Microsoft awards over $100,000 to expert for finding bugs

Boston: Microsoft Corp is paying a hacking expert more than $100,000 for finding security holes in its software, one of the largest such bounties awarded to date by a high-tech company.

James Forshaw, who heads vulnerability research at London-based security consulting firm Context Information Security, won Microsoft's first $100,000 bounty for identifying a new "exploitation technique" in Windows, which will allow it to develop defenses against an entire class of attacks, the software maker said on Tuesday.

Forshaw earned another $9,400 for identifying security bugs in a preview release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 11 browser, Katie Moussouris, senior security strategist with Microsoft Security Response Center, said in a blog.

Microsoft unveiled the rewards programs four months ago to bolster efforts to prevent sophisticated attackers from subverting new security technologies in its software, which runs on the vast majority of the world's personal computers.

Forshaw has also won a similar award from Hewlett-Packard Co for identifying a way to "own," or take ownership of Oracle Corp's Java software.

Microsoft was scheduled to release an automatic update to Internet Explorer on Tuesday afternoon to fix a security bug that it first disclosed last month. Security experts say that hackers had exploited that flaw to launch attacks on companies in Asia in an operation that the cyber security firm FireEye has dubbed DeputyDog.

एक मां को बच्‍ची को जन्‍म देने से पहले तक पता ही नहीं था कि वह प्रेग्‍नेंट है और उसने बाथरूम में अचानक बच्‍चे को जन्‍म दे दिया. इस लिंक को क्लिक कर पढ़ें पूरी खबर

बाथरूम में बच्‍चे को जन्‍म देने से पहले तक महिला को पता ही नहीं था कि वह गर्भवती है

अपनी बच्‍ची पॉपी के साथ नाडिया वॉटसन

एक महिला गर्भवती थी, लेकिन उसे इस बात का बिलकुल भी अंदाजा नहीं था और उसने आधी रात को बाथरूम के फर्श पर बच्‍चे को जन्‍म दिया, जबकि उसका पार्टनर सोता रहा.
घटना इंग्‍लैंड की काउंटी समरसेट की है. यहां रहने वाली 22 वर्षीय नाडिया वॉटसन को अचानक पेट में दर्द होने लगा. उसे लगा कि यह पीरियड्स का दर्द है, लेकिन वह जमीन पर गिर गई. उसे यह पता ही नहीं था कि उसे लेबर पेन हो रहा है.
वह एक घंटे तक चिल्‍लाती रही और इस दौरान उसने एक बच्‍चे को जन्‍म दिया. लेकिन उसका ब्‍वॉयफ्रेंड लुईस मेक्‍स्‍वीनी सोता रहा. वह इतनी जोर-जोर से चिल्‍ला रही थी कि उसके पड़ोसियों ने इमरजेंसी नंबर तक डायल कर दिया.
बच्‍चे के जन्‍म के चंद मिनटों बाद नाडिया के घर के बाहर पुलिस की गाड़ियों और एम्‍बुलेंस की कतार लग गई. लुईस की आंखें तब खुली जब नाडिया ने उसे बच्‍ची को दिखाया.
नाडिया के मुताबिक, 'बच्‍चे को जन्‍म देने के बाद मैं बेडरूम में गई और लुईस को बच्‍ची दिखाई, लेकिन वह फिर सो गया. मैंने उसे फिर उठाया और तब जाकर उसे एहसास हुआ कि क्‍या हो गया है. वह पूरी तरह से हैरान था.'
नाडिया को कभी पता ही नहीं चला कि वह गर्भवती है और उसके पेट में एक नन्‍ही जान पल रही है. इस दौरान उसका वजन बहुत कम बढ़ा. वह एक साथ दो-दो नौकरियां भी करती रही. यहां तक कि वह शॉपिंग में अपनी गर्भवती पड़ोसी की मदद भी करती थी.
उन्‍होंने कहा, 'यह पूरी तरह से हैरान कर देने वाली बात थी. मुझे जरा भी अंदाजा नहीं था कि मैं प्रेग्‍नेंट हूं. मुझे लगातार पीरियड्स भी हो रहे थे. मेरा वजन भी ज्‍यादा नहीं बढ़ा. मुझे लगा कि जो वजन बढ़ रहा है वह ज्‍यादा बर्गर खाने की वजह से है.'
'रविवार रात मुझे तेज दर्द हो रहा था और मुझे लगा कि पीरियड शुरू होने वाले हैं. मैं बाथरूम गई, लेकिन दर्द के मारे वहीं फर्श पर गिर गई. मुझे आभास हुआ कि मुझे लेबर पेन हो रहे हैं और मैंने पुश करने का फैसला किया. डिलिवरी के वक्‍त ज्‍यादातर लोगों के आसपास काफी लोग होते हैं, जो उन्‍हें बताते रहते हैं कि क्‍या करना है और कब करना है, लेकिन मेरे पास कोई नहीं था.'

