Month: August 2022

A member of Karbi United Liberation Army (KULA) was injured during an encounter with police in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Wednesday, police said.

The encounter occurred in the Manja area in Karbi Anglong district on Wednesday morning.
KULA is a newly floated militant group in the state which was founded by youths and is organized by them.

After getting the information about suspicious activity by the group in the Marea, The Assam Police reached the location and then, the militants opened fire at the police. In this encounter, a member of the KULA got injured. No police personnel is injured.

Police also arrested three militants including the self-styled Chairman of the outfit and recovered arms and ammunition in possession from them.

Pushpraj Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Karbi Anglong district, told ANI that Karbi Anglong district police had launched the operation based on intelligence input.

“The self-styled Chairman of the militant outfit identified as D. P. Kronjang alias Daniel Teron was injured during the encounter and he was rushed to hospital. We have arrested two other leaders of the newly floated militant outfit and recovered arms, ammunition, dresses, letter pad, etc from the site,” Pushpraj Singh said.

The arrested militants were identified as Sedeng Tungan alias Pronob Timung, General Secretary of KULA and Arak Ejang alias Thengtom Hanse, Finance Secretary of KULA. (ANI)

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s press advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu arrived at the zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate in Ranchi on Wednesday.

Prasad arrived in ED to join the investigation in connection with an illegal mining case.
Earlier, on July 19, the ED arrested Pankaj Mishra, considered a close associate of CM Soren. A Special PMLA Court at Ranchi had remanded him to ED custody till August 1.

Previously, the ED had seized and frozen cash amounting to Rs 13.32 crore lying in 50 bank accounts, Rs 5.34 crore unaccounted cash, illegally operated stone crushers and also seized various incriminating documents which it claimed belonged to Pankaj Mishra, Dahoo Yadav and their associates, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 after searches at 21 locations in Sahibganj, Barhet, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa on July 8. (ANI)

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday morning met with Taiwan’s President, Tsai Ing-wen and reiterated Washington’s support to the island country and said that the US’ determination to preserve Taiwan’s sovereignty is “iron-clad”.

“America has made a bedrock promise to always stand with Taiwan. On this strong foundation, we’ve a thriving partnership grounded in self-government and self-determination focused on mutual security in the region and the world committed to economic prosperity,” Pelosi said.
The US House Speaker had touched down in Taiwan on Tuesday night amid repeated condemnation by China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory.

Shortly after Pelosi landed, 21 Chinese military aircraft flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), as confirmed by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND).

During her meeting with Tsai Ing-wen at the presidential office in Taipei, Pelosi termed Taiwan as a flourishing country and said that Taipei had proved the world that hope, courage and determination can build peaceful and prosperous future despite challenges that the country faced.

“Now, more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial, that’s the message we bring in today,” she added.

“Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” Pelosi said adding “America’s determination to preserve democracy here in Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad.”

According to The New York Times, Pelosi is also likely to hold discussions with a number of human rights leaders on Wednesday afternoon, before she departs.

Earlier in the day, Pelosi visited Taiwan’s parliament and also held a meeting with Tsai Chi-chang, the deputy speaker.

During the meeting, she said, “We come in friendship to Taiwan, we come in peace for the region.”

Over the US-Taiwan economic cooperation, Pelosi said that her new US legislation aimed at strengthening the American chip industry in Taiwan which will compete with China.

“Now we look forward to our conversation about how we can work together to save the planet from the climate crisis. We thank you for your leadership and we want the world to recognise it. Our visit was about human rights, unfair trade practices, security issues,” she added.

Pelosi further said that she is here to listen and learn from Taiwanese people as to how can they come together. She also congratulated Taiwan for addressing the issue of Covid.

“We congratulate you on successfully addressing the issue of Covid which is also an issue of health, economy, security & governance,” Pelosi said.

Taking to Twitter, upon her arrival, Pelosi said, “Our Congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honours America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy.”

“Our visit is part of our broader trip to the Indo-Pacific — including Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan — focused on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance. Our discussions with Taiwan leadership will focus on reaffirming our support for our partner and on promoting our shared interests, including advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” she added.

Pelosi also expressed US solidarity with 23 million people of Taiwan in the face of the increasing threat from China.

Meanwhile, China on Tuesday firmly opposed the US House Speaker’s Taiwan visit terming the trip a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the joint communique signed between the two countries.

