US navigation operations in South China Sea not an act of provocation: White House

Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area.

The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed concerns of the international community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource- rich sea.


However, the White House yesterday refused to describe the situation in the South China Sea as headed towards tension.

"I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.


The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.

"We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that international law allows," Earnest said, adding that th ..


A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what international law regards as an island's territorial sea. The reef is now an island with an airstrip, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.

Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Iraqi officials: Attack on cafe north of Baghdad kills 13

A group of gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad early Friday, leaving at least 13 people dead and 15 wounded, Iraqi officials said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault in Balad, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the Iraqi capital. The attack came on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people — attacks that have been claimed by the Islamic State group. The deadliest struck the sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 63 people.

The Balad attack started with three gunmen, armed with machine guns, who opened fire into the crowd in the cafe shortly after midnight Thursday, the officials said. Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The IS bombings this week exposed lingering gaps in Baghdad's defenses, which are manned by an array of security agencies and militias that don't always cooperate. They also point to the resilience of the extremist IS group, which has increasingly resorted to bombings in civilian areas far from the front lines as it has lost some territory to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.

On Thursday evening, hundreds took to the streets in Baghdad's Sadr City to demand government accountability for the security breaches. Protesters carried signs calling for the interior minister to resign while others called for the minister of defense and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to also step down.

Anti-government protests first erupted last summer as temperatures soared and millions were left without electricity. While al-Abadi proposed a series of government reforms in August 2015 that he claimed would combat corruption, very little has been implemented. Repeated delays in Iraq's parliament sparked another wave of protests this year, led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In late April the cleric's supporters stormed Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and the parliament building.

Since the unprecedented breach of the compound, which is home to many of Baghdad's ministries and foreign embassies, the country's government has been largely gridlocked as many lawmakers are boycotting parliament.

Iraqi officials and analysts warn that the deepening political crisis may be distracting Iraq's security forces from the fight against IS. The Iraqi government claims IS only occupies 14 percent of the country's territory after a string of battlefield losses, but the extremist group still controls key border areas between Iraq and Syria as well as Iraq's second largest city of Mosul.

SOurce: http://www.newindianexpress.com

Turkey: Eight soldiers, 21 PKK militants killed as violence widens in southeast region

Eight Turkish soldiers and 21 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Friday, according to the military and media reports, as violence in the largely Kurdish southeast widened a day after two bombings.

After the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst violence since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province, the military said in a statement.

Two more soldiers were killed in a separate incident when a military helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region, it said.

Fifteen militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, broadcaster NTV reported, citing the Turkish military.

On Thursday, four suspected bomb makers were killed and 17 people wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck, the government said.

That blast was just hours after an explosives-laden car blew up near a military base in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, wounding six soldiers and a civilian.

No one has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing in Istanbul.

Turkey has suffered a series of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a PKK offshoot.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) says it has split from the PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, but experts who study the two militant groups say they retain close links.

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com

2 Britishers, Mexican become first foreigners to scale Everest in 2 years

Two British and a Mexican climber on Thursday became the first foreigners to scale Mount Everest in two years together with three Nepalese guides, officials said.
The six climbers reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak early Thursday and were heading to lower camps, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

The Brits are Kenton Cool and Robert Richard Lucas, and the Mexican is David Liano Gonzalez.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/mount-everest-climbers-two-britishers-mexican-foreigners-nepal-2796943/#sthash.24u3sktf.dpuf

Two British and a Mexican climber on Thursday became the first foreigners to scale Mount Everest in two years together with three Nepalese guides, officials said.

The six climbers reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak early Thursday and were heading to lower camps, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

The Brits are Kenton Cool and Robert Richard Lucas, and the Mexican is David Liano Gonzalez.
Source:http://indianexpress.com

Google's own interpretation of Amazon's Echo is coming soon

All of a sudden, it's as if everyone is working on voice-controlled personal assistants, and reports suggest that Google's version of something similar to Amazon's Echo could land as soon as the Google I/O event next week -- which would make sense. According to sources at Recode, it's currently being developed under the codename, Chirp.

Interestingly, Nest (now a part of the same company) shied away from the idea of an Echo like device, citing privacy concerns about talking to Google, its search engine, algorithms and other internet magicks. Recode's sources suggest voice search and intelligent responses from your Google devices will be the centerpiece of Google's showcase, alongside virtual reality developments. Okay, Google. Show us what you've got.

Source : http://www.engadget.com/

SC on Subrata Roy's wealth: Why is such a rich person not paying dues?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday was surprised at the extent of wealth Sahara group's chief Subrata Roy has and wondered why "such a rich person didn't pay a fraction of wealth and stayed in jail for two years".

