5 killed in Telangana accident

Five people were killed and five others injured when a speeding car hit an auto-rickshaw on Monday in Telangana's Ranga Reddy, police said.

The accident occurred near Lingala area. According to the police, a group of 10 women with their vegetables were on their way to a market in Hyderabad when the car coming from opposite direction rammed into the three-wheeler.

The injured were shifted to hospitals in Ibrahimpatnam and Hyderabad. 

The death toll may increase as the three were in critical condition.

In a similar accident on Sunday, 14 women agriculture workers and a boy were killed when a tractor carrying them plunged in a canal in Yadadri district.

Road accidents have claimed 7,219 lives in Telangana during 2016. 

According to Road Safety and Railway Authority of Telangana, the number reduced by 9 per cent during 2017. Most of the accidents were caused by negligence by drivers."

IANS

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If men can remarry, why can't women: Venkaiah

 Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday called for a change in mindset towards widows, asking "if a man can remarry, why can't a woman"?

"There is a problem in the mindset of the people, we need to change this mindset," Naidu said during the celebration of International Widows Day.

He also said that widowhood is sad for both men and women, but women suffer more.

Speaking during an event organised by the Loomba Foundation at the Vigyan Bhawan here, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad echoed the same sentiments.

"The steps taken for the empowerment of widows will not be successful unless it is taken as a mass movement. Without a change in attitude we can not change much," Prasad said.

The foundation, working for the widows across the world, was started by Lord Raj Loomba CBE in 1997.

Loomba urged the Indian government to take steps to improve the condition of widows in the country.

"India has 46 million widows, largest in any country. I urged the Indian government to set up a national commission for widows along side of the National Commission for Women. I also urged the government to include women in the minority section to provide them various assistance," Loomba said.

IANS 

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Women shine at Smart India Hackathon at IIT Kharagpur

Coimbatore's Whistling Cookers of Avinashilingam Deemed University for Women bagged a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh by winning the Smart India Hackathon 2018 - Hardware Edition on Friday.

The first runner-up was from the same college -- Team Buddies. And the second runner-up was Team Askurvara from the Silicon Institute of Technology.

The winner and runners-up were all women's team, a IIT Kharagpur release said.

The two runner-ups were richer by Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.

SIH2018 - Hardware edition is the first-of-its-kind innovation challenge initiated by the Union Human Resource Development to provide a national platform to young technical minds of India to showcase their disruptive innovations and creative products which can bring about revolutionary changes in crucial sectors like agriculture, health, clean water, waste management, automotive, smart communication, and education.

The event has seen unique student innovations in smart drip irrigation, technology-powered mechanical harvesters and soil testing, and cost-effective detection of the status of fruits and vegetables.

The winning team designed a prototype for "non-destructive estimation of sugar content of fruits using visible-light imaging".

Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Chairman, SIH2018, said: "I think innovation challenges such as SIH2018 are going to bring a new era in innovation and transform the process by which we teach engineering."

The nine competing teams at IIT Kharagpur were judged by an external jury made up of some of the top entrepreneurs and partners of leading business incubators in the agri-tech sector, such as a-IDEA, Omnivore, AgNext, Bharat Innovations Fund and Ankur Capital.

Nine teams worked continuously for five consecutive days to build their hardware solutions as a working prototype.

Said Pranav Gawande and Chirag Patil of Team Scrap Stars of G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, who devised a sugarcane cutting machine: "The competition was stiff as all the teams had great potential. Irrespective of the result, it was great to be in IIT Kharagpur."

M. Charugayathri of Team Buddies, one of the two all-women teams from Avinashilingam Deemed University for Women, Tamil Nadu, said: "Making it to the finals itself was a great experience."

IANS

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Google rolling out desktop browser support for Android Messages

Google is set to roll out desktop browser support for Android Messages, allowing users to send, view and receive messages they get on their Android devices to their personal computers (PCs).

The search engine giant plans to roll out the feature that supports text, images and stickers on the web, in the coming weeks, The Verge reported on Tuesday.

This is reportedly one of the first significant steps in Google's "push towards chat", which is the company's implementation of Rich Communication Services (RCS) inside Android Messages. 

"To get started, on the Android Messages website, you scan a quick response (QR) code using the Android Messages mobile app, which creates a link between the two," the report added.


