Srinagar, Jul 13 (GNS): In order to review the arrangements made with regard to various safety arrangements made for Amarnath Yatra, especially Fire safety arrangements, Alok Kumar, ADGP Director Fire & Emergency Services J&K on Thursday made an exclusive visit from Srinagar to Domail via Baltal axis.
During the visit, ADGP as per GNS, visited all yatra camps enroute Srinagar to Baltal including Manigam, Neilgrath, Baltal Base Camp, Baltal Tent City, Domail.
In addition the ADGP also conducted surprise inspection of F&ES Gund and Kangan located on the Srinagar Baltal yatra route.
He interacted and discussed with the officers of Paramilitary, Police and Civil Administration regarding the safety and security arrangements of yatris and appreciated all the officers for their tireless work.
At Neilgrath helipad Campus, he interacted with all the officers including Camp Director, Yatries as well. He gave compassionate hearing to the yatris and passed necessary directions on spot to the officers to resolve their legitimate issues.
The ADGP during the visit enjoined upon all the Officers and Jawans of this Department to keep the close liason with all the stake holders for prompt and efficient response during any emergency during the Yatra.
He had a detailed meeting with SSP’s deployed in Joint PCR at Baltal base camp. He was apprised regarding telecommunication CCTV and Satellite facilities too being provided to the Yatries during their travel/trekking from Baltal to holy cave. He also interacted with representatives of Police, Army, CRPF, SSB, ITBP, NDRF, SDRF and Indian Air Force.
The Director F&ES J&K was accompanied by a team of officers/officials of the Department. (GNS)
Jameel takes oath as Long Grove Village Board’s trustee
Dr. Mohammed Jameel, a native of Telangana, has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first Indian American Muslim elected to the Long Grove Village Board. In a ceremony held yesterday, he took an oath as an elected Trustee, marking a new chapter in his political career.
During the ceremony, Jameel expressed gratitude towards his late father, who served as his inspiration for entering politics. He also acknowledged the unwavering support and blessings from his mother, which have been instrumental in his journey. Furthermore, he attributed his success to his wife and children, who have been a constant source of encouragement and strength. Jameel extended his heartfelt appreciation to all the voters of Long Grove, acknowledging their trust and confidence in him. Their support played a crucial role in his election victory and subsequent appointment as a Trustee.
Originally from Warangal, India, Jameel pursued his medical education at Deccan Medical College before relocating to the United States. His diverse background and experiences bring a unique perspective to his role as a Trustee on the Long Grove Village Board.
The Long Grove Village Board consists of a President and six Trustees who are elected by the community. Each Trustee serves a four-year term, collectively responsible for maintaining the quality of life and making strategic investments in lands and homes within the village.
Jameel’s appointment as a Trustee signifies a step towards inclusivity and diversity within the Long Grove Village Board.
The website for the committee was changed on Tuesday morning to say that its mission is “committed to advancing the Freedom Agenda and keeping Florida free.” But more importantly, the website was changed to say that the committee is associated with state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia and not DeSantis. The committee on Tuesday also filed paperwork that said Ingoglia replaced a Tampa accountant as the official chair of the organization.
Ingoglia is a Republican ally of DeSantis who sponsored several of the governor’s key legislative priorities during the recently concluded legislative session, including a crackdown on illegal immigration that includes $12 million for the governor’s controversial migrant relocation program.
A spokesperson with DeSantis’ political operation did not comment on the shift and Ingoglia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis first set up his committee back in 2018 and he used it to raise a record amount of money for his re-election campaign last year as he pulled in donations from many major Republican donors. Current campaign finance records show that the committee has nearly $86 million in the bank.
But DeSantis cannot use money raised for Friends of Ron DeSantis in a federal race because state law does not limit how much someone can give to the political committee or the source of the donations. But that money could be shifted to a super PAC that backs DeSantis if the governor is no longer connected to the political committee. While some have questioned the legality of such a move, the Federal Elections Commission deadlocked over a similar strategy that was used by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
Ingoglia did not respond to a question about whether or not the political committee will shift money to a super PAC helping the governor’s bid for the White House.
This step comes as DeSantis ratchets up plans to start stumping for his White House bid.
