Jammu: Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kamalkote sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, officials said.
From 10:45 to 11:45 am, ceasefire violation was reported from Lowergrah and Upergrah posts of Kamalkote Sector in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, the officials said.
Pakistani troops fired from small weapons, they said.
Further details were awaited.
While India is celebrating it’s 74th Independence Day on Saturday, for Jammu and Kashmir, this month marks its first year of the scrapping of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
An image of Srinagar’s nerve centre, Lal Chowk is viral on social media with the Indian national flag flying atop its clock tower.
The caption to one such image uploaded on Twitter reads, “What has changed since #5Aug2019? Lal Chowk #Srinagar which had remained a symbol of #AntiIndia campaign by dynast politicians & #Jihadist forces has now become Crown of Nationalism.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the image is morphed. There was no flag hoisted at Lal Chowk. The viral image is modified and at least 10-years-old, dating back to 2010.
The image was also viral on Facebook.
The archived versions of the image can be seen here, here and here
With a reverse image search, we could trace the viral image back to 2010 and found that it is altered.
We came across a 2010 blogpost by a user ‘Mubasshir Mushtaq’, who identifies himself as a freelance journalist. The same image without a national flag was carried in his article with the tagline “ A deserted Lal Chowk, Srinagar, June 22, 2010”
A comparison of the image carried in this article with the viral image proved that the image was photoshopped to add the national flag.
AFWA also reached out to India Today’s Srinagar photojournalist Tariq Ahmad Lone to understand the ground reality at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk.
Tariq confirmed to us that there was no flag hoisting at Lal Chowk on Independence Day 2020.
“I visited Lal Chowk today morning. There is no flag hoisted atop its clock tower. Complete restrictions are imposed in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley today,” Tariq said.
He also said that the old building that can be seen on the right of the viral image was renovated five years back and doesn’t look anything like in the viral picture anymore.
We did a comparison between the viral image and an image of Lal Chowk from 15 August 2020 shared by our local correspondent. This again clearly shows the viral image is not from recent times.
The image on the left is from August 15, 2020.
AFWA also contacted Arif Wani, the bureau chief of Kashmir’s local English newspaper Greater Kashmir who said since Lal Chowk is a sensitive area and security agencies usually avoid hosting the national flag there.
“Today the flag is hoisted at the Police Control Room, SK Stadium, headquarters of political parties, and CRPF battalion headquarters as part of Independence Day celebrations. Lal Chowk is a sensitive area and usually, security agencies avoid flag hoisting there. Last time it was hoisted as far as I remember is by Murli Manohar Joshi and PM Modi in 1992,” Wani told this correspondent.
We also found a video of today’s curfew hit Lal Chowk on the official Facebook page of Kashmir News Trust. The Video shows deserted streets of Lal Chowk and there is no Tricolour atop its clock tower.
Hence, the viral image purportedly showing the Indian national flag unfurled atop Lal Chowk’s clocktower is photoshopped. The national flag was not hoisted at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk on August 15, 2020, or in recent days.
With inputs from India Today
(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Bengaluru: India’s most valuable company Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is reportedly the latest bidder for the Bytedance-owned TikTok in India.
The Mukesh Ambani-led firm had begun talks last month with the Chinese firm to acquire its operations in India. The deal is said to be valued at $5 billion.
India is the largest market for the short video app outside China with more than 611 million downloads generated till date, according to data sourced from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. However, when it comes to monetization, China, US and UK accounted for 90% of the total TikTok revenues.
Although, Reliance and Bytedance both denied any information on the reported deal, industry analysts predict that Reliance’s acquisition of TikTok is the most likely scenario especially after the Chinese app was banned by the Indian government in June on the grounds of threats to national security and data privacy.
Interestingly, Facebook, which is the largest minority stakeholder in Reliance’s Jio platforms, has also recently launched Instagram Reels in India, where the users can make a short video, embedded in the photo-sharing platform.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO, Greyhound Research wrote in his note that in the present circumstances, Bytedance’s deal with Reliance Jio could be a viable option to clear the regulatory hurdles in India while also helping leverage the nearly 400 million users base of Jio.
