New initiative to tackle cyber threats

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A new initiative has been launched at the World Economic Forum to strengthen cyber security & efforts to contend rising cyber risks. The initiative 'Partnering for Cyber Resilience' is a set of shared principles, promoted by chief executives of firms that recognise interdependence of organisations in tackling cyber risks.

Citing the importance of the initiative, India's largest software exporter TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran underlined the need for consistent processes and uniform policy framework (in the digital world) that can be implemented internationally.

The new programme would engage the corporate firms into working towards a safer digital environment.

"We need to recognize that making the world more resilient to cyber-risks is a challenge that can only be addressed collectively by policy-makers, business and civil society," Alan Marcus, senior director and head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries at WEF USA, said.

"Everything attached to a network can be hacked and everything is being attached to a network," Rod A Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer of the Internet Corp of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), said.

US consultancy major Deloitte LLP was project advisor to the programme, developed through multi-stakeholder dialogue across the globe.

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Facebook makes its Timeline feature compulsory

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO of Social network Facebook has made compulsory its Timeline feature through which all of a user's photographs and wall posts would be seen by friends on their homepage. The feature had been voluntary till now and Facebook has given all of its 800 million users a seven-day period to delete content before Timeline goes online, The Sun reported.

Timeline makes everything a person has ever done on Facebook appear on a single screen that scrolls down year by year right back to when the person was born.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently said he was convinced people wanted to be able to share their entire lives with one another.

Zuckerberg said Timeline was the "story of your life and completely new way to express yourself".

"Millions of people curate stories of their lives on Facebook every day and have no way to share them once they fall off your profile page," he said.

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Dravid Likely To Announce Retirement Shortly

Saturday, January 28, 2012

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India were whitewashed 0-4 in the Test series that concluded on Saturday and the senior batting trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were heavily criticised for their poor show.

Their flopshow, in fact, led to speculation that the three could bow out after the series. But the team management rubbished the rumours.

“The team management categorically denies this. Reports about senior players retiring are baseless,” said team manager G S Walia in the post-match press conference on Saturday.

Walia refused to answer questions on the matter, saying that there was simply no truth in the reports.

India’s stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag, who addressed the media after the match, also rejected reports of senior players’ retirement.

“Some reports have said that senior players will retire after this series. No such thing has happened and this is a decision that they will take,” said the dashing opener, who is himself under immense pressure after an unimpressive show in the series.

“These are rumours created by the media,” he added.

Earlier there were reports that the 39-year-old Dravid, one of the game’s greatest batsmen, had told some of his teammates that he had decided to hang his boots.

Dravid, like most other Indian batsmen, had a poor run in the four-Test series. He made 194 runs at an average of 24.25 in this series.

Dravid has already announced his retirement from one-day cricket and Twenty20.

The elegant right hander, nicknamed ‘The Wall’ for his dour defence, is the second highest run getter in Test history with 13,288 runs, behind only Tendulkar who has 15,470 runs. He has 36 Test centuries with a highest score of 270 and an average of 52.31.

Dravid has also taken more catches (210) than anyone else in Test history during his 164 Test matches since he made his debut against England at Lord’s in 1996. He captained India from December 2005 to August 2007.

There is also a question mark over Laxman who too had a miserable run against Australia in the current series but there was no word yet about his future plans.

The iconic Tendulkar is another player under tremendous pressure.

The right-hander, whose career has spanned over two decades so far, has 99 international hundreds to his credit but the wait for the 100th one has been rather prolonged with his last century coming almost a year back.

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India slips to 3rd in ICC Test rankings after 0-4 whitewash by Australia

The mortifying 0-4 whitewash at the hands of Australia on Saturday resulted a big drop in ICC Test ranking that rungs to third spot to India with Michael Clarke’s team breathing down their neck just a fraction of a point behind in the table.

India, who entered the series in second place on 118 ratings points, have fallen to 111 ratings points while fourth-ranked Australia have boosted their standing in the championship table after gaining eight ratings points, which put them alongside their rivals, the ICC said in a statement.

However, Dhoni’s men are still ranked above Clarke’s men by a fraction of a point. When the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, India has 111.10 ratings points while Australia is on 110.80 ratings points.

Nevertheless, Australia will have a chance to move ahead of India when they travel to the West Indies in March to play in a three-Test series, which will start in Barbados on April 7.

There, Australia will need to win the series by 1-0 or better to achieve the number three position on the table.

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Voting Day in Manipur

Voters lined up before 2,357 polling stations across nine districts of Manipur as elections began in 60 Assembly constituencies in between tight security. An electorate of 17,40,576, including 8,82,236 woman voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose their representatives from among 279 candidates in the 10th Assembly polls.

