actor Deepika Padukone was the admin of the WhatsApp group, chats of which were recently revealed in the media. In the revealed chats, Deepika was found talking to her manager Karishma asking her for banned substance ‘Hash’. As per the sources cited in the report, talent manager Jaya Shah told the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that Padukone administered the WhatsApp group in question. Shah is also said to have confirmed the authenticity of the chats that went viral saying that Padukone did ask her manager Karishma for drugs. Padukone, who was issued a summon on Wednesday, deposed before the Narcotics…
Author: Our Correspondent
The early trials of Johnson & Johnson’s experimental coronavirus vaccine has produced a strong immune response, as per the interim results published on Friday. Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ.N experimental Covid-19 vaccine showed the promising results in an early-to-mid stage clinical trial. The vaccine is called Ad26.COV2.S. Results showed that it was equally well-tolerated at two different doses. It is being tested on a single-shot approach. On the other hand, two-dose approach being tested by Moderna Inc MRNA.O and Pfizer Inc PFE.N, could simplify distribution of the vaccine. However, it is unclear whether elderly people, one of the populations most at…
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 surged to 48,49,584 on Saturday with 93,420 patients recuperating from the disease in a day which is more than the number of fresh cases recorded during the same period, the union health ministry said. With the recovery rate rising to 82.14 percent, the ministry said India has maintained its top global ranking in total recoveries with such high successive single-day numbers. “As India records more recoveries than new cases, the gap between recovered and active cases is continuously widening. The recoveries are more than five times the active cases of coronavirus infection,” it…
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appears to be relying on his winning mantra of “good governance” yet again, as he outlined the second phase of ‘Saat Nischay’ (seven resolves), which he plans to implement if voted to power in the assembly polls. Elections will be held in three phases in Bihar on October 28, November 3, and November 7. The results will be announced on November 10. Kumar, who had emerged victorious in 2015 polls, had announced the Rs 2.7-lakh-crore ‘Saat Nischay’ scheme just days ahead of the elections. Electricity, sewage connection, toilets, piped drinking water, and metallic roads were…
Union minister Kailash Choudhary on Saturday said the three farm Bills gone by Parliament in the week will revolutionise the agriculture sector and help enhance farmers’ earnings and make them self-reliant. Without naming the Congress, the Union minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare hit out at it and said the party had promised similar steps in its election manifesto but was now opposing the Bills. “The Modi government is taking steps to assist farmers. The Bills are brought in farmers’ interests, but the opposition is trying to make anarchy within the country,” Choudhary told reporters at the BJP…
A health hazard for astronauts has been cited by scientists as new measurements show that moon has two to three times more radiation than before. Thus, future moon explorers will be bombarded with two to three times more radiation than astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The vital observation has been passed over to NASA by China’s lander on the far side of the moon by providing the first full measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface. A Chinese-German team reported on the radiation data collected by the lander — named Chang’e 4 for the Chinese moon goddess —…
BJP’s senior leaders like Ram Madhav, P Muralidhar Rao, Anil Jain, Saroj Pandey as general secretaries were replaced with young faces in a reshuffle of the party’s office bearers. Appointment of Tejasvi Surya, an MP from Karnataka, as president of the youth wing Yuva Morcha in place of Poonam Mahajan were among the prominent faces. The party increased the number of national spokespersons to 23 with MP Anil Baluni retaining the position of media in-charge and elevated as chief spokesperson. The new spokespersons include Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Sanju Verma, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Aparajita Sarangi, Heena Gavit, M Kikon,…
A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court for equal protection of law to people belonging to the third gender, alleging that there was no penal provision which protects them from offences of sexual assault. The plea, which has made the ministries of law and justice, and social justice and empowerment as parties, referred to the provisions of the IPC of 1860 and recent amendments into the statute and other laws on sexual offences and alleged that none of them talked about the “transgender, transsexuals, kinnar and eunuchs”. “In spite of declaring transgender people to be a ‘third gender’…
The Trump Administration is seeking to restrict the stay of journalists from China in the US to just 90 days with the provision of another extension for a similar duration, according to a federal notification. The proposal of the Department of Homeland Security is part of the fixed time limit on visas of students, researchers and foreign journalists in the US. While the time limit for foreign journalists in general has been restricted to 240 days and another extension of a similar period, those for a journalist from China would be issued a I visa by the United States just…
President Donald Trump is expected to announce Saturday that he is nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court as he aims to put a historic conservative stamp on the high court just weeks before the election. Trump said Friday he had made up his mind and it was very exciting, without giving away the name, aiming to maintain some suspense around his personal announcement. But the White House indicated to congressional Republicans and outside allies that the pick was Barrett. Well I haven’t said it was her, but she’s outstanding, Trump said of the Indiana federal judge. Conservative…