#Lockdown3 | A 'Shramik Special train' carrying migrant labourers leaves from Nashik railway station for Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

(ANI)

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In Europe, covid-19 death toll surpasses 140,00090 more coronavirus cases in MP, tally 2,715, eight deaths8 housing colonies reopened in Ghaziabad, downgraded to orange zonePM Modi says ‘a big thank you to our frontline Covid-19 warriors’PM Modi holds review meet to discuss education sector: PMOSpecial train carrying migrant labourers leaves from Maharashtra to Bhopal25 new cases of coronavirus recorded in Jammu and KashmirCovid-19 death toll in UK reaches 27,510, says reportDelhi reports 223 new cases, total cases in state mount to 3,738All New York schools to remain closed through spring, says Governor CuomoSouth Africa begins easing lockdown, allows some industries to reopenGurudwara in Nanded closed as 91 more pilgrims test positive for coronavirusRailway ministry cancels all passenger trains including local trains till May 17MHA says consumption of liqour, paan and gutka in public bannedAarogya Setu must for people in containment zones: MHAWith 1,755 cases recorded over 24-hours, India's tally of cases has touched 35,365 mark with 1,152 deaths.  More than 3. 3 million people continue to be infected by Covid-19. India has extended its lockdown by two weeks starting from May 4.  The government has allowed considerable relaxations in green zones (districts where there has been no cases in the last 21 days) and orange zones (districts where no cases have been reported for than two weeks).  Red zones (districts where cases continue to be reported ) will only allow essential services. A Bloomberg report predicted that the pandemic way extend well beyond 2022 as economies across the world struggle to mitigate losses.  WHO hopes that China will join investigations to search origins of Covid-19. Click here for full coverage on coronavirus pandemicHere are the latest updates on coronavirus outbreak from around the world:In Europe, covid-19 death toll surpasses 140,000The death toll in Europe due to SARS-Cov-2 virus outbreak crosses 140,000 mark, reports news agency AFP. 90 more coronavirus cases in MP, tally 2,715, eight deathsWith 90 people testing positive since previous night including 29 in Indore, the number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh rose to 2,715 on Friday, health officials said, reports PTI. 8 housing colonies reopened in Ghaziabad, downgraded to orange zoneThe Ghaziabad district administration on Friday opened eight residential societies after no COVID-19 case was reported in 14 days there, officials said, reports PTI. PM Modi says ‘a big thank you to our frontline Covid-19 warriors’Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the armed forces have always kept the nation safe.  Even in times of disasters, they are out there helping people.  Now they are in a unique way saying thank you to the frontline COVID-19 warriors for their endeavor towards making India Covid-19 free.  Our Armed Forces have always kept the nation safe.  Even in times of disasters, they are out there helping people.  Now, our Forces are, in a unique way, saying a big thank you to our frontline COVID-19 warriors for their endeavour towards making India COVID-19 free. PM Modi holds review meet to discuss education sector: PMOPrime Minister Modi today held a review meeting to discuss education sector- Special emphasis was given on use of technology in education sector&enhancing learning &adapting by use of technology such as on-line classes,education portal&class-wise broadcast on dedicated education channels, the Prime Minister's office said, reports ANI. PM Modi today held a review meeting to discuss education sector- Special emphasis was given on use of technology in education sector&enhancing learning &adapting by use of technology such as on-line classes,education portal&class-wise broadcast on dedicated education channels:PMO https://t. co/9GmVaRqpcUSpecial train carrying migrant labourers leaves from Maharashtra to BhopalA 'Shramik Special train' carrying migrant labourers leaves from Nashik railway station for Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, reports ANI. Maharashtra: A 'Shramik Special train' carrying migrant labourers leaves from Nashik railway station for Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.  #COVID19Lockdown pic. twitter. com/cKS3s3WuzK25 new cases of coronavirus recorded in Jammu and KashmirWith 25 new Covid-19 positive cases, the total number of coronavirus cases in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) on Friday reached 639, reports ANI. Covid-19 death toll in UK reaches 27,510, says reportDeaths due to coronavirus in the United Kingdom have now reached 27,510, health minister said, reports AFP. Delhi reports 223 new cases, total cases in state mount to 3,738New Delhi recorded 223 new cases and 2 fresh deaths due to the novel coronavirus.  The total positive cases in the state stand at 3,738, reports PTI. All New York schools to remain closed through spring, says Governor CuomoGov.  Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that New York schools and colleges will remain closed through the rest of the academic year amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Cuomo said that it’s too risky to open up schools again this spring, and that he wants to keep children and educators safe, reports AP. South Africa begins easing lockdown, allows some industries to reopenSouth Africa began to gradually ease its strict coronavirus lockdown on Friday, allowing some industries to reopen after five weeks of restrictions that plunged its struggling economy deeper into turmoil, reports AFP. Gurudwara in Nanded closed as 91 more pilgrims test positive for coronavirusLocal authorities sealed Nanded’s Hazur Sahib gurdwara on Friday, hours before Punjab reported that 91 more people who returned from the shrine in Maharashtra had tested positive for coronavirus, reports PTI. Railway ministry cancels all passenger trains including local trains till May 17All passenger trains services have been cancelled until May 17.  Movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places shall be carried out by Shramik special trains.  Freight, parcel trains have also been allowed to ply, RD Bajpai, executive director, Ministry of Railways informed via a statement. MHA says consumption of liqour, paan and gutka in public bannedMHA has strictly banned consumption of liquor, gutka and paan in public. Consumption of liquor, paan, gutka, tobacco etc.  is not allowed in public places during lockdown: MHAAarogya Setu must for people in containment zones: MHAMHA has made Aarogya Setu app must dfor people living in containment zones. 'Aarogya Setu' app must for people living in COVID-19 containment zones: MHA guidelines on extension of national lockdownFirst published: May 01, 2020 06:56 IST


This Virginia police officer's motto: To protect and serve -- and then play dolls https://t.co/8vTzDSJEHw https://t.co/RzhqUunq5G

The South Hill officer was spotted on the sidewalk with chalk and dolls. Virginia police officer spotted playing with kids after responding to a callA Virginia police officer is quickly gaining the reputation of being the most kid-friendly cop in the neighborhood. South Hill Police Cpl.  C. B.  Fleming was caught on camera playing dolls and coloring with sidewalk chalk with kids after responding to a report of a suspected gas leak at the Mecklenburg Manor apartment complex on Valentine's Day, South Hill Police Chief Stuart Bowen told ABC News. The police department is dispatched to fire calls to gather any information to report back to the volunteer fire department, which is why Fleming was there, Bowen said.  Once it was determined it was a false alarm, Fleming went straight to a different kind of work: playing with the kids. "I think he just enjoyed interacting with them because that's just the kind of person he is," Bowen said. Iesha Roper-Boswell, who caught the heartwarming moment on camera, told CBS Richmond affiliate WTVR that the kids "need someone who they feel is a superhero. ""It's just amazing, the bond he has with the children," the 28-year-old mother told the local station. The images show Fleming, who has been on the force for 15 years, lying on his stomach on the sidewalk as he interacts with the children. Bowen described Fleming as an "outstanding person" with an "infectious personality.  He is "very strong family man" with four kids of his own and has also fostered two other children, Bowen said. "This isn't the first time he's done something like this," Bowen said, adding that the officer "saw an opportunity to go out and speak to these kids and show them the positive side of a police officer" and that there's "no reason to be afraid. "Roper-Boswell told WTVR that she had just finished telling Fleming that her daughter, niece and some of the other children were afraid of police, prompting him to jump into action. "So when he came and played with them, I captured that moment, not because I thought it would go viral, but it was amazing that my niece didn't break out into tears," she said, adding that he changed the children's lives. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


The coronavirus pandemic is having a serious impact on press freedom worldwide as authoritarian leaders take advantage of the public health crisis, new report says. https://t.co/VobNcD3KY9

By Rob Picheta, CNNUpdated 0956 GMT (1756 HKT) April 22, 2020 London (CNN)The world is facing multiple famines of "biblical proportions" in just a matter of months, the UN has said, warning that the coronavirus pandemic will push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation.


PM Modi: We're happy that 1st of the 36 Rafale fighter aircraft will be handed over to India next month. France is the first country with which we have signed civil nuclear arrangement. https://t.co/xauozbGT0E

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa are set to travel to Paris next month to receive the first of 36 Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force, government sources said Wednesday. They said top military brass of France as well as senior officials of the Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, will also be present at the handing over ceremony which is likely to be held on September 20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leaving for France on Thursday on a bilateral visit during which further boosting of defence cooperation between the two countries will be discussed. Sources said a high-level team of the Indian Air Force is already in Paris to coordinate with the French officials on the handing over ceremony. India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore.  The aircraft is capable of carrying a range of potent weapons and missiles. The IAF has already completed preparations, including readying required infrastructure and training of pilots, to welcome the fighter aircraft. The sources said the first squadron of the aircraft will be deployed at Ambala air force station, considered one of the most strategically located bases of the IAF.  The Indo-Pak border is around 220 km from there The second squadron of Rafale will be stationed at Hasimara base in West Bengal. A number of IAF teams have already visited France to help Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale, incorporate India-specific enhancements on-board the fighter aircraft The Rafale jets will come with various India-specific modifications, including Israeli helmet-mounted displays, radar warning receivers, low band jammers, 10-hour flight data recording, infra-red search and tracking systems among others. The Congress raised several questions about the deal, including on rates of the aircraft, and alleged corruption but the government has rejected the charges. The IAF spent around Rs 400 crore to develop required infrastructure like shelters, hangers and maintenance facilities at the two bases. In July 2017, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, during his visit to France, flew a Rafale jet at the Saint-Dizier airbase to gain first-hand experience of the aircraft.  According to the deal, the delivery of the jets was to be completed in 67 months from the date the contract was inked. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.  Only the headline has been changed. )


Bengaluru: ISRO's half humanoid 'Vyommitra' to be placed in the first unmanned mission under #Gaganyaan to simulate most of the human body functions. Sam Dayal, ISRO scientist says, "It will try to simulate a human & report back to us. We are doing this as an experiment". https://t.co/tikJJLierO

Even before orbiting astronauts on India’s first manned mission to the space in December 2021, the Indian Space Research Organisation will send ‘Vyomamitra’, a ‘lady robot’, in unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft. The robot was the centre of attraction at the inaugural session of the “Human Spaceflight and Exploration - Present Challenges and Future Trends” here on Wednesday. Vyomamitra, a combination of two Sanskrit words Vyoma (Space) and Mitra (Friend), took everyone by surprise when she introduced herself to the audience gathered there. “Hello everyone.  I am Vyomamitra, the prototype of the half-humanoid, been made for the first unmanned Gaganyaan mission,” the robot said. Explaining about the role in the mission, she said, “I can monitor though module parameters, alert you and perform life support operations.  I can perform activities like switch panel operations. . . ” The robot said she can also be a companion and converse with the astronauts, recognise them and can also respond to their queries. ISRO chairman K Sivan told reporters the humanoid will simulate human functions in space and also interact with the environment control life support system. “It will be simulating exactly the human functions there (in space).  It will check whether the system is right. This will be very useful to simulate, as if a human is flying,” said Sivan. Earlier, addressing the inaugural function, Sivan said ahead of the launch of India’s maiden human spaceflight venture ‘Gaganyaan’ in December 2021, ISRO will undertake two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021.


