March 2015 | LIFE

Aliko Dangote before and after the election results were announced

Africa Aliko Dangote before and after the election results were announced

Lol. See him above with GEJ as election results were being announced. And after it was clear who would win, he moved kia kia. He's a businessman, not a politician. Friends with anyone in govt...:-) …

Kashmir Floods: Good News, Finally; Weather Has Relented, Jhelum Now Flowing Below Flood Level

10:19 Unknown 0

<img alt="KASHMIR" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2783010/images/n-KASHMIR-large570.jpg" /><br />
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SRINAGAR — The flood threat in Kashmir Valley today reduced in view of the weather holding up over the past 24 hours resulting in substantial decrease in water level of River Jhelum, which is now flowing below the flood level.</div>
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Jhelum was flowing at 16.45 feet at Sangam in south Kashmir, down over six feet compared to 22.80 feet 24 hours earlier, a police official said.</div>
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He said the water level at Ram Munshi Bagh in the city has also reduced by more than one and a half feet and it was expected to drop further during the day.</div>
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Although the weather has been cloudy, there has been no fresh rainfall over the past 24 hours which has eased the flood concerns in the city.</div>
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The weatherman has forecast light to moderate rains later in the day and tomorrow.</div>
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"Light to moderate rainfall is expected in Kashmir over the next 24 hours," a MET department spokesman said.</div>
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Heavy rainfall on Saturday and Sunday led to a sudden surge in the water level of Jhelum and its tributaries, causing panic among the residents of the valley about the possibility of fresh floods.</div>
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Wide parts of Kashmir were devastated in floods last September.</div>
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Residents in many areas in the city are complaining about water logging problem.</div>
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Residents in Pandrethan said the water coming out of nearby Army headquarters was getting accumulated in the civilian residential areas.</div>
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"The army did install a small water pump here last evening and operated it for one hour. The personnel manning the pump left at 6 PM and promised to return in the morning but no one come to operate it so far," Mohammad Abbas, a local resident, said.</div>
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He said nearly two feet of water has accumulated in the locality, which was devastated in September floods.</div>
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A senior army officer said although Pandrethan does not fall under the Cantonment Board, he would ensure that some help is extended in dewatering the area.</div>
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Schools and colleges have been closed across the Valley in view of the flood threat while ongoing examinations have been postponed.</div>
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However, University of Kashmir will hold examinations as per schedule from tomorrow in view of the improving flood situation, an official of the varsity said.</div>

Asia Kashmir Floods: Good News, Finally; Weather Has Relented, Jhelum Now Flowing Below Flood Level

SRINAGAR — The flood threat in Kashmir Valley today reduced in view of the weather holding up over the past 24 hours resulting in substantial decrease in water level of River Jhelum, which is now flowing below the flood level. Jhelum was flowing at …

Chude Jideonwo says GEJ has called Buhari to congratulate him

10:14 Unknown 0

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The commission will reconvene around 8pm to give us the result for the last state remaining - Borno, but as it stands, it looks like Nigeria now has a new president. Debola Williams and Chude Jideonwo who work with Gen. Buhari claim GEJ has called to congratulate Buhari over the election results.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Africa Chude Jideonwo says GEJ has called Buhari to congratulate him

The commission will reconvene around 8pm to give us the result for the last state remaining - Borno, but as it stands, it looks like Nigeria now has a new president. Debola Williams and Chude Jideonwo who work with Gen. Buhari claim GEJ has called t…

Muhammadu Buhari wins Nigeria's presidential election Election commission declares victory for former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