'लुईस को पता ही नहीं चला कि क्‍या हो रहा है और वह पूरी रात सोता रहा, लेकिन शोर मचाकर मैं पड़ोसियों को जगाने में कामयाब रही. मैं इतनी जोर से चिल्‍ला रही थी कि उन्‍होंने इमरजेंसी नंबर डायल कर दिया. जब तक लुईस जागा तब तक एम्‍बुलेंस के साथ पुलिस की गाड़ियां पहुंच चुकी थीं. वे हम दोनों को अस्‍पताल ले गए.'
लुईस का कहना है कि वह इस बात पर बेहद शर्मिंदा है कि उस रात इतना कुछ हुआ, लेकिन उसे पता नहीं चला और वह सोता रहा. उसने कहा, 'मैं 12 घंटे की शिफ्ट खत्‍म करके आया था और बहुत थका हुआ था. मुझे बस इतना याद है कि नाडिया बच्‍ची को लेकर कमरे में आई थी, लेकिन तब मुझे लगा कि मैं सपना देख रहा हूं और फिर सो गया. कुछ देर बाद मेरे दिमाग की घंटी बजी और फिर मुझे एहसास हुआ कि क्‍या हुआ है. मैं कई दिनों तक सदमे में रहा. मुझे समझ ही नहीं आ रहा था कि क्‍या हो गया.'
नाडिया ने अपनी बच्‍ची का नाम पॉपी रखा है.

Don't think a woman should wear a veil in court: Malala Yousafzai

London: Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education says she does not think a woman should wear a veil in court or where it is necessary to show her identity.

The 16-year-old, nominated for this year's Nobel peace prize, said she is of the view that a woman should not cover her face in court or in other places "where it's necessary to show your identity".

"I don't cover my face because I want to show my identity," Malala, who considers herself a believing Muslim said.

Asked what she thinks of the burqa in the UK, Malala told the Guardian, "I believe it's a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear and if a woman can go to the beach and wear nothing, then why can't she also wear everything?"

Her memoir 'I Am Malala', that the teenager has written with journalist Christina Lamb, has a brief but vivid description of the Taliban assassination attempt on her that shot her to fame.

The book recounts Malala's life before and after October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded a school bus full of girls in Pakistan's Swat Valley and asked "Who is Malala?"

Then he shot her in the head.

"The air smelt of diesel, bread and kebab mixed with the stink from the stream where people still dumped their rubbish," Malala recalls.

One of her friends told her later that the gunman's hand shook as he fired.

One of the moving details in the memoir is that her mother was due to start learning to read and write on the day Malala was shot.

Malala mentions more than once in her book that no one believed the Taliban would target a schoolgirl, even if that schoolgirl had been speaking and writing against the Taliban's ban on female education since the age of 12.

In her book, Malala writes of how her speech at the United Nations received plaudits around the world, but in Pakistan people accused her of seeking fame and the luxury of a life abroad.

Should I invest in gold and silver? What experts say

London: Gold prices, which have fallen more than 20 percent this year, are expected to have rebounded to $1,405 an ounce by November 2014, delegates to the London Bullion Market Association's annual conference forecast on Tuesday.

Silver, this year's biggest faller with a 30 percent drop, is also forecast to rise to $25 by November next year. Platinum prices are expected to stand at $1,675 an ounce, and palladium at $837 an ounce.

Gold has dropped this year on the back of expectations that a steadier macroeconomic environment will lead the Federal Reserve to curb its bullion-friendly stimulus measures and boost other assets like stocks at gold's expense.

But with the global financial system digesting years of stimulus measures, which some analysts believe could still prove inflationary, and the recovery in global markets yet to prove itself robust, gold prospects are for recovery, delegates said.

