Google demonstrates “quantum supremacy" with breakthrough test

The world’s most powerful supercomputer would take 10,000 years to perform a calculation that Google’s new 54-qubit Sycamore processor would do in 200 seconds.

With Google calling it “quantum supremacy”, this is the first time that a quantum computer has beaten the best that a contemporary supercomputer can offer in outright performance.

The catch, of course, is that Google got to pick their own problem for the occasion, picking a problem that would be nigh-impossible for regular supercomputers but doable for a supercomputer. By demonstrating such capability, Google proves the capacity of quantum computers to achieve tasks that regular ‘classical’ computers cannot.

Google tested the Sycamore against the Summit supercomputer of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which is capable of 200 PetaFLOPS—Floating Point Operations Per Second. For comparison, the Apple iPhone’s A12 processor has a processing power of five trillion FLOPS.

Google published their results in the journal Nature, although leaks of their paper and their methods have been out for a while, leading to Google’s methods being challenged by IBM a couple of days before the declaration. In a blogpost, IBM says that the Summit supercomputer could complete the same task in two and a half days using a different technique. While still significantly slower than the Sycamore, it would disprove the claim of quantum supremacy—of a quantum computer being able to do something that a classical computer cannot.

Quantum supremacy was pitched in a 2012 paper that made the observation that “classical systems cannot simulate highly entangled quantum systems efficiently.”

Interestingly, Google’s blog post says that, “We see our 54-qubit Sycamore processor as the first in a series of ever more powerful quantum processors.” In addition, Google says that they now have the “first widely useful quantum algorithm for computer science applications: certifiable quantum randomness.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted, calling the experiment a breakthrough.

Excited about what quantum computing means for the future - it gives us another way to speak the language of the universe and better understand the world, not just in 1s and 0s but in all of its states: beautiful, complex, and with limitless possibility. https://t.co/P6YX4KguMX

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) October 23, 2019

The importance of random numbers is what makes quantum computing lucrative, especially in cryptography. Classical computers cannot produce truly ‘random’ sets of numbers, relying always on external sources of ‘entropy’ or randomness. Other methods are also inevitably limited by the randomness of external or environmental factors. Pure randomness, where you cannot predict the next sequence of numbers generated by such a machine, is non-existent in classical computing.

Quantum computers are not only capable of producing such random numbers, but also of creating systems that could immediately raise an alarm if they are spied on, thanks to the problem of the observer effect in quantum mechanics, which finds that quantum states are altered by the very fact of them being observed.

Practical applications for Google's new computer are still being conceptualised, but what the experiment demonstrates is the realm in which quantum computers enjoy absolute supremacy over regular computers. Only more tests will show just how far that gap has become.

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Massive galaxy found hidden amidst cosmic dust'

Astronomers have found a massive galaxy, dating from the early universe, lurking in cosmic dust clouds -- an advance that may open the doors for discovering a new galaxy population type.

The researchers, including those from the University of Massachusetts in the US, said that the discovery provides new insights into the first growing steps of some of the biggest galaxies in the universe.

"We figured out that the galaxy is actually a massive monster galaxy with as many stars as our Milky Way but brimming with activity, forming new stars at 100 times the rate of our own galaxy," said study co-author Ivo Labb from the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.

As part of the study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, the researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA -- a collection of 66 radio telescopes located in the high mountains of Chile.

The lead author of the study, Christina Williams, said that she noted a faint blob of light initially.

"It was very mysterious but the light seemed not to be linked to any known galaxy at all. When I saw this galaxy was invisible at any other wavelength, I got really excited, because it meant that it was probably really far away and hidden by clouds of dust," she said.

According to the researchers, the signal came from so far away that it took nearly 12.5 billion years to reach the Earth, when the universe was still in its infancy.

The astronomers believe that the discovery may solve a long-standing puzzle in astronomy about how some of the biggest galaxies in the early universe appear to have grown up and matured very quickly against theoretical predictions.

