In a major development, the State Department of the United States announced on Saturday that decade-old internal restrictions imposed on its diplomats, and officials, during their interaction with Taiwanese counterparts, would be removed.
US State Secretary Mike Pompeo informed, “The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. No more.” Hailing Taiwan as a ‘vibrant democracy’ and a ‘reliable partner’, Pompeo emphasised that all ‘self-imposed’ restrictions would be lifted. “Executive branch agencies should consider all “contact guidelines” regarding relations with Taiwan previously issued by the Department of State under authorities delegated to the Secretary of State to be null and void,” he said in a statement
Today, I am lifting all self-imposed restrictions on executive branch agencies’ interactions with their counterparts from Taiwan. This action will benefit both of our great democracies. https://t.co/JmxE5jsZYf
The US State Department further stated that all sections of the Foreign Affairs Handbook, which restrict executive-branch engagement with Taiwan, other than the ones handled by the non-profit American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), would be considered as null and void. Hailing shared values of democracy, human dignity, and rule of law, Mike Pompeo added, “Today’s statement recognizes that the U.S.-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy.”
Taiwan thanks US State Department for its renewed foreign policy
Following the press release by the US State Department, the Foreign Ministry of Taiwan thanked the United States for removing self-imposed internal restrictions for executive-branch engagement.”I am grateful to Secretary Pompeo & State Department for lifting restrictions unnecessarily limiting our engagements these past years. I’m also thankful for strong bipartisan support in Congress for the #Taiwan?? Assurance Act, which advocates a review of prior guidelines,” it tweeted.
… partnership between #Taiwan?? & the #US?? is firmly based on our shared values, common interests & unshakeable belief in freedom & democracy. We’ll continue working in the months & years ahead to ensure Taiwan is & continues to be a force for good in the world. JW 2/2
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) ?? (@MOFA_Taiwan) January 10, 2021
Taiwan Foreign Ministry further emphasised, “The closer partnership between Taiwan & the US is firmly based on our shared values, common interests & unshakeable belief in freedom & democracy. We’ll continue working in the months & years ahead to ensure Taiwan is & continues to be a force for good in the world.”
China threatens the US with ‘heavy price’
On Thursday, China threatened the United States with ‘heavy price’ if US ambassador Kelly Craft goes ahead with his upcoming visit to Taiwan between January 13-15. The Chinese envoy to the United Nations warned, “The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action. China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path.”
However, the American UN mission informed that Kelly Craft would meet Taiwanese officials and continue their strong and ongoing support to Taiwan. Welcoming her visit to Taiwan, Presidential spokesperson Xavier Chang said that it symbolised ‘firm friendship’ between the two countries.
The Big Tech War against Donald Trump and his base continues unabated. The latest casualty in that war is Steve Bannon. YouTube has pulled down the former White House chief strategist’s podcast “War Room” following the storming of Capitol Hill.
YouTube claimed that the podcast did not comply with its community guidelines. “In accordance with our strikes system, we have terminated Steve Bannon’s channel ‘War Room’ and one associated channel for repeatedly violating our Community Guidelines,” it said in a statement.
The statement continued, “As we said yesterday, any channel posting new videos with misleading content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election in violation of our policies will receive a strike, a penalty which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming. Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube.”
The podcasts are still available on Bannon’s website. It is available there with the note, “While YouTube announces broad censorship mandates for any channel discussing the election, Steve Bannon discusses the latest on the coronavirus pandemic and the latest updates on the state of the election.”
Steve Bannon was suspended from Twitter in November after he called for Anthony Fauci’s head “on pikes”.
Social media platforms have been on a crusade against Donald Trump and his supporters ever since he was elected president. However, the storming of Capitol Hill appears to have accelerated trends that already existed. A lot of deplatformed Trump supporters, and Donald Trump himself, moved to Parler, an alternative to Twitter but Big Tech is attempting to shut that down as well.
Just a day after Twitter banned US President Donald Trump, the left-liberals across the world are now seeking to ostracise and boycott not only POTUS Trump but also people associated or worked with him in the last four years.
Continuing to carry out a vendetta against the ideological opponents, the American business magazine Forbes has now given an ultimatum to companies that want to hire people who have been working for President Donald Trump throughout the last four years.
