Daily Bulletin: India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission postponed for the second time

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Here’s what is expected to make the news on Sunday:

India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission postponed for the second time

World Badminton Championships: Having beaten the likes of Ji Hyun Sung, Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi so far, PV Sindhu will take on Carolina Marin in the final of the World Badminton Championships today. Sindhu will be keen to win the title this time around after losing at the same stage to Okuhara last year.

Delhi terror alert for Independence Day: Just days ahead of the 72nd Independence Day celebration, security forces in the national capital have gone on a high alert following intel of a Jaish-e-Mohammad planning a “fidayeen attack”.Manchester City take on Chelsea in the FA Community Shield: The 2017-18 Premier League champions Manchester City face FA Cup champions Chelsea in the 2018-19 season curtain raiser. It will be Maurizio Sarri’s first competitive match as in-charge of Chelsea. Both clubs are missing important players like Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, N’golo Kante (Chelsea), Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Raheem Sterling (City) after they played for their respective national sides at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Harvey Weinstein case: Disgraced Hollywood tycoon’s defense lawyer has demanded that a New York court dismisses the sex crime charges against him, by disclosing “warm” emails between him and his alleged rape victim, in which she said “I love you”, among other things.

Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case: As Opposition leaders targeted the Nitish Kumar – government over the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case on Saturday, the heat is on Bihar social welfare minister Manju Verma, whose husband is accused of often entering the rooms of minor girls in the shelter home without anyone accompanying him. Verma reportedly defended her husband on Saturday and said that she would hang him herself if he is found guilty in the sex scandal.

Assam flood situation worsens: The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Saturday with two more deaths reported in Sivasagar district, taking the toll to 43, while nearly 1.1 lakh people remain affected across six districts in the state. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), two persons lost their lives in flood-related incidents at Sonari revenue circle of Sivasagar.

NRC in Assam: A day after TMC filed two police complaints were filed against Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal in West Bengal, two more FIRs have been registered in Assam against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and members of a TMC delegation, which went to Silchar, for allegedly creating disturbances on the basis of religion. A total of five FIRs have been registered against Banerjee in Assam since the publication of the NRC final draft on 30 July.

Imran may take oath as Pakistan PM on 14 August: Imran Khan, who is set to become Pakistan’s new prime minister, may take oath of the office on the country’s Independence Day on 14 August. Unveiling a tentative schedule of the National Assembly formation, caretaker Law Minister Ali Zafar told Dawn that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was already on board as it was engaged in making necessary arrangements required to hold the prime minister’s election on the desired date. Zafar said a fresh session of the assembly could be called on August on 11 or 12.

Confirmed Ebola cases rise to 13 in Congo’s latest outbreak: The number of confirmed cases in Congo’s new outbreak of the Ebola virus has risen to 13, including three deaths. The World Health Organisation has warned that this new outbreak of the deadly virus in North Kivu province poses a particular challenge as the region is a “war zone” with several active armed groups and thousands of displaced people. Congo announced the latest outbreak on Wednesday with four confirmed cases, a week after declaring the end to a previous outbreak in the northwest with 33 deaths.

India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission postponed for the second time: According to reports, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has postponed the Chandrayan-2 mission, which aimed to soft- landing a rover on the surface of the moon. The Chandrayan-2 mission, which was supposed to be launched in October has now been postponed to December.

GST slabs may reduce to 3: In the long-term, Goods and Services Tax (GST) slabs may come down to three, in addition to the exempted category, Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser to the Finance Ministry, said on Saturday. The three slabs could be a low of 5 per cent, a central 15 per cent (merging 12 per cent and 18 per cent slabs that exist now) and a top rate of 25 per cent. Presently, there are four GST slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, plus the exempted category which attracts 0 per cent GST.

Google Glass to aid autistic kids read facial expressions

/0 Comments/in , /by

 

New York, Aug 4 (IANS) Children with autism were able to improve their social skills by using a smartphone app paired with Google Glass — an eye-wearable device — to help them understand the emotions conveyed in people’s facial expressions, according to a pilot study.

Autism is a serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact.

However, the therapy, named “Superpower Glass” developed by the researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, uses an app that provides real-time cues about people’s facial expressions to a child wearing Google Glass.

The Superpower Glass is based on applied behaviour analysis in which a clinician teaches emotion recognition using structured exercises such as flash cards depicting faces with different emotions.

