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Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Monday, 23 May 2016

Snowden calls for whistleblower shield after claims by new Pentagon source

Edward Snowden has called for a complete overhaul of US whistleblower protections after a new source from deep inside the Pentagon came forward with a startling account of how the system became a “trap” for those seeking to expose wrongdoing.

The account of John Crane, a former senior Pentagon investigator, appears to undermine Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other major establishment figures who argue that there were established routes for Snowden other than leaking to the media.

Crane, a longtime assistant inspector general at the Pentagon, has accused his old office of retaliating against a major surveillance whistleblower, Thomas Drake, in an episode that helps explain Snowden’s 2013 National Security Agency disclosures. Not only did Pentagon officials provide Drake’s name to criminal investigators, Crane told the Guardian, they destroyed documents relevant to his defence.

Snowden, responding to Crane’s revelations, said he had tried to raise his concerns with colleagues, supervisors and lawyers and been told by all of them: “You’re playing with fire.”

Source: http://www.theguardian.com

Thursday, 19 May 2016

Egyptair Jet From Paris to Cairo Crashed, French President Says

An Egyptair flight with 66 people on board crashed while en route from Paris to Cairo on Thursday, the French president confirmed.

Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:09 p.m. Paris time (5:09 p.m. ET) and vanished over the Mediterranean Sea.
Image: An Egyptair Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC
The missing Egyptair Airbus A320 — with the registration SU-GCC — sits on the tarmac at Cairo airport on Dec. 10, 2014. AP

French President Francois Hollande told a press conference that the plane had crashed, but said it was too soon to speculate as to the cause.

"No hypothesis can be ruled out," he said.

Egyptian and Greek authorities are searching for the plane, which was flying at an altitude of nearly 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar shortly before it was due to land.

Almost immediately after entering Egyptian airspace the plane swerved sharply and then lost altitude before it dropped off radar, Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told a press conference.

When the plane vanished it was about 175 miles away from Egypt's coast, according to officials.
[Ex-NTSB Investigator on MS804: 'Commercial planes don't make abrupt turns']
Ex-NTSB Investigator on MS804: 'Commercial planes don't make abrupt turns' 3:00

There were 56 passengers — including three children — along with seven crew and three "security" personnel on board the Airbus A320, Egyptair said. The airline initially had said a total of 69 people were on board but later revised the figure.

Related: Missing Egyptair Jet Raises Fears of 'Worst-Case Scenario'

Airbus — the maker of the plane — said in a statement that it regretted to confirm that "an A320 operated by Egyptair was lost" over the Mediterranean Sea.

French and Egyptian officials stressed they were closely cooperating to determine what caused the crash. Radar showed no adverse weather in the area at the time of the jet's disappearance.

Egyptian and Greek authorities were focusing search efforts in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek military confirmed that one of its frigates and two of its aircraft were assisting in the operation about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of the island of Karpathos.

Two helicopters also were on standby on Karpathos, Greek Cmdr. Vasilios Beletsiotis told NBC News.

The U.S. Navy confirmed that — at the request of the Greek government — a Navy P-3 aircraft would soon be joining the search.
""The current indications are leaning toward some sort of abrupt incident as opposed to some sort of gradual malfunction""

Egyptair said the flight was carrying 30 Egyptian nationals along with citizens from 11 other countries — including Canada, France, the U.K., Belgium and Iraq.

Britain's Foreign Office told NBC News it was "in urgent contact with local authorities in Paris and Cairo" and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened a crisis hotline.

Greek air traffic controllers had a normal interaction with the Egyptair pilot as he flew above the island of Kea, according to the head of the country's civil aviation authority.

Kostas Lyntzerikos told NBC News the plane exited Greek airspace at 3:26 a.m. local time (8:26 p.m. ET) and disappeared from radar screens two minutes later — at which point controllers notified Egyptian authorities.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com

Friday, 13 May 2016

World's Oldest Person Dies In New York At The Age Of 116

The world's oldest living person, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones, died on Thursday in New York City, a research group said.

Jones' death makes Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, a 116-year-old woman in Italy, the oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Jones, who was born in the southern U.S. state of Alabama in 1899, was the daughter of sharecroppers and granddaughter of slaves.

After graduating from high school she moved north in 1922 to New Jersey and then New York, where she worked as a housekeeper and childcare provider, according to Guinness World Records and the Vandalia Senior Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where she lived.

