Cases like this increase the risk of more dangerous coronavirus variants emerging, researchers say
Researchers in Kingdom of the Netherlands have reported that an elderly man, immunocompromised due to pre existing illnesses, harboured a rare coronavirus variant which mutated more than 50 times in his body for 613 days at a stretch before he died last year due to a flare-up of one of his previous illnesses.
Considering that cases like this increase the risk of more dangerous coronavirus variants emerging in the future, these researchers led by Magda Vergouwe from the University of Amsterdam are poised to present the results of their research at a congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain at the end of the month.
According to media reports, the researchers repeatedly took samples from the man to analyse the genetic material of the coronavirus. They found a total of more than 50 mutations compared to the Omicron variant BA.1 that was circulating at the time, including those that would allow the virus to evade the immune defence.
As per available information, the elderly man, who was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam in February 2022 with a Covid-19 infection, had not infected anyone with his mutated version of the coronavirus, also known under its scientific name Sars-CoV-2. He was continuously positive for the coronavirus for a total of 613 days until his death in October 2023.
The case is particularly of interest to researchers because it highlights that coronavirus can change particularly strongly in such long-term infected people. This potentially raises the danger of variants of the virus emerging that can more easily overcome the immune systems of healthy people.
Karamjit Kaur, wife of two-time Congress MP from Jalandhar (SC) late Santokh Singh Chaudhary, joining the BJP in New Delhi.
The BJP juggernaut appears to be rolling in Jalandhar (SC) parliamentary constituency in Punjab. After the incumbent MP representing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sushil Kumar Rinku, who was renominated by the party to contest the seat in the 2024 polls, left and joined the BJP, becoming the saffron party’s candidate instead, it has now won the support of the tallest Congress Dalit family from the constituency.
Delivering a body blow to the prospects of the Congress, and its candidate former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in the constituency, Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, wife of two time Congress MP late Santokh Singh Chaudhary, who carried forward the family’s decades long dominance of the political landscape, left the party and joined the BJP in New Delhi on Friday (20.04.2024).
AICC secretary and Gandhi family loyalist Tajinder Singh Bittu from Jaldnhar joining the BJP in New Delhi
Also joining the saffron party, along with her, was senior Congress leader from Jalandhar and All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary co-incharge of Himachal Pradesh affairs Tajinder Singh Bittu. A Gandhi family loyalist, Tajinder Singh has also supervised the Rai Bareli parliamentary constituency, represented by Sonia Gandhi since 2004.
The Chaudhary family, which has upheld the Congress flag in the area for nearly nine decades, since pre independence times, had been miffed with the party decision to deny the family the party ticket from the constituency, preferring Channi, an outsider, instead.
Karamjit Kaur’s son, Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, party’s MLA from Phillaur (SC) assembly constituency, had earlier resigned as Congress chief whip in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha after Channi’s candidature was announced, though as of now he continues to remain in the party fold.
Santokh Singh Chaudhary had died of a heart attack in January 2023 while participating as incumbent MP from Jalandhar in the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Punjab. In bypolls necessitated by his death, the party had fielded his wife Karamjit Kaur, a retired director public instruction (Colleges), Punjab, but she lost to Sushil Kumar Rinku of the ruling AAP. Rinku, a former Congress MLA, had been inducted into the AAP prior to the bypolls.
Interestingly, now both the winner and the vanquished from the last 2023 Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll are in the BJP fold, with the winner being its candidate for the June 1 lok sabha polls.
The Jalandhar based Chaudharys have dominated the Dalit landscape in Punjab, with Santosh Singh’s father Master Gurbanta Singh, six times MLA from the area, holding the cabinet minister’s rank in the Punjab ministries led by post independence Punjab’s first chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon and later chief minister Giani Zail Singh. After him, his eldest son, Jagjit Singh Chaudhary, carried forward his legacy and remained minister in the Punjab ministries led by Beant Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Capt Amarinder Singh.
It made sense when one of the richest and most influential man in the world commented that countries should not be sending rockets at each other, but to the stars, in the context of the escalating hostilities in the Middle East and exchange of a barrage of drones and missiles between Iran and Israel, which threatens further escalation into a broader full blown war.
Hours after the news broke about missiles having been fired by Israel in response to Iran’s massive drone and missile attack unleashed on Israeli territory, and subsequently a series of explosions rocking the Shekari army airbase in the northwest Iranian province of Isfahan, Musk took to his own social media platform X and posted a subtle message advocating peace.
“We should send rockets not at each other, but rather to the stars,” he said in his social media post. “Maybe world leaders should just email memes at each other and let the public vote on who wins,” Musk joked, adding “I prefer that over war.”
Unlike most top global business leaders, Musk is known to express his views on most internationally significant developments taking place across the world, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict, widely perceived to be part of his ambition to become a world leader.
