The Indian men’s hockey team reached the Olympics semifinal after 41 years.

On August 1, the Indian men’s hockey team defeated Great Britain to secure a place in the last four of the Tokyo Olympics 2020.  The performance by Manpreet Singh and his men has taken social media by storm. Several Facebook users congratulated the Indian hockey team and claimed, “Chakde! India.  Finally, after 41 years, team India reaches the semis of the Olympics.  One of the greatest moments indeed.  #Tokyo2020 #india #Olympics”. Embed:https://www. facebook. com/plugins/video. php? height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww. facebook. com%2FMondalhimadri14%2Fvideos%2F224036536273782%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true">iframe>India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading.  In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, India had won the gold medal.  But it did not play the quarter final or semifinal in that tournament and qualified for the finals directly from the group stage.  In the 1972 Munich Olympics, India had lost the semifinal to Pakistan. Posts with similar claims are saved here, here, here, here. Several media reports claim that the Indian hockey team would compete in an Olympic semifinal after 49 years. It means that while some are claiming that India had played the semifinal during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, others are claiming that India entered the Olympics semifinal for the last time in the 1972 Munich games. We first conducted a keyword search to find out reports on Indian men’s hockey team during the 1980 Moscow Olympics.  On July 17, 2012, “The Hindu” had published an article that gives an insight on the Indian team’s performance in that Olympics. The article says that protesting against Russian presence in Afghanistan several nations had decided to boycott the games and the men’s hockey tournament got reduced to just six teams.  India had played six matches in the tournament five in the group stage, and the final. Just before the Tokyo Olympics, “Hockey India” had published a series of articles on its website.  The series carried interviews of former Indian players who shared their experiences of different Olympics. In one such article MM Somaya, member of the 1980 Olympics squad was quoted saying, “In the end when we had to play our final Pool match against Soviet Union, we had to win to qualify for the Final. ” It means India had qualified for the final directly from the group stage in that tournament. We again conducted a keyword search for the 1972 Munich Olympics and found an article by “The Hindu”. The article clearly states that in the 1972 Olympics, India was defeated in the semifinal by Pakistan.  Eventually, it won against Holland to clinch the bronze. Between 1972 and 1980 Olympics, India went on to play the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and finished seventh in the hockey tournament. To further confirm the claim, we got in touch with MM Somaya.  “In that tournament (1980), the format was different.  We reached the final directly after the Round Robin league.  However, that was the last time when India had won the Olympic medal in hockey,” he said. Confirming the development, Hockey India president Gyanendro Ningombam told AFWA, “Yes, there’s this confusion that needs to be be clarified.  In 1980, there was no quarter final or semifinal and the first two teams in the league table directly played the final.  Before that, India played the semifinal in 1972.  So technically, we should say that India would play Olympic semifinal after 49 years. ”Therefore, we can conclude that the Indian men’s hockey team reached the Olympics semifinal in Tokyo after 49 years. The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.


Chhattisgarh: Four Naxals killed in an encounter with Police Special Task Force (STF) in Dhamtari. Weapons recovered. https://t.co/FHcyFaSmvO

Four Maoists including three women were killed in an encounter by security forces in Dhamtari district on Saturday morning. Police also seized eight weapons from the site after the encounter about 70 km south of the capital Raipur. “The encounter took place between Khallari and Mechka villages when a team of Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Naxal operation in the jungle.  The encounter lasted for 30 minutes.  After the exchange of fire stopped four bodies of Maoist were found, “said Deputy Inspector General of Police (anti-Naxal operations) Sundaraj P. The police officer further said that the team is in the jungle and more details are awaited. Late last month, three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in an encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.  A girl who was caught in the crossfire was also killed.


Single-day spike of 62,064 cases and 1,007 deaths reported in India, in the last 24 hours.

The #COVID19 tally rises to 22,15,075 including 6,34,945  active cases, 15,35,744 cured/discharged/migrated & 44,386 deaths: Ministry of Health https://t.co/K3wcsEuAy5

Another day and another steep spike in Covid-19 cases in India as the country’s tally rose to 440,215 on Tuesday with over 14,000 fresh infections reported in the last 24 hours.  The number of recoveries also touched another high with nearly 11,000 patients getting cured in the last 24 hours.  So far, over 2. 48 people have recovered from the disease across India while over 14,000 have succumbed to death.  Nearly 70 percent of India’s total coronavirus cases come from the top five states that include Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.  Together, these states account for over 3 lakh cases of the country’s total 4. 4 lakh cases - nearly 70 percent. Also read: India’s Covid-19 death toll goes beyond 14,000, infection tally over 4. 40 lakhHere’s a look at the statewise breakup of coronavirus situation With over 1. 3 lakh cases, Maharashtra’s tally is officially more than that of countries like Canada, Bangladesh and others.  Over 67,706 people have recovered from coronavirus in Maharashtra while 6,283 have died.  Mumbai continues to be the worst affected city with over 66,000 cases.   The situation in the national capital paints a grim picture as the cases here have now crossed the 60,000-mark.  Delhi has 62,655 positive cases with 36,602 recovered patients and 2,233 fatalities.  Tamil Nadu stands third on the tally with 62,087 coronavirus cases.  The state has seen seven hundred and ninety-four coronavirus fatalities while 34,112 have recovered.  Also read: Nearly 11,000 Covid-19 patients recover in last 24 hours, over 2. 48 lakh in totalIn Gujarat, the Covid-19 rose to 27,825 on Tuesday.  The state has seen 19,909 people recover from coronavirus while 1,684 people have died. Uttar Pradesh is the fifth top affected state.  The Covid-19 tally here has jumped to 18,322 while the number of recoveries has touched 11,601.  The state’s death toll stands at 569. Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have over 10,000 coronavirus cases but less than 20,000.  States with under 10,000 casesThe southern Indian state of Karnataka has witnessed over 9,000 coronavirus cases till date with 142 fatalities.  Covid-19 cases in Bihar stand at 7,825 while Andhra Pradesh has reported 9,372 Covid-19 cases till date.  Telangana has 8,674 coronavirus cases while the Covid-19 tally in Jammu and Kashmir stands at 6,088.  In Odisha, cases have jumped to 5,303 while Assam has reported 5,586 cases till date.  Punjab’s Covid-19 tally has crossed the 4,000-mark.  Covid-19 cases in Kerala are more than 3,000.  States with less than 3,000 casesUttarakhand, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Tripura, Manipur, Goa and Himachal Pradesh are states where coronavirus cases are less than 3,000, but more than 500.  Mizoram, Chandigarh, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry have reported under 500 Covid-19 cases or less.  In states like Meghalaya, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra Nagar Haveli have less than 100 Covid-19 cases.  Note: Figures are from official data released by the Ministry of Health, and may differ from realtime numbers released by various state governments subject to confirmation from the Centre.


Claim: A video has been going viral with the claim that children in Guinea died after corona virus trial vaccine was tested on them.  The woman in the video says, vaccine trials have already started and deaths are already occurring as a result.  The video has been extensively shared on Facebook and YouTube.  The woman states in the video that two children died in Dubreka, Guinea after receiving vaccines from French doctors.  She shows an extract from a TV news report that is used to support the claim she made.  She also refers to two French scientists who made controversial statements last month after discussing the idea of testing a vaccine for corona virus in Africa.    The video has been shared by multiple accounts on Facebook.  Archive   Archive   Archive   The videos were also shared on YouTube and received a lot of viewership.   Archive    Archive    Archive       Upon reverse image search and key word search it was found that the incident is not true.  It is not a video of corona virus trial vaccines gone wrong.  It is an incident from 2019.  Articles were found that were titled “Guinea: a bad vaccination campaign” and “Panic in Dubréka: many students pass out after a “vaccination””.   In the incident several children fainted and some became unconscious after consuming medicines given at a school.  None of the news articles claim children  dying from the pills.   All reports include children “fainted”, “fell unconscious”, “vomited” or even “fell into a coma”.  AFP searched the Guinean health ministry’s website and found a press release from March 19, 2019, which confirms the children were given praziquantel, a drug to treat schistosomiasis, a parasite transmitted by freshwater snails in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  Praziquantel is recommended as a safe and effective treatment for schistosomiasis by the World Health Organisation.  It has side effects like vomiting, nausea, headache and dizziness.  In a press conference (in French) on March 20, 2019, Guinea’s then-Health Minister Édouard Niankoye Lama recognised a “lack of information” about the correct way to take the drug, which he said should be taken after meals.  AFP found a video of the whole TV report in full, with the logo “Gangan News” in the bottom-left corner.  According to the full report found on Gangan RTV’S official Facebook Page, three teenage girls were rushed to hospital after taking pills given out by health workers, stirring panic among locals who started protesting.  A man interviewed (35 seconds in) says that “all the children who took the pill fell ill and two of them died. ” However, a local government representative (2 minutes in) says there were no deaths. ”There’s been a lot of disinformation around this.  People have been talking about deaths.  To my knowledge, at this time, we haven’t had a single death,” Almamy Aly Camara, secretary-general of local communities in Dubreka, told the Gangan News reporter.  Thus it is proved that this wasn’t a case of corona virus vaccine testing gone wrong.  The corona virus pandemic has bought a big wave of fake news with it, this one being one example of the many.    Given below are the articles found on the incident.   Source: Guinee Press    Source: Africaguinee. com   Attached below is the video news report AFP found by Gangan RTV Source: Gangan RTV   This is the screenshot and link on the same claim that AFP debunked.   Source: AFP


Kerala: Body of a 12-year-old male tiger was found in Pulpally forest area in Wayanad district yesterday. https://t.co/z9EAnIfLOR

For the first time ever, a rare species of hog badgers was found in Tripura at a village in Dhalai district, over 90 kilometres east of Agartala, a forest official said on Sunday.  The hog badgers, scientifically known as ‘ Arctonyx Collaris’ are listed as an endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) , said Tapojyoti Debbarma, sub divisional forest officer (SDFO) of Ambassa. “Three hog badger babies were recovered from a forest in Salema village by some local villagers on Saturday.  They later informed the forest officials and handed them to us.  We shifted them to Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary where they are being cared for.  This is for the first time that we have spotted hog badgers in the state,” he said. Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary, located nearly 25 kilometres from Agartala, is the biggest of the four sanctuaries in the state. In India, hog badgers are found in the Northeast across a range of terrain including grasslands, mountains, tropical and evergreen forests.


Hearing on a petition challenging abrogation of Article 370 in Supreme Court: "What is this petition? This is simply not maintainable. What kind of petition is this?" CJI Ranjan Gogoi asks ML Sharma. https://t.co/P2rQpf700j

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and Law Commission on a petition seeking successive jail terms for persons convicted of offences of terrorism, separatism and corruption. The petition filed by advocate and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader AK Upadhyay argues that a Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) provision, which provides that a convict can serve varying jail terms simultaneously for several offences, should not be made applicable to the convicts in heinous cases. Punishment given under the special laws should run consecutively and not concurrently because “cash transactions are the root cause of many evils”, reads the petition. The Section 31 of the CrPC should not apply to special laws such as “the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), the Black Money and Imposition of Tax Act, and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act,” said the public interest litigation (PIL), which may come up for hearing within a few week. “Money laundering is not an independent crime and depends upon a predicate offence, the proceeds of which are the subject matter of the crime in money laundering,” read Upadhyay’s petition.  “Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on our country.  It undermines democracy and rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows terrorism, Naxalism, smuggling, money laundering and extortion and other threats to human security, to flourish,” the petition read.  Referring to the recent terror attack in Pulwama, along with various instances of terror attacks across the country, the petitioner said the instances of cross-border terrorism and activities of insurgent groups have also seen a surge in the recent past.  Laws such as the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure were not designed to address such grave issues, he said.


Twitter user @captjasdeep, who claims to be an Indian armed forces veteran in his bio, tweeted an image of soldiers on snowy terrain and wrote, “I hope our country knows that Canadian Army is giving winter warfare training to Chinese PLA in Canada. ” (archived link) The tweet drew over 1,600 retweets and more than 5,000 likes as of this writing.
Facebook page Defence360 posted the viral image along with three other images in which Chinese soldiers can be seen. #ImportantCanadian Army giving winter warfare training to Chinese PLA to deal with Indian Army in Peaks & Mountains…Posted by DEFENCE360 on Tuesday, 12 January 2021Image 1: Soldiers in snowy terrainAlt News performed a reverse image search on Yandex and found that the image was posted in December 2014.  The Joint Delegation of Canada to NATO tweeted the image and wrote, “#Canadian soldiers training in Canada’s #Arctic, February 2014. ” Twitter accounts of the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian Army have been tagged. #Canadian soldiers training in Canada's #Arctic, February 2014.  pic. twitter. com/vkVJUir3Ei— Canada at NATO 🇨🇦 (@CanadaNATO) December 6, 2014

Images 2, 3 and 4The images by Facebook page Defence360 were tweeted by Candian Army in 2018.  As per the tweet, “The #Army deployed a team of four observers from the Canadian Army Advanced Warfare Centre to China.  The Chinese PLA accepted a reciprocal invitation from the CA to observe winter survival training in Petawawa.  #StrongSecureEngaged #StrongProudReady”. #FactFriday – The #Army deployed a team of four observers from the Canadian Army Advanced Warfare Centre to China.  The Chinese PLA accepted a reciprocal invitation from the CA to observe winter survival training in Petawawa.  #StrongSecureEngaged #StrongProudReady pic. twitter. com/eARdeIXggz— Canadian Army (@CanadianArmy) February 9, 2018

Since 2018, neither Canadian Armed Forces nor Canadian Army has posted images of the drill with China.  In 2020, Canada cancelled military drill with China.  The Week reported, Canada’s Department of Global Affairs, the country’s foreign ministry, responded to the cancellation of the military exercises with China by stating, “Given the heightened scrutiny, any decision by Canada to reduce/cut ties should be carefully considered to avoid sending any unhelpful or unintended messages. ”
Thus, Twitter user @captjasdeep shared a 2014 image with a false claim that the Canadian Army is giving winter warfare training to Chinese PLA in Canada.  Similarly, Facebook page Defence360 also posted old images.  They were tweeted by the Candian Army in 2018. Recently Indian Navy veteran Harinder S Sikka posted an image of a Sikh man praying in a mosque that dates back to at least 2016 with the false claim that he forgot to remove his turban after returning to a mosque from the farmers’ protestDonate 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…


Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warns Pres. Trump is taking a "reality TV" approach to the problems in America's large cities.

"You cannot secure the country from inside the beltway," he says. https://t.co/UR4PxnYiOK https://t.co/vEyZRPpYn3

Trump broke his nearly 3-month hiatus on coronavirus-focused briefings Tuesday. Trump delivers remarks on 'Operation Legend'President Donald Trump on Wednesday led a news conference focused on the coronavirus crisis for the second day in a row and opened his prepared remarks with a message to senior citizens before addressing a wide-range of topics, including sending his son back to school amid the pandemic and deploying federal troops to American cities. "I want to send a message of support and hope to every senior citizen who has been dealing with the struggle of isolation in what should be the golden years of your life.  We will get to the other end of that tunnel very quickly, we hope," he said.  "The light is starting to shine. "ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl asked the president about sending his son and grandchildren back to school. In response, Trump said, "I am comfortable with that. "Trump falsely said that his administration had a "national strategy" for schools reopening, when in reality the federal government -- the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- has provided different layers of guidance to schools, rather than some national strategy or plan.  Instead, on the details of schools reopening, the administration has largely punted to state and local officials. "We do have a national strategy, but as you know, ultimately, it's up to the governors of the states," Trump said. In a follow-up question, Karl noted children who go to school can bring the virus back to home and some live with their grandparents -- "there's a real risk. ""Well, they do say that they don't transmit very easily, and a lot of people are saying they don't transmit, and we're studying, Jon, very hard, that particular subject, that they don't bring it home with them," he said.  "Now, they don't catch it easily.  They don't bring it home easily, and if they do catch it, they get better fast.  We're looking at that fact.  That is a factor, and we're looking at it strongly. "White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr.  Deborah Birx has previously said the issue of how contagious kids are needs more study.  Soon after the briefing, she appeared on Fox News and was asked about the president's claim. "There's still open questions there, and that's why the president concluded with, 'we're studying this very hard,'" she said. Birx said a study in South Korea suggested that children under 10 transmit the virus less, "but I think it needs to be confirmed here. "The return to the coronavirus-related briefings comes amid sinking poll numbers and mounting criticism for his approach of trying to move beyond the pandemic even as the number of cases continue to surge. The president again appeared without task force doctors or public health experts, though he said again that Birx was "just outside" the room. Asked why they no longer appear with him at his briefings, Trump said it's "because they are briefing me. ""And they're giving me all of -- everything they know as of -- as of this point in time, and I'm giving the information to you.  And I think it's probably a very concise way of doing it," said Trump.  "It seems to be working out very well. "Despite months of not modeling the behavior himself, the president continued to endorse masks and social distancing on day two of his renewed coronavirus briefings. "Wear a mask, socially distance and repeatedly wash your hands," Trump said.  "Wash your hands often.  I am finding more and more people are saying wash your hands.  So wash your hands. "Trump ticked off a list of on-script "additional actions" his administration is taking to ramp up testing in nursing homes, including devoting $5 billion already appropriated by Congress to implement a national training program and provide technology to enable family visits. He also said the administration will begin requiring, rather than recommending, that all nursing homes in states with a 5% positivity rate or greater test all nursing home staff each week.  The announcement comes as testing labs across the country report equipment shortages and major delays in reporting results. The president went on to attribute increased cases overall to gatherings on Memorial Day and young people congregating at bars. Notably, Memorial Day gatherings occurred after the president spent the month of May pressuring governors to reopen their states, despite warnings from experts that exactly such an outbreak would happen. He also praised the country's growing border wall with Mexico for helping "greatly" to keep the virus out. "We're also sharing a 2,000-mile border with Mexico as we know very well, and cases are surging in Mexico unfortunately," he said.  "It was really meant for a different purpose, but it worked out very well for what we are doing right now and for the pandemic. "The U. S.  ranks third in coronavirus fatalities per capita while Mexico ranks sixth, according to Johns Hopkins University. He also took the opportunity to threaten Democratic mayors with federal troop deployments after saying earlier in the day he will "surge" federal agents to the Chicago to combat violence and crime. When asked if the move is part of a political ploy to distract from his leadership on coronavirus and attack Democrats as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other mayors have said, Trump said that "unfortunately"  the cities that are in trouble are all run by Democrats. "Yeah, the cities, unfortunately that are in trouble are all run by Democrats," Trump said.  "You have radical left Democrats running cities like Chicago and so many others that we just had a news conference and unfortunately that's the way it is. "Trump fired back at Lightfoot saying that she is making a "big mistake" for saying that she doesn't want federal law enforcement in the city, adding that Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit should "call" and say "come on in" to federal law enforcement.  The president said that he may not have a choice but to go into those cities. "Chicago should be calling us and so should Philadelphia and Detroit and others to go in and really help them because when you're losing many people a weekend, many, many people," Trump said.  "You see the same numbers as I do.  When you're losing these people, they should call us and they should say come on in.  And it's incredible to me but they are not doing it.  At some point they will.  At some point we may have no other choice but to go in. "He attempted to avoid answering why in 2016 he blamed violence in Chicago on former President Barack Obama but is now pointing the finger at local leadership, but eventually said it's because Obama could've "gone into Chicago" but didn't. "In our case, they don't want us in.  We can solve the problem very easily," he said. At just under 22 minutes, it was one of his shortest press conferences to date. ABC News' Will Steakin, Anne Flaherty and Evan McMurray contributed to this report. Tune into ABC at 1 p. m.  ET and ABC News Live at 4 p. m.  ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


The screenshot of an article purportedly published by BBC is being shared on social media claiming that the ‘Gallop International’ survey has ranked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the third most trustworthy political leader in the world.  Also, the post claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ranked 65th in this opinion poll.  Let’s verify the claim made in the post. Claim: BBC article reporting Rahul Gandhi as the third most trustworthy leader in the world. Fact: The BBC article screenshot shared in the post is a morphed one.  The Switzerland-based ‘Gallop International’ had never conducted an opinion poll on the world’s most trustworthy politician and ranked Rahul Gandhi.  If such an international survey features Rahul Gandhi as claimed in the post, several news websites would have published articles reporting the same.  But, we could not find any news article reporting this survey.  Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE. When we searched to check whether the BBC had published any such article on their website, we could not find such an article on the ‘BBC News’ website.  But the articles featured beside the top story section in the viral image were found published on the ‘BBC News’ website.  They can be seen here, here, here, and here.  The same reports were also be found on ‘The Newsroom’ programme by BBC telecast on 03 June 2016.  While all these articles were published by the BBC in the first week of June 2016, the screenshot of Rahul Gandhi article is marked as that published on 11 Jan 2016, prior to all these articles.  One can only find these posts on social media only from 03 June 2016, and not prior to this.  This clearly indicates that the image of the BBC article shared in the post is morphed.  Also, the published date in BBC articles is actually mentioned as ‘11 January 2016‘, not ’11 Jan 2016’ as seen in the viral image. When we searched on Google with the relevant keywords ‘Gallop International survey ranked Rahul Gandhi as the third most trustworthy politician in the world’, we could not find any news reports confirming this claim made in the post.  If such an international survey features Rahul Gandhi as the third most trustworthy politician in the world, several news websites would have published articles reporting the same.  But, we could not find any news article reporting this information on the internet. The Switzerland-based ‘Gallop International’ survey organization had never conducted an opinion poll or survey on the world’s most trustworthy political leaders.  The ‘World’s Trustworthy Leaders’ survey was never mentioned in the survey categories listed on their website.  The Gallop International survey website used to release ‘Global Leaders’ rankings every year.  Rahul Gandhi has been never listed in the ‘Global Leaders’ list released by the Gallop International survey website.  However, PM Narendra Modi was ranked third in the ‘Global Leaders 2017’ list.  Further in 2018, Narendra Modi was ranked fourth in the ‘Global Leaders 2018’ list.  Every year, the ‘Gallop International’ survey releases the report of ‘Rating World Leaders’.  Rahul Gandhi was never listed in any one of these surveys conducted by ‘Gallop International’. Earlier, when similar fake survey messages were attributed to PM Narendra Modi and former PM Manmohan Singh, FACTLY published fact-check articles.  They can be read here and here. To sum it up, the image of ‘BBC News’ article reporting Rahul Gandhi as the third most trustworthy politician in the world is a morphed one.


We going for talks with the hope that there will be a resolution today: Rakesh Tikait, Spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union, ahead of 8th round of talks with Centre on the three farm laws https://t.co/WnWb7m8uMz

Adamant on the repeal of three contentious farm laws, farm union leaders on Friday reiterated their pointed demand seeking rollback of the legislations ahead of their eighth round of talks with the government. “There is no scope of clause-wise talks.  The government should hold a meeting to repeal these laws today itself,” says Balvinder Singh Raju, a farmer told news agency ANI on Friday. Signalling hope, Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union said, “We are going for talks with the hope that there will be a resolution today. ”The eighth round of talks between three Union ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash - and the farmer unions to end the more than a month long agitation is scheduled to begin at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi at 2 pm.  Tomar is likely to call on Union home minister Amit Shah to discuss the issue before the talks begin, reported news agency ANI. So far the farmers and the government have engaged in seven rounds of talks to end the deadlock but inconclusively.  Thousands of farmers have been camping on Delhi’s borders in bitter cold as a statement of protest against the three agricultural laws cleared by the Parliament in September last year.  Another farm union leader stated that they are hoping for the best but are prepared for the worst.  “The minister yesterday categorically declared that repeal of farm laws is not accepted.  I don’t know what will happen during the discussions today.  Anyway, we hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Hannan Mollah, general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha said. Union minister of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhury hoped that a resolution will come out of Friday’s meeting.  Talking to PTI, Choudhury said, “I am hopeful that a resolution will be reached at Friday’s meeting.  We could have ended the deadlock by now had the protesting farmer unions discussed the issues raised at the first meeting. ” There was no demand for a repeal of the three farm laws at the first meeting, he added. The protests - longest such demonstration in decades of Independent India - have entered the seventh week and shows no signs of abating as the farmers have refused to halt them till their demands are met.  The laws essentially change the way India’s farmers do business by creating free markets, as opposed to a network of decades-old, government marketplaces, allowing traders to stockpile essential commodities for future sales and laying down a national framework for contract farming. These laws are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020. The farmers claim these laws will benefit big corporate houses.  The government has, however, tried to allay these fears and even said that it is ready to discuss changes to the law.  The government has made it clear that it won’t scrap these laws.


Pres. Joe Biden will hold his first Cabinet meeting this afternoon at the White House, one day after announcing his massive infrastructure plan, which is expected to be a major topic of conversation. https://t.co/Bgnglo5Df2

By Phil Mattingly and Maegan Vazquez, CNNUpdated 7:36 PM ET, Thu April 1, 2021  (CNN)President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he would be assigning five Cabinet secretaries to serve as his messengers in working with Congress and engaging with the public on the administration's infrastructure proposal.   CNN's Betsy Klein, Kate Sullivan and DJ Judd contributed to this report.


A new CDC forecast says the U.S. could soon see 150,000 fatalities as coronavirus cases continue to climb across the country. https://t.co/fWaqxZMliD

By Leah Asmelash, CNNUpdated 4:10 AM ET, Wed June 24, 2020  (CNN)Despite warnings from public health officials, new research suggests Black Lives Matter protests across the country have not led to a jump in coronavirus cases. CNN's Christina Maxouris and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.


A sickening view of Adanis  disastrous coal pollution during the transportation of coal in Goa

An old video of an overloaded goods train carrying petroleum coke colliding with the shed of a railway station in Chhattisgarh is viral with false claims that the goods train belongs to the Adani group and that the footage shows coal pollution during transportation in Goa.  BOOM found that the incident happened at Raigarh station in Chhattisgarh in 2019.  The goods train was heading to Katni in Madhya Pradesh from Paradeep port in Chhattisgarh.  The viral clip shows a goods train collide against the shed of a railway station and as a result spill a black soil-like substance on to the platform.   The video is doing the rounds on WhatsApp and Facebook as large scale protests in Goa take place against a rail doubling work which protesters claim is being done to transport coal from the state to neighbouring Karnataka.  Three major infrastructure projects are being opposed by residents for fear they will destroy Goa's fragile ecology.  The demonstrators are rallying under the banner of 'Goyant Kollso Naka' or 'don't want coal in Goa'.  Read here and here.  Also Read:Fake Tweet Screenshot Claims BJP-AIMIM Alliance For West Bengal Polls The video is viral with a caption which reads: "A sickening view of Adani's  disastrous coal pollution during the transportation of coal . . . . the lives of Goan people along the coal corridor are in complete jeopardy . . . Goan Lives Matter . . . Stop Adani's Destructive Projects . . . Save Goa. . . . "(Sic)  Click here for archive.  Also Read:2019 Photo Falsely Shared As Ashok Gehlot Bursting Crackers On Diwali We analysed the video and found that at the time stamp of 41 second, the station name is clearly visible, i. e.  Raigarh, which is not a station in the state of Goa.  Although Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh both have a place named Raigarh, the board has 'द. पू. म. रेलवे' (dakshin purv madhya railway) or South East Central Railway written on it.  This narrows down to the Raigarh situated in Chhattisgarh.  We ran a reverse image search and found an old Facebook post without a caption.  The post was published on December 18, 2019, by a page named 'Rail News Center. ' We then searched with 'train collision Raigad' keywords and found an article published by a Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar on December 19, 2019.  According to the report, the goods train was heading towards Katni in Madhya Pradesh from Paradeep port in Chhattisgarh carrying petroleum coke.  The article includes the same viral video.  The station master of Raigarh railway station in Chhattisgarh was not immediately reachable for a comment.   BOOM contacted superintendent of police Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, Santosh Singh.  "The accident is nearly an year old and from Raigarh.  As far as I remember the train belonged to South Eastern Coal Limited and not Adani as Adani's transportation is being done by road and not train. "   We also reached out to a spokesperson of the Adani group.  "The video showcasing the railway coal movement through Raigarh, Chhattisgarh being circulated across social media, falsely linking the Adani Group to its subject matter," the spokesperson said.  On asking whether the group transport coals in Raigarh region in Chattisgarh by train, the spokesperson said, "no we do not transport it by train. "


Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates an office-cum-residential complex of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ITAT in Cuttack (Odisha), via video conferencing.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik also attend the event. https://t.co/fFUAio0U11

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at FICCI’s (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) 93rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual Convention on December 12 at 11 am via video conferencing.  The convention is being held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic on December 11, 12 and 14, 2020.  The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the virtual FICCI Annual Expo 2020 which will provide an opportunity to exhibitors from across the globe to showcase their products and advance their business prospects.  According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the theme of this year’s convention is “Inspired India”.  Over 10,000 delegates from across the world will participate in the three-day virtual meeting which will also see the participation of several ministers, bureaucrats, captains of industry, diplomats, international experts, and other leading luminaries.  Union ministers likely to address the conference include union home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of micro, small and medium enterprises Nitin Gadkari, minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal, minister of external affairs S Jaishankar and minister of law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad.  Read more| ‘Inspired by Bharathiyar’s vision of empowered women,’ says PM Modi at International Bharati festivalFinance commission chairman NK Singh and NITI aayog chairman Amitabh Kant will also address the FICCI AGM. Industry leaders like Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella; former chairman, Alphabet, Eric Schmidt; Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran are also expected to address the meeting.  The convention will witness various stakeholders deliberating on the dynamics of the post pandemic world, implications of Covid-19 on the economy, reforms being undertaken by the government and the way forward for the Indian economy. Uday Shankar, the president of Walt Disney Company for Asia Pacific and the chairman of Star and Disney India will succeed joint MD of Apollo Hospitals Sangita Reddy as the FICCI president in the AGM.


CDC vaccine advisers voted Sunday to recommend the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. It is the first of the three authorized Covid-19 vaccines that comes in a single dose https://t.co/iQQ8PUmT6G

The vaccine only requires one shot, and it’s effective and safe. FDA issues emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson vaccineThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the Johnson & Johnson one-shot COVID-19 vaccine for use in people 18 years of age and older Sunday -- the last regulatory step needed before a third COVID-19 vaccine could be made available to the public. In an emergency meeting, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) reviewed the vaccine trial data and voted to recommend the vaccine.  The vote was later formalized by CDC Director Dr.  Rochelle P.  Walensky. In a press release, Walensky said the new vaccine would offer "more options and flexibility for the public, jurisdictions and vaccine providers. "The CDC did not weigh in on whether it would recommend certain people get the one-shot vaccine over existing two-shot vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, instead emphasizing the importance of getting vaccinated with any available option. "Getting vaccinated with the first vaccine available to you will help protect all of us from COVID-19," Walensky said. With a new vaccine added to the nation’s arsenal, here’s what you should know about the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a viral vector vaccine.  It is made from an inactivated adenovirus, the virus that causes the common cold, and contains a piece of DNA that instructs the body to make the COVID-19 spike protein. This in turn triggers an immune system response, giving you protection should you ever be exposed to the real virus in the future. The use of genetic instructions makes the Johnson & Johnson vaccine similar -- but not exactly the same -- to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which contain mRNA that instructs the body to make the COVID-19 spike protein. You cannot get COVID-19 or a cold from any of the authorized vaccines, because they do not contain live virus. In clinical trials, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 85% effective in preventing severe/critical illness and 66% effective in preventing symptomatic illness 28 days after vaccination.  Importantly, it was 100% effective in preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are 95% and 94. 1% effective in preventing symptomatic illness, respectively, but they were tested before the new, more contagious variants emerged.  The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested against the new concerning variants and still performed well. In fact, experts caution against comparing the relative effectiveness of vaccines because of differences in the way they were tested. The “[Johnson & Johnson] vaccine was not compared to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, which in fact, were not compared to each other,” said Dr.  Lorry Rubin, director of pediatric infectious diseases at Northwell Health's Cohen Children’s Medical Center and a former ACIP member.  “These studies were done at a somewhat different time period, and we have different variants of the COVID-19 virus circulating, so it’s not really comparing apples to apples. ”The FDA’s standard for authorization and approval of any COVID-19 vaccine is at least 50% efficacy in preventing symptomatic disease, meaning the Johnson & Johnson vaccine far exceeds this threshold. The flu vaccine, on average, is "about 50% effective" across all age groups, according to Rubin. “So, some people might say that’s a failure, but you are saving tens of thousands of lives each year," he said. The most common side effects reported in the Johnson & Johnson clinical trials were the side effects that typically occur with any vaccine, including pain at the injection site, fever and fatigue, which typically lasts 24 to 48 hours. “From the data available in the application to the FDA for the emergency use authorization, the vaccine looks to be safe," Rubin said.  "We have to differentiate the annoying post-vaccine sore arms, fever, and muscle aches from the definition of SAEs, severe adverse events. "No severe adverse reactions were reported during the trial, but the company is investigating two possible cases of anaphylaxis that were later reported. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one dose and can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.  The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are two doses and require more stringent temperature regulation. Walensky called the new vaccine another "important tool in our toolbox. ""As a one-dose vaccine, people do not have to return for a second dose to be protected," Walensky said, according to prepared remarks.  "In addition, this vaccine does not need to be kept in a freezer and can be stored at refrigerated temperatures -- so it is easy to transport and store and allows for expanded availability in most community settings and mobile sites, as supply scales up. ”The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe and highly efficacious, similar to the other COVID-19 vaccines that have already been authorized.  Members of the public might not have a choice of which vaccine they get, because it depends on the distribution site.  The most important thing, experts stress, is that people get any of the COVID-19 vaccines when it becomes available to them. “COVID-19 is a potentially fatal disease, and it sometimes even causes death in previously healthy 20- and 30-year-olds,” Rubin said. “All the vaccines protect against serious and fatal disease, and they protect to a large extent from getting sick at all from the infection," Rubin said.  "It’s a time thing.  Get whichever one you can get first. ”Adjoa Smalls-Mantey, M. D. , D. Phil. , is trained in immunology and is a psychiatrist in New York City.  She is also a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


Jurors in Harvey Weinstein's trial asked the judge Friday if they can be hung on some counts but unanimous on others https://t.co/D32HDMy1ug

The judge sent the jury back to keep deliberating.  Day 2 of jury deliberations ends with no verdict in Harvey Weinstein caseJurors in the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault case asked the judge about a partial verdict. "We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on [counts] 1 and or 3 and unanimous on the other charges," they said on Friday afternoon. Counts one and three are the two top charges of predatory sexual assault. Prosecutors argued that the jury should be instructed to keep deliberating, saying they would not be willing to accept a partial verdict "at this juncture. " Manhattan Supreme Court Judge James Burke sent the jury back to deliberate. Earlier on Friday, the jury heard a read-back of Annabella Sciorra's full cross-examination testimony -- part of one of the most powerful and affecting accounts of the trial. At a bathroom break about halfway through Annabella Sciorra’s full, 2-hour cross exam and redirect follows, the jury sent a new note, saying the read-backs could be ceased: they had heard all they needed. On Thursday, the jury sent a note to Judge Burke, requesting the court read to them the cross-examination and everything after Sciorra's testimony. Sciorra described in wrenching detail in the courtroom on Jan.  23 about the night nearly 30 years ago that she alleges the disgraced Hollywood producer violently raped her at her apartment. Her allegation is not one of those being considered as a charge in this trial, but, rather, was offered in support of two predatory sexual assault charges against Weinstein -- which require the state to prove that Weinstein attacked at least two women -- Sciorra and one of the two accusers.  It's part of prosecutors' larger efforts to demonstrate a pattern of sexual predation. Weinstein has been charged with five counts of sexual assault related-crimes including predatory sexual assault and rape in the first degree, stemming from two women's allegations.  He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims any sexual encounters were consensual. The jury's request may indicate they're working through the witnesses, and not the counts, a veteran law enforcement official following the trial closely told ABC News. The jury is expected to spend most the day in deliberations, and with court ending early Friday at 3 p. m. , it appears unlikely they will return any verdicts on Friday. If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault and is seeking resources, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


This elementary school fills their vending machine with books instead of candy. https://t.co/tG7iD8nuXs https://t.co/89vxPd8Gyy

    This vending machine isn’t dispensing sugary treats, fatty chips, or high-calorie sodas.  It’s dropping knowledge.

