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Archives for October 2021

US Open champion Emma Raducanu ready for next challenge at Indian Wells

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CALIFORNIA: US Open champion Emma Raducanu is ready to resume her tennis journey with her debut appearance at Indian Wells this week.

The 18-year-old British teenager claimed an unlikely win at Flushing Meadows last month and became the first ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam trophy in the history of tennis.

She has a first round bye but would need to beat the winner of the match between Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round to set up a mouth-watering clash with former world no 1 Simona Halep.

Following her win at the US Open, Raducanu axed her coach Andrew Richardson and is now looking to settle on an experienced coach for her future campaigns.

Judge orders Texas to suspend new law banning most abortions

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AUSTIN: A federal judge on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, ordered Texas to suspend the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., calling it an “offensive deprivation” of a constitutional right by banning most abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state since September.

The order by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman is the first legal blow to the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8, which until now had withstood a wave of early challenges. In the weeks since the restrictions took effect, Texas abortion providers say the impact has been “exactly what we feared.” 

In a 113-page opinion, Pitman took Texas to task over the law, saying Republicans lawmakers had “contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme” to deny patients their constitutional right to an abortion. 

“From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” wrote Pitman, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama.

“That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”

But even with the law on hold, abortion services in Texas may not instantly resume because doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision. Planned Parenthood said it was hopeful the order would allow clinics to resume abortion services as soon as possible.

Texas officials are likely to seek a swift reversal from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect. State officials did not immediately react to the ruling.

The lawsuit was brought by the Biden administration, which has said the restrictions were enacted in defiance of the U.S. Constitution.

“For more than a month now, Texans have been deprived of abortion access because of an unconstitutional law that never should have gone into effect. The relief granted by the court today is overdue, and we are grateful that the Department of Justice moved quickly to seek it,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 

The law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks, before some women even know they are pregnant. To enforce the law, Texas deputized private citizens to file lawsuits against violators, and has entitled them to at least $10,000 in damages if successful.

The Biden administration argued that Texas has waged an attack on a woman’s constitutional right to abortion under the GOP-engineered restrictions, which took effect Sept. 1.

Abortion providers say their fears have become reality in the short time the law has been in effect. Planned Parenthood says the number of patients from Texas at its clinics in the state decreased by nearly 80% in the two weeks after the law took effect.

Some providers have said that Texas clinics are now in danger of closing while neighboring states struggle to keep up with a surge of patients who must drive hundreds of miles. Other women, they say, are being forced to carry pregnancies to term.

Other states, mostly in the South, have passed similar laws that ban abortion within the early weeks of pregnancy, all of which judges have blocked. But Texas’ version has so far outmaneuvered the courts because it leaves enforcement to private citizens to file suits, not prosecutors, which critics say amounts to a bounty.

“This is not some kind of vigilante scheme,” said Will Thompson, counsel for the Texas Attorney General’s Office, while defending the law to Pitman last week. “This is a scheme that uses the normal, lawful process of justice in Texas.”

The Texas law is just one that has set up the biggest test of abortion rights in the U.S. in decades, and it is part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court began a new term, which in December will include arguments in Mississippi’s bid to overturn 1973’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion.

Last month, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law in allowing it to remain in place. But abortion providers took that 5-4 vote as an ominous sign about where the court might be heading on abortion after its conservative majority was fortified with three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the new Supreme Court term, Planned Parenthood on Friday released a report saying that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion. This year alone, nearly 600 abortion restrictions have been introduced in statehouses nationwide, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood.

Texas officials argued in court filings that even if the law were put on hold temporarily, providers could still face the threat of litigation over violations that might occur in the time between a permanent ruling.
At least one Texas abortion provider has admitted to violating the law and been sued — but not by abortion opponents. Former attorneys in Illinois and Arkansas say they sued a San Antonio doctor in hopes of getting a judge who would invalidate the law.

Mumbai drugs haul: NCP claims plot to malign Bollywood, Uddhav government; challenges NCB to come clean

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MUMBAI:  The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday alleged that the drug bust on cruise ship off Mumbai coast was nothing but an attempt to target Bollywood. 

NCP’s chief spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged that two ‘private persons’ were present during the NCB raid on October 2.

“The drama (raid) was fake. They did not find drugs on the ship,” Malik, who is Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister, said.

He claimed that S K Salvi, a private detective as per his social media profile, was seen with Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan at the NCB office while Manish Bhanushali, a BJP member, was seen escorting another accused, Arbaaz Merchant. 

Asking the NCB to come clean on the matter, Malik said, “The entire NCB is being used by the BJP to malign the Maharashtra government and Bollywood.”

While Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant demanded an inquiry into Malik’s allegations, the NCB rubbished them.

“The allegations are baseless. There is no substance in them. The private citizens helped in the raid which was conducted as per procedure,” an official of the agency said. Bhanushali claimed he was not an office bearer of any political party, and just helped the NCB. He threatened to sue Malik for defamation.

The BJP said in its reaction that had there been no evidence, the court would have granted bail to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan in the case.

The Narcotics Control Bureau also termed the allegations as baseless.

The NCB has so far arrested 17 people, including Aryan Khan, after allegedly seizing drugs from the Goa-bound ship on Saturday.

“If these two men are not officials of the NCB, then why were they escorting two high-profile people (Khan and Merchant),” he asked.

The man seen with Merchant was in Gujarat on September 21-22 and could be connected to the seizure of about 3,000 kilograms of heroin at Mundra Port, Malik claimed, asking the BJP to come clear on this person’s credentials.

Notably, Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan had been arrested by the NCB on January 13, 2021, in an alleged drug case.

He got bail in September.

In a statement, Deputy Inspector General of NCB Gyaneshwar Singh said “some allegations” leveled against agency were baseless, and might have been made “in retaliation against earlier legal actions” carried out by it.

Its procedure “has been and will continue to be professionally and legally transparent and unbiased,” the statement said.

“Individuals named as Prabhakar Sail, Kiran Gosavi, Manish Bhanushali, Aubrey Gomez, Adil Usmani, V Waigankar, Aparna Rane, Prakash Bahadur, Shoib Faiz and Muzammil Ibrahim were associated with NCB as independent witnesses (panchas), ” the agency said.

Reacting to Malik’s allegations, local BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar said during lockdown, the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government was the first to open liquor shops, it also decided to lift prohibition in Chandrapur, and now Nawab Malik has accused the NCB of being a drug lord.

Aryan Khan was represented by a senior criminal lawyer when he was produced in a court, Bhatkhalkar said.

“The reason why the court granted custody of Aryan Khan to NCB even after he (this lawyer) argued for defence is because of the solid evidence against him (Khan). Had there been no evidence, he would have been granted immediate bail,” said the BJP leader.

Malik’s allegations question the credibility of the court, he added.

The BJP leader also asked whether Malik was targeting the NCB at the behest of his son-in-law.

22,431 new COVID cases in India, active infections in country lowest in 204 days

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NEW DELHI: With 22,431 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,38,94,312, while the active cases declined to 2,44,198, the lowest in 204 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll climbed to 4,49,856 with 318 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The active cases comprise 0.72 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.95 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 2,489 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 14,09,825 tests were conducted on Wednesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 57,68,03,867.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.57 per cent.

It has been less than three per cent for last 38 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.68 per cent.

It has been below three per cent for the last 104 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,32,00,258, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 92.63 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 318 new fatalities include 134 from Kerala and 90 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,49,856 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,39,362 from Maharashtra, 37,854 from Karnataka, 35,707 from Tamil Nadu, 25,811 from Kerala, 25,088 from Delhi, 22,896 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,863 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

BJP announces candidates for bypoll to Sindgi and Hangal constituencies in Karnataka

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BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced its candidates for Singdi and Hangal bypolls. The party will field Ramesh Bhusanur and Shivaraj Sajjanar from both seats respectively 

Bhusanur had represented Sindgi constituency in 2013 defeating JD(S) candidate MC Managuli. However, he lost the polls in 2018 to Managuli. 

Shivaraj Sajjanar who was the former Haveri MLA is a loyalist of former CM BS Yediyurappa. Sajjanar contested in 2013 from Yediyurappa’s Karnataka Janata Party. His selection as the front-runner has left BJP’s Shivakumar Udasi disappointed since the latter was lobbying for his wife Revati Udasi. Hangal was represented by his late father CM Udasi. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has been close to Udasi while he represented Shiggavi constituency. Both Shiggavi and Hangal are in Haveri district. 

Earlier this week, Congress announced the candidature of Ashok Managolu for Sindgi and Srinivas V Mane for Hangal assembly bypolls.

JD(S) has fielded Naziya Shakeel Ahmed in Singdi and Niyaz Shaikh in Hangal. Naziya is filing her nomination on Thursday in the presence of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy in Sindgi.

The bypoll in Singdi was necessitated due to the death of JD(S) MC Managoli who died earlier this year. The Hangal seat, meanwhile, fell vacant after the death of BJP’s CM Udasi who won against Mane in 2018. 

The bypolls are scheduled to take place on October 30.

‘There has to be accountability for farmers’ blood’: BJP MP Varun Gandhi attacks party

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LUCKNOW: BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday posted a video purportedly of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and said the protesters cannot be silenced through murder asking for accountability for the farmers.

