Reliance Jio 4G services launched, to be fully free till end of 2016

The launch of the Reliance Jio 4G service has generated a lot of user interest across the country.

Reliance Jio 4G VoLTE services will launch in the coming months, said Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, launched the Jio 4G services at the Annual General Meeting of the company in Mumbai. The launch of the service has generated a lot of user interest across the country. Thousands of people have already purchased the free Jio sim in the trial period.

Highlights of Mukesh Ambani’s announcements

* Jio is a data-strong network, built for the Internet from the ground up. It will cover 90 per cent of India’s population by March, 2017.

* Lyf devices will be launched with prices starting at Rs 2,999 and going up to Rs 5,999. The 4G LTE JioFi router will cost Rs 1,999.

* Jio TV will offer access to 300-plus channels. Jio Cinema will have a library of 6000 movies and 1,00,000 episodes of TV shows. Jio music will have as many as 10 million songs.

* On tariffs, Ambani announces that all voice calls will be free and there shall be no roaming charges across the country.

* There will be 10 ten tariff plans with no blackout dates.

* Students will be able to get 25 per cent more data on Jio’s main tariffs, says Ambani

* The big announcement – Starting September 5, all Jio services will be availabe for everyone free till end of the year. “Now every Indian can do ‘datagiri’” says Ambani.

* Jio is rolling out fibre-to-the-home wireline network.

* Another announcement – Rs 5,000 crore venture fund to help Indian entreprenuers to set up their businesses, says Ambani

Kashmir: Unrest in Valley after youth killed in clashes yesterday

Security forces have been deployed in strength around the premises of Doordarshan, Radio Kashmir and the state's Information Department in the wake of the separatists asking people to block all roads near these institutions.

Protesters block a road by burning tyres during strike after curfew was completely lifted, in Srinagar on August 31. PTI Photo by S Irfan (PTI8_31_2016_000198B)

A day after a teenager was killed in clashes, tension prevailed in Kashmir with authorities sealing roads leading to the Lal Chowk city centre in Srinagar on September 1, in view of separatists’ call to lock down public broadcasting services. Although the entire Kashmir Valley was curfew-free, security forces have imposed restrictions on movement of people at many places in old city.

Security forces have been deployed in strength around the premises of Doordarshan, Radio Kashmir and the state’s Information Department in the wake of the separatists asking people to block all roads near these institutions. The roads leading to them and Lal Chowk have been sealed by placing concertina wires at important intersections.

“There is no curfew anywhere in Kashmir today. The heavy deployment of security forces at some places is to maintain law and order,” a police official said. He, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people under Section 144 CrPC were in place across the Valley.

A teenager was killed yesterday and over 100 others hurt in security forces action against violent protesters in Ladoora area of Sopore in north Kashmir Baramulla district, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley to 69.

Meanwhile, normal life remained affected due to the separatist sponsored strike on 55th day as educational institutions and private offices were closed while public transport continued to be off the roads.

The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation for right to self determination in Jammu and Kashmir, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8.

Reliance Jio 4G data rates start at Rs 50 for 1GB

Reliance Jio data packs will start at Rs 50 for 1GB, which comes down to 5 paise per MB. According to Ambani, 1GB data at Rs 50 is the lowest data tariff in the world.

Reliance Jio data packs will start at Rs 50 for 1GB, which comes down to 5 paise per MB.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani addressed the Annual General Meeting in Mumbai today. Amongst other things, he announced that Reliance Jio data packs will start at Rs 50 for 1GB, which comes down to 5 paise per MB. The Jio data rates are 1/10th of compared to what other players in the market are offering, says Ambani. According to Ambani, 1GB data at Rs 50 is the lowest data tariff in the world.

During the AGM event, Ambani announced that all voice calls for Jio customers will be free of cost. Also, there will be no roaming charges for customers for Jio customers. He added, the company has always put customers first. Jio tariffs are built on three principles, said:

1) Customer should play for only one service — voice or data

2) Data must be affordable:

3) Pricing structure should be simple so just 10 tariff plans. No blackout dates.

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I am paying price of being a Dalit, says sacked AAP Minister Sandeep Kumar

AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar was sacked as cabinet minister by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over a CD containing objectionable videos and photographs of Kumar.

AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar denied all allegations against him. (Source: ANI/Twitter)

Hours after being sacked as Delhi cabinet minister over objectionable video, AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar defended himself saying he was ‘paying a price for being a Dalit.” Speaking to news agency ANI, Kumar said, “I am not in that video. Investigation must be done about video.”

Goa: 300 RSS workers to resign following Subhash Velingkar’s removal

Goa RSS is facing rebellion as 300 Sangh workers threaten to resign due to the sacking of state chief Subhash Velingkar. File Photo/Agencies

Upset with the removal of Subhash Velingkar as Goa RSS chief, over 300 Sangh workers have annouced that they will quit the organisation and vowed to “defeat”BJP in the Assembly polls next year if he is not reinstated. RSS on Wednesday removed Velingkar who had crossed swords with BJP government over the issue of medium of instruction (MOI) in schools with members of his outfit BBSM even showing black flags to party chief Amit Shah recently. The Sangh said he was trying to engage into “political activity” which is contrary to its tradition.

“We want that either Velingkar should be reinstated or we (over 300 volunteers) all should be relieved along with him. Since the Sangh has not reinstated him (Velingkar) during the entire day, we have decided to tender resignations,” Sangh member Pravin Nesvankar told reporters Wednesday night in Panaji. A large number of RSS workers from Goa on Wednesday night held an ’emergency’ meeting for over three hours at Bambolim near Panaji in the backdrop of Velingkar’s removal.

Velingkar, the convener of Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) which is fighting for withdrawal of grants to English medium schools and for the cause of promoting regional languages as MOI in the coastal state, has been at loggerheads with the saffron party as well as Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar.

“RSS workers will now work for a new political front that will contest the Goa Assembly polls,” said Nesvankar in the presence of members like Ratnakar Lele and Krishnaraj Sukerkar. “We will defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections,” Nesvankar added. Sangh’s South District head Ramdas Saraf said the volunteers will not work for RSS until the decision to relieve Velingkar is withdrawn.

NASA spots galaxy cluster 11.1 billion light-years from Earth

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has spotted the most distant galaxy cluster located about 11.1 billion light-years from the Earth

The galaxy cluster is called CL J1001+0220 and is located about 11.1 billion light-years from Earth (Source: NASA)

Scientists have set a new record for spotting the most distant galaxy cluster located about 11.1 billion light-years from the Earth, a discovery that pushes back the formation time of these clusters by about 700 million years. The galaxy cluster, spotted using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes may have been caught right after birth – a brief, but important stage of evolution never seen before, researchers said.

“This galaxy cluster isn’t just remarkable for its distance, it’s also going through an amazing growth spurt unlike any we’ve ever seen,” said Tao Wang of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) who led the study.

The galaxy cluster is called CL J1001+0220 and is located about 11.1 billion light-years from Earth. The discovery of this object pushes back the formation time of galaxy clusters – the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity – by about 700 million years, researchers said.

The core of CL J1001 contains eleven massive galaxies – nine of which are experiencing an impressive baby boom of stars. Stars are forming in the cluster’s core at a rate that is equivalent to over 3,000 Suns forming per year, a remarkably high value for a galaxy cluster, including those that are almost as distant, and therefore as young, as CL J1001.

The diffuse X-ray emission detected by Chandra and European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton Observatory comes from a large amount of hot gas, one of the defining features of a true galaxy cluster.

“It appears that we have captured this galaxy cluster at a critical stage just as it has shifted from a loose collection of galaxies into a young, but fully formed galaxy cluster,” said David Elbaz from CEA.

Previously, only these loose collections of galaxies, known as protoclusters, had been seen at greater distances than CL J1001. The results suggest that elliptical galaxies in galaxy clusters like CL J1001 may form their stars during shorter and more violent outbursts than elliptical galaxies that are outside clusters.

The discovery also suggests that much of the star formation in these galaxies happens after the galaxies fall onto the cluster, not before. In comparing their results to computer simulations of the formation of clusters performed by other scientists, the team found that CL J1001 has an unexpectedly high amount of mass in stars compared to the cluster’s total mass.

