Author: Samikhsya Bureau

Twitter has apologised for failing to act on threatening tweets made by Cesar Sayoc who is suspected of sending improvised explosive devices to Democratic leaders and critics of US President Donald Trump.

“We are investigating what happened and will continue to work to improve how we handle concerns raised by anyone on Twitter,” it said in a statement.

On October 11, Sayoc published a threatening tweet to former congressional press secretary Rochelle Ritchie by telling her “We will see you 4 sure”. Ritchie alerted Twitter of the tweet made from Sayoc’s account, which contained several disturbing images and statements.

“Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave you (sic) home,” Sayoc tweeted with Ritchie’s picture and a screenshot of a news story of a dead teenager, Business Insider reported on Saturday.

Ritchie reported the incident to Twitter but the company said it “carefully” reviewed her case and “found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behaviour”, according to a screenshot uploaded by Ritchie.

Later, on Friday, police arrested and charged Sayoc, a pro-Trump activist seen attending a Trump campaign rally in 2017.

His suspected social media accounts also featured threatening messages to other Trump critics, including those whose names were on the explosive packages sent to Democratic lawmakers.

Twitter, then, suspended Sayoc’s account by Friday afternoon.

“We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error,” the company said.

The statement came after Ritchie complained to Twitter after Sayoc’s tweets were publicised.

• IISc Alumni Association makes news – for all the wrong reasons
• Khashoggi, Saudi Crown Prince, Thomas Friedman and lamb kebabs (Comment)

More

IANS Life

• People don’t have the guts to misbehave with my family: Actor Saif Ali Khan (IANS Interview).
• #MeToo calls out small fries, leaving filmworld’s big guns untouched (Column: Bollywood Spotlight).
• High On Fire’s latest album packs in barbaric intensity (Music Review).

More

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied that its diplomats are holding talks with the US on the existing issues between Tehran and Washington.

The ministry’s reaction came after Iranian lawmaker Javad Karimi Qoddousi on Friday said that the country’s diplomats were currently in talks with their US partners in Oman over the mutual issues.

“The claims concerning Iran’s talks with the US in a neighbouring country are wrong and baseless,” the ministry’s website said in a statement.

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry adheres to the guidelines by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to avoid interaction with the US and would never disobey this principle, it was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran would not sit for talks with Washington over the existing issues as the conditions were not ripe.

“I’m not ruling out the prospect of talks (with Washington) provided the necessary conditions for talks, and that is reliability,” Zarif said.

“Reliability is that when you sign something you are bound by it. Otherwise, everything will fall apart,” he said, adding that “we are waiting for some sense of realism”.

The Iranian Supreme Leader said that Tehran will not sit for negotiations with “cheating” Washington.

Following US President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the historic Iran nuclear deal on May 8, Washington vowed to reimpose sanctions lifted under the accord against Tehran and inflict punishments on nations that had business links with Iran.

Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal was criticized across the world. Some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.

Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has secured a majority in the island’s 225-member Parliament and will continue to retain his job despite protests from the ruling United National Party (UNP), the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said here on Saturday.

Namal, an SLPP legislator and Rajapaksa’s eldest son, told Xinhua news agency that his father had secured the support of over 120 legislators, thus winning him a majority at the Parliament, and a new caretaker government would be sworn in soon.

“All MPs supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa will meet President Maithripala Sirisena later on Saturday and we will finalise the new list of ministers. A new caretaker government will be formed either on Sunday or Monday,” Namal Rajapaksa said.

He added that the immediate aim of the caretaker government would be to stabilize the economy and end the political crisis in the country.

Rajapaksa was appointed as the nation’s new Prime Minister by Sirisena on Friday night, shocking “ousted” leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and his UNP.

The President, in a letter sent to Wickremesinghe said he had been removed after the Sirisena-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) quit the national coalition government.

Wickremesinghe called the move “illegal” and said a Prime Minister could only be sacked if he loses a no-confidence motion in Parliament. He vowed to continue on the post and called for Parliament to convene to prove his majority.

As the rise of #MeToo movement in India has opened many dark spaces of Bollywood, actor Saif Ali Khan, whose daughter Sara Ali Khan is gearing up for her Bollywood debut, feels no one has the guts to mess with his family members.

“It is a very unequal society. I don’t think anyone will misbehave with my people… I don’t know why I feel like this, but be it my mother or sister or wife, I feel people will not have the guts to do that with them.

“It might be because they have certain protection around them. So, we have to protect the ladies who don’t have that protection around them or that aura that protects them. We have to make the place safe for the vulnerable ladies,” Saif told IANS here.

