Delhi
India warns Twitter of consequences if it fails to follow new rules
India’s government has told Twitter it could face “unintended consequences” if it fails to comply with the country’s new social media rules, Reuters reported. India’s technology minister wrote in a June 5th letter to Twitter that the company’s responses to previous government letters about the new rules did not confirm whether Twitter was in full compliance, according to Reuters. Under India’s Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, which took effect in May, social media companies could be subject to legal action if they fail to follow the code’s provisions, which are aimed at regulating the platforms’ content. The new rules call for platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp to remove content within 36 hours of receiving a legal order. The rules also require the compani...
WhatsApp delays data sharing change after backlash
WhatsApp on Friday postponed a data-sharing change as users concerned about privacy fled the Facebook-owned messaging service and flocked to rivals Telegram and Signal. The smartphone app, a huge hit across the world, cancelled its February 8 deadline for accepting an update to its terms concerning sharing data with Facebook, saying it would use the pause to clear up misinformation around privacy and security. “We’ve heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update,” WhatsApp said in a blog post. “This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.” It said it would instead “go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.” The update concerns how merchants using WhatsApp to cha...
Indian farmers protest against farm laws
Police in India’s northern states Punjab and Haryana on Thursday had to stop the farmers at different inter-state borders from entering Delhi, who planned to protest against the recently passed farm laws. The protesting farmers contend that the three farm laws were detrimental to their interests. On the other hand, the federal government said the new laws aimed at “liberalizing” the farm sector and promising more incomes to farmers. A large number of farmers’ organizations in Haryana and Punjab states had called for a two-day protest in Delhi on Thursday and Friday. TV footages showed the farmers breaking the barricades installed by the police personnel. Some even threw the barricades into a river, while the police dispersed the farmers using water-canons and teargas shells. Thousands of f...
Six killed after soldiers, rebels clash in India
Three Indian soldiers and three suspected rebels were killed in fighting near the de facto Kashmir border with Pakistan, the army said Sunday, in the deadliest clash to hit the contested region in months. The fighting began early Sunday after soldiers detected “suspicious” movements in the northern forested Machil area near a military fence that marks the de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC), Colonel Rajesh Kalia said. One Indian border guard and one suspected militants were killed in an initial exchange of gunfire before more troops were “rushed to the area”, he said in a statement. Two more soldiers and two more suspected rebels were later killed while two other injured troops were taken to hospital, Kalia added. The clash was the deadliest since April when nine suspected m...
Premier: India set to mass produce COVID-19 vaccine, launches digital health mission
India is ready to mass produce COVID-19 vaccines when scientists give the go-ahead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech on Saturday. Modi made the revelation while also launching a national project to roll out health identities for each citizen. In annual celebrations, held at the 17th-century Red Fort and scaled down due to the pandemic, Modi identified health and economic self-reliance as the key priorities for his government. “Not one, not two, as many as three coronavirus vaccines are being tested in India,’’ he said from the ramparts of the red sandstone palace in the old quarters of Delhi. He was wearing a flowing orange and white turban and covering his mouth and nose with a scarf of the same colours whenever anyone came close to him at the ceremony. “Al...