A total of 12,967 polling personnel have been deployed to conduct the elections which began at 7 am and would continue till 4 pm. Chief Minister Ibobi Singh cast his vote at a polling station in Khangabok of Thoubal district, officials said.

Around 350 companies of security personnel including 270 central paramilitary forces were deployed besides the State armed police.

Prominent candidates in the fray include the Chief Minister, who is contesting from Thoubal constituency, former vice-chancellor of Manipur University Ng Bijoy (Khurai) and Forest Minister Th Debendra (Jiribam).

Manipur has nine districts — Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnnupur and Thoubal (all in valley) and Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Senapati, Tamenglong and Chandel in the hills.

Security forces are keeping a tab on the situation in the State, where blasts have taken place in the past few days, amid reports that insurgent groups might target some candidates.

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Twitter's censorship plan rouses global furor‎

Friday, January 27, 2012

Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis.The additional flexibility announced on Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter’s commitment to free speech may be weakening as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.

But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or “tweets,” remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.

Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. That’s similar to what Google has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.

Like Google, Twitter also plans to the share the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the chillingeffects.org website.

The similarity to Google’s policy isn’t coincidental. Twitter’s general counsel is Alexander Macgillivray, who helped Google draw up its censorship policies while he was working at that company.

“One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice,” Twitter wrote in a blog post. “We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can’t. The tweets must continue to flow.”

Among other things, Twitter wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active uses now, to more than 1 billion. Reaching that goal will require expanding into more countries, which will mean Twitter will be more likely to have to submit to laws that run counter to the free expression protections guaranteed under the First Amendment in the U.S.

If Twitter defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested. Twitter said it hadn’t yet used its ability to wipe out tweets in an individual country. All the tweets it has previously censored were wiped out throughout the world. Most of those included links to child pornography.

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Delhi on high Security on Republic Day

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Delhi was under a very high and tight security on Republic Day as thousands of armed personnel kept a tight surveillance to prevent any terror strike or any untoward incident during the celebrations.Snipers with sophisticated arms and binoculars were on rooftops while hundreds of police personnel kept the eight km parade route from Rajpath to Red Fort under their watch to ensure that nothing untoward happened.

Around 25,000 police personnel, including those from paramilitary forces and sharpshooters from the elite National Security Guards (NSG) were deployed across the city in the run-up to the national celebrations.

Policemen kept a tab on the visuals from over 160 CCTVs between Rajpath and Red Fort, the route of the parade.

Mobile hit teams, anti-aircraft guns and sharpshooters of the NSG were also on the job at various places while paramilitary and Delhi Police commandos kept a close watch along the route.

“There was special emphasis on anti-sabotage checks, access control measures and intelligence coordination. The entire route of the parade was covered by special security and anti-terror arrangements.

“Elaborate air defence measures, including deployment of anti-aircraft guns, were also taken to check intrusion of air space,” a senior police official said. Besides the air defence measures, helicopters of the Indian Air Force hovered around Rajpath and all along the route of the parade.

Vehicles entering the city were randomly checked.

As the city witnessed a terror strike only four months ago, the security establishment left no stones unturned to ensure an incident-free celebration.

No vehicles were allowed to ply on the Rajpath from 6 p.m. on Wednesday while vehicular movement was restricted on Tilak Marg, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, Netaji Subhash Marg upto Red Fort from 4 a.m.

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Salman Rushdie:Rajasthan Police invented plot to keep me away

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Controversial author Salman Rushdie said that the Rajasthan Police “invented” a plot to keep him away from the Jaipur Literature Festival by claiming that they received a call from Mumbai underworld about him being killed if he visits the event.

“Rajasthan police invented plot to keep away Rushdie’ I’ve investigated, & believe that I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry,” the writer of the banned ” The Satanic Verses” posted on Twitter.

The Rajasthan Police refused to comment on Rushdie’s charge that it had concocted the story about assassins from the Mumbai underworld hired to kill him in Jaipur.

Sources in the police said they had intelligence about threat to the author.

Rushdie Friday announced that he had called off his visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival after intelligence sources told him that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld were out to kill him.

“For the last several days I have made no public comment about my proposed trip to Jaipur at the request of the authorities in Rajasthan, hoping that they would put in place such precautions as might be necessary to allow me to come and address the Festival audience in circumstances that were comfortable and safe for all,” Rushdie then said in a statement read out by the organisers of the festival.

“I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to ‘eliminate’ me,” he had said.

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Seventh Successive loss for India in abroad

Sunday, January 15, 2012

A invertebrate India suffered their second overseas series defeat in the most humiliating manner as a ruthless Australia demolish them by an innings and 37 runs in just two and half days in the third Test in Perth on Sunday. It was the seventh successive loss abroad for India after the 4-0 whitewash by England last year. 

