The death of a father and son in police custody in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin following allegations of torture is snowballing into a major political row and has triggered calls for law enforcement reform. The opposition DMK targeted the state’s AIADMK government over the incident, accusing it of allowing policemen to take “law into their own hands” and announced it would give Rs 25 lakh to the family of the two men. “The alleged brutal assault on the two men days ago by police was a result of the AIADMK government allowing them to take law into their own hands at…
Author: Our Correspondent
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is taking all steps to attain a capacity to conduct four lakh coronavirus tests per day, a government official said on Friday. In a high-level Governing Body (GB) meeting of ICMR held on Friday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan who also holds the chair of the president of the apex medical research institute appreciated the 100 days of ICMR’ efforts in the fight against the virus menace. “The governing body meeting entirely focused on COVID-19 pandemic. Talks were on to strengthen our testing capacity, strong surveillance of contact tracing and proper treatment to an infected person. ICMR is making all…
US officials estimate that 20 million Americans are infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived within the us , meaning that the overwhelming majority of the population remains susceptible. Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections because the 2.3 million cases that are confirmed. Officials have long known that many people were infected without knowing it which many cases are being missed due to gaps in testing. The news comes because the Trump administration works to tamp nationwide concern about the COVID-19 pandemic as a few dozen states are seeing worrisome increases in cases. The administration also…
The aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday it’s extending the suspension of scheduled international passenger flights within the country till July 15 but added that some international scheduled services on selected routes could also be permitted on a case to case basis. Scheduled international passenger flights were suspended in India on March 23 thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. “The competent authority has decided that scheduled international commercial passenger services to or from India shall remain suspended till 2359 hrs IST of July 15, 2020,” said the DGCA circular. “However, international scheduled flights could also be allowed on selected routes by…
Katrina Kaif shareArjun Kapoor is celebrating his 35th birthday today. Many of his friends and family members have taken to social media to wish him on his special day. Katrina Kaif, who shares a good bond with Arjun, posted a few throwback pictures with the Ishaqzaade actor, showering birthday wishes on him. She shared the post as her Instagram story and wrote, “Happy birthday Arjun, always there beside me. Only love and happiness (sic).” Apart from Katrina, Ayushmann Khurrana, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and others also wished Arjun on his birthday. Arjun is currently in self-quarantine with his sister…
Actress-model Bipasha Basu shared a long post on Instagram while addressing the deeprooted stigma attached with skin colour, mentioning how she had to deal with being described as “dusky” all her life, while speaking of the issue. Bollywood actors Richa Chadha, Bipasha Basu and Abhay Deol have welcomed the decision of a leading cosmetics manufacturing company to rebrand their fairness cream in order to remove the term “Fair” from its name. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) on Thursday announced it was dropping the word ‘Fair’ from the name of its bestselling Fair and Lovely fairness cream, a decision that has been…
The Pakistan government has signed a tripartite agreement with China for the construction of the 1,124 megawatt Kohala Hydropower Project worth at least $2.4 billion. The signing ceremony of the agreement was held at the Prime Minister House on Thursday, witnessed by the Prime Minister Imran Khan, who will also be doing a ground breaking on Friday. The other attendees included Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Chairman Lt. General (Retd.) Asim Saleem Bajwa and representatives of the Chinese company. The Kohala Hydropower Project is by far the…
Sends Notice To Congress’ The UP State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (UPSCPCR) has sent a notice to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi regarding her Facebook post in which she had criticised the Kanpur shelter home incident in which 57 girls had tested positive for coronavirus. The Commission has asked Priyanka Gandhi to issue a contradiction to her post within three days or face action under the Child Protection Act (Section 13). The notice sent by the Chairman of the Commission, Vishesh Gupta, said that the UPSCPCR had taken suo-moto cognizance of her post in which she had compared…
Was the donation from the Chinese Embassy towards the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) just a tip of the iceberg or was it an aberration? Between 2004 and 2005, the Foundation, which is now run by Sonia Gandhi, had ran the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS), which in turn was linked to a body that the US government in a ”staff research report” in 2018 called a “front organisation”, which performed “dual roles of intelligence collection and conducting propaganda and perception management campaigns”. In other words, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which is in the eye of a political storm…
Indian star Priyanka Chopra and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap are among the 50 celebrated filmmakers and actors invited because the ambassadors of a slimmed down Toronto International festival (TIFF) this year. The festival, slated to run from September 10 to September 19, are going to be choosing digital screenings and virtual red carpets for the primary time thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, making it tailored to suit the instant. Chopra and Kashyap will join Oscar winners and celebrated international names including filmmakers Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron, Taika Waititi, Ava DuVernay, Rian Johnson, Denis Villeneuve, and actors Nicole Kidman, Nadine Labaki, Riz Ahmed,…