10:12 Unknown 0

<img src="http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2015/3/31/eb81c8a72a4840e3ad7553e9388d0e61_18.jpg" /><br />
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<figure class="article-main-image" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 25.6000003814697px; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;"><figcaption style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2em; vertical-align: baseline;">The 72-year-old Buhari built an early lead in northern state [AP]</figcaption></figure><div class="article-body" id="article-body" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 25.6000003814697px; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2em; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 746.6875px;">
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Nigeria's election commission has declared Muhammadu Buhari<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the</span><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">winner</span><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of the country's bitterly contested presidential election, in a vote </span><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">m</span><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">arred</span> <span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">marred</span> by confusion, arguments and violence.</span></div>
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Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the capital Abuja, said the election commission made the announcement after nearly all votes had been tallied.</div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan immediately conceded defeat and congratulated Buhari on his victory, the APC said.</span></div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the Reuters news agency, Buhari's APC won by 2.1 million votes, with 15.4 million votes versus 13.3 for Jonathan and the PDP.</span></div>
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Victory for former military ruler Buhari marks the first time in Nigeria's history that an opposition party has democratically taken control of the country from the ruling party.</div>
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Lai Mohammed, the spokesman for the APC, told the AFP news agency that his party had declared victory after pulling ahead in the votes.</div>
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"This is the first time the opposition has voted a government out of power in Nigeria's history," he said.</div>
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Asked if he was confident of having won after the APC claimed victory, Buhari said: "I am very confident."</div>
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To win the election, Buhari had needed to win more than 50 percent of the total votes nationally - and take at least 25 percent of the vote in two thirds of the states. </div>
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The 72-year-old built an early lead in northern states dominated by the mainly Muslim, Hausa-Fulani ethnic group of which he is a member.</div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, whose five years in office have been plagued by corruption scandals and an insurgency by Boko Haram fighters, was trailing by around </span>500,000 votes before votes in pro-opposition areas were counted.</div>
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In the previous election, more than 800 people were killed in protests after Buhari was defeated by Buhari.</div>
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There was a brief protest by Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the counting had resumed on Tuesday.<br /><br />Former Niger Delta minister Godsday Orubebe accused elections chief Attahiru Jega of being "partial" and "selective".<br /><br />Orubebe claimed Jega had refused to investigate PDP complaints about big wins by Buhari in northern states but had launched a probe into claims by the APC of irregularities in Rivers.</div>
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Jega said later: "I don't believe that the allegations are substantial enough to require the cancellation or rescheduling of the elections in Rivers state. We will take the results."</div>
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International observers gave broadly positive reactions to the conduct of the vote, despite late delivery of election materials and technical glitches with new voter authentication devices.<br /><br />Nigeria's Transition Monitoring Group, which had observers across the country, said: "These issues did not systematically disadvantage any candidate or party."</div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: rgb(142, 142, 142) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Source:</span> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: rgb(33, 33, 33) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Al Jazeera</span></div>
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Muhammadu Buhari wins Nigeria's presidential election Election commission declares victory for former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

Africa Muhammadu Buhari wins Nigeria's presidential election Election commission declares victory for former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

The 72-year-old Buhari built an early lead in northern state [AP] Nigeria's election commission has declared Muhammadu Buhari the winner of the country's bitterly contested presidential election, in a vote marred marred by confusion, arguments and v…

IBM Is Investing $3 billion in 'Internet of Things'

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NEW YORK - IBM is investing $3 billion to build an "Internet of Things" division aimed at harnessing the massive trove of data collected by smartphones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances and using it to help companies better manage their businesses.</div>
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IBM estimates that 90 percent of all data generated by mobile and "smart" devices is never analyzed. The Armonk, New York, company hopes to change this by teaming up with companies like Twitter and the Weather Co., the owner of the Weather Channel, and developing cloud-based data services and tools for app developers.</div>
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IBM is training more than 2,000 consultants, researchers and developers to help businesses come up with new ways to use the vast amounts of data that are now available, said Glenn Finch, Big Data and Analytics Lead at IBM Global Business Services. This could mean combining Twitter data with economic and weather data to predict what someone might be interested in buying. The new business unit is part of IBM's shift away from hardware toward spending billions to focus on analytics, cloud computing, mobile services and security.</div>
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IBM plans to launch an online service that helps insurance companies extract insight from connected vehicles, to create new pricing and services customized to individual drivers. Meanwhile, the Weather Co. plans to shift and integrate its massive weather data operation into the IBM Cloud, so that insurance providers could send policyholders text messages alerting them to impending hailstorms and vehicles could be moved before being damaged, for instance. It could also help determine exactly how many people were hit by a natural disaster so insurers could respond to claims faster.</div>
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"Most people, most businesses, most governments wait for weather to happen to them and react to it rather than anticipate what it will do to them," said Mark Gildersleeve, president of the Weather Co.'s WSI division. The IBM partnership "aims to help governments and businesses essentially serve their end users better by making decisions earlier," he said.</div>

