Been my dream to win Wimbledon since I was a little girl: Konta

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Been my dream to win Wimbledon since I was a little girl: Konta

World No.14 Johanna Konta said it has been her dream to win the Wimbledon title and she will continue to strive for it even as the 2020 edition of the Grand Slam was canceled due to coronavirus pandemic.

Wimbledon had been previously canceled only twice — because of World War I and World War II — and never outside wartime. Konta stated she will try to realize her dream next season onwards till the time she gets her hands on the famous trophy.

“I love playing at Wimbledon and it has been my goal to win ever since I was a little girl,” Konta was quoted as saying by hellomagazine.com

“I feel sad that I won’t be competing this year, but it hasn’t altered my determination to be a Grand Slam champion. I’ll never stop striving for that.”

Konta was also set to take part in the Tokyo Olympics but the showpiece event was postponed till 2021 in the wake of the pandemic.

The multi-national event was initially set to be hosted in July this year but due to coronavirus pandemic, it will now take place from July 23 till August 8 next year.

“As for the Olympics being postponed, I’ve put my disappointment aside now,” she said.

“How I feel pales in comparison to the athletes who train for it in a four-year cycle. It must be especially hard for them to have to wait another year. Tennis players are in a more fortunate position because we have four big annual events.”

China finally admits it lost ‘less than 20’ soldiers in clash with India

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China finally admits it lost ‘less than 20’ soldiers in clash with India

A day after Indian media reported that India had handed over dead bodies of 16 Chinese soldiers to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China on Monday for the first time admitted that it lost “less than 20” troops during the violent face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh last week.

Until now, even as New Delhi had officially announced that 20 of its soldiers were killed in a clash with the PLA in Ladakh’s Galway valley, Beijing had remained tight-lipped about its casualties.

The Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Community Party regime in Beijing, in a piece quoting “Chinese experts” on Monday said that “the reason why China did not release the number” of its casualties, is that China “wants to avoid an escalation.”

“If China released the number which is less than 20, the Indian government would again come under pressure,” the Global Times tweeted quoting an “observer” from the piece.

The Chinese “analysts” and “observers” also accused Indian officials of placating nationalists by “making speculations on China’s casualties to satisfy Indian hardliners, such as speculating that China lost more soldiers than India.”

The Global Times report referred to Union minister and former Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh who on Saturday had claimed that the number of PLA soldiers killed in the stand-off in the Galway valley was more than 40.

The analysts in Beijing also threatened India saying, “India will be more humiliated than after the 1962 border conflict with China if it cannot control anti-China sentiment at home and has a new military conflict with its biggest neighbor.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as per the observers, “is trying to respond to the nationalists and hardliners with tough talk, but he understands his country cannot have a further conflict with China so he is also making an effort to cool tensions.”

Quoting Chinese military observers, the Global Times said, that “an escalated, large-scale military conflict involving main Chinese troops, if that were to happen, would mean all-out war just like the war in 1962, with very disproportionate casualty figures unfavorable to India.”

Telangana BJP chief held over protest against govt’s handling of COVID

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Telangana BJP chief held over protest against govt’s handling of COVID

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Telangana unit chief Bandi Sanjay and other leaders were arrested by the police here on Monday as they tried to lay siege to the directorate of health to protest what they call the state government’s failure to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Sanjay, also a Member of Parliament Afrom Karimnagar, was leading the protest at the directorate office in Koti as part of the state-wide agitation called by the BJP.

Raising slogans of ‘KCR down down’ and ‘save Hyderabad from coronavirus’ the leaders gathered at the office. They were also demanding the resignation of Health Minister Eatala Rajender.

The police placed several BJP leaders under house arrest in Hyderabad and other districts to foil the protest.

Former BJP state chief K. Laxman, former minister Peddi Reddy, former MP P. Sudhakar, and member of State Legislative Council Ramchandra Rao were among the leaders kept under house arrest.

Police had also made tight security arrangements at state BJP headquarters to prevent the leaders from taking out any protest march.

Sanjay and some others, however, succeeded in reaching the directorate. Police shifted to their vehicles and whisked them away.

The BJP leader alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government was using the police force to suppress a democratic protest. He alleged that there is a devil’s rule in the state.