The highly-rated Indian batting line-up failed once again with the sole exception of Virat Kohli, who slammed an impressive 75, as the visitors were shot out for 171, around 15 minutes after the lunch break on the bouncy WACA pitch. 

The Indian second innings total was just 10 runs more than the 161 in their first essay, in reply to Australia's first innings tally of 369. 

The two sides now move to Adelaide for the fourth and final Test which starts on January 24. 

India took lunch at 165 for six and they lost their final four wickets off only seven balls without any addition to the total to surrender the series and Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

In the first innings, India had lost their final six wickets for 30 runs. 

The first two overs on resumption did not show any signs of such quick subjugation but it all unfolded quickly in Ben Hilfenhaus' 18th over, the 63rd of the Indian second innings. 

Sensing his opportunity of a short ball, Vinay Kumar went for a slash but the ball from Hilfenhaus was too quick for it and the resultant healthy edge was smartly snapped by Michael Clarke at first slip.

Zaheer Khan was out for first ball duck as Hilfenhaus directed a short ball at the Indian left-arm paceman who could only hang his bat. The edge flew and eluded a leaping wicketkeeper Brad Haddin but Michael Clarke was alert behind him at first slip and picked up his second straight catch. 

Ishant Sharma played out the hat-trick ball but two deliveries later, popped a catch at forward short leg where Ed Cowan made no mistake. 

Last man Umesh Yadav pushed a delivery at mid-on but Kohli refused to exchange strikes, hoping to gather some quick runs at the other end. It was not to be as the second ball from Peter Siddle was edged behind and Brad Haddin did not let the chance go out of his gloves to trigger Australian celebrations. 

Kohli batted for 191 minutes and faced 136 balls for his 75 runs, slamming nine fours. Kohli was impressive in his knock, his third Test fifty, as he showed the determination to stay put at the crease under difficult circumstances. 

Overnight 88 for four, India lost two wickets in the morning session with Rahul Dravid (47) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2) being the batsmen out. 

Dravid fell by now all-familiar mode of dismissal in the series, bowled for 47. Ryan Harris brought the ball in from a length and Dravid, who has shown a tendency to neither go forward nor backwards at times, lost his leg stump as he made a last attempt to flick it. 

Dravid batted for 177 minutes and hit eight fours from 114 balls. There was a stage when he took 30 balls to move from 41.

This was the fifth time Dravid has been bowled in this series and 8 times in his last ten innings. He now has 54 such dismissals and has overtaken Allan Border as the batsman who has been dismissed most times clean bowled. 

Ben Hilfenhaus and Ryan Harris began the day's proceedings and both Dravid and Kohli were circumspect to start with as only three runs came from the first three overs. 

Dravid then slashed Hilfenhaus past the point region to raise the hundred of the Indian second innings. 

Kohli played solidly but for a rapid bouncer from Harris which took his bat while still rising and went over keeper Brad Haddin's head for a four. 

The youngster from Delhi then drove Mitchell Starc elegantly through the onside to raise an impressive half century, made in 115 minutes off 92 balls with six fours. 

Dravid and Kohli were unseparated till the first drinks break with India on 129 for four, having raised 41 runs from the first hour off 16 overs. 

The two stretched their stand to 86 runs from 30-odd overs before Dravid was out in a familiar fashion. 

Skipper Dhoni (2), continuing with his wretched form in the series, played forward to a Peter Siddle delivery and edged a low catch to Ricky Ponting in the second slip.

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Anna’s Team Called Committee Meet

Monday, January 9, 2012

Team Anna’s Core Committee met on Monday sans ailing Anna Hazare to decide on their future strategy.This is the first meeting of the Team after Anna called off his agitation programmes for a strong Lokpal last month.

Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and other members attended the deliberations during which they discussed the future course of action, including the mode of campaign during the elections to the five States.

Mr. Hazare did not attend the meeting as he was not keeping well. Doctors had advised him not to undertake any tour for at least a month due to his health conditions.

The poor public response to Mr. Hazare’s agitation in Mumbai and Delhi in the last week of December and taunts from Congress on its anti-Congress plank appears to be weighing heavily on the minds of Team Anna.

Team Anna members said the meeting was meant to discuss the mode of campaigning in other five states as well suggestions received from public on how to take forward the movement.

The meeting also comes against the backdrop of an article written by Mr. Kejriwal which suggested that Team Anna appeared to be confused on how to take forward the fight for a strong Lokpal, saying the movement is at “crossroads” and a wrong decision at this stage can prove disastrous for it.

He had then sought suggestions from public to take forward the campaign.

Team Anna members said they will also deliberate on its anti-Congress line vociferously taken during its campaigns earlier as it was been accused of being pro-BJP.

However, the induction of former BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha, who is accused of corruption, in the BJP has put Team Anna on the wrong foot as Congress stepped up attack against them.

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