In an article published by Forbes’ chief content officer and editor Randall Lane this week titled, “A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable”, the American magazine warned companies against hiring people who were associated with the Trump administration during his tenure as POTUS. It said that they would be scrutinising such businesses if they employ Trump supporters and staff.
In his article, Lane citing the protests that erupted outside Capitol Hill on Wednesday said, “Yesterday’s insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world’s oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system. Such lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently, provided the kindling, the spark, the gasoline.”
Listing out all of Trump’s press secretaries throughout his presidency, Lane claimed these staff helped Donald Trump allegedly spread lies and threatened companies saying that if they plan on hiring one of these press secretaries, Forbes will scrutinise those businesses. The four press secretaries were Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany.
Lane claimed that this was a time of transition and pain in the United States and reinvigorating democracy requires atrue reckoning. According to him, the reckoning would come by starting to act against the people who were paid by the people to inform the people.
Lane wrote, “Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same scepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.”
Twitter suspends US President Donald Trump
The warning by the left-liberals, who often proclaims to be the champion of free speech, comes just after a day the big-techs banned sitting United States President Donald Trump from all their platforms citing that he allegedly incited violence.
In what was seen as a major blow to free speech, Twitter on Friday permanently banned the personal account of Donald Trump (@realdonaldtrump). The action by Twitter to ban a sitting President and big-tech companies playing a direct role in country’s politics has now caused a massive shock to the citizens worldwide, invoking fear about big-tech’s intent to censure contrary viewpoints.
In a statement, Twitter said, “After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Following the permanent suspension, the POTUS issued a scathing response accusing Twitter of conspiring with his political enemies “to silence” him. Declaring war on big-techs, President Trump issued a statement over the shocking action of Twitter to ban free speech saying that micro-blogging site is colluding with Democrats and radical left elements to silence him and the 75 million people who voted for him.
The President of the United States, end his statement to his followers said, “STAY TUNED!”.
A day after Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) formally registered a complaint with the match referee David Boon, following racist behaviour of Australian cricket fans towards Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, such a spectacle was yet again witnessed during the 4th Day of the 3rd ODI match between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday.
After a section of ‘drunk’ Australian supporters hurled racist slurs at Mohammed Siraj, he promptly complained to the on-field umpires. Siraj was supported by all his teammates, including the captain Ajinkya Rahane. The match came to a halt temporarily, with the authorities and security officials desperately trying to find the accused.
BREAKING: Play has halted at the Third Test in Sydney after racist comments were allegedly made by a member of the crowd towards Indian cricketer Mohammed Siraj
When Mohammed Siraj pointed in the direction of the stands, the officials quickly investigated the matter and kicked out a group of 4 men, followed by two others, from the stadium.
The crowd cheered on while the accused were escorted out of the stadium.
What does the rule say?
The ICC policy states, “It shall be a breach of the terms and conditions of entry to the venue for any ticket-holder to engage in any conduct (whether through the use of language, gestures or otherwise) which is likely to offend, insult, humiliate, intimidate, threaten, disparage or vilify any other person (including players, match officials or spectators) on the basis of their race, religion, culture, colour, descent, nationality, ethnic origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, marital status and/or maternity status.”
Any such action, on the part of a spectator, can lead to eviction from the ground, future ban on attending any match at the said venue or even criminal prosecution.
BCCI lodges complaint with match referee
Yesterday, during the 3rd day of the Test match, Indian cricketers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were subjected to racial abuse. They, however, complained to the on-field umpire and match referee, only at the end of the day’s play. A official stated, “BCCI lodged a formal complaint with ICC match referee David Boon about two of their players, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, being abused by a drunk spectator.”
Although the complaint has been filed with the ICC, only the hosts aka Cricket Australia can probe the matter. At the end of the day’s play, the umpires and the referee had a long discussion with the two Indian pacers as well as the Indian captain. Reportedly, Mohammed Siraj was referred to as a ‘monkey’ by a drunk spectator yesterday.
Following the attack by pro-Trump supporters on the Capitol Hall in Washington DC social media companies have cracked down on President Trump’s account across all platforms.
Tech giants including Twitter, Facebook and others have permanently suspended President Trump’s personal accounts from their platform and restricted the official POTUS accounts. Also, those who were associated with Donald Trump or supported him during this time of crisis in the country faced the heat as their social media accounts were suspended. Several channels with hundreds of videos were also removed from Facebook and Youtube as they were Trump supporters.
