He was an alumnus of JNU as well as Jaat..

The Hindu

GoC 15 Corps Satish Dua salutes the coffin of Captain Pawan Kumar, who was killed in an encounter with militants in Pampore, south Kashmir. Photo: Nissar Ahmad

He was one of the four security personnel killed in the operations at Pampore where terrorists are holed up in a government building.

Captain Pawan Kumar, 22, who died fighting terrorists on Sunday in Pampore in Kashmir valley is an elite Para commando. Incidentally, he belongs to two constituencies that are out on the streets agitating. He is a Jat from Jind district in Haryana and a degree holder from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi.

He is one of the four security personnel killed in the operations at Pampore where terrorists are holed up in a government building. “He was killed as he was leading his men. The operation was tricky as possibility of some civilians being trapped in was not ruled out,” one officer said.

On hearing about his son’s death, Capt. Kumar’s father Rajbir Singh's first reaction was, “I had one child, I gave him to the Army, to the nation. No father can be prouder.”

Capt. Kumar’s death and his father’s comments could not be any starker to the developments in his home state Haryana, which is burning due to agitation by the Jat community demanding reservation and as JNU in Delhi boils with debates of anti-nationalism.

“He was destined to be in the Army as he was born on Army Day,” he added.

According to Army officials, he had taken part in two successful operations earlier in which three terrorists were killed — including the operation on February 15 in Pulwama in which one terrorist and two civilians were killed.

Capt. Kumar was born on January 15, 1993, observed as the Army Day, graduated from the 123 course of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Army on December 14, 2013. He was with the 10 Para Special Forces and in service for less than three years.

Incidentally as the situation unfolded in Haryana on Friday, the civilian administration quickly requisitioned the Army. It should be noted that India has one of the largest Central Armed Police Forces and Para Military Forces but once again — reinforcing a growing trend — the army became the primary responder.

“Pawan Kumar was a young and a dynamic officer, He was a true commander”, Lt. Gen. S.K. Dua, General Officer Commanding of Udhampur based 15 Corps said after paying respects to his mortal remains.

Officials added that the mortal remains of Capt. Kumar will be transported by air to Jind on Monday for last rites.

The encounter in Pampore began on Saturday after terrorists entered the seven storey building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) where 2-3 terrorists are still believed to be held up.

(Source:The Hindu)

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You should be aware of these things if you use Google Chrome for browsing.....

Doug Bolton | The Independent | Feb 20, 2016, 05.05 PM IST

Using the Task Manager to kill tabs can seriously improve performance.

If you're one of those people who likes to have hundreds of Google Chrome tabs open at the same time, you might have noticed your laptop's performance and battery life suffering.

Running all those webpages can take a toll on your machine, especially if they're very memory intensive -- but closing them completely might make you lose something you intended to come back to later.

Fortunately, there's one thing you can do to easily, kill tabs and reduce the strain on your laptop, without closing them completely.

Click on the 'Settings' button in Chrome (the three lines in the top-right corner, to the right of the URL field), and go down to 'More tools'.

Hover over this button and click 'Task manager' in the new menu which pops up.

You'll then get a list of all the tabs your browser is running, along with information about how much memory they're using up.

By clicking the 'Memory' button in the top bar, you can sort all the tabs to see which are using the most.

You can make the task manager window a bit bigger and increase the size of the columns, showing information about all the tabs you've got open.

If you want to kill some and free up memory, just click on the tab and press the 'End process' button in the bottom-left.

This will get rid of the page, replacing it with Chrome's 'Aw, Snap!' error warning.
          It won't take up any memory, but if you need to go back to it later, you can find it again by scrolling through your tabs and refreshing the page.

Writing on Medium, web developer Primož Cigler found that by using the task manager to shut some troublesome tabs, he managed to double his laptop's battery life with just a few clicks.

It's far from a perfect fix, and it's not practical to be doing it all the time -- but if you're working on your laptop and you need all the battery life and memory you could get, it's a good solution.

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Freedom 251 office raided by I-T dept...

PTI | Feb 20, 2016, 04.08 PM IST

Freedom 251 smartphone launch.

NEW DELHI:  Ringing Bells, makers of the world's cheapest smartphone, has come under the scanner of excise and income tax departments as debates around the feasibility of offering a Rs 251 handset rages on.

According to the sources, the I-T department is looking into the financial structure of the Noida-based company and have obtained documents, including those from the Registrar of Companies (RoC), in this regard.