Three minutes to go for #Chandrayaan2 launch. #ISRO https://t.co/Q1lHblEPaA

NASA on Monday congratulated its Indian counterpart ISRO on the successful launch of its second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 and said it was looking forward to know what the Indian space agency learns about the lunar south pole. India on Monday successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 on board its powerful rocket GSLV-MkIII-M1 from the spaceport in Sriharikota to explore the unchartered south pole of the celestial body by landing a rover. The geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle lifted-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre into cloudy skies at 2. 43 pm and successfully placed the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into the earth orbit about 16 minutes later. “Congrats to ISRO on the launch of Chandrayaan 2, a mission to study the Moon.  We’re proud to support your mission comms using our Deep Space Network and look forward to what you learn about the lunar South pole where we will send astronauts on our #Artemis mission in a few years,” NASA tweeted.  As NASA marked the 50th anniversary of the historic first Moon landing on July 20, the US space agency is preparing to take its next giant leap with the ambitious Artemis programme that could see the “first woman and the next man” walk on the lunar surface. The success of Chandrayaan-2 has brought a huge relief for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists after they postponed the launch on July 15 following a technical glitch in the rocket. The Rs 978-crore unmanned mission also brought woman power to the fore as it was helmed by two woman scientists of the ISRO - Ritu Karidhal and M Vanitha, the Mission and Project directors respectively. Joined by President Ram Nath Kovind and leaders across the political spectrum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists and said every Indian is immensely proud today. In a series of tweets, Modi referred to the indigenous systems used in Chandrayaan-2 and said the mission is “Indian at heart, Indian in spirit! . . . According to ISRO, the lunar South Pole is an interesting surface area which remains in shadow than North Pole. There is a possibility of the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it, the agency said, adding craters in the South Pole region have cold traps and contain fossil record of the early solar system.


West Bengal records 2,967 new COVID-19 cases and 57 deaths today, taking the total number of cases to 1,41,837 including 27,694 active cases, 1,11,292 recoveries and 2,851 deaths: State Health Department https://t.co/Afuns2ZAv3

India reported 61,408 new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 836 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 3,106,349, including 2,338,036 recovered patients, according to the Union health ministry on Monday. The country had crossed the 1 million mark on July 16, the 1. 5 million milestone on July 28 and two million on August 6.  The number of Covid-19 cases in India crossed three million on August 22.  Last week, 397,277 Covid-19 cases, including more than 5,700 deaths, were added to the country’s infection tally. There were 710,771 active Covid-19 cases, the health ministry’s dashboard showed at 8am.  With 57,469 patients discharged between Sunday and Monday morning, the number of recoveries has reached 2,338,036 and recovery rate at 75. 26%, data showed. The health ministry said the gap between recoveries and active cases continued to widen, with the number of patients recovering currently more than three times the active cases.  The widening gap has led to active Covid-19 cases becoming about 23. 24% of the total positive case reported in the country so far.  India had reported its first Covid-19 case on January 30. “This is because of effective implementation of Centre led policies ensuring efficient clinical management in hospital settings for critical patients, and supervised Home Isolation for moderate and mild ones,” the health ministry tweeted on Monday morning. “The constantly increasing recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz.  the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 23. 24% of the total positive cases.  This has also resulted in a gradually falling mortality rate. ”According to the health ministry’s data, India has witnessed 57,542 people succumbing to the viral disease to date.  It has said that India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) at 1. 86% is one of the lowest globally.  The ministry has been attributing this to the comprehensive and sustained effectiveness of the Centre’s policy of “TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively & TREATING efficiently”. “Higher number of recoveries and declining mortality rate among COVID patients have shown that India’s graded and pro-active strategies are delivering results on the field,” it has said. According to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker, the global tally stands at 23,358,598 with 807,830 fatalities.  The US leads the tally with 5,701,938 Covid-19 cases, followed by Brazil with 3,605,783.  India is the third worst-affected country in the world.


Over 18,500 people around the world have been killed by COVID-19, as confirmed cases top 400,000.

Tracking the coronavirus: https://t.co/9BzrmYwWwB https://t.co/ftX3OrePx6

Thereâs still a lot we donât know â including where the virus came from and when the pandemic will end. CNN Medical Analyst Dr.  Leana Wen shares how to plan for taking care of ourselves and our loved ones as more people get vaccinated. Masks can help protect against the spread of Covid-19, but theyâre only effective if you wear them properly. CNN is collecting your questions about Covid-19.  Weâll be answering some of them in upcoming stories. Join CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr.  Sanjay Gupta for the latest news about Covid-19. Get the facts from CNN delivered to your inbox daily.


Delhi: Preparations underway for the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal at Ramlila Ground. He will take oath as CM for the third time today. https://t.co/QbyMhGkBwZ

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal is all set to take oath as the chief minister of Delhi for the third straight time on Sunday in Ramlila Maidan as hundreds of people are expected to join him. Kejriwal is scheduled to be sworn-in along with his six of his ministers, days after the AAP romped to a magnificent victory in the Delhi assembly election, in which the party won 62 seats in the 70-member House. The 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician has urged the people of the city to witness “the son of Delhi” taking oath on Sunday. Here is all you need to know:* More than 150,000 people are expected to be accommodated inside the Ramlila Maidan, in the heart of the national capital, and as many as 3000 AAP volunteers will help in crowd management. * Kejriwal has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seven lawmakers of the Bharatiya Janata Party who represent the city and all the eight of its newly-elected members of legislative assembly to his swearing-in ceremony.  The Prime Minister, however, is scheduled to visit his parliamentary constituency Varanasi to inaugurate various projects and may not attend the ceremony. * Along with Kejriwal, six of his party leaders who will be part of his cabinet will also take an oath of office.  Kejriwal is retaining all the six ministers who served his government in the previous term – Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Imran Hussain, Gopal Rai, Rajendra Gautam and Kailash Gehlot. * Kejriwal held a dinner meeting on Saturday with his colleagues to discuss the roadmap for Delhi’s development, especially the initiatives that need to be prioritised in the next three months.  Manish Sisodia said after the meeting that Kejriwal has asked all cabinet ministers to work dedicatedly towards fulfilling the promises listed in the “guarantee card”.  Kejriwal had released the card, “10 guarantees of Kejriwal”, ahead of the Delhi assembly polls. * A group of 50 commoners will be sharing the stage with him under the banner of “Dilli ke Nirmata” or the architects of Delhi.  “They are the people who make Delhi what it is.  They are the true architects of the city,” Sisodia had in a press conference on Saturday. * Among the special invitees are doctors, teachers, sanitation workers, bus conductors, bus drivers, marshals deployed for women security, auto-rickshaw drivers, farmers, anganwadi workers, athletes, IIT and medical students enrolled under scholarships, PWD engineers, businessmen, mobile ambulance operator, relatives of fire officials and police officials who lost their lives on the line of duty and the chief architect of Signature Bridge Ratan Jamshed Batliboi. * This will also be the third consecutive time when Kejriwal will be sworn-in at the historic Ramlila Maidan.  He had earlier taken the oath of office in 2013 and 2015 at the same venue. * Kejriwal’s second oath-taking ceremony in 2015 was held on February 14 on Valentine’s Day.  He had promised an end to VIP culture, vowed to eliminate corruption and continue to stand for the aam aadmi then. * The AAP is associated with the iconic ground since 2011 when social activist Anna Hazare led the India Against Corruption movement.  It is also the place where the AAP was born out of the anti-corruption movement. * More than 5000 security personnel, including the personnel of Delhi Police and paramilitary forces, have been deployed for the oath-taking ceremony.  Multi-layered security deployment has been made along with CCTV surveillance.  Restrictions will be in place in the Ramlila Maidan area from 8am to 2pm.


