WASHINGTON: South Carolina's Indian-American Governor Nikki Haley is the leading candidate to bePresident-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations, media reports said on Wednesday.
While there was no word from the the presidential transition team, several US media reported that the announcement in this regard could be made early.
If chosen, Haley, 44, would be the first woman and minority representative to joinTrump's administration and would replace Samantha Power as the next US Ambassador to the UN, the Wall Street Journal reported.
She would also be the first ever Indian-American Cabinet rank official in any administration.
The Cabinet position would require confirmation by the Senate.
Reports also said that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Haley ally, is said to be Trump's likely choice for secretary of state, a position Haley was previously speculated for last week.
Reports also said that Trump has picked Gen James Mattis (retd) as his Defence Secretary.
The newest revelation comes after Haley's face-to-face meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in New York on Thursday.
"It was a good meeting. We talked about a multiple group of topics and it was nice meeting," she had told reporters on Monday.
"The move, expected Wednesday, continues the steep political rise of the daughter of Indian immigrants that started six years ago when the Bamberg native was elected as South Carolina's first female and minority governor," reported The Post and Courier, the leading newspaper of South Carolina.
"The planned nomination to the cabinet-level post, confirmed by multiple sources with knowledge of the decision, is likely to raise questions about Haley's qualifications for a major foreign policy role since she has little diplomatic experience as state lawmaker and governor," the daily said.
The Wall Street said former presidential candidate Ben Carson has been asked to consider leading the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was a vocal critic of the real estate mogul on the campaign trail. She later voted for Trump , lamenting that she was "not a fan" of either candidate.
Born Nimrata "Nikki" Randhawa, Haley is the first minority and female governor of South Carolina, a deeply conservative state with a long history of racial strife.
As the youngest governor in the US and only the second Indian-American to serve at the helm of a US state, she has been characterised as a rising star within the Republican Party
WASHINGTON: A number of top US computer scientists have urged Hillary Clinton's campaign to seek a recount of vote in Battleground States of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, saying they have found evidence of 'manipulation', according to a media report on Wednesday.
The computer scientists believe they have found evidence that vote totals in the three swing states could have been manipulated or hacked, CNN reported, quoting a source as saying.
Democrat Clinton's Republican rival Donald Trump had won the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the November 8 election.
The scientists presented their findings to top Clinton aides on a call last Thursday, it said
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The scientists, among them J Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, told the Clinton campaign they believe there is a questionable trend of Clinton performing worse in counties that relied on electronic voting machines compared to paper ballots and optical scanners, according to the source.
The group informed John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, and Marc Elias, the campaign's general counsel, that Clinton received 7 per cent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic voting machines, which the group said could have been hacked.
Based on statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000, the scientists said.
Their group told Podesta and Elias that while they had not found any evidence of hacking, the pattern needs to be looked at by an independent review.
Neither Halderman nor John Bonifaz, an attorney also pressing the case, responded to requests for comment on Tuesday evening, CNN said.
Their urging was first reported by New York magazine.
A message left with President-elect Donald Trump's transition team also was not immediately returned, the report said.
There were widespread concerns about hacking ahead of this month's election, including the Obama administration accusing Russia of attempting to breach voter registration data.
But election officials and cybersecurity experts said earlier this month that it is virtually impossible for Russia to influence the election outcome.
A former Clinton aide declined to respond to questions about whether they will request an audit based on the findings, the report said.
China-based inventors applied for a record-setting number of patents last year.
The country accounted for more than a million submissions, according to an annual report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo). It said the figure was "extraordinary".
Many of the filings were for innovations in telecoms, computing, semiconductors and medical tech.
Beijing had urged companies to boost the number of such applications.
But some experts have cast doubt as to whether it signifies that the country is truly more inventive than others, since most of China's filings were done locally.
What is a patent?
Image copyrightTHINKSTOCK
A patent is the monopoly property right granted by a government to the owner of an invention.
This allows the creator and subsequent owners to prevent others from making, using, offering for sale or importing their invention into the country for a limited time.
In return they must agree for the patent filing to be publicly disclosed.
A total of 2.9 million patent applications were filed worldwide in 2015, according to Wipo, marking a 7.8% rise on the previous year.
