Nasheman

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Shehbaz Sharif’s remand extended by 14 days

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Pakistan’s anti-corruption body was on Tuesday granted a 14-day extension in the remand of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) President Shehbaz Sharif in a multi-billion rupee housing scam case.

The former Punjab Chief Minister, who has been in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody since October 6, was presented in the accountability court in Lahore amid tight security as his 10-day remand in the Ashiana Housing Scheme case ended.

He will now be in NAB’s remand till October 30, Dawn online reported.

The anti-graft body said Sharif was involved in corruption in the housing scheme during his tenure as the Chief Minister from 2013 to May 2018. It said that he had “misused his powers” and granted contracts to unqualified companies of his friends, causing “losses of millions of rupees to the national exchequer”.

Sharif was arrested earlier this month inside the anti-graft watchdog’s Lahore office where he was summoned to record his statement in connection with the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.

He denies the graft allegations, describing these as “false and baseless”.

During the Tuesday hearing, the leader said that he had not misused his seat or done any corrupt practice. “This is a false accusation, I have saved the country’s money and put it in the national exchequer.”

“I was called for Saaf Pani and arrested for Ashiana,” he told the court.

Later, talking to Geo News outside the accountability court, Sharif said: “They could not prove a penny’s worth corruption against me. I call NAB officers myself to question me.”

The bureau was also investigating Shehbaz Sharif in the clean water project scam, Paragon Housing Society scandal and Punjab Power Company corruption cases.

IANS

Cong loses votes when I give speeches: Digvijay

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A video of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has gone viral on the social media in which he says that the Congress loses votes when he gives speeches.

In the video, recorded when he had gone to Congress MLA Jitu Patwari’s house, Singh says: “If work is not done then the Congress will not come to power. I am not giving speeches because then the Congress loses votes.”

In recent days, Singh has distanced himself from election campaigning.

Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28. The results will be announced on December 11.

Nokia, BSNL partner to create 5G ecosystem in India

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Nokia and the government-owned telecom operator BSNL on Tuesday announced to work together to leverage 4G LTE technology for enabling greater operational efficiency at Nokia’s Chennai plant and prepare it for the 5G era with smart manufacturing.

Nokia manufactures a range of telecom equipment across technologies at its factory in Chennai, catering to both domestic and global customers.

The factory will now leverage Industry 4.0 solutions such as Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), connected Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance operations and increase productivity.

“Nokia is already one of our key partners in developing the 5G ecosystem, and now we are exploring use cases such as Industry 4.0 that can benefit tremendously with 5G,” said Anupam Srivastava, Chairman and Managing Director at BSNL.

“This network deployment for Industry 4.0 at Nokia’s Chennai factory that can be scaled to 5G demonstrates our preparedness to take advantage of new opportunities that will emerge with 5G and IoT in India,” he added.

Industry 4.0 relies on low-latency, high-reliability networks as well as capabilities in robotics and AI to drive new levels of automation and data exchange in manufacturing industries, resulting in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs.

Nokia’s Chennai facility recently crossed the four-million unit production milestone in its 10th year of operation.

“Our collaboration with BSNL will enable us to leverage the latest technology advancements and continue in our efforts to build the increasingly digitized and connected factory of the future. It will pave the path to smart manufacturing in the 5G era,” informed Sanjay Malik, Vice President and Head of the India Market at Nokia.

Nokia has deployed the network in the country using its Micro Core Network and Multi-access Edge Computing platform, delivering Edge Cloud capabilities to process data closer to end-users and lowering latency.

BSNL is already working with Nokia and Chinese player ZTE on a 5G technology roadmap.

Earlier this year, Nokia and BSNL signed a network modernisation agreement to support the launch of 4G and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in western and southern regions of India.

Devotees’ rights will be protected at Sabarimala: CM

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Emphatically emphasising that the Kerala government will protect the rights of all devotees, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that all those who go to pray at the Sabarimala temple will be protected.

Vijayan said this after presiding over a cabinet meeting when the media pointed out that those fighting to preserve the traditions of the temple were screening all vehicles on Tuesday to see if they had women in the age group of 10-50.

Two women journalists were prevented from proceeding to the temple town where their OB van was stationed.

The protesters are staying put at Nilakal, about 20 km from the foothills of the temple, located at Pampa.

“Yes, I have also been told that some people have started screening vehicles. Such a thing cannot be accepted. No one can take law into their hands. The government will ensure that nothing of that sort happens. Those who want to pray cannot be stopped,” said Vijayan.

He pointed out that the government had made it very clear that it will not file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s September 28 verdict allowing women in the age group of 10 to 50 to pray at the famed Sabarimala temple.

“We have already made this very clear that we will abide by whatever the apex court verdict is. Now that the verdict has come, we will implement it,” the Chief Minister said.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of devotees, including a large number of women, protesting against the Supreme Court ruling, gathered at Nilakal and started checking all vehicles bound to the temple town.

The temple opens on Wednesday at 5 p.m. for the customary monthly pujas.

“We are determined that come what may we will not allow a single lady in the age group 10 to 50 to reach anywhere near the temple. It’s a matter of life and death and under no circumstances will we allow a breach of tradition,” said a middle aged woman at Nilakal.

The protesters are said to be mainly locals and others who have arrived from nearby areas.

Meanwhile, the Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), the custodian of the temple, on Tuesday met the Pandalam royal family, representatives of the Sabarimala Tantri family and other Hindu organisations to see how best the controversy can be resolved.

IANS

Mother’s tight work schedule may affect child’s sleep

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Children are more likely to receive fewer hours of sleep if their mothers have tight work schedules compared to those whose mothers gained flexibility, according to a new study.

