US ends funding for 'flawed' UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees

America has contributed almost 30% to UNRWA's total budget and the move means it will no longer get around $300m of support.

The US is stopping its funding for a UN organisation that helps Palestinian refugees, calling it an "irredeemably flawed operation".

America has contributed almost 30% to the total budget of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The latest move means the agency will no longer get nearly $300m (£231m) of planned support.

The US state department attacked the "fundamental business model and fiscal practices" of the UNRWA, and the "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries".

The agency expressed "deep regret and disappointment" at the decision and strongly rejected the Trump administration's criticism of its operations.

The move ends decades of US funding for the agency and comes a week after the country slashed bilateral aid for projects in the West Bank and Gaza despite international concerns over deteriorating humanitarian conditions there.

In 2016, the US donated $355m (£275m) to the UNRWA, which provides healthcare, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and it was set to make a similar contribution this year.

In January, the Trump administration released $60m (£45m) in funds but withheld a further $65m (£50m) it had been due to provide.

Image:UNRWA workers in Gaza City protest against job cuts in July

The US state department said: "When we made a US contribution of $60m in January, we made it clear that the United States was no longer willing to shoulder the very disproportionate share of the burden of UNRWA's costs that we had assumed for many years.

"Several countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Sweden, Qatar, and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) have shown leadership in addressing this problem, but the overall international response has not been sufficient."

The agency hit back, saying its "programmes have a proven track record in creating one of the most successful human development processes... in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly backs the US decision, with his office quoted as saying: "Israel supports the move because UNWRA is one of the main problems perpetuating the conflict."

America's decision comes as President Donald Trump and his Middle East advisers, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, are set to come up with a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.

And the humanitarian funding decision could lead to Palestinian suspicions that Washington is using it as leverage.

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Video:'Israel's capital is Jerusalem'

The Palestinian leadership has been hostile to any proposal from the Trump administration, claiming it is bias in favour of Israel.

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How to avoid downloading fake apps on your smartphone

lot of people end up downloading fake versions of genuine apps. Downloading fake apps can lead to severe consequences – from harming your phone to your private information falling into wrong hands – and it is essential that you download only the genuine apps. However, fake apps are always round the corner and here we tell you how to avoid downloading fake apps and prevent malicious software residing in your smartphone.

Number of downloads
This is a good indicator of whether the app is genuine or fake. If the number of downloads is on the higher side then it’s unlikely that a large number of people have been ‘scammed’.


Do keep in mind that the above points aren’t completely foolproof. However, it’s better to follow them than just download any app blindly or on impulse.

Brief background check of the developer

Try visiting the website of the app developer or read about them in the app store description. Before downloading an app, it’s always a good idea to know about the developer. If you find anything suspicious – like if they don’t have a website or social meda handle – then you’re better off without downloading that app.

download from official App stores

Come what may, always download apps from official store only. You might the option to download apps from other places but avoid them as much as you can. While malicious apps can be found on official stores also, they are still removed as early as possible. Stick to official app stores and chances of getting fake apps reduces drastically.

Reviews are important


It does no harm in reading certain reviews of the apps before downloading them. If it is a fake app then there were will certain reviews which will clearly mention that. It’s a good thing to know what others have said about the app before downloading it.

App’s description

See too many spelling mistakes or grammatical errors? Well, that’s a red flag for a fake app. A trusted developer in all likelihood will not make these mistakes as an app which gets it basic description wrong is likely to be a fake one.

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CTET 2018 | Good News for the Applicants – Last Date Extended for Online Application Payment

CTET 2018: CBSE has extended the last date to pay the online application fee for Central Teachers Eligibility Test for the year 2018. CBSE recently closed the online application process for the CTET candidates and now has postponed the last date for the online application payment 2018. Earlier the last date for the online payment of application fee was 30th August 2018.  CBSE has recently announced the exam date for the Central Teachers Eligibility Test for the year 2018. As per the announcement, CBSE is all set to conduct the CTET 2018 exam on 9 December. Check out some more changes held by CBSE in the CTET 2018 below.

CTET 2018: Last Date for Online Application Payment Extended by CBSE
CBSE has now announced to postpone the last date for the online application fee. Candidates can now pay the application fee online for the CTET Exam till 5 September 2018. As per the official notification, the fee for the CTET application has to be submitted till 30 August 2018. Now, CBSE has extended the last date for the same till 5th September 2018. Candidates can now pay the online fee for the CTET application 2018 till 5 September.

Registered candidates for the CTET 2018 can pay the online application fee via e-challan/ Debit or Credit card till 2 pm on 5 September. As per the new official notification updated by the Board, there have been many other official changes for the CTET Exam 2018 below.

Know updates regarding CBSE CTET Exam 2018
CBSE Central Teachers Eligibility Test 2018 candidates, who have already registered for the same can upload the photos and signatures till 2 September. The portal for the same will be opened till 2nd September 2018 instead of 27 September for the CTET Application.  But only the portal has been opened for the candidates who have earlier registered themselves and only have to upload photos and signature on the CTET application form 2018.

Even it has been mentioned on the official notification that no further extension will be given to the candidates for the CTET application 2018. Although the Board is all set to hold the Central Teachers Eligibility Test for the year 2018 on 9 December. For further more updates, candidates can visit the official website ctet.nic.in.

