Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam believes his stint with the Lankan Premier League (LPL) will be beneficial for him for the upcoming Asia Cup, a tournament that is seen as the preparation platform for the ICC Cricket World Cup. The LPL, a domestic T20 tournament of Sri Lanka which is also the joint-host of Asia Cup, is the first ever franchise league for the left-arm pacer Shoriful. "The first of anything is exciting for everyone. I am no exception. I am really excited to play my first ever franchise league and no doubt I want to make it memorable one for me," Shoriful, an integral part of Bangladesh's pace bowling unit, said here before boarding the flight today. The young pacer who was the vital cog of Bangladesh's Under-19 World Cup winning campaign will be playing for Colombo Strikers in the LPL. "We'll play a match of Asia Cup in Kandy, so I hope the stint with Sri Lankan league will benefit me. I will get a clear picture of Sri Lankan condition and wicket," he added. Shoriful, who always looks aggressive in the ground but a down to the earth guy in his personal life, said he would try to give his best if he gets the  chance to play matches in the LPL. "Whenever the opportunity comes, I will try to my best. Most of the cricketers play franchise league to enhance their experience. There is an opportunity to share the dressing room with many great cricketers. I will also try to share the thoughts and try to learn from the great cricketers there," Shoriful remarked. Shoriful's Under-19 teammate Towhid Hridoy had already left the country to play the LPL. Hridoy will be playing for defending Champions Jaffna Kings. Test and T20 skipper Shakib Al Hasan and national discard Mohammad Mithun are the two other players from Bangladesh who would play the LPL. Both are the part of Galle Titans. Pace bowler Taskin Ahmed was approached by LPL franchise Dambulla Aura but considering his workload ahead of two major tournaments, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) didn't give him the clearance. Source: BSS

Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani has called for increased use of the rial and rupee in trade with India, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. In a meeting with National Security Advisor of India Ajit Doval in Tehran on Monday, Shamkhani said using national currencies in bilateral trade between Iran with India would help the two countries reach their joint economic objectives. During the meeting, Shamkhani and Doval discussed economic, political, and security issues concerning Iran and India as well as the most important regional and international developments, IRNA reported. Stating that improved Iran-India ties are not against any other country and are not affected by the will of third parties, he underlined that global and regional developments had created very good conditions to strengthen interactions between the two countries in the field of energy, transportation and transit, technology, and banking. Welcoming the role played by India in regional and international developments, Shamkhani highlighted that Iran considers the active participation of New Delhi in political, economic, and security initiatives with the participation of the countries of Central Asia and the Persian Gulf region as necessary and helpful, IRNA reported. Doval, for his part, said that the deep influence of Iranian culture in the daily life of the Indians is a sign of deep ties between the two nations. Doval added that the recent agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to normalize their diplomatic ties would have profound regional effects on changing relations in the international system. Emphasizing the need for cooperation between Iran and India to boost stability in Afghanistan, the Indian official said the two countries should work together to eradicate Takfiri terrorism in the country, IRNA reported. He said India considers Chabahar port, in southeastern Iran, as a gateway for increased cooperation between Iran and India. 

While the telegraph may be a thing of the past, in Germany its successor, the fax machine, is not. A full third of German companies "frequently" use this technology, according to a new survey. It's a stereotype of the German business world that has two solid feet in reality — the reluctance to let go of outdated technology. At least that is according to research published by the German digital advocacy group Bitkom on Thursday. In a world dominated by high-speed internet and rapid advances in digital capabilities, a whopping 82% of German companies still use fax machines — a technology that saw its heyday in the previous millennium — according to the results of Bitkom's survey. "Faced with the shift to digital, the fax machine has long been considered doomed," Bitkom's head of digital business processes Nils Britze said. "But once a channel of communication has been established, it generally takes a while before it is completely superseded — even when much more comfortable and safer means of communication have emerged in the meantime." Frequent use of fax machines on the decline One of the more surprising results from the research is that a third of businesses who responded said they still use fax machines "frequently" or "very frequently." Nevertheless, the report pointed out that this share has been steadily following in recent years. Last year's result was 40%, down from 62% in 2018. Half of the 505 businesses — all with at least 20 employees — said they send faxes occasionally or rarely, while 16% do without it completely. "What is most valued about the classic fax machine is above all its ability to clearly trace whether something has been sent," Britze said. "As for the encryption of data and thus security, digital channels have some advantages over faxing," he added.

