Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Thursday denied breach or leak of Aadhaar data after a newspaper reported it bought unrestricted access to the details of over one billion Aadhaar numbers – for just Rs 500.

“The Aadhaar data, including biometric information, is fully safe and secure,” the authority said in a statement, calling the report in The Tribune “a case of misreporting”.

“UIDAI assures that there has not been any Aadhaar data breach,” the statement said, adding that the data was secure with a “robust uncompromised security”.

The authority said it had given search facility for the purpose of grievance redressal to designated personnel and state government officials to help residents only by entering their 12-digit Aadhaar numbers.

The grievance redressal search facility, the statement said, “gives only limited access to name and other details and has no access to biometric details”.

It said the authority maintains complete log and traceability of its search facility and any misuse was traceable.

“The reported case appears to be instance of misuse of the grievance redressal search facility. As UIDAI maintains complete log and traceability of the facility, the legal action including lodging of FIR against the persons involved in the instant case is being done.”

The Aadhaar database “remains fully safe and secure with highest encryption at UIDAI and mere display of demographic information cannot be misused without biometrics”.

It said 12-digit ID number was not secret and had to be shared with authorized agencies whenever an Aadhaar holder wishes to avail certain service or benefit of government welfare schemes.

“That does not mean that the proper use of Aadhaar number poses a security or financial threat. Also, mere availability of Aadhaar number will not be a security threat (and) will not lead to financial (or) other fraud, as for a successful authentication fingerprint or iris of individual is also required.

“Claims of bypassing or duping the Aadhaar enrolment system are totally unfounded. The UIDAI Data Centres are infrastructure of critical importance and is protected accordingly with high technology conforming to the best standards of security and also by legal provisions.”

The Tribune report, which was widely shared on social media sites, claimed that it took just Rs 500 and 10 minutes for the newspaper to get an access through an “agent” to every detail of any individual submitted to the UIDAI, including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.

The newspaper said it paid another Rs 300, for which the “agent” provided “software” to facilitate the printing of the Aadhaar card after entering the Aadhaar number of any individual.

The Tribune also claimed to have found in its investigation that the racket may have started around six months ago when some anonymous groups were created on WhatsApp.

These groups targeted over three lakh village-level enterprise operators hired by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (ME&IT) under the Common Service Centres Scheme (CSCS) across India, offering them access to UIDAI data.

CSCS operators were initially entrusted with the task of making Aadhaar cards across the country but were withdrawn later. The service was restricted to post offices and designated banks to avoid any security breach in November last year.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta on Thursday filed their nomination for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Delhi.

Sanjay Singh reached the District Magistrate (Central) office at Daryaganj to file the papers along with his supporters and AAP leader Ashutosh.

Narain Gupta and Sushil Gupta later filed their nomination papers.

An alumnus of Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce, Narain Gupta has been on the Board of International Federation of Accountants — an amalgam of 164 regulatory accounting bodies in 116 countries.

Sushil Gupta was formerly with the Congress.

The AAP on Wednesday had named veteran leader Sanjay Singh, businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta as its debutants for the Rajya Sabha, sparking criticism from founding member Kumar Vishwas and other political parties.

The decision was finalised at a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, the AAP’s highest decision making body, at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence. The meeting was attended by an overwhelming majority of AAP MLAs.

On his exclusion from the nomination, AAP leader Kumar Vishwas was quick to express his displeasure and before the mediapersons and also took to Twitter.

Kumar Vishwas shared a video on his Twitter account, saying: “Sabko ladne hi pade yudh, chahe Raja Ram ho, ya Gautam Buddh (Everybody had to fight their battles be it Lord Ram or Gautam Buddha).”

It will be for the first time the AAP, which officially has 66 members in the 70-member Delhi Assembly including some dissidents, will send members to the upper house. The Congress has no presence in the Delhi Assembly.

Kulbhushan Jadhav’s new video released by Pakistan, saying he has not been tortured in custody,  was dismissed as “propagandistic exercise” that “simply carry no credibility” by India.

