As the world says goodbye to Game of Thrones, the cast of the show also has to say goodbye.
In a nice little sign off video, Game of Thrones actors Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys), John Bradley (Sam), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Maisie Williams (Arya), and Sophie Turner (Sansa) thank fans for their support and love in the show and say good bye to the world of Westeros.
Game of Thrones was clearly a big part of these actors' lives for many years, and it was so impactful that Clarke was brought to tears. What a nice, heartwarming way to sign off. Read more...
ByteDance launched a new messaging-focused app on Monday, as reported by TechCrunch. Feiliao (飞聊), or Flipchat in English, is a messenger app that encourages users to form and join chat groups based around common interests.
ByteDance has already made moves into the messaging space, with a video chat app called Duoshan that it launched in January. But TikTok is the crown jewel of the ByteDance portfolio; it recently hit its fifth straight quarter as the most downloaded app in the App Store, according to a new Sensor Tower report. Read more...
The Instant Pot Lux is the simplest of the line, but it still replaces six appliances: It's a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, warmer, and sauté pan. It's also one of the only models that doesn't make yogurt — but if you wouldn't be making your own yogurt anyway, this saves you from wasting money on a feature you wouldn't be using. Read more...
There isn’t one way to describe your cat’s daily activities. They’ll hide in Amazon Prime boxes, or drink from toilet bowls. One thing most pet parents can agree on though is that cats need engaging playtime. If your feline is bouncing off the walls or scratching furniture, it might be time to buy new cat toys.
Googling “cat toy” could send you down an internet sinkhole, because there are so many plush mice, circle tunnels, and colorful wands available for felines. Plus, you might not know if a cat toy will meet your pet’s playtime needs. Before you buy a cat toy, there are some things you might want to consider: Read more...
Cool, this deal is for you. Get a $20 Vudu credit when you snag this 40-inch Samsung 4K Smart TV on sale for just $249.99 — and at that price, we totally wouldn't judge if you bought one for every room.
When you can't find the movie or show you want on Netflix or Hulu, Vudu's massive selection lets you find what you want without giving your computer a virus on bootleg sites. For as low as $2.99, you can rent or buy titles like A Star is Born, Harry Potter, and any Star Wars you want. Bonus: Your first rental is only 99 cents.
Vudu also has a pretty legit lineup of free movies like Annabelle, Zombieland, and the Twilight Zone. Read more...
We know that your TV viewing pleasure can really depend on the technology you’re using. If you’ve got the visuals covered with a 4K TV, bring your audio up to the same quality with a good soundbar.
The soundbar’s dedicated center channel delivers clear dialogue, while the wireless subwoofer produces deep, powerful bass. It also acts as a powerful Bluetooth speaker from which you can play music by connecting your phone or tablet.
If you have a Samsung TV, this soundbar pairs seamlessly via either a wired or wireless connection and you’re able to control both the TV and the soundbar with a single remote. Read more...
Considering kids come out of the womb knowing how to use an iPhone nowadays, you'll probably be surprised to hear that a good chunk of society hasn't cut the landline cord just yet: In 2018, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that one in three American homes rely on both wireless and landline phone services to stay connected.
Whether you are one of these landline holdouts or you know someone who is (*cough cough* Mom and Dad), it's easy to bring your home phone situation into the 21st century with the Amazon Echo Connect. The compact device uses your existing service to turn the Amazon Echo into a voice-controlled speakerphone, and for a limited time, it's on sale for 30% off. Read more...
Memorial Day is just a few short days away, and tons of people are currently planning their celebratory backyard BBQs and cocktail hours. If you are considering hosting the festivities yourself, you’re going to need a decent collection of kitchen appliances so you can provide the munchies for your lovely guests, including but not limited to a slow cooker, an air fryer, or a beer brewing kit. Another great option (that’s also on sale) is a powerful blender — what better treat on a hot day than a delicious smoothie (or maybe even a margarita)?
Lilium, a German air taxi company, unveiled its five-seater, all-electric passenger jet for the first time. The jet successfully completed its maiden test flight, demonstrating its ability to take off and land vertically. The aircraft is powered by 36 all-electric engines and Lilium claims that it can travel up to 185 miles on a single charge.
The company hopes to launch its air taxi service by 2025. Read more...
Game of Thrones has ended and the reviews have been pouring in about how the biggest series on television wrapped things up.
While many agree that most of the final season was a rocky, unpleasant road to go down, reactions to the series finale have been mixed. Some critics walked away unsatisfied, others had a handful of emotions, and a few felt content with how things wrapped up given the lead up to the end.
With almost nine years of build-up and a tremendous amount of anticipation, it's obviously hard not to have a strong reaction to something like this. And boy are some of these reactions...strong. Read more...
There's more to be said on what that means, but she's the only reasonable choice of MVP for the final new Game of Thrones episode we'll ever see. To really appreciate Sansa's importance to both the episode and the future of Westeros, however, we need to look at how she got there.
I guess the more obvious MVP pick would be Jon Snow. He's the one who murdered Dany and ended a tyrant's reign in its infancy. He was literally stabbed to death and then brought back to life for that purpose. And in the end, he did the thing. Huzzah, good for Jon.
But did he really change anything? We all watched that weird final half hour. Life in Westeros returned to normal after Dany died and Drogon left. The boring kind of normal where the people who lead sit around a table and reach society-shaping decisions over idle chatter and petty sniping. Read more...
After slogging through four (or more) years of all-nighters, unforgiving professors, and incomprehensible readings, college grads deserve to jump for joy.
Or perhaps, backflip for joy?
Twitter user @viridianna_g captured a moment of pure graduation elation at the El Paso Community College ceremony — that is, until their hype came tumbling down.
Walking across the stage, the stereotypical scene plays out. Names are read, hands are shook, and useless pieces of paper worth thousands of dollars in debt are given out. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, save one administrator attempting to be hip with the kids and fist bump the grads. Read more...
Are you the sort of person who loses their keys? Or are you always misplacing your phone? Maybe you are one of those special people who manages to do both on a regular basis. If that's the case, a Tile Pro is the device for you.
You can literally ring your things with a Tile Pro, by using your smartphone to make your Tile Pro ring when it's nearby but out of sight. Likewise, if you can't find your phone, simply double press the Tile button on your Tile Pro to make your phone ring, even when it's on silent. And just like that, your days of frantically running around the house trying to track down your keys or phone are over. Read more...
Glasses wearers face a highly specific set of glasses-related issues. We've got lens fog, we've got rain spots, we've got the general oppressiveness of summer. Plus, we remember when people used to call us four eyes.
So as your own glasses slip down the bridge of your nose, transforming you into an even less authoritative Chuck Schumer, please take comfort in these glasses-related tweets. We need something to get us through those moments when our shirts are not the right fabric to clean our lenses, after all.
Please put your glasses on before you begin reading.
the most unrealistic part of harry potter was that nobody asked to try on harry’s glasses and make fun of how blind he was
No matter your plans this June, Hulu is ready to start the summer off right.
Heading to sleep away camp? Flip on the first eight installments of the Friday the 13thfranchise while you pack. A terrifying throwback camp-y enough for a Met Gala invite (sorry), the original Jason Voorhees films are perfect fodder for any summer nightmare.
Preparing for a summer internship? Consider Aline Brosh McKenna's The Devil Wears Prada. Starring Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Meryl Streep, this aughts classic will make you (and your daily coffee fetching) feel seen.
Hoping to get in on some summer lovin'? Turn to the life story of esteemed sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, as told in Hulu's new documentary Ask Dr. Ruth, for some grounded inspiration. Read more...
Yet, despite that most obvious of truths, it's almost impossible to use the internet without an email account. Or, realistically, several accounts. You need one for work, one for your personal life, and at least one for all the garbage "confirmation email" signups that most sites now require. But there's a trick — something those in the know have been doing for years — to make your time online less of a depressing slog of clicks and spam: burner emails.
Unlike a straight up fake email address (hello bonglover420@highlife69.biz) that you made up on the spot while filling out an online form, a burner email is a real account that you can actually check. It has the benefit, however, of not being explicitly tied to your name or other online accounts. In addition, it has the clutch aspect of keeping that aforementioned spam as far away from your real inbox as possible. Read more...
Sexual happiness is a vital part of your general well-being, and it starts with you. Whether you are single, dating, or in a long-term relationship, you can take control of your sexual satisfaction with a little help from Lovehoney and its arsenal of sex toys.
Lovehoney has cut the price of a select number of sex toys for men, women, and couples by 20 percent. You can pick up wands, rings, vibrators, lingerie, and more at reduced prices.
A TV is a massive purchase, and something you should shop around for, unless you're content to pay more than necessary (and that would just be weird).
You could hit the high street and try your luck in the sales, or trawl the web and hunt down the best prices from a bunch of different retailers. Both of those options require a little effort on your part though. This 4K TV deals round up takes the pressure off, and does all the hard work for you.
We have lined up the best deals from top brands in a range of sizes and specs. You can save on Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Philips, TCL, and more. Read more...
There is absolutely no reason to let Monday get you down. Not when we have lined up the best deals on speakers, headphones, and much more. You can start your week with a smile, with the help of these deals.
