US increases bounty for Baghdadi by more than double to $25 million:

 

The US has more than doubled the reward for information leading to the capture of dreaded Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to USD 25 million.
The Department of State released a statement announcing the USD 25 million reward for the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The new bounty, USD 25 million, is the same amount offered for Osama bin Laden in 2011, but no one ever cashed in after the al-Qaeda leader was killed in Pakistan by a team of Navy SEALs in May of that year.
"Protecting the homeland and the American people is our top counter-terrorism priority, and just as we have intensified our efforts against ISIL (another name for ISIS), we are increasing the means available to us to gain information on their leadership and bring them to justice," the State Department said in a statement.
"The threat that al-Baghdadi poses has increased significantly since the Department of State's initial USD 10 million reward offer for information leading to his location, arrest, or conviction was announced in 2011," the department's Rewards for Justice Programme said on its website.

"Under Baghdadi, ISIL has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Middle East, including the brutal murder of numerous civilian hostages from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States," it said.
"Al-Baghdadi has taken credit for numerous terrorist attacks in Iraq since 2011, killing thousands of his fellow Iraqi citizens," it added. Baghdadi is designated by the Department of State as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist'. He is also listed at the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee.
US officials have long described Baghdadi as enemy No. 1 in the fight against the militant group and speculation has swirled over his whereabouts. Though Baghdadi has been elusive, he has spoken out occasionally in videos and audio messages.
In October 2015, Iraq's military claimed its air force had struck a convoy in western Anbar province that included a vehicle carrying Baghdadi. For weeks, reports circulated that he was seriously injured in the airstrike. Those reports have since been disputed by US officials.

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The 10 Biggest Spaceflight Stories of 2016:

 

2016 was a very busy year in space.

A number of high-profile missions lifted off, others reached their destinations after long journeys through deep space, and a few, sadly, crashed and burned.

1. Rocket landings galore

Some of the most exciting spaceflight action of 2016 involved rockets coming down rather than going up. California-based company SpaceX managed to land the first stage of five different Falcon 9 rockets during operational orbital launches this year; one of the boosters touched down back at the launch pad, whereas the other four landed on robotic "drone ships" stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

And the Washington-based company Blue Origin launched and landed the same suborbital New Shepard rocket four times this year, finally retiring the booster after a successful October test flight. (Dating back to 2015, SpaceX now has a total of six successful rocket landings, and Blue Origin has five.)

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin — which are headed by billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respectively — aim to develop fully reusable rockets as a way to slash the cost of spaceflight and open up the heavens to exploration. As the above successes show, this year brought both companies closer to that ambitious goal. [Reusable Rocket Launch Systems: How They Work (Infographic)]

2. Juno arrives at Jupiter

NASA's $1.2 billion Juno probe launched in August 2011, on a mission to study Jupiter's atmosphere, composition, and gravitational and magnetic fields. The spacecraft finally arrived at the giant planet this year, slipping into Jupiter orbit after acing a make-or-break, 35-minute engine burn on the night of July 4.

The road has been a bit bumpy for Juno since then. An apparent valve issue prevented the spacecraft from performing a planned engine burn in October, so Juno remains in a long and looping 53-day orbit rather than its envisioned 14-day science orbit. In addition, a glitch caused the probe to go into a protective safe mode shortly before its Oct. 19 Jupiter close approach; as a result, Juno didn't gather data during the flyby. 

But mission team members are working through these issues. Juno's latest close Jupiter flyby, on Dec. 11, went well, and the spacecraft is healthy overall, Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said this month.

3. NASA asteroid-sampling mission lifts off

Shortly after Juno reached its destination, another NASA spacecraft began a long deep-space journey. On Sept. 8, the $800 million Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) probe lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

If all goes according to plan, OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with the 1,640-foot-wide (500 meters) near-Earth asteroid Bennu in August 2018. The probe will study the space rock from orbit for two years, then snag at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of asteroid material in July 2020. In September 2023, this sample will make it back to Earth, where scientists will examine the material, searching for the carbon-based building blocks of life and other interesting molecules. [Blastoff! OSIRIS-REx Launches to Asteroid Bennu (Video)]

4. European Mars mission arrives at the Red Planet

The first phase of the European-led ExoMars mission launched in March, sending a lander and an orbiter streaking toward the Red Planet. The duo got there in October, but only one of them lived to tell the tale.

