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Second batch of Union ministers expected to visit J&K in April

(File)

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Another batch of Union ministers are set to visit Jammu and Kashmir in April this year as part of Centre’s reach-out programme in the Union Territory.

The first batch of 37 Union Ministers visited UT last month following a directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wanted an honest assessment of the various welfare schemes being implemented there, especially after the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

According to sources, near about 40 ministers are expected to visit Jammu and Kashmir after the upcoming Parliament session which starts from March 2 and concludes on April 3.

“Though the list has not been finalised but visit of another batch is on cards. Each minister will be visiting a particular district and see the project implementation after the budget,” sources in the government said.

They said this will be a follow up on certain schemes that were inaugurated earlier.

Among the Union minister who had visited Jammu and Kashmir last month were Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, ministers of state for home G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai.

The Union ministers have already submitted their feedback to the PMO on the implementation of various development schemes there.

There were two sets of feedback — one on the initiatives taken by the UT administration and the other on the Centre’s initiatives — another official said.

Most of the central ministers stayed overnight at their respective places of visit such as Baramulla, Ganderbal, Doda, besides others.

Another PDP leader booked under PSA

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir administration today booked a close aide of PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, Peer Mansoor, under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).

Peer Manzoor, a former legislator who hails from south Kashmir is the fourth senior party leader to be booked under the PSA in the last couple of weeks. He served as Mehboob’s political advisor also.

Earlier, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Sartaj Madani and Naeem Akhter from the party were booked under this act.

Peer Mansoor continues to remain lodged at the MLA hostel along with bureaucrat turned politician Shah Faesal and Hilal Lone, son of Baramulla MP Akbar Lone.

The MLA hostel has been converted into a sub-jail, where as many as 34 political leaders of various mainstream parties have been kept since November 17 last year.

Earlier this month, Shah Faesal and Hilal Lone were booked under the public safety act (PSA). Senior NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar (NC) was also slapped with the PSA.

Two former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who are under detention at two separate places, were also booked under the PSA on February 6. NC president Farooq Abdullah is detained at his Gupkar house.

The administration had released five mainstream leaders including three former legislators from detention on January 16 and five others on December 30, 2019.

Polluted air, conflict among risks to a child’s health: Report

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): A new report by WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission has highlighted critical, emerging risks to child health and proposed novel solutions while calling for urgent action to achieve measurable results.

The report, ‘A future for the world’s children?’ constitutes the first comprehensive, independent report to reposition every aspect of child health through the lens of rapidly changing climate and other existential threats, according to WHO.

Launched yesterday, the report finds that the health and future of every child and adolescent worldwide is under immediate threat from ecological degradation, climate change and exploitative marketing practices that push heavily processed fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco at children.

The report says that despite dramatic improvements in survival, nutrition, and education over the past 20 years, “today’s children face an uncertain future”, with every child facing “existential threats”.

“In 2015, the world’s countries agreed on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), yet nearly five years later, few countries have recorded much progress towards achieving them,” says the report by a commission of 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world.

Stefan Peterson, Unicef’s chief of health, said children living in the poorest countries are facing the brunt of a changing climate, despite having a tiny carbon footprint.

Stefan added, “These children face enormous challenges to their health and wellbeing, and are also now at the greatest disadvantage due to the climate crisis,” he said. “We need sustainable gains in child health and development, which means that big carbon emitters need to reduce their emissions for all children to thrive, poor and rich.”

According to the report, climate change, ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practices threaten the health and future of children in every country.

“Despite improvements in child and adolescent health over the past 20 years, progress has stalled, and is set to reverse,” says former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Co-Chair of the Commission, Helen Clark.

The report includes an index of 180 countries that compares data on survival, wellbeing, health, education and nutrition; as well as sustainability, with a proxy for greenhouse gas emissions, and equity, or income gaps.

1.35 million people die every year in road accidents: WHO

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New Delhi (NVI): Around 1.35 million people die each year because of road traffic crashes, according to a recent Global status report on road safety by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The fact that an estimated 1.35 million lives are lost every year due to road traffic collisions is an outrage. It is an unacceptable price to pay for mobility,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Road traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29 years, according to WHO’s most recent Global status report on road safety.

A high-level meeting to discuss new steps to halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030, has been organised Stockholm, Sweden from 19-20 February, where Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will represent India’s commitment in this regard.

Ministers from over 100 countries will meet to agree on new global Road Safety agenda at the event.

More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, according to the WHO report. The risk of a road traffic death remains three times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries.

Moreover, as many as 50 million people experience non-fatal road injuries, which impose human suffering and major economic losses, according to the report.

Jaishankar inaugurates India Pavilion at Berlin Film Festival

S Jaishankar inaugurated the India Pavillion at 70th Berlin Film Festival. (Source: @DrSJaishankar )

New Delhi (NVI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today inaugurated India Pavilion at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2020.

The Indian Pavilion this time at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, will provide a platform to popularise Indian cinema in the overseas market and facilitate new business opportunities.

The film festival will be held from February 20 to March 1 in Berlin, Germany.

During the inaugural ceremony, Jaishankar said that the medium of cinema has the potential to build collaboration and partnerships between India and the world. Co-production agreements, the Film Facilitation Office (FFO),and India’s premier Film Festival – IFFI – have showcased India as an emerging market and a filming destination, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement.

Jaishankar also mentioned that India’s partnership at Berlinale offered tremendous opportunities to further strengthen bilateral relationship in vertical of film making and taking forward the co-production platform.