Asia US IBM Is Investing $3 billion in 'Internet of Things'

NEW YORK - IBM is investing $3 billion to build an "Internet of Things" division aimed at harnessing the massive trove of data collected by smartphones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances and using it to help companies better manage their bu…

Civilian Drone Industry: Are Indian Regulators Sleeping On A Gold Mine?

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In May 2014, Mumbai inhabitants witnessed what could easily have been a scene lifted straight from a sci-fi novel; <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/mumbai-police-seeks-explanation-on-drone-pizza-delivery/article6043644.ece" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">a pizza was home-delivered using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)</a>, more popularly known as a drone, from a local pizzeria. This experiment was not amiably met by the local police. A notice was shot off to the allegedly offending outlet which had not taken permission of either the local police or the Air Traffic Control of the Mumbai International Airport raising questions over the legality of commercial usage of UAVs in India.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 20px; margin: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;">" Usage of UAVs range from purely civilian purposes like photography, film-making, sports, product delivery, scientific and archaeological research, oil and gas exploration, remote sensing, communications etc. to martial uses like domestic policing and surveillance: the possibilities are limited only by our imagination."</span></div>
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The Indian drone entrepreneurs' party was further spoiled by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) when it came out with a circular in October, 2014 <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-drones-banned-till-dgca-sets-the-rules-2024734" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">expressly banning any Unmanned Aerial Vehicles</a> from taking to the Indian airspace without prior authorisation. According to the circular, this authorization is to be sought from the DGCA, the Air Navigation Service Provider, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs and other concerned security agencies. However, the circular carries no detail as to who these "other concerned security agencies" are; nor have they shed any light on how such authorisations may be obtained. There is also an indication that the Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing, under the Department of Telecommunications will need to permit drone operations if the devices use a radio band greater than 200KHz. The consequences of disregarding the said circular have also not been explained, even when asked specifically through an RTI. The incredulity did not stop there; RTI queries to the departments named elicited responses ranging from not even being aware of the DGCA notice to statements that procedures will be established only once the DGCA frames guidelines.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Drones do the darnedest things</strong></div>
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Drone use has been synonymous with the fiendishly successful military operations run by the American military forces over the Middle East. Critics have lamented the moral and legal grey area in which the US military drone programme functions. The opinions of these critics were hilariously summarised by famous British-American comedian John Oliver. The most glaring loophole is the lack of data regarding casualties in drone strikes, even in US government reports. <a href="http://www.columbusmonthly.com/content/stories/2014/12/the-year-in-review-according-to-john-oliver.html" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Oliver notes</a>: "The question 'How many people have you killed in drone strikes?' is not one of those questions where it's OK to say, 'I don't know.'"</div>
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Despite their arguably reckless military use, the legal and moral debate attached to drone use is easily sidestepped for their hard-hitting tactical benefits. Drone squadrons in a nation's armed forces are being put to various uses especially, when an operation is too <a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/01/31/why-we-shouldnt-fear-personal-drones/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">"dull, dirty or dangerous"</a> for human involvement, including their use in risky, yet vital reconnaissance, combat and logistics operations. The emergence of this new branch in the military-industrial complex has been responsible for the spill over of military drone technology into civil space, with existing and new players actively exploring the vast possibilities in civilian use.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-size: 20px; margin: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;">" Patrons of the drone industry understand that they are sitting on a gold mine. Their biggest hurdle is navigating the tough regulatory waters for the responsible use and operation of drones for civilian purposes."</span></div>