Save on the biggest brands in audio technology, like Sony, Bose, JBL, and Ultimate Ears. We have tracked down earphones, headphones, portable speakers, in-home systems, and much more, so you can surround yourself with high-quality sound.
It's not all about audio devices, because we have also sourced deals on laptops, electric toothbrushes, beard trimmers, and more. These are the best deals from across the internet for May 20. Read more...
The subject of the meme is a scene showing Ser Brienne of Tarth using a feather quill to pen Jaime Lannister's legacy in the Book of Brothers.
Brienne was ensuring that time does not forget Jaime's bravery, so she adds a number of his achievements to the entry. Like the time Jaime lost his hand while getting himself and Brienne released as prisoners. Read more...
Now that Game of Thrones has ended and taken years off everyone's life, does it feel like there's a void in you that needs filling?
We say the best distraction is shopping. With Memorial Day around the corner, you may want to grab a grill or smoker — and ones from Cuisinart are up to 30% off at Amazon.
For anyone who hasn't had the chance to watch Game of Thrones yet (HOW?), Amazon is offering a pre-order on the complete series on Blu-ray for $249.95 (listed at 329.99).
In the photos, the royal kids are seen frolicking in a garden. Not just any old garden, mind. This garden was designed by the Duchess of Cambridge for the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show.
What goes together better than peanut butter and jelly? There is only one correct answer: iPhone XS Max and AirPods.
Lucky for you, this exciting duo of gadgets is being given away to a lucky reader. Just head on over to this page, enter your email, and you're automatically in the running to take home the prize. You can snag additional entries by sharing the giveaway on social media and sending the unique link to your friends and family. The giveaway is ending soon, so be sure to get your entries in now.
If you happen to have already spent all your money on these items, here are some amazing deals on Apple-ready accessories: Read more...
The debate over MOOCs rages on: will they replace continuing education? For some people, opting for online courses as a learning option is a total no-brainer.
Yes, some folks like the interaction that goes on in an actual classroom. But perhaps you’re an on-the-go professional with little time to spare between work and family time. Or you’re vying for a career that's often more versed in real-world experience, like coding or design. In cases like these, you may prefer slotting in the learning on your own time (and paying a lot less in the process).
While there are a ton of learning platforms to choose from, here’s a highly recommended one: Virtual Training Company. Its library of online learning materials is massive — over 1,000 courses — and for a limited time, you can get lifetime access to all courses for just $79. Read more...
It's thirsty work being in the hottest series finale of the year.
Following that coffee cup debacle earlier in in the eighth and final season, eagle-eyed Game of Thrones fans have spotted another stray object within the last ever episode: a plastic water bottle.
If you look carefully in one scene, the bottle can be seen on the left of actor John Bradley's feet — he plays Samwell Tarly. It appears 46:19 into the episode, just as Peter Dinklage a.k.a. Tyrion Lannister walks up.
Daenerys is finally queen of the Iron Throne. Jon, Tyrion, and some others have major concerns about the "mad queen." How's it all going to end? Read more...
Huawei is finding itself in even more of a pickle.
Chipmakers Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx, and Broadcom have told employees to stop supplying to Huawei until further notice, according to Bloomberg, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
In another Bloomberg report, Huawei is said to have prepared for a ban by stockpiling chips and other essential components which will allow it to keep running for three months.
The company has reportedly been preparing for a potential supply freeze since the middle of 2018, while designing its own chips to go into phones, laptops, and networking products. Read more...
Warning: Major spoilers for Barry Season 2, episode 8 lie ahead.
He can't keep doing this.
It's a thought that's crossed nearly every Barry fan's mind.
Hiding from the FBI, regularly at odds with the organized crime scene, and in an all-out war with professional bad guy Monroe Fuches, Barry Berkman-turned-Block seems destined to get himself killed, caught, or worse at some point in the series' run.
But as of Season 2, that day is still far off.
In the show's season finale, it was Barry who had finally had enough, putting his enemies under the gun in a horrifying and spectacular display of "fuck this" firepower that rivaled even the most grisly of Sopranos shoot-outs. Read more...
The third season of Westworld is coming soon, and it looks like Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul is returning to a life of crime.
In a trailer which dropped before the Game of Thrones finale, Paul is front and centre as he navigates a rather bleak-looking future, seeking "something, someone real" — before meeting a seriously bedraggled Dolores at the end. It's also a completely different looking show to before.
While you've probably still got plenty of questions about the end of Season 2, Paul's addition looks certain to be another mind-bender.
Westworld III arrives on HBO in 2020. Read more...
Warning: The following post contains spoilers for the finale of Game of Thrones. You must know this by now.
After nine years, eight seasons, and 73 episodes, Game of Thrones bowed out with – if nothing else – a massive sendoff. Tears were shed, fire breathed, and wine drunk (mostly by us). The Iron Throne dissolved (literally), giving way to Westeros' first oligarchy, and the Starks split up (by choice this time) to explore the world and keep the peace.
Season 8 garnered mixed reactions from fans and critics, with arguably more pressure on the finale than ever before. After Daenerys went full Mad Queen, she met a swift death at the hands of her nephew/lover Jon The Starks finally found justice (mostly), with Bran the Broken taking the Throne (or *a* throne, since the original melted) and Sansa becoming Queen in the North. Arya rode West of Westeros, prime for a spinoff, while the rest of our faves stuck around King's Landing to support their new King. Both Jon and Tyrion ended up almost exactly back where they started; Tyrion as Hand of the King and Jon rejoining the Night's Watch after being found guilty of treason. Read more...
When Mark Olmsted contracted HIV, in the early 1980s, he figured the disease was a death sentence. And so he hatched a scheme to live out his last years in style — swiping credit cards, bilking insurance companies, even faking his own death. The only complication? The death sentence never arrived.
Xfyro has made the first-ever fully waterproof wireless earbuds. They're comfortable, secure, and magnetically connect to the battery case so you can enjoy a total listening time of 20-30 hours before having to recharge your case.
Billionaire Robert F. Smith gave the commencement address at HBCU Morehouse College this weekend and imparted a whole lot more than congratulations and life advice to the graduating class: he told them he's paying off their student loan bills as well.
Tired of your electric toothbrush dying on every vacation or work trip? This powerful, sonic toothbrush not only delivers the effective dental care you need, but lasts for up to three months on a single charge — that's three times longer than leading brands. Save $20 when you pick up a Pur Hydro Clean Sonic Toothbrush today.
The impact of the Trump administration's threats to choke Huawei reverberated across the global supply chain on Monday, hitting some of the biggest component-makers.
Many death investigators have no medical training or certifications of any kind, and yet they are tasked with cutting open bodies and determining causes of death.
As lawmakers in Austin work to pass a sweeping school safety bill, many Santa Fe survivors and their loved ones say they're focused less on what's happening at the Capitol and more on what can be done to rebuild and uplift their community.
MySpace users were recently shocked to learn that the company lost 50 million user files. It's a harsh lesson in not leaving your intellectual property unprotected on the information superhighway.
Thousands of immigrants who were chasing the dream of owning a New York taxi were trapped in reckless loans by bankers who made huge profits, The Times found.
An Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo — the second-largest in history — is escalating in part because locals don't trust health workers and government officials.
I wrote an article in 2017 about bad photography workshops, and made a promise to the community that I'd never speak at, attend, or help promote a workshop again unless it was one I believed in wholeheartedly.
"An 18-year-old Nancy Drew makes plans to leave her hometown for college after high school graduation, but finds herself drawn into a supernatural murder mystery."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said one of its warships sailed near the disputed Scarborough Shoal claimed by China in the South China Sea on Sunday, a move likely to anger Beijing at a time of tense ties between the world's two biggest economies.
The busy waterway is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and Taiwan.
The U.S. destroyer Preble carried out the operation, a U.S. military spokesman told Reuters.
Throughout the history of the @USAirForce, adaptation and innovation have played a key role in sustaining global supremacy. @SecAFOfficial Heather Wilson is committed to continuing that legacy of rapid innovation into the future. pic.twitter.com/UE2W9npKoz
— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) May 19, 2019
AFP graphic showing the extensive network of detention centres and "killing fields" established by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, as the country marks National Day of Remembrance @AFPgraphicspic.twitter.com/ffuywE23Rs
A large explosion was heard in central Baghdad on Sunday night after an apparent rocket attack on the Iraqi capital's heavily fortified Green Zone but no casualties were reported, according to officials.
The Iraqi Military said in a statement that a Katyusha rocket "fell in the middle of the Green Zone without causing any losses."
The Green Zone is where Iraqi government headquarters and the U.S. Embassy are located in the capital city. Iraq's state-run news agency said the rocket crashed inside the area without causing any casualties.
In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group conduct joint operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations over the weekend. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Catie Coyle)
RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump issued a new threat to Tehran on Sunday, tweeting that a conflict would be the "official end" of Iran, as Saudi Arabia warned it stood ready to respond with "all strength" and said it was up to Iran to avoid war.
The heightened rhetoric follows last week's attacks on Saudi oil assets and the firing of a rocket on Sunday into Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone" that exploded near the U.S. embassy.
"If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!" Trump said in a tweet without elaborating.
