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Archives for September 2021

Covid-19 Update India: India Records 42,618 cases, 330 deaths in a day weekly positivity rate 2.63 per cent

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New Delhi:India’s COVID-19 infection tally rose by 42,618 in a day to reach 3,29,45,907 while the number of active cases touched 4,05,681 following an increase for the third consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll climbed to 4,40,225 with 330 more people succumbing to the viral disease, showed the data updated at 8 am.

In a span of 24 hours, the active caseload rose by 5,903.

The number of active cases now comprise 1.23 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.43 per cent, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded 2.50 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 2.63 per cent.

It has been below three per cent for the last 71 days.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

Sri Lankan on terror watchlist shot dead after New Zealand supermarket rampage

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WELLINGTON: An attacker inspired by the Islamic State group stabbed six people at a New Zealand supermarket on Friday, September 3, 2021, before police who had the man under surveillance shot him dead, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

Ardern said the man, a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 and was on a terror watchlist, entered a shopping mall in suburban Auckland, seized a knife from a display and went on a stabbing spree.

She said six people were wounded, three critically, before police who were monitoring him opened fire within 60 seconds of the attack starting.

“What happened today was despicable, it was hateful, it was wrong,” she said, adding it was not representative of any faith or community.

Asked about the man’s motivations, she said: “it was a violent ideology and ISIS-inspired”, using another name for the Islamic State group.

Ardern said she was limited in what she could say publicly about the man, who had been under surveillance since 2016, because he was the subject of court suppression orders.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said authorities were confident the man was acting alone and there was no further danger to the community.

New Zealand’s worst terror attack was the Christchurch mosques shootings in March 2019, when a white supremacist gunman murdered 51 Muslim worshippers and severely wounded another 40.

Pandemic stress blamed as close to 40 per cent first-year MBBS students fail exam in Bihar

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PATNA:  For the first time, close to 40% of MBBS students have failed in their first-year examinations in Bihar. A total of 1,172 first-year MBBS students appeared for the offline examinations held in March this year from Bihar’s nine medical colleges.

As many as 447 of them failed. The results were declared on August 30.   

Following such unprecedented number of failures, the student wing of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has urged the chancellor of Bihar to conduct a reevaluation of the answer sheets of those who have failed.

The student body cited the impact of the pandemic on the students for such high failure rate.  

They said teaching was conducted online, but exams were held offline as a result of which the students faced a lot of problems while answering the questions.  

The examination was conducted in March adhering to Covid-19 protocols.

As per the letter written to the governor -cum-chancellor, of the total number of students who have failed, 104 were from Madhubani Medical College and 56 from the Bettiah Government Medical College. 

When contacted, Rajiv Ranjan, the controller of exams of the Aryabhatta Knowledge University, which conducts the examinations of all these nine medical colleges, said that there is no provision for conducting re-evaluation of such a large number of failed students. 

“But the university has allowed them to appear in the second supplementary examination, starting from September 27. And they are filling up forms for this examination,” the controller of examinations Rajiv Ranjan told this newspaper.

The examination of first year MBBS students of 2019 batch was delayed three months.

The results of the exams were declared seven months later on August 30.

From insurgent group to governing power:Taliban close to forming new administration in Afghanistan

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KABUL: The Taliban were expected to form a government as early as Friday, September 3, 2021, with the new regime under intense international scrutiny over its vow to rule Afghanistan with greater tolerance, especially on women’s rights.

The announcement of a new administration could be made after Friday afternoon prayers, two Taliban sources told AFP, as the Islamists shift gears from insurgent group to governing power, days after the United States fully withdrew its troops and ended two decades of war.

While the West has adopted a wait-and-see approach to the Taliban, there were some signs of engagement with the new leaders gathering pace.

The United Nations said it had restarted humanitarian flights to parts of the country, linking the Pakistani capital Islamabad with Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south.

A Taliban spokesman tweeted early Friday that China’s foreign ministry had promised to keep its embassy in Afghanistan open and to “beef up” relations and humanitarian assistance.

The British and Italian foreign ministers were meanwhile both headed to Afghanistan’s neighbours in the coming days to discuss the plight of refugees still hoping to escape the Taliban.

The new rulers have pledged to be more accommodating than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, which also came after years of conflict — first the Soviet invasion of 1979, and then a bloody civil war.