After concluding a frenzied legislative session last week, the governor flew to the battleground state of Wisconsin — which former President Donald Trump won in 2016 and lost four years later — to make an appeal to the Marathon County GOP. On Saturday, he plans to hit the early voting state of Iowa to attend Rep. Randy Feenstra’s annual picnic. And next month he will head to Nevada, another early voting state, to headline an annual Basque fry event.
In the meantime, he has been hosting dinners with financial supporters at his official residence in Tallahassee, and trying to assure them he could win critical states like Georgia and Arizona, according to someone with knowledge who was granted anonymity to share details of the private discussions. And he recently dined with Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, who runs the conservative Family Leader in Iowa.
He has also been fine-tuning his stump speech as he goes on the road — seeking to bolster his arguments against President Joe Biden while figuring out a way to differentiate himself from Trump without alienating the ex-president’s loyal base.
“Joe Biden has done more to damage this country in two and a half years than any president in our lifetime,” he said during his speech in Wisconsin.
But DeSantis avoided any mention of Trump — instead highlighting his own electoral success in Florida in an attempt to underscore the weak performance by candidates tied to the ex-president, a frustration for many Republicans. He previewed a few other potential attack lines against his chief primary rival, calling out Trump’s former top Covid-19 advisor, Anthony Fauci, whose early pandemic guidance DeSantis proudly bucked.
But in a recent Newsmax interview, DeSantis directly responded to Trump’s attacks on the governor’s past support of cuts to Medicare.
“Those are Democrat attacks. I don’t think anyone really buys that,” DeSantis said about ads Trump’s PAC is running. “Donald Trump himself wrote a book where he was talking about the need to increase the age of eligibility for Social Security to 70 and said people shouldn’t be worried about retiring, just keep working.”
Polling consistently shows DeSantis trailing Trump in the primary but competing well in a head-to-head contest with Biden.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Jabalpur: Congress leaders on Sunday took out a silent march in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur to protest the vandalisation of their city office. The party has blamed Bajrang Dal for the vandalism.
The Congress has been facing backlash from BJP and right-wing outfits for bracketing Bajrang Dal with the Popular Front of India (PFI) in its manifesto for the May 10 Karnataka polls.
The party leaders started from Shahid Smarak and ended their protest at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Town Hall, said a Congress functionary.
“Congressmen are Gandhians. We are not going to storm their office. We are going to do a peaceful protest till 200-odd Bajrang Dal men, some of them history-sheeters, are not arrested,” mayor and city Congress president Jagat Bahadur Singh told PTI.
The Congress has also demanded action against two inspectors from Kotwali and Lordganj police stations. These inspectors were deputed at the “Bajrang Dal’s protest site but were conspicuous by their absence”, Singh said.
After the Congress’ office in the Baldeo Bagh area was vandalised on Thursday, the Bajrang Dal had claimed that it was involved in the act.
Two days ago, police said that they had arrested 10 persons, including prime accused Sumit Singh Thakur who is the “vibhag prachar pramukh” of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the VHP.
Earlier, a police official had said that they had booked 25 people on the basis of video footage and a complaint for rampaging through the Congress city office.
Additional Superintendent of Police Priyanka Shukla could not be reached contacted despite repeated attempts to know how many people have been arrested till date.
The protesting Congress workers included Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha and MLAs Tarun Bhanot, Sanjay Yadav, and Lakhan Gangoria.
Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is a Marvel fan and his favourite character is Groot going by his recent post for the ‘Guardian Of The Galaxy Volume 3’.
Salman took to his social media, where he shared a promotional video for the upcoming Marvel film. In the clip, he is seen sitting in his vanity and looking at videos of Groot from the film.
The ‘Dabangg’ star then goes to a press conference, where he is asked about his next film’s title, to which he replies in Groot’s mannerism “I am Groot”.
As Salman says: “I am Salman”.
He is then asked about the dialogues, to which he replies “I am Salman” in different ways.
A reporter then asks him if he was scared performing the stunts, to which he again says ‘I am… Salman’, in an intense way.
Finally, a female journalists says that all the other Khan’s are married and asked him about his marriage, to which Salman puts on his headphones and listens to the the title track of the ‘Guardian Of The Galaxy Volume 3’.
