Death toll from Israeli bombing in Rafah rises to 25

Gaza, June 22 2024-

At least 25 Palestinians were killed due to gunfire and shells from Israeli tanks in the Al-Mawasi area, west of the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, the Hamas-run health authorities said.

The authorities said in a statement that 50 others were wounded on Friday in the Israeli attacks on tents for displaced people, and all victims were transferred to the hospital, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources reported that two Israeli tanks fired dozens of shells in the Shakoush area, west of Rafah, and one of the tanks fired a shell at the displaced people, resulting in casualties.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the incident. (Agency)

NEET row: Bihar top cop to meet Union Education Minister today

Patna, June 22 2024-

Amid the ongoing investigation into the NEET paper leak case by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police, its Additional Director General (ADG) Nayyar Hasnain Khan will give probe details to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Delhi on Saturday.

ADG Khan will be reaching the national capital where he will present the probe status report to the Union Education Minister.

On Thursday, the Union Education Ministry summoned Nayyar Hasnain Khan to report on the development of the case.

The EOU of the Bihar Police is investigating the NEET question paper leak case in the state and has arrested 14 accused, including one of the masterminds Sikandar Yadvendu. The arrested also includes four candidates and three parents

On Friday, the EOU arrested a person named Rakesh Kumar from Ekangarsarai block in Nalanda district. He confessed that he was part of the solver gang related to the NEET question paper leak case.

After EOU started the investigation of the NEET examination, new revelations are coming to the fore almost on a daily basis.

Earlier, one of the candidates Anurag Yadav, son of Sikandar Yadvendu’s brother-in-law confessed that he got the question paper and answers a day before the examination. Now, another candidate Ayush Kumar has also confessed that Sikandar Yadvendu provided him with question papers and answers a day before the examination.

The NEET examination was held on May 5 and the examination mafias obtained the question papers on May 4. (Agency)

Death toll in forest fire in Turkey mounts to 11

Ankara, June 22 2024-

The death toll from wildfires that ravaged southeastern Turkey has climbed to 11, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on his social media account.

“The number of fatalities has risen to 11,” Koca wrote on Friday, revising the earlier figure of five reported fatalities.

The Minister added that another 78 people were “affected” by the fires, with five patients still in intensive care, Xinhua news agency reported.

The fire has been distinguished by the firefighters, who are still working to cool down the affected area, according to Koca.

The fire originated on Thursday night as a stubble fire in cultivated areas spanning the Cinar district of Diyarbakir province and the Mazidagi district of Mardin province, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya’s statement on Friday.

Fueled by strong winds, the fire rapidly engulfed a large area before being brought under control by firefighters, said Yerlikaya.

Local authorities have issued warnings about the heightened risk of wildfires due to scorching temperatures and arid weather conditions expected throughout the week.

Summer months in Turkey frequently see wildfires, particularly in the western and southern regions. (Agency)

Overseas Indians’ faith grows in Indian economy with $1 billion deposits in April

New Delhi, June 22 2024-

Showing their confidence in the resilient Indian economy despite global macroeconomic conditions, non-resident Indians (NRIs) deposited around $1 billion in the country in April alone.

Last year, overseas Indians deposited $150 million in the same month, showing their growing belief in the Indian economy as there is increasing evidence of a trend upshift taking shape, which is shifting India’s growth trajectory from the 2003-19 average of 7 per cent to the 2021-24 average of 8 per cent or even more.

According to latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the surge in NRI deposits reflects the resilience of the Indian economy.

For the NRIs, There are three key deposit schemes in the country – the foreign currency non-resident (bank) or FCNR(B); the non-resident external rupee account or NRE(RA) and the non-resident ordinary (NRO) deposit scheme.

In April, NRIs deposited $583 million in the NRE(RA) scheme, followed by $483 million in the FCNR(B) scheme.

During the pandemic, NRI deposits grew to $142 billion from $131 billion.

India’s forex kitty surges to new lifetime high of $655.8 billion

Meanwhile, India’s foreign exchange reserves surged by $4.3 billion to scale a lifetime high of $655.8 billion, according to the latest RBI data.

India, with an expected 15.2 per cent share in world remittances in 2024, also continues to be the largest recipient of remittances globally.

An increase in the foreign exchange reserves reflects strong fundamentals of the economy and gives the RBI more headroom to stabilise the rupee when it turns volatile. (Agency)

T20 World Cup: Would love it if Virat Kohli gets going and scores more runs, says Vikram Rathour

North Sound (Antigua), June 21 2024-

Ahead of India’s second Super Eight stage game in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 against Bangladesh, batting coach Vikram Rathour said he would love to see the talismanic Virat Kohli get going and score more runs in the tournament.

Kohli, the leading run-getter in the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup, has struggled to get going in this year’s competition in the USA and West Indies, amassing just 29 runs in four innings, including recording three single-digit scores.

In India’s 47-run win over Afghanistan at Kensington Oval in Barbados, made largely possible due to Suryakumar Yadav’s 53, along with contributions from Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, and Axar Patel, Kohli made a run-a-ball 24 before holing out to long-off against Rashid Khan.

“I’m not happy. I would love it if he gets going and scores more runs. But it is good that when you are challenged at times and the guys who are not getting too much batting in India sometimes, they are the ones who put up scores and our middle order came to play. So, it was good to see,” said Rathour in the pre-match press conference.

Asked if Kohli would be played as a No.3 batter by India in Saturday’s clash against Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Rathour remained non-committal. “We are not thinking along those lines. We are happy with the batting order that we have. If any change happens, that will be to do with the opposition and the conditions that we come across.”

He didn’t drop any hints over whether an extra batter would be included in place of any of the four all-rounders in the playing eleven. “Again, we will take it as we come across, like when we get to the next venue (Antigua) and see what the conditions are.”

“But again, all 15 are in play as far as we are concerned as team management. So, looking at the conditions, we can go with any 11, which the captain and coach feel are the best 11 to play on that certain day. So, everybody is in play at the moment.”

The T20 World Cup matches in Antigua have recorded the second-best run rate in the competition so far, and Rathour thinks the Indian batting line-up, with its depth going deep, has it in them to adapt and thrive in conditions offered on any given day in the Super Eights.

“We have already played in the worst conditions that were possible in New York, so anything after that is feeling good only. Even it felt really good in Barbados. So, I am expecting wickets to be better. I mean, it won’t be as challenging as what we had in New York.”

“Again, we are equipped, as a batting unit, to deal with any conditions that are put in front of us. I believe we’ve always had depth as a batting team. But these conditions may suit us more because we can afford to play two or three spinners at times.”

“That gives the belief that we can put out our best team, and that has been our strength. Also, it feels like that because somebody like Axar playing at eight gives you a lot of confidence because he can bat and he’s bowling really well at the moment. So, it does give you a lot of options,” he said.

Rathour signed off by saying India are guarded against complacency, especially in facing tricky oppositions like Bangladesh, who have strong bowling trump cards in left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman and leg-spinner Rishad Hossain.

“We know we are playing a World Cup, so everybody is really motivated. We want to do well as a team and in this format especially you cannot afford to be complacent, we have to be on top of our games and we are looking forward to doing that. Every game is a fresh, new game for us.”

“As a team, we have set up our own standards. And those are the standards we need to keep up with. So whichever opposition we are playing against, we need to do our best. And if we believe that if we do that repeatedly we’ll be fine.”

“They’re a good unit. They have a lot of guys who are doing spin bowling and they are good in certain conditions. These conditions do suit them a little as a team because the wickets seem to have a bit of some help for the spinners and they do have that in their team.”

“But again, in this format, every team is a tough team. I don’t believe there is any contest in T20 cricket which is an easy contest. It might look like in the end, like we won by almost 15 (47) runs (against Afghanistan). So it looks easy, but I’m sure when the game was on it felt pretty tight.” (Agency)

Russia to further develop nuclear weapons: Putin

Moscow, June 22 2024-

Russia has plans to further develop its nuclear weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

“Our plans include further development of the nuclear triad as a guarantee of strategic deterrence and maintaining the balance of power in the world,” Putin said on Friday at a meeting with graduates of higher military educational institutions as reported by Xinhua news agency.

The nuclear triad is a three-pronged military force structure of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers with nuclear bombs and missiles. (Agency)

20 Moroccan pilgrims die during Haj in Saudi Arabia

Rabat, June 22 2024-

Moroccan authorities have said that 20 pilgrims from Morocco have died during this year’s Haj rituals in Saudi Arabia.

The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs said on Friday in a statement that those deaths are “natural deaths,” noting that 15 per cent of Moroccan pilgrims this year are more than 80 years old.

