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Congress releases party manifesto for HP assembly polls
The Congress on Saturday released its manifesto for the November 12 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in the presence of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
The party has promised to implement the old pension scheme, 30 units of free power and Rs 10 crore 'StartUp fund' in each constituency.
Others present at the party's poll manifesto release included AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajeev Shukla, former PCC chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and AICC secretaries Tejinder Pal Bittu and Manish Chatrath.
Bengaluru airport back to pre-COVID passenger levels
Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru is back to pre-COVID passenger levels owing to the high traffic numbers recorded in the current financial year (2022-23) until October 26.
Passenger traffic volumes registered over 102 per cent growth in domestic travel and about 85 per cent growth in international travel in October 2022, as compared to October 2019, the airport's operator Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said in a statement.
The airport welcomed 16.30 million passengers in the current financial year until the last week of October, versus 6.61 million passengers during the same period last year.
Password attacks rise to 921 every second globally: Microsoft
The volume of password attacks has risen to an estimated 921 attacks every second globally -- a 74 per cent increase in just one year, a Microsoft report has said.
From July 2021 to June 2022, the tech giant's digital defence teams blocked 34.7 billion identity threats and 37 billion email threats.
According to the 'Digital Defence Report 2022', attackers are adapting and finding new ways to implement their techniques, thereby increasing the complexity of how and where they host campaign operation infrastructure.
Delhi reels under thick smog blanket, air quality remains 'severe'
A thick layer of smog continued to cover Delhi on Saturday as the air quality remained under the "severe" category for three consecutive days.
In a slight improvement, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 431 on Saturday morning, according to data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
The AQI on Friday night deteriorated to 437 from Thursday's 418, said SAFAR.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good"; 51 and 100 "satisfactory"; 101 and 200 "moderate"; 201 and 300 "poor"; 301 and 400 "very poor"; and 401 and 500 "severe".
Meanwhile, the air quality in Delhi's adjoining cities of Noida and Gurugram was recorded at 529 and 478, both under the "severe" category.
MS Dhoni moves Madras HC seeking criminal contempt proceedings against IPS officer Sampath Kumar
Former Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has filed before the Madras High Court, a criminal contempt of court plea against Indian Police Service (IPS) officer G Sampath Kumar for allegedly making remarks against the Supreme Court on the issue relating to the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting case.
The former cricketer also sought compensation of Rs 100 crore from the officer for making match-fixing allegations against him. The case was listed on Friday, however, it could not be heard and is likely to be heard on Tuesday.
Kumar had investigated the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting cases.
The court had restrained, in 2014, Sampath Kumar from passing any remarks against MS Dhoni.
CM Yogi condoles loss of lives in Yamuna Expressway car accident
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday expressed condolences over the loss of lives in the road accident that took place on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura district on Friday night.
Four people were killed while four others were injured in the accident. The injured were taken to the Mathura district hospital for treatment. The accident happened after two cars met with an accident on Milestone 87 of the Yamuna Expressway under the Surir Police Station area in Mathura.
The Chief Minister's Office informed that CM Yogi directed the administration officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured ones, while also praying for their recovery.
China central bank deputy governor faces corruption probe
A deputy governor of China's central bank is under investigation on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law, the ruling Communist Party's corruption agency said Saturday.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection did not provide any details of the allegations against Fan Yifei in a short statement posted online.
Fan, one of six deputy governors, has held the post for more than seven years, joining the People's Bank of China in 2015 after a career in finance. In recent years, he has spoken often on China's efforts to develop a digital currency.
NIIT acquires US-based St Charles Consulting Group to expand strategic capabilities
Talent development company and managed training services provider NIIT on Saturday announced it has acquired St Charles Consulting Group (StC), for a 'fixed consideration' of USD 23.4 million (about Rs 192 crore).
Headquartered in St Charles, Illinois, StC is a provider of consulting, design, and implementation solutions for strategic learning programmes to professional services firms and Fortune 500 companies.
