Incident ‘almost broke the internet’ Internet connectivity around the world has slowed, in some cases dramatically, in what experts have described as the biggest internet attack yet. The slowing of the web is widely believed to be related to an ongoing dispute between a non-profit organisation called the Spamhaus Project and Dutch webhosting firm CyberBunker. Spamhaus, launched in 1998 and based in London and Geneva, tracks spammers – who send unsolicited email messages in bulk. The organisation works closely with law enforcement bodies and maintains databases on which internet service providers (ISPs) rely to filter unwanted email from servers. Internet users who send email from web addresses (called IP addresses) blacklisted by Spamhaus mostly find their email undeliverable as it is rejected by ISPs. Spamhaus has made enemies, particularly among groups and individuals with businesses built on email offering cheap iPads and pharmaceuticals, and Nigerian princes’ fortunes. In October 2011 Spamhaus began to flag IP addresses from Dutch internet hosting company A2B Internet, claiming spammers were using one of its clients, CyberBunker. Blacklist Spamhaus asked A2B ...
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London, Over the last 30 years, England and Wales have jointly recorded a five-fold increase in the number of centenarians in its population. Data released by UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) says that in 2011, the number of centenarians (those aged 100 and over) in England and Wales was estimated to be 11,700. Of them, 570 were estimated to be aged 105 or more. In 2011 there were estimated to be 440,290 people aged 90 and over living in England and Wales, around 1% of the total population. ONS compared UK's 90 and over population with India and China and found that while nearly 800 per 1 lakh population here were above 90 and above, the number stood at just 75 for India and 150 for China. India according to the list prepared by ONS is the youngest nation. It says "Countries with emerging economies such as China and India have relatively low numbers of persons aged 90 and over per 100,000 population. They have younger age profiles and also have lower life expectancies than nations that have been developed for a longer period of time." Although those aged 90 and above may account for a small proportion of the population in UK, over the last three ...
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London, For an average middle class Indian, the cost of living can be daunting in two of India's most cosmopolitan cities - Mumbai and Delhi. But in a shocker, these two of India's most expensive cities have ended up right at the bottom of the heap, in a list of world's cheapest cities. Mumbai and Karachi are the joint cheapest locations in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's "Worldwide cost of living index 2013" with New Delhi just one spot higher. Tokyo took the title as the world's most expensive city ousting Zurich which is now the world's 7th most expensive city. Japan's Tokyo and Osaka were the world's top two expensive cities followed by Sydney, Oslo, Melbourne, Singapore, Zurich, Paris, Caracus ( Venezuela) and Geneva. A comparative survey showed that buying a one kg loaf of bread in Tokyo is nine times more expensive in than in Mumbai and 8 times more than in Delhi. Buying a pack of 20 cigarettes cost three times more in Tokyo than in Mumbai and over two times more than in Delhi. Ironically, buying a bottle of table wine is more expensive in Mumbai $23.82 as against $15.95 in Tokyo. The Worldwide cost of living survey, which is ...
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London, India's success in wiping out polio was the clear toast at the prestigious Royal Institution hall of the UK on Tuesday night when billionaire Bill Gates hailed it as being "among the most impressive global health successes that has ever been". Delivering this year's Richard Dimbleby lecture (named after one of the founding broadcasters of the BBC) following in the footsteps of a list of illustrious predecessors that includes former US president Bill Clinton, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams , the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales, Gates said the world could see polio eradicated in the next 6 years. According to him, with fewer than 250 new cases of the crippling disease reported in 2012, and just three countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria) remaining where the virus is endemic, a global wipeout of polio was a clear possibility by 2018. As photographs of Indian polio vaccinators wading through waist deep flood waters in the Madhubani district of Bihar, carrying vaccines in cold boxes on their heads shot up on the giant screen inside the hall, Gates said, "India initially like most other countries started by vaccinating children coming into ...
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Hyderabad, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi was on Tuesday taken to a hospital for medical tests where government doctors will examine him to find out if he is physically fit for questioning by police in connection with a case booked against him over his alleged hate speeches. The legislator with tight police security left his house in Banjara Hills for Gandhi Hospital at 10.30 am after a team of police officials from Nirmal town of Adilabad district served a notice, asking him to undergo the medical tests. A senior police official said after the medical tests, they would decide their next legal action in the case. MIM leaders including party chief and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi were at Akbar's house before he left for the hospital. A large number of MIM workers had also reached there. Owaisi, who returned from London on Monday, is facing a slew of cases for his alleged hate speeches that he delivered in December last year. Akbaruddin arrived in Hyderabad via a Qatar Airways flight from London in the early hours of Monday. He was received by MIM legislators and hundreds of party supporters. The MLA then directly came to his ...
