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Saturday
January 2023
Saturday
January 2023
Mumbai, July 27: As Uddhav Thackeray turned 62 years old, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis greeted him as "ex-CM" -- avoiding mention as 'Shiv Sena President', here on Wednesday. "Wishing former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on his birthday...praying before Mother Jagdamba to give him a long and healthy life," said Shinde in his greeting. "Wishing former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray a very happy birthday... wishing him a healthy and long life," Fadnavis said in his felicitation. Later, a Shinde group leader claimed that the official greeting was appropriate as per protocols applicable from a CM to a former CM. Breakaway Shiv Sena faction leader Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party's Fadnavis toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi regime headed by Thackeray on June 29, and the duo took oath on June 30. Since then, there is a dogfight, a war of nerves and a legal battle as the Shinde side attempts to assert its supremacy and claim of being the 'real Shiv Sena', but the Thackeray camp has rejected these contentions outright. At midnight, the Thackeray family cut the ceremonial birthday cake and full-throated sang the all-time favourite Bollywood songs like "Tum Jiyo Hazaaron Saal...", "Baar Baar Din Ye Aaye..." As he blew off the candles and sliced through the multi-tiered cake, the gathering comprising wife Rashmi, son Aditya and others, lustily cheered 'Happy Birthday To You...' as a grinning but a tad embarrassed Thackeray accepted the affection with folded hands. Meanwhile, thousands of Sena leaders and ordinary party activists from Mumbai and other parts of the state thronged 'Matoshri' -- the Thackeray's residence in Bandra east -- to meet and greet the 'birthday boy' who was surrounded with his family and other close relatives. Among the visitors were several seniors who came to 'bless' Uddhav, one came to present a sketch made in his blood, others carried flowers, bouquets and good-wishes for the Sena chief. IANS
Prayagraj, July 23: The Yogi Adityanath government is all set to convert the 115-year-old Lord Curzon bridge here into Ganga gallery and heritage tourist place. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has finalised the action plan to beautify the bridge. As per the work plan, Ganga gallery will be established on the bridge. The land on both sides of the bridge belongs to the Railways on which facilities like washrooms, parking, cafeteria etc will be built. The bridge will display the journey of Maa Ganga to Gangasagar. Along with this, it will provide a chance to see and understand the mythology, religiosity and cultural heritage of Prayagraj through light and sound. There is also a plan to sell Indian delicacies, crafts, etc. through mobile vehicles on the road above the bridge. With this, tourists will not only get information about the importance of this bridge and the Ganga, but the local people will also get employment. If the bridge's beautification is completed, then the people of Prayagraj will also get a new place for morning walks and evening relaxation. Since times immemorial, Prayagraj has been world famous for the Kumbh, so 'samundhra manthan' will be showcased. The flow of the Ganga will be channelised by the irrigation department and there will also be a facility to ferry people from Curzon Bridge to Sangam. Curzon Bridge on the Ganga in Prayagraj, connecting Phaphamau and Prayagraj, was approved in 1901 in the name of Lord Curzon, who was the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 and its construction started in January, 1902. A 61-meter-long girder and 15 pillars have been used for this. The Singanbad gauge railway line passes on the underside of the bridge and the road above. Till 1990, this bridge was operational. Considering the old bridge as unsafe for travel, the Railways decided to close and demolish it in 1998. The Ganga Gomti Express was the last train to pass on the bridge before its closure. After that the Railways wanted to demolish it but on the request of the state government, the Railways handed over this heritage bridge to the government. The Chief Minister has given instructions to make a glass floor and railing on both sides of the bridge to make it look attractive. The bridge is also witness to the freedom struggle and was used during the Kumbh. Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Mukesh Meshram said that the construction of a gallery on Curzon Bridge and completion of other tourism development schemes will increase the inflow of tourists, which will generate revenue along with employment. Through this, the public will come to know the various cultures, spirituality, food, living habits that have flourished on the banks of the Ganga for centuries. IANS
