion at the OPCW executive council. The issue has further deteriorated ties between the West and Russia leading to expulsion of diplomats from each other’s side in the last few weeks.  The votes backing Russia and the abstentions showed that more than half of the council "refused to associate themselves with the West's point of view...

THE HINDU April 06, 2018 Data and data science have suddenly emerged into the spotlight. First, there was a data breach at Facebook, which saw allegations of the U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica (CA) illegally accessing over 87 million users’ information for personalisation of digital campaigns. Then there were allegations that the official mobile apps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress party had sent user data without consent to foreign companies for analytical purposes. The rapid rise of data science can be attributed to the voluminous amount of information that is being generated with every activity of ours in this digital age — IBM says that 90% of the world’s data has been generated just in the last two years — and the strides concurrently made in the world of mathematical modelling, computation, and Artificial Intelligence-powered algorithms. These trends are creating unprecedented, far-reaching possibilities built on our growing capability to analyse vast...

The Indian Express April 06, 2018 One particular dam project, the $2.5-billion Budhi Gandaki project, on a river by the same name in central-western Nepal, is increasingly becoming the centrepiece of this tug-of-war between Delhi and Beijing. The battle for influence in the Nepal Himalayas between India and China is hotting up, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to tell Nepal counterpart K P Oli that he can award as many dam projects as he likes to China, but India will not be able to buy the energy produced. Modi’s tough message to Kathmandu — Oli’s three-day visit starts Friday — will be couched in the niceties of diplomatic prose, but there will be no denying “India’s red lines,” a senior government official told The Indian Express. One particular dam project, the $2.5-billion Budhi Gandaki project, on a river by the same name in central-western Nepal, is increasingly becoming the centrepiece of this tug-of-war between Delhi and Beijing. This is becau...

The Indian Express April 06, 2018 "Our Kashmiri brothers and sisters have been subjected to extreme brutalities and human right violations by India during the last week," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal alleged at a weekly briefing. Pakistan on Thursday accused India of using “state terrorism” to break the will of the Kashmiri people. The Foreign Office’s statement came after Indian security forces on Sunday gunned down 13 militants in three counter-insurgency operations that also claimed the lives of three Army jawans and four civilians in Anantnag and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir. “Our Kashmiri brothers and sisters have been subjected to extreme brutalities and human right violations by India during the last week,” Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal alleged at a weekly briefing. “This mindless killing spree exposes, yet again, the ugly, inhuman face of the state-terrorism that India has been perpetrating against the Kashmiris for...

The Indian Express April 06, 2018 Anil Sasi Inflation may compel the US Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, and this may lead to capital outflow from emerging markets as American investors look to chase better returns back home. Last month, American President Donald Trump announced import duties of 25 per cent and 10 per cent on steel and aluminium respectively. The move came under attack from the European Union, with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom saying at a conference in Brussels that the imposition would “put thousands of European jobs in jeopardy, and it has to be met by a firm and proportionate response”. The EU retorted by proposing a 25 per cent tariff on US steel, clothing, and other industrial goods. The US then went on to levy a 25 per cent tariff on more than 1,300 Chinese goods. And China responded on Wednesday by levying additional duty on 106 American products. Analysts, however, feel that this trade war may be shortlived, and impending neg...

NEWS 18 April 06, 2018 Washington: Facebook has deployed technology tools like artificial intelligence and thousands of people to work on security as the company's "major focus" this year is to protect the integrity of upcoming elections in several countries, including India, on its platform, its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said. Terming 2018 a "big year" for elections, Zuckerberg said Facebook was enhancing its security features to prevent trolls from spreading information. The social media giant has been slammed over a major data breach scandal by Cambridge Analytica, a British firm linked to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. "In the US Senate Alabama special election last year, we successfully deployed some new artificial intelligence (AI) tools that removed Macedonian trolls who were trying to spread information during the election. We now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review and we'll...