Anti-Modi Islamists demand ban on PM Modi’s social media accounts
Watching the Trump supporters helpless on social media platforms, the anti-Modi brigade of Islamists have risen in India and across the world demanding a ban on his social media accounts.
CJ Werleman, a serial fake news peddler and an anti-India propagandist, said that it would be a logical move to ban PM Modi. He said, “It would seem logical to ban @narendramodi from Twitter for inciting the mass murder of more than 2,000 Muslims in 2002 and then another 50 in 2019, not to mention the way in which he has mass radicalized Indian society to pre-genocidal levels.”
It would seem logical to ban @narendramodi from Twitter for inciting the mass murder of more than 2,000 Muslims in 2002 and then another 50 in 2019, not to mention the way in which he has mass radicalized Indian society to pre-genocidal levels.#ModiNext
In 2002, communal riots in Gujarat broke out after a train returning from Ayodhya was set on fire by radical Islamist mob in Godhra where in 59 karsevaks were burnt alive. Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. In the subsequent riots, people of both the communities, not just Muslims, lost their lives.
Khaled Beydon, an Islamist professor, called to trend hashtag #ModiNext while calling for the suspension of PM Modi’s account. He said, “Well, suspending Narendra Modi from Twitter would be the logical next move, @Jack. Authoritarian incitement by the chief executive isn’t only an American phenomenon. Get it trending #ModiNext.”
Khaled Beydoun’s tweet
Raheel Shafi, a biomedical scientist and physician from USA (appears to be of Pakistani descent, quoted Werleman and demanded a ban on PM Modi’s account.
Tweet by Raheel Shafi
Rameel Khan from Mumbai wrote that everyone would agree to PM Modi’s account suspension.
Rameel Khan demanding banning of PM Modi’s account
Zaynab Honnora who claims to be from Italy called President Trump an ‘evil oopmaloopa’ (Man with orange-coloured skin) and called for a ban on PM Modi’s account.
Zaynab Hannora’s tweet
Hafeez Al Akbar who claims to be from Chennai called PM Modi mastermind of several riots in India and demanded a ban on his account.
Source: Twitter
Another user from India Mohammad Akhtar also quoted Werleman and agreed with him for call for PM Modi’s account suspension.
Source: Twitter
Earlier Senior Youth Congress leader Srivatsa had called on Twitter India to ban on BJP’s leaders’s Twitter accounts.
Late night on Saturday, panic gripped across Pakistan after the country suffered yet another blackout. According to the reports, major Pakistani cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Multan plunged into darkness following massive power outage.
The blackout was also seen in Pakistan occupied Kashmir affecting critical services like healthcare, communications, etc. Operations at country’s major airports were also hit by the blackout.
However, as soon as Pakistan got hit with another blackout, the poor citizens of the country became panic-stricken as they expressed fear about another surgical strike by the Indian Armed Forces inside their country.
Several social media users, fearing another attack, scrambled on Twitter to know from their fellow citizens whether they were under attack from India again. Following the blackout, Reham Khan, the former wife of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted asking whether it was a ‘war’ in Pakistan.
Reham Khan’s tweet
Similarly, another user also expressed fear questioning on Twitter whether their country was not yet again at the receiving end of Indian Armed Force’s anti-terror operation.
More panicked Pakistanis
Zaid Hamid, who is considered to be Pakistan’s equivalent to Pro-AAP vZalogger Dhruv Rathee, too thought that the blackout was nothing but a prelude to a war between Indian and Pakistan. He asked Pakistan Air Force to be red alert following the power breakdown.
Zaid Hamid panicking
Panicked Pakistanis
While most of the social media from Pakistan feared about a strike from India, some also put out their apprehensions about the internal aggression within Pakistan by the Pakistan Army to snatch the power from the elected government. Pakistani netizens got all nostalgic and asked whether the power outrage was just a reason for carrying out coup by the Pakistan military against the Imran Khan government.
Pakistanis being nostalgic about the Musharraf led coup
Another social media user declared that Pakistan was already under the military rule claiming that General Bajwa removed Imran Khan from power after declaring Martial Law in the country.
Pakistanis wilding on Twitter
Nevertheless, Pakistan who are almost at war all the time against somebody or the other, seems to be habituated with such blackouts, coup, terror strikes etc. However, as far as Indian concerned, there has been no anti-terror operations being carried out against terrorists inside Pakistan. So far, at least, the Indian Armed Forces have not confirmed about any such surgical strikes.