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Mar Gaye Oye Loko (New Punjabi Movie) – Review, Story, & Cast

New Punjabi movie Mar Gaye Oye Loko starring Gippy Grewal, Sapna Pabbi and Binnu Dhillon has released with great reviews. Director Simerjit Singh after Subedar Joginder Singh has come up with a romcom Punjabi movie Mar Gaye Oye Loko. Also, the movie has marked the debut of TV actress Sapna Pabbi in the lead role opposite to Gippy Grewal.

Recently Gippy Grewal, Binnu Dhillon, Jaswinder Bhalla and Gurpreet Ghuggi have been seen together making people laugh with the movie Carry on jatta 2. Now they have repeated the history of laughter again with new Punjabi movie Mar Gaye Oye Loko. Read the full movie review of Mar Gaye Oye Loko below.

Story and Cast of New Punjabi movie Mar Gaye Oye Loko
As far as the story of Punjabi movie Mar gaye oye loko is concerned, the movie rolls around Tittu (Gippy Grewal), Simran (Sapna Pabbi) and Gill Baiji (Binnu Dhillon). Tittu is a simple boy, who wants to get married to Simran but unfortunately, Simran is interested in the local gangster Gill Baiji. One day Gill Baiji gets shot by his rival but mistakenly, Yamraj takes the soul of Tittu along with him instead of Gill Baiji. What will happen next? Will Tittu and Simran be one at the end?

All the questions will only be answered at the end of all new Punjabi movie Mar Gaye Oye Loko.

Cast: Gippy Grewal, Sapna Pabbi, Binnu Dhillon, Karamjit Anmol, Jaswinder Bhalla, Gurpreet Ghuggi, BN Sharma, Raghveer Boli, Jaggi Singh and many more.

Director: Simerjit Singh

Produced by: Gippy Grewal

Release date: 31st August 2018

The official trailer of Gippy Grewal’s Latest Punjabi Movie 2018

The official trailer of Gippy Grewal’s latest Punjabi movie Mar Gaye Oye Loko has promised to amaze the audience with continues laughter in the theatre. As per the movie review, we can say that surely the team has not failed to do so. Check out the official trailer of Mar gaye oye loko below before watching the movie.

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Asian Games 2018: India Beat Pakistan 2-1, Take Home Asiad Hockey Bronze

Asian Games 2018: India Beat Pakistan 2-1, Take Home Asiad Hockey BronzeUpdated: 01 September 2018 17:51 ISTAkashdeep Singh (third minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (50th) scored for 2014 edition champions India.

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India's GDP growth over 8.2 percent For First Quarter

India's economy grew at an impressive 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018-19 financial year ending June 30 on the back of a strong core performance and a healthy base . 

This jump ahead of national elections next year would help bolster the government amid a debate over its economic record versus that of its predecessor following the release of back-series data recently. This will also be factored in by the monetary policy committee at its next review scheduled for October 3-5. 

The Indian government changed the base year for GDP calculation from 2004-05 to 2011-12, by changing the goods and services in the basket to make it more current, in 2015. 

Key Highlights 
This is the highest growth in two years and strongest since the first quarter of 2016.

Sectors which registerd growth of over 7 per cent include ‘manufacturing, ‘electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services’ ‘construction’ and ‘public administration, defence and other services’.

The growth in the ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’, ‘mining and quarrying’, ‘Trade, hotels, transport, .. 

The official figures are much better than the expectations of economists who have predicted about 7.5-7.6 per cent Q1 growth. 

The world’s second largest economy, China, reported a 6.7 per cent growth for June quarter compared with 6.8 per cent in March quarter. India's $2.6 trillion economy surpassed France's in 2017 to be the world's sixth largest, and it was not far before the United Kingdom, according to World Bank data. 

However despite the strong Q1 numbers, there is appre .. 

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EPFO cuts administrative charges to 0.5 % of total wage paid by employers

The labour ministry has notified the decision to cut administrative charges, which would be effective from June 1.

Now over 5 lakh employers together would save around Rs 900 crore annually following the retirement fund body EPFO’s decision to cut administrative charges, with effect from June 1, 2018.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) trustees had decided to cut the administrative charges to 0.50 per cent from 0.65 per cent of total wage paid by employers in its meeting on February 21, 2018.

“The labour ministry has notified the decision to cut administrative charges, which would be effective from June 1, 2018. This will encourage employers to formalise their workers employment by bringing them under the ambit of social security schemes run by the EPFO,” the retirement fund body’s Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy told PTI.

The EPFO decided to cut the administrative charges in view of its expanding business and high recovery of such fees.

According to the EPFO estimates, the employers would save in total around Rs 900 crore annually after this move.

During the last fiscal, the EPFO had collected around Rs 3,800 crore as administrative charges from the employers for running its social security schemes.

The EPFO has accumulated surplus of over Rs 20,000 crore in the administrative charges account which earns an interest income of over Rs 1,600 crore per annum.

Explaining the rationale behind cutting administrative charges, Joy said the EPFO would not be affected by the cut in administrative charges because of increasing subscribers’ contribution base.

The administrative charges are levied as proportion of total wages of employees on which employers pays their contribution.

The EPFO had reduced administrative charges from 1.10 per cent to 0.85 per cent from January 1, 2015. It was further reduced to 0.65 per cent from April 1, 2017.

The EPFO has a subscribers’ base of over five crore and the body manages a corpus of over Rs 10 lakh crore at present.

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EPFO

Labour ministry

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s

Provident Fund

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