GLOBAL NOVA

More than 140 people are feared buried in a landslide in Sichuan province in south-western China, state media say.

Daisy's tale by Eillen Ormsby

For what you pay for an Xbox, there’s a lot that seems to go catastrophically wrong. Red ring of death, DVD drive failures, and excessive overheating come to mind. Today’s frustration focuses on a more in-depth problem: why won’t my Xbox 360 read game discs? The game disc looks clean, so why is it still skipping and freezing?  If you’re like me, you’ve taken your Xbox apart, wrapped towels around it, and sacrificed a baby lamb to the YouTube gods in hopes a twelve year old’s how-to video will end your misery. All in a last-ditch effort to just play Call of Duty 47. You could send it in to Microsoft, but then that usually requires 2-4 weeks of no Xbox. Which is just not going to be an option. You’re resourceful. There’s no easy way to get inside and scrub that sucker with Windex and a paper towel, but you’re the determined type who doesn’t want to risk not being able to play GTAV every hour of every day. Just how does a laser lens work, anyway?

NEW DELHI:   Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's  visit to the US starting Sunday, two senior American Congressmen have introduced a bipartisan bill that seeks to significantly pare down the country's ties with Pakistan. Republican Ted Poe and Democrat Rick Nolan on Friday introduced the bill for revoking Pakistan's Major Non-NATO Ally or MNNA status and make "a clean break" from the country that they said had "harboured terrorists" and had "little in the way of being accountable for the money given for fighting, eradicating these groups ".  The proposal came just two days before PM Modi will arrive in Washington for extensive talks with President Donald Trump that could prominently feature terrorism and relations in South Asia as well. "Pakistan must be held accountable for the American blood on its hands," Mr Poe said in some of the sharpest comments in the Capitol yet against Pakistan. "From harbouring Os...

Actor Johnny Depp appeared to threaten US President Donald Trump during a speech at the Glastonbury Festival. "Can you bring Trump here?" he asked the audience, as he introduced a screening of his film The Libertine. After receiving jeers from the crowd, he added: "You misunderstand completely. When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?" "I want to clarify," he added, "I'm not an actor. I lie for a living [but] it's been a while. Maybe it's about time." The star acknowledged that his comments - which may have been a reference to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by actor John Wilkes Booth in 1865 - would prove controversial. "By the way, this is going to be in the press and it'll be horrible," he said. "It's just a question, I'm not insinuating anything." He is not the first US celebrity to allude to killing the president. At a rally in Washington DC, ...

US President Donald Trump says he did not make secret recordings of ex-FBI chief James Comey despite an earlier hint to the contrary. " video " He said in a tweet: "I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings." Days after he fired Mr Comey in May, the president had tweeted: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations..." He has been under pressure to produce the tapes amid inquiries into alleged Russian meddling in the election. The House Intelligence Committee had earlier this month asked the White House to hand over any such recordings. James Comey was heading the FBI inquiry into alleged Russian interference in last year's presidential election, and whether the Trump team had any links to Moscow, when he was fired on 9 May. In the days that followed, a succession of stories appeared in US newspapers with allegations surrounding a private meeting Mr Trump had with Mr Comey in the Oval...

In the world of web where we get the global connectivity, it is far easier to break into someone’s personal zone. By personal, we do not just mean the social media. The world wide web which has become the hub of storing and restoring information, considered to be the safest vault, is a mere toy in the hands of a few computer geniuses. Hackers, Black Hat Hackers, villains, crackers, cyber-criminals, cyber pirates as they are well-known, throw a malicious sof tware or virus at a system to gain the access to the desired information. Piqued by curiosity, they may perhaps break into your system too. Here are top 10 hackers or the whiz kids who put the world in awe with their dexterity _________________________ 1. Gary McKinnon Gary McKinnon must’ve been a curious, restless child, for to gain information on UFOs, he thought it better to get a direct access into the channels of NASA. He infiltrated 97 US military and NASA computers, by installing virus and deleting a few file...