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London, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today met Pakistani teenaged rights activist, Malala Yousafzai, who is being treated at a British hospital after being shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education. Zardari visited Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to inquire about Malala's health condition. Dave Rosser, Medical Director of the hospital, briefed Zardari about the health condition of Malala. He informed the president that Malala had made great progress on way to full recovery. The President appreciated the courage and conviction of Malala and said that the nation's spontaneous response to the cowardly attack on her and her friends demonstrated that the people of Pakistan rejected extremism and militancy, according to APP news agency. Malala, while thanking the President, said her entire family and the people of Swat were grateful to the government for prompt arrangements for her evacuation and subsequent treatment at the best hospitals in Pakistan and Britain. Malala and her two classmates were injured in an attack by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in the former militant stronghold of Swat on October 9. The 15-year-old became ...
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London, Britain's first fourth generation (4G) mobile service was launched in 11 cities Tuesday by the operator EE. EE, a company formally known as Everything Everywhere, said the 4G service went live in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton, reported Xinhua. The price is diversified in different plans -- 500MB of data would be charged 36 pounds ($58) a month, while more elaborate plans would cost 56 pounds per month with a data allowance of 8GB. "Today is a landmark day for our company, the UK mobile industry and, most importantly, the country's business and consumers," said Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, in a statement. Tuesday's launch is reportedly the first phase of its 4G services. The network will expand by 2,000 square miles every month, both into new cities as well as providing denser coverage in existing areas. 4G technology can deliver internet download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G which helped bring the internet to mobile phones a few years ago. EE was granted Britain's first 4G license in August by Ofcom, the regulator for British communication industries. Its rival ...
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London, Radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri and four other terror suspects were extradited from the UK after Britain's high court ruled they had no more grounds for appeal in their years long battles to avoid facing charges in the United States. Scotland Yard said on Friday the suspects had been brought to an air force base in eastern England from Long Lartin Prison, where two planes provided by US authorities were waiting to fly them to America. The aircraft took off shortly before midnight, Scotland Yard said. The extraditions came just hours after a ruling at the High Court, where Judges John Thomas and Duncan Ouseley rejected last-ditch applications by al-Masri, Khaled al-Fawwaz, Babar Ahmad, Adel Abdul Bary and Syed Talha Ahsan, who have been battling extradition for between eight and 14 years. Thomas said there were no grounds for any further delay, noting that it was "in the interest of justice that those accused of very serious crimes, as each of these claimants is in these proceedings, are tried as quickly as possible as is consistent with the interests of justice." "It follows that their extradition to the United States of America may proceed immediately," ...
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London, Pakistan is said to be preparing for PM Manmohan Singh to visit Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak's birthplace , on his birthday on November 28. Pakistani government officials shared this information with a leading international affairs think tank in London. The indication tallies with Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar's statement that she is expecting the Indian PM's visit before the end of this year. Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP are said to be keen on having Singh over this year itself as the country faces a general election early in 2013. Sources said Zardari is also pushing for Singh's presence in Pakistan as there is virtually an all-party consensus for better relations with India. However, when the think tank contacted the Government of India to verify the Pakistani claim, New Delhi did not corroborate it. India remains firm that Pakistan needs to demonstrate purpose in prosecuting Pakistan-based masterminds of the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008. The think tank's general assessment is that India does not share the exuberance emanating from Pakistan about a "sea change in the atmospherics" between the two countries. "Pakistan ...
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London, The daughter of former British minister Jonathan Aitken has swapped the world of nightclubs and parties for a simple life as a devout Sikh in Punjab. Alexandra Aitken's new look - a spear clutched in one hand, a bag of bananas in the other, a dagger slung over her white tunic and iPod headphones tucked beneath a white and purple turban - is a far cry from the tight dresses she favoured in her days as an 'It' girl around London, the Mail Online reported. 32-year-old Alexandra took her family, including twin Victoria, by surprise when she announced in January last year that she was marrying a Sikh warrior. She also changed her name to Uttrang Kaur Khalsa. She had first spotted Inderjot Singh in 2009 when she was practising yoga at the Golden Temple in Amritsar before meeting him on a second visit. Their wedding was arranged with such haste that her parents were unable to attend. On her website, Alexandra says she lives with Nihang Sikhs, the sect to which her husband (Inderjot Singh) belongs, but is staying at an ashram run by a sect of yoga Sikhs in the village of Bani in ...