The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) — which will sniff the Martian atmosphere for methane, a possible sign of Red Planet life — slipped into orbit successfully on Oct. 19. But earlier that day, the lander, known as Schiaparelli, crashed on Mars. Schiaparelli's computer apparently thought the lander was much closer to the planet's surface than it actually was, and as a result, the vehicle didn't fire its descent-slowing thrusters for nearly long enough, European Space Agency (ESA) officials have said.

Schiaparelli's main task was to prove out landing technologies that will put the life-hunting ExoMars rover down on the Red Planet in 2021. And data gathered during Schiaparelli's final minutes of life should indeed help in this aim, ESA officials have said.

5. Chinese astronauts dock with another space lab

China aims to have its own space station up and running in Earth orbit by the early 2020s, and the nation made a lot of progress toward that goal this year.

China launched its second-ever space lab, known as Tiangong-2, on Sept. 15, to help test spacecraft docking and rendezvous technologies. Then, on Oct. 18, two astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft docked with the 9.5-ton (8.6 metric tons) Tiangong-2 and stayed aboard the lab for a month. The pair's stint more than doubled the previous Chinese record for longest crewed space mission.

Tiangong-2 is following in the footsteps of Tiangong-1, which launched in September 2011 and hosted three docking missions (two of which were crewed) before ending its operational life this past March.

6. Rosetta comet probe dives to its death

Europe's epic Rosetta comet mission came to an end on Sept. 30, when the probe dove into the surface of Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This was a planned suicide: The comet was streaking far from the sun, and the solar-powered Rosetta would not have been able to stay operational for much longer, ESA officials said. [Gallery: Rosetta's Last Comet Photos During Crash-Landing]

Rosetta launched in March 2004 and arrived at 67P in August 2014, in the process becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit a comet. The mission achieved another first that November, when the Rosetta mothership dropped a lander called Philae onto Comet 67P's surface. That touchdown didn't go entirely as planned; Philae's anchoring harpoons failed to fire, and the lander bounced twice before finally coming to rest in a location that remained mysterious for nearly two years. (The Rosetta team didn't find Philae until early September, just weeks before Rosetta's death dive.)

The 1.3-billion-euro ($1.36 billion at current exchange rates) Rosetta mission captured the best-ever looks at a comet, and the mission's data should help scientists better understand these icy wanderers and the solar system's early days, mission team members have said.

7. SpaceShipTwo back in action

On Oct. 31, 2014, Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, known as VSS Enterprise, broke apart during a rocket-powered test flight, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury and injuring pilot Peter Siebold. The tragedy grounded the company — until this year.

In February, the company unveiled its new SpaceShipTwo, which is called VSS Unity. The suborbital space plane lifted off with its mothership in a "captive carry" test for the first time in September, then made its maiden free-flight test on Dec. 3, gliding back down to Earth in a solo runway landing. Unity will perform a series of such "glide flights" before beginning the rocket-powered phase of its test campaign.

SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers to an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) or so, then bring them back down to Earth. Tickets to ride the suborbital space plane currently sell for $250,000.

8. Spaceflight is hard: 2016 edition

As SpaceShipTwo's story indicates, spaceflight is a tough proposition, and the world got two more reminders of that fact this year.

On Sept. 1, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the pad during a routine pre-launch test, destroying the booster and the $200 million AMOS-6 communications satellite. SpaceX engineers traced the anomaly to the interaction between oxygen and a carbon-composite helium container in the Falcon 9's upper stage. Falcon 9s have been grounded since the incident, but one of them should return to flight next month, SpaceX representatives have said.

Then, on Dec. 1, Russia's uncrewed Progress spacecraft failed during a cargo launch toward the International Space Station (ISS). A problem with the third stage of the Progress' Soyuz rocket apparently doomed the freighter, which burned up over southern Russia.