“Although Instagram Reels is being described as a clone of TikTok, the fact is that the similarity of the features may act as an advantage and help the Facebook backed photo-sharing app onboard millions of users in India who were earlier using TikTok. Facebook still has a larger user base than TikTok in India and over the course of time, Instagram Reels can leverage the massive network Facebook has in India. Reels was first smartly tested in low-risk markets and then rolled out in India for scale and mass content – while it may not come across as integrated with other products, it may be too early to judge. Leverage with a broader FB network makes Instagram Reels more compelling than TikTok,” Gogia added.
Tech giant Microsoft had earlier said that it is planning to purchase TikTok in the US and other key markets.
US President Donald Trump’s latest executive order last week serving a 45-day deadline for the TikTok sale may likely lead to fastracking the potential sale. Microsoft had confirmed that it is in talks with Bytedance to acquire TikTok and that the discussions will be concluded by September 15.
With inputs from Express News Service
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks during his Independence Day address that elections would be held in J&K only after delimitation, evoked mixed reactions from political parties in the Union Territory.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expressed concern over the conditional resumption of the electoral process. “PM’s speech is a special gift for J&K on I-Day. Democracy must wait till complete Muslim political and administrative disempowerment. Isn’t that what the PM meant in his address to the nation?” former legislator and PDP leader Firdous Tak said.
People’s Democratic Front (PDF) chief Hakeem Yaseen welcomed the statement of Mr. Modi.
“Result-oriented measures for restoration of political and election process were imperative to end socio-political uncertainty and bring peace and normalcy in troubled J&K. The Governor’s rule was no substitute to a civilian government. At present, the administration was running on the whims of bureaucrats without any political directive,” Mr. Yaseen said.
BJP UT general secretary Ashok Koul said his party was also for “polls to take place in J&K”. “Delimitation exercise is already on and when that will end, the Assembly polls will be held.”
On restoration of statehood, he said, “The Centre is committed to restore the state status but for that all guns should fall silent.”
With inputs from The Hindu
(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh government has come under fresh criticism after a 13-year-old girl was raped and strangulated to death in a field in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
Talking to media, the victim’s father had claimed that upon discovering the body in a sugarcane field, he saw it was mutilated. However, the district police chief on Sunday said the reports of mutilation were “completely false.”
The post-mortem report only confirmed rape, said Satendra Kumar, SP Kheri.
Mr. Kumar, however, said that while the body had some blood stains near the eye, she may have received cut marks from the sugarcane leaves. And the tongue getting pressed between the teeth was a sign of strangulation, Mr. Kumar said.
Two accused, both locals, were arrested and police said they were being booked under the stringent National Security Act.
The girl’s body was found in a sugarcane field hours after she had stepped out to answer the call of nature, police said.
BSP chief Mayawati said the minor Dalit girl’s rape and “brutal” murder was shameful. “With such incidents, what difference is there between the SP government and the current BJP government,” she asked in a tweet, demanding strict action.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the incident had “shaken humanity”. The oppression of girls and women under the BJP rule in U.P. was at its peak, he said.
Ajay Kumar Lallu, Congress U.P. president, said the incident had shamed the entire society and claimed there was a “jungle raj” in the State.
“BJP chants ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, but is not able to provide security to [our] daughters,” he said. “There is lawlessness everywhere, criminals are fearless,” he said.
With inputs from The Hindu
Indian companies have sought technical details on the trials of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for possible production in India, an Indian Embassy source in Moscow said.
Separately, in an interview to Russian state media Sputnik, Indian Envoy in Moscow D.B. Venkatesh Varma said, “I had a productive discussion with CEO of RDIF, Mr. Kirill Dmitriev, and we are hopeful of positive outcome.”
Last Tuesday, Russia became the first country to officially register a coronavirus vaccine and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that one of his daughters had also been inoculated.
“Indian companies are in touch with RDIF regarding vaccines and have asked for technical details about Phase I and Phase II trials of the vaccine and also for production of vaccines in India for third country exports and production of vaccines for use in India after regulatory clearances,” an Indian Embassy source in Moscow said.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on Independence Day earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there are three COVID vaccines under development within the country and India will start mass production of vaccines once scientists give the go ahead. Indian biotech companies have also tied up with leading global vaccine makers for mass producing the vaccine.