The device, which was linked with a smartphone through a local wireless network, consists of a glasses-like frame equipped with a camera to record the wearer’s field of view, as well as a small screen and a speaker to give the wearer visual and audio information.

As autistic children interact with others, the app identifies and names their emotions through the Google Glass speaker or screen.

After one to three months of regular use, parents reported that children with autism made more eye contact and related better to others.

For the study, published online in npj Digital Medicine, 14 families tested the Superpower Glass setup at home for an average of 10 weeks with three 20 minute sessions per week.

A few weeks into the trial, children began to realise that people’s faces hold clues to their feelings.

In addition, six of the 14 participants had large enough declines in their scores to move down one step in the severity of their autism classification.

This treatment could help fill a major gap in autism care due to a shortage of trained therapists, as children may have to wait as long as 18 months after an autism diagnosis to begin receiving treatment, the researchers noted.

Daily Bulletin 4 August

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

Here’s what is expected to make the news on Saturday:

Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case: Even though Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday that no leniency will be shown to those involved in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav will launch a protest against the Nitish Kumar government at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday evening. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal are expected to join the stir.

Congress Working Committee Meeting: The core committee of the main Opposition party will meet once again today to chalk out its plan for 2019 Lok Sabha Election. Sources in Congress have indicated that the party may announce Priyanka Gandhi’s candidacy from Rae Bareli in the 2019 polls.

File image of Tejashwi Yadav

Congress-JD(S) to fight separately in local body elections: Congress and JD(S) have decided to separately contest the local bodies elections in Karnataka, which will be held on 29 August. Even though they have put up a united front at the Vidhan Soudha and for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, both parties are likely to be seen contesting and criticising each other in the local bodies election. Polling will be held in 29 municipal corporations, 53 town municipalities and 23 town panchayats. Has the rift widened between the alliance partners? It may be a too early to say that, but Congress leaders have left it up to the local leaders to decide whether they want to tie-up or fight individually.

Article 35-A in Jammu and Kashmir: The ongoing debate over the validity of Article 35-A in Jammu and Kashmir is likely to heat up with National Conference holding a protest march today against tampering in Article 35A today at 11 am from Nawa-e-Subah complex in Srinagar. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association has termed the provision an aberration and is planning to file petition challenging the validity of Article 35-A before the Supreme Court.

29th GST Council Meet: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will chair the meeting today at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The council meeting is convened mainly to discuss issues, concerns and suggestions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the GST regime among others.

UIDAI Number: The morning of 3 August saw many Indians confused and angry, as the UIDAI toll-free number had mysteriously slithered into their phone-books. The issue came to light when the French hacker by the pseudonym Elliot Anderson took to Twitter about the UIDAI contact listed on his phone. UIDAI had denied responsibility for the same and there is no information about who made this happen. Who put the number? How do they have access to our contacts? Besides adding, does it also mean that they can collect information from it? These are some of the questions that will be answered hopefully in the days that follow.

XiaomI Qin AI: Chinese smartphone maker Xiomi just launched its first feature fone series, called the Qin AI. Two Android-powered phones, the Qin 1 and the Qin 1s have been launched at CNY 199 (about Rs 1,990) and CNY 299 (about Rs 2,990). They also feature real-time translation for 17 international languages. The only difference is that the Qin 1 is a 2G only phone, and the Qin 1s has 4G LTE and VOLTE support. If launched in India, the phones could be the most affordable feature phones with AI capabilities.

India vs England, 1st Test, 4th Day: The equation is fairly simple — India need 84 runs to clinch victory in the first Test, whereas England need five wickets. Virat Kohli, fresh from his heroic knock in the first innings, is still at the crease batting on 43 with Dinesh Karthik for company. With the match in the balance, these two will have to grind out a victory for the visitors.

World Badminton Championships: With some of India’s best shuttlers like Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth eliminated, there’s only PV Sindhu left standing as the semi-finals stage commences on Saturday. Sindhu will be in a buoyant mood, having beaten Nozomi Okuhara — who had so cruelly defeated the Indian in the World Final last year — in the quarters on Friday. Sindhu will face Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday.

Imran Khan invited Aamir Khan and former cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to his oath-taking ceremony

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Khan’s PTI emerged as the single largest party in the country’s National Assembly after the July 25 election. However, it is short of numbers to form its government independently.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan has invited Bollywood star Aamir Khan and former cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to his oath-taking ceremony on August 11, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced on Wednesday.

