Beware! Fake version of WhatsApp found on Google Play Store

A fake and possibly malicious version of Facebook-owned WhatsApp was found lurking on Google Play Store as "Update WhatsApp Messenger" with developer name as 'WhatsApp Inc*'.

By: IANS | London | Published:November 4, 2017 10:13 am

The original WhatsApp has 1 billion downloads.

WhatsApp is now back after brief global outage, was down in India too

A fake and possibly malicious version of Facebook-owned WhatsApp was found lurking on Google Play Store as “Update WhatsApp Messenger” with developer name as ‘WhatsApp Inc*’. When IANS checked it on the Play Store, we found the app has been downloaded up to 5,000 times. There is another version under the same name which has a million downloads. The original WhatsApp has 1 billion downloads.

The existence of the shady software was first highlighted by the popular WhatsApp change tracking website WABetaInfo, via Twitter user @MujtabaMHaq, IB Times reported late on Thursday.

According to the report, a version of popular mobile game Temple Run 2 can also be found which was uploaded in October. The software posing as WhatsApp Business already have several users complaining about it in comments section.

“DON’T DOWNLOAD THIS APP! IT’S FAKE! WhatsApp Business is not officially available yet for all,” the WABetaInfo social media account tweeted to its 30,000 followers. It added: “Check only official channels to download WhatsApp Business in future.” WhatsApp Business is yet to launch as a standalone service.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp was down for users worldwide for about an hour on Friday, with people complaining of issues with accessing its services. Some users took to Twitter to highlight problems with the messaging app. The Facebook-owned company later released a statement saying issue has been fixed, and apologised for any inconvenience.

According to downdetecor.com, 46 per cent users complained of problems with the connection while 41 per cent reported issues with sending or receiving messages. About 12 per cent WhatsApp had problems with ‘Last seen’ feature of the service.

With Tech Desk inputs

Railways to provide disposable, eco-friendly bedrolls in AC coaches

Ajith Athrady New Delhi, DH News Service, Nov 5 2017, 1:21 IST

It has begun providing disposable towels and pillow covers in the newly-introduced Bandra-Nizamuddin train and would replace blankets with

The Railway would distribute disposable and eco-friendly linen in the air-conditioned coaches, following complaints of dirty bedrolls and towel thefts.

It has begun providing disposable towels and pillow covers in the newly-introduced Bandra-Nizamuddin train and would replace blankets with cotton sheets.

Depending on the success of the experiment, the disposable linen will be provided in all other trains, said a railway official here, adding that the material used to make the sheets and towels is biodegradable and chemical-free cotton.

Following the Comptroller and Auditor General's rebuke over complaints of dirty bedrolls, the railways has been using innovative ideas to address the issue.

In some air-conditioned coaches, it has stopped distributing blankets and has started regulating the temperature to obviate the need for cover.

While the 'no blanket' rule has been in place in the AC coaches of the Jammu Mail, the railways is also gathering data from passengers on the viability of obviating blankets.

"Once we know how many of them ask for blankets and how many would like to go without one, we will decide on extending the distribution of disposable sheets," the official said. Attendants are reluctant to distribute towels to the passengers of the air-conditioned coaches as they are afraid of theft. "Railways always gets complaints that passengers take away the towels while alighting the train," the official said, adding that the cost of the stolen towel is recovered from the attendant's salary.

Disposable linens also save railways the cost of washing the bed covers and towels. While it spends Rs 55 on each bedroll, it charges the passengers only Rs 22, an official said.

Mudichur still a mess

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | P A JEBARAJ

PublishedNov 4, 2017, 7:56 am IST

Rs 600 crore flood alleviation project to protect South Chennai.

Motorists wade through flooded Mudichur road in Tambaram on Friday.

Chennai: An integrated flood alleviation project at a cost of Rs 600 crore will be taken up to prevent flooding in the southern part of Chennai and this project upon completion will prevent flooding in Mudichur, Perungalathur, Kovilambakkam, Pallikaranai, Velachery and Narayanapuram, higher education minister K.P. Anbhazhagan said on Friday.

The minister who was addressing the agitated Mudichur residents explained that the project will be taken up immediately and assured temporary flood mitigation measures on a war footing. Earlier in the day residents of Velachery Ram Nagar and Mudhichur vacated the ground floor of the buildings they were residing and took shelter on the first floor.

Youngsters of Bharathi Nagar Main Road in West Tambaram come out of their flooded house on Friday. (Photo: DC )

A few of them also vacated the houses and the parking lots remained vacant. “On Thursday night local youngster in these areas held discussions and we decided to move to the first floor after shifting TV, fridge and washing machines, but there were no alert or assistance from state authorities” rued Vijaya Kumari, a resident of Tambaram Krishna Nagar.