However, not all was lost for Pakistan. Some of them resorted to dark humour (pun intended) and make fun of their own poverty and otherwise terrible lives.
Meanwhile, power has been restored in most part of Pakistan. As per Pakistani Energy Minister, the power breakdown was caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero. The reason for such drop was currently being investigated.
Another case of grooming jihad has come to light in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. As per the reports, a 26-year-old Dalit woman has committed suicide on Friday. In a suicide note that she has left behind, she has named one Adil Khan as responsible for her death.
Woman blamed Adil in the suicide note
The woman lived in the TT Nagar area. She was found hanging in her room. The police found a suicide note in the room where she had accused one Adil Khan of her death. “My name is Puja. I am going to commit suicide. Adil Khan, s/o Khalik Khan, is responsible for my death,” she wrote in her suicide note.
Her family filed a complaint against Khan after which the police arrested him under relevant sections, including abetment of suicide.
Adil Khan changed the name to befriend her
According to the victim’s father, the accused had allegedly deceived the woman by changing his name and presenting himself as Hindu. He said that Adil Khan told his daughter that his name is Babloo to befriend her. He added, “When my daughter came to know that he lied she tried to distance herself from him and in return he physically and verbally assaulted her.”
The duo were friends since past 8 years. Puja’s brother said that on Friday evening Puja went to her room and locked herself in. Everyone was present in the house. When she did not open the door upon being asked by the family members, they forcefully opened the door and found her hanging.
Puja’s brother informed that Adil regularly forced her to convert to Islam. When she refused to convert to Islam, Adil got engaged to another girl. This upset Puja, who then committed suicide.
The family of the victim has demanded that Adil Khan must be booked under the new anti-conversion (love jihad) law in the state. However, the police have not confirmed if the case can be registered as forced religious conversion. The accused has been booked under Abetment to Suicide case and has also been booked under Prevention of Protection Act SC-ST Act.
Madhya Pradesh’s anti-forced conversion ordinance
Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel gave assent to the anti-forcedconversion ordinance passed by the state government on Saturday. The new law has been brought to put a stop on the forced religious conversions through fraudulent means. It will include the cases where conversion has been put on the table as one of the conditions of marriage.
If someone is found guilty under the new ordinance, the person(s) involved will face up to 10 years of imprisonment and/or fine. A similar ordinance was brought in Uttar Pradesh as well. There has been a spike in grooming jihad cases in recent past that had raised the demand of anti-conversion law to stop alleged conversion nexus. Last year Uttar Pradesh police had found several grooming jihad cases in a single area in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh after which state government formed SIT for the investigation.
Earlier this week, Whatsapp forced its users to agree to the new privacy rules or else lose access to the app. An in-app notification popped up as soon as the app was opened and it informed users on the changes made in the new privacy policy.
According to the popular messaging app, the company’s new terms of service and privacy policy will come into effect on 8 February 2021. To continue using the app, WhatsApp users will have to accept the terms and conditions. If the users do not accept the new terms of service, they will lose access to the app. In other words, updated policy no longer indicates that users would be able to choose whether they want their data to be shared with Facebook or not.
In its notification, the Facebook-owned messaging app conveyed that as a part of the policy update, it will share user data with other Facebook companies. It elaborated users on how Whatsapp handles the data, how it would partner with Facebook to facilitate integration across Facebook Company Products and how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage.
Detailed overview of privacy policy changes made by Whatsapp
Meanwhile, Whatsapp has updated its website with a detailed overview of what the changes in the policy of the app meant for the users.
“Our Services have optional features which, if used by you, require us to collect additional information to provide such features. You will be notified of such a collection, as appropriate. If you choose not to provide the information needed to use a feature, you will be unable to use the feature. For example, you cannot share your location with your contacts if you do not permit us to collect your location data from your device. Permissions can be managed through your Settings menu on both Android and iOS devices,” Whatsapp wrote.
The Facebook-owned messaging service also expanded on how much of the data is collected automatically by the app. “We collect information about your activity on our Services, like service-related, diagnostic, and performance information. This includes information about your activity (including how you use our Services, your Services settings, how you interact with others using our Services (including when you interact with a business), and the time, frequency, and duration of your activities and interactions), log files, and diagnostic, crash, website, and performance logs and reports,” WhatsApp said.
