Odisha approves Emami Paper expansion, Ambuja Cements' project

The Odisha government on Friday approved the expansion plan by Emami Paper Mills to expand its multi-layered coated board manufacturing plant at Balgopalpur in Balasore. Emami is investing Rs 650 crore on the expansion that is poised to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for 1,750 people.

Emami set up the paper manufacturing unit at Balgopalpur industrial estate in 1982 and has regularly expanded operations in the state by setting up facilities for newsprint manufacturing, paper board project based on waste paper and establishing 10.5 Mw co-generation plant.

The proposal for Emami Paper Mill's expansion was approved by the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA). Apart from Emami, the SLSWCA gave nod to set up a cement grinding unit of 1.5 million tonnes per annum by Ambuja Cements. The cement grinding plant is proposed to be set up on 125 acres land at Jharsuguda at an investment of Rs 430 crore. The project would add to Ambuja Cements existing portfolio of five integrated cement manufacturing plants and eight cement grinding units across the country. The Odisha project would generate jobs for around 300 people.

The third project that was okayed was a biscuit manufacturing unit by Surya Foods & Agro Ltd (SFAL). Known for its Priya Gold brand of biscuits, SFAL is a multi-product food processing company with manufacturing facilities in Greater Noida, Lucknow and Surat with a combined capacity of 180,000 tonnes per annum. The company's Odisha plant would have a capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum envisaging an investment of Rs 108 crore.
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Orient Green Power to sell loss-making biomass biz for Rs 275 cr

Orient Green Power Company Limited (OGPL), which is part of the Shriram Group and a renewable energy-based power generation company, is looking to sell its bulk of biomass operations to its promoter company- Shriram Ventures Ltd (SVL Ltd) or its subsidiaries. The enterprise value of the sale is estimated to be around Rs 275 crore. The development comes ahead of company's plan to merge it's wind energy assets with IL&FS Wind Energy Ltd.

OGPL generated 96 megawatts (MW) of biomass energy, out of which 30 MW was already sold to Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The company is now planning to sell another 68 MW to SVL.

T Shivaraman, vice chairman of OGPL and son of Shriram Group founder R Thyagarajan, said that the decision was taken to enhance the value of the company's shareholders.

Biomass operations registered revenues of Rs 78 crore, lower by 24 per cent on a year-on-year basis, due to shut down of some of the power plants, said Shivaraman. It registered a loss before tax of Rs 81 crore in FY17 and has an outstanding debt of around Rs. 193 crore of outstanding debt.

According to the company, almost 50 per cent of OGPL's losses accrued from its biomass business.

The sale of biomass operations will reduce company's outstanding debt by about Rs 250 crore, besides providing the OGPL management with the much-needed support it requires to deleverage its balance sheet. The reduced interest outgo will improve operating performance while enhancing positive cash flows into the wind operations.

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Singapore Airlines launches A350 from Mumbai

The Singapore Airlines group, which operates 175 weekly flights out of India, including 17 from the city, is replacing its ageing Boeing 777 fleet with the modern A350s in the Mumbai-Singapore sector from Saturday.

The airline group, which way back in 1992 had tried to enter the country with the Tatas and has since then tied up with same group and operates Vistara, refused to speculate on whether it is interested in the national carrier Air India, which has been put on block for privatisation.

"As a policy we don't respond to market speculation," was all Singapore Airlines India general manager David Lim would say when sought his views on the government's move to disinvest the debt-ridden airline and whether his group will be interested in the same.

The aviation policy allows 49 per cent ownership by foreign carriers in domestic airlines. The details of the Air India divestment is not clear.

He also announced discount fares as part of Singapore Airlines' 70th anniversary, starting from Rs 22,070, to the city-state in the new aircraft beginning tomorrow.

Singapore Airlines, on its own, operates over 55 flights a week from India, while the group, that comprises Silk Air, Scoot and Tiger Air, operates the rest connecting 15 cities in the country.

The new 253-seater wide-body plane, which is the youngest aircraft in the industry now, will have 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy and 187 economy seats, while the 777 was carrying 263 passengers.
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India presses Microsoft for Windows discount in wake of cyber attacks

India is pressing Microsoft Corp to offer a sharply discounted one-time deal to the more than 50 million Windows users in the country so that they can upgrade to the latest Windows 10 operating system in the wake of ransomware attacks.

Microsoft officials in India have "in principle agreed" to the request, Gulshan Rai, India's cyber security coordinator, told Reuters over the phone on Friday.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft in India declined to comment on the matter. Officials at the company's headquarters in the United States and regional headquarters in Asia also declined to comment.

If Microsoft agreed to such a discount, it could open up the global software giant to similar requests from around the world. Rai said the government was in talks with Microsoft management in India. It is not immediately clear whether any other countries were seeking similar deals.

Rai said India began talks with Microsoft after the WannaCry ransomware attack last month, noting that both WannaCry and this week's attack, dubbed by some cyber experts "NotPetya", exploited vulnerabilities in older iterations of the Windows OS.

"The quantum of the price cut, we expect some detail on in a couple of days," Rai said, adding the Indian government expected the company to offer the software at "throw-away prices."

"It will be a one-time upgrade offer to Windows 10 and it will be a discounted price for the entire country," said Rai, who was hand-picked by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the country's first cyber security chief.

Rai declined to be more specific, but said he was confident that it would be "less than a quarter of the current price."

Rai, who has over two decades of experience in different IT areas including cyber security, said his team began coordinating with government agencies and regulators to push for OS upgrades soon after the WannaCry attack began on May 12.
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Travel bans and changes to human rights laws won't stop terrorist attacks

The recent terrorist acts in Manchester, Brussels and London prompted British Prime Minister Theresa May to argue for a more punitive counter-terrorism approach. She mooted longer prison sentences, stronger deportation regulations, and stopping the freedom of movement of suspects.

The notion that recent events necessitate changes to legislation is in part based on the idea that they are somehow different from previous incidents. Yet many past incidents have either had unclear motivations (the “lone wolf”), or apocalyptic tendencies (Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo in the mid-1990s) or have used everyday items to perpetrate their crime (al-Qaeda and 9/11).

Changing tactics

Terrorism is a chameleon by its very nature. Developing new and inventive ways to shock and challenge political authorities is fundamental to the phenomenon. Air hijackings were used until Entebbe in Uganda in 1976, where counter-terrorism forces freed hostages aboard an Air France flight. Hostage taking was de rigueur for a while.

Fears about the potential of weapons of mass destruction attacks rose considerably after the sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway in 1995. As a “weapon of the weak” that seeks to spread fear, terrorism is necessarily adaptive.

What is consistent across the dynamism is an emphasis on challenging the politics of the day. Given this, ensuring a balance between security and liberty is central to any effective response. Thus the recent suggestions by May are unfortunate.

Human rights and protection both possible

For example, detaining more suspects for longer is illogical. Recent analyses show that Islamic State (IS) was created by a group of men who had been detained together in Camp Bucca after the 2003 war against Iraq. Seasoned military officers, ideologues and political minds were brought together, detained, mistreated and denied any future role in their country. The result? IS.

Altering aspects of the law that currently enshrine various human rights is also nonsensical. Keir Starmer, current Labour MP and previously director of public prosecutions (DPP) in the UK from 2008 to 2013, brings this to life.

In an article in The Guardian, he states that during his five years as DPP he saw many cases involving serious terrorist plots, but that human rights laws never prevented the Crown Prosecution Service from pursuing a prosecution, or the dedicated counter-terrorist teams from monitoring and apprehending suspects.
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Putin's flacks: Russia's stealth public relations war

The Russian attempt to influence the 2016 American presidential election, using what intelligence agencies call “active measures,” has dominated US headlines.

There is, however, the second front in Russia’s effort to shape the hearts and minds of American citizens, and it’s received almost no attention in mainstream US media outlets since the election.

As someone who studies the growth of global public relations, I’ve researched the roles PR firms play in shaping public perceptions of international affairs.

For years, Russia has been involved in public relations campaigns that have been developed and deployed by prominent, US-based, global PR firms – campaigns intended to influence American public opinion and policy in ways that advance Russia’s strategic interests.

Legal propaganda?

Public relations is an industry that seeks to cultivate favourable impressions of corporations, products, individuals or causes. A company or public figure might hire a firm to increase visibility, advance marketing agendas, promote strategic initiatives or manage a crisis.

But things can get tricky when foreign governments get involved. When they hire PR firms to influence public opinion in other countries, they could undermine the domestic values and goals of the targeted nations.

In the 1930s, the PR firm of Ivy Lee – who, along with Edward Bernays, is regarded as a “founding father” of the public relations industry – was accused of circulating Nazi propaganda in the US. In response, Congress enacted the Foreign Agent Registry Act (FARA) in 1938, which required foreign propagandists operating in the U.S. to register with the government. In 1966, FARA was amended to cover people promoting the economic and political interests of their foreign clients.
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Trump's travel ban takes effect, doesn't consider grandparents as close family

The Trump administration is all set to partially implement its travel ban against people coming from six Muslim majority nations.

Being enforced from tonight 8 pm (5:30 am IST), officials said the travel ban is being rolled out across the country as part of its effort to prevent people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US.

The move comes after the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the vast majority of the US President's March 6 'Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States' could go into effect.

"As recent events have shown, we are living in a very dangerous time, and the US government needs every available tool to prevent terrorists from entering the country and committing acts of bloodshed and violence. And as the President reiterated following Monday's ruling, his number one responsibility as Commander-in-Chief is to keep the American people safe," said a senior administration official.

Ahead of its implementation, officials hoped to have business as usual at the airports.

"We expect business as usual at the ports of entry starting at 8:00 pm tonight. There have been reports of people who have already indicated that they would like to be there to either cause chaos or to protest. Lawyers have indicated they would like to be at the ports of entry to assist people," a senior administration official said.
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The writing is on the wall for Opec: It needs to cut more

Brent and WTI are in bear territory, having crashed 22% from the year's highs. You can call crude over-sold, you can put it down to technical and algorithmic trading. But you can't ignore the fact that it is more than just fickle, volatile sentiment this time: the OPEC/non-OPEC cuts may be removing up to 1.7 million b/d from the market, but the growth in US, Libyan and Nigerian output is putting more than 1.5 million b/d back, leaving net reduction at less than 200,000 b/d.

Of course, the producer group could continue advising patience to the world for the elusive evidence of a decline in global oil inventories, as it has being doing for the past few months. But this week proved that no one is listening any more.

Crude’s clumpy cascade this week into bear market territory could be put down to algorithmic and technical selling, but for the purposes of this discussion, the mechanism behind the latest downward spiral is moot. OPEC needs to respond not to the crude traders’ seeming paranoia, but to the fact that its current quantum of cutbacks have been all but neutralised.

OPEC and its non-OPEC collaborators are in a corner, but if the Saudi and Russian energy ministers stand behind their “whatever-it-takes” pledge of last month to rebalance the markets, the time has come to deepen the cuts. It won't be easy, but it is not impossible and a far more suitable option for OPEC than admitting defeat.
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Supreme Court partially allows Trump's travel ban. Who is still barred?

Portions of President Trump’s travel ban go into effect on Thursday, three days after the Supreme Court temporarily lifted legal blocks on the ban and agreed to review the case this fall.

The court granted an exception for people with “bona fide relationships” in the United States, and advocates and experts expressed uncertainty about how the Trump administration would implement the decision.

Allowed: People With ‘Bona Fide’ Relationships in the U.S.
The Supreme Court lifted the suspensions that federal judges had put on Mr. Trump’s travel ban order in March, but only partially: People from the affected countries who have “a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States” will still be allowed to enter the country.

The justices said their intention was to not burden American parties who have relationships with foreigners. They offered some examples of who would be allowed, including “close family,” students and workers offered employment.

But the court did not precisely explain the meaning of “bona fide relationship.” According to a diplomatic cable obtained by The New York Times, the Trump administration has defined “close family” as a “parent (including parent-in-law), spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sibling, whether whole or half. This includes step relationships.”

“Close family" does not include "grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-laws and sisters-in-law, fiancés and any other ‘extended’ family members."
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Macron, Trudeau shouldn't be so proud of appointing women to their Cabinets

Appointing a gender-parity Cabinet seems to be the thing to do if you are a rising, progressive and male political star.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did it in 2015. French President Emmanuel Macron followed this May.

The internet loves it. Trudeau has been the darling of feminists everywhere, and Macron clearly wants to follow in his footsteps. Being a male feminist politician is hip.

Trudeau does a little humble bragging.
Yet my research shows that numerical representation of women is not the silver bullet it has long been considered. What’s more important for achieving meaningful equity is that women control key political resources. In the highest echelon of politics, that means occupying senior Cabinet positions with the greatest financial and staff resources.

When being present is not enough

But what about that famous rallying cry for bringing more women into politics? “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu” makes sense intuitively. And, in political systems such as France and Canada, it is in Cabinets where the major policy decisions are being made. Having 50 percent women in a Cabinet seems to signal that women’s concerns are being taken seriously: for example, by passing a gender sensitive budget or addressing implicit sex bias in tax codes.

Unfortunately, research consistently has shown that women are relegated to lower-level or female-friendly Cabinet positions such as health, families, development or sports. Essentially, this means women might have a voice in Cabinet meetings but they cannot move the policy needle in important areas such as foreign affairs, finance or employment.

So how do the Cabinets of Trudeau and Macron measure up? Are they truly feminist – in other words, committed to sharing power equally between men and women? Or are these ostensibly equitable Cabinets mere window dressing? Unfortunately, under both Trudeau and Macron, men still occupy the majority of powerful positions.
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Andy Warhol's £6m selfie and how we can all now be famous for 15 minutes

One day in 1963, Andy Warhol walked into a New York photobooth and took what have become the world’s most famous selfies. One of these trailblazing self-portraits has just been sold at a Sotheby’s auction for just over £6m.

These selfies perfectly suited Warhol’s vision of the pop art era of the late 1950s and 1960s – they are quintessentially all-American, democratic and mechanical. Though photobooth pictures could not go viral like social media pictures can now, the use of a photobooth to make art was, in 1963, fiercely innovative and added to the aura of a technical invention that surrounded Warhol, just like it surrounds selfies and social media now.

Selfies are the holy grail of social media: self-portraying photographs that are posted on a social networking site and tell stories that aim to engage large numbers of people. Our latest research has revealed three things that can help you to take pictures that are worth – if not millions of pounds – at least a thousand words, and without you having to risk your life for them.

Our team conducted three experiments online with workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk which crowdsources expertise in a range of fields, one with students on computers in our university laboratory, and one corpus analysis – a method of looking at a body of evidence collectively – with independent coders. To determine exactly what people engage with when they look at pictures online, we showed participants different images. They rated these pictures on a number of photographic elements: point of view, content, “artsiness” and the like. They also indicated how likely they were to comment on the pictures if they saw them on social media.

These studies made it possible to isolate the things that cause people to stop caring about an online image – and to find pictures that engage them. Not only that, but they also helped to determine the sort of pictures on which people are most likely to comment. So here are three things that enthusiastic selfie-portrait artists need to know.
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German plans to send migrant children to reception centres in Morocco

In a controversial move, Germany is considering plans to open two reception centres in Morocco for repatriated children. According to a leaked document of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees cited by a German newspaper, the centres would have space to receive 200 Moroccan minors and would be run in collaboration with Moroccan non-governmental organisations.

The conditions under which these reception centres would operate have not been specified in detail. But the aim appears to be to allow the government to deport minors without breaching German immigration law. The German Residence Act specifies that in order to deport an unaccompanied foreign minor, the deporting authority must ensure that the minor is either “handed over to a member of his or her family, to a person possessing the right of care and custody or to an appropriate reception centre”.

This plan tallies with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s wider strategy to accelerate the removal of irregular migrants from German territory.

In 2016, Germany and Morocco agreed to collaborate on deporting Moroccan migrants. The German government has also tried to pass a contested law declaring Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria “safe countries of origin” to ease the expulsion of rejected asylum seekers. The law was approved by the German Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, in 2016. But it was then rejected by the upper house, the Bundesrat, in 2017 after opposition parties claimed that arguments to define these countries as “safe” were too weak.

Spain has tried this before

Resorting to reception centres to repatriate Moroccan unaccompanied minors evokes a similar idea launched by Spain in 2005.

Reception centres were meant to accompany the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed between Morocco and Spain in 2003 over the repatriation of unaccompanied minors. Since the late 1990s, in fact, a flow of Moroccan children has tried to reach Spain by crossing the Gibraltar Strait or by reaching the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
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Nestle capital plan only the start of new leadership's larger shake-up idea

Nestle's plan to shore up its capital structure, announced only days after being thrust into the spotlight by activist shareholder Third Point, was received by investors as a precursor to bigger changes under the company's new leadership.

Shares in the world's largest foodmaker rose as much as 2 percent on Wednesday, close to the record high touched on Monday after the New York-based hedge fund disclosed a $3.5 billion stake and urged Nestle to buy back shares, set a target for margin growth and shed non-core assets including its stake in L'Oreal.

Investors did not have to wait long for a response, with Nestle announcing late on Tuesday that it would launch a 20 billion Swiss franc ($20.8 billion) share buyback programme while leaving room for near-term acquisitions.

Nestle also said it would continue adjusting its portfolio and assess opportunities to boost profit margins, stopping short of setting a firm target. It added that the measures were the result of a review instigated at the start of the year after Mark Schneider took over as chief executive.

The moves were welcomed by stakeholders large and small.

"This is a new era for Nestle and I'm extremely positive on the prospects for internal and external growth," said Carine Menache, who runs a Monaco investment firm that owns Nestle shares. She and UBS analysts said the buyback should lift earnings by 6 percent, while increased merger and acquisition (M&A) activity could provide a further boost.

"Nestle may have a poor track record for M&A, but the new CEO, Schneider, is now in charge and he has a great track record," she added.

Reaching a 19 percent operating margin, the midpoint of Third Point's recommendation, would lift earnings by another 8 percent, according to UBS, which said Nestle shares now offered the greatest opportunity for growth of all the European packaged goods companies it covers, bolstering its "buy" rating.
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Trump's 'Muslim ban': Prove 'close' family or business ties to get US visa

The Trump administration has set new criteria for visa applicants from six mainly Muslim nations and all refugees that require a "close" family or business tie to the United States.