The video was released days after India had hit out at Pakistan for violating understandings for the Jadhav-family meet and raised questions about the 47-year-old Indian national’s well being.

Also read: Pakistan releases another ‘confession’ video of Jadhav

In the purported video, Jadhav said, “I saw fear in her (mother’s) eyes, the Indian diplomat was shouting at my mother the moment she stepped out. I saw him shouting, yelling at her. This [meeting] was a positive gesture so that she [my mother] could be happy and I could be happy.”

However, it was not clear how Jadhav saw the diplomat shouting at his mother once she stepped out. The diplomat accompanying Jadhav’s family was India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar shared a response on the latest Kulbhushan Jadhav’s video on Twitter.

Our response to the latest video by Pakistan of Shri Kulbhushan Jadhav. pic.x.com/Nz2SpWpWS1

— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 4, 2018

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: “Pakistan is simply continuing its practice of putting out coerced statements on video.

“It is time for them to realise that such propagandistic exercises simply carry no credibility.

“The absurdity of a captive under duress certifying his own welfare while mouthing allegations of his captors clearly merits no comment.”

Kumar added: “Pakistan is best advised to fulfil its international obligations, whether it pertains to consular relations or UNSC resolutions 1267 and 1373 on terrorism and to desist from continuing violations of human rights of an Indian national.”

In the video, Jadhav says he has not been tortured in custody and that he saw an Indian diplomat yelling at his mother and wife after they met him last month.

Sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017, Jadhav thanked Islamabad for letting him meet his mother and wife.

Pakistani authorities arranged the meeting between Jadhav and his family on December 25.

(with agency inputs)

Samsung may soon not be the only supplier of OLED displays for Apple. The iPhone maker is reportedly finalising talks with LG on an OLED supply deal which could see the latter provide its panels for this year’s iPhone with edge-to-edge display.

“LG is likely to ship a relatively small number of panels – 15 to 16 million – in the second half of the year,” AppleInsider reported late on Wednesday.

“Apple is said to have pumped $2.7 billion into LG as an advance payment for OLED panels. At the time it was thought that the order was for panels shipping in 2019,” the report added.

This year’s iPhone is expected to be a mega-sized version of the iPhone X and could be purportedly named “iPhone X Plus”.

The Cupertino-based giant is expected to launch a 5.8-inch device alongside a 6.5-inch iPhone with OLED displays.

LG Display will supply Apple with the 6.5-inch OLED panels while Samsung will supply the 5.8-inch or 6-inch OLED panels, according to MacRumors. The LCD panels which are currently being used in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are supplied by LG.

However, its South Korean rival Samsung dominates supply of OLED displays for Apple’s flagship iPhone X.  It is believed that Apple will switch to OLED displays for all of its iPhone releases in 2019.

This is the reason Apple roped in LG to be its OLED display supplier when it already had Samsung – that owns 95 per cent market share of mobile OLED panels – in its league.

It is not just Apple that is investing in LG OLED display. Google has also realised LG’s potential and invested $900 million in OLED production for its first OLED smartphone, an earlier Investor report said.

Actress Richa Chadha has got a drink named after her role of Bholi Punjaban from the Fukrey franchise.

True Tramm Trunk, a restaurant here, has introduced a new cocktail named Bholi Bhali Punjaban, which is infused with litchi fruit juice. It will be offered to patrons in a customised bottle with Bholi Punjaban’s image on the bottle.

The restobar has an array of quirky drinks with quirkier names and this was a seamless integration into their menu, read a statement.

Richa said: “I am happy that Bholi Punjaban will make people happy. I thought it was a great idea from the folks at True Tramm Trunk. I am flattered.”

Bholi Punjaban was a local gangster in the Fukrey franchise.

With the huge success of Amazon Obhijaan in the Bengali cinema collecting around Rs.12.26Cr in its box office run, SVF productions, are planning to release their movie on a nationwide scale on Friday January 5, 2018.