Additionally, smaller galaxies seen in the early universe with the Hubble space telescope are not growing fast enough, the researchers said.

"Our hidden monster galaxy has precisely the right ingredients to be that missing link, because they are probably a lot more common," said Williams.

The study was carried out in only a tiny part of the sky, less than 1/100th the size of the Moon, the researchers said.

Finding traces of the 'monster' galaxy in a tiny strip of the cosmos, means either that this was a lucky find, or that such galaxies are cloaked and lurking everywhere.

Williams said that she is eager for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to take a look at these cosmic entities once the revolutionary telescope is launched in 2021.

"JWST will be able to look through the dust veil so we can learn how big these galaxies really are and how fast they are growing, to better understand why models fail in explaining them," she said. 

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Smart' light bulbs may be used to hack personal info: Study

Infrared-enabled 'smart' light bulbs may be used by hackers to either steal data or spoof other connected devices on the home Wi-Fi network, according to Indian-origin scientists in the US.

The researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted a review of the security holes that exist in popular smart-light brands.

Smart lighting technology involves high efficiency fixtures and automated controls that make adjustments based on conditions such as occupancy or daylight availability.

"Your smart bulb could come equipped with infrared capabilities, and most users don't know that the invisible wave spectrum can be controlled," said Murtuza Jadliwala, a professor at UTSA.

"You can misuse those lights. Any data can be stolen: texts or images. Anything that is stored in a computer," said Jadliwala.

Some smart bulbs connect to a home network without needing a smart home hub, a centralised hardware or software device where other internet of things (IoT) products communicate with each other.

Smart home hubs, which connect either locally or to the cloud, are useful for IoT devices that use the Zigbee or Z-Wave protocols or Bluetooth, rather than Wi-Fi, said Anindya Maiti from UTSA, co-author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies.

If these same bulbs are also infrared-enabled, hackers can send commands via the infrared invisible light emanated from the bulbs to either steal data or spoof other connected IoT devices on the home network, according to the researchers.

The owner might not know about the hack because the hacking commands are communicated within the owner's home Wi-Fi network, without using the internet, they said.

"Think of the bulb as another computer. These bulbs are now poised to become a much more attractive target for exploitation even though they have very simple chips," said Jadliwala.

Jadliwala recommends that consumers opt for bulbs that come with a smart home hub rather than those that connect directly to other devices.

He also recommends that manufacturers do a better job in developing security measures to limit the level of access that these bulbs have to other smart home appliances or electronics within a home.

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Mobvoi TicWatch Pro review: Premium, stylish and packs the punch

The TicWatch Pro is testament to the fact that Mobvoi did right in expanding from artificial intelligence to voice technology into wearables. The TicWatch Pro is Mobvoi's the most premium of its lineup. With brilliant design and an innovative dual display, the Ticwatch Pro is one of the best smartwatches out here in the market.

Although the TicWatch Pro isn't the best when it comes to battery life, the 'essential' mode will deliver enough juice to last for weeks, totally outclassing competition. With a plethora of apps and watch faces to choose from, you are spoilt for choices. The TicWatch Pro runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 2100 CPU with 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. The display is the TicWatch's USP . It sports an LCD display mounted on it primary AMOLED screen. This dual display setup helps it give you varied battery life. The AMOLED display will last you about two days with Smart mode. The LCD display will last you a month on Essential mode and will give you all the basic features including fitness data.

As far as appearance goes, the TicWatch Pro looks premium and has a fairly large face. And looks a bit bulky although it doesn't weigh too much on your wrist. The watch nevertheless, gives you a solid and premium feel. It has an IP68 water and dust proofing, but is not something to take out when you go swimming. As far as fitness goes, it packs all the essentials –built-in GPS tracker, heart-rate monitor, steps counter, calorie counter, speed and cadence monitor to name a few. The TicWatch Pro also has an automatic sleep monitor, an addition it received very recently.

