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Fact Check: Are Pakistanis being banned from UAE over illegal begging

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Are Pakistanis being banned from UAE over illegal begging

On Saturday (December 24), a Pakistani channel named ’24 News HD’ published a report claiming that the UAE government had imposed a ‘visit visa’ ban on Pakistani nationals. It further claimed that the visa ban is applicable to those belonging to 24 different cities in Pakistan.

According to ’24 News HD’, the cities included Abbottabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Quetta, Khoshab, Muzaffargarh, Sargodha, Attock, Kasur, Kurram Agency, Nawabshah, Sheikhupura, Bajaur Agency, Hangu, Kohat, Larkana, Para Chinar, Skardu, Chakwal, Hunza, Kotli, Mohmand Agency, Sahiwal, and Sukkur. 

Citing one Adnan Paracha, the report claimed that the crackdown by UAE authorities came due to the agent mafia in Pakistan. “The UAE imposed restrictions on the people of these cities because of the misstatement of the agents who sent them on visit visas but told them that they were being sent on a work visa,” the news channel quoted Adnan as saying.

Screengrab of the report by 24 News HD

’24 News HD’ reported that the Pakistanis, who were duped by agents, failed to get work and began begging in the Gulf nation to make ends meet. Dismayed by the actions of the Pakistani nationals, the UAE authorities reportedly deported many of them to their home country.

Soon after, the news report was picked up by the London-based digital news portal, ‘The Milli Chronicle‘, thereafter, another news portal ‘OneIndia’ published a similar report titled, ‘UAE shadow-bans visa for select Pakistanis.’

The report read, “People from a few Pakistani cities go to the UAE on a visit visa, but they start begging after landing there. Being a super-rich nation, UAE offers lucrative begging opportunities for these Pakistanis.”

Screengrab of the news report by One India

‘

The Truth behind the allegations

Following outrage on social media over reports of visit visa ban on Pakistani nationals by the United Arab Emirates, the Foreign Office of Pakistan dismissed all such reports.

In a statement, spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, “We have seen the reports. We can confirm that no such ban is in place by the UAE for the issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens.”

Consulate General of the UAE in Karachi, Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi, told Geo News that Pakistani citizens were free to apply for any type of UAE visa. “He told that apart from the consulates in Islamabad and Lahore, he is personally issuing visas to the citizens born or residing in these cities, from the Karachi consulate,” the report read.

It must be mentioned that ‘begging for alms’ is an offence in the UAE. The federal law on anti-begging states, “Anyone caught begging in the UAE will be fined AED 5,000 and imprisoned for a term up to three months.”

It further adds, “Those operating professional gangs of beggars or recruiting people from outside the country to work as beggars face a jail term of not less than six months and a minimum fine of AED 100,000.”

After 102 children and 568 grandchildren, Musa Hasahya decides to stop, Orders his 12 wives to go on contraceptive pills

OpIndia Staff
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After 102 children and 568 grandchildren, Musa Hasahya decides to stop, Orders his 12 wives to go on contraceptive pills

Musa Hasahya, a farmer in Uganda with 12 marriages, 102 sons and daughters, and 568 grandchildren, has decided he doesn’t want to have any more children. After raising such a large family, the 67-year-old has stated that he no longer wants to have children because they can hardly provide for themselves. As a result, he has recommended his wives to consider using birth control pills.

Notably, Hasahya and his family live in Lusaka in Uganda, where polygamy is legal. However, recently, owing to his poor economic condition, Musa’s 2 wives have left him.

Musa Hasahya, the Ugandan farmer with 12 marriages, 102 sons and daughters, and 568 grandchildren (source: Dailymail.co.uk)

According to reports, when asked about so many marriages, Musa said that a man cannot remain happy with only one wife. Musa stated that all of his wives reside in the same house so that he could keep an eye on them and that his wives weren’t able to establish relations with other men.

