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‘Put Palestine back on the map,’ Madonna against the Google maps’ deletion

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‘Put Palestine back on the map,’ Madonna against the Google maps’ deletion

American vocalist, songwriter and starlet Madonna revealed uniformity with Palestine over the weekend in a series of Instagram posts opposing versus the elimination of the inhabited Palestinian areas from Google maps, social networks users have actually stated. Madonna’s uniformity with Palestine accompanied the launch of a petition calling on Google to describe its choice, which more than a million individuals have actually signed.

The petition knocks Google for the truth that its choice makes it “complicit in the Israeli government’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” Israel, developed on Palestinian land, is plainly designated, however Palestine does not appear on Google maps. “Why not?” the petitioners asked.

Images distributing on social networks program Madonna sharing a picture of the the map in concern with Palestine missing out on, with a remark:“Google and Apple have officially removed Palestine from their maps” She has more than 15 million fans onInstagram MEMO might not validate the credibility of the screenshots and has actually not heard back from Madonna’s group relating to the images.

In a 2nd post, the vocalist revealed her greatest ever uniformity with the Palestinian cause. The 61 years of age required “Put Palestine back on the map” prior to including, “#IStandWithPalestine”.

A 3rd post revealed a picture of Angela Davis together with a quote from the icon of the American Civil Rights motion: “Black solidarity with Palestine allows us to understand the nature of contemporary racism more deeply.”

Davis spoke just recently about why the Palestinian cause is so main to the Black Lives Matter motion. She remembered how Palestinian activists had actually long supported Black Americans’ resist bigotry, which when she was incorrectly put behind bars in 1970 the uniformity from Palestine was a significant source of convenience for her.

In the past, Madonna has actually not been as upcoming with her assistance for the Palestinian cause. In 2019 she declined to boycott the Eurovision tune contest, which was kept inIsrael “I’ll never stop playing music to suit someone’s political agenda nor will I stop speaking out against violations of human rights wherever in the world they may be,” she stated in a declaration at the time.

“All accused were certainly up to their neck in the conspiracy”, Delhi court says in the murder case of two brothers during Delhi riots

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“All accused were certainly up to their neck in the conspiracy”, Delhi court says in the murder case of two brothers during Delhi riots

A court in Delhi has said that 11 men accused of killing two Muslim brothers during the violence in February “lost their individuality and started working with a mob mind”, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. Over 50 people lost their lives in the violence that followed protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. More than 700 cases have been registered in connection with the violence and the murders.

Earlier this month, Scroll.in had reported that the men were part of a WhatsApp group “Kattar Hindut Ekta” that was created on February 25. Members of the group bragged about killing Muslims and dumping the bodies in a sewer as well as forcing victims to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.

In their chargesheet, the Delhi Police have mentioned that nine Muslim men were murdered from February 25 to 26. Their bodies were recovered over a period of several days from the Bhagirathi Vihar drain. The brothers – Aamir Khan and Hashim Ali – were part of this.

The court made the observations while taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed against the 11 accused in the murder of Aamir Khan. The case of his younger brother Hashim Ali will be heard separately.

Relatives carry janaza of one of the two brothers who killed in North East Delhi riots in February, 2020. The featured image: Sister of two brothers who killed in the riots mourns during the funeral. Photos: Sreekanth Sivadasan

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak said the investigation in the case revealed that that the accused were instrumental in the gathering at Bhagirath Vihar on February 26. “It is prima facie revealed that there was a well hatched conspiracy amongst the accused persons,” Pathak said in his order. “Same is evident from the fact that in order to take revenge from Muslims, some youths of the area, who failed to perceive the bottomless stupidity of the propaganda, as saviours of their community created a WhatsApp group. The members as discussed herein lost their individuality and started working with mob mind. ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’, which are sacred slogans and attached to victorious yelling, deadened their mind and paralysed their creative nature.”

The court added that relevant provisions of law should have been mentioned in the chargesheet where the men assembled to take revenge and victims were targeted on the basis of their religious identity.