New York, July 17: The monkeypox case is likely undercounted, said top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, emphasising the need to take the disease more seriously. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tracked at least 1,814 probable or confirmed cases, while more than 6,000 cases of monkeypox and three deaths have been reported from across 60 countries since the beginning of the year, as per the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the numbers are "very likely an undercount", Fauci was quoted as saying to CNN. "This is something we definitely need to take seriously. We don't know the scope and the potential of it yet, but we have to act like it will have the capability of spreading much more widely than it's spreading right now. "Whenever you have the emergence of something like this, you are always probably looking at what might be -- might be, we don't know -- the tip of the iceberg, so that's the reason why we've got to get the testing out there in a much, much more vigorous way". Monkeypox is a poxvirus, related to smallpox and cowpox. The virus generally causes pimple or blister-like lesions and flu-like symptoms such as fever, the CDC explained. The lesions typically concentrate on the arms and legs, but in the latest outbreak, they're showing up more frequently on the genital and perianal area, which has raised some concerns that monkeypox lesions may be confused with sexually transmitted disease. The virus spreads through close contact -- including direct physical contact with lesions as well as "respiratory secretions" shared through face-to-face interaction. Touching objects that have been contaminated by monkeypox lesions or fluids may also risk the spread. And although monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease, it has mostly been spreading among men who have sex with men. Fauci said more testing will be done with five commercial testing laboratories coming online, and he expects up to 700,000 vaccines will be distributed to communities by the end of July, the report said. "Because you want to protect the people at risk, not only the people who might have had an exposure that they know of, but also people, by the virtue of the fact that they're in a risk situation, that they need to get vaccinated," he noted. IANS
Chennai, July 17: Lok Sabha member from Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri constituency and DMK leader, S. Senthilkumar has objected to the 'Bhoomi Pooja' of a road project by a Hindu priest, and scolded the officials for inviting only a Hindu priest. The MP shouted at an official, and sought to know why the 'Imam' and Christian priest were not present. He also asked for the presence of atheist leaders as well as Dravidar Kazhagam representatives. "Do you have instructions or not that the government functions should not be held like this. Are you aware or not?" he asked an official. The MP also urged the authorities present to clean everything -- presumably the pooja materials that the Hindu priest had brought for the Bhoomi Pooja on Saturday. The official at whom the MP shouted was identified as the Executive Engineer of Public Works Department. The DMK leader also later shared a short video of the episode in his Twitter handle. He was heard saying: "Trying to keep my cool... at times, they make me lose my patience." Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has objected to the MP's behaviour. The party's Tamil Nadu unit vice president Narayanan Thirupathy questioned Senthilkumar whether he would have reacted in the same manner had an Imam been present, and would have conducted rituals according to the Muslim belief. The BJP leader called for the MP to apologise to the public for "disrespecting people's faith". In a tweet, the BJP leader wrote: "I strongly condemn@DrSenthil_MDRD for Hindu beliefs and rituals at a workplace where poojas were about to be performed by the workers to their beliefs. His abuse and behaviour have once confirmed that @arivalayam is an anti-Hindu party." IANS
New Delhi, July 17: A 27-year-old woman from the US, who arrived in India as a tourist, staged a drama of being physically and emotionally abused by some unknown people to emotionally blackmail her parents back home, a Delhi Police official said on Sunday. The victim-turned-accused was identified as Chloe Renee McLaughlin, who arrived in Delhi on May 3. The daughter of a former Army officer, she is a graduate and resides in Washington DC. Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Amrutha Guguloth said the US Embassy had approached them, stating that the woman was assaulted and beaten by an unidentified individual known to her and is missing after reporting the incident to her family in the US. The woman, in an email, claimed that she is in an unsafe environment where she has encountered physical and emotional abuse. "On July 10, the victim spoke to her mother Sandra McLaughlin via a video call on WhatsApp. The mother tried to gather some more information about her but an unknown individual entered the room and she could not disclose much," the DCP said. Based on the complaint, the Delhi Police registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code at the Chanakyapuri police station and began probing the matter. "In order to ascertain the present whereabouts of the girl, assistance was sought from Yahoo.com for providing the IP address used by her for sending email to the American Citizens Services on July 9. Further, the Bureau of Immigration was requested to provide her immigration form to find her whereabouts," he said. As per the immigration form details, the woman had given her local address as Khasra No 44 & 45 in Greater Noida. However, when the police team reached the location, they found it was the address of Radisson Blu hotel. "Enquiries were made at the hotel and it was found that no such person had checked in at the hotel," the official said. Thereafter, technical