Month: December 2020

Bollywood actor Vaani Kapoor treated her fans with a cute adorable photo of her snuggling up with her cat.

The ‘Befikre’ star took to her Instagram on Tuesday and shared an adorable picture of her snuggling up with her cat. In the caption, she wrote, “Love you meow and fureverrr.”

Opting for a no-makeup natural look, Vani could be seen lying down and snuggling up with her cat in similar poses. The post from the star received around 69,000 likes in a span of six hours.

Vani who was last seen in the super-hit 2019 movie ‘War’ had wrapped up the shoot for ‘Bell Bottom’ sometime back. Helmed by Ranjit M Tewari, Pooja Entertainment’s ‘Bell Bottom’ marks Vaani’s first collaboration with the action superstar, Akshay Kumar which is slated for release on April 2, 2021. (ANI)

After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued summons to his wife Varsha Raut in connection with the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank scam case, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said targeting women of a household was an “act of cowardice”.

“We are not scared of anyone and will respond accordingly,” Raut 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 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 added.

The ED has summoned the Rajya Sabha MP’s wife in connection with the PMC Bank scam case. She has been asked to join the investigation on December 29.

According to sources, this is the third summons sent to the Sena leader’s wife. She had skipped the earlier two summons 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 crore came to light.

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

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been consistently absent from the country during significant occasions and now he has again left for abroad to celebrate the new year 2021.

While talking to ANI, Shahnawaz Hussain, national spokesperson of BJP said that the party has no problem with Rahul Gandhi’s visit to foreign nations.

“Rahul Gandhi has full freedom to go anywhere. We have no problem with his visit abroad. But he has been consistently absent from the country during significant occasions. This shows his lack of seriousness and concern towards India and the issues faced by the people. He calls himself the leader of farmers but he skipped the Parliament when farm bills were passed and now he is visiting abroad when farmers are protesting.” Hussain said.

“Rahul Gandhi visited abroad after the humiliating defeat of Congress in 2014. The workers of the party were sad but he left them and went abroad. In 2015, he went for 60 days vacation in South-East Asia. He left Turkey to celebrate his birthday in June 2016 and later in December in the same year, he spent ten days in the UK when elections were due in Uttar Pardesh, Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh in 2017. Just before the Maharashtra and Haryana elections in October 2019, Rahul Gandhi visited abroad. As 2021 is approaching he has again left for abroad to celebrate the new year,” he added.

Hussain said that people of the country take the opposition seriously, but “we want to ask does the Congress doing politics seriously. He has left for abroad at a time when the Congress leaders are celebrating the foundation day.”

This comes after Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said the BJP is indulging in “low-level politics”.”BJP is indulging in low-level politics. They are targeting Rahul Gandhi because they want to target only one leader,” the Congress General Secretary said.

The statements came following several BJP leaders targetted Gandhi as he flew off to Italy on Sunday amid the farmers’ protest and a day before the party’s foundation day. (ANI)

In an effort to help people Below the Poverty Line fight the Covid-19 virus, the Jammu and Kashmir Police in Baramulla distributed safety kits to underprivileged families in the district’s Uri area.

The Covid-19 safety kits, consisting of a face shield, triple-layer N-95 masks, an oximeter, a digital thermometer, sanitizer bottles, hand gloves and hand soap, were distributed to BPL families who gathered at the function.

According to Abdul Qayoom Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the Baramulla District, about 465 people received the benefits.

“We identified 465 people below the poverty line in the Zilla and started the distribution here. We have included all the best facilities that they may require like pulse oximeter and N-95 masks. We hope that through this initiative we will be able to stop the spread of this infection,” Qayoom told ANI.

Senior police officials made people aware of the coronavirus and explained the utility of the items in the kits. They were properly briefed on how to use the items.

Beneficiaries appreciated and thanked the role of police in helping the poor people of Uri, especially since they have often been sidelined in similar initiatives.