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London, The first Sikorsky S-92 - a large, twin-engine helicopter that can be used for both civil and military purposes - with a Made-in-India airframe is now flying in Brazil. Air Vice Marshal (retd) Arvind Walia, Sikorsky's regional executive for India and South Asia, told India Strategic defence magazine (www.indiastrategic.in) that the Tatas have supplied 15 airframes to the US company, which is fitting them with cockpits, engines, systems and rotors. The completed helicopters are then ready for supply to global customers. The flight tests on the first Tata-made S-92 cabin have progressed satisfactorily and the helicopter is now being customised for supply to Lider Aviacao of Brazil. Lider charters both aircraft and helicopters for multi-applications, including servicing offshore oil installations. Sikorsky and the Tata group already have a 26:74 partnership joint venture, TARA, which manufactures and supplies about 4,300 components to the Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) in Hyderabad. TASL, a Tata company, makes the cabins, fits them with these components and sends them to the Sikorsky facility at Coatsville in Pennsylvania. Walia said TASL is turning out the ...
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London, It's truly a no man's land! Saudi Arabia is planning to build a city exclusively for women in a bid to encourage career oriented females within its strict Sharia law. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has been asked to bring the country at par with the rest of the modern world by building the all-women city, with construction to begin next year, according to a Saudi media report. The new city will allow women's desire to work without defying the country's strict Islamic laws. Sharia Law is the moral code and religious law of Islam dealing with crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting. Although Saudi Sharia law does not prohibit women to work, figures show that only 15% of women are represented in the workforce. The plan coincides with the government's ambitions to get women to play a more active part in the development of the country. Among the stated objectives are to create jobs, particularly for younger women. "I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suits their interests, their nature and their ...
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London, A four-year wait didn't reduce their sharpness in track and field as two defending champions triumphed in the opening two athletics events at the London Olympics. Poland's Tomasz Majewski topped the six-round men's shot put competition with his seasonal best throw of 21.89 meters. The 30-year-old has thus become the first man to retain the Olympic shot put title for 56 years, reported Xinhua. On the track, the women's 10,000m final rocked the nearly full-capacity Olympic Stadium with tight competition between two world's best long-distance runners. Kenyan Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot, the 2011 world champions in both 5,000m and 10,000m. Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, Beijing Olympic champion in both 5,000m and 10,000m, stormed home in 30 minutes 20.75 seconds, leaving Kenyan Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot, the 2011 world champion in both 5,000m and 10,000m behind. "I waited and waited. I only knew after the last throw from David (Storl). It was very close -- millimetres. It's always very hard when you have great guys like these," said Majewski, who is nicknamed "Silent Giant". German David Storl, the 2011 world champion, finished second with a narrow gap of three ...
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London, Top Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal Thursday displayed good form to take her country on the brink of earning another medal at the ongoing Olympics as she defeated Tine Baun from Denmark 21-15 and 22-20 in 39 minutes at the quarter final of the women singles Badminton at Wembley arena. This is first time that any Indian could reach the last four stage of the Olympics. In the semi final Saina will be meeting world number one Wang Yihan from China who in the other quarter final came over a strong challenge from Cheng Shao Chien of Taipei. Displaying fine court craft and fine anticipation Saina started promisingly and forced a 9-3 and 15-8 lead to win the first game at 21-15 within a short time. The second game saw Baun, the top European player fighting valiantly. Both collected points and led alternately. Afterwards, Baun also snatched the lead at 10-8, Saina with dogged determination regained the lead 13-10 winning six points consecutively. But the never say die Danish girl again took the lead soon 15-14 and buttressed it to the game point 20-17. When everybody thought the match is going to be decided in three games, Saina had another plan. With just a point ...
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London, Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots have begun training on the Agusta Westland AW 101 helicopters that have been purchased for ferrying dignitaries, the first of which are to be delivered by end-2012. Finmeccanica group CEO Giuseppe Orsi told India Strategic during a media interaction at the Farnborough Air Show that the first batch of the IAF pilots had arrived in Britain as scheduled and were undergoing training at the Agusta Westland facility. He did not give any details but said that some of the pilots would be trained in Britain as instructors also and they would in turn train their colleagues in India. Agusta Westland, incorporating the former British Westland Helicopters, is a Finmeccanica group company now. It has delivered some 300 helicopters of different types to 22 countries since the merger of Augusta and Westland in 2000. The week-long air show ended July 15. IAF had selected the three-engined AW 101 for its VIP squadron in 2010 in a euro 560 million ($827 million) deal for 12 helicopters inclusive of training. The delivery of the 12 helicopters would be completed in 2013. The AW 101 had also been selected by the US Army for White House use, but ...
