ISRO launches India’s biggest rocket GSLV Mark III from Sriharikota -

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Historic thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations announced

As part of the secret negotiations to secure his release, the U.S. was releasing three Cubans jailed in Florida for spying.

The United States and Cuba on Wednesday agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations and open economic and travel ties, marking a historic shift in U.S. policy towards the island after a half-century of enmity dating back to the Cold War.

The announcement came amid a series of sudden confidence-building measures between the long-time foes, including the release of American prisoner Alan Gross, as well as a swap for a U.S. intelligence asset held in Cuba and the freeing of three Cubans jailed in the U.S. Gross arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro were to separately address their nations around noon. The two leaders spoke by phone for more than 45 minutes Tuesday, the first substantive presidential-level discussion between the U.S. and Cuba since 1961.

Wednesday’s announcements followed more than a year of secret talks between U.S. and Cuban officials in Canada and the Vatican. U.S. officials said Pope Francis was personally engaged in the process and sent separate letters to Obama and Castro this summer urging them to restart relations.

Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly ahead of Obama’s remarks.

Gross, 65, arrived back in the U.S. shortly before Obama was to address the nation. Gross was released after more than five years in prison. He was accompanied by his wife, Judy, along with several U.S. lawmakers.

As part of resuming diplomatic relations with Cuba, the U.S. will soon reopen an embassy in the capital of Havana and carry out high-level exchanges and visits between the governments. The U.S. is also easing travel bans to Cuba, including for family visits, official U.S. government business and educational activities. Tourist travel remains banned.

Licensed American travelers to Cuba will now be able to return to the U.S. with $400 in Cuban goods, including tobacco and alcohol products worth less than $100 combined. This means the long-standing ban on importing Cuban cigars is over, although there are still limits.

The U.S. is also increasing the amount of money Americans can send to Cubans from $500 to $2,000 per quarter, or every three months. Early in his presidency, Obama allowed unlimited family visits by Cuban-Americans and removed a $1,200 annual cap on remittances. Secretary of State John Kerry is also launching a review of Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terror.

Obama does not have the authority to fully lift the long—standing U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, given that Congress enacted that policy. However, officials said he would welcome lawmakers taking that step.

There remains a divide on Capitol Hill over U.S. policy toward Cuba. While some lawmakers say the embargo is outdated, others say it’s necessary as long as Cuba refuses to reform its political system and improve its human rights record.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said the policy Obama was to announce on Wednesday did nothing to address those issues.

“But it potentially goes a long way in providing the economic lift that the Castro regime needs to become permanent fixtures in Cuba for generations to come,” Rubio said.

U.S. officials said Cuba was taking some steps as part of the agreement to address its human rights issues, including freeing 53 political prisoners.

Cuba was also releasing a non-American U.S. intelligence ‘asset’ along with Gross. Officials said the spy had been held for nearly 20 years and was responsible for some of the most important counterintelligence prosecutions that the United States has pursed in recent decades. That includes convicted Cuban spies Ana Belen Montes, Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Myers and a group known as the Cuban Five.

The three Cubans released in exchange for the spy are part of the Cuban Five a group of men who were part of the “Wasp Network” sent by Cuba’s then-President Fidel Castro to spy in South Florida. The men, who are hailed as heroes in Cuba, were convicted in 2001 in Miami on charges including conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents in the U.S.

Two of the Cuban Five were previously released after finishing their sentences.

Gross was detained in December 2009 while working to set up Internet access as a subcontractor for the U.S. government’s U.S. Agency for International Development, which does work promoting democracy in the communist country. It was his fifth trip to Cuba to work with Jewish communities on setting up Internet access that bypassed local censorship.

Bonnie Rubinstein, Gross’ sister, heard the news from a cousin, who saw it on television.

“We’re like screaming and jumping up and down,” she said in a brief telephone interview from her home in Texas.

Cuba considers USAID’s programs illegal attempts by the U.S. to undermine its government, and Gross was tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Gross’ family has said he was in ailing health. His wife, Judy, said in a statement earlier this month that Gross has lost more than 100 pounds 45 kilograms), can barely walk due to chronic pain, and has lost five teeth and much of the sight in his right eye.

Obama has taken some steps to ease U.S. restrictions on Cuba after Raul Castro took over as president in 2010 from his ailing brother. He has sought to ease travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in Cuba, but has resisted calls to drop the embargo.