The 48-year-old actor has urged people to respect everyone as he feels there’s more to life than “getting sh*t from each other”.

“We have to come to a situation where women feel safe enough to complain immediately and matters will be taken seriously. I hope the #MeToo movement stays in future and does not die down because it will create a comfortable atmosphere for everyone.”

Apart from the #MeToo wave, the “Dil Chahta Hai” actor expressed concern over the growing paparazzi culture in India. He wondered how people could be so interested in his two-year-old son Taimur Ali Khan’s life.

“Media’s constant attention to him does not really bother me, but it would be better if it was not there. If the media likes it, people like it, I am okay with it; but I won’t be interested in someone else’s kids so much.

“On one level, it is nice that he makes people laugh and smile; but on another level, why is so much attention given to a kid? Why are we so interested in a little kid so much? I don’t undertstand it,” he said with a smile.

He likes to keep his distance from social media, even though Taimur is a star in that space, while sister Soha Ali Khan and sister-in-law Karisma Kapoor are quite active on various platforms.

Saif explained: “I could easily be on social media but I don’t like the idea of it. I like my own world. There are many horrible people out there. We all should create our own world. I don’t want to be the voice in one more loud market…

“It becomes an addiction and we always worry about what people think. We should live our lives for ourselves. Putting a picture and (waiting to) see if someone likes it or not. What does it mean? I get my validation of what I feel… But not from other people.”

On the acting front, Saif has been on a roll. After wooing the audience with his role as a police officer in “Sacred Games”, Saif’s latest film “Baazaar” sees him portray a rich Gujarati stock trader.

Actress Yami Gautam, who is gearing up for the release of her forthcoming movie Uri, says it will be a special film for her career.

“It’s going to be one of the most special films of my career. The way Aditya Dhar has written and directed it and Vicky (Kaushal) and the entire cast has put in a lot of hard work,” Yami told IANS.

She says the film had to be shown to every Indian in the country.

“Uri is going to be a special film. It is based on a true event which is important not just for me as an actor but as even a citizen… It was something which had to be shown. People should know what it takes to be in those shoes and do what it actually takes to keep us safe the way we are,” she added.

The film also stars Vicky Kaushal, who will be seen playing the role of an Indian commando who is involved in the 2016 surgical strikes.

Based on the surgical strikes of 2016 carried out by the Indian Armed Forces, Uri traces the significant event.

It also features Kirti Kulhari and Paresh Rawal in lead roles. Produced by RSVP movies, Uri will hit the theatres on January 11, 2019.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday reinstated a ban on the transmission of Indian content on local television channels, setting aside an earlier ruling by the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar announced the ruling in a case filed by the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content on local television channels in the Supreme Court Karachi registry, Dawn online reported.

“They are trying to (obstruct the construction) of our dam and we cannot even ban their channels?” Nisar said as he ordered the broadcast of Indian shows to be “shut down”.

The judge said the authorities should “only air appropriate content”, according to the report.

In 2016, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a complete ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.

The decision was seen as retaliation to a similar action by the Indian entertainment industry against Pakistani content and artistes.

In 2017, the LHC had lifted the Pemra-imposed ban, declaring it null and void as the federal government had no objections regarding the same.

Sanjay Khan is excited about unveiling his autobiography, “The Best Mistakes of My Life”, which will take the readers to his world of films, family, his near-death accident and more. The veteran Bollywood actor says it will make a great book for movie adaptation.

The book will have a grand pre-Diwali launch on Sunday here.

“I received a call from Penguin (Penguin Random House India) and was requested to write my autobiography. That moment, I had silence in my mind and then suddenly, memories hit me. I agreed to do the book and that’s how I started,” Sanjay, also a director and producer, told IANS in an interview.

Writing an autobiography is not an easy job, he shared.

“Facts speak, but they don’t tell the whole story…. What I found in the course of telling my autobiography was that in addition to being a medium of sharing the facts and story, the act of writing itself was a process of self discovery,” said the actor in his 70s.

“‘The Best Mistakes of My Life’ – isn’t it an intriguing title?” he asked.

“You cannot read and understand the best mistakes of my life in a mundane manner. I have put experiences of my life and narrated certain sections which comes in 18th chapter of my book. It explains the title and gives full satisfaction to the reader. It’s metaphorical,” he said.

Sanjay shared that he has mentioned all his heroines, including the late actress Nanda with whom he featured in films “Woh Din Yaad Karo”, “Beti” and “Abhilasha”.

His friends from the industry have also found a place in his book.

“I have written about my dear friends like Raj Kapoor, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Sunil Dutt,” said the “Dosti” actor.