China can lay claim to driving most of that growth. Its domestic patent office - the Property Office of the People's Republic of China (Sipo) - received a record 1,101,864 filings.
That was more than its Japanese, South Korean and US equivalents combined.
But Chinese inventors were more reticent about seeking patent rights abroad.
According to Wipo, they filed just 42,154 applications outside their borders - Huawei and ZTE, two smartphone and telecoms equipment-makers, led the way.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThere was a rise in the number of medical tech patent filings from China
By comparison US-based inventors sought more than five times that figure. And Japan, Germany and France also outnumbered the Asian giant.
One patent expert, who works with Chinese firms but asked not to be named, said the disparity in the figures was telling.
"What's called a patent in China is often a species of design, and these are the things they are getting copious amounts of," he said.
"This is probably innovation at its thinnest. I've seen some of these things and they are typically around parts of machinery on production lines.
"The detail of what they are applying for means they would be unlikely to have the necessary degree of novelty to be granted a patent worldwide."
In Europe, creating a new look for a manufactured object is not enough to qualify it for a patent - there must also be a technical aspect featuring a new process, improvement or concept that would not be obvious to a skilled person in the field.
In China, however, creating a distinctive new design - based on an object's shape, pattern and/or colour - is sufficient, so long as the product can be sold or used independently of other parts. The US also affords similar patent rights.
Fallen short
Part of the reason so many applications were made locally was that China set itself a target to boost patent filings five years ago.
Sipo declared at the time that it wanted to receive two million filings in 2015.
The government supported the initiative with various subsidies and other incentives.
As such, its tally of just over one million applications in a single year may be a world first for any patent office, but it was still well short of its goal.
Two weeks after the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes, hundreds of people are still lining up in banks to exchange their old notes for new. And, even as new notes are being minted to be put into circulation, the government has a huge task at hand with getting rid of the old notes.
TheBBC reports that an estimated 20 billion old notes will have to be shredded and made into briquettes with the use of the 27 shredders the RBI has across India. The report says that in 2015-16, the RBI destroyed more than 16 billion soiled notes.
"Destroying so much cash is not a challenge because we have enough shredding and briquetting machines with very high capacities. These are automatic machines which shred the cash into the finest of pieces," an RBI official told BBC.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) website says that under normal circumstances soiled notes and coins that are deposited in banks are first sent to RBI offices. The notes are then segregated by a scanning machine. The currency notes that are absolutely unfit for reissue are shredded.
"Notes fit for circulation are reissued and the others (soiled and mutilated) are destroyed so as to maintain the quality of notes in circulation. The Reserve Bank derives its role in currency management on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934," the website says.
While old notes, the ones that are torn or soiled, are regularly being replaced by new notes, this time around the scale of operations is significantly different.
According to a 2008 report in Mint, the shredding rooms are high security areas and people who are involved in the process wear mask to protect themselves from the dust and fungus. The finely shredded notes are converted into briquettes that are then dumped into landfills. The report says that until the mid-1990s, the RBI used to burn the shredded bits. Thankfully, the new process is more environment friendly.
TheBBC report also says that some of the shredded notes are recycled to make files, tea cups, calendars and even trays.
As the poor struggle, black money owners are finding a variety of ways to save their wealth.
In Pali in Rajasthan, a family couldn't take their ill infant to the hospital because the ambulance wouldn't accept Rs 500 or 1,000 notes. By the time they could get someone to give them Rs 100 notes, the newborn had died. This is one of several such deaths after the government de-legalised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes.
All deaths have been of people belonging to middle class and poor families. There have been no reports of black money hoarders committing suicide or dying of heart attacks due to the sudden shock of realising their cash had become worthless paper overnight.
That's because, firstly, people with black money keep very little of it in cash. They find many ways of converting it into white and holding on to it in a variety of assets. The best known of these is real estate, but there's also gold, foreign currency, foreign banks, benami accounts in Indian banks, the stock market and regular commercial enterprise.
