Authorities on Sunday stepped up security at Hyderabad Airport following reported threats to hijack an aircraft.

Security was beefed up at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on the city's outskirts as agencies responsible for different layers of security were put on alert.

Police beefed up the security at the main entry points to the airport area from Bengaluru and Srisailam highways. All vehicles were thoroughly checked.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for the security at the airport, deployed additional personnel in and around the terminal. 

It enhanced baggage scanning, pre-embarkation checks and frisking of passengers.

An alert was also sounded at Mumbai and Chennai airports. 

This came after a woman sent an email to a senior police officer in Mumbai stating that she overheard six men at a restaurant discussing simultaneous hijack of flights from the three airports.

Officials said while it could be a fake alarm, they were not taking any chances. 

The CISF put the security apparatus on enhanced alert. It called sniffer dog squads and quick reaction teams for sanitisation drills.

The security agencies stepped up the vigil in around the terminal and at parking lot. The airlines were asked to be more vigilant.

Airlines have advised passengers to report on time and avoid last-minute check-ins. Passengers have also been advised to cooperate with the security personnel.

Veteran playback singer KJ Yesudas on Sunday said he was happy to receive the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in the country.

“I am not over-joyous. As usual I am equally happy to receive this like any other awards. It is due to the blessings of the Almighty,” Yesudas, who is here to perform a musical programme this evening, told reporters.

Asked about music maestro Ilayaraja sending a notice to singer SP Balasubrahmanyam over singing his songs, raising copyright issues, he said: “You can ask this question to Ilayaraja. I am not going to send any notice to anybody.”

When asked about comments from various quarters in the film field that there was partiality and bias in selecting the National awards announced recently, he said “you can ask those who raised the issue and also to those selected.”

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday alleged that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with even before they are deployed.

The Election Commission, he tweeted, was "limiting objections to EVM to hacking. It must allow examination of possibility of software tampering at (the) stage of writing it from server.

"There is a strong possibility of tampering coding at the stage of writing software i.e. EVM can be pre-tampered. So no need for hacking," he said.

"EC must devise a way of supervision by political parties at the (time) of coding software to EVM. Like it does at subsequent stages. Would they?"

The BJP National Executive hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government on Sunday for enacting a bill to grant constitutional status to the OBC Commission and slammed the Congress for blocking it in the Rajya Sabha.

"The OBCs have been demanding constitutional status to the Commission for 30 years. However, the Congress did not do it as it preferred vote bank politics. For the first time, the Modi government took a decision to grant a constitutional status and got the bill passed in the Lok Sabha," Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told the media.

"The Congress and other parties did not allow it to pass in the Rajya Sabha, demanding further discussion on it. It has been sent to the Select Committee. It is unfortunate," the minister said.

Javadekar said the Bharatiya Janata Party's vote share in Manipur, Uttarakhand and Odisha had increased significantly due to the development policies of the party.

"The BJP came to power in 2014 with the message of hope. Now, that hope among people has transformed into trust and confidence in the BJP. Also, the Prime Minister has earned the trust of poor people."

The minister said the poverty alleviation programme, which was earlier associated with the Congress and Indira Gandhi, had now become the BJP's plank

 A day after news broke out regarding Snapchat's CEO Evan Spiegel's disinterest in expanding the business to "poor countries" like India, the rating of the popular app dropped to a "single star" from an apparent "five star" on the App Store.

According to the app info on App Store, the "Customer Ratings" of the current version of the app was "single star" (based on 6,099 ratings) and all versions rating was "one and half star" (based on 9,527 ratings) as on Sunday morning.

The rating for the app on Android Play Store was "four star" (based on 11,932,996 ratings).

The bashing started when US-based news website Variety on Saturday quoted Snapchat's ex-employee Anthony Pompliano as saying that company CEO Evan Spiegel in September 2015 told him that "the app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain".

Indians did not take the comment lightly and took to social media to lash out at the statement from the CEO. As the ratings of the app dropped, the criticism of the CEO and the app increased.

"First of all, I didn't even want to give any freakin' star to this app. Evan (CEO of Snapchat) shows how stupid he is by saying this. I bet 3/4th of his company is run by Indian employees. If he didn't want to expand it to poor countries, then why is this app free? Why didn't he put any charges on it?" a user wrote on App Store, condemning the CEO.

