Top stories on 3 May in a capsule

Twitter asks all its users to ‘change password now’

Twitter Inc urged its more than 330 million users to change their passwords after a glitch caused some to be stored in readable text on its internal computer system rather than disguised by a process known as "hashing". "We fixed the bug and have no indication of a breach or misuse by anyone," Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said in a Tweet. "As a precaution, consider changing your password on all services where you've used this password." The blog did not say how many passwords were affected. A person familiar with the company's response said the number was "substantial" and that they were exposed for "several months."
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Latvian woman in Kerala was drugged and raped before murder: Police

The Kerala Police on Thursday revealed gruesome details in the horrific rape and murder of a Latvian national who was found dead in Kollam beach last month. Two people were arrested over the same as suspects. The 33-year-old, Liga Skromane had come to Kerala in February to seek treatment as she was battling depression, according to news reports. "It was a brutal homicide. The entire investigation was based on circumstantial evidence," DGP Loknath Behera said, adding that they cracked the case based on scientific evidence. The Special Investigative Team (SIT) arrested Udhyan and Umesh who were repeated offenders.
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Man who shot Kasauli woman officer arrested from Mathura

The hotelier who was the Prime accused in the murder of a woman officer in Himachal Pradesh’s was arrested in Thursday in Mathura, two days after the crime. Vijay Thakur has been on the run since Tuesday after he had open fired on 51-year-old Assistant Town Planner Shail Bala, as she had come to serve notice of demolition of his hotel, Narayani Guest House on orders of the Supreme Court. According to news reports, upon initial interrogation Thakur said he shot Bala as she refused bribe. A mobile phone recovered from Thakur also had a text message sent, that said he was going to surrender to the police.
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Why diet like Virat, I can hit bigger sixes: Mohammad Shahzad

An Afghan cricketer had a rather different take on ICC’s 2017 Player of the Year and Indian Captain Virat Kohli’s performance on Thursday, when he said why have a diest like him, when one can hit better sixes than him, in a obvious comment referring to himself. At 90 kgs Mohammad Shahzad is the wicketkeeper and a brilliant batsman of the Afghanistan Cricket team, who are currently playing at the ICC World Cup Finals. “I work a lot on my fitness but I don’t compromise on food. I can hit bigger sixes than Kohli so why do I need to follow his diet?”, Shahzad told news agencies.
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Death toll due to dust storm rises to 109, another expected in 48 hours 

At least 109 people have been killed and more than 250 injured after a deadly dust storm hit several parts of North India, mainly Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh since Wednesday, several media reports said on Thursday. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning that another storm is expected in the next 48 hours. The maximum number of deaths have been reported from Uttar Pradesh’s city Agra, with as many as 72 people being reported dead. In Rajasthan, where the death toll is 31, high-velocity wind and thundershowers occurred in repetitive frequency. The death toll is expected to rise as according to the IMD, 17 states will experience thunderstorm and hailstorm in the next 24 hours, ranging from J&K to Kerala, and even the eastern belt of Orissa, West Bengal, and Bihar.
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Indian shuttlers make a mark under top 10 of BWF rankings

In the latest rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday, Indian shutters shone as they clinched the top spot after their successful feature in the Commonwealth Games. Kidambi Srikanth who bought home a silver in men’s single category at the CWG climbed to the third spot, just after Denmark’s Vikton Axelsen on top and South Korean Son Wan ho in the second spot. HS Pronnoy also cliched two ranks ahead, on 8th from 10th. In the women’s singles section, while PV Sindhu maintained her position on the third spot, Saina climbed two places to make her mark in the top 10.

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Tesla suffers $4 billion loss after Musk calls investors 'boring'

Car brand Tesla’s stock fell drastically on Thursday after billionaire and Chief Executive Elon Musk’s ‘bizzare’ phone call with investors made headlines. As per a news report, Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas put the conversation ‘the most unusual call I have experienced in 20 years in the sell side,” Musk apparently told investors not to buy Tesla shares if they cant handle ‘rapid change' and also called the questions of the investors ‘boring and bonehead’. The insult cost dearly to Musk as it went on to push its stock down to 7 percent and a amount to a loss of 4 billion dollars. 