An analysis of illegal wealth uncovered by the income tax department shows that at best, only 6% of illegal wealth is stored in the form of black money. Most of them will be able to save even this cash, it seems, given how frantically India is Googling for "How to convert black money into white" and the top searches are from Gujarat. Here are 13 ways in which such people are succeeding:
1. Donations in religious institutions: There are reports of people giving their black money to temple 'hundis' or donation boxes. Temple managements will show this money as anonymous donations, exchange it for new currency notes, keep a commission for this service, and return most of it to the owner. The government has already clarified that temple hundis will not be asked questions. ABP news showed a sting operation in which the priest of Govardhan temple in Mathura was willing to convert Rs 50 lakh of black money into white for a 20% commission. There have been such reports from different parts of the country. News are also there reg providing money funding to masjid's and churches in many parts o India.
2. Back-dated FDs in co-operative banks and credit societies. Since such institutions still do a lot of their work manually, they are reports they have issued fixed deposit receipts in back date. Owners of black money have reportedly been able to get various FDs in such institutions in names of various villagers in back dates, and will receive new currency notes in due course, after paying a cut to those in whose name they deposited the money. Non-banking financial institutions who accept such deposits are also reportedly acting similarly in helping convert black money into white. Such institutions have long been alleged to be indulging in money laundering. The level of regulation of such institutions differs from state to state.
3. Using poor people as money mules. As the poor stand in queues at banks to exchange their currency notes, there are reports of them being used to convert black money into white. This doesn't even need a co-operative bank. Black money are reportedly finding poor people to deposit Rs 2.5 lakh in cash, since the government has said deposits up to that amount won't be questioned. Such people will then ask to withdraw the entire amount soon, keep some to themselves and return most of it. Since this requires trust, black money hoarders are first and foremost using their staff and their relatives.
4. Giving loans to poor people. Funnelling money through poor people whose bank transactions will not arouse suspicion, is giving way to many creative enterprises. There are also people willing to give interest free loans to the poor - which may seem like a good impact of demonetisation but is actually an effort to convert black money into white and defeat the purpose.
5. Finding Jan Dhan account holders. Jan Dhan accounts have started showing high cash deposits since demonetisation and a part of it is suspected to be black money being laundered. The problem with using poor people as money mules is that they may not have bank accounts. With the banking system overloaded, opening new accounts may take a few days. The government keeps boasting about having opened crores of Jan Dhan accounts but most have seen barely any transactions. Jan Dhan accounts can have deposits up to Rs 1 lakh a year but there are also Jan Dhan accounts which have a lower limit of Rs 50,000 if they don't adhere to Know Your Customer norms. While the government says it will monitor unusual activity in Jan Dhan accounts, it will be easy for a poor person to say the small amount was his life saving at home. There have been concerns about the use of Jan Dhan accounts for hawala operations since the scheme was launched in 2014.
6. Approaching the banknote mafia. Overnight, a banknote mafia has emerged. These are people accepting old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes and giving back anywhere from 15% to 80% of the value in Rs 100 notes. The people collecting old notes will be able to earn a profit by converting them into white, new currency through poor people, or through other means.
LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES
7. Paying advance salaries. Businesses having black money have reportedly used old notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 to pay advance salaries for anywhere between the next 3 to 8 months. The idea is to pay each employee less than Rs 2.5 lakh - the limit above which deposits will be examined. In Gujarat, some businesses are reported to have opened salary accounts and deposit advance salaries, keeping their debit cards with company itself. This way they will be able to deposit old currency notes before 30 December and withdraw new ones easily, without attracting the attention of the income tax department.
8. Booking and cancelling train tickets. Since old notes are being accepted till 14 November to book train tickets, there has been a surge in booking expensive train tickets that people intend to later cancel and get refunds in new notes, with a small cancellation fee. The number of expensive first AC tickets booked per day have increased by many times. As a result, the railways have said refunds won't be in cash. But since these bookings are being made through travel agents, even refunds through electronic transfers mean the travel agent will be able to return large sums in new currency notes.
9. Using professional money laundering firms. Run by chartered accountants, there are money laundering companies, most famously in Kolkata but elsewhere too, which specialise in converting black money into white while evading the taxman. Known as 'jama-kharchi' firms in Kolkata and pad-pedi in Mumbai or, they launder money by using businesses such as highway transport which run completely on cash. These 'cash-in-hand' firms match the needs of companies which need short-term funds with those who have excess black money to park. Showing back-dated transactions in the current fiscal is not difficult for such firms. They are said to be burning the midnight oil till 30 December.