“The mob turned into rioters and in the process of rioting, they looted mobile phone and caused the death of Amir by inflicting multiple injuries in a brutal manner, and with a view to conceal the evidence, all of them…threw his body in the drain,” the order said. “It has been found that the common object of the unlawful assembly was not only to kill but also to destroy all evidence…Thus, all…actively participated in connection with the carrying of the body or disposal of it by throwing it in drain…There cannot be any doubt that the accused…were certainly up to their neck in the conspiracy and were thus very active members of the unlawful assembly.”

The accused in the case have been identified as Lokesh Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Ankit Chaudhary, Sumit Chaudhary, Prince, Jatin Sharma, Himanshu Thakur, Vivek Panchal and Rishabh Chaudhary, Pawan Kumar and Lalit Kumar. They have been been charged for murder, rioting with a deadly weapon and criminal conspiracy.

Assam floods: Death toll reaches 79, reports massive lost

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Assam floods: Death toll reaches 79, reports massive lost

At least 79 people have lost their lives in Assam due to severe flooding, informed the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Saturday.

A Flood Report issued by the ASDMA stated that the river Brahmaputra was flowing above danger level in several places in the state, and a total of 26 districts have been affected so far. The total number of revenue circles affected is 79 and over 2,678 villages were devastated by the floods. “A total of 27,63,719 people and 1,16,404.01 hectares of crop area had been affected by the floods.” the report stated.

Villagers shift to safer areas by boats from flood-hit Shanti Bazar area of Samguri in Nagaon district of Assam on Monday, August 25, 2014. Photo by: Manash Das

It further added, “The government has so far opened 649 relief camps that are currently providing relief to 47,465 people. 181 boats have been deployed and 511 persons have been evacuated.”

Additionally, around 96 animals have died in the Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat district of Assam due to floods, the state government informed on Saturday.

India crosses one million Covid cases

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India crosses one million Covid cases

On Thursday, India crossed the one million mark in total coronavirus cases. As per the official data, India currently has 10,38,716 confirmed coronavirus cases, of which 3,58,692 are still active. That India would cross the 10 lakh mark was a foregone conclusion given the daily and unhindered spurt in cases.

India has been recording over 20,000 corona cases each day since July 2. In the last three days itself, India has added over one lakh cases. It took coronavirus 51 days to go from 1,000 cases to 1,00,000 cases. But the deadly virus took just 59 days to reach the million mark.

The writing was always on the wall. Now the ‘million’ dollar question on everyone’s mind is: When will this pandemic peak in India?

Let us understand what “peaking” means in the pandemic vocabulary. In simple terms, reaching the peak means a situation when the number of active cases begin to level off rather than catch the upward trajectory. This is unfortunately not the case in India right now.

But there have already been some predictions on the peak period. According to one prediction, later disowned by the ICMR, India could witness the peak period in the middle of November.

Another study has predicted mid-August as the peak period of the coronavirus pandemic. In early May, AIIMS-Delhi director Randeep Guleria had predicted the peak period to be between June and July. However, the ongoing spurt in cases has negated Guleria’s claim.

The virus, meanwhile, looks all set to cross the 2 million mark by August 11.  Dr Rijo M John, a health economist, has said that India is likely to cross the 2 million mark between August 10 and 11. Moreover, he has predicted that India could have 3.2 million cases by August 31. John’s previous prediction has proven to be more or less accurate. He had on June 8 said India would cross 1 million around July 22, which the country crossed on July 16.

In fact, he observed that the spread of the virus had somewhat been under control till the second phase of the lockdown. But the gradual loosening of the norms to allow more economic activities, he said, led to the proliferation of coronavirus cases.

It may thus be implied that the confusing timelines of lockdown and ‘unlock’ implemented by states — for example: Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu  — and the Centre and the continuing medical disarray across India have only contributed to the spurt in coronavirus cases.

Explicitly, Dr Reddy has added, “Different places (states) would peak at different times”, which is only likely to complicate matters further. Implicitly, Dr Reddy has underlined the need for co-operation between the general public and the governing authorities if India’s states want to beat coronavirus.

“Modi’s blunders have fundamentally weakened India”: Rahul Gandhi

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“Modi’s blunders have fundamentally weakened India”: Rahul Gandhi

The Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control can be attributed to the “trouble” India has with its foreign policy, economy and the relationship with its neighbours in the last six years, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said today, sharpening his attack on the government.