“This also includes information about when you registered to use our Services; the features you use like our messaging, calling, Status, groups (including group name, group picture, group description), payments or business features; profile photo, “about” information; whether you are online when you last used our Services (your “last seen”); and when you last updated your “about” information,” WhatsApp added.
Whatsapp is the largest messaging service in the world with over 2 billion monthly active users. However, an insidious in-app notification, forcing users to accept the new privacy policy has set off alarm bells ringing for the privacy-conscious users, who are now making a beeline to dump the app and shifting to more secure and reliable alternatives. Messaging apps Signal and Telegram are the two frontrunners that have caught the fancy of these set of disenchanted Whatsapp users who are looking to migrate to other platforms amidst the growing privacy concerns.
Let’s take a look at how the two alternative apps, Signal and Telegram, fare in terms of Security and Features as against Whatsapp:-
Signal
Signal is an open-source messaging app that is privacy focused and is widely used by journalists, security experts, and academics across the globe. It instantly shot to fame after Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged his followers on Twitter to use the app in the wake of the notorious privacy policy changes made by Whatsapp.
The laconic endorsement made by the world’s richest man was enough to spur a large number of users to download and sign-up for Signal, forcing its servers to crash temporarily. The messaging app took to Twitter to acknowledge that it was getting many new requests for new join-ins and this unexpected surge has led to delays in verification codes from network providers. The glitch was soon fixed, and the users were able to register without any hiccups thereafter.
On January 9, the official Twitter account of Signal tweeted that it is listed as the top free app on Apple’s App Store charts in India, Austria, France, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.
Signal places a high premium on the user’s privacy. It uses the open-source Signal Protocol to implement end-to-end encryption which covers all forms of communication on Signal. The Signal Protocol also underpins Whatsapp’s end-to-end encryption.
Though Whatsapp encrypts calls and messages, Signal goes a step further and encrypts metadata too. In addition to this, Signal uses Sealed Sender to communicate between the sender and the recipient. Sealed Sender is a protocol developed by Signal, through which no one will be able to determine, not even Signal, who is messaging to whom.
There is an array of other privacy features on Signal too such as locking the app with passcode or biometrics. Then there is a two-factor authentication option to block screenshots within the app and the recent screen. Similarly, Signal recently also added a new feature of blurring faces automatically before sending images to make the messaging experience even more private and secure.
Privacy tab on Signal messaging app
Signal also allows users to hide their IP address. One can even enable incognito keyboard while typing on Signal, delete old messages, apply dark mode and blur faces and private information from its in-app photo editor.
In terms of features, Signal provides secure messaging, voice, and video calls. Users can also have a group chat and Signal had recently added group calling feature as well, something which was missing for a long time. Furthermore, the app also packs features such as disappearing messages which was recently added in Whatsapp. However, unlike Whatsapp, Signal does not offer broadcast messaging services.
Although Signal might fall short on the features, it more than makes up with an impressive set of privacy features. The app has not only been endorsed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk but also recommended by whistleblower Edward Snowden. When asked by a Twitter user why should one trust Signal, Snowden responded: “Here’s a reason: I use it every day and I’m not dead yet.”
Signal app is administered by Signal Foundation, a non-profit organisation. The Foundation was set up by Moxie Marlinspike, creator of the Signal app, and Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp. Acton had left WhatsApp over dispute with Facebook over monetization of WhatsApp, and had alleged that Facebook executives had forced him to mislead European Union authorities regarding Facebook’s intention to merge Facebook and WhatsApp user data.
Telegram
Besides Signal, another messaging app that is being viewed by a lot of people as a credible Whatsapp alternative is Telegram. In terms of security, Telegram also offers a bunch of privacy and security features but it is not as secure as Whatsapp and Signal. For instance, Telegram offers end-to-end encryption of communication but only when the user is using its secret chat feature.
E2E on Telegram is only possible by enabling the secret chat feature
The E2E encryption on Telegram is not enabled by default. This basically means that when a user is using a secret chat feature, the messages are encrypted on his/her mobile phone and then decrypted on Telegram’s server. Again, the messages are encrypted on the server and sent to the recipient for final decryption. As evident, Telegram has encryption keys on the server-side and can, in theory, access regular chats of users.
