Issue 339 - 06/03/2020

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NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
Sikkim suspends ILPs
for foreigners, puts
Nathula out of bounds
Gangtok : The Sikkim government
on Thursday suspended issuing
Inner Line Permits (ILP) to foreign
nationals to prevent any incidences
official statement said after the
meeting that was chaired by Chief
Secretary S.C. Gupta.
Senior police, health, animal hus-
of the deadly disease in the
bandry and transport officials
state, where nobody has tested positive
for the infection so far.
The state Home Department
issued a notification for the purpose.
"In view of rapid spread of coronavirus,
no ILP may be issued to
foreign nationals, including those
from Bhutan, with effect from
today," said the notification, which
also declared that the state Tourism
and Civil Aviation Department
would not issue any permit for travel
to the East Sikkim district mountain
besides the district collectors attended
the parleys.
"Gupta also directed the concerned
representatives to issue advisory
that discourages locals from
travelling to affected countries and
follow screening and quarantine
process for the ones coming back to
the state from abroad. "He also suggested
deploying additional police
force at check-posts along with the
well-trained and equipped medical
team for efficient screening," it said.
pass Nathula "with immediate
Already, people in the state with
effect". It is mandatory for foreign nationals and action plan for any possible coronavirus recent travel history to China or other affected
country are being traced, tracked and kept
desiring to visit the Himalayan state to procure
an ILP from the state government, while confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in under observation. State and district Rapid
outbreak in the state following reports of
Indian nationals have to secure clearance some parts of the country. "The meeting has Response Teams and infectious disease managing
committees have also been formed.
from the state Tourism and Civil Aviation decided to suspend all Inner Line Permits
Department to visit Nathula, on the Indo- (ILPs) issued to visit Sikkim until further The government has stated that over four
Chinese border. On Wednesday, the decision notice. The concerned department has been lakh passengers arriving in the state have
was taken to suspend the ILP at a high level directed to network the information to all been screened so far for the infection, and no
meeting to review and discuss preparedness stakeholder organisations and offices," an positive case detected.
Imran asked to apologise over
'lies' about Sharif's health
Islamabad : The opposition
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) has asked Prime
Minister Imran Khan to issue an
apology and resign for "blatantly
lying" to the nation about former
premier Nawaz Sharifs health
condition.
Addressing a news conference
here on Wednesday, PML-
N Senator Musaddiq Malik,
information secretary Marriyum
Aurangzeb and deputy secretary
general Attaullah Tarrar said that
Sharif had gone abroad for treatment
on the directive of the government's
medical board, but
"the PTI government is continuously
lying about his medical
condition", reports Dawn news.
Malik said that Sharif was
suffering from a condition where
the vessel responsible for supply
of blood to his brain was
blocked. He pointed out that during
detention Sharif suffered two
heart attacks and the entire
Punjab government struggled to
diagnose his ailment. Malik said
that Khan and his cabinet were
the ones who approved Sharif's
travel abroad.
"Nawaz Sharif has submitted
his medical reports to the Punjab
government as agreed in the
court and that all reports were
attested by the doctors, notary
public, London Foreign Office
and Pakistan High Commission,
but the PTI is adamant that the
reports are fake," he added.
Also addressing the conference,
Tarrar said that the bail
granted by the Lahore high court
to Sharif was still in effect,
reports Dawn news.
The court gave Sharif bail on
medical grounds and all government
measures around it were
illegal, he added. Wednesday's
development comes after the
Punjab government last week
refused to extend Sharif's bail
declaring that it had found no
"legal, moral or medical ground"
necessitating an extension.
30 KIDS ABDUCTED DAILY IN STATE,
REVEALS MAHA HOME MINISTER
Mumbai : Making a shocking revelation,
the Maharashtra government has said that
around 30 children are kidnapped every day
in the state.
In a written reply, Home Minister Anil
Deshmukh also told Legislative Council
member Vikram Kale that 72 percent of
these kidnapped children are girls.
Earlier, in the Economic Survey, it was
revealed that atrocities against women
increased in the state with 37,567 crimes
reported in 2019 compared to 35,497 in 2018
and 31,997 in 2017.
In order to tackle these crimes, Deshmukh
said the state plans to enact a special law
similar to 'Disha' Act of Andhra Pradesh to
speed up trials in cases of violence against
children and women.
