Govt of India continues to allocate & deliver COVID19 supplies received from global community to States/UTs. 2933 oxygen concentrators, 2429 O2 cylinders, 13 O2 generation plants, 2951 ventilators/Bi PAP/C PAP & over 3 lakh Remdesivir vials delivered so far: Union Health Ministry https://t.co/nqedVxKhbe

The UK is sending three 18-tonne oxygen generation plants, each capable of producing 500 litres a minute, on board the world’s largest cargo plane to help India overcome a severe shortage of oxygen amid a devastating second wave of Coronavirus infections.  The oxygen generation plants from the UK’s surplus stocks and 1,000 ventilators will be ferried from Belfast on Friday by an Antonov An-124 aircraft.  Airport staff worked through the night to load the life-saving equipment funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.  Each of the three oxygen generation plants – the size of 40-foot freight containers – produces 500 litres of oxygen a minute, enough for 50 people to use at a time.  They are expected to reach India on Sunday morning, and the Indian Red Cross Society will transfer them to hospitals.  The latest support package is in addition to 200 ventilators and 495 oxygen concentrators that the UK sent to India last month.  It follows discussions with India and a pledge from Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the UK to do all it can to help, the UK foreign office said.  Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: “The UK is sending surplus oxygen generators from Northern Ireland to India.  This life-saving equipment will support the country’s hospitals as they care for vulnerable Covid-19 patients.  “The UK and India are working together to tackle this pandemic.  No-one is safe until we are all safe. ” In a separate development, the Japanese embassy announced on Friday that 100 oxygen concentrators will be sent to India on May 8 as part of the first batch of emergency assistance from Japan in response to the surge of Covid-19 infections.  The Japanese government had announced on April 30 that it will provide a total of 300 oxygen concentrators and 300 ventilators to India.  “Japan will continue to extend further support promptly in order to contain the Covid-19 situation in India,” the embassy said.  On May 5, Japanese foreign minister Yoshihide Motegi told his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar that Japan is ready to provide grant assistance of up to $50 million (about 5. 5 billion yen) to India in addition to the other assistance.


Uproar by opposition in Rajya Sabha as the 10% quota bill is tabled. #Parliament https://t.co/9LVqJT3jrS

The legislation to provide 10% reservation in jobs and education for the economically weaker section, including upper castes, got Parliament’s approval on Wednesday even as leaders from Opposition parties questioned the Union government’s “haste” in pushing the bill through just months ahead of the 2019 general elections. From its introduction in the Lok Sabha to the final approval in Rajya Sabha, the 124th amendment to the Constitution was cleared in two days. As compared to the Lower House, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoys a big majority, the nine-hour-long debate in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday witnessed a sharper Opposition onslaught on the government over issues such as the timing of the bill, its constitutional validity, the government’s alleged inability to create jobs, and issues related to its implementation.  Some leaders asked for the bill to be first sent to a select committee, while others also demanded that the government bring in the pending women’s reservation bill. Read more| Tribute to Constitution makers, says PM on Parliament’s nod to 10% quotaThe bill, however, was passed with a 165-7 count in the Upper House of the 172 members present and voting.  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress voted in favour, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) voting against it.  In the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the bill was passed with 323 “ayes” and just three “noes”. Shortly after the bill was passed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Passage of The Constitution (One Hundred And Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019 in both Houses of Parliament is a victory for social justice.  It ensures a wider canvas for our Yuva Shakti to showcase their prowess and contribute towards India’s transformation. ” Speaking in Rajya Sabha, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal accused the government of bringing the bill at a time when more jobs were being lost than created in the country.  Watch: Forward Quota Bill: ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ strengthened, says PM Modi“Who are you bringing in reservation for if we are not creating jobs?  Jobs will come with economic growth.  If you growing at 7. 2%, you are not creating jobs,” Sibal said. He also maintained that the 10% reservation would create jobs for only 4,500 people from the economically weaker section annually.  “India has a population of 1. 3 billion.  You have brought a bill to benefit 4,500 people.  That’s what you are amending the Constitution for? ” He based the figure on his claim that the government created only 45,000 jobs annually in the last five years. “Investment is flying out of country… Jobs are being reduced, who are you trying to fool, what’s the purpose of this amendment,” Sibal added, asking the government if it had collected any data before bringing the bill to Parliament and expressed apprehension that the bill could face enormous constitutional hurdles and also big problems in implementation.  He said a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had struck down 10% reservation for the economically backward category in the Indira Swahney case in the 1990s, calling it unconstitutional.  Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad countered Sibal by saying that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government sat on a panel report on reservation for economically backward classes. Prasad said the UPA government sat on the 2010 Sinho Commission report on reservation for economically backward classes.  “What stopped the Congress from implementing it? … You did no work for five years and are questioning us now.  Maan liya hum late aaye, par durust aaye (Agreed we came in late, but we did the right thing). . .  Parliament is making history today and this will be discussed even 25 years later.  Today is the day of change,” Prasad said. Congress leader Anand Sharma also questioned the bill’s timing and said that it was aimed at political gains in the general elections: “What took you four years and seven months to bring the bill in the last session before the election?  It has been brought by a government that is in the departure lounge of an airport,” Sharma alleged. He asked that the session be extended by one more day and the government bring in the women’s reservation bill.


Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the President had no recollection of whether discussions about a proposed Trump Tower Moscow project went through the 2016 election, distancing himself from a claim he made Sunday https://t.co/CtWGB0kuKV https://t.co/ePcMwgxqK6

Giuliani now says his earlier statements were "hypothetical. "Giuliani extends timeline for the Trump Tower Moscow talks President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is walking back comments he has made about the timeline of the Trump Organization's "Moscow Project. "In an interview with ABC News’ Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in December, Giuliani said Trump was having conversations with his former personal attorney Michael Cohen about the project up until and around Nov.  2016.   He has repeated those claims in recent interviews. "According to the answers that he gave, it would have covered all the way up to -- covered up to November 2016.  Said he had conversations with him but the president didn't hide this," Giuliani told Stephanopoulos, indicating that this was the timeline the president provided in his written responses to special counsel Robert Mueller's questions. Giuliani also told the New York Times on Sunday that he was basing this information on conversations he had with the president and said the discussions were ongoing throughout the entire election.  Giuliani told the Times that the president told him that conversations about the project were "going on from the day I announced to the day I won. "Now, the president's personal attorney has reversed course, saying his statements were "hypothetical. "“My recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and then-candidate Donald Trump about a potential Trump Moscow ‘project’ were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the President," Giuliani said in a statement to ABC News.  "My comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions.  The point is that the proposal was in the earliest stage and did not advance beyond a free non-binding letter of intent. ”Trump frequently denied a connection to Russia during the election. “I don’t know Putin, have no business whatsoever with Russia, have nothing to do with Russia,” he said at an Oct.  2016 rally. Much remains unknown about the plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen worked hand-in-hand with Felix Sater, a Russian-born business associate who scouted deals for the Trump Organization, to set in motion plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow.  The two even conceived an idea to offer a $50 million penthouse in the prospective building to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a source familiar with the deal told ABC News. The public first learned in the summer of 2017 that Cohen had been pursuing a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow even after his boss had begun to campaign for president. At the time, Cohen told members of Congress that the deal never progressed beyond an initial "letter of intent" and it was halted in Jan.  2016, before the Iowa caucuses. But later, Cohen admitted in court that he made the false statements about the project “to be consistent with Individual 1’s political messaging and to be loyal to Individual 1. ” Individual 1 was believed to be Trump, based on the description in court documents. The president during the campaign denied working on any deals with Russia but tweeted late last year that he “lightly looked at doing a building in Moscow. ”Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for financial crimes, lying to Congress and for two violations of campaign finance law. He’s scheduled to report to prison in early March, but he could have a busy month of congressional testimony before then. He has already agreed to appear publicly before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Feb.  7, and Schiff has expressed interest in bringing Cohen back to the House Intelligence Committee for an interview behind closed doors. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


Barpeta: People queue up outside a NRC Seva Kendra to check their name in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final list. A total of 3,11,21,004 persons have been found eligible for inclusion in final list leaving out 19,06,657 people.  #Assam https://t.co/QtkrWWI9QB