"Yes, there was a visit from excise department and I-T department. Since we are planning to achieve milestones under Make in India, Skill India and Startup India. They issued us some guidelines for future and extended full support and cooperation," Ringing Bells president Ashok Chaddha said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Ringing Bells launched the world's cheapest smartphone for Rs 251 amid great fanfare.

However, the celebrations haven't lasted long as the firm was surrounded in controversy around showcasing a rival company, Adcom's handset, as its own 

Chaddha clarified that "it wanted to show a sample or prototype of what the handsets will look like. This is not the final piece."

"In view of the shortage of time and given that these were to serve only as prototypes given FOC to a limited list of persons, we went ahead. We would clearly mention that the Final Freedom 251 manufactured/assembled in India would be to identical specs - i.e. no change," he addedThe industry members have also complained against the company to the Telecom Ministry to dig deeper into the issue.

The ministry has sought a clarification from Ringing Bells for marketing its 'Freedom 251' mobile phone without a BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification and has also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to check the firm's credentials.

The company said it has received 3.70 crore registrations on Day 1 and 2.47 crore on Day 2

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Arrest warrant against Parvez Musharraf

PTI | Feb 20, 2016, 04.31 PM IST

His counsel said they would challenge the order, Geo News reported.

ISLAMABAD: A non-bailable warrant was issued against former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Saturday in connection with the murder case of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in a military crackdown in 2007.

A local court in Islamabad issued the order and directed the authorities to produce Musharraf before it on March 16.

The court also rejected Musharraf's plea seeking permanent exemption from appearing in the case and issued the warrants.

His counsel said they would challenge the order, Geo News reported.

The 72-year-old former president has never appeared before the court during the previous 55 hearings. This is the fourth non-bailable arrest warrant against Musharraf in the case.

The cleric's family filed a case in 2013 against Musharraf over his alleged involvement in the killing of Rashid during a 2007 operation when military commandos stormed the mosque in the heart of Islamabad on Musharraf's orders.

The three-day seige in July 2007 at the Lal Masjid claimed scores of lives, including of students and security personnel.

Last month, Musharraf was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the first major relief to the ex-military ruler entangled in several high-profile cases.

He came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.

The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from Dubai to contest the general elections in 2013. He lost the polls.

He is also facing trial in a treason case for abrogating the constitution in 2007 and illegal detention of judges the same year.

Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

A Pakistani court has banned his foreign travels

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Trump wants to boycott #Apple.....

REUTERS

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally with supporters at the convention center in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday. At the campaign rally, Mr. Trump gave a call for boycott of Apple products until the tech giant agreed to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attacks

Till tech giant unlocks the iPhone of one of the shooters in the San Benardino attacks.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has called for a boycott of Apple products until the tech giant agrees to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unlock the iPhone of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attacks.

“Boycott Apple,” Mr. Trump said at an election campaign rally in South Carolina on Friday, a day before the state holds its crucial Republican primary.

“Till they give security number”

“What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time they give that security number,” he said adding, “How do you like that? I just thought of that!”

Mr. Trump’s call for boycott came after Apple CEO Tim Cook resisted a U.S. court order to help the FBI unlock the phone as part of a probe into last year’s San Bernardino attacks, escalating a legal showdown over security and privacy in the U.S.

Chilling demand: Cook

Mr. Cook describing the demand as “chilling” and called for a public debate over the issue of privacy and security.

“Tim Cook is looking to do a big number, probably to show how liberal he is. Who do they think they are?” Mr. Trump asked.

He has iPhone and Samsung

However, soon after calling for the boycott, Mr. Trump in a tweet acknowledged he carried two phones — iPhone and Samsung.

“I use both iPhone & Samsung. If Apple doesn’t give info to authorities on the terrorists, I’ll only be using Samsung until they give info,” the billionaire real-estate mogul said.

“The phone’s not even owned by this young thug that killed all these people. The phone’s owned by the government, OK, it’s not even his phone,” Mr. Trump said.

He seems the Trump card

In almost all recent polls, Mr. Trump was shown leading by a huge margin against nearest rival Ted Cruz, the Texas Senator.

The Department of Justice on Friday filed a motion to force Apple to unlock the iPhone. Google and several other IT companies have backed Apple on the issue.

“We want access to Rizwan’s phone”

In its motion, the U.S. government argued that the access it was requesting was limited to the phone of the suspect Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife is believed to have shot dead 14 people in the attacks last December.

“[The court order] does not provide ‘hackers and criminals’ access to iPhones; it does not require Apple to hack [its] own phones; it does not give the government ‘the power to reach into anyone’s device’ without a warrant or court authorisation; and it does not compromise the security of personal information,” the Justice Department motion said.