    An elementary school in Umatilla, Florida, unveiled the machine this week as part of the state’s literacy week.  They held a pep rally for the event, singing and dancing before the reveal.

    “The kids were so excited, they were trying to buy books out of it before we even unveiled it,” said Umatilla Elementary School Principal Dianne Dwyer.

    When the students are kind, get their homework done, or simply make good choices, they are rewarded with “Bulldog Bucks. ”

    Then they go to the school’s media specialist, Susan Caldwell, who oversees the library, book fair, and this new vending machine.  She takes their ‘bucks’ and gives them coins to use at the machine to select their book of choice.

    Caldwell had seen a post online from another school in Buffalo, New York, and thought it would be a great way to build excitement around reading and collecting books.

    “We call them ‘forever books,’” Dwyer said.  “Because we want the kids to take them home, read them with friends, share them with family.  It’s a free book for them to keep. ”

    The books are a variety of reading skill levels and ‘cost’$2 50 cents.

    “But really, it doesn’t cost them anything, they just have to make good choices,” Dwyer said.

    The vending machine is filled with books that were both donated to and purchased by the school.

    Dwyer said the school plans to keep the machine around full time, but hopes to partner with local businesses to get even more books donated.
  © 2021 Cable News Network.  A Warner Media Company.  All Rights Reserved.   CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.


Video shows Varanasi police attacking and torturing Muslim kids

A distressing video showing an injured minor boy in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests that turned violent on December 20, 2019 has been revived with a false claim that it shows Varanasi Police killing children from a local mosque.  The video shows a grievously injured boy bleeding from the head and nose.  When a man asks the child who is responsible for the injuries; the minor names the police.  BOOM was able to confirm that the video is from Bijnor's Jalalabad area, where large-scale violence broke out after protests against the citizenship law turned violent.  Several parts of Uttar Pradesh witnessed a riot-like situation in December 2019 after massive protests broke out in districts against the citizenship act that was announced on December 12.  Two people were killed in the violence in Bijnor district, while the protests and police crackdown claimed around 11 lives in the state.      The boy appears to have been injured during a lathicharge by police.    Note: The below video is distressing in nature.   The video was tweeted by the account @Dalal_alajmi_ and was retweeted over 2,000 times at the time of writing.  Click here to view the archive of the video.   #Indian_Muslims_in_danger #UNHCR #islamophobia_in_india #Kashmir * This shocking video of the Yogi Police in Varanasi (UP), how the children of the mosque and school were killed mercilessly, and showed the entire world what is happening in India * * Share please * pic. twitter. com/4gLfZs3IlN Fact Check  BOOM was able to ascertain that the video is not recent, as it surfaced during the anti-CAA protests in December.  We scanned for replies on the viral tweet and found a reply which stated that the video is from Jalalabad area of Bijnor district (Uttar Pradesh).   This is not the case of Varanasi.  This happened in my hometown Jalalabad, District Bijnor, UP when protest against CAA was held by locals on 20th Dec, 2019.  Upon relevant keyword searches, we found the same video, which was shared by one Immy Imran Khan on Facebook along with several other footage documenting the protests of Bijnor.  Click here to access the link of the video.   BOOM reached out to Imran Khan, who confirmed that he had shot the clip of the injured minor in the Qaziyan Mohalla of Jalalabad on December 20.  Khan told BOOM, "These children were returning after their Friday prayers in Masjid Gali of Qaziyan Mohalla when I shot this video of the injured kid. "  He further corroborated the video by shooting another video in the same area on May 25, after BOOM contacted him.  The same has been accessed by BOOM.   BOOM also found local news bulletins, which corroborated allegations of police lathicharging several children as well after the anti-CAA protests turned violent in Jalalabad area on December 20.    According to a report, a court in Bijnor granted bail to 48 people accused by the state police of rioting and attempted murder during the protests.  According to the FIR filed by the local police,  a mob of thousands gathered after Friday prayers, vandalised private vehicles and shops without provocation, broke government vehicles, threw stones at the police trying to control the situation and even fired at them.  BOOM however could not independently verify the attack on the minor.


Nearly 9 in 10 Americans (89%) who left their home in the last week said they wore a face mask or a face covering, compared to only 11% who said they did not, new @ABC News/Ipsos poll finds. https://t.co/pHGJiyR4Oq

By Tami Luhby, CNNUpdated 6:21 PM ET, Thu June 25, 2020  (CNN)Nearly half a million Americans turned to the federal Obamacare exchanges after losing health insurance coverage this year, new federal data shows.


Dilbagh Singh, Jammu & Kashmir DGP on today's Anantnag encounter:Two militants have been eliminated in the operation, their identities and affiliations are being identified. Arms and ammunition have been recovered. https://t.co/ANdcJpFH1p

An encounter broke out between militants and security forces in Kokernag area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district Tuesday, police said. There were no reports of any casualties on either side so far, a police official said. “A brief exchange of firing took place between militants and security forces in Kachwan forest area of Kokernag in Anantnag district,” he said. He said additional forces have been rushed to the area to strengthen the cordon and prevent the militants from escaping.


Even before the blaze at Notre Dame was extinguished, conspiracy theories and fake news about the fire had ricocheted around the internet https://t.co/sbH9CRWaVl https://t.co/W7Nz8y2BxO

YouTube said it's anti-misinformation tool made "the wrong call" on Monday. French President reacts to Notre Dame cathedral fire: 'We will rebuild it'YouTube apologized on Monday for mistakenly linking the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to the Sept.  11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The video giant said a new tool for battling misinformation made "the wrong call" when it displayed text from Encyclopedia Britannica about 9/11 in several videos of the iconic cathedral burning on Monday. "We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral," a YouTube spokesperson said.  "These panels are triggered algorithmically, and our systems sometimes make the wrong call.  We are disabling these panels for livestreams related to the fire. "YouTube introduced the fact-checking feature last year to stem the spread of conspiracy theories, including those that question the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City that killed thousands. The algorithm is supposed to display information panels with links to third-party sources including Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia while displaying videos on subjects linked to conspiracies, according to the company. Social media companies have been turning to computerized tools to help detect and eliminate fake news.  Twitter suspended an account impersonating CNN earlier in the day after it incorrectly tweeted that the Paris fire had been caused by terrorism.  French officials are still working to determine the cause of the fire. A spokesperson for the historic cathedral described the damage as "colossal. ""Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame," the spokesperson said. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


The Kerala High Court rejected the bail petition of activist Rehana Fathima who is facing a case under the Pocso and other charges for posting a video of her minor children painting on her partially-naked body

(report by Ramesh Babu)

https://t.co/IfVUZ75ayS

The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected the bail petition of activist Rehana Fathima who is facing a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) and other charges for posting a video of her minor children painting on her partially-naked body. The court rejected her contention that she allowed her children to paint her to impart sex education.  The court observed that while she was free to do this privately in her house to educate children, the intention behind her publicizing the video of the act cannot be good and it attracted charges related to obscene representation of children.  Her video with her two children--a 14-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl-- had triggered much outrage after it was circulated last month, prompting police to book her under Pocso, Juvenile Justice Act and other sections.  A lower court turned down her bail plea following which she moved the high court.  Also Read: Neuberg Diagnostics gets ICMR approval for COVID testing in KeralaHer plea states her acts were intended to enable her children to view body and body parts “as a different medium altogether rather than seeing it as a sexual look alone. ” She also stated that if children grew up seeing natural bodies, “their minds will be liberated of hyper-sexualization of women. ” “In a sexually frustrated society, women simply do not feel safe in clothes.  It is high time to open up and tell children what the female body is all about and what sex and sexuality really mean,” she said in her plea.  The court had earlier watched the video and rejected her contention and asked her to stand trial.  “If the painting on the body of the petitioner happened inside four walls of her house, there cannot be any offence.  After watching the picture, the court appreciates the talents of children.  But not in the way the petitioner encouraged them by uploading the video.  We cannot accept her view it was part of sex education,” the single bench headed by Justice P V Kunhikrishnan observed.  After the HC decision, Fathima said she will move the Supreme Court soon. Initially, Fathima had posted the video clip on Facebook but later she uploaded it on YouTube.  She rationalized her act by saying her kids did the painting while she was resting and called it a beautiful artwork.  “Just as beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, so is porn in the eyes of the beholder,” she wrote in the post.  There was a big outcry after her post surfaced.  Fathima was dismissed as a junior technician with the BSNL in Ernakulam in May this year after many cases came up against her.  Last year she was arrested on a complaint filed by a right wing activist claiming she hurt the religious feelings of the Hindu community by posting an objectionable picture on social media.  She was in jail for two months. After her unsuccessful attempt to trek to Sabarimala temple in 2018 along with a Hyderabad-based digital journalist Kavitha Jakkala, she was excommunicated by the Muslim Jamaath Council.  Her house was later vandalised by protestors.


Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu: EC is acting under BJP, they are not correct, they have to act impartially which they are not doing. Also, we doubt even EVMs are under manipulation & that's why we are demanding 50% counting of VVPATs. They are not agreeing. https://t.co/tMbYvmFUdX

Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party and the Election Commission are involved in a war of words over performance of electronic voting machines in the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls.  The poll panel wrote a letter to TDP on Saturday evening, hours after the Andhra CM met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, asking how a person involved in the alleged theft of EVM machines could be a part of Naidu’s delegation.  The TDP replied that there was no chargesheet filed against the leader and the poll panel was trying to “avoid addressing the situation”. Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition leaders are expected to meet in Delhi on Sunday to discuss about transparency in elections and faulty EVMs.  Also read: ‘Revert to ballots’: Chandrababu Naidu to EC two days after Andhra pollsIn its letter, the Election Commission said that Chandrababu Naidu was accompanied by Hari Prasad who is accused of EVM theft.  The poll panel said it “completely intriguing” how Prasad was allowed to be part of the delegation.  “It turned out that Hari Prasad was involved in a criminal case regarding alleged theft of EVM machine in 2010 ON which an FIR was filed. . . Whatever maybe the eventual outcome of the investigation, it would be appreciated that such antecedents do not inspire confidence,” the letter said. During his meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner on Saturday, He demanded that the Election Commission should revert to the system of recording votes through ballot papers and stop the use of electronic voting machines in polls.  He said there are doubts regarding reliability of the EVMs.


After suspending her campaign, Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls running for president "an honor of a lifetime." "We have ideas now that we talk about that we weren't talking about even a year ago." https://t.co/DypKZNF4SD https://t.co/eeGc1GKV18

By Gregory Krieg, CNNUpdated 10:37 AM ET, Fri March 6, 2020  (CNN)Elizabeth Warren has another decision to make.


BREAKING: Donald Trump will win the state of Idaho, @ABC News projects. https://t.co/CxyAJJkS76 #ElectionNight https://t.co/Awc26xVN0J

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Veronica Rocha, Melissa Mahtani and Amanda Wills, CNNOur live coverage has moved.  Go here for the latest results and news from the election. From CNN's Allison GordonResults from Milwaukee have flipped Wisconsin to Joe Biden, who has a lead in the state right now, CNN's Phil Mattingly says. Earlier, the city of Milwaukee's absentee ballot information was delivered with a police escort, CNN's Ryan Young reported. "When they have those three officers walking with them, you understand the importance of the event," Young told CNN's Chris Cuomo. The election is far from over with millions of votes still outstanding in key states, including in battleground Wisconsin. Joe Biden will win Hawaii, CNN projects. There are four electoral votes at stake in Hawaii.  It takes 270 electoral votes to win the 2020 presidential election. Who won in 2016: Former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton carried the state, and President Trump won the general election. From CNN's Josiah Ryan Republican insiders are crediting a $300 million get-out-out the vote effort organized by the Trump campaign and allies for narrowing the gap in many states, CNN's Ryan Nobles reported early this morning.  "Republicans are talking about. . .  the ground game that the Republican National Committee and the Trump Victory Organization put into place shortly after President Trump was inaugurated," said Nobles. Nobles reported on Friday that the campaign had spent more than $300 million on a data and ground operation and less on television and digital advertising in the final leg of the campaign.  "They firmly believe that that ground game was going to be a big part in narrowing the gap, in many of these key states and they're now saying that we're seeing that play out in realtime as these votes come," added Nobles.  From CNN's MJ LeeJoe Biden's campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon issued a strongly worded statement following President Trump's White House speech, calling it "outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect. " O’Malley Dillon went on to say that "the counting will not stop. ”From CNN's Maeve Reston and Stephen CollinsonVotes are still being counted in several key states across the US, and no winner has been determined in the presidential election. If you're just reading in, here's what you need to know about the race:From CNN's Leinz ValesBenjamin L.  Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer who co-chaired the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, said Wednesday that President Trump should “let all the votes be counted,” following his attacks on legitimate vote counting efforts. “If you have objections to either the particular ballots or to the process, then you have remedies after the fact from each state individual contests laws or recount laws if the margins are close enough,” Ginsberg told CNN’s Jake Tapper during CNN’s special election coverage.  Hear Ginsberg explain: From CNN’s Mark MoralesPhiladelphia won’t have an updated number on mail-in ballots until 9 a. m.  on Wednesday, said Lisa Deeley, head of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, which is a bipartisan board of elected officials in charge of elections and voter registration. Election officials are waiting on in-person voting numbers to be reported by some individual precincts and ingested into their system before they can report the number of mail-in ballots, Deeley said.  “That’s just the configuration of our system,” said Deeley, adding that it was a reporting issue, not mechanical. The delay in in-person results from the field are slowing down the reports, particularly in West Philadelphia, Deeley said “We are counting, we have been counting, we are going to continue counting until it's done,” Deeley said.  “We’re just waiting for the rest of the in-person results to come in from voting machines. ”Another update with mail-in votes will come at 9 a. m. , Deeley said. As of 1:10 a. m.  ET, with 1,598 of 1,703 divisions reporting, former Vice President Joe Biden has received 73. 3% of the city’s votes, and President Trump has received 25. 67% of the city’s vote. From CNN's Allison GordonBased on CNN's current projections, Joe Biden has 220 electoral votes while Donald Trump has 213 electoral votes. Here's the latest look at where things stand:Reminder: Each candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.


Image shows Kerala CM lighting candle with his family as per PM Modis Request.

The Kochi edition of Times of India recently tweeted an image of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family lighting lamps in his official residence.  The caption in the tweet claimed that Vijayan was participating in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to observe a blackout and light candles and lamps on April 5, 2020 to dispel the darkness brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.  This claim is false; the image is from 2018 and shows Vijayan and his family observing Earth Hour.  While news reports state that his official residence did turn of lights on April 5, there is no evidence of him lighting up candles or lamps.  There are recent news reports stating that the lights at Cliff House were indeed turned off on April 5 at 9 pm and that members of his house staff had shone torch light in solidarity.  However, none of the reports mention Vijayan taking part in lighting candles during this time.  Vice President of Bharatiya Janata Party Tamil Nadu's Youth Wing, SG Suryah, shared the image of Vijayan, with another image of Puducherry Chief Minister Velu Narayanasamy with the caption: "Just TWO images tel us clear result of PM @narendramodi's #9MinutesForIndia call!  Ideologically opposite #Communist's only CM Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan & BJP's staunchest rival #Congress Pondicherry CM Narayanasamy standing with PM Modi today!  Nothing else tells you a better story! " Archive Link Adding to the thread, Suryah said, "Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's photo sourced from @TOIKochiNews !  Tweet URL & screenshot of the same attached in this tweet for people claiming it to be fake!  If it's fake, you should question Times of India & not howl at me. " The URL took us to a deleted tweet by TOI Kochi.  However, we did find an archive of the tweet which shared the image with the caption: "Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family switch off lights and light diyas in support of PM's call. "   Using a range of keyword searches, we found another image of Vijayan and his family sitting in candle light, which has stark similarities with the image shared by TOI Kochi.  It shows him sitting with his wife, daughter and grandson in the verandah of his official residence called Cliff House, in the exact same position as in the viral image.   This image was published by the Kerala edition of The New Indian Express on it's front page on March 25, 2018.  The caption reads: "Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, wife Kamala, daughter Veena and grandson Ishan sit in the light of a candle on the verandah of Cliff House as they observe Earth Hour. "


Madurai: Karthik, a class 12th student has made a 'Nadaswaram', a traditional wind-based musical instrument, out of stone. He says, "Usually, this instrument is made of wood. I've put a lot of effort into creating it from stone.
It works&sounds like a Nadaswaram made from wood." https://t.co/BjVKHhjx6H