Image claims girl raped in post poll violence whom Amit Shah visited last year

A set of two images - one showing young woman pictured with Home Minister Amit Shah, and the other - a  disturbing photo of a woman's lifeless body drenched in blood, are viral with claims that the girl pictured with Shah was raped and killed during the violence that broke out following Trinamool Congress' victory in West Bengal.  The set of images is doing the rounds on social media after West Bengal erupted in post poll violence after the results of the Assembly elections were announced on May 2.  As many as 14 have lost their lives in clashes between the political parties.  Meanwhile, several unrelated photographs and videos are viral on social media with misleading claims.  The West Bengal Police has called out tweets claiming that two Bharatiya Janata Party women were gangraped and many molested in Birbhum.      The image has been captioned as,  "Sorry Amit Shah I trusted you and Voted  For you But Now I am Getting Raped because You lost election Please Save me  from Getting Raped You have got 303 seats in Centre Don't Be So Spineless"  average Hindu in Bengal #SpinelessBJP".  Click here to see the tweet and here for an archived link.   The set of two images is also viral with a Hindi text which reads, "Prime Minister, Home Minister. . . the party workers who are being killed in Bengal right now, they fought for you/your political gain.  Be indebted to them.  If you cannot save their lives, then, in the name of god, you will be accused of cowardice.  I won't call you coward but I'll definitely say that if you don't do anything then one day you will be surely left alone in the political battle.  Centre should immediately look into the ongoing matters in Bengal.  No more statements.  Strict action.  Thank you" (Original text in Hindi: श्रीमान @narendramodi @amitshahofficial प्रधानमंत्री, गृहमंत्री. . .  वह कार्यकर्ता जो बंगाल में मारे जा रहे हैं, वह आपकी सत्ता के लिए लड़े थे.  उनके ऋणी हो सभी लोग.  यदि उनके जीवन की रक्षा नहीं कर सकते तो ईश्वर के ही शब्दों में कायरता का आरोप लगेगा.  मैं कायर तो नहीं कहूँगा लेकिन इतना अवश्य है यदि कुछ नहीं किया तो राजनीतिक युद्ध में एक दिन आप सभी अकेले पड़ जायेंगे.  बंगाल में केंद्र का प्रभाव हस्तक्षेप तत्काल होना चाहिये.  वक्तव्य नहीं.  कठोर कार्यवाई.  साभार) The tweet is archived here.  Also Read: BJP Passes Off Image Of India Today Reporter As Slain Party Worker BOOM ran a reverse search and  found that the image was published in a report on Economic Times on November 6, 2020.  The image was captioned as, "Shah, who is on a two-day tour to the state, arrived in Bankura this morning to take stock of the party's organisation in the district".  We also found the same image in a Bengal Post article on November 25, 2020.   BOOM found that the image was  clicked in Chaturdihi village (under Andharthole block) of Bankura district in  West Bengal on November 5, 2020.  Home Minster Amit Shah went to a party worker Bibhishan Hansda's home  and had lunch there.  Shah's image with Hansda's family was clicked during his visit.  Read more reports here and here.   We reached out to Bibhishan Hansda who said that reports of his daughter being assaulted are fake.  Hansda told BOOM, "Both my family and my daughter are safe.  There was no post poll violence in our area.  The viral reports with my daughter's image are fake. " Hansda's daughter, a class 12 student, is a diabetic patient.   BOOM spoke to a tribal community leader Amulya Hansda who stays in the same village as Bibhishan Hansda.  Amulya also rubbished claims about Bibhishan's daughter being assaulted.  While BOOM was unable to verify the image showing a woman's body, it is clear that it does not belong to the woman seen in the photograph with Shah.    Also Read: No, This Video Is Not Linked To Political Violence In West Bengal


Meghan went into labor in the early hours of Monday morning, Buckingham Palace tells CNN. Her husband, Prince Harry, was by her side: https://t.co/jisSevlQTg https://t.co/P6ene16P03

Prince Harry and Meghan's baby is seventh in line to the throne. Why Harry and Meghan's baby boy is 7th in line to the British thronePrince Harry and Meghan have welcomed a baby boy. "As every father and parent would ever say, you know, your baby is absolutely amazing," Harry said Monday in announcing the birth of his first child.  "But this little thing is absolutely to die for, so I’m just over the moon. "The newborn weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces.  The baby was born at 5:26 a. m.  local time, according to Buckingham Palace. Both mom and baby are "doing incredibly well," Prince Harry said in his brief remarks outside Frogmore Cottage, the Windsor home where he and Meghan will raise their son. The public will get their first glimpse of the family of three -- Meghan, Harry and the baby -- later this week, according to Harry. In the meantime, he and Meghan will spend time bonding with their baby. When asked about a name, Harry said he and Meghan are "still thinking" about it, adding, "That's the next bit. "Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is with the couple at Frogmore Cottage, according to Buckingham Palace.  The Los Angeles-based Ragland is "overjoyed by the arrival of her first grandchild," the palace said. Harry's royal family members -- including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate -- and relatives of Princess Diana, Harry and William's late mother, were informed of the baby's birth and are "delighted with the news," according to Buckingham Palace. A Kensington Palace aide said of Harry's brother, William, and sister-in-law, Kate, "The Duke and Duchess are overjoyed and looking forward to meeting the latest addition to the family. "Meghan, 37,  went into labor in her 41st week of pregnancy, one week past her due date. "I’m so incredibly proud of my wife," said Harry, 34, who called the birth of his son "amazing" and "absolutely incredible. "Following royal tradition, a framed notice of birth for Harry and Meghan's son went on display on a ceremonial easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace Monday. The baby is seventh in line to the British throne, falling behind Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Prince Harry. Baby Sussex will not automatically be a prince, unlike his cousins Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who were designated as his or her royal highness and given the title of prince or princess. The baby's great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, can step in to give him that title, however. He is the fourth grandchild for Prince Charles and the eighth great-grandchild for Queen Elizabeth.  Meghan and Harry's son will share a close birthday to his cousin, Princess Charlotte, who turned 4 on May 2. Baby Sussex appears to be the first mixed-race child born into the royal family.  Meghan was born to a white father and a black mother and grew up as a biracial child in Los Angeles. Some royal historians have pointed out though that when Queen Charlotte married King George III in the 1700s, he was believed to have descended from the black branch of the Portuguese royal family.  The couple had 15 children, according to the British royal family's website. The son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, could hold dual American and British nationality, a first for a royal baby. Meghan, a California native, is reportedly still waiting for her British citizenship application to be approved. "From what I understand, Harry and Meghan will have to acquire documentation for their child to prove U. S.  citizenship and it’s not clear if they will do that but of course the option is there," said ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy. Prince Harry married Meghan last May.  Five months later, they announced the pregnancy as they embarked on their 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand Fiji and Tonga. In candid moments interacting with children during that tour and in the months since, Harry and Meghan have given a glimpse into the kind of hands-on parents they are expected to be. Harry spoke about his love for little ones in a 2016 interview with "GMA" co-anchor Robin Roberts, saying he "can't wait for the day" he has children.  At the time, he said he tries to be the "fun uncle" for Prince William and Kate's children. "I've got a kid inside of me, I want to keep that, I adore kids," he added.  "I enjoy everything that they bring to the party, and they just say what they think. "Meghan's friends have also described her as someone with a maternal instinct who is genuine in her interactions, particularly with kids. “When you see her at walkabouts, when she crouches down to talk to the kids and genuinely has real conversations with people, that’s Meg,” a former costar of Meghan's told People magazine in February.  “That’s how she crouches down with our kids at home.  That’s how she plays with them.  That’s how she engages with people and how she always has. ”24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


A tweet by '@ArshadNadeemPak' congratulating Chopra, referring to him as his "idol" started doing the rounds. The tweet read, "Congratulations to my Idol #NeerajChopra for winning. Sorry Pakistan I could not win for you. #ArshadNadeem (sic)."

India won its first Gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, 7 August, after Neeraj Chopra delivered a splendid performance to win the men's Javelin final.   But soon after the big victory, a tweet by an account in the name of Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem, congratulating Chopra, started doing the rounds.  Nadeem was competing with Chopra and he finished fifth in the competition.   This tweet was then picked up by several news outlets including Times Now, NDTV Hindi, Loksatta, Live Hindustan among others.  However, the tweet was from an impostor account and not an official one.   CLAIM A tweet by '@ArshadNadeemPak' congratulating Chopra, referring to him as his "idol" started doing the rounds.  The tweet read, "Congratulations to my Idol #NeerajChopra for winning.  Sorry Pakistan I could not win for you.  #ArshadNadeem (sic). " Various news organisations like Times Now, Live Hindustan, Loksatta published a story on the tweet claiming that it was indeed from the athlete.  NDTV Hindi was also among the news outlets to have picked up the story.  However, the story has now been taken down.  The New Indian Express and Latestly, too, published a story by news agency IANS on the said tweet.  Indian and Pakistani users also believed that the tweet was from an official account.   Some of the archived versions can be seen here, here and here.  WHAT WE FOUND OUT While going through the interactions with the tweet, we came across a tweet by a user who had mentioned that the account's previous name was 'Saeed Anwar (CSS_25)'.  We then searched for the profile on Twitter and found one reply in which the current handle 'ArshadNadeemPak' was mentioned.   We then ran a Google search for '@CSS_25' and came across a cached version of the profile.  The profile name was 'Saeed Anwar' and the bio mentioned 'Professional cricketer , played for @TheRealPCB (sic)'.  TWITTER IDS: VOILA!  IT'S A MATCH!  Next, we found the Twitter ID of the current 'ArshadNadeemPak' profile and matched it with the previous 'Saeed Anwar' profile.   We used an online tool called TweeterID. com to find out the ID of the current account (1393466073975083008) and matched it with the Twitter ID of the cached version of the profile that we had found.  (Note: Swipe right to check the screenshot of the cached version)  TWITTER PROFILE HAS NOW UPDATED ITS BIO The Twitter profile (archived version here) had earlier identified itself as the 'official account' of Nadeem, but after being called out the Twitter bio was updated to read, "Record Holder of South Asian Games in Javelin Throw with a distance of 86. 29m. " Archived version can be seen here.  Clearly, multiple users on social media and news outlets fell for an impersonator account of Arshad Nadeem.


