HP Launches 'Centre of Excellence' to Support Digital India

In line with the government's Digital India initiative, HP Inc on Wednesday launched its first 'Centre of Excellence' (CoE) in India.

The facility is dedicated to demonstrating innovative solutions developed locally that have the potential to digitally transform the country.

The 4,000 square-feet facility aims to showcase multiple solutions for sectors such as education, healthcare, BFSI (Banking, Financial services and Insurance) and manufacturing.

"The CoE will allow government and non-government stakeholders to have a practical understanding of the solutions making it easier for decision makers to take a step forward towards comprehensive digitisation of the nation," said P.P. Chaudhary, Minister of State for Law and Justice, in a statement.

Developed in collaboration with over 25 system integrators that include top IT software companies, the CoE will be used as a platform to exhibit solutions relevant to government and businesses.

"HP India over the years has delivered transformational technology solutions to help make the Digital India vision a reality," added Rajiv Srivastava, Managing Director, HP Inc India.

4000 medical PG seats added to streamline medical education: PM Narendra Modi

SURAT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the government has streamlined the medical education field and created 4,000 new post-graduate seats in medical colleges which would resolve the problem of lack of doctors.

"In our country, in the field of health there has always been a complaint that we do not have enough doctors. This is because we do not have a robust system to produce doctors," Modi told a gathering which included medical students at the Surat airport after his arrival.

"If we go to the base of the problem, less number of students can get admission into post-graduate (courses in medical field) due to lack of seats, so only few become professors," he said.

"But we have streamlined it. We have increased 4,000 post graduate seats in one year. This is a big step in the country," he said.

"Every year 4,000 new post-graduate students (apart from the number of seats already existing) will pass out now who can also become professors. This means they can impart medical education to thousands of students across the country which will solve the issue of shortage of doctors," he said.

"With this we are confident that medical services will be available at village level as well," he said.

The Prime Minister also praised the work being done to make cities and villages free from open defecation.

"A big work is being done in the urban development field in the entire country. I would like to congratulate the Gujarat government for making the cities open defecation free," he said.

"Now, in the entire country 500 cities have been declared open defecation free. These cities created infrastructure to make it possible," he said, adding that in the villages also the programme is going on in full swing.

Modi is on a two-day visit to the state during which he will attend a number of events and meetings.

He will inaugurate a national convention of women sarpanch in Gandhinagar, address an industry meet of OPAL project of ONGCBSE 1.26 % in Dahej and inaugurate a four-lane bridge over Narmada river in Bharuch.

The PM will also visit the Somnath temple and attend a meeting of the temple trust.

IISc becomes first Indian university to be ranked among top 10 in world

HIGHLIGHTS

• Times Higher Education (THE) revealed that India is home to one of the world’s best small universities
• IISc has been ranked eighth at the ‘THE’s Best Small Universities in the World 2017
• IISc, a public university for scientific research and higher education, was established in 1909

NEW DELHI: For the first time, an Indian educational institute has broken into the top 10 of a global university rankings. On Tuesday, the Times Higher Education (THE) revealed that India is home to one of the world's best small universities, as it made public the 2017 edition of the rankings. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has been ranked eighth at the 'THE's Best Small Universities in the World 2017'. However, India's overall show in the ranking took a hit this year, as there were two institutions in the top 20 last year, though none were in top 10. Small universities are those with fewer than 5,000 students.

IISc, a public university for scientific research and higher education, was established in 1909 with active support from Jamsetji Tata and Sir Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. In 2015-16 it became the first Indian institute to be ranked among the top 100 in THE World University Rankings for engineering and technology at 99th position.

IISc now joins the elite list that includes California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from the US, Ecole Normale Superieure from France and Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea. Caltech continues to retain its leadership position, and France and Italy each take three places among the top 10.

Despite the new high, India has two misses. Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and Savitribai Phule Pune University which were ranked 14 and 18 respectively in the 2016 edition could not retain their spots in the top 20 this time.

Seeta Bhardwa, student editor at THE said, "The Best Small Universities in the World for 2017 highlights that small universities provide high student satisfaction and good working relationships between students and their professors. Many students are drawn to smaller class sizes, higher teacher to student ratios and the communitylike feel that a small university can provide."

