Month: December 2020

The Indian players were in a joyous mood on Tuesday after a commanding win over Australia and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was seen engaging in a fun banter with opener Rohit Sharma over Cheteshwar Pujara’s pose in a group photo.

After the win, Ashwin took to Instagram and posted a picture featuring Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah, and himself. While others posed in a relaxed manner, Pujara stood straight and in an attention position.

Taking a dig, Rohit Sharma commented: “Pujara too stiff.” To this, Ashwin replied: “@rohitsharma45 national anthem was playing in his head!!”

India secured an eight-wicket win over Australia in the Boxing Day Test and the joy was visible in the way the cricketers pulled each other’s leg.

With no Virat Kohli, no Rohit Sharma, no Ishant Sharma, no Mohammad Shami, and the humiliation of getting bundled out for 36 at the Adelaide Oval, it was a brilliant turnaround by India to level the series. The win not only brought India right back in the series, but also took the team a step closer to the final of the World Test Championship.

Riding on the back of a brilliant partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja on day three, India first dismissed Australia for 200 and then came back to chase the target of 70 in just 15.5 overs on day four. If one session had cost India the first Test, it was again a session — wherein Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja weathered the storm on day two — that saw India bag the second game.

However, the win wasn’t as easy as it showed on paper. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc gave Australia the early wickets to ensure the win wouldn’t be a cakewalk for the visitors. However, some assured strokeplay from Shubman Gill and Rahane calmed the nerves in the Indian dressing room as the visitors registered a comprehensive 8-wicket win. (ANI)

Recalling memories of the ‘roller-coaster’ year 2020, veteran actor Neetu Kapoor on Tuesday penned down an emotional note about losing her husband Rishi Kapoor, getting back to acting with Jug Jugg Jeeyo and also about testing positive for COVID-19.

Taking to Instagram, the 62-year-old actor shared a heartwarming picture featuring her and Rishi Kapoor and went on to pour her heart in the caption of the post to express how her life turned upside down after the death of her husband’s death.

“2020 was quite a roller coaster!!! When YOU left I felt like a deer caught in the headlights not knowing where to go … #jjj was cathartic at that time as it gave me something to look forward to !!! Then Covid happened,” she wrote.

She further shared how her two children Ranbir and Riddhima Kapoor encouraged her throughout these difficult times, and noted “I could have never gone through so much without my cuties. Thank you both for holding on #RnR #jugjuggjeeyo.”

Within a few minutes of being posted, fans of the star started pouring love in the comments section. Daughter Riddhima Kapoor also left a red heart emoticon over the post.

On the work front, Neetu Kapoor will be seen in the Raj Mehta’s directorial ‘Jug Jug Jiyo’. (ANI)

Shiv Sena lawmaker Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut will not appear before Enforcement Directorate (ED) today in connection with the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank scam case.

She has sought time from the agency till January 5, 2021.

The ED had summoned her for questioning in the PMC Bank money laundering case.

Earlier on Monday, Sanjay Raut had said regarding the summon by the investigative agency that targeting women of a household was an “act of cowardice”.

“We are not scared of anyone and will respond accordingly,” Raut had told reporters here.

In the last one year, Sharad Pawar, Eknath Khadse and Pratap Sarnaik got notices and now all of you are discussing my name. All these people are crucial for government formation in Maharashtra. These are pieces of paper, nothing else,” Raut had said.

“Targeting women of a household is an act of cowardice. We are not scared of anyone and will respond accordingly. ED needed some papers and we have submitted them in time,” he had added.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive member Kirit Somaiya questioned over Sanjay Raut’s family not responding to ED’s summon.

“This is the third summon of ED. Sanjay Raut’s family is not appearing before ED. Why is his family running away? ED is investigating transactions worth crores of rupees between PMC Bank, HDIL, Pravin Raut’s family and Sanjay Raut’s family. What is the special relation between Sanjay Raut’s and Pravin Raut’s family,” Somaiya tweeted.

According to sources, this was the third summons sent to the Sena leader’s wife. She had skipped the earlier two summons too citing ill health, sources said.

In September last year, the RBI had capped the withdrawal limit and restricted the activities of the PMC Bank after an alleged fraud of Rs 4,355 crores came to light.

The ED had later seized and identified movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 3,830 crores owned by Housing Development Infrastructures Ltd (HDIL) in connection with the case. (ANI)

By Ajit K Dubey

In a major development amid the ongoing border conflict with China, Rafale fighter jets of India and France will carry out wargames codenamed Exercise SKYROS in Jodhpur in the third week of January next year.

“The French Air Force Rafale fighters would be coming to Jodhpur for the SKYROS wargames which would see them flying with Indian Rafales from the 17 Squadron and the Su-30MKI fighters deployed there,” government sources told ANI.

This would be the first major wargame of the Indian Air Force (IAF) involving the Rafale fighters which were inducted into the service in August 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

The wargames being conducted are different from the routine Garuda series exercises that the two sides have been carrying out for more than a decade now and would see some complex manoeuvres being carried out by the fighters of both sides, the sources said.

India had last carried out a major exercise with the French Air Force in July 2019 where the Indian Sukhois had flown with the French Rafales.

The IAF is also planning to use Rafales and Su-30s in integrated mode and a lot of steps have already been taken in this direction by the service.

The Rafales and the Su-30s have been deployed in tandem by the IAF in eastern Ladakh against the Chinese Air Force which has been flying regularly from bases close to India.

France has been helping India to arm its Air Force as India is getting 36 of Rafale fighters from there as part of a Rs 60,000 crore deal.

