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In support of his claims, Malviya uploaded a blurred video of the incident on his official twitter handle this morning. The video depicted two women being physically assaulted by the public on the open streets.

The BJP leader claimed that the incident took place on July 19. “The horror continues in West Bengal. Two tribal women were stripped, tortured and beaten mercilessly, while police remained a mute spectator in Pakua Hat area of Bamangola Police Station, Malda,” his Twitter message read.

Claiming that the horrific incident took place on the morning of July 19, the party’s IT cell chief also asserted that the women belonged to a socially marginalised community and had a frenzied mob baying for their blood.

“It had all the making of a tragedy that should have ‘broken’ Mamata Banerjee’s heart and she, instead of merely outraging, could have acted, since she is also the Home Minister of Bengal,” said the message.

He also accused the chief minister of doing nothing in the matter. “Neither did she condemn the barbarity nor did she express pain and anguish because it would have exposed her own failing as a Chief Minister. But a day after, she shed copious tears and screamed blue murder, because it was politically expedient,” his message read.

Admitting that something of that sort has happened, the state's commerce & industries minister Dr Sashi Panja claimed that BJP was unnecessarily politicizing the Malda matter. “The Malda incident was a case of theft, where the two women tried to steal something from a local market. In that process a group of women made an attempt to take law & order in their hands. A case has been registered and the police are investigating the matter,” she said.

On Friday afternoon, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and party Lok Sabha members told newspersons at New Delhi that at Panchla in Howrah district, a woman was stripped and paraded for fighting as BJP nominee in the rural civic body polls on the panchayat polling day of July 8.

Just hours after that allegations were raised by the BJP leader, in a hurriedly convened press conference Malviya said that following investigation over a complaint filed in this regard, it is evident that no such incident took place at Panchla on the polling day.

A few hours after the DGP’s press conference, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari dismissed the DGP’s statement as “blatant distortion of facts” by posting a Twitter message attaching two videos side by side.

The first video is about Malviya claiming to press persons that no such incident occurred on the polling day and the second video is related to a woman with a blurred face making the same allegations as raised by the state BJP leaders.

In the video, the woman claimed that she was unable to file a police complaint because of the threat that she is receiving from the ruling party activists.

--IANS

src/shb

"With receding water levels, we are starting Okhla water treatment. Am reaching there to take stock," Kejriwal tweeted.

Due to increasing water level in Yamuna river, the water treatment plants of Wazirabad, Chandrawal were shut down, leading to water scarcity in few areas.

But now the Okhla plant has started again which will bring relief to some areas.

"The Okhla water treatment plant, which had been shut down due to the rising water level of the Yamuna river, has now been restarted today. The water level has slightly receded, and it is hoped that the situation will further improve in the coming days, allowing us to resume the operation of other treatment plants as well," the Delhi CM's Office tweeted.

The water level in Yamuna is now going down and the situation is improving in nearby areas.

--IANS

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Congress said like many things the government does the devil lies in the details as truth comes out much after the initial purpose of generating big-bang headlines is accomplished.

Congres General Secretary communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh said: “First came the news that top scientific institutions haven’t received funds since April. Now we learn that the proposed National Research Foundation (NRF) will look for CSR funding from corporates. Wow.”

The Congress leader said that this is the same scheme that was announced with great fanfare by the Modi government saying Rs 50,000 crore would be mobilised over the next five years.

“It turns out that over 70 per cent of this amount is to come from the private sector. And now the govt is making a complete mockery of the reason why CSR was introduced in the first place.

“Like many things the Modi government does the devil lies in the details. The full truth only comes out much after the initial purpose of generating big-bang headlines is accomplished,” Ramesh, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP said.

He also attached a news report along with his tweet.

--IANS

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Addressing the people assembled at the Mission Control Centre at the rocket port here after the successful rocket mission, S. Mohana Kumar, the Mission Director, Chandrayaan-3 said it was a 73-day penance for the ISRO family.

The penance has been finally rewarded with the injection of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft in the precise orbit.

Kumar said the LVM3 rocket has undergone continuous improvement as it will be used for India's human space mission called Gaganyaan.

According to S. Unnikrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, this is the seventh successful mission of LVM3 rocket. Several changes have been made in the rocket to make it the ideal vehicle for the Gaganyaan mission.

On his part the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft Director is Dr P. Veeramuthuvel, the journey to the moon has begun and several critical manoeuvres have been lined up in the coming days.

At about 2.35 p.m. on Friday, the rocket LVM3 broke free from the second launch pad and ascended towards the skies.

About 16 minutes later the rocket slung its only passenger -- Chandrayaan-3 -- in the intended orbit.

From there ISRO officials will take the spacecraft towards the moon and try to land it on the lunar soil sometime late next month.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached atv.jagannathan@ians.in)

--IANS

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The prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen dramatically over the last 25 years, and it is well-established that elevated BMI can contribute to several cardio-metabolic conditions. However, studies that have analysed the association between BMI and all-cause mortality have been inconsistent.