“What is it about India’s situation that has made China act in such an aggressive way? What is it about this moment in time that has allowed the Chinese to have the confidence that they can move against a country like India?” Mr Gandhi said in a 3-minute, 38-second video in which he hit out at the Narendra Modi government. 

“Since 2014, the PM’s constant blunders and indiscretions have fundamentally weakened India and left us vulnerable. Empty words don’t suffice in the world of geopolitics,” the Congress leader, who has relentlessly attacked the government over the face-off with China, wrote on Twitter.

“A country is protected by its foreign relationships, it is protected by its neighbourhood, it is protected by its economy, it is protected by the feeling and vision its people have. What has happened over the last 6 years…in all those areas India has been disturbed and disrupted,” Mr Gandhi said.

He said India’s relationship with other countries has become “transactional”. We have a transactional relationship with the US, and we have disturbed our relationship with the Russians. We have a transactional relationship with Europe,” he said.

“Earlier, Nepal was a friend.Bhutan was a friend, Sri Lanka was a friend. Our neighbourhood, other than Pakistan, was working with India and saw itself as being partnered with India. Today, Nepal is angry with us. If you go to Nepal and speak to the Nepali people, they are furious with what has happened,” Rahul Gandhi said. “Sri Lankans have given a port to the Chinese…  So we’ve disrupted our foreign partners, we’ve disrupted our neighbourhood.”

Indian and Chinese troops have agreed to a mutual disengagement along the LAC in Ladakh. Each side has pulled back by two kilometres.

Rahul Gandhi has been tweeting regularly, criticising the government over the deadly face-off with China in the Galwan Valley area, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the line of duty and 76 were injured.

Speaking of the economy, the Congress MP from Wayanad said the government did not act despite his party urging it it to “inject money into the economy”.

“So today, you have a country which is economically in trouble, trouble as far as foreign policy is concerned, in trouble with its neighbours and that’s why the Chinese have decided that this is possibly this time to act. And that is why they have acted,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Farmer couple consume poison after police brutality; cops allegedly destroyed crop

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Farmer couple consume poison after police brutality; cops allegedly destroyed crop

A couple in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district on Tuesday drank poison in front of the police after they allegedly tried to destroy their crop during an anti-encroachment drive, The Quint reported. The police and the district administration claimed that the couple were cultivating their crop on government-owned land.

The Guna district administration wanted to vacate the land to build a college, according to the website. Guna district Tehsildar Nirmal Rathore, who supervised the eviction drive, confirmed to The Quint that the couple tried to kill themselves after the district authorities took measurements of the land and tried to remove them from the site. The residents also resisted the police’s eviction efforts.

A video of the incident, shot by onlookers, shows policemen brutally beating up some residents with sticks. A woman is seen pleading with the police to stop and trying to shield a man from the blows. A child is seen following the couple. Some other pictures show the farmer couple’s children holding them and crying as they fell unconscious after consuming poison.

Gwalior Range Inspector General Rajababu Singh told The Quint that the police were beating the locals because they were trying to stop them from taking the couple to a hospital. He added that a police team will investigate the incident.

The Guna district tehsildar told ANI that the couple were eventually moved to a hospital.

The Madhya Congress Pradesh Congress lashed out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after the incident and blamed it for the police brutality. “Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s shameless display of , arrogance,” the party tweeted. “His police force brutally beat up a farmer couple and tore the woman’s clothes. The children are screaming. The end of this blind, deaf and dumb government is near.”

Rahul Gandhi to launch video series to counter Media with fascist interests and hate filled narratives

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Rahul Gandhi to launch video series to counter Media with fascist interests and hate filled narratives

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday tweeted that he is up to launch a new video series where he will share his thoughts on “current affairs, history and crisis”.

In a subsequent tweet, Gandhi also pointed out at “a large part of Indian news media” that, he said, was “captured by fascist interests”. “A hate filled narrative is being spread by television channels, whatsapp forwards and false news. This narrative of lies is tearing India apart (sic),” he added.

Gandhi’s announcement comes in the middle of a crisis brewing in the Congress government in Rajasthan, with an ongoing tiff between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot.

Gandhi has lately been using videos to conduct interviews and make interactions with experts, mostly for issues pertaining to Covid-19.