"NIIT...announced today that it has acquired 100 per cent membership interest in St Charles Consulting Group LLC through its wholly-owned subsidiary, NIIT (USA), Inc," the company said in a statement.
Pak Army rejects 'baseless' and 'irresponsible' allegations by Imran Khan against senior officer
The Pakistan Army has rejected as "baseless and irresponsible" the allegations made by former premier Imran Khan that one of its senior officers was among the people involved in the conspiracy to kill him and demanded the government to conduct a probe and take legal action against those maligning the state institution.
The Army's overnight statement came in response to an address by Khan from the hospital in which he alleged that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer were part of a sinister plot to assassinate him in the same way former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was killed in 2011 by a religious extremist.
Khan, 70, suffered a bullet injury in the right leg when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others mounting on a container-mounted truck in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was leading a protest march against the Shehbaz Sharif government.
Bharat Jodo Yatra in Maha from next week, Rahul Gandhi to address rallies on Nov 10 and 18
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies in Maharashtra - on November 10 and 18 - as part of his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' that will arrive in the state on Monday, a senior party leader said.
The yatra that began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, is scheduled to reach Madnur Naka at Deglur in Maharashtra's Nanded district from neighbouring Telangana at 7 pm on November 7.
"Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies during the yatra in Maharashtra. He will address the first rally on November 10 in Nanded district, while the second one will be held on November 18 at Shegaon in Buldhana district," senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, who is the state coordinator for the yatra, said.
India needs to invest 50% education budget on skilling engineers in handling cyber threats
The Indian government needs to invest at least 50 per cent of its annual education budget in skilling engineers to handle cyber threats, given the massive digitalisation taking place across the country, an industry expert has suggested.
First thing is that India needs to have a lot of cybersecurity awareness programmes across the country, covering all - big and small enterprises, government departments and citizens, said Nilesh Jain, Vice President for South East Asia and India at the Japanese-origin Trend Micro.
India produces a lot of engineers but they are not explicitly trained to handle cyberattacks, he said, adding that the time is now to invest heavily in specialists. Universities must come out with specialists to handle threats.
India logs 1,082 new Coronavirus cases, toll climbs to 530,486
First voter of independent India passes away in Himachal
Shyam Saran Negi, 106, the first voter of independent India who cast his 34th vote for the forthcoming Assembly polls three days ago, passed away at his native place Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, his family said.
He will be cremated with full state honours, says Deputy Commissioner Abid Hussain Sadiq.
Negi cast his vote on Wednesday in the Kinnaur Assembly constituency.
As per official record, he had also participated in the 1951-52 general elections, the country's first.
Climate change deadlier than cancer in some areas: UNDP
Climate change could be twice as deadly as cancer in some parts of the world if carbon emissions remain high, according to new data released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Climate Impact Lab.
Using Dhaka, Bangladesh, as an example, according to the data released on Friday, additional deaths from climate change would be nearly twice the country's current all-cancer death rate and 10 times its road traffic death rate by 2100, reports Xinhua news agency.
"Because of human action, the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is reaching dangerous levels, driving earth's temperatures higher and amplifying the frequency of intensity of extreme events," says the newly launched Human Climate Horizons platform, adding that without concerted and urgent action, climate change will further exacerbate inequalities, and uneven development.
Advertisers abandon Twitter amid layoffs, Musk blames activist groups
Elon Musk, Twitter's new owner on Friday (local time) acknowledged that ad spending on the platform had slumped and blamed the drop on pressure from activists.
Tiffany Hsu, a tech reporter covering misinformation and disinformation, writing in The New York Times said that advertisers are pulling back amidst sweeping layoffs at the company.Advertisers also fear that misinformation and hate speech would be allowed to proliferate on the platform under Elon Musk's leadership.
Civil rights groups including GLAAD and the Anti-Defamation League held a conference call on Friday urging other companies to abandon Twitter due to mass layoffs gutting what they described as an already anemic content moderation staff, reported The New York Times.
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First Published: Nov 05 2022 | 6:28 PM IST