Male birth control pills are coming soon. A new study shows men are eager to use them responsibly, and so are their partners. Male birth control pills aren't available yet, but there are already accusations that men won't want to take them, or can't be relied upon to take them responsibly. "Let’s say this new non-hormonal pill for guys makes it to market, and men are willing to try it.  Can we really expect them to take a pill every day?" author Susanna Schrobsdorff wrote in The Washington Post in April 2022. Fifty percent of the pregnancies around the world are unintended. It's women who ultimately bear the burden, and the argument goes that men will never take contraception seriously unless they can get pregnant themselves. One reason this bias exists may be that men don't have the best track record with condoms.  Incidences of "stealthing" — taking the condom off during sex without your partner's consent — are common: In Australia, for example, a staggering 32% of women and 19% of men have experienced stealthing. But male contraceptive advocates are fighting back against the criticisms, arguing that the demand for male contraceptives has never been higher. They say that men are ready to share the responsibility of birth control. Men want the pill A new study, presented at the Reproductive Health Innovation Summit in Boston in February 2023, backs the claims, showing that men and their partners are strongly in favor of new forms of male contraception and that women trust their partners to use them responsibly. The survey, funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, involved 19,000 adult men from eight different countries: Nigeria, Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and the US. "We asked men if they want contraceptives, and if they do, what forms they want. We thought by assessing the situation objectively we could set some of the issues straight," said Steve Kretschmer, executive director of DesireLine, a consultancy firm involved in the study. The study found that 78% to 98% of men, depending on the country, would take male contraceptive pills. The demand was high among men regardless of their relationship status. Women trust their partners to take the pill The study also aimed to find out what women thought about the issue.  "We also wanted to ask women if they trust men to take contraceptives, and how would it change their use of contraceptives if male contraception became available," Kretschmer told. The survey showed the demand for male contraception was as high among women as it was among men. Moreover, women largely trust their partners to use contraception responsibly — 82% to 88% of women in Vietnam, Nigeria and Bangladesh agreed or strongly agreed they would believe it if their partner told them they were taking a contraceptive. "The data shows men want new birth control forms and women trust their partners to take them," Heather Vahdat, executive director of the US-based Male Contraceptive Initiative, told.  "But if a woman doesn't trust their male partner, then they could both contracept. This isn't an option right now."  Changing gender roles According to Vahdat, society lost track of men's role in contraception and conception since the female pill was introduced in the 1960s. "Contraception became synonymous with women's rights. But we're now reaching a tipping point with male contraceptives and people are paying attention to them," she said. Data in the survey shows men in committed relationships want to be part of the decision-making progress around contraception, as much as they are around conception.   "It comes at a time when men are discussing masculinity more, especially toxic masculinity, and wanting to become more engaged partners," said Vahdat. Barriers to male birth control? While men theoretically want to be part of contraceptive decision making, there are still barriers to overcome before they will actually take a pill. Not least, the marketing needs to change. Male birth control pills work by causing temporary infertility. How many men would be happy to be infertile? Could they trust infertility to be, in fact, temporary? On-going large-scale clinical trials testing efficacy and safety of different male birth control forms are looking positive, but some trials have even been canceled due to concerns about irreversible infertility and other adverse side effects. Pill needs to be proven safe and effective Commentators on social media have suggested that men are just being wusses and that women have been suffering similar side effects with the pill for decades. But drug regulators like the FDA are being strict with male contraceptive pill trials. Concerns over sterilization are not matters to scoff at — they need to be addressed before drugs go onto the market. After all, men need to be able to trust the pills are safe and effective before women can trust men to take them.