India has highest bribery rate among 16 Asia Pacific countries: Transparency International

HIGHLIGHTS

• Half of the respondents from India were positive about the government’s efforts to combat bribery
• 63% of the respondents in India feel they as individuals have the power to fight corruption
• In India, respondents reported the highest bribery incident in procuring government healthcare services

MUMBAI: India had the highest bribery rate among the 16 Asia Pacific countriessurveyed by Transparency International. Nearly seven in 10 Indians who had accessed public services had paid a bribe. Contrast this with the least corrupt country - Japan, where only 0.2% of the respondents reported paying a bribe.

The only silver lining is that over a half of the respondents from India were positive about the government's efforts to combat bribery. Even as the government's efforts to tackle bribery were appreciated, slightly more than 40% of the respondents viewed that corruption had increased over the past twelve months. 63% of the respondents in India also felt that they as individuals had the power to fight corruption.

The Global Corruption Barometer for the Asia Pacific Region was released by Transparency International (TI) - an anti-corruption global civil society organisation, at the stroke of one minute past midnight on March 7, in Berlin.

Approximately 90 crore people, or just over one in four, across 16 countries in Asia Pacific, including some of its biggest economies like India and China, are estimated to have paid a bribe to access public services. For its report - People and Corruption: Asia Pacific, part of the Global Corruption Barometer series, TI spoke to nearly 22,000 people in these countries about their recent experiences with corruption.

India was followed closely by Vietnam where around two thirds (65%) had paid a bribe when accessing public services.

Across the Asia Pacific region, just 22% of the respondents thought that corruption had decreased while 40% of the respondents (41% in India) were of the option that it was on the rise. In mainland China, 73% of the respondents felt that the level of corruption had worsened. This was the highest of any country surveyed.

For the purpose of this survey, TI concentrated on bribes paid for procuring six key public services viz public schools, public hospitals, official documents (such as identification card, voters card), public utility services, the police and courts. In toto, 38% of the poorest people surveyed said they paid a bribe either for access to a service or for quicker delivery. In some countries like India, Pakistan and Thailand, it was the poorer section who had to bear the brunt of corruption and pay a bribe.

Nearly 73% of those who paid a bribe in India were from the poorer section of society, in Pakistan and Thailand this percentage was 64% and 46% respectively.

Surprisingly a reverse trend was found in some countries - such as China, where the richer sections were more likely to pay a bribe - perhaps to get a quicker or better quality of service.

"Governments must do more to deliver on their anti-corruption commitments. It's time to stop talking and act. Millions of people are forced to pay bribes for public services and it is the poor who are most vulnerable," said Jose Ugaz, chair of Transparency International.

As many states in India, already have in place the 'Right to Public Services Act' cutting across a number of services, which require that services be delivered within a stipulated time period, the survey results point out the need for further improvement.

In India, respondents reported the highest bribery incident in procuring government healthcare services and even identification related documents. Nearly 59% of the respondents had paid a bribe for such services. Bribes paid for education were next on the list with 58% having reported doing so.

Speaking to TOI, Ilham Mohamed, regional coordinator, South Asia & Mongolia at TI said: "At the state level, anti-corruption policies must be focussed on catering to the poor. Uniform best practices for state levl lokayuktas must be agreed upon and any overlaps with other law enforcement agencies must be resolved at the earliest."

She adds that at the national level, "India needs to urgently align its foreign bribery laws with its UNCAC (United Nations Convention against Corruption) obligations. Signing OECD anti-bribery commission is key in this process. The legal infrastructure for public procurement in India falls under the remit of the General Financial Rules. TI recommends that a national procurement law that incorporates international best practices including debarment, appeal processes and a review processes be enacted. This will substantially reduce fraud in public contracting which will in turn affect the quality of public service delivery. For grand corruption, a key step would be to set up effective enabling regulations and institutions for the LokPal." Across the region, people thought that reporting corruption (22%) followed by refusing to pay bribes (21%) were most effective.

Donald Trump's Revised Travel Ban Blocks New Visas For 6 Muslim-Majority Nations

HIGHLIGHTS

1.      US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban on Monday

2.      As per order, the US' refugee program has been suspended for 120 days

3.      Iraqi citizens have been exempted from Trump's first executive travel ban

 President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban Monday that administration officials

said they hope will end legal challenges over the matter by imposing a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas for citizens of six majority-Muslim nations.

