Month: June 2022

Actor Ambika Rao, best known for her roles in Malayalam projects, has passed away due to a cardiac arrest.

Sharing the unfortunate news, Mohanlal took to his Facebook account and wrote, “RIP Ambika Rao (sic).”

As per reports, Ambika breathed her last at a private hospital in Kochi on June 27. She was also undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at a private hospital in Ernakulam.

After learning about Ambika’s death, several celebrities expressed their grief on social media.

“Rest in peace Ambika Chechi”, actor Prithviraj Sukumaran posted on Instagram.

“Rest in everlasting peace Chechi! Ambika Rao”, wrote actor Kunchacko Boban, who worked with Ambika in Virus.

Tovino Thomas, who also worked with her in Virus, shared her picture on Instagram and paid his condolences.

Ambika Rao, 58, is survived by her two sons, Rahul and Sohan. She started her career as an assistant director in the early 2000s. She worked under many seasoned filmmakers, including Balachandra Menon, Anwar Rasheed, Shafi and Vinayan. (ANI)

Two accused who beheaded a man in Udaipur on camera have been arrested from the Rajsamand area in Rajasthan.The deceased who was a tailor by profession was killed brutally for putting social media post in support of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

The accused are from the Surajpole area of Udaipur.
“Both the accused who brutally murdered a man in Udaipur were arrested from Rajsamand. The investigation, in this case, will be done under the Case Officer Scheme and by ensuring speedy investigation; the criminals will be punished severely in the court,” said Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

“The law and order situation is under control. Some people were attempting to come out of the bylanes but were controlled. Curfew imposed in the nearby areas,” said Manoj Kumar, SP of Udaipur.

Meanwhile, internet services have been temporarily suspended in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan for the next 24 hours. State Chief Secretary has ordered a temporary suspension of internet services for the next 24 hours in all districts of the Rajasthan.

Hours after a video went viral on social media wherein a shopkeeper is seen being beheaded by two men in Udaipur for supporting Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to appeal to the youth of the state to maintain peace.

Addressing the reporters today, Gehlot said, “It is a sad and shameful incident. There is a tense atmosphere in the nation today. Why doesn’t Prime Minister and Amit Shah address the nation? There is tension among people. PM should address the public and say that such violence won’t be tolerated and appeal for peace.”

“It is a very sad incident. It is not a small incident, what has happened is beyond one’s imagination. The culprits will not be spared,” Gehlot said on Udaipur murder.

Rajasthan Assembly’s Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria also condemned the incident that took place in Udaipur.

“We have had a conversation with Chief Minister Gehlot, and he said that teams have been deployed. He himself has talked to the officials and further said that those who committed the incident will be arrested soon,” Kataria said to reporters on Udaipur murder.

Meanwhile, the internet services have been temporarily suspended for the next 24 hours in the Udaipur district, following the incident of murder of a man in the city.

A man was beheaded by two men in Udaipur’s Maldas street area today. He had shared a social media post in support of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma a few days ago.

The two men posted a video boasting about the beheading and threatened PM Modi’s life as well.

Locals protested after the incident that took place in broad daylight. Shops in Maldas street area of Udaipur have been closed following the incident.

Udaipur Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Choudhary said a few accused have been identified and a thorough probe will be conducted.

“A heinous murder has been committed and a thorough investigation will be conducted into the incident. Few accused have been identified. Police teams constituted to locate the accused. We will take action on the video of men claiming to have committed the act,” Choudhary said.

District Collector of Udaipur Tara Chand Meena urged the people to maintain peace and law and order.

“I appeal to all to maintain peace and law and order. The affected family will be provided help from the government. Stringent action will be taken against the accused,” he said.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot promised the strictest action against the culprits and said the police will go to the bottom of the matter.

“I condemn the heinous murder of a man in Udaipur. Strict action will be taken against all the criminals involved in this incident and the police will go to the bottom of the crime. I appeal to all parties to maintain peace. Strictest punishment will be given to every person involved in such heinous crime,” he said.

The BJP had suspended party spokesperson Nupur Sharma earlier this month for her controversial remarks during a TV debate. (ANI)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted searches at two locations in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoband in Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) case of Bhopal.

The agency claimed to have seized digital devices, documents and various other incriminating materials during the searches conducted at the premises of suspects, said the NIA in a statement.
The case relates to the arrest of six active cadres, belonging to the proscribed organization JMB, including three Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, from Bhopal.

The six JMB cadres were involved in propagating the ideology of the outfit and motivating the youth to perform Jihad against India, said the anti-terror agency.

The case was initially registered on March 14 in Bhopal and re-registered by the NIA on April 5.

The NIA on June 15 had also conducted searches at six places in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the same case. (ANI)

Karachi Police on Tuesday used tear gas and baton-charged people who were protesting against frequent power cuts.