Jones, who retired in 1965, had said that lots of sleep is the secret to her longevity and that she had never smoked or drank alcohol.

The oldest verified person was Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 at 122 years and 164 days, the research group said.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.in

US navigation operations in South China Sea not an act of provocation: White House

Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area.

The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed concerns of the international community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource- rich sea.


However, the White House yesterday refused to describe the situation in the South China Sea as headed towards tension.

"I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.


The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.

"We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that international law allows," Earnest said, adding that th ..


A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what international law regards as an island's territorial sea. The reef is now an island with an airstrip, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.

Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Monday, 9 May 2016

HUL drops in volatile trade after reporting tepid volume growth in Q4

Hindustan Unilever fell 0.27% to Rs 850.65 at 15:27 IST on BSE, after the company reported tepid volume growth in its domestic consumer business Q4 March 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 467.45 points or 1.85% at 25,695.95

On BSE, so far 3.92 lakh shares were traded on the counter as against average daily volume of 1.13 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock was volatile. The stock rose as much as 1.88% at the day's high of Rs 869 so far during the day. The stock fell as much as 1.48% at the day's low of Rs 840.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 944 on 8 July 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 765.35 on 27 January 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 6 May 2016, falling 2.14% compared with 1.32% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 0.95% as against Sensex's 2.48% rise.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 216.39 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL)'s net profit rose 7.02% to Rs 1089.59 crore on 3.26% growth in total income to Rs 8027.91 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The growth in net profit in Q4 March 2016 was adversely impacted by base effect. HUL said it had booked higher exceptional income in Q4 March 2015 from the sale of subsidiary. Net profit before exceptional items rose 13% to Rs 1031 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The result was announced during market hours today, 9 May 2016.

HUL said net sales of its domestic consumer business grew 3.6% on year on year basis in Q4 March 2016. The growth rate was adversely impacted due to phasing out of excise duty incentives, a one-time credit for excise duty refund in Q4 March 2015 and marginal price degrowth. Volume growth stood at 4% on year on year basis in Q4 March 2016.

HUL's net profit fell 5.39% to Rs 4082.37 crore on 3.38% growth in total income to Rs 32487.80 crore in the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016) over the year ended 31 March 2015 (FY 2015).

HUL's consolidated net profit fell 6.43% to Rs 4082.42 crore on 3.23% growth in total income to Rs 33591.04 crore in the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016) over the year ended 31 March 2015 (FY 2015).

The domestic consumer business grew by 4% with 6% underlying volume growth. Reported growth was impacted due to phasing out of excise duty incentives, HUL said. Profit before interest and tax (PBIT) grew by 10% with PBIT margin improving by 90 basis points. Profit after tax but before exceptional items, PAT (bei), grew by 6% to Rs 4078 crores. Net profit was at Rs 4082 crore, with the growth rate impacted by the higher exceptional income arising from subsidiary and property related sales in previous year, the company said. The strong track record of cash generation was sustained as cash from operations exceeding Rs 5000 crore for yet another year, it added.

HUL Chairman Harish Manwani commented that the company has delivered another year of competitive and profitable growth in challenging markets and a deflationary cost environment.

HUL is a leading fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company.   Source: http://www.business-standard.com

Sunday, 8 May 2016

Haqqani network’s chief made deputy leader of Taliban to protect him from US, says report

Pakistan’s powerful ISI had brought in Haqqani network’s chief Sirajuddin Haqqani as the deputy leader of the Taliban last year to protect him from the Americans, a media report said on Sunday.
The New York Times, quoting Afghan and American officials, said in a report that the “closer integration of
the feared” Haqqani militant network into the leadership of the Taliban is “changing the flow of the Afghan insurgency this year, with the Haqqanis’ senior leader increasingly calling the shots in the Taliban’s offensive.
It quoted Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil as saying that “the ISI brought Sirajuddin as the deputy to the Taliban to give him protection, so if the peace talks get serious, the Americans wouldn’t be able to say, ‘We will make peace with the leader but not with the deputy’.”
Nabil, who now runs a charity for wounded Afghan soldiers, said the merger had been helped by the fact that the
Haqqanis were struggling financially, after their chief fund-raiser was gunned down near Islamabad in 2013, and that the Taliban needed Haqqani’s expertise in waging complex attacks.