assistance was taken from the Cyber Unit to find out the IP addresses used by her WhatsApp number. On analysis of the information, it was found that the victim used someone's Wi-Fi connection. Accordingly, the mobile number associated with the IP address and the alternate mobile number was obtained and details of this number were analysed. As a result, the police team succeeded in apprehending Nigerian national Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro alias Rechi, 31, from Gurugram, after it was found that as per the IP address, his mobile was used by the woman while making WhatsApp calls to her mother. On sustained interrogation, he revealed the location of the missing woman and ultimately she was traced to a hotel in Greater Noida. After rescue and examination of the victim, it was revealed that she had staged the incident to emotionally blackmail her parents. It was also found that her visa had expired on June 6. As per the investigation conducted so far, it is found that the victim had befriended Rechi through Facebook and after her arrival in India, she was staying with him. "On further investigation, it was found that the passport of Rechi had also expired," the DCP said, adding that legal action with respect to overstaying in India without a valid passport and valid visa is being taken against them. He said that both McLaughlin and Rachi have a passion for singing, probably, which was the main reason for their friendship. IANS
Bhubaneswar, July 16:Top billed Ridhima Veerendra Kumar of Karnataka created a new meet record in the 100m backstroke event for Group 1 Girls on day one of the prestigious 48th Junior National Aquatic Championships which began at the Biju Patnaik Swimming Pool, Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday. The young star from Bengaluru smashed Maana Patel's record of 1:05.00, clocked in 2015. Ridhima touched the pads on 1:04.96 to clinch the gold and create a new meet record in the event. She beat Sanjana Prabhugaonkar (1:07.09) and statemate Nina Venkatesh (1:07.32) to win the gold. In the 100m backstroke for Group II Boys, Suhas Preetha M of Telangana smashed the record with a sensational time of 1:01.29 seconds. He beat Karnataka's Ishan Mehra by a close margin. Mehra timed 1:01.71 seconds. Haryana's Krish Jain took home the bronze. In another event, Apeksha Fernandes of Maharashtra created a new meet record in the 100m breaststroke for Group I Girls. She clocked 1:12.83 seconds to beat Karnataka's Saanvi S Rao (1:16.81) and S Lakshya (1:17.58). Hashika Ramachandra of Karnataka set a new meet record in the 200m Freestyle for Girls' Group III, clocking 2:05.65. She improved on the old mark of 2:10.81 set by Bhavya Sachdeva at Rajkot in 2019. Dhinidhi Desinghu of Karnataka finished second while Deepti Tilak of Maharashtra bagged bronze. Jashua Thomas of Tamil Nadu won the Group I Boys' 100m breaststroke gold, clocking 1:06.82. Arjunveer Gupta of Maharashtra won silver in 1:07.02 while Vansh Pannu of Haryana bagged bronze in 1:07.06. IANS
New Delhi, July 16: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will be the NDA candidate for Vice Presidential polls. BJP chief J.P. Nadda announced the name of Dhankhar as the NDA candidate after the Parliamentary Board meeting at party headquarters here. "After detailed discussion and considering all the names, the BJP Parliamentary Board has decided to announce the name of Kisan Putra Jagdeep Dhankhar as the BJP and NDA candidate for the post of Vice President. Presently he is the Governor of West Bengal and has been in public life for almost three decades," Nadda said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief J.P. Nadda, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were present in the Parliamentary Board meeting. The BJP-led NDA candidate Dhankhar is all set to become next Vice President in this election as the voters are the members of Parliament and the BJP has a huge mandate in the Lok Sabha while in the Rajya Sabha it is the single largest party having more than 90 seats. In the last election, the opposition fielded Gopalkrishna Gandhi but he lost to BJP's M Venkaiah Naidu. In 2017, Naidu polled 516 votes defeating the opposition's Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who could manage only 244 votes. The last date for filing of nomination papers for the Vice President poll is July 19 and election is scheduled to be held on August 6. The date on which counting, if required, shall be taken on the same day. IANS
New Delhi, July 11:The BA.5 Omicron sub-variant, which is known to evade immunity induced both by vaccines as well as prior infection, has the potential to reinfect you with Covid again "within weeks", global researchers have said. BA.5, together with BA.4 and other sub-variants, are said to be behind the current surge in infections seen in a slew of countries including India, China, US, and European nations, notably the UK and Italy. It has been a common assumption during the pandemic that being infected with a Covid variant provides a natural immune boost, enabling one's immune system to better recognise and fend off infection in the future. However, Omicron BA.5 proves to be different, with several researchers terming it as "the most easily transmissible Covid variant to date". "The main reason this variant has become the predominant one that is now circulating is that it is able to evade previous immunity," said