US President Donald TrumpReuters

Bad news for Pakistan: Donald Trump gives CIA authority to carry out drone strikes

Trump's actions also mark a significant change from the policies of the Obama administration under which only the Department of Defence was authorised to carry out such drone strikes.

Will Reliance Jio help Google Android One make a comeback in India?

Though there is no word on what Reliance Jio will call the new Google phone, many believe it will be christened Android One series. The argument is not completely unfounded as the search giant is keen on expanding the internet footprint in India.

The company has already joined hands with the central, state governments and the Indian Railways to offer free Wi-Fi at railway stations and landmark areas.

Phones with 4G capability hold a lot of potential in terms of internet speed and cost. Google launched the Android One series first in India in 2014. The search giant partnered with top local phone-makers Micromax, Spice Mobility and Karbonn Mobile, albeit with limited success. Later, Google joined hands with Lava International to launch the Pixel V1 in 2015, again in vain. Though, Google, in partnership with mobile vendors launched new Android One series phones in 2016 in select global markets, none came to India. This apparently led many to believe that Google have given up on the Indian market.

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Now, the latest report indicates that the search engine is far from done with the subcontinent.

We believe Reliance Jio-branded Android One has more chances of becoming a hit among the public. How? You may ask. Well, Reliance Jio is currently the most, if not the best, cost-effective network carrier in the country. Jio is offering free calls to all networks across India with no roaming charges and the data tariff is the cheapest among all domestic players.

Android One failed to take off in India after emerging Chinese players Xiaomi, among others launched similar range of phones with more specs.

The success of Lyf series phones has put Jio in a position of advantage. A better understanding of consumers in the budget segment will give the partnership an edge in the making of Android One series.

This is a win-win situation for both the parties. While, Reliance Jio get a Google label to pull in the youth (urban and rural), the search engine giant will get more internet users, and in turn get huge returns on a long term basis.

"For Jio the main target is to expand its user base and tap into users who will migrate from featurephone to smartphone for first time. Google can be of great help as it can tweak the android according to requirements like the vernacular language support and integration of Jio ecosystem app's in Android OS. This will help Jio not only expand its penetration in India but also drive its content ecosystem. Moreover, the device will be from Google so it will have a high brand value. Google will also profit from this as they will have better control over the android OS (updates etc.) and add new users to its ecosystem," Parv Sharma, research associate at Counterpoint Research, said to International Business Times, India.

Besides the 4G-mobile, Google has also been asked to develop software for Reliance Jio's Smart TV services, which is expected to make its debut by the end of 2017.

Watch this space for latest news Reliance Jio and Google.

The CIA and the White House have not yet responded to the authenticity of the news report.

"The Trump administration is also giving the military more authority to conduct operations on its own without first getting a sign off from the Pentagon or the White House," the report said.

According to New America, a Washington DC based think-tank, before the Obama administration changed policies of drone strikes and gave the authorisation only to Department of Defence, the CIA mostly used to conduct drone strikes in Pakistan.

Reports state that the drone strikes in Pakistan resulted in the death of at least 1,904 people. American scholars Peter Bergen and David Sterman reckon that the figure of deaths due to CIA drone strikes could be as high as 3,114.

Former President Barack Obama had halted US drone strikes in the last eight month of his administration. However, concerns of the presence of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan by top Pentagon generals have recently started cropping up.

The CIA drone strikes have also proven successful in eliminating high profile terrorists from Pakistan.

"The United States has killed more than 50 al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan since the beginning of the CIA drone campaign," Bergen and Sterman wrote in a CNN op-ed.