Sanjay said they called for the protest to demand the government to increase the number of COVID-19 tests in the state, fill-up the vacancies in the health department, and start services at the newly established Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS).

He alleged that due to the inefficiency of the TRS government that coronavirus was spreading fast in the state.

He said instead of responding to the points raised by BJP chief J.P. Nadda over COVID-19, the TRS leaders tried to divert people’s attention and make allegations to take political mileage.

Referring to the health minister’s counter-attack on Nadda questioning him about the situation in BJP-ruled states, the state BJP president said Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh had conducted five lakh tests each. “Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have also conducted 3 lakh tests each. How many tests were conducted in Telangana,” he asked.

The BJP leader said the TRS government had been claiming that it procured 10 lakh PPE kits and 10 lakh N-95 masks but the doctors came out on streets to protest over lack of PPEs. He said the government failed to protect doctors, other healthcare workers, and policemen.

Telangana has been witnessing a big surge in COVID-19 cases. It Sunday recorded 730 cases, the highest single-day jump since March 2, when the first case was detected.

Mohammad Irfan death rumours started circulating on social media

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Mohammad Irfan death rumours started circulating on social media

Pakistan pacer Mohammad Irfan has confirmed that he’s fine after rumours of his death started circulating on social media. The pacer said that all the reports saying he had been in a car accident were fake and baseless.”Some social media outlets have been spreading baseless fake news about my death in a car accident.

This has disturbed my family and friends beyond words, and I have been receiving endless calls on this. Please refrain from such things. There was no accident and we are well,” Irfan tweeted. The 38-year-old pacer is renowned for being the tallest player to ever play first-class cricket.

Irfan last represented Pakistan in a T20I against Australia last year in November.The pacer has played 4 Tests, 60 ODIs and 22 T20Is for Pakistan, managing to take 109 wickets across all formats.

He was last seen in action during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he represented Multan Sultans.He ended up taking four wickets in the tournament.

Posh Mumbai tower with 21 Corona cases sealed

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Posh Mumbai tower with 21 Corona cases sealed

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed Tahnee Heights, a 28-story residential tower in the posh Malabar Hill area after 21 Covid-19 cases were detected in one a week, including 10 on Friday, officials said here on Monday.

The sealing orders have been issued by BMC D-Ward Assistant Municipal Commissioner Prashant Gaikwad, on the building at Napean Sea Road, which houses several well-known personalities of the country’s financial capital.

“We detected a total of 21 cases in the past seven days. They include two residents and 19 domestic workers, drivers and security personnel,” AMC Gaikwad said.

A lone driver was first detected positive last week, and he reportedly spread the infection to other drivers, security men and house helps, besides a couple, and the BMC has managed to identify and track almost all his “first contacts”.

“In order to break the chain, it is necessary to seal the entire building as the staffers may have possibly infected others as they work in different flats,” Gaikwad added.

While a couple from the building with mild symptoms has been kept in-home quarantine in their flat, the other infected have been shifted to various institutional isolation centers.

The BMC will take up sanitization drives in all the common areas, toilets used by the staff, elevators and other places 4-6 times daily to minimize the spread of the virus, till the society makes its own arrangements.

Besides, BMC teams will take up regular screenings of all the society building residents and advise the management of the building — which is among the most expensive pieces of real estate in the country — to do likewise.

Yogi govt cracks down on Mukhtar Ansari’s economic empire

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Yogi govt cracks down on Mukhtar Ansari’s economic empire

The economic empire of the jailed mafia don-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari is now on the radar of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

Illegal slaughterhouses, vehicle stands, and other small businesses being run by members of the Mukhtar gang are now being subjected to raids.

The Mau police, last week, raided a slaughterhouse that was being operated illegally for the past 20 years. The police recovered 800 kg of meat and over 20 animals from this spot. The police also arrested Shakil Ahmed, Ikhlaq Ahmed, Javed Akhtar, Abdur Rehman, and Azmal Qureshi.

Mau Superintendent of Police (SP) Anurag Arya said that three other accomplices of the arrested slaughterhouse operators had been identified and a cash reward of Rs 25,000 had been announced. He said that they would be arrested soon.