Speaking to The Sun the farmer said, “My income has become lower and lower over the years due to the rising cost of living and my family has become bigger and bigger. I married one woman after another. How can a man be satisfied with one woman.”

“All my wives live together in the same house. It’s easy for me to monitor them and also stop them from eloping with other men in this village,” Musa added.

Musa lives with his family Lusaka in Uganda (source: Daily Star)

Musa, who is 67 years old, married his first wife Hanifa in the year 1971 at the age of 16 after quitting school. Two years later, he became a dad when his wife gave birth to a daughter. Musa kept marrying more and more women as he earned back in those days.

Strangely enough, one-third of Moses’ children are between the ages of 6 and 51. In fact, Musa’s eldest child is 21 years older than his youngest stepmother and Musa’s youngest son is 6 years old. They all live on the farm with Musa. He claims that while he can identify his children and grandchildren apart, he does not know all of their names.

His youngest wife, Juleka, mother of 11 of his children, said, “I’m not having any more children. I’ve seen the bad financial situation and am now taking the birth control pill.”

Musa’s inability to work as hard as he used to, owing to his ill health, is one of the causes of the family’s terrible financial situation. Musa no longer wishes to expand his family of over 700 people due to his financial constraints.

“I cannot tolerate bearing children anymore because of the limited resources. And on that note, I have advised all my wives of childbearing age to go for family planning,” The Sun quoted him as saying. Musa is now asking the government for help as he is struggling to educate all his children.

PM Modi’s brother, family members injured after road accident

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi’s brother, family members injured after road accident

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brother Prahlad Modi and family members are injured after the car they were in met with an accident in Mysuru, Karnataka. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon near Kadkola, 13 kms away from Mysuru. He was travelling with his son, daughter in law and grandson to Bandipura in an SUV. The accident took place when the car hit a divider.

All passengers in the car were taken to JS Hospital in Mysuru. The grandson has suffered some head injuries but is out of danger as per reports.

Prahlad Modi is the younger brother of PM Modi.

Ravish Kumar’s delusion intensifies, giving hints of political aspirations, his brother is rape accused Congress leader

Anurag
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Ravish Kumar’s delusion intensifies, giving hints of political aspirations, his brother is rape accused Congress leader

Just like people binge-watch series on different OTT platforms, former NDTV reporter Ravish Kumar is giving binge interviews one after another. From The Wire to Ajit Anjum and now BBC Hindi tried their hands at milking the opportunity to gain some views from the endless rant against Adani Group for taking over NDTV in what has been a very legal business deal which has left the Roys quite rich, honestly.

Ravish Kumar resigned from NDTV after Adani Group gained control crying ‘attack on media’. This, while even the Roys, who started the media house, are around, going about their work as usual. Ravish Kumar, however, with his sense of importance, claimed that the deal was carried out to ‘buy’ his silence. While in reality, it was done after the convertible debt taken by Roys was converted to equity as per the provisions in the deal.

Except, Ravish Kumar has made it all about himself and would repeat ad nauseam to any and everyone who’d listen. Now, he seems to have taken it further and hinted his political ambitions.

On December 27, British state media BBC Hindi published a little over a 30-minute interview with the “fallen Hero” of the liberal world. Ravish, during his interview with BBC, low-key hinted at the political aspirations he has. Here is what happened during the interview.

Mukesh Sharma, India’s Digital Editor of BBC News, was the interview host. In the interview’s second half, Sharma asked Ravish if he got any offers to join politics. He asked, “You have been raising your voice against the government. Has any political party ever approached you to join politics?”

Ravish denied getting any such offers from any opposition party. He said, “No, this has never happened. Friends and well-wishers keep telling me that I should join politics. A lot of people want to see me in politics.” Though he did not say directly that he wanted to join politics, Ravish presented a scenario of him being in Lok Sabha and speaking in front of “them”. It appears he meant Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders. He said, “Imagine me being in politics, in Lok Sabha and speaking in front of him. No one can buy Lok Sabha. Or some ‘Seth’ will come and buy it!” with a grin and sparkling eyes.