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Govt increases pension plan limit for Senior citizens

In a major benefit for the elderly, the government on Thursday approved the decision to double the investment limit under the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandan Yojana (PMVVY) that assures 8% returns and monthly payouts of Rs 10,000. The scheme will be implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) that currently houses a total number of 2.23 lakh senior citizens, over the age of 60 years. The deadline for the financial inclusion scheme has also been extended to March 2020, against the former deadline of May 4. According to media reports, financial experts are of the opinion that the investment will provide more room for the middle class as the investment cap has been fixed for every senior citizen. Earlier the investment was capped at Rs 7.5 lakh per family.

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Congress govt in Karnataka is in sleep mode: PM Modi 

Addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka, PM Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Congress government in Karnataka is in 'sleep mode' and they did not spend the funds allocated by the Central government for the development of the state. "Congress used to term us as 'Mahila Virodhi'. But see, now we have a Defence Minister who is a woman and she is a member of the Parliament from Karnataka itself”. Narendra Modi further said, "Look at the rising illegal mining in the state. The Congress government here couldn't even frame a strong mining policy. Karnataka has a 'Sidda-Rupaiah Sarkar'. It has created a debt-burden for the state”. Modi was addressing the public in the third rally organised for the upcoming Karnataka elections on May 12th. BJP has planned about 21 rallies in Karnataka between May 1 and May 8.

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SC pulls up Karnataka on Cauvery issue

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Karnataka government for not releasing water for the Cauvery River as per the apex court’s order and warned against ‘consequences.’ The SC gave the order while hearing Tamil Nadu’s appeal, over being treated unfairly as it has not been given the 2.5 TMC by Karnataka for the month of April and May. The state’s representative lawyer Shekhar Naphade also alleged that the Central government is not paying attention to the issue as it is focusing on the upcoming Karnataka elections. According to media reports, the top court slamming Karnataka’s lawyer said, “We will call your chief secretary. You must release water to them for April and May."
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Cambridge Analytica shuts down after Facebook Scandal

Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the center stage of the Facebook data breach scandal, is shutting down immediately after suffering a sharp drop in business, the company spokesperson informed the media on Wednesday. The company said that it will begin bankruptcy proceedings after losing clients and pay huge sums of money to settle the legal fees over reports that the company harvested personal data of about millions of Facebook users beginning in 2014. "The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company's customers and suppliers," the statement said. The firm is shutting down with effect from Wednesday and employees have been told to turn in their computers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Trump indirectly confirms paying money to pornstar through lawyer 

In a series of tweets, U.S President Donald Trump said that his attorney, Mr. Cohen received a monthly retainer after which it was reportedly paid to pornstar Stormy Daniels who had claimed to have had an  , which was not paid from the campaign money. He agreed that he had reimbursed the money for a private non-disclosure agreement. He said that agreements were made to stop Stormy’s false accusations made by her about an affair. Trump’s clarification comes after Rudy Giuliani, the supposedly wily lawyer drafted in to save Donald Trump from legal jeopardy, confirmed that his boss lied last month about the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Giuliani’s statements contradicted Trump’s past statements when he told the press he had no knowledge that Cohen had paid off Daniels.

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Xiaomi files for the world’s biggest IPO since 2014

Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi is bringing its blockbuster initial public offering to Hong Kong, where it could raise about $10 billion in the largest listing globally in almost four years. The $10 billion fund-raising target, if achieved, will make it the biggest IPO since Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised a total of $25 billion in 2014. Xiaomi plans to spend most of the IPO proceeds on three areas: research and development, overseas expansion, and investments, according to its filing. This IPO will take the company’s valuation to more than $100 billion, almost doubling its valuation from 4 years back.
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