In addition, the nation's refugee program will be suspended for 120 days, and it will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration.

Trump signed the new ban out of public view, according to White House officials. The order will not take effect until March 16, officials said.

The new guidelines mark a dramatic departure from Trump's original ban. They lay out a far more specific national security basis for the order, block the issuance of only new visas, and name just six of the seven countries included in the first executive order, omitting Iraq.

The order also details specific sets of people who would be able to apply for case-by-case waivers to the order, including those previously admitted to the United States for "a continuous period of work, study, or other long-term activity," those with "significant business or professional obligations" and those seeking to visit or live with family.

"This executive order responsibly provides a needed pause, so we can carefully review how we scrutinize people coming here from these countries of concern," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in announcing that the order had been signed.

Even before the ink was dry, though, Democrats and civil liberties groups asserted that the new order was legally tainted in the same way as the first one: It was a thinly disguised Muslim ban.

"While the White House may have made changes to the ban, the intent to discriminate against Muslims remains clear," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, D, who had joined the legal fight against the first ban. "This doesn't just harm the families caught in the chaos of President Trump's draconian policies - it's diametrically opposed to our values, and makes us less safe."

Said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project: "The only way to actually fix the Muslim ban is not to have a Muslim ban. Instead, President Trump has recommitted himself to religious discrimination, and he can expect continued disapproval from both the courts and the people."

State Department, Homeland Security and Justice Department officials defended the new order as a necessary measure to improve public safety. They said the countries implicated - Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Syria and Yemen - were either state sponsors of terrorism, or their territories were so compromised that they were effectively safe havens for terrorist groups. Iraq was omitted, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, because it is an "important ally in the fight to defeat ISIS," and its leaders had agreed to implement new security measures.

A Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity on a call with reporters, said Iraq was "treated differently" in part because the country had agreed to "timely repatriation" of its citizens if they were ordered deported from the United States.

The new order provides other exceptions not contained explicitly in previous versions: for travelers from those countries who are legal permanent residents of the United States, dual nationals who use a passport from another country and those who have been granted asylum or refugee status. Anyone who holds a visa now should be able to get into the country without any problems, though those whose visas expire will have to reapply, officials said.

The order claims that since 2001, hundreds of people born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States, and that more than 300 people who entered the country as refugees were the subject of counterterrorism investigations. It cites two specific examples: Two Iraqi nationals who came to the United States as refugees in 2009, it says, were convicted of terrorism-related offenses, and in October 2014, a Somali native brought to the country as a child refugee was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Oregon. That man became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

"We cannot risk the prospect of malevolent actors using our immigration system to take American lives," Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said.

U.S. officials declined to specify the countries of origin of the 300 refugees now being investigated in terrorism cases, and they declined to detail those people's current immigration status.

A Department of Homeland Security report assessing the terrorist threat posed by people from the seven countries covered by President Trump's original travel ban had cast doubt on the necessity of the executive order, concluding that citizenship was an "unreliable" threat indicator and that people from the affected countries have rarely been implicated in U.S.-based terrorism.

The Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, criticized the report as being incomplete and not vetted with other agencies, and he asserted that the administration should not be pressed by the judiciary to unveil sensitive national security details to justify the ban.

"This is not something that the Department of Justice should have to represent to a federal district court judge," the official said.

The order represents an attempt by the Trump administration to tighten security requirements for travelers from nations that officials said represent a terrorism threat. A more sweeping attempt in January provoked mass protests across the country as travelers en route to the United States were detained at airports after the surprise order was announced. The State Department had provisionally revoked tens of thousands of visas all at once.

Officials sought to dismiss the idea that there would be any confusion surrounding the implementation of the new order. Officials said they delayed implementation so the government could go through the appropriate legal processes and ensure that no government employee would face "legal jeopardy" for enforcing the order.

"You should not see any chaos, so to speak, or alleged chaos, at airports. There aren't going to be folks stopped tonight from coming into the country because of this executive order. If they are, it's pursuant to our ordinary screening procedures," the Department of Homeland Security official said. "We're going to have a very smooth implementation period."

