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Gadgets News

Laptop Ban Lifted in Egypt, Morocco

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Laptop Ban Lifted in Egypt, Morocco

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Egypt and Morocco’s airlines say electronics ban has been lifted
  • The original ban affected airports in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, and more
  • The ban remains in place for Riyadh and Jeddah

Egypt and Morocco’s airlines have said a ban against carry-on laptops on US-bound flights has been lifted, leaving only two Saudi airports under the restrictions put in place in March.

Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc said in a statement Wednesday that the ban, imposed amid fears the Islamic State group was developing a bomb concealed in electronics, would be lifted as of Thursday.

EgyptAir said late Tuesday that the United States had also lifted the ban for the carrier’s flights to New York from Wednesday.

The ban remains in place for Saudi Arabia’s two main international airports in Riyadh and Jeddah.

The original ban affected airports in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Turkey.

But last month, the US Department of Homeland Security issued directives to 180 carriers around the world flying into the United States to improve security procedures, especially in screening baggage and electronics.

The directives included pressure to install explosive-detecting scanners within weeks, as well as adding more bomb-sniffing dogs.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

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Internet

Google, Yahoo, and Others Will Soon Ban Torrent Links in Search Results: Report

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Google, Yahoo, and Others Will Soon Ban Torrent Links in Search Results: Report

When you take down one torrent site, another mirror site takes its place. This has been the regular trend to keep torrent sites like Kickass Torrents alive and active. And Google has inadvertently played a big role in informing people about these sites. Due to the number of complaints received from entertainment companies over the years for failing to prevent online piracy, Google along with other search engine are reportedly now planning to ban torrent sites.

In order to steer away from the tag of ‘promoting’ piracy, Google entered into discussions with other search companies and entertainment studios which was chaired by UK’s Intellectual Property Office, according to a report by Torrent Freak.

The companies, which also included Yahoo and Bing, among others, have reportedly reached an agreement to tackle the appearance of torrent sites in search results. A draft amendment to the Digital Economy Bill committee would allow the government to impose a code of practice on search engines. However, after a recent meeting, the various companies decided that such a regime will not be needed.

“Since the idea was last discussed in [parliament], Intellectual Property Office officials have chaired a further round-table meeting between search engines and representatives of the creative industries,” Baroness Buscombe said.

“While there are still elements of detail to be settled, the group is now agreed on the key content of the code and I expect an agreement to be reached very soon.”

The Torrent Freak further reported that the agreement should take effect from June 1, 2017. As of now, nothing has been finalised and the companies involved are tight lipped on the measures they plan to introduce to curb piracy.

Additionally, once implemented, the agreement is likely to be restricted to the UK and it will be interesting to see whether the measures will work uniformly around the world.

Currently, a simple Google Search of ‘torrent sites’ will bring up a list of the most popular torrent sites, which include names like Kickass Torrents and The Pirate Bay.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Internet

Wikipedia Editors Ban ‘Unreliable’ Daily Mail as Source

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Wikipedia Editors Ban 'Unreliable' Daily Mail as Source

Wikipedia editors have voted to ban the use of articles from British tabloid The Daily Mail and its globally popular website as sources, calling them “unreliable”, according to a statement.

English-language editors of the online encyclopaedia cited the newspaper’s “reputation for poor fact-checking, sensationalism, and flat-out fabrication”, said the statement posted on Wikipedia Wednesday.

The vote means the tabloid’s use as a reference should be “generally prohibited”, it said.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the not-for-profit organisation that runs the Wikipedia website, acknowledged the vote in a statement cited in The Guardian, but said it was up to its unpaid editors.

From now on, it said “the Daily Mail will generally not be referenced as a ‘reliable source’ on English Wikipedia, and volunteer editors are encouraged to change existing citations to the Daily Mail to another source deemed reliable by the community”.

The National Enquirer, a US tabloid, is the only news publication that “should never be used”, according to editors’ guidelines.

Content on Wikipedia is written and edited by a global network of volunteers who must base their articles on “reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy”.

The guidelines also highlight that special care should be taken when sourcing from state-associated news organisations, including the Chinese press agency Xinhua, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency, and Press TV in Iran.

