US lawmakers have asked tech giants Facebook, Google and Twitter to draw clearer limits and flush out hyper-partisan pages from their platforms.

In a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats told the social media platforms to make it clearer when they would ban accounts of repeat offenders, The Verge reported.

Monika Bickert, Facebook’s Global Head of Policy Management, told the lawmakers that Facebook has regularly been removing hyper-partisan pages.

The hearing was a follow-up to an April hearing about “social media censorship”.

Representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter said “their policies take neutral stances politically, and said it is in their best interest to host voices from across the ideological spectrum”.

According to the Washington Post, Facebook, Google and Twitter sought to defend themselves against accusations from Republican lawmakers who said the tech giants censor conservative news and views.

“Our success as a company depends on making Twitter a safe space for free expression,” replied Nick Pickles, a policy aide who testified on behalf of Twitter, to the lawmakers.

According to Juniper Downs, chief of policy issues at Google-owned YouTube, “We have a natural and long-term incentive to make sure our products work for users of all viewpoints”.

Democrats repeatedly questioned the point of the hearing, urging their Republican counterparts to turn their attention to more pressing issues.

“What a dumb hearing this entire hearing is,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA).

Lawmakers also said they will revisit Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which offers social media platforms limited immunity for being sued over what their users post.

While awareness about cyberbullying has increased in India by 10 percentage points in the past seven years, 37 per cent of adults in the country have still not heard of it, says a new study.

Globally, 25 per cent of adults are unaware of cyberbullying, according to the “Global Advisor Cyberbullying Study” on Tuesday by market research firm Ipsos.

“Cyberbullying is a grave issue and the child can be a victim not only on social networking sites, but also on mobile, online messaging, email, websites, online chatrooms, etc.,” said Parijat Chakraborty, Executive Director, Ipsos Public Affairs.

The findings also revealed that the percentage of parents who reported having a child or knowing a child in their community who has experienced cyberbullying has increased in India since 2011.

One in two parents in the current survey reported knowing a child in their community who had been cyberbullied, up from 45 per cent in 2011.

Notably, 37 per cent Indian respondents this year said their own child has experienced cyberbullying — up from a 32 per cent in 2011, the results showed.

The study carried out in 28 countries is based on over 20,000 interviews of adults conducted between March 23 and April 6 this year.

Awareness about cyberbullying is the highest in Sweden and Italy (91 per cent each) and lowest in Saudi Arabia (37 per cent), the findings showed.

The study defined cyberbullying as when a child or group of children (under the age of 18) intentionally intimidate, offend, threaten, or embarrass another child or group of children, through the use of information technology, such as a website or chatroom on the Internet, a cellular phone, or another mobile device.

Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan, with earnings of $40.5 million and $37.7 million, have made it to Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities 2018 list, topped by former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Akshay, 50, and Salman, 52, are the only two Indians in the list, which was unveiled on Monday. Akshay is ranked 76th, while Salman is placed on 82 in the list, which includes athletes, musicians, personalities, actors and comedians.

According to Forbes, the world’s 100 top-earning entertainers pulled in a combined USD 6.3 billion pre-tax over the past 12 months, up 22 per cent from last year and 11 superstars crossed the $100 million threshold, more than double the number from the last two years combined.

The Celebrity 100 list ranks front-of-camera stars around the globe using their pre-tax earnings from June 1, 2017 through June 1, 2018, before deducting fees for managers, lawyers and agents. Estimates are based on numbers from Nielsen, Pollstar, IMDB, SoundScan, NPD BookScan and ComScore, as well as interviews with industry experts and many of the stars themselves.

Akshay has been described by Forbes as one of Bollywood’s leading men who “has transitioned to socially-conscious roles, such as ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha”, a comedy supporting government campaigns to improve sanitation, and ‘Pad Man’ about a guy hoping to provide inexpensive sanitary pads to rural communities”.

“He still mints millions from backend profits and endorsing some 20 brands, including Tata and Eveready,” the description read.

As for Salman, he has been called Bollywood’s “mainstay” who “continues to produce and star in hits such as ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’, cashing in on backend profits. Coupled with a slew of endorsements from Suzuki motorcycles to Chlormint gum, he remains one of India’s top earners.”