However, Telegram claims that it stores messages and decryption keys in such a manner that one would require court orders from multiple legal systems around the world to access user’s data. The company also claims that it has so far shared 0 bytes of data with third-parties and sovereign governments.
Telegram uses its home-made encryption protocol MTProto for encrypting messages sent on secret chats. However, it is a close-sourced protocol and therefore security researchers can’t vouch for the validity of the claim made by Telegram. However, they believe that it would have been much better to use an open-source protocol such as the Signal protocol that using a proprietary closed-source encryption protocol as is used in Telegram. In other terms, privacy features on Telegram are not as robust as on Whatsapp and Signal.
While Whatsapp is ideal in terms of the number of features it offers, Telegram is overloaded with a ton of features. Identical to Whatsapp, users get run-of-the-mill features such chat, group chat and channels. However, while the group limit in Whatsapp is 256, Telegram offers support for groups with more than 200,000 members.
Telegram also packs group-specific features such as bots, quizzes, hashtags and many more which considerably enhances users’ group experience. Another unique feature that Telegram offers is the self-destructing messaging feature which could come in handy for users who do not want to keep their messages for eternity on someone else’s cellphone. The app also provides support for features such as editing messages, message scheduling, sharing uncompressed media, assorted themes, and many more. Also, the size limit for sharing files on Telegram is a whopping 1.5 GB.
WhatsApp issues clarification, says changes impact business chats only
After the backlash against WhatsApp on social media, the company issued a clarification today. The company says the latest change is only applicable for business chats on the platform. The company claimed that the update does not change WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices with Facebook, and it does not impact how people communicate privately. In a statement, the company said:
As we announced in October, WhatsApp wants to make it easier for people to both make a purchase and get help from a business directly on WhatsApp. While most people use WhatsApp to chat with friends and family, increasingly people are reaching out to businesses as well. To further increase transparency, we updated the privacy policy to describe that going forward businesses can choose to receive secure hosting services from our parent company Facebook to help manage their communications with their customers on WhatsApp. Though of course, it remains up to the user whether or not they want to message with a business on WhatsApp.
The update does not change WhatsApp’s data sharing practices with Facebook and does not impact how people communicate privately with friends or family wherever they are in the world. WhatsApp remains deeply committed to protecting people’s privacy. We are communicating directly with users through WhatsApp about these changes so they have time to review the new policy over the course of the next month.
Taiwan has claimed that China is attempting to spy on other nations by backing private investment in Pacific undersea cable networks following a Reuters report in December 2020 that said that the USA has warned Pacific Island nations against security threats posed by a Chinese company.
Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou toldNewsweek on the 18th of December that China wants to “monopolize” communication networks in the Pacific to steal data from rivals. Reuters had reported a day earlier that the USA is concerned about Chinese involvement in the Kiribati Connectivity Project (KCP) that seeks to improve connectivity with Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
Huawei Marine, recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd but majority-owned by another Chinese firm, had submitted bids for the project which is backed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). USA has communicated to FSM that Chinese firms are required by law to share information with Chinese intelligence and security agencies. The Nauru Government had also warned FSM, as per the report.
The FSM government told Reuters that it is talking to bilateral partners in the project, “some of whom have addressed a need to ensure that the cable does not compromise regional security by opening, or failing to close, cyber-security related gaps.” A Nauru Government spokesperson said that bids were being examined and “technical and administrative issues” were being addressed.
The project is reported to be further complicated by its planned connection to the HANTRU-1 undersea cable, primarily used by the US Government and Guam, a US territory with significant military assets. Huawei Marines is now majority-owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, part of Hengtong Group. However, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd continues to retain a small stake in the firm.
China, for its part, claims that the USA is attempting to smear Chinese companies. Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were singled out for their allegations China was attempting espionage through the project.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “The Senators you mentioned will oppose whatever China does. They are always making up lies to smear China to seek political gains. Their allegation is pure slander aimed to justify the wanton US suppression of high-tech Chinese companies.”
China further stated, “It is the United States that has been conducting massive cyber theft all over the world, even on its allies, since PRISM came out. It is a real empire of hacking and theft. The world can see through the US trick of smearing others and beautifying itself.”
The development comes at a time when there is increasing tension between the two countries after US President identified China as the greatest threat to the current world order, a euphemism for American hegemony. With Joe Biden set to enter the White House on the January 20th, it is expected that the turbulence will recede to a certain extent.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which developed India’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, has clarified that the death of a 42-year-old volunteer from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, who took a dose of the indigenous Coronavirus vaccine in the clinical trial of the vaccine, was “not related” to the vaccine or placebo.