Microsoft pitches for ‘White-Fi’to provide last mile connectivity

Other countries where Microsoft has helped implement the technology are Kenya, Singapore, the U.S. and London.

Microsoft is looking at starting a pilot project of its ‘White-Fi’ technology that uses the unused spectrum in frequencies used for broadcasting of television signals, and is likely to offer solution to tackle the problem of last mile broadband connectivity in the country.

“In a country of massive change, digital divide can pose serious challenge. In all the initiatives by the government — Digital India, Swachh Bharat or Jan-Dhan Yojna — technology has a role to play, and we want to be part of it,” Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said, adding that at present, the company was talking to all stakeholders, including the government, for its ‘White-Fi’ technology to provide last mile connectivity.

“We are waiting for licence to start our pilot of the technology. Where ever spectrum is involved government permission in needed… We will start with IIIT, Bangalore. We may start with the campus, but want to take it to rural areas to see how it works with all natural barriers,” he added.

The pilot, once started, is expected to last for about three months. Other countries where Microsoft has helped implement the technology are Kenya, Singapore, the U.S. and London.

The 200-600 MHz frequency is used for TV channels to carry data. In India, 93 per cent of this spectrum is not utilised.

‘White-Fi’ will use this vacant spectrum to provide connectivity.

In technology parlance, these unused spectrum spaces are called White Space, and many technology companies are looking at using this to provide free last mile internet access to users.

Under the ‘Digital India’ initiative, the government plans to use the national optic fibre network project to deliver e-services to all corner of the country.

While this network will be deployed at the gram panchayat level, reaching the end consumer may still require wireless technology, particularly in far flung areas.

U.S.-Cuba ties: From revolution and Bay of Pigs to rapprochement

A summary of U.S.-Cuba relations since Fidel Castro seized power in a 1959 revolution

The United States and Cuba plan to restore diplomatic relations and end more than five decades of fierce animosity that at one point took the world to the edge of nuclear conflict.

Here is a summary of U.S.-Cuba relations since Fidel Castro seized power in a 1959 revolution:

Jan. 1, 1959: Cuban Revolution. Castro and his rebel army take power after U.S.-backed former dictator Fulgencio Batista flees island.

June 29, 1960: United States suspends Cuban sugar import quota after Castro nationalizes Texaco refinery.

Oct. 19, 1960: United States begins partial economic embargo against Cuba.

Jan. 3, 1961: Washington breaks diplomatic ties with Cuba.

April 19, 1961: Castro's troops defeat CIA-backed Cuban exile invasion force at Bay of Pigs.

Jan. 22, 1962: At U.S. urging, the Organization of American States (OAS) suspends Cuba.

Feb. 7, 1962: Full U.S. trade embargo imposed on Cuba.

October 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis. The presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba provokes standoff between Moscow and Washington. Many fear a world war, but Russia reaches a compromise deal with the United States and withdraws the missiles.

Sept. 1, 1977: Cuba and United States establish informal diplomatic missions, or Interests Sections, in Havana and Washington.

April-September 1980: Mariel Boatlift. Cuba allows mass exodus of about 125,000 citizens to the United States, mostly via Mariel port west of Havana.

March 1, 1982:The U.S. State Department adds Cuba to its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Oct. 23, 1992: U.S. President George Bush signs Torricelli Act to tighten embargo on Havana amid severe economic crisis triggered by Soviet bloc's collapse at start of decade.

Aug. 14, 1993: Havana ends ban on use of U.S. dollars.

August 1994: Rafter Crisis. More than 30,000 Cubans flee island on flimsy boats. Washington and Havana sign immigration accord to stem exodus and agree to a minimum of 20,000 legal entry visas per year for Cubans.

Feb. 24, 1996: Cuba shoots down two civilian planes of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four people. Brothers to the Rescue says it was on a humanitarian mission looking for rafters fleeing Cuba. Cuba says they had routinely violated Cuban airspace.

March 1996: Outraged over downing of the planes, U.S. Congress approves Helms-Burton Act, tightening the embargo and requiring a vote of Congress to repeal it. President Bill Clinton, seeking re-election that year, signs the bill into law.

March 20, 1998: Clinton announces renewal of direct passenger charter flights and permission for Cuban-Americans to send remittances to families on island.

January 1998: Pope John Paul visits Cuba, condemning U.S. embargo but also calling for greater freedoms on the island.

