Page 293 - Social Issues

Facebook says it's better at detecting rule violations

Facebook said it's making progress on detecting hate speech, graphic violence and other violations of its rules, even before users see and report them. Facebook said that during the April-to-September period, it doubled the amount of hate speech it detected proactively, compared with the previous six months. The findings were spelled out Thursday in Facebook's second semiannual report on enforcing community standards. The reports come as Facebook grapples with challenge after challenge, ranging from fake news to Facebook's role in elections interference, hate speech and incitement to violence in the US, Myanmar, India and elsewhere. The company also said it disabled more than 1.5 billion fake accounts in the latest six-month period, compared with 1.3 billion during the previous six months. Facebook said most of the fake accounts it found were financially motivated, rather than aimed at misinformation. The company has nearly 2.3 billion users. Facebook's report comes a day after The ...

Assam: 70 organisations protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016

As many as 70 organisations, led by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), hit the streets here on Friday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, demanding that it should be scrapped.KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi, while speaking to ANI, said that if the proposed bill is passed, then the Assamese people will become a minority in their own state."We are protesting against the bill. If this bill is passed, Assamese citizens will become a minority here. We are totally against the passing of the bill. We demand the government to scrap the bill, else we will take drastic steps," he said.Underlining that the protest was being held to save democracy in the nation, Gogoi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of attempting to create a "Hindu nation" by trying to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016."In our constitution, it talks about secularism. However, the BJP and the RSS are trying to create a 'Hindu nation' by attempting to

Delhi policeman commits suicide

A Delhi Police Head Constable on Friday committed suicide, blaming his in-laws for insulting him by publicly thrashing him a day ago, police said.

Cop commits suicide at Delhi Secretariat

A head constable shot himself dead with his service revolver in the VIP parking lot of the Delhi Secretariat on Friday morning, allegedly owing to domestic discord.The deceased identified as Sohanveer Singh (35) was posted at Nand Nagar Police Station in Delhi. He was a resident of Bihari Pur village.Singh shot himself at around 5 am this morning while he was on duty. He was immediately taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.The police have also recovered a suicide note from the incident spot. In an official statement, the Delhi Police said, "A PCR call was received at 5:53 am. Head Constable Sohanveer Singh, aged 35 years, committed suicide, on duty at Secretariat, by shooting himself with his service pistol. A suicide note has been recovered, indicating domestic discord as the prima facie reason of the suicide. Further investigation in the matter is underway."According to police sources, Singh was beaten up by his in-laws some days back in full public view, and ...

Invest in Augmented Intelligence for digital transformation: Gartner analyst

Companies should focus on "Augmented Intelligence", digital product management, and in creating a digital twin of an organisation (DTO) for their next level of digital transformation and boost in growth, a top Gartner analyst has said.

UN committee criticizes human rights violations in Iran

A UN committee on human rights approved a resolution Thursday urging Iran to stop its widespread use of arbitrary detention and expressing serious concern at its "alarmingly high" use of the death penalty. The General Assembly's Human Rights Committee adopted the resolution by a vote of 85-30, with 68 abstentions. It is virtually certain to be approved by the 193-member world body next month. The resolution "strongly urges" Iran to eliminate discrimination against women in law and practice and expresses "serious concern about ongoing severe limitations and restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief." It singles out violations including harassment, intimidation and persecution against religious minorities including Christians, Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians and members of the Baha'i faith and urges the release of religious practitioners including Baha'i leaders. The resolution, sponsored by Canada, ...

PSG racial profiling probe finds 'no proven case of discrimination'

Paris Saint-Germain announced they had found "no proven case of discrimination" after an internal inquiry into accusations that players were subject to racial profiling by club recruiters. The in-house investigation was launched in response to revelations last week by French investigative website Mediapart that club talent scouts operated a system of racial profiling for years. The French champions released the findings of their probe after talks with French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu on Thursday. Mediapart, citing the latest series of Football Leaks documents, said that between 2013 and this year, PSG's scouting department filled in recruitment forms on potential youth signings that included a section on ethnicity. The section offered four options: French, West Indian, North African, African. Documenting information on racial or ethnic origins is illegal in France. Thursday's statement from PSG said the investigation "confirmed the introduction of forms with a section on ...