A fish mafia, Parasnath Sonkar, owing allegiance to Mukhtar Ansari has also been arrested.

Varanasi zone Additional Director General of Police Varanasi Brij Bhushan said, “Under the ongoing drive against gangs involved in organized crime, a sharp vigil is being kept on the wealth being generated by them by indulging in illegal activities. The involvement of any gangster in such activities will invite prompt action.”

According to him, the process to book them all under the Gangster Act had also been started.

Last week, the Mau police had booked 11 Mukhtar gang members, including Surendra Singh, Saud Abbasi, Shivendra Kumar Singh, Samar Bahadur, Ashwini Kumar Singh, Jhinku Singh, Mahendra Chauhan, Makhanchu Yadav, Santosh Kumar, Mandhata Shukla, and Dheeraj Rai.

SP Arya said that initially in 2019, three FIRs were lodged against the members of this gang with the City Kotwali, Sarai Lakhani and Dakshin Tola police stations when it came to light that they had taken a contract of taxi stand from Nagar Palika for 2019-20., but we’re using it to extort money from all kinds of vehicles in the entire district.

A total of 11 members of the gang, including Suresh and Abbasi, were sent to jail while the contract of Rs 65.51 lakh was canceled.

However, when the process of floating fresh tender was initiated by Nagar Palika in November 2019 Dheeraj Rai, who also belongs to this gang, grabbed the contract by quoting the amount of Rs 75 lakh. Rai and his accomplice, Mandhata have also been sent to jail and booked under the Gangster Act.

The Mau police are also planning to take Mukhtar Ansari on remand in a five-month-old case lodged against him for recommending arms licenses to four, including a criminal who was later gunned down by the police.

Arya said that process to take Mukhtar on remand for interrogation in the case registered by the Dakshin Tola police, had also been initiated.

In 2001, Mukhtar had sent a letter on his official letter pad to the District Magistrate requesting the issuance of arms licenses to four persons. The applicants had applied for arms licenses on fake addresses, which were shown as verified.

The episode came to light in December 2019 when the addresses were being reverified. One of the arms license holders had even been killed in a police encounter.

Mukhtar Ansari, a five-term MLA, has been lodged in jail since 2005, in connection with the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. Though he was acquitted of the charges in this case by a special CBI court in Delhi in July last year, he remains behind the bars in other cases. He is presently lodged in the Ropar jail.

Mukhtar Ansari belongs to a very well-known political family in Uttar Pradesh. His grandfather Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was once the national president of Congress. The Ansaris are believed to have considerable influence in about 20 Assembly constituencies in Ghazipur, Mau, Azamgarh, Ballia, and Varanasi.

His elder brother Afzal Ansari is a BSP MP.

291 Afghan soldiers dead in Taliban attacks: Govt

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291 Afghan soldiers dead in Taliban attacks: Govt

At least 291 Afghan soldiers were killed and 550 injured in various Taliban attacks last week, marking the highest number of casualties suffered by the security forces in a week since the country’s 2001 US invasion, the government said on Monday.

“The Taliban carried out 422 attacks in 32 (of the 34) provinces, killing 291 ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) members and wounding 550 others,” National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Javid Faisal told Efe news.

“For this reason, the past week was the deadliest one in 19 years in terms of violence,” the NSC office said in a separate statement.

During the last week, 42 civilians were also killed and over 100 others injured.

The spurt in weekly casualties among the security forces comes at a time when the government and the Taliban were preparing to kick-start the intra-Afghan talks, along the lines of a peace agreement between the militants and the US.

This will mark the beginning of an end to the 19-year war in Afghanistan.

As per the US-Taliban agreement signed on February 29 in Doha, Washington would pull troops out of Afghanistan by mid-2021 in exchange for security guarantees from the Taliban.

However, the process was delayed after the Taliban decided to boycott the negotiations for a prisoner swap with the government, a precondition for starting the intra-Afghan talks.

The exchange of 5,000 Taliban prisoners for 1,000 of those from the security forces, originally set to commence on March 10, was offset by a dramatic spike in violence and disagreements between the Afghan government and the insurgents.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has claimed that the casualty figures by the government were exaggerated, describing these reports as attempts to undermine the peace process.

