Month: August 2022

A “severe” heatwave has gripped China and consequently, the drought is putting the autumn harvests at risk, Chinese state media reported.

Economists are concerned about the impact of a lasting drought on autumn harvest, which accounts for 75 per cent of China’s total grain output. The harvesting time is about 50 days away. Given the situation, China is ramping up efforts to alleviate drought amid extreme weather conditions, which calls for an ’emergency energy option’.
While speaking with Global Times, Sun Shao, a senior research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, said that mid-late August is a key period for autumn grain crops to grow in the middle and lower stream of the Yangtze River and that the persisting heat wave plus drought will reduce the yield of crops such as corn and soybean.

According to the latest number from the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), 32.99 million arable lands were affected by the drought.

Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs held a conference on Friday saying that local governments should continue to spray drought-resistant and water-retaining agents in areas lacking irrigation and watering conditions. For the more severely affected areas, localities should harvest early and develop regenerated rice or late-autumn crops.

Meanwhile, Europe, which is also experiencing extreme heat and drought, is also seeking help from coal power plants.

As persistent severe heatwaves and droughts unseen in decades continue to test China’s power generation capacity and autumn harvests, relevant government departments have ramped up multiple efforts to ensure power supply and alleviate the impact of the extreme weather on harvest.

On Sunday, China’s Central Meteorological Center (CMC) continues to issue red alert – the highest in China’s four-tier weather warning system for extreme heat – marking the tenth consecutive day for the agency to publish such an alarm.

More than 200 meteorological monitoring stations across the country show temperature in places including Southwest China’s Chongqing, Sichuan, East China’s Zhejiang and Northwest Shaanxi exceeded 40 C since August 1, media reported.

Meanwhile, some provincial capitals, including Nanjing and Nanchang, did not see a single drop of rain since August. Sichuan, a province which relies on hydropower for approximately 80 per cent of its energy supply, is experiencing the most extreme heat wave, and least precipitation in history. The province initiated a top emergency response to ensure energy supply since Sunday. (ANI)

Following the directions from a Kerala court, police have registered a case against KT Jaleel, the former Kerala minister and the ruling LDF legislator, over his recent controversial remarks on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Police have, against Jaleel, pressed charges under The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, and IPC Section 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).
The 55-year-old leader, in his Facebook post, had said, “The part of Kashmir annexed to Pakistan was known as Azad Kashmir and it was an area where the Pakistan government does not have direct control.” He later deleted the post.

After Arun Mohan, the RSS district leader, made a complaint against Jaleel, Thiruvalla’s first-class magistrate directed the police to file a case against him. (ANI)

Bollywood Actress Jacqueline Fernandez in a plea before the Appellate Authority of PMLA said it was surprising that while some celebrities, notably Norah Fatehi, who were conned by Sukesh Chandrashekhar, were made witnesses, she was sought to be dragged as an accused.

She further stated that the Fixed Deposits, attached vide the impugned order, have no nexus with a crime nor the Fixed Deposits are created by using the alleged proceeds of crime. The deposits are from the actor’s “own legitimate of income and much before in time from even knowing that the main accused Chandrashekhar even existed in this world.

Jacquline stated that she has always cooperated with the investigation agencies and attended all the summons till date. “She has handed over all the information to the best of her ability to the ED. The agencies have failed to appreciate that she was cheated and conned into this matter. She is a victim of the modus operandi adopted by the main accused Chandrasekhar. Taking the entire prosecution case to be true for the sake of arguments, even then, no case is made out against her under the scheme of PMLA or any other law in force. This is a case of malafide prosecution,” her plea stated.

Jacqueline in her plea before Appellant Authority also added that in the present case, at the best, the allegation against her is that she is the “Recipient of the Gifts” and The record and the statement relied upon the authority itself clearly show that she was coerced, conned and forced into receiving the said Gift. People other than her who received such gifts are made witnesses in the case.

Jacqueline has moved Appellant Authority challenging Adjudicating Authority order confirming provisional attachment of certain movable properties of her, to the extent of ₹7,12,24,767/- by freezing the Fixed Deposits with her Banks. For this attachment, the brief reason given by the Adjudicating Authority is that “being a foreign national, there is every likelihood that she may leave the country and POC may not be available for confiscation at the time of completion of the trial.

The ED in its recent supplementary chargesheet filed in the Rs 200 crore extortion case against conman Sukesh Chandrashekar in a Delhi Court has mentioned the name of Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez as an accused.

The chargesheet has been filed before Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh last week. The court fixed the date August 31 for argument on cognizance point. She is named as an acceder in the chargesheet first time in the case. Jacqueline Fernandez has been summoned by ED several times in the matter for the purpose of investigation.