Other improvements to Android Messenger include built-in graphics interchange format (GIF) search, support for smart replies on more carriers, in-line link previews and easy copy/paste for two-factor authentication messages.

According to the report, Google has recommended users to toggle their WiFi network "off and on again" in case they experience problems with the feature.

The feature would also function on cellular data.

IANS

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Uber to launch e-bikes sharing service in Seattle

U.S. ride-hailing leader Uber is going to launch its new e-bikes sharing service in Seattle, the largest city in the west U.S. state of Washington state, next month, according to a media report.

The new Uber service, to be provided by JUMP, a bike-share startup acquired by Uber in April, will be immediately available soon after the Seattle City Council approves a bike-share permit programme in the city in July, The Seattle Times newspaper said.

The arrival of the Uber-backed JUMP would heighten the competition among the companies that's brought 10,000 bikes, available for low-cost rental, scattered in nearly all corners of the city, reported Xinhua news agency quoting the newspaper.

San Francisco-based Uber is poised to face strong challenge from three other rivals, Spin, ofo and Lime, which are already operating in Seattle on one-year permits that expire in July. 


"We'll make a decision to apply for a permit once we see the regulations... We do hope to launch in Seattle," Uber spokesman Nathan Hambley said. 

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) plans to present a proposal on the permit program to the City Council for approval next month.

The SDOJ wants to formulate measures to allow bike-sharing service without seeing bikes parked haphazardly in the city, a phenomenon often complained about by residents. 

SDOT spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said the city's forthcoming regulations will try to address that issue by adopting a strong proactive approach to manage bike-share parking, "ensuring that the companies keep sidewalks, curb ramps and transit access clear." 

Uber's e-bikes are electric assisted, which still need to pedal, but an electric motor (with a maximum speed of 32 km per hour) will help, especially riding uphill.

IANS

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Samsung Galaxy A6+: Immersive 'Infinity Display' in a budget (Tech Review)

By Krishna SinhaChaudhury 

Aiming to take on its mid-range smartphone rivals in India, South Korean tech major Samsung has introduced its contender, the Galaxy A6+, at a price of Rs 25,990 for 4GB RAM and 64GB on-board storage which can be further expanded up to 256GB via a MicroSD card slot.

The smartphone features Samsung's famed "Infinity Display", which came into existence with its flagship Galaxy S8 and S8+ in 2017.

The Galaxy A8+, launched earlier this year, was the first non-Samsung Galaxy S or Note series smartphone to sport the "Infinity Display" with an unusual aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The tech giant is now bringing the "Infinity Displays" to lower-end devices to give a more holistic screen experience to users at lower price points.

Here is how the smartphone fared during our review.

The touch and feel of the device was great with the feel of a more premium Galaxy S9+, thanks to the centre-aligned, vertically stacked, dual-primary cameras with a fingerprint scanner placed right below.

The Galaxy A6+ has a unimetal body which makes it sturdy and solid. There are two antenna bands running on either side of the phone (top and bottom) which enhanced the look of the device.

The left side of the device houses the volume keys and two trays. One of them one is solely to accommodate a nano-SIM card while the other can house a nano-SIM card and a MicroSD card. The right side houses the power button and the speaker grille.

A high point of the device is its 6-inch AMOLED "Infinity Display" which can compete with devices such as Honor 8 Pro despite not having a 2K screen.

Samsun'g proprietary Super AMOLED display made blacks look rich with good-viewing angles even under direct sunlight.

The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor which could handle day-to-day tasks with ease.

The Galaxy A6+ comes with dual rear cameras with one 16MP sensor and another 5MP lens for depth sensing and an LED flash.

The device stands out in taking portrait shots when compared with devices in the same price segment. All other shots also turned out quite well with accurate colours.

There is a 24MP front camera with LED flash that was capable of taking good selfies and also assist while biometric authentication for unlocking the phone.

The cameras also come equipped with with Bixby Vision -- a feature which lets users frame objects in their camera viewfinder or bring up a photo from Gallery or online and it helps them discover through relevant images.

The Galaxy A6+ is backed by 3,500mAh non-removable battery under the back panel that easily lasted us a day on heavy usage. We tested the battery by running several social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter multiple times a day and some amount of gaming.