“They are increasing the (number of casualties from) 50 to 500 to create obstacles. These many attacks were not carried out in the past week, as claimed by the enemy,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Efe news.

Mujahid admitted there had been incidents of violence, but described them as “defensive responds” to attacks by the security forces.

Despite a lack of agreement on the prisoner swap process, which has served as the main impediment to the talks, the government has so far released around 3,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for around 500 of its prisoners being freed from Taliban jails, while negotiations continue.

4 detained in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad over Rath Yatra issue

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4 detained in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad over Rath Yatra issue

Four members of various Hindu outfits have been detained as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in Gujarat over their alleged plans to hold Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad despite High Court orders, police said on Monday.

The AHP organization, along with many other Hindu outfits had planned to gather in Ahmedabad and make a representation to the Jagannath temple trustees to continue with the tradition of Rath Yatra despite the Gujarat High Court order against it.

The Ranip police in Ahmedabad had detained the four, including Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) Gujarat president Nikunj Parikh. The AHP and Rashtriya Bajrang Dal Gujarat unit had openly opposed the High Court’s order.

Demands by many Hindu outfits to hold the Rath Yatra on June 23 had gone viral on the social media.

According to police, AHP, Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Parishad, and Bajrang Dal etc had planned to gather at the Arjun Bhagat Aashram at Chandlodia in Ahmedabad and forward a demand to the Jagannath temple trustees to hold the procession as planned.

“We have detained four persons from these outfits as a precautionary measure. We detained Parikh and one other persons from their hosues around 2 am, while the other two were detained from Arjun Ashram at 10 am. We had deployed 8 to 10 police personal at the ashram, following intelligence inputs,” an official at the Ranip police station said.

Citing the Supreme Court’s stay on Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra in Puri in Odisha amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Gujarat High Court had on Saturday stayed the Rath Yatra procession in Ahmedabad city scheduled for June 23.

Earlier, Ahmedabad’s Jagannath temple authorities had been making preparations to hold the 143rd religious procession even though the state had not taken a clear stand on whether to grant or deny permission.

Missing Kashmiri scholar’s family seeks help to trace him

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Missing Kashmiri scholar’s family seeks help to trace him

The family of a missing Ph.D. scholar protested on Monday in Srinagar asking the authorities to help trace their kin.

Hilal Ahmad, a Ph.D. scholar had gone to the Wangat area of the north Kashmir Ganderbal district on a trek with his friends on June 14.

His friends said they decided to trek to the Gangabal mountain lake in the foothills of the Harmukh mountain, but Hilal said he would wait at Naranag (Wangat) for their return.

On return from Gangabal, Hilal’s friends said he was found missing from Naranag.

The youth has remained untraced since.

There was a report on Sunday, which said he had been killed with the two other militants gunned down by the security forces in Srinagar city.

The police promptly denied the report, saying that Hilal Ahmad was not among the three militants killed in an encounter in the Gilli Kadal (Zoonimar) area of Srinagar.

The family said the youth is an orphan having lost both parents when he was in class 10.

The relatives have appealed to the authorities to trace the youth and help the family come out of the mental agony they are presently undergoing.

KGMU begins anti-body testing for health workers

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KGMU begins anti-body testing for health workers

King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow has started anti-body testing, becoming the first medical facility to start this.

In the first phase, anti-body testing has been done on 100 health workers and plasma donors.

Senior KGMU doctor, Dr. Tulika Chandra said that rapid testing is being done for anti-bodies and the results are available with three to four hours.

This test determines whether a person has antibodies needed to fight the virus. Antibody testing is similar to rapid testing where results are declared accurately in a few hours.

Many countries are now testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at the population level or in specific groups, such as health workers, close contacts of known cases, or within households.

WHO supports these studies, as they are critical for understanding the extent of – and risk factors associated with – the infection.

Dr. Chandra further said that anti-body testing will also be helpful in determining herd immunity in the coming times. It will define how many people in the community have sufficient antibodies.

Anti-body testing is particularly focusing on health workers, doctors, and frontline Corona warriors who come into contact with Corona patients.