Gender activist Trupti Desai stuck at Cochin airport

Gender activist Trupti Desai and six other women, who arrived here on Friday to visit the Sabarimala temple amid strong protests by Hindu activists, are stuck at the airport.

Will go to Sabarimala Temple at any cost: Trupti Desai

Trupti Desai, a social activist on Friday said that she would enter the Sabarimala Temple even if she is not given security by the Kerala government.She has also alleged that the police have not been helping her and not responding to her calls and messages as well.While enroute to Kochi, Desai told ANI, "Protestors should not resort to violence. Once we reach there, we will see what level of security state gives us. Even if the state does not give us any security, we will go, but I can be attacked. I have received so many threats of attack and killing.""I have not asked for VIP security, I have been calling Cochin Inspector General but he is not responding. I messaged him too but he is not responding to that as well. It is the duty of the government to provide security as it is a Supreme Court order now."Meanwhile, a Bharatiya Janata Party's district secretary MN Gopi who was present outside the Cochin airport has threatened that he will not let Desai go outside the airport. He told ..

Bangladesh halts forced Rohingya repatriation

Muhammad Abdul Kalam, the Commissioner of the Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, stated that the Rohingya will not be forced to return to Myanmar on Thursday, the same day that the first scheduled repatriation was slated to take place."No one will be forced back to Myanmar. They survived atrocities so it's natural they fear to go back," the commissioner told Al Jazeera.However, he further told Anadolu News Agency that the formal process has not been suspended, adding that the Bangladeshi government will resume talks with Rohingya to persuade them for their willful return.Troops have been deployed at Rohingya camps in Bangladesh to prevent a violent breakout, while a protest was held by the Rohingya at Cox's Bazar against the forceful repatriation citing a risk to their lives in Myanmar's Rakhine state.Earlier, Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi had been stripped of Amnesty's top honour, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, due to her stance on the "crimes ..

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan wins bail in France rape case

Tariq Ramadan, a leading Islamic scholar held in France since February on charges he raped two women, on Thursday won conditional release after testifying in an appeals court. A Paris court ruled in favour of Ramadan after the 56-year-old Swiss academic, who has been in custody since February 2, made an impassioned argument for release. His bail was set at 300,000 euros (USD 340,000) and requires him to hand over his passport and report to police once a week. "Where would I flee to?" he asked in his hearing, his first public appearance since his incarceration. Ramadan denies charges he raped the women in 2009 and 2012. One accuser is a disabled woman identified in media reports as "Christelle" and the other is a feminist activist, Henda Ayari. But last month Ramadan was forced to drop assertions he had no sexual contact at all with the women after an expert recovered 399 text messages between him and "Christelle", some of which detailed violent sexual fantasies. Ramadan subsequently ..

Troop levels on US border 'pretty much peaked': Pentagon

Troop levels at the US-Mexico border have essentially reached their upper limit -- at least for now -- a top Pentagon official said Thursday. Some 5,900 active-duty troops are now stationed along the border, in a contentious deployment that President Donald Trump ordered ahead of the midterm elections. In the days before the key vote, Trump had said as many as 15,000 troops could be sent to the border, but the number seems set to stay much lower. We have "pretty much peaked in terms of the number of people that are down there," Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told Pentagon reporters. But he added that, since the mission officially runs through December 15, the number "can always be amended." In addition to the 5,900 active-duty forces, another 2,100 or so National Guardsmen have been deployed to support operations at the border, bringing the military presence to about 8,000 all told. Their mission is to assist short-handed border patrol agents ahead of the anticipated ...

Deceased NEET aspirant's father moves Madras HC against her biopic

Father of a NEET aspirant, Anitha, who allegedly committed suicide after failing to clear the medical entrance exam, has moved the Madras High Court to restrain filmmaker Ajay alias Ajaykumar from making his daughter's biopic. Anitha's father, T Shanmugam, who is a daily wage worker, also sought Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the mental agony caused due to the film's promotion. Admitting the suit, Justice K Kalyanasundaram sought a response from Ajaykumar by November 22. Shanmugam said he recently came across few advertisements in newspapers that a film titled 'Dr Anitha MBBS' was being produced by R J Pictures and directed by Ajaykumar. He claimed that he, along with his four sons, has managed to stop such attempts by some directors. He submitted that neither he nor his sons gave consent for making a movie on Anitha's life and he wanted the court to restrain Ajaykumar from proceeding with it. According to Shanmugam, Anitha secured good marks in the higher secondary examination but ...