Some users wrote, "Poor India & Spain need better than Snapchat", "Good bye, My Snapchat Account and Snap Inc. You'll be product of gone by era and derision", and "Poor Evan Spiegel". 

The app was also trolled on Twitter. #boycottsnapchat became the most trending hashtag on Twitter overnight. 

"I haven't seen any Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians etc Tweets yet. Thanks @Snapchat for Uniting us," a user tweeted. 

"I was addicted to @Snapchat but I love my country more than this app. Let's see how you earn without Indians. @evanspiegel #boycottsnapchat," another user wrote on twitter.

Some users even flagged the app for hateful content and left a message, "Dear @snapchatsupport, flagged you for hateful content. #boycottsnapchat".

According to a report in Forbes on Thursday, Facebook's photo-sharing app Instagram surpassed Snapchat in daily active users of "Stories" feature, though the format was first launched by Snapchat in 2013.

Instagram's "Stories" feature was now used by more than 200 million people every day — an increase of 50 million since January. 

On the other hand, Snapchat who launched the "Stories" format in October 2013, had 161 million daily active users in February. 

"Stories" feature is an ephemeral chain of photo and video clips with filters and special effects. More recently, Facebook and WhatsApp also introduced the feature, imitating Snapchat. 

Snapchat has more than four million users in India. 

Independent singer Preety Bhalla, who met Ilana Segev via social media and later collaborated with the Israeli artiste, says music and advancement of technology are bringing people closer to each other.

Talking about working with Segev on the song Sha la la, Preety, who has a Master's degree in Business Administration and is also trained in music, told here: "I think technology and music are bringing us closer. This song is an example of that. I met Ilana on Facebook and since she is a singer too, music united us." 

"Imagine, she was sitting in Israel and I was here in India. We developed a great friendship because of social media. This is a great way to celebrate global music."

Segev shared similar sentiments. "This is the first time ever I have collaborated with a singer in a different language and it is fun. Preety sang in Hindi and I sang in Hebrew language. I also wrote the lyrics in Hebrew for the song," she said.

Artist Aloud, an initiative by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Private Ltd., released Sha la la on Friday. 

Why not release it on the popular video sharing website YouTube?

Preety said: "I think this platform is encouraging independent artistes like us and helping us to reach out to a wider audience so well. We couldn't have asked for more. Apart from ArtistAloud.com, we have also received blessings from veterans like Shankar Mahadevan, Suresh Wadkar, Hariharan and Lesle Lewis."

Segev, who was introduced to Indian film music during her childhood days, said: "As a kid, I had no idea that one day I will collaborate with an Indian artiste. But we instantly feel connected to some sounds. Indian music is that for me. I came to India for the recording of the song, and now I am here for its release."

"Apart from culture and music, whenever I visit India… I never feel like a foreigner. It's like home," she added.

Trading in corporate debt securities at leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE zoomed nearly 44 per cent to a record Rs.14.7 lakh crore in 2016-17, official data shows.

Trading worth Rs.10.22 lakh crore in corporate bonds were reported on the two bourses during 2015-16, according to data compiled by capital market regulator Sebi.

During 2016-17, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) represented the largest share of trading in corporate bonds at 80 per cent. Bonds worth Rs.11.78 lakh crore were traded on the exchange in the period.

The stock exchange had witnessed trades amounting to Rs.8.14 lakh crore in 2015-16.

The remainder of the bonds worth Rs.2.92 lakh crore were traded on the BSE during 2016-17 -a pick up of about 41 per cent compared to the same period year-ago.

Corporate bond trades in the country have seen an upward trend in most of the financial years since 2007-08, barring 2011-12 when the trade dipped by 2 per cent and 2015-16, when it fell 6 per cent compared to the preceding year.

In the fiscal gone-by, March 2017 recorded the highest value in terms of trading in corporate debt at Rs.1.92 lakh crore. This was followed by trading worth Rs.1.43 lakh crore in September 2016 and Rs.1.40 lakh crore in December 2016.

Lowest trading was reported in April (Rs.81,520.85 crore) and February (Rs.82,142.24 crore).
Corporate bonds or debt securities issues are increasingly becoming a preferred route for companies to raise funds for various business purposes like building a new plant or purchasing equipment.

When an entity buys a bond, one lends money to the firm that issued the security and in exchange the company promises to return the money with interest on a specified maturity date.