He then continued suggesting his dismay towards politics. He said, “We should do what comes in our dreams. I keep dreaming about TV. I think how videos should be edited. How beautiful the colour of the studio is. How good the lighting is. These are all parts of my dreams. The day this dream changes, I will change. And now, I am not in a standardised profession. This profession has kicked me out. The profession of journalism has kicked me out. This is why not even a single newspaper has asked me to write a column for them. Those big media houses. No channel has approached me or asked me to join them. My inability to get a job will always remind me no matter how much money they have, they do not have strength in their hands.”

Should Ravish Kumar Pandey, however, choose to join politics, it will not be a new thing in his family. His own brother is a Congress leader.

Ravish’s brother and politician Brajesh Pandey was accused of sexual harassment

While Ravish is throwing hints at his aspirations of becoming a politician, it should be noted that he has a brother who is already a politician and was accused of sexual harassment in 2017.

In 2017, Brajesh Pandey, the brother of ‘journalist’ Ravish Kumar, was accused of running a sex racket in Bihar. Brajesh Pandey, who was also the VP of the Bihar Congress then, had absconded after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him.

Reportedly, a Dalit minor girl, who was the daughter of a Congress leader and former minister, had named Pandey and several other people of sexually abusing her over a period of time.

The girl had then demanded a probe by a senior police officer after raising suspicion that the case might be scuttled or diluted due to the involvement of politically well-connected people, including Brajesh Pandey.

Some reports suggested that attempts were being made to suppress the case by exerting political pressure on the authorities. The reports claimed that Brajesh was being shielded as he was the brother of an influential journalist.

The Congress leader was then booked under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on the basis of a victim’s complaint.

Another accused in the case, Nikhil Priyadarshi, is a leading businessman in the automobile sector and the son of a retired IAS officer. The girl had claimed that Priyadarshi lured her by promising to marry her. However, the victim realised that the accused and others were running a sex racket.

Later, the Bihar sex scandal case involving Pandey was buried after the complainant girl reached a compromise with the accused. The Dalit girl had stated that she would marry the person whom she had accused of running a sex racket and sexually exploiting her.

Anti-Putin Russian lawmaker who died under mysterious circumstances in Odisha was here on a ‘tribal tour’

ANI
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Anti-Putin Russian lawmaker who died under mysterious circumstances in Odisha was here on a ‘tribal tour’

Russian lawmaker Pavel Antonov, who was found dead in Odisha’s hotel, has booked the trip to India under ‘India Tribal Tour,’ Delhi-based travel and tour company Trip India Private Limited said on Tuesday. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Pragya Chandra, director of operations of Trip India Private Limited said, “We have booked the trip for four Russian citizens under ‘India Tribal Tour’ which included some places of Odisha and few for in North East states and total trip duration was 14 nights and 15 days.” 

Responding to a question about whether he knows that a Russian lawmaker was on the trip, Chandra said, “Yes..! I was knowing that one out of four is a lawmaker (politician) of Russia but we treated everyone as a guest and we provide equal services to all.” 

The multi-millionaire was on vacation in the Rayagada region of Odisha where he was celebrating his 65th birthday. According to the police, he was allegedly found dead having fallen out of a third-floor hotel window. 

This is the second death of Russian lawmakers within a week in the same Odisha hotel. 

The Tour company came to know about the death of their guest through the hotel staff and guide. “We came to know about the death of our guest through our guide and hotel staff… later police came and started investigations,” India’s tour company said. 
Primarily one of the Russian guests was declared dead due to a heart stroke after the post-mortem. 

“One Russian guest was dead due to heart stroke as per Post-mortem,” Pragya Chandra told ANI. 

Four Russians have booked the package through phone and e-mail communication and there is a pending regarding the tour which is yet to pay. 

