WhatsApp to limit message forwarding to stop spreading of fake news

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January 21, 2019

WhatsApp will now globally limit message ‘forwards’ to five chats at a time, a practice it had introduced in India in July last year to crack down the spread of rumours and fake news through its platform. In an update to its blog on Monday, WhatsApp said that the move will help keep WhatsApp focused on private messaging with close contacts.WhatsApp carefully evaluated this test and listened to user feedback over a six-month period. The forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world.

It added that starting today, all users on the latest versions of WhatsApp can now forward to only five chats at once. The messaging platform which counts India, Brazil and Indonesia among its major markets said that it will continue to listen to user feedback on their experience and over time look for new ways of addressing viral content. During the test period, the company saw a 25 per cent reduction of forwarded messages being shared on WhatsApp.We believe that this is a reasonable number to reach close friends, while helping prevent abuse.

In India, the Facebook-owned company had faced flak from the government after a series of mob-lynching incidents triggered by rumours circulating on WhatsApp, claimed lives.Under pressure to stop rumours and fake news, WhatsApp had last year, restricted forwarding messages to five chats at once as well as removed the quick forward button for media messages in India – a market that has over 200 million WhatsApp users.

In fact, the Indian government through proposed changes in IT rules is seeking to make social media platforms more accountable by mandating them to introduce tools that can identify and disable “unlawful content”.One of the amendments being mulled in the IT intermediary rules meant for online and social media platforms will require them to enable tracing out of such originators of information as needed by government agencies that are legally authorised.

WhatsApp, as part of its efforts, had also brought out full-page advertisements as well as television and radio campaigns offering tips to users on how to spot misinformation.However, the company has so far, resisted the government’s demand for identifying message originators, arguing that such a move would undermine the end to end encryption and the private nature of the platform, creating potential for serious misuse.

The move to globally limit message ‘forwards’ to five chats at a time comes at a time when governments and regulators across the world are looking at effective ways to curb the spread of fake messages through digital platforms.

“Police Academy” actor Steve Guttenberg gets married

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January 21, 2019

“Police Academy” actor Steve Guttenberg has tied the knot with CBS-TV’s “Living Large” reporter Emily Smith.

The couple got married in a small, intimate ceremony in Malibu, California, on Saturday, reported People magazine.

Guttenberg and Smith first met on a blind date in 2014 after WCBS-TV’s Scott Rapoport played matchmaker and though it took two months for them to fix a meeting, they instantly hit it off.

A year later, the pair moved in together and in December 2016, Smith revealed in a Facebook post that she had got engaged to the 60-year-old star.

Guttenberg was previously married to model Denise Bixler.

Nitish Kumar to implement upper caste quotas in Bihar

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January 21, 2019

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday announced that his government will implement quotas for the economically-backward among the unreserved category after getting a legal opinion about the appropriate modalities. He further said that the legal opinion was being sought as to whether the new quotas, which have been introduced through a recent constitutional amendment and are in addition to the existing reservations, could be brought about in the state through an executive order or an Act passed in the legislature.

The JD(U) national president also said that we are bound by the Supreme Court judgement which has placed a cap of 50 per cent on the quotas for the socially and educationally backward, but added that he supported the demand for raising the limit to make reservations proportionate to the population of the respective caste groups. But the opposition parties which are raising the demand have no idea on how to go about it. In my view, there should be a fresh census wherein the respective populations of social segments like SCs, STs and OBCs is taken into account. Based on its report, the nation can move towards ensuring proportional representation for the various castes.

He further added that he was in favour of treating the extremely backward classes among the OBCs as a separate category at the national-level. In Bihar we have done that. I understand that a committee has been set up at the Centre for similar classification of backward classes nationally.

BJP MLA defends Sadhana Singh’s remarks against Mayawati

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January 21, 2019

BJP MLA Surendra Singh on Monday came out in support of his party colleague Sadhana Singh, who raised a political storm by calling BSP chief Mayawati “as blot on womankind and worse than a transgender”, saying that there was nothing wrong in her remarks. Any person who has zero self-respect is called a transgender and the manner in which Mayawati has joined hands with the Samajwadi Party after the state guest house case of 1995 goes on to prove that she has no self-respect. When asked on police complaint against Sadhana Singh, he said, how will the case be filed? We will protest against it.

Sadhana Singh, a legislator from Uttar Pradesh’s Mughalsarai, had at a rally on Saturday called the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief a “blot on womankind and worse than a transgender”, following which the BJP MLA issued an apology, clarifying that she did not mean to hurt anyone. The BJP lawmaker made the controversial remarks while referring to the infamous incident when Mayawati was assaulted by Samajwadi Party workers in a Lucknow guest house in 1995.

Condemning her remarks, Union minister and Republican Party of India president Ramdas Athawale said that such personal comments should not be made.

BSP leader S C Misra tweeted, BJP leaders have lost their mental balance after the BSP-SP tie-up which, he said, threatened to rock the ruling party’s boat.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress had also denounced Sadhana Singh for using objectionable remarks against Mayawati.

Bank fraud: Mehul Choksi surrenders his passport

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January 21, 2019

Bank fraud fugitive Mehul Choksi has surrendered his Indian passport to the High Commission in Guyana, official sources said Monday.

Choksi, one of the alleged masterminds of the USD 2 billion scam in state-run Punjab National Bank and an uncle of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, took citizenship of Antigua last year.

Indian citizens are expected to surrender their passports when they acquire a foreign nationality. India continues to pursue Choksi’s return with the government of Antigua through diplomatic and legal channels, the sources said.

In August last year, India gave Antigua a request for Choksi’s extradition. A team from India was also sent to Antigua to pursue the request. Choksi is wanted in India by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, which are probing the PNB fraud, the biggest banking scam in the country.

PM Modi to inaugurate Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention in Varanasi tomorrow

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January 21, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday inaugurate the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi.

For the first time, the three-day-long convention is being organised from January 21 to 23 instead of January 9 to allow participants visit the Kumbh mela in Allahabad and attend the Republic Day parade.

The theme of this year’s convention is ‘role of Indian diaspora in building new India’, a statement from the Prime Minister’s office said.

Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth will be the chief guest of the convention, while Himanshu Gulati, member of Parliament of Norway, will be the special guest. Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, member of Parliament of New Zealand, will be the guest of honour.

The decision to celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas was taken by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the first event was celebrated on January 9, 2003 here.

January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas as it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi had returned to India from South Africa.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas is now celebrated once in every two years and provides a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government and reconnect with their roots, the statement said.

During the convention, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is conferred on the selected overseas Indians for their significant contributions to various fields, both in India and abroad.

Indian Army to buy over 3,000 anti-tank missiles from France

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January 21, 2019

In a bid to provide more firepower to its infantry units against enemy tank regiments, the Indian Army is planning to buy more than 3,000 Milan 2T anti-tank guided missiles from France in a deal likely to be worth over Rs 1,000 crore. An Army proposal in this regard would come up for discussion at a high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry for buying more than 3,000 of the second-generation Milan 2T ATGMs which are license-produced by the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) in partnership with a French firm, sources in the Defence Ministry said.

Sources also said that the procurement of Milan 2T ATGMs is likely to be the stopgap arrangement before the Army gets its homegrown third-generation ATGM which is undergoing trials. Milan-2 is a French second-generation (ATGM which is produced in India by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) with a range of over 2 kilometres.

India had last year scrapped a programme to buy the Spike ATGM from Israel in view of the indigenous developments in this direction. The DRDO has, so far, conducted two successful trials of the man-portable ATGMs. During the NDA government tenure, several programmes for acquiring weapon systems from foreign vendors have been scrapped in favour of indigenous programmes.

In 2017, a Defence Acquisition Council meeting headed by the then the Defence minister Arun Jaitley had favoured Akash surface to air missile over vendors from Israel and Sweden for supplying Short-Range Surface to Air Missile (SR-SAM) programme worth over Rs 18,000 crore.

Indian Army has a requirement of around 70,000 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) of various types and around 850 launchers of different types even as it is looking for third-generation ATGMs with a longer range than that of its existing Milan-2T and Konkurs ATGMs.

Modi is panicking and is in anxiety as election is approaching: Congress on EVM committee critics

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January 21, 2019

Speaking to the media, Congress leader PL Punia on Sunday said that as the elections are approaching; Prime Minister Modi is panicking and is in anxiety therefore criticising the formation of the four-member committee for EVMs. We have objections with EVMs and we have informed the election commission about the same. We want that vote should be done on ballot papers. Ballot paper should be used for voting instead of EVMs.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that a four-member committee had been formed to clarify opposition parties’ stand on EVMs in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP leader Satish Mishra, and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, are the members of this committee.

Speaking on the party’s poll preparedness, Punia said that like all other political parties, Congress is also holding discussions and formulating strategies for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. All the frontal organisations, departments, etc, are holding discussions over plans and strategies for the upcoming elections. He further added that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi might be visiting Raipur on January 28 for meetings in the state.

Hikes in fuel prices, petrol costlier

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January 21, 2019

Continuing its upward trend, the petrol prices in the national capital on Monday witnessed a significant rise of 1.02 rupees per litre while diesel became costlier by 26 paise per litre.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 71.14 per litre while diesel rate touched Rs 65.71 per litre. On Sunday, petrol was sold at Rs 70.12 per litre and diesel at Rs 65.45 per litre.

Fuel prices in Mumbai rose only marginally with petrol getting costlier by 0.19 paise per litre. Diesel in the financial capital of the country was being sold at Rs 68.81 per litre.

The rise in prices comes amidst the revision of global crude oil prices owing to a possible stifling of supply in the near future.

Yamaha India launches FZ-FI, FZS-FI bikes

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January 21, 2019

Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha on Monday launched two new motorcycles in its FZ range in the premium segment priced up to Rs 97,000 (ex-showroom Delhi). The two new products FZ-FI and FZS-FI equipped with advanced braking system, anti-lock braking system (ABS), are powered by 149 cc 4-stroke, single-cylinder engines. While the FZ-FI is priced at Rs 95,000, the FZ-S FI is tagged at Rs 97,000 (all prices ex-showroom Delhi), India Yamaha Motor (IYM) said in statement.

The new launch from Yamaha will strengthen the company’s presence in the deluxe class in India, Yamaha Motor India Group of companies Chairman Motofumi Shitara said.

The introduction of the new FZ-FI and FZS-FI with ABS followed the first launch of ABS-enabled YZF-R15 version 3.0 from the company in 2019. The company also said that it has introduced ABS-equipped version of its FZ 25 model; and will be available for Rs 1.33 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).