They informed that the volunteer who participated in the Phase III trial of Covaxin on December 12, 2020 was reported to be healthy in all follow-up calls until seven days from the date the vaccine was administered to him.
“The volunteer, at the time of enrolment, had fulfilled all criteria to be accepted as participant in Phase III trial and was reported to be healthy in all site follow up calls post seven days of dosing and no after-effects were observed/reported,” the Bharat Biotech statement read.
The volunteer, at time of enrolment, had fulfilled all criteria to be accepted as participant in Phase III trial & was reported to be healthy in all site follow up calls post 7 days of dosing & no after-effects were observed/reported: Bharat Biotech on a death in Phase III trial pic.twitter.com/RMZsE02WmF
“The volunteer passed away nine days after the dosing and preliminary reviews by the site indicate that the death is unrelated to the study dosing. We cannot confirm if the volunteer received the study vaccine or a placebo as the study is blinded,” the company added.
The volunteer passed away nine days after the dosing and preliminary reviews by the site indicate that the death is unrelated to the study dosing. We cannot confirm if the volunteer received the study vaccine or a placebo as the study is blinded: Bharat Biotech
As per post-mortem report by Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal that the site received from Bhopal Police, the probable cause of death was due to cardiorespiratory failure as a result of suspected poisoning and the case is under police investigation as well, furthered the Hyderabad based company.
As per post-mortem report by Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal that the site received from Bhopal Police, the probable cause of death was due to cardiorespiratory failure as a result of suspected poisoning and the case is under police investigation as well: Bharat Biotech https://t.co/u9otZgir0T
Deepak Marawi (42), the volunteer from Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, died 10 days after he had participated in the clinical trial for the vaccine at a private hospital. The doctor who administered the vaccine said that Marawi was kept under observation for 30 minutes after the trial as per the guidelines before being allowed to go. “We monitored his health for 7 to 8 days,” he added.
Speaking about the unfortunate incident, Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary said: “The after-effects of the vaccination are visible in a person within 30 minutes. No side-effects were seen even between 24 and 48 hours of vaccination. The post-mortem report suggested poisoning,” he said.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan urged people to desist from spreading misconceptions on the vaccine. Chouhan stated that the matter must be handled sensitively so that the vaccination rollout may not be affected. He added that the state government is awaiting the deceased’s viscera test reports.
“Report will come but I’m confident that if there’s after-effect it shows in 24 hrs or 2-3 days, not after several days”, opined Chouhan.
Viscera sent for testing. I urge all to take this matter sensitively so that no unnecessary misconception on vaccine is formed that’ll affect vaccination. Report will come but I’m confident that if there’s after-effect it shows in 24 hrs or 2-3 days, not after several days: MP CM https://t.co/IAoaV4TmkPpic.twitter.com/dyoPlGJniS
It is notable that after the Bharat Biotech vaccine was approved by authorities, opposition parties and left-liberals had attacked the govt, alleging that the safety of the vaccine is not proven yet. After the death of the trial participant, the matter was used by them to further spread propaganda against Covaxin. But it is notable that it is not known whether the man received the vaccine or placebo. As a standard practice in clinical trials, only 50% of the participants get the vaccine, while the rest 50 get a placebo. The allocation of vaccine and placebo is done in a randomised process, and the recipients of the same are kept confidential.
COVAXIN developed by Bharat Biotech gets Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) nod
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech successfully developed COVAXIN™ in collaboration with the ICMR and National Institute of Virology (NIV). The SARS-CoV-2 strain was isolated in NIV, Pune and transferred to Bharat Biotech for the effort.
It is pertinent to note here that on January 3, 2021, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the manufacture of Coronavirus vaccine by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Indian company Bharat Biotech.
Covaxin is an “inactivated” vaccine developed by chemically treating novel coronavirus samples to make them incapable of reproduction. This process leaves the viral proteins, including the spike protein of the coronavirus which it uses to enter the human cells, intact. Given as two doses, three weeks apart, the viral proteins in the vaccine activate the immune system and prepare people for future infections with the actual infectious virus.
A study on the Phase 1/2 trial had shown that the therapeutic doesn’t cause any serious side effects.