Recalling the time when he decided to enter filmdom, the brother of late actor-filmmaker Feroz Khan said: “I was 11 years old when I saw a film called ‘Awaara’. It was by Raj Kapoor.”

He was so impressed with the film’s direction and narration that he decided to take up acting as his career. He made his Bollywood debut in 1964.

“My father was strictly against us (he and his siblings) watching films. He thought it was bad influence. I came and did films. It was my own ambition and a need to express myself. I was destined to join the film industry. I worked hard for it and I achieved my goals,” he said.

Any plans to adapt it to a movie?

“It has a wonderful material. There’s so much more that I have which I haven’t included in my book. It will make a great biopic,” he said.

“Let’s see the reaction of people to the book. If I make it (biopic) at all, I will definitely make it with my son (actor Zayed Khan),” added Sanjay, who was once considered one of the most handsome men in Bollywood.

For now, he is thrilled with the way the book has come out.

“I had gone into my past and relived all those glorious times,” said Sanjay, who last faced the camera for the historical fiction TV series “The Sword of Tipu Sultan”. It ended in a disaster as a major fire accident took place on the show’s set in 1989 and he survived near fatal burns.

Getting nostalgic, he also shared: “I remember producers rushing to me to sign me up as the leading man in as many as 100 films.”

But as an actor, he was very choosy.

“I completed acting in about 50 films. I couldn’t do the rest because my life had become miserable. I was doing three shifts in a day. I used to grab some sleep on sets. It was very tough.

“I couldn’t see my children. I would see them sleeping in the morning or night. So, I became my own producer and director. I changed the course of my life,” he said.

The father of four children — Farah, Simone, Sussanne and Zayed — said he owed it to his family.

“Family is everything to a man. It’s his responsibility to nurture them (family members), love them, protect them. As a man, husband and father, I have done my duty.

“My children have received good education. They have learnt to be generous and kind.”

Facebook has removed 82 Pages, Groups and accounts for what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” that originated in Iran and targeted people in the US and Britain.

“While we have found no ties to the Iranian government, we can’t say for sure who is responsible,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook said in a statement on Friday.

The people behind these Pages and accounts represented themselves as US citizens, or in a few cases UK citizens — and they posted about politically charged topics such as race relations, opposition to the US President, and immigration on Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook said its threat intelligence team first detected this activity one week ago and conducted an internal investigation.

“Despite attempts to hide their true identities, a manual review of these accounts linked their activity to Iran,” Gleicher said.

The activities on Facebook were revealed just weeks before the midterm election in the US and while a heated Brexit debate continues in Britain.

“Given the elections, we took action as soon as we’d completed our initial investigation and shared the information with US and UK government officials, US law enforcement, Congress, other technology companies and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab,” Gleicher said.

Facebook said about 1.02 million accounts followed at least one of these Pages, about 25,000 accounts joined at least one of these Groups, and more than 28,000 accounts followed at least one of these Instagram accounts.

This is not the first time Facebook has removed Pages and accounts linked to Iran. In August, the social network removed 600 Pages and accounts originating from Russia and Iran for engaging in “inauthentic behaviour”.

Microsoft has closed its $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub, a leading software development platform which brings more than 31 million developers to create, collaborate, share and build on each other’s work.

Nat Friedman, former CEO of Xamarin (acquired by Microsoft in 2016), is taking over as GitHub’s CEO, Microsoft said in a statement on Friday.

Microsoft announced in June that it has reached an agreement to acquire GitHub.

In a blog post on Friday, Friedman said that GitHub would operate independently as a community, platform, and business.

So developers will continue to be able to use the programming languages, tools and operating systems of their choice for their projects — and will still be able to deploy their code to any operating system, any Cloud and any device.

“This means that GitHub will retain its developer-first values, distinctive spirit, and open extensibility. We will always support developers in their choice of any language, license, tool, platform, or cloud,” Friedman said.

In the coming days, GitHub will focus on improve core scenarios like search, notifications, issues/projects, and its mobile experience, the new CEO said.

Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier has said that Reliance was the best to deliver what they wanted in the deal by India to procure Rafale fighter jets and the unit price of 36 aircraft to be delivered in a fly-away condition was the same as that of 18 that were part of the deal negotiated by the UPA government.

In an interview with CNBC TV 18, Trappier said Dassault Aviation had chosen Reliance as a partner.

“The choice of Reliance is mine. I had the choice of Reliance in 2011. We signed first MoU in 2012. We continue to have discussion with Reliance. We, when the contract was announced for 36 aircraft, continued to have agreement with them as Dassault policy is to set up facilities in India and I want to produce from scratch, a Falcon 2000 in India including the assembly line of the Falcon 2000, including the flight testing production flight in India,” he said.