06/03/2020
23
Scientific mission to uncharted
depths of Indian Ocean
New Delhi : In a first, a deep-sea scientific mission to uncharted
depths of the Indian Ocean in the Maldives and Seychelles will
gather valuable data to support the Commonwealth Blue Charter
on ocean action and train local scientists.
The ground-breaking multidisciplinary research mission, First
Descent: Midnight Zone, was officially launched at the
Commonwealth headquarters in London on Thursday.
The newest Commonwealth member country, Maldives, has
joined Seychelles to launch a major joint scientific expedition to
investigate unexplored depths. Led by the UK research institute
Nekton, the goal is to boost the sustainable governance of
Seychelles and Maldivian waters, including the protection of
629,000 sq km of ocean. It supports the Commonwealth Blue
Charter -- a shared commitment by 54 member countries to protect
the ocean from the effects of climate change, pollution and overfishing.
Maldives Minister for Fisheries, Marine Resources and
Agriculture, Zaha Waheed, said in a statement: "It is vital to comprehensively
understand what lies beneath our waters in order for
us to be informed enough to take necessary actions towards a
healthy and prosperous ocean."
"This mission will, for the first time, show a glimpse of what the
deep sea features and the biodiversity it holds. It will also contribute
to the wider goal of marine spatial planning and ocean governance."
A 50-person crew will set sail on March 16, using the
world's most advanced deep diving submersible, equipped with a
suite of research tools including sensor and mapping technology.
The data they collect will help countries define conservation and
management priorities and map out marine protected areas.
It will also help measure the impact of climate change and
human activity in the area. Commonwealth Secretary-General
Patricia Scotland said: "We cannot protect what we don't know and
we cannot govern what we don't understand. With 95 per cent of
the ocean still unexplored by humans, we are only just beginning
to grasp its profound influence on life, including its effect on global
climate and ecosystems." The expedition will focus on undersea
mountains or 'seamounts' in the Midnight Zone -- depths from
1,000 to 4,000 metres, where biodiversity peaks.
This zone holds critical indicators to measure the impact of the
climate crisis, fisheries management, heat absorption, acidification,
ocean carbon cycle, and plastic, agricultural and industrial pollution.
The damage or overexploitation of seamounts can have widespread
consequences on ocean health, food security, and other benefits
the ocean provides, such as the discovery of new medicines.
Cathay Pacific fined 500,000
pounds in UK for data breach
London : The UK's data protection watchdog has fined Cathay
Pacific Airways Limited 500,000 pounds for failing to protect the
security of its customers personal data.
Between October 2014 and May 2018 Cathay Pacific's computer
systems lacked appropriate security measures which led to exposure
of personal data of approximately 9.4 million customers
worldwide -- 111,578 of whom were from the UK.
The airline's failure to secure its systems resulted in the unauthorised
access to their passengers' personal details including
names, passport and identity details, dates of birth, postal and email
addresses, phone numbers and historical travel information, said
the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on Wednesday.
Cathay Pacific became aware of suspicious activity in March
2018 when its database was subjected to a brute force attack, where
numerous passwords or phrases are submitted with the hope of
eventually guessing correctly. The incident led Cathay Pacific to
employ a cybersecurity firm, and they subsequently reported the
incident to the ICO. The ICO found Cathay Pacific's systems were
entered via a server connected to the Internet and malware was
installed to harvest data. A catalogue of errors were found during
the ICO's investigation including back-up files that were not password
protected; unpatched Internet-facing servers; use of operating
systems that were no longer supported by the developer and inadequate
anti-virus protection.
"People rightly expect when they provide their personal details
to a company, that those details will be kept secure to ensure they
are protected from any potential harm or fraud. That simply was
not the case here," Steve Eckersley, ICO Director of Investigations,
said in a statement. "This breach was particularly concerning given
the number of basic security inadequacies across Cathay Pacific's
system, which gave easy access to the hackers," Eckersley said.
Due to the timing of these incidents the ICO investigated this
case under the Data Protection Act 1998. The far more stringent
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in
2018. "A breach like this is so avoidable and like with many incidents,
was caused by a combination of both human error and malicious
activity. The fact that such a number of basic security protocols
were clearly missed in this situation is quite alarming and also
embarrassing for the company," said Shlomie Liberow, Technical
Programme Manager for HackerOne, a vulnerability coordination
and bug bounty platform.