The U.S. and Canada issued orders this week banning the use of TikTok on government-issued mobile devices as privacy and cybersecurity concerns about the video-sharing app grow.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government and that its data is not held in China. It also disputes accusations that it collects more user data than other social media companies, and insists that it is run independently by its own management.

But many countries remain cautious about the platform and its ties to China. Here are the countries and regions that have implemented partial or total bans on TikTok:

India

India imposed a ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including the messaging app WeChat, in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens.

Taiwan

In December 2022, Taiwan imposed a public sector ban on TikTok after the FBI warned that TikTok posed a national security risk.

United States

This week, the U.S. said that government agencies have 30 days to delete TikTok from federal devices and systems over data security concerns. The ban applies only to government devices, though some U.S. lawmakers are advocating an outright ban

. Canada

After the U.S. announcement, Canada on Feb 28  announced government-issued devices must not use TikTok, saying that it presents an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security. Employees will also be blocked from downloading the application in the future.

European Union

The European Parliament, European Commission and the EU Council, three top EU bodies, have imposed bans on TikTok on staff devices

Pakistan

Pakistani authorities have temporarily banned TikTok at least four times since October 2020, citing concerns that app promotes immoral content.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership banned TikTok and the Chinese game PUBG in 2022 on the grounds of protecting youths from “being misled.”

Global rating major Moody’s Investors Service on  March 1 raised the country’s growth projection for 2023-24 to 5.5% from the 4.8% it had pegged earlier in November 2022 on the back of a sharp increase in capital expenditure in the Budget and a resilient economic momentum. However, it scaled down its GDP growth forecast to 6.8% for 2022-23, from an earlier projection of 7%. 

Just Fontaine, the all-time top scorer in a single World Cup finals with 13 goals, has died aged 89.

Fontaine achieved the record in the 1958 finals in Sweden where France reached the semi-finals for the first time in their history, losing to Pele's Brazil.

Fontaine was forced to retire in 1962 at the age of just 28 after he suffered a double leg fracture.

He later moved into management, lasting just two matches in charge of France in 1967 before leading Paris Saint-Germain to promotion to the top division in 1974 and then coaching Morocco to third place at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations.

Finally, after seven months the hearing of Long jumper Aishwarya B is over. The triple jumper has been banned for four years. The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of National Anti-Doping Agency has "hereby sanctioned her with an ineligibility of four (04) years as per Article 10.2.1 of the NADA ADR (anti-doping rule), 2021. The period of ineligibility shall commence from the date of provisional suspension i.e, 18.07.2022."

The national record she created in the triple jump (14.14m) bettering Mayookha Johny's 14.11m (in Kolkata, 2011) now stands cancelled.

FIFA's choice of Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its first global fan ambassador five months before the Women's World Cup was described  on Feb 28 as "tone deaf" by the former leader of the soccer body's task force for women's soccer.

Lima's appointment to "develop, promote and participate in several global initiatives" was announced by FIFA hours before the former Victoria's Secret runway model helped present the fan prize in Paris at its annual award ceremony.

Veteran Bismah Maroof stepped down as the Pakistan women's cricket team captain on Mar 1 , following a disastrous Twenty20 World Cup campaign last month.

All-rounder Maroof led Pakistan for six years but failed to get the team beyond the first round at the T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Under Maroof's leadership, Pakistan won 16 out of 34 one-day internationals and 27 out of 62 T20Is.

Q1. Name state government which has taken  cue from the Saudi Arabia, and has relaxed the rules for women Haj pilgrims from the state ?

1. Uttarakhand
2. Uttar Pradesh
3. Madhya Pradesh
4. Bihar
5. None of These

Q2. Name the veteran player who has  stepped down as the Pakistan women's cricket team captain on Mar 1 , following a disastrous Twenty20 World Cup campaign in Feb 2023 ?

1. Javeria Khan
2. Sana Mir
3. Nida Dar
4. Bismah Maroof
5. None of These

Q3. Name state government which has constituted one member Special Investigation Team (SIT) with Retired Chief Justice of  High Court Vinod Kumar Gupta as Chairman, to investigate and suggest ways to prevent the role of railway officials in illegal transportation of minerals ?

1. Madhya Pradesh
2. Odisha
3. Chhattisgarh
4. Jharkhand
5. None of These

Q4. Name the former SC judge who has been  appointed expert committee head  by the Supreme Court on Mar 2 to examine the changes required in regulatory framework in the wake of allegations of stock manipulation against the Adani group ?

1. Justice JP Deodhar
2. Justice AS Sapre
3. Justice M. Patanjali Sastri
4. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia
5. None of These

Q5. Name the Italian Prime Minister  who visited India recently ?

1. Matteo Renzi
2. Paolo Gentiloni
3. Giorgia Meloni
4. Giuseppe Conte
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------------1   Uttarakhand

2---------------------4  Bismah Maroof

3-----------------------4     Jharkhand

4------------------------2  Justice AS Sapre

5-----------------------3  Giorgia Meloni

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has stripped the valley's premier tertiary care health institute 'Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS)' of its autonomous status, triggering criticism from political parties.

Political parties in the Valley decried the move and demanded an immediate rollback of the decision.

National Conference (NC) chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said the premier healthcare institution was conceptualised four decades back by NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who was popularly known as 'Sher-e-Kashmir'.

Undermining its autonomy by bringing it under the administrative control of the health department runs opposite to the government's minimum government and maximum governance slogan.