The hero of WWII is the star of a brand-new kind of documentary.
The B-17 "Flying Fortress" is one of the most iconic aircraft of World War II. Built by Boeing, the four-engine bomber was the United States' primary weapon of destruction in the air campaign to annihilate cities and bring Nazi Germany to its knees. Its combat performance was decidedly uneven, yet no one questions its primacy in the war.
The B-17E, the first mass-produced model, carried nine machine guns and a 4,000-pound bomb load. Its distinctive and enormous tail improved control and stability during high-altitude bombing. Crews loved its smoothness—"It flew like an overgrown Piper Cub," said one pilot—and its ability to absorb enemy fire and keep flying.
"Without the B-17 we may have lost the war," said General Carl Spaatz, commander of U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe.
Australia's Labor party was supposed to have won yesterday's election handily. Their surefire formula for victory of increased taxes, heightened spending on climate change and engagement with China would bring in the votes. Then the unexpected happened: Labor lost.
Australia's Liberal-National Coalition government has returned to power in the 2019 federal election, despite polls consistently predicting victory for the opposition Labor Party. The most surprising result for Labor came from the state of Queensland. Now, many people are comparing the shock result to the 2016 US election and the UK's Brexit referendum, which both defied opinion polls.
Few if any of the pollsters predicted it. The resulting bafflement was expressed by one tweet: "How could polls, from every company, for months including exit polls taken on election day not just be wrong but spectacularly wrong?" It was a massive intelligence failure and one worthy of examination. All political parties presumably pay for accurate polling, even if it shows them losing, because possession of the true facts is the only way to adjust their strategy. But after three failed predictions in three major Anglosphere elections, it may be time to ask how the polls got it wrong.
WNU Editor: In the case of Australia, 54 polls in a row said the Labor party was in the lead , even in the exit polls .... Australian Labor Won 54 Polls In A Row, Including Exit Poll, Lost Actual election (Guido Fawkes). I live in Canada, and I can say the same thing here. Last month there was a provincial election where the pollsters were saying a week before the election that there was a 7% spread between the ruling Socialist government and the United Conservative Party of Alberta. The conservatives won with a 23% spread. One reason that I believe explains why the polls are off is that people are no longer willing to freely give information to others anymore. We now live in a politically correct world, and one wrong tweet here, or a comment and or opinion voiced over there, all of this can bring severe consequences. What also does not help is the role that the media is playing .... disparaging and ridiculing one point of view while promoting another. As a result we have become conditioned to keep our own counsel, especially to strangers.
President Trump fired a social media broadside at the Iranian regime Sunday afternoon, vowing that war between Washington and Tehran would result in "the official end of Iran" before warning, "[n]ever threaten the United States again!"
Trump tweeted hours after a rocket landed less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the first such attack since September. An Iraqi military spokesman told reporters the rocket appeared to have been fired from east Baghdad, which is home to several Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have risen in recent weeks after the Trump administration ordered warships and bombers to the Middle East earlier this month to counter threatened attacks against U.S. interests by Iran or Iranian-backed forces.
WNU Editor: This is not the first time that President Trump has warned Iran (see below).
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
Nov. 10, 2001: Usama bin Laden sits with his adviser and purported successor Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian linked to the Al Qaeda network, during an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir (not pictured) in an image supplied by the respected Dawn newspaper. (Reuters)
Nestled alongside ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in the deepest ranks of the depraved, Al Qaeda's chief Ayman Al Zawahiri is one of the two most wanted men in the world – both have a $25 million U.S. bounty on their heads.
But while much has been speculated about when it comes to the barbaric Iraqi man Al Baghdadi, little is known about the Al Qaeda commander who has evaded his big bounty since it was installed immediately following the September 11 attacks.
"Zawahiri was a conspirator of the 9/11 attacks, and like other conspirators, will always be wanted by the United States," said Rita Katz, Executive Director of the SITE Intelligence Group. "Zawahiri has framed himself more as the wiser alternative to Baghdadi and ISIS, who he characterizes as naïve and irresponsible."
Chris Miller's Putinomics is an essential book for anyone interested in Russia and foreign policy.
Last year Russians across the country protested against legislation that raised the retirement age from 55 to 60 for women and 60 to 65 for men, but President Vladimir Putin still signed the bill into law in October. In response to these pension changes, the president went from winning 77 percent of the vote in the March 2018 presidential election to having a 64 percent approval rating now. For many in the United States who only notice Russia when the old Cold War adversary meddles in elections or asserts itself in places like Ukraine or Syria, this commotion over domestic policy came as a surprise.
Election interference is one front in Moscow's larger campaign to undermine the U.S. without prompting a military response.
What are Americans supposed to think when their leaders contradict one another on the most basic question of national security—who is the enemy? This is happening every day on the floors of the House and the Senate, in committee hearing rooms, on television news programs, and in President Donald Trump's Twitter feed. Is Russia the enemy, or was the investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election just a slow-motion attack on the president and his supporters? Are Russian fake-news troll farms stirring up resentment among the American electorate, or are mainstream-media outlets just making things up?
WNU Editor: Jim Sciutto reminds me of the movie Casablanca and the scene where the police inspector is shocked that there is gambling in the premises (while taking his gambling cut). The Soviet Union, and now Russia, have always tried to influence U.S. policy. But they are not alone. China, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Canada .... every country is trying to influence U.S. policies and decisions, and they have been doing it for a long time. To put it bluntly. In the entire scheme of things, Russia's impact pales when compared to what some of these countries have done, and are doing.
Once the unmanned aircraft returned to base, the film canister would be ejected and land by parachute, after which the drone itself would land.
In November 1969, the U.S. Air Force sent Russia an early Christmas gift.
It was a sleek flying machine that bore an uncanny resemblance to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.
The American generosity was purely unintentional. The aircraft was actually a cutting-edge drone dispatched on a mission to photograph Communist Chinese nuclear sites. And the drone did what it was supposed to until it failed to turn around, and kept on going north into Siberia before crashing.
Fear of an artificial intelligence disadvantage is pushing the U.S. and other powers into another arms race
Strategic leaders have wrestled with the use of various types of weapons and their employment throughout history. The crossbow, cannons, snipers, landmines, submarines, bombers, and many other weapons provoked episodes of moral reflection and angst. The U.S. developed nuclear weapons despite the significant moral concerns those weapons raised, and then employed them – a decision that remains controversial to this day.
Early in the Cold War, General Omar Bradley, then Chief of Staff of the Army, delivered an Armistice Day speech in Boston, Massachusetts on November 10, 1948. In his address, he drew attention to the tension inherent in developing and possessing the weapons of devastating destruction that had brought World War II to a close:
The destruction that happened in King's Landing can happen in our world, too, writes Beatrice Fihn, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
"Atomic bombs are primarily a means for the ruthless annihilation of cities."
Famed physicist Leo Szilard wrote those words in 1945, entreating President Harry Truman to give Japan a chance to surrender before using the nuclear weapons Szilard had been instrumental in developing. His words rang in my head as Tyrion tried and failed to convince Daenerys to spare the surrendering King's Landing from her dragon's fire in the latest Game of Thrones episode, "The Bells."
There is a significant difference between weapons of war and nuclear weapons. The former target their opponent's military force. The latter yield absolute and indiscriminate power to kill civilians. Harry Truman admitted that nuclear weapons were created for the destruction of cities when he said, "You have got to understand that this isn't a military weapon. It is used to wipe out women and children and unarmed people, and not for military uses."
A static display of intercontinental ballistic missiles at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., front gate the evening of April 4, 2012. From left are the Peacekeeper, the Minuteman III and the Minuteman I. The planet Venus is visible in the sky above the Minuteman missiles and Jupiter is visible to the left of the Minuteman I. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez)
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists currently has its Doomsday Clock set to two minutes to midnight — the closest we've been to self-obliteration in nuclear history.
But nuclear weapons are more than just a terrifying threat to every living thing on earth. For decades, they've been a terrific way to make money.
A new report from PAX, a Dutch peace organization, both illuminates how profitable it can be for multinational corporations to manufacture Armageddon and provides a roadmap for taking the money out of mass death.
The PAX report identifies a total of $116 billion in current contracts between governments and the private sector to design, build, and maintain the world's nuclear arsenals. The actual amount may be significantly higher, since all nine nuclear powers maintain some degree of opacity about their nuclear programs. "We know what we can trace," says Susi Snyder, the report's principal author, "but there's definitely more out there."
WNU Editor: If you add the delivery systems for nuclear weapons, from missiles to submarines, the amount of money involved in these programs explodes exponentially.
A Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30MKV fighter jet from the Venezuelan air force flies over a Venezuelan flag tied to missile launchers, during the Escudo Soberano 2015 (Sovereign Shield 2015) military exercise in San Carlos del Meta in the state of Apure, April 15, 2015. REUTERS/Marco Bello
* A Venezuelan air force general and five other security officers were killed in an ambush during a patrol in northern Venezuela in early May. * The attack is believed to have been carried out by a "mega-gang," and while the motive is not clear the killings point to the growing power and impunity these criminal groups have in the country.
The recent murders of an air force general and five other security officials in Venezuela, believed to have been carried out by a mega-gang, confirms the growing impunity these criminal groups enjoy and the control they exercise in a key central state.
