Railways to transport water for drought-affected Latur in Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: Railways will transport water to the drought-affected Latur district in Maharashtra in the summer and the public transporter is keeping two goods trains ready for the purpose.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has directed the concerned officials to make necessary arrangements for it, a senior railway official said.

Two goods trains will be deployed in Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement.

The carrying capacity of water is around 55,000 litres per wagon.

According to the official, railways has made arrangement for two goods trains consisting of 50 tanker like wagons each (BTPN wagons) for the purpose of loading and transporting water in the drought-affected areas of Latur district on the request from Maharashtra government.

Accordingly the Kota workshop railways will undertake steam cleaning of wagons for the purpose of loading drinking water.The two goods trains will be deployed in Pandharpur-Latur section of Solapur division for loading water. The first goods train consisting of 50 wagons will be ready for water loading after steam cleaning from Kota workshop on April 8.he second goods train consisting of 50 wagons after steam-cleaning, is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15.

The official said railways has decided to transport water in the drought affected areas to meet the water crisis.

Earlier, on a demand from Rajasthan government, many goods trains were deployed to transport water from Nasirabad to Bhilwada in Ajmer Division from January 2016 onwards which will continue up to the summer season.

Entry fee for ASI monuments hiked

NEW DELHI: Entry to 116 key historical monuments under ASI across the country, including the Red Fort, Qutab Minar and Ajanta-Ellora caves, have become costlier.

The government effected a three-fold hike in the entry fee for the monuments for domestic visitors and 100 per cent for For the 32 'World Heritage Monuments', the ticket price has been increased to Rs 30 from Rs 10 for the domestic visitor, while the entry fee for foreign nationals has been hiked to Rs 500 from Rs 250, the Culture Ministry said in a statement.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries are treated on par with Indians and are charged similarly.
For monuments other than the World Heritage ones, the entry fee has been increased three-fold to Rs 15 from Rs 5 for domestic visitors, while foreigners will have to pay Rs 200 against Rs 100.

"The enhancement comes after a period of more than 15 years as the last increase took place in 2000...The enhanced rates are at par with entry fee at monuments abroad," the statement said.

Apple turns 40 with India on its radar

NEW DELHI: From setting out in life on April 1, 1976 from a garage in Los Altos, California, to a new disc-shaped headquarters in Cupertino city amid growing users' security concern with a recent battle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US-based technology giant Apple can count on numerous milestones in the last four decades.

As the company celebrated its 40th birthday on Friday, the aim is increasingly getting clear -- to make further inroads into the Indian smartphone market with a huge base of 160 million plus users that is likely to surpass the US smartphone user base in a couple of years.

In March, Apple stunned its rivals by launching a cheaper, smaller yet powerfuliPhone SE and a game changer 9.7-inch iPad Pro. As powerful as iPhone 6S, the device has a 64-bit A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor.

But what made headlines was Apple's legal battle with the FBI over unlocking the iPhone 5C used by terrorist Syed Farook, who died in a shootout after carrying out a deadly attack in San Bernardino, California, with his wife last year.

The company got backing from many tech giants, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft over encryption to unlock the iPhone. The company also reiterated several times its commitment to protect its users' data and privacy while fighting with the FBI.

"We have a responsibility to help you protect your data and your privacy. We will not shrink from this responsibility," Apple CEO Tim Cook said, adding, "We built the iPhone for you, our customers, and for many of us it is a deeply personal device."

However, a third party helped the FBI crack the security function without erasing contents of the terrorists's iPhone. As the news spread of the FBI hacking into the encrypted Apple iPhone, experts expressed fears of backdoor approach to put users' security at hackers' mercy.With the FBI hacking, the US department of justice (DOJ) scrapped its request for Apple Inc's assistance to hack into the iPhone. The two-page court filing said that the FBI had accessed data stored on the iPhone 5C.


Apple was founded by the late Steve Jobs, along with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. In the early days, they sold computer kits -- each of which Wozniak hand-built.

According to RTE News, Wozniak was the one who created the company's first computer -- Apple I -- that went on sale in July 1976. This was a heads for the trio, which went on to form its first entity - Apple Computer Company.

The next year was even better with the launch of Apple II -- the first personal computer for the mass market. In 1981, Jobs became the chairman.
The company hit a low when Jobs left the firm in 1984 after his pet project -- the first Macintosh computer -- struggled. However, after a long sabbatical, he returned in 1997 when the company was in a financial crisis and launched the iMac in 1998.

Meanwhile, the company released Macintosh II, the first colour Mac in 1987.

After 14 years, Apple released iTunes, OS X and the first-generation iPod in 2001. The first iPod MP3 music player was a huge hit and was released on October 23, 2001 at an event in Cupertino. The device was able to hold up to 1,000 songs and sold over 100 million units sold in the first six years.

"The first Apple Store was opened in May 2001 in the state of Virginia, US -- the richest county in the country at that time. Apple now has more than 460 stores 
The market was soon flooded by Apple's products -- the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. It released the ultralight MacBook Air and the iPhone, which went on sale in 2007 while the first iPad was unveiled in 2010.

In 2011, Jobs resigned due to illness and handed over command to Tim Cook -- the current CEO. Jobs died that October of pancreatic cancer.
The consecutive years saw evolution in iPhones -- the device that brings in almost half of company's revenue.

In 2014, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch and first larger and slimmer iPhones -- the 6 and 6 Plus. A year later, Apple purchased Beats from Dr Dre and launched Apple Music to compete with Spotify and other music streaming services.

Businesswoman raped by man at a hotel in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A 33-year-old Delhi-based businesswoman was allegedly raped by a man whom she had met over lunch to discuss business at a hotel in Connaught Place on Friday.

