20th Mar : Today's Important NEWS !!!!!!!!

1)“NSA can record all phone calls of a country”

The National Security Agency has developed a surveillance system that can record 100 percent of a foreign country’s telephone calls, The Washington Post reported late Tuesday. The system allows the agency to review conversations up to a month after they take place, the Post said. It quoted people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.The newspaper said that, at the request of U.S. officials, it would not reveal details that could be used to identify the country where the system is currently being used or other countries where its use is envisioned. The voice interception programme, called MYSTIC, began in 2009, the Post said.New retrieval toolIts “retrospective retrieval” tool and related projects reached full capacity against the first target nation in 2011. Planning documents two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere, the paper said.‘Every single conversation’In the initial deployment, collection systems are recording “every single” conversation nationwide, storing billions in a 30-day rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones arrive, according to a classified summary, the Post said it has seen.In the deluge of U.S. snooping methods disclosed by Mr. Snowden, no other NSA programme has been known to monitor the entirety of a nation’s phone network. NSA collection of phone meta data — who is called and how long a conversation lasts, but not the content of the call — was among the first of the Snowden disclosures. In a statement, Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, declined to comment on “specific alleged intelligence activities,” the Post said. — AFPSurveillance programme allows the agency to review conversations up to a month after they take place

2)SEBI bars FTIL from holding shares in stock exchanges

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on Wednesday, ordered that Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL) is not a ‘fit and proper person’ to acquire or hold any equity share in a recognized stock exchange or clearing corporation, either directly or indirectly. The order also covers warrants that FTIL may be holding. The capital market regulator also said that FTIL should divest all its existing equity holdings in MCX-SX, MCX-SX Clearing corporation Ltd (MCX-SX CCL), Delhi Stock Exchange Ltd (DSE), Vadodara Stock Exchange Ltd (VSE) and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSEIL) within 90 days.FTIL has also been told that it shall cease to be entitled to exercise voting rights in respect of those shares or instruments, with immediate effect. SEBI’s order is based on the order of the Forward Markets Commission passed on December 17,2013, which found FTIL as not being ‘fit and proper’ to hold more than two per cent of the equity of Multi Commodity Exchange.   SEBI issued today’s order in the aftermath of the decision taken by the commodity market regulator against FTIL, which was also a promoter of the scam-tainted National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL)  SEBI’s order observed that commodity future exchange and stock exchange basically discharge similar functions and obligations except that the two exchanges deal in different underlyings —physical commodity being underlying in the commodity futures exchange and the securities being the underlying in the stock exchange.Further it stated that systems and processes such as trading platform, clearing and settlement are similar in both the markets. Settlement defaults in both the markets pose systemic risk to the respective markets. “The regulatory objective in both the exchanges are same as far as investor protection, market integrity, transparency, fairness and governance are concerned. “ SEBI added.Both the markets are connected through substantial number of common stakeholders and flow of finance.Commodity future exchange as well as stock exchange and clearing corporation are market infrastructure institutions of the financial markets needing the same level of integrity and governance standards. SEBI concluded that a person who is not 'fit and proper' to hold shares in commodity future exchange cannot be a 'fit a proper person' to hold share in the recognized stock exchange and the clearing corporation. “He poses same danger to the interest of securities market as to the commodity futures market as both the market require the same standard of integrity. Thus, there is no doubt that the declaration of FTIL as not 'fit and proper person' by FMC has direct bearing on the securities market.”

3)Take steps before XP support ends, RBI tells banks

Less than a week after Britian’s five biggest banks shelled out close to $100 million each to keep their outdated software secure, the Reserve Bank of India has warned all domestic banks to take steps before Microsoft ends its Windows XP software support.The U.S software giant will stop issuing updates and patches for bugs in its Windows XP operating system from April 8, 2014.In India, public sector banks and financial institutions face the largest risk as many of them run Windows XP on around 40 to 70 per cent of their computers, according to a study conducted by Ascentius Consulting.“The probability of attacks on such a system may increase and it may be difficult to defend such attacks in the absence of Microsoft support,” the RBI said in a notice to all scheduled commercial banks.“As some of your systems, including ATMs, may still be working on Windows XP, you are advised to take immediate steps to implement appropriate systems and controls in this regard,” the central bank added.To ensure that their machines are protected against viruses and hackers, many banks across the world have agreed to deals with Microsoft to continue supporting their ATMs until they are upgraded. The cost of extending support and upgrading to a new platform for some of these banks are in the region of $100 million in some cases.

4)UAE to host 20 IPL matches

IPL / Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah to be the venues

DIFFERENT VENUES, SAME FERVOUR:Fans can expect a reprise of such celebrations as the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League gets offto a start in the UAE on April 20.— FILE PHOTO

The first phase of the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League will be held in the UAE from April 16 to 30 while the second phase could be staged in India from the first week of May despite the clash of dates with the general elections. These were among the key decisions taken at a meeting between the IPL’s governing council and the franchises here on Wednesday.In a press release, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said: “Pursuant to the initiative taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, many State Governments have indicated that IPL matches can be conducted in their States. Based on the responses received so far, the BCCI believes that the IPL can be conducted in India from the first week of May.”It is learnt that the BCCI is considering venues in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Odisha, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Kochi and Chennai, pending clearance.It was revealed that the first phase would have 20 matches in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai from April 16 to 30. The opening match will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on April 16 between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.According to the schedule released by the IPL, five of the 15 days in the first phase will be double-headers played over the weekends. The first match will start at 4 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. (both IST).The schedule has been chalked out in order to allow each of the eight franchises to play at least once in all three cities, and also feature in at least one of the double-header weekends. Abu Dhabi and Dubai will host seven matches each while six games will be held in Sharjah.