The final National Register of Citizens or NRC - a list intended to identify legal residents and weed out illegal immigrants from Assam - published on Saturday excluded over 1. 9 million people from the list which includes 3. 11 crore people.  The citizens’ list in Assam was updated after 68 years, ending four years of painstaking work and a four decade old demand seeking detection of illegal immigrants . According to details made available by the state coordinator for NRC, a total of 19,06,657 applicants, of the 32. 9 million who had applied to be included in the list that identifies Indian citizens and weeds out illegal immigrants, failed to make the final cut.  . “Taking into account all the persons already included and after disposal of all Claims and Objections and proceedings under Clause 4(3), it has been found that a total of 3,11,21,004 number of persons are found eligible for inclusion in final NRC leaving out 19,06,657 number of persons including those who did not submit claims,” a press statement issued by NRC said.  Watch | National Register of Citizens: All there is to know about citizenship test The final NRC is a supplementary list of inclusion or exclusion of those applicants whose names were not included in earlier drafts, those who faced objections on their inclusions or those who were in the earlier drafts but called for hearings that took place since July this year. NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela signed press release said the entire NRC process was carried out objectively and transparently and every person was given adequate opportunity of being heard.  “The exercise of NRC Update is a mammoth exercise involving around 52,000 State Government officials working for a prolonged period.  All decisions of inclusion and exclusion are taken by these statutory officers.  The entire process of NRC update has been meticulously carried out in an objective and transparent manner.  Adequate opportunity of being heard has been given to all persons at every stage of the process.  The entire process is conducted as per statutory provisions and due procedure followed at every stage,” said the NRC release. Applicants would be able to know their status at NRC sewa kendras (NSKs) and offices of circle officers and deputy commissioners or log on to the NRC official site. Thousands of applicants reached their nearest NSKs across the state early on Saturday morning and queued up to take a look at the final list to know their fate. Security had been beefed up and 218 companies of central paramilitary forces deployed to maintain peace.  There was no report of any untoward incident immediately after the final list was made public at 10 am.  Contrary to speculations and erroneous reports, the Centre and state government have already clarified those left out of final NRC won’t be declared foreigners. They would have the option of filing appeals within 120 days in Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) which will decide on their citizenship status based on provisions of Foreigners Act, 1946, and Foreigner (Tribunals) Order, 1964. Various political parties and organizations including the ruling BJP, opposition Congress and All India United Democratic Front, and All Assam Students Union (AASU) have assured legal aid to those left out of the final list to file appeals. The NRC, first prepared only for Assam in 1951, was updated since 2015 following directions from the Supreme Court. The demand for identification of illegal immigrants, deletion of their names from voter lists and deportation started in 1979, with AASU, spearheading a 6-year agitation. The complete draft of NRC released in July, 2018 had left out 4 million applicants.  An additional list released in June this year, had excluded 100,000 more taking the total tally to 4. 1 million. While state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela had addressed the media on earlier occasions when the drafts were released, there was no such thing this time around, probably due to avoid controversy. Instead the final list was made public through the NRC website and through social media platforms. While majority of those left out of the earlier lists had filed claims seeking inclusion in the final NRC, 380,000 of them didn’t.  NRC authorities had gone through their claims one more time before releasing the final list. While the final NRC has been welcomed by AASU and most ethnic organizations in Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party had already dubbed it erroneous claiming it included foreigners and left out Indians. Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had indicated earlier this month that once the final NRC is published, the government might take legislative measures to correct “anomalies”“There is no need to celebrate publication of the final list as we don’t consider it a historic document.  It is just end of a phase for us.  We are already thinking about alternative mechanism to detect illegal immigrants,” senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists on Friday. Abhijeet Sarma of Assam Public Works, a Guwahati-based NGO, whose 2009 petition led the Supreme Court to pass an order in 2013 on updating the 1951 NRC, was also disappointed with a final list. “This is a half-done exercise after a decade’s worth of struggle.  It is now just another tool to destroy original inhabitants of Assam,” Sarma told HT on Friday.


Delhi: Locals in Swaroop Nagar shower flower petals on farmers as they carry out tractor parade on the occasion of #RepublicDay https://t.co/liek1s4GP8

Expressing anguish over the violence in the national capital during the farmers' tractor parade on Tuesday, the Congress said there is no place for such incidents in a democracy, even as it urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "shun arrogance" and repeal the three farm laws. Putting the onus of Tuesday's events on the government and questioning it for not accepting the farmers demands, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it was not right on the government's part to create a facade of talks and yet, neither conceding to their demands nor proposing any solution. "The Congress party believes that the 61-day-old face-off between the people and the system is not good for India's democracy.  The message is clear that the country's people are anguished with the government.  In such a situation, the Modi government will also have to shun arrogance and head the pleas of farmers," the AICC general secretary said in a statement. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to shed his arrogance and tread the path of 'Rajdharma'.  This is the true message of the 72nd Republic Day.  Without any further delay, all three anti-farming black laws will have to be withdrawn.  This is also the call of 62 crore 'annadatas' of the country," he said. The Congress leader also hailed the farm unions for dissociating from the day's violent incidents and hoped that they would follow the path of peace and non-violence to achieve their goal. "Today, the Congress party and the entire country is pained by the violence and unruly incidents in Delhi.  There is no place for such incidents in a democracy," he added. "The agitators must keep their goal in mind.  Non-violence and peace have remained the biggest strength of this farmer agitation.  We sincerely hope that this farmer-labourer alliance will pledge to remain committed to a peaceful and non-violent struggle for the repeal of the three three anti-agriculture black laws," Surjewala said. He also criticised the government for holding 10 rounds of talks and yet not resolving the deadlock. "Is it right for the prime minister to not give a healing touch despite the death of 175 farmers?  Is the Modi government's policy of tiring out the farmers good for the country," Surjewala asked. A tractor parade by the farmer unions meant to highlight their demands dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital during the day as hordes of rampaging protesters broke through barriers, fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult -- hoisting a religious flag from the rampart of Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India's tricolour. Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with police in multiple places, leading to chaos in well-known landmarks of Delhi and suburbs, amid waves of violence that ebbed and flowed through the day, leaving the farmers' two-month peaceful movement in tatters.  One person was killed and several were injured in the clashes.


While Martyrs Are Wrapped In Carton Boxes, PM Modi Wears Suits Worth Rs 9-10 Lakh

A recent post on the Facebook profile of one Rahul Gupta which shows the bodies of seven defense personnel wrapped in carton boxes and plastic covers has gone viral.                                          Bodies of soldiers wrapped in carton boxes   The post, that has been shared over 4400 times since December 17, comes with a message in Hindi which loosely translates to: "BJP does the fake drama of patriotism for the sake of getting power.  The martyrs of a country whose prime minister wears suits worth Rs.  9-10 lakhs are being wrapped in paper cartons. . . really, Congress never did this in sixty years.  We spit on such a shameless and fake govenment that pretends to patriotic but doesn't provide proper coffins for its soldiers.  The bodies of seven defense personnel who died in a chopper crash in Arunachal's Tawang were kept in paper cartons and a broken coffin.  The body of one of the jawans was even wrapped in a blue tarpaulin. "     You can check the archived version of the post here.       While the Facebook post does not mention the date of the incident, the photo shared is that of a chopper crash in Tawang of Arunachal Pradesh (as mentioned in the post) around a year ago i. e.  October of 2017.    While it was reported in the media back then, the incident took social media by storm only when former Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Harcharanjit Singh Panag tweeted about it.      Seven young men stepped out into the sunshine yesterday, to serve their motherland.  India.  This is how they came home.  pic. twitter. com/OEKKcyWj0p — Lt Gen H S Panag(R) (@rwac48) October 8, 2017   Chief minister of Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh had also tweeted about the incident.      Shocked to see bodies of 7 @IAF_MCC & @adgpi Tawang crash victims brought in cartons.  Is this how we treat our brave men?  pic. twitter. com/dP5HGsRvTH — Capt. Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) October 8, 2017   Even cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who is quite outspoken about the Indian armed forces, tweeted about the incident.      IAF क्रैश के शहीदों के शव. . . शर्मनाक!  माफ़ करना ऐ दोस्त, जिस कपड़े से तुम्हारा कफ़न सिलना था वो अभी किसी का बंद गला सिलने के काम आ रहा है ! ! !  pic. twitter. com/fOWyymhozb — Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) October 8, 2017   However, after the crash, the Indian Army responded to the incident from its Twitter handle.      Mortal remains of heptr accident in HAA on 6 Oct 17 recovered, sent wrapped in local resources is an aberration.  pic. twitter. com/NDvEvBo87F — ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) October 8, 2017   The news reports back then had reported that Army sources had claimed 'at that altitude, a Mi-17 helicopter cannot operate with the weight of 6 caskets. ' Read NDTV's full report here.    It is worth mentioning here that the Army had issued a press release about the incident through the Press Information Bureau.  In it, the Army accepts the incident as an aberration.  Here is an excerpt.            While the incident was viral on Twitter a year ago too, it hadn't been linked to the Bharatiya Janta Party or Prime Minister Narendra Modi back then.  However, as it resurfaces once again on the social media, the post is pointing fingers towards the incumbent government.


Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal: Everyone wants that the violence be stopped. The Home Minister had called a meeting today, it was a positive one. It was decided that all the political parties will ensure that peace returns to our city. #NortheastDelhi https://t.co/OXQtZES6by

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the nation this evening, said lockdown 4. 0 will have a new form and new rules, however, he stopped short of spelling out the details. The PM added that states will be sending their suggestions on lockdown and citizens will then be duly informed about the changes in rules before May 18.  Lockdown 3. 0 officially ends this Sunday. “The fourth phase of lockdown will be in a new form with new rules.  Based on the suggestions by states, information related to it will be given to you before May 18,” said the PM. Throughout his address, PM Modi underlined “atmanirbharta (self-reliance)” to tide over the difficulty posed by the coronavirus crisis.  He said “we will have to save ourselves and move forward”. The PM said economy, infrastructure, system, demography, demand are the five pillars that will propel a self-reliant India amid the Covid-19 crisis. Modi also announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package to empower various sections of the society. On Monday, during consultations with chief ministers, PM Modi said that states will have greater say in determining the extent of restrictions and relaxations after May 17. The PM asked the CMs to sit with their teams and decide which areas they wanted to keep under a lockdown by May 15.  The PM added that the Centre would then chart out a course after May 17. “Needs are changing in all phases, and so gradual changes are going to happen.  We will incorporate the changes that you suggest,” the PM told the CMs, according to a participant at the meeting yesterday. He also emphasised that social distancing remains the “biggest weapon” against the virus till a vaccine is found, and suggested that the lockdown may not be lifted entirely.


