Poonch: Security Forces in border district of Poonch detained three persons working with the army as porters after they were found using social media platform WhatsApp in a manner which has been treated as ‘sensitive’.
The three men belonging to Poonch district were working as porters in an army unit near Bhimber Gali area of Poonch district.
Officials told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that during routine monitoring, the trio were found using WhatsApp in a suspicious manner.
“Their use of WhatsApp was treated as ‘sensitive’ and their numbers were also added in some WhatsApp groups which raised suspicion,” they said.
Officials added that questioning of the trio is going on.
“Nothing much adverse has come to the fore so far except that they were using WhatsApp in a sensitive manner,” the officials said—(KNO)
Every nation has a trove of stories – alluring, magnetic narratives that are retold time and again. In Turkey, over the past decade or so, Ottoman history – the opulence, conquests and power – has been one of the most popular storylines across media, especially on TV.
“The recent interest in Ottoman stories and Ottoman narratives is not something out of air or without context – it has a historical background,” Burak Ozcetin, Associate Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University told The Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi. “Turkey is a society in constant change, constant flux. In times of crisis especially, history plays a significant role in creation of identities. The rising interest in the Ottoman past in terms of TV dramas has been a really, really important phenomenon.”
The demand for Ottoman stories on TV has gone far beyond Turkey. With five seasons, more than 400 episodes and hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, Dirilis: Ertugrul, or Resurrection: Ertugrul, is one of Turkey’s biggest television exports yet, and has helped put Turkey among the top exporters of TV content in the world. Set in the 13th century during the founding of the Ottoman empire, the show has helped launch a wave of nostalgia and fascination for the era that has become known as “Neo-Ottoman Cool”
“‘Neo-Ottoman Cool’ is a term that I and my colleague Marwan Kraidy coined to reflect that new image of Turkey that started perhaps around 15 years ago,” says Omar Al-Ghazzi, Assistant Professor at London School of Economics and co-author of the academic article Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere. “It demonstrated that shift of perception from Turkey as an enemy to Turkey as a model … Turkish soft power was perhaps at its height with the rise of President Erdogan – this went hand-in-hand with the popularity of Turkish popular culture, particularly Turkish TV series.”
“Dirilis: Ertugrul being popular specifically in the Middle East and the Muslim world is fascinating,” says Senem Cevik, Lecturer in International Studies at UC Irvine. “A show that is produced by a Muslim country, a Muslim regional power is very important, and having those characters in the shows that are powerful, strong, defenders of their nations and their tribes is something I think I would say the Muslim world is looking for.”
For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AK Party, reconnecting with the Ottoman era has been central to their messaging. Erdogan has pushed a notion of continuity from the Ottoman sultans through to himself and TV dramas such as Dirilis: Ertugrul and Payitaht: Abdulhamid – both commissioned by Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT – have aligned nicely with the AK Party’s communications strategy.
“They are, in a way, rewriting the Ottoman history for the current Turkish public. They’re trying to showcase a type of history that is continuous from the Ottoman Empire to the current Turkish republic in a way that it elevates the Ottoman history,” says Ozcetin. “‘Neo-Ottoman Cool’ is directly related with the Turkish Republic’s quest for enlarging its sphere of influence in the region, both politically, economically and culturally.”
Contributors: Burak Ozcetin – Associate Professor, Istanbul Bilgi University Senem Cevik – Lecturer in International Studies, UC Irvine Omar Al-Ghazzi – Assistant Professor, LSE and Co-author, Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere
Srinagar: An encounter broke out between the security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Monday, police said.
The security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Khul Chohar in the south Kashmir district following information about the presence of militants in the area, a police official said.
The operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon a search party of the forces, who retaliated. The gunfight is going on and further details are awaited, the police said.
Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Sunday claimed that efforts are being made to oust him after his government redrew the country’s political map by incorporating three strategically key Indian territories.
“Efforts are being made to remove me from power, but that will not succeed, Oli claimed, without naming any person or country.