The cofounder of path-breaking companies like Tesla and SpaceX, who he has also established control over may more levers of power through his ownership of X, Starlink and other technology platforms, has become an increasingly important player in the global affairs.
In line with his vision, he has been touring the world to meet top political leaders and paving the road to the future with his rockets, satellite network, leadership in electric cars and control of one of the world’s most consequential social networks.
In happier times: Raj Kundra & Shilpa Shetty (File photo)
Out of one controversy, and into another – that’s how life has been for actor Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra for over a decade.
Released on bail, in a 2021 case of allegedly producing and distributing porn films using a subscriber-driven mobile app called ‘HotShots’, Raj Kundra now finds himself mired in a bitcoin ponzi investment scam, following investigations into which the much in news Enforcement Directorate (ED) Mumbai has provisionally attached the immovable and movable properties linked to the power couple in Mumbai and Pune valued at Rs 97.79 core under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
After the development, the couple shared a joint statement through their lawyer, Prashant Patil, on Thursday stating: “We shall follow the due process of law and take necessary steps as prescribed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to protect the liberty and property of my clients. On the face of it, there is no prima facie case made out against my clients Mr Raj Kundra and Mrs Shilpa Shetty Kundra.”
The statement added, “We have complete faith in the Honourable Judiciary. I believe when we make our fair representation before the Honourable Enforcement Directorate, even the investigation agencies may grant justice to us. We have faith in a fair investigation. We stand committed to cooperating with the authorities as and when required.”
However later, Kundra took to his Instagram and shared a couple of cryptic posts on his Stories at two different times on Thursday night and Friday afternoon, which have widely been interpreted as his response to the ED’s allegations.
Raj Kundra’s Instagram Story
In his first Story, he shared the image of a roaring lion with the text splashed across it reading thus: “Learning to stay calm when you feel disrespected is a different type of growth.”
The second Story carried a black and white image of a little girl standing alone amidst rows of flowers in a park with the text: “There is a time to be a nice person. And there’s a time to say enough is enough.”
According to the ED, Kundra’s name has come up in a Bitcoin scam. He allegedly holds Bitcoins worth Rs 150 crore.
According to a Economic Times report, the money laundering case has emerged from multiple FIRs registered by the Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police on the basis of complaints by investors against a company named Variable Tech Pte Ltd, Late Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj and number of agents.
It was alleged in the FIRs that they had collected huge amounts of funds in Bitcoin investments (worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017) from gullible public with the promise of 10 per cent per month return in crypto assets.
The probe agency claims that the promoters cheated the investors, and have been concealing the ill gotten Bitcoins in obscure online wallets. Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from the mastermind and promoter of Gain Bitcoin Ponzi scam Amit Bhardwaj for setting up Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine, the ED says.
The deal, however, did not materialise, but Kundra is still in possession of 285 Bitcoins which are presently valued at more than Rs 150 crore, the ED maintains.
Other controversies involving Raj-Shilpa
Earlier, in 2021, Kundra was arrested by the Mumbai Police after four women complained that they were forced to shoot pornographic content after being promised an acting job in web series. He was released on bail two months later and an application filed by him seeking discharge in the case is reportedly pending before the trial court.
Also in 2021, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakhs on Viaan Industries, and its promoters Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra, after finding them guilty of not complying with its regulations in insider trading.
The same year Shilpa Shetty and her mother Sunanda Shetty were investigated by the Lucknow police in an alleged fraud involving money taken for opening a branch of a spa and wellness chain and not fulfilling the promise. The chairperson of the spa and wellness chain later clarified that Shilpa Shetty and her mother Sunanda Shetty had no connection with the chain and that they had amicably parted ways long ago.
In 2013, while being a co-owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee Rajasthan Royals, Kundra’s name was linked to a betting scam involving IPL matches, which led to a ban on him from cricket for life.
Google, one of the world’s largest companies, has been grappling with growing activism within sections of its 180,000+ workforce seeking among other things overhauls on pay, harassment and ethics by the company. In a latest run-in over the company’s Nimbus Cloud contract with various ministries of the Israeli government, Google has fired 28 employees involved in persistent protests and obstructions despite warnings from the company’s top leadership.
The strict action follows several employees participating in sit-ins at the company’s New York and Sunnyvale, California offices. Nine staffers were arrested by the police a day earlier on charges of trespass at the two offices after being reported by the company.
Google has sternly warned that physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing the company’s facilities is a clear violation of its policies, and completely unacceptable behavior.
According to media reports, tensions had been brewing between the company’s top leadership and a well knit section of activist employees over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion deal between Google and Amazon to supply the Israeli government with cloud services, including artificial intelligence, which the protesting employees allege will aid Israel’s military.