“We hope that a vaccine will come up not only in Russia, but in India too, and that too will provide an opportunity for collaboration,” Mr. Varma told RBC TV in Russia ahead of Independence Day. There is already collaboration between Indian and Russian pharmaceutical companies Mr. Varma noted adding that are watching very closely the advances that Russia has been making in the production of vaccine and “there is a large scope for cooperation between Russia and India.”
India, a leader in the pharma sector, and supplier of low cost vaccines to the whole world, has the capacities to quickly scale up production of any vaccine for quick availability on a large scale at affordable prices to fight the pandemic.
As Russia saw a huge surge in COVID-19 cases, India had supplied more than 90 tonnes of medical supplies to Russia including hydroxychloroquinone.
With inputs from The Hindu
In recent years, the armed forces of Turkey, Israel and Iran have produced an array of loitering munitions, often dubbed “suicide” or “kamikaze” drones, that could very soon revolutionize the way wars are fought in that extremely volatile part of the world.
The proliferation of armed drones in the Middle East over the past decade is alarming. A significant number of Chinese-made drones have been imported by the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Jordan and been used in combat.
One field these three countries have made significant progress in is the building of loitering munitions, drones that could very soon fundamentally change the way wars are fought in the region.
The Turkish military plans to buy 500 Kargu-2 loitering munitions. The 15-pound ‘multicopters’ are designed so they can operate in ‘swarms’ of 20 and attack their target, evade or penetrate its defenses and detonate their three-pound warheads.
The drones carry three different types of warheads, each designed to afflict maximum damage on its specific target.
The tiny unmanned aircraft can operate autonomously, meaning they can search for and destroy targets using computer algorithms rather than completely relying on their operator’s guidance.
When the drones acquire their targets, they can increase their speed up to 90 miles per hour (mph) on their final attack run.
The CEO of Defense Technologies and Trade Inc. (STM), which builds the Kargu-2, claimed that the tiny drones even have facial recognition technology, meaning they can seek out and identify individual human targets and then assassinate them.
Such technology would be useful for Turkey, which has been assassinating senior members of its Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) adversary with targeted airstrikes over the past two years.
STM has stated that the drone “has been engineered specifically for anti-terror and asymmetric warfare scenarios.”
The use of the drones for swarm attacks could well give the Turkish military a new capability that one analyst described as “game-changing.”
Israel has also developed a similar drone called the FireFly, designed for use in close quarters urban fighting.
The FireFly has a much smaller warhead compared to the Kargu-2, weighing a mere 400 grams. It will likely prove lethal against the opponents its designed to eliminate in support of its operators in combat, such as insurgents using sniper rifles or suppressing machine gun fire.
When the FireFly locates its target, it can reach a top speed of over 40 mph on its attack run.
The drones may soon be operated from infantry vehicles.
Israel already has similar loitering drones in operational use. The Uvision company makes the Hero-30 loitering munition, which is also designed to enable troops in combat environments to launch pinprick strikes against their opponents.
The Hero-30 can reach a top speed of over 100 mph and deliver a 3-kilogram warhead to its target. It is launched from a portable canister carried by infantry or special forces that produces no fire or smoke and, therefore, doesn’t potentially expose the position of the troops using it to their nearby opponents.
Larger Israeli loitering munitions are often designed for anti-radiation attacks, i.e., destroying enemy radars as part of suppression of air defense operations. IAI Harpy and the larger IAI Harop (also known as the Harpy 2) drones are designed primarily in order to fulfill these roles.
The Harop has a flying time of 6 hours and an impressive range of over 600 miles.
Iran also operates an array of loitering munitions and has supplied some to non-state actors in the region.
Iranian Ra’ad 85 drones reportedly have an operational range of around 80 miles and reportedly can reach a top speed of about 250 mph.
Unlike the tiny Kargu-2 or Hero-30 loitering munitions, the Ra’ad 85s are designed to strike larger targets with precision. Tehran showcased the drone’s capabilities during military drills in December 2016.
Three months earlier, the Iranian Navy unveiled another drone that officials claimed “can carry payloads of explosives for combat missions” and “collide with the target and destroy it, (whether) a vessel or an onshore command center.”
especially the most modern variant the Ababil-3. The older Ababil-2s are mostly used as target drones for training air defense personnel.
In September, loitering munitions and cruise missiles damaged Saudi oil facilities after managing to evade the kingdom’s air defenses. That attack aptly demonstrated the effectiveness of, and threat posed by, such weapons.