Freedom fighter's widow made to wait 30 years for pension

The Madras High Court has directed the Union Home Ministry to sanction pension for the widow of a freedom fighter and slammed it for a delay of over three decades in considering the woman's application. Justice R Suresh Kumar said the attitude on the part of officials responsible for keeping the application pending for more than three decades is to be deprecated. Had the application of the petitioner decided in 1973 and disposed of either way, the petitioner would have been in a position either to get the fruits of the freedom fighter family pension or would have protested over the issue in the matter known to law, the judge said. The matter relates to L Kathayee Ammal, the widow of freedom fighter Lakshmana Thevar, who has been made to wait for 30 years for the pension. Ammal's application has been kept pending by the central government and the court wants to register its displeasure against all those responsible, the judge said in his order. The petitioner's husband was an ex- ...

Civil society forums to campaign against hunger, starvation in Bengal

A civil society network on Thursday claimed that starvation was a major problem in West Bengal and said several people's organisations would join hands to start a movement on the issue.

'PMJDY enrolled 300mn people from low-income group in banking system in 1 year'

State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Thursday informed that Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) enrolled 300 million people from the low-income groups in the banking system in one year."Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana enrolled 300 million people from low-income group in the banking system in one year. 32 percent bank accounts of the total accounts are held by the SBI," Kumar said.He further said that the SBI has started to reap profits as a total of Rs. 260 billion has been deposited with them under PMJDY so far, with an average of Rs 1800.Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a government scheme that aims to expand and make affordable access to financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2014.

Section 144 imposed to foil anti-Citizenship Bill rally

With thousands protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill expected to descend on Guwahati on Friday, authorities slapped prohibitory orders banning the assembly of four or more people in and Assam's main city.

Prohibitory orders clamped in three Guwahati police districts

Prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in the three police districts of Guwahati city with immediate effect on Thursday, ahead of Friday's Assam secretariat gherao programme of KMSS and AJYCP against the Citizen (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The order clamped in the East, West and Central police districts will remain in force till further notice, police said. The 'Janata Bhawan Gherao' at the secretariat on Friday by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS), a peasant organisation, and Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP), a student organisation, is expected to see participation from 68 other organisations from other parts of the state, protest organisors said. Protesters travelling from Sadia, Dhubri and Diphu to participate in the agitation were detained at Tamulpur, which is about 80 km from here, and Sipajhar, which is about 60 km from here, police said. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, ...

J&K Police cautions public on RDMCL accepting deposits in Jammu

The Jammu and Kashmir Police Thursday asked the general public to desist from doing any kind of business with the Rural Development Multipurpose Co-operative Limited (RDMCL) as the society is operating without the RBI's permission. This is for the information of the general public that the crime branch, Jammu, is in receipt of complainants from a number of complainants and also from the registrar co-operative societies J&K regarding undertaking the business of banking or credit and the misappropriation of deposits of the public by the said co-operative, a spokesman of the crime branch said. He said the RDMCL is doing the business activities without obtaining a licence from the RBI, a prerequisite for such transactions.

Russian gets 14 years in prison for chopping off wife's hands

A Russian man, who chopped off both of his wife's hands with an axe after accusing her of infidelity, was sentenced on Thursday to fourteen years in prison following a huge outcry in Russia. Last December, after dropping off their two children at daycare, Dmitry Grachyov took his wife Margarita to a forest outside Moscow where he tied tourniquets around her arms and chopped off her hands with an axe. Before hacking off her limbs he cut off her fingers. After that he drove the bleeding woman to a hospital, giving medics a shoebox containing her severed right hand. He then gave himself up. On Thursday, Grachyov was sentenced to 14 years in a high-security penal colony, said a spokeswoman for a court in the town of Serpukhov, located some 100 kilometres south of Moscow. The man was also ordered to pay more than 2 million rubles ($30,000) as compensation for moral damages. He was earlier stripped of custody of their two children. Margarita, 26, said she had wanted her ex-husband to be ...