The move comes after the Supreme Court partially restored President Donald Trump's executive order that was widely criticised as a ban on Muslims.

The new guidelines sent to US embassies and consulates yesterday say that applicants from the six countries must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling in the US.

This is according to a State Department cable obtained by the Associated Press.

Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-laws and sisters-in-law, fiancees or other extended family members are not considered to be close relationships.

Senior officials from the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security are finalising criteria that visitors from six mostly Muslim must meet to avoid the Trump administration's revived travel ban.

The White House deliberations come as US embassies and consulates await instructions later yesterday on how to implement this week's Supreme Court order that partially reinstated the ban after it was blocked by lower courts. The new measures are expected to be implemented today.

The justices' opinion exempts applicants from the ban if they can prove a "bona fide relationship" with a US person or entity.

Government lawyers must determine how to define such a relationship. The court offered only broad guidelines suggesting it would include a relative, job offer or invitation to lecture in the US.
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Tighten security on flights or face total electronics ban: US to airlines

The Homeland Security Department is demanding that airlines around the world step up security measures for international flights bound for the United States or face the possibility of a total electronics ban for planes.

Compliance with the new rules could lead to the lifting of a ban on laptops and other large electronics already in place for airlines flying to the United States from 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa. It could also stave off a much-discussed expansion of the ban to flights from Europe.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly announced the rollout of the new rules yesterday.

The changes will be phased in over time and include enhanced passenger vetting, explosives detection and efforts to root out insider threats to airlines.

"Security is my No. 1 concern," Kelly said during a speech at the Center for a New American Security. "Our enemies are adaptive and we have to adapt as well."

Kelly said the changes will be "seen and unseen" and will be phased in over the coming weeks and months.

He said airlines that don't comply or are slow to enforce the new standards could be forced to bar large electronics in both carry-on and checked luggage. They could also lose permission to fly into the US. He said he's confident that airlines will cooperate.

The current ban, with affects only foreign carriers flying to the US from 10 cities, allows passengers to travel with larger electronics packed in checked baggage.

The new rules will apply to roughly 180 foreign and U.S.-based airlines, flying from 280 cities in 105 countries, according to Homeland Security. About 2,000 international flights land in the United States daily.

Michael W McCormick, executive director and COO of the Global Business Travel Association, said yesterday that airports will have to deploy enhanced explosive trace detention technology within 21 days and within six months add additional screening, detection dogs and other enhanced security measures.
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The terrifying uncertainty of Supreme Court's 'Muslim Ban' ruling

I’m a US citizen. I’m also Muslim. And the Supreme Court decision on the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban scares me.

In a June 26 ruling, the court decided to leave in place parts of the Muslim ban while the merits of the case are debated, effectively barring individuals from six Muslim-majority countries without a “bona fide” relationship in the US — say, with family members, an employer, or an educational institution — into the country. This decision may also prevent entry for all refugees for 120 days.

The ruling has been hailed as a victory for the Trump administration — not just on the legal end, but also in the degree to which it instills fear in Muslims. The fear is real, and not just for those who may be directly impacted, but for the larger community, too. After all, what the travel ban is ultimately meant to do is to hold all Muslims collectively responsible for the actions of a (miniscule) few.

As a Muslim American of Egyptian descent, will I be legally impacted by the decision? In theory, no. But will I think twice about leaving the country, knowing that I could return to the possibility of being harassed, interrogated, and/or denied entry back into the US? Absolutely. Because after almost 16 years of the war on terror, you come to learn — or become conditioned to fear — that one day you could be next.

The distinction between citizen and non-citizen becomes ever more perilous when you “look Muslim,” have a Muslim sounding name, or work on issues relating to Muslims. This doesn’t mean I’ll experience the same consequences as Muslim non-citizens, but neither does my citizenship reassure me that my fellow Muslim Americans and I will be protected, especially in light of this administration’s history over the last few months alone.
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With Modi in Washington, China and India 'jostle' on their border

As Indians savored Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effusive welcome in the White House Rose Garden this week, another, less friendly image kept stubbornly interfering.

High in the hills of the Himalayas, Indian troops had halted a Chinese road-building project in a disputed border area, and Beijing was angry. News channels kept cutting to old video of troops bumping torsos, trying to force one another backward without escalating to slaps or punches, a tactic often described here as “jostling.”

Beijing released a complaint against India on Monday, just as Mr. Modi walked into a meeting in Washington with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. On Tuesday, Global Times, a state-run nationalist tabloid, warned India to back down in a harshly worded editorial, saying that its “capacity is nowhere near China’s, and the so-called strategic support from the United States is empty, too, so it won’t be of any help when it is needed.”

The interruption of diplomatic ceremonies by border flare-ups is a regular feature of the Indian-Chinese relationship. To Indian analysts, the outburst conveyed Beijing’s dissatisfaction with President Trump’s plans to carry forward the United States-India strategic maritime partnership begun under President Barack Obama.

“They look at India as a critical swing state in Asia, and they see India now moving inexorably toward the U.S., which makes it very difficult for China to carve out a Sinocentric Asia,” said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst affiliated with the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

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Cyberattack hits Ukraine then spreads internationally

Computer systems from Ukraine to the United States were struck on Tuesday in an international cyberattack that was similar to a recent assault that crippled tens of thousands of machines worldwide.

In Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, A.T.M.s stopped working. About 80 miles away, workers were forced to manually monitor radiation at the old Chernobyl nuclear plant when their computers failed. And tech managers at companies around the world — from Maersk, the Danish shipping conglomerate, to Merck, the drug giant in the United States — were scrambling to respond. Even an Australian factory for the chocolate giant Cadbury was affected.

It was unclear who was behind this cyberattack, and the extent of its impact was still hard to gauge Tuesday. It started as an attack on Ukrainian government and business computer systems — an assault that appeared to have been intended to hit the day before a holiday marking the adoption in 1996 of Ukraine’s first Constitution after its break from the Soviet Union. The attack spread from there, causing collateral damage around the world.