Al Jazeera has come under attack amid the latest Gulf diplomatic crisis [Reuters] New York Times condemns Saudi-led bloc's move to 'eliminate a voice that could lead citizens to question their rulers'. Silencing Al Jazeera was a high priority when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen moved to isolate Qatar earlier this month, the Editorial Board of The New York Times (NYT) wrote in an opinion piece published on Thursday.  "Qatar’s critics accuse the station of supporting Sunni Islamist terrorism and Iranian ambitions. But Saudi Arabia is hardly innocent when it comes to spreading Islamist extremism or supporting terrorist groups," the Board wrote.  By attacking Al Jazeera, Saudi Arabia and its anti-Qatar coalition are attempting to "eliminate a voice that could lead citizens to question their rulers". Al Jazeera was a key source of news as the Arab Spring rolled across the Middle East, and particularly as Egypti...

ARM CLOUD SERVERS Iliad’s cloud hosting division  Scaleway  has been betting on ARM chipsets for years because they believe the future of hosting is going to be based on ARM’s processor architecture. The company just launched more powerful ARMv8 options and added more cores to its cheapest options. If you’re not familiar with processor architecture, your computer and your smartphone use two different chipsets. Your laptop uses an x86 CPU manufactured by Intel or AMD, while your smartphone uses an ARM-based system-on-a-chip. Back in April, Scaleway launched 64-bit ARM-based virtual servers thanks to  Cavium ThunderX  systems-on-a-chip. And the most affordable option is crazy cheap. For For €2.99 per month ($3.30), you could get 2 ARMv8 cores and 2GB of RAM, 50GB of SSD with unlimited bandwidth at 200Mbit/s. With today’s update, Scaleway is doubling the number of cores on this option — you now get 4 cores instead of 2, making it...

Donald Trump has said he doesn’t want “a poor person” to hold economic roles in his administration as he used an Iowa rally to defend his decision to  appoint the wealthy to his cabinet . The US president told a crowd on Wednesday night: “Somebody said why did you appoint a rich person to be in charge of the economy? No it’s true. And Wilbur’s [commerce secretary Wilbur Ross] a very rich person in charge of commerce. I said: ‘Because that’s the kind of thinking we want.’” president explained that Ross and his economic adviser Gary Cohn “had to give up a lot to take these jobs” and that Cohn in particular, a former president of Goldman Sachs, “went from massive pay days to peanuts”. Trump added: “And I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person. Does that make sense? He made the comments as he toured the state with agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue and Ross partly to celebrate a  Republican congr...

Cristiano Ronaldo will hold talks about his future with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez only after the Confederations Cup, according to Sky sources. Portugal's captain arrives in St Petersburg on Thursday following a goal-scoring man-of-the-match performance against Russia in Moscow. It is understood Ronaldo remains "fully focused" on Portugal's progression from their group and intends to discuss his future only after the tournament. It remains unclear whether Ronaldo wants to discuss leaving Real Madrid for Paris St Germain, as reported by Spanish newspaper  Marca , and he has declined to answer any questions from journalists over his future during the Confederations Cup. Portugal to face New Zealand on Saturday and a win could secure their place as winners of Group A. It is understood Ronaldo had yet to receive any official communication from Spanish tax authorities on Tuesday night over a court appearance scheduled on 31 July for allege...

Shares in two of China's biggest conglomerates, Fosun International and HNA, fell by about 6% on Thursday, amid rumours that banks had been ordered to assess their loan exposure to them. Fosun bought Wolverhampton Wanderers football club last year, while HNA is Deutsche Bank's biggest shareholder. Reports said the banking regulator had also told lenders to investigate loans to Anbang Insurance, Odeon UK cinema owner Dalian Wanda and Zhejiang Luosen. All five are big overseas investors. The conglomerates' other high profile acquisitions include Zhejiang Luosen buying AC Milan football club earlier this year. HNA also owns airport services firm Swissport and airline caterer Gate Gourmet, and it has a 25% share in Hilton. Anbang owns New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel. Dalian Wanda's film division is the world's biggest cinema operator, and also owns the UCI chains in the UK. Trading in Wanda Film Holding's shares was suspended after they fel...