Such cargo-ship incidents aren't terribly uncommon. Another Progress fell back to Earth in May 2015 without reaching the station, and Orbital ATK and SpaceX — both of which signed ISS re-supply contracts with NASA — suffered their own failures in October 2014 and June 2015, respectively. (Both companies have flown successful cargo missions since those incidents.)

9. Elon Musk unveils Mars-colonization plans, and another team shoots for the stars

Elon Musk has long dreamed of colonizing Mars. Now we know how he plans to do it.

At a conference in Mexico in September, the SpaceX chief unveiled blueprints for the planned Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) — a reusable rocket-and-spaceship duo that Musk said could begin ferrying colonists to the Red Planet by the mid-2020s, if everything goes according to plan. ITS could potentially also fly astronauts to more far-flung destinations, such as Jupiter's ocean-harboring moon Europa, Musk said. [Images: SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System]

Musk wasn't the only person to reveal a bold spaceflight vision this year. In April, famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking, several other scientists and billionaire investor Yuri Milner announced the $100 million Breakthrough Starshot project, which aims to develop a laser-sailing spaceflight system that will accelerate tiny probes to 20 percent the speed of light or so. The long-term goal is to send flotillas of such spacecraft to study Proxima Centauri and other nearby star systems up close, team members said.

10. Yearlong ISS mission ends

The longest-ever ISS mission came to an end this year, with the March touchdown of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.

Kelly and Kornienko spent 11 months aboard the ISS, allowing doctors and scientists to gather a wealth of data about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on human physiology and behavior. Such data will inform preparations to send astronauts to Mars, NASA officials have said. (It takes six to nine months to get to Mars with currently available propulsion technology.).

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France inaugurates world's first 'solar highway':

French environment minister Segolene Royal attends the inauguration of a solar panel road in Tourouvre, France, on Thursday

The one-kilometre (half-mile) “Wattway” covered with 2,800 square metres (30,000 square feet) of resin-coated solar panels was hooked up to the local power grid as environment minister Segolene Royal looked on.

“This new use of solar energy takes advantage of large swathes of road infrastructure already in use... to produce electricity without taking up new real estate,” Royal said in a statement.

The minister announced a four-year “plan for the national deployment of solar highways” with initial projects in western Brittany and southern Marseille.

An average of 2,000 cars uses the road in Tourouvre each day, testing the resistance of the panels for the project carried out by French civil engineering firm Colas, a subsidiary of construction giant Bouygues.

The idea, which is also under exploration in Germany, the Netherlands and the US, is that roadways are occupied by cars only around 20% of the time, providing vast expanses of a surface to soak up the sun’s rays.

Colas says that in theory France could become energy independent by paving only a quarter of its million kilometres of roads with solar panels.

Sceptics are waiting to see whether the panels can withstand the ravages of time and weather, as well as the beating they will take from big trucks.

Solar panels installed on a 70-metre stretch of a cycling lane north of Amsterdam experienced some damage last winter but the problem has been resolved, the project’s company TNO said.

The Wattway project, which has received a state subsidy of five million euros (dollars), began with four pilot sites around France, in parking lots or in front of public buildings, on much smaller surfaces of between 50 and 100 square metres each.

One drawback of the system is that solar panels are more effective when angled towards the sun, typically on slanted rooftops, than when they are laid flat.

And the cost question is far from being resolved. Each kilowatt-peak—the unit of measure for solar energy—generated by Wattway currently costs €17, compared with €1.30 for a major rooftop installation.

But Colas hopes to make the cost competitive by 2020, noting that the cost of producing solar energy decreased by 60% between 2009 and 2015 according to a French renewable energy association, SER.

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2016: The year in shakeups and surprises

2016: The year in shake-ups and surprises check out number 15 and you will be surprised:

1.  Donald Trump - President-elect of U.S.

Almost no one — except, perhaps, the candidate - expected Donald's Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election. The businessman — a controversial figure best known in recent years for his reality TV appearances - beat his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. But although it was one of the biggest, it was by no means the only shock of 2016. We look at some of the most surprising, heartbreaking and downright amazing events of the year gone by.

 

 2.    David Bowie Dies at 69

Music legend and cultural icon David Bowie (real name David Robert Jones), who had been a titanic figure in popular culture since the late 1960s, passed away on January 10 after an 18-month battle with liver cancer. Following his death, thousands of fans gathered at impromptu shrines around the world to commemorate one of the great showmen and influencers of the 20th century. 