The police action came after the protestors refused to vacate the main road, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The protestors blocked the roads, burnt tyres and traffic was suspended from the ICI bridge to the Lyari Expressway for over 15 hours.

A major traffic jam was caused by a long queue of large trailers, and trucks also blocked the road connecting the ICI bridge to the SITE area and Mauripur Road.

Footage showed police commandos firing tear gas at the demonstrators who were chanting slogans against the power utility management and demanding restoration of supply, the local media added.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asif Bughio stated that the protestors dispersed after the police action, but the protests recommenced shortly.

Bughio mentioned that electricity was suspended since 4 pm yesterday in several areas of Lyari.

“Due to prolonged disruption in the power supply, hundreds of residents blocked the road for hours,” he said.

The senior police superintendent mentioned that their first priority was to resolve the issue through talks, but the protestors attacked them with stones when they tried to negotiate.

The police reached out to the KE management to “placate” the protesters and prevent the situation from escalating, the Dawn reported citing Bughio.

The protest comes amid Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s warnings that the country might face increased load-shedding in the coming month of July.

His comments came during a meeting with PML-N members of the National Assembly and allied parties in the federal capital, reported Geo News.

The PM said that Pakistan could not get its required liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, but that the coalition government is trying to make the deal possible.

Pakistan is facing an escalation of its power crisis after it failed to agree on a deal for natural gas supply next month. Tenders for July were scrapped due to high price, and low participation as the nation is already taking action to tackle widespread blackouts.

Pakistan’s government is attempting to boost energy conservation, has cut working hours for public servants and ordered shopping malls to factories to shut early in various cities, including Karachi. (ANI)

The Delhi Police on Tuesday sought an extension of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair’s custodial interrogation by five more days who was arrested in connection with an “objectionable” tweet.

While seeking remand of Zubair, the Delhi Police lawyer said, “We have arrested him as he was not cooperating during the investigation. When he joined the probe, all applications were deleted from the mobile phone. He came with a blank phone.”
Delhi Police submitted that “We have to recover laptops and other concerned electronic gadgets from which it was posted. So there is a required police remand of him.”

Delhi Police also said that nowadays a trend is going on Twitter that in order to increase followers on the social media platform, they opt to make objectionable remarks by targeting a community. Police said various other FIRs have also been registered against him in different matters.

Mohammed Zubair’s counsel tells the court that the photo alleged to be edited by him is actually from an old Hindi film.

Appearing for Mohd Zubair, Advocate Vrinda Grover submitted that there is no editing that the accused or anyone else has done. “Allegations against him are totally baseless. His phones are with them (Delhi Police). The image, which has been shown as a reason for arresting comes from a Hindi cinema,” Grover said.

Vrinda Grover (on behalf of Zubair) further said, “Zubair is a fact-checker. He exposes lies on social media. That’s why many people dislike it. He lives in Bangalore. He was called in Delhi for questioning. The notice was given for some other case and the arrest took place in another case.”

Delhi Police presented that the probe is based on a tweet which was made in 2018. “Now, the Police are asking for Zubair’s old mobile phone which is used in 2018. It’s lost now and I also reported for that and I have a lost article report, submitted Mohd Zubair Lawyer.

After the conclusion of the arguments, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanigda Sanwariya reserved the order for some time and said will pass the order shortly.

Mohd Zubair was produced on Tuesday by Delhi Police before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House court. He was arrested yesterday in connection with an objectionable tweet

Earlier today, the Delhi Police said AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair had intentionally formatted his phone and also refused to co-operate with authorities in the investigation against him in connection with an “objectionable” tweet, providing grounds for his arrest.

Zubair was arrested on Monday for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community in a Twitter post he had written in 2018.

“Mohd Zubair’s objectionable tweet led to a Twitter storm with hate speeches, detrimental to communal harmony. Two things including technical gadget and intention was important. He was evasive on both, the phone was formatted. This formed grounds for his arrest,” said KPS Malhotra, DCP IFSO.

“If someone is booked in several cases it’s our right to question him in all. Judiciary is involved, custody given, bail not granted, there must be some substance to case. Calling it politically motivated doesn’t stand right. We’ll ask for more remand,” said KPS Malhotra, DCP IFSO (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) unit of the Delhi Police.

Zubair was arrested and sent to one day of police custody after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him based on a Twitter posting, which another Twitter handle alleged “hurt Hindu sentiments.”

Delhi Police said that Zubair was evasive during questioning and did not cooperate in the investigation. “He was evasive on the questions and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation,” said Delhi Police senior officials.

“The said post of Mohd. Zubair containing picture and words against a particular religious community are highly provocative and done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for the maintenance of public tranquillity,” the Delhi Police said in a statement.

