No need for CBI probe into rape at girls' home: Bihar DGP

Amid growing demand for a CBI probe into the alleged rape of over 40 minor girls in a shelter home in Muzaffarpur of Bihar, state police chief K.S. Dwivedi on Tuesday said there is no need for a probe by the central agency as the on-going probe by the police is satisfactory.

"I don't think there is any need for a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe into the case. The state government has so far not taken any decision in this regard. The probe by state police is satisfactory," the Director General of Police (DGP) told the media here.

Dwivedi's statement assumes significance since after the opposition's demand for a CBI probe both in Lok Sabha as well as in Bihar Assembly, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said a CBI probe would be ordered once the Centre receives a request to this effect from the state.

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members raised the demand both inside and outside the state assembly here on Tuesday. Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the state government was doing everything to save the accused.


Former state Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi has also reiterated the demand for a CBI investigation, alleging that the accused had links with the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and government officials.

Meanwhile, Muzaffarpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harpreet Kaur said a special police team has been constituted to search half-a-dozen missing girls of the girls' home.

She said the police had been investigating the case ever since an inmate of the shelter home recorded her statement before a judicial magistrate recently, as required under the law.

The SSP said no buried body girl was found after police dug the ground at girls' home on Monday. Two girls, who had alleged that a girl was buried after she was raped and killed, were present during the digging of the said ground.

"It was they (the two girls) who had identified the site at 'Balika Grih' (girls' home), where a girl was allegedly buried," Kaur said.

She said the shelter home had been sealed after allegations of sexual abuse of the girls came to light during a social audit conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

The report of the audit was submitted to the state Social Welfare Department, which directed local officials to lodge a complaint.

Last week, medical examination of 44 girls of the home had revealed that 21 of them were raped. The district police have arrested an official of the home but main accused are still out of the net.

IANS

Read More

Equity markets open on high note on Wednesday

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) on Wednesday opened on a positive note during the morning session of the trade.

The Sensex of the BSE after opening at high of 36,928.06 points touched a low of 36,850.42 points.

On Tuesday the Sensex closed at 36,825.10 points.

The Sensex is trading at 36,881.95 points up by 56.85 points or 0.15 per cent.

On the other hand, the broader 51-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 11,148.40 points after closing at 11,134.30 points.

The Nifty is trading at 11,144.10 points in the morning.

IANS

Read More

Foreign Bigg boss everything happening INSIDE.....

Difference between Bigboss 2 and Forien BIgboss

Read More

Single data breach costs nearly Rs 12 crore in India: IBM study

The estimated average cost of a data breach in India went up to Rs 11.9 crore in 2017 -- a nearly eight per cent increase from 2016, an IBM study revealed on Wednesday.

Malicious or criminal attacks were the root cause for 42 per cent of data breaches, according to the 2018 edition of the "Cost of a Data Breach" study conducted by US-based Ponemon Institute on behalf of IBM Security.

An estimated per capita cost per lost or stolen records reported last year was Rs 4,552 -- a 7.8 per cent increase from the previous report.

"The threat scenario shows a significant rise in both number and sophistication of breaches in this year's report, which is alarming as it continues to rise in India," Vikas Arora, Chief Transformation Officer, IBM India/South Asia, said in a statement. 

**********
*************

Based on in-depth interviews with nearly 500 companies globally that experienced a data breach, the study analysed hundreds of cost factors surrounding a breach, from technical investigations and recovery, to notifications, legal and regulatory activities, and cost of lost business and reputation.

The global average cost of a data breach is up 6.4 per cent over the previous year to $3.86 million, the report said.

The average cost for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information also increased by 4.8 per cent year over year to $148, the findings showed.

Overall, the study found that hidden costs in data breaches -- such as lost business, negative impact on reputation and employee time spent on recovery -- are difficult and expensive to manage.

For example, the study found that one-third of the cost of "mega breaches" -- involving over one million lost records -- were derived from lost business.

In the past five years, the amount of mega breaches has nearly doubled, from just nine mega breaches in 2013 to 16 mega breaches in 2017.

