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Archives for September 2018

Facebook expands security tools to protect elections globally

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 In order to further secure candidates and campaign staff vulnerable to hackers and nation-state actors during the elections, Facebook has introduced additional tools to protect political campaigns in the US and around the world.

The social media giant has launched a pilot programme to expand its existing protections for users associated with US political campaigns ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections.

“Candidates for federal or statewide office, as well as staff members and representatives from federal and state political party committees, can add additional security protections to their Pages and accounts,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook, wrote in a blog post late on Monday.

“We’ll help officials adopt our strongest account security protections, like two-factor authentication, and monitor for potential hacking threats,” Gleicher added.

Over the past year, the company has invested in new technology and more people to stay ahead of bad actors who are determined to use Facebook to disrupt elections.

“This pilot programme is an addition to our existing security tools and procedures, and we will apply what we learn to other elections in the US and around the world,” said Facebook.

“As we detect abuse, we will continue to share relevant information with law enforcement and other companies so we can maximise our effectiveness,” it added.

According to a report in Download, a working paper released last week revealed a significant drop-off in the engagements 570 fake news sites received on Facebook since the 2016 US presidential elections.

“At its peak, there were 200 million monthly engagements with the sites. As of July 2018, that’s dropped to 70 million,” the report added.

In April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of the US Senate, saying they were too slow to spot and respond to Russian interference.

“Our sophistication in handling these threats is growing and improving quickly. We now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review. We’ll have more than 20,000 by the end of this year,” he told the lawmakers.

The Facebook CEO apologised for what happened and took responsibility for everything. He also said that there is an online propaganda “arms race” with Russia and it was important to make sure no one interferes in any more elections, including in India.

“The most important thing I care about right now is making sure no one interferes in the various 2018 elections around the world,” he testified before a 44-Senator panel.

(IANS)

Brazil clinch spot in 2nd round of volleyball championship

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Ruse (Bulgaria) Brazil has defeated previously unbeaten Canada 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 25-18) to guarantee themselves a berth in the second round of the Volleyball Men’s World Championship.

After losing 3-1 to the Netherlands on Sunday, the reigning Olympic gold-medallists rebounded in spectacular fashion in front of 3,000 people at the Ruse Arena on Monday.

The first set was fairly even and Canada led 12-10 at one stage before succumbing 25-22 to a Brazil side powered by Wallace’s nine points, reports Efe news.

Canada reacted in the second set, dominating throughout to prevail 25-19 before falling 25-23 in the hard-fought third set.

The Brazilians cruised to a 25-18 decision in the fourth set to seal the victory.

Wallace led all scorers with 24 points. Canada’s most effective player was John Gordon Perrin, who scored 18 points.

With Monday’s outcome, the Dutch continue to lead Pool B with 11 points, followed by Canada (9) and Brazil (8).

Sixteen of 24 teams (four from each of the four pools) will advance to the second round of the championship, which runs through September 30 at venues in Italy and Bulgaria.

(IANS)

Fake notes of Rs 5-lakh face value seized in Kolkata

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Fake Indian currency notes (FICN) of Rs 5-lakh face value was seized and one person arrested by the city police from central Kolkata on Monday, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, the city police’s Special Task Force (STF) personnel challenged a resident of Malda district, Mujibur Sk, in the Esplanade area and seized 250 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination from his possession.

The accused would be presented at a city court on Tuesday.

(IANS)

Guard’s body found in Assam, CM orders probe

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident of recovery of a bullet-riddled body of an Assam Police jawan from the security barrack attached to the CM’s official residence.

The body of Lance Naik Sukleswar Kathar was recovered from the barrack, at Kharghuli in Guwahati, on Sunday evening.

The police said six bullets hit Kathar’s body. The bullets were fired from his service weapon, an AK 47 rifle.

“The incident took place around 7.45 p.m. He was alone in the barrack then. Other guards on duty rushed him to the MMC Hospital but the doctors declared him dead,” said Guwahati Police Commissioner P.C. Saloi.

“It is difficult to say at this moment whether it is a suicide or some others are involved in his killing,” the police officer said.

“There was a sound of firing and guards from other parts rushed to the barrack. They saw Kathar lying in a pool of blood. His service weapon was also near him. There was no one else in the barrack then,” said Saloi.

The body was handed over to the family members after conducting the post-mortem examination on Monday.