A federal district judge in Washington state first suspended the travel ban Feb. 3, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit later upheld that freeze.

That setback was a blow to the White House, which was criticized for failing to include lawmakers and stakeholders in its deliberations.

The revisions to the order will make it more defensible in court - limiting the number of people with standing to sue - though the changes might not allay all the concerns raised by judges across the country. The three-judge panel with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, said that exempting green-card and current visa holders from the ban would not address their concern about U.S. citizens with an interest in noncitizens' travel.

The administration, too, will have to wrestle with comments by the president and top adviser Rudolph Giuliani that seemed to indicate the intent of the order was to ban Muslims from entering the United States, which could run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

On the campaign trail, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." After the election, Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, said: "So when [Trump] first announced it, he said, 'Muslim ban.' He called me up. He said, 'Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.' "

A federal judge in Virginia referenced those comments in ordering the ban frozen with respect to Virginia residents and institutions, calling it "unrebutted evidence" that Trump's directive might violate the First Amendment.

Novel blood test may detect, locate cancer early

NEW YORK: Scientists have developed a new blood test to detect cancer and locate where in the body the tumour is growing, an advance way to eliminate the need for invasive surgical procedures like biopsies.

Cancer blood tests work by screening for DNA released by dying tumour cells and detect traces of tumour DNA in the blood of cancer patients.

However, these do not indicate where the tumour resides.

"Knowing the tumour's location is critical for effective early detection," said Kun Zhang, professor at the University of California-San Diego in the US.

When a tumour starts to take over a part of the body, it competes with normal cells for nutrients and space, killing them off in the process.

As normal cells die, they release their DNA into the bloodstream, and that DNA could be used to identify the affected tissue, the researchers said.

The new method screens for a particular DNA signature called CpG methylation haplotypes.

Each tissue in the body can be identified by its unique signature of methylation haplotypes.

If we integrate both cancer cell and other cells signals we could actually determine the presence or absence of a tumour, and where it is growing, Zhang explained.

For the study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, the team put together a database of the complete CpG methylation patterns of 10 different normal tissues -- liver, intestine, colon, lung, brain, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and blood.

They also analysed tumour samples and blood samples from cancer patients and looked for signals of the cancer markers and the tissue-specific methylation patterns.

The test works like a dual authentication process -- the combination of both signals above a statistical cutoff -- is required to assign a positive match, the researchers noted.

N. Korea bans Malaysians from leaving the country

Pyongyang is banning all Malaysian citizens from leaving North Korea, state media said on Tuesday, potentially holding them hostage amid an increasingly heated diplomatic row over the killing of Kim Jong-Nam in Kuala Lumpur.

“All Malaysian nationals in the DPRK will be temporarily prohibited from leaving the country until the incident that happened in Malaysia is properly solved,” the official Korea Central News Agency said, citing the foreign ministry.

Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur had unusually strong links for years, but have been set at loggerheads by the killing of the half-brother of leader Kim Jong-Un by two women using VX nerve agent.

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for the assassination, and Kuala Lumpur has sought several North Koreans for questioning, although the only one it arrested was released for lack of evidence.

The North has yet to confirm the dead man’s identity but has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear it.

Malaysia expelled the North’s ambassador as diplomatic tensions soared, and Pyongyang retaliated on Monday by formally ordering out his counterpart —— who had already been recalled for consultations.

According to KCNA, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry expressed hopes that the Malaysian government would solve the issue in a “fair and timely manner based on goodwill”.

Malaysian diplomats and nationals in the North would be allowed to “conduct business and live normally” while the travel ban is in place, it added.

North Korean embassy sealed off

Malaysian police sealed off the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur to ascertain the number of officials inside, the deputy home minister said on Tuesday, as tensions escalated over the killing of the North Korean leader's estranged half-brother.

“We are trying to physically identify all the embassy staff who are here,” deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed told reporters outside the embassy.

He said staff would not be allowed to leave the embassy "until we are satisfied of their numbers and where they are".

North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country on Tuesday, prompting Malaysia to take tit-for-tat action, as police in Kuala Lumpur sought to question up to three men hiding in the North Korean embassy over the murder of Kim Jong Nam.

