A lab technician was on his way after taking samples from suspected coronavirus patients when a pack of monkeys attacked him and snatched away the specimens and the testing kit. The incident happened on the premises of Meerut Medical college when the lab technician was taking the samples to the LLRM lab.
In a shocking incident, a monkey snatched blood samples of Covid-19 patients being taken to the LLRM lab. Inquiry set up & the lab technician has been asked to give written explanation about why did he continue to make a video instead of asking for help.#Meerut#Coronaviruspic.twitter.com/N2bCeO2QA2
Fresh samplings have been taken from the patients after the incident. This incident came to light when a video went viral on social media in which it can be clearly seen that the monkeys are sitting on the branch of trees and chewing a sample collection kit. It is also clear that some fragments are also scattered on the ground. It has been reported that the threat from the monkeys has been a regular phenomenon in this area.
The District Magistrate of Meerut said that no such matter has come to his notice but will surely initiate an inquiry into the matter.
Enquiry has been set up
The Principal of Medical college Dr. SK Garg said that he came across such a video but have no clue regarding the matter. He forwarded the investigation to the Chief Superintendent Dr. Dheeraj Balyan for investigation.
Dr. Dheeraj Balyan stated that the lab technician had complained about the incident. The monkeys snatched the samples from the health workers. They had torn the kits and destroyed the samples. Later the samples were taken again. He said that the monkeys climbed the tree after snatching the samples and they’re scattered on the ground under the tree. No one has come in contact with those samples so far.
As per Ishita Bhatia from TOI, the lab technician has also been asked for an written explanation that why did he continued to make videos in such terrible situation instead of asking for help.
The former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad has been sacked by his own political party after sitting on opposition benches despite being a ruling party member during a May 18 parliamentary session. The 94-year-old Mohamad was ousted along with his son and three senior members from the United Indigenous Party of Malaysia (Bersatu party), a political party which he co-founded, on Thursday.
Mohamad was ostensibly fired from the party for not rallying behind the Malaysian government which is led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the Bersatu president.
According to a letter that was widely shared on social media, the party claimed that Mahathir had automatically stopped being a party member after he chose to reject Muhiyuddin’s leadership as prime minister and party president by aligning with the opposition.
It’s official , former pm Dr Mahathir and his son Mukhriz have been axed from Bersatu for going against party constitution by insisting to sit with the opposition in the May 18 parliament session instead of supporting PN led by PM Muhyiddin, Bersatu President cum acting chairman pic.twitter.com/swRSNlmUPE
The intra-party political wrangling started in February this year when Mahathir Mohamad unexpectedly tendered his resignation, triggering a week-long frenetic power tussle. The crisis terminated when the king appointed Muhyiddin Yassin as a successor despite Mahathir’s clear objections.
Shortly after resigning, Mahathir decided to become the prime minister again and resentfully disapproved of the government and decried Yassin as a traitor.
Mahathir co-founded Bersatu party with Muhyiddin in 2016, and the party joined an alliance that registered a thumping victory in 2018 polls, resulting in the first change of government since its independence.
On May 18, an indignant Mahathir sought a confidence vote in Muhyiddin but the parliamentary proceedings were disrupted by King Abdullah’s speech, sparking a livid reaction from Mahathir who furiously proclaimed “democracy is dead” in Malaysia.
Mahathir Mohamad’s hostility towards India
It is worth noting that the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had been particularly ill-disposed towards India. In his speech at the UNGA last year, Mahathir had stated that Jammu and Kashmir has been invaded and occupied by India.
Following his critical remarks against India’s internal decision to abrogate Article 370, the former Malaysian Prime Minister even ventured to slam the Citizenship Amendment Act legislated by the Indian government. Mohamad stood so resolute in his criticism of the Indian government that when the threat of palm oil curbs from India loomed on his country, he defended his remarks against India on Jammu and Kashmir and the CAA by claiming to remain firm on his stand.
Besides, another bone of contention between the two countries was in connection with Malaysia sheltering radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who has been accused of money laundering and hate speech in India. The Malaysian PM had said that even if the Indian government guarantees a fair trial for Naik, he faces a serious threat of “vigilante action” in India and that Malaysia would relocate the preacher only if it could find a third country where he would be safe.