They warn they may be propaganda organisations, but do not outwardly ban them.

The Daily Mail’s reliability had been the subject of debate among Wikipedia editors since January 2015.

Some opponents of the move argued that “singling out one source does not deal with the other poor sources that are currently permitted”, and that historically the British tabloid may have been accurate.

The Daily Mail, Britain’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper, has previously been accused of racism, sensationalism and inaccuracies.

Its online operation, MailOnline, is considered to be the world’s largest English speaking newspaper website with 24.5 million monthly unique visitors.

The group did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Education

Exeter student US trip ban ‘undermines academic freedom’

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Steve Smith

A PhD student was stopped from boarding a plane at Heathrow amid new US travel restrictions which his vice chancellor said “undermines academic freedom”.

The unnamed Iraqi student, now studying at Exeter University, had been due to present his research at a “prestigious US institution”.

He said he was detained “because of President Trump’s executive order”.

Exeter University Vice Chancellor Sir Steve Smith said he could not “condone a policy that… impedes research”.

More on the University of Exeter student, and other news

The student, who has been studying in the UK for the past five years as a postgraduate, said he had obtained a visa months ago from the US Embassy in London.

‘Really sad’

He said: “As I was about to board the plane they looked at my passport and stopped me, and someone who said they were from Homeland Security arrived and said it was because of President Trump’s executive order.

“This is really sad because we have great collaboration with academic colleagues in the United States and I had been invited to present my work to them months ago.”

The student, who asked to remain anonymous, added if the order stopped academics collaborating “to improve people’s lives, that is a sad thing”.

He returned to Exeter after failing to get the flight.

Homeland SecurityImage copyrightDAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES
Image captionThe student said someone from Homeland Security arrived and told him he could not board the plane

The order, introduced last week, means anyone who has nationality or dual nationality of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are not permitted to enter the US for 90 days, or be issued an immigrant or non-immigrant visa.

However, the UK foreign office put out a statement saying only those dual nationals travelling from one of the blacklisted seven countries might be subject to extra checks. It said those travelling from any other country to the US would not be affected and should not be subjected to any extra vetting, “regardless of your nationality or your place of birth”.

President Trump said the halt was needed to give government agencies time to develop a stricter vetting system and ensure visas were not issued to individuals posing a national security threat.

Sir Steve said the university welcomed people from around the world and would “actively supporting any staff and students who are affected by the ban”.

He said: “Without free movement of people and ideas, the whole world suffers, and this is why we believe the imposition of travel restrictions by the US government based on nationality both undermines the principle of academic freedom and jeopardises the advancement of knowledge between nations.”

The university “cannot condone a policy that restricts these freedoms, curtails intellectual partnerships or impedes research,” he added.

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Internet

Rs. 500, 1000 Ban: Amazon Resumes Cash on Delivery Service for Online Shoppers

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Rs. 500, 1000 Ban: Amazon Resumes Cash on Delivery Service for Online Shoppers

E-commerce giant Amazon Friday said it has resumed cash on delivery (CoD) service for customers, two days after it had halted the option following the government’s move to demonetise Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.

Apart from cash, Amazon India will allow customers to pay using credit and debit cards at the time of delivery of the order.

“As of November 11, we are re-introducing CoD to enable options to pay at the time of delivery. This accommodates customers who face challenges of paying online, but are still able to use electronic instruments at delivery,” an Amazon India spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the delivery agents have been trained to help customers who opt for card payments at the time of order delivery or valid currency notes, including the newly introduced Rs. 500 and 2,000 notes.

About digital payments on the platform, the spokesperson said electronic payments at doorstep have gone up by a factor of 10x in the past two days.

“This clearly indicates that customers are able to adapt to electronic payment methods when cash is constrained. We continue to focus on incentivising and helping people shift to making payments electronically online, aligned with the government’s focus,” the spokesperson added.

The company has launched a new offer to incentivise customers to make cashless transactions.

Customers can load their Amazon gift card balance and get an incentive of 15 percent/ Rs. 300 (maximum) discount at checkout.

Following the government’s decision to demonetise, firms like Amazon and Paytm temporarily halted the cash on delivery facility for customers.