Early on May 4, an army and police patrol was ambushed in a mountainous area of the northern state of Aragua. Three soldiers and two police officers were killed, alongside Air Force Brigadier General Alexis Silva Zapata, reported El Pitazo.
* Kevin Mallory was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US "defense information" for $25,000 * Mallory, 62, met with a Chinese intelligence agent during trips to Shanghai in March and April 2017 * He was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an "alarming trend" in the US intelligence community * The fluent Mandarin speaker had served in the US army, then as a special agent for the security service of the State Department * He later became a covert case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency * Mallory is one of several US officials with high-level security clearances arrested and charged over unsanctioned dealings with Chinese intelligence
An ex-CIA officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an "alarming trend" in the US intelligence community.
Kevin Mallory, 62, was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US "defense information" to a Chinese intelligence agent for $25,000 during trips to Shanghai in March and April 2017.
"Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid," he told the Chinese agent in a May 5, 2017 message.
Using U.S. leverage to craft an Afghan settlement demands incredible deftness in both Washington and Kabul.
Afghanistan has entered a period of intense political uncertainty. In December, President Donald Trump reportedly ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for drawdown options including a complete troop withdrawal from the country. By March, bilateral talks between the United States, led by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Taliban had "agreed in draft" on counterterrorism assurances the Taliban will provide to the United States and on U.S. troop withdrawal, addressing Washington's key objectives. Kabul is not at the table, and its needs (an intra-Afghan dialogue and comprehensive ceasefire) were much more loosely "agreed in principle." An informal intra-Afghan dialogue planned for Doha in April was canceled, and a Loya Jirga to demonstrate non-Taliban unity in Kabul instead laid bare deep divisions, with most opposition leaders refusing to attend.
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's president on Sunday recommended a new election be held in early September, saying he wanted to restore trust in the government after a video scandal led to the resignation of the vice chancellor.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on the coalition and called for a snap election on Saturday after his deputy, Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, quit over a video showed him discussing fixing state contracts in return for favors.
It is most important that Austrians are given the chance of a new start to rebuild trust in its government, President Alexander van der Bellen said in a statement at his Hofburg residence in Vienna.
(COPENHAGEN, Denmark) — Swedish authorities on Monday issued a request for a detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is now jailed in Britain, a Swedish prosecutor said.
Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson says if the Swedish court decided to detain Assange “on probable cause suspected for rape … I will issue a European Arrest Warrant.”
The development sets up a possible future tug-of-war between Sweden and the United States over any extradition of Assange from Britain.
Assange was evicted last month from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had been holed up with political asylum since 2012. He was then immediately arrested by British police on April 11 and is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.
The Australian secret-spiller also faces a U.S. extradition warrant for allegedly conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.
Persson said Monday that British authorities will decide any conflict between a European arrest warrant and U.S. extradition request for Assange.
On May 13, Swedish prosecutors reopened a preliminary investigation against Assange, who visited Sweden in 2010, after two Swedish women said they were the victims of sex crimes committed by Assange.
While a case of alleged sexual misconduct against Assange in Sweden was dropped in 2017 when the statute of limitations expired, a rape allegation remains. Swedish authorities have had to shelf it because Assange was living at the embassy at the time and there was no prospect of bringing him to Sweden.
The statute of limitations in the rape case expires in August next year. Assange has denied wrongdoing, asserting that the allegations were politically motivated and that the sex was consensual.
Persson said the day and time for the detention hearing at the Uppsala District Court north of Stockholm that will make the decision has not yet been decided.
“However, in my view, the Swedish case can proceed concurrently with the proceedings in the U.K.,” Persson said in a statement.
(KIEV, Ukraine) — Ukrainian TV star Volodymyr Zelenskiy was sworn in as the country’s new president on Monday, promised to stop the war in the country’s east against Russian-backed separatists and immediately disbanded parliament, which he has branded as a group only interested in self-enrichment.
Even before he disbanded the Supreme Rada, which had been one of his campaign promises, the 41-year-old Zelenskiy had upended the traditions of Ukrainian politics.
He ditched the idea of a traditional motorcade to his inauguration, walking to the parliament through a park packed with people. Flanked by four bodyguards, he was giving high-fives to some spectators and even stopped to take a selfie with one of them.
Before he made the announcement, Zelenskiy asked the Supreme Rada to adopt a bill against illegal enrichment and support his motions to fire the country’s defense minister, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service and the Prosecutor General. All of them are allies of former President Petro Poroshenko, who lost the presidential election in a landslide to the comedian with no previous political experience.
In a feisty speech after his inauguration, Zelenskiy told the Rada that his main goal for the presidency is to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, where government troops have been fighting Russia-backed separatists for five years.
“I’m ready to do everything so that our heroes don’t die there,” he said. “I’m ready to lose my popularly and, if necessary, I’m ready to lose my post so that we have peace.”
Zelenskiy garnered 73% of the vote at the presidential election last month in a victory that reflected Ukrainians’ exhaustion with politics-as-usual. For years, he has played the Ukrainian president in a popular television show.
The new president wrapped up his speech at parliament by referring to his career as a comedian.
“Throughout all of my life, I tried to do everything to make Ukrainians laugh,” he said with a smile. “In the next five years I will do everything so that Ukrainians don’t cry.”
(BEIJING) — The number of foreign companies that feel compelled to hand over technology in exchange for Chinese market access — an issue that sparked President Donald Trump’s tariff fight with Beijing — has doubled since two years ago despite official promises to end such pressure, a business group reported Monday.
The European Chamber of Commerce in China’s report highlighted enduring complaints about “forced technology transfer” that China’s trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments despite denials and promises of change.
European leaders have criticized Trump’s tactics in confronting Beijing over its technology ambitions but echo U.S. criticisms.
One in five companies that responded to a survey in January, before the latest round of U.S. and Chinese tariff hikes, said they felt compelled to hand over technology, up from 10% in a 2017 survey, the European chamber said.
“It is not something that is back in history. It is still happening now,” a chamber vice president, Charlotte Roule, told reporters ahead of the report’s release. She said ending that “should be a priority.”
The share of companies that said they felt compelled to transfer technology was higher in some fields — 30% in petroleum and chemicals, 28% in medical devices, 27% for pharmaceuticals and 21% in the auto industry. One-quarter of those companies said transfers were happening at the time of the survey.
The report gave no details of why companies felt compelled to hand over technology. But the heavily regulated economy gives Chinese regulators leverage over companies, and business groups say they sometimes give orders in secret.
Trump started raising tariffs on Chinese imports last July over complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Europe, Japan and other trading partners echo U.S. complaints that such practices violate Chinese commitments to open its markets and treat foreign companies equally in exchange for access to their markets.
“China’s lagging reform agenda not only holds back economic development but it has also driven global tension,” said Roule.
Chinese officials deny foreign companies are required to hand over technology. But companies in auto manufacturing, electronics and other industries that want to operate in China are required to be minority partners in ventures with state-owned partners, which forces them to share technology and expertise.
A law endorsed in March by China’s ceremonial legislature tries to reassure foreign investors by prohibiting use of “administrative measures” to compel technology transfer. Business groups welcomed that but said Chinese officials still have extensive leverage in the heavily regulated economy.
Tech transfer was one of a series of complaints the European chamber said prompts pessimism among companies about whether the ruling Communist Party will follow through on promises to open its markets.
One-third of companies surveyed said they don’t expect ever to see a “meaningful opening” of Chinese markets.
The U.S. Ambassador to China is scheduled to visit Tibet this week, making the first trip by an American envoy to the highly restricted area in four years, according to his embassy.
Ambassador Terry Branstad is visiting China’s Qinhai province and the bordering Tibet Autonomous Region from Sunday until Saturday, an embassy spokesperson said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“This visit is a chance for the Ambassador to engage with local leaders to raise longstanding concerns about restrictions on religious freedom and the preservation of Tibetan culture and language,” the spokesperson said. Branstad’s schedule will include official meetings, as well as stops at schools and religious and cultural heritage sites.
According to a March report by the U.S. State Department, China denied five out of nine official requests to visit Tibet in 2018. It was the only region of the country that Beijing required diplomats to obtain permission before visiting that year. The previous U.S. Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, visited Tibet in May 2015.
China has cited “geographic” and “climatic conditions” for keeping U.S. officials out of the sensitive region, according to AFP.
The visit comes amid increased tension between Washington and Beijing as an escalating trade war has seen the U.S. and China ratchet up tariffs.
This year is also the 60th anniversary of the exile of Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to India. Although the U.S. officially recognizes Tibet as part of China, American diplomats and politicians have decried the religious and cultural repression of the Tibetan people.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korea vowed Monday to move quickly on its plans to provide $8 million worth of humanitarian aid to North Korea while it also considers sending food to the country that says it’s suffering its worst drought in decades.
Lee Sang-min, spokesman of Seoul’s Unification Ministry, said the government will discuss its plans with the World Food Program and the United Nations Children’s Fund, through which the aid would be provided, so it reaches North Korean children and pregnant women quickly. South Korea is also trying to build public and political support for providing food aid to the North, either directly or through an international organization.