The minister also invited Berlinale participants, directors, film makers to participate at the 51st IFFI through films, delegations & partnerships.

The EAM later unveiled the poster for the 51st edition of India International Film Festival to be celebrated in Goa this year, along with its booklet. The delegation also released Pickle Magazine at the pavilion.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting is also participating at the film festival, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

India congratulates Ghani on re-election as Afghan President

File

New Delhi (NVI): Putting its weight behind Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, India today congratulated him on his re-election in the polls whose results have been contested by rival candidates.

External Affairs Ministry expressed hope that the new government and all political leaders in the war-torn country would work to strengthen national unity and conveyed India’s commitment to continue working with the new government and the democratic polity in strengthening bilateral strategic partnership.

The Election Commission, on February 18, announced that Ghani had secured 50.64 per cent vote in the September 28 elections.

His main rival and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah had got 39.52 per cent votes, the Election Commission said, while declaring the final results.

Abdullah, while alleging massive fraud, has refused to accept these results and vowed to form his own government.

“We congratulate President Dr Ashraf Ghani on his re-election following the announcement of final results of the Presidential elections by the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan,” the Indian External Affairs Ministry said.

“India supports the democratic aspirations of the people of Afghanistan and remains committed to continue to work with the new Government and the democratic polity in strengthening our bilateral strategic partnership in fighting the scourge of externally sponsored terrorism and for an enduring and inclusive national peace and reconciliation which is Afghan led, Afghan owned and Afghan controlled,” it added.

“We hope that the new Government and all political leaders in Afghanistan would work to strengthen national unity, promote inclusivity and protect the rights and interests of all sections of society,” the MEA said.

Germany shooting: 10 killed, suspect found dead

New Delhi (NVI): At least ten people were killed and four others injured in multiple shootings in the German city of Hanau yesterday. A man suspected of killing the people was found dead, along with another body, foreign media reports said today.

The shootings took place in two locations last evening. A police operation was launched to find the suspects, reports said.

A police officer was quoted as saying by a report that they received information about a fleeing vehicle after the shootings, and that the “alleged killer was found dead” in his apartment, along with “another corpse” early this morning.

Investigations into the identity of the victims and the suspect are underway.

Meanwhile, the apartment where the suspect’s body was found, has been blocked off and was being searched by special forces. There are no indications of other perpetrators, another officer said. They have not yet revealed any suspected motive for the killing.

The spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel also offered condolences to the victims’ families. “Deep sympathy goes to the families affected, who mourn the loss of their dead,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen wrote in a tweet.

Hanau is about 25 kilometres (16 miles) east of Frankfurt.

Watch: Woman plays violin during brain surgery

New Delhi (NVI): Dagmar Turner, 53, went under the knife at King’s College Hospital in London to have a dangerous tumour removed from her brain. The British woman played violin through part of the operation, in order to keep her skills intact, as her video of playing the musical instrument during the complex surgery went viral on social media.

The tumour, in her right frontal lobe, was dangerously close to areas of her brain that were responsible for coordinating delicate movements in her left hand, as per media reports. These regions are crucial for playing the violin, and in some spots, their distance from the tumour was as narrow as a credit card.

One wrong move by doctors might have cost Turner 40 years of violin practice, robbing her of the dexterity needed to play the instrument.

Keyoumars Ashkan, a neurosurgeon, came up with a creative solution.

They mapped Turner’s brain, opened up her skull for the surgery, then woke her from her anaesthesia and asked her to play the violin. The activity allowed them to see and avoid the parts of the brain she needs to play, while successfully cutting away bits of the tumour.

Turner played music by Gustav Mahler, George Gershwin’s jazz classic Summertime and pieces by Spanish songwriter and singer Julio Iglesias, according to reports.

“We perform around 400 resections (tumour removals) each year, which often involves rousing patients to carry out language tests, but this was the first time I’ve had a patient play an instrument,” Keyoumars Ashkan was quoted as saying by Washington Post.

“We managed to remove over 90 per cent of the tumour, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity, while retaining full function in her left hand,” he added.

The patient was released from hospital three days after the surgery.

Turner is a former management consultant who plays in the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. She said she was relieved that the surgery didn’t rob her of the skills she’s developed over the last four decades.

“The violin is my passion,” she told the media. “I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old.

“The thought of losing my ability to play was heartbreaking,” Turner added.

Coronavirus: 2 passengers from quarantined cruise ship dead

Diamond princess, which was docked off in Yokohama, Japan.

New Delhi (NVI): Two passengers who were onboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, have died due to the coronavirus infection, the Japanese health ministry reported today.

The two elderly patients were hospitalised after they were diagnosed with the deadly infection that has claimed more than 2,000 lives so far. Both were in their eighties.

The ship had a total of 621 confirmed cases of the virus, the most in any single location outside of China.

Meanwhile, South Korea has also reported 31 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 82.

The mayor of the South Korean city of Daegu, Kwon Young-jin, today urged its 2.5 million people to refrain from going outside as cases of a new virus spike, according to media reports.

China’s National Health Commission reported at least 114 new deaths from the coronavirus outbreak as of the end of Wednesday, bringing the death toll to at least 2,118 nationwide.

Around 108 of the new fatalities were from Hubei Province, the epicentre of the epidemic.

The national health commission also reported 394 new confirmed cases, significantly lower than the 1,749 cases reported nationwide the previous day.

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