 

 

3. Gawker.com is forced into bankruptcy and closure

After 14 years as one of the pre-eminent purveyors of gossip and celebrity culture Gawker.com, the flagship site of Gawker Media, closed in June. Gawker Media had lost a $140 million lawsuit brought by former wrestler Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) over a sex tape featuring Bollea which Gawker had published and which Bollea claimed had invaded his privacy. Bollea's lawsuit was allegedly funded by Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor and PayPal founder who had, notoriously, backed several lawsuits against Gawker since the site outed him as gay in 2007.

 

 

 4. Maria Sharapova receives a two-year     suspension

In June 2016, Maria Sharapova was suspended for two years for testing positive for meldonium, a heart drug that was added to WADA's (the World Anti-Doping Authority) list of banned substances in January. Sharapova claimed that meldonium was prescribed to her by a family doctor in 2005 and she has been using it for more than a decade. The panel later reduced her suspension to 15 months on appeal.

5.Prince dies at 57

Prince, the flamboyant musician and performer who enthralled fans for decades with his style and musical innovation, died at his recording studio Paisley Park in Minnesota, U.S. after an accidental overdose of the powerful opioid painkiller fentanyl. The artist, who was a master of reinvention and was famous for his multi-instrumental talent and the sheer volume of his song-writing, released his final album, "Hit n Run Phase Two," in December 2015.

6. Taiwan inaugurates first female President

In May 2016, Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen (C) was sworn in as president. Her win was only the second ever victory for a Democratic Progressive Party candidate after almost 70 years of government by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China).

7.Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize for Literature

In October 2016, U.S. singer Bob Dylan was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, making him the first ever musician to win the prestigious award. The 75-year-old legend received the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." The surprises didn't stop there, though: after the announcement by the Nobel Committee, Dylan (real name Robert Zimmerman) declined to comment for almost two weeks, then refused to travel to Sweden to receive the honor. Rock singer Patti Smith eventually accepted it on his behalf.

8.Pakistan famed Afghan woman deported

In Nov. 2016, Sharbat Gula, the famous Afghan girl from National Geographic's Cover photographed in Pakistan's refugee camp, was deported from Pakistan after being convicted of staying in the country illegally. She was later welcomed by Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani after which president and his wife hosted a reception for her at the presidential palace. Ghani also handed her keys to a fully furnished apartment.

9.Kim Kardashian robbed in Paris

In October 2016, reality star Kim Kardashian (inset), in Paris to attend Paris Fashion Week, had her luxury apartment in the Hotel de Pourtales on Rue Tronchet invaded by five armed men. The intruders robbed Kardashian, who is married to musician Kanye West, of the millions of dollars worth of jewelry and luxury items. She did not suffer any injuries and the thieves have yet to be caught. 

10.Chicago Cubs win the World Series

Surprising the whole world, the Chicago Cubs finally won the Major League Baseball World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 to win the series 4-3. The win brings to an end one of the most notoriously long waits for silverware in sporting history: the Cubs had won back-to-back World Series titles in 1907 and 1908 but had not won baseball's biggest prize since.

11. Brangelina split

On Sept. 20, 2016, Angelina Jolie revealed she’d filed papers to divorce Brad Pitt. The pair had been married since 2014 and a couple since 2005. The filing marks the end of one of Hollywood's most influential couples, although their lengthy dispute over custody of their six children looks set to continue for some time.

12.Bono - Glamour Women Of The Year 2016

How did the first man honored as one of the Glamour Women of the Year react? When the U2 singer, who supports such causes as Poverty Is Sexist, accepted his award, he said, "I know how ridiculous it is for me to be on this stage, accepting this award. But if I didn't know how ridiculous it was, I did have the blessed Internet to remind me."

 

13.Brazilian and South Korean Presidents Impeached

The impeachment of Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff (L), was the culmination of months of controversy within the highest level of Brazilian politics. Rousseff, who was found guilty of breaking budgetary laws, was formally impeached on Aug. 31.