The bundled charger in the package took a little over two hours to completely charge the battery.

What does not work?

Photos shot on the rear camera in low-lighting conditions lacked detail and looked grainy too.

The placement of the speaker grille is a bit disappointing as it was capable of muffling the sound.

A Snapdragon 450 chipset for this price is also a bit underwhelming.

Conclusion: Galaxy A6+ ticks most of the right boxes when it comes to features such as display and camera. Buy this device if you want to lay hands on a big and beautiful display phone.

IANS 

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Online platforms capture 38% smartphone sales in India, Flipkart leads

 Driven by exclusive online launches and strong promotions, e-commerce platforms captured a record 38 per cent share of the total smartphone channels in India in the first quarter of 2018, a new report said on Friday.

According to Counterpoint Research's "Market Monitor" service, Flipkart continued its dominance in the online smartphone market with 54 per cent share, with Amazon at second place with 30 per cent followed by Mi.com with 14 per cent market share. 

Xiaomi led online platforms with a share of 57 per cent during Q1 2018, followed by Samsung (14 per cent) and Huawei (Honor) (8 per cent).

"The E-commerce segment grew faster than the offline segment during Q1 2018. While the smartphone shipments in offline segment declined by 3 per cent, online segment grew by 4 per cent (Year-on-Year)," said Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint.

This was driven by the increase in the number of models launching on online platforms coupled with aggressive offers. 

"Additionally, smartphone brands have now adopted a multi-channel strategy instead of relying on a single channel for distribution of their products and this has increased the competition over the past few quarters," Chauhan added. 

Close to 30 exclusive smartphone models were launched in Q1 2018. Attractive full-screen displays, high capacity batteries and AI features like face recognition were key differentiators for new launches.

"In an effort to target first-time shoppers, both Flipkart and Amazon have scaled up their operations in recent quarters, especially in the smartphone segment which is a major value driving category for these platforms," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint.

Top online smartphones in Q1 2018 were Xiaomi Redmi 5A, Redmi Note 5, Redmi 4, Huawei Honor 9 Lite and Redmi Y1 respectively.

"Top five smartphones contributed to close to half of the smartphone shipments through online channels. Huawei Honor 9 Lite was the only model in top 5 slowing down Xiaomi's full dominance," said the report.

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Apple to plug security hole that helped cops unlock iPhones

The upcoming iPhones and iPads will plug a security hole that the police and law enforcement officials have used to crack into the highly-secure devices in the past, Apple has said.

According to a report in The Fortune on Wednesday, Apple will soon update its current operating system that runs iPads and iPhones.

"Apple will add 'USB Restricted Mode', an option that disables the USB port for any kind of data transfer or interactions if a device hasn't been unlocked in the previous hour," said the report.

Any attempt to break into the device would need to plug it into a hardware-cracking device very quickly.

In most cases, law enforcement would be unable to react fast enough.

"We're constantly strengthening the security protections in every Apple product to help customers defend against hackers, identity thieves, and intrusions into their personal data," Apple said.

Apple has had a strained relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the past when the US agency asked the tech giant to give it access to iPhones owned by terrorists and shooters.

Apple refused the FBI's request to help it unlock the encrypted iPhone of the terrorist who executed the attack in San Bernardino, California in December 2015 that left 14 dead.

Apple said it would not break its customer's trust and argued that the device's encryption could not be defeated -- even by the company.

The FBI later obtained a hacking tool that allowed the agency to access the contents of the terrorist's iPhone.

A US court in 2017 allowed the FBI to keep secret the information regarding the tool that was used to hack iPhone 5C used by terrorist Syed Farook.

In another case, the FBI said it sought Apple's help in unlocking the encrypted iPhone used by Devin P. Kelley who killed 26 people at a rural Texas church but Apple refused to help.

Refuting the FBI's claim, Apple said it reached out to the bureau "immediately" to offer assistance in getting into the gunman's iPhone and expedite its response to any legal process.

The data of most Apple devices is encrypted and can only be accessed by entering the correct passcode. If the wrong iPhone passcode is entered 10 times, its data is automatically erased.

In its bi-annual transparency report in May, Apple said the governments around the world sent requests for device information on 29,718 Apple devices, with India asking for 27 device requests in the July-December 2017 period.

