WikiLeaks releases emails that detail the effort to make PM Modi’s Silicon Valley visit a success

Image Credits: Wikipedi

  11 Oct 2016 , 18:30

The latest batch of emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta gives an insight into the planning done by the Obama administration to ensure a successful visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015. More than a month and half before Modi was to visit Silicon Valley in the last week of September, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal wrote an email to John Podesta, who had by then joined the Clinton campaign, seeking his advice and input on making the trip successful.

She also sought to know if former US president Bill Clinton could co-host a clean energy event with Modi at Stanford. In an email to Podesta dated 12 August, Biswal said there is a lot of interest in the Indian government to focus on two themes for the Silicon Valley visit.  First is the digital economy, she wrote, and added that the focus will be a visit to Google and some announcements on Google’s massive investments in India, she said.

“The other focus is on clean energy. Here, the Indians want to visit Tesla and hopefully announce a Tesla partnership/venture with India focusing on

Trump-Clinton race went to new lows in second debate, and social media exploded

Following a week of controversy and scandal, the second US presidential debate got ugly fast on Sunday night, as the rancor turned it into the most tweeted debate of all time.

By Dan Patterson | Terry Collins | October 10, 2016, 5:27 AM PST


This article was originally published on CNET.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sparred Sunday night in one of the most contentious debates in modern political history.

Followers of each presidential candidate, unsurprisingly, took the contest online.

The 90-minute duel between the real-estate mogul and seasoned Washington veteran, with just a month to go before Election Day 2016, was the most-tweeted political debate in the 10 years of Twitter, the social network said Sunday. More than 17 million debate-related tweets were sent during the contest and nearly 30 million tweets throughout the course of the day.


Voters were eager to see how Republican nominee Donald Trump would respond to a crumbling presidential campaign, which took a new hit last week with revelations of crude remarks he had made about women. Others were eager to see if his Democratic challengerHillary Clinton would go for the

Trump calls for U.S. to use offensive cyberweapons

Donald Trump at a rally in Florence, South Carolina, on Feb. 5, 2016. Credit: Gage Skidmore/Trump Campaign

Grant Gross
IDG News Service
Oct 3, 2016 10:40 AM
The country shouldn't be shy about attacking those that target its resources, he says.

The U.S. government needs to be ready to use its offensive cyberweapons in response to attacks from other nations, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Monday.

The U.S. has significant offensive cybercapabilities, but it has been shy about deploying them, Trump said during a speech in Herdon, Virginia. "This is the warfare of the future," he said.

The U.S. should also increase its use of cyberweapons to attack terrorists, Trump said.

President Barack Obama has failed to protect the nation's cybersecurity and a new focus is needed, added Trump, who has largely avoided technology issues in his campaign.

Trump said he will create an international cybersecurity task force to battle hackers, and he will ask U.S. military leaders for suggestions on how to improve the nation's cyberdefenses.

Another team of experts will review all U.S. government cybersecurity systems. "Ultimately, all systems will be reviewed and made as secure as modern technology permits," he said. "The review team will also remain current with constantly evolving new methods of attack and will attempt to anticipate them and develop defense as often as possible before breaches occur."

Trump also called on U.S. agencies to follow "best and strongest" security practices and to set up new security training programs for all employees.

Trump didn't say how he'd pay for an overhaul of the government's IT systems, which could cost tens of billions of dollars. His description of the review team's duties to anticipate attacks mirror efforts that have been in place in the U.S. government for years.

Trump also used the speech to attack Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's operation of a private email server while she served as Obama's secretary of state.

Trump said his speech on cybersecurity was "just the beginning of a long and overdue discussion" about the issue.

Clinton released a cybersecurity plan months ago. She called on expanded investments in cybersecurity technologies and accelerated adoption of best practices such as the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, first issued in February 2014.

FBI probes hacks targeting phones of Democratic Party officials: Report

The FBI is investigating suspected attempts to hack mobile phones used by Democratic Party officials as recently as the past month, four people with direct knowledge of the attack and the investigation told Reuters.

The revelation underscores the widening scope of the U.S. criminal inquiry into cyber attacks on Democratic Party organizations, including the presidential campaign of its candidate, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

U.S. officials have said they believe those attacks were