News related to
flaw

SEBI BOARD CLEARS BIG TICKET MARKET REFORMS

Mumbai: The board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday cleared big-bang market reforms, including a move to replace the two-decade-old insider-trading rules with the new prohibition of insider trading (PIT) regulations, and amending the existing delisting regulations. Additionally, Sebi approved new reforms in consent mechanism under which it will give entities found violating securities laws the option of settling the matter before the […]

DILEMMA OF INDIAN LEFT MOUNTS

By Amulya Ganguli The history of communism in India is one of strategic miscalculations at the national level as a result of blinkered tactical manoeuvres in the states. The outcome is that while  the comrades have remained a marginal force at the centre, their main ideological adversary, viz. the BJP, has made major gains.   Arguably, the roots of this fallout lie in the initial premise of […]

Miliband’s blunder – to think Scotland was all sewn up

Demonstrators protest outside a Labour gala dinner, which Ed Miliband attended Photo: Getty Images Professor Brian Cox has made explaining the inexplicable his life’s work. In recent episodes of his television series – Human Universe – the physicist has tramped from Ethiopia to Peru, via Morocco and Ohio, in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. He has asked whether we are alone in the galaxy, […]

Rights Groups Condemn Execution of Iranian Woman

By THOMAS ERDBRINK October 25, 2014 TEHRAN — An Iranian woman convicted of murder for killing a doctor she said had tried to rape her was executed on Saturday morning, despite international condemnation of what Western human rights organizations described as a miscarriage of justice and efforts by the Iranian president to commute her death sentence. The woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, admitted during her trial in 2009 that she […]

US Condemns Iranian Woman’s Execution

The United States has condemned Iran for executing a woman convicted of killing a man to defend herself from an alleged sexual assault. The 26-year-old woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari, was hanged Saturday morning. The death penalty went ahead after the family of her alleged assailant, a former Iranian intelligence agent, refused to pardon her or accept financial compensation. At the U.S. State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said there […]

INDIA NEGLECTS REAL S&T PRIORITIES

By Praful Bidwai The contrast between India’s two recent science and technology (S&T) projects couldn’t have been starker. One, by delivering accurate early warnings about Cyclone Hudhud, saved thousands of human lives, and prevented destruction of property on a monstrous scale. The other put India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Mangalyaan spacecraft successfully into a distant orbit around the planet—a technological achievement, but without much scientific, leave alone […]

PROJECTS WORTH RS 3 LAKH CRORE GO ON STREAM

NEW DELHI: Eighty-eight infrastructure and industrial projects, involving investment of nearly Rs 3 lakh crore – which is more than the Centre’s budgeted income tax collections for the current financial year – have become operational over the past few months. This will help in adding jobs and easing pressure on banks, which had lent to the projects that got stuck due to lack of government clearances.   […]

IN LETTER TO PIYUSH GOYAL, PRIVATE GENCOS RAISE CONCERNS OVER UMPP BIDDING NORMS

NEW DELHI: Private power producers have raised several concerns over bidding norms for ultra mega power plants (UMPPs), particularly the design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) model where lenders’ exposure to the project is not fully secured.   Under the model, developers are required to transfer the power plant to the government at the end of the contract period, a provision that makes potential lenders jittery.   Last week, Adani Power, […]

NTPC FIRMING UP PLANS TO ENTER INTO POWER DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS

KOLKATA: NTPC is firming up plans to enter power distribution, an area the state-run company has mostly stayed away from so far despite producing more than a quarter of India’s total electricity output.   It plans to bid for distribution rights in cities that may open up the segment to the private sector. Just a handful of Indian cities at present have private distributors, all in joint […]

TOP OFFICIALS TO MEET TO EXPEDITE ROAD BUILDING ALONG CHINA BORDER

NEW DELHI: To expedite infrastructure projects — road and rail — along the border with China for strategic reasons and also for better connectivity, principal secretary to Prime Minister has called a meeting of top officials of key ministries such as defence, rail and road, head of Border Roads Organization (BRO), national security adviser and others on Thursday.   Sources said the agenda of the meeting to […]

IT’S TIME TO WEED OUT OBSOLETE LAWS

By Harihar Swarup   It is unbelievable but true that there are as many as 3,000 obsolete, redundant or repetitive laws in India. There are over 300 colonial-era enactments in force, which are absolutely redundant. Some of these British-era laws are even derogatory to a particular group and hence remind us of the days of slavery.   Have a look at some of the ridiculous laws still […]

Researchers Publish BadUSB Attack Code

Remember BadUSB? If you use a USB device to move digital files from one machine to another, you need to know the latest news on this flaw in design specs that could put your computers at risk. Attack code for this flaw, which is impossible to patch, is now public. Security researchers Brandon Wilson and Adam Caudill released two patches to existing firmware for the Phison 2251-03, […]