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London, The British government on Thursday banned Indian Mujahideen (IM), citing its involvement in a string of bombings across India since 2007 and the threats the Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliate poses to its nationals. The IM's proscription would make it a terrorist offence to be its member under the UK's Terrorism Act 2000. The group became the 47th such organization to be banned in the UK. India had outlawed the IM in June 2010 with the US and New Zealand shortly following suit. "Making membership of, and support for, the organization (IM) (will be) a criminal offence," said British home secretary Theresa May. She said the IM is a terrorist organization that has carried out a number of indiscriminate mass casualty attacks. "It uses violence to achieve its stated objectives of establishing an Islamic state in India and implementing Sharia law." May said proscribing the group sends a clear message that the UK condemns its activities and demonstrates its commitment to counter-terrorism to its international partners. Earlier, British parliamentarians unanimously voted to ban the group on Wednesday. "(The IM) has frequently perpetrated attacks against civilian targets... ...
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London, Two months after he was shot dead by French special forces, a 23-year-old Algerian-origin terrorist was found to have been plotting to attack the Indian embassy in Paris on the direction of his Taliban handlers in Pakistan. Quoting sources from the French Internal Intelligence and the Special Forces, Le Monde reported that Mohamed Merah's Taliban handlers in Pakistan had tasked him to attack the Indian mission. "That was the target given him by the Taliban who prepared him for jihad during his training in Pakistan in the summer of 2011," the paper reported. Merah was killed after police and special forces laid an almost 32-hour siege of his apartment in Toulouse, after his armed attacks on a Jewish school and killing of army personnel outside their barracks on March 15. During the siege, the terrorist had long chats with the policemen surrounding his house, which were recorded and are now part of the judicial dossier. Merah told cops that he had dropped the plan to attack the Indian mission due to difficulty of the enterprise . He also said that he had attended jihad camps in Pakistan and undergone al-Qaida training. Merah had long been known to the French ...
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London, About 15 crew members, including Indians, are on board an oil tanker that has been hijacked by pirates in the Arabian sea, a media report said. The Liberian-flagged Smyrni was carrying 135,000 tonnes of oil. It was seized off the coast of Oman, reported BBC. The ship's operator said it lost contact with the crew at 11:50 GMT Thursday. It is reported to have a crew of about 15 on board, composed of Indians and Filipinos. Pirates struck about 630 km from the Omani coast and hijacked the ship which was only on its second voyage. It had first set to sea in 2011. As many as 17 ships and nearly 300 crew are currently held by Somali pirates, according to the International Maritime ...
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London, Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) Ltd has given developers prototypes for its upcoming line of smartphones. The devices, dubbed Blackberry 10 Dev Alpha, also offer a sneak preview of RIM's new operating system. According to The BBC, the prototype, unveiled during the firm's annual conference, bears more of a resemblance to smartphones from competitors than many of its previous handsets. The device comes without a keyboard, a feature that had previously set RIM apart from its rivals. RIM hopes it will inspire developers to create much-needed apps. "The Blackberry 10 Dev Alpha is not a Blackberry 10 smartphone for end users nor does it run the final Blackberry 10 software - it's been created just for our developer partners to help them prepare for the launch of Blackberry 10," the Canada-based firm said in its official blog. "It's important to get this prototype into the hands of our partners now so that you can help us deliver the type of high-quality content that will make Blackberry 10 so special," it ...
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London, Oxford University scientists are planning to introduce the first driverless car on Britain's roads. The vehicle, a modified BAE Wildcat military jeep, will be programmed with a three-dimensional map of routes around Oxford and nearby Woodstock. The scientists intend to ask the government to approve the vehicle for use on open roads within the next two months. The robotic car uses a series of sensors, including cameras and lasers, to calculate its exact location. It can sense the presence of other vehicles on the road and take avoiding action if necessary, something that driverless cars equipped with GPS-based technology have been unable to do. Professor Paul Newman, head of the mobile robotics group at the university, said the vehicle had made its first driverless journey last week on a private road at the university's Begbroke science park. "We want to use it on normal everyday roads where other people would use them. Central Oxford would be nice, also Woodstock because of the variable terrain and roads," the Telegraph quoted Newman as saying. He added that a research team member would be in the car during testing to take control in the event of an ...
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