Monopolisation of social media and other digital platforms is empowering right-wing forces to control the world Propaganda, misinformation and fake news are nothing new in our society. It can be traced back to the time of Mahabharata when Yudhisthir, known for his unwavering truthfulness, misled Drona by declaring that Ashwathama was killed but murmured the latter part, “I do not know if it is a man or an elephant,” so softly that Drona could not hear it clearly. Believing Yudhisthir that his warrior son Ashwathama was killed, Drona bowed his head and was beheaded. Drona was one of the epical victims of fake news or disinformation. Propaganda and misinformation have taken a new turn now with the widespread availability of sophisticated methods of information and communication technology. The sharing of text, images, videos or links online often allows information to go viral within no time. Merriam-Webster defines misinformation as false…

Indian woman found murdered in car boot in UK, Police hunting for Indian-origin husband

Harshita Brella, an Indian was found murdered and her body left in a car boot in Ilford area of London. Police are u=hunting for her Indian-origin husband London: The UK police investigating the murder of 24-year-old Harshita Brella, whose body was recovered from a car boot in east London, have launched a manhunt for her Indian-origin husband who they suspect fled the country after killing his wife earlier this month. In an updated statement from the Northamptonshire Police on Sunday, Chief Inspector Paul Cash said more than 60 detectives were working on the case as the force released an image of Pankaj Lamba, the accused husband, in an appeal for information. “Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba,” Cash said. “We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car. We believe he has now fled…

Number of Indian students applying to UK universities drops 20%, reveals report

Student groups attribute trend to limited job prospects, safety concerns following recent anti-immigration riots in some cities London: Indian students are being put off applying to UK universities, adding to their financial woes at a time when education institutions are already coping with constrained budgets, a new report into the stability of the higher education sector in England has revealed. Based on UK Home Office data on confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) by UK providers from 2022-23 to 2023-24, an Office for Students (OfS) analysis shows a 20.4 per cent drop in Indian student numbers — down from 139,914 to 111,329. Indian student groups in the UK said the fall was to be expected amid limited job prospects and safety concerns following recent anti-immigration riots in some cities. “There has been a considerable decline in student visa applications from prospective non-UK students in some major source countries,” notes the report by OfS, a non-departmental…

International

Jun- 2023 -

3 June

361

King Charles declares his ‘love’ for Romania during first visit in 25 years

The King has declared his “love” for and “deep connection” to Romania as he marked a quarter of a century since he first visited the country. The monarch was welcomed to Bucharest on Thursday afternoon by the president, a Guard of Honour and a reception hosted to celebrate his close ties to the nation. In a speech at the reception held in Cotroceni Palace in the country’s capital, he told president Klaus Iohannis: “I can scarcely believe that twenty-five years have gone by since my first visit to this most remarkable country, although even before I came here I felt a deep connection to Romania.” It marks his first trip abroad since being crowned in Westminster Abbey on May 6,…
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3 June

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Rishi Sunak-led UK govt to place restrictions on dependents of international students from January 2024

Rishi Sunak-led UK government will place restrictions on the ability for international students to bring dependents into the country from January 2024. The government further said these restrictions apply to all students except students in post-graduate research courses. It further said this is aimed at banning people from using a student visa as a backdoor route to find work in the UK. “From January 2024, there will be restrictions on the ability for international students to bring family members on all but post-graduate research routes and banning people from using a student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK,” the British government specified as a change of rules. A British government official said the overseas students…
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3 June

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China drilling hole over 11,000m deep into the desert

China is drilling a hole in the desert more than 11,000m deep in order to study areas deep beneath the planet’s surface. The operation – reported in state media – started on Tuesday and is located in the Xinjiang region in northwest China. The drilling process will go deep into the Earth, penetrating more than 10 continental strata. With a planned depth of 11,100 metres, the borehole is certainly no shallow effort but falls short of the deepest ever man-made hole. The current record has been held since 1979 by the Kola Superdeep Borehole, a Soviet project located near the Russian border with Norway, with a depth of 12,262m (40,230ft). “The construction difficulty of the drilling project can be compared to…
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3 June

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US ‘can breathe sigh of relief’ after Senate votes through debt crisis deal