“We are extremely grateful to the police for helping us and enabling us to protect ourselves and our families from Covid-19. Due to the cold, we are more vulnerable to the infection and I hope that such drives will continue. Far-flung areas are too often ignored and sidelined but the police have helped us,” said Abdul Hamid, a beneficiary.

“I am very grateful to the Police. We hope that this initiative is extended to others, and for us in the future as well,” said Krista Devi, another beneficiary of the initiative.

There are currently 3,284 active cases in Jammu and Kashmir. As many as 1,14,986 recoveries and 1,867 deaths have been reported so far. (ANI)

Peace and security will not come to Afghanistan until the issue of Pakistan’s relentless disposition to meddle in Afghanistan’s affairs is properly addressed, said Australian professor William Maley on Monday.

“A key issue to pursue — the real elephant in the room – remains the critical support that the Afghan Taliban receive from Pakistan and specifically from the Pakistan military,” Maley said.

This comes after a series of videos surfaced showing senior Taliban leaders meeting their followers and Taliban fighters in Pakistan.

In the videos, it was seen that Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban political office, was holding a briefing with the Taliban cadre on the ongoing peace negotiations in Doha and acknowledging the presence of the Taliban’s top leadership in Pakistan.

Reacting to the videos, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The presence of Taliban leaders in Pakistan clearly violates Afghanistan’s national sovereignty”.

Afghanistan has also urged Islamabad “not to allow its territory to be used by insurgents and elements who insist on continuing the war and bloodshed”.

“Meaningful peace and security will not come to Afghanistan until the issue of Pakistan’s relentless disposition to meddle in Afghanistan’s affairs is properly addressed, and it is wishful thinking to believe otherwise,”Professor asserted that Pakistan needs to mend its ways.

The Australian professor and author said that Kabul is currently under siege adding that the ‘new Afghanistan’ that has developed over the last two decades is facing an unprecedented attack.

“These atrocities have come in the midst of a so-called ‘peace process’. Yet if the aim of the process was to bring peace and security, something has plainly gone horribly wrong. To find agreements as flawed as the 29 February US-Taliban deal, one has to go to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, the January 1973 Paris Agreement on Vietnam, or the Arusha Accords on Rwanda of August 1993, which were hailed as triumphs at the time but now have few if any defenders,” he said.

The professor stated that with the Afghan peace process had been paused, “it pays to reflect on why the process has unravelled”, and what other steps might best be pursued from this point.

Pakistan is using Taliban as a “tool” for its dominance in Afghanistan under the pretext of strategic depth, said former Pakistan senator Afrasiab Khattak, adding that the terror group’s approach towards the peace process has remained unchanged as it favours violence in the country.

The UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to the 1988 Sanctions Committee, which oversees sanctions on the Taliban, in its 2019 report had acknowledged that nearly 5,000 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which is based in Pakistan, were active in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan alone. (ANI)

The government on Monday wrote to protesting farmer unions inviting them for the next round of talks on December 30 and said it is committed to finding “logical solution” to relevant issues with “honest intentions and open mind”.

The letter came two days after the farmer unions said that the government had been urging them for talks and proposed that the talks be held on December 29 at 11 am.

In the letter to the farmer organisations protesting against new farm laws, Agriculture Ministry Sanjay Agarwal said the farmers in their communication to the government had said that “they have always been ready to talk with an open mind”.

Agarwal said in the letter that the meeting will discuss the three farm laws, the minimum support price structure besides the ordinance to curb air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region and electricity amendment bill.

The letter in Hindi said that the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha had sent an e-mail on December 26 in which it had accepted the request of talks by the government and informed about the date and time of next meeting.

“You have apprised that the farmer organisations have been ready for talks with an open mind and will remain so. The government is also committed for a logical solution of the relevant issues with honest intentions and an open mind,” the letter said.

It said the meeting for “an acceptable solution” will be held at on December 30 at 2 pm at Vigyan Bhawan with the ministerial committee.

The farmer unions protesting against the three farm laws had on Saturday proposed holding the next round of talks with the government on December 29.

They had said the first two points in their agenda for talks were modalities to repeal the three farm laws, and mechanism and procedure to bring a law for providing a legal guarantee on MSP.