The governments and private parties also requested information on 3,358 Apple accounts and data was provided in 82 per cent of cases.

IANS

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Trump: Biggest enemy of US is fake media

President Donald Trump has once again lambasted the "fake" communications media as the country's "biggest enemy" because of their alleged attempts to "downplay" the results of his recent summit with North Korea.

"So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have 'begged' for this deal-looked like war would break out," Trump said on Wednesday on Twitter, regarding the time before he came into the White House.

"Our Country's biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!" the President continued, just hours after landing in Washington after his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, although its ramifications are not yet clear, Efe reported.

Trump's meeting with Kim was the first between leaders of the two countries and came after months of heated rhetoric and mutual military - including nuclear - threats.

At their meeting, however, the two leaders agreed to begin the process of denuclearizing North Korea, although the details remain to be worked out in future encounters, and - in a surprising development - Trump promised to end joint US military maneeuvres with South Korea.

In addition, Trump invited Kim to the White House, a proposal that the North Korean leader accepted, according to that country's state-run KCNA news agency.

Since he took office, the US president has repeatedly criticized this country's main media outlets - except for conservative Fox News, for instance - for providing what he says is unfair coverage of his administration, reporting that he has called "fake news."

IANS

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Facebook may unveil eye-tracking technology in future

Facebook is bullish on eye-tracking technology tools that will let the social media giant detect users' eye movement and emotions but has denied using it at the moment, the media reported.

In a 229-page document addressed to US Congress in the wake of Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal, Facebook revealed that it had looked into building the technology, Fortune reported on Wednesday.

"Like many companies, we apply for a wide variety of patents to protect our intellectual property. Right now, we're not building technology to identify people with eye-tracking cameras," according to the document.

"If we implement this technology in the future, we will absolutely do so with people's privacy in mind, just as we do with movement information."

Facebook already has two patents titled "Dynamic eye tracking calibration" and "Techniques for emotion detection and content delivery".

"Facebook is accused of violating user privacy by collecting data derived from Facebook users' faces in photographs," the report noted.

In new documents, the social networking giant has already admitted that it allows advertisers to target users based on their "interests" and "behaviours".

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the US Congress in April, he faced several questions from lawmakers. But his in-person testimony left them with several lingering questions

IANS 

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PNB fraud: Interpol asked to issue RCN against Nirav Modi's brother, another

The CBI has approached the Interpol to issue Red Corner Notice (RCN) against diamantiare Nirav Modi's brother Nishal and one of his executives in connection with its probe into the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, sources said on Wednesday.

"The agency has approached Interpol to issue RCN against Nirav Modi's brother Nishal, who is a Belgian national, and his executive Subhash Parab," said a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official.

The agency's action comes two days after it sent a request to Interpol to issue a RCN against Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi of the Gitanjali Group.


A RCN is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition. It is issued by the General Secretariat at the request of a member country or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant.

The CBI has named Nirav Modi, Nishal and Parab beside 18 others in the first chargesheet that it filed in a Special court in Mumbai on May 14 in the case.

The CBI has also named PNB's former MD Usha Ananthasubramanian in its chargesheet in the scam.

The CBI had filed three FIRs between January and March to probe the PNB fraud. Most of the accused are common to these cases. The fraud was committed during 2011-17 by illegally issuing Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs).

The CBI, in its first chargesheet had alleged that Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Choksi allegedly swindled Rs 7080.86 crore.

Nirav Modi left the country along with his family in the first week of January, weeks before the scam was reported to the CBI.

His wife Ami, a US citizen, left on January 6 and uncle Choksi on January 4.

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Dubai hotel sacks Indian-origin chef over anti-Islam tweet

A popular Indian restaurant here has fired its head chef, Indian-origin celebrity chef Atul Kochhar, following his "anti-Islam tweet".

Michelin-star chef Atul Kochhar of the Rang Mahal restaurant at the JW Marriot Marquis hotel received flak after taking a dig at actress Priyanka Chopra for her tweet over a "Quantico" episode that portrayed Hindu nationalists as terrorists.

Kochhar's anti-Islam tweet created a furore on social media, with twitterati calling for his sacking.