Uttar Pradesh, at the moment, has 6,186 active Corona cases while the total number of COVID-19 cases is 17, 731 and the number of deaths is 550.

TikTok users, K-pop fans targeted Trump’s Tulsa rally: Report (Lead)

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TikTok users, K-pop fans targeted Trump’s Tulsa rally: Report (Lead)

Some users of TikTok and K-pop fans on Twitter believe they were partly responsible for the empty seats at the Bank of Oklahoma Center during US President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma over the last weekend.

Trump’s decision to relaunch his re-election campaign on Saturday night drew criticism from several quarters.

As the campaign opened up registration for free tickets to the rally, there were expectations of a packed Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa which has seating capacity for 19,000 people.

Campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh, who had said that there had been 1 million requests for tickets to attend the main rally, blamed the anti-Trump protests near the stadium for the low turnout.

However, after learning that free tickets can be obtained for the rally, some K-pop fans shared on Twitter how to sign up to get tickets. But these tweets also carried a directive to the fans to not attend the rally, according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday.

The posts were deleted so that other social media users would not know what they were up to, said the report.

The campaign spilled onto short video-sharing platform TikTok where several users urged their followers to do the same.

TikTok user Mary Jo Laupp was one of the first to call for the protests on that platform, according to a report in USA Today.

“Did you know you can make sure there are empty seats at Trump’s rally?” she captioned a June 12 video that got hundreds of thousands of likes.

Trump’s reelection campaign, however, denied that TikTok users of K-pop fans could sabotage the event.

“Registering for a rally means you’ve RSVPed with a cell phone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool,” Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement released Sunday.

“What makes this lame attempt at hacking our events even more foolish is the fact that every rally is general admission – entry is on a first-come-first-served basis and prior registration is not required.”

Amazfit launches Dual OS Stratos 3 smart watch in India

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Amazfit launches Dual OS Stratos 3 smart watch in India

Wearable brand Huami on Monday launched Amazfit Stratos 3 smartwatch in India for Rs 13,999. The watch is powered with a dual-chip and dual operating system and offers 14-day battery life.

The consumers can purchase Amazfit Stratos 3 on in.amazfit.com and Flipkart.

“Stratos 3 is a compact watch for athletes and high-endurance sports workout. This smartwatch comes with some advanced functionalities,” said Mark Mao, Vice President of Overseas Business, Huami.

Stratos 3 is packed with different sports modes such as running, swimming, to more professional and endurance sports such as trail running, climbing, hiking, or Triathlon.

It features 80 sports modes, heart rate monitoring, and ‘First Beat’ professional-level sports analysis for skills improvement and injury prevention.

It is equipped with a 35-70-hour continuous GPS tracker, transflective MIP display with a 1.34-inch (320×320 pixels) full-round display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, an anti-fingerprint coating.

The device has built-in activity profiles like Ultra-Endurance Mode, VO2Max, Exercise Effect (TE), Exercise Load (TD), and Recovery Time Data.

Boost your immunity to sail through the Monsoon

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Boost your immunity to sail through the Monsoon

This year has been nothing short of eventful so far, and with monsoon knocking at our doors, little modifications in our diet can save us from more unwanted trouble on the health front.

It is a cue for everyone to adopt a diet that suits the changing weather, which brings with it seasonal maladies such as the flu, allergies, and infections.

With the worldwide threat of the coronavirus pandemic looming at large, now is not the time to get sick and be privy to a whole lot of infections. The period calls for building a strong and robust immunity that will help you steer clear of the season’s diseases.

The best way to go about it is by practicing a balanced lifestyle which involves nutritious eating habits, plenty of exercises, yoga and meditation, deep sleep, and a positive outlook towards life. Eating right is perhaps the most crucial aspect towards a healthy and disease-free body, Gaia founder and director Dolly Kumar told IANSlife.

Here is her list of five super-healthy foods that will not only boost your immunity and health but also ensure that you remain active and focused during the day.