Due to the current sanction on Russia by the United States, guests were not able to transact online payments for their tour booking. 

“Russian guests were unable to pay us online due to the internet and fast money transfer issues in Russia and promised to pay cash in India,” the Indian tour company said and added, “our money is still pending.” 

Four Russian guests, including a Russian parliamentarian, landed at Delhi airport in India on December 19 and headed to Odisha for the first leg of their tour. 

Notably, four Russian tourists, including Vladimir and Anton, checked into the hotel on December 21 after visiting Daringbadi in the Kandhamal district.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Out-on-bail TMC leader Saket Gokhale files complaint against Sadhvi Pragya for calling on Hindus to defend themselves

OpIndia Staff
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Out-on-bail TMC leader Saket Gokhale files complaint against Sadhvi Pragya for calling on Hindus to defend themselves

On December 27, Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) out-on-bail Saket Gokhale filed a complaint against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sadhvi Pragya Thakur for calling on Hindus to defend themselves. In his complaint addressed to Superintendent of Police GK Mithun Kumar of Shivamogga District, Gokhale claimed that Sadhvi Pragya, a Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, made “extremely inflammatory remarks” designed to incite violence between two communities and disrupt law & order by advocating the use of weapons.

He also narrated the speech given by Sadhvi Pragya during the said event organised by Hindu Jagrana Vedike on December 25, 2022. Notably, his complaint was filed in response to a reply to out-on-bail alleged Fact-Check of Alt News Mohammed Zubair who had posted the video of the speech. In his tweet, Zubair claimed, “Open call for Killing of Muslims by BJP MP ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya Thakur during her speech in Karnataka. says, “Keep weapons at home. Keep them sharp. If veggies can be cut well, so can the enemy’s head”. He questioned higher officials of Karnataka Police about what action they were planning to take against her. Interestingly, Zubair did not mention that Sadhvi did not use the word ‘Muslims’ even once.

Not to forget, Zubair ran international propaganda against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma by using a remark she made during a news channel debate and created an atmosphere forcing Sharma to go into hiding as ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ fanatics went on a rampage demanding her severed head. In the aftermath of communal tension created by Zubair in the country, several Hindus including Kanhaiya Lal and others were brutally murdered by Islamists for supporting Sharma.

In a reply to Zubair, The South First’s journalist Anusha Ravi Sood said, “‘No case registered since no complaint has been filed so far’ was the ridiculous answer Shivamogga police had to offer.” Quoting her tweet, Gokhale had said he would be filing a complaint against Sadhvi.

Congress sympathiser Tehseen Poonawalla filed a similar complaint. In his complaint, he claimed that Sadhvi Pragya made an open call for the use of arms leading to mob violence against the minority community. He urged SP Kumar to file an FIR against the BJP leader under sections 153A, 153B, 268, 295A, 504 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Furthermore, he called Sadhvi Pragya a habitual offender and claimed she had made similar statements earlier. He mentioned the speech she gave in favour of Nathuram Godse as well in his complaint.

Both Gokhale and Poonawalla mentioned the ongoing case against the Lok Sabha MP in the Malegaon Blast case; however, it appears they both have forgotten that in 2017 while giving bail to Sadhvi, the Bombay High Court had stated that prima facie, there was no case against her. The matter is sub judice.

Sadhvi Pragya did not call for using arms against minorities

On Sunday, Sadhvi Pragya, the BJP MP from Bhopal, spoke at the Hindu Jagarana Vedike’s South Region annual convention, talking about the rights of Hindus to defend themselves against unilateral aggression. No sooner was the video out, ‘Liberal’ journalists proceeded to misrepresent what she said, spread fake news and claim that the MP was calling for a genocide of Hindus.

Had Sadhvi called for an out-and-out genocide of Muslims, it would be condemnable and prosecutable under the law of the land. No individual, much less an elected representative, has the right to call for the unilateral killing of a certain section of people and vilify an entire group of people based on their religion.