DCP Malhotra said: “If you endorse a view on social media, it becomes your view. Retweeting and saying I don’t know, doesn’t stand here. The Responsibility is yours. Time does not matter, you only have to re-tweet and it becomes new. Police action was taken on basis of when the matter came to our cognizance.”

The FIR against Zubair was lodged on June 20 based on the complaint filed by the Duty Officer of the IFSO unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell which tackles cyber crimes.

According to duty officer Arun Kumar, while he was monitoring social media, he saw a tweet shared by a person with the Twitter name ‘Hanuman Bhakt’ and Twitter ID @balajikijai. The shared tweet was Mohammad Zubair’s and contained “objectionable” words.

“Today, I was present in IFSO (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) unit of Delhi Police, Dwarka as an emergency officer, and during social media monitoring, it came to notice that a Twitter handle Hanuman Bhakt shared a tweet against another Twitter handle – Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear in which it has been tweeted by Mohammed Zubair ‘before 2014: Honeymoon hotel, after 2014: Hanuman Hotel…and has shown a picture of a signboard of one hotel, “honeymoon hotel changed to Hanuman hotel,” Kumar stated in his complaint.

The screenshot of the board is from a Hindi movie.”These words and the picture found to be used by Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear against a particular religious community and are highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feeling of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquility in the society. Transmission and publication of such posts has been deliberately done Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear through electronic media to insult the religious feelings of a particular community with intent to provoke breach of peace which attracts offence under Section 153-A and 295..From the contents of the post from Twitter handle Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear, offence 153-A and 295 is made out,” the FIR further stated.

Zubair was booked under Sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Delhi Police said. (ANI)

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has resigned from the board of Reliance Jio handing over reigns to his elder son Akash Ambani, who will be Chairman of the Board of Directors.

In a stock exchange filing, Reliance Jio Infocomm said the company’s board has approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, non-executive director, as chairman of the board of directors of the company.”
It said that the Board of Directors in their meeting held on June 27 noted the resignation of Mukesh D Ambani as Director of the company effective from the close of working hours on June 27, 2022.

Akash has been closely involved with the disruptive and inclusive growth path charted by the digital services and consumer retail propositions of Reliance group and is now leading the creation of the ‘convergence dividend’ for over 500 million consumers, digitally and with high-inclusivity across geographies and income levels.

His elevation as Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm recognises the specific contributions made by him to the digital services journey and rededicates him to even higher levels of responsibilities, going forward.

Mukesh Ambani will continue to be the Chairman of Jio Platforms Ltd, the flagship company that owns all Jio digital services brands including Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Akash Ambani, who has graduated from Brown University with a major in Economics, has been closely involved with the creation of the digital ecosystem around Jio’s 4G proposition. He was closely involved with a team of engineers in inventing and launching an India-specs focussed Jiophone in 2017 which became quite a revolutionary device to take many people out of 2G to 4G.

Akash personally led the key acquisitions made by Jio in the digital space in the last few years and has also been keenly involved with the development of new technologies and capabilities including AI-ML and blockchain.

He was integrally involved in the trailblazing global investments by tech majors and investors in 2020, which in many ways catapulted Jio onto the global investor map.

Akash is expected to continue to operate on the cutting-edges of innovation and technology to encourage an ecosystem that will further digital solutions and make the power of data and technology more accessible to all, including those who are still at the margin.

He will continue Jio’s efforts “to build India into a highly inclusive, highly digital society”.

According to the filing on stock exchanges, Pankaj Pawar has been appointed Managing Director of Reliance Jio Infocomm for the next five years.

The Board has also approved the appointment of Raminder Singh Gujral and K.V. Chowdary, as Additional Directors of the Company, designated as Independent Directors for a period of five years commencing from June 27, 2022, subject to the approval of the shareholders. (ANI)

In the biggest relaxation of entry restrictions after sticking to a zero COVID-19 policy throughout the pandemic, China on Tuesday reduced the length of mandatory quarantine for inbound travellers from 14 days to seven days.

As per the new guideline, the length of mandatory quarantine for overseas travellers to seven days.
“China has tweaked COVID-19 prevention playbook to shorten collective quarantine time of close contacts and intl arrivals to 7 days. It also unified the standard of classifying high-, medium-risk areas, based on if new cases emerge in the past 7 days,” Global Times reported.

On Monday, the primary and middle schools in Beijing has been opened after nearly two months due to the coronavirus, Global Times reported.

Macau launched its third round of mandatory COVID-19 testing for more than 600,000 residents.

A total of 38 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to 299 in the latest outbreak, the Straits Times reported citing Health authorities.

Meanwhile, Lei Zhenglong, an official with the National Health Commission said that China reported 25 new local COVID-19 infection cases on average daily from June 20 to 27.

