(IANS)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said that Russia has rejected the proposal for a truce during Orthodox Easter, taking place on Sunday.
Kiev, April 22: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said that Russia has rejected the proposal for a truce during Orthodox Easter, taking place on Sunday.
In his latest video address, Zelensky said: "Unfortunately, Russia rejected the proposal to establish an Easter truce.
This shows very well how the leaders of this state actually treat the Christian faith, one of the most joyful and important holidays.
"But we keep our hope. Hope for peace, hope that life will overcome death."
The Orthodox Easter service starts late on Saturday into Sunday morning.
It is observed by both the Ukrainians and Russians.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a four-day Holy Week humanitarian pause beginning on Holy Thursday and running through Easter Sunday, to allow for a series of humanitarian corridors to open.
In a statement, Guterres had said that a "humanitarian pause would provide the necessary conditions to meet two crucial imperatives, beginning with safe passage of all civilians willing to leave the areas of current and expected confrontation".
Senior members of the clergy across the globe have been pressing the Russian Orthodox Church to condemn Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Orthodox Church has not commented on the issue.
(IANS)
New Delhi, Dec 2: The air quality in the national capital continued to remain under the 'very poor' category on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the minimum temperature in the national Capital dipped to 12.3 degrees Celsius, three notches below the seasonal average.
According to the weather department, the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 25 degrees while there will be shallow fog.
This morning at 10 a.m., the air quality at Anand Vihar entered the 'very poor' category with PM 2.5 at 347 and PM 10 at 241, in the 'poor' category, while the CO reached 55, while NO2 was at 81 or 'satisfactory', as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The Bawana station recorded PM 2.5 at 328, in the 'very poor' category while the PM 10 reached 177, in the 'moderate' category, while the CO reached 76, or 'satisfactory' levels.
The AQI monitoring station at Dwarka Sector 8 recorded PM 2.5 at 339, in the 'very poor category' while PM 10 was at 183 or 'moderate' while the CO was at 75, in 'satisfactory' levels.
The AQI at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport station was in the 'very poor' category with PM 2.5 at 318 and PM 10 at 159, in the 'moderate' category, while the CO was at 101, in the 'moderate' level.
The PM 2.5 at Okhla Phase-II was recorded at 396 and PM 10 at 329, both in the 'very poor' category while CO reached 68, under the 'moderate' category.
(IANS)
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New Delhi, Dec 2: Amid an increased scrutiny over the alleged proliferation of sexual abuse content about children on its platform, Meta has said it is expanding and updating its child safety features aimed at protecting kids.
The company said that in addition to developing technology to tackle this abuse, it hires specialists dedicated to online child safety and sharing information with industry peers and law enforcement.
"Predators don't limit their attempts to harm children to online spaces, so it's vital that we work together to stop predators and prevent child exploitation," the company said in a statement late on Friday.
Meta said it takes recent allegations about the effectiveness of its work very seriously, and "created a task force to review existing policies, examine technology and enforcement systems we have in place, and make changes that strengthen our protections for young people, ban predators, and remove the networks they use to connect with one another".
The task force took immediate steps to strengthen its protections, and child safety teams continue to work on additional measures, the company added.
The Wall Street Journal recently detailed how Instagram and Facebook show inappropriate and sexual child-related content to users. In June, the report detailed how Instagram connects a network of accounts buying and selling child sexual abuse material (CSAM), guiding them to each other via its recommendations algorithm.
A follow-up investigation published on Friday showed how the problem extends to Facebook Groups, where there's an ecosystem of pedophile accounts and groups, some with as many as 800,000 members.
Meta said that on Instagram, potentially suspicious adults will be prevented from following one another, will not be recommended to each other in places like Explore and Reels, and will not be shown comments from one another on public posts, among other things.
"On Facebook, we're using this technology to better find and address certain Groups, Pages and Profiles," said the company.
Additionally, Groups whose membership overlaps with other Groups that were removed for violating our child safety policies will not be shown in Search.
"We're sending Instagram accounts that exhibit potentially suspicious behaviour to our content reviewers and we’ll automatically disable these accounts if they exhibit enough of the 60+ signals we monitor," said the company.
After launching a new automated enforcement effort in September, "we saw five times as many automated deletions of Instagram Lives that contained adult nudity and sexual activity."
"We actioned over 4 million Reels per month, across Facebook and Instagram globally, for violating our policies," said Meta.
(IANS)
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New Delhi, Dec 2: Three Delhi-bound Vistara flights were diverted on Saturday due to low visibility at the Delhi airport.
One flight was diverted to Ahmedabad, while two flights were diverted to Jaipur.
Flight UK954 and Flight UK928 from Mumbai to Delhi (BOM-DEL) were diverted to Jaipur, said Vistara Airlines in a series of posts on X.
According to the posts, Flight UK954 arrived in Jaipur at 8:42 a.m., while Flight UK928 was expected to arrive at 9:45 a.m.
Similarly, Flight UK906 from Ahmedabad to Delhi (AMD-DEL) was diverted to Ahmedabad and was expected to arrive at 10:00 a.m.
"Flight UK906 from Ahmedabad to Delhi (AMD-DEL) has been diverted to Ahmedabad (AMD) due to low visibility at Delhi airport and is expected to arrive in Ahmedabad (AMD) at 1000 hours," said Vistara Airlines in a post on X.
The visibility in several parts of Delhi on Saturday was relatively low, as the air quality in several areas of the national capital was recorded in the 'very poor' category. Multiple areas of the city were also covered with a layer of smog.
As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality in Anand Vihar and Ashok Vihar was recorded as 'Very Poor'. Anand Vihar had an AQI reading of 388, while Ashok Vihar had an AQI reading of 386 at 6 a.m. on Saturday.
As per the official data, the AQI reading at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International (IGI) was 375 at 10:00 a.m.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday that Grap-3 has been lifted in the national capital but the government is trying to ensure that Grap-1 and 2 are strictly implemented.
The air quality index from 0 to 100 is considered 'good', 100 to 200 'moderate', 200 to 300 'poor', 300 to 400 'very poor' and from 400 to 500 or above 'severe'.
(ANI)
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