Some months later, in December 2016, President of South Korea Park Geun-hye (R) was impeached and her powers suspended following allegations that she had been involved in a scheme to extort money from Korea's biggest businesses.

 

14. Pokemon Go success

The augmented reality game Pokemon Go became a colossal success when it was released as a free-to-play applicaton for iOS and Android in June. The game, which involves users interacting with virtual Pokemon in real-world environments, has been praised for blurring the boundaries between virtual and physical play.

15.Demonetization rocks India

In a move aimed to crack down on the country's notorious "black money" economy — the network of kickbacks, corruption and black market revenue that costs the state millions in lost taxes - Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced on national television that all 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee banknotes would be invalid from midnight of that night. But the secrecy surrounding the announcement meant that many banks suffered severe cash shortages as citizens rushed to change their money.

 

16.Panama Papers reveal extent of global tax evasion

Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca found itself a household name in April when a collective of journalists and major newspapers published the first stories from the data leak nicknamed the "Panama Papers." The papers revealed the tax and financial arrangements of many prominent figures in the worlds of politics, entertainment, business and sport.

After China's Comment On Agni-V Missile Test, India's Curt Response:

 

New Delhi: Responding to China's reaction to its test-firing of the Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, India on Tuesday said its strategic capabilities were not targeted against any particular country, adding that while it abides by all applicable international obligations, it expects others do the same. "India's strategic capabilities are not targeted against any particular country. India abides by all the applicable international obligations and hopes that all other do the same. India's strategic autonomy and growing engagement contributes to strategic stability," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Mr Swarup's remarks came after Chinese Foreign Ministry said it hoped that India's test-firing of the nuclear-capable Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM, that could cover all of China, complied with UN Security Council rules and safeguarded South Asia's strategic balance.
As Beijing maintained that the two nations are "not rivals for competition but partners for cooperation", it took exception to media reports that the successful test of Agni-V was meant to target China.
China's Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in Beijing said, "We have noted reports on India's test fire of Agni-V ballistic missile. The UN Security Council has explicit regulations on whether India can develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons."
"China always maintains that preserving the strategic balance and stability in South Asia is conducive to peace and prosperity of regional countries and beyond."
As Beijing maintained that the two nations are "not rivals for competition but partners for cooperation", it took exception to media reports that the successful test of Agni-V was meant to target China.
China's Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in Beijing said, "We have noted reports on India's test fire of Agni-V ballistic missile. The UN Security Council has explicit regulations on whether India can develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons."
"China always maintains that preserving the strategic balance and stability in South Asia is conducive to peace and prosperity of regional countries and beyond."

Bajaj Dominar 400 Vs Pulsar RS200:

Bajaj recently shocked everyone when they announced the pricing of their new flagship brand, Dominar. The prices of the bike start from INR 1.36 lakhs and it is so competitive that they have smartly placed the bike in the segment of Royal Enfield making Dominar more affordable than any of its rivals. The bike does not have any direct rival in that same price bracket and stands a very good chance to eat the buyers of all those bikes which are less powerful than Dominar and are priced around in the same price bracket.
This also includes its own flagship model of Pulsar series, RS200 which is priced at INR 1.33 lakhs making Dominar only 3K more expensive than it. Which one makes more sense and gives more value for your money? Well to answer the question, we have come up with this comparison putting the flagship models of Bajaj up against each other to know which one makes more sense to buy. Let us find out.

Styling and Dimensions
Surprisingly, both these bikes are the end results of the concept versions shown at the Auto Expo 2012. The Pulsar RS200 is based on the styling concept of Pulsar RS400 while the Dominar gets its styling from the CS400. The Dominar is a naked tourer bike while the RS200 is a full fairing bike for racing enthusiasts with improved aerodynamics and riding position.The Dominar 400 has been tastefully designed with usage of full LED headlamp cluster at front with LED side turn indicators, black colored alloy wheels with flowing design short front fender and skinny cowl with a short and tinted visor on the top of its headlamp while the RS200 gets twin projector lamps at front with a long visor and an aggressive full fairing. Move the side and the naked and full fairing look of both bikes come out even better with their respective different styling matching their personality.
The Dominar is the bigger bike out o of two as it stands at 2156mm in length, 813mm in width and 1112mm in height giving it the much needed compact yet macho appearance while the RS200 measures 1999mm, 765mm and 1114mm in length, width and height respectively making it a full size and practical bike to handle. These both bikes are undoubtedly one of the best designed bikes ever from Bajaj.