The outbreak was the latest and perhaps the most sophisticated in a series of attacks making use of dozens of hacking tools that were stolen from the National Security Agency and leaked online in April by a group called the Shadow Brokers.

Like the WannaCry attacks in May, the latest global hacking took control of computers and demanded digital ransom from their owners to regain access. The new attack used the same National Security Agency hacking tool, Eternal Blue, that was used in the WannaCry episode, as well as two other methods to promote its spread, according to researchers at the computer security company Symantec.

The National Security Agency has not acknowledged its tools were used in WannaCry or other attacks. But computer security specialists are demanding that the agency help the rest of the world defend against the weapons it created.
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Watch: PM Modi's interaction with Dutch-Indians in Haque

Following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, India and the Netherlands on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to combat terrorism and prevent radicalisation that could lead to violent extremism and called for a collective effort by the international community against this scourge.

"Expressing concern about the serious and grave threat posed by the spread of terrorism and violent extremism to both countries and the world, the Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to combat terrorism and prevent radicalisation that could lead to violent extremism and reiterated the need for a unified and collective effort by the international community to eliminate terrorism through a holistic approach," a joint communique stated.

It said both Modi and Rutte stressed that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever and agreed that there should be zero-tolerance on terrorism.

Like several other European nations, the Netherlands has also been a target of terrorism.

"They affirmed that the fight against terrorism should not only seek to disrupt and bring to justice terrorists, terror organisations and networks, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, and falsely extol their virtues," the statement said.

In what can be seen as a veiled reference to Pakistan, it said "both leaders strongly condemned the use of double standards in addressing the menace of terrorism and agreed to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism both at the bilateral level and within the multilateral system".

The two Prime Ministers also called for early conclusion of negotiations on the India-initiated Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
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Not in my name: Prompted by a FB post, groups in 12 cities to protest against lynchings today

On Saturday, horrified by the murder of a 15-year-old Muslim boy in a train on the outskirts of Delhi two days earlier, Gurgaon-based filmmaker Saba Dewan posted a message on Facebook calling for a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Wednesday evening against the recent spate of lynchings of Muslims and attacks on Dalits. She decided to call the demonstration “Not in My Name”.

“We want to speak up against the recent incidents of communal or caste-based violence that have been happening in the past few years and specifically after Junaid’s lynching,” said Dewan. “We want to convey that whatever is happening in the society is not happening in our name; I do not approve of it.”

The message has rippled across India – and as far as the United Kingdom and Canada. On Wednesday, groups in at least nine other Indian cities will hold similar protests. Events are also planned in London and Toronto.

The immediate spark for the protests was the murder of Junaid on a Mathura-bound train on Thursday. He was returning to his home in Faridabad district with his brothers and two friends after some Eid shopping in Delhi. A dispute over a seat led to the boys being assaulted by a group of men who taunted them for being Muslim. Junaid and two of his companions were stabbed. The assailants flung them onto the platform at Asoti railway station. Junaid died soon after.

Series of attacks

This was the latest in a series of lynchings that started in September 2015, when an ironsmith named Mohammed Akhlaq was murdered in his home in the Uttar Pradesh area of Dadri by a mob that accused him of storing beef in his fridge.

Dewan said the repeated lynchings have left her distraught. “These attacks show that our fundamental rights are being violated and nd the state chooses to be silent,” said the filmmaker. “We need to remind the state that they are duty-bound and allowing repeated such attacks is a violation of the Constitution.”
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The big debate: Can Uber's Kalanick do a Steve Jobs and make a comeback?

At thirty, Steve Jobs had already revolutionized personal computing, and was a global celebrity. But in 1985, thanks to a power struggle in the boardroom, he got fired from the very company he had created. Fast forward to 2017, and Travis Kalanick has just faced the exact same fate after fundamentally disrupting the taxi industry. The point here is not that history is repeating itself in Silicon Valley, because many an icon have fallen in disgrace in the business world, and will probably continue to do so. The key questions are: How do these two exits compare, and will 40-year-old Kalanick be able to make the spectacular comeback that Jobs managed in 1997?

Jobs was passionate about Apple’s products, and had a burning desire to change the world. So great was his passion for perfection that he could not tolerate anything but the very best. As a result, he was impatient, impolite, and downright rude with people until in his mind he got the product just right. Once he did, he believed in it so much that he was willing to defy all odds to make it succeed, ignoring any feedback to the contrary.  This strategy worked until 1985 when the market did not well receive the new Macintosh Office. Jobs then went head on against CEO John Sculley, whom he had lured away from PepsiCo just two years earlier - demanding a drop-in pricing, and increasing advertising spend.  Sculley finally won the boardroom battle and removed Jobs as the head of the Mac division.

Kalanick too wants to change the world and has already done so.  But the main reason for his ouster was not his impatience to bring the best products to market. Sexual harassment, and creating an overall toxic corporate culture that is particularly harsh on women are among the charges against him.  Under Kalanick, the company is also accused of unethical and opportunistic business practices like the way-over-the-top surge pricing during a terror attack in Sydney.
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Facebook community now officially has 2 billion people, says Zuckerberg

Facebook said today its ranks of monthly active users had hit the two billion mark — meaning more than a quarter of the world's population is on the giant social network.

"As of this morning, the Facebook community is now officially 2 billion people!" co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his Facebook page marking the milestone.

"We're making progress connecting the world, and now let's bring the world closer together," he wrote. "It's an honor to be on this journey with you."

Naomi Gleit, a vice-president at the internet giant, credited millions of small communities at Facebook for helping drive growth.

"There are two billion people connecting and building communities on Facebook every month," she said.

More than a billion people take part in "groups" at Facebook each month and more than 800 million people "like" something at the social network on an average day, she added.

Founded in 2004, the social media behemoth hit the billion-user mark five years ago.

As it has grown, Facebook has consistently updated features to fend off challengers such as Snapchat and adapt to trends such as the migration of news and streaming video online.