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Recent advancements in software technology have allowed a multitude of uses, besides significantly bolstering drone reliability and flying capabilities. Usage of UAVs range from purely civilian purposes like photography, film-making, sports, product delivery, scientific and archaeological research, oil and gas exploration, remote sensing, communications etc. to martial uses like domestic policing and surveillance: the possibilities are limited only by our imagination. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International estimates that the <a href="http://www.datafox.co/blog/2014/04/fly-the-automated-skies-drones-and-the-rise-of-the-civilian-uav-sector/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">global market for civilian UAVs stood at US$11.3bn in 2013 and has the potential to grow to over US$140bn in the next ten years and is likely to add 70,000 jobs in USA alone</a>, upon full implementation.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Of rules and regulations</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Patrons of the drone industry understand that they are sitting on a gold mine. Their biggest hurdle is navigating the tough regulatory waters for the responsible use and operation of drones for civilian purposes. Civil aviation authorities around the world are finding it hard to regulate civilian drone operations within the existing framework of regulations. The implications that drones will have on law, society and the individual are still being fully understood and raise many safety and privacy concerns. The guidelines for their use need to encompass: appropriate licensing of the drones and their pilots/controllers; insurance and liability obligations; privacy protection measures; and adequate regulations to ensure internal security.</div>
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Yet, there is still a lack of consensus on certain key issues like what exactly is a drone? Are they remote-controlled or do they include autonomous vehicles too? Are flying toys also called drones? How will drone regulations be enforced and what will be an appropriate penalty? These are tough questions and are currently being debated in the US, EU and in several other countries. But a License-Raj-style case-by-case approval regime with no specified process for approvals cannot be the solution.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 20px; margin: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;">"The DGCA's stand on drones has brought to light two unhealthy extremes: from a blank slate till last year, to an opaque ban now. "</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The future of drones in India</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Until the latest DGCA circular effectively banning any drones to take to Indian airspace, India had been an attractive destination for drone entrepreneurs to invest in and experiment. Start-ups such as Mumbai-based <a href="http://www.airpix.in/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Airpix</a> and Noida based <a href="http://quidich.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Quidich</a> offer aerial photography and videography services; their clients include both large corporate houses and media houses. <a href="http://www.edallsystems.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Edall Systems</a>, another start-up, based out of Bangalore, has been building drones since 2008 in collaboration with the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL). They also conduct training sessions for interested students and drone entrepreneurs. <a href="http://www.garuda.io/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Garuda Robotics</a>, based out of Singapore, provides customised solutions to its clients for various drone uses by writing drone-fleet management software.</div>
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India is a global giant in the software industry. The service capabilities of drones are greatly dependent on its software capabilities and Indian drone companies are in a unique position to harness India's strength in this area. Unfortunately, the DGCA's stand on drones has brought to light two unhealthy extremes: from a blank slate till last year, to an opaque ban now. Like in the case of Uber, India's regulators, while well-intentioned, have shown a tendency for knee-jerk reactions. Unless the Indian regulators get their act together and build a regulatory environment conducive to the development of the drone industry, while balancing genuine security concerns, India will stand to lose the promising inroads it has made towards becoming a significant player in this nascent but multi-billion dollar industry.</div>

