More than 800 Olive Ridley turtles, which came to lay eggs on the beaches of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, have died, it was reported on Tuesday.
N.V. Sivarama Prasad, District Forest Officer, Nellore, said such large-scale deaths of Olive Ridley turtles have not been reported from the Andhra Pradesh coast in the recent past.
The deaths were caused mainly by the use of trawl nets by fishermen. Since local fishermen used only gill nets, which did not pose a threat to the turtles.
The area from where the deaths were reported is rich in biodiversity, which attracts large number of Olive Ridley turtles to lay eggs, he said. The forest department had created awareness among fishermen through the State Institute of Fisheries, Kakinada.
Fishermen had been advised to use the turtle-excluding device to reduce the death of Olive Ridleys.
Supraja Dharini of TREE Foundation, a Chennai-based voluntary organisation involved in sea turtle conservation, said their volunteers in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday last saw the mass death of Olive Ridley in Errana Dibba, Indukurpeta Mandalam, south of Penna river estuary and Vidavaluru Mandalam in the north of the estuary. She also charged that the deaths were caused by the use of a trawl net by fishermen from Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Prasad said an earthmover was pressed into service which dug more than five foot deep pits to bury the carcasses.


3)Samsung takes the wraps off S5 in low-key affair

Korean electronics giant Samsung, in a marked difference to its previous flagship launches, took the wraps of its new Galaxy S5 smartphone on Monday with no over-the-top flourishes that observers and analysts have come to expect.The company also unveiled two new smartwatches and a wristband, which abandon Google’s Android software for an open-source software called Tizen, demonstrating how the next battleground is indeed the wrist.The change in the positioning of the Galaxy S5, which comes with a slightly bigger 5.1 inch screen and a fingerprint scanner, comes as low-cost Chinese and Indian rivals such as Gionee and Micromax have stepped up on the glitzy marketing and over-the-top features.“Our consumers don’t want eye-popping technology or the most complex technology. With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to the basics,” said J. K. Shin, President of Samsung’s mobile business, while addressing reporters at the Mobile World Congress trade fair here. “Customers instead want beautiful design, a better camera, and faster connectivity,” he added.Samsung is instead focusing on more subtle improvements in place of ‘shock-and awe’ features in the device, through accessories such as a heart rate monitor, and is avoiding a glitzy marketing approach, a la the Galaxy S4. The S5 also comes with water and dust protection, and will ship on April 11 globally, though the pricing details are yet to be disclosed.The company, which unveiled the Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch and a stripped-down sibling called the Gear 2 Neo, also rolled out the Gear Fit, which focuses on the health sector.Market analysts, however, believe that the whole ‘back to basics’ approach may not appeal to the public, and could be viewed as a U-turn.



4)‘We need more low-cost devices’

Senior executives of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm took to the stage at the GTI (Global TD-LTE) summit here on Tuesday to give a glimpse to the world of India’s potential and India’s problems concerning the evolving 4G market.Gopal Vittal, Joint Managing Director and CEO, India, Bharti Airtel, pointed out that more low-cost devices and spectrum were needed to overcome the infrastructure challenges related with LTE (the faster version of the mobile Internet).“The biggest infrastructure challenges right now are that we need more low-cost mobile devices. Then there’s the spectrum that is supplied. What is supplied to us is only 40 per cent of the global average,” Mr. Vittal said.“Also, only half of India’s base stations are on fibre... This needs to change,” he added.Reliance Jio’s Mathew Oommen, who is the President of Strategy, Network and Products, on the other hand, painted a more optimistic and upbeat image with the showcasing of a LTD-TTD inter-operability use-case with Chinese giant China Mobile.“This took us just one afternoon to work out with China Mobile's engineers. The collaboration with China Mobile was great,” Mr. Oommen said, after calling an executive at the China Mobile stand at the trade fair here.Reliance Jio, according to Mr. Oommen, also wants to make a larger global impact and help contribute to fields like public transport and the smart grid.“There’s huge potential. This is why we need the help of partners and organisations such as the GSMA (GSM Association) and GTI... to help unleash Jio,” he said.China Mobile too took to the stage, in support of Reliance Jio, with an active dynamic presentation of VoLTE (voice over LTE) in collaboration with Reliance Jio Infocomm.



5)BlackBerry hits back with sub-$200 Z3

Battered smartphone-maker BlackBerry is planning to release a sub-$200 phone, which is a crucial price category in emerging markets, in a bid to overcome falling sales, decreasing popularity and flagging profitability.The move to release the Z3, which will first hit Indonesia and then other emerging markets such as India, comes on the same day that the Canadian mobile market decided to cut the price of its Z10 smartphone in the Indian market.The Z10, which was first launched at Rs.43,490 and then was later cut down to Rs.29,990, is now available for Rs.17,990 for a limited period offer.Both these moves are being seen by analysts as last-ditch efforts to make a dent in the smartphone race.“The Z3, with all its features, is competitive for emerging markets like India at its price of $200,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry, in response to a question from reporters at the Mobile World Congress trade fair here on Tuesday.The Z3 smartphone comes with a 5 inch display, a full touch display, and will run the latest version of the BlackBerry operating system - version 10.2.1. It is also the first phone made under a new five-year partnership the company has with Foxconn.“The Z3 embodies all that BlackBerry 10 offers, with its exceptional productivity features and reliable communications,” Mr. Chen said.The phone will be first launched in Indonesia, where the company still enjoys great popularity, in April. No pricing details were announced.Decides to cut the price of its Z10 smartphone in the Indian market



6)‘Cyber thieves blamed for Bitcoin heist’

A gang of cyber criminals, using an army of infected computers, made off with at least $220,000 worth of Bitcoins and other virtual currencies, security researchers have said.The researchers from the security firm Trustwave, on Monday, said the heist was accomplished by a botnet of computers using malware that has been dubbed ‘Pony’. The Pony botnet has infected an estimated 700,000 people or computers, allowing the criminals to control those accounts.The scheme “collected approximately $220,000 worth, at the time of writing, of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, LiteCoin, FeatherCoin and 27 others,” said a blog post from researchers Daniel Chechik and Anat Davidi.“According to our data, the cyber gang that was operating this Pony botnet was active between September, 2013, and mid-January, 2014.”The botnet stole 600,000 website login credentials, 100,000 email account credentials and other secure account information.The news comes amid growing use of virtual currencies such as Bitcoins, which have been developed by cryptographic experts as a way to move money at lower costs than traditional finance systems. While many uses of Bitcoins are legitimate, the virtual currencies have also been tied to money laundering and drug trafficking as well as underground websites such as Silk Road, the target of a U.S. raid.Earlier this month, the operators of what was purported to be a revived Silk Road website claimed the site was the victim of an attack which wiped out $2.70 million stored by the bazaar.



7)Jalan committee submits report to Reserve Bank

The four-member committee, headed by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan, on new bank licences submitted its recommendations to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday after scrutinising the applications.There are 25 applicants.