Phone Hacking.....

UK phone hacking: Trial begins today

The first trial from the phone-hacking scandal that sank Rupert Murdoch's News of the World opens in Britain on Monday with his key aide Rebekah Brooks and the prime minister'sformer media chief Andy Coulson among the defendants. 

In what media commentators have dubbed the "trial of the century," eight people will appear at the Old Bailey in London for the start of up to four months of hearings on a scandal that shook the British establishment and rocked Murdoch's media empire and the entire British newspaper industry. 

The charges range from illegally hacking the mobile phone voicemails of more than 600 victims including a murdered schoolgirl and celebrities such as Paul McCartney, plus bribing public officials for stories and hiding evidence. 

The trial is expected to hear explosive testimony about the scandal that forced Australian-born Murdoch to shut down the weekly tabloid News of the World in disgrace in 2011, and threatened to drag in PM David Cameron's government. 

The trial will formally open on Monday but the prosecution's opening statement is expected to be delayed by the selection of a jury and by legal arguments. The main players are Brooks, the flame-haired former chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper operations, and Coulson, the journalist-turned-medialynchpin for Cameron. Brooks, 45, who rose from a secretary to edit the News of the World and its daily sister paper The Sun while becoming one of Murdoch's closest confidantes, denies phonehacking , conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office , and perverting the course of justice. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/UK-phone-hacking-Trial-begins-today/articleshow/24796591.cms

'So' lar Project..Really is a big project..

UT solar project lights up:-

 The ministry of renewable energy of the central government has given approval to UT administration to equip solar energy plants atop private houses but curtailed their number from 300 to 230. 

"We received the nod last week. Public notices will be issued and if more than 230 residents opt for the facility, we will hold draw of lots," said Santosh Kumar, director, science and technology, UT and conservator of forests. Solar plants of three categories, 1 kilowatt, 2 kilowatt and 3 kilowatt, would be provided to residents as per space of houses. One kilowatt plant requires 100 square feet area and would be able to generate 1,300 to 1,400 units of electricity in a year. 

"The cost of the 1KW plant will be roughly around Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.40 lakh with battery. A resident will get 30% subsidy," said Kumar, adding tenders would be advertised within a week for selecting competent companies and later impanel them from where people could buy the equipment. 

Sources said more than two firms would be chosen for supplying the equipment. A team of technical wing of UT's science and technology department would first go through the specification and technical qualities of the products before allotting them tenders. 

Over half a dozen government buildings, including Paryavaran Bhawan, Burail Jail, Punjab Engineering College, government school of Sector 46 and police headquarters, have solar plants. 

The department had some time back identified five government houses in Sector 7 for installing solar plants, as a pilot project.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/UT-solar-project-lights-up/articleshow/24790931.cms

Big Indestructible Data Storage Disc..

This device can store data for one million years:-

 Scientists have designed a nearly indestructible data storage disc that can store data for a million years — even if you barbecue it. Although the amount of data that can be stored has increased immensely during the past few decades, it is still difficult to actually store data for a long period. 

Jeroen de Vries from the University of Twente MESA + Institute for Nanotechnology , Netherlands, has developed an optical information carrier that can store information for extremely long periods, with each bit being written using etching techniques. 

The chosen information carrier is a wafer consisting of tungsten encapsulated by silicon nitride. Tungsten was chosen because it can withstand extreme temperatures . A QR code — a type of is 2D barcode — etched into the tungsten and is protected by the nitride. Each pixel of the large QR code contains a smaller QR code that, in turn, stores different information . In order to ensure the stability of the data , an energy barrier that separates the information from the non-information is required. 

Current hard disk drives have the ability to store vast amounts of data but last roughly ten years. 

To prove that the data is still legible after millions of years, an aging test is required . "According to the Arrhenius model, the medium should keep working for at least 1 million years if it is heated to a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius and kept in the oven for an hour," said De Vries. After the test, it was still easy to read the information .

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/This-device-can-store-data-for-one-million-years/articleshow/24792834.cms

Teenage Students Abuse Drugs Highly..