Mayweather tops the ranking with $285 million in pre-tax earnings, almost entirely on the strength of his August 2017 fight versus listmate Conor McGregor.

George Clooney finishes second with $239 million, most of it coming from liquor giant Diageo’s purchase of Casamigos, the tequila company he co-founded, giving him the best annual take-home of his or any actor’s career.

Forbes’ cover star Kylie Jenner pulled in $166.5 million to claim the No. 3 spot, boosted by a sprawling cosmetics empire that has her on the verge of becoming a billionaire before she is old enough to drink.

Judge Judy Sheindlin’s $147 million puts her at No. 4 — buoyed by the sale of her TV library for $100 million — while Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson rounds out the top five with $124 million thanks to blockbusters like newly-released “Skyscraper”.

A whopping Rs 163 crore and 100 kg bullion have been recovered in what is being seen as one of the biggest seizures till date by the Income Tax Department. The searches were launched yesterday at the premises of M/s SPK and Company, a road construction firm in Tamil Nadu, which is working on state government projects.

“About Rs 163 crore cash, which is suspected to be unaccounted, and bullion and gold jewellery weighing about 100 kg have been seized so far. The raids are still going on,” an I-T department official told news agency Press Trust of India.

MK Stalin-led DMK has alleged that the said firm, SPK and Company, is run by the kin of Chief Minister Palaniswami. As per DMK’s complaint, filed with the state vigilance department in June, the company is run by a benami of the chief minister and was awarded six-laning of the Vandalur-Walajabad road. As per officials, the said seizure was probably the biggest so far in raid operations anywhere in the country.

The investigations were conducted through the Chennai wing of the I-T department. As per an I-T official, the department found “evidence of suspected tax evasion by the firm and its associates” that were believed to have political links.

The search operation will continue further. So far, a total of 22 premises — 17 in Chennai, four in Aruppukottai (Virudhunagar district) and one in Katpadi (Vellore) — have been searched.

The agency officials said that the seized cash was kept in big travel bags and parked cars. Dozens of gold biscuits were also seized by the agency. The department has also seized a number of documents and computer hardware.

PTI

Social media giant Facebook on Tuesday entered into a strategic partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to empower youth and entrepreneurs with digital skills in India.

The partnership, signed in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, will enable Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to incorporate Facebook’s training on Digital Marketing Skills in its courses, besides providing trainees with access to local, domestic and international markets.

The programme includes courses on Digital Marketing, Online Safety and Financial Literacy in regional languages with Facebook imparting training to people nominated by the NSDC. This will up-skill job seekers and increase their prospects of employment.

“We are delighted to partner with the National Skill Development Corporation to help in upskilling the youth of the country and also empower local businesses by providing training and resources to build up a digital presence and grow their businesses beyond what the traditional offline economies offer,” Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, India, South and Central Asia – Facebook, said in a statement.

“This skilled workforce and successful businesses are imperative for boosting employment and economic growth in the country,” she added.

The collaboration will also enable trainees to have access to Facebook’s Jobs tool to easily search for job openings. They can easily search for jobs in their Facebook app or visit www.facebook.com/jobs through their mobile phones while controlling the sharing of information with prospective employers.

“The partnership with Facebook aims to leverage the digital opportunity which can assist in creating a market place for many businesses and service offerings for candidates getting trained under our skill ecosystem and; also act as an information kiosk for knowledge sharing,” said Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

“With Facebook’s expertise and support, we are taking a step towards utilising the immense potential of digital skills for the economic betterment of the country,” he said.

Under the Skill India Mission, nearly one crore youth in the country are being annually skilled, reskilled and upskilled through various central government programmes.

Facebook’s previous training programmes on Digital Marketing Skills have upskilled more than 200,000 youth and entrepreneurs under the #BoostYourBusiness programme across 16 states in the country.

Under the network giant’s #SheMeansBusiness programme, another 30,000 women entrepreneurs are currently being trained, the company said.

In 2017, Facebook launched Digital Training Hub which aims to train 500,000 youth and entrepreneurs by 2020.

The Indian space agency will have a busy year-end with several rocket launches planned from its rocket port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, said a top official.