10. Buying gold. Gold prices shot up because many black money hoarders rushed to jewellery shops as soon as prime minister Narendra Modi made the demonetisation announcement on 8 November. Many black money owners made the most of four hours they had and bought gold till midnight. There have also been reports, again, of gold selling in back-dated transactions. Jewellers happily sold gold at a high premium. In some shops the demand was so high there was pandemonium with buyers fighting amongst each other to be able to buy first. The government has asked top jewellers to give details of gold transactions after the demonetisation.
11. Using farmers. Since agricultural income is not taxed, a farmer can easily say he got this much cash from the mandi by selling his produce before demonetisation, and here's the old currency, now please exchange it for new one. In this way, any farmer could help launder money, from old currency notes to new ones, for a cut. An investment advisor told Rediff, "The agricultural income in this country is going to be fabulously high this year, immaterial if the crop is good or poor."
12. Using political parties. Since political parties can collect donations of Rs 20,000 or less without having to reveal who donated the money, let alone their income tax PAN number, they will have the easiest time with demonetisation. A political party can say it collected this amount of cash in old currency donations before demonetisation and demand that it be changed into new currency by 30 December. That also raises the fear that political parties could actually use this method to launder black money of individuals within and without their party.
13. Brazenly putting it in the bank. The finance ministry said those who deposit large sums of cash that don't match their income, may have to pay up to 200% tax. In other words, their money could be confiscated and they may have to pay the same amount as penalty. However, income tax authorities say this may not be legally possible. One can put in a large amount of cash in bank, show it as income from 'other sources' in the current assessment year, and pay 33% income tax on it. To be able to levy income tax penalty on your deposit, the government will have to be able to prove you didn't earn this cash in the current assessment year.
If someone were to ask you how many apps you use in a day, you might need to stop and count. You use apps to book cabs, to order groceries, make payments online, buy diapers, connect with friends... the list goes on. In fact apps, are becoming so intrinsic to daily life that without one handy you may have to think twice about how to complete a transaction.
Apps are uncomplicated, easy to use, at your finger tips and quick. So logically, everyone who has a smartphone should be using them, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Much as they would like to, millions of persons living with disabilities are unable to use apps to fulfil their daily living needs. This is because most apps are not accessible to users with a visual disability.
With about 30% of the blind population of the world living in India, it's imperative for service providers to give more thought to universal design and accessibility standards.
In order for an app to be accessible for a blind user, it should be readable by a screen reader -- software which reads out whatever appears on the screen. For it to function effectively, elements on web pages and applications should be properly labelled, otherwise the software will be unable to decipher what it is, not having any cognitive abilities like human beings. It will merely read out the element out as "button" or "graphic".
Here I will look at five very popular apps relating to food, groceries, transportation and mobile bill payment and banking to see how accessible they are for people with disabilities. These apps were tested using Talk Back, an open source Android screen reader.
The first app we looked at was Swiggy, which is used to order food from nearby restaurants. Here, the first screen, which shows the discounts/offers available, uses a graphics banner without alternative text, which cannot be deciphered by a screen reader. Another issue is inaccessible navigation. For instance, though we can select a food category like "soup", choosing a particular type of soup is not possible as the focus simply stays on the main category. This means a screen reader cannot read the rest of the information, making it impossible for a visually challenged person to order food.
2. Big Basket
Then we tried Big Basket to order some groceries. One of the issues we found included unlabelled banners; also, the continuous scrolling of the banner, which makes the screen reader try to constantly read the next unlabelled graphic, renders the app practically unusable. When we navigated to the list of products available, only their names were readable and the focus could not be shifted to information like price and quantity. This means the user can add items to the basket, but has no way of knowing the price or deciding the quantity, which obviously makes the app a no-go.
3. Ola
The taxi-hailing app Ola is fairly accessible, with some scope for improvement. The button to pinpoint the location is not labelled, and while trying to select a cab category the focus moves away automatically if there is no action in a few seconds. Hence, a person with vision impairments may need some assistance to use the app.