On the hardware side, the TicWatch Pro has two well-placed buttons on the right side. The top button  activates the Home button and can also be used to exit apps. The bottom one by default opens the TicWatch Fitness app, but can be customised. The touch screen is where you wil be spending most of your time on. The touch interface is quite smooth and easy to use. The UI is also not cumbersome even for the uninitiated user.

The TicWatch is definitely one of the finest smartwatches out there and will give the likes of Apple and Samsung a run for their money. Its aggressive pricing will compel a lot of users to side with it and the size of it comes down to personal preferences. It is exactly what Mobvoi intended –a stylish premium looking watch which packs all the essential gizmos but still doesn't burn a hole in your pocket.

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Boyan Slat unveils new device to clean the world’s most polluted rivers

In 2017, a study claimed that just ten rivers across the world are responsible for 90 per cent of the pollution in the ocean: The Yangtze, Indus, Yellow, Hai He, Nile, Ganges, Pearl, Amur, Niger and Mekong rivers, in order of the most polluting to least.

Efforts to tackle plastic pollution that is already in the ocean—such as the Ocean Cleanup's floating containment booms that attempt to collect the country-sized islands of floating plastic pollution in the Pacific—fail to tackle the source of the problem: The rivers that carry plastic from the cities to the sea.

Critics of the Ocean Cleanup’s efforts, which include the 5 Gyres Institute, have long pointed out that collecting plastic at sea is missing the real source, which lies upstream in the rivers.

Now, Boyan Slat—the 25-year-old Dutch founder of the Ocean Cleanup—has unveiled his NGO's answer to the criticism levied against it: A solar-powered barge named ‘The Interceptor’ that promises to pick up and clean thousands of kilograms of plastic each day.

In operation, it resembles the plastic-collecting barges in operation in Baltimore today, but at a higher scale. The Interceptor is fully solar-powered, autonomous, and promises to collect 50,000 kilograms of plastic each day. It sends a text message to local authorities once its dumpsters are full, at which point it moors itself to the riverbanks so its load can be emptied.

Unveiled on October 26, The Interceptor, according to Slat, has been under development since 2015 and is part of a plan to clean up the 1,000 most-polluting rivers in the world (which the Ocean Cleanup says are responsible for 80 per cent of ocean plastic pollution, according to their own research).

First images of Interceptor 002 cleaning in Malaysia. pic.twitter.com/RDZioYgcUk

— The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) October 26, 2019

Speaking to Reuters, Slat said, “To solve the plastic pollution problem we need to do two things: we need to clean up what’s already in the oceans, for that we of course have the Ocean Cleanup System," adding, “Now we also hope to tackle the other side of the equation: preventing more plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place.”

The device is currently being tested in Indonesia and Malaysia, with plans to tackle the 1,000 most-polluting rivers in the world by 2025.

The foundation’s efforts to clean the ocean have not been without hitches. System 001, the boom deployed to the Pacific, broke up due to the constant force of ocean currents. After being towed back for repairs and returned, it failed yet again. Each failure led to a different iteration of the design, however, and it was only by October that the team was able to successfully capture garbage (to the level of microplastics) from the Pacific.

Laurent Lebreton, one of Ocean Cleanup’s chief scientists, has published work showing how most of the plastic pollution found at sea comes from ships—fishing nets alone make up half of the great Pacific garbage patch (a gyre of low-density plastic the size of Russia.

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Mumbai could be wiped out by rising seas by 2050: Study

A new research on climate change and sea levels has revealed that rising seas could affect three times more people by 2050, that what was previously thought. Looking at India, the study predicts that the country's financial capital Mumbai, is at risk of 'being wiped out'. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, was done by Climate Central, a science organisation based in New Jersey.

According to a report in The New York Times, the authors of the paper developed a more accurate way of calculating land elevation based on satellite readings. The study also states that places like Southern Vietnam could 'all but disappear'. The study also looks at Thailand, where 'more than 10 percent of citizens now live on land that is likely to be inundated by 2050'.

About Mumbai, the study says that 'built on what was once a series of islands, the city’s historic downtown core is particularly vulnerable'.