However, Sadhvi did not call for genocide. The English translation of her Hindi speech reads, “Those who do Love Jihad, give them a response like Love Jihad. Keep your girls safe, and make sure you impart good Sankar to your girls. Keep weapons in your house. If nothing else, sharpen the vegetable knife and keep it in your house. I am speaking very clearly that even in our house, our knives should be sharpened to cut vegetables. They killed our Harsha will knives. They used the knife to kill our Hindu warriors – they killed Hindus and workers from Bajrang Dal, BJP and Yuva Morcha – they killed them up and cut them. So we should also keep our vegetable knives sharp – you don’t know what situation will arise when. So when our vegetables get cut properly, then the heads of enemies would also cut properly.”

From the simple translation of the speech itself, it becomes abundantly apparent that Sadhvi did not use the word “Muslim” even once in her speech. A call for genocide would entail someone saying that Hindus need to assemble weapons and murder the next Muslim that they see on the roads – Sadhvi said no such thing. She merely reiterated the need for Hindus to be prepared to defend themselves, especially in the wake of Islamist violence after the brutal beheading of Kanhaiya Lal, Umesh Kolhe, and many others for something as fundamental as standing in solidarity with a fellow Hindu.

Twitter Files 9.0: CIA and FBI frequently interfered in content moderation of the social media platform

Dibakar Dutta
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Twitter Files 9.0: CIA and FBI frequently interfered in content moderation of the social media platform

On Saturday (December 24), independent journalist Matt Taibbi released yet another tranche of ‘Twitter Files’ which exposed how the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) routinely interfered in the content moderation of the social media platform.

At the same time, he pointed out how top Twitter executives started losing track of meetings and calls, with the FBI and other central agencies, due to the high frequency of such calls.

Matt Taibbi also revealed how CIA officials operated under the secret euphemism of ‘Other Government Agency (OGA) and rubbished claims, made by the FBI, to cast aspersions on the integrity of the ‘Twitter Files’.

He noted, “The files show the FBI acting as the doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.”

Matt Taibbi added, “Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track. Is today the DOD, and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying.”

He further emphasised, “A chief end result was that thousands of official ‘reports’ flowed to Twitter from all over, through the FITF and the FBI’s San Francisco field office.”

The independent journalist also unearthed an internal communication between FBI agent Elvis Chan and Twitter employees wherein the former was seen referring to 2 CIA personnel as ‘Other Government Organisation (OGA)’ officials.

The ‘Twitter Files 9.0’ show how several emails, dating back to 2020, made explicit mention of OGA for meetings between Twitter employees and the Foreign Influence Task Force (constituted to fight Russian disinformation).

“OGA, or “Other Government Organization,” can be a euphemism for CIA, according to multiple former intelligence officials and contractors. Chuckles one: “They think it’s mysterious, but it’s just conspicuous,” Matt Taibbi pointed out.

The constant involvement of the CIA in special meetings with top Twitter executives became apparent when one employee named Stacia Cardille wrote to another executive Jim Baker about the virtual presence of the agency’s officials at ‘Info Ops Conference.’

After the CIA got its foothold into the moderation team of the social media platform, there was an exponential increase in ‘intelligence reports’ about supposed foreign interference campaigns on Twitter.

Matt Taibbi pointed out, “The government was in constant contact not just with Twitter but with virtually every major tech firm. These included Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest, and many others. Industry players also held regular meetings without government.”

The ‘Twitter Files’ also showed how requests for ‘review’ (read censorship) of tweets kept on piling as the 2020 US Presidential elections approached. “Email after email came from the San Francisco office heading into the election, often adorned with an Excel attachment,” noted Matt Taibbi.

He added, “Twitter executives noticed the FBI appeared to be assigning personnel to look for Twitter violations.” In one internal Twitter conversation, top executives were seen discussing how the federal agency had been searching for ‘Twitter violations’ using keywords.