ED’s earlier chargesheet did not mentioned her name as an accused but mentioned the detail of the statement recorded by Bollywood actors Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi in the matter.

“According to ED, Sukesh was confronted with Jacqueline on 20th Oct 2021. Jacqueline Fernandez stated that Sukash Chandrasekhar had arranged private jet trips and her hotel stay on different occasions for herself.

Statements of Nora Fatehi were recorded under section 50 of PMLA, 2002 on 13.09.2021 & 14.10.2021 wherein she stated that she got a booking for a charity event and during the event, she was gifted a Gucci Bag and one iPhone by Leena Paulose. (Wife of Chandrashekhar)

Noora further stated that Leena Paulose had called her husband and put the phone on the speaker where he thanked her and said that they were her fans. She then announced that they were going to gift her a brand new BMW car as a token of love and generosity.

According to ED, during the investigation, searches were conducted at various places linked to Sukesh Chandrashekar and his associates. During the search, 16 high-end vehicles were seized under section 17 PMLA and these cars are either in the name of firms of Leena Paulose or in the name of third parties. It is further submitted that it has emerged that Sukesh knowingly created the structure for layering and transferring proceeds of crime and thus, actively participated in the process of money laundering. (ANI)

Fitness guru and style icon Milind Soman, on Wednesday, shared a couple of pictures with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked him for encouraging people to take up Yoga and Ayurveda across the country.

Taking to Instagram, Milind shared a couple of pictures which he captioned, “Was so happy to meet Hon PM @narendramodi after the #UnityRun and discover a mutual interest in ancient Indian traditions of sport, health & fitness 🙂 I thanked him for all he is doing to encourage people to take up Yoga and Ayurveda across the country, and gifted him a Balakrishna that @ankita_earthy brought from Vrindavan during Janmashtami @fitindiaoff #JaiHind.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChojL08LL7l/embed

In the first picture, Milind could be seen standing and posing with the prime minister.

In another picture, he can be seen gifting a small sculpture of Lord Balakrishna to Modi with joined hands.

Soon after Milind, dropped these pictures, fans congratulated the fitness icon for the second edition of his unity run on 75 years of India’s independence and for his meeting with the PM.

“Wow…great Sir. You will always remain my fitness idol as you were. Keep up the great work sir,” a fan commented.

The 450 km-long unity run started off on Independence Day from the Jhansi Fort in Rajasthan and concluded a week later at Delhi’s Red Fort, which Milind covered barefooted.

Through the Unity run, he celebrated the Azadi ka Amrit Mohatsav, to spread the message of unity, peace and harmony.

Milind Soman is known to inspire many through his workout videos and photos on Instagram.

He had been a part of many big Bollywood films including Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Bajirao Mastani’, ’16 December’, ‘Jurm’, ‘Bheja Fry’ etc.

He made his comeback with a party track titled ‘Shringaar’. The song has been recorded by Akasa Sing and Aastha Gill. Written by Vayu, the dance song also featured rapper Raftar and received a positive response from the netizens. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan’s sister Saba Pataudi, on Wednesday, shared new pictures from the ‘Hum Tum’ actor’s 52nd birthday celebration.

Taking to Instagram, Saba shared a string of pictures which she captioned, “16th August….Unfinished saga. Did u know ….? The cake was lit….The cake was cut, But who got to eat it??;) Ah! The last pic! Actually… we’re all supposed to feed the birthday boy! Instead, he ACTUALLY gave the US a bite!! The end of that. We missed U Sara !”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cho-q5jIsSm/embed

In the first picture, Saif could be seen posing with his family members, his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan, all the three sons Ibrahim, Jeh and Taimur, his sisters Saba and Soha and his brother-in-law Kunal Khemu.

In the second picture, the ‘Race’ actor could be seen cutting his birthday cake, with actor Kunal Khemu giving a funny pose standing behind him.

In the last picture, the actor feeds the birthday cake to his son Taimur, as Kareena holds Tamiur and Jeh. Ibrahim could be seen standing behind his father.

Soon after Saba dropped these pictures, netizens flooded the comment section with red heart emoticons.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Saif will be seen sharing screen space with Hrithik Roshan in ‘Vikram Vedha’, which is the Hindi remake of the 2017 Tamil hit of the same name. The story is inspired by the popular Indian folk tale of Vikram-Betaal with the characters borrowing their names from them as well. It is scheduled to hit the theatres on September 30.

Makers of ‘Vikram Vedha’ unveiled the teaser of the much-awaited film on Wednesday, which received positive responses from the audience.