The new research shows that some 150 million people are now living on land that will be below the high-tide line by midcentury. “We’ve been trying to ring the alarm bells. We know that it’s coming,” Dina Ionesco of the International Organisation for Migration, an intergovernmental group that coordinates action on migrants and development, told The New York Times.

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Trump says Baghdadi’s successor has been killed by US forces

In a significant announcement, US President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that an unnamed successor to former ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by American forces.

“Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot - Now he is also Dead!” Trump tweeted.

Trump did not identify who the person was or any other details of the operation that killed him.

Various names have been speculated as Baghdadi's successor.

Abdullah Qardash, known to the US government as Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, is listed on the US state department’s Rewards for Justice website as Baghdadi’s successor.

The Washington Post quoted Iran Advisory Council member Husham Al Hashimi as saying either the Saudi Abu Saleh al-Jazrawi or the Turkish Abu Othman al-Tunisi could take over.

Details of the US operation that allegedly killed ISIS’s next chief are awaited.

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OPINION: From Army to Imran, all political players in Pakistan are frauds

"Something is rotten in the State of Denmark," wrote Shakespeare in Hamlet. Similarly, it can be said "Something is rotten in the State of Pakistan."

Just consider, every one of the political players in Pakistan is a fraud: The army (the real power, who are only looters); Imran Khan, the prime minister, who, in his quest for power, abandoned all his professed principles; both main opposition parties—the PPP and the PML(N)—who looted the country for decades—and religious bigots like Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the chairman of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam (F).

Combined with the fact that the Pakistan economy is tanking, public debt mounting, prices of essential commodities rising and people's distress growing, this situation is a recipe for a total collapse of everything and a prolonged period of chaos in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his election campaign last year, had promised accountability, transparency and the moon to the people of Pakistan (just as Narendra Modi had promised 'vikas' and 'achche din' to the people of India). The gullible people of Pakistan, like children following the Pied Piper of Hamelin, were taken in by Khan's promise of Madina ki Riyasat, Naya Pakistan and all that kind of jazz, just as the impressionable people of India were wooed by Modi.

But Khan had no qualms about taking the help in his election campaign of religious extremists like hounds and lumpens calling themselves Tehreeke Labaik, giving tickets to dubious 'electables' and characters like Amir Liaquat, whose TV show resulted in the brutal murders of several Ahmadis, and sacking internationally renowned economist Atif Mian from the Pakistan Economic Advisory Council only because he was an Ahmadi.

Now, Imran Khan is being opposed by another fraud, Maulana Fazlur Rahman. A perusal of Rahman's past record shows he is a thug and rank opportunist, who can sink to any level in his quest to become the prime minister of Pakistan (it was reported that in 2007 he even pleaded with the then US ambassador to Pakistan to help him in this quest).

Rahman, a fraud and gangster, had announced his plan to march from Karachi on October 27 to Islamabad, where he intends to reach on October 31, where in a huge rally, he will demand the resignation of Khan. Set a thief to catch a thief!

And the interesting thing is that the two main opposition parties—the PPP and the PNLN (they have been called chor and daaku in Parliament by Imran Khan's Sancho Panza, Fawad Chaudhry)—have announced they will join in the march led by Rahman.

Will the real power in Pakistan, the army, which has its fingers in almost every sector of the economy (see my article Opinion: The truth about the Pakistan military), and whose senior officers end up as millionaires (a few even billionaires), remain bystanders during this farcical drama, or are they supporting it behind the scene like a hidden puppeteer? It is widely believed the army 'selected' Imran Khan, but are they dissatisfied with his performance for some reason? Little is known.

But what can be said for certain is this: the march on Islamabad will at most result in the removal of Imran Khan, but he will only be replaced by another fraud, with no change in the lives of the people, with massive poverty, unemployment, malnourishment and other problems expected to continue.

At most, Maulana Fazlur Rahman will be acting like Father Gapon in Russia on Bloody Sunday in January 1905, leading the people to slaughter (Gapon was later exposed as a police agent).