Germany's top court has ruled that police use of automated data analysis for crime prevention is unconstitutional. It said the technology should only be used where an "identifiable danger" exists. Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on Thursday declared as unconstitutional regulations in the states of Hesse and Hamburg that allow police to automatically process personal data using special software to prevent crime. Both German states must now make improvements in how the software, which helped police probe an underground network charged with plotting to overthrow the German government, is allowed to be used. What did the court say about the rules? The Karlsruhe-based court criticized state laws for not regulating circumstances in which data could be processed precisely enough, and demanded that the legislation be rewritten. "Given the particularly broad wording of the powers, in terms of both the data and the methods concerned, the grounds for interference fall far short of the constitutionally required threshold of an identifiable danger," the judges said. Provisions regulating the use of the technology in the central state of Hesse and the northern city-state of fHamburg violated the right to informational self-determination, a statement from the constitutional court said. The court ruled that automated data analysis or interpretation could be justified, but that the seriousness of the possible crimes must be taken into account. "Compatibility with the principle of proportionality is of particular importance, the specific requirements of which depend on the reach of the powers in question," it said. The court said the two states had successfully demonstrated the need for the technology, given the "increasing use of digital media and means of communication." "Particularly in the areas of terrorist and extremist violence and organized and serious crime, the police authorities are faced with ever larger data streams that are increasingly heterogeneous in terms of their quality and format." What does the software do? Provided by the CIA-backed Palantir Technologies, the software can find connections that individual investigators would not see. It networks information already stored in various police inventories with each other to help establish relationships between people, groups, or even places and things. At a previous hearing, a Hesse state official explained that a suspected ATM bomber had been arrested after the software, named "Hessendata," showed that a certain car was near several crime scenes. Hessendata is available to some 2,000 police officers and has been used to investigate terrorism, organized crime, and child sex abuse.  The software was also used to investigate the far-right, underground "Reichsbürger" network, with some of its members charged with plotting to overthrow the German government in December, an official told the court. The case challenging the use of the software was brought by the German Society for Civil Rights. The group argued that the  software used innocent people's data to provide leads and could also produce errors, as well as impact people at risk of police discrimination. What happens next? The state of Hesse has been given a deadline of September 30 to rewrite its provisions, while the present legislation in Hamburg — where the technology is not yet in use — was nullified. A constitutional complaint against the law in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which also already uses the software, is still pending in Karlsruhe. Other states also want to allow their police forces to use automated data analysis. Constitutional Court president Stephan Harbarth said states now had the option "of shaping the legal basis for further processing of stored data files in a constitutional manner."