“There were no ‘unusual’ deaths among Moroccan pilgrims during the current Haj season,” said the statement, adding that the figure is similar to last year’s Haj season, Xinhua news agency reported.

Over the past 20 years, the annual number of deaths among Moroccan pilgrims has ranged between 30 and 45.

According to an estimate issued before the Haj, 34,000 Moroccan pilgrims participated in this annual religious event. (Agency)

US sanctions leaders of Russian antivirus software provider Kaspersky

Washington, June 22 2024-

The US Treasury Department has announced sanctions against a dozen senior executives of Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, one day after the Commerce Department banned the sale of its antivirus software in the US.

“Today’s action against the leadership of Kaspersky Lab underscores our commitment to ensure the integrity of our cyber domain and to protect our citizens against malicious cyber threats,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said on Friday when announcing the designations against 12 Kaspersky executives, including the company’s chief operating officer.

“The US will take action where necessary to hold accountable those who would seek to facilitate or otherwise enable these activities,” Nelson added.

Separately, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that “Kaspersky is subject to the jurisdiction, control, or direction of the Russian government, which could exploit the privileged access to obtain sensitive data, including personal information, or bypass cybersecurity measures, thereby posing an unacceptable risk to US national security or the safety and security of US persons”.

The above announcements followed the Commerce Department’s decision on Thursday to ban the sale of Kaspersky’s antivirus software in the US.

“Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the US or provide updates to software already in use,” the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the department’s first-of-its-kind action was in response to Russia’s repeated show of “capability and intent to exploit Russian companies, like Kaspersky Lab, to collect and weaponise sensitive US information”. (Agency)

Indian startup develops AI-enabled yoga mat for personalised coaching

New Delhi, June 22 2024-

A startup incubated at IIT Mandi has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled Yoga mat, which was presented to Union Ministers here.

The mat called ‘YogiFy’ was handed over to External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar; Railways, I&B and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw; Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others on behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The mat has the potential to revolutionise the at-home yoga experience by leveraging AI and Computer Vision (CV) technologies to enable comfortable yoga practice, according to the ministry.

It is equipped with a built-in innovative sensor layer, tracks the postures of yoga performers and offers suggestions to help correct their posture in real-time.

It has been developed by Wellnesys Technologies Private Ltd, incubated at the Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) iHub at IIT Mandi and supported under the NM-ICPS programme of DST.

The mat, which is a fully indigenous ‘Make in India’, has several benefits, according to the ministry.

These include simplified yogasana training, interactive yoga classes, real-time feedback on posture and personalised coaching anywhere, anytime around the world.

YogiFi Smart Mat works seamlessly with other smart devices at home to set up the right ambience for performing yoga. (Agency)

Big B lent his vocal prowess for ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ song, says ‘tough for a non-singer’

Mumbai, June 22 2024-

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan shared that he has lent his voice to a song in the Hindi version of ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ and said that it is “tough for a non-singer,” but “recordists today do unbelievable magic”.

Amitabh took to his blog and shared details about the heavy costumes and prosthetics involved in the film.

“With all the costume heavy and the prosthetics .. and make up for hours and hours for KALKI .. the trailer of which has been released today,” Big B wrote.

The actor then spoke about the song he lent his voice to for the film, which also stars Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, and Deepika Padukone.

“And yes, the Hindi version – the song sung by moi… tough for a non-singer, but recordists today do unbelievable magic with their electronic equipment… and, BADUMMBAAA, a song comes out. It’s on YouTube and on my social media… Twitter, FB, and Insta.”

The cine icon then went on to share a “learning” from “one of this generation,” which includes his grandchildren Agastya Nanda, Navya Naveli Nanda, and Aaradhya Bachchan.

“Make a call on mobile, hear the bell ringing, but if it saying on the top ‘calling’… the call is not going through. If it says ‘ringing’ then it is. Never knew about this at all… gosh I am such a dodo… know nothing at all… the learning graph is spiraling downwards.”

Speaking about ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, which is directed by Nag Ashwin, the film is inspired by Hindu mythology and is set in a post-apocalyptic world in 2898 AD.

It is reportedly based on the modern-day avatar of Vishnu, who is believed to have descended to Earth to protect the world from evil forces.

The legendary actor will be seen portraying the role of Ashwatthama, a captivating figure in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

The film is set to release on June 27. (Agency)