Scientists have discovered a new species of a herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago.

The new species belongs to a group of herbivores known as sauropods, which includes giants such as Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus, who had long necks and pillar-like legs, said researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU) in the US.

The bones of the dinosaur called Moabosaurus Utahensis were assembled using bones extracted over the course of four decades.

Moabosaurus is most closely related to species found in Spain and Tanzania, which tells researchers that during its time, there were still intermittent physical connections between Europe, Africa and North America.
Moabosaurus lived in Utah at a time when the region was filled with large trees, plentiful streams, lakes and dinosaurs, researchers said.

A previous study indicates that a large number of Moabosaurus and other dinosaurs died in a severe drought.
Survivors trampled their fallen companions' bodies, crushing their bones.

After the drought ended, streams eroded the land, and transported the bones a short distance, where they were again trampled, researchers said.

Meanwhile, insects in the soils fed on the bones, leaving behind tell-tale burrow marks.
“We are lucky to get anything out of this site. Most bones we find are fragmentary, so only a small percentage of them are usable,” said Brooks Britt from BYU.

“And that is why it took so long to get this animal put together: we had to collect huge numbers of bones in order to get enough that were complete,” he said.

Veteran actor Clifton James, who appeared as Sheriff JW Pepper in James Bond films, died at the age of 96.

James died in Oregon, US, on Saturday, surrounded by friends and family, loved ones told variety.com in a statement.

He was born in 1920, the eldest child of Grace and Harry James, and grew up just outside Portland, Oregon.

He fought for five years on the front lines of the South Pacific, earning two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for his service during World War II, said his relatives.

His acting career spanned nearly six decades, and included theatre, film, and television. 

James first appeared on stage in The Time of Your Life. He went on to perform in several Broadway shows, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama All The Way Home.

China recorded 14 million blood donations in 2016, up 6.1 per cent from the previous year, the country's health watchdog announced on Sunday.

By the end of last year, China had 1,262 blood donation centres and 1,584 mobile blood donation coaches, said a report on blood safety from the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The report revealed that last year also saw continued drops in blood wastage and better blood quality due to to improved tests and quality control system, Xinhua news agency reported.

The commission called on heath authorities at various levels to do more to address the practice of blood trading under the name of "mutual aid".

Three quarters of the animals living up to 4,000 metres deep in the ocean can emit their own light, according to a new study which unveils the astounding number and diversity of glowing marine creatures.

Researchers from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in the US compiled data on every animal larger than one centimetre that appeared in video from 240 dives by MBARI's remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in and around Monterey Canyon.

They counted over 350,000 individual animals, each of which had been identified by MBARI video technicians using a vast database known as the Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS).

The VARS database contains over five million observations of deep-sea animals.

Researchers then compared the list of animals seen during the 240 ROV dives with a list of animals and animal groups that were known to be bioluminescent.

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism.

They divided the observed animals into five categories – definitely bioluminescent, highly likely to be bioluminescent, very unlikely to be bioluminescent, definitely not bioluminescent and undefined.

Since scientists know so little about deep-sea animals, 20 to 40 per cent of the animals seen below 2,000 metres were classed as “Undefined.”

Researchers found that the proportion of glowing to non- glowing animals was pretty similar from the surface all the way down to 4,000 metres.

Even though the proportion of glowing to non-glowing animals was similar at all depths, researchers found that different groups of animals were responsible for the light produced at different depths, researchers said.
For example, from the sea surface down to 1,500 metres, most of the glowing animals were jellyfish (medusae) or comb jellies (ctenophores).

From 1,500 metres to 2,250 metres down, worms were the most abundant glowing animals. Below that, small tadpole-like animals known as larvaceans accounted for about half of the glowing animals observed.

Analysis of the data also showed that some groups of animals were much more likely to glow than others.

“I am not sure people realise how common bioluminescence is. It is not just a few deep-sea fishes, like the angler fish. It is jellies, worms, squids – all sort of things,” said Severine Martini of MBARI.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The state-of-the-art transverse ventilation system in the newly-opened 9.2 km Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway may not be working effectively as commuters are complaining of high pollution levels, eye irritation and suffocation inside what has been labelled as one of India's infrastructural wonders.