The farmer unions had on December 23 rejected the government proposal for talks, urging it not to repeat the “meaningless amendments” which have been rejected before and to come up with a concrete proposal in writing.

Farmers are protesting on Delhi borders since November 26 against agriculture laws recently enacted by the government.

They are protesting against Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. They are demanding the repeal of the three laws.

The farmer unions have held five rounds of talks with the government and attended a meeting called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (ANI)

The Government of India said on Monday that Kisan Rail has bolstered fast transportation of agricultural produce across the country by providing a seamless supply chain of perishable produce and providing 50 per cent subsidy on transportation of fruits and vegetables.

“Kisan Rail has become a game-changer in ensuring fast transportation of agricultural produce across the nation. It provides a seamless supply chain of perishable produce,” the Government of India said in a press note.

“The Government of India has extended a subsidy of 50 per cent on transportation of fruits and vegetables,” it added.

“Indian Railways introduced the first “Kisan Rail” from Devlali to Danapur on August 7, 2020. This train further extended upto Muzaffarpur and also increased frequency from weekly to three days in a week as a result of good response from the farmers taking advantage to send their produce to the distant places of northern India,” it added.

The Indian Railways are presently running Kisan Rail on the following sectors – Devlali/Sangola-Manmad-Muzaffarpur (three days in a week), Sangola-Daund-Nagpur-Narkher-Adarshnagar Delhi (weekly), Sanglola-Nagpur-Shalimar (two days in a week).

“The multi-commodity train service carries vegetables such as cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage, drumsticks, chillies, onion etc as well as fruits like grapes, oranges, pomegranate, banana, custard apple etc,” the government said.

“The loading and unloading of perishable commodities will be permitted at all en route stoppages and no minimum or maximum size of consignment,” it added. (ANI)

Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was detained in May for her live stream reporting from Wuhan over COVID-19, has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment on Monday, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported.

She has been convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak.

Dozens of her supporters and diplomats gathered outside Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court on Monday morning before the trial began, according to HKFP.

The police, however, pushed journalists and observers away from the entrance.

The New York Times reported that the 37-year-old former lawyer is on a hunger strike since June. According to her lawyers, she has been forced fed via a nasal tube as concerns grow about her health.

“She said she refuses to participate in the trial. She says it’s an insult,” Ren Quanniu, one of the lawyers said after visiting Zhang in mid-December in Shanghai, where she is being held.

Ren, who visited separately later, pleaded with Zhang to eat. But she refused, Ren said.

“She’s much paler than in her videos and photos — deathly pale,” Ren said, adding that Zhang appeared to have aged several decades. “It’s really hard to believe that she’s the same person as you saw online.”

China’s court system is notoriously opaque, with sensitive cases often heard behind closed doors.

The trial comes just weeks before an international team of World Health Organization experts are expected to arrive in China to investigate the origins of COVID-19. (ANI)

India skipper Virat Kohli has been named the ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade and the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade while Australia batsman Steve Smith bagged the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Decade award. Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was named the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade.

Kohli was competing against teammate Rohit Sharma, former India skipper MS Dhoni, Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga, former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Australia pacer Mitchell Starc and South Africa batsman AB de Villiers.

“My only intention was to make winning contributions for the team and I just strive to do that in every game. Stats just become the byproduct of what you want to do on the field,” Kohli said after winning the award.

Kohli is the only player to score 10,000-plus ODI runs in this decade. He smashed 39 centuries and 48 fifties during this period with an average of 61.83.

Former Australia skipper Smith scored 7040 Test runs in this decade with an average of 65.79. He smashed 26 hundred and 28 fifties to accumulate those runs.

Rashid was the highest wicket-taker in the T20Is as he scalped 89 wickets including three four-wicket hauls and two five-fors.

Earlier on Sunday, Kohli was named the skipper of ICC’s Test Team of the Decade.

