India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English
Kolkata: Police have arrested 19 individuals in connection with the vandalism at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the body of a trainee doctor, who was raped and murdered, was found.
Police have urged the public to assist with further information if they recognize any suspects.
Amid nationwide protests demanding capital punishment for criminals behind the murder and rape, the Indian Medical Association announced a nationwide doctors’ strike for twenty-four hours.
Shivamogga: A former corporator, Satyanarayan Raju, also known as Motte Satish, was attacked by a group of individuals on Thursday night near Kuskur, reportedly over a land dispute.
According to the police, Satish was en route to his farm when his car was targeted by a gang wielding sticks. Fortunately, he managed to escape unharmed.
Satish had earlier filed a complaint at the Tunga Nagar police station, expressing concerns about a potential attack related to the ongoing land issue.
Superintendent of Police Mithun Kumar GK confirmed that the attack was linked to the land dispute and clarified that no rowdy elements were involved in the incident.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris would be the favourite to win the White House if polls were held today, The Washington Post has said, basing its conclusion on the results of its polling model.
“Relative to the day that Biden dropped out, Harris has gained two percentage points nationally and, as of Sunday, leads in our national polling average. In swing states, she has gained an average of 2.1 points since June 21 and leads in 2 of 7 of them,” the American daily said on Thursday.
“It is no exaggeration to state that Harris would be the favorite to win the White House, according to our polling model, if the presidential contest were held today,” it reported.
According to the daily, Harris has taken the lead in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and has substantially closed the gap in Michigan, where Trump now leads by less than one percentage point.
“According to our polling model, Harris still trails Trump in the electoral college tally if the election were held today and every state votes as their polling average currently demonstrates. Nonetheless, she would be the favorite if voters today went to the polls because Harris now has more paths to the presidency than Donald Trump — that is, she is competitive in more states that could add up to 270 votes or an electoral college victory,” it said.
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): ISRO on Friday launched its third and final developmental flight, Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-D3, carrying Earth Observation Satellite EOS-08.
The rocket lifted off majestically from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, situated about 135 km east of Chennai at a pre-fixed time of 9.17 am.
The objectives of the SSLV-D3-EOS-08 mission include designing and developing a microsatellite and creating payload instruments compatible with the microsatellite bus, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said.
Built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, EOS-08 carries three payloads–Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R) and SiC UV Dosimeter.
The EOIR payload is designed to capture images in the Mid-Wave IR (MIR) and Long-Wave IR (LWIR) bands, both during the day and night, for applications such as satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activity observation and industrial and power plant disaster monitoring.
The GNSS-R payload demonstrates the capability of using GNSS-R-based remote sensing for applications such as ocean surface wind analysis, soil moisture assessment, cryosphere studies over the Himalayan region, flood detection, and inland waterbody detection.
The SiC UV Dosimeter monitors UV irradiance at the viewport of the Crew Module in the Gaganyaan Mission and serves as a high-dose alarm sensor for gamma radiation.
Junior doctors at state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi on Tuesday started ‘pen-down’ agitation by boycotting OPD services and elective surgeries in protest against the rape and murder of a woman doctor in Kolkata.
However, they continued to attend emergency services at the premier hospital.
The agitating doctors demanded a CBI probe into the rape and murder of the woman doctor in Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“Around 200 doctors have joined the agitation and senior resident doctors have also supported our stir. Our protest excludes emergency services as we do not want any patient in need to suffer,” Ankit Kumar, president of Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) at RIMS, told PTI.
“Apart from a CBI probe, we also demand the safety of doctors at workplace,” he added.
I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
New Delhi: Facing widespread criticism, the government has withdrawn the new draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, which had sparked concerns over potential government overreach in regulating online content. The draft Bill, which was privately shared with select stakeholders last month, faced pushback from independent content creators and tech companies.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has reportedly asked stakeholders to return their copies of the draft Bill. The ministry is expected to revise the proposal and release a new draft after further consultations.
The draft Bill, which was an expansion of the November 2023 version, aimed to regulate not just OTT platforms and digital news but also social media accounts and online video creators. This move raised alarms about the freedom of speech, particularly among independent creators who would have been categorized as “OTT broadcasters” under the proposed regulations.