North Korea’s state media said last week that the country was suffering its worst drought in more than a century amid reported food shortages.
“The government will first discuss with international organizations over the provision of aid and take measures so that the support arrives (in the North) quickly,” Lee said. “On the matter of direct aid, we will consider the matter while sufficiently garnering the opinions of our citizens.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has expressed hopes that aid will help revive diplomacy and engagement with Pyongyang, which tapered off following a high-stakes nuclear summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in February that broke down over mismatched demands in sanctions relief and disarmament.
But Moon’s government has yet to decide on concrete plans amid growing public frustration over North Korea, which resumed short-range missile tests recently that were apparently aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said last Wednesday that an average of 54.4 millimeters (2.1 inches) of rain fell in North Korea from January to early May in 2019, which it said represented the lowest level since 1982. That was two days before the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the average precipitation of 56.3 millimeters (2.2 inches) from January to May 15 was the country’s lowest since 1917.
U.N. food agencies said earlier this month that about 10 million people were facing “severe food shortages” after one of the North’s worst harvests in a decade.
North Korean state media are currently campaigning to urge farmers to do their best with what they have, to grow as much as possible this year. The Rodong Sinmun on Saturday urged North Korean farmers to meet state goals in food production in face of “hostile forces who don’t want us to become prosperous and … are seeking to make our people undergo shortage of food, bring to collapse their faith in socialism.”
“At our farm, we got an announcement about the dry weather conditions from our party and our state authorities, so we have taken advance measures to save water, like preparing the fields earlier than before, because we have to save water as much as we can,” said Kim Chang Jun, vice chairman of a cooperative farm in the village of Sambong, just outside the capital.
The last time South Korea provided humanitarian aid to North Korea through an international agency was in 2015, when it gave $800,000 to the U.N. Population Fund project to evaluate North Korean public health conditions.
The South has not provided direct food aid to the North since 2010.
Moon’s government first proposed providing $8 million to the WFP and UNICEF to help North Korean children and pregnant women in 2017, but the plans were halted amid a torrid run in North Korean weapons tests that year. An abrupt turn toward diplomacy in 2018 saw Kim meet with Trump twice and three times with Moon.
(SYDNEY) — Prime Minister Scott Morrison looked set on Monday to form a majority government as vote counting from Australia’s weekend election allayed fears that his conservative coalition may have to rule in the minority following its shock victory.
The coalition was returned to power in a stunning result on Saturday night, after opinion polls and odds-makers had tipped the opposition Labor Party to win.
The outcome ranks as Australia’s biggest election upset since 1993, when Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating was returned to power.
With 76 seats in the House of Representatives needed for majority rule, figures from the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday showed 84% of the votes had been counted, with the coalition on target to win 77 seats — an increase of four after going into the election as a minority government.
The Labor Party was set to claim 68 seats, with independents and minor parties taking six.
Winning at least 77 seats would also allow Morrison’s coalition to appoint the house speaker from its own ranks, rather from among independent or minor party lawmakers.
As Morrison began finalizing his new Cabinet on Monday, the stock market welcomed the election result. Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 index was up 1.7 percent in late-afternoon trading — reaching its highest level since 2007, just before the global financial crisis.
After being elected in 2016 with 76 seats, the power base of Morrison’s coalition was diminished through a series of by-elections late in its three-year term. One such defeat was triggered by the ousting in an internal party vote of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
That move, which ended in Morrison becoming prime minister last August, caused widespread disgust among an Australian electorate sorely disillusioned by seeing another one of its leaders replaced without them having a say.
Morrison had become Australia’s sixth prime minister in only eight years. Four such changes had been brought about by lawmakers voting to dump their party’s leader, two each from the coalition and the center-left Labor Party. Morrison’s predecessor, Turnbull, had himself become prime minister in 2015 through an internal party coup that dumped Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party.
Analysts has predicted that the coalition would pay dearly for this latest leadership switch, with Morrison expected to exit after one of the shortest terms as prime minister in Australian history.
Most late surveys showed Labor leader Bill Shorten as having a small but clear lead over Morrison as preferred prime minister, with 51% to 49%.
Bookmakers had Labor at odds as short as $1.16 to $1 to win government, with the coalition as long as $5.50.
As analysts tried to make sense of the outcome, several factors have been highlighted.
One of them was the strong and effusive campaigning of Morrison himself, praised by his treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, for having “crisscrossed the country with great energy, belief and conviction” while selling “our economic plan to the Australian people, a plan that resonated with them.”
By contrast, Labor was said to have suffered by campaigning on a long and complex list of initiatives, including an ambitious plan for reducing greenhouse emissions, and proposed changes to taxes on income from the stock market, which the coalition attacked as a “retirees’ tax.”
While Shorten insisted after the defeat that it had been right to argue for “what was right, not what was easy,” his deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, conceded that the party suffered from a campaign platform that was too cluttered.
“Our policy agenda was big. It was bold. And I think perhaps we didn’t have enough time to explain all of the benefits of it to the people who would benefit,” Plibersek said.
Labor’s campaign swung more toward policies than personalities, with Shorten, a 52-year-old former union boss, felt to lack sufficient charisma to win a popularity contest with the effervescent Morrison, a 51-year-old known for his love of family, church and football.
One telling result came on Monday, when high-profile independent lawmaker Dr. Kerryn Phelps conceded defeat to the Liberal Party in the Sydney electorate of Wentworth — the seat vacated by Turnbull on his resignation from Parliament last year.
While Phelps had wrested the seat from its traditional conservative base last August, she lost it back to the Liberals’ Dave Sharma only nine months later, suggesting a gulf in public sentiment between a by-election and a general election.
“Clearly the country decided it wanted to return a Liberal government,” Phelps told reporters.
With Shorten announcing his resignation as Labor leader on Saturday night, the party began the task of finding a new leader on Monday.
Al Jazeera announced the suspension Sunday of two journalists over a video that reportedly claimed the extent of the Holocaust was deliberately misrepresented by Jews.
The Qatari broadcaster said in a statement that the offending clip and accompanying posts were quickly deleted as the content violated “editorial standards.”
The video, which was posted on the network’s Arabic website AJ+ on May 18, suggested that the Jewish community used “financial resources [and] media institutions,” to put a “special spotlight” on Jewish suffering under the Nazis, Agence France-Presse reported. “Why is there a focus only on them,” the narrator reportedly asks in the clip.
Six million Jewish people were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Yaser Bishr, executive director of Al Jazeera’s digital division, said the network “completely disowns the offensive content in question.” In an email to staff, he also announced mandatory bias training.
Dima Khatib, managing director of AJ+ Channels, said that editorial workflows would be reviewed to ensure sufficient oversight and compliance with the code of ethics.
The journalists who were suspended for making the video were not named.
On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon slammed the AJ+ video as “the worst kind of pernicious evil.”
(KOLKATA, India) — Voting in India’s mammoth national election ended Sunday with the seventh and final phase of a grueling poll that lasted more than five weeks, as exit polls predicted a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its allies.
Vote counting begins on Thursday, and the election result will likely be known the same day.
The election is seen as a referendum on Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP’s main opposition is the Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has produced three prime ministers.
Exit polls by four leading television news channels – Republic, TimesNow, New Delhi Television and India today- projected a victory for the BJP and its allies with 287 to 339 seats out of 543 – far ahead of the 272 seats needed to form the next government.
The Congress party and its allies are likely to win 122 to 128 seats, the TV channels said. Indian television channels have had a mixed record in the past in predicting election results.
Total voter turnout in the national election was 64.9%, the election commission said, lower than 66.40% in the last national vote in 2014.
Gandhi questioned the way the election was conducted by the autonomous Election Commission, saying the election schedule was manipulated to help Modi’s party.
“The EC used to be feared & respected. Not anymore,” Gandhi tweeted Sunday evening, without giving any details.
Sunday’s voting covered Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, a holy Hindu city where he was elected in 2014 with an impressive margin of over 200,000 votes. Modi spent Saturday night at Kedarnath, a temple of the Hindu god Shiva nestled in the Himalayas in northern India.
The final election round included 59 constituencies in eight states. Up for grabs were 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number in Uttar Pradesh, eight each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, four in Himachal Pradesh and three in Jharkhand and Chandigarh.
In Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, voters lined up outside polling stations early Sunday morning to avoid the scorching heat, with temperatures reaching 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). Armed security officials stood guard in and outside the centers amid fear of violence.
While the election, which began April 11, was largely peaceful, West Bengal, located in eastern India, was an exception. Modi is challenged there by the state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, who heads the more inclusive Trinamool Congress party and is eyeing a chance to go to New Delhi as the opposition’s candidate for prime minister.
Modi visited West Bengal 17 times in an effort to make inroads with his Hindu nationalist agenda, provoking sporadic violence and prompting the Election Commission to cut off campaigning there.
On Sunday, Nirmala Sitharaman, a BJP leader and the country’s defense minister, accused Banerjee’s supporters of attacking her party members and preventing them from voting at several places in six of the nine constituencies in West Bengal. She did not provide details.
Banerjee denied the accusation and said Modi’s government used security forces to intimidate her party’s supporters.
