In The News (9)

After Nearly Going Pop, Google’s Project Loon Heads Into Carrier Testing This Year

will enter testing with carriers in Indonesia and elsewhere this year. .... Project Loon almost didn’t make it. .... has advanced enough to deliver about 15 megabit-per-second Internet access, which he pointed out is enough to deliver video ...... In addition to Indonesia, Alphabet has reached a deal with the Sri Lankan government to exchange access to needed radio frequency spectrum for a stake in the project. .......

Alphabet is in talks with carriers around the world, Teller said, adding that the prospect is very real that a further five billion people will have Internet access within five to 10 years..... “it will change the world in ways we cannot possibly imagine,” he said.

...... two moonshots that Google abandoned. The first, he said, was vertical farming, which would have used

one-tenth the water and one-one-hundreth of the land demanded by traditional agriculture

. But although Google grew some lettuce, it never managed to grow staple crops like grain or rice. ........ Another effort, would have allowed landlocked countries to ship goods far more cheaply using a rocket-like air cargo ship that could land without a runway. ........ Starting with testing out the hardest part of a project, Teller said, is part of how X decides which projects to kill and which to continue with. The company starts with the hardest pieces of a potential “moonshot,” and only funds those that can survive the toughest tests.... The unit, he said, depends on both wild dreaming and what he called “enthusiastic skepticism.” ...... Virtual-reality and augmented-reality projects will take center stage, with at least half a dozen talks and exhibits centered around the emerging technologies.

Project Loon: Google balloon that beams down internet reaches Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan government hopes the venture will provide high-speed internet with extensive coverage and cheaper rates for data

The balloons, once in the stratosphere, will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye. ....... The government announced earlier this month it would take a 25% stake in the joint venture with Google to deliver a high-speed internet service powered by helium-filled balloons. .....

Sri Lanka is not investing any capital but will take the stake in return for allocating spectrum for the project. A further 10% of the joint venture would be offered to existing telephone service providers on the island.

..... there are 3.3m mobile internet connections and 630,000 fixed line internet subscribers among Sri Lanka’s more than 20 million population. ..... Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the first in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago.

Is Alphabet About To Get Serious With Google Fiber?
Alphabet seems intent on challenging major cable distributors like Comcast, AT&T, and Time Warner Cable by expanding Google Fiber.

Alphabet's Google Fiber could be preparing to ramp up its long-rumored onslaught on the cable industry. ...... All told, Alphabet could bring Fiber to as many as 19 municipalities. ...... the mounting evidence that Alphabet intends to supplant traditional cable and TV distributors like AT&T (NYSE:T), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC). Investors in any of these names, but especially more distribution-oriented firms like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, should view Alphabet's looming presence with trepidation. ..... All told, cable, Internet, and phone services yield sales just south of $80 billion annually for AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast. And though Alphabet will require years to develop a Fiber network with the reach to appreciably dent the results of AT&T, Comcast, or Time Warner Cable, current prices suggest Alphabet might enjoy a competitive advantage as it expands. As recently as last summer, Comcast's 1GB Internet service cost a whopping $299/month, with over $1,000 in installation and activation fees. Contrast this to Google Fiber's basic service costing only $74/month in Kansas City

Ringing Bells to launch India's cheapest sub-Rs 500 smartphone

At present, smartphones available in the market are priced around Rs 1,500. ..... Established last year, Ringing Bells will start with the assembly of handsets in Phase-I and aims at full indigenous development of the feature-rich smartphones ...... India, one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally, is poised to overtake the US as the second-largest market in next few years.......In the last few months, global smartphone makers, including the likes of Xiaomi, Motorola and Gionee have commenced assembling their handsets in India, where the government is pushing local manufacturing through its Make in India initiative.

Bernie Sanders, Seeking to Court Black Voters, Will Visit South Carolina and Georgia

The lawyer for the family of Walter L. Scott, who was fatally shot by a police officer in South Carolina, also withdrew his support from Mrs. Clinton and endorsed Mr. Sanders last month.