Apart from Kohli, Ashwin was also included in the line-up. In the team, four players are from England, two from India, two from Australia, one from Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The Test Team of the Decade includes some notable names like Alistair Cook, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, and Kumar Sangakkara. The bowling side is covered by Dale Steyn, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, and Ravi Ashwin.

Test Team of the Decade: Alistair Cook (England), David Warner (Australia), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Virat Kohli (c) (India), Steve Smith (Australia), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Ben Stokes (England), Ravi Ashwin (India), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Stuart Broad (England), James Anderson (England).

In 2019, Kohli had surpassed MS Dhoni to become India’s most successful Test skipper. After winning the Test against West Indies, Kohli had scripted his 28th Test win as captain. For the Men’s ODI and T20I Team of the Decade, MS Dhoni was chosen as the skipper. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were included in both the ODI and T20I lineups.

ICC’s T20I Team of the Decade: Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, MS Dhoni (c), Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, and Lasith Malinga.

ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Decade: Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shakib Al Hasan, MS Dhoni (c), Ben Stokes, Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Imran Tahir, and Lasith Malinga. (ANI)

US President Donald Trump has signed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA) of 2020 into law, thus, stalling China from installing their own Dalai Lama.

On Sunday (local time), Trump signed into law, “H.R. 133, an Act making consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, providing coronavirus emergency response and relief, and for other purposes.”

With the TPSA becoming a law, Lobsang Sangay, President of the Central Tibetan Administration, took to Twitter and said, “History made again! President Trump signs the Omnibus bill, which means the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 is now LAW!”

The US Congress had on December 21 passed the TPSA of 2020, which has been included in a government spending bill, could become another source of friction in the already strained ties between US and China, Kyodo News reported.

In February this year, the House of Representatives had unanimously passed the Bill to strengthen policy in support of Tibet, a move that was reciprocated as “encouraging and empowering” by the representatives of the Himalayan Buddhist region that has been under the control of China for several decades.

The spiritual leader has exiled himself in India ever since the rebellion against the Chinese rule in 1959. The Dalai Lama is known for his messages of unity and compassion.

The Dalai Lama institution has existed for more than 600 years, during which there have been changes. On the religious level, the US does not have and neither do Chinese who are not Tibetan Buddhists, the right to interfere with the decisions regarding the succession of the Dalai Lama, which absolutely rests with the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhist leaders and the people of Tibet.

The 14th Dalai Lama has dealt with all Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders, from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, and is in a unique position to not only have a deep understanding of the complexities of Chinese leadership but also to stay ahead of them in the geopolitical game between Beijing and Dharamshala.

The present Lama has further stepped up his game over the past few years.

As China prepares in its own thorough manner to identify the 15th Dalai Lama — the reincarnation of the current, 14th Dalai Lama — the simple monk has let loose a series of statements meant to confuse, and Beijing seems to be reeling from the impact.

China has been planning to use the archaic Golden Urn process (draw of lots) to identify the next Dalai Lama as if choosing the head of the religion with the largest following in China is a matter of a lottery.

But the Dalai Lama has been pointing towards a denunciation of this process for a long time. The Buddhist spiritual leader has repeatedly pointed out that the Golden Urn process would not apply to his reincarnation, and that the traditional method of leaving a letter containing signs would be followed.

However, putting the Chinese leadership back into confusion, the Dalai Lama has, in interactions with media and common devotees, said the institution might end with him (which atheist China opposes), or there might be a female Dalai Lama, and even that the system of reincarnation is a feudal one.

Beijing, as per information coming from the Buddhist Association of China (BAC), the officially sanctioned body dealing with the religion, has asked it to dive into the archives of Tibetan Buddhism, in all parts of China, to gather documents relating to the reincarnation process.

The Dalai Lama, for now, is in good health. During the Long Life offering ceremony at Gaden Jangtse Monastery in India at the end of last year, the leader had declared that he will be living until the age of 113 — by which time another couple of generations of the Chinese Communist leadership will have come and gone.

Apart from scientific grounds, maybe the Lama’s declaration of his living for another 22 years is a subtle way to express his confidence that he will outlive the Chinese communist regime. (ANI)