Archives for March 2022

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday alleged that BJP “goons” attacked the convoy of its senior leader and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain here.

The party said residents of the Chawla area in Delhi’s South-West district had protested against the new liquor policy of the Arvind Kejriwal government.

In a series of tweets, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the Delhi unit of the BJP deployed its “hooligans” to attack Jain’s convoy as it realised that it is going to lose the upcoming civic body polls.

On the microblogging site, the party also posted a video footage of the alleged attack.

“This is BJP. It’s a party of hooligans and ruffians. When they are losing, they show their position. People will tell them their position,” Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Party sources said the incident took place at Goyla Dairy-Najafgarh drain culvert around 12 noon.

“There was no goondaism against Minister Satyendra Jain, only local residents of the Chawla area protested against the new liquor policy of the Kejriwal government,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said in a statement.

“It is really sad that the Aam Aadmi Party, which was born out of a agitational movement today cannot tolerate a people’s protest,” he added.

A senior police officer said when the minister was passing through Najafgarh, some people climbed onto the bonnet of his vehicle and protested against him.

“His vehicle had to be halted due to protest by some locals over alleged issues of governance etc,” the officer said.

A team of police reached the spot “immediately” as soon as information was received, the officer said.

“Within 10-15 minutes, the way was cleared and he went peacefully without any further disturbance on his way ahead,” the officer added.

Police said no complaint has been received so far.

“If any complaint is received, legal action will be taken accordingly,” it said.

MUMBAI: Mumbai Police’s cyber cell has arrested two persons working for a news portal for allegedly spreading fake news against journalist Rana Ayyub through a video, an official said on Sunday.

A case was registered at the West Region Cyber Police Station under sections 354(a) (Sexual harassment), 506(2) (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and under the Information Technology Act, he said.

While investigating the case, the Cyber police had arrested one Siddharth Jay Prakash Shrivastav (24), a resident of Bhopal, he said.

“Mumbai cyber crime today arrested the two journalists from Scoopbeats who made a video at the behest of their employers, spreading the most vicious fake news against me. This is a big step in the direction of justice. Thank you @CPMumbaiPolice, Joint CP and the other officers,” Ayyub had tweeted on Friday.

“The two young journalists had accused me of being aided by Pakistan, announced that I had been banned by Saudi Arabia, and attributed morphed anti-India tweets to me have said their employers @thescoopbeats had asked them to do this hit job on me to target my reputation”, she had stated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war”, while a promised cease-fire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror.

With the Kremlin’s rhetoric growing fiercer and a reprieve from fighting dissolving, Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million.

By Saturday night Russian forces had intensified their shelling of Mariupol, while dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Putin continued to pin the blame for all of it squarely on the Ukrainian leadership and slammed their resistance to the invasion. “If they continue to do what they are doing, they are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood,” he said. “And if this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

MOSCOW: Russians could face prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information that goes against the Russian government’s position on the war in Ukraine, a move that comes as authorities block access to foreign media outlets.

Russian authorities have repeatedly decried reports of Russian military setbacks or civilian deaths in Ukraine as “fake” reports.

State media outlets refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” rather than a “war” or “invasion.”

The draft law was approved by the lower and upper houses of parliament in quick succession, state news agencies said.

It could be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin and take effect as soon as Saturday, the speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, said.

“It is possible that by tomorrow, its rules will force those lied and made statements discrediting our armed forces to bear very grave punishment,” Volodin said.

“I want everyone to understand, and for society to understand, that we are doing this to protect our soldiers and officers, and to protect the truth.”

Sentences of up to three years or fines are envisaged for spreading what authorities deem to be false news about the military, but the maximum punishment rises to 15 years for cases deemed to have led to “severe consequences,” the lower house of parliament said.

The kind of material which faces official disapproval was made clear Friday as the communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said it was blocking five media organizations based abroad which publish news in Russian.

They had published “false information,” the regulator said in a statement to state news agency RIA Novosti, on subjects including “the methods of carrying out combat activities (attacks on the civilian population, strikes on civil infrastructure objects), the numbers of losses of the Russian Federation Armed Forces and victims among the civilian population.”

The blocks affect the BBC, the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Latvia-based website Meduza.

Together, they are among the most influential and often critical foreign media publishing in Russian.

As of early afternoon in Moscow, the BBC website showed a message from Roskomnadzor that it had been blocked.

Radio Free Europe Russian-language content was not reachable, but Voice of America content remained accessible.

The BBC posted instructions on Twitter about how Russian readers could work around the block by using apps or the “dark web.”

“Access to accurate, independent information is a fundamental human right which should not be denied to the people of Russia, millions of whom rely on BBC News every week. We will continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world,” the BBC said.

Earlier this week the BBC said it was bringing back shortwave radio transmission to Ukraine and parts of Russia so people can listen to its programs with basic equipment.

Some well-known media outlets within Russia have chosen to close rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report.

News website Znak announced it was closing Friday morning, shortly after the parliament approved the draft bill.

On Thursday, Russia’s top independent radio station Ekho Moskvy was closed and independent TV station Dozdh suspended operations after receiving a threat of closure from the authorities.

AHMEDABAD: Pinching the pockets of countless households,  the edible oil market is on fire due to the ongoing hostilities  between Ukraine and Russia. The last 15 days have seen a 20-30% increase in edible oil prices. Consider this: Palm oil used in the sawmill industry rose sharply by Rs 210 per litre. While home-made sunflower oil is costlier by Rs 50 per litre, the price is up by Rs 30, Rs 10 and Rs 40 for cottonseed, mustard and peanut oil. 

Disruption in its supply is likely to impact the production of sunflower oil across India. From Rs 2,500 to ` 2,550 per 15-litre pack, the price of sunflower oil is likely to go up by 20% to Rs 2,900.” “All edible oil procurers track each other’s prices as they compete in the market. Any potential supply disruptions of one buoys the prices of the other counters,’’ said Shah.