Constructive discussion with NSA Doval. Discussed Afghan Peace Process & talks in Doha. He assured India’s full support for peace efforts & any peace settlement acceptable to Afghans, will have India's support: Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman, High Council for National Reconciliation https://t.co/tvKN0ov3VC

Afghan peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday discussed his country’s peace process with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who told him India is in favour of a democratic and sovereign Afghanistan “where no terrorists can operate”. Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan, met Doval on Wednesday evening to brief him on the talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban at Doha in Qatar.  Doval hosted a dinner for Abdullah’s delegation that was attended by foreign secretary Harsh Shringla, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, army chief Gen MM Naravane, senior officials of the external affairs ministry and key members of the High Council for National Reconciliation. Abdullah tweeted that he had a “constructive discussion” with Doval on the Afghan peace process and the talks in Doha.  “He [Doval] assured me of India’s full support for the peace efforts, and that any peace settlement acceptable to Afghans, will have the support of India,” Abdullah said. “He [Doval] further stated that his country is in favour [of] an independent, democratic, sovereign & peaceful Afghanistan, where no terrorists can operate,” he added. Abdullah also thanked India for its continued support for Afghanistan and its “constructive role in peace efforts”. There was no official word on the meeting from the Indian side. Abdullah arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon for a five-day visit, during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday.  He will also deliver a speech at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) on Thursday.  Before his arrival in India, Abdullah issued a statement that described India as a “strategic partner of Afghanistan”.  He said, “Our historical relation with India is very important to us, and the role of India in establishing a lasting peace in Afghanistan and the region is vital.  I am visiting India on an official invitation by the government of India to discuss the peace efforts, and the need for regional consensus and support for the Afghan peace process. ” Abdullah’s visit is part of an outreach to key countries in the region for support for the negotiations in Doha.  He travelled to India after a three-day visit to Pakistan last week.  In Islamabad, he had met Prime Minister Imran Khan, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa.  Abdullah told the Pakistani leadership that a message about reducing violence and showing greater flexibility in negotiations should be communicated to the Taliban leadership participating in the negotiations in Doha.  India, the region’s largest provider of development aid to Afghanistan, has expressed concern at a recent spike in violence by the Taliban and terror attacks on minorities such as Sikhs.  It has said intra-Afghan negotiations must ensure the interests of minorities, women and vulnerable sections of society and reduce violence across Afghanistan and its neighbourhood.  Since 2001, India has undertaken projects worth $3 billion in Afghanistan, including $1 billion pledged in 2016 under the “new development partnership” scheme for five years.


Update with Clarification: Government officials likely to hold a meeting with representatives of pharma industries and other stakeholders to discuss the future course of Covid vaccination efforts clarifies source to ANI https://t.co/24zXVdufTn

Three more bodies were recovered in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on Monday morning, taking the total death count so far to 10 in the glacier burst that damaged two dams, Rishi Ganga and Dhauli Ganga.  About 153 people are still feared missing, said officials.  The rescue operations continued overnight though the rise in water level partially halted the rescue operations at NTPC's 900-metre long Tapovan tunnel on Sunday evening.  Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF, Uttarakhand's State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel, Indian Army have been pressed into the rescue operations.  Specialised teams of Indian Air Force, Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) have reached the spot for surveillance, special reconnaissance.  Navy's diving teams have been kept on standby for flash flood relief operations. Follow all the updates here:ITBP team to work overnight at Taovan tunnelThe ITBP team will carry on overnight rescue work at the Taovan tunnel, Joshimath.  The work to take out debris and slush from the tunnel to continue overnight.  CM Rawat holds meeting with agencies involved in rescue effortsUttarakhand: CM Trivendra Singh Rawat holds meeting with ITBP, NDRF, SDRF, Uttarakhand Police & other agencies in Joshimath on rescue efforts in Tapovan.  He says, "All four forces are working in coordination.  Rescue operation is underway. " pic. twitter. com/PpnedympDtUttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat said "All four forces are working in coordination.  Rescue operation is underway," as he holds meeting with ITBP, NDRF, SDRF, Police and other agencies involved in rescue efforts, reports ANI. Uttarakhand disaster management centre says 197 people missingUttarakhand Disaster Management Centre says 197 people are still missing in the state after the floods, reports ANI. Police confirm 24 bodies have been recovered from different placesUttarakhand police have confirmed that a total of 24 bodies have been recovered from different places in the state, reports ANI. Rescue workers inside the tunnel at dam site to rescue 35 workers trapped inside'Hope the missing people will be rescued at an early date': China expresses condolences to flood victimsChina has expressed its condolences to the the victims of the flood. "We have noted that northern India had a massive flood.  We want to express our condolences to the victims and sympathy to the bereaved families and the injured," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.  “We hope the missing people will be rescued at an early date," he added, reports PTI. Watch | Rescue team inside Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli#WATCH | Uttarakhand: A joint team of ITBP, Army, SDRF, and NDRF inside the Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli for rescue operation.  pic. twitter. com/VZ3SfCchK3A joint team of ITBP, Army, SDRF, and NDRF inside the Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli for rescue operation, reported by ANI. BRO chief engineer requests state government to install manual trolley at Reni village, JoshimathUttarakhand | A bridge was washed away here y'day.  We're trying to restore road connectivity in the area.  We've requested state govt to install a manual trolley here: AS Rathore, Chief Engineer, Shivalik BRO on relief operation at glacier burst affected Reni village, Joshimath pic. twitter. com/iltJO5FkioBRO chief engineer AS Rathore requested the state government to install a manual trolley at Reni village, Joshimath, to restore a washed away bridge and road connectivity, reports ANI. PM Modi assures full support, scientific study to minimise losses due to disaster to Uttarakhand MPsGoing forward, scientific studies will be conducted to understand cycle of natural calamities in this natural disaster prone state and best practices to be adopted to minimise loss of life and property due to these calamities, PM Modi's message to Uttarakhand MPs: SourcesPM Modi has assured the full support of the central government institutions to Uttarakhand.  He also said that scientific studies would be conducted to adopt best practices to minimise damages caused by natural disasters, reports ANI, citing sources. 'Had lost hope but ITBP saved us': Tapovan tunnel survivor shares experienceWere inside the tunnel when someone shouted 'move out'.  Before we could leave, water entered tunnel at high speed and we got stuck.  Held tunnel crown until water level subsided.  Had lost hope but ITBP saved us: One of the people rescued from Tapovan tunnel yesterday #Uttarakhand https://t. co/DY5jHifCgZ pic. twitter. com/8a73nSDM5BA person rescued from the Tapovan tunnel said "Were inside the tunnel when someone shouted 'move out'.  Before we could leave, water entered tunnel at high speed and we got stuck.  Held tunnel crown until water level subsided.  Had lost hope but ITBP saved us," reports ANI. CM Rawat to meet people at affected areas on Tuesday, assures relief efforts continuing in 'full swing'I am leaving for Joshimath and will be spending night there.  Tomorrow I plan to visit the affected areas and will also meet people.  Our relief and rescue operations are continuing in full swing and we are doing best to save lives.  #Uttarakhand pic. twitter. com/zGyEY2BzjyUttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat said he would meet with the people in affected areas on Tuesday and assured that the relief and rescue operations would continue in full swing. PM Modi, Home minister Amit Shah, JP Naddan discuss relief efforts with Uttarakhand MPs"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah interact with Uttarakhand MPs, discuss relief efforts and future course of action over Uttarakhand glacier disaster," reports ANI. Uttarakhand CM Rawat releases ₹20 crores from state disaster response fund for relief operationUttarkhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat conducts review meeting on disaster relief operation following glacier burst in Chamoli; releases ₹20 crores from State Disaster Response Fund for relief and rescue operation: CMO pic. twitter. com/kteHQRqoVLUttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat has released ₹20 crores from State Disaster Response Fund for relief and rescue operations, reports ANI. Helpline numbers for Jharkhand people stranded at Chamoli, UttarakhandJharkhand government shared helpline numbers for the people of the state stranded in Chamoli, Uttarakhand.  Chief minister Hemant Soren tweeted a picture of the official announcement. Machines clearing heavy slush for Recce party to enter tunnel: ITBPITBP says "Recce party with victim locating camera and sniffer dog tried to enter but due to slush, but after 100 meters it was not possible to proceed ahead.  Machines are now clearing the heavy slush ahead. "Rescue ops intensified in Chamoli’s bigger tunnelWatch | SDRF's rescue operations at flash flood site in Chamoli#WATCH | Uttarakhand: State Disaster Management Force (SDRF) carries out rescue operation at the flash flood site in Chamoli.  pic. twitter. com/1X0oqeArkKSDRF carries out rescue operations in flood affected sites, reported by ANI. Watch | ITBP provides relief materials to villages cut off by floods#WATCH | Uttarakhand: ITBP personnel provide support to the villages that have been cut off due to the flash floods in Chamoli.  Five sorties carrying relief material have been sent. Visuals from Lata Helipad.  pic. twitter. com/0GI4YjQKhsITBP provides support and relief material to villages cut off by the floods in Chamoli.  Five sorties carrying relief material have been sent, reports ANI. ITBP arranges rations for locals8th Battalion Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) team is arranging rations to be moved to the designated places through the teams which has contacted the locals of all villages and set up a control room there for future assistance. 'Rishiganga project at Raini completely washed away': Uttarakhand chief minister Rawat"Rishiganga project at Raini completely washed away.  5 kms from there is under construction Tapovan project.  As of now, around 203 people missing, 11 bodies found.  There was a subsidiary company at Tapovan with 24-25 people, no info on them till yesterday": Uttarakhand chief minister RawatRescue ops underway; more NDRF teams rushed l Latest UpdatesITBP deploys sniffer dogs at the Tapovan tunnel for rescue operationsUpdate on clearing of tunnels90 meters of stretch of debris in the tunnel cleared till now.  Another 100 mtrs believed to be left to be cleared. Update on rescue operations in UttarakhandStarting from 0645 hrs today morning, 6 Mi 17 sorties, 1 ALH sortie and 01 Chinook sortie have been carried out till now.  Transportation of required load from Dehradun to Joshimath, which includes 122 personnel, around 5T of load and 06 rescue canines, has been completed.  An ALH was tasked for the reconnaissance of the affected area by 6 scientists of DRDO along with their specialised equipment.  Further requirements are being coordinated with relevant authorities.  ITBP deploys sniffer dogs at the Tapovan tunnel for rescue operations. Rescue operation by ITBP under progressDue to the large amount of debris inside the tunnel, the rescue operation is tougher for the ITBP personnel.  Approximately 80 meters inside the tunnel is cleared and accessible but it appears that approximately 100 meters debris inside the tunnel yet to be cleared. 'Very difficult situation, expect positive results by afternoon': Union minister Pokhriyal Nishank in Uttarakhand"It's a very difficult situation, but ITBP successfully rescued people from 1st tunnel & now they're working on 2nd tunnel which is approx 3 km long.  NDRF & military are also on it.  By afternoon we can expect some positive results": Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in UttarakhandGet our daily newsletter Get free access to newsletters, alerts and recommendations