Microfinance Struggling to find its feet in Middle East

Participants at a microfinance conference in Dubai this week. Sanabel Microfinance has blossomed in recent years, helping fill a funding need for businesses too tiny and risky for traditional banks. Curiously perhaps, while microfinance has been a big hit across parts of Asia and South America, its start in the Middle East and North Africa hasn’t been as auspicious. Microfinance institutions have existed in the Middle East […]

Apple Apologizes for a Week of iPhone Fiascos

Since the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus hit stores on September 19, the highs of Apple’s record-breaking sales have been quickly overtaken by a number of lows. Just three days after Apple announced that it had sold a record 10 million new iPhones over the opening weekend, buyers soon discovered the new phones’ operating system — iOS 8 — featured multiple bugs. A few even found […]

Apple Woes: iOS 8 Reportedly Crashing Apps

When Apple’s new operating system debuted, some were wondering whether they should upgrade to iOS 8 right away or wait a little while to make sure the mobile operating system was stable. Others were confident the upgrade would be flawless. Now, Crittercism, a mobile analytics firm, is showing why some had pause. When Crittercism analyzed data across iOS users from September 17 to September 22, the firm […]

Killers should not be able to cross our border

The e-borders system, which is supposed to stop a person coming to the UK if they have previously been deported or excluded from the country, has failed to intercept a single individual despite a £500 million IT project Photo: Reuters The disclosure that the chief suspect in the case of the missing schoolgirl Alice Gross is a convicted Latvian killer who should not have been in the country […]

Let’s not allow Hong Kong to come between us

More and more places in Hong Kong now accept Chinese yuan Photo: ALAMY Lord Patten was the last governor of Hong Kong, and still, it seems, has a keen interest in its affairs. He has written a piece for The Financial Times, extolling his views on Britain’s “moral and political obligation” to its former colony. But his words, like his actions as governor, reveal that he never understood […]

Paths to War, Then and Now, Haunt Obama

President Obama on Wednesday in Washington. Mr. Obama says he is aware of the “political price” he pays for being deliberate. By PETER BAKER September 13, 2014 WASHINGTON — Just hours before announcing an escalated campaign against Islamic extremists last week, President Obama privately reflected on another time when a president weighed military action in the Middle East — the frenzied weeks leading up to the American invasion of […]

GM to introduce hands-free driving in Cadillac

General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, will introduce a Cadillac model in two years that can travel on the highway without the driver holding the steering wheel or putting a foot on a pedal. The 2017 Cadillac model will feature “Super Cruise” technology that takes control of steering, acceleration and braking at highway speeds of 70 miles per hour or in stop-and-go congested traffic, Chief Executive […]

Celebrity hacking clouds Apple’s upcoming product launch

By Christina Farr and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO Wed Sep 3, 2014 7:44am IST The Apple logo is pictured at a retail store in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco, California April 23, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has often displayed uncanny timing, with its well-orchestrated end-of-year iPhone releases. But the leak of racy celebrity photos in the past few days […]

Letter From Europe: For David Cameron, Tangles of Horror in Iraq and Syria

Letter From Europe Britons, including Anglican clergy members worried about the plight of beleaguered Iraqi Christians, accuse Prime Minister David Cameron of incoherence. By ALAN COWELL August 21, 2014 LONDON — For a century and more, Iraq has been the graveyard of Western dreams, often literally, from the defeat of British colonial forces in the First Battle of Kut in 1916 to the bloodshed that flowed from the American-led […]

ANTONY REPORT IS AN EXERCISE IN EVASION

By Amulya Ganguli   When a faithful retainer is asked to assess his masters, he has no option but to play safe. Moreover, his servile instincts make him blind to any flaws. The result is that he is unable to give an honest opinion. Instead, he tiptoes around a glaring defect and concentrates on the… This content is for Monthly, Annual, Free Trial and Basic members only. […]

US weighs air strikes on Iraq Islamists

The U.S. is considering airdrops of aid for thousands of refugees driven from their homes by Islamist militants in Iraq, and possible airstrikes against the insurgents, according to a defense official. Aircraft dropping food and other humanitarian supplies to the refugees would be accompanied by military planes, the official said, asking not to be identified because discussions are private. If the insurgents target the planes, the U.S. […]

POWER MINISTRY MULLS RS 5,700 CRORE SUBSIDY FOR OPERATIONALISING GAS-BASED IDLE POWER CAPACITY

NEW DELHI: In a big push to 31,000-MW of electricity generation plants stranded without fuel, the power ministry has proposed a Rs 5,700 crore subsidy to help operationalise idle gas-based capacity, a loan restructuring scheme for such plants and the supply of coal to projects that will be commissioned before March 2015.

The proposals will benefit 24,148 MW of gas-based projects and 7,230 MW of plants that run on coal, set up at a total investment of about Rs 1,50,000 crore.

An additional 10,930 MW of coal-based plants that will be commissioned before March are also likely to gain. The ministry will approach the Union cabinet with a proposal to pool prices of imported gas and coal with domestic fuels to help stran