Bill Clinton Makes Case for Hillary Clinton’s Candidacy in South Carolina

suggested that a Hillary Clinton administration would continue the Obama administration’s work to expand Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, overhaul the student loan system and ensure background checks for all gun buyers. ..... “That Clinton is going to continue the Affordable Care Act is my No. 1 thing,” he added. “Bernie wants to make health care free for all citizens. But it’s going to cost money. And where’s that going to come from? Taxes. So I don’t know if I want to do that.

I want to know if it’s possible that the wealthy really pay for the bulk of his plan. Because they can afford it.”

...... “Honestly, I think Bernie’s platform is too heavily dependent on this nebulous political revolution that is highly unlikely to materialize. .... Still, the only person who would persuade the couple to vote for Ms. Clinton, they said, is Donald J. Trump. ....“He scares me,” Ms. Babington said. ....

“He has no guiding philosophies,” Mr. Babington added.

“He’s only in it for himself.”

Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton Easily Top New Poll in South Carolina

Mr. Trump drawing the most support of likely Republican voters, with 38 percent .... The poll shows Mr. Trump’s support remaining steady in South Carolina since October ...... 56 percent of likely Democratic voters in South Carolina support Mrs. Clinton, compared with 38 percent who back Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. ..... With Democrats holding their South Carolina primary on Feb. 27, Mr. Sanders has just over 10 days to narrow the gap with Mrs. Clinton. Although time is short, only 43 percent of likely voters say they have definitely decided upon a candidate.

In Speech on Ending Racism, Hillary Clinton Offers $125 Billion Plan to Help Poor Minorities

In a wide-ranging speech on “ending systemic racism,” Hillary Clinton presented a $125 billion plan to assist poor and minority communities with job training, education and re-entering society after incarceration, part of an effort to speak directly to African-American voters as the Democratic primary contest heads to South Carolina. ...... Her remarks, delivered in Harlem, were centered around what Mrs. Clinton called a “Breaking Down Barriers” agenda that would disproportionately help in “places where people of color and the poor have been left out and left behind.” And she particularly named “places like Harlem and rural South Carolina.” ....... the “school to prison pipeline” ..... the plan would be paid for by a “risk fee” imposed on Wall Street banks and other changes in the tax code. ..... “Many Republicans talk in coded racial language,” she said to applause from the audience. “They demonize President Obama and encourage the ugliest impulses of the fringe” of the party.

Bernie Sanders Pledges to Focus on the Plight of Disenfranchised Blacks

that he would combat institutional racism, reform police departments across the country, and make getting an education and a well-paying job easier. ...... “What is going on now, especially with regard to African-Americans — this is not new. It has been going on decade, after decade, after decade. The only difference is the cellphone video. That’s the only difference because what was going on in the past was never recorded and the police officer’s testimony was accepted as truth. This video, this cellphone, makes all the difference in the world. So clearly as a nation we need criminal justice reform.” ...... he expressed disappointment in the way some police forces have systematically discriminated against blacks. ......

“I have talked to African-American Ph.D.s who get nervous when they have to travel or drive across the country. That should not be happening in the year 2016.”

...... a high percentage of black children live in poverty (he said 35 percent) and that an even higher percentage of young black people — 51 percent — were unemployed.

Jeb Bush, That Subtle Jokester, Isn’t ‘Looking’ So Good
A Fight in the Trenches, From South Carolina to Nevada

Depending on who is asked, the race is either holding steady with Mr. Trump on top, or is now more fluid after Mr. Trump criticized the former president and his administration at the Republican debate on Saturday, saying that “they lied” about the rationale for invading Iraq in 2003.

Hillary Clinton Barked Like a Dog on the Campaign Trail



Mission 2019

Amit Shah’s new term as BJP president will be all about ensuring that Modi remains in office after 2019 ..... The Modi government at the Centre can last for 15 to 20 years” ..... On January 25, Shah was elected to his first full term as BJP president. .... Shah wants the party to substantially improve upon its past record in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam ...... ensure “conditions for growth of local leadership in poll-bound states”. There has been a feeling that ever since the Modi-Shah duo came to prominence in the BJP, local leaders have been trampled upon in states where the party is not in power. “After the Bihar debacle, there was no shying away from projecting Sarbananda Sonowal as the leader of the election campaign in Assam, and later naming him as the chief ministerial candidate. That is, in effect, making room for local leadership,” said a source close to Shah. ...... the feeling of dejection among workers who hear complaints that achche din have not come, black money has not been brought back, the employment sector has not looked up, and price of food and household items is going up ..... “The BJP has to somehow reach out to the other parties and ensure the parliamentary logjams do not come in the way of reforms.” ..... Shah was the prabhari, or in-charge, of Uttar Pradesh for two years before the Lok Sabha polls. The party won 73 of 80 seats, an achievement that elevated him to the nonexistent rank of “super strategist”. His eyes would now be on the assembly polls in the state, due in 2017. ...... Shah is also focused on increasing the BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha. “We will keep on winning elections in the assemblies, and that should be reflected in the Rajya Sabha,” he told THE WEEK during the parliamentary logjam last year. “That is my strategy.”