Maharashtra: Crowd seen at Dadar vegetable market in Mumbai this morning. Mumbai reported 8,646 new #COVID19 cases yesterday. https://t.co/9xkwPgBXGy

Average daily new coronavirus cases in the United States dipped below 100,000 in recent days for the first time in months, but experts cautioned Sunday that infections remain high and precautions to slow the pandemic must remain in place. The seven-day rolling average of new infections was well above 200,000 for much of December and went to roughly 250,000 in January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University, as the pandemic came roaring back after it had been tamed in some places over the summer. That average dropped below 100,000 on Friday for the first time since Nov.  4.  It stayed below 100,000 on Saturday. “We are still at about 100,000 cases a day.  We are still at around 1,500 to 3,500 deaths per day.  The cases are more than two-and-a-half-fold times what we saw over the summer,” Dr.  Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. ” “It’s encouraging to see these trends coming down, but they’re coming down from an extraordinarily high place. ”On Saturday, the seven-day rolling average for deaths was around 2,500.  That number peaked at more than 3,300 earlier in the winter, according to Johns Hopkins. The US saw a spike of more than 5,400 deaths reported Friday — nearly half from Ohio, where authorities said earlier in the week that they planned to add deaths to the state's tally over the course of a few days after discovering as many as 4,000 unreported Covid-19 fatalities. Walensky added that new variants, including one first detected in the United Kingdom that appears to be more transmissible and has already been recorded in more than 30 states, will likely lead to more cases and more deaths. “All of it is really wraps up into we can’t let our guard down,” she said.  “We have to continue wearing masks.  We have to continue with our current mitigation measures.  And we have to continue getting vaccinated as soon as that vaccine is available to us. ”The U. S.  has recorded more than 27. 5 million virus cases and more than 484,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins data. With parents and political leaders eager to have children around the country back in school for in-person learning, it is important that people continue to observe precautions, Walensky said. “We need to all take responsibility to decrease that community spread, including mask wearing so that we can get our kids and our society back,” she said. The CDC released guidance on Friday outlining mitigation strategies necessary to reopen schools or to keep them open. Some teachers have expressed concern about returning to the classroom without having been vaccinated, but the guidelines do not say that's necessary.  Dr.  Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week" that it would be “optimal” if teachers were vaccinated but that other measures laid out in the 24-page document can lessen their risk. “Practically speaking, when you balance the benefit of getting the children back to school with the fact that the risks are being mitigated, if you follow the recommendations and these new guidelines from the CDC, hopefully, I think that will alleviate the concerns on both sides,” he said.


A Twitter account that posed as that of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra used "@priyankagaINC" as the Twitter handle and had "Priyanka Gandhi INC" as the account name

A tweet made from this handle in Hindi, that closely translates to, "India is a country of fools where the government will spend crores of rupees on "Shahi Snan" for fake people rather than spending on drinking water," is going viral on social media as a statement made by Gandhi.  The Facebook post below, made by a user who goes by the name "Srinivas Pothraju", is just one example of how the tweet is question is being shared widely on social media platforms.  TRUTHGandhi did not have a verified account on Twitter before this morning.  The Congress Party tweeted a while ago announcing that Gandhi has joined the micro-blogging platform and gave the handle to her verified Twitter account.  Smt.  Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now on Twitter.  You may follow her at @priyankagandhi— Congress (@INCIndia) 1549865947000Here is the newly-created Twitter account of Gandhi.  As of now, she has not made any tweet.  Gandhi is following seven verified accounts - Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot, Congress Party's Twitter account, Ahmed Patel, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Rahul Gandhi.  She has also garnered more than 18,100 followers at the time of writing this report.  Times Fact Check could not find any news report about Gandhi making the statement claimed by the impostor Twitter account.  The impostor Twitter account happens to be deleted now.  On searching Twitter with keywords "Priyanka Gandhi", we also found many other impostor accounts in Gandhi's name, some supporting her and some working against her by spreading misinformation.  Gandhi having a verified Twitter account will help fight misinformation about her and fake quotes attributed to her.


Delhi Police Special Cell team arrests Deep Sindhu, one of the main accused in 26th January violence case. https://t.co/eu9VngMXv0 https://t.co/qMemqw6hpL

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted protection from arrest to Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa in connection with a 2012 cheating and forgery case. A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, also stayed the arrest of former state industries minister Murugesh Nirani, who was a co-accused in the matter. The two had moved the top court against a January 5 order of the Karnataka high court by which criminal proceedings against the two were revived. The case involved charges of criminal conspiracy and forgery of documents purported to have been issued by complainant Alam Pasha in 2012, during Yediyurappa’s first term as chief minister.  Besides Yediyurappa and Nirani, former principal secretary V P Baligar and former managing director of Karnataka Udyog Mitra Shivaswamy K are the other accused in the case. Pasha, in his complaint, had accused the two of criminal conspiracy and using forged documents to withdraw a grant of 26 acres for a ₹600 crore housing project in Devanahalli near Bengaluru.


Patna: Members of BJP Mahila Morcha play dholak, celebrate with 'gulal' as latest trends show NDA leading over Mahagathbandhan in #BiharElectionResults. https://t.co/hBkVCtWV0b

Candidates of the ruling BJP in Gujarat are leading in seven out of the eight Assembly constituencies for which bypolls were held while the Congress is ahead in one seat, as per the early trends of counting on Tuesday. BJP’s Pradhumansinh Jadeja is leading by over 2,300 votes in Abdasa seat while former minister Kiritsinh Rana is ahead by 5,400 votes in Limbdi, among other candidates. Congress’ Jayantilal Patel is leading in Morbi constituency by a margin of more than 1,500 votes, as per the Election Commission data. Click here for all the Gujarat bypolls LIVE updates The counting began at 8 am in eight centres set up in these constituencies, an election official said. The bypolls were necessitated after sitting Congress MLAs resigned ahead of Rajya Sabha polls in June this year. Five of them then joined the ruling BJP, which fielded them from the same seats they had won in the 2017 elections. A 60. 75 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the bypolls held on November 3 in Abdasa (Kutch), Limbdi (Surendranagar), Morbi (Morbi district), Dhari (Amreli), Gadhada (Botad), Karjan (Vadodara), Dang (Dang district) and Kaprada (Valsad) Assembly seats. As many as 81 candidates contested the bypolls across the eight seats.


The carpet may be red, but pink was the color of the night at the #Oscars https://t.co/Ux9FoNTd0K https://t.co/ALsASvrX32

Many women ditched the dresses this year. Gaga, J. Lo, Glenn Close: Here's our round up of the best red carpet looks of the 2019 OscarsWe usually see a flood of big ball gowns and vibrant dresses on the red carpet, but for the 2019 Oscars, women showed up pretty pantsuits. Scroll down to see all the ladies who turned heads in some of the chicest suits of the night. Melissa McCarthyMcCarthy stepped out in style with this black and white look topped with an amazing cape. AwkwafinaAwkwafina dazzled in this shimmery two-piece pantsuit. Amy PoehlerPoehler looks chic and sophisticated in her black-on-black look. Diane WarrenWarren demands attention in her crisp white ensemble. Elise FisherFisher is giving cool-girl vibes with this three-piece pantsuit. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


This is Modi government’s Beti Bachao. Share it so much that punishment is given. (यही है मोदी सरकार बेटी बचाओ इतना shaer करो की इसको इसकी सज़ा मिले जाये.)

Photograph of an injured woman standing with a few policemen are being widely shared on social media with a message targeting the BJP government.  “This is Modi government’s Beti Bachao.  Share it so much that punishment is given.  (यही है मोदी सरकार बेटी बचाओ इतना shaer करो की इसको इसकी सज़ा मिले जाये. )” — reads the message. One Kishori Sharma shared the images on the Facebook group ‘सीमा कुमारी गुरुप’ on April 19.  As of this writing, the post drew 11,000 shares.
Facebook user Ankush Yadav also shared the pictures on April 2, gathering 8,400 shares (archived link).
These images were widely shared last year during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).  Below is a post by Facebook user K K Borkar which has attracted a whopping 47,000 shares (archived link).  The post was made on December 10, 2019.
A reverse-search on Yandex led us to a report from 2016 published by Scoop Whoop.  According to the article, the woman Vandana Tiwari, along with her husband Ashwin Tiwari, was beaten up in public after she resisted molestation.  The incident took place on December 19, 2016, in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri when miscreants passed lewd comments are tried to grope the woman.  Scoop Whoop credits the report to news agency ANI. Uttar Pradesh: Woman beaten up allegedly for resisting molestation in Mainpuri, police say culprit has been arrested (19/12/16) pic. twitter. com/kOcgaTHWGN— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 22, 2016The incident was also reported by NDTV which said that the mother of two was beaten with sticks repeatedly in a market when she asked two men for directions.  Vandana was thrashed in the presence of one of her children.  The police had arrested one of the accused and was looking for others.  In a video that was viral at the time, the woman could be heard telling cops, “I will shoot myself if those two aren’t caught and arrested. ”The images were shared earlier in January as well with the same caption.  One Satyam Azad Ravan’s post drew 12,000 shares (archived link).
They were widely circulated on Facebook and Twitter in December 2019.
Donate NowA 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…


Speaker Pelosi says she tore up her copy of Pres. Trump's State of the Union speech "because it was a manifesto of mistruths." https://t.co/cJFra13WAo #SOTU https://t.co/PzUt1E2q5B

By Veronica Stracqualursi and Marcelo Garate, CNNUpdated 11:33 AM ET, Wed February 5, 2020 Washington (CNN)Fred Guttenberg, the father of a victim in the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, was escorted from President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night while the President defended the Second Amendment.