Some companies like Uber and BigBasket have issued advisories urging customers to pay in lower denominations while others like Flipkart and Snapdeal set limits to the value of orders that can be delivered through CoD.

According to industry estimates, about 70 percent of the shoppers opt for cash while buying a product.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Education

London University condemns Israeli government after senior lecturer ban

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

dr-adam.jpg

The Director of SOAS University has condemned a move by the Israeli government to detain a senior lecturer and ban him from entering the country for ten years.

In a letter to the Israeli Embassy, former UN official Baroness Valerie Amos called the decision to deport Dr Adam Hanieh “an arbitrary breach of academic freedom”.

Dr Hanieh travelled to Israel in September in order to give a lecture on social sciences at Birzeit University in Palestine. He was due to deliver three classes to PHD students at the university, but was detained upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport.

According to the university, Dr Hanieh was questioned for ten hours and taken overnight to a detention centre before he was returned back to London the following day.

A representative of the Israeli Ministry of Interior informed him that he was banned from entering the country for ten years.

Writing to embassy representatives in the UK, Lady Amos expressed “serious concerns” about the academic’s treatment, demanding an explanation into the reasons behind the ban.

In an update on Monday, a SOAS university spokesperson said: “Unfortunately no satisfactory response has been forthcoming, thus confirming our belief that this is an arbitrary breach of academic freedom.”

Dr Hanieh is one of a number of academics who are said to have been denied entry to Israel, according to the London university. In 2015, a research student was said to have been deported under similar circumstances.

Officials from Birzeit University have also spoken out against the action.

A spokesperson said: “This policy represents an attack on Palestinian academic freedom, and is routinely practiced at the two entry points, the airport in Tel Aviv and the Jordan valley crossing from Jordan.”

“Birzeit University is not surprised by this latest instance of the policy, and hereby draws attention to its destructive effects.”

An Israeli source said Dr Hanieh was an “ardent hater” of Israel and had previously spoken out against the government through his work.

The source said: “It’s ironic that a man such as Dr Hanieh who has not only called for Israel to be boycotted and isolated, but also rejects the very idea of peace between Israel and its neighbours, including the Oslo Accords, should be so upset at not being able to visit Israel.”

According the university, which specialises in the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, research access to a country like Israel is “of vital importance” to its teaching and research.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in London said they had received Lady Amos’s letter and that the matter was being looked into.

[Source:- independent]

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Internet

Russia Stands Firm on Porn Websites Ban

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Russia Stands Firm on Porn Websites Ban

Russia on Thursday stood firm after slapping a ban on two major porn websites – rebuffing a tongue-in-cheek proposal to change its mind in exchange for premium access.

On Tuesday, Russia’s communications watchdog blocked widely-watched sites Pornhub and YouPorn after courts in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and the southern Voronezh region ruled they distribute pornography.

Pornhub, which says it is the world’s number one free pornography site, responded with a cheeky tweet to the Roskomnadzor watchdog, offering it premium subscription in return for lifting the ban.

“If we give you guys a Pornhub Premium account, will you un ban Pornhub in Russia?” the site wrote.

“Sorry, we are not in the market, and the demography is not a commodity,” the agency snapped back in English on its official Twitter, suggesting pornography is preventing the population from reproducing.

Roskomnadzor’s spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky told RIA Novosti state news agency that lifting the ban was possible “only after a complete change in the sites’ repertoire.”

The watchdog also retweeted a message that it posted last September after a viewer complained about a previous porn site ban.

“As an alternative you can meet someone in real life,” it said, adding an update: “Dear Internet lovers, by the way this advice is still relevant.”

As the row continued, “Roskomnadzor” was trending on Russian Twitter on Thursday and many praised Pornhub for its unusual strategy.

Pornhub made the watchdog “an offer that’s hard to refuse,” wrote Russia’s Afisha entertainment site.

Pornhub and YouPorn are both part of the same network owned by global company MindGeek.

Russia has cracked down on the internet, one of the last open forums for political debate, jailing users purely for posts on social media.

This summer Moscow passed “Big Brother” legislation forcing online companies to store users’ data and pass it to government agencies if requested.