In their propensity to shield Muslim perpetrators, media organisations often resort to chicanery by withholding complete details and leaving out the identities of the criminals altogether. However, of late, there have been concerted attempts made by many media outfits to not only conceal the names of Muslim perpetrators but also give them a Hindu spin to depict that the crime was committed by Hindus.
Recently, the Internet was awash with a picture of a report from 2019, where a media organisation unscrupulously endeavoured to cover up the crimes committed by a man belonging to the minority community. The case pertained to a distraught woman in Bilaspur suffering from the agony of an estranged husband and family problems. To overcome her agony, she reached out to a Muslim scholar named Aslam Faizi and sought his help. Aslam first forced her to have a sexual relationship with him and later assured her that all her problems will be solved now.
A few days later, when her husband did not return and her family problems continued to mount, the woman realised that she had been raped by the Muslim scholar who exploited her condition. The woman immediately went to the police and filed a complaint of against Aslam Faizi. The police registered a case under section 376 of the IPC against the accused.
An article published in ‘Nayi Duniya’
The police investigation later revealed that Aslam Faizi alias Suhail Raza, a resident of Manendragarh-Chirmiri, was a cleric of a mosque. He lived on rent in Pendra and claimed of curing people by witchcraft. During the investigation, it was found that Aslam was not only known well-known in his village but also scores of nearby villages. The 34-year-old victim also heard about Aslam’s supposed ability to alleviate people of their miseries and approached him in a bid to assuage her concerns. When Aslam first heard about the troubles endured by the woman, he took her in the room under the pretext of relieving her of her problems and established sexual relations with her.
While the accused was patently Muslim, several media organisations, including Nayi Duniya, gave the entire incident a Hindu spin by describing the alleged rapist as “Tantrik”– a practitioner of the “tantra vidya“, who is mainly associated with Hinduism, leading to a perception that the crime was committed by a Hindu individual. Moreover, an image of a Hindu priest was used to characterise the Muslim sorcerer who had allegedly committed rape by coercing the victim.
Media organisations have often pulled such deceitful tricks to safeguard the Muslim community while Hindus are made to bear the brunt. There have been multiple cases when the identities of offenders belonging to minority communities are blocked out and descriptions of them being Hindus are rendered in the media.
Past instances of media’s treachery to give crimes committed by Muslims a Hindu spin
Last year, several media organisations attributed the death of a 10-year-old boy because of the rituals performed by a Muslim healer to a “Tantrik”. While the death of the child occurred due to a Muslim healer, PTI report gives an obvious Hindu slant to the headline and calls the Muslim healer a ‘Tantrik’. This headline was then carried by many media houses such as NDTV, India Today, The Tribune verbatim without changes.
NDTV story
India Today, in fact, went a step further and even used a rather ‘Hindu looking’ featured image for their story that appeared as if the ritual itself was Hindu.
India Today story
There are several times in the past that the media has resorted to such chicanery. As per a Hindureport, a woman had accused a “tantrik” of raping her in Ajmer, after taking her their on the “pretext of offering prayers at a Dargah“. In the same month, Times of India had carried an article titled, “Tantrik gets 10 years in jail for rape and extortion”. Like the reports mentioned above, the name of the accused was “Warsi”.
Even vernacular media has been caught using the same tricks. Dainik Jagran for some reason decided to call an accused in a harassment case as “Tantrik Sufi baba” in the headline. He, in the content, was identified as later identified as Aftab. Hindi News18 in its article carried the headline, “Tantrik arrested for committing misdemeanour with a minor, under the pretext of chasing away ghosts”. The tantrik was later identified as Hafiz Sajid.
On May 25, a 46-year-old ‘black’ man, George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, who knelt on the former’s neck for 7 long minutes until his body became unresponsive. A shopkeeper had called the cops on Floyd for allegedly trying to pass a ‘potential counterfeit bill’. On being taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, he was pronounced dead.
The viral cell phone video captured by a pedestrian, who repeatedly objected to the action of Chauvin shows the cop trying to choke the black man with his knee. Despite the victim complaining about not being able to breathe, coupled with verbal protest from onlookers, the said officer was unmoved.
The incident provoked widespread protests and riots across several parts of the United States of America. The worst-hit was Minneapolis, where the death of George Floyd took place.
On Tuesday, hundreds of protestors hit the streets to protest against the killing of George Floyd. The demonstration continued outside the nearby police precinct. Soon, the protest took a violent turn. On Wednesday night, Police cars were vandalised and pelted with rocks. To pacify the situation, the cops resorted to firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the frenzied mob.