Nov. 25, 1999: Elian Gonzalez custody saga starts, when 6-year-old Cuban boy is rescued at sea off U.S. coast after surviving a shipwreck that kills his mother and 10 other Cuban migrants. After a bitter seven-month dispute, which prompted a massive patriotic campaign in Cuba, Elian flies home to Cuba to be with his father.

July 13, 2001: U.S. President George W. Bush orders his administration to more strictly enforce sanctions and pledges increased support for pro-democracy forces on the island.

November 2001: Cuba purchases U.S. agricultural products as the two countries begin their first direct food trade since 1962, under an exception to embargo passed by U.S. Congress.

May 6, 2002: U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton accuses Cuba, along with Libya and Syria, of working to develop biological weapons, a charge Castro denies.

June 30, 2005: New U.S. curbs on travel come into force as Bush administration tightens enforcement of embargo.

July 10, 2006: U.S. government announces increased support for dissidents and more money for anti-Castro broadcasts by Radio and TV Marti.

July 31, 2006: Fidel Castro provisionally cedes power to brother Raul Castro after undergoing surgery for undisclosed intestinal ailment.

Feb. 24, 2008: Raul Castro is elected president by National Assembly, replacing his older brother.

Dec. 3, 2009: Cuba arrests Alan Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor, who had brought banned telecommunications equipment to Cuba and attempted to establish clandestine Internet service for Cuban Jews. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Jan. 20, 2009: Barack Obama, who has said he wants to take steps toward normalizing relations with Cuba, is sworn in as president. He soon goes on to ease U.S. restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba.

Nov. 8, 2013: Obama tells a Miami fundraiser, "We have to be creative and we have to be thoughtful and we have to continue to update our policies" on Cuba.

Dec. 14, 2014: Obama announces plan to restore diplomatic relations in major policy shift. Cuba releases Gross as well as an intelligence agent who spied for the United States and had been held in prison for nearly 20 years. In return, Washington releases three Cuban intelligence agents held in the United States. Obama says the United States will open an embassy in Cuba and relax some of the restrictions on commerce and travel between the United States and Cuba.

Soft targets, hard questions

The world saw terrorism’s darkest face on Tuesday. The cold-blooded killing of 132 students and nine staff members in a school in Peshawar has left the entire world shaken at the terrorists’ determination to find ever softer targets and notch up higher levels of brutality. There could not have been a more vulnerable place than a school, or more defenceless targets than children. Yet, even in a place used to terrorist acts, even after the Taliban targeted a 15-year-old girl called Malala Yusufzai two years ago, if parents continued to send their children to school, it was because they thought terrorism had already plumbed such depths that nothing worse could happen. They were proved tragically wrong. Going by the accounts of those who were inside and fortunate to live to tell the tale, the six men who entered the school were merciless, going from classroom to classroom hunting for those still alive. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have claimed responsibility for the act, describing it as revenge for the Pakistan Army operation against them in North Waziristan and other parts of the north-western frontier region. The bombing campaigns by the Pakistan military in those regions had claimed civilian lives, and the Taliban have said they carried out the school bloodbath because they want the Army to feel the same pain. The Pakistani Taliban are evidently hoping to bring public pressure on the Army to call off operation Zarb-e-Azb entirely.

Pakistan’s response to this outrage will be crucial to its own future, and to the peace and stability of the region. After an all-party meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the military operation would go on until the last terrorist was eliminated. Army chief General Raheel Sharif has also stood firm. But it will take more than a drive against a select group of militants to root out terrorism. Decades of active encouragement by the Pakistani state and its security establishment to terrorism aimed at Afghanistan and India have engendered a high level of tolerance within sections of the Pakistani military, polity and society for such non-state actors. Only those with blinkers would believe that there are “good” and “bad” Taliban, that it is all right for the Lashkar-e-Taiba to run free and recruit for jihadi missions in India but it is unacceptable for Taliban to strike inside Pakistan. Lifting a moratorium on hangings, as Prime Minister Sharif has announced, is not going to stop terrorists. Unless the change comes in what Pakistan describes as its “national ideology”, in effect a fusion of religion with national security, militancy will continue to haunt the country. The widespread revulsion over the school massacre provides an opportunity to craft a new ideology that does not confuse terrorists with instruments of national security.