To understand, a team from Rutgers University in the US retrospectively studied data on 554,332 US adults.

Of these, about 35 per cent had a BMI between 25 and 30, which is typically defined as overweight, and 27.2 per cent had a BMI above or equal to 30, typically defined as obese.

Over a median follow-up of nine years and a maximum follow-up of 20 years, the researchers observed 75,807 deaths. The risk of all-cause mortality was similar across a wide range of BMI categories.

For older adults, there was no significant increase in mortality for any BMI between 22.5 and 34.9 and in younger adults, there was no significant increase in mortality for any BMI between 22.5 and 27.4.

Overall, for adults with a BMI of 30 or over, there was a 21 per cent to 108 per cent increased mortality risk attributed to their weight. The patterns observed in the overall population remained largely the same in men and women and across races and ethnicities.

Further studies incorporating weight history, body composition and morbidity outcomes are needed to fully characterise BMI-mortality associations, said researchers in the paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

BMI in the overweight range is generally not associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality, they said.

"Our study highlights the increasing reservations of using BMI alone to drive clinical decisions. There is no clear increase in all-cause mortality across a range of traditionally normal and overweight BMI ranges; however, that is not to say that morbidity is similar across these BMI ranges. Future studies will need to assess incidence of cardio-metabolic morbidities," they added.

--IANS

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Virginia Gamba, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for children and armed conflict, presented her annual report, calling for urgent and decisive action to protect boys and girls from death, recruitment, rape, and other atrocities, reports Xinhua news agency.

The report encompasses 26 situations across five regions globally, indicating a concerning trend.

It includes countries such as Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Ukraine, which are being featured for the first time.

Additionally, the report mentions new situations in Haiti and Niger, with further details to be provided in next year's edition.

Among the verified violations, the UN confirmed that 18,890 children experienced grave violations during armed conflicts in 2022.

Tragically, 8,630 children were killed or maimed, 7,622 were recruited for combat, and 3,985 were abducted.

These three violations reached the highest levels ever recorded, demonstrating an alarming increase from previous years.

Furthermore, the report identified 1,165 children, mostly girls, who endured rape, gang rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery, or sexual assault, with some cases resulting in the victims' death.

The report emphasised the importance of recognizing that behind these numbers are real children whose individual stories often go untold.

It also revealed a distressing surge in attacks on schools and hospitals, with 1,163 schools and nearly 650 hospitals targeted in 2022, representing a significant 112 per cent increase from the previous year.

Disturbingly, half of these attacks were carried out by government forces, the report claimed.

The use of educational and medical facilities for military purposes remains a major concern, with a verified "sharp increase" of over 60 per cent in such cases last year, involving both armed forces and armed groups.

Additionally, the UN documented over 3,930 incidents of humanitarian access denial to children, alongside attacks on aid workers, looting of humanitarian supplies, and destruction of critical infrastructure.

--IANS

ksk

The Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence team presented a study that unveiled ransomware as the most widespread Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) over the past seven years.

The study is based on research conducted on 97 malware families distributed on the dark web and other resources. Moreover, the researchers discovered that cybercriminals often hire infostealers, botnets, loaders and backdoors to carry out their attacks.

MaaS is an illicit model of business involving the leasing of software to carry out cyberattacks.

Clients of such services are typically provided with a personal account via which they can control the attack as well as technical support. It lowers the initial threshold of expertise that would-be cybercriminals must meet.

Experts analysed malware families' sales volumes, posts, mentions, discussions and more to identify popular MaaS types.

Ransomware emerged as the top MaaS type, accounting for 58 per cent of all distributed families from 2015 to 2022.

Cybercriminals can subscribe to Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) for free. After they become partners in the programme, they have to pay for the service after each successful attack.

"Cybercriminals actively trade illicit goods and services, including malware and stolen data, over the shadow segments of the internet. By understanding how this market is structured, companies can gain insights into the methods and motivations of potential attackers," said Alexander Zabrovsky, Digital Footprint Analyst at Kaspersky.

Organisations can protect themselves from MaaS by always keeping software updated on all the devices to prevent attackers from infiltrating the network by exploiting vulnerabilities and by using the latest Threat Intelligence information to stay aware of actual TTPs used by threat actors.

--IANS

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Compared to those who lived in areas with average temperature of less than 10 degrees Celsius, the odds of severe vision impairment were 14 per cent higher for those who lived in areas with average temperature from 10-12 degrees Celsius, 24 per cent higher for those between 12 and 15.55 degrees Celsius and 44 per cent higher for those in counties with average temperature at 15.5 degrees Celsius or above.

"This link between vision impairment and average county temperature is very worrying if future research determines that the association is causal," said first author Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, from University of Toronto.

"With climate change, we are expecting a rise in global temperatures. It will be important to monitor if the prevalence of vision impairment among older adults increases in the future," she added.