The growing popularity of social media platforms is also making waves in the country. As such, popular Bhutanese social media users or influencers as they are called are gaining popularity on both national and international levels. And along with fame, these platforms are also providing users with the opportunity to make money. For most Bhutanese social media influencers, Tiktok and Youtube seem to have become the most popular social media apps to make money. BBS talked to a few of them who said they can make a decent amount from these different social media platforms. On TikTok, a popular short-video creation and sharing app, users can receive gifts from other users which can be converted into dollars. But users say withdrawing the money is a hassle. “I got a lot of gifts from a lot of people who appreciated my post, but the sad thing was it was not possible for me to withdraw money from my Paypal account. So, that’s why I asked for help from one of my friends who is living abroad and he did help me with that,” said Phuntsho Choden, a popular TikToker. “We need to get help from our close and trusted friends to encash our money. With this, if concerned authorities could make such applications accessible then our Bhutanese Tiktokers can withdraw their money without relying on our friends,” said another Tiktoker, Thinley Gyeltshen. Currently, banks in the country do not have access to international payment applications such as PayPal. The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) says they previously contacted Paypal but the company declined the offer to tie up with RMA sheerly due to Bhutan’s small population. The central bank is now exploring other options. Meanwhile, Youtube is another popular social media platform where Bhutanese are earning money. Bhutanese influencers, just like influencers in any other country, can make money on Youtube through various means, the most common being through uploading music videos and video blogs and earning money depending on the number of views. A popular YouTuber, Tandin Phub, says withdrawing money made through youtube is done through Google AdSense which is supported by local Banks. “AdSense is a programme run by Google through YouTube content monetization…we need to verify our local address and for the location verification, they send us three pins to Bhutan Post,” he said. People can also make money from other social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram, but BBS could not get in touch with any Bhutanese influencers doing so. Despite the odds, the opportunities for people to make money through social media platforms are abundant. With the right strategy, creativity and hard work, anyone with a large following can turn their online presence into a lucrative business. Source: The Bhutan Live

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has shelved its plan to set up a substation at Trishuli Bazaar for the Nepal-China Cross-border Transmission Line as it plans to connect the power line with a Ratmate-based substation to be built with the assistance of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US aid agency. When the controversy over the MCC assistance was at its height before its eventual endorsement by the erstwhile House of Representatives early this year, the power monopoly had planned to set up a separate substation. One reason behind envisioning a separate substation was to save the cross-border transmission line from the China-US rivalry, according to officials of the NEA. Kul Man Ghising, managing director of the NEA, told the Post that no separate substation would be built for the Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line Project. “As we are connecting this cross-border transmission line with the Ratmate-based substation, there is no need for a separate substation at Trishuli, which is close to Ratmate,” he said. According to NEA officials, they held a discussion with the officials of the Millennium Challenge Account, Nepal (MCA-Nepal), a special-purpose vehicle established to implement MCC-assisted projects in Nepal, to connect the cross-border transmission line with a Ratmate-based substation, which is to be built under the MCC grant. “The MCA-Nepal told us that they will set up two connecting points [bays] at the substation for Nepal-China Cross-Border Transmission Line,” a senior official of the power utility said. “We, however, have not given up on the new substation amid continued geopolitical rivalry between the two superpowers.” Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, the chief of the transmission directorate at the Nepal Electricity Authority, the state-owned power utility, had told the Post in August last year that they planned a separate substation for the Nepal-China cross-border transmission line so as to ward off any geopolitical risks.” “By not building a separate sub-station, the NEA will save a significant amount of money. It takes Rs4–5 billion to construct a substation and it is not good to set up another substation at a distance of 15–20 kilometres,” said Ghising. A separate substation was to be set up at Trishuli Bazaar, near the site of the Trishuli Hydropower Project, for the cross-border power line, which is around 26 kilometres from Ratmate, Nuwakot. A 315km-long 400kV transmission will be built with a grant of $500 million from the MCC in the country’s mid-hills. One of the