Infographic

“We have lost hope in the municipality and the government so I shifted all my belongings to the first floor and we have to help ourselves”, rued K. Shakila, who resides in Lakshmipuram. “The entire Mudichur road is overflowing with water and we fear the rerun of 2015 floods”, she added.

“Goodwill Nagar, Royappa Nagar, Bharathi Nagar and CTO colony suffered waterlogging and we are making efforts to divert the rainwater”, said a local revenue official, adding that there are problems only in the low lying areas which were either catchment or cultivable lands till 2000.

Despite downpour, reservoirs still below
20 per cent storage level

The heavy downpour saw flooding of city roads and there were also cases of water bodies like Naryanapuram lake, Kovilambakkam lake and Rettai Eri filling up, but reservoirs that meet the drinking water needs of Chennai recorded below 20 per cent storage level on Friday. All four reservoirs despite an inflow of 2,000 cusecs of water recorded a meagre 2,114 mcft water against the total storage capacity of 11,057 mcft. During same date last year, the storage was 1,276 mcft. Chembarambakkam, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Poondi received an inflow of 2,400 cusecs.

Why Foreshore estate, Madipakkam
Suffer waterlogging

It is due to poor planning and concrete roads. Under the mega city project, the local administration department mooted the concretisation of roadworks in Chennai. According to city corporation sources more than `300 crore has been spent on concrete roads in the past three years and this has now evolved as the major villain choking new interior roads in Madipakkam and Foreshore estate. “The recently laid concrete beach road between Seenivasapuram Nagar via Foreshore estate connecting Santhome flooded the fishing hamlets and the Foreshore estate. The road level was raised by half a foot and there is no drain. The concrete structure also flooded the EB sub-station resulting in a power outage,” said K. Arokiaraj, fishermen of Dumingkuppam.

Now, North Chennai is facing
Health hazard

Labour dominated North Chennai and its slums were choked with sewer overflow on Friday. The fresh rains added to the existing woes of the public. Visit by DC to Decastor and Demollows road in Pulianthope exposed poor drainage facilities and the only respite was that corporation authorities were conducting medical camps and distributing bleaching powder and paracetamol. “Otteri and Pulianthope, witnessing waterlogging for the last three days, are in a total mess and need more water pumps and super suckers to clear the drainage slush,” said social activist V. Sathiabalan.

No relief for attendance shortage, reiterates HC

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

PublishedNov 5, 2017, 4:21 am IST

The single judge had disallowed the students from appearing for second year PUC examination for want of required attendance.

After taking it into account, the court said that the does not provide for any relaxation of the minimum attendance to any extent under any circumstance.

Bengaluru: Those pursuing pre-university courses should keep tabs on their attendance and make sure they have the requisite 75% attendance, or they may not be allowed to appear for examination.

Recently, a division bench of the High Court refused to interfere with the order of single judge bench dismissing the plea of some PUC students seeking relaxation from attendance shortage. The single judge had disallowed the students from appearing for second year PUC examination for want of required attendance.

The advocates for the students had challenged the order of the single judge on the ground that it was contrary to a decision of this court in Prajwal Kumar Patil vs. Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

To examine as to whether the students were eligible to appear for the examination in the absence of the requisite attendance, the court felt that it is relevant to refer to Rule 12 of the Karnataka Pre-University Education (Academic, Registration, Administration and Grant-in-Aid etc) Rules, 2006, which reads as follows: “Rule 12 - Minimum days of attendance.—(1) A student shall have attendance of 75 per cent of the total number of periods in each subject during the academic year to become eligible to  appear for the annual examination. “

Further, the rules stated that the director shall notify the minimum number of hours of periods of teaching in respect of each subject and also the minimum number of hours of experiments to be conducted by the student in each science subject. “A student who fails to put in the minimum period of study and attendance in the class and also a science student who fails to conduct the minimum hours of experiments in the laboratories successfully, shall not be eligible to appear for the annual examination,” it stated.

After taking it into account, the court said that the does not provide for any relaxation of the minimum attendance to any extent under any circumstance.

“Therefore, compliance of Rule 12 is mandatory. In other words, unless a student has the minimum attendance as required under Rule 12 of the Rules during the academic year, he shall not be eligible to appear for the annual examination.”
The students who had filed the appeal had attendance between 26% and 58%.

Therefore, admittedly, they had not put in the minimum attendance as required under Rule 12 of the Rules, and hence, were ineligible to appear for the examination, the court ordered while dismissing the appeals of the students.

Closed schools and crèches: A reluctant holiday for parents

Rachel Chitra| TNN | Nov 4, 2017, 10:32 IST

In a double whammy for working parents, all schools and many daycare centres remained shut for the past three or four days as water logging and power shutdown prevented them from being operational.Most daycare centres also have a small play area or a garden patch with swings and seesaws, and during the monsoon these areas are dangerous."Kids run out and play in the mud and we have a 10:1 kids to caretaker ratio. With dengue, malaria and other vectorborne diseases it isn't safe to be near a playground till the water completely drains out," said S Nirmala, head, Chocolatekids playschool and daycare centre.