Engine Spec
Both bikes are powered by KTM sourced single cylinder, liquid-cooled, fuel injected engines hence they are rev happy and refined with good outright performance. The Dominar400 is powered by the same 373cc, SOHC engine as used in the KTM Duke 390. This engine has been specially tuned by Bajaj to meet the proposed cruising abilities of this bike with incorporation of Triple spark technology. The bike produces a peak power and torque output of around 35bhp@8000 and 35Nm@6500rpm respectively. This results in a very strong low and mid range and that is probably what Bajaj wanted to achieve as their positioning of this bike demands it to be a relaxed cruiser than a performance bike.
For performance, you may choose the RS200 which also gets single cylinder engine from Duke 200 and has been tuned to churn out a peak power and torque output of 24.1bhp@9750rpm and 18.6Nm@8000rpm respectively. However despite the relaxed nature of Dominar, it has 8km/hr higher claimed top speed of 148km/hr then RS200 also making it the fastest Bajaj bike. The Dominar further gets equipped with slipper clutch and both bikes feature 6-speed gearbox.

Features
As far as features are concerned Bajaj has made sure you get more value for your money than you expect from both of their bikes. The Dominar especially is the most advanced Bajaj bike in India in terms of features as you get a complete digital instrument panel which also looks very practical, functional and premium with a small part of its placed on the fuel tank same as seen in bikes such as Ducati Diavel. The main display has digital speedometer, odometer, trip meter, time and tachometer while the tank display is for the tell tale lights. This whole set-up of instrument display is very appealing and premium. The RS200 also gets twin projector lamps at front along with a combined analog-digital instrument display while it shares few features with Dominar such as blue colored backlit switches on the handlebar, stylish alloy wheels, split seat, grab rail, LED tail lamp etc.
Suspension and Brakes
Both bikes ride on 17-inch wheels with radial tyres equipped at both ends. The Dominar gets rear 150 section tyre while the RS200 gets 130 section tyre to provide you enough grip on these bikes around corners and while going at fast speed. The added length of Dominar results in a nearly 100mm longer wheelbase of 1453mm in comparison to RS200 which makes sure you get great high speed stability which gets even better with its 43mm telescopic forks at front with a dual spring mono-shock at the back. The RS200 also gets similar suspension set-up at both ends including telescopic forks at front and mono-shock at the back.

Both bikes though have a low ground clearance of 157mm which may get affected by high speed breakers and big potholes on our Indian roads. The Dominar is the heavier of two as it weighs around 182kg which makes it nearly 17kg heavier than the RS and both bikes have been equipped with disc brakes at both ends. The Dominar gets a bigger 320mm disc brake at front while the RS200 gets 300mm disc brake at front. Both bikes share their rear disc brake of 230mm. Both bikes come with optional ABS however the Dominar gets dual channel ABS while the RS200 only gets single channel ABS to keep prices in check.
Verdict
Certainly, the Dominar comes out as a superior bike of two in terms of performance, features and usage of advanced technologies. The pricing of the non ABS variant is even more tempting for someone to own a 400cc bike equipped with all latest features, styling and offering adequate performance. The ABS variant is priced at INR 1.50lakhs (Ex-showroom, Delhi) and that is only where the major price difference arises.
So if you are not a fan of full fairing bikes and you are looking for a comfortable yet powerful performance bike then we will surely recommend you to go for the non ABS variant of Dominar which has a bigger front disc brake than the single channel ABS equipped RS200 which is not as powerful as Dominar and misses out many features which you get in Dominar and it will be even better if you can shed out some more money and buy the ABS variant of Dominar and clear your all confusions in a one go and enjoy your ownership of having the fastest and most powerful Bajaj bike ever.
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Everything About Tor: What is Tor? How Tor Works ?