(IANS)

Dharmendra feels bad for ‘poor star sons’ By Natalia Ningthoujam

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New Delhi Superstar Dharmendra, who has often shared screen space with his children and actors Sunny and Bobby, says that “poor” star sons often face a lot of criticism from people.

The octogenarian Bollywood veteran has backed his sons’ films like “Betaab”, “Ghayal” and “Barsaat” as a producer. He has even acted with them in movies such as “Apne”, “Yamla Pagla Deewana” and most recently “Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se”, which released last month.

Asked about the pros and cons of working with his children, Dharmendra told IANS here: “If the subject is good, then everything is good. You can make out the chemistry between us. They are good and loving kids. They listen to me. I also listen to them. There is no complex. It’s so easy to work with each other.

“Otherwise, we can’t tell other artistes to do ‘this’ or they can’t tell me to do ‘this’. It’s a very delicate matter. We discuss and work together.”

He can’t point out the negative things about joining forces with his family, but he feels that star sons are often compared to their famous parents.

“It’s negative for them. People make it little difficult while comparing star sons. People often compare and say so and so is star son. They face some problems for sure because of that. People say ‘he is not like his father’. They have to face so much of criticism… poor star sons,” said the “Chupke Chupke” actor.

Like him, Sunny is set to launch his son Karan Deol in the upcoming film “Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas”. Will Dharmendra also act in it?

“No, I am not there. Sunny did it himself. They should come up themselves. If we get a good story, then we will work together also,” he said.

In the ’70s and ’80s, the veteran actor starred opposite his wife Hema Malini in various films including “Sholay”, “Seeta aur Geeta”, “The Burning Train” and “Razia Sultan”. They even teamed up for their daughter Esha Deol’s film “Tell Me O Kkhuda” in 2011.

Asked about working with them again, he said: “To be frank, we are not getting good scripts. If you don’t get a good script and one or two films don’t work, then it becomes boring. We had made ‘Tell Me O Kkhuda’. The script wasn’t good, so maza nai aya (didn’t have fun).”

Be it with his family members or others, he will continue acting as long as he can.

“I don’t want to retire. I love the camera. She is my beloved. It’s (acting) not my profession. She is my beloved. Sometimes, she leaves me and I catch her and vice-versa. I never left her. Time is the witness,” said Dharmendra.

The Padma Bhushan recipient has also been honoured with lifetime achievement awards at Filmfare, Sansui Viewers’ Choice Movie Awards, Zee Cine Awards, International Indian Film Academy Awards and Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) International Film Festival for his contribution to Hindi cinema.

But even lifetime achievement awards can’t put an end to his over five-decade long career.

“There are so many people who love me. They are awards only,” said the actor, who is fondly known as He-Man or Garam Dharam.

(IANS)

Imran Khan pledges citizenship to Afghan and Bangladeshi refugees

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Prime Minister Imran Khan has pledged to implement existing Pakistani laws that would grant citizenship to all Afghan and Bangladeshi refugees who were born on Pakistani soil, a major departure from previous policy.

Pakistan is home to more than 1.39 million registered Afghan refugees, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), many of whom have been resident in the country for more than 30 years.

There are also more than 200,000 ethnic Bangladeshis in Pakistan, most of whom live in the southern city of Karachi. Many of them were stranded in the city after the war in 1971 when Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, gained independence.

Are Afghan refugees in Pakistan a security threat?
Afghan refugees, meanwhile, have poured into Pakistan from its western neighbour for decades, first fleeing the Soviet invasion in the 1970s, and then the civil war that ensued.

Since 2001, a fresh influx of refugees followed the US invasion of Afghanistan, and the subsequent Taliban war to take back the country.

“These poor migrants from Bangladesh, they have been here for more than 40 years, their children are grown now … we will give them passports and ID cards, as well as those Afghans whose children have been raised here, who were born here, we will also give them [citizenship],” said Khan in Karachi on Sunday.

“This happens in every country in the world, why is it that here we are inflicting such an injustice on these people?”

The announcement is a marked departure from the policy followed by previous governments, and could see the prime minister face confrontation with the country’s powerful military, which has often blamed Afghan refugees for violence in Pakistan.

Pakistani law allows citizenship for all those born in the country, with the exception of children of foreign diplomats, “enemy aliens” and those who migrated away from territories that became Pakistan after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

The legal status of Afghan refugees resident in Pakistan expires on September 30, although it is widely expected to be extended by the government, as has been done numerous times in the past.