On May 4, Ministry of External Affairs (MHA) issued a statement asking Pakistan to vacate “Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir”, including Gilgit-Baltistan.  On May 12, there was chatter on social media that an official account of Gilgit-Baltistan, Ladakh UT has been set-up by the government.  Zee 24 Kalak (archive link) and The Print (archive link) published reports claiming the same.
Facebook page HIND Swaraj posted an image which shows a screenshot of the Twitter account in question along with Prime Minister Modi’s image.  (archive link)
Suresh Kochattil (archive link), who handles social media for BJP (as per Facebook bio), and Twitter-user Deldan Namgial (archive link) has also posted the viral claim.  Both their posts have been shared over 150 times.
The viral Twitter account’s handle is @GB_Ladakh_India (archive link).  Since its first tweet on May 9, it has gained over 30,000 followers.  On May 13, the Press Information Bureau’s fact check wing tweeted that the handle is fake.  “It is a #Fake handle.  Union Territory of Ladakh has only 2 official Twitter handles ie @DIPR_Leh & @InformationDep4. ”Claim: A twitter handle @GB_Ladakh_India claims to be official account of “Gilgit-Baltistan, Ladakh, UT, India”#PIBFactCheck: It is a #Fake handle.  Union Territory of Ladakh has only 2 official Twitter handles ie @DIPR_Leh & @InformationDep4.  Follow them for official updates pic. twitter. com/sKzK6xvpIC— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 13, 2020The same was tweeted by MHA and the Department of Information & Public relations Leh Ladakh. Kindly follow @DIPR_Leh & @InformationDep4 for official updates on UT of Ladakh. There is NO other official account of Govt.  of UT of Ladakh.  BEWARE OF IMPOSTERS.  @PMOIndia @HMOIndia https://t. co/LR6MdiED9M— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 13, 2020Furthermore, had the government set up an official account, it would most likely be verified or mentioned by officials, which was not the case. In order find when and how the fake Twitter account blow up, Alt News searched for tweets that mentioned @GB_Ladakh_India across various time intervals using epoch time. Prior to 2:31 am on May 12, only two other tweets mentioned @GB_Ladakh_India.  The first is by the fake account itself and the second one is by Deldan Namgial (archive link).  Alt News reached to Namgial on Twitter who subsequently deleted his tweet.
Readers should note that @GB_Ladakh_India’s first tweet was posted on May 9.  Since then there was neither any activity by the fake account nor was it detected by the public for three days until Namgail’s tweet which tagged influential twitter accounts such as Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, NDTV, Republic, ABP News and The Quint.
The account had also tagged the handle @SengeHSering which began retweeting its tweets and replying to @GB_Ladakh_India.  @SengeHSering has nearly 12,000 followers.  It is possible this is what led to people noticing the account.
Donate NowArchit is a graduate in English Literature from The MS University of Baroda.  He also holds a post-graduation diploma in journalism from the Asian College of Journalism.  Since then he has worked at Essel Group's English news channel at WION as a trainee journalist, at S3IDF as a fundraising & communications officer and at The Hindu as a reporter.  At Alt News, he works as a fact-checking journalist. A picture of Tej Pratap Yadav has been making the rounds on social media recently…. A video of police tying a rope around an elderly person’s wrists has been circulating…A photo of a man being flogged with his hands tied has been gathering a…A set of two images, an alleged tweet and a video has been shared on…A photo of an idol of Hindu deity Nandi found buried in the ground has…


A video showing people holding guns and dancing has been shared by several social media users with a claim that it shows the Taliban dancing after taking over Afghanistan.   This claim comes days after the Taliban tookover a majority provinces in Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul.   However, we found that the video, which dates back to at least March 2021, was from Bannu in Pakistan and not Afghanistan.   CLAIM Users that shared the video said that video showed Taliban dancing after taking over Afghanistan.   One version of the video had Canadian rapper Drake’s ‘In My Feelings’ song playing in the background while another one had Bollywood song "Afghan Jalebi".   Archives of more such posts on Facebook can be found here, here and here.   Supreme Court advocate Prashant Patel Umrao, who has often been called out for peddling misinformation before also shared the video on his Twitter profile so did new agency ANI's editor Smita Prakash.  However, both the tweets have now been removed.  The video was also aired by TV9 Bharatvarsh which was later removed from the channel’s social media accounts.  WHAT WE FOUND OUT We conducted a reverse image search on some of the keyframes extracted from the viral video using the InVID-WeVerify Google Chrome extension and found the same video posted online months before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.   A video was uploaded on 25 March 2021 on YouTube by a user called Usman Khan and was titled, "DJ Bannu Dance".  The description of the video said, "#DJBannu #Dance #Funny #Music #Culture #Pakistan".  The music in the video was an instrumental track and not Drake's song or a Bollywood song.   Several other versions of the video were seen posted in March and April.   The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan began following the withdrawal of a majority of US troops on 1 May.  The group advanced rapidly in the country, capturing city after city, ultimately capturing Kabul on 15 August.   Iftikhar Firdous, who is a Pakistan-based journalist, shared the TV9 Bharatvarsh broadcast and said that the viral video shows marriage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.  “Dancers in the marriage are masquerading,” he wrote in his tweet.  While going through the search results, we also found the video posted by a user called Qasim Khan who called out the TV9 Bharatvarsh report and said that it showed a wedding in Bannu.   Khan's video was shared by another user from Pakistan called Wahab Pukhtoon.  Photos found on Pukhtoon's photo showed resemblance with the man seen dancing in a blue kurta in the viral video.   Fact-checking organisation Alt News reached out to Pukhtoon, who confirmed that he was the man wearing the blue kurta in the viral video.  "The video was shot on my phone at my cousin’s wedding on 18 March, 2021 in the Bannu district,” he told Alt News.  Evidently, an old and unrelated video from Pakistan was shared by social media users with a false claim that it showed the Taliban dancing in celebrations after taking over Afghanistan.


Gujarat: Ahmedabad City Traffic Police imparts free education to children residing on footpaths under their project called 'Police Pathshala'. Around 150-200 children are getting education in three centers across the city. https://t.co/YydKzeKMrJ

In a unique initiative, Ahmedabad Traffic Police has been imparting free education to around 200 children living on city footpaths and doing odd jobs for livelihood. The traffic cops started an initiative ‘Police Pathshala’ about one and a half years ago with an aim to bring change in the children’s lives. It presently operates three centers in Pakwan area traffic chowki, Danilimda traffic police chowki and Kankaria police chowki in the city and is planning to start more such centres, a police official said. The children are not only being given free education but the department also provide them with commutation facilities for coming to these centres. “Cycle rickshaws are deployed to pick up children from their places and bring them to the centres.  The children are also given lunch during the study hours,” the traffic cop said. Talking to ANI here, Traffic DCP Ankit Patel said that the basic idea behind the initiative was to educate the children in order to enable them to live a good life. “We wanted to bring change in the lives of these kids.  Kids living on footpaths often get involved in criminal activities so we thought to educate them for a better life,” he said. The police officer also said that the children will be enrolled in regular schools once they are imparted basic knowledge at these centers.


The US is a step closer to a Covid-19 vaccine authorization. But that's unlikely to impact the dark and deadly days ahead https://t.co/Y6gjdTzYux https://t.co/pJp52p9KmU

The vaccine will likely come with an allergy warning.  Why are people hesitant to trust a COVID-19 vaccine? An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists recommended Thursday that the U. S.  government authorize the nation's first COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 16. It's a major milestone in the effort to get the vaccine to hospitals and pharmacies, as the death toll from the pandemic continues to climb. Here's what to know about Thursday's meeting and what happens next:Experts: There are some unknowns, but the benefits outweigh the risksAfter hours of drilling down into data produced from a clinical trial involving 44,000 people, the group of experts -- known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee -- voted 17 to 4 in favor of the vaccine for people over 16 years of age. Several members raised concerns about unknowns about the vaccine, including its potential to trigger allergic reactions and little data on how it impacts pregnant women.  Members also expressed concern there wasn't enough data to support giving the vaccines to teens who are 16- and 17-years-old. At issue was this question: "Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 16 years of age and older? "To that point, most panel members agreed. While the panel's recommendation is a crucial step, it's ultimately up to the U. S.  Food and Drug Administration to authorize the vaccine.  Agency officials clearly are leaning in that direction, but aren't saying when that decision will come. "We can act quickly, and we intend to.  We understand the urgency of the situation," Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the FDA, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday, ahead of the advisory committee meeting. Pfizer said more study is needed on vaccine's impact on asymptomatic transmissionPfizer outlined its case Thursday for the nation's first vaccine, noting the urgency at hand. "Throughout 2020, we have been asked often: How can this be done in a year or less, when the process normally takes many years?  Well, that development, or anything else in a pandemic setting is not normal," said Kathrin Jansen, the company's head of vaccine research. But as much data as Pfizer was able to collect as the virus spread across the globe, it still doesn't know much about asymptomatic cases. Jansen said the company wants to continue to conduct sereological surveys to "monitor and explore whether our vaccine is efficacious against asymptomatic infection. " FDA will warn against giving the vaccine to people with severe allergiesAmid celebrations of the vaccine being rolled out in the U. K.  this week were reports that two people experienced serious allergic reactions and had to rely on adrenaline injections. That's a big concern for the estimated 1 in 50 Americans who live with the threat of anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction. Pfizer says it had already excluded from its trials people known to have adverse reactions to vaccines and questions remain about what exactly happened. At the meeting Thursday, the FDA suggested they aren't willing to hold up the vaccine because of the concerns.  Marion Gruber, a senior FDA vaccine official, said health providers will be warned in a fact sheet not to provide the vaccine to people with a history of severe allergies.  Also, the FDA will recommend an epinephrine injection is available at the time of the injection. The FDA also wants Pfizer to include allergic reactions as part of a pre-existing monitoring program the company has established to track the immunizations. Dr.  Paul Offit, a member of the advisory committee and professor of pediatrics division of infectious diseases at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, urged Pfizer to study people with specific allergies such as eggs or peanuts. "You're talking about tens of millions of people who are going to not get this vaccine because of the comments that were made" about the U. K.  reactions, he said at Thursday's meeting. More study is a practical solution, he said, because "this issue is not going to die until we have better data. "FDA: Two people who got the vaccine died, but not because of the vaccineA total of six people died in the trial: two of them had received the vaccine and four got the placebo. Of the two who had been given the vaccine, one experienced "cardiac arrest" two months after the second vaccination dose.  The second person died from "arteriosclerosis" three days after receiving the first shot.  Both were over the age of 55. "All deaths represent events that occur in the general population of the age groups where they occurred, at a similar rate," the FDA wrote. It also was noted in the meeting that there were four cases of Bell's palsy in the vaccine group compared with no cases in the placebo group.  The FDA noted in its report on the vaccine that while that is a "numerical imbalance," it does "not represent a frequency above that expected in the general population. "FDA scientists noted they are going as fast as they canThe FDA's top career scientists noted that staff at the agency had worked tirelessly -- through the night and over Thanksgiving -- to scour the data. "The American public demands and deserves a rigorous, comprehensive and independent review of the data," said senior FDA Dr.  Doran Fink. Dr.  Peter Marks, director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, noted staff working "tirelessly" throughout the weeks including the holiday "when they could have spent time with their families. "ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos, Eric Strauss, Sony Salzman and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report. This report was featured in the Friday, Dec.  11, 2020, episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ daily news podcast. "Start Here" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes.  Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