The past 24 hours, in particular, were difficult for professionals, as commuting became arduous. When Bindhya Narasimhan, 36, wanted to drop her two kids on Friday at the daycare in Foreshore Estate, she found the access road blocked. "I could see that the road ahead had water up to 2ft.And then I saw the message on my phone that the daycare was closed," says Bindhya, who had to take leave to manage the kids.

At Bamboola in Mandaveli, parents were alerted the previous night that the daycare would be shut on Friday ."We have large open spaces for play and the water has not drained out. Younger children also tend to fall sick if their clothes or socks get wet, so it's better for them to stay home," says Deepa, teacher, Bamboola. Parents like Sunita Narayanan had to take leave for the third day in a row. "The first two days I opted to work from home, but now there is no power at home and no daycare too," she says.

For the few daycare centres like Kanchana Patti and Happica that remained open, it was a tough, too. "The children felt cooped up due to the indoor activities, but we could not let them play outside," said Suri, co-founder, Kanchana Patti.

Medico's dad slams delay in probe into sexual harassment complaint

TNN | Updated: Nov 4, 2017, 11:55 IST

VILLUPURAM/CHENNAI: More than a week after a medical intern at the Government Villupuram Medical Collegefiled a sexual harassment complaint against an assistant professor, her father, a retired government employee, has slammed the delay in initiating an inquiry, adding that they were 'victimising' his daughter instead.

While the assistant professor, who has been named in the complaint dated October 25, continues to work in the same college, the medico has been shifted to another batch under another faculty. The complaint accusing the professor of 'unwanted deliberate touch' was addressed to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice chancellor Dr V Geethalakshmi. A copy was sent to the director of medical education Dr Edwin Joe and college dean Dr M Vanithamani along with signatures of 32 batch mates, who claimed to have either known or witnessed the incident which happened on October 22.

While the student could not be contacted, her father said college officials were "attempting to safeguard the culprit" instead of punishing him. "The faculty told me my daughter was a drug addict and she was being vindictive as he turned down her proposal. We have now decided not to let this go. We will ensure that the professor is punished," he said.

Two of the complainant's batch mates, who sought anonymity, said they decided to sign the complaint as they wanted the assistant professor to be punished. "We wanted the professor to go on leave till the inquiry is completed. The hospital turned our request down," they said.

The university registrar Dr T Balasubramanian said his office received a complaint on Friday. "We will seek an inquiry report from the college dean. Our university is not an administrative authority, but an academic body," he said.

Dr Vanithamani told TOI that she moved the medico under another faculty so that the girl does not have to face her alleged abuser. A committee comprising senior doctors, social workers, journalists and hospital administrators will conduct a two-day inquiry from November 8. "The medico, her batch mates, parents, the assistant professor and other faculty members will be called for a detailed inquiry," she said.

Lawyer who refused to link Aadhaar sticks to her guns

Sivakumar B| TNN | Nov 4, 2017, 12:08 IST



CHENNAI: Having an Aadhaar card has become essential, whether it is to claim welfare benefits or to continue operating your bank account. But this city advocate was not willing to mindlessly toe the line. Preethi Mohan refused to link her Aadhaar with PANin order to file her income tax returns, taking the issue to court. And, on the last day of filing of returns, she tasted blood, with the Madras high court ordering the income tax department to accept her returns without having to link her Aadhaar to her permanent account number (PAN).

"I am against getting an Aadhaar card as it violates my privacy. I went to a bank where Aadhaar registration was happening and found that I have to give my biometrics," said Mohan.

In other countries like the US, people are given identity numbers but that's used only for purposes of identification whereas, in India, Aadhaar is being used for multiple purposes - to avail benefits from public distri bution systems, to operate bank accounts and mobile numbers, she says. "I consulted people from other cities and after trying to file my tax returns online, I filed the case in the Madras high court seeking an order," said Mohan, adding that she will wait for the final Supreme Co urt judgment on the issue before getting an Aadhaar number. She is confident that the Supreme Court will not make Aadhaar mandatory."Every now and then the SC has ruled that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory, the latest being the SC's view on privacy. The Madras high court also took into consideration a similar order issued by the Kerala high court regarding linking Aadhaar to PAN," said Mohan, adding that there are several people in various states who are opposed to the idea of making Aadhaar mandatory. "The Aadhaar Act does not promise that our privacy will not be violated. If our personal details are leaked, the citizen cannot take any legal action. Getting a person's biometrics without putting safeguards into place is an invasion of privacy ," said Mohan.

"I will not get an Aadhaar number at all if the SC gives a final judgment in favour of people who are opposed to the Aadhaar system. If it is made mandatory , then I will have to take a call after that," the lawyer said.