The draft also sought to establish a “Code of Ethics” for online content, which had already been challenged in court. The ministry’s statement, however, did not acknowledge the newly withdrawn draft, leading to confusion among stakeholders about the status of their feedback on the earlier version.
Junior doctors across West Bengal continued ceasework on Tuesday protesting the rape and murder of a woman doctor at a state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata and demanding justice for her.
The stir affected healthcare services as long queues of patients were seen at out-patient departments (OPDs) of all government hospitals since early Tuesday morning as senior doctors were substituting their junior counterparts to address the rush.
The agitating junior doctors, who have been pressing for magisterial probe into the killing of the woman doctor, on Tuesday set a deadline of August 14 for the Kolkata Police to complete their investigation.
“The ceasework and protest will continue till our demands are met. We have been very clear about our demands. We want a judicial probe into the incident,” a protesting junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said.
“Why do they need a deadline till Sunday? We are asking the police to complete their investigation by Wednesday,” he added.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after paying a visit to the parents of the deceased on Monday, gave a deadline of August 18 to Kolkata Police to solve the case, failing which she said she would hand over the matter to the CBI.
The body of a woman doctor was found in a seminar hall at the hospital on Friday morning, and a civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the crime.
Till Sunday, junior doctors had attended to emergency duties, but from Monday morning, they ceased all work.
The state government has cancelled the leaves of all senior doctors to handle the influx of patients, mostly in the OPDs.
Talking about managing the rush of patients, an official of state-run SSKM Hospital said that since most of the senior doctors were present on Monday, the pressure could be well tackled.
However, some patients, scheduled to get admitted at different hospitals for surgeries, had to return home after they were given an alternate date by the authorities.
Saiful Alam, a resident of Murshidabad district, reached Kolkata on Sunday evening to get admitted at Shambhunath Pandit Hospital early on Monday.
“I had come to Kolkata on Sunday evening and spent the entire night on the hospital premises. But the next morning, I was given another date for admission,” Alam claimed.
Similar scenario was witnessed in other hospitals as patients coming to visit doctors at the OPD or getting admitted for scheduled surgeries were sent back home after rescheduling of their appointments.
Joe Biden U.S President
The Biden Administration looks forward to expanding its “critical and critically important” partnership with India and creating a more prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific, the White House has said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the remarks on Monday while responding to questions on the priorities of US President Joe Biden in the remaining six months of his administration.
“We look forward to continuing to expand our critical and critically important partnership and how it’s going to benefit the American people,” she said while addressing her daily news conference.
“We want to create a more prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and the world. That is going to continue to be our focus as we move forward,” she said.
“The president (Joe Biden) views our relationship — the United States’ relationship with India — as one of the most consequential in the world. We work closely with India on our most vital priorities, including through the Quad and the US-India initiative on — Critical and Emerging Technology,” Jean-Pierre said.
Earlier in the day, India’s Ambassador-designate to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, arrived in the American Capital.
Kwatra, who previously served as Minister of Commerce in the Indian Embassy here, is expected to present his credentials to President Biden shortly.
The top Indian diplomat, who is well known in the US diplomatic circles, arrives in the US in the middle of an intense presidential election campaign, fast-moving developments in Bangladesh and two wars in which the US is currently engaged.
Over the next 90 days, India and the US are expected to have some high-level diplomatic engagements, including visits of cabinet-level officials on either side.
The overall ties between India and the US have witnessed a major upswing following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic state visit to Washington in June last year, followed by Biden’s trip to India last September for the G20 summit.
Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin.
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi made the statement in a video posted Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel. In the video, he briefed the president on the front-line situation.
“The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues actually along the entire front line. The situation is under our control,” Syrskyi said.
Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the incursion, which has caused more than 100,000 civilians to flee, is an attempt by Kyiv to stop Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks.
Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is operating inside the Kursk region. On Telegram, he praised his country’s soldiers and commanders “for their steadfastness and decisive actions.”