Najib Razak reacts

Malaysian prime minister says North Korea ‘effectively holding our citizens hostage’ by barring them from leaving.

Karnataka records 274 H1N1 cases in just 7 days; 7 dead

BENGALURU: There has been a sudden and worrisome increase in the number of H1N1 cases in Karnataka from February 24, with at least 274 persons testing positive for the disease. The spike in the cases was for the observed period of February 24 to March 2. The state has recorded seven deaths since January.

According to data from the Karnataka health and family welfare department, the state has reported 344 H1N1cases from January 1 to February 23 this year. The total so far this year is 618 -a sixth of the 2015 tally of 3,565 cases and more than five times the 2016 figure of 110.

Experts acknowledged the big numbers, and explained it as an index of high awareness among people about the disease. More and more people are undergoing stringent medical tests for H1N1 -a welcome sign in preventing the spread of the disease. TOI wrote about the rising number of cases on February 24. Doctors admitted it was a challenge to keep infection at bay. Dr Sunil Karanth, chairman of critical-care services, Mani pal Hospitals, said the onset of summer would ebb the number of cases. "Swine flu is a largely winter disease. During winter, the virus mutates and affects more people," he said. Dr Rini Banerjee, a consultant for infectious diseases at Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, said, "Unlike dengue and chikungunya, the monsoon has no correlation with H1N1. The virus will weaken in the summer. Reports of H1N1cases from across the state are an index of increased awareness among people, and indicate that proper testing processes are in place."

Besides genetic mutation, doc tors attribute the spurt in cases to environmental conditions. "Inability to withstand heat, congestion in cities, and a congenial envi ronment for the virus to spread are the other reasons," said Dr Ashok SN, consultant for medicine, St Martha's Hospital.

Dr Banerjee said that informing people about symptoms was vital to curbing swine flu. "Doctors should encourage patients to undergo tests if they show symptoms of H1N1. If anyone has a high-degree fever, sore threat, dry cough, she should get tested for H1N1," she added.

A general practitioner said children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with diabetes were more vulnerable to swine flu, owing to their low immunity level. "Law-enforcement agencies and the public health department officials should work closely, and monitor poultry markets to prevent the disease from spreading further," he said.

Dr Ashok said cleanliness and a nutritious diet could help check the spread of swine flu.

North Korea Launches 4 More Missiles, Three Land In Japanese Waters

HIGHLIGHTS

• ·        Missile fired flew over 600 miles across North Korea into Japan waters
• ·        Japan said that it had detected 4 missiles coming from North Korea
• ·        Launch coincides with annual exercises between US, South Korea militaries

TOKYO: North Korea launched four missiles Monday morning, a provocative barrage that coincided both with joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises on the southern half of the peninsula and with the opening of the annual National People's Congress in China.

The launches follow a remarkable month in which Kim Jong Un's regime tested a solid-fuel rocket that it says is part of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States and in which the regime is accused of assassinating the leader's half brother. Both actions have angered allies and adversaries in the region, and Monday's launches will only exacerbate that.

"Every year this time, they try to do something to defy the exercises," said Bruce Bennett, a North Korea expert at the Rand Corp. in California. "This time, I think they're also interested in making a statement to the Chinese and to let Beijing know this coal ban is going to hurt," he said, referring to Beijing's decision last month to stop importing coal from North Korea, cutting off a major economic lifeline.

The four missiles were launched from a known launch site on North Korea's west coast, not far from the border with China, at 7:36 a.m. local time. They flew more than 600 miles across the country before splashing into the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to local reporters.

The joint chiefs initially suspected that at least one of the projectiles might have been an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States' West Coast, but later backed away from that analysis. A U.S. defense official said the Pentagon does not think the missile was an ICBM.

The U.S. Strategic Command said its systems detected and tracked the projectile but "determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America."

Regardless, the launches have ratcheted up the tensions in the region.

"South Korea strongly condemns North Korea's missile launch today as a direct challenge and grave provocation despite warnings by the international community," Hwang Kyo-ahn, the prime minister who is acting president said during an emergency meeting of the national security council. "North Korea's nuclear missile provocation is a real and imminent threat against the lives and safety of South Koreans."