The court was hearing a plea to extend the parole of Roy, who is now out from jail after his mother's death. During the proceedings, Sahara's counsel Kapil Sibal submitted details of all the properties of the Sahara group in India and abroad in a sealed cover and requested the court not to disclose the details of properties.
Subrata Roy.

Subrata Roy.

On May 6, the court had directed release of Roy on parole for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of his mother Chhabi Roy and allowed him to visit Haridwar and Ganga Sagar for the rites and ceremonies.

Prior to this, the bench had directed the Sahara group to furnish details of all its properties in a sealed cover to ascertain the fact as to whether they are sufficient for paying back the entire amount to the investors.

Roy has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014, on the orders of the apex court in relation to a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.

The bench comprising chief justice T S Thakur and justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, which eventually gave relief to Roy on Wednesday, noted that the fresh list of properties provided in the sealed cover speaks that "value of your properties was far more than your liability".

When the court saw the list of Roy's assets it expressed surprise why "such a rich person didn't pay a fraction of wealth and stayed in jail for two years."

"Why person with this kind of fortune shall be hesitant to make payment," the bench asked.

Sibal replied, "What is your fear? I will run away. I am going to give an undertaking that I will get Rs 500 crore in two months."

Seeking extension of interim parole for Roy till August 4, Sibal said the Sahara chief has already spent more than two years in jail and his client was ready to give an undertaking that he would pay a substantial amount of money in a span of 180 days.

"We have already suffered a lot. We have learnt the lesson. We have done everything we could do. We have even authorised SEBI to sell our properties at circle rates. Give us an opportunity. Give me a chance, I will arrange the money once I come out," Sibal said.

According to a report in the Times of India, Sibal submitted two checks - of Rs 500 crore that can be encashed in August and another Rs 4,500 crore as a guarantee. However, the court finally

However, the court finally gave Roy extension until 11 July and asked him to pay up Rs 200 crore to Sebi before that date. If he fails to do this, he will have to surrender and go back to jail. The court has also allowed him to travel anywhere in India.

The court's surprise is understandable. But, as R Jagannathan said in an earlier article in the Firstpost, in the case of Sahara there are always more questions than answers.

"...The group primarily operates in areas where regulation is weak or where regulators are not sure of their jurisdiction. Sahara has also been very nimble about shifting from one regulatory jurisdiction to another in order to stay ahead of the law-enforcers. What is crystal clear is that the group is primarily into money-raising schemes that operate on the edges of the law," he had pointed out in the copy arguing that it is a fit case for an SIT investigation.

Remember, the group's claim that it had repaid most of the investors in the illegal OFCD had raised many an eye brow in 2012.

In August 2011, the group was to pay back Rs 24,029 crore to 29.6 million investors. But in just one year, the group claimed that it has paid up and the amount is just Rs 5,120 crore. This revelation had raised suspicion as it came just before the Supreme Court order of August 2012 that barred the group from making any refunds directly to the investors.

How did the group manage to decrease the amount to be repaid to just Rs 5,120 crore in just one year? This remains a mistery even now.

In other words, the Supreme Court has just added one more to the list of unanswered questions about a group mired in mistery and controversy.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com

Call Drops: Airtel Announces Self Regulation on Service Quality

A day after the apex court waived call drop penalties from telecom service providers, Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced a 25 percent more stringent voluntary call drop benchmark.

It said in a statement it has set a benchmark of 1.5 percent for mobile call drops against the current Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) prescribed norm of 2 percent under the quality of service regulations.

"Based on the calculation of the call drop rate during network busy hour on a monthly average, any amount calculated for exceeding the 1.5 percent voluntary benchmark, subject to a maximum of Rs.100 crore per annum, will be contributed by Airtel towards the education of underprivileged children in rural areas," the statement said.

After the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Consumers expect mobile operators to provide good services. I as the minister will keep a check that they are doing it."

"At Airtel, we are absolutely passionate about serving our customers and have deployed globally benchmarked technologies and processes. This self-regulation on Quality of Service further underlines our commitment to our customers despite the challenges of limited spectrum availability and acquisition of sites in urban areas," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

"We have already rolled out Project Leap, our pan-India network transformation programme, under which we transparently report our site deployments and invite our customers to log their network issues and site requirements," he added.

Following the new benchmark, Airtel will contribute Rs.1 lakh for every 0.01 percent increase in call drop rate beyond 1.5 percent every month in each circle of operation, the statement said.

"Airtel has decided to apply this standard benchmark across the country despite the constraint of difficult operating conditions in some areas, in particular hilly regions such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and North East," it added.

Airtel's mobile network in India serves over 250 million subscribers across the country.

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Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com