That first regime was notorious for its brutal and violent interpretation of Islamic law, and its treatment of women, who were forced behind closed doors, banned from school and work and denied freedom of movement.

Now, all eyes are on whether the Taliban can deliver a cabinet capable of managing a war-wracked economy and honour the movement’s pledges of a more “inclusive” government.

Speculation is rife about the makeup of a new government, although a senior official said this week that women were unlikely to be included.

In the western city of Herat, some 50 women took to the streets Thursday in a rare, defiant protest for the right to work and over the lack of female participation in the new government.

“It is our right to have education, work and security,” the demonstrators chanted in unison, said an AFP journalist who witnessed the protest.

“We are not afraid, we are united,” they added.

Herat is a relatively cosmopolitan city on the ancient silk road near the Iranian border. It is one of the more prosperous in Afghanistan, and girls have already returned to school there.

One of the organisers of the protest, Basira Taheri, told AFP she wanted the Taliban to include women in the new cabinet.

“We want the Taliban to hold consultations with us,” Taheri said. “We don’t see any women in their gatherings and meetings.”

Among the 122,000 people who fled Afghanistan in a frenzied US-led airlift that ended on Monday was the first female Afghan journalist to interview a Taliban official live on television.

Speaking to AFP in Qatar, the former anchor for the Tolo News media group said women in Afghanistan were “in a very bad situation”.

“I want to say to the international community — please do anything (you can) for Afghan women,” Beheshta Arghand said.

Women’s rights were not the only major concern in the lead-up to the Taliban’s announcement of a new government.

In Kabul, residents voiced worry over the country’s long-running economic difficulties, now seriously compounded by the militant movement’s takeover.

“With the arrival of the Taliban, it’s right to say that there is security, but business has gone down below zero,” Karim Jan, an electronic goods shop owner, told AFP.

The United Nations warned earlier this week of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” in Afghanistan, as it called for those still wanting to flee the new regime to be given a way out.

Italy’s foreign minister was due to visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Qatar and Pakistan from Friday to assist Afghan refugees, while his British counterpart was to head to the region next week.

Qatar’s foreign minister said on Thursday the Gulf state was working with the Taliban to reopen Kabul’s airport as soon as possible.

Turkey said it was also evaluating proposals from the Taliban and others for a role in running the airport.

‘If my party workers spit, your Cabinet will be swept away’: BJP leader to Baghel

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JAGDALPUR: In controversial remarks, BJP General Secretary D Purandeswari on Thursday said if her party workers “spit”, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his cabinet will get “swept away”.

The comments triggered a controversy with Bahgel reacting by saying that “if anyone spits on the sky, it falls on one’s own face”.

While addressing BJP workers on the concluding day of the three-day- long ‘chintan shivir (brainstorming session) of the party here, Purandeswari said, “We appeal to you (activists) to work with a resolve. If you turn back and spit, then Bhupesh Baghel and his entire cabinet will be swept away. With this resolution you have to work and with your hard work, the BJP will definitely be elected to power in 2023.”

The BJP is a party with different principles, whose workers serve the poor, destitute and helpless with selfless and dedicated spirit, she said.

Every worker is respected in the BJP even if he or she hails from a small town or village, the former Union minister added.

She said an answer will be received immediately if you ask who will become the next Congress president.

However, this was not the case in the BJP where any worker who deserves can rise to become the party president, Purandeswari said.

She said winds of change in the state have started blowing from Bastar, a tribal dominated region.

The ruling Congress has “cheated” the people of Chhattisgarh and they will give the party a befitting reply, she added.

Reacting to her “spit” remarks, Chief Minister Baghel said he did not expect such a statement from the BJP leader.

“What reaction should I give to such a statement? I did not expect that D Purandeshwari’s mental state would stoop down to this level after joining the BJP. She was well when she was with us (Congress) as Union Minister of State’, he said while talking to reporters here at the helipad.

“If (anyone) spits on the sky, it falls on one’s own face,” Baghel added.

Purandeswari quit the Congress in 2014 and joined the BJP.

She was a minister in the Congress-led UPA government.

The saffron party, that ruled the state for 15 years before being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2018 polls, organized a brainstorming session for the first time in the politically significant and tribal-dominated Bastar region since the formation of the state in 2000.

Mission Tripura: Trinamool to conduct survey to strengthen party organisation

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AGARTALA: Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev on Thursday said her party would conduct a survey in Tripura and indicated that this would help the party to assess acceptability of local leaders.