The US Senate has voted through a crucial deal to raise the country’s debt ceiling with just days to spare. Senators followed the House of Representatives in passing the agreement, which will be sent to Joe Biden to be signed into law before Monday’s deadline. Had the cut-off date been missed, it could have led to the potentially catastrophic scenario where the world’s most powerful economy defaulted on its national debts. Thursday night’s vote, which ended 63-36 in favour, came after months of bickering between Democrats and Republicans over the state of America’s finances. The Treasury had warned it would be unable to pay all of its bills on 5 June if Congress failed to act by then, with the debt ceiling standing at…
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3 June

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New charts show deportations soar as Home Office scrambles to tackle illegal immigration

More people migrated to the UK last year than ever before – numbers breaching 500,000 for the first time – despite control of the country’s borders tightening under Home Secretary Suella Braverman‘s “ultimate aspiration” to bring the figure below 100,000. The vast majority of these arrivals do so lawfully and have a right to remain. For those who do not, the Home Office seeks to return them to where they came from – and the UK is doing so at a rapidly increasing rate. New Home Office data shows that returns came in at just under 40,000 in 2022. This tally may be far below the 60,000 of a decade ago, but marks a sharp uptick from the declining trend since 2015 and a…
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3 June

361

Japanese airline launches all-you-can-fly pass for just £230

A Japanese airline is launching unlimited all-you-can-fly passes for just 40,000 Japanese yen (roughly £230). Domestic carrier Starflyer is offering the month-long pass, which is valid for flights between Tokyo and the city of Kitakyushu, roughly 600 miles southwest where the airline is based, to travellers aged under 26 years old. It is targeted at workers who commute between the two destinations, with Bloomberg suggesting that the post-Covid shift in people’s commuting habits is a driving factor. It is unclear if the pass is offered on the carrier’s other routes; Starflyer currently operate five routes to different parts of the country, with its international service to Taipei in Taiwan suspended until at least 28 October. Older passengers need to pay a premium for the…
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2 June

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Palestinian toddler seriously wounded by Israeli fire

Young boy is in critical condition after being shot in occupied West Bank incident that also injured his father. An Israeli soldier shoots rubber bullets at Palestinians in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [File: Mussa Issa] A Palestinian toddler has been seriously wounded and his father hurt after being shot by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank. The child, who is two years old the Palestinian news agency Wafa, was in a critical condition on Friday morning, doctors said. Palestinian authorities said the wounded were sitting in a car late on Thursday when they came under fire. The 40-year-old man was taken to a hospital in Ramallah, while his son was ferried to Israel’s Sheba hospital by…
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2 June

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What’s the latest in Sudan? Suspended talks, sanctions, fighting

The conflict is creating a humanitarian crisis and continues with no signs of abating in its seventh week. A man walks as smoke rises above buildings after an aerial bombardment in Khartoum North, Sudan [File: Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah] Sudan’s conflict has continued for a seventh continuous week, where fighting has propelled the nation into an all-out war since fighting between duelling generals from the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out on April 15. The country has plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with more than 1,800 people killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, and at least 1.6 million displaced within the country or across its borders, the United Nations has said,…
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2 June

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Jaipur Literature Festival debuts in Spain

Jaipur Literature Festival logo. Madrid: On a rain-soaked Thursday evening in the Spanish capital, thousands of kilometres away from the city of its origin, the Jaipur Literature Festival began with an aim to create a platform to explore Spanish writing. JLF Valladolid Spain, which is being held in the northwestern city, will bring together an array of writers, thinkers, artists, and poets to engage in stimulating dialogues and conversations on subjects ranging from fashion and design, history, visual art to literary fiction and poetry. The 10th international extension of the literary festival aims to become a bridge between the diverse and vibrant literatures of Spain and India. Talking at the opening ceremony, Indian ambassador to Spain Dinesh K Patnaik said that…
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2 June

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Treason trial of Russian hypersonic missile scientist begins

Anatoly Maslov is one of three scientists involved in Russia’s hypersonic missile programme that are standing trial for treason. Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, visits Russia’s National Defence Control Centre to oversee the test of a new Russian hypersonic missile system called Avangard, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, in Moscow, Russia, in 2018 [File: Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin ] A prominent Russian scientist involved in the country’s hypersonic missile programme has gone on trial accused of state treason amid tight secrecy and concerns over the health of the elderly defendant. Anatoly Maslov’s trial opened in St Petersburg on Thursday, the first case against three hypersonic missile scientists who worked at an institute in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and who are now facing…
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