Some of the commuters using the strategically-important tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir on a regular basis told IANS that they were also battling poor visibility caused by high pollution levels inside what is India's first and the world's sixth road tunnel that uses a hi-tech ventilation system to extract polluted air and maintain a constant flow of fresh air.

Balvinder Singh, a Delhi-based orthopaedic surgeon from Jammu, said he suffered breathing problems when he was inside the tunnel, built with Austrian technology at a cost of Rs.2,900 crore ($450 million) and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2.

"The ventilation system inside the tunnel probably doesn't work effectively. As soon as we enter the tunnel during peak hours, the visibility starts plummeting. If we travel with the windows down, the pollution level rises. It causes breathing issues as well," the surgeon with Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital told IANS.

"It feels as if we are passing through a gas chamber," the surgeon said.

Anil Manhas, who works with the Jammu and Kashmir Education Department, uses the tunnel that has reduced the 41-km distance between Chenani in Udhampur to Nashri in Rambhan to just 11 km, slashing his travel time from two-and-a-half hours to a mere 10 minutes.

"I took it lightly when I used the tunnel for the first time. I had irritation in my eyes. It was also smoke-filled. This is happening regularly now and I think the ventilation system is not working. If this prevails for long… there are chances of vehicles meeting with accidents due to poor visibility," Manhas said.

Asked about the problem, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) spokesperson Vishnu Darbari said since Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) had constructed the tunnel, only they would be able to answer queries about it.

But Ashutosh Chandwar, Vice President, IL&FS, contended that the problem has to do with claustrophobia caused by travel though such a long and confined space.

"I do not know why the passengers are feeling such problems… There is absolutely no possibility of it. Whenever there is pollution inside the tunnel, its ventilation system will automatically start and exhaust out the pollution. What people are suffering is phobia of travelling through a long tunnel," Chandwar told IANS.

He said the ventilation system of the tunnel was "well tested and can tackle every kind of pollution inside the tunnel".

Environmentalist Vivek Chattopadhyay said pollution levels inside such a long tunnel were bound to increase but could be controlled if the ventilation functions properly.

The Programme Manager at the Centre for Science and Environment said such problems occur in hilly terrain and assimilation of pollutants often occur as these do not disperse easily.

"The problem of poor visibility due to pollution levels inside the tunnel is genuine and it is commonly seen. The problem can be solved only if the ventilation system works effectively," Chattopadhyay told IANS.

Another problem commuters face on a routine basis is traffic congestion inside the tunnel.

"The traffic congestion due to the continuous flow of all kinds of vehicles is another major problem," said Bhushan, a Jammu resident who works with the state government.

The NHAI had earlier said vehicles below BS-III engines won't be allowed in.

However, the directive couldn't be executed considering the volume of trucks that ply daily carrying essentials between Jammu and Kashmir, Chandwar of IL&FS said.

One Direction star Harry Styles poked fun at his new solo career as he impersonated the Rolling Stones star Mick Jagger on the TV show Saturday Night Live.

Styles took a break from One Direction in 2016 to work on his solo album. 

In a skit called Celebrity Family Feud: Time Travel Edition, Styles played Jagger, one of his musical heroes in real life, reports mirror.co.uk.

Styles also showcased some of his new music on the show. The 23-year-old performed his single Sign of the times and a new song Ever since New York, in his first TV performance as a solo artiste.

Styles, who will appear in filmmaker Christopher Nolan's forthcoming war film Dunkirk, also showed off his acting skills in a sketch.

B Sai Praneeth upstaged compatriot K Srikanth to clinch the Singapore Open men's singles title, his maiden Super Series trophy, here on Sunday.

Praneeth prevailed 17-21 21-17 21-12 in a 54-minute contest, which was the first all-Indian Super Series final in the history of the game.

The two players dished out an engaging opening game before Praneeth staged a remarkable comeback to dominate the proceedings and emerge a comfortable victor.

Before today, only three nations — China, Indonesia and Denmark — had two of their shuttlers playing in finals of a Super Series event.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who shot for a cameo in the upcoming Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor-starrer Padman, says he will appear as himself in the movie.

Amitabh shot for the R Balki directorial at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Delhi on Saturday.

"R Balki shoots a film with Akshay Kumar and Sonam at the IIT Delhi, one of the most prestigious institutes of the world reckoning and wishes that I make a small appearance as myself for a few shots," Amitabh wrote on his blog on Saturday night.