Windows of unmanned stores were broken. Shops were raided and looted, all in the garb of a peaceful protest. Home goods such as rugs and coffee makers were stolen and stores were set ablaze. Amidst the chaos, a ‘looter’ was also shot dead by the police. The mob also breached the security and reached for the police precinct in the neighbourhood where Floyd died. The building was set on fire by the unruly mob, amidst slogans demanding justice for the victim.
While the death of George Floyd was condemned even by President Donald Trump and strict action against the perpetrators was ordered to be taken, the Left media, as in India, did not stop indulging in petty politics. While the death of George Floyd was tragic, the ‘protests’ had taken a violent turn with rampant looting, arson and violence. Under no circumstances could the rioting, arson and looting should be justified especially by responsible media.
However, MSNBC, which is known to have a Left-leaning bias went ahead to justify the violent riots. An MSNBC anchor, while standing smack in front of a burning building amidst violent riots, said, “I want to be clear on how I characterize this. This is mostly a protest. It is not generally speaking unruly”. He followed this statement up by saying that though the riots were ‘generally not unruly’, ‘fires had been started’.
MSNBC reporter just now: "I want to be clear on how I characterize this. This is mostly a protest. It is not generally speaking unruly."
The guy is literally standing in front of a burning building in the middle of a riot. pic.twitter.com/IzCV6On4sF
It is entirely possible to condemn, in no uncertain terms, the brutality heaped on George Floyd and also the riots and looting that have followed his death. However, as in India, the Left media often assumes that to condemn any sort of injustice, and equally violent and unjust response at the community level has to be justified too.
In a major success to security forces, dreaded Islamic terrorist and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) Bangladesh’s top commander Abdul Karim alias Boro Abdul Karim was nabbed by Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force on Saturday.
According to the reports, the Bangladesh terrorist Abdul Karim, who is known to be a very close associate of top JMB leader Salahuddin Salehin, was arrested from Suti Police Station area in Murshidabad, West Bengal.
Abdul Karim was the leader of the Dhuliyan module and was looking after the logistics supply and support, shelter to top leaders like Saleuddin.
Abdul Karim – the second topmost leader of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen
The search for Abdul ‘Boro’ Karim, considered the second topmost leader in Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen in India, was on for over a year. The Islamic terrorist was wanted in several cases, such as arson, providing logistical support, shelter and weapons to top terror leaders.
In 2018, a large number of explosives and jihadi material were seized from his house during a raid in Bangladesh. However, he managed to escape.
Karim, one of the most wanted by Bangladeshi authorities, the NIA and the West Bengal Police, will be produced before a local court on Friday during which the police will seek his custody for interrogation.
”This is to inform you that one Abdul Karim alias Boro Karim wanted in a W/A issued in c/w STF PS case no. 8/2017 dated 29.11.2017 has been arrested this morning from Suti PS area, Jangipur District Police with the assistance of local police,” the STF said.
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen involved in terror attacks in India
According to the reports, the terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is behind in various terror-related incidents in the country including blasts in Bihar’s Gaya and Burdwan in West Bengal.
The NIA had collected credible evidence linking JMB’s involvement in the 2014 Burdwan bomb blast in which two suspected terrorists were killed. The security officials had also blamed JMB for series of bomb blasts in Gaya in 2013 in which several monks and visitors were injured.
A Home Ministry report had also stated that it had received “some inputs of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh using some madrassas in Burdwan and Murshidabad for radicalisation and recruitment activities.”
The fourth case of coronavirus infection in the Parliament premises was detected on Friday. This time a Rajya Sabha official has been confirmed positive for Wuhan coronavirus.
As per reports, the Director level officer attended work on May 28 and was later found positive for the novel coronavirus along with his wife and kids. Reportedly, the director’s office is being sanitized.
Following the officer tested positive for COVID-19, two floors of Parliament Annexe building have been sealed. This is the second case to emerge from the same building.
“Parliament Security Service is presently undertaking the work of sanitization of entire area of 1st floor, Parliament House Annexe building including washrooms, corridors, passage from VIP gate & staff gate up to his room and lifts and the complete sanitization exercise is expected to be completed by 2015 hrs,” an official statement released by Rajya Sabha secretariat said. The officials have also requested people who may have come in contact with the officer or his personal staff to monitor their health.