Asia Civilian Drone Industry: Are Indian Regulators Sleeping On A Gold Mine?

In May 2014, Mumbai inhabitants witnessed what could easily have been a scene lifted straight from a sci-fi novel; a pizza was home-delivered using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), more popularly known as a drone, from a local pizzeria. This experi…

18 Of India's Biggest Tax Defaulters

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The Income Tax department today named eighteen of the largest tax defaulters in the country who owe a cumulative sum of over Rs 500 crore in unpaid dues.</div>
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The list includes Jaipur-based Goldsukh Trade India with unpaid dues of Rs 75.47 crore, Somani Cement with tax arrears of Rs 27.47 crore, Blue Information Technology (Rs 75.11 cr), Appletech Solutions (Rs 27.07 cr), Jupiter Business (Rs 21.31 cr) and Hirak Biotech (Rs 18.54 cr).</div>
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Several Gujarat based companies <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-income-tax-deparment-publishes-names-of-big-tax-defaulters-2073413" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #058b7b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">also feature</a> in the defaulters' list. They include Icon Bio Pharma & Healthcare Ltd (Rs 17.69 cr), Banyan & Berry Alloys (Rs 17.48 cr), Laxminarayan T Thakkar (Rs 12.49 cr), Virag Dyeing & Printing (Rs 18.57 cr), Poonam Industries (Rs 15.84 cr), Kunvar Ajay Food Pvt Ltd (Rs 15 cr).</div>
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Kolkata-based Victor Credit & Construction (Rs 13. 81 cr), Mumbai-based Noble Merchandise (Rs 11.93 cr), and legal heirs of Pune-based GK Dharne (Rs 38.31 crore) are also there in the list.</div>
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"The step is aimed to publicise and put these names in public domain so that the common man can come forward to help the department in knowing the whereabouts of these.The step is to enhance public awareness against these entities who are acting against law. These names were earlier were put up the department's website earlier," a senior I-T officer said.</div>
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Newspapers today carried the names of the tax defaulters and the data published was quoted to have been published by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Administration) based in the national capital here.</div>
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Adopting an aggressive approach, government had for the first time gone public with names of 18 tax defaulters, including Goldsukh Trade and Somani Cements which, according to I-T, have turned wilful defaulters.</div>
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In a bid to force them these entities paying their dues, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had asked the I-T department to post on its website, few days back, the names of 18 defaulters, of whom 11 are based in Gujarat.</div>
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"Defaulters are advised to pay tax arrears immediately," said the notice.</div>
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"This is the first time the department has put in public domain a list of those wilful tax defaulters who have a tax liability of Rs 10 crore and above," a senior tax official had said, adding that in many cases the assessees were not "traceable".</div>
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"The department, in the public notice, has provided the PAN number and the last known address of these defaulters for the public to know," the official added.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(With agency inputs)</em></div>

Asia 18 Of India's Biggest Tax Defaulters

The Income Tax department today named eighteen of the largest tax defaulters in the country who owe a cumulative sum of over Rs 500 crore in unpaid dues. The list includes Jaipur-based Goldsukh Trade India with unpaid dues of Rs 75.47 crore, Somani …

Virat Kohli 4th, Shikhar Dhawan 6th Best Batsman According To The Latest ICC Ratings

00:36 Unknown 0

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DUBAI — A lacklustre World Cup performance notwithstanding, Virat Kohli remained the highest-placed Indian batsman at fourth even as Shikhar Dhawan rose a rung to sixth in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued today.</div>
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Apart from Kohli and Dhawan, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the other Indian batsman to be inside the top-10, hanging on to the eighth spot.</div>
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Opener Rohit Sharma made significant strides up the order as he jumped seven places to be joint 12th with Australian swashbuckler Steve Smith and Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq. Rohit scored 330 runs in the tournament.</div>
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Australia retained the ODI Shield and won USD 175,000 after finishing as the number-one ranked side on the April 1 cut-off date.</div>
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India collected USD 75,000 for finishing second in the team rankings. Among the bowlers, Australia's Mitchell Starc has surged to the top for the first time in his career following a stellar performance in the World Cup that also fetched him the player of the tournament award.</div>
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The 25-year-old left-arm fast bowler finished ICC's pinnacle 50-over tournament as joint-leading wicket-taker with New Zealand's Trent Boult (22 wickets), including two for 20 in eight overs in the final against New Zealand.</div>
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This performance has helped Starc to rise two places and claim the number-one position for the first time. Starc had entered World Cup in seventh position and during the course of the tournament, he gained 147 ratings points.</div>
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He currently sits on 783 rating points, which is also his career-best rating and was achieved during the final played in front of over 93,000 spectators.</div>
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Australia's James Faulkner, who was adjudged the player of the final, has also made an upward movement along with India's Umesh Yadav. Yadav has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career following his 15 wickets in the series, including four for 72 in the semi-final against Australia. Yadav has rocketed 16 places to join England's James Tredwell in 18th position.</div>
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In the rankings for ODI batsmen, South Africa captain AB de Villiers continued to lead the charts and has also become the 11th batsman overall, and second South African after Hashim Amla, to break the 900-point mark. In ranking terms, 900 points marks out a player as truly great.</div>

Asia Virat Kohli 4th, Shikhar Dhawan 6th Best Batsman According To The Latest ICC Ratings

DUBAI — A lacklustre World Cup performance notwithstanding, Virat Kohli remained the highest-placed Indian batsman at fourth even as Shikhar Dhawan rose a rung to sixth in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued today. Apart from Kohli and Dhawan, Indian…

Kashmir Floods: Good News, Finally; Weather Has Relented, Jhelum Now Flowing Below Flood Level

00:33 Unknown 0

Asia Kashmir Floods: Good News, Finally; Weather Has Relented, Jhelum Now Flowing Below Flood Level

Obama presidency: how will it be remembered?