A post  has been circulating on various social media platforms which expresses condolences over the sad demise of the owner of Joy Alukkas, Joy Arakkal.  This post was doing the rounds after many prominent newspapers including Manorama Online, Times of India, Deccan Herald and Gulf News published reports of the death of Joy Arakkal.  This lead to messages being circulated on WhatsApp that the founder of Joy Alukkas, Joy Arakkal had died due to Coronavirus in Dubai.            Joy Arakkal of Innova Group died, not Jaoy Alukkas who is the owner of ‘Joy Alukkas’ The news has been taken out of context.  The articles announces the sad demise of Joy Arrakkal, who is business man from Kerala who was the managing director of UAE based Innova  group  of companies.  He was however declared dead after a sudden heart attack according to reports and not due to Coronavirus.  Another important fact to note that the owner and founder of Joy Alukkas is Joy Alukkas himself.  Hence, Joy Arakkal was not associated to Joy Alukkas and hence the owner of the jewellery chain is not the one being mentioned in the above articles.


Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan interacts with women sanitation workers at Nehru Nagar intersection on the occasion of #InternationalWomensDay https://t.co/fKL1Oev1gY

Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday extended the suspension of passenger bus operations with Maharashtra till April 15 because of a huge surge in coronavirus positive cases in the neighbouring state. The MP government had suspended the passenger bus operations with Maharashtra from March 21 to March 31. In an order issued on Wednesday, the Madhya Pradesh Transport Department said the decision to continue the suspension of the inter-state operation of buses with Maharashtra has been taken given the rise in Covid-19 cases in that state. On Monday, Barwani district administration sealed its borders with Maharashtra excluding the Agra-Mumbai Road and Khetia Road. Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday reported 2,173 Covid-19 cases, taking the tally of infections to 2,93,179. Maharashtra has been witnessing a steady rise in the number of coronavirus positive cases since the last few days. The state had reported its highest daily spike in cases on Sunday when it detected 40,414 new infections.  As on Tuesday, Maharashtra's caseload stood at 27,73,436.


A morphed photograph showing a hoarding put up by the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Gujarat unit has gone viral on social media with a communal claim that says that the party is appealing to people to quit other things like "reading Bhagavat Saptah" and read Namaz.   We looked at the original photos of the hoarding that were put up at different locations in Gujarat and found that the viral photo was edited.   CLAIM The hoarding in the viral photo had a title in Gujarati, which when translated to English read, "Gujarat will read Namaz".  (A prayer in Islam) The rest of the text said, "Forget things like Bhagvat Saptah and Satyanarayan Katha. " The photo was shared by a Twitter user called Renuka Jain, who has been called out multiple times for sharing false or misleading information.   The same photo was also shared by several Facebook and Twitter users, archives of which can be found here, here, here, and here.  WHAT WE FOUND While going through the tweets, we found comments that said that the viral photograph was photoshopped.  We found the photos of the original hoardings put up by the AAP and on comparing the photos, it could be seen that the viral post was morphed.   The header in the original photo said, "Now Gujarat will change".   The additional text in the viral photo was also added on the blank space that was seen in the original hoarding.  Finally, the photo of AAP's Gujarat President, Gopal Italia, was edited to add a beard and a different attire.  We reached out to AAP Gujarat's media cell and they also told us that the viral photo was edited and informed us that the party was going to take legal action against those who created the edited image.   We also saw hoardings from different places and they didn't have anything seen in the viral photo.   Evidently, the photo of a hoarding of AAP's Gujarat unit was morphed to give it a communal spin.   (With inputs from SM Hoax Slayer. )


So far, I've received Rs 10,000 under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Under the new farm laws, we can now sell the farm produce to any private business/organisation. This year, I sold 85 quintal soybean to ITC: Manoj Patidar, farmer from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh during interaction with the PM https://t.co/pe2gc55EOY

The farmers protest against the three agri laws passed by the Parliament in September enters Day 30 on Friday.  Students from various universities have also joined the month-long movement against the government’s new laws for the agricultural sector.  The government through Vivek Aggarwal, joint secretary in the Union agriculture ministry, again tried to bring the farmers on the table for sixth round of talks, as the farmers on Wednesday had dismissed the government’s initial proposal sent on Sunday. On Thursday, a three-member Congress delegation, including Rahul Gandhi, met with President Ram Nath Kovind to submit a memorandum aimed at repealing of the laws.  Earlier in the day, several party leaders including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were detained by the Delhi Police for trying to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar also met with two groups of farmers on Thursday.  He claimed both of the groups to be in support of the government.  Kisaan Majdoor Sangh’s 60 members and Kisan Sena’s 21 members met with the minister separately and expressed their motions pro the new farm laws.  Tomar also showed the Kisan Majdoor Sangh’s letter of support. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses farmers across the country and transferred Rs 18,000 crore as part of next batch of financial aid to farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme.  The Centre is expected to transfer Rs 18,000 crore to 90 million farmers as part of the initiative to increase their income. Follow all the major highlights here:Farmers in Uttarakhand march against farm lawsFarmers in Uttarakhand took out a protest march against the recently passed farm bills.  Protesters were seen ramming a tractor against police barricade in Udham Singh Nagar, according to video tweeted by news agency ANI.  #WATCH | Protesters agitating against the new farm laws run a tractor over a police barricade in Bajpur, of the Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand pic. twitter. com/aI97qNcg0UNirmala Sitharaman asks Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to clarify stance on farm billsFinance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi should answer if the same promises of reforms in the agricultural sectors were not promised in his party’s 2019 election manifesto.  Sitharaman also said that Cong is not happy that it is PM Modi who is implementing the changes and not Congress.  “I want to ask Rahul Gandhi that were these pro-farmers policies not mentioned in the 2019 election manifesto of Congress?  They are protesting just because those reforms are being implemented by PM Modi, and not them,” she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.  Centre is open for talks with parties opposing farm laws, says PM ModiPM Modi called parties opposing new farm laws for talks, is the discussion will be based on facts.  Our government will open-mindedly listen to the protesting parties, he added, while saying our government is for welfare of the farmers. New farm laws will allow technological intervention for value addition in agriculture, says PM ModiPrime minister in his address said new farm laws will allow technological intervention in agriculture and will make India known for quality and quantity.  Technological advancement in agriculture will be value addition for farmers, said PM Modi. Farmers can now sell their crops wherever they want, says PM ModiPM Modi in his speech said farmers are allowed sell their crops wherever they want.  If they want to sell it in Mandis, they can sell it there at any preferred cost or at MSP.  Farmers also have the option to sell crops in different states or through FPOs or online as per their ease, Prime minister added. We increased MSP under the Swaminathan Committee: PM ModiPrime minister Modi talked about increasing Minimum Support Price (MSP) taking note from the Swaminathan Committee.  He said our government worked for welfare of farmers that earlier governments never did.  Our govt tried to decrease the input cost for the farmers: PM ModiFarmers have gained from the schemes launched by our government.  During the interaction, as a farmer from Maharashtra cited benefits of PM-Fasal Bima Yojana, more than 90,000 crore farmers have benefitted from the insurance scheme, he said. PM lashes out at opposition for politicizing the issue and misleading farmersPM Modi during his address lashed out at opposition for misleading the farmers and politicizing the protest to gain traction.  PM Modi addresses farmers across countryPM Kisan Samman Nidhi had ensured that there is no leakage while direct transfer of the funds.  He also said it is very disappointing to see that only one state in the country is not the beneficiary of the scheme.  Prime minister also attacked West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for not registering the state under the scheme and devoiding 70 lakh farmers of the state of the benefits.  PM Modi interacts with beneficiaries of PM-Kisan scheme from six statesPrime minister interacts with beneficiaries of the scheme virtually.  PM asks about the benefits reaped from contract farming, Kisan Credit Card and benefits of PM-Fasal Bima Yojana.  He also asked farmers for their opinion on new farm laws and said opposition is trying to mislead farmers on the laws. PM Modi releases next batch of payment of Rs 18,000 crore under PM-Kisan SchemePM Modi released next installment of Rs 18,000 crore as part of next batch of financial aid to farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme. Union minister Tomar calls farmers for fresh talks to discuss farm lawsUnion agriculture minister Tomar during the address called the protesting farmers for fresh talks to end the deadlock and discuss on the new farm laws.  Farmers benefitted from PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, says agriculture minister TomarPM Kisan Samman Nidhi has benefitted alot of farmers.  Over 11 crore farmers have been registered under this scheme.  Except for West Bengal, farmers from various states have been linked to the scheme.  Farmers had received money under this scheme even in the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic.  Farmers thanked PM Modi for new laws; we will double farmers’ income by 2022: ThakurMany farmers have thanked PM Modi for the new agriculture laws.  We will double farmers’ income by 2022.  The government is ready to talk and clear doubts of the farmers who are protesting.  A solution can be found only through dialogue, said Union minister Anurag Thakur, reports ANI. Security forces deployed on Delhi-UP border amid farmers stirSecurity force has been deployed on the Delhi-UP border. In view of the ongoing protests of farmers against agricultural laws, reports ANI. Chilla, Ghazipur border closed for traffic movements amid farmers stirChilla, Gazipur borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida and Ghaziabad to Delhi because of farmers protests.  People are advised to take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Apsara, Bhopra& Loni borders, alerted Delhi Traffic Police, reports ANI. Punjab Congress chief startles leadership by raising issue of MPs on dharnaThe Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar openly startled the party leadership on Thursday while the whole leadership was signing a memorandum on farm laws.  He raised the issue of three party MPs from Punjab who are sitting on dharna.  Accusing the senior leaders he said, MPs are sitting on a protest for last so many days but no leader has approached them, reports ANI. Khalsa Aid sets up Kisan mall at Tikri border for farmersDelhi: Khalsa Aid has set up Kisan Mall at Tikri border to provide items of daily use for free to farmers.  "We distribute tokens to farmers with which they can procure items from here," says Guru Charan, store manager. (24. 12) pic. twitter. com/imZ0Aq1h0O


Karnataka: Fire breaks out at a hotel near Radio station in Udupi due to lightning strike. More details awaited. https://t.co/NTlVQbATGw

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday hit out at those criticising the state government for the poor handling of the Covid-19 situation. "We are in this situation after giving permission to various economic activities.  Is it magic to contain the spurt in cases after letting all the economic activities take place? " Sudhakar told reporters here. The minister said there was a health emergency in the country, which is not limited to Karnataka alone. Sudhakar stressed on the fact that the virus which has hit the world was new where there is genome sequencing happening. "We don't have the (authentic) reports about it (virus).  We are taking some steps founded on scientific principles that too on an experimental basis, which we don't know what we are doing is right or wrong," he pointed out. He also said that there was no point in making personal comments when the issue has thrown a challenge before the medical world. "There indeed are some shortcomings which I won't deny.  When a pandemic hits the society, all arrangements crumble," Sudhakar said. He said even the United States of America and Europe, which are way ahead in terms of medical science and healthcare, were rattled by the outbreak of pandemic. The Congress and the JD(S) have been criticising the government for the poor handling of Covid with cases surging in the state. The state witnessed new 25,795 cases on Thursday and 123 deaths. There are close to two lakh active cases in the state including 985 in ICUs.