Repatriation of refugees

The UNHCR welcomed the development, but said it was awaiting specifics on how Khan’s government intended to move forward.

“UNHCR welcomes the statement on Afghan children born in Pakistan,” spokesperson Dan McNorton told Al Jazeera. “We look forward to working closely with the government of Pakistan on this issue in the coming weeks.”

WATCH: Pakistan PM: Afghan refugees ‘will not be forced to return’
The Afghan government did not immediately comment.

Since 2014, Pakistan has been actively encouraging the repatriation of Afghan refugees, with the numbers of refugees returning spiking during that year.

Rights groups say Pakistani authorities have carried out a sustained campaign of intimidation and harassment of refugees since a 2014 attack on a Peshawar school killed more than 140 people, an attack that Pakistan blames groups based in Afghanistan for.

The rate of repatriation dropped last year, as violence spiked and the Afghan Taliban stepped up their attacks on civilian targets across the country.

This year, at least 9,821 Afghan refugees have repatriated to their homeland, according to UNHCR data. Birth rates among the refugee community, however, are high, and at least 14,682 Afghan refugee births were also recorded during the same period, the data shows.

Tense relations
Relations between the two neighbours have remained tense for years, with Afghanistan blaming Pakistan for hosting the Afghan Taliban leadership and its allies, a claim that Pakistan denies.

Pakistan claims Afghanistan has not acted against the Pakistan Taliban, which it claims is based in eastern Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi led a high-level delegation on a visit to Kabul, with both sides pledging their commitment to a new comprehensive dialogue framework.

Aljazeera

Indian women to kick-off SAFF U-18 Championship in September

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Seven countries are set to kick-off the inaugural edition of the SAFF U-18 football Championship for Women which gets underway later this month in Bhutan.

India have been clubbed in Group A, along with neighbours Sri Lanka and Maldives.

The Indian girls kick-off their campaign against Maldives on September 28 before facing Sri Lanka on October 2 — the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation and national hero Mahatma Gandhi.

The tournament follows a round robin format where all the teams in each group play each other once. The top two teams get to qualify for the semi-finals (October 5), where the winner of Group A faces the runners-up of Group B, and vice versa.

The final of the tournament is set to be held on Sunday, October 7.

At the senior level, the Indian women have been the most successful team in the SAFF Championships, winning all four editions of the tournament that have been held till date. The Senior SAFF Women’s Championship is scheduled to be held later in December.

Group A: India, Sri Lanka, Maldives; Group B: Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan;

Fixtures:

September 28: India vs Maldives; October 2: India vs Sri Lanka; October 5: Semi-final 1 (Group A Winner vs Group B Runners-up); October 5: Semi-final 2 (Group B Winner vs Group A Runners-up); October 7: 3rd-4th place match; October 7: Final.

(IANS)

Start of PKL season 6 postponed to Oct 7

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The start of the sixth season of the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has been postponed by a couple of days due to logistical reasons, the organisers Mashal Sports announced on Monday.

“The 6th season of the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League will start on October 7 instead of the earlier date of October 5 owing to logistical reasons such as caravan movement and stadium availability. Mashal Sports Pvt. Ltd, the rights owner and organisers of the league has made this considered decision in consultation with the principal stakeholders,” a statement read.

Chennai will continue to host to the first leg of the tournament from October 7.

The playoffs would be held as planned in Kochi on December 30 and 31 with the final on January 5 in Mumbai.

(IANS)

Baba Ramdev says he can sell petrol, diesel at Rs 35-40 a litre if government allows,

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In a not so subtle jibe at the ruling BJP government over its failure to rein in skyrocketing fuel prices, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev said he could sell petrol and diesel at as low as Rs 35-40 per litre — less than even half the prevailing market rates, if the government lets him do so.

Asserting that high fuel prices could cost Narendra Modi government elections dearly, Baba Ramdev — once a known BJP supporter — said that he could sell petrol and diesel this cheap if the government gives some tax relief. He also suggested that fuel needs to be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) except for the 28% bracket.

Speaking at media youth conclave, Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev said, “If the government lets me, and gives some relief in tax, I can give petrol diesel to India at Rs 35-40 per litre. Fuel needs to brought under GST and not the 28 per cent rate.”

While this can simply be a political statement against rising fuel prices in the country, Ramdev’s claim of selling petrol prices at Rs 35-40 seems unrealistic. For example: Even if both central government and state government taxes are abolished completely, along with dealers’ commission, the petrol price would still be Rs 41.48 a litre in Delhi, higher than what Ramdev claimed.

Moreover, it is impossible for the governments to let go of taxes completely on fuel: First, they are a major source of revenue, second, taxing fuel is also one of the ways to tackle air pollution. Although, there’s no doubt that the tax levied on fuel prices are almost 100% of the base price.

Petrol was sold at about Rs 40 a litre in Delhi in 2009, when fuel was highly subsidised, crude oil prices were within the range of $48-54 a barrel, and the rupee was about 50 vs the US dollar.

The fuel prices could actually be brought to be a really low level only if India becomes less dependent on imported crude oil and more on domestically produced crude. Currently, 80% of India’s total energy demand is fulfilled by imports and so global factors are going to impact the price level of fuel in the country.

Even if the Narendra Modi government completely reverses the excise duty hike since 2014, the relief would be of Rs 10-12 a litre. If states also provide relief of Rs 3 a litre on average, the total relief is going to be Rs 15 a litre, still making petrol price in Delhi Rs 67 a litre.

 

 

 

Karnataka Abuzz With Coup Rumours as JDS, Congress, BJP Scramble to Keep Flock Together

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Rumour of a coup attempt to dislodge the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka is gaining ground with the BJP summoning all its MLAs to the state capital on Wednesday.

The ruling combine has alleged a conspiracy by the BJP to topple the four-month-old HD Kumaraswamy government using “illegal and unconstitutional” means. The BJP has dismissed the allegations, claiming the “shaky” coalition will bite the dust on its own soon.

After the BJP’s alleged efforts to woo some Congress and JD(S) MLAs by offering them money and ministerial positions became public, the worried combine held emergency meetings to counter any coup attempt.

Former chief minister and Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, who returned from a two-week Europe tour on Sunday, held a series of meetings with party MLAs who are reportedly unhappy with the JD(S)-led government.

According to insiders, Siddaramaiah has pacified them and asked them not to “fall prey to the BJP” for power and money. On Monday, he held a few more meetings to take stock of the situation.

AICC Karnataka in-charge KC Venugopal had met Siddaramaiah on Sunday along with deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwara and KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao to discuss the party strategy to prevent the possible poaching of its MLAs. They alleged that the BJP is making “desperate attempts” to install its own government after toppling the current one and that both the JD(S) and Congress are fully aware of it.

Speaking to Media, Siddaramaiah said, “We have done well in the recently held Urban Local Body (ULB) elections. It has caused a big worry to the BJP at the Centre. If we continue in power till Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will be reduced to a single digit in Karnataka. Because of that, they are trying to dislodge the government by offering huge money and ministerial posts to our MLAs. But we are united and the BJP won’t succeed.”

HD Kumaraswamy, who is in Gulbarga to commemorate the Hyderabad-Karnataka liberation day, made a scathing attack on the BJP for once again resorting to “resort” politics.

“I know what they are up to. They want to come back to power at any cost and are employing all illegal and immoral means. Yeddyurappa has hired the services of even underworld people to poach our MLAs. They will not be able to do that,” the chief minister said.

Rumour mills are abuzz that the BJP is targeting 15 Congress and JDS MLAs to bring the strength of the state Assembly down to 207 from the current strength of 222. “They have managed to convince 5-6 of our MLAs. But they are finding it difficult to reach the target,” a close aide of the chief minister told to media.

Senior JD(S) MLA HK Kumaraswamy’s wife Chanchala has also dropped a bombshell by claiming that two BJP leaders offered her husband Rs 30 crore and a ministerial berth to defect and that he flatly refused to ditch the JD(S).

Meanwhile, the BJP is planning to herd all its MLAs to a resort to prevent the JD(S)-Congress from poaching some of their MLAs after Kumaraswamy claimed that 5-6 BJP MLAs were in touch with him and would resign from the saffron party, said a source.

State BJP president BS Yeddyurappa told media that the JDS-Congress government was counting its last days in office and that it would collapse without the BJP making any efforts to topple the government.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Bengaluru on Tuesday leading to more speculation in political circles. According to government sources, Singh has no official programme in Karnataka.

In the 224-member Assembly, the Congress has 79 MLAs and the JD(S) has 38. Two Independents are also backing the government. The BJP has 104 MLAs. Two seats are vacant.

(PTI)

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