substations will be at Ratmate. The transmission project has five components—one segment starting from the northeast of Kathmandu at Lapsephedi, extending to the west of Kathmandu near Ratmate; a second segment runs from Ratmate to the industrial town of Hetauda located south of Kathmandu; a third segment will connect Ratmate to Damauli in the west; a fourth segment will link Damauli with Butwal in the southwest; and a fifth will run from Butwal to the Indian border, which is part of the cross-border transmission line. The Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung transmission line is the first such connectivity project between Nepal and China. The two countries had in 2018 formed a joint technical team to expedite the construction of the transmission line. A Joint Technical Group comprising representatives of the NEA and the State Grid Corporation of China held two rounds of talks in China and Nepal for the transmission line before the start of the Covid pandemic. Another meeting scheduled to be held in China could not happen due to continued Covid restrictions in China. “As Covid cases spiked in China, we are in discussion with the Chinese side if another meeting could be held in Nepal sometime in February next year,” said an official of the NEA. According to the NEA, once the cross-border line is built, it will open an alternative market for Nepal’s electricity. Currently, Nepal has only India as its foreign market to buy and sell electricity. India has allowed Nepal to sell a maximum of 452MW of electricity from 10 hydropower projects. The 400 kV transmission line from Ratamate (Nepal) to Kerung (China) will allow power trade between Nepal and China, the NEA said in its annual report 2021-22. Currently, the project’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process is underway.  Source: The Kathmandu Post

The Sunday shooting down of a suspected Pakistani drone, hovering above the border near Amritsar, Punjab, by a prompt Border Security Force (BSF) action was not an isolated incident. Indian security forces guarding the international border in Punjab and J-K have been witnessing many such attempts at infringing on Indian air space in the recent past. In the last few months, the BSF jawans have been alive to the frequent buzzing sound that points to another drone entering into Indian air space from the Pakistani side. One such recent previous incident was reported on December 21, when BSF troops shot down a drone that had entered Indian air space from Daoke Border Outpost (BoP) in the Amritsar sector from the Pakistan side on the International Border. The BSF has shot down a record 16 drones so far, till December first week this year. The force has adopted an anti-drone system and in-depth patrolling to tackle this increasing drone menace. The trans-border drone activities are observed from time to time mainly in Punjab's Amritsar and Kathua, Samba and Doda in Jammu and Kashmir. In yet another such incident, on November 26, security personnel fired six rounds from their INSAS rifles and downed a suspected flying object coming from the Pakistani at Daoke Border Outpost (BoP) in the Amritsar sector on India-Pakistan international border. Later, it was found to be a China-made Quadcopter DJI Matrice 300RTK brand drone, lying in the field near the border. A few cameras were also found fitted on the drone. In another incident which showed the different uses that such drones are being put to, on October 31, the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in dropping ammunition through drones in the general area of the Baspur Bangla RS Pura in the union territory, said police. The drone was seen making suspicious movements in the said area on the intervening night of October 27, and October 28 an official statement read. On November 28, women personnel of the BSF shot down a Hexacopter drone weighing 18.050 kg near Chaharpur village in Amritsar (Rural) district in Punjab when it was entering Indian territory from Pakistan. This time the drones were found to be carrying 3.110 kg of narcotics. As per a document accessed by the ANI, security forces from January 2022 to September 2022 observed the illegal entry of 191 drones into Indian territory from neighbouring Pakistan, raising major concerns in terms of internal security in the country. Of the 191 drones observed, 171 entered into Indian territory through the India-Pakistan border along the Punjab sector while 20 were seen in the Jammu sector, the document mentions further. The documents further reveal that most of these drones or UAVs managed to flee while a total of seven have been shot down by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel. The seven drones shot down this year between January 1 to September 15 were observed in Punjab's Amritsar, Ferozpur and Abohar regions. As per inputs, the first drone was shot down by the BSF on January 18 in Punjab's Amritsar near Havelian Border Out Post (BoP). The BSF personnel on February 13 again shot down another drone soon after it entered Indian territory and was observed near CB Chand BoP in Amritsar. The BSF personnel also shot down two drones on March 7 and March 9 in Ferozpur's TJ Singh and Amritsar's Havelian BoPs respectively. On April 29, the BSF personnel shot down a drone near Pulmoran BoP in Amritsar. The BSF personnel also shot down another drone on May 8 when it was observed near