Pak arrests top Taliban commander Nasiruddin Haqqani
US,Afghan negotiating peace deal with Haqqanis: Report
Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesman for United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that “Sirajuddin increasingly runs the day-to-day military operations for the Taliban, and, we believe, is likely
involved in appointing shadow governors.”
“The Haqqani network’s closer integration with the Taliban command also creates awkwardness for the Obama
administration, and is raising tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” it said.
The report cited some senior Afghan officials as saying that the Pakistani military was “central” to bringing the Haqqanis more closely into the Taliban during the insurgency’s leadership councils in 2015 summer, which were held in Quetta.
The report said that the Haqqanis have “refined a signature brand” of urban terrorist attacks and cultivated a sophisticated international fund-raising network, factoring prominently in the United States military’s push to keep troops in Afghanistan.
It added that the group’s growing role in leading the entire insurgency in the war-torn country has raised concerns about an even deadlier year of fighting ahead, as hopes of peace talks have collapsed.
“The shift is also raising tensions with the Pakistani military, which American and Afghan officials accuse of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group,” it said.
While the Haqqani network has always nominally been a branch of the Taliban, the report said the selection of
Sirajuddin Haqqani to become the deputy leader of the Taliban during a leadership struggle in summer 2015 has turned out to be far from a “symbolic move” with Haqqani bringing to the Taliban a “more applied and lethal military expertise” than the supreme leader of the group, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
“Mullah Mansour has been consumed with a campaign to quell dissent against his leadership, and he is said to have limited his movements and access since a reported attack on his life in Quetta, Pakistan. Accordingly, Haqqani has stepped in, at times even running meetings of the Taliban leadership council,” the report said citing senior Afghan security officials.
A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan said Haqqani had been in “constant contact” with Taliban field
commanders in the south and the north of the country, in addition to his stronghold in the southeast.
Mawlawi Sardar Zadran, a former Haqqani commander in eastern Afghanistan, said Haqqani had a central role in
appointing Taliban governors.
“No one can be appointed without his advice,” he said. “The influence of Sirajuddin in the Taliban ranks seems to be just growing.”
The report quoted a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, as confirming Haqqani’s elevated role, saying it was
because of “his bravery”.
“We can say that not only his military obligations but all his obligations have increased,” Mujahid said.
The State Department had officially listed the Haqqanis as a terrorist group in 2012, and there is a USD 5 million
American bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The report added that the Afghan Taliban, as a group, have remained off that terrorist list, “partly to ease the prospect of starting peace talks between them and the Afghan government — a process that American officials have been centrally involved in.
“With the clear and public integration of the Haqqanis into the Taliban leadership over at least the past year, American officials have essentially been unable to dodge the claim that they are trying to broker talks with terrorists,” it said.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/

Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Will shoot policemen if they continue to harass BJP workers, warns BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj

BJP's loudmouth MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj, who has courted several controversies in past, has now threatened to shoot cops if they continue to harass his supporters and party workers.

According to Aaj Tak, Sakshi Maharaj has said that if UP policemen continued to threaten his party workers in Mainpuri they will be gunned down.

The controversial BJP MP issued the statement a day after visiting the house of Maidan Singh, BJP vice president of the Mainpuri district, who is being allegedly harassed by the local policemen.

Addressing his supporters, Sakshi Maharaj accused the Samajawadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav of failing to control the rising lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh and encouraging anti-social elements.

The Unnao MP said the local policemen have misbehaved with Maidan Singh's two daughters and entered his house without lady constables. Sorce:http://zeenews.india.com

Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justic KM Joseph, who quashed President's rule, transferred

The Uttarakhand High Court 's Chief Justice KM Joseph , who presided over the bench which quashed President's rule in the state, has been transferred to the Anhdra Pradesh High Court.

Dilip B Bhosale, the acting Chief Justice of the Hyderabad High Court, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The 57-year-old Joseph took charge of the Uttarakhand High Court in 2014. He passed out of the Government Law College in Ernakulam and enrolled himself as an advocate in Delhi in 1982. He practised in Kerala as well.

Last month, a bench of Uttarakhand High Court, presided over by Joseph, had quashed the Centre's decision to impose President's rule in the state.

Uttarakhand crisis: SC grants Centre time till May 6 to clear stand on holding floor test


Uttarakhand crisis: SC grants Centre time till May 6 to clear stand on holding floor test

In his judgement, which admonished the NDA government, Justice Joseph has said that the Centre should act 'impartial'.

However, the ruling was stayed by the Supreme Court. Source: http://zeenews.india.com