The GSAT-11 satellite, which had been recalled from Arianespace’s rocket port in French Guiana for further tests, is also expected to be put into orbit by Arianespace’s rocket Ariane by the year-end, the official said.

“The calendar year-end will be a busy one for ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), launching satellites with our three rockets — Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk II and Mk III).

“Starting September there will be rocket launches with Indian as well as foreign satellites,” K. Sivan, ISRO Chairman told IANS on Monday.

According to Sivan, in September ISRO will fly a PSLV rocket with two foreign satellites, earning revenue for the country.

In October, another PSLV rocket will fly with an Indian remote sensing satellite and several foreign satellites.

October will also see India’s heaviest rocket 640-ton GSLV Mk III flying up with GSAT-29 with Ka x Ku multi-beam and optical communication payloads. The mission targets Village Resource Centres (VRC) in rural areas to bridge the digital divide.

In November, ISRO will fly a GSLV Mk II rocket to put into orbit GSAT-7A, to be used by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Earlier, ISRO had launched GSAT-7 or Rukmini satellite for the Indian Navy.

Queried about the 5.8-ton GSAT-11, a communication satellite that was recalled from French Guiana this April, Sivan said: “We expect the satellite to be launched before the end of this year. Discussions with Arianespace are on regarding the time and date of the satellite launch.”

Consumers may have to burn a larger hole in their pockets to keep their vehicles running as retail prices of petrol and diesel are set to hit all-time high levels all over again soon. Rising oil prices and the reluctance on the part of the government to cut taxes are two factors responsible for the certain spike in auto fuel prices.

The retail price of petrol in Delhi is Rs 76.61 a litre now. Going by the price rise of up to 20 paisa per day over the last week, petrol would breach record high level of Rs 78.43, touched on May 29, in about 10 days.

Diesel is within the sniffing distance of all-time high of Rs 69.31 a litre, again recorded on May 29. Diesel is retailing at Rs 68.61 a litre in Delhi.

Uncertainty in global oil markets has increased post US sanctions on Iran and call for its strict compliance by president Donald Trump. The price of benchmark Brent crude was hovering over $75 a barrel, while the Indian basket was just a tad lower at $73 a barrel last month.

“But prices are rising now with expectation that it could even breach $100 a barrel post-November 24 when energy sanctions on Iran kick in. This could take petrol and diesel prices to new highs with the auto fuel even breaching Rs 100 a litre mark,” said an oil sector analyst, who did not wish to be named as he was still completing his calculations.

The government’s reluctance to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel has become a bigger worry for auto fuel consumers. This has made retail prices higher even with lower levels of crude oil prices.

Petrol breached its previous all-time high level recorded on September 14, 2013 (when it stood at Rs 76.06 a litre in Delhi) in May this year when crude oil prices were around $80 a barrel. Interestingly, crude oil was at $109.47 a barrel level in September 2013.

With crude reaching closer to $100 a barrel mark soon, retail price of petrol, which has already reached Rs 84.33 a litre in Mumbai, would easily cross Rs 100 a litre mark, making history.

“This is insane as the government is letting consumers suffer even though it has pocketed higher revenue from the sector with the understanding that this will come to their rescue when oil prices rise. If this is not the right time for excise duty cut on petrol and diesel, then one fails to understand what would be one,” said a former oil secretary asking not to be named.

The government’s fiscal concerns have prevented any duty cuts on petrol and diesel. With rising inflation and slowing factory output, revenue from the oil sector is key for the centre and states. This is also probably the reason why petroleum products have yet not been included in GST.

Prices of petrol and diesel rose to all-time high levels in the last week of May this year after oil companies resumed daily price hikes of the two products post Karnataka assembly elections. During elections, oil marketing companies kept petrol and diesel prices untouched for a record 19 days.

The daily increase in petrol and diesel prices again is higher now as OMCs are regularly holding the price line for few days under government instructions to prevent a public backlash.

Even though crude oil prices are rising again, they are still well off the highs of September 2013, when retail prices were at all-time highs. At that time, the price of the Indian basket of crude oil had shot up to $110 per barrel, almost 44 per cent more than what it is today.