00:31 Unknown 0

US Obama presidency: how will it be remembered?

With not long left in his second and final term, US President Barack Obama is trying to cement his legacy. Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 on a wave of optimism and high expectation. At home and abroad, the new president was seen as the man …

US denies killing Iranians in drone strikes in Iraq

00:29 Unknown 0

Africa Europe US US denies killing Iranians in drone strikes in Iraq

Pentagon rejects claims by Tehran that US killed two Revolutionary Guards in strikes near ISIL-held Tikrit last week. The US defence department has denied claims that it killed two Iranian advisers in drone strikes in Iraq earlier this month, tellin…

Maldives passes law 'to oust ex-leader from politics'

00:28 Unknown 0

Asia Maldives passes law 'to oust ex-leader from politics'

Law strips those serving prison sentences of political party memberships, including jailed former President Nasheed. Mohamed Nasheed was dragged into a court building in the Maldives capital Male after being arrested on terrorism charges [AFP] The M…

South Africa braces for Marikana massacre report

00:26 Unknown 0

Africa South Africa braces for Marikana massacre report

Activists demand that Farlam report investigating alleged police brutality in mining massacre of 2012 made public. The official report into the police killing of 34 South African miners in 2012 is due to be submitted to President Jacob Zuma, with ri…

Singapore teen charged after insulting late leader Lee

00:25 Unknown 0

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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Roman, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In a widely watched YouTube video, 16-year-old Amos Yee celebrated Lee Kuan Yew's death and denigrated Christianity.</span></span></h3>
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A teenager in Singapore has been arrested for posting an expletive-laden YouTube video attacking the country's late founding leader Lee Kuan Yew and Christianity.</div>
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A district court on Tuesday charged 16-year-old Amos Yee with jailable offences including obscenity and hurting religious feelings but released him on Sg$20,000 ($14,500) bail.</div>
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The student smiled and fidgeted as the alleged offences were read to him in court, AFP news agency reported.</div>
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In the eight-minute video titled "Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead", Yee celebrated the death of Singapore's founding father Lee, who died last week aged 91 and was cremated after a state funeral on Sunday.</div>
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Yee also made insensitive remarks about Christianity in the video, which was seen by hundreds of thousands before it was taken down.</div>
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He called Lee, who did not profess any religion, a "horrible person" and challenged the former leader's son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to sue him.</div>
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Yee then went on to compare Lee to Jesus, calling both "power-hungry and malicious".</div>
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If convicted the teenager could face up to three years in jail, police said in a statement.</div>
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"Police take a stern view of acts that could threaten religious harmony in Singapore," police official, Tan Chye said in the statement, seen by the Reuters news agency.</div>
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Officials also charged Yee with putting into circulation an obscene object as well as for threatening, abusive or insulting communication under the city-state's newly enacted Protection from Harassment Act. </div>
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The judge ordered Yee to refrain from making any social media postings while the case is pending.</div>
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Outside the courtroom, his teary-eyed father clasped his hands and told reporters: "I would like to take this opportunity to say very sorry to PM Lee".</div>
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His son smiled and waved to reporters as they left the court building.</div>

Asia Singapore teen charged after insulting late leader Lee

In a widely watched YouTube video, 16-year-old Amos Yee celebrated Lee Kuan Yew's death and denigrated Christianity. A teenager in Singapore has been arrested for posting an expletive-laden YouTube video attacking the country's late founding leader …