Green tea

Every Indian loves a nice cup of steaming hot tea, especially during the monsoon hours. Sipping tea in the comfort of your homes while listening to the music of the monsoon shower is one of the simpler pleasures of life. Instead of having regular milk and sugar concoction, switch to a nice and aromatic cup of green tea. A warm healthy dose of green tea helps you stay invigorated throughout the day. Green tea is fortified with natural antioxidants. It is also a great source for bolstering the immune system and enhancing one’s memory. The minerals and nutrients in green tea help the body to detoxify its impurities accumulated over time. They also improve the body’s digestive system and also help in cleansing the skin.

Honey

It is nature’s answer to most health ailments. Honey is the ideal remedy for sore throats, coughs, and cold due to its soothing effect on the throat. Multifloral honey when consumed with some ginger is the perfect cure for ailing throats. A natural substitute for sugar, multi-floral honey is also a great immunity booster as it is free from fat, cholesterol, and sodium.

Neem

Neem is the king of all medicinal plants and has been used since ancient times to cure all kinds of diseases and disorders. It is the perfect remedy for stomach bugs, which are so prevalent in this season. The cooling properties of neem are next to none and can be consumed in the form of readymade capsules. Its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and blood-cleansing properties aid in building up the body’s resistance against external infections and malicious agents. Neem also helps in strengthening the body’s immunity and digestion.

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is great for maintaining overall health. It is a powerhouse of nutrients as it contains more than twenty amino acids and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and sodium along with enzymes, vitamins, polysaccharides, nitrogen, and other vital nutrients. It also improves hair and skin texture and keeps them healthy and lustrous. A natural cure for constipation and acidity, Aloe vera can also improve the body’s digestive system.

Olive oil

The rainy season is a catalyst for heightening one’s cravings for fried snacks like pakoras. It is alright to indulge your taste buds every once in a while. Just make sure that you replace the ordinary cooking oil with the healthy and extra flavorful light olive oil. Olive oil is rich in mono-saturated fatty acids has a light texture that complements a dish perfectly, making it a great alternative to regular cooking oil and ideal for almost all cuisines. It also reduces the risk of cancer, Type-2 Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and breast cancer as it is packed with numerous anti-oxidants. Now, who said fried pakoras cannot be healthy!

Soldier killed in Pak firing on LoC (Ld)

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Soldier killed in Pak firing on LoC (Ld)

An Army jawan was killed on Monday in Pakistan firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

Army sources said one soldier was killed in the firing and shelling from Pakistan on the LoC in the Nowshera sector. Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling on the LoC simultaneously in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri and the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch.

Defense sources said the Indian Army is retaliating befittingly at both places where heavy firing exchanges have been going on.

Pakistan has been violating the bilateral ceasefire agreement of October 2003 with impunity during the last one month on the LoC.

This has thrown the lives of hundreds of the border residents in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts out of gear.

Both the lives and livelihood of the border residents in the Union Territory are threatened by these daily ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC.

India witnesses upsurge in Covid deaths (Ld)

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India witnesses upsurge in Covid deaths (Ld)

India on Monday witnessed a significant upsurge in the number of daily Covid-19 deaths as it recorded 445 fresh deaths in the past 24 hours, while Goa reported its first death, Maharashtra continued at the top of all tallies.

On Sunday, 306 people had succumbed to the deadly disease, and 375 and 336 two days prior to that.

As many as 13,699 people have succumbed to the viral infection till now. Besides this, the country recorded 14,821 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally to 4,252,82.

Out of the total number of confirmed cases, 1,743,87 are currently active cases and 2,371,95 have recovered. The number of patients recovering from COVID-19 continues to increase.

The recovery rate has further improved to 55.49 percent amongst COVID-19 patients. The number of government labs has increased to 722 and private labs have increased to 259.

The number of samples being tested every day also continues to grow. In the last 24 hours, the total number of tests done were 1,43,267.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state in the country with total cases crossing the one lakh mark — 1,320,75 cases, including 6170 deaths.

Delhi took over Tamil Nadu to become the state with second-highest cases. The national capital has 59,746 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 59,377 cases. Tamil Nadu has, however, more active cases at 25,866 than Delhi, which has 24,558 cases. The southern state also recorded its highest daily cases, the biggest jump at 2,532.

Here onwards, every single death in Delhi has to be reported to the Centre according to new guidelines that also stated new containment and survey rules for the national capital as the pandemic surge in the city refused to reduce.