The findings of the study suggested that consistent bedtimes of children may be the key to offsetting damage done by tight work schedules.

“We have seen this link between inflexible work schedules and children’s sleep patterns before, but we did not know why it was happening. If parents can be there for their kids on a regular basis, and help them by having a regular bedtime routine, all of that is very beneficial for their long-term growth and development,” said Orfeu Buxton, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

“We know positive routines especially are very important for positive child growth, so sleep may suffer if it’s not there,” he added.

For the study, published in the journal of Child and Family Studies, the team from the varsity examined data on 1,040 mothers and their children aged between five and nine.

The mothers were asked about their flexibility in their jobs and whether or not their child had a regular bedtime, including if they had difficulty getting sleep and how many hours a night their child usually slept.

Results showed that less workplace flexibility was associated with shorter child sleep time.

Conversely, an increase in workplace flexibility was related to children getting longer hours of sleep and a 44 per cent lower chance of the child having sleep troubles.

In addition, employers could begin by considering how to change both the structural and cultural practices that may hinder flexibility, said Soomi Lee, Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida, US.

“If workplaces could improve employees’ flexibility and control over when and where they work, that could be helpful,” said Lee.

“They could offer diverse flexible work options for employees, especially for working mothers, such as flextime, telecommuting, or job-sharing with another employee,” Lee noted.

IANS

Fakhar set for Test debut in 2nd Test vs Australia

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On the eve of the second Test against Australia at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here, Pakistan on Monday named limited overs opener Fakhar Zaman, uncapped quick Mir Hamza and all-rounder Shadab Khan in the 12-man squad.

Left-arm quick Wahab Riaz has been dropped for the series decider, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed confirmed on Monday.

Wahab, who returned to the side after a year, failed to impress in the first Test where he returned wicketless after bowling 27 overs.

Fellow left-armer Hamza appears the most likely man to replace him, though Shadab, who has recovered from a groin injury, could be considered if Pakistan want another spin-bowling option.

In the batting department, Fakhar is in line to make his Test debut, and replace injured Imam-ul-Haq, who fractured his finger in the drawn opening Test.

Squads:
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (Captain & WK), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Shadab Khan, Bilal Asif, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Hafeez.

Australia: Tim Paine (Captain & WK), Ashton Agar, Brendan Doggett, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc.

IANS

Women journalists’ group demands Akbar’s dismissal, writes to President

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A panel of female journalists has written to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the dismissal of Union Minister M.J. Akbar who has been accused of sexual harassment by a dozen women in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

“We are extremely concerned that he continues to be a minister in the Union council of ministers even as he pursues whatever legal course of action he plans.

“You will agree this is highly unethical and improper and would cast a cloud over any investigation of his alleged misdeeds, besides undermining the independence, justice and fair play that any citizen can expect from such proceedings,” the Network of Women in Media in India (NWMI) said in the letter to the President on Monday.

Akbar, the Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, has sued the woman who had first named him in the #MeToo campaign — journalist Priya Ramani, for defamation.

NWMI said that a criminal defamation charge is “a clear attempt to bully, intimidate and silence those who are bringing to light systemic abuse of women by men in powerful positions”.

“It is designed to push women back into silent compliance and will silence the voices of the many who have not yet spoken up,” it said.

The panel demanded that Akbar should submit himself to an independent investigation and that the Ministry of External Affairs should ask him to step down from office pending investigation.

Requesting that the case against Ramani be dropped, the panel wrote: “We would like to point out that Section 499 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), which pertains to defamation, cites exceptions in case of ‘imputation of truth which public good requires to be made or published’.”

It said that all support should be extended by the government to women in their struggle for justice and that Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj should “take workplace harassment seriously and not encourage intimidatory tactics against women who have complained”.

IANS

Manvendra all set to join Congress on Wednesday

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Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in September, is likely to join the Congress on Wednesday, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot said on Tuesday.

Manvendra Singh had exited BJP on September 22.

He will join Congress on the auspicious day of Maha Durgaashtami on October 17 in New Delhi at 10 a.m., Pilot told IANS.

Speculation regarding his joining the Congress party was doing the rounds soon after he quit the ruling party during a mammoth Swabhiman Rally organised at Pachpadra in Rajasthan’s Barmer.

However, he did not open his cards during or after the rally.

Singh is a sitting legislator from Sheo and should join the Congress along with his wife. A few other BJP members might also join the Congress, informed sources said.

Singh’s relationship with the BJP turned sour in 2014 when the party refused to give a ticket to his father and former Defence Minister Jaswant Singh.

The latter contested the elections as an independent candidate but lost to the BJP candidate Sonaram Chaudhary.

Other BJP leaders who left the saffron party over allegations of being neglected were seniors like Ghanshayam Tiwari and Usha Punia among others.

Earlier, when Manvendra Singh announced his departure, Pilot had said that BJP needs to do an introspection as to why so many senior leaders were the saffron fold.

Fire in Kolkata chemical godown

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A fire broke out in a chemical godown in the eastern part of the city on Monday evening, but no casualty was reported, an official said.

“The fire broke out at about 5.23 p.m. Ten fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire,” a fire brigade official said.

According to him, although the exact reason of fire is yet to be established, it seems that the huge amount of inflammable materials stacked inside the godown might have led to the fire.

No injuries have been reported so far, the official added.

IANS

5 dead in Bengal bus accident

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A bus accident in West Bengal’s Hooghly district left five persons dead and many others injured on Tuesday, police said.

“The bus overturned and fell into the Dakatiya Khaal (a canal) on Haripal Road this morning. The injured were rushed to hospital,” a police official said.

The rescue operation was still underway and the cause or extent of damage due to the accident was not yet clear, he added.

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