“This is probably the 10th request I have dealt with in the last 5 days,” Twitter employee Stacia Cardille had lamented.

Matt Taibbi noted that the Twitter moderation team willingly complied with the requests sent by the FBI office, despite the voluminous content sent by the federal agency.

The independent journalist said, “It seemed to strike no one as strange that a “Foreign Influence” task force was forwarding thousands of mostly domestic reports, along with the DHS, about the fringiest material.”

“The Twitter Files show executives under constant pressure to validate theories of foreign influence – and unable to find evidence for key assertions,” he emphasised.

Matt Taibbi cited examples where top Twitter executives initially found no prima-facie violation of rules or alleged Russian interference but gave to constant demands by the FBI (to the extent of brainstorming on finding a stronger Russian connection for the expunction of tweets).

“Many people wonder if Internet platforms receive direction from intelligence agencies about moderation of foreign policy news stories. It appears Twitter did, in some cases by way of the FITF/FBI. These reports are far more factually controversial than domestic counterparts,” he said.

The Twitter Files also showed how the FBI and other government agencies severely restricted the independence of Twitter’s decision-making process.

“The line between “misinformation” and “distorting propaganda” is thin. Are we comfortable with so many companies receiving so many reports from a “more aggressive” government?” concluded Matt Taibbi.

Earlier, the ‘Twitter Files 7.0’ exposed how the FBI paid a whopping $3.4 million to Twitter between October 2019 and February 2021 and coerced top Twitter executives into gutting the ‘Hunter Biden story‘ of the New York Post (NYP).

The ‘Twitter Files 3.0’ revealed that the senior executives of Twitter Inc. were in constant touch with federal agencies ahead of the 2020 US Presidential elections. It revealed how the Federal Bureau of Investigation routinely sent tweets, posted by Republican candidates, to the moderation team for expunction.

Apple Watch 8 series’ automated crash notifications feature backfires in a ski town in the USA

ANI
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Apple Watch 8 series’ automated crash notifications feature backfires in a ski town in the USA

The Apple Watch 8 series, which was released with the feature to send an automated call to emergency services when the device experiences an abrupt stop, usually a result of a car crash, recently backfired.

According to GSM Arena, a tech news-related website, The Colorado Sun has reported that the feature is now backfiring as one US ski town fielded 71 crash notifications. None of these automated calls was an emergency – skiers just stopped abruptly on the slopes without needing medical attention, as per the outlet.

The iPhone 14 series’ “crash detection” and “fall detection” features immediately dial 911. The emergency centre then calls the caller back, and if they do not answer, it is presumed that they have been in an accident and that an emergency vehicle needs to be deployed.

According to Trina Dummer, the interim director of the Summit County 911 centre, these calls involve “a tremendous amount of resources, from dispatchers to deputies to ski patrollers,” but none of them was an actual emergency event.

Apple acknowledged the issue with skiers and the collision detection system in a response to dispatch supervisors, according to Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin, and indicated a remedy is being developed in Cupertino, as per GSM Arena.

Meanwhile, apart from crash detection, Apple Watch Series 8 can track changes in body temperature as little as 0.1 degrees Celsius, checking it every five seconds. It comes in four colours: midnight starlight, silver, and product red along with three stainless steel finishes: silver, gold, and graphite. 

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Kerala: Woman arrested for smuggling gold at Karipur airport; had hidden packets of precious metal worth Rs 1 crore in her undergarments

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Woman arrested for smuggling gold at Karipur airport; had hidden packets of precious metal worth Rs 1 crore in her undergarments

A 19-year-old woman was arrested at the Karipur airport in Kerala for allegedly smuggling gold worth Rs 1 crore. The gold was found sewn to her undergarments.

Shahla, a native of Kasaragod, was apprehended by the police outside the airport for trying to smuggle nearly 1.8 kgs of gold in fixed form. She tried to smuggle the precious metal by hiding it inside her clothes.