In Japan, the government said three of the missiles had landed perilously close to Japan, splashing down within its exclusive economic zone and within about 200 miles of its coastline in Akita prefecture.

"These missile launches clearly show that North Korea has developed a new threat," a visibly worried Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo. "We will collect information and strongly protest to North Korea."

Bennett of Rand said the range of the missiles could have served as a warning to China. The missiles had 12 of China's 20 largest cities within reach, he said.

North Korea has repeatedly claimed to be working on an ICBM capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States and has been making observable progress toward this goal. In his New Year's address, Kim said North Korea had "entered the final stage of preparation for a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile."

Regardless of whether Monday's launch was an ICBM, it is just a matter of time until North Korea succeeds in its goal of making one, said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Non-Proliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California.

"It doesn't matter if it's today or tomorrow or next week or next year - that's where this is heading," Lewis said. "But we have no plan other than saying this is unacceptable or that it won't happen," he added, referring to a tweet from President Trump earlier this year.

After Kim's statement in a Jan. 1 address that North Korea was working on its ICBM program, Trump tweeted: "It won't happen!"

His administration is reviewing its policy toward North Korea, which was characterized as "strategic patience" during the Obama administration - waiting for sanctions to hurt and a humbled Kim to come to the negotiating table.

The latest provocation came as large-scale military exercises, involving more than 320,000 South Korean and U.S. troops and high-tech U.S. firepower, continue in South Korea. They began last week and will continue through the end of April.

In the past year or two, the exercises have become more overtly offensive, with the two militaries practicing "decapitation strikes" on the North Korean leadership.

North Korea denounced the exercises and warned last week that it was ready to retaliate. North Korea "will never remain a passive onlooker to the new U.S. administration overtly revealing its intention to put military pressure on [North Korea] and invade it while crying out for 'peace by dint of strength,' " the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported in a statement it attributed to the foreign ministry.

North Korea last month launched an intermediate-range missile, its first since Trump was elected president. The missile appeared to show significant technological advances, with upgraded power and range, and analysts said it could mark another step in the push toward the capacity to hit Alaska or Washington state.

After that, Kim's regime is suspected of ordering the assassination on the leader's half brother, Kim Jong Nam, who was attacked with a chemical weapon at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and died within 20 minutes.

The assassination led the Trump administration to cancel visas for North Korean diplomats to go to New York for meetings with former U.S. officials involved in North Korea policy, which would have been the first time in more than five years that such a meeting had taken place on U.S. soil.

Online Video Streaming Service, Netflix Partners With Bharti Airtel to Provide Content via STBs

Netflix, the popular video-streaming service today announced that they are collaborating with Airtel, Vodafone, and Videocon d2h to provide content services in India. Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings has announced the partnerships with the top three DTH service providers in India, and the man himself is visiting India today to take care of the partnerships.

Netflix forayed into the Indian market in January 2016 and had received a good reception from the audience. However, the company has got a new rival in the form of Amazon Prime Video recently and is now looking to strengthen their user base in India with these partnerships.

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications network announced that the Netflix app will be integrated into the Airtel’s set-top-box and helps users in streaming the content in lot easier way. Along with Airtel, Videocon also announced that the application would be integrated into their D2H. Also, Videocon announced that they would be deploying a dedicated button for Netflix in their STBs.

Aforesaid, Netflix also partnered with Vodafone and subscribers of Vodafone can adjust the payment in their monthly payment cycle and the service will be available for both prepaid and postpaid consumers.

Speaking on the collaboration, Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and CEO (India and South Asia) Bharti Airtel said: “Airtel has been a pioneer in bringing the best of global content and products to its customers [and] we are delighted to partner with Netflix.”

“India is one of the most important and vibrant countries in the world, and we are delighted to be teaming up with three of its leading companies to make it much easier for consumers to enjoy Netflix. In the months and years to come, we look forward to bringing our Indian members’ more compelling stories from all over the world, and ever-improving viewing experience, and incredible joy,” said Reed Hastings.

Currently, there’s no information on when the services will be made available and how much does it cost for the subscription per month. Recently, there were some rumors claiming the same and Netflix has today announced the collaboration not only with Airtel but with three other main players in the country. We will keep you updated once after the subscription details go live.