"I think gold will likely respond to how the asset classes it competes with are doing. This year's been a phenomenal year for equities," Shayne McGuire, head of internal research and the portfolio manager for the gold fund at Teacher Retirement System of Texas, said.

"If you look at things you can potentially sell to buy equities, gold is often a natural contender. When equities are falling sharply, gold tends to do better, but the inverse can also be true, which is why it has been a natural difersifier for equity-heavy diversified portfolios."

"I believe that if equities are going to take a breather, that perhaps gold could do well."

A drop in investment interest in Western markets this year, shown by a fall in holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds, has placed increasing focus on the major centres of demand for physical bullion, China and India.

Demand for physical gold across the world shot higher in April after spot prices slid $200 an ounce in just two days, their sharpest such slide in 30 years.

"This year marks the shifting of Western-centric paper market to Eastern-centric physical market, with India and China accounting for 80 of physical demand from 46 percent previously," Sharps Pixley CEO Ross Norman said.

"We've seen, through our own business out in Asia, that our turnover has doubled in the Asian time zone over the last year," Jeremy East, global head of metals trading at Standard Chartered, said.

ASIA TO THE FORE

China is expected to overtake India this year as the world's number one gold consumer. Rising wealth among its growing middle class has led gold demand to mushroom in recent years.

"With the affluence of the people growing by the day, I think there's still a long way to go before you can see you've reached saturation (in China)," Victor Chow, managing director of Hong Kong jeweller Chow Sang Sang told Reuters at the conference.

"In the first half we had 60 percent (sales growth) overall compared to last year, because of the April gold rush," he said. "In the third quarter, that has tailed off, but we're still seeing healthy figures compared to last year."

India saw record imports in May after the price slide, but it has since been hit by a raft of new regulations aimed at curbing bullion imports, a major driver of its record high current account deficit. That could push imports down significantly from last year's 850 tonnes.

Import duty has been hiked for 10 percent, or 15 percent in the cast of jewellery, while new regulations state that 20 percent of imported gold must be re-exported.

Delegates were sanguine about the need to target gold imports - bullion is the largest non-essential import into India - but said meeting the terms of the new regulations would be a tough call.

"With the increase in duty, demand is hardly affected," Shekhar Bhandari, executive vice president at Kotak Mahindra baqnk, said at the conference. "Gold does become costly, but its price is more affected by spot prices and the price of the rupee."

For jewellers to abide by the 80/20 rule, exports are going to have to pick up significantly, delegates said.

Indian jewellers at the conference say they are keen to meet the challenge, but plans to expand export capacity has been hurt by a drop in domestic supply, and they face tough competition from other producers like Thailand.

British Sikh man sues bank claiming insult to turban

London: A British Sikh man has sued the bank where he worked for race and religious discrimination after colleagues allegedly interfered with his turban and asked whether it "flashed red in an emergency".

Harminder Dhanota, an information technology manager, is claiming over 50,000 pounds in damages from the London-based bank. He told an employment tribunal in London this week how his workmates would dislodge his turban or put a sticky note saying "Sign here" on the back without his knowledge.

"I have always taken pride in my religion and culture and find it upsetting and distressing when people mock, ridicule or disrespect my personal beliefs," the 42-year-old father of three told the Central London Employment Tribunal.

"At times, the physical assaults would be so aggressive as to cause my turban to loosen, which was the cause of significant distress to me," he said.

Mr Dhanota, who worked in the IT department at the Mayfair office of Saudi bank Samba Financial Group in central London, claimed his boss Jack Tanna insulted his religion by showing him porn on a mobile phone, and asking him whether he was having sex with female colleagues.

Samba Financial Group strongly denied all the allegations and is contesting Mr Dhanota's claim.

Mr Dhanota further said that Tanna allegedly boasted about organising prostitutes for "dirty Arab" business associates and would allegedly punch his arm, twist his fingers and hit him on the hand with a ruler.

"It is both shocking and ironic that such an ethnically diverse bank appears to condone such outrageous acts of bullying, harassment and discrimination," Jay Joshi, Mr Dhanota's solicitor, told the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Dhanota said after he began to complain about his mistreatment, he was sacked from his 37,500 pounds-a-year job on claims of poor performance.