“The video is crystal clear. Protestors cannot be silenced through murder. There has to be accountability for the innocent blood of farmers that has been spilled and justice must be delivered before a message of arrogance and cruelty enters the minds of every farmer,” the Pilibhit MP said in a tweet.

He posted a 37-second video in which a speeding Mahindra Thar jeep is seen running over people.

Two SUVs — one black and another white — was seen following the jeep while there is commotion of people shouting and crying in the video.

The video, which has gone viral on social media, is said to have been taken on October 3, the day on which violence took place in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Eight people were killed in the violence on Sunday.

Of the eight killed, four were farmers, who were allegedly mowed down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area.

The other four were two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra and a journalist working for a private television channel.

Hockey India withdraws from 2022 Birmingham CWG; cites COVID concerns, discriminatory quarantine rules

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NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday pulled out of next year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games’ hockey competition, citing COVID-19 concerns and UK’s discriminatory quarantine rules for travellers from the country, a day after England’s withdrawal from the junior men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar over similar reasons.

Hockey India President Gyanandro Ningombam communicated the federation’s decision to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra in a letter.

HI said it can’t risk sending its players to the UK, which has been one of the worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“You will appreciate that the Asian games is the Continental qualification event for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and keeping the priority of the Asian Games in mind, Hockey India can not risk any members of the Indian teams contracting COVID-19 during the Commonwealth Games,” Ningombam wrote.

“Therefore, Hockey India will not be sending its men and women teams to Commonwealth Games 2022 and are informing you in advance to kindly notify the Organisers to identify reserve teams.”

The UK recently refused to recognise India’s COVID-19 vaccination certificates and imposed a 10-day hard quarantine on travellers from the country even if they were fully vaccinated.

The discrimination was prominently mentioned in Ningombam’s letter to the IOA President, who has issued instructions for co-ordination with the sport’s world governing body FIH for the details of the reserve teams.

Batra heads the FIH as well.

“Such discriminatory restrictions were not imposed on Indian athletes and officials during the recent Tokyo Olympic Games and this 10-day quarantine requirement for vaccinated sports persons will affect their performance,” Ningombam stated.

“We feel these restrictions are biased against India and term it as very unfortunate,” he said.

HI’s move comes a day after England pulled out of the junior World Cup to be held in Bhubaneswar next month, citing a number of COVID-related concerns and taking “note” of the Indian government’s mandatory 10-day quarantine protocol for all UK nationals.

India imposed reciprocal curbs on all British nationals arriving in the country after UK’s steadfast refusal to reconsider its restrictions.

Under India’s new norms, all British nationals arriving here from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to produce the result of the RT-PCR test done within 72 hours before travel.

They will also have to undertake two more RT-PCR tests, one on their arrival at the airport in India and the second one on Day 8 after arrival.

Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams reached the medal rounds in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG but lost to England in the bronze play-offs.

The men’s team was beaten 1-2 while the women team lost 0-6 to England.

The Birmingham CWG would have been first big event for both the teams after their inspirational performances at the Tokyo Games, where the men’s team won a bronze while the women finished a creditable fourth.

Trinamool MPs ‘dodge’ police, meet kin of farmers killed in Lakhimpur violence

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LAKHIMPUR KHERI: A delegation of TMC MPs on Tuesday met families of farmers killed in the Lakhimpur violence, claiming that they dodged policemen by posing as tourists.

The TMC delegation comprised MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sushmita Dev, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Pratima Mondal and Dola Sen.

While on their way, the UP Police tried to stop them, the TMC leaders claimed in a statement.

They posed as tourists on being stopped by police, claimed the MPs of the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

Dola Sen said they were trying to reach Lakhimpur Kheri since Sunday and they could reach there two days later.

Dastidar and Dev went to Palia tehsil of the district to meet the kin of Lavpreet Singh (19) while others travelled to Dhaurahra tehsil to meet relatives of Nachatar Singh.

Both were cremated during the day at their native places.

Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who recently switched over to the TMC from the Congress, said, “Heartbreaking to meet the family of the young farmer who was crushed to death in Lakhimpur Kheri.”

“AITC chairperson Mamata Banerjee stands with the farmers to repeal the black laws and stop these brutal injustices. She fought in Singur and assured to continue fighting for farmers of India,” the MP added.

Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, “The accused is the son of a politician but he has killed someone and he must be penalised. India is a democratic country but democracy is missing for the last few years.”

“The BJP is ruling like an autocratic government. They are putting everyone behind the bars except the accused and killing whosoever they want. PM Modi is in Lucknow, why didn’t he visit Lakhimpur-Kheri,” Dastidar said.

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