Infections are still being reported in some areas, Lei said, warning of the risk of community spread.

The pandemic is developing, and the COVID-19 virus is evolving, Lei said, adding that China still faces a tough situation in its COVID-19 containment.

China closed off its international borders in March 2020.

Meanwhile, a raft of tightened restrictions and targeted lockdowns have led many experts and residents to question the sustainability of such an approach as China enters the third year of the pandemic.

Some Chinese public health experts called the latest rebound the most severe onslaught since the early epidemic in Wuhan and even after two years of fighting the epidemic with rigorous measures, different sectors have shown a certain level of fatigue toward the Zero-COVID strategy, which could affect the outcome of the implementation of the current policy. (ANI)

A new study that examines how heat impacts the behaviour and physiology of Zebra finches found that heat altered the activity of hundreds of genes in the testis, but fewer in the brain, suggesting that the brain may be less responsive to extreme temperatures. The study also provided some hopeful insights into birds and their ability to handle the threat of climate change.

“Most of what we know about the behavioural and physiological effects of heat comes from aquatic organisms or terrestrial cold-blooded animals, but heat waves could be a real problem for terrestrial birds and mammals too, especially if heat interferes with critical components of their reproductive behaviour and physiology,” said Sara Lipshutz, assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago, former graduate student at UT, and first author on the publication. “We wanted to understand how that happens as a first step towards understanding how to manage these problems.”
Heat waves can be lethal for warm-blooded animals, but behavioural and physiological effects are missing from recent high-profile studies on climate change. The researchers wanted to know about sub-lethal effects of heat that do not kill animals but still might impact their ability to adapt and thrive as the climate changes.

Lipshutz and colleagues exposed zebra finches to a four-hour heat challenge, similar to what wild birds might experience during the afternoon heat on a summer day. Zebra finches were selected for the study because these songbirds experience extreme temperature fluctuations in their native Australia.

The team measured heat effects on thermoregulatory behavior and looked specifically at how heat changed gene activity in tissues that are critical to reproduction — the testis that control fertility and a part of the brain that regulates singing, which is an essential mate-attraction behavior in birds. They discovered that heat altered the activity of hundreds of genes in the testis, but fewer in the brain, suggesting that the brain may be less responsive to extreme temperatures.

“At the same time, we found evidence that dopamine-related signalling was affected in the brain, meaning that even sub-lethal heat may change a bird’s ability to reproduce, via changes in motivational circuits for song production,” Lipshutz said. “If they can’t sing, or sing well, they aren’t going to breed.”

Bird populations have been dramatically declining over the past few decades, and male songbirds need to sing to attract a mate. Coupled with previous studies showing that birds sing less during heat, this project reveals potential underlying mechanisms by which heat may contribute to avian population declines.

“It’s really a triple-whammy,” said Derryberry, corresponding author on the publication. “Heat’s not only affecting their brains, but it also appears to affect testicular gene networks related to self-maintenance and sperm production. So, there’s potentially less motivation to sing, reduced gonadal function, and greater investment in self-maintenance, all of which can detract from successful reproduction.”

The study also provided some hopeful insights for birds and their ability to handle the threat of climate change. Males that panted more often during the heat challenge exhibited more limited effects on gene activity in the brain and testis.

“For a long time, researchers have reasoned that behavioral flexibility might be key for animals’ ability to handle novel environmental challenges,” said Kimberly Rosvall, associate professor of biology at IU Bloomington, whose lab oversaw that genomic side of this project. “We saw that some individuals better used behavioral thermoregulation to dissipate the physiological effects of heat. If animals are able to adjust their behavior. or if behavior can evolve to keep pace with climate change, birds may be able to adapt.”

According to Lipshutz, the results have important implications for sexual selection in a warming world as well.

“Some individuals, or even some species, may perform well under extreme temperatures,” she said. “That could influence both how thermal tolerance evolves and how behavior evolves too.” (ANI)

Tata Motors has announced it will hike the price of its commercial vehicle range from July 1, the automaker said in a statement on Tuesday.

An increase in the price of the vehicles would be in the range of 1.5-2.5 per cent, depending upon individual models and variants.
“While the company takes extensive measures to absorb a significant portion of the increased input costs, at various levels of manufacturing, the steep rise in overall input costs makes it imperative to pass on a residual proportion via a minimised price hike,” the statement said.

In recent times, prices of key inputs such as metals required in the manufacturing of automobiles have risen substantially.

Tata group, an organisation worth $34 billion, is a leading global automobile manufacturer of cars, utility vehicles, pick-ups, trucks and buses, offering extensive range of integrated, smart, and e-mobility solutions.

Tata Motors is India’s market leader in commercial vehicles and amongst the top three in the passenger vehicles space. (ANI)