An 85-year-old man from Morlem village who had tested positive for COVID passed away at a hospital on Monday, recording the first death in the coastal state.

States with more than 10,000 cases include Gujarat with 27,260 cases and 1,663 deaths, Uttar Pradesh (17,731), Rajasthan (14,930), Madhya Pradesh (11,903) and West Bengal (13,945).

The total number of global COVID-19 cases was nearing 9 million, while the deaths have increased to over 467,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

‘Chintu Ka Birthday’ directors have an issue with Tarantino’s films

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‘Chintu Ka Birthday’ directors have an issue with Tarantino’s films

The director duo of Devanshu Kumar and Satyanshu Singh, who recently garnered some praise for their digital film “Chintu Ka Birthday”, seem to have a problem with certain aspects of Hollywood maverick Quentin Tarantino’s cinema — particularly his propensity to project evil with swagger.

“When you see ‘Chintu Ka Birthday’, you see how we have exaggerated goodness, the positive side of life even at a war-zone. I always questioned in my mind and I want to ask you when we exaggerated evil on the screen when we watch world cinema — especially films of Quentin Tarantino — we glorify the exaggeration of evil, right? The audience takes that as ‘cool’. It gets celebrated in the film festival circuit. Critics and intellectuals call such film ‘edgy’ and audience search for such film to watch and call them ‘edgy’, ‘grappling’ films,” Devanshu told IANS.

Satyanshu added: “Now I want to cite an example. When Sooraj Barjatiya glorifies and exaggerates the happy, positive, and good deeds of characters in his story, why do we look down upon him, or his kind of films? We do not take such films seriously, why? We should not be ashamed of exaggerating the good side of human beings, because only that side can keep us afloat, especially in a crisis.”

“Chintu Ka Birthday” is the story of a little boy played by child-actor Vedant Chibber. The film released on the OTT platform ZEE5 also features Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, and Seema Pahwa.

Lately, several crime thrillers and revenge stories on various digital platforms have depicted graphic violence on screen. The director duo feels that in the troublesome time that we are living in, we should rather summon the good in us.

Satyanshu said: “I think there is enough and more potential in every human being to be superhuman, to do things that are next to impossible. But in order to awaken that superhuman, you have to summon the good in you. We have to remember that we are capable of extremely shameful deeds as humans. We are also equally capable of putting out a God-like act. What I am trying to say is, we have the choice. We cannot say no to the dark side in us, we have to accept that. But at the same time, we can convince ourselves to bring out the good side and ask the devil inside us to stay quiet.”

About the inception of “Chintu Ka Birthday”, Satyanshu said, “The whole idea is to tell a simple human story and set it in an extraordinary situation where it looks impossible. Our story was a story of a birthday celebration of a little boy, set in an Iraq war zone. It started with the impossibility of it. You normally cannot make people laugh when you set a story in a war zone. That element of impossibility drove us to make the film.”

Australian govt urged to save koalas from extinction

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Australian govt urged to save koalas from extinction

Australian ecologists have called on the federal government to urgently produce a threatened species recovery plan for the koala populations.

On Tuesday, Kara Youngentob, an ecologist from the Australian National University (ANU), said that a recovery plan for the marsupials should “absolutely be a priority,” with habitat loss from forestry operations exacerbated by the “2019-20 Black Summer” bushfire crisis, reports Xinhua news agency.

Recovery plans serve “to maximize the long-term survival” of Australian wildlife and come with a three-year deadline to implement and fund.

Former Environment Minister Greg Hunt in 2015 authorized a recovery plan for koalas which is now two years overdue.

Youngentob told Nine Entertainment newspapers that only one species of tree was growing back to dominate areas affected by logging and bushfires, creating “food deserts” for koalas.

“Their populations are like little lights and they will continue to blink out across their habitat range until it’s totally dark,” she said.

“The current protections in place aren’t enough to ensure populations don’t continue to decline. There have been localized extinctions and they may continue.”

James Trezise, a policy analyst from the Australian Conservation Foundation, said that koalas were “smashed by last summer’s bushfires”.

An estimated 25,000 koalas perished in the bushfires on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia (SA), approximately half of the island’s population.