“On 2 August, in disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited China’s Taiwan region. This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying. (ANI)

Google removed 1,11,493 harmful pieces of content in June of this year in accordance with the new India IT Rules, 2021.

According to Mashable, the majority of the content that was removed fell under the category of copyright infringement, with the rest falling under other categories like trademarks, court orders, explicit sexual material, fraud, and others.

Within the same time frame, the internet company received 32,717 complaints from citizens of the country about external content on different Google platforms that they believed to violate their personal or regional legal rights. Numerous classifications can be made of the complaints.

Some requests, according to Google, might allege the violation of intellectual property rights, while others might claim that local laws restricting the publication of particular types of material due to things like defamation had been broken.

“In addition to what our users report, we substantially spend in battling dangerous information online and employing technology to detect and remove it from our platform”, the company said in its monthly compliance report.

The company added its automatic identification procedures resulting in the removal of 528,846 accounts nationwide. We invest a lot of money to fight harmful internet content, and we use technology to track it down and remove it from our platform, as reported by Mashable.

Google asserted that some of our products will make use of automatic identification processes in order to prevent the spread of harmful information, such as child sex abuse material and violent extremist content. (ANI)

West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a core issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just like Ram Mandir was in the past.

He asserted that the BJP will implement the CAA eventually and grant citizenship to Bangladeshi refugees.

Speaking to ANI, the West Bengal BJP chief said, “CAA is our commitment, we’ll do it. CAA is a core issue for Bengal BJP the way Ram Mandir was a pledge for the BJP. We’ll give citizenship to refugees from Bangladesh. People are forced to come because of the atrocities committed on Hindus.”

“There is no politics in it. Mahatma Gandhi also said that if atrocities are committed against Hindus living in Bangladesh after the partition of India, then India will have to take responsibility. Home Minister Amit Shah has assured that CAA will be implemented in West Bengal soon,” he added.

According to the Majumdar, the implementation of CAA in Bengal is very important because Hindus are still being tortured in Bangladesh.

“Still people are migrating from Bangladesh to India. In the last month also there were a lot of atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh,” he said.

Speaking about other political parties opposing the implementation of CAA in the country, the Bengal BJP chief said, “The opposition has constantly opposed the government regarding CAA. In West Bengal also, a resolution was passed against CAA in the Assembly.”

When asked how difficult it would be to implement CAA in West Bengal, Sukanta Majumdar said, “It will not be an easy task and we do not even want to do easy work. Many people opposed Article 370. They said that Modi Ji will not be able to abrogate 370 even if he is Prime Minister 10 times. We removed it and showed that BJP is not there to do easy work. Opposition parties like Congress are here to do easy work. We (BJP) work to bring a change. We have come to change the future of the country and will do it.”

Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari met Union Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday and demanded that the CAA be implemented at the earliest.

Majumdar also met BJP national president JP Nadda yesterday and spoke to him on the situation in Bengal after the unearthing of the SSC Recruitment Scam in which TMC leader Partha Chatterjee is one of the prime accused.

“I have spoken to Nadda Ji on many important issues concerning Bengal. Suvendu Adhikari also spoke to Amit Shah. I have discussed what issues we would be working on in Bengal in the upcoming days after a major corruption case came to light in Bengal,” he added.

Speaking on his fellow Lok Sabha colleague Mahua Moitra’s expensive handbag controversy, he said, “I would like to see more such bankrupt persons who carry expensive bags like Mahua. If many such bankrupt people exist in Bengal then it will be a ‘balle balle’ situation for the state. Mahua Moitra keeps making such controversial comments. Either she wants to attract media or there must be other reasons.”

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra ran into controversy on Tuesday for allegedly ‘hiding her expensive’ bag during a session in the Lok Sabha regarding price rise. (ANI)

Kareena Kapoor and Aamir Khan are all set to grace the ‘Koffee’ couch. The fifth episode of the show will air on Thursday. The ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ duo will be seen together on ‘Koffee With Karan’ for the first time.

Earlier today, Karan Johar unveiled the first promo of the upcoming episode and it looks like a lot of fun! Sharing Kareena and Aamir’s photo on Instagram, Karan wrote, “A duo you Khan-not miss! On the Koffee couch this episode, are two epic Khans and it cannot get more savage than this! #HotstarSpecials #KoffeeWithKaranS7 episode 5 streams this Thursday at 12 am only on Disney+ Hotstar.”
In the promo, Karan is seen asking Kareena about her sex life after she embraced parenthood to which Kareena responded by saying, “You would know”. Karan then responded by saying that he cannot talk about such things as his mother watches the show. Then, Aamir quickly turned the tables around and asked Karan, “Your mother doesn’t mind you talking about other people’s sex lives? Kaise sawaal pooch raha hai .”