Pakistanis, you created an Islamic state, now eat your Islam, just as your Indian counterparts are eating their Hindutva, Ram Mandir and cow protection. Neither of you will get food to eat.

And, in the meantime, those who divided you 72 years ago are still laughing at you, laughing at how easily you can be befooled, and how easily you can be kept in your state of fatuity and blockheadedness.

Justice Markandey Katju retired from the Supreme Court in 2011

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK

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White House Democrats unveil Trump impeachment procedure

The opposition Democratic party, which enjoys majority in the House of Representatives, has unveiled impeachment procedures against US President Donald Trump, which the White House termed an "illegitimate sham".

"The resolution put forward by Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi confirms that House Democrats' impeachment (procedure) has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorisation by a House vote," White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Tuesday.

The remark came after Rules Committee Chairman James P McGovern introduced a resolution providing a path forward as the House of Representatives prepares to begin the public-facing phase of its impeachment inquiry into the conduct of Trump. Mark up to this resolution has been scheduled for Wednesday.

"There is mounting evidence that the president abused his power and betrayed our national security while compromising the integrity of America's elections," McGovern said.

"The House impeachment inquiry has collected extensive evidence and testimony, and soon the American people will hear from witnesses in an open setting. The resolution introduced today in the House Rules Committee will provide that pathway forward," heads of four House committees said in a joint statement.

They are Congressmen Adam Schiff, the Chairman of Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Jerrod Nadler, the Chairman of Judiciary Committee; Eliot Engel, the Chairman of Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Carolyn Maloney, the Acting Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

They said the resolution provides rules for the format of open hearings in the House Intelligence Committee, including staff-led questioning of witnesses, and it authorizes public release of deposition transcripts.

"The resolution also establishes procedures for the transfer of evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and it sets forth due process rights for the president and his counsel in the Judiciary Committee proceedings," the four top Democratic leaders said.

"The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a president who abused his power by using multiple levers of the government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election," they said.

Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the president's "misconduct", they said.

Reacting sharply, the White House press secretary said, "It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the president."

Grisham alleged the White House is barred from participating at all, until after Schiff conducts two rounds of "one-sided hearings to generate a biased report" for the Judiciary Committee.

Even then, the White House's rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain because those rules still haven't been written, she alleged, adding, "This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the administration."

Later, justifying the impeachment procedure, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said consistent with its historic role, the judiciary panel will operate under equally serious procedures to govern its part of the House's ongoing impeachment inquiry.

"These procedures confer, among other things, rights for the minority and for the President equal to those provided during the Nixon and Clinton inquiries. This committee is committed to executing its part of the House's ongoing impeachment investigation with the highest fealty to the Constitution," Nadler said.

In a statement, the House Judiciary Committee said the procedures offer Trump several protection including that his counsel will receive copies of any statements of information and related documents and other evidentiary material furnished to the members of the committee.

The president and his counsel may attend the presentation of evidence by majority and minority committee counsel and the counsel may ask questions during the presentation, it said adding his counsel may respond to the presentation of evidence.

The president's counsel may submit written summaries of additional testimony or evidence the President wishes the Judiciary Committee to consider. The president and his counsel may attend all hearings of the Judiciary Committee, including any held in executive session, it said.

"The resolution permits the minority to issue subpoenas with the concurrence of the chair or authorised by a committee vote. Contrary to the claims of the president and Republican leadership, the minority did not have unilateral subpoena power in the Nixon and Clinton impeachment proceedings," the statement said.

Four top House Republicans, Whip Steve Scalise, Leader Kevin McCarthy, Conference Chair Liz Cheney, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee Congressman Tom Cole and Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee Congressman Mac Thornberry termed the impeachment process "tainted", contending it "neglects real problems such as funding the military and lowering drug prices".

"We still wait to see what Speaker Pelosi is going to file. But the bottomline is that she admitted defeat in this failed process this Soviet-style impeachment process that Adam Schiff is conducting," Scalise said.  