Bharopal BoP in Amritsar. The last drone shot down by the BSF personnel was observed on June 26 near Jhanger BoP in the Abohar region of Punjab. Officials in the BSF told ANI that drones are being used by Pakistan's side to transport weapons, explosives and narcotics across the international border in Jammu and Punjab from Pakistan. The increased drone activity across the border was brought to the notice of Home Minister Amit Shah in the security review meeting in Srinagar recently with top security and intelligence chiefs in attendance. While BSF believes that it has been able to repel drones carrying arms, ammunition and explosives from Pakistan, the state police and the intelligence agencies differ with this assessment. The security forces have seized various AK series assault rifles, pistols, MP4 carbines, carbine magazines, high explosive grenades as well as narcotics which were transported into Indian territory from Pakistan from the drones shot down so far. As per security agencies, BSF intelligence inputs and Jammu and Kashmir Police officials, the drones are also used to drop packets of Afghan heroin for financing terror operations in the Valley and Punjab. It is learnt that the group behind the transportation of weapons, explosives and drugs is Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror outfits which have camps across the International Boundary and are backed by ISI. The Home Ministry is learnt to have directed the concerned agencies to find out a solution to stop drone activities and meanwhile security agencies and law enforcement forces are asked to keep a special watch on such movements. Indian Army has resorted to innovative methods to deal with this increasing drone menace. In a first, the Indian Army has trained kites to prey on enemy drones and they were shown in action during a joint training exercise Yuddh Abhyas of India and US in Uttarakhand's Auli. (ANI)

Addressing a session on promoting international cooperation against terror financing at the “No Money For Terror” ministerial conference hosted by India, Jaishankar – without naming Pakistan or China – criticized countries that use terror as a “tool of state-craft” or fail to “rise above political divides” to address the threat posed by terrorism. Indian External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday took a swipe at Pakistan and China over their position in combating terrorism and outlined practical steps to be taken by countries, including sharing of real-time information, to counter terrorists. Addressing a session on promoting international cooperation against terror financing at the “No Money For Terror” ministerial conference hosted by India, Jaishankar – without naming Pakistan or China – criticised countries that use terror as a “tool of state-craft” or fail to “rise above political divides” to address the threat posed by terrorism. India has for long accused Pakistan’s establishment of backing and sheltering terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that have carried out cross-border attacks. China’s blocking of joint India-US efforts to sanction Pakistan-based terrorists at the UN Security Council has emerged as a fresh irritant in the already troubled relations between New Delhi and Beijing. Jaishankar emphasised that perpetrators, facilitators and financiers of terror attacks “continue to walk free, enjoy state support and hospitality”, and the “most egregious example we all know pertains to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack”. He said: “In India’s context, terrorist groups from across the border such as LeT, JeM or Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and their proxies thrive on assured financial support to commit barbaric acts of terror on Indian soil.” The world community must collectively call out the few states that “still aid, support and even justify terrorism and wilfully provide financial assistance and safe havens” to terrorists. “Concerted action against terrorists and their sponsors, including dismantlement of terrorist safe havens, sanctuaries, training grounds, and financial and ideological as well as political support structures are critical imperatives to defeat terrorism,” he said. Jaishankar listed five reasons for the growing scope, scale and intensity of the terrorist threat in recent years, including the “continued tendency of some to use terrorism as a tool of state-craft and willingness of others to justify and obfuscate that”. “Important that all states collectively follow an undifferentiated and undiluted approach to terrorism. Terror is terror and no political spin can ever justify it,” he tweeted. “World needs to rise above political divides to address this peril. The battle against terrorism must be fought resolutely on all fronts, in all situations and at all places.” He added: “When it comes to terrorism, we will never look away, we will never compromise and we will never give up on our quest to ensure justice.” Jaishankar said it was ironic that while terror attacks often involve cross-border support and elements, such as recruitment of fighters, procurement of weapons, and transfer of funds, the response by authorities stops at the geographic borders where their jurisdiction ends. Among the other reasons listed by Jaishankar for the growing scale of the terrorist threat were advancements in technology that terrorists “access more readily