This may show that the build-up of stars is more rapid in distant clusters than simulations imply, or it may show that clusters like CL J1001 are so rare that they are not found in today’s largest cosmological simulations. The research appears in The Astrophysical Journal.

Brazil’s Petrobras to pay $3.25 million to aid troubled Paralypic Games

Petrobras' money will come from its existing 98 million real sports budget for 2016.

Brazil’s Paralympic canoeist Caio Ribeiro (L) arrives for a training session at the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon in Rio de Janeiro. (Source: Reuters)

Brazilian oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said on Wednesday it will spend 10.5 million reais ($3.25 million) to buy marketing rights to the financially troubled Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games.

The decision allows Petrobras, as the state-controlled company is known, to become an official sponsor of the event about a week before it is set to begin on Sept. 7. Petrobras joins companies such as Toyota Motor Co, BP Plc, Visa and

Samsung in getting marketing benefits in exchange for financial support.

Reuters reported on Aug. 18 that Petrobras was willing to buy marketing rights valued in the “low millions” of dollars to help the Paralympics.

The Games, which feature athletes with physical and mental disabilities, was forced to make budget cuts as the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, mired in a major Brazilian recession, struggled to pay the 40 billion reais ($12.4 billion) price tag for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.

Petrobras’ money brings 205 million reais ($92 million) in extra funds Games organizers can draw on, said Mario Andrada the games communication director on a conference call on Wednesday.

The bulk, 150 million reais, is from the City of Rio de Janeiro. The rest, 55 million reais is from Petrobras, the lottery unit of Caixa Economica Federal, a Brazilian government bank, and Apex, Brazil’s Trade and Investment Promotion Agency.

Petrobras, which is facing financial difficulties of its own and has debt of nearly $125 billion, was one of several state-owned or controlled companies asked by the government to help meet the Paralympic shortfall.

Petrobras’ money will come from its existing 98 million real sports budget for 2016.

The sponsorship deal will allow Petrobras to run advertisements on TV, radio and social media mentioning the Games and featuring “Team Petrobras” athletes it is sponsoring for the Paralympics during the Games themselves, the company said in a statement.

Petrobras will also be able to display its logo at Paralympic venues, set up a stand in the Olympic Park and have its name mentioned in an opening ceremony video, rights normally reserved for sponsors that signed up long ago.

Without new funds, the Rio 2016 organizing committee would not be able to pay national Paralympic bodies for travel, food and uniforms, preventing some countries from competing, a judge, who overturned an injunction prohibiting the use of new public money for the Games, said earlier in August.

US Open closes Arthur Ashe roof for first time during match

The closing of roof resulted in a suspension of play of less than 7 1/2 minutes in Rafael Nadal's 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 win.

Rafael Nadal and Andreas Seppi play under closed roof od Arthur Ashe stadium in second round of US Open. (Source: AP)

The US Open closed its new, $150 million retractable roof atop Arthur Ashe Stadium during a match for the first time Wednesday night.

The shutting of the cover resulted in a suspension of play of less than 7 1/2 minutes at 3-all in the second set of Rafael Nadal’s 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 victory against Andreas Seppi in the second round.

“I feel that the conditions are pretty similar when the roof is closed or open,” Nadal said afterward.

The most noticeable difference was the amount of ambient noise – chatter from spectators, mainly – that could be heard during points.

U.S. Tennis Association Executive Director Gordon Smith said tournament organizers will look into that.

“This is New York. And yes, there’s crowd noise. And yes, we want the crowds to come, we want them to be excited. We want them to cheer. And we think that over time the fans will adjust and the players will adjust,” he said. “It’s obvious there’s going to be more noise in a trapped environment than in an open environment.”

Even before the roof was closed, chair umpire Cedric Mourier repeatedly implored spectators to keep quiet during points. Both Nadal and Seppi were surprised by just how many interruptions there were from fans, either moving around in the stands or simply being loud.

“The people, I think, are used to going to baseball (games) and keep talking,” Seppi said. “There really was a lot of noise.”

After dealing with rain delays and postponed finals for years, the USTA finally built a sliding roof over its main stadium. It was available for this year’s tournament, which started Monday, but the first two days were dry.