Rahul Gandhi supporting 'anti-nationals', alleges BJP chief

asked if the Congress vice president had joined hands with separatist forces and wanted another division of India. ..... support to anti-national forces in the name of the Left's progressive ideology is not acceptable. ..... Noting that slogans like 'Pakistan zindabad', 'go India go back' and those in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Kashmir's independence and India's destruction were raised in JNU, he wondered if the Congress leader had joined hands with separatists. .....

"Does he want another division of India by giving a free run to separatists in the name of freedom of expression?

The kind of statements the Congress vice president and other leaders of his party have made in JNU have proved again that national interest has no place in their mind," Shah said.

SC talks tough, asks Delhi police to ensure security of Kanhaiya, others

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it will be Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi's personal responsibility to ensure safety of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, as it was told that he was badly beaten up while being brought to the court premises in police custody earlier in the day........ also said it would be police's responsibility to ensure that besides Kanhaiya Kumar, all those who attended the court proceedings in pursuance of its morning order leave the premises in safety. ........

The court had said that the security of Kanhaiya Kumar and those present in the court room should be 100 percent fool proof, indicating that if Delhi Police can't do it, then it may seek other options. It had been suggested that the security be handed over to the Central Reserve Police Force.

....... Senior counsel Harin Rawal, who would compile the report, would also submit a copy of the video recording of all that transpired in Patiala House Court complex during their visit. ..... they witnessed an "unprecedented" situation with an atmosphere of "fear and terrorising people". ...... He told the court they were not only abused in the filthiest language but were described as Pakistani agents. "We were called Pakistan ke dalle," he said, adding that not only was the police cordon around them broken, but gravel, and flower pots hurled at them along with abuse. ..... He said Kanhaiya Kumar was "badly beaten" and doctors on the request of his lawyers were attending him, and also told the court that

a gentleman wearing dark glasses entered the court room, thumped Kanhaiya Kumar and sat beside him..... Even though the registrar general asked police to stop him and arrest him as his presence in the court room was in breach of the apex court order, police allowed him to go......Dhawan told the court that even though the deputy commissioner of police present on the spot was aware of the court's order, but still the person was allowed to move in and out without his identification being checked.

Kanhaiya Kumar has said nothing anti-national: Shatrughan Sinha

BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Wednesday came up in support of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been arrested on sedition charges and said that he is praying for his immediate release......“Have heard transcript of speech of Kanhaiya, our Bihar boy president of JNUSU. He has said nothing anti national or against constitution. Hope wish and pray that he’s release soon, sooner the better,” Sinha tweeted. ...... Sinha further stated that the Jawaharlal Nehru University is going through a crisis ‘for reasons best known to politicians’.....He went on to say that the JNU is an institution of international repute, enviable record and history...... “It is a seat of learning for some of India's brightest young minds & also some very respectable teachers. Save it from further embarrassment, he tweeted.