Lok Sabha and Rashtrapati bhawan were sealed ealier after emergence of coronavirus cases
Prior to this, a housekeeping staff of parliament who works in the lower house was tested positive with coronavirus. The staffer was posted at the Lok Sabha secretariat at 36 GRG road.
Also, The daughter-in-law of a sanitation worker who works in Rashtrapati Bhawan was found coronavirus positive. Given that effect, 125 families associated with Rashtrapati Bhavan were sent to strict self-isolation.
The Building of Aviation Ministry was also sealed after a staffer of the ministry was tested positive for coronavirus.
Tensions have been rife along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between Indian and China. But the situation appears to be de-escalating as the two countries engage in dialogue at the military and diplomatic levels to resolve the dispute. Propaganda, too, has been flying freely regarding the situation and unfortunately, some people on the Indian side have been spreading panic painting doomsday scenarios in the public eye. One such report was published on the Indian Express on Friday.
In the said report, it was claimed that “Chinese forces have moved into Indian territory by crossing the LAC at some places in eastern Ladakh: in the Pangong Tso area, and at three separate locations in the Hot Springs sector.” ‘Highly placed sources’ were also quoted as saying that there has been extensive deployment of towed artillery and mechanised elements on the Chinese side of the LAC. Defence analyst Abhijit Iyer Mitra has now disputed the content of the report and made it clear that there has been no intrusion by Chinese forces on the Indian side of the LAC.
2n Who twisted the report to present only half the picture in today’s @IndianExpress. We certainly hope that @PMOIndia & @rajnathsingh realise that the mischievous peddling of such incomplete information is being done to force them into a specific course of action. But by whom?
According to Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, the Indian Express report quoted verbatim from a classified and proprietary report prepared by his colleagues. He said that the quoted report conclusively proved that there was no Chinese intrusion and yet, this critical piece of information was left out deliberately. He also said that a serious case of intellectual theft could be made against The Indian Express and accused them of “deliberate omission of relevant facts”. Abhijite Iyer-Mitra said that he had made a tweet thread earlier based on the findings of the report.
4n If the IE correspondents SAW this report with their own eyes it begs the question how they missed PROPRIETARY printed at the top of each page. This constitutes a serious case of intellectual property theft by @IndianExpress, not to mention deliberate omission of relevant facts
The Defence Analyst proceeded to add, “if the correspondents did NOT SEE the report, what good faith basis did @rajkamaljha have for publishing such an inflammatory report? If not plagiarism it constitutes atrocious editorial standards.” The Indian Express report emphasised on numerous occasions throughout the report that the Chinese had intruded on Indian territory as it maintained that the current situation on the ground was at a standstill while dialogue continued to proceed through appropriate channels.
A student of Aligarh Muslim University, Farhan Zuberi was arrested by UP police on Thursday in the anti-CAA violence case. Another student Ravish Ali Khan was also arrested, but later he released by the police, while Zuberi was sent to a jail in Aligarh.
Farhan Zuberi is accused of involvement in the violence on 15 December in the university campus during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. On that day, a police team was attacked by the violent students by pelting stones. Farhan has been charged with stone pelting on police vehicle, damage to public property, preventing govt officials from discharging their duties, attack on the vehicle of City SP, and several other offences.
Zuberi was arrested in connection with the 15 December violence and 6 other cases filed against him. A total of 11 cases under various sections of IPC were registered against Zuberi under various charges at the Civil Lines police station.
Superintendent of police (SP) (city), Abhishek, said, “Zuberi was a wanted criminal and been remanded to judicial custody. Eleven cases are lodged against Zuberi at the Civil Lines police station.”
Farhan Zuberi is a resident of Islamnagar in Budaun in Uttar Pradesh. He is a student of DSW in the Arts department at the AMU.
During the peak of anti-CAA protests across the country, clashes had erupted on AMU campus on December 15 last year after rumours spread that two students had been shot in police firing on Jamia Millia Islamia campus in Delhi during anti-CAA protests. During the confrontation between protesting students and police, students pelted stones at the police and had damaged police vehicles. Around 16-17 policemen have received injuries in the violent clashes with students. The police had resorted to a lathi-charge and used water cannons, teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters to control the violence mob.
In a disturbing incident, a 55-year-old Muslim man, who died of cardiac arrest was denied a burial place in at least six Muslim graveyards in Telangana’s Rangareddy district, claiming that deceased was an outsider and also on suspicion that he was a coronavirus patient.