The development came after PTI leaders met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to discuss which foreign dignitaries could be invited to the PTI chief’s ceremony, leading daily Dawn reported.

Earlier reports said the PTI wished to invite the heads of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as China and Turkey. But the party rubbished the reports.

According to Dawn, members of the Pakistan Foreign Office said that calling foreign leaders to the oath taking was “a sensitive matter” and all perspectives needed to be taken into consideration.

On Tuesday, PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said they would consult the Foreign Office regarding inviting foreign leaders.

“Media speculations about international dignitaries attending PM oath ceremony are not correct. We have sought the advice of Foreign Office on the matter and will decide accordingly,” he had tweeted.

Khan’s PTI emerged as the single largest party in the country’s National Assembly after the July 25 election. However, it is short of numbers to form its government independently.

It is now reaching out to smaller political parties and independent candidates for support to form a coalition government. But it is more or less clear that Khan is all set to become the Prime Minister.

Russia, Pakistan naval cooperation accord causes anxiety in Delhi

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A Pakistani spokesperson said the MoU would help expand the existing naval cooperation between the two countries, toiling to find new allies in the region.

In what is causing concern in strategic circles in New Delhi, Russia, the most important defence ally of India, has signed an agreement with Pakistan for naval cooperation.

The MoU between the two countries, which were once considered bitter rivals, was inked during the visit of Pakistan Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Kaleem Shaukat to the Russian Federation.

A Pakistani spokesperson said the MoU would help expand the existing naval cooperation between the two countries, toiling to find new allies in the region.

The two countries are also believed to have exchanged views on professional matters and security situation in the Indian Ocean.

The MoU comes close on the heels an accord between the two countries in April to enhance cooperation in the training of armed forces personnel in the naval field and conduct of wide range of joint military exercises.

Pakistan has lately been turning towards Russia in terms of military support after US President Donald Trump halted the aid to the country in his new year’s tweet.

India has been quite concerned over Moscow’s growing fondness for Pakistan, especially in the defence field since most of the military equipment with Indian forces is of the Russian origin.

A source, who did not wish to be identified, said India had already conveyed its view on Russia’s cooperation with Pakistan to Moscow. ‘’We have a special and strong relationship with Russia…they (Russians) have assured us that they will not do anything inimical to our interests,’’ the source added. Moscow has also assured New Delhi that it would not sell any arms to Pakistan.

Russia had for the first time conducted a joint military exercise with Pakistan in September 2016 focusing on counter-terrorism operations. Thereafter, it also conducted its first-ever foreign office level consultations with Pakistan on regional issues in December 2016, much to the discomfiture of New Delhi.

India is also disturbed that both Russia and Pakistan are on the same page as far as dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan is concerned.

32 accounts eliminated: “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”

/0 Comments/in , /by

Los Angeles, Aug 1 :

Facebook announced on Tuesday that it eliminated 32 accounts for what the company described as “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” ahead of the mid-term US congressional elections in November.

“This kind of behaviour is not allowed on Facebook because we don’t want people or organisations creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing,” Facebook said in a statement, Efe reported.

The social network founded by Mark Zuckerberg found itself at the center of controversy during the 2016 presidential election for the use of its platform to disseminate hoaxes and fake news.

“We’re still in the very early stages of our investigation and don’t have all the facts – including who may be behind this,” Facebook acknowledged, while adding that “whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past.”

IRA is accused by Facebook and the US Department of Justice of having played a key role in the campaign of hoaxes and fake news on controversial and divisive issues designed to try to influence the 2016 election in which Donald Trump won the White House.

In the current probe, the tech giant eliminated eight Facebook pages and 17 profiles, as well as seven Instagram accounts.

“In total, more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of these pages, the earliest of which was created in March 2017,” said Facebook.

Among the deleted pages was one called “Resisters,” which had created a Facebook Event – “No Unite the Right 2-DC” – a counter demonstration to Unite the Right 2-DC, which had been called by the ultraright for Aug. 12 in Washington.

125thAnniversary of Women’s Suffrage in New Zealand

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Ranjit Singh Ahluwalia

New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all women the right to vote in parliamentary elections 125years ago on 19th September 1893 when Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law.