In the latest move to deepen its reach, Facebook revealed yesterday it is starting production on high-quality television series and gaming shows to be broadcast on its platform.
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Venezuela crisis: Maduro says helicopter dropped grenade on Supreme Court

President Nicolas Maduro says a helicopter fired on Venezuela's Supreme Court in a confusing incident that he claimed was part of a conspiracy to destabilize his socialist government.

The incident occurred as Maduro was speaking live on state television yesterday to journalists gathered at the presidential palace. He said the chopper fired upon offices of the court and launched a grenade that didn't explode. He said air defense was activated, thwarting what he called a "terrorist attack."

An Associated Press reporter heard gunfire as a helicopter buzzed through downtown but was unable to confirm where the shots were being fired from.

There were unconfirmed witness reports the chopper was carrying an anti-government banner and being flown by a policeman who had declared himself in rebellion in a video on social media.
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New York subway train derails; 36 injured, traffic disrupted

Dozens of people were injured when two New York subway train cars careened off the tracks, leaving hundreds of people stuck for more than an hour, a fire department spokesman said.

The incident -- which occurred mid-morning on the A train line between two stations in Harlem in northern Manhattan -- left 36 people with minor injuries, the spokesman told AFP.

Evacuating everyone from the underground station took more than an hour and a half, he said.

The cause of the derailment, which continued to disrupt traffic throughout the day, was not immediately clear.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the city's aging public transit system, said the situation was under investigation.

Joseph Lhota, the newly appointed MTA chairman, told a local television station that the derailment would have been preceded by the activation of the emergency brake, but could not say why it had been triggered.

One rider described a sudden jolt "like a bucking horse," saying that "people were flying all over the cars."

"People were panicking, jumping out of their seats, just crying and praying out loud," said another passenger.

"It was just very traumatising."

Riders told of smoke and fire on the tracks, which Lhota explained could have resulted from litter igniting after the crash.

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Trump, his policies are unpopular worldwide, American image suffers: Survey

President Donald Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the US have also declined steeply in many nations, a new survey has revealed.

The survey spanning 37 nations by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre issued late Monday showed a median of just 22 per cent has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs.

This stands in contrast to the final years of Barack Obama's presidency when a median of 64 per cent expressed confidence in Trump's predecessor to direct America's role in the world.

The sharp decline in how much global citizens trust the US President is especially pronounced among some of America's closest allies in Europe and Asia, as well as neighbouring Mexico and Canada.

Across the 37 nations polled, Trump gets higher marks than Obama in only two countries: Russia and Israel, the survey said.

According to the survey, globally 65 per cent think Trump is intolerant and 62 per cent that he is dangerous.

In countries where confidence in Trump declined most, the US' overall image also tended to suffer more.

In the closing years of Obama's term, a median of 64 per cent had a positive view of the US, while now, just 49 per cent are favourably inclined toward America.
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Apple chief Tim Cook touts India impact in push for deeper market access

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday highlighted the economic impact the company is having on India in a meeting with its prime minister as the iPhone maker seeks deeper access to the world's third-largest smartphone market behind the United States (US) and China.

Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a business summit in Washington at a time when Apple Inc is targeting the nascent Indian market as a revenue source after its sales in China slipped.

Apple has asked Indian government officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly work in the country. It is seeking permission to open its own retail stores in India where it currently sells iPhones through resellers.

In his meeting with Modi, Cook disclosed that Apple expected its Indian operations to be run completely from renewable energy within the next six months, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Cook reiterated that Apple had generated 740,000 jobs in India through its so-called "app economy" and Indian developers had created nearly 100,000 apps for the App Store, the person said.

Modi talked with Cook and the other US corporate leaders ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday.

Apple, working with contract manufacturer Winstron, began assembling the iPhone SE in Bengaluru last month. Indian authorities have offered Apple tax concessions for the work with the requirement that more local components be used over time.

The company is looking to India after sales in the greater China region, once a major factor in Apple's rise, fell 14% year over year to $10.7 billion in the most recent quarter.
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Facebook to produce own TV series, games

Facebook is starting production on high-quality television series and gaming shows to be broadcast on its platform, one of the social media giant's executives said today.

The online platform, which has around two billion monthly users worldwide, is working on the project with a small group of partners and hopes to start putting out episodes of its forthcoming series by the end of the summer, Nick Grudin, the vice-president for media partnerships, said in a statement to AFP, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal.

"Our goal is to make Facebook a place where people can come together around video," Grudin said, noting that Facebook and its collaborators would "experiment with the kinds of shows you can build a community around — from sports to comedy to reality to gaming."

Facebook is funding the shows on its own at first, he said, "but over time we want to help lots of creators make videos funded through revenue sharing products like Ad Break," a software tool that allows adverts to be directly inserted into Facebook's online content.

Facebook did not identify its content-production partners, but the Wall Street Journal said they include Hollywood studios and agencies representing actors and another creative talent from the film and television industries.

Facebook is ready to spend up to $3 million per episode, a budget which puts it at the upscale end of television production in the United States. In doing so, it is a following a trend set by other internet giants that were once satisfied with allowing their platforms to be used for distribution by other producers.

Netflix, Amazon and the online television platform Hulu — a joint venture by Disney, Comcast, 21st Century and Time Warner —have thrown themselves into content production, as have YouTube and Apple, although on a more modest scale.
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Self-driving cars: Apple working with Hertz to test technology

Apple Inc is leasing a small fleet of cars from rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc to test self-driving technology, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Hertz shares were up 13.5 per cent at $10.82, while shares of Apple were slightly down.

Apple is renting Lexus RX450h sport-utility vehicles from Hertz's Donlen fleet-management unit, according to the Bloomberg report, citing documents released recently by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The iPhone maker is concentrating on technology for self-driving cars, Chief Executive Tim Cook said earlier this month in an interview with Bloomberg.

Hertz declined to comment, while Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alphabet Inc's self-driving car unit Waymo announced a similar partnership with Avis Budget Group Inc, earlier on Monday, to offer fleet support and maintenance services for its fleet of autonomous vehicles.
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Modi in US: Fight against terrorism is our main priority, says PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump today struck a common note on terrorism, vowing to strengthen efforts to fight the menace, during their joint statement at the White House.

The fight against terrorism is our main priority, Modi said after talks with the US president.