He said nobody has openly asked him to quit. But I have smelt undercurrent movements, Oli said while speaking at an event to commemorate the 69th birth anniversary of the popular leader of the Nepal Communist Party late Madan Bhandari at the Prime Minister’s residence.
“There have been various kinds of activities in the embassies and hotels,” he claimed. If you listen to the news media from Delhi, you will get the gesture.
He said some Nepalese leaders were also involved in the game to remove him immediately.
The differences between Prime Minister Oli and his opponents including the ruling party’s executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” have surfaced during the ongoing Standing Committee meeting of the party.
Oli, who faced criticism within his party for skipping the first and the second day of the Standing Committee meetings, attended the third meeting on Saturday, but briefly. He, however, did not speak at the meeting.
“In the past when I signed trade agreements with Beijing, my minority government collapsed. But this time we have a government with a full-fledged majority, so no one can remove me now, Oli said on Sunday.
“I did not commit any mistake by claiming our land, which has been snatched from us for the past 58 years after Nepal enjoyed the rights over these areas for 146 years,” Oli said.
Nepal this month completed the process of redrawing the country’s political map through a Constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas.
India has termed as “untenable” the “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims by Nepal after its Parliament unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it.
The India-Nepal bilateral ties came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.
Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior leader of the ruling NCP told PTI that Oli’s indication was his opponents within the ruling party, not from outside.
“There has been growing differences within the ruling party and the Prime Minister is being cornered within his own party and his own colleagues are criticising the government’s performance,” he said.
Another NCP leader said that Oli’s absence in the first two days of the meetings showed the growing differences between him and Prachanda.
Prachanda has time and again spoken about the lack of coordination between the government and the party and he was pressing for a one-man one position system to be followed by the NCP.
The World Health Organisation has identified the Covid-19 vaccine candidates developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Moderna Inc as the front-runners
Even though there are more than 13 experimental vaccines in clinical trials among the 140 being developed to combat Covid-19, the World Health Organisation has identified the candidates developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Moderna Inc as the front-runners.
“Certainly in terms of how advanced they are, the stage at which they are, they are I think probably the leading candidate,” Reuters quoted WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan as saying.
A lab technician extracts a portion of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate during testing at the Chula Vaccine Research Center, run by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP)
“We do know that Moderna’s vaccine is also going to go into phase three clinical trials, probably from the middle of July, and so that vaccine candidate is not far behind. AstraZeneca certainly has a more global scope at the moment in terms of where they are doing and planning their vaccine trials,” Swaminathan said.
AstraZeneca, which has already begun phase III human trials of its AZD1222 (formerly known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine candidate, signed its tenth supply-and-manufacturing deal. Brazil announced on Saturday it had signed a $127 million agreement to start producing locally the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Elcio Franco, Brazil’s No 2 public health official, said in a press conference that the country would initially produce 30 million doses of the vaccine — half by December and half by January of next year, Reuters reported.
The first to get the vaccine, which will be produced by local vaccine maker Fiocruz, will be high-risk groups such as the elderly, people with co-morbidities and health and security professionals.
Earlier this month, the AstraZeneca CEO told a radio station that the vaccine candidate would likely provide protection against Covid-19 for one year.
💉 Moderna coronavirus vaccine status
US firm Moderna Inc, which has already started phase II trials for its vaccine candidate mRNA-1273, has partnered with drugmaker Catalent Inc to produce 100 million doses starting in the third quarter of 2020.
Under the deal, Catalent will also provide packaging and labeling, storage and distribution services to support Moderna’s late-stage clinical trial for the vaccine. Catalent is already in partnership with Johnson and Johnson as well as AstraZeneca.
Recently, Moderna Inc Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel told Bloomberg that efficacy data for its Covid-19 jab could be available by as soon as Thanksgiving (November) if everything goes right. Final-stage trials of the Moderna vaccine is set to begin next month on 30,000 people.