Besides Dev, those who have been frequenting Agartala include All India Trinamool Congress General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee and West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu, both of whom have flown in several times.

Dev, who came here from Silchar on Wednesday plans to stay for the next fortnight.

“As directed by Mamata Banerjee, we will go in for a ground-level survey in order to strengthen the organisation. We want to bring in people who have acceptance at the grassroot level,” she said.

TMC had conducted a similar survey last year ahead of its assembly elections in West Bengal after which the party had decided to change candidates from a large number of constituencies.

The former Congress MP said she would submit a report to All India Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee about the outcome of the survey.

Dev, said TMC would initiate a membership drive and organise party programmes in all eight districts of the state.

“Trinamool Congress is receiving a huge response from the people in Tripura. The party will strengthen its organisation within the next few months,” she said “I still remember that before the 2018 elections in Tripura, BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma used to say that people will get jobs through missed calls. After the formation of the government, neither Himanta Biswa Sarma comes to Tripura nor do the people get jobs,” Dev said at a press conference here.

The former President of All India Mahila Congress claimed that an anti-Modi wave was blowing across the country.

In a recent survey, she said, it came to light that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was losing his popularity.

She also visited the famous Mata Tripura Sundari temple in Udaipur on Thursday.

Kim Jong Un orders tougher virus steps after North Korea shuns vaccines

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SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to wage a tougher epidemic prevention campaign in “our style” after he turned down some foreign COVID-19 vaccines offered via the U.N.-backed immunization program.

During a Politburo meeting Thursday, Kim said officials must “bear in mind that tightening epidemic prevention is the task of paramount importance which must not be loosened even a moment,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday, September 3, 2021. 

While stressing the need for material and technical means of virus prevention and increasing health workers’ qualifications, Kim also called for “further rounding off our style epidemic prevention system,” KCNA said.

Kim previously called for North Koreans to brace for prolonged COVID-19 restrictions, indicating the nation’s borders would stay closed despite worsening economic and food conditions. Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has used tough quarantines and border closures to prevent outbreaks, though its claim to be entirely virus-free is widely doubted.

On Tuesday, UNICEF, which procures and delivers vaccines on behalf of the COVAX distribution program, said North Korea proposed its allotment of about 3 million Sinovac shots be sent to severely affected countries instead. North Korea was also slated to receive AstraZeneca shots through COVAX, but their delivery has been delayed. 

According to UNICEF, North Korea’s health ministry still said it would continue to communicate with COVAX over future vaccines.

Some experts believe North Korea may want other vaccines, while questioning the effectiveness of Sinovac and the rare blood clots seen in some recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

The previously allocated 1.9 million AstraZeneca doses would be enough to vaccinate 950,000 people — only about 7.3% of the North’s 26 million people — meaning North Korea would still need much more quantities of vaccine to inoculate its population. 

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said North Korea is likely angling to receive more effective jabs from COVAX and then strategically allocate them domestically. 

“Pyongyang appears to have issues with COVAX involving legal responsibility and distribution reporting requirements. So it might procure vaccines from China to deliver to border regions and soldiers while allocating COVAX shots to less sensitive populations,” Easley said.

“The Kim regime likely wants the most safe and effective vaccine for the elite, but administering Pfizer would require upgraded cold chain capability in Pyongyang and at least discreet discussions with the United States. The Johnson & Johnson option could also be useful to North Korea given that vaccine’s portability and one-shot regimen,” he said.

In a recent U.N. report on the North’s human rights situation, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked North Korea to “take all necessary measures, including through international cooperation and assistance, to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for all persons, without discrimination.”

He also asked North Korea to form a plan to enable diplomats and aid workers to return to the North and revive humanitarian aid distribution systems as soon as possible in conjunction with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

After their meeting in Seoul last month, Sung Kim, the top U.S. diplomat on North Korea affairs, and his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk told reporters that they discussed humanitarian cooperation with North Korea in providing anti-virus resources, sanitation and safe water.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli becomes fastest to register 23,000 international runs

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LONDON: India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday became the fastest batsman in the history of the game to register 23,000 international runs.

Kohli achieved the feat in the opening session of the opening day of the fourth Test against England here at the Oval on Thursday. The Indian skipper took just 490 innings to register the feat while Sachin Tendulkar had taken 522 innings to achieve the same milestone. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting had taken 544 innings to score 23,000 international runs.