Apart from that, he is also a part of ‘Adipurush’, which will release on January 12, 2023. Kriti Sanon and Prabhas will also be seen with Saif in the film. (ANI)

Taking a swipe at Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) following CBI raids at different places, the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said the ruling party at the Centre puts forward central agencies against Opposition leaders in the states where it does not have the edge.

Mocking at BJP, Tejashwi called the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department (IT) the three “jamai” (son-in-law) of the ruling party at the Centre.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out raids at a Gurugram mall owned by Tejashwi Yadav and his associates.

Pertinent to mention, the CBI is probing the land-for-job scam in Bihar, which allegedly took place during the tenure of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav as chief minister.

Following the raids, Tejashwi told reporters, “All answers will be given on the floor of the assembly.”

Speaking at the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Yadav said, “When BJP fears or loses in the state, it puts ahead its three jamais, CBI, ED and IT… When I go to foreign countries, BJP issues lookout notices against me and when fraudsters like Nirav Modi run away, they do not do anything.”

The CBI on Wednesday conducted raids at 25 different places reportedly in connection with the ‘land for job’ scam.

The raids are underway at different places in Delhi, Haryana’s Gurugram and Bihar’s Patna, Katihar and Madhubani.

Earlier this morning, CBI conducted raids at the residences of leaders of the RJD in the case ahead of the floor test of the Nitish Kumar-led government in the Bihar assembly.

In Bihar, the raids were conducted at the properties linked to RJD MLC Sunil Singh and three MPs Ashfaque Karim, Faiyaz Ahmed and Subodh Roy.

The RJD has questioned the timing of the raids on the day when the newly formed Bihar government faces a trust vote on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. Manoj Jha, RJD MP said the raids were done to intimidate the party’s legislators.

“It is being done intentionally. There is no meaning to it. They are doing it thinking that out of fear, MLAs will come in their favour,” said Sunil Singh, RJD MLC and Chairman of Bihar state co-operative marketing union ltd(BISCOMAUN) whose house was raided on Wednesday.

This May, the CBI filed an FIR in the “land for railway job” case and named Lalu Yadav, his wife and daughters among several others as accused in the case. CBI conducted searches at 17 locations belonging to Lalu Yadav and his family members in Delhi and Bihar in May.

The CBI had in July arrested Bhola Yadav, who used to be the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was railway minister, in the alleged land-for-job case.

Meanwhile, a floor test to prove the majority of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led government began in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. Notably, BJP’s Vijay Kumar Sinha today resigned as the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly ahead of a floor test to prove the majority of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance government led by the chief minister Nitish Kumar.. (ANI)

A senior Pakistani diplomat and Consul General of Pakistan in the Spanish city of Barcelona has been sacked on sexual harassment charges, according to local media.

A local staffer of the consulate earlier this month lodged a complaint against Mirza Salman Baig, according to Pakistani publication The Nation.
Citing sources, The Nation reported on August 11 that the name of the staffer, which is not being disclosed, lodged the complaint with Pakistan Ambassador Shujat Rathore in Madrid, who later referred the matter to the Foreign Office in Islamabad for further investigation.

As per the publication, the Foreign Ministry sent a two-member team to Barcelona and Madrid to probe the case. They completed the investigation, on the basis of which the Foreign Office removed the officer from his position and recalled him to the headquarters in Islamabad.

According to the publication, the complainant in her complaint alleged that the counsel general used to send her messages through social media, which, she claimed, were harassment.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has cancelled his Europe visit on Monday due to massive flooding in Sindh. His European trip was to strengthen relations with Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

The Express Tribune reported that Bilawal was scheduled to fly to Germany on Monday on the first leg of his first tour of the EU countries since assuming office. A revised schedule with the same itinerary will be announced soon, a source in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said, as per the publication.

The decision to postpone the trip came a day after two more districts in Sindh were declared “calamity-hit”, taking the total to 13 following catastrophic rains and flooding, The Express Tribune reported. (ANI)

At least 3,700 kilogram of explosives have been installed to demolish Supertech’s twin 40-storey towers in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida on August 28.

Explosives, installed on all the floors, will be connected with wires that will be completed in the next two to three days. For the past several weeks, the work of installing explosives in the Twin Towers was going on.
Explosives have already been installed in Ceyane Tower and now the work of explosive installation in Apex has also been completed.

Supertech’s illegal twin towers which are taller than Qutub Minar will become India’s highest structures ever to be demolished in 9 seconds at 2.30 pm on August 28. Impact cushions have been designed to reduce vibration.

“It will take nine to 10 seconds for all the explosives to blast in a series making a loud noise,” said Edifice Engineering partner Utkarsh Mehta.

Noida DCP Traffic Ganesh Shah on Monday visited Supertech Twin Towers.

