CHENNAI, India — In Facebook’s largest market, India, the national cybersecurity agency has asked users to change profile settings to ‘private’ from ‘public’ and limit the kind of users who can contact other user profiles. The advisory was issued on April 19 in response to Facebook’s large-scale data breach of 450 million unique profiles globally that was revealed earlier this month. The data hack included information from profiles of 6.1 million Indian users. The agency, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), had also issued an advisory due to “multiple vulnerabilities” in Facebook-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp on April 12. India is…
Author: zenger.news
Covid-19 has shaken up the job market worldwide. Some jobs in tourism and hospitality have disappeared while others, like cybersecurity and food delivery, are booming. With so many employees either searching for work or a career change, human resource departments and recruitment agencies are busier than ever, while operating mainly in virtual space. New business tech companies help HR managers with a growing ecosystem of startups that help job seekers find their next gig and firms that streamline the onboarding process. Once a candidate is on the job, can technology help keep the new hire satisfied and engaged? There’s an…
KOLKATA, India — The Bangladesh police have arrested hundreds of members and supporters of a hard-line Islamist group over the past week after violent protests erupted against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi’s visit to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, was part of a two-day trip to celebrate the neighbor’s Independence Day. But Bangladesh’s 50th Independence celebration was marred by bloodshed after 13 protesters died during protests across several districts. The demonstrators, led by the Islamist political party Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, vandalized police stations, government buildings, and blocked highways. Mamunul Haque, joint secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, was arrested on April…
MUMBAI, India — Twenty-year-old Arishfa Khan’s TikTok account had 26.8 million followers, and her content had over 1.1 billion likes. But towards the end of June 2020, TikTok was banned in India. Like Khan, many TikTok influencers had to build their following from scratch on short-form video platforms that would replace TikTok. Moj India launched in July 2020, along with many other short-form video apps such as MX TakaTak, Chingari, Josh, Mitron, and others. This month, Khan celebrated her journey of reaching 5 million followers on Moj India in an Instagram video. “The 10 million mark isn’t far off,” she said…
OPUK, Crimea — Russia’s military carried out a massive drill involving about 10,000 soldiers and 40 warships on a Crimean training ground on the same day the Kremlin said it would reduce its military presence on Ukraine’s border. The so-called “surprise training exercise” came as Western leaders, who feared Russia was planning to invade the Ukraine, were breathing a sigh of relief after the Kremlin promised to pull its troops back from the Ukrainian border. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the drill — to “ensure combat readiness” — took place at the Opuk training ground in Crimea, which is about…
An Israeli student recently discovered previously unknown asteroids for U.S. space agency NASA, which named them in her honor. Aseel Nama is studying biomedical engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. She participated in the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, a citizen science program affiliated with NASA that invites the public to search for asteroids using astronomical data it provides. Nama used image segmentation techniques that she learned at university to pore over the data she received and managed to find two new asteroids. (Image segmentation is process that partitions an image into multiple segments. The technique is used…
How do you win when marketing in the face of contentious political issues? It may not be possible. To understand the strangeness, and often void, of corporate political marketing, look at Nike and Coca-Cola. These are companies that say Purpose Moves Us and People Matter — and both have made politically correct “social responsibility” part of their brand marketing. Yet they have also reportedly been lobbying against a bill that would ban importation into the U.S. of products made in China with forced labor. Notably, both the companies were listed in a 2020 report by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China;…
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan’s acquiescence to the demands of far-right radical Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) reached a tipping point last week, leading to a formal ban on the group on April 15. The group, which seeks the expulsion of the French ambassador Marc Barety, escalated nationwide violence that resulted in the deaths of four police officers apart from infrastructure damage. The group is irate with the French satirical publication “Charlie Hebdo” for publishing Prophet Muhammad’s caricatures. The recent violence was in response to the April 12 arrest of TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi for organizing a rally to push the government to implement an…
MUMBAI, India — After the end of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, when neighborhood men started coming back in coffins, Padmavathy Bandopadhyay pledged to join India’s armed forces and serve her nation. But she didn’t know then that apart from the obvious language barrier (she came from Tirupati in southern Indian state Andhra Pradesh where people did not commonly speak English and Hindi), she would face another hurdle. Despite her capabilities, she couldn’t join the National Defence Academy, the joint defense service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces established in 1954, for being a woman. Military Nursing Services was one of…
MELBOURNE, Australia — A jailed and unlicensed financial adviser who claims he’s a stockbroker orchestrated an 11-year AUD 2.7 million ($2.08 million) Ponzi scheme ripping off his own family and friends. Matthew Waij did not finish his Deakin University commerce degree and was never qualified to provide financial advice. He defrauded victims, including his stepfather of a combined AUD 2.7 million ($2.08 million) between 2006 and 2017, splashing the cash on personal expenses including flights, fitness, and fried chicken. Waij, who is serving time for a separate fraud conviction, pleaded guilty in Victoria’s County Court on April 21 for 16 charges of obtaining financial advantage…