than law enforcement and security systems”, resurgence of radical ideologies and their more seamless spread, along with motivational messages, inter-penetration and inter-dependence of globalisation that “opens up new vulnerabilities, including in financial transactions”, and greater competition among states that is exploited by terrorists, including the emergence of ungoverned and under-governed spaces. Though Jaishankar did not cite any specific ungoverned spaces, concern has increased in India about the use of Afghanistan’s territory by groups such as the LeT, JeM and Islamic State-Khorasan Province since the Taliban takeover of Kabul last year. He said a key challenge was that “while the bad guys think global and lateral, the good guys still think national and vertical”. In this context, it is essential to encourage a “whole of the government” approach at home and a “whole of the world’’ approach abroad, he pointed out. Terror groups are also quickly adopting and misusing new financial technologies, such as blockchain technology, crypto-currency, and digital crowd-sourcing. Fake charities and non-profit organisations too are frequent sources of terror financing, he said. Among the practical steps outlined by Jaishankar for ensuring collective action against terrorists was sharing of real-time information, exchange of evidence and witness statements, and adopting effective procedures for bringing terrorists to justice through prosecution or extradition. He also called for freezing of the financial assets of terror groups, preventing the movement of terrorists through territories of countries, preventing the supply of all types of arms and related material to them, and providing full cooperation to the states where or against whose citizens terrorist acts are committed. India, with like-minded partners, will remain committed to highlight the existential threats that terrorism poses to global security and stability. “We will shine the spotlight on this peril – and all those involved in nurturing and furthering it,” he said. India has focused on counter-terrorism as it comes to the end of a two-year stint at the UN Security Council. Besides hosting the No Money For Terror meeting, India also held a special meeting of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee in New Delhi last month. Jaishankar said the No Money For Terror platform aims to broad-base the “big fight against terror financing”. On December 15, under India’s presidency of the UN Security Council, the country will organise a briefing on “Threats to International Peace and Security caused by Terrorist Acts: Global Approach to Counter Terrorism – Challenges and Way Forward” in New York. India is gearing up for its mutual evaluation under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and is focused on upgrading its financial intelligence network with new technology. Jaishankar said India will also continue its efforts during its presidency of G20 and SCO to build global cooperation on counter-terrorism. Source: Hindustan Times

The humble honeybee can control temperature in astounding ways – from keeping the hive cool through heat waves to cooking their enemies alive.Hornets can be vicious. Some like nothing more than smashing their way into a beehive, decapitating its inhabitants and leaving the colony in ruins. But the hornet that dares attack a Japanese honeybee colony might get more than it bargained for. As the hornet hones in, a defensive army swarms the attacker. Hundreds of bees buzz so furiously, the temperature at the heart of their dense mass rises to 46 degrees Celsius (about 115 degrees Fahrenheit). When the swarm dissipates, it leaves behind a dead hornet cooked alive by its would-be prey. The hot defensive bee ball is a high-stakes tactic a few soldier bees usually lose their lives along with the hornet and not common to all species of bee. But its principles of working together for the good of the colony, and skillfully controlling temperature, are echoed in beehives around the world. A temperature-controlled superorganism Unlike mammals, insects can’t regulate their own body temperature. But working together, the beehive acts like superorganism with a steady internal warmth. To raise their young, honeybees need to keep their home within a cosy 33 to 36 degrees Celsius. Luckily, bees can sense temperature changes of just a quarter of a degree. And they have a knack for insulated architecture that any environmentally minded homeowner might aspire to. They carefully select sheltered sites to build their hives, and use propolis made from resins gathered from plants to plug holes and keep out drafts and moisture. The brood chamber itself is encased in layers of pollen, honey and wax. And if that isn’t enough, adult bees huddle their fuzzy bodies together to keep one other, and their young, warm. Keeping cool in a warming world Insulation keeps warmth out as well as in, and during heat waves, bees also proactively work to keep the colony cool gathering water, which they distribute in droplets throughout the hive, and fanning air through its chambers with their wings. The climate crisis is taking its toll on bees, and causing some populations to fall out of sync with the flowering plants they depend on for food. But researchers are looking into whether their impressive thermoregulation abilities might help bees survive in a warming world.