The rift has widened to a gulf since the war in Gaza strip began in October 2023 following the most devastating multi pronged lightening terror attack by Hamas and other outfits on southern Israel, which left 1700 people, including 600 soldiers of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and 60 policemen, dead and hundreds of others injured. An unspecified number of people were also kidnapped by the attackers and held hostage in the Gaza strip.
The brutal full scale retaliatory war unleashed by Israel on the Gaza strip has triggered a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in the Palestinian territory with an estimated 33,000+ people killed in Gaza and 76,000 others wounded and lakhs staring at starvation.
While Google asserted that it had terminated the 28 employees after concluding individual investigations, the activist employees described the company action as a “flagrant act of retaliation” and alleged that some employees who did not directly participate in the protests were also among those fired.
Raises fears of 1871 like tsunami which killed 400 people
A dramatic eruption on Wednesday, after two previous main explosive events in the Ruang volcano on Ruang island, in the North Sulawesti province of Indonesia, on Wednesday, which spewed a fiery-red column of lava, incandescent rock, and ash as much as three kms into the sky, has lead to large scale evacuations, temporary closure of a provisional airport and raised fears of a 1871 like tsunami that killed 400 people.
According to the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure, named BNPB, the country’s Multiplatform Application for Geohazard Mitigation and Assessment (MAGMA) has raised the alert level for the volcano, which has a peak of 725 metres above the sea level, to IV, the highest in the four-tiered system.
Officials worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami, as happened in 1871.
BNPD informed in a statement that people living in Tagulandang Island area, located a km north-east of Ruang Island, and others that are within a radius of six km, especially those living close to the coast, have been ordered to be immediately evacuated to a safe place.
A TV grab of the Ruang volcano eruption
The volcano was still billowing a column of smoke on Thursday morning, prompting authorities to shut the nearest international airport in Manado city on Sulawesi island for 24 hours.
Runways were shut “due to the spread of volcanic ash which could endanger flight safety”, Ambar Suryoko, head of the Manado region airport authority office, has been reported as saying.
The airport hosts airlines that fly to Singapore and cities in South Korea and China.
Indonesia sits along the “Ring of Fire”, the most active zone in the world for seismic activity.
In December 2023, more than 20 people died in Indonesia after a surprise volcanic eruption at Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra.
According to a study, among the 17,504 islands in Indonesia, there are 22 volcanic islands with records of volcanic eruptions from pre-historic times. As much as 75% of these are classified as active and have a high potential to endanger the surrounding population which generally lives on small islands.
More than 150,000 people have been evacuated in 25 volcanic unrests on nine volcanic islands during 1966 to 2017.
The largest fatalities from eruptions on volcanic islands have been caused by volcanic tsunamis. Between 416 and 2018, there were 19 volcanic tsunami events on Indonesia’s volcanic islands, resulting in 41,328 deaths, the study added
Tinu pitted against “deserter” Rinku from Jalandhar (SC); MLAs Sherry Kalsi, Kaka Brar, and Pappi Parashar also in fray
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab named three of its incumbent MLAs in its final list of four candidates to cover all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state which go to the polls on June 1.
As per the list posted on X by the party’s national general secretary (organization) Dr Sandeep Pathak , the party MLA from Batala Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi will contest from Gurdaspur, Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar, MLA Muktsar, will be in the race from Ferozepur, and Ludhiana (Central) MLA Ashok Parashar Pappi is being fielded from Ludhiana parliamentary seat.
Two-time former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA from Adampur constituency Pawan Kumar Tinu, who resigned from his party and was welcomed into the AAP fold by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann recently, has been pitted in Jalandhar (SC) against Sushil Kumar Rinku, who, despite having been repeated from the seat by AAP quit the party and joined the BJP, and is now the candidate of the saffron party. Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi of the Congress is a formidable candidate from the constituency.
Incumbent MP & Union minister of State Som Prakash’s wife Anita from Hoshiarpur (SC), Ex-IAS Parampal Kaur from Bathinda, and Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind from Khadoor Sahib
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced the names of three more candidates to contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Punjab, which goes to the polls in the last phase on June 1.
With this the party, which is contesting the parliamentary elections in the border state for the first time outside of the alliance with its senior Punjab partner Shiromani Akali Dal, has named candidates to nine of the 13 seats.
Expectedly, Parampal Kaur Sidhu, daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader and former Punjab cabinet Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka, who recently resigned from the IAS and joined the BJP along with her husband Gurpreet Singh, Chairman of Bathinda zila parishad, has been fielded by the party from Bathinda.
