Daily News (In Short)-24-June-2015

#* Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi: Five things about the 26/11 mastermind

LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is at the centre of a fresh diplomatic row involving India, Pakistan and China following his release from prison on bail.A close relative of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Lakhvi had a central role in planning and executing the assault on India’s financial hub that killed 166 people and injured hundreds more, according to Indian and US security officials.Though Lakhvi was arrested soon after the attacks, his trial in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court has dragged on at a snail’s pace. Following his release from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on April 10 on the orders of the Lahore high court, India decided to seek action against Pakistan through UN Sanctions Committee but the move was blocked by China.

#* Vasundhara Raje cancels UK visit to attend Niti Aayog meeting 

JAIPUR: Amidst a raging controversy over her ties with ex-IPL boss Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today cancelled her scheduled visit to London. Raje was scheduled to visit London for an interaction with business tycoons ahead of the Rajasthan Resurgent Meet here in November. The Chief Minister had to visit London from June 27 to July 2 but in view of the important Niti Aayog meeting she has cancelled her UK tour, a CMO Spokesman said. Raje will be in Delhi on June 28 to attend Niti Aayog's sub-committee meeting. The Rajasthan Chief Minister and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj have been facing flak for helping Lalit Modi procure travel documents in the UK, a country which he has made his home to avoid legal processes in India. 

#* Adani halts work on Australia's Carmichael coal mine; is it scrapping the project?

India's Adani Mining has asked its four engineering contractors working on the Carmichael project to halt work around the mine, the Guardian Australia reported citing people familiar with the matter.Halting work at this stage of the project made no sense even as a savings measure, and raises speculation that the Indian company might scrap the project altogether, Guardian Australia said.Gautam Adani. ReutersGautam Adani. Reuters Adani has signed up buyers for about 70 percent of the 40 million tonnes coal the Carmichael project is due to produce in its first phase, with production expected to begin in late 2017.
Guardian Australia said it is understood that about 40 engineers working for one of Adani's contractors, WorleyParsons, were among those pulled off the project. Tim Buckley of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which opposes new coal developments said halting work at this stage "just crucifies the project", the newspaper reported. Adani's ambitions in Australia have been uncertain following a surprise election result in Australia's coal-rich Queensland state, leading to a policy reversal, and heightened pressure to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

#* India vs Bangladesh ODI: MS Dhoni's men under pressure to avoid a 3-0 whitewash

Stung by their first-ever series defeat against Bangladesh, undefire India will look to salvage some pride and prevent the hosts from registering a rare clean sweep when they go into the third and final cricket one-dayer here tomorrow. After being outplayed in the first two ODIs to give the hosts an unassailable 2-0 lead, the visitors have faced severe criticism from all quarters, but beleaguered skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni insists that the current team has the best available players.The Men in Blue have been outplayed in virtually every department of the game since their 79-run loss in the first match and the slide has been difficult to arrest.File picture of MS Dhoni. AFPFile picture of MS Dhoni. AFP The Indians will be keen to win the last match of the series and save face as a whitewash will be really embarassing for the team which reached the final of the World Cup earlier this year. But they have to plug all the loopholes to get the better of a spirited Bangladesh. The top-order's form has been patchy while the team has suffered from lack of partnerships in the middle-order. The bowling has been far from convincing with the likes of Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma leaking way too many runs on slow Bangladesh pitches. Even spinners Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja have failed to make an impact.Bangladesh, on the other hand, have been brilliant on all counts and the results are a fair indication of their rise in world cricket.

#* Indian Railways strikes gold in tennis, volleyball at 2015 USIC Championships

New Delhi, June 23 (ANI): The tennis and volleyball teams of the Indian Railways won the 20th Union Sportive Internationale des Cheminots (USIC) World Railways Championships.The Indian Railway tennis team defeated France 3-1 in the finals in Nuremberg, thus improving their 2011 performance, when they had won the silver medal.Meanwhile, the volleyball team beat Russia in the final held in Gomel, Belarus, to win the gold, bettering the bronze they had won in 2011.The USIC (Union Sportive Internationale des Cheminots) is an international railways sporting association with members from across the world. (ANI)

#* Finally, Facebook announces new security tool to rid malicious software

Facebook announced on Tuesday it has been using a new security tool to help detect and remove malicious software for users of the world’s biggest social network.Facebook said it was working with Kaspersky Lab, bolstering a program implemented with other online security firms including ESET, F-Secure and Trend Micro.“Thanks to the collaboration with these companies, in the past three months we have helped clean up more than two million people’s computers that we detected were infected with malware when they connected to Facebook,” said Trevor Pottinger, a Facebook security engineer.“In these cases, we present a cleanup tool that runs in the background while you continue using Facebook, and you get a notification when the scan is done to show you what it found.”Pottinger said the program uses “a combination of signals to help find infections and get the malware off of your computer for good, even if the malware isn’t actively spreading spam or harmful links.”Kaspersky Lab’s Kate Kochetkova said in a separate blog post that Facebook users are often targeted in online fraud schemes such as “phishing,” which are faked emails designed to get recipients to download malware.

#* Gaza militants fire rocket into Israel; IAF retaliates

Militants in the Gaza Strip launched a rocket at Israel on Tuesday which landed in open ground near a community close to the Palestinian enclave and Israel hit back at the launching site, the Israeli army said. There were no injuries or damage after the rocket fell near the community of Yad Mordechai, Israeli police and the military said. Residents in the northern Gaza Strip said nobody was hurt by Israel's retaliatory strike near Beit Hanoun. An army statement said the rocket launcher was hit.

#* For Kerry, Iran deal would be a legacy hit after many misses

If U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pulls off a nuclear deal with Iran, it will be a singular achievement in a long career in which the grand prize has eluded him.His 2004 presidential election loss, lack of legislative monuments despite 28 years in the Senate, and failure, like many before, to bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians have contributed to a view that he struggles to seal major successes.The 71-year-old has expended remarkable energy in pursuit of what would be an historic agreement with Iran, flying tens of thousands of miles and holding dozens of meetings with his Iranian counterpart. He plans to attend the possible last stage of the nuclear talks in Vienna ahead of a June 30 deadline, despite breaking his leg late last month.Kerry's negotiating style with Iran is a cocktail of boundless energy, tactical flexibility and occasional hardball, according to officials involved in the talks.Still, critics say he has broken some classic rules of negotiation, overshadowing the principal U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman; meeting Iranians regularly rather than holding himself in reserve; and exuding an air of eagerness for a deal.Supporters say no one will work harder for an accord and that his unsuccessful efforts to end Syria's civil war or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shows he is willing to risk failure while tackling the hardest problems.

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