Author: Loknath Das

Facebook was dealt a setback on Tuesday when an adviser to the top European Union court said any data protection authority in the bloc had the power to take action against it for breaching privacy laws. Facebook has its European headquarters in Ireland and has argued that only the Irish data protection authority has the power to police it for its processing of Europeans’ data. Nonetheless other European privacy regulators, including the French, Belgian and German authorities, have taken action against the US company. Yves Bot, advocate general at the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), said in a non-binding opinion that…

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Instagram on Tuesday announced users can now live stream with a friend. Called ‘going live with a friend’, the new feature can be found in version 20 of the Instagram app for Android and iOS, already live on the respective app stores. The feature will be rolling out globally in the coming weeks, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing network said. Detailing the new feature in a blog post, Instagram said, “Live video helps you share in an authentic way, but sometimes it can be intimidating when you’re on your own. It’s easy to add a guest while you’re broadcasting. Simply tap the new icon…

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The Odisha government on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITE Education Services, Singapore for collaboration on skill development in the state. The Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) and the ITE Education Services (ITEES), a subsidiary of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), inked the MoU to transform the skill development ecosystem in the state. “This initiative will certainly step up the quality of our skilled youth. I thank the ITEES for helping us with knowledge, collaboration and international linkages,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Informing that the ITE is a global leader in vocational education and has…

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Government’s top planning body Niti Aayog has selected five students of the prestigious IIM Calcutta in course of its talent hunt in the famed management institution this year. National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog visited the campus for the first time and made five offers during the summer placement this year, an IIM Calcutta press release said. Living up to its reputation IIM Calcutta registered 100% placement again with big companies such as Goldman Sachs, Coke and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) enrolling talented students of the business school. While Goldman Sachs made the highest number of offers in finance,…

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The Bihar government may move the Supreme Court against a Patna high court order that second-category teachers in the state (called Niyojit teachers) should be given the same salary as regular ones. The verdict of the division bench was pronounced on Tuesday. According to advocate general Lalit Kishor, the government categorically told the high court that bearing the huge financial load of paying the prescribed scale to all teachers would be next to impossible. “Still, the court has given its ruling, and I will give my opinion to the government. It is for the government to take a call. I…

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Those aspiring for a college teacher’s job are likely to get only one attempt in a year to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET), the eligibility criterion for getting a job of assistant professor in colleges and universities. According to sources, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has conveyed to the HRD ministry that it is not in favour of conducting the exam twice in a year. In case the ministry accepts the plea of the CBSE, a single exam will be conducted next year. The HRD ministry is likely to take a call on the issue soon. The…

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There’s good news and bad news for students planning to pursue careers in research in India. The union HRD ministry’s Kewal Kumar Sharma, secretary in the department of higher education, has announced that the Centre plans to grant monthly fellowships of Rs 70,000 each, to 2,000 PhD scholars across IITs and IISC. That’s great news, and the move has been welcomed by faculty and educationists, who say that it will encourage more students to take up research. “The move will also enhance competitiveness among researchers and spur them on to produce quality work,” says Subhendu Sarkar, associate dean for research…

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Steam engines are passé. Bullet trains are in. So are artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics and Internet of Things (IoT). These latest technological advancements will be part of a revised engineering syllabus — to be introduced from the academic session starting next July — in an attempt to make Indian engineers more employable through practical learning and new courses. The changed syllabus is aimed at addressing the problem of falling placements of fresh engineering graduates, said a top official of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the body that regulates technical education in the country. India has…

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Angry senators warned attorneys for Facebook, Twitter and Google on Wednesday that they must do more to prevent Russian manipulation of their social media platforms or Congress will be forced to impose new rules. “I must say, I don’t think you get it,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told the attorneys at a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee focused on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. “What we’re talking about is a cataclysmic change. What we’re talking about is the beginning of cyber warfare…You have a huge problem on your hands.” “You created these platforms, and now they are…

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For some parents, understanding the pressure of social media can be difficult, and as a result, some teens may feel they cannot talk to their parents about cyberbullying, body image problems and other struggles they face in their day-to-day life. “One of the hallmarks of adolescence is to make mistakes, part of adolescence is figuring out who you are,” Dr. Logan Levkoff, an expert in parent-child communications, told ABC News. “Sometimes you make choices that aren’t so great, but … those choices are an opportunity for growth.” How social media ‘pressure’ and depression may be linked in teens Teens react…

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