The film will be released in five different Indian languages that include Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese and Odia.

The mega budget film is titled as Amazon Abhiyan in Hindi and Amazon Adventure in the rest of the languages.

Directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee. Amazon Obhijaan is the first ever Indian film to be extensively shot at the Amazon forest of South America and ranks as the eighth film shot at that location on a worldwide scale.

Amazon Obhijaan being a sequel to its predecessor, Chander Pahar, which is the most successful Bengali film ever made in Bengal, is set to make the audience relive the vastness of Amazon as the actors go forward to find the lost city of Gold known as El Dorado.

With the entire cast of the Amazon including panthers, anacondas, alligators and tribal clans in the mix, the film is set to work wonders and give the adventure of a lifetime to all its viewers.

Amazon Abhiyan/ Amazon Adventure will be released across the nation on January 5.

At least four people were killed and 40 were injured when a train crashed into vehicles in central South Africa on Thursday.

The train was travelling from the coastal city of Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg when the crash occurred.

Video footage showed a fire blazing through at least one carriage, near an overturned truck and car. Evacuated passengers were seen standing on the roadside with luggage, the BBC reported.

The collision occurred near Kroonstad city in Free State province, after the truck failed to stop at a crossing, a passenger told local media.

The driver of the truck tried to flee, but was arrested by the police, passenger Seipati Moletsane told the privately owned eCNA news site.

“I was so traumatised. I was looking for a door just to jump out but every door was locked… All of a sudden, we saw smoke, smoke, smoke,” Moletsane said.

Emergency assistance group Netcare911 said they were attending to the crash in the area of Kroonstad, a city 180 km south west of Johannesburg, along with other emergency services.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) international midfielder Yeni Ngbakoto has made his appearance back to the French football league as he joined Ligue 1 outfit Guingamp from Championship side Queens Park Rangers.

Ngbakoto, 25, was a product of the FC Metz youth system and a former France youth international. He made 185 appearances in total between 2009 and 2016 before moving to QPR, reports.

He was the first signing in winter transfer window of Guingamp, who sat eighth on Ligue 1 table after the first half of the season.

“I’m very happy to come here and become a part of the Guingamp family,” Ngbakoto said following his move for an undisclosed fee.

“I have wanted to sign for this club for a long time and today we did the deal, so I’m very happy,” he added.

A man from the US state of Utah has been indicted on charges of threatening to kill President Donald Trump during his visit to the state last month.

Travis Luke Dominguez, 33, was charged on December 4 in an 11-count indictment that included two counts of threatening the life of the President, the US Attorney’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Dominguez also faces five counts of “maliciously conveying false information” regarding attempts to “kill, injure, and intimidate individuals” at several areas in the state, among other charges, Politico reported.

His targets also included local police officers, moviegoers at a theatre complex in South Jordan, Utah, and other regional businesses.

“The threats generally involved an active shooter situation or the use of explosives,” the statement added.

In communications obtained by authorities, the individual vowed to “kill the sexist racist homophobic President Trump”, according to the indictment.

During his December trip to Utah, Trump announced that he was removing 2 million acres of protected territory from two national monuments in the state, a move considered a victory for Republican lawmakers there that set off a series of protests from environmental activists.

A 30-year-old woman was allegedly raped at gunpoint in Akbarpur village here, police said on Thursday.

The woman has alleged that while she was on her way home yesterday, she was raped by a youth of her village, Ginnaur police station incharge Vinay Kumar said.

The woman has been sent for medical examination, he said.

A case has been lodged in this connection and a hunt was on to nab the culprit, Kumar added.

 Sachin Gangal earned the distinction of becoming the first golfer to qualify for the National finals of the 18th edition of the Mercedes Trophy, it was announced on Thursday(4 Jan ,2018).

Sachin carded a nett score of 70.6 to finish in top spot. The second day on Friday will determine the second and final qualifier from the city.

