Facebook suspends 200 apps over data misuse investigation

Facebook said today it has suspended "around 200" apps on its platform as part of an investigation into misuse of private user data.

The investigation was launched after revelations that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica hijacked data on some 87 million Facebook users as it worked on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

"The investigation process is in full swing," said an online statement from Facebook product partnerships vice president Ime Archibong.

"We have large teams of internal and external experts working hard to investigate these apps as quickly as possible. To date thousands of apps have been investigated and around 200 have been suspended -- pending a thorough investigation into whether they did in fact misuse any data." Archibong added that "where we find evidence that these or other apps did misuse data, we will ban them and notify people via this website."

Rise of violent Buddhist rhetoric in Asia defies common stereotypes

Buddhism may be touted in the West as an inherently peaceful philosophy, but a surge in violent rhetoric from small but increasingly influential groups of hardline monks in parts of Asia is upending the religion's tolerant image.

Buddhist mobs in Sri Lanka last week led anti-Muslim riots that left at least three dead and more than 200 Muslim-owned establishments in ruins, just the latest bout of communal violence there stoked by Buddhist nationalists.

In Myanmar, ultra-nationalist monks led by firebrand preacher Wirathu have poured vitriol on the country's small Muslim population, cheering a military crackdown forcing nearly 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.

And in neighbouring Thailand, a prominent monk found himself in hot water for calling on followers to burn down mosques.

Twitter adds new Bookmark feature; now you can save tweets for later

Micro-blogging platform Twitter announced that its 'Bookmarks' feature would be rolled out to all its users on Thursday.

The new feature gives users an opportunity to save any tweets they may like and want to revisit, the Verge reported.

With the current version of Twitter, a tweet could be saved by liking it.

However, with the new update in place, twitterers can save any tweet of their choice with Bookmarks.

Furthermore, with Bookmarks, only the user who saves the tweet will be aware of the same, and not the one whose tweet is saved, or any other user.

In order to bookmark a tweet, a user may tap or click the new 'share' icon available beneath a tweet, where the message icon was earlier positioned.

Twitter also announced the amalgamation of sharing options under one bracket. Therefore, with the new version, a user may share a tweet via direct message, share it elsewhere outside of Twitter, or bookmark it

'IT sector to layoff up to 2 lakh engineers annually for next 3 years'

Executive search firm Head Hunters India said the job cuts in IT sector will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh annually for next three years due to under-preparedness in adapting to newer technologies.

"Contrary to media reports of 56,000 IT professionals to lose jobs this year, the actual job cuts will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh per year in next three years, due to under- preparedness in adapting to newer technologies," Head Hunters India Founder-Chairman and MD K Lakshmikanth told PTI, analysing a report submitted by McKinsey & Company at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum on February 17.

McKinsey & Company report had said nearly half of the workforce in the IT services firms will be "irrelevant" over the next 3-4 years.

McKinsey India Managing Director Noshir Kaka had also said the bigger challenge ahead for the industry will be to retrain 50-60 per cent of the workforce as there will be a significant shift in technologies. The industry employs 3.9 million people and the majority of them have to be retrained.

"So, when we analyse these figures, it is clear that 30 to 40 per cent of the workforce cannot be retrained or re- skilled. So, assume that half of this workforce can continue to work on old skills, then balance will become redundant.

"So, the number of people who will become redundant in the next three years will be about five to six lakhs. This will workout to, on a average, between 1.75 lakh to 2 lakh per year for next three years," Lakshmikanth explained.

However, he said job cuts will not take place in major cities like Mumbai or Bengaluru, but cities like Coimbatore or a few remote places, he said.

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