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US: Texas gang leader sentenced for robbing Indian-American homes

A Texas woman has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for leading a gang that carried out targeted robberies of Indian-American homes across the US.

Chaka Castro, 44, was sentenced on Monday by US District Court Judge Laurie Michelson of the Eastern District of Michigan, who presided over the trial.

After a five-week trial, Castro was convicted of one count of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) conspiracy, four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering and four counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to evidence presented at trial, from 2011 to 2014, Castro and her robbery crews committed a string of home invasions in Georgia, New York, Ohio, Michigan and Texas.

The leader of the gang was Castro, who would generate lists of robbery targets in various states around the country, specifically families of Asian and Indian ancestry, and then assign her accomplices to carry out the armed robberies of these families within their homes.

Once Castro assigned a crew to a particular area, members of the group would travel to that location, conduct surveillance and execute the robberies.

Utilising a particular modus operandi in each of the robberies, the crews disguised their appearance with clothing and bandanas so that victims of their robberies would have difficulty identifying them. They would openly carry and brandish firearms to gain control of the victims and then immediately corral the victims, including children, into one location in the home.

At least one robber would then restrain the victims with duct tape and threats of violence, as another partner would ransack the home in search of cash, jewellery and electronics to steal.

The group organised their trips to involve multiple home invasion robberies over a series of days, prosecutors said.

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Modi meets environment, labour ministers in Saudi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held separate bilateral meetings with two senior ministers of Saudi Arabia and discussed newer areas of cooperation in agriculture, food processing, water technologies and issues related to labour.

Prime Minister Modi held extensive meetings with Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley and Ahmad bin Sulaiman Alrajhi, Minister of Labour and Social Development.

"Furthering synergies for a sustainable future. PM Narendra Modi had an extensive meeting with @AlfadleyA, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture," the Prime Minister's office said in a tweet.

"Moving together towards greener pastures for future generations! PM Narendra Modi had useful discussion with Minister of Environment, Water & Agriculture @AlfadleyA towards exploring newer areas of cooperation in the agriculture, food processing & water technologies," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Modi also met Minister of Labour and Social Development Ahmad bin Sulaiman Alrajhi and discussed issues related to labour.

The 2.6 million strong Indian community in Saudi Arabia is the largest expatriate community in the Kingdom.

Prime Minister Modi arrived in Riyadh late Monday night on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to participate in the high-profile financial summit Future Investment Initiative, dubbed "Davos in the desert", an initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

This is Prime Minister Modi's second visit to the Gulf Kingdom. During his first visit in 2016, King Salman conferred Saudi's highest civilian award on him.

Cooperation on security issues between India, Saudi progressing well

India and Saudi Arabia share security concerns in their neighbourhood and their cooperation on security issues, including counter terrorism, is progressing well, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.

The prime minister, who arrived here on Monday night to attend a key financial conference and hold talks with the top Saudi leadership, made the remarks in an interview published in the Arab News on Tuesday.

“I believe that Asian powers like India and Saudi Arabia share similar security concerns in their neighbourhood,” Modi said, without referring to any country.

Saudi Arabia is a key ally of Pakistan, which is accused by its neighbours of providing safe havens to terrorists.

India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by a Pakistan-based terror group, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.

The bilateral relations touched a new low when India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August following which Pakistan downgraded the diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been a frequent visitor to Saudi Arabia to seek Riyadh's support on the Kashmir issue.

“I am happy that our cooperation, particularly in the field of counterterrorism, security and strategic issues, is progressing very well. My national security adviser just visited Riyadh for a very productive visit,” Modi said, referring to the visit of National security adviser Ajit Doval to the Gulf Kingdom.

“We have a Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation that holds regular meetings. We have identified a number of areas of mutual interest and cooperation in the field of defence and security,” he said.

On the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Modi said a balanced approach is required to resolve the conflicts, while respecting the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal matters.