"We talked about terrorism, extremism and radicalisation and agreed to cooperate on this. Fight against terrorism and their safe havens is an important part of our cooperation," he said at the Rose Garden lawns.

Trump said both nations are "determined" to destroy terrorist organisations and the radical ideology that drives them.

"The security partnership between the US and India is incredibly important. Both our nations have been struck by the evils of terrorism and we are both determined to destroy terrorist organisations and the radical ideology that drives them. We will destroy radical islamic terrorism," Trump said.
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Refugee crisis to escalate as rising ocean levels could affect 2 bn by 2100

Climate change is causing sea level rise around the world. According to a recent study, in the year 2100, two billion people - about one-fifth of the world's population - could become climate change refugees due to rising ocean levels.

Those who once lived on coastlines will face displacement and resettlement bottlenecks as they seek habitable places inland, according to Cornell University research.

"We're going to have more people on less land and sooner that we think," said lead author Charles Geisler, professor emeritus of development sociology at Cornell.

"The future rise in global mean sea level probably won't be gradual. Yet few policy makers are taking stock of the significant barriers to entry that coastal climate refugees, like other refugees, will encounter when they migrate to higher ground."

Earth's escalating population is expected to top nine billion people by 2050 and climb to 11 billion people by 2100, according to a United Nations report.

Feeding that population will require more arable land even as swelling oceans consume fertile coastal zones and river deltas, driving people to seek new places to dwell.

By 2060, about 1.4 billion people could be climate change refugees, according to the paper. Geisler extrapolated that number to two billion by 2100.

"The colliding forces of human fertility, submerging coastal zones, residential retreat, and impediments to inland resettlement is a huge problem. We offer preliminary estimates of the lands unlikely to support new waves of climate refugees due to the residues of war, exhausted natural resources, declining net primary productivity, desertification, urban sprawl, land concentration, 'paving the planet' with roads and greenhouse gas storage zones offsetting permafrost melt," Geisler said.
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US Senate Obamacare replacement bill would leave 22 mn without coverage

The healthcare reform bill being discussed by the US Senate would leave 22 million people without medical insurance by 2026, of whom 15 million would drop off the roles in the first year after its implementation, the Congressional Budget Office calculates in a report.

The Senate bill shows only a slight difference from the version approved by the House of Representatives, which would result in 23 million people losing their health insurance coverage, a report by the CBO said on Monday.

The report by the CBO —an independent government agency that provides forecasts of the effects of laws being debated by Congress —also said that the Republican healthcare reform would reduce the deficit by $321 billion by 2026, Efe news reported.

The forecast that some 22 or 23 million people would lose healthcare coverage — although they presently enjoy that coverage under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare — is due essentially to a drop in the number of people who will be covered by Medicaid, the system that provides care for the most disadvantaged people in the US, and Medicare, which is designed to help retirees.

The amendments presented in the Senate to the bill approved earlier in the House penalise people who have no insurance, forcing them to wait for six months before they can reapply for such coverage, thus incentivising people to enter into the private healthcare insurance system before they become ill.

The measure is aimed at ending the obligation for people to get private healthcare insurance coverage or pay a fine, as occurs now under the reform sponsored by former President Barack Obama.

The CBO report is a blow to those supporting the Senate bill, including President Donald Trump, since it would not motivate as-yet-undecided Republican senators to support the initiative.
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US says Assad may be preparing chemical attack, warns of 'heavy price'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be preparing a chemical weapons attack that would result in the "mass murder" of civilians, the White House said today, warning the regime would pay a "heavy price" if it goes ahead.

The White House said the preparations were similar to those undertaken by the Assad regime ahead of an apparent chemical attack on a rebel-held town. Washington launched a strike against a Syrian airbase in response.

"The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children," spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement.

"The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack."

Assad, backed by his ally Russia, has strongly denied the allegation that his forces used chemical weapons against the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun, describing it as a "100 percent fabrication".

He has said repeatedly that his forces turned over all chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013, under a deal brokered by Russia to avoid threatened US military action.

The agreement was later enshrined in a United Nations Security Council resolution.

But US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis previously warned that there was "no doubt" that Syria had in fact retained some chemical weapons. An Israeli military assessment also found that Assad's regime was still in possession of "a few tonnes" of chemical weapons.
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Unified Korea Olympic team: Amid political strife, North doubts South offer

A top North Korean sports official voiced doubts over a proposal by South Korean President Moon Jae-In to form a unified Olympic team, citing political tensions and a lack of time, a report said.

The comment by Chang Ung, the North's delegate to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) came after Moon suggested that two Koreas pool their athletes to form a joint team for the 2018 Winter Games, which the South is hosting.

The South and the nuclear-armed North are separated by one of the world's most heavily-armed borders and remain technically at war after the Korean War ended with armistice in 1953 instead of a peace treaty, and Pyongyang boycotted the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Organisers of Pyeongchang 2018 have urged it to take part to make them a "peace Olympics".

But unlike the summer version, the winter games have minimum qualifications because of the risks inherent in snow and ice sports, and so far no North Korean athletes have met the required standards.

That raises the prospect that none will attend, even if political issues over the North's nuclear and missile ambitions do not intrude.

A unified group could allow North Koreans to take part in team events such as ice hockey.

But with only seven months to go before the Games open in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang, Chang said there was not enough time to reach an agreement.
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China to launch 'shuttle diplomacy' between Pakistan and Afghanistan

China on Monday announced that it will launch "shuttle diplomacy" between Pakistan and Afghanistan to ease tensions between the two neighbours and promote the peace process in war-torn Afghanistan amidst a spurt in terror attacks in both the countries.

China will conduct the shuttle diplomacy between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his visit to both the countries, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

Wang visited Islamabad and Kabul on June 24 and 25.

During the visit, the two countries agreed to establish the bilateral Crisis Management Mechanism, Geng said.

The main targets for the visit is to implement the consensus between the state leaders and in addition the requirement of Afghanistan and Pakistan as directed by Chinese leaders, he said.

"We will conduct shuttle diplomacy to help improve relations between the two countries within our capacity and also to promote the peace process in Afghanistan," Geng said.