Prodeep Chakrabarty, a retired teacher in Kolkata, said Modi’s BJP was desperate to win some seats against Banerjee’s influential regional party.
“People are divided for many reasons. We have to wait for a final outcome to see who people are voting for. Things are not predictable like before,” he said.
Minorities in India, especially Muslims, who comprise about 14 percent of the country’s 1.3 billion people, criticize Modi for his Hindu nationalist agenda. Modi’s party backed a bill that would make it easier to deport millions of Bangladeshis who have migrated to India since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. The bill, however, eases a path to citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Parsees and Jains – non-Muslims – who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan over decades.
Voters were also up early Sunday in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state, where election workers arranged for drinking water, shade and fans to cool them down.
“I straightaway came from my morning walk to cast my vote and was surprised to see enthusiasm among the voters,” said Ramesh Kumar Singh, who was among the first to vote. “There were long queues of people waiting patiently to cast their votes, which is a good sign for democracy.”
During the election campaign, Modi played up the threat of Pakistan, India’s Muslim-majority neighbor and archrival, especially after the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir on Feb. 14 that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
Congress and other opposition parties have challenged Modi over a high unemployment rate of 6.1% and farmers’ distress aggravated by low crop prices.
Some of Modi’s boldest policy steps, such as the demonetization of high currency notes to curb black-market money, proved to be economically damaging. A haphazard implementation of “one nation, one tax” – a goods and services tax – also hit small and medium businesses.
(RIO DE JANEIRO) — A gang of gunmen reportedly attacked a bar in the capital of Brazil’s northern Pará state Sunday afternoon, and authorities said 11 people were killed.
The state security agency confirmed late Sunday only that six women and five men died in the incident in the Guamá neighborhood of the Pará state capital, Belém.
The G1 news website said police reported that seven gunmen were involved in the attack, which also wounded one person. The news outlet said the attackers arrived at the bar on one motorcycle and in three cars.
In late March, the federal government sent National Guard troops to Belém to reinforce security in the city for 90 days.
Brazil hit a record high of 64,000 homicides in 2017, 70% of which were due to firearms, according to official statistics.
Much of Brazil’s violence is gang related. In January, gangs attacked across Fortaleza, bringing that city to a standstill with as commerce, buses and taxis shut down.
Rio de Janeiro, the country’s second biggest city, experiences daily shootouts between rival gangs and also between police and criminals, battles that often result in the deaths of innocent bystanders. Fogo Cruzado, a group that monitors shootings in the Rio metropolitan area, says there were 2,300 shootings in Rio and its suburbs during the first 100 days of this year.
Killings attributed to police gunfire in Rio de Janeiro state have reached a record high, rising 18% in the first three months, in a spike partly attributed to a campaign of a zero tolerance for criminals being pushed by state leaders.
One of new President Jair Bolsonaro’s main campaign promises was that he would loosen Brazil’s strict gun laws, arguing that because criminals are well-armed with illegally obtained guns, “upstanding citizens” should have the right to defend themselves with legally bought guns. Bolsonaro has made good on that campaign promise with two presidential decrees that make buying guns easier, though federal prosecutors are seeking to get the courts to block that move.
(BAGHDAD) — A rocket was fired into the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone Sunday night, landing less than a mile from the sprawling U.S. Embassy, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
The apparent attack, which Iraq’s state-run news agency said did not cause any casualties, came amid heightened tensions across the Persian Gulf, after the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region earlier this month to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran. The U.S. also has ordered nonessential staff out of its diplomatic posts in Iraq.
It was the first such attack since September, when three mortar shells landed in an abandoned lot inside the Green Zone.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack that took place after sunset when many Baghdad residents were indoors breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Associated Press reporters on the east side of the Tigris River, opposite the Green Zone, heard an explosion, after which alert sirens sounded briefly in Baghdad.
Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul told The Associated Press that a Katyusha rocket fell near the statue of the Unknown Soldier, less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy. He said the military was investigating the cause but that the rocket was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad. The area is home to Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Shortly afterward the rocket launcher was discovered by security forces in the eastern neighborhood of Wihda, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The official also said the roads leading to the Green Zone were closed briefly for security reasons before they were reopened as normal.
Iraq’s state-run news agency said a Katyusha rocket crashed inside the Green Zone without causing any casualties. The U.S. military confirmed an explosion in the zone without saying what caused it, but said there were no American or coalition casualties.
As tensions escalate between the U.S. and Iran, there have been concerns that Baghdad could once again get caught in the middle , just as it is on the path to recovery. The country hosts more than 5,000 U.S. troops, and is home to powerful Iranian-backed militias, some of whom want those U.S. forces to leave.
American forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 but returned in 2014 at the invitation of Iraq to help battle the Islamic State group after it seized vast areas in the north and west of the country, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul. A U.S.-led coalition provided crucial air support as Iraqi forces regrouped and drove IS out in a costly three-year campaign. Iranian-backed militias fought alongside U.S.-backed Iraqi troops against IS, gaining outsized influence and power.
Now, amid an escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran, Iraq is once again vulnerable to becoming caught up in the power play. An attack targeting U.S. interests in Iraq would be detrimental to the country’s recent efforts at recovering and reclaiming its status in the Arab world.
On May 8, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a previously unannounced trip to the Iraqi capital following the abrupt cancellation of a visit to Germany, and told Iraqi intelligence that the United States had been picking up intelligence that Iran is threatening American interests in the Middle East, although he offered no details according to two Iraqi officials.
A few days later, as U.S.-Iranian tensions continued to rise, the State Department ordered all non-essential, non-emergency government staff to leave the country.
Employees of energy giant ExxonMobil have also begun evacuating from an oil field in the southern Iraqi province of Basra.
On Sunday, Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadban said in a statement that he sent a letter to ExxonMobil asking for clarifications over the evacuation, saying the evacuation was because of “political tensions in the region” and not related to security.
He added that the evacuation of the oil giant’s foreign employees was “unacceptable and unjustified.” Al-Ghadban said he would be holding a meeting with ExxonMobil executives this week over the evacuation, adding that their departure was “temporary.”
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THE AUSTRIAN Chancellor has called for a snap general election after his deputy resigned over a corruption scandal that has rocked the country's coalition government to its core.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP gave an ominous warning to Iran, suggesting that if the Islamic republic attacks American interests in the Persian Gulf, it will be destroyed.
EUROSCEPTIC parties across the continent are teaming up to disrupt the "undemocratic" and "ambiguous" European Union to give the people of Europe more power to decide their own fate.
THE US NAVY has carried out a simulated military exercise in the Arabian Sea, days after diverting its aircraft to counter an alleged threat from Iran, as tensions between Washington and Tehran escalate.