 Tor enables a user to stay anonymous on the internet and get rid of any potential surveillance, location tracking, etc. while using the internet. Read this article to know everything about Tor.

or or The Onion Router, allows anonymous use of internet veiling the actual identity of the user. It protects the user from any traffic analysis and network spying. Tor is perhaps the most popular and secure option available for anonymous internet connectivity.

Where it came from?

Tor is based on the principle of ‘onion routing’ which was developed by Paul Syverson, Michael G. Reed and David Goldschlag at the United States Naval Research Laboratory in the 1990’s. The alpha version of Tor named ‘The Onion Routing Project’ or simply TOR Project was developed by Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson, launched on September 20, 2002. Further development was carried under the financial roof of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The Tor Project Inc. is a non-profit organisation that currently maintains Tor and is responsible for its development. It is mainly funded by the United States Government, further aid is provided by Swedish Government and different NGOs & individual sponsors.

How it Works?

 

Tor works on the concept of ‘onion routing’ method in which the user data is first encrypted, and then transferred through different relays present in the Tor network, thus creating a multi-layered encryption (layers like an onion), thereby keeping the identity of the user safe. At each relay, one layer is decrypted and the remaining data is forwarded to any random relay until it reaches its destination server. For the destination server, the last Tor node/exit relay appears as the origin of the data. It is thus very difficult to trace the identity of user or the server by any surveillance systems acting in the mid-way.
Other than providing anonymity to standalone users, Tor can also provide anonymity to websites and servers this comes under the category of hidden services. Also, P2P applications like Bittorrent can be configured to use tor network and download torrent files.

Controversies and Influence:

Tor has been eulogized for the anonymity and privacy it provides to the users who want to bypass censorship, who are abused and traumatized by stalkers and social activists who are afraid of being arrested by the authorities. It has been used by different security agencies to share confidential information.
The NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden used Tor to leak information about PRISM to The Guardian and The Washington Post.
Tor has been criticized for the reason that it acts as a medium for different illegal activities like data breaching, drug dealing, gambling etc. Tor is also used by malevolent people to communicate over the internet while keeping their identity hidden which makes it difficult for the security agencies to trace them.
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has called Tor “the king of high-secure, low-latency Internet anonymity” and similar comments by BusinessWeek magazine, “perhaps the most effective means of defeating the online surveillance efforts of intelligence agencies around the world”.
Another speculation made is that Tor takes its funding from the U.S. Government which may lead to the assumption that NSA may have compromised the identities of individual Tor users, but the executive director Andrew Lewman has disclaimed any confederations with NSA.

Can it be Compromised?

Various claims have been made to compromise Tor’s anonymity and security from time to time. The most famous is the Bad Apple Attack in which the researchers claimed to have identified around 10k IP addresses of active Bittorrent users who were connected via Tor.
Another famous compromise was done by the Heartbleed bug in April 2014 which halted Tor network for several days.
Traffic Fingerprinting is a method used to analyse web traffic by analysing the patterns, responses and packets in a particular direction. This can be used to attack the Tor network by making the attacker’s computer act as the guard.
The main vulnerability found is at its exit points where the level of security is very low as compared to the rest of the Tor network.

Products based on Tor:

The Tor Project Inc. has released Tor Browser which is a modification of an Extended Support Release version of Mozilla Firefox browser. The browser is made portable so that it be used from an external media and reduces the hazel of installation. It removes the user history after every use, thus reducing the risk of any kind of cookie tracking.
Other products like Orbot – an android version of Tor, Orfox – a mobile version of Tor Browser are developed by The Guardian Project which is a global developer community founded by Nathan Freitas.
We can set-up SOCKS (Socket Secure) based applications to use the Tor network by configuring them with loop-back address.

Tor Alternatives:

Hornet is a new anonymity network that provides higher network speeds compared to Tor. I2P, Tails, SubgraphOS, Freenet and Freepto are other top alternatives that can be used.
To know more about these alternatives, please visit this link.

Winding Up:

Tor has proved to be a great medium for safe, secure and anonymous web presence that can be provided to a user at no cost. Although it is available for a positive intention, but is also used by malignant people in fulfilling their needs. The Tor project has led to an optimistic approach towards censorship and surveillance free internet.
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source:fossbytes.com