Delighted after the win, Sachin said: “It feels fantastic. I have been trying this for the last two years. This is a unique format the Double Peoria.

“In fact, last two years I played even better but this year I got lucky. Mercedes Trophy Golf is the best tournament.

“I look forward to the winning the National Finals now and make my way to Stuttgart for the World Finals,” he added.

The best Gross Winner of the day was Shishir Donde with a score of 80 and there was a host of other prizes on offer to be won as well.

Prominent winners included Nachiket Yeole, who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge with a mammoth drive of 235 yards.

A court here on Thursday granted bail to businessman Gagan Dhawan, arrested in connection with an over Rs 5,000 crore bank fraud case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma granted bail to Dhawan, asking him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of like amount each.

Enforcement Directorate had opposed the bail plea.

Dhawan was arrested from his south Delhi residence on November 1, 2017 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in a case involving fraud of over Rs 5,000 crore by Sandesara Group.

ED alleged that he was involved in diverting the amount to purchase properties and other shell companies.

According to ED officials, Dhawan allegedly aided bank loan frauds related to Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech company.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering following a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Sterling Biotech, its Directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, and Vilas Joshi and several others in connection with the bank fraud case.

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to introduce a law to ban fake news on the internet during election campaigns in the country, the media reported.

Macron, who beat the far-right Marine Le Pen to win 2017’s election, said he wanted new legislation for social media platforms during election periods “in order to protect democracy”, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.

In his New Year’s speech to journalists at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he would shortly present the new law in order to fight the spread of fake news which, he said, threatened liberal democracies.

New legislation for websites would include more transparency about sponsored content. Under the new law, websites would have to say who is financing them and the amount of money for sponsored content would be capped.

For fake news published during election seasons, an emergency legal action could allow authorities to remove that content or even block the website, Macron said.

“If we want to protect liberal democracies, we must be strong and have clear rules,” he added.

He said French media watchdog, the CSA, would be empowered to fight against “any attempt at destabilisation” by TV stations controlled or influenced by foreign states, reports the Guardian.

Macron said he wanted to act against what he called “propaganda articulated by thousands of social media accounts”.

During the election campaign in 2017, Macron was the subject of various fake news stories about alleged offshore accounts.

He filed a legal complaint after Le Pen, the Front National leader, referred to stories about him placing funds in an offshore account in the Bahamas.

At the time, Macron’s political movement, En Marche, called Le Pen’s statements a “textbook case” of fake news.

Le Pen attacked Macron’s plan for a ban on fake news, tweeting that France was “muzzling its citizens”.

She asked: “Who will decide if a piece of news is fake? Judges? The government?”

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday remembered and paid tribute to her party activists killed in the 2001 Choto Angaria massacre during the Left-front regime in the state.

“On January 4, 2001, the Trinamool Congress activists were brutally killed in Choto Angaria. Today is the 17th anniversary of the incident. My tribute to the martyrs. I convey my regards to all the martyrs who were victims of political bloodbath during the Left Front regime,” Banerjee said in a tweet written Bengali.

ছোট আঙারিয়ায় ২০০১ সালের ৪ঠা জানুয়ারী তৃণমূল কর্মীদের নৃশংসভাবে খুন করা হয়েছিল। সেই ঘটনার ১৭ বছর আজ পূর্ণ হল। অমর শহীদদের জানাই প্রণাম। বাম জমানায় রক্তস্নাত রাজনীতির বলি সমস্ত শহীদদেরও জানাই প্রণাম।

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 4, 2018

In 2001, eleven Trinamool Congress activists were burnt alive allegedly by the armed Communist Party of India-Marxist workers in West Midnapore district’s Choto Angaria.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which was handed over the case by the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court, had arrested eight people.

However, a special court had acquitted the eight due to insufficient evidence.

Skipper Joe Root (83) and Dawid Malan (55 batting) struck a half-century each as England posted 233/5 against Australia on the opening day of the fifth and final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground here on Thursday.

