December 9,2010

World News :International Affairs

• Wikileaks ‘revenge’ attacks hit Visa and Mastercard

  Web attacks by a group of activists targeting firms that withdrew services from Wikileaks disrupt Mastercard and Visa.

  Visa acknowledged the cyber attack on its website and reassured cardholders that no customer data had been put at risk.

  “Visa’s corporate website – Visa.com – is currently experiencing heavier than normal traffic,” the company said in a statement. “The company is taking steps to restore the site to full operations within the next few hours.”

  Visa said its processing network that handled cardholder transactions was functioning normally.

  “Cardholders can continue to use their cards as they routinely would,” Visa said. “Account data is not at risk.”

  Earlier, the Swedish prosecutor’s office came under cyber attack as WikiLeaks supporters vowed to retaliate for the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

  The Swedish prosecution authority, whose arrest order for Mr Assange over accusations of sexual offences led a British court to remand the 39-year-old in custody, said it had reported the online attack to police.

»Chile prison fire kills lot of peoples

A fire in a prison in the Chilean capital Santiago has left at least 81 inmates dead.The blaze broke out in the San Miguel prison at 0500 local time (0800 GMT),with television pictures showing smoke billowing from the building.

»Akatsuki, Japan’s first space probe bound for Venus, fails to enter planet’s orbit

India News : National Affairs

» Spectrum scam: CBI raids residences of Raja, four other

»Explosion in Varanasi, Indain Mujaheddin  Claims Responsibility

» Supreme Court seeks widening of 2G spectrum probe

» ‘India Telecom 2010′ to kick off in New Delhi tomorrow

»India, France ink multi-billion trade, nuke deals

Sports News :

• India won 4th odi vs newzeland by 5 wickets

• England won the second test match in the ashes series defeating Australia by an innings and 71 runs.

In one of the worst test performances in decades on home soil, Australia slumped to an innings defeat at Adelaide to hand England a crucial 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Australia now have to win at least 2 of the remaining 3 test matches to regain the Ashes from England.

Opening a new line of  co-operation in stratagic ties, India and France today signed seven agreements, including one for setting up of a nuclear plant in Maharashtra, the first such pact after the end of New Delhi’s isolation in the nuclear field.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also decided to work for doubling bilateral trade to 12 billion Euros by 2012, much of which is expected to be propelled by enhanced cooperation in the fields of civil nuclear energy and civil aviation.

The BCCI on Today allowed the squabbling Kochi franchisee to participate in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, ending the suspense over the fate of team.

India New Zealand Cirket Series 2010

Gambhir leads India to series win over New Zealand

Stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir hit a second consecutive unbeaten century to lead India to a nine-wicket win and series victory against New Zealand with two one-day internationals to spare on Saturday.

Chasing a below-par 225-run target, the hosts achieved it with more than 10 overs to spare. Virat Kohli (63) swiped the winning runs with a massive six.

Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in India

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his celebrity wife Carla Bruni arrived here on Saturday morning on a four-day official visit to India aimed at expanding cooperation in defence, nuclear power, sustainable development and culture.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday backed India’s bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council and its fight against terrorism.

“India deserves a permanent seat in the Security Council,” Sarkozy said addressing over 500 scientists, captains of industry and students at the Indian Space Research Organisation here soon after landing on a four-day visit to the country.

CBI website defaced by ‘Pakistani Cyber Army’

In a major embarrassment, the website of premier investigating agency CBI was hacked tonight by programmers identifying themselves as “Pakistani Cyber Army”.

Union civil aviation minister, Praful Patel, on Saturday said that he was hopeful of air-fares  which had risen astronomically in the last month, stabilising within a week.