President Vladimir Putin has also made clear his disgust for much non-political content online, saying in 2010 that “half the posted material is pornography.”

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Education

Trojan Horse: ‘Christmas ban’ teacher case not proven

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Oldknow Academy

The case against a teacher accused of stopping Christmas and Diwali celebrations at a school has not been proven, a disciplinary panel has ruled.

Asif Kahn, who worked at Oldknow Academy in Birmingham, had faced allegations of misconduct.

A National College of Teaching and Leadership panel heard the allegations against him in November, although Mr Khan did not appear at the hearing.

The Professional Conduct Panel has said it did not find the case proven.

Oldknow Academy was one of several schools investigated amid claims of a Muslim hardliners’ plot to control them; known as the Trojan Horse affair.

More on this and other stories from Birmingham and the Black Country

Mr Khan had been accused of agreeing “to the inclusion of an undue amount of religious influence in the education of pupils” at Oldknow, on or before 31 July 2014.

The accusations had included telling some male pupils to change for PE in a cupboard so they would not show their thighs, banning children singing during a production of The Wizard of Oz and turning his back on a woman as she offered to shake his hand.

He was also accused of sharing his personal beliefs with the children, for example telling the children they were not allowed pet dogs as they were Muslim.

A fellow teacher, former-acting head teacher Jahangir Akbar, was banned from teaching indefinitely in January, although he can apply to have his ban set aside in five years time.

[Source:- BBC]

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Education

Lifetime ban for maths teacher who slapped pupil

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Failsworth School

A maths teacher who slapped a pupil in the face after “squaring up” to him has been banned from the profession.

Michael Nosiama, 31, was found guilty of hitting the boy at Failsworth School in Oldham in April 2015 after becoming agitated by his disruption in class.

A National College for Teaching panel was shown footage of an “angry” Mr Nosiama “goading” the pupil and making “violent physical contact”.

It said he was a “continuing risk” and banned him from teaching for life.

Mr Nosiama had taught at the Greater Manchester school for four months before the incident.

He was not present at the hearing but had said in written evidence that he “struck [the boy – referred to as Pupil A] in self-defence”.

However, the panel rejected this claim saying Mr Nosiama’s actions were “aggressive” and “deliberate”.

It found the teacher had “deliberately invited Pupil A outside for the altercation” and “provoked the incident for the purpose of Pupil A being potentially excluded,” it said.

The prohibition order states “due to the serious and violent nature of this case” and the failure of Mr Nosiama to develop “any insight into his behaviour”, he can never reapply to teach.

[Source:- BBC]

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Education

Edinburgh school parking ban encourages walking

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Sciennes Primary School

A pilot scheme to ban parking outside primary schools in Edinburgh has led to an increase in the number of pupils walking to school.

Evaluation of the School Streets scheme also showed lower vehicle speeds on surrounding roads and a reduction in the number of cars around schools.

A report to the city council’s transport and environment committee recommended making the pilot permanent.

The Living Streets Scotland charity wants it rolled out nationwide.

The 18-month scheme began in Edinburgh in September 2015.

The nine primary schools in the scheme are: Abbeyhill, Colinton, Cramond, Duddingston, Sciennes, St John’s, Clermiston, St Peter’s, and Towerbank.

‘Dangerous parking’

Living Streets Scotland said other councils should also look at implementing the scheme.

It is not calling for a complete ban on cars around all schools as it said each should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Stuart Hay, Living Streets Scotland director, said: “We are calling on all local authorities to look at this scheme.

“All local authorities have similar problems.

“The main problems identified in Edinburgh were dangerous parking and manoeuvring by parents.”

Lesley Hinds, City of Edinburgh City Council’s transport convener, said: “The whole aim of School Streets was to create a safer, more relaxed atmosphere around schools, encouraging children to walk and cycle and parents to leave their cars at home.

“Therefore I’m delighted to see fewer cars around participating schools, slower speeds in nearby streets and more children walking in every day, contributing to a more welcoming environment for all.

“We now want to build on the lessons learned from the pilot so far to bring School Streets’ benefits to even more children, families and residents across the city.”

[Source:- BBC]

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