The incident came to light when the woman called up the police in the evening and reported the matter, a senior police officer 

The woman, who resides in south Delhi's Defence Colony, owns a business enterprise here. She met the accused over lunch to discuss business matters, the officer said.

The man, who had come from Chandigarh, was known to the woman and they had met earlier. He allegedly spiked her drink with sedatives and took her to a room in the hotel in the inner circle of Connaught Place, where he forced himself upon her.

The woman called up the police after she gained conscience but by that time the accused had left.

A case under Section 376 (rape) was registered by the police, the officer said adding that they are trying to track down the accused man.

US, Saudi Arabia join hands to sanction Pakistani entities ahead of PM Modi's visit to Riyadh

WASHINGTON: The United States and Saudi Arabia joined hands on Thursday to sanction Pakistani individuals and terrorist entities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Riyadh.

In an unprecedented move, the US treasury department announced that Washington and Riyadh jointly taken action to disrupt the fundraising and support networks of al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) by imposing sanctions on four individuals and two organizations with ties across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.

"From terrorizing local populations to exploiting charities and religious institutions, al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba have a long history of inflicting violence on Americans and our allies throughout South Asia and the Middle East," said Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "Today's action marks yet another step in Treasury's efforts to financially cripple terrorist financiers and demonstrates the United States' and Saudi Arabia's shared resolve to target those who support terrorism."

Among the individuals sanctioned are LeT operatives Naveed Qamar, Abdul Aziz Nuristani, and Mohammed Ejaz Safarash, the last of whom the treasury department said bankrolled Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, who India says was one of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack planners.

The announcement comes as a huge embarrassment for Pakistan, which is already under the gun for its dodgy nuclear weapons policy that is putting mini-nukes in the hands of field commanders, allowing the possibility of a battlefield heist by terrorists and rogue commanders. Islamabad has sent only a token representation to the ongoing nuclear security summit in Washington, as the civilian government there appears locked in a turf battle with the military establishment that is trying to portray India as fomenting terrorism in Baluchistan.

But the treasury notification unsparingly shines the light on the wide support that terrorists enjoy in Pakistan, including from its business community. In providing details about Naveed Qamar, an influential LeT leader who headed its student wing, periodical departments and also edited its Al Dawa magazine, Washington says in early 2013, Qamar led a group of Pakistani businessmen to an LeT training camp for an orientation program on LeT's operations, after which they donated and pledged support of the group.

"As of early 2011, Qamar organized trips for businessmen to LeT training camps to show how their funds were used. In 2010, Qamar also organized and attended meetings with businessmen from Karachi, Pakistan, in order to collect funds and appeal for donations for LeT militant operations. In that same year, Qamar coordinated funds collected by senior members of Falah-e Insaniat Foundation (FIF) - a US and UN designated Lashkar-affiliated NGO - while organizing logistics and funding for mujahidin attack planning against Indian targets," the treasury department notification reveals.

It now appears that Pakistan may have known of the impending designation while virtually boycotting the nuclear meet, citing the Lahore bombing as an excuse. Modi is scheduled to leave for Riyadh on Friday evening after the nuclear meet, having arrived in Washington after a stopover in Belgium for an India-Europe meet.

Pakistan's song-and-dance about an alleged Indian spy in Balochistan also appears aimed at deflecting attention from the embarrassment of having its patron states call it out on terrorism. 

Cabbie dies pleading, 'Bhaiyya mujhe nikalo'

Kolkata: Rescuer Bipin is unlikely to ever forget the afternoon of March 31, 2016, not least the cabbie buried under the debris of the flyover who passed away pleading for help. 

"When I reached the spot (of the collapse) with my civil defence team, I heard a taxi driver groaning. I could hear him say, ' bhaiyya mujhe nikalo' . He kept looking at us and he kept bleeding," Bipin said. "Once or twice, we tried to pull him out, but his pain was excruciating. I saw him die in front of my eyes. The cabbie's death acted as a major motivating factor for us rescuers. For the next two hours we hacked, sawed and hammered our way into debris," he added.

C B Dwivedi, the headmaster at a school barely 10m away, was evaluating answersheets when he heard "a noise like a blast". "I rushed to the balcony, and saw debris and smoke. I rushed out of the building and asked the guard to shut the school's main gate. Each teacher was instructed to stop class and instead take care of the 350 students," he said. The teachers were doubtful about resuming classes soon. "Classes will begin once we are assured that the plank next to our Helpline numbers:

1070, 033-22143526, 033-22535185, 033-22145664State government has set up control room to help the public. Here are the numbers: 1070, 033-22143526/033-22535185/033-22145664.

Black money: RBI to share FDI-related information with IB, RAW

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India will share FDI-related information with country's intelligence agencies IB and RAW to check black money from entering the country.

The decision was taken during a recent meeting of a government group, headed by Revenue Secretary, to check economic crimes. The move comes after Cabinet Secretariat -- under whose administrative control Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) functions -- expressed concern over companies in tax havens investing in the country, official sources said.Emphasising on the need to keep a track of such companies' source of funding, the Cabinet Secretariat suggested that Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) under the Finance Ministry should maintain a database of such entities and investments, a move which was later rejected, they said.

During the meeting of "Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus", representatives of Intelligence Bureau felt that it is important to have the information. It was decided that RBI should share with IB and Cabinet Secretariat, information on FDI which actually enters the country, the sources said.The move assumes significance as the government expects rise in FDI inflow to the country owing to its attempts to liberalise trade and promote ease of doing business.

The FDI comes either through automatic route (which gets recorded by RBI) or through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)--an inter-ministerial body under the Department of Economic Affairs, which is responsible for processing of FDI proposals and making recommendations for government approval.