Malan, who notched up his fifth Test half-century, remained unbeaten in his 160-ball innings which contained five boundaries when umpires called it a day.

For Australia, pacers Pat Cummins (2/44) and Josh Hazelwood (2/47) returned two wickets each.

Two late wickets with the second new ball brought about a dramatic downturn in England’s fortunes.

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood dismissed Root and Jonny Bairstow (5) in successive overs, ruining what had otherwise been a moderately good day for the visitors.

Bairstow was dismissed off the final ball of an extended day after rain had washed out the morning session. Just eight balls earlier, England were sitting pretty at 228 for three, with Root and Dawid Malan adding 106 runs after tea.

After England opted to bat, they saw their 28-run opening stand broken after Cummins had Mark Stoneman (24) caught behind off a short delivery that seamed away from the left-hander.

James Vince (25) joined opener Alastair Cook (39) thereafter, and the duo added 60 runs in just under 20 overs before Cummins returned to make another breakthrough — the former slashed unnecessarily at a wide delivery outside his off stump, and was caught behind.

Cook looked to have played himself in and had reached 39 after soaking up 108 deliveries, but four overs after Vince’s dismissal, Hazlewood had Cook rapped on the knee-roll. Joel Wilson, the umpire, turned down Australia’s appeals, but the home side were successful with their review and England were reduced to 95 for three.

It was then that Root and Malan came together. They navigated England to tea at 122 for 3, and on resumption put together 134 runs for the fourth wicket.

It was a test of perseverance and patience for Malan in particular — he took more than nine overs to add to his tally of 16 at tea.

Root brought up his 36th half-century off 82 balls with an exquisite square-drive off Mitchell Marsh.

Nathan Lyon then nearly had Malan dismissed, but Steve Smith’s failure to latch-on to an outside edge at slip meant Malan could go on to bring up his own fifty, off 146 balls.

Starc, however got rid of his man with a full, swinging delivery on middle and leg that prompted Root to flick straight to Mitchell Marsh, who did well to hold on to the catch with the diving effort at square leg.

Hazlewood then induced Bairstow’s outside edge in the next over, after peppering the first three deliveries outside his off-stump.

Brief scores: England 233/5 (Joe Root 83, Dawid Malan 55 batting; Pat Cummins 2/44) against Australia.

The London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal on Wednesday ended in a 2-2 draw after a stoppage-time goal by Hector Bellerin helped the Gunners come from behind to share the points and that certainly left Chelsea manager Antonio Conte disappointed.

“It was an exciting game for the people who watch. Less so for us because when you are winning 2-1 and there are two minutes to go, we have to win the game, especially against a great team like Arsenal. A 2-2 draw against Arsenal at Emirates could be a good result but after the game there is a lot of disappointment because we created important chances,” said Conte at the post-match press conference.

According to the official website of Chelsea, Conte said, “For sure I know also in my players there is a lot of disappointment and for sure my feeling is the same as my players. It was a good performance and we played with good intensity, like Arsenal did and it was an exciting game, but at the same time we must be a bit disappointed with the final result because to get three points today was very important.”

The result leaves Chelsea with 46 points from 22 matches, one point behind second-place Manchester United and 16 behind league leaders Manchester City.

On his opinion on the penalty decision which led to Hazard making it 1-1, Conte said it was frustration for a coach during a game, but all should try to accept every decision. “I must be honest, I did not see the penalty. We must have great respect for the decision of the referee. There is frustration for a coach during a game and after a game but we must try to accept every decision, even if we do not agree with the referee or the linesmen.”

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said his side was frustrated to leave north London with only a point. “Obviously we are disappointed. It was a game with chances on both sides. We missed a big moment with Alvaro and then I made two great saves. We go in at half-time 0-0 and second half, I think we started okay, we had two chances Petr [Cech] saved well and I saved well from Lacazette but we were unlucky with the corner, the ball went to Wilshere and it was a rocket, I couldn’t save that,” he said, according to www.chelsea.com.