“India shares excellent bilateral relations with all the countries in the region, and a very large Indian diaspora, numbering over 8 million, resides in the region. A dialogue process that encourages the participation of all stakeholders is important to bring peace and security to this very important region,”” he said.

On economic growth, the prime minister said India has undertaken many reforms to create a business-friendly environment, and to ensure that it remained a major driver of global growth and stability.

“Our reforms for ease of doing business and introducing investor-friendly initiatives have contributed to improving our position in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019,” he said.

A number of major flagship initiatives, like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Swatchh Bharat, Smart Cities and Startup India, are offering a lot of opportunities to foreign investors, Modi added.

“We welcome greater Saudi investments in our infrastructure projects, including the Smart Cities programme. We also welcome Saudi interest in investing in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund,” he said.

This is Prime Minister Modi's second visit to the Gulf Kingdom.

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11-yr-old girl wrestles large crocodile to rescue her friend

Rebecca Munkombwe, a 11-year-old girl from Zimbabwe, is in the news for putting up a brave fight—with a crocodile! According to reports, Rebecca saved her friend from the grasp of a large crocodile by jumping on its back and gouging its eyes.

Her friend, Latoya Muwani, 9, was reportedly attacked while swimming with friends in a stream in Sinderela village in Zimbabwe. Rebecca heard Latoya's screams as the reptile grabbed on to the latter's hands and legs, pulling her away. "I was eldest among all the children who were swimming. Hence, I felt the urge to save her," she said.

Rebecca was not injured but her friend suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

'Latoya is recovering well...and we expect her to be discharged soon,' Latoya's father Fortune Muwani told media outlets. 

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Maharashtra: Will Fadnavis take oath by Friday, even as BJP-Sena power feud rages on?

There seems to be no let up in the power struggle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, but recent reports claim that Devendra Fadnavis will take oath as the chief minister by Friday. “Fadnavis will take oath as CM on October 31 or November 1 and we are hopeful the Sena will join the government,” Times of India quoted a party source as saying. The BJP and the Sena, which won 105 and 56 seats in the just concluded state Assembly polls, are locked in a bitter battle over sharing of power. 

Playing hardball, the Shiv Sena had demanded a written assurance from its NDA ally that it will implement the formula for equal sharing of power, and said that it will otherwise explore other options. Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan had said that his party will "consider" any "concrete" proposal on government formation in Maharashtra from the Shiv Sena, which is widely seen as a move to muddy the alliance waters.

Ever since the results of the October 21 assembly polls were out, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has been claiming that the 50:50 formula on sharing of power was "agreed upon" between himself, Shah and Fadnavis ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The formula entails rotational chief ministership between the two parties. The Sena has been projecting Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav and a first-time MLA, as the party's face for the CM's post.

However, Fadnavis on Tuesday denied the Sena was ever assured the post of the CM for 2.6 years as part of the power sharing "formula". “There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that it will be a BJP-led government for the next five years,” Fadnavis himself told mediapersons, reported Times of India. 

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had earlier hit out at Fadnavis for claiming the party mouthpiece Saamana, of which the former is executive editor, was trying to derail talks on formation of the next government. Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Fadnavis expressed resentment over editorials against the BJP.

On Friday morning, the editorial of Saamana declared the electoral verdict was a “rap on the knuckles” to those who were high on “arrogance of power”. Saamana claimed the mandate had rejected the notion that elections can be swept by engineering defections and splitting opposition parties. Over 30 leaders of the NCP and Congress had crossed over to the BJP and Shiv Sena before the Assembly polls.

"The paper's role is to derail the talks. Will the paper take a hard stand on the Congress-NCP?" the CM had asked. Hitting back, Raut said, "Saamana wrote against the Congress-NCP and that is why the BJP-led govt came to power in 2014. I am putting forth the Shiv Sena's stand," Raut said. He added, "My party is not asking for anything wrong. Only implementation of what was decided before the elections [equal power sharing formula]. There is no need for Fadnavis to bare his fangs while making such statements."

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