The study also calculated the costs associated mega breaches ranging from one million to 50 million records lost, projecting that these breaches cost companies between $40 million and $350 million, respectively.

For mega breaches, the biggest expense category was costs associated with lost business, which were estimated at nearly $118 million for breaches of 50 million records -- almost a third of the total cost of a breach this size.

The findings showed that data breaches are most costly in the US and the Middle East, and least costly in Brazil and India. 

Read More

Omar Abdullah defends IAS officer who faces disciplinary action

 Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday came out in defence of Shah Faesal, the IAS officer who faces disciplinary action for his posts on social media.

The state administration department served a notice to the 2010 Indian Administrative Service exam topper after the Department of Personnel and Trainings (DoPT) asked the state to initiate action against Faesal who is presently in the US pursuing a post graduate course at the Harvard University.

The officer has been frankly voicing his views on various social issues in the country which a government servant is not permitted to do as per the rules quoted by the DoPT.

Defending the officer, Omar Abdullah tweeted: "I see this notice as a case of bureaucratic over-enthusiasm where people who are pushing the files at the top do not understand the spirit of the times we are living in.

"You have no problem when officers from Rajasthan and elsewhere defy 'set norms of governance and conduct', yet Faesal's tweet about rape bothers you. Somehow this does not surprise me at all!

"Looks like the DoPT is determined to chase @shahfaesal out of the civil services. The last line of this page is shocking and unacceptable where they question Faesal's 'integrity and honesty'. How is a sarcastic tweet dishonest? How does it make him corrupt?"

In his defence the officer has said: "Government employees can be hauled for criticism of the government policy, agreed. But in this case if you think rape is part of government policy only then you can take action against me which I believe it is not.

"I think we need to understand that government employees live in a society and they cannot stay completely detached from the moral questions of the society. A ban on their freedom of speech and expression is totally unacceptable."

Faesal earlier said the rules prohibiting voicing of opinion on societal and governmental issues on social media by civil servants in India are monarchical and, therefore, need to be revisited immediately.

ians

Read More

Google 'Launchpad Accelerator' India chapter to nurture desi startups

 In a bid to nurture Indian startups working in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), Google on Tuesday announced to open the India chapter of its global "Launchpad Accelerator" mentorship programme.

The three-month "Launchpad Accelerator" India programme has been designed to grow the AI/ML ecosystem by helping desi startups build scalable solutions for the country's unique problems. 

The programme, based out of Bengaluru, will provide a cohort of 8-10 Indian startups mentorship and support from the best of Google in AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, web, product strategy and marketing, along with up to $100K of Google Cloud credits, the company said in a statement.

"India has the appetite to build entrepreneurs of the future and we are proud to announce a focused programme for the next wave of Indian entrepreneurs, who are using new technologies to solve the country's needs," said Roy Glasberg, Global Launchpad Founder.

Over the years, Google has worked with some incredible startups across India who are using advanced technologies such as AI/ML to tackle everything from agri-tech to language web, healthcare and transportation. 

"With the dedicated India-only Launchpad Accelerator programme, we will be able to build a bridge between startups and the industry ecosystem and support them to drive innovation in the India market," Glasberg added.

Applications for the first class is open till July 31 and the first class will start in September 2018. 

In an effort to mentor emerging start-ups, Google India hosted a four-day boot camp for the first 10 Indian startups as part of its 'Solve for India' programme.

The India-focused accelerator programme is building on Google's "Solve for India" roadshow from last year. 

Ten Indian startups were shortlisted from across India which underwent four days in one-on-one consults with experts from Google and mentors from the industry to solve critical product and growth challenges.

"We shortlisted 10 startups from 160 home-grown start-ups by travelling across 15 cities in India, and are now ready to scale this pilot as a dedicated programme for India," Karthik Padmanabhan, Developer Relations Lead, Google India, said at that time.

The participants were the founders of startups including Nebulaa, Slang Labs, PregBuddy, LegalDesk, PaySack, Vokal, FarMart, Meesho, Pratilipi and M-Indicator.