Class 12 student Karthik has made a Nadaswaram, a wind-based musical instrument which is usually made of wood, using stone in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai. Karthik studies at PKN School in Thiruparankundram.  His father is a sculptor.  Amid the coronavirus-induced restrictions, he attends one-hour online class every day and helps his father to make sculptures.  He also makes some sculptures on his own. He made a Nadaswaram out of stone.  The instrument is a product of one month’s hard work and the crucial part of making it is the placement of the holes.  The Nadaswaram is used for music purposes in South India.  The name is derived from ‘Nada’ meaning pleasing sound and ‘Swaram’ meaning note. “Usually, this instrument is made of wood.  I have put a lot of effort into creating it from stone.  It works and sounds like a Nadaswaram made from wood.  In my 6th standard itself, I used to help my father in his work and slowly learnt the work.  I made Nadaswaram and placed 7 swaras holes in it to give it a feel of the reality,” Karthik told ANI. Siva Rama Ganesan, a Nadaswaram musician, said, “I have not seen a Nadaswaram instrument made of stone.  For the first time, I am witnessing it and felt it like the real one made of wood.  And also works and sounds like the real one. ”


Man’s body found on railway track in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi

https://t.co/MHhsU6dPhU https://t.co/amzXPn8c0i

The body of a 20-year-old man was found on a railway track in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district on Friday a day after he was reported missing.  Government Railway Police (GRP) superintendent Saumitra Yadav said they recovered the body in two pieces.  Yadav added the head was found on track while the remaining body nearby.  “The spot examination suggested that the deceased had himself placed his head on the track to kill himself.  No struggle marks have been found on the spot. ”Also Read | No passenger death due to train accident in last 22 months: Railways ministerShyam Sunder, a local police officer, said the man was reported missing on Thursday.  “His body was found on the railway track while the family members were searching for him.  The case, however, is being handled by GRP as the deceased is run over by a train. ”


"Though odds were against us, God was not."

Bibles survive unharmed in West Virginia church fire, fire officials say. https://t.co/mbQ7ZncR9z https://t.co/i4p3QUuQya

    When firefighters arrived at Freedom Ministries Church in Grandview, West Virginia they were left stunned by what they saw.

    A devastating fire – so hot that firefighters had to back out at one point – was ravaging through the building, the Coal City Fire Department said in a Facebook post.

    But as they went through the charred wreckage, they noticed something extraordinary.

    “In your mind, everything should be burned, ashes.  Not a single bible was burned and not a single cross was harmed! ! ” the department wrote.

    The Facebook post, which went viral, features compelling photos of a pile of about a dozen intact Bibles surrounded by the rubble.

          Facebook post not found.

          Post has been removed or is no longer public.

    “Though the odds were against us, God was not,” the firefighters added.  No firefighters were injured in the operation.  The cause of the fire is still unclear.
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497 new #COVID19 cases reported in Goa today, taking the total number of positive cases in the State to 15,027 including 3,351 active cases, 11,511 recovered cases and 165 deaths: State Health Department https://t.co/AdtraL0Hmr

Andhra Pradesh on Sunday registered 477 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 8,929, the state’s Covid-19 nodal officer said. With the addition of 5 fatalities in the last 24 hours, the death toll in the Telugu state has now risen to 106. Among the deaths reported in the past 24 hours -- three occurred in Krishna district, one death in Kurnool and one person succumbed to the coronavirus infection in Chittoor. There are currently a total of 4,516 active coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh.  With 477 new Covid-19 cases detected on Sunday, the state is now approaching the 9000-mark and is likely to cross the figure on Monday.  Out of new cases found, 439 are from Andhra Pradesh, 34 are recent returnees from other states and 4 are from different countries. Barely eight days after recording 3 lakh Covid-19 cases, India on Sunday crossed the four lakh-mark with the biggest single-day spike of 15,413 new infections, while the death toll rose to 13,254 with 306 new deaths due to the disease, according to Union health ministry data. Earlier, India took 64 days to cross the 1 lakh-mark from 100 cases, another fortnight to reach the grim milestone of two lakh cases and then in another ten days it went past the 3-lakh mark. The country has been registering record single-day surges for the past four days now.  The jump of 15,413 cases took India’s case load to 4, 10,461.


A teen cracks an egg over Australian lawmaker Fraser Anning's head over anti-immigration remarks he made hours after the New Zealand mosque attacks. https://t.co/3aKgHn5ACk https://t.co/dUDiemY3ul

  A far-right Australian lawmaker who blamed the slaughter at two Christchurch mosques on immigration policies that “allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place” literally had egg on his face Saturday.

  Sen.  Fraser Anning, no stranger to controversy, was left with raw egg dripping down his back and the front of his shirt after a teenager raised his phone with one hand and, with the other, smashed an egg on the side of the politician’s head at a Melbourne news conference.

  Anning, in footage that went viral, was seen punching the boy in the face and then taking another swing before the two were separated.  The teenager was tackled to the ground.

  The encounter occurred a day after the massacre at two New Zealand mosques left at least 49 people dead and dozens injured.

  The same day, the lawmaker said, “This kind of violent vigilantism … highlights the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence. ”

  Anning said he opposed violence and condemned the gunman’s actions but added, “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program, which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place. ”

  His comments, which his media team confirmed as legitimate, sparked widespread outrage, including a tweet from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

  “The remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, right-wing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting,” Morrison wrote.  “Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian Parliament. ”

  Anning was speaking Saturday with reporters as CNN Australian affiliate Seven Network captured the scene was the unidentified teenager.

  “What I said was that a terribly unfortunate thing, a tragedy, but it’s going to be eventually accepted or expected that these sort of things happen.  When people are getting attacked in their own … ,” he said as the youth cracked the raw egg on the senator’s head.

  The 17-year-old was later released pending further investigation, according to the network.

  Anning fanned outrage in August when he called for a “final solution” to immigration during a speech in the Australian Parliament.

  The lawmaker referred to the infamous White Australia policy, which effectively banned non-European migrants in the mid-20th century.  He invoked the term “the final solution,” which the Nazis used to describe their genocide of Jews in Europe.

  The speech was immediately condemned by members of Parliament of all political stripes.  The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council called Anning’s language “beyond deplorable. ”

  CNN’s Gena Somra and Sarah Dean contributed to this report.
© 2021 Cable News Network.  A Warner Media Company.  All Rights Reserved.   CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.


Picture of paddy saplings placed in such a way that they read “BJP” and “Modi” was taken in a village in Bengal’s South Dinajpur district. This shows farmers support the Prime Minister.

Amid protests by Opposition workers and farmers’ unions against the Centre’s agriculture reforms, West Bengal BJP chief and Lok Sabha MP Dilip Ghosh put out a picture on Twitter in support of his party and Narendra Modi. The picture shows bunches of paddy saplings placed in a field in such a way that it reads “BJP” and “Modi”.  Ghosh claimed the picture was taken in a village in Bengal’s South Dinajpur district and depicts farmers extending their gratitude to the Prime Minister. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim along with the picture to be misleading.  The photo was taken in Bihar’s Kaimur district in July this year. Ghosh tweeted the picture on October 6 and wrote, “Picture taken from Puntor Village of Kumarganj assembly (Dakshin Dinajpur).  Farmers of Bengal, extending their gratitude towards Hon’ble Prime Minister. . .  #BJP4Farmers”The tweet is also being shared on Facebook.  The Twitter handle of West Bengal BJP has also retweeted Ghosh’s misleading tweet.  The archived version can be seen here. AFWA investigation Using a reverse search, we found the viral picture in a photo gallery of “Outlook”.  Here, the caption says: Farm workers put bunches of paddy saplings in a formation that reads “BJP MODI”, ahead of Bihar Assembly polls, in Kaimur district of Bihar. The picture was credited to news agency PTI. We also found the picture in the photo archive section of PTI.  As per the news agency, it was taken on July 12 in Kaimur district of Bihar. West Bengal has witnessed protests and counter-protests over the farm reform laws.  While Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) took out rallies against the reforms, BJP held several “Krishak Suraksha Yatras” in support of the laws, assuring farmers that they’ll get a better price for their produce. But it is certain that the picture tweeted by Dilip Ghosh is almost three months old and was taken in Bihar. The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.


West Bengal | PM Modi believes in ‘Sabka saath, Sabka vikas’. Mamata Banerjee believes in ‘kuch kuch ka saath, bhatije (nephew) ka vikas‘: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Panskura https://t.co/MuUb9QOtob

The Congress on Friday released a list of its ‘star campaigners' for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.  The party will have total of 30 ‘star campaigners,’ including chief Sonia Gandhi, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot, among others. “The following leaders of Indian National Congress, who would be campaigning for the ensuing First Phase of elections to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal to be held on 27th of March 2021,” read a letter from Congress general secretary KC Venugopal to the secretary of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Congress releases list of 30 star campaigners for West Bengal.  Party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi, ex-PM Dr Manmohan Singh & party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sachin Pilot, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Abhijit Mukherjee and Mohd Azharuddin included. #WestBengalElections pic. twitter. com/3BuMssL0awOther prominent campaigners for the Congress include chief ministers Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Captain Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh); Mallikarjun Kharge (leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha), former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury; former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh; national spokespersons Randeep Singh Surjewala, Pawan Khera; Abhijit Mukherjee (son of late former President Pranab Mukherjee who was from Bengal); former cricketers Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammad Azharuddin etc. The Congress is contesting the assembly elections in the eastern state with the Left and the recently-formed Indian Secular Front (ISF), whose entry into the alliance has triggered a war of words within the party. Also Read | 'Unfortunate': Anand Sharma on Adhir Chowdhury's retort over ISF alliance tweetWest Bengal assembly elections are being seen primarily as a contest between two-term chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  While Banerjee is the most prominent face of the TMC, and has vowed to campaign despite sustaining injuries in an alleged attack on March 10, the BJP will be represented by 40 ‘star campaigners,’ including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty, among others. Also Read | BJP names 40 star campaigners for first phase of Bengal polls.  Full list hereWest Bengal will vote across eight phases, between March 27 and April 29.  Counting of votes and declaration of results is scheduled for May 2.


Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao called on PM Narendra Modi today: Prime Minister's Office https://t.co/vaGnPAo7sh

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and requested him to release funds due to the state.  He also urged the PM to help with the financial assistance to the state government towards flood-relief work in the rain-ravaged areas of Hyderabad. KCR, as the chief minister is known, had a half-an-hour meeting with the PM and is reported to have discussed all pending issues with the Centre.  The meeting between the two comes after a gap of more than 14 months – the last time the meeting took place was on October 4, 2019. Unlike in the past, there was no official release from the chief minister’s office this time, but a Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader familiar with the development said it was purely an official meeting without any political significance. “The chief minister explained to the Prime Minister how the state’s economy had suffered heavily due to Covid-19 pandemic and how Hyderabad suffered heavy damages during the recent heavy rain and flash floods,” the TRS leader said. The chief minister requested the PM to release additional grants to the state to take up restoration works in flood-hit Hyderabad, besides GST compensation and funds due to the state under finance commission devolutions. He also reiterated the demands for granting national project status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme on Godavari river, besides central assistance to Dindi and Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift schemes on Krishna river. In the afternoon, KCR met civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and requested him to approve the establishment of five more airports in Telangana.  He appealed to the minister to help the state finalise the sites apart from getting all statutory clearances on a single-window basis for the airports. In his representation to Puri, the chief minister said that once the statutory clearances were given, the state government can commence the infrastructure work at the earliest for starting the non-scheduled operator’s permit (NSOP) operations with its own funds. KCR, who landed in New Delhi on Friday evening, met Union home minister Amit Shah the same day and requested him to release adequate financial assistance for modernisation of police forces.  He also explained how the state capital had witnessed heavy damages during the recent floods. Earlier, the chief minister also called on Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat to explain the state government’s stand on Krishna river projects. On Sunday, the TRS chief would visit the site allocated by the Central government for construction of the party office in New Delhi.


Carrie Johnson, the wife of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has taken her first step onto the global stage as she welcomed US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden to Cornwall, southwest England. https://t.co/RmhUHYzep9

Group of Seven leaders have brought pledges to share vaccine doses and make a fairer global economy to a seaside summit in EnglandG-7 nations pledge to match Biden’s donation of COVID-19 vaccine to poorer countries CARBIS BAY, England -- Group of Seven leaders brought pledges to share vaccine doses and make a fairer global economy Friday to a seaside summit in England, where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the coronavirus pandemic should not be allowed to leave a “lasting scar” on the world. The wealthy nations’ leaders were all smiles and unity as Johnson greeted them on the freshly raked sand of Carbis Bay, but they jostled over who was doing most to help the world’s poorer nations fight COVID-19. Recovery from the pandemic was set to dominate their discussions, and members of the wealthy democracies club committed to sharing at least 1 billion vaccine shots with struggling countries.  That includes a pledge from U. S.  President Joe Biden to share 500 million doses, and a promise from Johnson for another 100 million shots. Host Britain said the G-7 will also announce a package of measures aimed at reducing the chances of another pandemic.  The U. K.  government said the grandly titled “Carbis Bay Declaration” will aim for a 100-day goal to develop vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for future disease and to bolster surveillance for new illnesses. The group will also pledge to strengthen the World Health Organization, which former President Donald Trump pulled out of and Biden rejoined. Johnson said the goal of the measures was “to make sure that never again will we be caught unawares. ”Opening three days of talks in Cornwall, southwest England, Johnson warned that world leaders must not repeat errors made over the past 18 months — or those made in the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis. “It is vital that we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession in 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society,” he said after leaders posed for a formal “family photo” by the sea. “And I think what’s gone wrong with this pandemic, and what risks being a lasting scar, is that I think the inequalities may be entrenched,” Johnson added. The leaders of the G-7 — which also includes the United States Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — hope the meeting at the resort will also energize the global economy.  Beneath moody dark skies, the group walked away from the photo as cheerful as children who had just built a sand castle. As Johnson led the politicians off the beach, French President Emmanuel Macron threw his arm around the shoulders of Biden, whom he was meeting for the first time.  The White House later said the two men discussed COVID-19 and counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel region of Africa and would have a meeting on Saturday. Facing criticism that they are hogging vaccines, the leaders are competing to be the global champion of so many wounded by the virus.  With 3. 7 million people lost in the pandemic, the world’s richest democracies are eager to show themselves the champions of the afflicted. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped the summit would show the world “we’re not just thinking of ourselves. " Macron sought to underscore that, noting that France had already shipped vaccine doses to the world’s poor — and gently chiding countries that have not by urging in a tweet for “clear goals” and “concrete commitments. ”For Johnson, the first G-7 summit in two years — last year’s was scuttled by the pandemic — is a chance to set out his vision of a post-Brexit “global Britain” as a mid-sized country with an outsized role in international problem-solving. On Friday Queen Elizabeth II — Britain's biggest global star — traveled from Windsor Castle near London for a reception with the leaders and their spouses at the Eden Project, a futuristic botanical garden housed inside domes that features the world's largest indoor rainforest. The 95-year-old monarch drew laughter from her guests as she chided them during a group photo session: “Are you supposed to be looking as if you’re enjoying yourself? ”Senior royals — including heir to the throne Prince Charles, his son Prince William and William’s wife, Kate — joined the leaders for the reception and a dinner of roasted turbot, Cornish new potatoes and greens with wild garlic pesto cooked by a local chef. The choice of an ecologically themed venue was deliberate.  Climate change is also a top issue on the agenda, and hundreds of protesters gathered in Cornwall to urge the leaders to act, some dressed as sea creatures such as jellyfish.  Demonstrators deployed a barge off the coast with two large inflatable figures depicting Biden and Johnson on board. The G-7 is also set to formally embrace a global minimum tax of at least 15% on multinational corporations, following an agreement reached a week ago by their finance ministers.  The minimum is meant to stop companies from using tax havens to shift profits and to avoid taxes. It represents a potential win for the Biden administration, which has proposed a global minimum tax as a way to pay for infrastructure projects, and it dovetails with the president's hope to focus the summit on ways the democracies can collaborate to build a more inclusive and fair global economy to help compete with rising autocracies like China. But the main issue of the day was vaccines and the mounting pressure to outline global vaccine-sharing plans, especially as inequities in supply around the world have become more pronounced.  In the U. S. , there is a large vaccine stockpile, and the demand for shots has dropped precipitously in recent weeks. Biden said the U. S.  will donate 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses in the next year, 200 million of them by the end of 2021.  That commitment was on top of 80 million doses Biden has already pledged to donate by the end of June.  A price tag for the doses was not released, but the U. S.  is now set to be the larges donor to the international COVAX vaccine effort, as well as its biggest funder. Johnson said the first 5 million U. K.  doses would be shared in the coming weeks, with the remainder coming over the next year.  Macron said France would share at least 30 million doses globally by year’s end.  Germany plans to donate the same amount.  White House officials said the G-7 leaders on Friday committed to 1 billion doses in all. The COVAX vaccination campaign got off to a slow start as richer nations locked up billions of doses through contracts directly with drug manufacturers.  The alliance has distributed just 81 million doses globally, and large parts of the world, particularly in Africa, remain vaccine deserts. Humanitarian workers welcomed the new donations but said the world needs more doses and sooner. “We are still far from getting there,” said United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who is due to attend the summit Saturday as a guest. “We need a concerted effort.  We need a global vaccination plan,” he added.  “If not the risk is there will still be large areas of the developing world where the virus spreads like wildfire. ”Biden will wrap up his eight-day journey by meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.  Asked on the beach Friday what his message would be, Biden said, “I'll tell you after I deliver it. ”Putin, in an interview with NBC, said Russia's relations with the U. S.  had deteriorated to their lowest point in recent years. Asked if he agreed with Biden’s assessment in March that he is a killer, Putin laughed and said the criticism was part of America's macho attitude.  “I’ve gotten used to attacks from all kinds of angles and from all kinds of areas under all kinds of pretext, and reasons of different caliber and fierceness and none of it surprises me," he said, adding, "So, as far as harsh rhetoric, I think that this is an expression of overall U. S.  culture. "———Kirka reported from Falmouth, England.  Associated Press writers Sylvia Hui in Falmouth and Jonathan Lemire in Plymouth, England, also contributed to this report. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events