A further 10,000 died in New South Wales, one-third of the state’s population.

“This is an iconic species that people hold dear and it’s invaluable to Australia’s culture and also to the tourism industry,” Trezise said.

85-year-old woman dies, becomes Goa’s first corona victim

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85-year-old woman dies, becomes Goa’s first corona victim

Goa on Monday recorded its first coronavirus death when an 85-year-old woman died at the Covid-19 hospital in the South Goa district.

“This is the first Covid-19 death in Goa. My condolences to the family. I would like to reassure the people that we are doing all it takes and follow the latest protocols to keep them safe,” Health Minister Vishwajit Rane told reporters.

Goa currently has 683 active cases.

Disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy: Manmohan to Modi

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Disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy: Manmohan to Modi

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying “disinformation” on the Chinese transgression will be a “betrayal” to the sacrifice made by the Indian soldiers at the LAC and it was neither a “substitute for diplomacy” nor “decisive leadership”.

Manmohan Singh was criticizing Modi’s statement at the all-party meeting on Friday and later clarification by the Prime Minister’s Office on the June 15 night’s violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese sides at Galway Valley on the Line of Actual Control that led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers, including a commanding officer.

The PM statement was used by the Chinese to get away from their misdeeds at the Galway Valley.

“The Prime Minister cannot allow them to use his words as a vindication of their position and must ensure that all organs of the Government work together to tackle this crisis and prevent it from escalating further,” said the former Prime Minister.

Manmohan Singh in a statement said: “We remind the Government that disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy or decisive leadership.”

“The truth cannot be suppressed by having pliant allies spout comforting but false statements,” added Manmohan Singh.

Singh said Prime Minister should be “mindful” of the implications of his words.

He said in Indian democracy that responsibility rests with the office of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister must always be mindful of the implications of his words and declarations on our Nation’s security as also strategic and territorial interests.

The former Prime Minister said China is brazenly and illegally seeking to claim parts of Indian territory such as the Galway Valley and the Pangong Tso by committing multiple incursions between April 2020 till date.

“The Nation lost twenty brave soldiers in the Galway Valley, Ladakh on June 15th-16th, 2020. They laid down their lives in the ultimate act of sacrifice, valor, and duty to our country. Our Bravehearts defended the motherland till their last breath and for that we owe them, and their families, our eternal gratitude,” said the statement

“However, their sacrifice cannot be allowed to be in vain. At this moment, we stand at historic crossroads. Our Government’s decisions and actions will have serious bearings on how future generations perceive us. Those who lead us to bear the weight of a solemn duty.

“We cannot and will not be cowed down by threats and intimidation nor permit a compromise with our territorial integrity,” said Manmohan Singh.

“This is a moment where we must stand together as a nation and be united in our response to this brazen threat and the Prime Minister and the Government have to rise to the occasion, to ensure justice for Col. B. Santosh Babu and our jawans who have made the ultimate sacrifice and resolutely defended our territorial integrity.”

“To do any less would be a historic betrayal of the people’s faith,” said the statement from Manmohan Singh.

With 445 deaths India records worst spike in daily toll, Covid tally at 4.25L

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With 445 deaths India records worst spike in daily toll, Covid tally at 4.25L

India on Monday recorded 14,821 new COVID-19 cases and 445 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 4,252,82.

Out of the total number of confirmed cases, 1,743,87 are currently active, and 2,371,95 have recovered. 13,699 people have succumbed to the deadly disease.

The country had on Sunday witnessed record 15,413 new cases compared with 14,516 a day earlier.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state in the country with total cases crossing the one lakh mark — 1,320,75 cases, including 6,170 deaths.

Delhi took over Tamil Nadu to become the state with second-highest cases. The national capital has 59,746 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 59,377.

Tamilnadu has, however, more active cases at 25,866 than Delhi, which has 24,558 cases.

States with more than 10,000 cases include Gujarat with 27,260 cases and 1,663A deaths, Uttar Pradesh (17,731), Rajasthan (14,930), Madhya Pradesh (11,903) and West Bengal (13,945).

The total number of global COVID-19 cases was nearing 9 million, while the deaths have increased to over 467,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

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