If anti-national means this, God save our country

They are the ones who burnt the Tricolour. They are followers of Savarkar who apologised to the British. They are the ones who, in Haryana, have changed the name of one airport. There was one airport named after Bhagat Singh. The Khattar government has now named it after one Sanghi (a person associated with the RSS). ....... What I mean to say is that we don't need the certificate of patriotism from the RSS. We don't need a nationalist certificate from the RSS. We belong to this country. We love this country. We fight for the 80 per cent of the poor population of this country. For us, this is nation worship. ...... We don't have faith in Manusmriti, we don't have faith in the caste system in this country. ...... The same Babasahab Ambedkar talks about freedom of expression. ...... Their government, Madam ManuSmriti Irani is ending fellowship and they accuse us of fighting for fellowships. Their government has reduced the higher education budget by 17 per cent. ...... Our hostel has not been built for the past four years, there is no Wi-fi. BHEL gave us one bus but the administration has no money for oil. ...... We are proud of being JNU-ites because we discuss and debate the basic issues concerning this country. We raise issues related to the dignity of women, Dalits, tribals and minorities in this country. And so, their Swamy (Subramanian Swamy) says that jihadis live in JNU, that JNU students spread violence. ....... We want to raise questions about the frenzied ABVP's slogans, their slogan that they will do tilak with blood and aarti with bullets. Whose blood do they want to spill? They aligned with the British and fired bullets on the freedom fighters of this country. They fired bullets when poor people demanded bread; they fired bullets when people dying of hunger talked about their rights; they have fired bullets on Muslims; they have fired bullets on women when they demand equal rights. .........

They say that five fingers are not equal. They advocate that women should emulate Sita and give agnipariksha. ....... And when we talk about equal rights of women, they accuse us of destroying Indian culture.

...... We want to destroy the culture of exploitation, the culture of caste, the culture of Manuwad and Brahminism. ......

They were British stooges. I dare them to file a defamation case against me. I say that the RSS's history is of siding with the British. These traitors today are distributing certificates of nationalism.

....... Check my mobile phone, friends. Dirty abuses are being hurled at my mother and sister. Which Mother India are you talking about? ..... My mother is an Anganwadi sewika, my family runs with the Rs 3,000 she earns and they are abusing her. I'm ashamed that in this country, the mothers of the poor, Dalit farmers are not part of Mother India. ....... I will tell them that if they have courage, then say ' Inquilab zindabad', say 'Bhagat Singh zindabad', say 'Sukhdev zindabad', say 'Asfaqulla Khan zindabad', say 'Babasahab Ambedkar zindabad'. Only then will I believe that you have faith in this country. ....... They are enacting the drama of celebrating Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. If they have courage, they should raise the issues Ambedkar raised. Caste system is one of the biggest problems in this country. Talk about caste system, bring reservation in every sector, bring reservation in the private sector. Raise these questions, then I will believe that you have faith in this country. ........ This nation had never been yours and will never be yours. A nation is made by its people and if there is no place for hungry and poor people in your idea of the nation, then it is no nation. ...... we are in difficult times.

The way fascism is coming in the country, even the media would not be spared. The media would be provided with written scripts from the RSS office, just as written scripts came from the Congress office during the Emergency.

....... Some media friends told me that JNU runs on taxpayers' money, on subsidy. Yes, it is right that JNU runs on subsidy. But I want to raise the question: what are universities for? Universities are there for critical analysis of the society's collective conscience. Critical analysis should be promoted. If universities fail in their duty, there would be no nation. If people are not part of a nation, it will turn into a grazing ground for the rich, for exploitation and looting. ...... Leave aside Pakistan and Bangladesh, we call for unity of the poor and the toiling masses of the world. We hail the humanity of this world, we hail the humanity of India. ....... We have identified that face of casteism, the face of Manuwad, the face of the nexus between Brahminism and capitalism. ....... There is violence when the JNU administration denies the constitutional rights guaranteed to Dalits. This is institutional violence. ...... Brahminism did not allow Dalits to enter temples. The British did not allow dogs and Indians to enter restaurants. .......

Friends, the situation is very serious. Under no circumstances does the JNUSU (the JNU students' union) support any violence, any terrorist, any terror incident and any anti-India activity. I want to reiterate that the JNUSU strongly condemns slogans of "Pakistan zindabad" raised by some unidentified people.

....... Listen carefully to the slogans being raised by the ABVP now. They are calling us 'communist dogs'. They are calling us 'Afzal Guru's dogs'. They are calling us 'children of jihadis'. If the Constitution gives us the right to be citizens, then is it not an attack on our constitutional right when they call our parents dogs? We want to ask this question to the ABVP and the JNU administration. ....... It is now clear that the JNU administration first gives permission and then withdraws it on receiving a call from Nagpur. This thing of first giving permission and then withdrawing, it has intensified. First, they will announce fellowship and then tell that it has been withdrawn. This is the RSS and ABVP pattern with which they want to run this country. ........ They feel that with people like Chauhan everywhere, they would get jobs. Once they get jobs, they will forget nation worship and Bharat Mata. What to tell of the Tricolour, which they have never respected? They will also forget the saffron flag. ......