Dean Blumberg, chief of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at University of California, Davis, Children's Hospital. "Even people who have partial immunity from a previous infection or vaccination can still have a breakthrough infection." That means even if you were infected in 2020 with Delta or even Omicron BA.1 last winter, you can still get BA.5. Your previous immunity does not protect you from the latest strain. "What we are seeing is an increasing number of people who have been infected with BA.2 and then becoming infected after four weeks," Andrew Roberston, the chief health officer in Western Australia, was quoted as saying to News.com.au. "So maybe six to eight weeks they are developing a second infection, and that's almost certainly BA.4 or BA.5," he added. This may be explained by a recent study, published in the journal Science, which showed that Omicron provides a poor natural boost of Covid immunity against reinfection even with Omicron and also in people who are triple-vaccinated. Researchers at the Imperial College London called the BA.5 "an especially stealthy immune evader". "Not only can it break through vaccine defences, it looks to leave very few of the hallmarks we'd expect on the immune system - it's more stealthy than previous variants and flies under the radar, so the immune system is unable to remember it," said Professor Danny Altmann, from Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial. IANS
New Delhi, July 11: Former India opener Aakash Chopra has claimed that star batter Suryakumar Yadav is India's 360-degree player. Suryakumar's heroics on Sunday went in vain as England defeated India by 17 runs in the 3rd T20I. The right-handed batter showed a range of shots on his way to an impeccable century. Chopra lavished praise on Yadav following his sensational innings in the 3rd T20I as he compared the battler with South Africa's great AB de Villiers. "Surya's knock was not just bravado but also a lot about the game sense�knowing where the fielders were�and where the bowlers were likely to bowl. He's India's very own Mr 360 degrees," Chopra said exclusively on the Koo app. India might have lost the match but the visitors won the T20I series 2-1 against England. Coming to the match, England smashed 215 in the allotted 20 Overs as Dawid Malan and Liam Livingston wreaked havoc on Indian bowlers. Chasing 216, India didn't have a great start as the visitors lost skipper Rohit Sharma, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli inside 5 overs. However, it was Suryakumar Yadav's sensational century (117) that brought India close to the target before losing the match. Both teams will now lock horns in the ODI series starting on Tuesday. IANS
Galle, July 11: Dinesh Chandimal slammed an unbeaten double century, his best knock in Test cricket while debutant Prabath Jayasuriya scalped another six-wicket haul in the second innings to guide Sri Lanka to a famous victory over Australia, by an innings and 39 runs, in the second Test at Galle to level the two-match series 1-1. After Chandimal's unbeaten 206 took Sri Lanka to 554 in the first innings, Jayasuriya followed up his first-innings figures of 6-118 with 6-59 in the second to grab 12 wickets on debut and cause Australia to collapse to an innings defeat after losing nine wickets in the final session on day four. Austr'lia's disappointing batting display in the second innings will again raise question marks about their ability to bat against the turning ball, especially with a crucial Test series against India. Resuming with an overnight lead of 67, Chandimal and Ramesh Mendis (29) went about their business in the first hour by frustrating the visitors. Chandimal was looking rock-solid while Mendis chipped with some valuable runs before their 68-run stand was broken by Mitchell Starc trapping the latter lbw. Maheesh Theekshana would also perish for 10 before lunch. But after that, Chandimal went on the attack, smashing the Australian bowlers around and edging closer to a double century. He reached the milestone by hitting Starc for back-to-back sixes, as the Sri Lankan dressing room and fans around the stadium erupted in applause. Chandimal also became the first Sri Lankan to score a double century against Australia in Test cricket. Australia's misery finally ended when Mitchell Swepson trapped Kasun Rajitha lbw, but the hosts had grown their lead to 190. Sri Lanka had a crucial wicket when Ramesh trapped David Warner lbw before tea break. After that, it was a Jayasuriya show all the way. He had Usman Khawaja caught at short leg and then trapped Steve Smith lbw for a duck in the same over to trigger the Australian collapse. Travis Head was beaten all ends up by a ripping off-break from Ramesh before Jayasuriya struck thrice in the space of eleven balls. Marnus Labuschagne missed a sweep to be trapped lbw, Cameron Green was stumped while Mitchell Starc edged to slip. Maheesh Theekshana took out Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon in quick succession before Jayasuriya sealed the match for Sri Lanka by castling Mitchell Swepson. Brief scores: Australia 364 and 151 in 41 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 32; Prabath Jayasuriya 6-59) lost to Sri Lanka 554 in 181 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 205 not out, Dimuth Karunaratne 86; Mitchell Starc 4-98, Mitchell Swepson 2-100) by an innings and 39 runs. IANS