Iran nuclear talks enter final day

00:24 Unknown 0

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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Roman, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Negotiators try to bridge remaining gaps and hammer out framework deal that would be the basis for a final accord.</span></span></h1>
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Talks on Iran's nuclear programme have entered a critical phase, with negotiators making last-ditch efforts to reach a preliminary deal before the March 31 deadline.</div>
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Top diplomats from Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany – collectively known as P5 1 - are meeting with Iranian officials in the Swiss city of Lausanne to try to bridge remaining gaps and hammer out the framework deal that would be the basis for a final accord to be reached by the end of June.</div>
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But Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he was leaving the talks and would return the following day if there is a realistic chance of a deal, a spokeswoman said, raising doubts on chances of reaching an agreement on Monday.</div>
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"Probably if there is a realistic chance of a deal tomorrow [Tuesday] he will come back," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Lausanne.</div>
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<tr style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/iran-nuclear-talks-continue-key-deadline-approaches-150330113746709.html#" style="background: transparent; color: #2575bc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: bottom;"><img border="0" src="http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdresplarge/mritems/Images/2015/3/30/c6fdaa6197c744519bd6e040b96e6b93_19.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; width: 250px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td class="caption" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #888888; display: block; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 5px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Al Jazeera's James Bays</span></td></tr>
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All of the people needed to sign a deal with Iran are now in Lausanne, and the negotiations are closer than ever before. </div>
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Many of the main technical issues concerning Iran's uranium and plutonium facilities appear to have been dealt with. </div>
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However, there are still sticking points, especially how much future research and development Iran would be allowed to carry out to further advance its nuclear programme, beyond the initial 10 year deal proposed by the US.</div>
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Iran wants all sanctions, particularly those imposed by the UN, to be lifted, but the other nations want them to continue in some form.</div>
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It is yet to be determined how exactly the deal will be announced; how much will be in a formal document and how much will be shared publicly.</div>
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But what is clear is that no deal will be done without all foreign ministers present. A US official tells us that the talks will not go beyond the 31st of March.</div>
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The weather in Lausanne is cold and wet – a sign of good luck in Persian culture. Nonetheless, difficult negotiations are still likely.</div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For weeks, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, have been meeting in an intense effort to reach a political understanding on terms that would curb Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.</span></div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We're working hard, very hard", Kerry told Al Jazeera on Monday. </span></div>
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Kerry's spokeswoman Marie Harf said there was a 50/50 chance the parties would succeed in getting a deal on Tuesday.</div>
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Senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi said various proposals were still being discussed.</div>
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"Still, we cannot say we are close to resolving the remaining issues," he told reporters on Monday.</div>
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"We hope to reach a conclusion tonight or tomorrow, but it is not guaranteed and we have a difficult way to go."</div>
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Officials say the sides have made some progress, with Iran considering demands for further cuts to its uranium enrichment programme but pushing back on how long it must limit technology it could use to make atomic arms. </div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sticking points </strong><br /><br />But sticking points on research and development remain, as well as differences on the timing and scope of sanctions removal, officials cited by the Associated Press news agency said. </span> </div>
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The officials in Lausanne said the sides were advancing on limits to aspects of Iran's programme to enrich uranium, which can be used to make the core of a nuclear warhead.   </div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tehran has said it is willing to address concerns about its stockpiles of enriched uranium, although it has denied that will involve shipping it out of the country, as some western officials have said. One official said on Monday that Iran might deal with the issue by diluting its stocks to a level that would not be weapons grade. </span> </div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A senior State Department official said that shipping the stockpile is one of the "viable options that have been under discussion for months ... but resolution is still being discussed."</span></div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Meanwhile, Israel, which is at loggerheads with Iran, said the deal being negotiated was worse than it feared.</span></div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I expressed our deep concern towards this deal emerging with Iran in the nuclear talks, this deal as it appears to be emerging bears out all of our fears, and even more than that," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<br /><br />Israel and the US insist Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says its nuclear programme is intended for power generation.</span></div>
<div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 25.6000003814697px; margin-top: 3em; max-width: 38em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: rgb(142, 142, 142) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Source:</span> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: rgb(33, 33, 33) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Al Jazeera and agencies</span></div>

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