“Traffic planning is in the final stages. A few days ago, the road in front of the twin towers was closed. All roads connected to it will be closed on the day of the demolition,” he said.

The demolition of the Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys) would leave behind approximately 35,000 cubic metres of debris that would take at least three months to be cleared.

The Supreme Court has given a go-ahead for demolishing the twin towers with explosives. The exercise was supposed to start on August 21 but the court accepted the Noida Authority’s request and extended the date of the demolition to August 28.

The twin towers are set to be razed over grave violations of building norms. The Supreme Court had said that it was a result of “nefarious complicity” between the Noida Authority and Supertech and ordered that the company shall carry out the demolition at its own expense under the supervision of the Noida Authority and an expert body like the Central Building Research Institute.

The order had come on a batch of petitions filed by homebuyers for and against the April 11, 2014 verdict of the Allahabad High Court which had ordered razing of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers.

The Supreme Court has said that the date of demolition may be confirmed as August 28, with a “bandwidth of seven days” between August 29 to September 4, to take into account any marginal delay on account of technical reasons or weather conditions. (ANI)

As many as 3 agents and a passenger were arrested in the national capital for duping people on the pretext of sending them to foreign shores, said the officials on Wednesday.

The arrested accused include one State level Kabaddi Player, one Ex-Sailor of the merchant Navy and One Singer and Disc Jockey respectively. The arrests were made at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
“With the arrest of 1 passenger and 3 high profile agents, the team of the PS IGI Airport has again busted an immigration racket and succeeded in solving one case of cheating registered at PS IGI Airport vide FIR No. 268/2022, U/s 420/468/471/120B IPC and 12 PP Act PS IGI Airport, Delhi,” said the officials.

Earlier on August 7, a man allegedly involved in arranging a forged passport with the help of his two accomplices was arrested by Delhi Police on Sunday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The accused man namely Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary holding an Indian passport was deported from Kuwait Airport by Kuwait Airways flight no KU-383 on June 6, after he failed to clear the immigration formalities as he carried a forged passport along with him.

During his travel document scrutiny by immigration officials, his passport appeared doubtful after thorough scrutiny. The officials discovered that the Indian man carried a duplicate passport bearing fake information on its bio pages.

Delhi Police has registered a case against the accused man under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under section 12 of the Passport Act.

According to the Delhi Police, the accused revealed some information about the two other involved persons. He disclosed that he came in contact with some agents, namely Zakir Yusuf Shaikh in Mumbai and Narayanbhai Chaudhary in Gujrat.

“Initially, it was assured to the passenger Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary by the local agent Narayanbhai in Gujrat that his fake passport and Visa will be arranged in lieu of Rs 65 lakh and Narayan Bhai shared the contacts of his associates namely Zakir Yusuf Shaikh and Mushtaq Jamil Picturewala based in Mumbai. The deal was finalized for Rs 65 lakhs and passenger Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary paid Rs. 15 lakh cash in advance to alleged agent Narayanbhai,” said Tanu Sharma Deputy Commissioner of Police, IGI Airport, New Delhi.

“Narayanbhai told Ravi to contact his associates Zakir Yusuf Shaikh and Mushtaq Jamil Picturewala who operates a human trafficking racket from Delhi and Mumbai. The passenger Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary sent his photograph and signature to Mushtaq Jamil Picturewala on Whatsapp. After receiving his photo and signature Mushtaq Jamil arranged a fake passport in the name of Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary on the instructions of Zakir Yusuf Shaikh in Mumbai,” he added.

“Thereafter, a fake Schengen visa of Netherland was obtained on the basis of a fake and fabricated passport. The passenger was supposed to travel to Mexico from Netherland and then illegally to the United States of America. The rest of the deal amount was to be delivered/handed over to Narayanbhai Chaudhary by the family of the passenger on his arrival in the USA.

After hearing about the arrest of passenger Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary, agents Narayanbhai, Zakir and Mushtaq Jamil Picturewala fled from their homes in Gujrat and Mumbai and continuously kept on changing their locations. Their call details were minutely scrutinized and the team zeroed on the movement of alleged Narayanbhai Chaudhary, Zakir and Mushtaq.

The relentless efforts of the team yielded result, when the team intercepted the movement of alleged Mushtaq Jamil Picturewala in Mumbai,” Tanu Sharma Deputy Commissioner of Police said.

The accused Jamil Picturewala was thoroughly interrogated and was arrested on August 3 and from him, four mobile phones were recovered from his possession.

Further investigation, in this case, is being done as the agent is in police custody remand and the police teams have been dispatched to arrest other co-associates involved in this case. (ANI)