Further, the study, published in the journal Ophthalmic Epidemiology, found that the relationship between average temperature and severe vision impairment was strong regardless of age, sex, income, and education of participants. The association between higher county temperature and serious vision impairment was stronger for individuals aged 65 to 79 compared to those 80 or older, males compared to females. The observed link between average temperature and severe vision impairment may be strong, but the mechanism behind this relationship remains a mystery.

"We know that vision problems are a major cause of disabilities and functional limitations," said another co-author ZhiDi Deng, a pharmacy graduate from the University of Toronto.

"Serious vision impairment, for example, can increase the risk of falls, fractures, and negatively impact older adults' quality of life. Taking care of vision impairments and their consequences also cost the US economy tens of billions each year. So, this link between temperature and vision impairment was quite concerning," Deng said.

The team analysed 1.7 million community-dwelling and institutionalised older adults and compared their vision health with average temperature data obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

--IANS

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The GEF Council decision taken during a meeting in Brazil clears the way for the launch of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund at the seventh GEF Assembly, to take place in Vancouver, Canada, in August.

“The creation of this biodiversity fund is a game-changer for countries’ ability to protect, restore and ensure the sustainable use of nature,” said Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, GEF CEO and Chairperson as well as former Environment and Energy Minister of Costa Rica.

“I am thrilled to see this rapid progress just six months after the historic agreement for biodiversity reached in Montreal. I thank the GEF Council for its vision and commitment, which we will continue to build on at the GEF Assembly and beyond.”

“This is a tremendous result for the planet and for our children and grandchildren, whose future depends on us reversing the course of environmental damage and also supporting each other along the way,” said Tom Bui, GEF Council Member from Canada and Co-Chair of the Brasilia meetings.

“This agreement extends the positive momentum in international environmental diplomacy we saw in Montreal six months ago, and sets us up for a successful launch of the fund in Vancouver.”

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was a breakthrough deal reached in December 2022 during the Convention on Biological Diversity COP-15 summit in Montreal. It set new goals on the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems by 2030.

To implement the agreement, countries will need to translate the plan into national targets and strategies, integrate biodiversity across their decision-making, and take concrete action to deliver results.

This requires financing for budget-stressed developing countries, many of which are some of the most highly biodiverse in the world.

That direct support will be provided through the new fund, which will be set up to draw in capital from governments, the private sector and philanthropic organisations.

David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, described the GEF Council support as “a landmark event” that will breathe life into the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its transformative goals.

“Achieving the goals and targets of the Framework is hugely ambitious. But it is also necessary. It’s necessary to maintain the web of life on planet earth. It’s also an essential part of climate action. And it’s a fundamental prerequisite to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Cooper said.

“The new fund will provide an opportunity to receive funding from all sources and to quickly disburse them through streamlined procedures, and with enhanced access for indigenous people and local communities.”

The GEF, which is the financial mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity, has already provided early action grants to support national planning around the new agreement’s goals and targets.

In addition to housing the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, it will continue to support biodiversity initiatives through the projects and programmes it supports through its other trust funds.

Biodiversity is the largest component of the GEF-8 funding cycle, which runs from 2022 to 2026.

Earlier in the week, the GEF Council approved a record work programme providing $1.4 billion in direct support for developing countries’ efforts to protect and ensure the sustainable use of biodiversity in line with commitments made in Montreal.

The GEF Assembly, a once-every-four-year gathering of the full partnership, will take place on August 22-26. It is set to include environment and finance ministers from around the world, in addition to leaders from civil society, science, the private sector, and local communities.

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund is set to be launched during this gathering, as a reflection of the broad, whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach needed to ensure this effort is a success.

The GEF is already a financial mechanism to the Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and Minamata Convention on Mercury.

--IANS

vg/khz

Mathew, a former Stafford City Council member, won the race defeating incumbent Mayor Cecil Willis by 16 votes in a run-off race this month, crediting his victory to his faith in god, the Fort Bend Star reported.

He was administered the oath of office by Missouri City Mayor Robin Elackatt, also an Indian-American, at a special event attended by his family members and top officials.

Indian-American Fort Bend County Judge, K.P. George, who was present on the occasion, tweeted: "Congratulations to Stafford Mayor-elect Ken Mathew! It was an absolute pleasure to attend his swearing-in ceremony this evening. Wishing him all the best as he embarks on this important role."

Texas representatives, Ron Reynolds and Suleman Lulani, and former Missouri City Mayor Owen Allen also graced the occasion.

Back home, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, also congratulated Mathew in a tweet.

"Congratulations to Ken Mathew from Kerala for becoming the elected Mayor of Stafford, US. He is the first Indian to be elected to the post, in 67 years' history of Stafford," Chandrasekhar wrote.

Mathew served on Stafford Council since first being elected in 2006, and served on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission for several years before then.

He immigrated to the US in the 1970s after earning a degree from the University of Bombay, the Star reported.

An MBA, Mathew worked as an accountant and financial executive for several corporations, including Toshiba in the Houston area. He has lived in Stafford since 1982.

--IANS

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