Greater efforts needed to check drug abuse:-

Every area in the city has a supply of drugs, be it certain ‘paan’ shops or individual peddlers. As this supply seeps into colleges, youngsters have become a majority in the group that falls prey to these illegal substances. In comparison to other cities, Hyderabad may not have been in the news much for drug abuse. But the underlying truth remains that our young guns form quite the percentage among addicts.

Good News For IIT , IIM Students..

IIT, IIM students can now self-attest certificate copies:-

 Students aspiring for admission to IITs, IIMs or central universities need not scout for a gazetted officer anymore to get copies of their certificates attested as the HRD ministryhas asked institutes under it to accept self-attested documents.

The move which brings to an end the age-old practice and provides a much needed relief to students, has come into effect from this session, ministry officials said. 

The original documents will have to be produced only at the time of admission, they said. 

The development comes in wake of a directive from the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension which had asked various ministries and departments to examine the proposal. 

Students especially in rural areas stand to immensely benefit from it along with those who face difficulty in finding an officer to get the photo copies of their certificates attested. 

Under the self-attestation method, the original documents are required to be produced at the final stage. 

Officials in the HRD ministry said institutes at the state level would be requested to adopt the new practice keeping overall interest of students in mind.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/IIT-IIM-students-can-now-self-attest-certificate-copies/articleshow/24775147.cms

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Life Of A Single Girl

Life of a single girl in Nagpur:-

Girls from every nook and corner of the country come to Nagpur in search of an independent life, better education or decent career opportunities.

TOI asks these young, single girls hailing from around Nagpur and other cities to learn how the Orange City is treating them and the problems they are grappling with each day...

Narrow-mindedness
My native place is Arunachal Pradesh, where there is no gender discrimination and everybody is treated equally. Nagpur is a cosmopolitan city, but here people have narrow mindsets, and people here don't give much respect to women. Everyday, when I and my friends travel by public transport, we have to face eve-teasing and lot of embarrassment. Even if we are going to a grocery shop in the neighbourhood, we have to cover our faces with scarves.

Very expensive!
I'm from Bramhapuri, which is almost 120 kms away from Nagpur. My parents are middle-class, but we manage pretty well within our means there. Nagpur, in contrast, is an extremely expensive place. Right from fruits to tiffin and mess expenses, everything is exorbitantly priced here. This aspect hurts my pocket and it pains me to take extra money from my parents, month after month!

Housing problems
I'm from Jalgaon and new to the city. I was really stressed out for a while because of the housing problems. Here, it is extremely difficult to find an independent flat for single girls. The rents are also very high, compared to most of the other mini-metros. Either we have to compromise with the place or have to pay mammoth amounts for rent. Since I'm a working girl, property brokers quote high prices and take advantage of the situation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/Life-of-a-single-girl-in-Nagpur/articleshow/24492539.cms?intenttarget=no

Political Mesmerizer...Gujarat CM

Narendra Modi:-

Narendra Damodardas Modi  pronunciation  born 17 September 1950) is the 14th and current Chief Minister of Gujarat, a state in western India, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP and the centre-right National Democratic Alliance for the upcoming 2014 Indian general elections.

Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns, as well as a major campaign figure in the 2009 general elections won by the Indian National Congress.

Modi is a vegetarian. He is known for leading a frugal lifestyle and has a personal staff of three. He is known to be a workaholic and an introvert. He also writes poems in Gujarati. He is a crowd-puller as a speaker.He wears "business suits to business meetings, instead of homespun tunics. He still lampoons the urban, English-speaking elite, but he is also honing his English skills."

Modi has been labelled by the media and some articles in peer reviewed journals as a controversial, polarising, and divisive figure.

In September 2013, Nielsen and The Economic Times published results of a poll of 100 Indian corporate leaders - 74 of them wanted Modi to be the next prime-minister, compared to 7 whose preference was Rahul Gandhi. British economist Jim O'Neill, author of the BRIC report, wrote on his blog that Modi is "good on economics", one of the things that "India desperately needs in a leader".In August 2013, financial analyst Chris Wood, chief strategist of CLSA, wrote in his weekly Greed & Fear that "the Indian stock market's greatest hope is the emergence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate".

http://www.india.cd/aseem_thapliyal/blog/narendra-modis-yes-we-can-chant-short-circuits-india-story/