Nokia, BSNL to develop 5G ecosystem in India

Nokia and state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will team up to accelerate the development of a 5G ecosystem in India.

Nokia and state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will team up to accelerate the development of a 5G ecosystem in India. With this partnership, Nokia will help the transaction of BSNL through its 5G end-to-end solution, including its AirScale radio access portfolio and AirFrame data centre platform for extreme broadband and ultra-reliability and low-latency communication.

“This joint initiative will go a long way to help us meet the future data demands in a most cost-effective way,” said Anupam Shrivastava, CMD of BSNL.

BSNL will leverage Nokia’s 5G-ready product portfolio and expertise to develop use cases for both enterprise and retail customers. Nokia will further help BSNL in spectrum assessment and in optimization of the same to deliver on the promise of 5G.

The combination of high speed and low latency in 5G raises a host of possibilities, such as remote healthcare, virtual reality, augmented reality, connected cars, and full automation of homes and businesses, among others.

“We will leverage our global experience in 5G-related industry projects and collaborations to enable BSNL to evolve their networks for the programmable world,” Sanjay Malik, head of India Market, Nokia, said in a statement.

The development comes after Samsung partnered with Reliance Jio to bring 5G connectivity in India. Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel and Nokia announced a strategic roadmap for rolling out 5G services in the country.

Trump asks Congress to probe wiretap charge against Obama, FBI disputes claim

President Donald Trump turned to Congress on Sunday for help finding evidence to support his unsubstantiated claim that former President Barack Obama had Trump’s telephones tapped during the election. Obama’s intelligence chief said no such action was ever carried out, and a US official said the FBI has asked the Justice Department to dispute the allegation.

Republican leaders of Congress appeared willing to honour the president’s request, but the move has potential risks for the president, particularly if the House and Senate intelligence committees unearth damaging information about Trump, his aides or his associates.

Trump claimed in a series of tweets without evidence Saturday that his predecessor had tried to undermine him by tapping the telephones at Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper where Trump based his campaign and transition operations, and maintains a home.

Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said nothing matching Trump’s claims had taken place.

“Absolutely, I can deny it,” said Clapper, who left government when Trump took office in January. Other representatives for the former president also denied Trump’s allegation.

The FBI has asked the Justice Department to dispute Trump’s allegations, a US official told The Associated Press on Sunday. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the request by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

No such statement has been issued by the Justice Department. DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores declined to comment Sunday, and an FBI spokesman also did not comment.

The New York Times reported that senior American officials say FBI Director James Comey has argued that the claim must be corrected by the Justice Department because it falsely insinuates that the FBI broke the law.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said without elaborating Sunday that Trump’s instruction to Congress was based on “very troubling” reports “concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election.” Spicer did not respond to inquiries about the reports he cited in announcing the request.

Spicer said the White House wants the congressional committees to “exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.” He said there would be no further comment until the investigations are completed, a statement that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi took offence to and likened to autocratic behaviour.

“It’s called a wrap-up smear. You make up something. Then you have the press write about it. And then you say, everybody is writing about this charge. It’s a tool of an authoritarian,” Pelosi said.

Spicer’s chief deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she thinks Trump is “going off of information that he’s seen that has led him to believe that this is a very real potential.”

Josh Earnest, who was Obama’s press secretary, said presidents do not have authority to unilaterally order the wiretapping of American citizens, as Trump has alleged was done to him. FBI investigators and Justice Department officials must seek a federal judge’s approval for such a step.

Earnest accused Trump of leveling the allegations to distract from the attention being given to campaign-season contacts by Trump aides with a Russian official, including campaign adviser Jeff Sessions before he resigned from the Senate to become attorney general. The FBI is investigating those contacts, as is Congress.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-NC, said in a statement that the panel “will follow the evidence where it leads, and we will continue to be guided by the intelligence and facts as we compile our findings.”

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the committee “will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign officials or surrogates.”

The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said Trump was following “a deeply disturbing pattern of distraction, distortion and downright fabrication.”

The office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., referred questions to Nunes, while a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said McConnell would not tell the Senate committee how to do its work.

