Heaps of cash found at Kolkata firm in ED raid, counting-machines busy

Another Palestinian journalist has been killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip, taking the death toll to 205 since early October 2023 when the occupying Tel Aviv regime launched its all-out onslaught against the blockaded coastal sliver.

Local organizations identified the new victim as Ahlam al-Nafed, who recently reported from the besieged Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza for Drop Site News and other media outlets.

She was killed on Tuesday as she was walking to al-Shifa Hospital – the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, and located in the neighborhood of northern Rimal in Gaza City.

“For the past 100 days, Ahlam chronicled the genocide in northern Gaza, capturing evidence of Israeli war crimes from the besieged Indonesian Hospital.

“Through her words and images, she ensured that atrocities which might have been silenced were brought to light, allowing the world to witness the brutal reality unfolding there,” Drop Site News wrote in a statement published on its X account on Tuesday.

It underlined that Ahlam’s work documenting the attacks on the Indonesian Hospital was irreplaceable.

“She was one of the last remaining voices in northern Gaza — a voice the world desperately needed. Without her, the full extent of Israel’s actions might never have been known,” the statement also read.

For its part, the Indonesian Hospital said, “Ahlam courageously documented the genocide in north Gaza, residing in the medical facility during its siege, taking evidence of war crimes and bearing witness to tell the story with her pictures and her words, many of which we shared with you.”

Journalists working within the Palestinian territory face heightened risks while covering the genocidal war, particularly in light of Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, as well as challenges such as disrupted communications, shortages of supplies, and power outages.

In the face of these difficulties, Palestinian journalists have continued to document the atrocities of the war, acting as the global community's eyes and ears throughout one of the most deadly wars of the 21st century.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,645 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 110,012 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

On November 21 last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

New Delhi: Social media giant Meta is set to get a summons from a Parliamentary Standing Committee over its boss Mark Zuckerberg's remark on the 2024 Indian general election. Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP and chairman of the House panel on Communication and Information Technology, said Meta would be summoned on grounds of spreading misinformation.

"Misinformation on a democratic country maligns its image. The organisation would have to apologise to the Parliament and the people here for this mistake," Mr Dubey said in a post on X.

In a podcast on January 10, the 40-year-old Facebook co-founder said the Covid pandemic had led to an erosion of trust in incumbent governments the world over. He incorrectly cited India's example in this connection. "2024 was a very big election year around the world and all these countries, India, had elections. The incumbents basically lost every single one. There is some sort of a global phenomenon - whether it was because of inflation or the economic policies to deal with Covid or just how the governments dealt with Covid. It seems to have had this effect that's global," he said.

Soon after, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw fact-checked Zuckerberg's remark and said the people of India had reaffirmed their trust in the NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election held last year.

"As the world's largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. People of India reaffirmed their trust in NDA led by PM @narendramodi Ji's leadership. Mr. Zuckerberg's claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections, lost post-COVID is factually incorrect," Mr Vaishnaw, who handles portfolios of Railways, Information and Broadcasting and Electronics and Information Technology in the Modi 3.0 government, said in a post on X.

"From free food for 800 million, 2.2 billion free vaccines, and aid to nations worldwide during COVID, to leading India as the fastest-growing major economy, PM Modi's decisive 3rd-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust. Meta, it's disappointing to see misinformation from Mr. Zuckerberg himself. Let's uphold facts and credibility," he added.

The ruling BJP, which had scored thumping victories in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, suffered some setbacks in the general election last year and ended below the majority mark. The NDA alliance, however, crossed the magic figure comfortably with key allies bolstering the BJP's numbers. A united Opposition led by the Congress did make gains, but fell well short of the numbers required to turn the tables. With Modi 3.0, Prime Minister Modi became only the second Indian Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to get the top post for three consecutive terms.

Bengaluru: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted on Friday that the opening of "long-in-waiting" US consulate in Bengaluru was the "very important milestone" in the bilateral ties and urged the American authorities to ensure that the mission starts visa operations at the earliest.

"This will be my number one talking point with Secretary (of State Nominee Marco) Rubio when I go and see him. The sooner we get it done, the better it is," said Jaishankar.

The External Minister was in Bengaluru today to attend the "site dedication ceremony" of the fifth United States consulate in India, which will start operating in Bengaluru soon.

Delivering his speech, Eric Garcetti, US Ambassador to India, said the consulate in Bengaluru will not be offering visa services for the time being.

In his speech, Jaishankar pointed to statistics to nudge the US to get around to issuing visas from Bengaluru as early as possible.

"I was checking figures, and was very glad to see that last year, the RPO (Regional Passport Office) Bengaluru issued 8,83,000 passports. That's just for one year. Do the math, and you will see how important it is to ensure that travel is smooth," added Jaishankar.

He also added that there are three flights every week from here to San Francisco. "Hopefully, if Boeing and Airbus deliver, there'd be more. I think that's a legitimate expectation," said Jaishankar.

Jaishankar said a US consulate in Bengaluru has been "long-in-waiting".

"One, which I believe, Bengaluru legitimately deserved and expected," he added.

"I think Bengaluru has such an important place that it was for me an imperative that there is a permanent resident presence of American diplomats here," said Jaishankar.

He also said every time he had visited the city in the last five years, there was always somebody who would ask him, 'so, when is that consulate coming?'.

"It was from, really, I would say, the cross section of the society. It was from businessmen; it was from the tech world; it was from academics. It was even from people you would meet in a restaurant," added Jaishankar.

According to him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 had brought up the issue of opening a consulate in Bengaluru when he visited the US.

He also said India had promised to open a consulate in Los Angeles if the United States "get the Bengaluru consulate done". He said now, with the opening of the consulate, collaborations in defence and education would reach new heights.

"I think the formal opening of this consulate is one more sign that we are overcoming the hesitations of history. It is now within our grasp, within the realm of possibility, that we realise more fully the potential of India-US relations. And I think it is important that Bengaluru too realises its potential in the relationship," said Jaishankar.

In his address, US Ambassador Garcetti, who would be relinquishing his responsibility in India soon, said he was glad that getting a consulate up and running in Bengaluru would be his last task in India.

"You know, our relationship in India is not new. Our second consulate in the world was here in India. After the independence of a new America in 1776, we opened a consulate in Lyon, France, and then the second was in Kolkata, showing, back then, the importance of India to a new American nation," said Garcetti.

India, said Garcetti, is now the second largest mission of America anywhere in the world.

"It produces the second most visas, the most students we're breaking records every single year '“record employees, record visas, record students, record military exercises, record engagement from the seabed to space," added Garcetti.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who was also present during the "site dedication ceremony" said the opening of the consulate in Bengaluru is a testament to the growing importance of Karnataka in the global stage.

"Nowadays, the world is looking at India through Bengaluru. We know there are a lot of hiccups there, as Bengaluru is not a well-planned city. But still the city has proved itself to be the safest city in the entire country for the global firms to have their headquarters," said Shivakumar.

Other dignitaries present for the ceremony include MP Tejasvi Surya, Karnataka's Minister for Large & Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development M B Patil, Minister for IT & BT Priyank Kharge.

Several entrepreneurs from the city, including Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, had also attended the 'site dedication ceremony'.