Asked about Afghanistan's allegations that Pakistan is harbouring Taliban militants who were blamed for the recurring terrorist attacks in that country, Geng said "this shuttle visit made by Wang was conducted in agreement with Afghanistani and Pakistani sides".

"During this visit, the two countries have sent out goodwill messages to each other and two sides agreed to establish the bilateral Crisis Management Mechanism.

"We think that this is important step forward towards the improvement of their bilateral relationship and we also stated many times that maintenance of friendly relationships between two countries is conducive to regional stability and security and international efforts against terrorism, we will continue our efforts in this regard," Geng said.
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Global planned exports at 18-month high; India's exports to improve: Report

Planned exports activity has hit an 18-month high globally, and India is among the countries expecting an increase in exports going forward, says a Grant Thornton report.

Countries with the greatest increases in planned exports in January-March quarter were Germany (up 13 percentage points to 35 per cent from 22 per cent), Greece (up from 26 per cent to 34 per cent).

India's planned exports touched 34 per cent from 28 per cent in the year-ago period, the figure for Netherlands stood at 30 per cent from 18 per cent and Ireland (from 18 per cent to 28 per cent).

A global survey by Grant Thornton of 2,500 businesses in 36 economies finds that while planned export activity has hit an 18-month high, challenges loom in balancing long-term trends and sudden policy shifts.

"For businesses thinking about their future export plans, assessing longer-term trends and sudden changes in government policy will be a balancing act, according to the data from our last quarterly Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR)," said Paul Raleigh, Grant Thornton Global Leader- Growth and Advisory services.

"Export expectations are up in the G7 (up 3 percentage points) and the EU (up 2 percentage points)," Raleigh said adding "the strong US dollar puts imports at an advantage compared to local products".

Regarding the US and China major trade deals, Raleigh said "the impact on global trade flows could be sizeable. These are the world's two biggest economies and if the amount they sell to each other increases, we could see a positive knock-on effect through American and Chinese business supply chains".
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Watch: SpaceX launches 10 satellites from California air base

A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off yesterday through low- lying fog at 1.25 pm pacific daylight time (PDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rocket's second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches.

Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX.

The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Virginia, company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be so-called on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction.

Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters.

Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said.

"It's hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure we've cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority," he said.

The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerion's space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety especially in remote airspace over the oceans.

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Harry Potter at 20: What makes JK Rowling's creation a money making machine

'The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter," said Garrick Ollivander to Harry Potter when he visited Ollivanders (makers of fine wands, since 382 BC) for the first time in 1997. Twenty years later, in 2017, a kid does not need to wait for Hagrid to arrive and take him or her to Diagon Alley to purchase their first wands. He or she only needs to pester their parents for it and they can buy it for them, off Amazon. Even an Elder Wand replica can be bought for Rs 1,500. Should a Gryffindor scarf or Hogwarts robes or even a Sorting Hat interest you, they can be easily bought on the internet.

JK Rowling's manuscript had been rejected by eight publishers before Bloomsbury Publishing offered her an advance of £ 2,500 for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first in the series of seven books. The story goes that Rowling had written the book sitting in cafes in Edinburgh where she was living with her daughter, on benefits. Bloomsbury itself couldn't have known that the book it was publishing would transform not only the company but publishing as an industry.

Established in 1986 by Nigel Newton, Bloomsbury had a turnover of £11 million in 1995 which rose to £14 m in 1997 but thanks to Rowling's books rose to £21 m in 1999. In just two more years, it went up to £61 m in 2001, crossing a £100 m in 2005. It helped establish Bloomsbury as the most important publisher in the children's books category. Scholastic Press, an American publisher bought the American rights for $ 105,000 in 1998, by which time the first two books had been published in the UK. The seven Harry Potter books (excluding the spin-offs) have so far, sold more than half a billion books in 73 languages globally.

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'You'll be held accountable, Trump,' pro-IS hackers write on US govt sites

Several government websites in the US state of Ohio were apparently hacked to broadcast an anti-government and pro-Islamic State (IS) message, the media reported.

"You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries," said the message on Sunday, which was left by "Team System Dz", Xinhua news agency reported

The affected websites included Ohio Governor John Kasich's office, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, the Ohio Office of Workforce Transformation, the Ohio Office of Health Transformation, the Ohio Inspector General and the Ohio Department of Medicaid.

The affected sites' homepages were replaced with the same black background accompanied by music. By noon (1 pm), all of the affected sites appeared to no longer be online.

"As soon as we were notified of the situation, we immediately began to correct it and will continue to monitor until fully resolved," said a spokesperson for the Governor's office in a statement issued on Sunday afternoon.

"We are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites. We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened," said the Ohio Department of Administrative Services in another statement.

USA Today reported that "Team System Dz" is actually a group of "anti-Israeli Arab teenagers". It has hacked numerous random websites such as the University of New Brunswick's student union site and a Canadian food truck's sandwich site.
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Modi in US: No country questioned India's surgical strike, says PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no country has questioned India's surgical strike against terrorist launchpads in Pakistan and "India has succeeded in telling the world about the need to uproot the menace of terrorism".

He also said "terrorists have themselves explained to the world the meaning of terrorism".

"The entire world could have raised many questions and pointed fingers at us for the surgical strike. But, not a single country questioned India's surgical strike against the terrorist launchpads in Pakistan (last year). Those who suffered (Pakistan) because of this, is a different thing," Modi said while addressing the members of Indian diaspora here on Sunday.

"The entire world is suffering because of the menace of terrorism, which is against mankind," the Prime Minister said.

"When India spoke about terrorism about 20-25 years back, for many countries, it was beyond their understanding. For them it was a law and order problem, because they were not the sufferers. Today, it is not required to explain what's terrorism. Terrorists have themselves explained it to them," said Modi.

"But when India conducts surgical strike, the world understands India is a patient country but if required, it knows how to demonstrate its ability," said Modi.

"We are bound by international laws. We believe in the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). This is our character," he added.

Modi in US: PM to meet top CEOs, discuss GST, Make in India gains, H1B visa
Modi also said: "We do not want to disrupt the global order. Following the international norms and law, in order to ensure that the sovereignty, security and peace is maintained, we are capable of taking very stern action."
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