“It took well over 10 years to come up with a solution to do this that was affordable, was architecturally imaginative, that was cost-effective, that was efficient. But we did it,” Smith said. “To see it work flawlessly was really incredible.”

A light rain began to fall while Nadal and Seppi were playing. Tournament referee Brian Earley was monitoring the weather from off to the side of the playing surface and eventually walked over to Mourier and the two players to let them know he wanted to shut the roof.

“This might take very few minutes,” Mourier announced to the spectators. “Thank you very much for your patience.”

Some fans applauded or cheered. Others pulled out their cellphones to shoot photos of the structure as it moved. Even Nadal took a glance overhead to sneak a peek.

The USTA has said that, based on pre-tournament testing, the expectation is there will be little difference in playing conditions whether the roof is open or closed.

The only use of the roof until Nadal’s match came when it was shut at the start of the tournament’s opening ceremony Monday night, then opened while Phil Collins sang “In the Air Tonight.”

The U.S. Open men’s final was postponed in five consecutive years because of wet weather from 2008-12.

“For a good show, for the comfort of the fans and for the fans in general (watching on) television,” Nadal said about the new roof, “it’s just an unbelievable improvement.”

US Open 2016: Under roof, Rafael Nadal sets Arthur Ashe court on fire

Rafael Nadal completed a 6-0 7-5 6-1 win over Andreas Seppi that lifted him to a third-round match against Andrey Kuznetsov.

Rafael Nadal was aglow after his victory and being part of the first match played under the Ashe Stadium roof. (Source: Reuters)

Rafa Nadal boasted after his first-round U.S. Open match that he had a video recording of being the first player to hit a ball in practice under the new roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

On Wednesday, the fourth-seeded Spaniard achieved the double as he hit the first ball in competition under the $150 million roof after rain briefly interrupted his second-round match against Italian Andreas Seppi.

The crowd looked skyward at the spectacle of the high-tech closure and roared in approval when the two sides met above the court in five minutes, 35 seconds.

Play resumed seven minutes, 22 seconds after the stoppage with Nadal serving at 3-3 in the second set before he completed a 6-0 7-5 6-1 victory over Seppi that lifted him to a third-round match against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.

The Spaniard was aglow after his victory and being part of the first match played under the Ashe Stadium roof.

“I was very happy to be the first player to play in the competition with this fantastic roof closing,” he said. “Amazing, unbelievable.”

Nadal’s mood was in stark contrast to women’s French Open champion Garbine Muguruza who had preceded her compatriot onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium court and was upset by 48th-ranked Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 7-5 6-4 in the second round.

Muguruza and Sevastova played with the roof open, but both complained about the noise from the boisterous fans, which appeared to be exacerbated by the roof support structure trapping the sound.

Umpires continually appealed to the crowd to be quiet, but that did little to lower the noise.

“This is New York,” U.S. Tennis Association executive director Gordon Smith said. “Yes, there is crowd noise and yes, we want the crowds to come, to be excited.

“We want them to cheer. We think that over time the fans will adjust and the players will adjust.

“This is a learning year for us … we’ll look at doing things in the future to deal with that.”

US Open 2016: Sania Mirza notches up win in women’s doubles; Leander Paes-Martina Hingis advance

Defending champions in mixed doubles, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis prevailed over Sachia Vickery and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-2.

Sania Mirza and partner Barbora Strycova won their first match in women’s doubles at US Open.

Indian tennis stars Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna made a rampaging start to their campaign at US Open as they advanced to the second round of the US Open along with their respective partners after notching up contrasting wins at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Defending champions in mixed doubles, Paes and Swiss Martina Hingis prevailed over USA’s Sachia Vickery and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-2 in just 51 minutes.

They will take on the winner of the match between Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia and seventh seeded American pair of Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram.

In Women’s Doubles, seventh seeded Sania and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova defeated American pair of Jada Myii Hart and Ena Shibahara 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and nine minutes first round match.

The duo will meet the winner of the match between Swiss Viktorija Golubic and USA’s Nicole Melichar and US German combo of Madison Brengle and Tatjana Maria.

Men’s Doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark also reached the second round with a hard fought 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 win over 16th seeds Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic.

The Indo-Dane pair will square off against USA’s Brian Baker and New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell next.