💉 Sanofi-GSK coronavirus vaccine status
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, which has developed a Covid-19 vaccine candidate with GSK, recently said it had accelerated the start of phase 1/2 clinical trials to September from December. In a statement, Sanofi said they have “multiple Covid-19 vaccine candidates” in the works and hope to start a clinical trial with humans in the fourth quarter of this year.
Sanofi also announced it would invest $425 million to expand its vaccine development venture with US start-up Translate Bio.
Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson told journalists earlier this week that his firm’s most promising Covid-19 treatment is “the only vaccine in the race which is offering a proven platform which works at scale”.
Sanofi is using one of GSK’s proprietary adjuvants — a compound that boosts the immune response — with this vaccine. The French firm expects to have 100 million doses of the recombinant vaccine by the end of 2020 and an additional 1 billion doses in 2021.
💉 Thailand coronavirus vaccine status
Thailand, which has seven Covid-19 vaccine studies underway using a variety of methods, has said human trials of one of the candidates could start as early as October.
Kiat Ruxrungtham, head researcher at Chulalongkorn University’s Center of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development, said blood results after the first injection in monkeys showed all generated antibodies, Bloomberg reported.
The scientist said the majority also developed neutralising antibodies, meaning the virus can be blocked from entering or damaging cells. The Chulalongkorn project employs new mRNA vaccine technology and the team expects final results from the animal-testing stage in the next two weeks.
The next plan is to immediately produce about 10,000 vaccine doses in San Diego and Vancouver and ship them to Thailand for human trials, Kiat told Bloomberg.
Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (M) Chairperson Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has expressed grief and sorrow over the demise of Hakim Nisar Zawaar the Eldest brother of Hakeem Masood and Uncle of the Prominent Social Activist Hakeem Afaq.
The incarcerated Patron of All Jammu & Kashmir Awami Action Committee and APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has Expressed Grief and sorrow with (AAC) Party Member and Activist Hakeem Masood of Baghwanpora Lalbazar over the Demise of his Brother Late Hakeem Nisar Zawaar.
Several Senior leaders of (AAC) Including Syed Shamsu Rehman Abdul Rashid Beigh visited the Residence to pay the Condolence.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq who has been under House detention since August 5, Last Year Expressed his Heartfelt condolence, Solidarity and Sympathy With the Hakim Family and prayed for the Highest Standards in Jannah to the Deseased.
Police have registered a First Information Report against yoga guru Ramdev and four others for allegedly conspiring to sell a fake Ayurveda medicine with the misleading claim to cure COVID-19 following clinical trials on some patients. The FIR said the claim had been made without getting the Union AYUSH Ministry’s approval.
The others named in the FIR were Acharya Balkrishna CEO of Ramdev-promoted Patanajali Ayurveda Limited, Patanjali employee Anurag Varshney, and Balvir Singh Tomar and Anurag Singh Tomar, chairman and director, respectively, of the National Institute of Medical Sciences & Research (NIMS).
Patanjali Ayurveda had recently launched a drug, Coronil, with the claim that it could cure COVID-19. The herbal products company said the medicine’s clinical trials were conducted on positive patients in association with NIMS, a private institute situated near Jaipur.
The FIR was registered at Jyoti Nagar police station in Jaipur on Saturday on the basis of a complaint made by some individuals, including a lawyer, Balbir Jakhar. The five persons were booked under Section 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code and Sections 4 and 7 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.
Also read | Complaint in Bihar seeks FIR against Baba Ramdev over COVID-19 medicine claim
Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Gupta said on Sunday that multiple complaints against Mr. Ramdev had been received for claiming to have developed the medicine without any trial. No arrests have been made in the case so far.
Mr. Jakhar said in his complaint that the accused had put the lives of common people at risk and neither the Centre nor the Rajasthan government had been informed about the clinical trials of Coronil. Patanjali Ayurveda, on the other hand, had claimed that it had complied with all legal formalities.