THE WIRE April 06, 2018 New Delhi: The ‘bail-in’ clause in the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill – referred to a joint parliamentary committee in August after cabinet approval – has triggered widespread fear among the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana that they will lose their heard-earned cash if a bank goes bankrupt. The growing panic has allegedly resulted in heavy cash withdrawals, leading to a cash crunch in ATMs and banks, Indian Express reported. The contentious clause in the Bill proposes using depositors’ money to bail out their bank or financial institution in case it fails. As The Wire earlier reported, the Bill covers bankruptcy of businesses such as banks and insurance. It proposes a mechanism for financial resolution in cases banks face ‘material’ or ‘imminent’ risk to viability depending on their capital and asset worth. According to H. Purnima, the regional manager of State Bank of India (SBI) in Visakhapatnam, people ar...

News 18,  April 06, 2018 Aakash Hassan Army and police personnel cordoned off a house in the dead of night on March 31 over inputs of militants present in Dialgam village of Anantnag district, southern Kashmir. The inmates were asked to come out. The intelligence was specific about the presence of 20-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen militant, Rouf Ahmad Khanday and his associate. Both had picked up the gun only this winter. Forces managed to nab the associate alive but Khanday was ready for a fight. “We didn’t want to kill him,” said Anantnag Senior Superintendent of Police, Altaf Ahmad Khan. A family member, whose house Khanday was supposed to be in, was sent inside to give him the phone.  Khan spoke with Khanday, trying to persuade him, quoting Islamic literature. “He didn’t listen to me,” Khan, who was at the spot, told News18.  A police party went to fetch Khanday’s parents from their home in Dehruna village, five kilometres from the spot. The pare...

News18.com, April 05, 2018 A fake version of the popular messaging app—WhatsApp—has appeared on Google Play Store. Dubbed as the WhatsApp Plus, the app disguises as the pro variant of WhatsApp and reportedly misuses access to personal data on the phone. When the app is installed, it redirects the user to a website with content written in Arabic and tells visitors to download ‘Watts Plus Plus WhatsApp’. This app reportedly collects user information when installed.  In another news, users in Israel are now reportedly connected to WhatsApp through the Facebook servers. According to WABetaInfo, a popular fan page that tracks WhatsApp Beta, the switch has been made to ensure better connection quality. "All users from Israel are now connected to WhatsApp through the Facebook servers," it said.  The website, however, said that the fact that WhatsApp is starting to use the Facebook servers must not worry you. "This just ensures a better quality of the connection. ...

INTABULLETIN, APRIL 01, 2018 Brian Winterfeldt,  Winterfeldt IP Group, Washington, D.C., USA, The collision between the privacy obligations within the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the domain name registration data that is currently publicly available through the WHOIS system will have broad implications for the trademark and brand community. This issue remained the primary focus at ICANN’s 61st International Public meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which concluded on March 15, 2018.  The WHOIS system is ICANN’s free, publicly available directory containing the contact and technical information of registered domain name registrants. In addition to critical uses of WHOIS for law enforcement and cybersecurity, among other legitimate purposes, access to WHOIS data is critical for trademark and other intellectual property (IP) owners in enforcing their rights against illegal website content or bad faith domain name registration and use. The...

THE HINDU  April 06, 2018 YouTube often takes action against videos that violate its guidelines, and has well-established procedures for doing so. The “YouTubers” who produce videos and post them on the site aren’t always happy about its decisions, but their discontent rarely leads to violence. That may have changed on April 3, when Nasim Aghdam herself a YouTuber shot and wounded three people at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, before killing herself. The 39-year-old told family members that she believed the company was suppressing her videos, which included segments about veganism, animal cruelty and exercise, along with glamour shots of herself. YouTube had no comment about any actions related to Aghdam’s videos. But Aghdam’s father said his daughter was angry that YouTube stopped paying for videos she posted on the platform and warned police she might go to the company’s headquarters. Here’s a brief explanation of YouTube’s video policies and t...