Reportedly, the woman arrived on the Air India Express from Dubai at 10:30 pm on Sunday. She came out of the airport at 11 PM after the customs check, and the police took her into custody based on a secret tip-off.

However, when the police examined her luggage, they could not find anything. Subsequently, they undertook the body examination of the woman, finding packets of gold sewn to her undergarments. The police have launched an investigation into the matter and are trying to ascertain others involved in the scam.

Earlier this year, the customs officials in Mangaluru arrested two persons for smuggling gold from Dubai in two separate incidents. The accused were arrested at Mangaluru International Airport and have been identified as Zeenath Banu and Muhammad Iqbal.

The Customs officials in Mangaluru confirmed the arrests and stated that the gold that was being smuggled is of 24-carat purity and value worth Rs 1.366 crore. Reports mention that the lady carried the smuggled gold in her sanitary pads whereas Iqbal concealed the gold inside his rectum as four balls wrapped in celluloid-based tape and a condom, Mathrubhumi reported.

Gold smuggling a persistent concern among customs officials

Gold smugglers appear to be a very persistent concern among customs officials. In recent times, a lot of smugglers have been arrested during an attempt to smuggle gold into the country by stuffing it inside their undergarments and rectums.

To give readers an idea of how prevalent the phenomenon is, customs officials around the country recovered at least 15.67 kilos of gold from rectums in 2020. The instances of smuggling gold in rectums began in the first week of January 2020.

Confucius institutes in UK universities ‘are part of China’s external propaganda schemes’ to sway opinions on Chinese policies

ANI
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Confucius institutes in UK universities ‘are part of China’s external propaganda schemes’ to sway opinions on Chinese policies

The United Kingdom Universities’ alignment with Confucius Institutions exposed China’s ‘External Propaganda Schemes’ to sway the opinions on Chinese policies and politics abroad, Kaliph Anaz writes in Asian Lite International. 

The Confucius Institutions, which the UK termed the “largest threat to the world’s security and prosperity this century,” were administered by the Hanban, an abbreviation of the Office of the Leading Small Group (LSG) for the International Promotion of the Chinese Language. After a few years of the establishment of the Confucius Institute Headquarters Council, it gradually integrated with the Chinese Communist Party propaganda system. 

CCP’s desire to use Confucius Institutions to infiltrate the study of China in the UK; has come up with strategies to launch a research-focused “Confucius China Studies Program” also referred to as the “New Confucius Sinology Plan,” which allows systematic cooperation between the CIs and host institutions on the projects of doctoral students, youth leadership, study trips for scholars to “understand China”, international conferences and assistance for publishing research, reported Asian Lite International. 

There are about 30 Confucius Institutions within British universities and 150 schools that have been funded to the tune of perhaps Euro 46,000,000 by the Chinese government. Their influence extends well into British politics, academia, and business. 

The Hanban agreement clearly states that Confucius Institutions must abide by the “One China” principle. Hanban has distributed books titled “The Economy of Tibet,” “Invest in China,” “The Road to China’s Prosperity; “The Communist Party of China”, and “Contemporary China” as per the agreement between UK’s Confucius Institutions to sway the public perception about China; this act is external propaganda through academia, according to Asian Lite International. 

The British universities must also facilitate a special bank account with the Bank of China under the CI’s name; and set annual funding to CIs that at least equals Hanban’s contribution, i.e., nearly USD 150,000 ‘start-up’ fund. 

The Department for Education, UK has already tightened its position on Confucius Institutes stating that the Government was “committed to doing more to adapt to China’s growing impact” and encouraged people with concerns about any Confucius Institute activities to report them. 

Officially, Confucius Institutes promote the Chinese language and run classes in culture, from calligraphy and cooking to tai chi. They also sponsor educational exchanges and hold public events and lectures. These institutes are open to the general public, reported Asian Lite International. 

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

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