4. MyAirTel
This app for Airtel customers was found to have limited usability, with several accessibility issues. Many buttons, including Settings and Information are not labelled and hence are not readable by screen readers. The offers and discounts banner is also not labelled and keeps on moving, sending the screen reader into a loop saying "graphic". However, viewing unbilled/billed amounts and paying bills is easy, as those screens are well labelled and use minimal graphic controls.
5. ICICI - Pockets
This digital wallet app from ICICI bank was tested using an ICICI bank internet banking login and unfortunately found to be completely inaccessible for a person using a screen reader. There is no screen reader support and consequently no auditory feedback when using slides or touching the screen. One can tap and access the menus/options but they are not focusable and are not announced by the screen reader.
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Over the past few years we have seen how corporates have embraced technological innovations and helped better the lives of common Indians. However, a more inclusive approach will help people with disabilities to enjoy the best technology has to offer, and lead a more independent life. It would be pertinent to mention at this point that the inaccessibility of apps is not a phenomenon which is particular to the ones reviewed above, but a common feature across stakeholder groups, including private and government agencies. With about 30% of the blind population of the world living in India, it's imperative for service providers engaging consumers through information and communication technologies to give more thought to universal design and accessibility standards. It would truly make a difference in the lives of many Indians.
Most travelers already know how to search Kayak for flights or Hotels.com for rooms. But holiday travel season is a monster that calls for reinforcements.
We’ve compiled a lineup of the most highly regarded and expert-vetted travel apps that will prevent headaches on your journey over the river, through the woods or to an exotic island. Take a look:
1. For cheap flights at the last minute: Hopper
For comprehensive ticket info, it really doesn’t get any better than Google Flights. The Hopper app, meanwhile, has special focus on price comparison over time, which lends extra confidence that you’re choosing the cheapest flight.
APP STORE
2. For finding a hotel room fast: HotelTonight
Scroll the easy-to-read maps on HotelTonight for cheap hotel deals at the last minute and up to a week in advance. Keep in mind, though, that hotels sometimes overbook and therefore don’t honor reservations made on third-party sites: It may be worth calling the hotel directly after using the app to see if they’ll give you the deal themselves.
APP STORE
3. To forese flight delays: FlightAware
You can usually check your airline’s website or run a standard Google search for your flight number to see if it’s been cancelled or delayed. For those of us who prefer to be served, however, FlightAware sends push notifications with this information.
APP STORE
4. For all things airport security: My TSA
My TSA was developed by the Transportation Security Administration itself, with a handy search feature that tells you whether certain items are accepted in carry-on luggage. You can also view real-time wait estimates for most airport security lines, to prepare for the slog before you arrive.
APP STORE
5. To make sure you get the best seat: SeatGuru
Use SeatGuru when buying flights to see which seats have the most legroom, best carry-on storage, power outlets and more.
APP STORE
6. For cheap gas on a road trip: GasBuddy
Tell GasBuddy your location, and get a list of gas stations in your proximity, with current prices per gallon so you can fill up at the cheapest one.
APP STORE
7. For free audiobooks: Audio Books
The robust “Free Books” section of the Audio Books app by audiobooks.com works for road-trippers who don’t have a fancy audiobooks subscription but would like a title to pass the time.
APP STORE
8. For workouts on the road: RunGo
You won’t get lost trotting around Grandma’s neighborhood with RunGo. Plan a route beforehand, and let the app guide you with turn-by-turn audio instructions as you run. Or try one of their pre-planned routes submitted by users in cities and towns nationwide.
APP STORE
9. For top-notch airport food: GateGuru
Sure, GateGuru promises to deliver real-time flight updates when you’re stuck in the airport. But its real selling point is a list of bars and restaurants in each terminal, complete with Yelp-like customer reviews.
APP STORE
10: For storing boarding passes in one place: Apple Wallet
Perhaps the best app for this is already on your phone: For Apple users, the Wallet appstores mobile boarding passes in, well, a virtual wallet, so you aren’t fumbling for your confirmation email in the security line. On an Android, PassWallet does the trick.