Later, Aamir even asked Kareena to rate his fashion sense and that’s when Kareena embraced her inner Pooh and jokingly said, “minus”!

Check out the promo:

The duo’s appearance on the chat show is being touted as a promotional stint as their film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ will hit the theatres on August 11. Helmed by Advait Chandan, ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ is an official Hindi adaptation of the Academy Award-winning 1994 film ‘Forrest Gump’, which had Tom Hanks in the lead role.

Recently, the makers announced that the film will be available on OTT 6 months after its release. Produced by Aamir Khan Productions, Kiran Rao, and Viacom18 Studios, ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ also stars Mona Singh and Chaitanya Akkineni. (ANI)

The Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry has written to Dr Hussain Abdul Rahman, Executive Director and IHR focal point in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), requesting him to intensify screening to ensure that persons exhibiting symptoms suggestive of monkeypox disease are not allowed to board flights to India to minimise the risk of disease transmission.
In the letter, dated August 1, accessed by ANI, the Joint Secretary said, “It is requested that exit screening of may be further intensified so as to ensure persons exhibiting symptoms suggestive of Monkeypox disease are not allowed to board the flight to minimize the risk of disease transmission.”

“As the global community grapples with yet another Public Health Emergency of International concern, it is essential that IHR Focal points maintain a continuous coordination and share key information to avoid the spread of disease information across international boundaries,” the letter further said.

To date, India has reported a total of eight confirmed cases of Monkeypox disease, of these cases four cases were with travel history who have arrived in India from UAE.

“As evident three of the cases were already exhibiting symptoms suggestive of Monkeypox disease before arrival in India,” the Joint Secretary mentioned in the letter.

Under article 18 of International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, the World Health Organization recommends Member States to undertake exit screening measures at Points of Entry and if required impose restrictions on persons from affected areas in response to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), he said in a letter referring to the regulations and further explained in the letter regarding WHO recommendations on screening measures and restrictions at Points of Entry.

Recently, Kerala has reported five cases of Monkeypox who have a travel history to UAE.

The central government is on an alert even as the count of infections in some other countries has risen.

NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said that there is absolutely no need for any panic as the government has taken significant measures to keep the disease in check.

In an interview with ANI, Dr Paul sought to assert that there was no need for any undue panic but added that it was still important that the country and the society stay vigilant.

“There is no need to panic, as of now, but one must report in time if they spot any symptoms, he said.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), more than 18,000 cases have been reported from 78 countries.

“The monkeypox outbreak can be stopped if countries, communities and individuals inform themselves, take the risks seriously, and take the steps needed to stop transmission and protect vulnerable groups,” said Dr Tedros, Director General, WHO on Thursday.

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox. The disease is endemic in regions like West and Central Africa but lately, cases have been reported from non-endemic countries too, according to the WHO. (ANI)

Indian men’s table tennis team clinched the gold medal defeating Singapore 3-1 in the final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Tuesday.

It was another dominant performance by the Indian paddlers.
In the first match at the NEC Table Tennis Show Court 1, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran went up against Yong Izaac Quek and Yew En Koen Pang. The Indian pair were firing on all cylinders and looked more comfortable in the second game as they took early lead and closed out the game 11-7.

The Indian pair defeated their Sinapore rivals 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 in the third game to give India an early lead with overall match score of 1-0.

India are the defending champions in the men’s team table tennis final.

In the second match of the final, Sharath Kamal Achanta took on Zhe Yu Clarence Chew. The first game was tough for the Indian ace as he went down 7-11 against his Singapore rival.

Sharath Kamal made a strong comeback and won the second game 14-12.

Singapore’s Chew won the third game 11-3 to take 2-1 lead in the match. He also won the fourth game 11-9 and the second match went in favour of Singapore 11-7, 12-14, 11-3, 11-9 to level the tie 1-1.

In the third match, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran locked horns with Yew En Koen Pang. The Indian player made a remarkable comeback and won it 12-10.

In the second game of the third match, Pang beat Sathiyan 11-7 but the Indian player kept on the pressure and won the third game 11-7 and eventually the match.