The last aircraft under the deal is likely to be received by the end of 2022.

India and China are engaged in a conflict over territorial issues and aggression by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Ladakh. More than 50,000 troops have been deployed by India in reaction to the Chinese deployment there. (ANI)

Terming Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan government “illegitimate” and “incompetent”, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said supporters of the government are “culprits” and involved in all the problems being faced by the country at present.

Addressing a gathering of JUI-F workers in Tank on Monday, Fazlur Rehman said the incumbent government did not have the right to stay in office as it is a “product of fraud”, Geo News reported.

“This illegitimate government is a product of fraud,” he said, adding that the country belongs to everyone and that it was not anyone’s personal property.

“I am bound by the oath I have taken […] In this situation, we have to do principled politics,” Fazl said, adding that all Opposition parties were on the same page that the 2018 general elections were “rigged”.

“Pakistan is facing internal and external problems,” Fazlur Rehman said, adding that the state would be strong when its economic conditions improved.

Fazlur Rehman’s remarks come a day after several political leaders of the PDM addressed crowds gathered on Sunday at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana to commemorate the 13th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Fazlur Rehman, who is also the chief of the PM, said the next meeting of the leadership of the alliance will be held on January 1 in Lahore to formulate its future strategy.

The PDM has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan till January 31 and in case of no resignation, it has announced a long march. (ANI)

Bollywood star Disha Patani on Tuesday treated fans to a stunning picture, giving them ‘Aquaman feels’.

The ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’ actor hopped on to Instagram and shared a gorgeous photograph in which she is seen sporting a yellow bikini.

Sporting a chunky pair of shades, the ‘Malang’ star looks breathtakingly beautiful while she stands on a board amid a mesmerising location. The cloudy sky and a crystal-clear sea view seemed captivating.

Captioning the photograph in reference to Hollywood star Jason Momoa’s action thriller ‘Aquaman’, Patani captioned the post as “Aquaman feels.”

With the post hitting the photo-sharing platform it garnered more than 6 lakh likes within 45 minutes of being posted.

In awe of the beautiful picture, fans left red heart and lovestruck emoticons in the comments section. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh on Tuesday announced that she has tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

Looking forward to entering the New Year with good health and positivity, the ‘Yaariyan’ actor thanked her fans for sending out best wishes during her difficult time.

Rakul took to her social media handles, both Twitter and Instagram, and notified about her Covid recovery.

“Happy to share that I have tested negative for COVID-1 9. I am feeling absolutely fine. Thank you for all your wishes and love. Can’t wait to start 2021 with good health and positivity,” she wrote.

She also urged friends to be responsible and abide by all the safety measures including wearing masks.

The ‘De De Pyaar De’ actor was recently tested positive for coronavirus while she was shooting for ‘MayDay.’

The film directed and produced by Ajay Devgn will star Rakul in the role of pilot, co-starred with the megastar Amitabh Bachchan. The flick that also stars ‘Love Per Square Foot’ fame Angira Dhar will release on April 29, 2022. (ANI)

Celebrity couple Shahid Kapoor and Mira Kapoor on Tuesday shared a love-soaked selfie on the social media.

The wife of the ‘Kabir Singh’ actor took to Instagram to share the love-soaked picture with the fans of the couple.

The husband-wife duo is seen twinning in a co-ordinated black coloured ensemble in the picture.

While Shahid is seen sporting a sly smile in the picture, Mira is seen wearing a big hearty smile.

Keeping the caption simple and expressing her love for her star husband, Mira wrote, “I love you” in the caption of the post.

The celebrity is the parents of two, 4-year-old baby girl Misha and 2-year-old baby boy Zain. (ANI)

Six UK returnees have been found positive for the new UK variant coronavirus genome in India. The Union Health Minister stated that samples of three UK returnees have been tested and found positive for new UK strain in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and one in National Institute of Virology, Pune.

All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated Health Care facilities by respective State Governments.

Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the Union Health Ministry stated.

The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the States for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.

According to the Union Health Ministry, between November 25 and December 23, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by States and Union Territories to RT-PCR tests.

So far only 114 have been found positive for COVID-19.

These positive samples have been sent to 10 INSACOG labs (NIBMG Kolkata, ILS Bhubaneswar, NIV Pune, CCS Pune, CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InSTEM Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, IGIB Delhi, NCDC Delhi) for genome sequencing.

The government of India took cognizance of the reports of the mutant variant of SARS- CoV-2 virus reported from the UK and put in place a pro-active and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

This strategy includes, but is not limited to, the following steps– temporary suspension of all flights coming from the UK with effect from the midnight of 23rd December 2020 till 31st December 2020, according to an official release.

Mandatory testing of all UK returnee air passengers through RT-PCR test. The samples of all UK returnees found positive in the RT-PCR test to be genome sequenced by a consortium of 10 govt. labs i.e. INSACOG.

Meeting of the National Task Force (NTF) on Covid-19 on 26th December 2020 to consider and recommend Testing, Treatment, Surveillance and Containment Strategy.

Standard Operating Protocol for States/UTs to tackle the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 issued on 22nd December 2020.

The entire issue was examined at length by NTF on 26th December 2020 and the NTF concluded that there is no need to change either the existing National Treatment Protocol or existing Testing Protocols in view of the mutant variant. NTF also recommended that in addition to the existing surveillance strategy, it is critical to conduct enhanced genomic surveillance.

It is important to note that the presence of the new UK Variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore, so far. (ANI)