File photo of Anita with her husband Som Prakash
From Hoshiarpur (SC) seat, which the party has traditionally been contesting as part of the alliance, and from where it won the last two elections in 2014 and 2019, the BJP has replaced its incumbent MP and Union minister of state Som Prakash with his wife Anita Som Prakash apparently on considerations of advancing age and health issues. Som Prakash crossed 75 years of age recently.
Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind
The party has reposed faith in the candidature of BJP district president (Amritsar Rural) Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind from Khadoor Sabha Lok Sabha constituency. A two-time Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA from Khadoor Sahib assembly constituency (2002, 2007), Manjit Singh later moved to the newly constituted Baba Bakala (SC) assembly constituency.
He joined the BJP prior to the 2022 assembly elections in the state after he was denied the SAD ticket from Baba Bakala. However, he lost his security deposit when he joined the fray as a BJP candidate from the same constituency, as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wave swept the state.
The Baba Bakala seat was also won by AAP candidate Dalbir Singh Tong by a big margin. SAD candidate Baljit Singh Jalal Ushman finished a distant third behind Santokh Singh Bhalaipur of the Congress.
Trial court extends his judicial custody till April 23
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday 15.04.2024 failed to get immediate relief from the Supreme Court of India on his plea challenging a Delhi High Court order upholding his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and his subsequent remand in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
Hearing his plea, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the ED directing it to file a reply by April 24. The matter would next be heard in the week commencing April 29.
During the hearing on Monday, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, sought “an extremely short date (Friday)” to begin hearing the petition, which was declined by the court. “We will give a reasonable date… a very short date. But not what you are saying,” the court said, as it also told Singhvi to “reserve your arguments” after he continued to press for an earlier hearing.
Meanwhile, in a related hearing, a Delhi court extended Kejriwal’s judicial custody till April 23.
Kejriwal was produced virtually before special judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Courts on the expiry of his judicial custody. The Court said it is extending custody till April 23 when judicial custody of co-accused (Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha) is also ending.
Earlier, the Rouse Avenue Courts also sent K Kavitha to judicial custody till April 23 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not seek an extension of her three-day police custody and sought 14-day judicial custody instead. The CBI submitted before the court that she did not cooperate with its investigation and “deliberately gave evasive replies contrary to the evidence on record”.
K Kavitha is the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Preliminary data collated by US based premier market intelligence and research organization International Data Corporation (IDC) for the Jan-March 2024 quarter shows that Korean smartphone giant Samsung has once again reasserted its top position in the smartphone market worldwide, dethroning iPhone maker Apple, which had managed to capture the top spot at the end of 2023.
IDC, headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts, shared this information from its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker in a handout posted on its website on Monday.
Apple’s global smartphone shipments reportedly fell by 9.6% in the quarter, from 55.4 million units in the same period last year to 50.1 million units. Samsung’s shipments also fell during this period, but by just 0.7% to 60.1 million units. Apple’s global market share fell to 17.3% from 20.7% a year ago, while Samsung’s fell to 20.8% from 22.5% amid rising sales of Chinese companies Xiaomi and Transsion.
Xiaomi, the third largest smartphone shipper in the quarter, recorded almost 34% rise in sales to 40.8 million units, while Transsion shipments leaped 85% to 28.5 million. OPPO overtook Vivo to claim the fifth spot in the first quarter.
However, striking a note of optimism, the IDC handout noted that the global smartphone shipments increased 7.8% year over year to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24). “While the industry is not completely out of the woods, as macroeconomic challenges remain in many markets, this marks the third consecutive quarter of shipment growth, a strong indicator that a recovery is well underway,” it added.
Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, shared: “As expected, smartphone recovery continues to move forward with market optimism slowly building among the top brands.”
While IDC expects Samsung and Apple to maintain their hold on the high end of the market, it envisions that the resurgence of Huawei in China, as well as notable gains from Xiaomi, Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus, and Vivo will likely have both OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) looking for areas to expand and diversify. In its opinion as the recovery progresses, the top companies can be expected to gain share, as the smaller brands struggle for positioning.
IDC’s research director of its Worldwide Tracker team Nabila Popal adds: “The smartphone market is emerging from the turbulence of the last two years both stronger and changed. Firstly, we continue to see growth in value and average selling prices (ASPs) as consumers opt for more expensive devices knowing they will hold onto their devices longer. Secondly, there is a shift in power among the Top 5 companies, which will likely continue as market players adjust their strategies in a post-recovery world.
“Xiaomi is coming back strong from the large declines experienced over the past two years and Transsion is becoming a stable presence in the Top 5 with aggressive growth in international markets. In contrast, while the Top 2 players both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters,” she concluded.
“We should send rockets not at each other, but rather to the stars,” he said in his social media post. “Maybe world leaders should just email memes at each other and let the public vote on who wins,” Musk joked, adding “I prefer that over war.”