"Launchpad" regional accelerators are tailored specifically to their local markets, helping startups build great products, Google said. 

IANS 

Read More

Cyber warfare is grave threat, but India is not yet prepared for it: General Hooda

Cyber warfare is emerging as a grave threat with a potential to wreak havoc in a war situation, but India is not yet prepared to handle it effectively, a former Indian Army general has said.


"We have been alive to the (cyber) threat for some time, but the nature of the threat is expanding quite rapidly. With Internet of Things (IoT) and everything around our life getting interconnected, we suddenly realise the potential of the threat to be enormous. In preparation we are still lacking a bit as the organisational structures that are needed to counter this are not in place," Lt. General (retd) D.S. Hooda told IANS in an interview.

Hooda, who specialises in the field, said that with critical infrastructure and military installations getting connected through the internet, the threat of cyber attacks was becoming increasingly lethal and that an emerging India was particularly at risk of such attacks.

Calling cyber warfare the "fifth dimension" of war -- after land, water, air and space -- Hooda said that India was ranked third in terms of facing threats of cyber warfare but was at 23rd position when it comes to preparedness to deal with them.

"Since India is growing economically, diplomatically and politically, people will target us. It's the weapon of weaker nations against stronger nations. I see no reason why Pakistan would hesitate to use it against us," said Hooda, who was the architect of the famous surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016 as the Northern Army Command chief.

He said there had not been enough discussion and debate on the strategic aspect of cyber warfare, otherwise an integrated cyber command would have been in place by now.

But how damaging can a cyber war be?

"Well, a lot of people say that so many cyber attacks have already happened yet not a single person has been killed. But I think that has got to do with intentions. In these attacks, so far, the intent was not to do that (kill people), but the capability definitely exists," Hooda said.

"If you get into infrastructure, for example, related to dams, and you are able to flood some areas, or you get into the command control networks... there is talk that the Americans did get into the North Korean missile programme and managed to do some damage to that. So I think the potential exists for what you can do with it because our lives are so interconnected now," he said.

"It can actually impact each sphere of your life. So rather than saying that it has not happened till now, I think what we should look at is whether the capability of kinetic damage to human life exists, and I think it does exist right now," Hooda said.

He said the more we get interconnected, the more risk we face.

What are the various aspects of cyber warfare? Hooda said that in such attacks normally weaker, hostile countries are involved and they carry out targeted attacks on critical infrastructure or military installations of the rival country, including spreading disinformation to create societal unrest.

"The example of this you saw in the US elections when social media was used to influence the voters. Whether that actually happened or not is a matter of investigation. When you combine all this, that's why we are now defining cyber as the fifth dimension of warfare. After air, land, sea and space, now you see cyber warfare becoming an integral component of the overall war," Hooda said.

"See what happened between Russia and Ukraine. Twice the Russians got into the power grid of Ukraine and shut down the power supply to thousand of households. It happened in Estonia in 2007. So this is what we are talking about when we say cyber warfare," he added.

He said that, earlier, the defence establishment looked at this in a "limited way", something confined to, say, the communication system.

"Then we suddenly saw that more and more critical infrastructure had started to get connected to the internet. You heard about cyber command and how the British have put up such a command structure in place. For some reason, there has been a lot of delay. I hope this defence cyber agency comes through. But unless you have structures in place to be able to deal with this threat we are going to be found wanting in case of a serious cyber attack," Hooda said.

Asked if we have ever attacked Pakistan in the cyber space, the general just smiled and said: "These are classified intelligence operations. So I will not comment on that. All I can tell you is that, yes, we have the capability."

IANS

Read More

Facebook stock at all-time high despite data breaches

 Despite the massive Cambridge Analytica data scandal and a couple of users' privacy issues owing to internal bugs, Facebook stock closed at an all-time record high of $203.23 on Friday.

Investors are loving the social network more than ever that saw its stocks dipping earlier in 2018 when it was under an intense probe over data breach from the US and European governments, Fortune reported.