Trump said in the tweets that he had “just found out” about being wiretapped, though it was unclear whether he was referring to having found out through a briefing, a conversation or a media report. The president in the past has tweeted about unsubstantiated and provocative reports he reads on blogs or conservative websites.

The tweets stood out, given the gravity of the charge and the strikingly personal attack on the former president. Trump spoke as recently as last month about how much he likes Obama and how much they get along, despite their differences.

“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” he tweeted, misspelling ‘tap.’

Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said Saturday that a “cardinal rule” of the Obama administration was not to interfere in Justice Department investigations, which are supposed to be conducted free of outside or political influence.

Lewis said neither Obama nor any White House official had ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false,” Lewis said.

Trump used a similar approach with his unsupported claims of massive voter fraud that he said caused him to lose the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton. He eventually said he wanted to launch a “major” investigation to find the 3 million to 5 million votes he claims were cast illegally. Congressional leaders were cool to the idea — a costly and time-consuming effort.

Trump has been trailed for months by questions about his campaign’s ties to Russia. Compounding the situation is the US intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered with the election to help Trump triumph over Hillary Clinton, along with disclosures about his aides’ contacts with a Russian official.

Clapper appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders and Earnest were on ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi commented on CNN’s “State of the Union” and Cotton was on “Fox News Sunday.”

Android smartphone users more likely to download malware than iPhone users

This week,132 Android apps in the Google Play store were found to be infected with malware

Apple iPhone users are less likely to download malicious apps than Android smartphone owners - for now. Earlier this week, cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks discovered 132 Android apps infected with malware in the Google Play store.

One of the most popular apps had been downloaded more than 10,000 times.

Google has removed the apps.

"Our investigation indicates that the developers of these infected apps are not to blame, but are more likely victims themselves," Palo Alto Networks said in a blog post. "We believe it is most likely that the app developers’ development platforms were infected with malware that searches for HTML pages and injects malicious content at the end of the HTML pages it finds."

Why are hackers targeting Android users? Simple - it's easier.

The Google-developed operating system is "more open and adaptable," said security software company Sophos.

Any app featured in the iOS store has gone through an in-depth examination - the thorough process blocks "widespread malware infection" among iPhone users, but malware targeting iOS-based systems is on the rise, according to a report from SIXGILL last month.

Applications infected with malware are becoming problematic for app developers and users. Cybersecurity experts have warned smartphone owners to refrain from downloading third-party apps from unofficial sources, but the presence of malicious apps in official stores make it difficult for users to identify which ones can be trusted.

About 1.7 Million Children Die Each Year Due To Pollution: WHO

Our environment plays a crucial role in our health and well-being. While we may take advantage of mother nature and not pay heed to all her gifts for us, it is only us in the end who are going to suffer. Take air pollution for instance. It is becoming a serious threat to our well-being, killing millions every year. As per a shocking report released by World Health Organization, it was revealed that environmental pollutants lead to the death of up to 1.7 million children under five, each year. The report is especially alarming as causes of these deaths include mundane and often neglected factors like lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and unsafe water, and also injuries. The report, which released on Monday, also stated that outdoor and indoor air pollution, including second hand smoke can also lead to an increased risk of pneumonia during childhood, as well chronic respiratory chronic respiratory diseases like asthma for the rest of their lives.

Margaret Chan, the director general of WHO, remarked that exposure to a polluted environment can prove to be a "deadly" deal particularly for young children. "Their developing organs and immune systems, and smaller bodies and airways, make them especially vulnerable to dirty air and water" she added.

Increased risk of heart diseases, stroke and cancer on exposure to air pollutants, were amongst the other risks highlighted in the report.

The statistics are a cause of distress to the entire world, which is struggling each day to cut down on the levels of pollution. Environmentalists and scientists across the globe are spending days and nights to come up with measures in curtailing the rise of pollution. The report also came in with handy precautionary measures.

The most common causes of child death like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia can be prevented by measures like using insecticide-treated bed nets, better access to clean water and clean cooking fuels. Removing pests and mould from housing, reduced use of lead paints, good nutrition and sanitation in schools, and an enhanced urban planning accommodating more free space and greenery in concrete-packed cities are other potential pollution control measures suggested in the report

Inputs from IANS