The Union AYUSH Ministry has since sought details about the medicine and directed Patanjali Ayurveda to stop advertising the claim about the cure of COVID-19. Rajasthan Medical & Health Minister Raghu Sharma has said action would be taken if any attempt to was made to sell a purported Ayurveda drug as potential medicine for COVID-19 patients in the State.
A week after the Corps Commander level talks in the wake of the June 15 Galwan incident when 20 Indian Army personnel were killed, both Indian and Chinese troops continue in “eyeball-to-eyeball” positions at all the friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
The China Study Group (CSG) headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met on Saturday to discuss the prevailing situation along the LAC. The CSG is an informal group constituted in 1997, comprising the Cabinet Secretary, secretaries of Defence and Home ministries, the Army chief, Director of Intelligence Bureau among others. The details of the meeting were not known.
An IAF aircraft is seen against the backdrop of mountains in Ladakh. Indian and Chinese troops continue in “eyeball-to-eyeball” positions at all the friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. | Photo Credit: AFP
Injury and drowning
A senior government official told The Hindu that an analysis of the medical reports of the 20 men killed showed that the cause of death in most cases was a “mix of head injury and drowning.” The bodies were retrieved from the Galwan river.
“As many as 15 deceased personnel had head injuries, one or two had injuries on the chest and remaining had shoulder and knee injuries. Their bodies were badly bruised as they had toppled into the river,” said the official.
At least 75 personnel, who were injured in the incident, had “blunt injuries” on head, chest and back, inflicted by rods.
Hostile terrain
The Ministry of External Affairs had issued a statement that the “Chinese side took premeditated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casualties.”
As reported earlier, the violent clashes took place on June 15 after Colonel Santosh Babu, who was commanding the unit, dismantled a tent erected by the Chinese and set it on fire. Col. Babu was among the Army personnel killed.
Officials said the understanding to remove the tent in Galwan valley was taken at a meeting on June 6 between the two armies. The official said after the tent was removed on June 15 evening, Col. Babu went to patrol the area with a small team.
“When the team arrived there late in the evening, the violent reaction from the Chinese should have been anticipated and factored in. The troops fought on the edge of a cliff where normally no more than two people can stand together; it had also become dark,” the official said, adding that had it been a flat terrain, the deaths wouldn’t have occurred.
After analysing the chain of events, officials believe that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was also annoyed as India had constructed a helipad till the edge of Y-nallah at Galwan, not very far from the June 15 clash site.
“A similar clash took place on May 5 in the Finger area near Pangong Tso (lake). The intensity of the Galwan clash was more or less similar but the terrain and the spiked batons the Chinese were carrying cost so many lives. It was the first occasion when a clash like this occurred after sun-down,” said the official.
The entire stretch along LAC in Ladakh has witnessed “worrisome hardening of Chinese positions” since April-May, with China occupying a considerable area from Finger 4 to 8 near Pangong Tso (lake).
After the June 22 Corps Commander level talks, China has neither vacated nor removed the prefabricated or semi permanent structures built since May in some of the disputed sites. However there has been a “noticeable thinning of presence of Chinese troops”, officials said.
Jammu: A 23-year-old man, who was wanted in an attempt to murder case, was arrested after 11 months of search in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, police said on Sunday.
Romesh Singh, a resident of Thillu village of Mahore, was arrested from Seela village, a police spokesperson said.
The case of attempt to murder was registered against Singh at Ramsoo police station last year, he said.
Leh: Three more people tested positive for coronavirus in Ladakh on Sunday, taking the number of infections in the Union territory to 963, officials said.
All the fresh cases were reported from Leh district.
Thirty-two patients also recovered from the disease on Sunday, bringing down the number of active cases in the Union territory to 376, health department officials said.
Of the 376 active cases, 107 are in Leh district and 269 in Kargil.
The disease has claimed one life in the Union territory, while 586 patients have recovered so far, the officials said.
A lab technician extracts a portion of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate during testing at the Chula Vaccine Research Center, run by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP)