Dhaka: Defending champions and Olympic bronze medallist India suffered a stunning 3-5 defeat against Japan in the second semifinal of the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament here on Tuesday.

India were the overwhelming favourites before the start of the match after having thrashed the same opponents 6-0 in their last round robin match and also on head-to-head record, but the Japanese had other plans.

The Japanese looked a completely different side on Tuesday as they toyed with the defence of the Manpreet Singh-led side from the beginning.

Japan scored through Shota Yamada (1st minute, penalty), Raiki Fujishima (2nd minute), Yoshiki Kirishita (14th), Kosei Kawabe (35th) and Ryoma Ooka (41st).

India’s goals were scored by Hardik Singh (17th, 58th minute) and vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh (43rd).

India and Japan had met 18 times before with the hosts winning 16 games, while Japan emerged victorious on one occasion and one ended in a draw.

Japan will now take on South Korea in the summit clash, while India will be once again up against Pakistan in the bronze medal clash on Wednesday.

The tournament ended in a anti-climax for India as after having topped the round robin stages with an unbeaten record.

In the other semifinal of the day, South Korea beat Pakistan 6-5 in a thrilling contest.

Lucknow: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday alleged that her children’s Instagram accounts have been hacked.

“Leave phone tapping Instagram account of my children have also been hacked, Priyanka told reporters when asked about allegations of phone tapping of opposition leaders by the government.

Does the government have no other work?” she asked.

The Congress leader made the allegation two days after Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of getting his telephones tapped and listening to the recordings of his conversations every evening.

Gandhi also claimed that her ‘Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon’ (I’m a girl and can fight) campaign has forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a women’s meeting in Prayagraj.

“Due to ‘Ladki hoon, Lad sakti hoon’ campaign of Congress, PM has to work for women. PM has bowed before the women power. This is a victory of women of Uttar Pradesh,” she said.

Bengaluru, Dec 21: In an initiative to promote gender equality, the Karnataka police has for the first time invited applications from transgenders for the posts of ‘Special Reserve Sub-Inpsector’.

The notification for the Karnataka state police recruitment-2021, said ‘men, women and transgenders’, including “inservice of residual and Kalyana Karnataka (Local) – 2021-22”, can apply to fill 70 posts.

Applicants must be a graduate or equivalent from a UGC recognised university and will have to get a cerfiticate from the district magistrate about their gender status, without which the application will not be entertained. Online applications commenced from December 20 and the last date for the exercise is January 18, 2022, it said.

Nisha Gullur of “Sangama”, a Non Government Organisation, told PTI that she had moved the Karnataka High Court with a plea to allow transgenders to secure government jobs.

“We moved the court in June 2020 and the judgment came in our favour this year. It is a welcome decision that the Karnataka police is going to hire us,” Nisha said.

According to her, there are over a lakh transgenders across Karnataka, of which about 13,000 are affiliated to her organisation.

Nisha said the next challenge will be to create a conducive atmosphere for transgenders in the offices where they work.

Lucknow: In a video that is doing rounds across social media platforms, a 14-year-old boy is seen claiming during a news channel interview had it been in his control, he would’ve gotten Akhilesh Yadav shot.

In the video, a news reporter is interviewing a group of people in Uttar Pradesh, while interviewing a young boy, who identifies himself as a 14-year-old boy, goes on to say that he would’ve gotten Akhilesh Yadav shot if it was in his control.

He further adds that he is a “Pandit” and says “Yogi ji ki Sarkar hai kya ukhad lenge hamara” (What will they do? It’s Yogi Adityanath’s government in the state).

Fact-checker and founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair shared the 58-sec video clip from his Twitter handle following which the video went viral.

New Delhi: A Delhi court has discharged former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Senger and five others in the 2019 accident case of Unnao rape survivor, saying that prima facie no charges are made out against him.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey discharged the accused observing that prima facie there is no evidence against the accused persons — Senger, Komal Singh, Arun Singh, Gyanendra Singh, Rinku Singh and , Awdesh Singh.

The court however ordered framing of charges against four other accused –Ashish Kumar Pal, Vinod Mishra, Haripal Singh and Naveen Singh — as there was prima facie sufficient evidence against them.

In its order passed on Monday, the court noted that the charge sheet did not find mention of any record or evidence regarding the criminal conspiracy between the accused persons ordered to be put on trial with the accused Sengar.

“Accused Ashish Kumar Pal is directed to be charged for offence punishable under section 304-A (causing death by negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 279 (rash driving on a public way) of IPC and accused Vinod Mishra, Haripal Singh and Naveen Singh are directed to be separately charged for offence punishable under section 506(ii) (threat to cause death) of IPC, read with Section 34 (common intention) of IPC, the court said.

According to the prosecution, a truck rammed into the vehicle in which the Unnao rape victim was travelling to Rae Bareli with her two aunts and lawyer in July 2019.

While her aunts succumbed to their injuries, the rape survivor and her lawyer were grievously injured.

The order also noted that Sengar was in judicial custody during the period when the alleged threat was extended to the victim or her family members.

Admittedly the case of prosecution was that he conspired with the other accused to extend the threat to the victim or her family members and he himself not extended any threat, the court said.

On August 1, 2019 the Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh.

Besides, on December 20, 2019, Sengar was sentenced to jail for the remainder of his natural biological life in a separate case for raping the minor in 2017.

On March 4, 2020, Sengar, his brother, and five others were also convicted for the death of the rape survivor’s father in judicial custody and were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Kolkata:he Trinamool Congress Tuesday stormed back to power in the 144-member strong Kolkata Municipal Corporation for the third consecutive time, bagging 89 seats and leading in 44 wards, a senior State Election Commission official said.

The BJP has emerged victorious in one ward so far and is leading in three others, he said.

“The TMC has won the KMC board as it has already crossed the majority mark. The party has thus far won 89 seats and is leading in 44 wards. The TMC in total is either leading or has won 133 seats,” the official said.

The Congress won two seats, but the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which is leading in two wards, is yet to open its account.

New Delhi, Dec 21: The word lynching was practically unheard of before 2014 when the BJP came to power, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter on Tuesday and went on to taunt the prime minister with a “Thank you Modiji”.

Asked about the lynching jibe at a media briefing later in the day, the former Congress president said, “Sarkar ki dalali mat karo (Don’t do mediation for the BJP).”

Gandhi, who appeared to lose his cool, responded after reporters asked him about the BJP’s attack on his tweet.

“Before 2014, the word ‘lynching’ was practically unheard of. #ThankYouModiJi,” Gandhi’s tweet said.

The attack comes in the wake of lynchings in Amritsar and Kapurthala in Punjab where the Congress is in power.

The BJP hit back at the Congress, saying Rahul Gandhi is the son of Rajiv Gandhi who had justified the anti-Sikh riots.

VIJAYAWADA: The second case of Omicron variant in Andhra Pradesh emerged from Tirupati with a
39-woman, who travelled from Kenya to the temple town, testing positive for the variant.

According to the Director of Public Health, the foreign traveller came from Kenya to Chennai airport on December 10 and reached Tirupati by car. On reaching Tirupati, she was tested and declared RT-PCR positive for Covid-19 on December 12.

“The sample was sent to CCMB, Hyderabad for genome sequencing and result was declared as Omicron positive on Wednesday,” DPH Dr Hymavathi said in a statement. Six of her family members were tested and found negative for Covid-19, Dr Hymavathi said adding the foreign traveller is healthy and in
institutional quarantine under the close observation of the health department.

Dr Hymavathi said so far, 45 foreign travellers and nine of their contacts tested positive for Covid and all the samples were sent to CCMB for genome sequencing. The DPH advised the public not to worry and believe in any rumours but continue to take precautions and follow physical distancing, wearing a mask
and washing hands regularly.

Andhra Pradesh reported its first Omicron positive case on December 12. A 34-year-old international traveller, who came from Ireland to Vizianagaram district, was the first to test positive for the new variant.

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, bringing an end to the Winter Session of Parliament that saw opposition protests on issues such as price rise and the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

The Winter Session of Parliament, which had begun on November 29, was scheduled to end on Thursday.

During the session, the House saw the passage of nine bills which included the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill and legislations to fix the tenure of directors of the Enforcement Directorate and CBI at five years and supplementary demands for grants.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out the valedictory remarks as soon as the House assembled for the day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress President Sonia Gandhi were among those present in the House on the last day of the Winter Session.

Floor leaders of political parties met the Speaker in his chamber after the House was adjourned sine die.

The Lok Sabha had 18 sittings during the Session which lasted for 83 hours and 12 minutes Debates on COVID-19 and climate change were held during the session lasting 12 hours 26 minutes and six hours and 26 minutes respectively.

While 99 members participated in the debate on the pandemic, the discussion on climate change, which remained inconclusive, saw the participation of 61 members.

The Lok Sabha Speaker said the House lost 18 hours and 48 minutes to disruptions, but saw productivity zoom to 204 per cent on December 2, when the issue of pandemic was taken up for discussion.

“The overall productivity of the Lok Sabha was 82 per cent,” Birla said.

The government introduced 12 bills during the session, including the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill that seeks to increase the marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 21 years.