He did not elaborate. He also suggested that Ukraine would offer humanitarian assistance in the region.
Speaking Monday at a meeting with top security and defense officials, Putin said the attack that began Aug. 6 appeared to reflect Kyiv’s attempt to achieve a better negotiating position in possible future talks to end the war. He insisted Moscow’s army would prevail.
Putin said Ukraine may have hoped that the attack would cause public unrest in Russia, but that it has failed to achieve that goal, and he claimed that the number of volunteers to join the Russian military has increased because of the assault. He said Russian forces will carry on with their offensive in eastern Ukraine regardless.
“It’s obvious that the enemy will keep trying to destabilize the situation in the border zone to try to destabilize the domestic political situation in our country,” Putin said. Russia’s main task is “to squeeze out, drive the enemy out of our territories and, together with the border service, to ensure reliable cover of the state border.”
Acting Kursk Gov. Alexei Smirnov reported to Putin that Ukrainian forces had pushed 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) into the Kursk region across a 40-kilometer (25-mile) front and currently control 28 Russian settlements.
Smirnov said 12 civilians have been killed and 121 others, including 10 children, have been wounded in the operation. About 121,000 people have been evacuated or left the areas affected by fighting on their own, he said. The total planned number of evacuations is 180,000.
Tracking down all the Ukrainian units that are roaming the region and creating diversions is difficult, Smirnov said, noting that some are using fake Russian IDs.
The governor of the Belgorod region adjacent to Kursk also announced the evacuation of people from a district near the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian forces swiftly rolled into the town of Sudzha about 10 kilometers (6 miles) over the border after launching the attack. They reportedly still hold the western part of the town, which is the site of an important natural gas station.
The Ukrainian operation is under tight secrecy, and its goals remain unclear. The stunning maneuver that caught the Kremlin’s forces off guard counters Russia’s unrelenting effort in recent months to punch through Ukrainian defenses at selected points along the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has seen previous incursions into its territory during the nearly 2 1/2-year war, but the foray into the Kursk region marked the largest attack on its soil since World War II, constituting a milestone in the hostilities. It is also the first time the Ukrainian army has spearheaded an incursion rather than pro-Ukraine Russian fighters.
The advance delivered a blow to Putin’s efforts to pretend that life in Russia has been largely unaffected by the war. State propaganda tried to play down the attack, emphasizing the authorities’ efforts to help residents of the region and seeking to distract attention from the military’s failure to prepare for the attack and quickly repel it.
Kursk residents recorded videos lamenting they had to flee the border area, leaving behind their belongings, and pleading with Putin for help. But Russia’s state-controlled media kept a tight lid on any expression of discontent.
Retired Gen. Andrei Gurulev, a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, criticized the military for failing to properly protect the border.
“Regrettably, the group of forces protecting the border didn’t have its own intelligence assets,” he said on his messaging app channel. “No one likes to see the truth in reports, everybody just wants to hear that all is good.”
The combat inside Russia rekindled questions about whether Ukraine was using weaponry supplied by NATO members. Some Western countries have balked at allowing Ukraine to use their military aid to hit Russian soil, fearing it would fuel an escalation that might drag Russia and NATO into war.
Though it’s not clear what weapons Ukraine is using across the border, Russian media widely reported that American Bradley and German Marder armored infantry vehicles were there. The claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has already used U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview published Monday that the weapons provided by his country “cannot be used to attack Russia on its territory.”
Meanwhile, German Defense Ministry spokesperson Arne Collatz said Monday that legal experts agree that “international law provides for a state that is defending itself also to defend itself on the territory of the attacker. That is clear from our point of view, too.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that reinforcements sent to the area backed by air forces and artillery had fended off seven attacks by Ukrainian units near Martynovka, Borki and Korenevo during the previous 24 hours.
The ministry said Russian forces also blocked an attempt by Ukrainian mobile groups to forge deep into the Russian territory near Kauchuk.
Russian air forces and artillery also struck concentrations of Ukrainian troops and equipment near Sudzha, Kurilovka, Pekhovo, Lyubimovo and several other settlements, it said. Warplanes and artillery hit Kyiv’s reserves in Ukraine’s Sumy region across the border, the ministry added.
Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group open-source intelligence agency, which monitors the war, said the toughest phase of Ukraine’s incursion is likely to begin now as Russian reserves enter the fray.
WB CM Mamata Banerjee addresses the media after meeting parents of a postgraduate trainee doctor who was sexual assaulted and killed
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee vowed to transfer the alleged rape and murder case of a woman physician inside a Kolata hospital to the CBI if the police failed to solve it by Sunday, amid public outrage.
Supporting the cease work by junior doctors at that hospital, interns and postgraduate trainees at other state-run medical establishments across the state vowed to continue their agitation, now in its fourth day, until the culprits are brought to justice.
Banerjee’s promise, however, did not placate the protesting students, who criticized the chief minister for setting a seven-day deadline to address the alleged rape and murder of a fellow doctor.
They demanded a judicial inquiry, capital punishment for the culprits, adequate compensation for the victim’s family and stronger security measures at hospitals.
A two-member team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) this afternoon arrived in Kolkata and met officers of the Kolkata police and the family members of the victim.
The body of the woman post-graduate trainee, who was allegedly raped and murdered inside a seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was found on Friday morning. Junior doctors began a cease work from the evening that day.
A civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the case.
At least three Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were also filed before the Calcutta High Court, demanding that the investigation be transferred to the CBI.
A division bench, presided over by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, will hear these PILs on Tuesday.
Visiting the residence of the deceased doctor, the chief minister vowed to seek the death penalty for those responsible for the crime.
Banerjee said the family members of the deceased doctor suspect that an insider was involved.
“I want the police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. If they are unable to crack the case by Sunday, we will hand it over to the CBI. I don’t have an issue with the central agency taking over, but its success rate is low,” Banerjee said.
The chief minister pointed out several high-profile cases that the CBI has failed to solve, expressing scepticism about the agency’s effectiveness.
She also emphasized the need for the case to be tried in a fast-track court.
City Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, who accompanied Banerjee to the victim’s residence, assured the public that the investigation was proceeding with all due urgency.
“We are certain that if there are other culprits, they will be arrested within the next four to five days,” he said.
The Kolkata police on Monday summoned seven doctors for questioning and five others, who were known to the arrested civic volunteer.
Among those summoned is one assistant professor who was the first person to call up several people to inform them about the death of the doctor.
Police claimed that during the investigation, it was revealed that the accused was addicted to “hardcore pornography.”
The arrested man, who began working as a civic volunteer in 2019, had been married at least four times and was known to be a “womaniser”, police officers said.
The incident has sparked widespread protests, with junior doctors and healthcare workers expressing deep concern over their safety and the handling of the case by the authorities.
Facing backlash for the perceived failure to ensure the safety of the hospital’s staff, the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Sandip Ghosh, resigned from his post and government service on Monday.
“I cannot take this insult anymore. All the allegations raised against me are false and fabricated. A student movement has been incited to remove me. There is a political mind behind this,” Ghosh said in his resignation letter.
His departure follows the earlier removal of the medical superintendent-cum-vice-principal Sanjay Vashisth.
Across West Bengal, hospital services have been disrupted as junior doctors continued their cease work, refusing to resume duties until their demands for a thorough investigation and greater security measures are met.
The protestors also demanded an apology from Kolkata Police for allegedly spreading rumours about the investigation and sought the removal of all senior hospital officials, insisting they should not be reassigned elsewhere.
Initially, the police had suspected the death was a suicide but later revised their stance.
The junior doctors, later in the evening, hit the streets raising slogans: “No Safety, No Duty”.
The protesting doctors also demanded that the post-mortem examination report of the victim and the CCTV footage near the seminar hall be made public.
While senior doctors have been called back from leave to handle the influx of patients, the situation remains tense, with outpatient departments struggling to address the situation.
Support for the striking doctors has poured in from across the country.
The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association of India (FORDA) has endorsed the strike and called for a nationwide halt to elective services.
A group of intellectuals took out a rally in the city, demanding the strictest punishment against the culprits.