The mystery of India's vanishing working capital by Andy MukherjeeAsk any small Indian firm how long it takes to get paid by larger companies, what kind of a runaround they're given, what devilish excuses they encounter on the way, and you'll wonder how they remain in business. The answer is simple: They raise cash by borrowing against the value of property. Such advances are tailor-made for the entrepreneur. A term loan for business expansion sometimes comes bundled with a working capital limit, all of it backed by the entrepreneur's residential or commercial property, preferably self-occupied and in a big city. Conceptually, there's nothing wrong here. Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto's key insight was that poor countries become rich when their toiling masses have clean, marketable titles to property they can mortgage to start businesses. The problem with the Indian loan against property is more to do with the lenders than the borrowers. Like with most credit creation in India in the past few years, banks have ceded space even here to nonbank, or shadow, lenders. 69395076 Shadow lenders got cheap funds from wholesale markets, including mutual funds. They gave credit to small businessmen who then refinanced their loans even more cheaply by going to another shadow lender. (I noted in January 2017 that yields on loans against property had fallen by 300 basis points in just 12 to 18 months.)Trouble started when the sudden bankruptcy last year of infrastructure financier-operator IL&FS Group triggered a crisis of confidence and raised funding costs for India's shadow lenders. Since then, the ultimate borrower has been hit by a triple whammy of higher interest rates, fewer refinancing options, and a souring of sentiment among lenders about the collateral. Real-estate valuations are under stress because developers, which themselves need large dollops of refinancing, aren't getting any. 69395081 It used to be that entrepreneurs would take out loans for 10 years to 15 years against property and refinance them in three to five. Now they can't, so defaults are rising. India Ratings and Research Pvt, a unit of Fitch Ratings Inc., saw delinquencies beyond 90 days increase to 1.77% in January 2019 from 1.05% in January 2018. If these numbers appear low that's only because the loans that get turned into securities (and are seen by rating firms) are of higher quality. Riskier borrowers, who pawn their homes to more adventurous lenders, are faring far worse.TransUnion CIBIL, a credit registry, put the size of India's loans-against-property market at the end of last year at Rs 3,84,000 crore ($55 billion). However, growth in origination of new loans, in money terms, crashed from 54% in the final quarter of 2017 to to 11% in the three months through September, when IL&FS blew up. It may have fallen further since then. Slower origination means even more defaults in future because stressed borrowers won't get refinancing so easily. And borrowers are stressed. Car and SUV sales in India had their worst slump in almost eight years in April. Even soap and biscuit makers are struggling to eke out volumes. These are big, publicly traded companies, whose first response in tough times is to shorten their own working capital cycle by lengthening it for their suppliers – the smaller firms. The response of a government that's desperate to boost its tax kitty will also be to delay refunds to firms in the supply chain.A $55 billion source of working capital slipping out of the reach of small firms will trigger a chain reaction. Investors aren't prepared for it. As India watchers wait for May 23 to see who gets elected as the next prime minister, probably the bigger question is what comes next for finance. Someone will have to fix this broken engine, and quickly. Source: ET
'Buy 11,500 calls to bet on May 23, Nifty could gain 300 points' Traders wanting to bet until the poll outcome on May 23 could buy a call option on Nifty for playing a potential 300 points rise from Friday's close of 11,407, said analysts. This after almost all exit polls gave the NDA a majority on Sunday.This means, traders could buy a May 30 expiry 11,500 call on Monday, when the Nifty might open with a gap-up of 100-150 points. The reason for this is that the 11,400 strike straddle — cost to buy a call and put — on Friday cost Rs 581 a share. The potential upside basis for this price is 11,981 and the downside 10,819 post the poll outcome on May 23.The strategy is risky as buyers could lose the whole chunk of the premium paid.But, analysts feel that with exit polls giving NDA a clear majority, odds of markets testing the upper band of the range are substantially higher.If the market tests the 11,700 level before the actual outcome, the 11500 call will be Rs 200 in the money, yielding Rs 15,000 on every contract (75 shares). The loss will be limited to the option buy price on Monday."I would expect the Nifty to test 11,700 until the actual poll outcome," said Rajesh Palviya, derivatives head at Axis Securities."Purchase of a call option till the poll outcome is a decent strategy, but one will have to square off the position before market closing on that day (May 23) if it's a plain vanilla option," said Chandan Taparia , derivatives analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.Taparia feels a bull call spread involving purchase of 11500 call and sale of 1200 call to play post actual outcome is expedient.Analysts feel for buyers a Nifty option is safer than buying Nifty futures if the poll outcome disappoints. Loss in an option is limited to the premium the buyer pays, while returns potential are very high. Analysts also advise playing with stop losses. Source: ET
Do not just go by exit polls, be cautious: Swaminathan Aiyar "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king" and in a world of slowing growth, India despite not returning to record highs, may still be the one-eyed king in the next five years, says Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor, ET Now. Alastair Newton, Alavan Business Advisory, Sunil Subramaniam, MD & CEO, Sundaram Mutual, Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor, ET Now and Vikas Khemani, Founder, Carnelian Capital Advisors, in conversation with Nikunj Dalmia of ETNow on exit polls and impact on the market. Edited excerpts: We can debate whether the exit poll is right or wrong, we can debate whether we should believe it or not, but markets are going to believe it. Sunil Subramaniam: FIIs who had left the market will make a resounding come back because the continuity of Mr Modi was a big hangover in their minds and domestic fund managers had over the last month gradually shifted from not buying to buying. So they got a sense. But FIIs who were on the sidelines and will now make a strong entry into the market. Why would the market get excited because if I look at the track record of the current government, earnings are depressed, demonetisation some would argue has been a failure, there is acute slowdown in autos and consumer stocks? Swaminathan Aiyar: I would want to get excitement because, 75% of the polls are saying Modi is back, 25% that he would not come back. 25% is not a negligible chance. It is a very significant chance. So, you need to be cautious. Do not just go on the basis of exit polls. If you are going to show enthusiasm, show it after the actual result confirms the direction of these. Do not get carried away just by the exit polls. Secondly, yes without doubt the economy is slowing, without doubt earnings are not going to be anything more lacklustre. But as I said this is a general problem the world over. The world economy is slowing. You are going to have earning problems the world over. Therefore investors are going to say where am I going to put my money and a sufficient number of them will say that the long-term prospect of Modi mark II would be sufficiently attractive for a significant amount of money to be attracted into India regardless of the fact that the current year financial year may turn out to be not very good. It may be turn out to be one where GDP growth comes down to 6.5% that is somewhat pessimistic thing but let us face it, the thing is slowing down. Even at that, India might turn out to be the fastest growing economy in the world with chances of picking up later. I would say India looks to have a good long-term prospect of Modi continuing for 10 years would be a further positive sign for that. Nobody expects anything dramatic but you do not need anything dramatic. If it is already the fastest growing major economy in the world, that is sufficient for the markets to have sufficient faith to say this is a place that deserves more money. Empirical data and anecdotal evidence indicate that FIIs irrespective of who the prime minister is, do not sell India. FIIs have sold Indian stocks only in 2008, 2018 and 2014 and that had nothing to do with India and politics. Do you think there is a leakage in this theory that FIIs are sitting on the sidelines, waiting to return? Alastair Newton: There is always leakage in any theory about how markets behave. But overall I tend to agree with what Swami has just been saying, let us keep in mind that today we are living in a world of excessively loose monetary policy which means there is still a lot of cash running around the place looking for yield. Since the start of the year, the favourite has been the US stock market and yet the US stock market is not looking particularly great at the moment because of China-US trade related tensions. It would not surprise me at all to see not necessarily long-term money coming into India but certainly a certain amount of hot money coming in and moving around the stock market. I expect to see the stock market performing strongly as it opens tomorrow. Whether that survives rest of the week may depend on how accurate the exit polls prove to be. But also on exogenous factors, a trade deal between the US and China would be a positive for the global economy clearly, might not be such a positive for India. A big hit on the oil price going up would definitely be bad news for India as I was saying on the programme earlier on. What should a sensible investor do? Act on Monday because if you will wait for 23rd and if the exit poll numbers are right, then markets would not be available? Vikas Khemani: In the last seven-eight days, there was a narrative building that NDA might not get past the majority mark and hence the market was worried and we saw significant correction in markets. The exit poll results leave those worries behind and obviously we will have to wait and watch for the final result to come. I would not advise anybody to react because from a long-term investing perspective, you need to see a lot more things from direction perspective and not only react on the news flows. Definitely by and large, the probability is that NDA will form the government based on this data but one should wait for final results because we have seen always disconnect between the exit polls and outcome. But having said that, I have always believed that the India story remains intact. We will see the NDA-led government in power whether with exactly this number or slightly lesser than this number. I would like to believe that this time around, you will see the government a lot more proactive on economic repair because that is the urgent need of the hour. We need serious repair on the economy. We have had three-four years of shocks to the market and economy time and again through different measures and this is a time where they will have to come out with a plan to repair the economy and that is where market should take comfort. I think 23rd May would be just one more event but more important, I would watch out what kind of plan of action for this government would put out for the next 100 days and based on that, one should take some kind of call but I do believe that risk reward of investing remains in favour. One should look to invest into market at this point in time. If you work with an assumption that NDA-2 is coming back, the pitch of NDA-1 was acche din, economic prosperity. The pitch of NDA-2 is exactly not acche din. Do you think from an economy standpoint, the repair work or the promise of accelerating economic growth which was priority of NDA-1 may not be priority of NDA-2? Swaminathan Aiyar: I would be a pessimist about a growth acceleration. UPA-1 and UPA-2 were at the time of global boom -- the greatest boom the world has ever seen. India rode that boom extremely well and obviously you got a huge increase in stock market outcomes because of that. During NDA-1, there has been growth but that has not been remotely as encouraging as earlier on and if the stock markets have done reasonably well, nevertheless it is because of this enormous excess liquidity being pumped out by central banks in America, Europe and other places. But if you look at what the actual economic outcomes have been in the last five years, there have been some bright spots. America has done reasonably well. A whole lot of other areas are not doing very well. What is the process prospects for the next five years? I would say probably things are going to become worse. The US-China thing it threatening to drag down not just in those two countries, but has global implications. Mr Trump is having these various ways to crack down on Russia, Iraq and China as well. None of these moves is good for global growth. None of them therefore is going to be good for Indian growth. I would not be surprised therefore if global growth and Indian GDP