"Following the recent comments made by Chef Atul Kochhar, we have taken the decision to end our agreement with him for Rang Mahal. With the termination of our agreement, Chef Atul will no longer be associated with the restaurant," JW Marriot Marquis Hotel said in a statement cited by Gulf News.

"At the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai we pride ourselves on creating a culture of diversity and inclusion for our guests and associates across the hotel and our restaurants. We also remain committed to delivering the traditional culinary experience and high service standards that Rang Mahal is renowned for," it added.

Kochhar issued an apology for his remarks after sparking the controversy.

"There is no justification for my tweet, a major error made in the heat of the moment. I fully recognise my inaccuracies that Islam was founded around 1,400 years ago and I sincerely apologise. I am not Islamophobic, I deeply regret my comments that have offended many."

The chef told Gulf News on Wednesday that he was "deeply upset" by the Dubai hotel's decision.

"The decision by JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is deeply upsetting. However I fully accept the great pain I have caused and the difficult position the hotel has been put in.

"I have great respect for JW Marriott and in particular their staff in Dubai and wish the hotel well for the future. I hope my friends and well-wishers in Dubai will forgive me and continue to support me in the future," he said.

Kochhar faced the wrath of social media users with a call to boycott his restaurants after he criticised Chopra on Twitter who had posted an apology of her own for offending her fans over the recent "Quantico" episode.

In Kochhar's now deleted tweet, the chef responded to Chopra's mea culpa, writing: "It's sad to see that you have not respected the sentiments of Hindus who have been terrorised by Islam over 2,000 years. Shame on you."

Following the swift online backlash, Kochhar retracted his tweet. According to the hotel, the restaurant will continue to operate without the chef's affiliation.

IANS

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Tyres of Indian economy punctured, policy blunders responsible: Chidambaram

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said three out of the four wheels of the national economy have been "punctured" and held the BJP government's "administrative incompetence", "reckless decisions" and "policy blunders" responsible for the rising farm distress, unemployment and economic failure.

"The tyres on three of the four wheels on which the economy rides are punctured. Firstly exports: the growth rate in the last four years has been negative. Secondly, private investment: it is in the doldrums, if not dead. Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) is stuck at 28.5 per cent for three years," he told reporters here.

"Thirdly, private consumption: it was limping until a few months ago, there is a mild uptick, and we keep our fingers crossed."

He said the only tyre that seemed to be inflated was government expenditure. 

"But here too, the government's options are getting limited because of the pressure on the current account deficit (CAD) and the fiscal deficit (FD)," he said.

"I do not think, situation of the world economy is affecting India. What is affecting (us) is our own policy blunders, reckless decisions and administrative incompetence," he said. 

Chidambaram said the Reserve Bank of India's confidence survey stated that 48 per cent felt that the economic situation of the country had worsened in the last 12 months.

"The survey is unlikely to have covered the most backward parts of the country or the most deprived sections of the people. Therefore, the number of 48 per cent will be actually higher," he said. 

The senior leader said farm income was not rising even at a fraction of the growth rate of the economy and farm wages were constant for the last three-four years. 

"At these rates, it will take another 14 years to double farmers' income," he said while taking a dig at the Narendra Modi government's plan to double farm income by 2022.

He said farmers' despondency had turned into anger and they had come on to the streets to protest.

"The principal reasons are uneconomic price for farm produce and stagnant wages of farm labour. MSP (Minimum Support Price) is not adequate. Every farmer knows that the promise of MSP = Cost + 50 per cent is a 'jumla'," he said.

Chidambaram said unemployment was rampant in the country, which was a "far cry" from the Bharatiya Janata Party's promised two crore jobs a year.

"There is great ferment in campuses across the country because young men and women know that there will be no jobs when they graduate. So far, nobody has bought the innovative idea that 'frying pakoras is also a job'," he said.

He questioned why the Labour Bureau Survey for October-December 2017 was not yet released.

Chidambaram said the gross NPAs (Non-Performing Assets) had risen in the last four years from Rs 2,63,000 crore to Rs 10,30,000 crore and would rise further.

"No bank is willing to lend a big-ticket loan. Credit growth to industry in the last four years was 5.6, 2.7, -1.9 and 0.7 per cent. The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) is an utter failure. Government cannot find the additional money to recapitalise banks," he said.