#JantaCurfew: The self-imposed curfew to be observed till 9pm today, amid rising cases of Coronavirus in the country; Visuals from Hyderabad's Himayatnagar https://t.co/8QPlwBcDmj

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal for Janta Curfew, which began at 7 am today, has been received positively by most.  The Prime Minister himself said that the voluntary curfew will help in taking further decisions to battle Sars-Cov-2 virus in the country that has infected more than 300 people.  It is still low in comparison to the global toll of over 266,000 infections and over 11,000 deaths.  The Janta curfew, it is hoped, will help generate the necessary awareness in India to deal with the enormous challenge Covid-19 presents. Here are the top 5 things that one may bear in mind to make the initiative successful:1. The self-imposed curfew will continue till 9 pm and during this period, people need to stay indoors.  This means one is advised not to step out of the house, not even for a morning walk or an evening stroll or for buying rations or other stuff.  It is to ensure that one does not come in contact with any person outside one’s immediate family members. Check out our complete coverage of the coronavirus crisis2. The ‘curfew’ is not being enforced by law but is voluntary in nature.  However, several state governments have shut down shops and public places like malls, cinemas, gymnasiums, pubs etc to discourage people from treating the ‘curfew’ as holiday and for staying at home.  3.  Emergency services including fire, ambulance and hospitals will operate and they will respond to calls for help and assistance.  Residents, therefore, should not hesitate from dialling the helpline numbers for these services or even stepping out to go to the hospital emergency when required. Also Watch | Janta curfew: From market shutdown to airport rush, India prepares | Covid-194.  Prime Minister specifically stressed on the need to put off elective surgeries and non-emergency visits to hospitals to ensure the medical personnel busy fighting the coronavirus pandemic do not have to share extra burden.  This, however, doesn’t mean that medical advice can’t be sought during ‘Janta Curfew’.  Medical advise over phone or consultations with family doctors or doctors within one’s families can be obtained. 5.  Most importantly, if anyone in the family displays any symptoms similar to the disease during the ‘Janta Curfew’, information has to be relayed to concerned authorities and help must be sought.  The health ministry has designated helpline nos -- +91-11-23978046 and Toll Free No: 1075 for reporting and seeking all Covid-19 related information.


India's total number of #Coronavirus positive cases rises to 11,933 (including 10197 active cases, 1344 cured/discharged/migrated and 392 deaths): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare https://t.co/UNpPRwfM6o

India’s total number of coronavirus positive cases has risen to 11,933 Wednesday afternoon after 1,076 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, the Union ministry of health and family welfare said. The figure includes 10,197 active cases, 1,344 cured/discharged/migrated and 392 deaths, the MHFW said on its website. Maharashtra continues to be the state with the highest number of infections at 2,687.  However, Maharashtra health department officials reported 117 more people contracting the coronavirus disease that effectively took the count to 2801.  Follow coronavirus latest updates here. Delhi has the second highest number of infections at 1,561 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,204 and Rajasthan at 1,005. Madhya Pradesh has 987 cases and looks to be the fourth state heading for 1,000 plus infections. Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the next two to three weeks are going to be “most crucial” in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.  He said 400 districts in the country are still free of coronavirus, according to ANI. Also on Wednesday, Meghalaya’s first and only Covid-19 patient so far who tested positive, died while first person to be infected by the virus in Tripura was discharged from hospital barely a week after she was admitted. Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted that she was discharged after testing negative in consecutive tests and has been sent for quarantine under medical supervision.


BREAKING: Pres. Trump says he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19. "We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately." https://t.co/qwy20IPRIX https://t.co/QrpiDmL81d

By Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins, Betsy Klein, Jim Acosta and Paul LeBlanc, CNNUpdated 6:11 AM ET, Fri October 2, 2020  (CNN)President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and his wife both tested positive for the coronavirus, an extraordinary development coming months into a global pandemic and in the final stretch of his reelection campaign in which he has flouted experts' guidance on preventing the disease's spread. CNN's Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.


Jharkhand reported 160 new #COVID19 cases & 232 recoveries & 1 death today.

The total number of cases now stands at 1,15,689 including 1,13,125 recoveries, 1036 deaths, and 1528 active cases: State Health Department https://t.co/Tmh93QM7e0

India logged 16,504 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 214 related deaths between Sunday and Monday morning, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare, which have taken the country’s tally to 10,340,469.  There were 16,432 cases of the coronavirus disease on December 29 last year.  The number of active cases of Covid-19 remained below the 250,000 mark for the second day on a row at 243,953. According to the health ministry, 9,946,867 people have recovered so far with 19,557 patients of Covid-19 cured or discharged across the country in the last 24 hours.  The national recovery rate has gone up to 96. 19%.  The daily new recoveries have been more than the daily cases registered since the last 38 days, the health ministry’s data shows.  The gap between recovered and active cases has widened further and now stands at 9,702,914.  Also read | After Covishield and Covaxin, these are other Covid-19 vaccine candidatesDrugs Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani on Sunday approved Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, and Bharat Biotech International Limited’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use, clearing way for the government’s vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease in about 10 days.  However, the emergency use approval to the Serum Institute of India (SII) vaccine against Covid-19 developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and the “restricted use in emergency situation” consent to Bharat Biotech’s locally developed vaccine has triggered a debate among experts. Also read | Covid-19: India approves first 2 vaccines, UK to begin another immunisation driveMeanwhile, SII’s Adar Poonawalla has told Associated Press that the government will not allow the export of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for several months.  Poonawall said his company also has been barred from selling the vaccine on the private market.  “We can only give (the vaccines) to the government of India at the moment,” Poonawalla told AP, adding the decision was also made to prevent hoarding. The Pune-based company’s chief executive also said the first 100 million doses of the vaccine were being sold to the government at a “special price” of Rs 200 per dose, after which prices would be higher.  The vaccine will be sold on the private market at Rs 1,000, he said.  He said vaccines could be delivered to states where they were needed within seven to 10 days of the company finalising a deal with the Centre.


Rajasthan reported 115 new COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths till 10:30 am today, taking total number of cases to 22,678 and death toll to 495. Active cases stand at 5,043: State Health department https://t.co/IQDAi5JTdn

India recorded 26,506 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in the highest jump so far, and 475 deaths in the last 24 hours pushing its infection tally to 793,802, according to the Union health ministry on Friday. The country has recorded more than two lakh Covid-19 cases since July 1 and has witnessed over 20,000 infections every day since July 3. There were 19,135 patients of the viral disease who were cured between Thursday and Friday morning taking the number of those sent home from hospitals to 495,512.  With that, India’s recovery rate is now 62. 42%. On Thursday, the number of recovered cases had overshot the number of Covid-19 active cases by 206,588.  The number of recovered is now almost twice the number of active cases.  Also read: Sero survey hints at a high Covid-19 infection rate in Delhi“This is a result of focussed attention on effective surveillance through house-to-house contact tracing, early detection, and isolation as well as timely and effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases,” the Centre said in a release. The country’s death toll stands at 21,604 after the new fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry’s dashboard. The government has said that India has one of the lowest deaths in the world with deaths per million population at 15. 31 which translates to a fatality rate of 2. 75%—the global deaths per million population stand at 68. 7. The Union health ministry said on Thursday patients over the age of 45 years, who form 25% of the country’s population, account for 85% of India’s Covid-19 deaths. India also has one of the lowest cases per million population in the world at 538 while the global average is at 1497, the government has said. It has also said 49 districts across India account for 80% of Covid-19 cases in the country. Also read: China warns citizens of ‘unknown pneumonia’ with higher fatality than Covid-19Maharashtra continued to be the worst-hit state with more than 2. 30 lakh cases and 9,667 deaths.  Tamil Nadu has 126,581 Covid-19 cases and 1,765 deaths, while Delhi has reported 107,051 infections and 3,258 deaths till date. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal have announced lockdowns once again to contain the spread of the virus as there was a surge in Covid-19 cases. The government in Uttar Pradesh, where the Covid-19 tally has crossed 32,000, announced a complete weekend shutdown from Friday 10pm till Monday 5am.  In West Bengal, another week of complete lockdown kicked in Thursday afternoon across containment zones.  The Covid-19 tally in the eastern state has gone past 25,000. Five districts, including Patna, in Bihar will go under lockdown from Saturday after more than a month as the state’s Covid-19 count neared 14,000.


Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: Ensuring India's water security & providing access to safe drinking water to all Indians is a priority. A major step in this direction has been the constitution of Jal Shakti Ministry. #Budget2019 https://t.co/UzKvk3NHMi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden budget and said it was a key step towards ‘New India’.  In a televised address after the Union Budget was tabled in Parliament, Modi said the policies of the government will empower the downtrodden and turn them into a “power house” for the development of the country. Catch Live updates herePM Modi said the budget will act as a roadmap to transform the agriculture sector of India.  He further added that the budget is one of hope and will boost country’s development in the 21st century.  While delivering the budget speech in Parliament on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian economy has added one trillion dollar in the last five years due to the various initiatives and reforms undertaken by the government, and is poised to grow to be a 3 trillion dollar economy in the current year.  Terming the Budget a “green budget”, he said it focuses on the environment and pitches for green and clean energy.