He captioned the clip: “I live in Galaxy… Uparwale are my Guardians… Swagat karo mere new friend ka on May 5th. only in cinemas #GotGVol3 @Marvel_India.”
James Gunn directorial, ‘The Guardians of Galaxy Volume 3’ stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter and Maria Bakalova.
Marvel Studios’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ releases in India on May 5 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
After a frustrating and stultifying opening to the new Formula One season, Ferrari finally have a moment to savour. How much it meant was clear as Charles Leclerc climbed from his car having taken pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and vigorously pointed to the prancing horse logo on his chest. Pumped by an immaculate performance, he and the Scuderia will view this as the belated opening to 2023 they wanted – but what follows this weekend will more accurately define the scale of their challenge to a dominant Red Bull.
Leclerc has taken a battering in the opening three races. He suffered an engine failure in Bahrain, a 10-place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia and was unlucky to be punted out of the race on the first lap in Australia. After a week in which he has had to dismiss rumours of talks with Mercedes to join the team should Lewis Hamilton retire, and in which it was announced that Ferrari’s racing director, Laurent Mekies, is to leave to replace Franz Tost as team principal at AlphaTauri – a blow after the recent loss of technical director David Sanchez to McLaren – Leclerc delivered reason for the embattled team to finally breathe out.
Scrutiny is part of the gig at Ferrari but it carries more weight when the horse is lame, only adding to the intensity of the task at hand as Leclerc acknowledged of his pole. “It’s good, it feels good, the whole team needed it,” he said. “It’s part our job to deal with rumours and pressure, and sometimes it is difficult to perform under those circumstances, but we did really well.”
Ending Red Bull’s hegemony over pole position this season was reason for Leclerc to feel he had made his mark on the streets of Baku, but the Monégasque driver knows only too well that the business end of the weekend remains ahead. He has now taken pole in Azerbaijan three years in a row, but on the last two occasions was unable to convert them to victory.
A hoodoo to vanquish then but it will not be easy. Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen will have his part to play and he remained optimistic about his car’s formidable race pace after being beaten into second, with the Dutchman’s teammate Sergio Pérez in third.
Before Sunday, however, Leclerc and the rest will have to reset entirely for another full day of competition as F1 adopts its new sprint race format in Azerbaijan. Having revised the unsatisfactory previous structure, Saturday will now host what is being called the sprint shootout qualifying, a truncated version of the traditional arrangement, which will decide the grid for the sprint race that will follow.
The sprint will be over 100km with points from eight to one for the top eight, while both events will be standalone and have no bearing on Sunday’s grand prix, with the sport hoping the new structure will address the shortcomings of the previous format to encourage drivers to race harder.
Charles Leclerc celebrates after taking pole position. Photograph: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
There is no reason Leclerc should not repeat his feat on Saturday morning but the margins will be tight once more. They could not have been closer as the sun began to sink low in the sky in Baku on Friday. Verstappen had set the benchmark with a time of 1min 40.445sec on his first hot lap, pushing hard past the walls of the demanding street circuit, but Leclerc was equally brilliant in his challenge, matching the Dutchman’s time down to the thousandth of a second.
On the final laps Leclerc went out first and immediately found an aggressive but beautifully judged line, going quicker in the opening two sectors with a brilliant lap that Verstappen could not match to claim pole with a time of 1:40.203.
Behind them Mercedes were reminded of the task that lies ahead. Lewis Hamilton put in a mighty effort to take fifth but remained a full second off Leclerc’s time, while his teammate George Russell went out in Q2 in 11th place. Hamilton acknowledged they were losing time on the straights but with their new design concept not expected to make a difference until Imola in May, scrapping hard for third best once more looks their likely lot in Azerbaijan.
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Verstappen currently leads Pérez by 15 points in the world championship, with Fernando Alonso in third, nine points further back. Leclerc is back in 10th, 63 points off the pace.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz qualified fourth, Alonso and Lance Stroll were sixth and ninth for Aston Martin, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri seventh and 10th for McLaren, while Yuki Tsunoda was eighth for AlphaTauri.