वैश्विक लैंगिक अंतराल रिपोर्ट, 2014

• 28 अक्टूबर, 2014 को विश्व आर्थिक मंच (WEF) द्वारा वैश्विक लैंगिक अंतराल रिपोर्ट (Global Gender Gap Report) 2014 जारी की गई।
• इस रिपोर्ट में प्रस्तुत लैंगिक अंतराल सूचकांक (GGI-Gender Gap Index) में इस वर्ष 142 देशों को सूचीबद्ध किया गया है, जबकि गतवर्ष (2013 में) इसमें शामिल देशों की संख्या 136 थी।
• लैंगिक अंतराल सूचकांक (GGI) 2014 में शामिल 142 देशों में भारत को 0.6455 स्कोर के साथ 114 वां स्थान प्राप्त हुआ है, जबकि गतवर्ष (2013) में यह 136 देशों में 101 वें स्थान पर था।
• लैंगिक अंतराल सूचकांक (GGI), 2014 में शीर्ष 4 स्थानों पर नार्डिक (Nordic) देश हैं जिनका क्रम इस प्रकार है-1. आइसलैंड (स्कोर-0.8594), 2. फिनलैंड (स्कोर-0.8453), 3. नॉर्वे (स्कोर-0.8374) 4. स्वीडन (स्कोर-0.8165)।
• पांचवां स्थान डेनमार्क (स्कोर-0.8025) को प्राप्त हुआ है।
• इस सूचकांक में निचले पांच स्थान प्राप्त करने वाले देश क्रमशः हैं-
  142. यमन (स्कोर-0.5145), 141. पाकिस्तान (स्कोर-0.5522), 140. चाड (स्कोर-0.5764), 139. सीरिया (स्कोर-0.5775), 138. माली (स्कोर-0.5779।
• ब्रिक्स (BRICS) समूह के देशों के संदर्भ में भारत सबसे निचले स्थान पर है।
• वैश्विक लैंगिक अंतराल सूचकांक पहली बार वर्ष 2006 में विश्व आर्थिक मंच (WEF) द्वारा प्रस्तुत की गई थी।

वैश्विक आतंकवाद सूचकांक-2014

• 18 नवंबर, 2014 को ‘इंस्टीट्यूट फॉर इकोनॉमिक्स एंड पीस’ (IEP) द्वारा वैश्विक आतंकवाद सूचकांक-2014 (Global Terrorism Index-2014) जारी किया गया।
• वैश्विक आंतकवाद सूचकांक ऎसा पहला सूचकांक है जिसने व्यवस्थित रुप से आतंकवाद के प्रभाव के अनुसार 162 देशों को रैंक प्रदान किया है।
• आतंकवाद से सबसे अधिक प्रभावित देशों के इस सूचकांक में ईराक (स्कोर-10) लगातार दूसरी बार शीर्ष पर है।
• इस सूचकांक में अफगानिस्तान दूसरे (स्कोर-9.39), पाकिस्तान तीसरे (स्कोर-9.37), नाइजीरिया चौथे (स्कोर-8.58) स्थान पर हैं।
• वैश्विक आतंकवाद सूचकांक-2014 (GTI-2014) में शामिल 162 देशों में भारत को 7.86 स्कोर के साथ छठवां स्थान प्राप्त हुआ है। जबकि GTI- 2012 में यह 158 देशों में चौथे स्थान पर था।
• वैश्विक आतंकवाद सूचकांक-2014 के अनुसार, भारत में वर्ष 2012 से 2013 के दौरान आतंकवादी घटनाओं में 70 प्रतिशत की वृद्धि हुई।
• GTI आतंकवाद के प्रभाव को मापने के लिये चार प्रकार के संकेतकों का उपयोग करता है- आतंकवादी घटनाओं की संख्या, मौतों की संख्या, हताहतों की संख्या और संपत्ति के नुकसान का स्तर।
• GTI के अनुसार सम्पूर्ण विश्व में 17,958 लोग वर्ष 2013 में आतंकवादी घटनाओं में मारे गये।
• वर्ष 2013 में आतंकवादी घटनाओं में मारे गये 82% लोग इराक, अफगानिस्तान, पाकिस्तान, नाइजीरिया और सीरिया से हैं।
• ध्यातव्य है कि पहली बार वैश्विक आतंकवाद सूचकांक 4 दिसंबर, 2012 को जारी किया गया था।