“For that I need an air-field. How can I do an assembly line without an air-field? Bengaluru is very busy, it’s a very busy city, it’s a big city, but there are no land available. The same story in Mumbai, same story in New Delhi. I found that Nagpur is in the middle of India, where land is available and we can build new hangars, facilities and the manufacturing of Falcon parts, of Rafale parts including when the assembly line would be a very good idea for my company,” he added.

Answering a query, Trappier said it was important to set up facilities as a French company in India and to produce the parts it required.

“So for us it looked like Reliance could help us to get what we wanted,” he said.

Referring to offsets for Rafale jet, he said not only Reliance but included many other companies.

“Roughly we need to perform 50 per cent of the value of the contract as per terms of offset. Out of 50 per cent of our obligation today, 40 per cent is already identified in order to create the value to answer to this (DPP) requirement.

Among this, for 40 percent, we had already signed 30 agreements with companies, not joint ventures. There is only one joint venture. We have 30 other companies, which we have already signed today and we are in discussion with 70 others and it’s all around India. It’s not in Nagpur, it’s in Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. We are also starting discussions in order to have technology and development,” he said.

Referring to the Dassault Relaince Aerospace Limited (DRAL) joint venture, he said its capital today is roughly Rs 70 crore and many go up to Rs 850 crore.

Asked about the Congress allegation that the Rafale jets were being procured by Modi government at almost three times the cost of that negotiated by the UPA government, Trappier said it’s a government-to-government deal and it is up to the two governments to disclose information.

“We had 126 aircraft in the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft), and among them, 18 were supposed to be in a flyway condition. The price of the 18 per aircraft is same as for the 36, when we delivered the first proposal. So, there is no increase in the price.

“During 2015-2016, we had tough negotiations with the Ministry of Defence as usual. We were able to decrease 9 percent on the total package. Same price for 36 as before for the 18, same unit price and then rebate of 9 per cent on the total package of the contract. So, those who said that we have multiplied by 3 the price of the aircraft, I cannot understand,” he said.

Indian stock indices fell for a second straight week, as a subdued start to the earnings season and weakness in asian markets worsened investor sentiment.

The key domestic equity indices – BSE’s Sensex and NSE’ Nifty – shed over 2.5 per cent each during the week.

October has seen a massive outflow of funds, as investors pulled out from emerging markets to redeploy their capital into safe-havens such as the US securities.

According to data provided by the National Securities Depository (NSDL), monthly outflow of foreign funds at Rs 24,186 crore from the equity segment was at its highest so far in October.

The NSDL website has data from 2002, as Indian markets received minuscule funds from foreign investors prior to that, said Deepak Jasani, Head of HDFC Securities.

So far this year, foreigners have pulled out Rs 37,403 crore from equities, the largest since 2008 when they had withdrawn Rs 51,252 crore in the wake of the global crisis.

For the week ended October 26, the S&P BSE Sensex lost 966.32 points, or 2.81 per cent, to close at 34,315.63.

The 5o-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange pared 273.55 points, or 2.65 per cent, to settle at 10,303.55.

In the week gone by, companies such as ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki announced their financial results for the quarter ended September 30.

Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a 65.4 per cent on-year fall in its consolidated net profit, while private lender Yes Bank logged a decline of 3.73 per cent in its standalone net profit for the second quarter.

“Markets corrected for a second consecutive week. Advance-to-decline ratio was positive in one of the five trading sessions. The only sectoral gainer was realty. The top sectoral losers were IT, pharma, bank, FMCG and metals,” Jasani said.

Provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 5,751.17 crore during the week, whereas domestic institutional investors bought Rs 4,508.62 crore worth of stocks.

Figures from the NSDL showed that foreign portfolio investors divested Rs 4,563.31 crore, or $622.5 million, in the equities segment during the week ended October 26.

The Indian rupee closed at Rs 73.46 to a US dollar on Friday, weakening by 14 paise from its previous week’s close of 73.32.

According to Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research: “The global markets saw a sharp decline with S&P plummeting below 2,700 mark while DJIA was trading below 25,000, also below its 20 SMA (simple moving average), a short-term measure to know the trend of the market.”

Further, the Chinese yuan depreciated significantly, reflecting caution among investors about China’s slowing economic growth. The yuan was trading around 6.94 per dollar.