Tehran has also supplied such drones to non-state actors across the region, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon, giving these groups an edge over their more heavily armed adversaries Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The Houthis, for example, operate the Qasef-1 loitering munition that is based on the Ababil-2 and have used them to target Saudi MIM-104 Patriot air defense missile systems, which the kingdom relies upon to intercept ballistic missiles fired into the kingdom from its southern neighbor.
As a Conflict Armament Research report explained, the Houthi Qasef-1s crash “into the systems’ radar sets (specifically the circular main phased arrays) – directing the UAVs by programming their systems with open-source GPS coordinates of the Patriots’ positions.”
Knocking out the Patriot’s radars then enables the Houthis “to target Coalition assets with volleys of missile fire unhindered.”
On July 13, the Houthis also claimed they struck a large oil facility in southern Saudi Arabia. The announcement came shortly after the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition claimed it shot down four missiles and six loitering munitions fired at the kingdom by the Houthis.
Those loitering munitions in question could well have been Qasef-1s.
All of this demonstrates that loitering munitions are growing ever more lethally sophisticated and could well change the cost and outcome of conflicts in the Middle East and beyond in the not-too-distant future.
Follow me on Twitter | Paul Iddon
I am a journalist/columnist based in Iraqi Kurdistan from where I’ve been writing about regional affairs for five years now.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
PTI
Los Angeles: Scientists have found the likely order in which COVID-19 symptoms first appear, an advance that may help clinicians rule out other diseases, and help patients seek care promptly or decide sooner to self-isolate.
According to the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, the likely order of symptoms in patients with COVID-19 is fever, followed by cough, muscle pain, and then nausea, and/or vomiting, and diarrhea.
“This order is especially important to know when we have overlapping cycles of illnesses like the flu that coincide with infections of COVID-19,” explained study co-author Peter Kuhn, a professor of medicine and biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) in the US.
With this new information, Kuhn said doctors can determine what steps to take to care for patients, and prevent their condition from worsening.
The researchers believe identifying patients earlier may reduce hospitalisation time since there are better approaches to treatments now for COVID-19 than during the beginning of the pandemic.
In the current study, the scientists predicted the order of symptoms from data on the rates of symptom incidence of more than 55,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in China, all of which were collected from February 16 to 24 by the World Health Organization (WHO).
They also studied a dataset of nearly 1,100 cases collected from December 11, 2019 through January 29, 2020, by the China Medical Treatment Expert Group via the National Health Commission of China.
To compare the order of COVID-19 symptoms to that of influenza, the scientists examined flu data from 2,470 cases in North America, Europe and the Southern Hemisphere, which were reported to health authorities from 1994 to 1998.
“The order of the symptoms matter. Knowing that each illness progresses differently means that doctors can identify sooner whether someone likely has COVID-19, or another illness, which can help them make better treatment decisions,” said Joseph Larsen, study lead author from USC.
While fever and cough are frequently associated with a variety of respiratory illnesses, including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which caused the 2002-03 pandemic, they said the timing and symptoms in the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract set COVID-19 apart.
“The first two symptoms of COVID-19, SARS, and MERS are fever and cough. However, the upper GI tract (nausea/vomiting) seems to be affected before the lower GI tract (diarrhea) in COVID-19, which is the opposite from MERS and SARS,” the scientists wrote in the study.
According to the research, a very small fraction of patients experienced diarrhea as an initial symptom.
“This report suggests that diarrhea as an early symptom indicates a more aggressive disease, because each patient in this dataset that initially experienced diarrhea had pneumonia or respiratory failure eventually,” the scientists wrote.
“The highest reported symptom is fever, followed by cough or dyspnea, and then finally, a small percent of patients reported diarrhea. This order confirms the most likely paths that we have determined,” they noted.
PTI
Srinagar: Militants on Saturday shot dead a civilian in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
The ultras shot and critically injured Azaad Ahmad Dar at his residence in Dadoora-Kangan area of Pulwama district around 9.40 pm, a police official said.
He said 42-year-old Dar was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to injuries.
It was not immediately known why Dar was targeted by the militants.
ANI
Religious places and places of worship within the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will re-open from August 16, 2020, the J&K government informed