Trump fires US Attorney for Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman, but he has "no intention of resigning." https://t.co/akxmlinod3

By Erica Orden, Kara Scannell and Evan Perez, CNNUpdated 12:02 PM ET, Sat June 20, 2020 Washington (CNN)In a fast-escalating crisis Friday night, Attorney General William Barr tried to oust Geoffrey Berman, the powerful US attorney for the Southern District of New York who has investigated a number of associates of President Donald Trump, but Berman defied him by refusing to step down. CNN's Sheena Jones, Kevin Liptak and Caroline Kelly contributed to this report.


"These kids need to be with their families. They've experienced so much trauma and we're responsible for them... These are just little innocent children," says Prof. Warren Binford, who was part of a team that sounded the alarm on filth & overcrowding at a Texas border facility. https://t.co/lt3NjXyaz4

The crew had already disembarked.  Woman left behind on Air Canada flight: 'This is a nightmare'A sleeping passenger was left on board an Air Canada flight earlier this month hours after the plane had landed and the crew disembarked. Tiffani O'Brien, of Ontario, Canada, said she fell asleep in an empty row of seats on her short flight home from Quebec City to Toronto.  She awoke hours later around midnight still strapped to her seat and all alone on a cold, dark plane. "It was completely pitch black," O'Brien said in an interview Monday with CTV News.  "I thought, 'This is a nightmare, this is not happening! '"O'Brien said she texted her friend, Deanna Dale, who drove her to the airport in Quebec City earlier that day.  Dale told CTV News she called customer service at Toronto Pearson International Airport to tell them her friend was trapped on the plane. But then O'Brien's phone lost battery power and a "sheer sense of hopelessness" came over her, she told CTV News. As panic began to set in, O'Brien said she entered the cockpit to search for something, anything that might help.  She found a flashlight and turned it on, directing the light out of the windows of the plane in hopes someone would see it. She then used the flashlight to find the main door of the plane and managed to get it open, but the drop to the tarmac below was too steep. So she sat in the opening with her legs dangling out and flashed the light on the side of the plane to create a reflection, hoping it would catch someone's attention in the distance. Eventually, a grounds crewman driving a luggage cart spotted her and helped her down. O'Brien recounted the incident in a June 19 post shared by Dale on Air Canada's official Facebook page. "I haven’t got much sleep since the reoccurring night terrors and waking up anxious and afraid I’m alone locked up someplace dark," O'Brien wrote. An Air Canada spokesperson confirmed the incident to ABC News and said the airline is investigating. "This customer was left on our aircraft after the flight," the spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.  "We are still reviewing this matter so I have no additional details to share, but we have followed up with the customer and remain in contact with her. "ABC News' Brad Mielke and Barbara Rick contributed to this report. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


Fourth dedicated flight with Russian nationals onboard departed from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport to Russia on the intervening night of 31st March and 1st April. (Source: Russian Embassy) #COVID19 https://t.co/z7wxtXkkbK

Karnataka which recorded the first death in the country due to Covid-19 on March 12, reported one more positive case of coronavirus from Bengaluru on Monday, taking the total number of infected people in the state to eight.  Medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar said a 32-year-old man who is an IT industry professional and had returned from the USA via London recently was confirmed positive for coronavirus.  The man who was earlier quarantined at home has been moved to an isolation facility after the infection was confirmed.  Two primary contacts, his wife and maid are being monitored and all preventive measures including contact tracing has been initiated, he added.  Meanwhile Health and Family welfare minister B Sriramulu said that so far 1,14,705 air passengers have been screened at various airports in Karnataka.  He also said that 104 Arogya Sahayavani centres which receive calls about coronavirus have been set up in various parts of the state.  On Monday, these centres received 25,726 calls and addressed concerns of callers.  Sriramulu said all those who have tested positive and those who are in quarantine are being counseled.  Bengaluru’s civic body - Bangalore Bruhata Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) on Monday ordered the closure of all airconditioned super markets in the city as a preventive measure against coronavirus.  The state government had earlier ordered that all malls, cinema theatres, sports stadiums and any place where there was a possibility of large congregation of people would be shut for a week till March 21.


Several Facebook and Twitter users have shared a 40-second video of a man riding a bike while pushing a mini-Ferris wheel on the road.  A woman is sitting along with luggage in one of the seats in the mini-Ferris wheel.  “This migrant labour in India surely deserves an award for their Brains, innovation & Practical and workable solutions He has removed the front wheel of his bike & welded his bike to the giant wheel with tyres.  He has put a charpoy on top to sleep also,” is the claim shared with the clip. On May 16, Twitter user @IndurChhugani posted the viral video along with the viral text.  The user gave the video courtesy to Shashi Bhagnari.  This tweet has been retweeted over 900 times and has over 48,000 views.  (archive link)This migrant labour in India surely deserves an award for their Brains, innovation & Practical and workable solutionsHe has removed the front wheel of his bike & welded his bike to the giant wheel with tyresHe has put a charpoy on top to sleep alsoCourtesy Shashi Bhagnari pic. twitter. com/j1UJg3RnRG— Indur Chhugani (@IndurChhugani) May 16, 2020Twitter user Major Subrat Mishra (archive link) also posted the viral video.
Similarly, Facebook user Dr Shisher Agrawal’s post was viewed over 1,700 times.  (archive link)
Alt News performed a reverse image search of the first frame of the viral video on Yandex and found that the video was uploaded in November 2018 by Time For Utpatang, a YouTube account.
Since the video was posted in 2018 it cannot depict a recent video of a migrant labourer.  Additionally, there is a considerable amount of traffic and the person riding the bike isn’t wearing a mask. Prior to our report, Social Media Hoax Slayer published a fact-check report and found out that the viral video was published by News18 Gujarati journalist Sandhya Panchal in 2018.  talent of indian engineer🤘🏻 pic. twitter. com/IKGSpRTC8t— Sandhya Panchal (News18 Gujarati) (@SandhyaPanchal_) October 29, 2018While social media users didn’t explicitly state that the video is recent, the fact they mentioned that it shows a migrant labourer is misleading enough for people to think it represents an incident that took place during the lockdown. Donate NowArchit is a graduate in English Literature from The MS University of Baroda.  He also holds a post-graduation diploma in journalism from the Asian College of Journalism.  Since then he has worked at Essel Group's English news channel at WION as a trainee journalist, at S3IDF as a fundraising & communications officer and at The Hindu as a reporter.  At Alt News, he works as a fact-checking journalist. Assam-based media outlets DY365, Asom Live 24, and NorthEast Now reported that 26 Rohingya Muslims…Actor Amitabh Bachchan tweeted a video on September 8, 2021, as the first unveiling of…In a recent ‘breaking news’ segment, India Today claimed that Ahmad Massoud, head of the…A video is viral on social media with the claim that the police in Ahmednagar,…On September 2, TV actor Sidharth Shukla died of a heart attack.  His fans expressed…


A video shows an ocean with a clear separation line, claiming it to be the meeting point of the Atlantic and Pacific where 'they touch but do not mix with each other'.

If you have come across this video on various social media platforms, do not believe it.  The viral video in question shows an ocean with a clear separation line, with blue water on one side and murky on the other. It claims that this is the meeting point of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, where "they touch but do not mix with each other".  This same video with the same claim has recently resurfaced on Facebook page 'PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN'. Though many believe it as some wonder of nature, India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) warns that this claim is false.  This is not the meeting point of the two major oceans, but a river meeting the Pacific Ocean at the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver Island, Canada. This post by 'PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN' has already been shared by nearly 300 people, but there are several other Facebook pages which have shared this video earlier as well. Besides Facebook, this video has attracted thousands of views on other social media platforms.  We found that last year AFP Fact Check had filed a story on this video and found the claim - "the meeting point of two oceans" - as false.  AFP also contacted the person who filmed the incident. An American tourist, Maryan Steve-Pearson, shot this video on July 2, 2015.  Two days after on July 4, she posted it on YouTube with the caption: "When the River Meets the Ocean (Fraser River water flows into the Strait of Georgia)".  This YouTube video is 1. 27-minutes long and has been viewed by 2,81, 849 people so far. Pearson also mentioned on her YouTube post that she had registered for the copyright of the original video.  A few years later, she warned people not to spread "fake information about the video". According to Pearson, this video was shot from the BC Ferries boat from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island (Duke Point) to Vancouver (Tsawwassen), Canada.  The Fraser River flows into the Pacific Ocean at the Strait of Georgia. The "Fraser River Plume" is a unique phenomenon seen near Vancouver and has always attracted tourists from all around the world. According to the Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative by the University of Victoria, the river reaches the ocean near Vancouver, "where the fresh water it carries mixes with ocean water to form a thin plume of buoyant brackish water, which according to one oceanographer is the Showpiece of the Strait of Georgia". The study states that the water of the river and ocean do mix with each other but "in the early summer when the Fraser river carries high sediment loads, the plume is easy to distinguish from ocean water by its distinct light brown colour". Hence, India Today established that the claim with the video is completely wrong.  This is not the meeting point of the Atlantic and Pacific. The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.


Tamil Nadu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah holds roadshow in Kanyakumari https://t.co/CdLeS5hXGT

After the sanction of a Film and television Institute for Arunachal Pradesh, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Wednesday discussed the proposal of a Film City in Sikkim. "Discussed the proposal of a Film City for Sikkim.  Northeast has several picturesque locations which have remained under-utilized because of lack of infrastructure.  The Narendra Modi government has already sanctioned a Film and Television Institute for Arunachal Pradesh," Singh tweeted. The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) campus in Arunachal Pradesh was established in 2018, the second in the country after Pune. "It will give a boost to the employability of Northeast youth and open avenues for exciting career choices in various domains of media and filmmaking," Singh had said about the Arunachal FTII campus.