The 74-year-old also shared a few photographs from the set in which he can be seen alongside Akshay, Sonam and Balki.

Amitabh and Balki have worked together in films like Cheeni Kum, Paa, Shamitabh. He also did cameos for the director's other projects English Vinglish and Ki & Ka.

Private lender Axis Bank has touched 1 million micro-borrowers mark and is not keen on acquiring stake in any microlender, a senior official has said.

Three years after getting into the segment, the bank touched 1 million borrowers mark recently and all of them are women who have availed of credit through the joint lending group model, Axis Bank's retail banking head Rajiv Anand told PTI.

Stating that the book stands at Rs.1,100 crore now, he hinted that the bank will focus on expanding the business organically rather than buying into a microfinance company.

“As of now, we don't believe there is any need for us to take on any equity stake in an MFI,” Anand said.
It can be noted that other lenders like Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC Bank, among others have acquired stakes in MFIs, while IndusInd Bank is in talks with Bharat Financial (formerly SKS) for what can be one of the biggest acquisitions in the space.

As many as 90 per cent of Axis Bank's borrowers have been tapped by the bank's dedicated team of 1,600 people, while the rest have come from intermediaries, Anand said.

The average ticket size of its micro loans is Rs.18,000 and there is a three-tier rate structure with interest ranging from 12 to 22 per cent, he said, asserting that this is a “profitable” business for the bank.

Axis Bank is present in 18 states with its microlending offerings and is targeting to take it to 22 states by 2020, he added.

Even as the bank faces regulatory action for alleged irregularities during the note-ban period, Anand said he is “proud” of the work done by his retail banking staff.

Anand said the average transactions jumped four times of the usual during the period, and the bank also had to work with the rules getting changed every day almost.

Asserting that Axis Bank is not the only one to have been found of indulging in irregularities, Anand admitted that “there have been a few stray incidents and we have a zero tolerance on such issues. Strictest action has been taken against all those indulged in irregularities.”

He also said, speculation of the bank merging with another one does not have any bearing on its expansion strategies, underlining that such talk has been denied.

Even as the advent of digital banking raises concerns on the relevance of the network-led model, Anand said 90 per cent of customers for the banking system do not use digital alternatives.

He said physical networks are important from a brand trust perspective and that the nature of the work undertaken at the branches can undergo a change eventually.

Plugging your smartphone to public charging stations or computers using USB cables can make your device vulnerable to hackers, warn scientists including one of Indian origin.

Experts have long known the risks of charging a smartphone using a USB cord that can also transfer data.

The new research at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) shows that even without data wires, hackers using a “side channel” can quickly find out what websites a user has visited while charging a device.

Researchers, including NYIT Kiran Balagani, warn that “a malicious charging station” can use seemingly unrelated data – such as a device's power consumption – to extract sensitive information.

As a walk through any airport will show, most people are happy to plug their phones into public charging stations, putting their phones at risk of “juice-jacking,” when a compromised outlet steals data through a USB data cable, researchers said.

The study is the first to show that even without a data cable, hackers can analyse a device's power needs to get at users' private information, with speed and accuracy depending on a number of factors.

The side-channel attacks were successful as “webpages have a signature that reflects the way they load and consume energy,” said Paolo Gasti, assistant professor at NYIT.

The remaining power traces act as “signatures” and help hackers discover which sites have been visited.
The researchers conducted the study using power use signatures they had previously identified and tested the attack under various conditions.

After collecting power traces via a range of smartphones browsing popular websites, researchers launched attacks and checked the accuracy with which their algorithms could determine which websites were visited while the phones were plugged in.

Various factors such as battery charging level, browser cache enabled/disabled, taps on the screen, and Wi-Fi/LTE influenced the accuracy rate in tracing websites visited.

Some conditions, such as a fully charged battery, facilitate a fast and accurate penetration, while others, such as tapping the screen while a page is loading, lessen hackers' ability to determine what website is being viewed.
The important finding from the study is that such an attack can be carried out successfully, researchers said.
In the study, the slower, less accurate attempts at penetration were still accurate within six seconds about half the time.

“Although this was an early study of power use signatures, it's very likely that information besides browsing activity can also be stolen via this side channel,” said Gasti.

“Since public USB charging stations are so widely used, people need to be aware that there might be security issues with them. For example, informed users might choose not to browse the web while charging,” he said.