The week saw only four gainers on the Sensex led by Bharti Airtel (up 4.24 per cent at Rs 299), HDFC (up 2.63 per cent at Rs 1,705), Coal India (up 1.83 per cent at Rs 280.80), and ICICI Bank (up 0.05 per cent at Rs 315.05).

The major losers were Yes Bank (down 17.06 per cent at Rs 180.55), Sun Pharma (down 9 per cent at 553.65 ), IndusInd Bank (down 8.33 per cent at Rs 1,445.10), Infosys (down 7.19 per cent at Rs 633.50), and TCS (down 6.13 per cent at Rs 1,799.60) per share.

Punjab has witnessed a steep decline in stubble burning this kharif season, a senior official said on Friday.

Secretary-cum-State Nodal Officer of Anti-Stubble Burning Campaign K.S. Pannu said data from Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) depicted that 3,228 cases of stubble burning were reported in the state from September 27 to October 22 this year. Last year and in 2016 there were 8,420 and 13,358 cases respectively in the same period.

Pannu pointed out that the marked improvement was mainly attributed to the positive response of the farmers coupled with environmental-friendly initiatives taken by Punjab and the Centre.

He said the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Punjab is far better now than that in the corresponding period.

“The AQI of Punjab is 111 against 326 in the corresponding period last year. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor and 401 to 500 severe,” Pannu pointed out.

He said that the state government has already embarked upon a massive programme for management of paddy straw, without burning, by the farmers.

As many as 24,315 subsidized agro-machines are being supplied to the farmers, cooperative societies and Custom Hiring Centres to achieve zero burning of paddy straw, he added.

Neighbouring Haryana has also claimed a steep decline in number of stubble burning cases this year.

Stubble-burning in agrarian Punjab and Haryana in October and November leads to environment pollution over north India, particularly in national capital New Delhi, with smog in the winter months (November to January).

This leads to health complications, particularly breathing problems, to many people.

Farmers indulge in burning the crop residue of paddy after harvesting to prepare their agricultural fields for the next crop.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Saturday he favoured simultaneous parliamentary and assembly elections if the Election Commission (EC) so decided.

“There is a difference of five months in the general election and assembly election in Haryana. If the poll panel think they can conduct simultaneous elections in the state, we are ready,” Khattar said here at a press conference on the occasion of the BJP-led government’s fourth anniversary.

He, however, pointed out that there were some problems and Constitutional barriers in conducting simultaneous elections in 2019.

Khattar hoped that such barriers can be removed before the 2024 general election.

Simultaneous polls would be beneficial for the country

Khattar has since October 26, 2014 been leading the first full-fledged Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana.

Days after quitting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Tariq Anwar on Saturday returned to the Congress here in the presence of party President Rahul Gandhi – almost two decades after he had walked out.

Gandhi has welcomed Anwar into “the Congress family”, the party tweeted posting a picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

Anwar had quit the NCP and his Lok Sabha membership on September 28 expressing disagreement with party chief Sharad Pawar whom he has been upset with for giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal.

Anwar had in 1999 joined NCP chief Sharad Pawar and some others in quitting the Congress to protest against the appointment of a person of foreign origin – Sonia Gandhi being appointed the party chief.

In a setback to Telangana’s ruling TRS ahead of the December 7 assembly elections, two of its senior leaders joined Congress party on Saturday.

Telangana State Road Development Corporation (TSRDC) Chairman T. Narsa Reddy and Member of Telangana Legislative Council S. Ramulu Naik joined the Congress in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had suspended Narsa Reddy for anti-party activities on Friday. Ramulu Naik, a founder member of TRS, was also suspended from the party on similar grounds last week.

TRS leader and Rajya Sabha member D. Srinivas also met Gandhi on the day and expressed his desire to return to the party.

Srinivas, who was in Congress since 1969, had switched loyalties to TRS in 2015, a year after the party formed the first government in the newly-created Telangana state.

Srinivas had served as a minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh and also headed the Congress party’s state unit.

Congress General Secretary R.C. Khuntia, who is in-charge of party affairs in Telangana, told reporters that Narsa Reddy and Ramulu Naik joining the party would further bolster the party’s prospects.

As Narsa Reddy hails from Gajwel, a constituency represented by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Khuntia hoped it would help the Congress defeat the TRS chief on his home turf.

It was home coming for Narsa Reddy, who had contested against TRS chief as Congress candidate in 2014 elections. V. Pratap Reddy, who had contested the election from Gahwel as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate in 2014 and finished runners-up, joined Congress party six months ago.

Both Narsa Reddy and Ramulu Naik alleged that there is no respect for leaders in TRS as KCR remains inaccessible to them. They alleged that the TRS government had benefited only KCR’s family.