Esteban Ocon was 12th for Alpine, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant were 13th and 15th for Williams while Valtteri Bottas was 14th for Alfa Romeo.
The opening session was interrupted by two red flags, the first when AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries crashed out, swiftly followed by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, both hitting the barriers at turn three. De Vries will start from 20th and Gasly from 19th.
Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou was in 16th, with Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in 17th and 18th for Haas.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Washington: Ro Khanna, a US lawmaker of Indian descent, has urged those among the Indian diaspora who have been raising the bogey of growing “Hinduphobia” lately, to focus on unifying issues.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a day-long conference he is hosting on Capitol Hill on India-US elections, the lawmaker also indicated that he will push for an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint session of Congress during his June visit, which, to be clear, has not been announced officially.
Khanna is one of US Congress’s three Hindu Americans and his home state California is currently a battleground for Hindu Americans who are trying to prevent the enactment of a proposed law that seeks to ban caste-based discrimination, which they have blamed on, among other things, those opposed to Hindus.
The phrase “Hinduphobia” is used by these Hindu Americans to describe and define all and any real or imagined slights.
“I grew up Indian American, Hindu American, in the 1980s, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was 97 per cent, white and Christian. And I didn’t know the word Hinduphobia or feel Hinduphobia at any single point in my life growing up,” he said recalling something he said in an earlier conversation with someone. “So now we’ve got all these Hindu Americans and it’s all over the…,” he added, leaving that sentence hanging.
“I think that what we have to focus on as a community is how do we contribute to the American project? How do we be proud of our identity? And obviously if someone feels that they are discriminated against, they should speak up, but my personal experience has been one of great hope for the American people, that they have been very embracing and understanding of people of different faiths. I think you’ve got Indian Americans leading the most important companies in the world. Now, there was a time you know, back in the 1980s, where people couldn’t meet a staffer for a member of Congress. They didn’t cry Hinduphobia.”
The lawmaker clearly has no sympathy for those crying “Hinduphobia”, which include elements of rightwing Hindu Americans tied to the wider sangh parivar.
On Modi’s upcoming visit, Khanna said the India caucus, which he co-chairs, could write to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to invite the Indian Prime Minister to address the joint session of Congress, which is an honour that is not extended to every visiting head of state or government.
Prime Minister Modi first addressed the US Congress in 2016, Khanna’s suggestion, if it goes through, will make him the first Indian Prime Minister accorded this honour twice. All the others had to make do with only one each – Jawaharlal Nehru (1949), Rajiv Gandhi (1985), P.V. Narasimha Rao (1994), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (2000) and Manmohan Singh (2005).
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has taken up three new roles at Harvard University, where she will study and speak on leadership, governance and online extremism.
Ardern announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday morning that she was “incredibly humbled” to be joining the university on joint fellowships at the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, based at Harvard Law School. She will focus on the study of online extremism at the law school, and on building leadership and governance skills at the Kennedy School.
The fellowships will begin in the autumn, and will take Ardern overseas for the period of the New Zealand election in October. Ardern said that “While I’ll be gone for a semester (helpfully the one that falls during the NZ general election!) I’ll be coming back at the end of the fellowships. After all, New Zealand is home!”
Ardern has visited Harvard before: last year, she given an honorary doctorate of law and earned a standing ovation when speaking at Harvard’s commencement on gun control and democracy.
The former prime minister will continue her work on the Christchurch Call – an inter-governmental and tech company pledge she developed after the Christchurch terror attacks to prevent extremist and terrorist content being spread online.
Her time at Harvard will include “time spent studying ways to improve content standards and platform accountability for extremist content online, and examine artificial intelligence governance and algorithmic harms,” the University said in a statement. She will also continue her work on the board of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which awards five £1m prizes each year for work providing solutions to major environmental problems.
Prof Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of the Berkman Klein Centre, said it was “rare and precious for a head of state to be able to immerse deeply in a complex and fast-moving digital policy issue both during and after their service,” and that “Ardern’s hard-won expertise – including her ability to bring diverse people and institutions together – will be invaluable as we all search for workable solutions to some of the deepest online problems.”
Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf said in a statement that Ardern “showed the world strong and empathetic political leadership”. “She earned respect far beyond the shores of her country, and she will bring important insights for our students and will generate vital conversations about the public policy choices facing leaders at all levels.”
Ardern’s formal titles will be 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow, Hauser Leader in the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, and Knight Tech Governance Leadership Fellow, at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, based at Harvard Law School.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Khartoum: Amid ongoing conflict, Indian Air Force aircraft have landed in Port Sudan for evacuation operations, the Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed on Tuesday.
Indian Air Force’s C-130J aircraft have reached Sudan to evacuate stranded Indians as the process of evacuations continues in the violence-hit North African country.
“#OperationKaveri takes to the skies. IAF C-130J aircraft lands in Port Sudan to undertake evacuation operations,” Bagchi tweeted, as he informed about the same.
Earlier today (local time), Indians stranded in Sudan departed from the conflict-torn country in the first phase of ‘Operation Kaveri’. The third Saryu-class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy, INS Sumedha with 278 people onboard departed from Port Sudan for Jeddah.
Moreover, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Tuesday inspected the transit facility at the International Indian School, Jeddah where Indians evacuated from Sudan will be received & put up briefly before arriving in India.
“Inspected transit facility @IndianPage,Jeddah where Indians evacuated from Sudan will be received & put up briefly before travel to India. It is fully equipped incl with mattresses, provisions, fresh meals,toilets, medical facilities, Wifi. Has 24*7 control room. #OperationKaveri,” the MoS wrote on Twitter.
As the fighting between the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups intensified in the capital Khartoum, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar informed on Monday that its ‘Operation Kaveri’ to evacuate its citizens from battle-torn Sudan is underway and about 500 Indians had reached Port Sudan.
India has launched “Operation Kaveri” to bring back stranded Indians from the war-torn Sudan.
Meanwhile, Indian Navy’s INS Teg on Tuesday joined Operation Kaveri to help boost the ongoing evacuation of Indians stranded in Sudan. The frigate on Tuesday arrived at Port Sudan with additional officials and essential relief supplies for stranded Indians, a senior MEA official said.
“INS Teg joins #OperationKaveri. Arrives at Port Sudan with additional officials and essential relief supplies for stranded Indians,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted on Tuesday.
“Will boost ongoing evacuation efforts by Embassy Camp Office at Port Sudan,” Bagchi further tweeted.
INS Teg is the fourth Talwar-class frigate constructed for the Indian Navy.
In a recent development, warring factions in Sudan have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire on Monday after the US and Saudi Arabia mediated the truce while countries are engaged in evacuating their citizens from the country.
Previously agreed ceasefires have broken down, if the new three-day cessation of fighting holds, it could create an opportunity to get much-needed critical resources like food and medical supplies to those in need, reported CNN.
Amaravati: In a novel protest over alleged corruption in Tadipatri municipality in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, municipal chairman J.C. Prabhakar Reddy took a bath in front of the municipal office on Tuesday.
Prabhakar Reddy, a leader of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), sat on a chair and took a bath in front of the municipal office.
He along with TDP councilors were on a sit-in at the municipal office since Monday, demanding action against the corrupt.
Prabhakar Reddy, a former MLA, spent the night under a tent along with other protesters.
After his bath, he continued his sit-in.
TDP leaders and workers from surrounding areas reached there to express solidarity with him.
TDP councilors on Monday launched a protest against corruption in the municipality. They alleged that the municipal commissioner and other officials were not taking any action.
The protesters submitted a memorandum to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. They also cooked the food at the protest camp at the municipal office.
The TDP councilors demanded that the commissioner take responsibility for the theft of diesel and tyres from the municipal office.
They alleged that the commissioner was ignoring irregularities being committed by the ruling party YSR Congress. Later, Prabhakar Reddy also joined the protesters at the camp.
Earlier, the municipal chairman was kept under house arrest when he was to stage a protest over illegal sand mining in the Penna River.
The police stopped him from leaving for Peddapur to inspect the banks of the river where sand is being illegally mined.
Prabhakar Reddy, however, managed to leave the house and sat on a road to protest the police action.
He was later detained and shifted to a police station.