“The need of the hour is to immediately cut excise duty on petrol and diesel not by mere Rs 2 per litre as was done on October 3, but to provide full relief to consumers by effecting a Rs 4 per litre cut in duties. This would rob the government of over Rs 50,000 crore in revenue but would save the country from higher inflation and demand squeeze,” said another oil sector expert who wished not to be named.

As per government estimates, India’s import bill could rise by up to $50 billion, impacting the current account deficit severely, if the present surge in oil is maintained. This would take oil import bill to about $140 billion in FY19, up from $88 billion in FY18.

The expectation for continuation of higher oil price this year has gained ground due a series of global developments, including continuing production cut by Opec and Russia, and forthcoming public offer proposed by world’s largest oil producer Saudi Aramco.

The BJP-led NDA government has increased basic excise duty on petrol and diesel nine times ever since it came to power (between November 2014 and January 2016) that more than doubled government’s excise mop-up to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15. In all, duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre. It has been reduced only once — in October, 2017 — by Rs 2 a litre.

In February, the government reduced basic and additional excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 8 per litre but re-imposed a new road cess of Rs 8 per litre, negating any advantage.

It is the third year since Swiss banks made public a list of accounts lying dormant without any trace of owners and no claimant has come forward for those with Indian links, even as a political slugfest continues in India over alleged black money parked there.

The list of all such accounts of Swiss citizens and foreigners including from India was first published by the Switzerland Banking Ombudsman in December 2015 and it keeps getting updated as and when an account is declared dormant.

This is to allow real owners of the accounts or their legal heirs to stake a claim with necessary proof.

The details get deleted from the list when a successful claim is made and this was the case for as many as 40 accounts and two safe deposit boxes in the year 2017 itself, as per the latest information shared by the Ombudsman.

However, the list of over 3,500 such accounts continues to have at least six with links to India since December 2015, as no successful claimant has come forward for them.

Switzerland was perceived to be among the safest havens globally for financial assets for many years before a global crackdown on alleged tax evasion by using such strong banking privacy practices as prevalent in Swiss banks led to Switzerland agreeing to tighten its rules.

Subsequently, Switzerland has framed new laws for greater cooperation with several other countries on an exchange of information and for a stricter clampdown on illicit activities like money laundering and tax frauds.

India is one of the countries with which Switzerland has inked an automatic exchange of information pact on financial matters, while the Alpine nation has already been providing details on bank accounts in cases where Indian authorities have been able to provide proof of wrongdoings.

As per the latest data released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), funds parked by Indians with Swiss banks rose 50 percent to CHF 1.01 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017.

The funds, described by SNB as ‘liabilities’ of Swiss banks or ‘amounts due to’ their clients, are official figures disclosed by Swiss authorities and do not indicate to the exact quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held in the famed safe havens of Switzerland.

The official figures, disclosed annually by Switzerland’s central bank, also do not include the money that Indians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities from different countries.

It has been often alleged that Indians and other nationals seeking to stash their illicit wealth abroad use multiple layers of various jurisdictions, including tax havens, to shift the money in Swiss banks.

Also, with Switzerland putting in place an automatic information exchange framework with India and various other countries, the famed secrecy walls of Swiss banks are said to have crumbled. India will start getting this automatic data from next year.

However, the increase in Indians’ money in Swiss banks has already triggered a sharp opposition attack on the government, which in turn has said that it would be wrong to assume that all funds deposited in Swiss banks were ‘black money’ and strong action would be taken against wrongdoers.

The funds officially held by Indians with banks in Switzerland accounts for only 0.07 percent of the total funds kept by all foreign clients in the Swiss banking system, as per the SNB data.

In terms of the dormant accounts, at least three individuals from India and three others of Indian origin — but the resident of other countries — continue to figure on the list of unclaimed bank accounts made public by Switzerland since December 2015.

While specific figure for India-linked dormant accounts is not known, the total holding in all such accounts is estimated at about 44 million Swiss franc (about Rs 300 crore).

Of the six with Indian links, place of residence of three has been mentioned as India, while it is Paris (France) for one and London for another. The place of residence for the sixth person was not disclosed.