Investors are also happy at the news that Facebook has grabbed its biggest sports streaming deal yet with the Premier League.

The Times reported that Facebook has won exclusive rights to show all 380 live matches in parts of Asia -- Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos -- from 2019 until 2022, in a deal worth about $264 million.

Since going public in 2012, Facebook has seen its stock rise more than 400 per cent.

In the latest privacy goof-up, Facebook admitted that over 800,000 users were affected by a bug on its platform and Messenger that unblocked some people the users had blocked.

The bug was active between May 29 and June 5 -- and while someone who was unblocked could not see content shared with friends, they could have seen things posted to a wider audience, said Facebook.

Facebook has already been grappling with privacy issues like the Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving 87 million users and another bug that changed 14 million users' privacy setting defaults to public.
IANS

Read More

Zebra Technologies launches new mobile printer, RFID solution in India

Aiming to empower workers in the field, in the warehouse and on the retail floor with on-demand printing capabilities, Zebra Technologies, a global leader in providing solutions and services to enterprises, on Thursday launched a new mobile printer and radio-frequency identification (RFID) solution in India.

Priced between Rs 35,000-Rs 50,000 (depending on the configuration and deployment), the new "ZQ300" series mobile printers offers both receipt and label capabilities along with wireless connectivity, battery and power management options. 

"Driven by the always-connected, tech-savvy shopper, retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies are collaborating and swapping roles in uncharted ways to meet shoppers' omnichannel product fulfillment and delivery expectations," Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director-India, Zebra Technologies, said in a statement.

The "FX9600" costs around Rs 1 lakh (depending on the configuration and deployment) and features high Radio Frequency (RF) sensitivity.

"FX9600" fixed UHF RFID reader readers can deliver high accuracy and long read ranges, even in high traffic environments, the company claimed.

Meanwhile, according to the company's "Future of Fulfilment Vision Study" (Asia-Pacific edition), RFID technology and inventory management platforms are expected to grow from 32 per cent to 95 per cent in 2028. 

"Companies in India are turning to digital technology and analytics to bring heightened automation, merchandise visibility and business intelligence to the supply chain to compete in the on-demand consumer economy," Agarwal added.

The company's findings added 67 per cent of logistics companies expect to provide same-day delivery by 2023 and 55 per cent anticipate delivery within a two-hour window by 2028.



ians

Read More

ISRO tests crew escape system for human spaceflight

In its aim towards human spaceflight, Indian space agency ISRO on Thursday carried out the first in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a statement said the crew escape system is a critical technology for human spaceflight.

"The crew escape system is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort. 

"The first test (Pad Abort Test) demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad," ISRO said.

According to the ISRO, the five-hour countdown was smooth. The crew escape system along with the simulated crew module with a mass of 12.6 tonne, lifted off at 7 a.m. at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the crew escape system along with crew module soared skyward, then arced out over the Bay of Bengal and floated back to Earth under its parachutes about 2.9 km from Sriharikota.

The crew module reached an altitude of nearly 2.7 km under the power of its seven specifically designed quick acting solid motors to take away the crew module to a safe distance without exceeding the safe g-levels.

Nearly 300 sensors recorded various mission performance parameters during the test flight.

Three recovery boats are being exercised to retrieve the module as part of the recovery protocol.

IANS

Read More

Woman climbs Statue of Liberty to protest family separations

A woman was taken into custody after she climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, prompting the separation of thousands of children from their immigrant parents.

Authorities on Wednesday tried to talk the woman identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou, down but she refused to leave, reports CNN. 

For nearly three hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. 

     
Okoumou was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released", a New York Police Department source told CNN.

She was brought down the statue with the help of about 16 officers with the New York City Police Department, Officer Brian Glacken said in a news conference Wednesday evening.

Earlier on Wednesday, other protesters unfurled a banner over a railing around the base of the statue saying "Abolish ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)!"

At least seven people were arrested on Liberty Island and the site was closed to visitors.

Read More