When asked about fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, Chidambaram said: "I know, they (government) have made no efforts to get them back. In fact, I doubt if they are making any effort. Our position is that they allowed both the gentlemen to leave the county." 

He said demonetisation had caused the growth rate to decline from 8.2 per cent in 2015-16 to 6.7 per cent in 2017-18.

"The Tamil Nadu government has officially acknowledged that 50,000 MSME units were shut down in the state in 2017-18; 5,00,000 jobs were lost; and capital investment in the MSME sector declined by Rs 11,000 crore," he said.

A flawed Goods and Services Tax has continued to haunt trade and business, he added.

Chidambaram said the social security laws and programmes have been neglected by the BJP-led central government. 

"The Food Security Act has not been implemented. MGNREGA is no longer demand-driven, wage arrears have mounted. Crop insurance covers barely 30 per cent of farmers, it is a windfall for insurers. Health Protection Scheme is another 'jumla'," he said. 

Chidambaram said there was "widespread anger" about the artificially fixed prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. 

"There is absolutely no reason why the prices should be higher today than what they were in May-June 2014. It is nothing but a case of fleecing the helpless consumer.

He said if petroleum products are brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), their prices will decline "immediately".
IANS

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Allahabad Bank focuses on recovery, refers 65 NPA accounts to IBC

 State-run Allahabad Bank, which referred 65 stressed accounts involving around Rs 12,566 crore to the NCLT for IBC resolution during last fiscal, is focusing on recovery and rebalancing its loan book with emphasis on small, micro, agriculture and retail advances.

The lender also said the number of "wilful defaulters" declared by the bank stood at 257, a two-and half-fold jump from March 2017 figure of 101.

"Taking into account the optimistic outlook of the economy and its different sectors, the bank will align its business objective to maximise its gains.

"The bank shall primarily focus on aggressive recovery drive, further build-up in CASA (current account and savings account), rebalancing of loan book with focus on SMARt (small, micro, agriculture and retail) loans thereby increasing its share to the loan book supported by technology," its latest annual report said.

The Kolkata-headquartered lender would also look at different avenues to raise capital with simultaneous reduction in risk weighted assets.

"Bank has referred 65 Non-Performing Assets borrowal cases involving an amount of Rs 12,566.11 crore to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for resolution under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) during FY18.

"A separate -- NCLT Cell -- at Head Office for exclusive monitoring of NCLT referred cases is being formed," it said in the report.

At the end of the 2017-18, gross NPA of the bank stood at Rs 26,562.76 crore as compared to Rs 20,687.83 crore in FY 17 (2016-17) and Net NPA remained at Rs 12,229.13 crore as on March 31 as against Rs 13,433.51 crore in FY17.

According to it, FY18 was a challenging year for the Indian banking industry due to continued stress faced in asset quality on account of various macroeconomic and other factors.

The lender has nine Asset Recovery Management Branches (ARMBs) which function exclusively for resolving NPAs and it organised 12 recovery camps in the previous year (one camp in each month) involving all the branches.

"This step was very successful in terms of recovery that amounted to Rs 3564.55 crore," it said.

According to lender, it sold 216 stressed accounts and assets worth Rs 2,539.21 crore to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) during the last financial year.

IANS

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3 tourists drown in Goa beach

Three tourists from Maharashtra, including a policeman, drowned at Goa's Calangute beach on Monday morning while two others are missing, police said.

The deceased and the missing were part of a group of 14 tourists who arrived in Goa on Monday from Akola by train and headed straight for the Calangute beach.

After they went swimming, strong currents pulled five of them into the sea. Swimming has been banned following the onset on monsoons.

The dead were identified as Pritesh Gawali (32), a police constable, Chetan Gawali (27), a student, and Ujwal Vakode (25), all from Akola. The two who went missing are Kiran Mhaske and Shubham Vaidya, said police Inspector Jivba Dalvi.

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Prabhudheva starts shooting for his next

Choreographer-actor-filmmaker Prabhudheva has started shooting for his next yet untitled film in which he will sport a police uniform for the first time.

"Prabhudheva in khaki. Shooting starts today. Really looking forward to this," Prabhudheva tweeted on Monday.

The film is directed by AC Mugil, a former associate of the "Mercury" actor in his directorial ventures "Pokkiri" and "Villu".

Other details related to the film are still under wraps.

Prabhudheva will also be seen in the Tamil film "Charlie Chaplin 2" along with actress Adah Sharma. He also has "Yung Mung Sung", "Gulebhakavali" and "Khamoshi" in his kitty.

IANS

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Over 80% CEOs expect 2018-19 growth to be higher than 7%: CII Poll

 Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) "CEOs opinion poll" on Monday showed that 82 per cent of the chief executives expect GDP growth to be higher than seven per cent for 2018-19.

As per the poll data, out of the 82 per cent, 10 per cent of CEOs expect the growth rate to even go above 7.5 per cent.

Besides, 92 per cent of CEOs polled expect further increase in consumption demand during 2018-19.

On private investment, the data disclosed that 60 per cent of CEOs believe that it will increase during the coming year.



In terms of employment generation, 56 per cent of the CEOs polled expect jobs to increase during 2018-19 and just 18 per cent believe that it will be maintained at the current levels.

According to the industry body, positive sentiments on the Indian economy were "universally expressed" at a meeting of its National Council (NC) held in Pune on June 4, and attended by more than 80 senior corporate leaders.

The "CEOs opinion poll" was held during the CII meeting.

"The economy is in a sweet spot right now as the adjustment process regarding major reforms of the past few years is largely stabilised and industry is ready for a fresh phase of investment while capacity utilisation builds up," CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Industry is looking forward to GDP growth rate picking up to close to eight per cent over the next couple of years. Fiscal prudence, able macroeconomic management, and strong reforms process have set a sound foundation for growth."

"Exports registered 10 per cent growth over 2017-18 as the global economy is recovering and we expect the momentum to pick over the current year. Going forward, we must leverage stronger overseas demand and shifting global value chains through trade facilitation and competitive products."

Additionally, the CII NC meeting lauded the landmark policy of "Fixed Term Employment" which has recently been extended to all sectors.

Sector-wise, the overall opinion of CII members on the manufacturing sector was that "demand is healthy, although input costs are rising".

Mittal said: "Most manufacturing sectors are firing up now, with automotives, FMCG, electronics and chemicals leading the way. Rural demand can be expected to remain resurgent on the back of normal monsoons as forecast, while public spending on infrastructure is boosting prospects for capital goods and downstream sectors."

Regarding the infrastructure sector, CEOs stated that there is a "discernible pick-up" now as compared to a few years ago.

IANS

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India needs a full-proof cybersecurity ecosystem: McAfee official

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Although India has become more active when it comes to cybersecurity, the country needs to put all the pieces together to protect businesses via a full-proof ecosystem, a top executive from cybersecurity firm McAfee has stressed.

"India is interacting a lot with neighbours, coordinating with them via strategic MoUs on cybersecurity but there are few things that need to be patched to be able to respond faster and better to cyber attacks," Ian Yip, Chief Technology Officer, Asia Pacific at McAfee, told IANS.

In a recent report released by the Australian Security Policy Institute, India ranked 10th on cyber security globally.

"The 10th rank globally is not that bad and there is room for improvement. India is in a good place to make those improvements by collaborating with all the stakeholders including cyber security firms," Yip added.

India now has the National Cyber Coordination Centre, apart from a general computer emergency response team (CERT) and a separate CERT to protect the Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI) sector.

According to Yip, there is now a full-fledged secondary market with cybercrime-as-a-service, helping cybercriminals leverage capabilities from fellow attackers and use advanced malware techniques to target enterprises.

"Cyber attackers have the capability to use some of the more advanced techniques. There is a secondary market with cybercrime-as-a-service, where they can leverage the capability of other criminals into the attack mechanisms," Yip noted.

Apart from rising ransomware attacks, cryptojacking is now a big threat to companies.

Cryptocurrency mining is rising, said the executive, owing to the increase in the cryptocurrency value.

"Cryptojacking is more harmful for businesses and individuals than ransomware because it increases the cost of ransom," Yip added.

The fourth quarter of 2017 saw a spike in the Bitcoin value, driving cybercriminals to focus on cryptocurrency hijacking through a variety of methods and was defined by rapid cybercriminal adoption of newer tools and schemes, a new McAfee report said recently.

According to Yip, the next big wave of innovation in cybersecurity solution is Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions.

"There is urgent need to automate, orchestrate and integrate as much of security infrastructure as possible amid skill shortage. Cyber attackers are now also trying to leverage the potential of New-Age technologies," he noted.

IANS

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M.K. Jain appointed RBI Deputy Governor

Former IDBI Bank MD and Chief Executive M.K Jain was on Monday appointed a new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of three years, an official statement said.

The appointment was made by the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee, which includes the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, the Financial Services Secretary, besides other independent members.

The post of one of the Deputy Governors at the Central bank fell vacant after the retirement of S.S. Mundra on July 31, 2017.

Jain has been at his current post at state-run IDBI Bank since April 2017 and has previously served as the Chief Executive of Indian Bank. A career banker, he has also been a member of the Indian Banks' Association Committee on risk management.

The government had advertised for the post of RBI Deputy Governor in January this year and as many as 40 applications had been received in response, according to sources.

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12, including 4 policemen, injured in grenade attack (Second Lead)

Twelve people, including four policemen and eight civilians, were injured on Monday when militants hurled a grenade at a police team in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian town.

The grenade exploded on the road injuring the lot, a police officer said. A girl who was among the injured was said to be in critical condition and rushed to a Srinagar hospital.

Hospital sources in Shopian identified two of the injured policemen as Station House Officer (SHO) Gulzar Ahmad and his security guard.

Militants have continued to attack security forces despite New Delhi declaring a unilateral but conditional truce during the holy month of Ramadan.

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Facebook defends data-sharing partnerships with phone makers (Lead)

 After a New York Times report claimed that Facebook allowed about 60 device makers, including Apple and Samsung, to access personal information of users and their friends, the social network has defended the pacts saying that these partnerships do not raise privacy concerns.

Even before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, Facebook had data-sharing partnerships with the device makers, the report said citing company officials, adding that most of the deals remain in effect. 

Facebook said that the partners signed agreements that prevented people's information from being used for any other purpose than to recreate Facebook-like experiences. 

"Partners could not integrate the user's Facebook features with their devices without the user's permission," Ime Archibong, Facebook's Vice President of Product Partnerships, said in a statement on Sunday. 

Archibong said that in the early days of mobile, the demand for Facebook outpaced the company's ability to build versions of the product that worked on every phone or operating system.

"It's hard to remember now but back then there were no app stores. So companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube had to work directly with operating system and device manufacturers to get their products into people's hands," Archibong said.

"This took a lot of time -- and Facebook was not able to get to everyone. To bridge this gap, we built a set of device-integrated APIs that allowed companies to recreate Facebook-like experiences for their individual devices or operating systems," Archibong added. 

Facebook launched the device-integrated APIs about a decade ago and said that all these partnerships were built on a common interest -- the desire for people to be able to use Facebook whatever their device or operating system. 

"Given that these APIs enabled other companies to recreate the Facebook experience, we controlled them tightly from the get-go," Archibong said. 

The New York Times report claimed that the deals raise concerns about the company's privacy protections and compliance with a 2011 consent decree with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Facebook, which is already under scrutiny for misuse of millions of its users' data after the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal became public, reportedly allowed the device companies access to the data of users' friends without their explicit consent, even after declaring that it would no longer share such information with outsiders. 

Some device-makers could retrieve personal information even from users' friends who believed they had barred any sharing, The New York Times found.

Facebook's leaders said that the kind of access exploited by the political consulting firm in 2014 was cut off by the next year as it prohibited developers from collecting information from users' friends.

But the company officials did not disclose that such restrictions were not applicable to makers of cellphones, tablets and other hardware, the report said. 

Facebook responded by saying that contrary to claims by The New York Times, friends' information, like photos, was only accessible on devices when people made a decision to share their information with those friends. 

"We are not aware of any abuse by these companies," Archibong said, adding that the device partnerships very different from the public APIs used by third-party developers who used the Facebook information people shared with them to build completely new experiences.

Facebook said that it had already ended 22 of the device partnerships.

"Now that iOS and Android are so popular, fewer people rely on these APIs to create bespoke Facebook experiences. It's why we announced in April that we're winding down access to them. We've already ended 22 of these partnerships," Archibong said.

IANS

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