The scoreline 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4 reflected an amazing comeback by the Indian player.

The third match saw Harmeet Desai beat Zhe Yu Clarence Chew, who had defeated Sharath Kamal Achanta earlier.

Harmeet started strongly and took the first game 11-8. He kept up the momentum and won in straight sets 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

India have so far won five gold, three silver and bronze medals in the games and are placed sixth in the medals tally. (ANI)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented after the COVID-19 precaution dose vaccination programme is completed.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which was passed by the Parliament of India on December 11, 2019, but is yet to be implemented, aims to grant citizenship to those members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who faced persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Shah said this while giving assurance to West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who met the Home Minister in Parliament today.

After the meeting, Adhikari said the Home Minister has conveyed to him that the work on implementing CAA will be speeded up immediately after the third dose of Covid vaccination is received by everyone.

Adhikari urged Home Minister to implement the citizenship law at the earliest.

“It’s an honour for me to meet Hon’ble Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah Ji for 45 minutes at his office in Parliament. I briefed him how WB Govt is completely mired in corrupt activities such as the Teacher’s recruitment scam. Also requested him to implement CAA at the earliest” tweeted Adhikari after the meeting.

The CAA was notified on December 12, 2019, and came into force on January 10, 2020. It aims to facilitate the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who had come to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Speaking to media persons, the BJP leader Adhikari said, “A lot of things were discussed, but not everything can be disclosed as I am a disciplinary soldier of BJP. But I had two main agendas – HM assured me of taking an action to root out the SSC recruitment scam. He also assured me about the implementation of CAA. But, the country is facing some challenges related to COVID. Therefore, it will be done once the booster dose drive is over.”

He further stated that those who left Bangladesh on a religious basis and came to West Bengal should get citizenship by law.

“I have raised this issue before the Home Minister and he said that government will frame all rules. I hope that all processes will start in next year and those people from the Hindu religion or people from Matua or Rajvanshi Community, who were forced to left Bangladesh will get citizenship,” he said.

CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The Centre has said that citizenship to the eligible beneficiaries of CAA will be given only after rules under the legislation are notified.

Adhikari briefed Home Minister on the teachers recruitment scam.

Adhikari also took up other issues related to the BJP’s ongoing political fight with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and shared the names of more than 100 such people with Amit Shah, who are known to collect money for the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Adhikari also met BJP national president JP Nadda and discuss the Bengal situation.

Soon after the meeting, the LoP said in a tweet that Nadda’s valuable suggestions would certainly lead the ‘Sangharsh’ of every BJP Karyakarta of West Bengal towards the right path.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet National President JP Nadda. He was very encouraging and appreciative about BJP Bengal’s efforts. His valuable suggestions would certainly lead the ‘Sangharsh’ of every BJP Karyakarta of WB towards the right path,” he said.

Former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the School Service Commission (SSC) scam in West Bengal.

The arrest of Partha Chatterjee followed Rs 21 crore in cash and jewellery worth above Rs 1 crore being recovered from the Kolkata residence of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of the former education minister.

The ED unearthed many disproportionate assets allegedly of Partha Chatterjee since his arrest, of which were three flats in West Bengal’s Diamond City.

Suvendu Adhikari also paid a courtesy visit to former West Bengal Governor and NDA vice president candidate JP Dhankar.

Adhikari will visit Delhi again on August 11. (ANI)

Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached immovable assets to the tune of Rs. 3.35 Crore in the case of CG Gowramma, Ex- Corporator (Azad Nagar), Bangalore in Disproportionate Asset case.

ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of the charge sheet filed by Karnataka Lokayukta Police, Bengaluru against C.G. Gowramma, the then Corporator of Ward No. 141, Azad Nagar, BBMP, Bangalore, and her husband C. Govindraju for the offense committed under Section 13(1)(e) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 120(B) of Indian Penal Code in FIR registered by Karnataka Lokayukta Police, Bengaluru.
The investigation by ED revealed that C.G. Gowramma during this period as a Corporator misused her official position and generated Proceeds of Crime in collusion with her husband C. Govindaraju and laundered the generated proceeds of crime by crediting the same to their bank accounts in cash as well as by acquiring various immovable properties in cash.

C. G. Gowramma and her husband C. Govindaraju were alleged to have acquired disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs. 3.46 Crore during the check period from FY 2010-11 to FY 2012-13.

The immovable properties, thus identified include agricultural land, residential plots as well as commercial sites. (ANI)