However, two Hindu men from the area, Sandeep and Shekar, stepped up to help the grieving family and arranged a place to bury the man in a Hindu cremation ground.
According to reports, Mohammed Khaja Miyan who had moved to Gandamguda in Rangareddy district nearly 10 years ago, had died due to heart attack on May 22 at his residence.
The family members revealed that said Khaja Miyan was refused burial by mutawallis (caretakers of graveyards) in six graveyards, who first said that the deceased’s family were non-locals and then claimed that Khaja may have died from coronavirus. The mutawallis said they did not want to take a chance by giving burial space the deceased.
Finally, he was eventually laid to rest at the Hindu cremation ground with the help of two local young men, Sandeep and Sekhar.
“We made rounds from one graveyard to the other before we eventually gave up hope of giving my dad a proper burial,” said his son Mohammed Basha. He added that the family went to at least six different graveyards in a hope to get a place for their father.
Similar incident in Mallapur
In a similar incident, a caretaker of a graveyard at Mallapur also refused to allow the burial of another Muslim person claiming the deceased was non-local.
However, the relatives of the deceased Saleemuddin Siddiqui met local Muslim leaders of Congress party, who later arranged the burial in a Muslim graveyard in another area.
Telangana Waqf Board threatens action against mutawallis
Following these incidents, Telangana State Waqf Board has warned of serious criminal actions against the managing committees and caretakers of graveyards if they do not allow the burial of Muslim bodies on any ground.
Mohammed Saleem, the Chairman of Telangana Waqf Board, said that they have sent teams to the graveyards which denied burial place to deceased Muslims.
Expressing his anger over the incident in which a Muslim had to be buried in Hindu cremation ground, Saleem said that he has it made clear to the managing committees against denying a place for burial even if the someone died of coronavirus or was a non-local or a traveller.
He stated that the burials grounds are not the personal properties of the caretakers and they cannot deny burial to any Muslim.
Social Media giant Twitter’s censorship of free speech has reached unprecedented levels. On Friday, they decided to censor a tweet of US President Donald Trump where he promised to send the military to deal with looters who are running amok on the streets of USA. Trump said, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” And for that reason, Twitter found that the US President had violated rules regarding ‘glorifying violence’.
Responding to the spree of violence that has been unleashed on the streets of the USA, Donald Trump said, “I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.” He then proceeded to add in a second tweet, “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
The Minneapolis violence
The violence had erupted in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a black man, in a case of unparalleled police brutality. During the ‘protests’, the windows of unmanned shops were broken, shops were looted, shops were set on fire and so was a building. Donald Trump’s tweets were in response to the vicious cycle of violence that was initiated by the violent mob.
Trump’s tweet that was censored by Twitter
It is the second tweet which Twitter found violating its rules for the platform. It said, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.” Although the tweet can still be accessed, people can no longer ‘like’ or comment on it. It is pertinent to mention here that Twitter didn’t find Donald Trump’s tweet threatening North Korea with nuclear weapons violating its rules.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
Twitter’s attempt to ‘fact-check’ the US President
Donald Trump has run in into trouble with the social media giant recently over a tweet he made regarding mail-in voting. He said in a recent tweet of his, “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.” For that, Twitter hit him with a ‘fact-check’. When one clicks on the button for ‘more facts’ related to mail-in ballots, it takes the user to a bunch of tweets from the anti-Trump crowd accusing the US President of making false or ‘unsubstantiated claims’.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the ‘fact check’ of the tweet made by the US President and claimed, “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.” He added, “This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.”” Jack Dorsey’s defence came after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg opined that social media giants should not be the ‘arbiters of truth’, taking a markedly different line than Twitter.
This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions.
The censorship of Donald Trump’s tweet came hours after the US President signed an executive order limiting liability protections for social media companies. “I’m signing an executive order to protect and uphold the free speech rights of the American people,” he said. “Currently, social media giants like Twitter receive an unprecedented liability shield based on the theory that they’re a neutral platform, which they’re not.” He also said that if it were legal for him to shut down Twitter, he would do it.
It appears that the Donald Trump versus Twitter feud has reached new heights with neither side in the mood to deescalate. Censorship of conservative opinions on the website has long been a cause for concern and it appears not even the US President is safe from it. It remains to be seen what the future holds and but one thing is clear, we have not yet seen the end of it.