Thesuccess was attributed to the enormous struggle over a seven year campaign by suffragists like Kate Sheppard who collected 31,872 signatures which culminated in the 1893 petition which was presented to Parliament in a wheelbarrow. At 270mtrs long the petition was unrolled across the chambers of the House with dramatic effect. It was the largest petition ever gathered in Australasia. The Electoral Bill was passed by 20 votes to 18 and 10weeks later women alongside the men casted their votes at their first election.

The petition contains the signatures of many leading suffragists and feminists, including Kate Sheppard, Marion Hatton, Rachel Reynolds, Ada Wells, Tailoresses’ Union leader Harriet Morison, writer Edith Grossman, and sisters Christina and Stella Henderson (whose younger sister, Elizabeth, then too young to sign, would later achieve fame as New Zealand’s first woman MP – under her married name, McCombs).

Today, 29th July 2018 marks 125 years since the presentation of the petition to Parliament, a great milestone worthy of celebrations and most appropriately to gather and listen to “OUR STORIES.”

 

Organiser: Hansa Naran

 

Team: Dianna Aislabie; Maree Allan; Jo Mathews; Jenny Joseph & Rosemary Keay

 

Place: Waiau Pa Hall, McKenzie Road, Waiau Pa 2679

राफेल डील पर सुरजेवाला के सवालों का जवाब दें पीएम मोदी : शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

राफेल डील पर शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा ने उठाए सवाल, बोले- सुरजेवाला के सवाल तार्किक, ‘खामोश’ क्यों हैं पीएम मोदी

31 जुलाई 2018

नई दिल्ली : अपनी ही पार्टी (भाजपा) के खिलाफ बागी तेवर रखने वाले शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा ने राफेल डील मामले को लेकर सवाल किए हैं।और कांग्रेस के कंधे पर बंदूक रखकर प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी पर निशाना साधा है।

शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा ने मंगलवार को एक के बाद एक कई ट्वीट करके कहा कि कांग्रेस के राष्ट्रीय मीडिया प्रभारी श्री रणदीप सिंह सुरजेवाला ने राफेल डील को लेकर गंभीर आरोप लगाए हैं। और उनके आरोपों में दिए गए तथ्य तार्किक लगते हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि इस कारण प्रधानमंत्री को जल्द से जल्द जवाब देकर स्थिति साफ करनी चाहिए।

शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा ने अपने ट्वीट में लिखा, ‘सर (पीएम मोदी) हम इस मुश्किल और चिंताजनक स्थिति का मुकाबला करने के लिए अपने दिशानिर्देश और उत्तर का इंतजार कर रहे हैं। हमेशा की तरह आपके ‘खामोश’ रहने से समस्या के समाधान में मदद नहीं मिलेगी। उन्होंने कहा, सुरजेवाला ने यह भी आरोप लगाया है कि हमारे कुछ ईमानदार ब्यूरोक्रेट्स संवेदनशील दस्तावेजों, फाइलों, कागजातों को आगे लीक कर रहे हैं।

सिन्हा ने कहा कि क्या हम अपने लोगों और देश पर पकड़ खो रहे हैं? उन्होंने कहा कि ये आरोप वजनदार हैं और इनके जवाब तुरंत देने चाहिए। कांग्रेस के आरोपों की तारीफ करते हुए सिन्हा ने कहा कि कांग्रेस ने अत्यंत स्पष्टता, तथ्यों और भरोसे साथ आरोप लगाए हैं।

गौरतलब है कि कांग्रेस के राष्ट्रीय मीडिया प्रभारी श्री रणदीप सिंह सुरजेवाला ने अपनी प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस में कहा था कि 60,145 करोड़ रु. की राफेल डील ने साबित कर दिया कि ‘कल्चर ऑफ क्रोनी कैपिटलिज़्म’ यानी 3C मोदी सरकार का डीएनए बन गया है। उन्होंने कहा कि इस डील में भ्रष्टाचार उसी समय उजागर हो गया जब इससे सरकारी कंपनी एचएएल को दरकिनार कर दिया गया और ये कॉन्ट्रैक्ट एक ऐसी कंपनी को दे दिया गया, जिसे इस क्षेत्र का कोई अनुभव नहीं था।

NRC यह भारत और असम का आंतरिक मामला है : हसन उल हक इनु

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

बांग्लादेश के सूचना मंत्री ने कहा कि यह भारत और असम का आंतरिक मामला है, बांग्लादेश का इस मामले से कुछ लेना-देना नहीं है

असम में सोमवार को जारी एनआरीस में करीब 40 लाख लोगों का नाम शामिल नहीं हैं. एनआरसी से बाहर किए गए 40 लाख लोग बांग्लादेश के अवैध प्रवासी माने जा रहे हैं, जिसके बाद भारत में इस बात को लेकर चर्चा गर्म है कि इन्हें बांग्लादेश वापस भेजा जाएगा?

इस मुद्दे पर बांग्लादेश ने पहली बार प्रतिक्रिया दी है. बांग्लादेश के सूचना मंत्री हसन उल हक इनु ने पत्रकारों से बात करते हुए इस मुद्दे पर आधिकारिक बयान देने से इनकार कर दिया. हसन उल हक ने कहा कि भारत सरकार ने बांग्लादेश को आधिकारिक तौर पर कोई भी सूचना नहीं दी है, इसलिए इस मुद्दे पर आधिकारिक बयान देने की जरूरत नहीं है.

बांग्लादेशी मंत्री ने इस मुद्दे को भारत का आंतरिक मुद्दा बताते हुए अपना पल्ला झाड़ लिया. उन्होंने कहा, ‘यह भारत और असम का आंतरिक मामला है, बांग्लादेश का इस मामले से कुछ लेना-देना नहीं है और न ही ये लोग (40 लाख) हमारे हैं. हो सकता है कि वे असम के पड़ोसी राज्यों के हों इसलिए इस मामले में बांग्लादेश की भागीदारी का कोई मामला नहीं उठता.’

उन्होंने कहा कि आजादी की लड़ाई के वक्त सहमति समझौते के तहत बांग्लादेश के लोगों ने भारत में शरण ली थी लेकिन बाद में उन्हें वापस भेज दिया गया जहां उनका पुनर्वास किया गया. इसके बाद भारत में किसी भी बांग्लादेशी शरणार्थी के होने की रिपोर्ट नहीं है.

हसन उल हक इनु ने कहा कि बांग्लादेश की अर्थव्यवस्था वृद्धि पर है इसलिए किसी बांग्लादेशी को भारत जाने की जरूरत नहीं है.

बांग्लादेश के मंत्री ने आगे कहा कि अगर वे लोग बांग्लादेशी होते हैं तो भारत सरकार को हमसे आधिकारिक रूप से बात करनी होगी. बांग्लादेश असम सरकार से कोई बात नहीं करेगा. हालांकि उन्होंने कहा कि वे लोग बांग्लादेशी नहीं हैं.

हैरानी है कि एनआरसी कि सूची बांग्लादेश पहुँच भी गयी ओर उन्होने जांच भी ली 

Salim Khan on ‘Hips-n-Boobs’ girl quit Bharat

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

Desi Girl Priyanka Chopra has stirred quite a storm in Bollywood after her controversial exit from Salman Khan’s Bharat. While some claim that the actress’ engagement to beau Nick Jonas is the reason, others believe that PeeCee was not happy with the screen space she was getting in the movie. Earlier, there were reports that superstar Salman Khan is upset with Priyanka’s decision to leave the film but now father Salim Khan has put a full stop to them.

In an interview to SpotBoye, Salim said actors leave and join projects all the time and it’s nothing new. “It’s okay whatever happened. Priyanka is not doing Bharat, let her be. Such things happen in our industry,” he said. When asked if the film’s team was angry at Priyanka for leaving the film just when the shoot was about to begin, he said it was not true.

“Nope, it’s not the 9th hour. And I repeat, such things happen- sometimes they happen for date issues, or the role, or even the money aspect. Aur kabhi aadmi ki kuch apni majbooriyan hoti hai. I haven’t yet got into the details of why Priyanka left Bharat, but we shall soon cast someone else. We are not upset with Priyanka. Salman Khan is also not upset,” he added.

When asked who will replace Priyanka, Salim Khan was crystal clear in his thoughts and said, “Koi bhi aa jayeja (uski jagah par). Bahut saare log hain. (Anyone can replace here. There are many people),” he said.

It all started when Bharat director Ali Abbas Zafar confirmed the news of Priyanka’s exit from his film and tweeted, “Yes Priyanka Chopra is no more part of @Bharat_TheFilm & and the reason is very very special , she told us in the Nick of time about her decision and we are very happy for her … Team Bharat wishes @priyankachopra loads of love & happiness for life.”