White House bats for strong encryption, but…

The White House said it supports strong encryption, but is also against terrorist having a safe haven in cyberspace.

“President [Barack Obama] does believe that strong encryption is good... But at the same time, we don’t want to allow terrorists to establish a safe haven in cyberspace,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

Meanwhile, bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have invited FBI Director James Comey and Cook to discuss the issues surrounding encryption.

(Source:The Hindu)

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NASA received thrice of job application than last time

The U.S. space agency has received over 18,300 application for its astronaut class, thrice what it was the last time.

U.S. space agency NASA said on Friday that a record number of Americans have applied to be astronauts this year.

NASA said in a statement it has received more than 18,300 applications for its 2017 astronaut class, almost three times the number it received in 2012 for the most recent astronaut class, and far surpassing the previous record of 8,000 in 1978.

“It’s not at all surprising to me that so many Americans from diverse backgrounds want to personally contribute to blazing the trail on our journey to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, himself a former astronaut.

“A few exceptionally talented men and women will become the astronauts chosen in this group who will once again launch to space from U.S. soil on American-made spacecraft.”

The application window opened on December 14, and closed on Thursday. Now, an 18-month process will begin to choose eight to 14 individuals for the opportunity to become astronaut candidates, reports Xinhua.

NASA said it will to announce its selections in mid-2017.

Then, the astronaut candidates will go through about two years of initial training on spacecraft systems, spacewalking skills and teamwork, Russian language and other requisite skills.

Finally, those who complete the training will be assigned on any of four different spacecraft: the International Space Station, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for deep space exploration, or one of two American-made commercial crew spacecraft currently in development - Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner or the SpaceX Crew Dragon, NASA added

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Donald Trump takes on Pope for questioning his faith

AP

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts as he makes a joke about Pope Francis as he arrives for a CNN town hall at the University of South Carolina in Columbia on Thursday

"If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president."

Taking a calculated political risk, Donald Trump took on the Pope for suggesting that he “is not Christian” over his pledge to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and deport illegal immigrants.

Coming back hard on Pope Francis for thrusting himself into the US presidential race, the Republican frontrunner told a rally Thursday ahead of South Carolina’s crucial primary on Saturday: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.”

The Pope is Mexico’s “pawn,” he asserted, adding that if the Vatican were attacked by the Islamic State, “the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because this would not have happened”.

Mr. Trump’s comments came hours after Pope Francis said on the plane taking him back to Italy after a six-day visit to Mexico: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”

The Trump campaign immediately fired back, saying: “No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith.”

“If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’ ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president.”

Later, at a Town Hall with CNN, Trump called Pope Francis a “wonderful guy” and said he would meet with him “anytime he wants”.

“I don’t think this is a fight,” Mr. Trump said. “I think he said something much softer than was originally reported by the media.”

Analysts were generally inclined to suggest that this probably won’t hurt ‘Teflon’ Trump, who has time and again emerged unscathed after making similar politically incorrect comments.

In fact, CNN suggested that it would benefit Mr. Trump as it would knock South Carolina’s Indian-American governor Nikki Haley’s endorsement of Florida senator Marco Rubio off the front pages in the final hours before South Carolina votes.

Mr. Rubio, who is Catholic, also sided with Mr. Trump in an interview with CNN. “As far as building walls on the border, the wall is not just about immigrants,” Mr. Rubio said.

“It’s also about, potentially, terrorists crossing that border, not to mention the drugs that are coming across that border and the human trafficking that’s occurring because people know they can get people across the border.”

Earlier at the Town Hall, two other Republican rivals former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Ohio governor John Kasich refused to be drawn into the debate between Mr. Trump and the Pope.

Mr. Kasich simply said he was “pro-Pope.” “This man has brought more sense of hope and more about the do’s in life than the don’ts,” Mr. Kasich said, referring to the Pope. “This guy has been so humble.”

Mr. Bush, who is a devout Catholic, didn’t criticise the Pope’s comments. But he said he personally wouldn’t “question people’s Christianity.”

“I think that’s a relationship they have with their Lord and saviour and themselves. So I just don’t think it’s appropriate to question Donald Trump’s faith,” Mr. Bush said. “He knows what his faith is.”

But for Vice President Joe Biden, the feud was “not a hard call”.

“Pope Francis, Donald Trump? That’s not a hard call for me, not even close,” Biden told MSNBC. “I am not a theologian nor am I priest or a minister, but I think that building walls is fundamentally contrary to what made this country what it is.”

(Source :The Hindu)

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