growth is worse in NDA-2 than in NDA-1. Nevertheless, relative performance of the Indian economy may still be better than others. Even with the slowdown, India may continue to be the fastest growing major economy. Because of that, as they say "in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king", maybe that is the kind of one-eyed king that India might be in the next five years. If NDA-2 comes back, market will be euphoric for the next couple of days. What should one do? Sunil Subramaniam: Investors should stick to the SIP route to continuous… That is boring. You would have said if the government would have changed also. Sunil Subramaniam: The reason I am saying this is that look at the downside. Let us say the exit poll is the poll. The worst in exit poll in terms of missing the mark has been 10% and it is about 10%. So assume that 300 number goes to 270. They are still around the majority. Assume it goes to 250, I am saying there may be is some opposition party which will join up and so there will be a Modi-led government regardless of even a 20% negative swing from exit poll to actual results. There is no doubt that Mr Modi will come back to power, albeit with slightly weaker coalition. So investors should welcome continuity to stay invested, one point. Second point, in a market, do you buy a strong stock in a slowing sector or do you buy an average stock in a growing sector? While Swami's point on the world economy is slowing and Indian economy also not repeating is a point well taken, I would say that the surge of liquidity will mean that liquidity will find its highest level and India as the one-eyed king will attract a huge amount of capital and it will not just be FII money. There is FDI money coming and helping the growth. The opposition had tried to attack the government on the economy front. Balakot luckily happened and Mr Modi sailed through. But he now knows where the opposition attacked him. Also, except for demonetisation which is a very drastic step, the inputs of the Modi government -- be it Make in India, skill India, GST implementation -- were in the right direction. The outcomes did not happen because they were learning governance. The government will now understand how to move. Earlier, he was trying to put the Gujarat model into India and now he has figured out that will not work. An improved Mr Modi will deliver a better performance on the economy albeit the slowdown will affect but liquidity is the factor. See when you talked about those returns, between the three, the UPA-2 despite the GDP slowing down still delivered 74% return and mind you each one of those return you talked about was on higher and higher base. So, if you are going to get a 60% return over the next three to four years, why do you want to crib? So investors should continue to stay invested. Investing into India has not been easy. If I look at what foreigners have actually got with the exception of HDFC Bank or in Bajaj Finance or few consumer names, the MSCI India has not been a very profitable trade. So what changes? Why should market get euphoric? Alastair Newton: One question I am asked frequently is where do I find Indian stocks which actually represent good value. A dip in the Indian market would actually encourage more foreign investors to come in because they would see opportunities to buy at attractive prices. I am not convinced yet that those attractive prices are there today. A lot of prices are a bit more attractive today than they were a year ago. Does that mean we are going to see a lot of foreign investors rushing in? It is not at all clear but there is an opportunity for long-term investment coming in because even though the outgoing BJP government underperformed, that reform agenda has been put in place which are improving the fundamentals in this country and though you can look at the bottle still as being half empty, I would argue that relative to 2014, it would be much more sensible to look at it from a half-full perspective. Also keeping in mind that in contrast to 2014, a BJP government in the Lok Sabha would be more strongly placed in the upper house now than it was in 2014. One of the big barriers to reform has been the difficulty of getting it through both houses of the parliament.If markets like the election verdict on 23rd of May, where do you think money would move? Will it chase consumers, autos, where feel good factor could come back or this time around it will chase corporate banks, cyclicals and industrials where the corporate capex had dried up and where private investment since last one year has dried up completely because everybody wanted clarity? Vikas Khemani: Clearly, a) overall sentiment will improve but from a risk-reward perspective, one sector which I think would do well would be consumer discretionary including autos which recently took a beating after the bad numbers which happened due to credit crisis and slowdown of availability of credit. One of the things which I feel this government would do is going to improve the liquidity in the system. They will have to do to improve the liquidity in the system and also the feel-good factor to bring the consumer spending back. I do believe that that sector which has corrected also in the recent past should do well from that perspective. Otherwise, the rally or the markets would have to be led by definitely financials which offers a great risk reward because we have had huge amount of drag on corporate banks and may of the stories in financials. The market will be definitely led by financials, it is almost 30-35% of the weightage but there will be opportunity in financials, in consumption and also in the investment basket because capex is going to pick up and it is already picking up according to me.The order book of some of the companies is picking up. It is showing early signs of pickup and that might get acceleration. But mind you, this is not going to happen like in one or two quarters, it is directionally going to be better. In my opinion, the reflection will start happening only three or four quarters down the line. In the next one or two quarters, one should not expect anything miraculous to happen. Once the euphoria around elections settles, the market will be back to normal to dealing with the numbers and how the hypothesis will be made will be based on the how the real economic plan is laid by the government to repair the economy and hence accordingly plan. Structurally, I am pretty bullish on the markets from a medium to long-term perspective. Again we are working with an assumption that it is NDA-2. What do you think the economic machinery of NDA-2 needs to address quickly -- take care of the farm/rural distress, make sure capital formation starts early, work on foreign relations or perhaps get the animal spirits back by coming out with new schemes? If I look at NDA-1m the schemes were many, nothing really got implemented -- Digital India, Swachh Bharat, Make in India. Swaminathan Aiyar: So it is very clear if you have 10 slogans, maybe three will work. But having more and more slogans does not lead to better outcomes. What is the fundamental problem on exports? That is the most important question. There is no country in history that has managed to sustain 7% growth over any substantial period without buoyant export growth of at least 15%. On domestic growth alone, you cannot sustain 7% beyond a point. To me, the reason why our exports are not is because we have relatively high land prices because of acquisition problems; relatively high interest rates; expensive capital because of the attitude of the RBI towards inflation and relatively high wage costs because of our labour laws which Mr Modi threatened to reform and did not. So NDA-1 failed to reform the labour, failed to reform capital, failed to reform land. Will it do any better in NDA-2? I have a feeling that it will not even attempt to do as much because this is going to be a weakened Modi government. He is going to be less capable of cracking the whip than in NDA-1. In these circumstances, I would expect only small incremental steps. Those small incremental steps can take you up to a point and as Alistair said the good things about GST and the Insolvency and Banking Code the dividend from those two major reforms they were not immediately available. They will come in NDA-2. I do not think you are going to see any great reforms. I do not think we are going to see any radical changes, you will see small incremental steps along with the hope that there will be dividends from some of the reforms in NDA-1. It would be relatively un-exciting and hoping that in effect we are going to muddle through and do reasonably well rather than charging up with some fantastic new vision. Source: ET
Bengaluru topped cyber hitlist in 2018, says study BENGALURU: Bengaluru faced the highest number of cyberattacks in 2018, according to a report by Quick Heal that was shared exclusively with ET, and other cities including Mumbai, Delhi/National Capital Region and Kolkata also becoming victims to these attacks."Bengaluru, being the technology hub and the top destination for IT jobs, has become the favourite target for cybercriminals," said Sanjay Katkar, founder of Quick Heal, elaborating on the findings."Even if these companies are using technology, cybercriminals find ways since it's their top target."69407101 Cryptojacking, which is the illegal use of another person's computer to mine cryptocurrency, has replaced ransomware as the number one threat for consumers and enterprises.Ransomware, which is a form of malware that locks a user out of files or devices and then demands online payment anonymously to restore access, was reported up to 14 times per minute, according to Quick Heal's findings, signalling increasing risk. Threats to mobile devices and cryptojacking were also increasing, it said.Consumers are still the most targeted, with an alarming 973 million malware attacks on Windows devices last year, translating to almost 1,900 detections per minute, the report found. On the other hand, Android devices faced relatively lesser threats.69407105 Cyber criminals were targeting compromised websites. Although recognising compromised websites was difficult, a browser warning could act as a precaution, Katkar said.Cybercriminals are now selling malware as a service (MaaS) along with ransomware as a service (RaaS).While cyber criminals have been using various means of conducting cyberattacks, the internet of things (IoT) is fast becoming the latest and rapidly trending means of cyberattack, it said.69407113 "This can be attributed to the relative scalability and simplicity of the millions of devices that can easily be turned into potential victims, to cause cyberattacks of a larger scale and stronger impact," the report pointed out.Awareness around cybercrimes was still quite low, which is worrying, said experts. Laws, too, need to be made more stringent as convictions in cyber crimes have been low, they said. Source: ET
Air India flight lands at Jamnagar IAF base after passenger suffers cardiac arrest It is rare when commercial flights are allowed to land on IAF bases.
Day after Lok Sabha polls, Yogi Adityanath sacks BJP ally OP Rajbhar from UP cabinet Yogi Adityanath recommended to the governor immediate sacking of SBSP leader Om Prakash Rajbhar from his cabinet.
Time to switch off TV, every exit poll can't be wrong, says Omar Abdullah "Time to switch off the TV, log out of social media and wait to see if the world is still spinning on its axis on the 23rd," Abdullah wrote while referring to 23 May when votes will be counted.
Exit Poll 2019: Time and again exit polls have failed to catch people's pulse, says Naidu Exit polls on Sunday said the YSRC would win close to 20 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh.
Unhappy with civil courts functioning in summer vacation, lawyers move Gujarat High Court JUSTICE DELIVERED: High Court remarks that it expects the advocates will not file such a petition seeking such prayers in future
Ahmedabad airport increases immigration counters The authorities have not only added new counters but have also changed the entire experience of immigration at the airport
Wholesalers object to direct selling, B2B by organised retail This will put investment worth thousands of crores in limbo and close to 50,000 jobs will be at stake only in the state
38-year-old woman harassed by workplace in-charge in Gomtipur A couple of days ago, she had complained about her in-charge identified as Anirudh Roy, who works as the safety officer for leering and making comments on her in Gandhinagar
Bitcoin trader ends life, blames DySP & brother In the suicide note, the victim alleged that the cops and his brother had given five bitcoins to him for trading after he lost it during trading, both started harassing him
Man changes number plate to avoid fine The matter came to light when Suhav Patel, a resident of Gandhinagar approached the city police commissioner for the 25 some-challans that were being sent to him
Consent not must for lifesaving surgery, says consumer body The surgeon stated that the operation was an emergency and one of lifesaving nature, it was not possible to inform and seek consent for the same
Four held for molesting woman constable, assaulting cops The men touched the woman constable inappropriately when she questioned them over smoking cannabis
Convocation day: Adding a new milestone in your journey As students across the state and country get their results, let's hope that they celebrate the success and also learn to deal with their failures or setbacks