A video is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows Col Santosh Babu’s conversation with the Chinese Army.  Col Santosh Babu was martyred recently in the India-China border clash at the Galwan valley in Ladakh.  Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post. Claim: Video of Col Santosh Babu’s conversation with the Chinese Army. Fact: There are two different video clips in the posted video.  While one video clip is on the internet at least since January 2020 and is related to Indo-Tibetan Border Police (Col Santosh belongs to the Indian Army), the other video is on the internet at least since July 2017.  Hence the claim made is FALSE.     The posted video has a logo of ‘ABN’ on it.  So, when searched if ‘ABN’ (a Telugu news channel) has posted the video, it was found that ‘ABN Telugu’ has uploaded the same video (archived) on its YouTube channel on 18 June 2020 with the same title (‘Santhosh Babu Conversation with China Soldiers’).  The posted video has two different video clips.  Let’s check each of them separately. Video 1:When the screenshots of the video were run through the Google Reverse Image Search, the same video was found to be uploaded on YouTube with the title – ‘Chinese army arguing with Indo Tibetan Border Police (I. T. B. P. ) in Border of Arunachal Pradesh’ on 13 January 2020.  So, it is not related to the recent incident at the Galwan valley.  Also, it can be observed that ‘I. T. B. P’ (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) is written on the shoulder badge of Indian officer talking in the video.  I. T. B. P guards the Indo-China border from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh covering 3488 km.  It is one of the ‘Central Armed of Police Forces’, which works under the ‘Ministry of Home Affairs’.  But, Col Santosh Babu belongs to the Indian Army’s ’16 Bihar Regiment’.  So, the video does not show Col Santosh Babu talking to the Chinese Army. Video 2:The second video clip, which begins at 1:59 in the posted video, is also an old video.  The same video was found to be posted by ‘Deccan Herald’ on 07 July 2017 with the title – ‘Watch: Jawans stop Chinese soldiers from entering Indian territory Part 1’.  They have mentioned that they could not verify the authenticity of the video.  But, as the video is in circulation at least from July 2017, it can be concluded that it has no connection to the recent incident at the Galwan valley in which Col Santosh Babu was killed. Also, the two video clips were previously debunked by FACTLY when they were shared with other false claims.  The fact-check articles can be read here and here. To sum it up, old video clips falsely shared as ‘Col Santhosh Babu’s conversation with China Soldiers’. Did you watch our new video?


Mamata's officials in CID just want to trap BJP leaders. We're not scared at all. We'll remove Mamata Banerjee as CM & get Abhishek Banerjee jailed. Case is 100% false as we've no faith in CID: BJP leader Soumitra Khan on chargesheet filed against BJP Vice President Mukul Roy https://t.co/ZefSdjP46F https://t.co/sZcQTyDrP8

BJP national vice president Mukul Roy, who was named in a supplementary chargesheet filed in the TMC MLA Satyajit Biswas murder case, on Saturday termed the development as an absolute conspiracy against him. “This is an absolute conspiracy.  I challenge Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Home Minister, to come and spell out the charges against me in public.  I’ll walk into jail if the public says that I can be involved in such acts,” Roy told ANI here. He said that the state government is leveling false allegations in the matter ahead of the upcoming elections. Roy was named in the supplementary chargesheet filed by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) before Ranaghat court in Nadia district on Saturday in the matter.  He was questioned on several occasions by the CID in connection with the case. Mukul Roy was among four people who were named responsible for allegedly killing Biswas.  However, the BJP leader had claimed that the allegations were levelled on the directions of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Biswas, who was elected from Krishnaganj in Nadia district, was shot dead by unidentified assailants at Phulbari in Jalpaiguri in February 2019.  The incident happened when Biswas was attending Saraswati Puja celebrations at Phulbari. According to reports, the lawmaker was shot multiple times from a close range when he was coming down from the stage after attending the event.  (ANI)


Telangana: Visuals from outside a counting centre in Hyderabad; counting of votes for #LokSabhaElections2019 to begin at 8 am. #ElectionResults2019 https://t.co/Mp550QffXk

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Video shows in a recent event, a Delhi Muslim cleric speaking against Hindus.

An old communally senstive and inciting speech by a Muslim cleric expressing anger over Tabrez Ansari's killing has been revived as recent.  The video of the cleric is being shared after Delhi police arrested a gunman for firing shots in the air in a bid to threaten protesters at Shaheen Bagh.  The video from 2019 was shared by Sambit Patra, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson with a caption quoting the cleric, "they want to live and our children are ready to die.  Dangerous very Dangerous. . .  Wake Up before it's too late! ! " "वो जीना चाहते है और हमारे बच्चे मरने को तैयार है"Dangerous very Dangerous. . Wake Up before it's too late! !  pic. twitter. com/g8bstexmnW Geetika Swami has posted the video with a claim that reads, "open threat by Delhi Maulana instigating violence and communal hatred against Hindus, What makes us think that these fiery speeches have no effect on vulnerable young minds?  #JamiaShooting #HinduLeadersOnTarget #MondayThoughts #JamiaFiring" Open threat by Delhi Maulana instigating violence and communal hatred against Hindus,What makes us think that these fiery speeches have no effect on vulnerable young minds?  #JamiaShooting #HinduLeadersOnTarget #MondayThoughts #JamiaFiring pic. twitter. com/6dEWvEAKjk Following which, Swarajya columnist Shefali Vaidya has quote tweeted Swami's tweet and wrote: "where is the outrage on this? " Where is the outrage on this?  pic. twitter. com/F5uMVR4wjR      The video is being shared amid the incidents of gun firings in the poll-bound national capital to counter the Citizenship Amendment Act protests.  Till now four incidents of carrying guns have been reported in Delhi, among these three resulted in a shooting.         Two days following the Jamia shooting committed by a teenager, another man on February 1, 2020, fired bullets at Shaheen Bagh, a place that is being considered as the cornerstone of anti-CAA protests.  While firing he shouted: "in our country, only Hindus will prevail".  Read here and here.  Delhi Assembly polls are set on January 8, 2020.  Also read: Did Anti-CAA Protesters Burn Photos Of Hindu Gods?  BOOM ran a reverse image search using keyframes from the clip and found that the video was uploaded on YouTube in the last week of June 2019.   See videos here and here.  We also found that the longer version of the video shows the Muslim cleric, identified as Mufti Raees, the Dehradun district president of Ulema-e-Hind, was speaking to media after Tabrez Ansari's lynching by a mob on June 17, 2019.        We listened to the longer video, excerpts to which are given below: Raees replying to a reporter's question about recent events says, "To which Raees can be heard replying, "this topic is brought up in continuation with Tabrez, Muslim kids have spoken up.  This should have taken up long ago. . . This is a spark that will spread like a wildfire and will shake up till Delhi.  This is because mob lynching is not one or two. . .  it has happened in hundreds.  This is a conspiracy.  This is a saffron conspiracy, not a coincidence. . . but remember all the conspirators and listen carefully, Muslims have awakened. " He further says, "against the torture, these mob lynchings. . .  Muslims also have children.  Muslims are also powerful.  We have weapons and can use them.  Yet, Muslims are peace-loving and seek the development of this country. . . we want to establish Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. . . but if we also do the same, we will make their lives worse in this country.  The atrocities they have been doing upon us, if we give a cue to our kids and provoke them, they are far more powerful than them.  We are the children of the person who stood at Kubbat Al Sakhra and told Jews that you have ten people who want to live and we have the ones who want to die. . . " Also Read: BJP's Inayat Hussain Assaulted For Supporting CAA?  A FactCheck Taking clues from the videos' introductions, we did a keywords search and found reports on the incident.  A Hindi daily, Jagran, reported, "according to the police, in a protest of Tabrez Ansari's lynching by a mob, Muslim Seva Sangathan had handed over a memorandum at Collectorate on June 27, [2019], a large crowd from Muslim community has participated in the protest. " The report citing police further reads: "Mufti Raees, a resident of Azaad Colony, has spoken to media at a road in court compound.  Accusations were that the speech was inflammatory and to disturb communal harmony.  The video went viral on social media and many organisations have asked to register a case. " According to The Times of India, the cleric was later booked under Section 153 A (1) (b) and 505-2 of the Indian Penal Code.  A screenshot of Times of India's article


Delhi: Movement of vehicles resumes at ITO. https://t.co/ucaoTcwr0z

Groups of protesting farmers camping at Singhu and Tikri border points of the national capital broke police barricades on Tuesday morning to force their way into the city . According to officials, security personnel tried to convince the farmers that they have been given permission to hold their tractor parade in Delhi after the Republic Day parade at the Rajpath concludes. "But some groups of farmers did not relent and started moving towards the Outer Ring Road breaking police barricades," an official said. A member of the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 unions, leading the protest against the three Central farm laws at several border points of Delhi, said those who broke the barricades belonged to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. He said the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha's tractor parade will start as scheduled after police give farmers way.  The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Monday announced that they would hold their march on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road on Republic Day. The protesting unions has also announced a foot march to Parliament on February 1, when the annual Budget is presented, to press for their demands including a repeal of the three new agriculture laws. Heavy security has been deployed in view of the 'Kisan Gantantra Parade' that will move into Delhi from the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border points.


The video of a Pakistani tea brand television commercial, that seems to be featuring Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, is being widely shared across social media platforms and WhatsApp

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured and detained for two days by the Pakistani Army after a dogfight between the Indian Air Force and the Pakistan Air Force.  Abhinandan returned to India on March 1.  The video that appears to be a brand commercial of Tapal tea, that is based in Pakistan's Karachi, shows Abhinandan sipping tea and saying, "The tea is fantastic, thank you," in the end.  Many Twitter users have been sharing the video.  Sample these: Tapal Tea is a tea brand based in Karachi, Pakistan.  Good creativity .  https://t. co/eA5AQ0NnPs— Zafar (@Maaachaaa69) 1551839645000Abhinandan has already become an icon in pak.  This is a popular Pakistani tea ad ! ! !  https://t. co/8WtmQRHq0l— Dr Prem (@premk56) 1551792671000Abhinandan is a favorite one in Pak and in our country people are asking for proof. . .  Watch it. . .  Tapal Tea is a Paâ¦ https://t. co/owe6TYvjd4— Sunit Jain (@sunitpanna) 1551811771000Many journalists shared the video from their verified Twitter handles too.  The video is being shared on Facebook and WhatsApp as well.  TRUTHNo, Tapal tea did not release a television commercial featuring WC Abhinandan.  This is an edited video.  Here is the original video of "Tapal Danedar".  VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGYTimes Fact Check used the keywords "Tapal tea ad" and searched on Google.  We found the original advertisement on the first page of Google search results itself.  Clearly, the advert did not feature WC Abhinandan.  The bits in the video that is going viral showing Abhinandan sipping tea and saying "The tea is fantastic", was cropped from the video that had gone viral on February 27, the day he was captured by the Pakistani Army.  Pakistani journalist Muneeb Farooq had tweeted the video saying, "Indian Captured Pilot.  Wing Commander Abhi.  Pakistan Army will look after you as a professional Soldier because we stand for Peace (sic). " Indian Captured Pilot.  Wing Commander Abhi.  Pakistan Army will look after you as a professional Soldier because weâ¦ https://t. co/XMfvMkHKth— Muneeb Farooq (@muneebfaruqpak) 1551270159000If you watch the video of Tapal tea advert featuring Abhinandan carefully, you can see a watermark saying "@iedit_whatuwant" floating across the screen before finally settling at the bottom.  The same handle is shown after the video ends as well.  This is possibly the handle of the person who made this edited video.  We searched for the handle on Twitter, but such a user doesn't exist.  However, on Facebook, there is a page by the name of "fun fast edits" that has the same handle / username.  That page has not shared this video.  We also checked the official Facebook page and the official website of Tapal tea.  The brand has not made any mention of this particular video or shared it anywhere.


.@IAF_MCC will formally induct its latest Rafale fighter jets at the Ambala airbase on Thursday.

Here is all you need to know about India’s latest warplane move:

https://t.co/sz20fKqSf2

Marking a feat, the Indian Air Force will formally induct its latest Rafale fighter jets at the Ambala airbase on Thursday at 10 am in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh, officials said Wednesday.  French defence minister Florence Parly and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria are also expected to attend the ceremony.  The acquisition of jets by India is a part of the IAF’s No.  17 Squadron which is also known as the ‘Golden Arrows’.  The new Rafale fighters are expected to be deployed in the Ladakh sector as part of India’s overarching plan to strengthen its military posture in the region.  The move is seen as India’s attempt to flex muscles where its troops are engaged in a bitter and tense border confrontation with China, where military friction has grown in recent weeks.  Here is all you need to know about India’s latest warplane move:Guarding over skies night and day, hail or shineThe arrival of Rafale combat jets last month has added more muscle to the Indian Air Force’s ability to secure our country’s airspace.  Here’s a detailed look at all the major aircraft in the IAF’s formidable fleet. Read more. Rafale vs J-20: Ex-IAF chief Dhanoa calls China’s bluff with ‘two simple questions’Former Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Friday dismissed claims that the Rafale fighter jets inducted by the Indian Air Force this week had no chance against China’s J-20 stealth fighter. The claims, made by an ‘expert’ in Chinese Communist Party’s tabloid Global Times, said that the Rafale was only superior to the IAF’s Sukhoi-30 MKI jets but a generation below Chinese PLA’s J-20 fighter. Read more.  ‘Birds have entered Indian airspace’: Rajnath Singh tweets his welcome to 5 RafalesThe five Rafale aircraft, on their way to the Indian Air Force base in Haryana’s Ambala, were on Wednesday escorted into the Indian air space by Sukhoi fighter jets.  Defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted several photographs and a video of the Rafale jets entering Indian air space.  Read more.  Moments after Rafale fighter jets land, Rajnath Singh’s veiled warning to ChinaWhile the Indian Air Force (IAF) plan against the threat of Chinese Air Force remains classified, the basic strategy against People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was put to test very successfully during 2018 Gagan Shakti pan-India air exercises.  The strategy is simple: Disperse, Absorb, Recoup and Retaliate. Read more.  With Rafales’ induction, IAF will have an edge over neighbours.  Here’s howThe new aircraft will significantly enhance the offensive capabilities of IAF, which has for long-planned to update its fighter jet force.  Defence experts have said the induction of the controversial Rafale fighter jets will be a “game-changer” for India in regional politics of South Asia. Read more. ‘Shots from 30,000 feet’: Pics show Rafales re-fuelling mid-air on way homeThe first batch of five Rafale fighter jets, on their way to India, were seen being re-fuelled mid-air from a French Air Force tanker, and the pictures taken at 30,000 feet were posted on Twitter by the Indian embassy in France. Read more. IAF may deploy Rafale fighters in Ladakh sector amid border rowThe Indian Air Force could deploy its new Rafale fighter jets in the Ladakh sector as part of India’s overarching plan to strengthen its military posture in the region, where Indian and Chinese forces are locked in a tense border confrontation and disengagement has turned out to be a challenging process, people familiar with the developments said on Sunday. Read more. Rafale, the fighter jet that will be a game changer for India: 10 pointsThe induction of the controversial Rafale fighter aircraft will be a “game changer” for India in regional politics of South Asia, as far as its neighbours are concerned, defence experts have reiterated. Read more.  Rafale case: The Supreme Court verdict is a boost for transparencyThe Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday in the Rafale case came as a setback to the government.  The unanimous judgment by the three-member bench, led by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi, overruled the central government’s objections over the admissibility of some documents, which, the latter claimed, were sensitive in nature and had been obtained through “unauthorised photocopying and leakage”.  Read more. CAG compares Rafale deal with similar aircraft offersThe CAG report on capital acquisitions by the IAF may compare the Rafale deal with offers made by other manufacturers whose products were being considered, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon made by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), HT learns. Read more. Question the government on RafaleThe Rafale deal is back in the news.  Writing in The Hindu, its former editor N Ram has shown why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ended up paying substantially more for 36 fighter aircraft.  The article has drawn the ire of the government’s votaries and their responses merit scrutiny.  But we also need to go beyond the question of costs and look at the causes and consequences of the decision to scrap the older process for acquiring 126 aircraft. Read more. ‘Give me 20 minutes’: Rahul Gandhi dares PM to one-on-one debate on RafaleHours after he opened a debate on the Rafale deal in parliament, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to renew the opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the purchase of the 36 aircrafts. Read more. India needs fourth generation aircraft, Rafale fits the bill, IAF tells Supreme CourtAs part of a four-hour-long Supreme Court hearing in the Rafale case, air vice marshal J Chalapathi, who has been associated with Rafale aircraft procurement decision, defended the purchase, saying India needed a fourth generation plus aircraft and Rafale fitted the bill. Read more. ‘This is Dassault Aviation’s choice’, says French firm after Hollande’s remarksIt was Dassault Aviation’s choice to partner with the Reliance group, the French company has clarified as a political firestorm raged in India after former president Francois Hollande’s reported remarks on the multi-billion dollar Rafale jet deal on Friday. Read more. CAG to audit Rafale procurement only after payments are completedThe Comptroller and Auditor General of India will audit the government’s procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France for $8. 7 billion, as it does all other deals, but only after the “ deal is fully executed and the payments are completed”, according to a senior CAG official who asked not to be identified. Read more.


BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay went inside a polling booth and directed voters.

Bang in the middle of Lok Sabha elections, a video of a man walking about inside a polling booth directing voters at the EVM has gone viral. A Facebook page called 'IT & Social Media Cell Congress' claimed that the person in the video was BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay. India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found this claim to be wrong.  The video is from Islampur in West Bengal and the man seen in the white kurta is a local Trinamool leader. You can watch the video here. The post on 'IT & Social Media Cell Congress' has been shared over 500 times.  Other Facebook users have also shared the same post. The background audio in the two-minute video has been deliberately altered to sound confusing.  Looking at the video closely, we found there are "No Smoking" posters on the wall that are written in Bengali and English. To pursue this clue further, we searched social media and found some people had shared a different narrative for the same video.  They claimed "TMC workers" were directing voters inside a polling booth in West Bengal. TMC workers are dictating the voters to vote in their favor right inside polling booth in West BengalImagine if this was a BJP worker"SAVIORS of DEMOCRACY"would be on the road shouting"DEATH of DEMOCRACY"Where is Pappu, what are his views on this? pic. twitter. com/s3R7nnPE6bWe searched through some prominent Bengali media with the combination of regional key words such as 'EVM', 'TMC', 'Viral Video', etc.  and found that ETV Bharat had first published this news on April 19. This Bengali news report said that according to unconfirmed reports, the man in the white kurta directing voters in the polling booth could be Islampur panchayat member Hamizuddin. The second report published by ETV Bharat on April 20 confirmed that the man in the video in the white kurta was Hamizuddin. In an interview with ETV Bharat, the man confessed that he had gone inside the booth and "helped people to vote".  This was on the day the phase 2 elections were held. In one of its reports, Boom Live debunked the claim as well. A few weeks ago, AFWA had debunked another fake claim involving 'MLA Anil Upadhyay of Madhya Pradesh' that went viral on social media. The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.


AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is safe & effective: European Medicines Agency https://t.co/daFgtgHPjW

British authorities recommended Wednesday that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine not be given to adults under 30 where possible because of strengthening evidence that the shot may be linked to rare blood clots. The recommendation came as regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union emphasized that the benefits of receiving the vaccine continue to outweigh the risks for most people — even though the European Medicines Agency said it had found a “possible link” between the shot and the rare clots.  British authorities recommended that people under 30 be offered alternatives to AstraZeneca.  But the EMA advised no such age restrictions, leaving it up to its member-countries to decide whether to limit its use. Several countries have already imposed limits on who can receive the vaccine, and any restrictions are closely watched since the vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store than many others, is critical to global immunization campaigns and is a pillar of the UN-backed program known as COVAX that aims to get vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries. “This is a course correction, there’s no question about that,” Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said during a news briefing. Van-Tam said the effect on Britain’s vaccination timetable — one of the speediest in the world — should be “zero or negligible,” assuming the National Health Service receives expected deliveries of other vaccines, including those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. EU and UK regulators held simultaneous news conferences Wednesday to announce the results of investigations into reports of blood clots that sparked concern about the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The EU agency described the clots as “very rare” side effects.  Dr Sabine Straus, chair of its Safety Committee, said the best data was from Germany, where there was one report of the clots for every 100,000 doses given, although she noted far fewer reports in the UK.  Still, that’s less than the clot risk that healthy women face from birth control pills, noted another expert, Dr.  Peter Arlett. The agency said most of the cases reported were in women under 60 within two weeks of vaccination, though it was unable to identify specific risk factors based on current information.  Experts reviewed several dozen cases that came mainly from Europe and the UK, where around 25 million people have received the AstraZeneca vaccine. “The risk of mortality from Covid is much greater than the risk of mortality from these side effects,” said Emer Cooke, the EMA's executive director. Arlett said there is no information suggesting an increased risk from the other major Covid-19 vaccines. In a statement, AstraZeneca said both UK and EU regulators had requested their vaccine labels be updated to warn of these “extremely rare potential side effect(s). ”“Both of these reviews reaffirmed the vaccine offers a high-level of protection against all severities of Covid-19 and that these benefits continue to far outweigh the risks,” it said. The EMA’s investigation focused on unusual types of blood clots that have occurred along with low blood platelets.  One rare clot type appears in multiple blood vessels and the other in veins that drain blood from the brain. “We are not advising a stop to any vaccination for any individual in any age group,” said Wei Shen Lim, who chairs Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization.  “We are advising a preference for one vaccine over another vaccine for a particular age group . . .  out of the utmost caution rather than because we have any serious safety concerns. ”In March, more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, suspended their use of AstraZeneca over the blood clot issue.  Most restarted — some with age restrictions — after the EMA said countries should continue using the vaccine. Britain, which relies heavily on AstraZeneca, however, continued to use it. The suspensions were seen as particularly damaging for AstraZeneca because they came after repeated missteps in how the company reported data on the vaccine's effectiveness and concerns over how well its shot worked in older people.  That has led to frequently changing advice in some countries on who can take the vaccine, raising worries that AstraZeneca’s credibility could be permanently damaged, spurring more vaccine hesitancy and prolonging the pandemic. Dr.  Peter English, who formerly chaired the British Medical Association’s Public Health Medicine Committee, said the back-and-forth over the AstraZeneca vaccine could have serious consequences. “We can’t afford not to use this vaccine if we are going to end the pandemic,” he said. In some countries, authorities have already noted hesitancy toward the AstraZeneca shot. “People come and they are reluctant to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, they ask us if we also use anything else,” said Florentina Nastase, a doctor and coordinator at a vaccination center in Bucharest, Romania.  “There were cases in which people didn’t show up, there were cases when people came to the center and saw that we use only AstraZeneca and refused (to be inoculated). ”Meanwhile, the governor of Italy’s northern Veneto region said earlier Wednesday that any decision to change the guidance on AstraZeneca would cause major disruptions to immunizations — at a time when Europe is already struggling to ramp them up — and could create more confusion about the shot. “Put yourself in the place of citizens — it is hard to understand anything,” Luca Zaia told reporters. The latest suspension of AstraZeneca came in Spain's Castilla y León region, where health chief Verónica Casado said Wednesday that “the principle of prudence” drove her to put a temporary hold on the vaccine that she still backed as being both effective and necessary. On Wednesday, South Korea said it would temporarily suspend the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in people 60 and younger.  In that age group, the country is only currently vaccinating health workers and people in long-term care settings. Officials in Italy and Spain also said Wednesday that AstraZeneca would be recommended for people over 60 years of age. After the EMA's announcement, Belgium's health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, declared a four-week ban on administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 56, but said that would have little impact on the vaccination campaign, since few from that age group are in line to get the shots this month. “For the vast majority of people the benefits of the Oxford AZ vaccine far outweigh any extremely small risk,'' said Dr.  Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of Britain’s vaccination committee.  "And the Oxford AZ vaccine will continue to save many from suffering the devastating effects that can result from a Covid infection. ”


14 police officers were injured Saturday during clashes with protesters in central London following a largely peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration attended by tens of thousands. https://t.co/Fl2SIOVhp2

By Max Foster, Nada Bashir, Rob Picheta and Susannah Cullinane, CNNUpdated 11:39 AM ET, Mon June 8, 2020  (CNN)Anti-racism protesters in England have pulled down a statue of a 17th-century slave trader while demonstrating in solidarity with the US Black Lives Matter movement. The moment #BlackLivesMattterUK pulled down the statue of merchant slave trader Edward Colston in #BristolEpic.  pic. twitter. com/fU0BToyLNI


"We know what the legitimate government of Venezuela is," national security adviser John Bolton says.

"It's our mission now to make a full reality in Venezuela what the people in Venezuela themselves want." https://t.co/rDsrdyonl4 https://t.co/D71uk67q7x

  Schools in Minnesota are closing, Illinois’ governor is warning residents about hypothermia, and hundreds of flights have been canceled at Denver Airport.

  Even parts of the United States accustomed to cold weather are preparing for the worst.

  About 220 million people – or 75% of the continental US population – will endure below-freezing temperatures this week.

  The biting cold already has caused at least one death in Minnesota and another in Illinois.  In many parts of the country, the coldest weather is yet to come.

  If you’re 25 years old or younger, “you’ve never felt this cold before,” CNN meteorologist Tom Sater said.

Polar vortex to bring coldest air in a generation: Live updates

  The winter storm has also led to the cancellation of 3,480 US flights on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Flightaware. com.

  Across the Midwest and Great Lakes, the brutal cold will likely shatter dozens of records, CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

  Between Tuesday and Thursday, temperatures will plunge to 20-40 degrees below zero in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, Hennen said.  Wind chills will plummet to 35-60 below zero.

  But the deep freeze is only half the story.  The Dakotas are grappling with blizzard conditions, the National Weather Service said.  And heavier snow is expected in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, meaning “dangerous to impossible travel conditions. ”

  While intense snow smothers much of the Midwest, snow will likely extend all the way down to Mississippi and Alabama.

Check out more weather maps and forecast models

  In Rochester, Minnesota, a man was found dead Sunday outside the home where he was staying with a relative.

  Ali Alfred Gombo, 22, didn’t have keys to the home, according to CNN affiliate KIMT.  He was unable to enter the home early Sunday morning after being dropped off.  Single-digit temperatures that dipped below zero likely played a role in the man’s death, Rochester police said.  An autopsy will determine the official cause of death.

  Police in Libertyville, Illinois, said a man was killed Monday morning as a result of the weather.

What is a polar vortex?

  “The man died after a roadway crash involving a village plow truck and a pedestrian,” police said.  The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the plow driver has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the result of an investigation, police said.

  On Sunday, a 13-year-old boy in Iowa was found dead after he was outside for days, Marshalltown Police Chief Michael Tupper said.  Corey Brown left his home during a snowstorm Tuesday night.

  An autopsy will determine when he died and if his death was related to the current cold snap.

  Illinois Gov.  JB Pritzker on Monday warned of a “potentially historic winter storm that will bring extreme cold to our state. ”

  An emergency preparedness plan is in place to help state agencies and residents prepare, Pritzker said.  He urged Illinoisans to guard against frostbite and hypothermia and use warming centers if need be.

  The Illinois State Police encouraged motorists to stay home if possible or allow extra time to reach destinations.  Additional patrols will be deployed to assist stranded motorists.

  In Chicago, where the river winding through downtown has already frozen over, it could remain below zero from around noon on Tuesday until around midday on Friday, Hennen said.

  Lows in the Windy City are expected to approach a record of 27 below zero.  The daytime high on Wednesday could reach 15 below.

  Public schools in St.  Paul, Minnesota, and Minneapolis said they will remain closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to “historically” cold weather.  Snow emergencies were set take effect at 9 p. m.  Monday.

  “This decision was made because of the dangerously cold temperatures forecast with about 90% certainty by the National Weather Service,” Minneapolis Public Schools said.

  “While the temperature at the start of school tomorrow does not fall within our standard guideline for closing of -35 degrees, it quickly drops and is well past that by the end of the school day.  All day Wednesday is within our guidelines.  We are monitoring the forecast for Thursday and will notify families and staff of closures by late Wednesday afternoon. ”

  Minnesota Gov.  Tim Walz did not cancel schools statewide, saying he would leave it up to districts to decide whether to close,  according to CNN affiliate KARE.

  In Wisconsin, where  Gov.  Tony Evers declared a state of emergency, Milwaukee Public Schools will remain closed Tuesday, along with schools in other districts across the state.

  In Dodge County, members of the Lomira High School wrestling team spent the snow day outdoors helping the community by shoveling snow off sidewalks.

  Nellie Mullins Broeske, president of the Lomira Booster Club, said the team did something similar when tornadoes struck in August 2018, by helping the elderly clean up debris.  When the storm hit Monday, the team sprang into action, Broeske said.

  Michigan Gov.  Gretchen Whitmer also declared a state of emergency Monday.

  “Keeping Michiganders safe during this stretch of dangerously cold temperatures is our priority,” Whitmer said in a news release.  “Such widespread, extreme conditions have not occurred in Michigan for many years and it is imperative that we are proactive with record-low temperatures being predicted by the National Weather Service. ”

  In Atlanta, football fans are bracing for the winter weather’s impact on the Super Bowl.  The New England Patriots are set to face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

  Temperatures will plunge Tuesday as the city gets hit with up to 2 inches of snow.  All Georgia state offices will be closed Tuesday and several precautionary measures are taking effect.

  On Monday, the city began pretreating some routes and bridges with a brine solution to prevent freezing, Atlanta Department of Public Works Communications Director Kim Rankins said.  Crews will continue pretreating routes through Monday night and transition to a salt treatment overnight Monday, which will continue until the end of the weather event.

  The city will also open emergency warming centers Tuesday starting at 6 a. m.  The centers will remain open until Thursday morning.

  Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she is in touch with NFL officials and will work with them regarding events scheduled across the city as winter weather moves into the area.

  The storm comes on the five-year anniversary of a “snowpocalyse” storm that paralyzed Atlanta, and some locals worried the weather combined with swelling Super Bowl crowds would snarl roads and cause another catastrophe.

  But temperatures are expected to rebound for the weekend, melting anything that sticks to the roads in time for the big game.

Clarification: The headline on this article has been updated to make clear that 75% of the US population will see below-freezing temperatures this week.

  CNN’s Marlena Baldacci, Judson Jones, Amanda Jackson, Monica Garrett and Tina Burnside contributed to this report.
© 2021 Cable News Network.  A Warner Media Company.  All Rights Reserved.   CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.


Former Karnataka CM and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah says, he has tested positive for #COVID19, admitted to hospital https://t.co/CdA1Wf2yK7

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was tested for Covid-19 on Tuesday – second time in less than a month- after 19 members of his staff tested positive for the coronavirus disease last week.  His test came out negative in the evening.  Swab samples of the CM, his wife and some others from his office and residence staff were collected in the morning. “Undergone corona test along with family members and office staff,” Soren said on Twitter. According to a senior district health official, sampling of people associated with the chief minister’s secretariat was carried on Tuesday morning and nearly 90 samples were collected. Announcing the test results, Ranchi civil surgeon Dr VB Prasad said in the evening, “Test reports of the CM and his family members were found negative.  Reports of many others have not yet arrived. ”The need for a second test arose after the driver of Kalpana Soren, the CM’s wife, and another staff at the CM’s residence were found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 on July 30.  After contact tracing revealed that as many as 17 others in the CM’s residence and secretariat were also found positive on Sunday. According to a senior district health official, sampling of people associated with the chief minister’s office and residence was carried out on Tuesday morning and nearly 90 samples were collected.  “Test reports are likely by today evening or tomorrow,” he said. Hemant Soren had placed himself in home quarantine early last month soon after coming in contact with one of his cabinet colleagues and a JMM lawmaker who had tested positive for Covid-19.  Subsequently, Soren, his family members and several others including CMO officials were tested for the disease which had turned out to be negative. There were 8561 active Covid-19 cases in the state as per the Union health ministry dashboard at 8 am on Tuesday.  The death toll in the state is 125.


Delhi: BJP MPs protest outside the Parliament against the Kerala government over the attack on BJP leaders in the state.

Photo credits: @arvindyadavht/ HT

Follow live updates: https://t.co/GYRK25F9rs https://t.co/8BnjSv0vqu

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2018 was expected to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Monday after a united Opposition foiled the government’s previous attempts to push it in the Upper House as it insisted on referring it to the select committee of Parliament. However, amid uproar by opposition parties over various issues the Upper House has been adjourned for the day.  The government will try to push the triple talaq bill to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among a section of Muslims on the last day of Parliament’s winter session, which ends on January 8.  It is also open to reintroducing an ordinance or an executive order to criminalise the practice if the legislation is not passed, according to ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries. : Rajya Sabha adjourned for the dayThe Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day amid uproar by opposition parties over various issues. Rajya Sabha adjourned againAftre proceedings began at 2 pm, the Rajya Sabha has been adjourned again for 15 minutes.  Rajya Sabha proceedings resumeThe Rajya Sabha proceedings resumed at 2pm.  This is not parliamentary way of functioning: Naidu“This is not the parliamentary way of functioning,” he said.  “You can discuss all the issues under relevant rules. ” Repeated pleas by Naidu asking members to go back to their places went unheeded, forcing him to adjourn proceedings till 2 pm. Members of the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were up on their feet as soon as listed official papers were presented, crying “political vendetta” in the CBI initiating a probe into alleged irregularities in the mining of minor minerals during 2012 and 2016 when Yadav held the mining portfolio in the Uttar Pradesh government. Triple talaq bill meant for justice for women: Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar“Triple Talaq Bill is listed in Rajya Sabha, it’s not a question of government’s reputation.  The Bill is meant to get justice for women, so everyone should support it.  We all must help in getting the Bill passed,” said Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.  Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pmRajya Sabha proceedings adjourned till 2 pm after uproar by opposition parties over various issues. Rajya Sabha proceedings beginThe Rajya Sabha proceedings began today at 11 am.  BJP MPs protest in Parliament complexBJP MPs staged a protest in the Parliament complex on Monday against incidents of violence targeting their leaders in Kerala, including a crude bomb thrown at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP V Muraleedharan which they blamed on the state’s CPI-M led government. Bills to be discussedOther bills listed for introduction in the upper house include the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill’19, the National Commission for Homeopathy Bill’19. The bills for consideration and passing include the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill’18, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill’18, the Consumer Protection Bill’18 and the Appropriation (No. 6) Bill’18. If Oppn stalls bill in Rajya Sabha, govt may revive ordinanceThe government is open to reintroducing an ordinance or an executive order to criminalise the triple talaq practice if the legislation is not passed, according to ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries. Triple talaq likely to be introduced in Rajya SabhaThe government will try to push the triple talaq bill to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among a section of Muslims over the two remaining days of Parliament’s winter session, which ends on January 8


Kerala: Counting of votes for the
#AssemblyElections2021 to the 4 states and 1 union territory has begun. Visuals from Idukki where counting of postal ballots is underway. https://t.co/sa79GEqKPY

Kerala Election Results 2021 LIVE Updates: The ruling Communist Party of India (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is set to retain power in Kerala winning 98 out of the 140 seats in the assembly.  The United Democratic Front (UDF) currently has 40 while the NDA has not made any gain in the seats, according to Election Commission's website. Click here for complete coverage of Kerala Assembly electionsBucking the four-decade-old electoral trend of the state that usually votes against the incumbent government, Kerala voted for the Left parties once again with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the helm.  Various pre-poll and post-poll surveys had predicted victory for the ruling alliance.  Kerala CM Vijayan thanked the people of the state, saying, "Kerala has given a verdict in favor of the LDF.  But this is not the time to celebrate with great joy as Covid-19 continues to spread in the state.  This is the time to continue the fight against Covid-19. "Also Read | Amid raging pandemic, counting of votes to decide leadership in Puducherry and 4 statesThe voting for the assembly election was held on April 6.  As many as 2. 74 crore voters exercised their franchise to decide the fate of 957 candidates. Follow all the updates here:LDF set to win in 99 seats, UDF in 41The present seat position in Kerala stands at 99 for LDF and 41 for UDF. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal congratulates Pinarayi Vijayan on poll victoryHeartfelt congratulations @vijayanpinarayi sir.  People of Kerala have reposed faith in you becoz of ur pro-people governance. Snapshot: 5 major losers in Kerala assembly elections 2021'Historic win': CM Vijayan thanks people of Kerala"It is a historic win.  We are indebted to people.  This victory will empower us to take more people friendly measures," Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said. 'Time to fight against Covid-19 ': CM Vijayan as LDF set to return to power"Kerala has given a verdict in favor of the LDF.  But this is not the time to celebrate with great joy as Covid-19 continues to spread in the state.  This is the time to continue the fight against Covid-19," Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said. Snapshot: 5 major winners in Kerala assembly elections 2021Thank people of Kerala for reposing faith in LDF govt: Sitaram YechuryIn a video message shared on Sunday CPI(M)'s general secretary Sitaram Yechury thanked the electorate of Kerala for showing confidence in the party and vowed that the Left party will continue to fight the challenges faced by people.  "I thank the people of Kerala for reposing faith in an unprecedented manner in the way that the previous LDF government tackled all the challenges that the people have faced and also the pandemic scourge.  The government gave a Kerala model to the world on how to handle the pandemic," he said. Kerala health minister KK Shailaja thanks people of Kerala"It was out development related actives and the way we tackled situations like Nipah, floods and Covid-19 also helped us to win the elections.  We are thankful the people of Kerala and we will continue to work for the people, said Kerala Health Minister and CPI(M) leader KK Shailaja after winning by a majority of over 61,000 votes from Mattannur constituency. Why such massive mandate was given to LDF, should be studied: Mullappally RamchandranKerala Congress president Mullappally Ramchandran says the mandate should be studies "carefully. " "This government is known for its corrupt practices.  I don't understand why such a massive mandate was given to the existing chief minister in this election," ANI quoted him as saying. Shashi Tharoor wishes Pinarayi Vijayan for his 'remarkable re-election'My congratulations to @CMOKerala @vijayanPinarayi for his remarkable re-election, a first in 44 years.  It is our duty to respect the confidence the people have shown in him & his government.  In the fight against #Covid & communalism, he should have our support. Created history by winning re-election: Prakash Karat"I extend greetings to the people of Kerala who have created history by electing LDF government once again to power," says former general secretary of CPI (M) Prakash Karat. EC announces final results for six seatsCPI-M candidates bag Chelakkara, Devikulam and Dharmadam.  While Kozhikode South iswon by Indian National League's candidate, Ahammad Devarkovil.  He defeated Noorbeena Rasheed by 6327 votes.  Piravom goes Kerala Congress (Jacob) as candidate Anoop Jacob defeats Dr Sindhumol Jacob of Kerala Congress (M) by 6195 votes. KK Rema of Revolutionary Marxist Party of India defeats Loktantrik Janata Dal candidate Manayath Chandran by 9511 votes in In Vadakar. CPI-M bags three seatsCommunist Party of India (Marxist) bags three seats, according to the officials results on the Election Commission's site. Pinarayi Vijayan to hold address press at 5:30pmAs Pinarayi Vijayan led LDF heads for historic victory, he will address a press conference today at 5:30pm, announced chief minister's office. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala concedes defeatOpposition leader Ramesh Chennithala concedes defeat as LDF prepares for a comeback.  He said the party accepts the verdict humbly and inquire reasons that led to defeat.  "We never expected such an outcome.  But we accept it with all humility" Chennithala said in Harippad, his constituency. BJP's Rajnath Singh congratulates Kerala CM Pinarayi VIjayanCongratulations to the Chief Minister of Kerala Shri @vijayanpinarayi on his party’s victory in Kerala Assembly elections.  My best wishes to him for his next tenure. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan sweeps DharmadamCongress' Ommen Chandy, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala emerged victorious in their own respective seats.  Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan sweeps Dharmadam. Palakkad goes to Congress, Metro Man defeatedMetro Man defeated in Palakkad.  Sitting legislator Shafi Parambhi defeated E Sreedharan by over 3000 votes. CPI-M wins one seat in KeralaAccording to official figures by the Election Commission, Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate KK Ramachandran wins Puthukkad.  He defeated Sunil Anthikkad of Congress and won 71250LDF extends lead to 98 seatsLDF extends ist lead to 98 seats now.  UDF is leading in 42. E Sreedharan trails in PalakkadMetro Man E Sreedharan trails in Palakkad.  He is trailing by over 1000 votes aginst sitting legislator Shafi Parambhil of the Congress. Voters appreciated pro-people development in Kerala: CPI-M leaderAs LDF inches towards victory, CPI-M's Prakash Karat says, "This is a significant victory as in past 40 yrs no govt re-elected for a second successive term.  This shows people of Kerala have appreciated performance of Pinarayi Vijayan government, the way it tackled floods, Covid and pro-people development," ANI reported. Ruling LDF continues to maintain lead in KeralaAs per trends available at around 12:30pn, the LDF may retain power with between 85 and 95 seats, a repeat of the 2016 assembly elections.  If that happens, the victory will mark the first time any coalition will form its government for the second time in over four decades of time. BJP's Sobha Surendran trails in KazahakkoottamIn Kazahakkoottam, CPI (M) candidate Kadakampally Surendran secures a lead with 15165 votes.  He if followed by BJP's Sobha Surendran.  Congress' SS Lal is trailing with 7114 votes. LDF secures lead on 92 seatsThe LDF secures lead on 92 seats, according to the latest trends.  UDF trails with 47 and NDA leads on 2 seats. Trends for all 140 seats out!  Ruling LDF in leadKerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan watches election trends with his party membersKerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is contesting from Dharmadam, watches the election trends along with party membersHe is leading from the Dharmadam Assembly constituency pic. twitter. com/ptjzkuDhemT K Ramakrishnan takes lead in PeramabraIn Peramabra, labour minister T K Ramakrishnan is leading with 43201 votes.  Mani C Kappan of Kerala Congress (M) is leading in Pala. Iduki sees lead of power minister MM ManiIn Idukki, power minister MM Mani leads with a comfortable margin of over 20,000 votes. Suresh Gopi leads from Thrissur constituencyBJP's Suresh Gopi leads from Thrissur constituency.  CPI's P Balachandran follows with 15811. Early trends for 138 seats are out! Key constituencies trends in KeralaNemom: BJP's Kummanam leads with 6957 votesPala: Independent candidate Mani C Kappen leads with 20721 votesKonni: CPI (M) leader KU Jenish Kumar leads with 218022 votesDevukulam: CPI (M) candidate A Raja leads with 34969 votesKongad: CPI(M) leader Samnthakumari K leads with 19327 votesE Sreedharan leads in PalakkadIn Palakkad, BJP's E Sreedharan is leading with 10055 votes.  Congress, CPI (M) candidates trail. Pinarayi Vijayan leads in DharmadamKerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan leads in Dharmadam, according to the Election Commission's figures.  Congress' C.  Raghunathan is behind VIjayan with 10858 votes. Left appears set for an electoral lifeline in KeralaIf the LDF eventually wins this election, it will break a 40-year-old tradition in the state of switching parties and alliances in power after every five years.  Read MoreOfficial trends for 116 seats in Kerala by ECLDF leading above the halfway markEarly trends show LDF is leading above the halfway mark in Kerala.  According to latest trends, LDF has established a clear lead of 90 seats.  Opposition UDF is leading on 48 and NDA two.  The second round of voting has concluded. CPI(M) lead rises to 15CPI(M) lead rises to 15, according to the Election Commission's website.  Congress is leading on 7 while CPI is leading on 4, official figures from EC shows. Ruling CPI(M) leading on 10 seats: ECThe EC figures show lead of Communist Party of India (Marxist) on 10 seats.  COngress is leading in six, CPI 2.  Kerala Congress (M), Loktantrik Janta Dal, Revolutionary Marxist Party of India and Indendent are leading on one seat respectively. EC shows lead of Congress on 3 seatsOfficial trends by the Election Commission shows lead for Congress on 3 seats, CPI(M) leading on 1. First round of voting concludes in Kerala, LDF leads in 80 seatsFirst round of voting concluded in Kerala and as per early trends LDF is leading in 80 seats, UDF 57 and NDA 3. Metro Man E Sreedharan leads in PalakkadAs per intial trend, Metro Man E Sreedharan leads in Palakkad with 1000 votes.  Widow of late Marxist renegade K Rema establishes clear lead in Vadakara. LDF leads in 50 seats; EVM counting beginsAfter postal votes, EVMs counting begin.  Initial trends show ruling LDF is leading in 50 seats, UDF 36 and NDA 2. 'Victories are pyrrhic,' tweets Congress' Kapil SibalOn today’s election results :Whoever wins such victories are pyrrhic Today what matters is :Saving livesCounting of postal ballots is underway in IdukkiEarly leads show LDF ahead in five seatsFirst postal ballots are being counted first in Kerala and early counting show LDF is ahead in five seats.  UDF is leading in three. Counting begins in KeralaCounting began in Kerala as fate of 957 candidates including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is in the fray.  Postal ballots to be counted first and at around 8:30am EVM votes will be counted. Strong rooms opened in MalappuramThe strong room opened in Malappuram as counting of votes for #KeralaElections2021 to begin shortly. #AssemblyElections2021 pic. twitter. com/6r0GI3BkSqCongress' Oommen Chandy offers prayers at Puthuppally ChurchCongress leader and former chief minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy offers prayers at Puthuppally Church.  He is contesting the elections from Puthuppally Assembly constituency. What exit polls says? India Today-Axis My India has projected 104-120 seats for incumbent LDF as against 20-36 seats for UDF.  It has projected 0-2 for National Democratic Alliance. Counting of votes to begin soon in KeralaCongress withdraws from television debatesIn view of the escalating coronavirus situation, Congress decides to skip debates on news channels after the polls results are out.  "We shall remain available for any comment that media friends want.  We may win, we may lose, but at a time when people are looking for oxygen, beds, medicines, ventilators; our duty tells us to stand by them, work with them to heal and help.  In solidarity with India," party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet. Get our daily newsletter Get free access to newsletters, alerts and recommendations


Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have shown a surge in new COVID19 cases in the last 24 hours. 86.37% of the new cases are from these six States: Government of India https://t.co/i5mjxlljFi

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 8,623 new Covid-19 infections, taking the count to 2,146,777.  It also recorded 51 deaths, taking the toll to 52,092.  The state has reported more than 8,000 cases for four days in a row now.  Amid the rise in cases in Maharashtra, district authorities extended the lockdown imposed in Amravati, Akola, Akot and Murjitapur by another week (till March 8), after a lockdown was enforced in these places from February 22 till March 1.  The Nagpur district administration had also announced a lockdown on Saturday and Sunday.  Shelesh Nawal, district collector, Amravati, confirmed that the lockdown has been extended till March 8.  Jitendra Papalkar, district collector, Akola said, “We will review the situation by March 5 or 6.  If the situation is under control, we might also bring in some relaxations. ” Papalkar said that the district administration has also increased tests drastically in the past month.  “We are conducting tests to the tune of 2,500-2,700 a day now. ” The essential services in the three regions have also been restricted to functioning between 8am and 3pm.  Compared to January when the state recorded 92,177 new cases of Covid-19, the state has already recorded 123,015 cases till February 27, a 33% increase in fresh infections. In the past four days itself, the state has recorded more than 25,000 new infections.  In his address to citizens last Sunday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had stated that the state would review the situation in the next few days to decide on a second lockdown, however, there is no decision on it yet except the lockdown imposed in some districts.  A senior official from the state government said, “We are strictly monitoring the situation in districts.  While the situation does not seem to be as bad as September-October 2020 when the state saw a massive upsurge, however, people have to be more cautious and maintain Covid-appropriate behavior. ”On Saturday, Mumbai reported 987 cases and 4 deaths, taking the count to 324,866 cases and 11,470 fatalities.  Cities like Pune, Nagpur, and Nashik reported 743, 838 and 550 cases respectively.  Districts like Amravati and Akola (both city and district) reported 545 and 287 cases respectively.  Following an increase in cases in Vidharbha, which includes districts like Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal and Washim, a seven-day lockdown in Amravati city and Achalpur town started from Monday evening, while other districts have restricted shop and establishment timings.  Marathwada districts, including Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded and Latur, have imposed a night curfew and restriction on the travellers coming from affected Vidarbha districts.  Schools and colleges in all these districts have been closed for few weeks.