Kohli has been going through a lean patch of late as he has not registered a single ton in international cricket for 51 innings. He last scored a century way back in 2019 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Coming back to the ongoing match, India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara as England dominated the opening session of the fourth Test at the Kennington Oval.

At lunch, India’s score read 54/3 with Kohli (18*) and Ravindra Jadeja (2*) unbeaten at the crease. In the first session, 25 overs were bowled and the English bowlers made sure they repaid the faith shown by skipper Joe Root as he won the toss and decided to bowl.

Sent into bat, the Indian openers — Rohit and Rahul — mixed caution with aggression and the duo saw out the opening spells of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson. However, the introduction of Chris Woakes paid off straight away as he dismissed Rohit (11), ending the 28-run opening stand.

Pujara next joined Rahul in the middle and the duo found the going tough and they did not score a single run for almost five overs, and this eventually brought about a wicket, as Rahul (17) was trapped in front by Ollie Robinson, reducing India to 28/2.

Pujara (4) also failed to leave a mark with the bat as he chased a wide delivery and his wicket was grabbed by James Anderson, reducing India to 39/3 in the 20th over. In the end, Kohli and Jadeja ensured that India went into the lunch break without losing any further wicket.

Geelani given quiet burial by police, before sunrise amid high security

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SRINAGAR:  The body Hardline separatist and former Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who died on Wednesday night, was given a quiet burial before the sunrise on Thursday amid high security. 

His family alleged that the police forcibly took his body and quietly buried it at a graveyard near his residence at 4.45 am, sources said.

Only a handful of people were allowed to attend his funeral prayers.

Geelani’s son Naeem Geelani told this newspaper that nobody from his family was allowed to attend the burial.

“The police stormed into our house around 3 am, misbehaved with the people present inside, including women and forcibly took away Geelani’s body. The women were dragged out of the room and threatened they will be fired at,” he alleged.

Naeem said it was the police who gave Geelani his last bath. They also dug his grave and buried him after giving a funeral prayer. “All this was done in our absence and none from family attended his burial or funeral prayers”.

He said IG and SSP Budgam visited their home and they told them that Geelani’s last wish was that his body is buried in the martyrs graveyard at Eidgah.

“They said it is not possible. We told them to give us permission to bury the body quietly in martyrs graveyard Eidgah. However, they did not agree and said they have orders to get the body buried before dawn,” Naeem said.

The police denied the allegations and said Geelani’s family members were present at the funeral site.

Meanwhile, with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan declaring a day of official mourning on the demise of Geelani, India on Thursday said it was the Pakistani PM’s statement and it had no comments to offer.

Geelani, 91, died at his home in Srinagar on Wednesday night after a prolonged illness.

The pro-Pakistan separatist leader, who spearheaded separatist politics for over three decades in Jammu and Kashmir, was buried at a mosque near his residence.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was “deeply saddened” to learn about Geelani’s death.

“The Pakistan flag will fly at half-mast and we will observe a day of official mourning,” Khan said.

Asked about Khan’s statement at an online media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “I don’t have an immediate comment on this. It is his statement. They had given him ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’, their wish, what can I say.”

Asked about reports of vandalising of temple and breaking of idols in Pakistan, Bagchi said India has issued many statements on attacks on minorities in Pakistan and has raised such issues with them in the past.

On the resumption of air bubble with Bangladesh, the MEA spokesperson said talks are underway and proposals are being discussed.

To a separate question on Vishal Jood, who is lodged in an Australian prison reportedly over his alleged hand in a series of hate attacks on suspected pro-Khalistan Sikhs in Sydney this year,

Bagchi said a judgment has been passed in the case on Thursday and the ministry is ascertaining its details.

Canadian city to observe Gauri Lankesh Day on September 5

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TORONTO: Canada’s Burnaby city has declared September 5 as Gauri Lankesh Day, commemorating the life of the journalist-turned-activist who was killed outside her house in Bengaluru four years ago.

She was a “courageous Indian journalist who stood up for truth and justice,” the proclamation stated.

“Gauri Lankesh through her work encouraged her readers to adopt scientific temperament and reject religious fanaticism and caste-based discrimination and bigotry,” it said.

Gauri Lankesh, 55, a left-leaning journalist, was shot dead on September 5, 2017 outside her house in Bengaluru by members of a gang for her anti-Hindutva stand.

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