Their nation worship ends with an India-Pakistan cricket match. After that when they go out on the road, they misbehave with the person selling bananas. When the person selling bananas tells them that a dozen comes for Rs 40, they abuse him and accuse him of looting customers. They demand a dozen for Rs 30.

....... Nation worship begins and ends with wealth and facilities. I know a number of ABVP people and I ask them whether the fervour of nationalism moves them? They tell me: "What to do, brother, this government is for five years and two years are already over. Three years' talktime is left and whatever has to be done, should be done in this period." ...... Long live JNU. JNU will continue to actively participate in all democratic struggles taking place across the country, continue to strengthen the voice of democracy, the voice of freedom and freedom of expression. We will struggle and win and defeat the traitors of this country.

What JNU Student Kanhaiya Kumar, Attacked Twice, Told Court: 10 Points

Kanhaiya Kumar was being escorted to the courtroom when he was attacked by a large group of lawyers. He was kicked, slapped and punched...... Mr Kumar was punched, kicked and dragged by the lawyers, who later boasted to the police that "their job was done." ...... Mr Kumar told the court that he condemned what happened at the event and did not say anything that was anti-national. "I am an Indian. I have full faith in the Constitution as well as the judiciary of the country," he said.

This is a watershed moment for India. It must choose freedom over intolerance

The standoff at New Delhi’s famous Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that has transfixed India has nothing of the routine campus controversy about it. Following the arrest of a student leader, India’s Hindu nationalist BJP government now finds itself facing down a large coalition of progressive groups laying claim to the idea of an India where the right to dissent is foundational. ........ The hardline home minister, Rajnath Singh, believes otherwise, announcing that those who question India’s integrity “will not be tolerated or spared”. Questioning the Indian state’s actions in places such as Kashmir, in short, is strictly off menu. .......

A famously contentious campus synonymous in India with critical thinking and vociferous debate, JNU has long been in the sights of the Hindu right, many of whom want nothing more than for it to be shut down.

...... his impassioned insistence on the need to uphold the Indian constitution. ...... “We fight for the 80% poor population of this country.” Addressing a topic all too familiar to students in Britain, he also attacked government cuts to higher education budgets and the steady decline of resources, including financial support, available to students. ...... In a shocking move – police are not allowed on to Indian university campuses without the permission of the vice-chancellor, precisely in order to safeguard dissent – Kumar was arrested under one of India’s many outdated pieces of legislation (which include, notoriously, a law criminalising homosexuality). The “sedition” law, intended to prevent anti-colonial resistance, prohibits inciting “disaffection” towards the government, and many in India’s freedom struggle, including Gandhi, were detained under its auspices. In recent years it has been used liberally to constrain those who would challenge the transgressions of the postcolonial state. ........ Kumar had noted correctly that the forces of “Hindu India” now most vociferous in laying claim to true patriotism were not only notably absent in the actual freedom struggle but

were often to be seen collaborating with the British.

Subject now to open thuggery – as well as state force, there have been astonishing scenes of lawyers beating up JNU students in court ....... Student unions across the country and from as far away as South Africa have condemned the arrests, as have hundreds of academics from Britain, the US and beyond. ....... India’s persistent and disgraceful caste inequalities, with upper castes, much like the white well-off of Britain, disproportionately dominating universities and the media as well as lucrative corporate positions. To criticise the Hindu nationalism that governs India today is also to note its roots in the continued domination of Indian institutions by Brahmins and other upper castes. ....... For those committed to the idea of India as essentially a Hindu country, which includes many in the government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, the list of potential “anti-nationals” appears to be compendious. It seems to include everyone from

Muslim, Dalit, Christian, leftwing and liberal activists to those who question the Indian state’s actions in Kashmir or suggest that religious intolerance isn’t a good idea.

........ the situation reminds many of the horrors of the 1975-77 state of emergency. Now, as then, India is poised on the brink of a choice between the dangers of authoritarianism and its historic commitment to dissent