The Congress leader has held a series of interactions since April — with economists Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Banerjee, health experts Ashish Jha and Johan Giesecke, industrialist Rajiv Bajaj as well as former US diplomat Nicholas Burns.

Sachin Pilot has been removed from the post of Dy CM and PCC Chief

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Sachin Pilot has been removed from the post of Dy CM and PCC Chief

The crisis between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot has come to a different stage. The Congress on Tuesday sacked Pilot as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and removed him as Congress’ state unit president.Pilot had openly revolted against Gehlot after the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police, probing the alleged case of bribing of MLAs to topple the Congress government in the state, sent a notice to him for appearing before it. Pilot’s supporters sare of the view that the notice is to humiliate their leader.

As attempts failed to pacify Sachin Pilot, the grand old party sacked Congress leader Sachin Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state unit president. The decision to remove Pilot from the key positions was taken at the Congress Legislature Party meeting which was held at the at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur.

The Congress launched a scathing attack on the BJP and accused it of trying to topple the Rajasthan government by using money power. “BJP was trying to lure Congress MLAs and some Independents to destabilise the Ashok Gehlot government,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. 

Commenting on the issue of Sachin Pilot and some other Rajasthan Congress legislatures, Surjewala said, “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had many times spoke to Sachin Pilot and tried to pacify him,” adding that “Other senior Congress leaders also spoke to him and invited him to have talks and sort out the differences.”

Bhima Koregaon case: Family of poet Varavara Rao claims his life is in danger

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Bhima Koregaon case: Family of poet Varavara Rao claims his life is in danger

Family members and friends of Telugu poet and activist Pendyala Varavara Rao, who is currently in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail in related with the Bhima Koregaon violence case, claimed that his life is in danger and appealed the Centre and the Maharashtra government to provide him with immediate medical care.

Behind bars since 2018, Rao’s interim bail plea citing ill health and susceptibility to Covid-19 was rejected by a special court on June 27.

“The state is trying to kill him. His brain is getting damaged. Our only demand at the moment is to get him medical care or leave him to the family. We will take care of him. The constitution of India gives everyone the right to life. Varavara Rao’s life is in danger. Please don’t kill him in jail,” said N Venugopal Rao, Rao’s nephew.

According to the family members, Rao’s health condition has worsened ever since he was shifted to JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail in an unconscious state on May 28, 2020. Even as he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to jail three days later, there has been no improvement in his health and he is still in need of emergency health care, they said.

The family said that during their conversation with him via phone on July 11, Rao did not answer straight questions on his health and went into a kind of delirious and hallucinated talk about the funeral of his father and mother, the events that happened seven decades and four decades ago respectively.

The poet’s wife Hemalatha, 72, said Rao being a teacher, orator and poet has never fumbled for words or thoughts in his life and it was horrifying to find him searching for words to speak. She reminded the Telangana government that her husband was at the forefront of the struggle for separate Telangana state since 1969, and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao or his officials have not responded to any representations from the family so far.

In the Elgaar Parishad case, 11 persons were booked on charges that they were part of a criminal conspiracy to organise the event in Pune on December 29, 2017, which has been linked to the assault on Dalits at Bhima Koregaon village on January 1, 2018.

Rajasthan: Congress Issues Whip For Party Meet Today, Sachin Pilot To Skip

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Rajasthan: Congress Issues Whip For Party Meet Today, Sachin Pilot To Skip

Sachin Pilot, the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan who claims the support of 30 MLAs, has refused to attend a key meeting of Congress MLAs called by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today, a huge sign that he might be the next to exit the party after Jyotiraditya Scindia did in Madhya Pradesh.

Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande said a whip has been issued to all party MLAs to be present at the Congress Legislature Party meeting to be held this morning. “Strict disciplinary action will be taken against any MLA who is absent without mentioning personal or special reason.”

Mr Pilot, who is camping in Delhi after setting his party up for another state collapse just three months after it lost Madhya Pradesh to the BJP, is likely to meet with BJP chief JP Nadda today, sources said.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala reached Jaipur late in the night along with Ajay Maken and said Congress party-led Rajasthan government will complete its five-year tenure and neither the BJP nor its allies have any reason to rejoice.

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