These are Pierre Vachek and Bernet Rosmarie from ‘Bombay’, the earlier name of Mumbai, Bahadur Chandra Singh from Dehradun, Dr Mohan Lal from Paris, Suchah Yogesch Prabhudas from London. Kishore Lall is the person whose place of residence was not disclosed.

The date of birth has also been disclosed in one case ? that is for Vachek as January 1, 1908.

All these accounts were added to the public list in December 2015 and would remain there till December 2020, unless a successful claim is made for the money.

There are also some such accounts from Pakistan, including of one Nawaz Haq of Wazirabad, which was added to the list in November last year.

The list is aimed at giving their owners or their legal heirs a chance to claim the funds in these accounts. Only those accounts form part of the list which have got at least 500 Swiss francs and have remained unclaimed for at least 60 years.

The list contains a large number of people from Switzerland itself, as also from Germany, France, the UK, the US, Turkey, Austria and various other countries.

If no legitimate party claims the assets that have been published within one year of publication, the banks can transfer the assets in question to the government.

The claim deadline for potential legitimate claimants is five years if the assets in question have been dormant since at least 1954.

Several Facebook groups are sharing pirated Hollywood movies to hundreds of thousands of users and the social media giant’s automated software are unable to stop copyright infringements, the media reported.

According to the Business Insider, these Facebook groups make no attempt to conceal catalogs brimming with the latest blockbusters like “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “A Quiet Place.”

“These groups, some of which are years old, exist despite Facebook’s army of human content moderators and automated software meant to detect copyright-infringing content, raising questions about the effectiveness of Facebook’s content-policing systems,” the report said on Sunday.

Some of the group’s titles are “Full HD English Movie” which has more than 134,000 members and “Free full movies 2018” that has 171,000 members.

A Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying that “it wasn’t the company’s responsibility to take down such content unless asked to by the content’s rights holders”.

In its battle against pirated content, Facebook last year acquired a US-based startup Source3 to help it weed out pirated videos and other content that users share without permission.

“We’re excited to work with the Source3 team and learn from the expertise they’ve built in intellectual property, trademarks and copyright. As always, we are focused on ensuring we serve our partners well,” a Facebook spokesperson said at the time of the acquisition.

Facebook has been struggling to crack down on pirated content for a long time.

The company had in past announced “Rights Manager” technology to detect and remove video clips shared by people who do not have rights to the video.

According to the recent Facebook transparency report, it took down 2.8 million pieces of content based on approximately 370,000 user copyright reports in the second half of 2017.

(IANS)

Joining the battle against plastic waste, Indian Railways is installing plastic bottle crushing machines at 2,000 stations across the country.

“At a time when plastics in general, and plastic bottles in particular, are being widely recognised as being extremely harmful for the environment, we are undertaking concrete steps to raise awareness to battle the plastic menace,” a senior Railways official involved in the cleanliness drive at stations told IANS.

There is a huge consumption of plastic bottles for cold drinks and water every day at stations across the country.

According a report in 2009 by the Comptroller and Auditor General, approximately 6,289 tonnes of plastic waste is discarded onto India’s railway tracks.

The installation of crushers is a step is to prevent travellers from throwing used plastic bottles on the tracks or in the station premises.

The crusher machines would be installed at platforms and at exit points so that passengers who want to discard their plastic bottles can deposit them in the flaking machine. Depending on the volume of plastic bottles deposited the machine automatically starts and stops. The inserted bottles disintegrate into fine pieces of plastic which is then released from a different outlet.

The plastic pieces will be given to the plastic manufacturers, thus saving the landfills from additional plastic pollutants.

All 16 zones and 70 divisons have been instructed to install the plastic bottle crushing machines at 2,000 stations in the first phase, said the official.

Currently empty plastic bottles are disposed off manually.

There is a need to curb garbage thrown on tracks either by rail commuters or by those staying in illegal slums along the tracks.

The railways has given RITES the responsibility of providing project management consultancy for selecting the agencies for installing and maintaining the crushers.

While smaller stations will be covered under corporate social responsibility spends, the rest of will be done through competetive bidding. Successful bidders will have a eight-year contract to ensure viability and upgrade technology from time to time.