Kappan handcuffed to hospital bed; not allowed to use toilet, says wife
Kappan, who is lodged in UP's Mathura prison, is admitted to K.M. Medical College
By Nirmal Jovial
(File) Siddique Kappan
Journalist Siddique Kappan, who is
lodged in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura prison since October 2020, has been
denied the “basic human right to go to a toilet”, his wife Raihana
Kappan told THE WEEK today. The Delhi-based journalist from Kerala is
currently admitted to K.M. Medical College, Mathura.
Kappan was arrested at Mathura by the Uttar Pradesh Police in October
2020, while on his way to Hathras to report on the gangrape and murder
of a Dalit girl, which had triggered nationwide outrage. The journalist
was booked under the Draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
On April 20, he collapsed in the Mathura Jail and suffered serious injuries, Raihana said.
“After hospitalising, he was tested positive for COVID-19,” she told
THE WEEK. “He called me today from somebody’s phone. He told me that the
hospital authorities are not allowing him to go to the toilet. He is
handcuffed to the bed and is not allowed to move. He is urinating in a
plastic bottle. He is a human being. He has to go to the toilet too,
right?”
On April 22, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists had pleaded
before the Supreme Court, seeking his transfer from the Mathura hospital
to All India Institute of Medical Sciences or Safdarjung Hospital,
Delhi, citing his deteriorating health.
“He have had fever for more than 10 days now,” Raihana said. “His
chin was injured after collapsing in the bathroom. So, he is having
difficulty in having food. But now, he somehow wants to get discharged
from the hospital. If he is in the [Mathura] jail, he can at least go to
the toilet.”
Wills Mathew, Kappan's advocate, said that the latter is now in a
“very bad” condition. He also said that he is preparing a letter to the
Chief Justice of India describing his condition.
Kappan is a diabetic, and has had high blood pressure and cholesterol
for more than 15 years, his wife said. “If you inquire with the medical
superintendent, he would say ‘it is all good’,” Raihana said. “But when
my husband called me today, his only request was to get him discharged
somehow from the hospital so that he can go to the toilet.”
More than 50,000 people packed New Zealand's Eden Park to see the country's own Six60 band perform on April 24, 2021.AP
As the rest of the world isolates, New Zealand rocks!
More than 50,000 people gathered for a massive rock concert in the
island nation, which is free of social-distancing requirements after
virtually stamping out COVID-19 with strict policies.
The band Six60 has been playing to huge crowds across the county, and
its Saturday tour finale in Auckland’s biggest stadium was billed as
the largest concert in the world since the pandemic began.
And it wasn’t just Kiwi rock fans who got to gather this weekend —
with 78,113 fans packing into a stadium in neighboring Australia for an
Aussie rules football match on Sunday.
The game, between the Collingwood Magpies and Essendon Bombers at the
100,000-seater Melbourne Cricket Ground, was the highest attendance at
any sports stadium since the pandemic started.
Last year’s clash between the teams was played in an empty stadium,
and fans roared back Sunday for the game that fell on Anzac Day, a day
of remembrance in both Australia and New Zealand. It ended with a 109-85
win for Essendon.
Fans cheers as Six60 perform at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, on April 24, 2021.AP
At the Six60 concert, the band honored military musicians and invited
Maori performers to join them onstage for music sung in the indigenous
language.
“We know what it’s like to be in lockdown. It sucked. And we didn’t
know if we’d be able to play gigs again,” lead singer Matiu Walters said
before the show. “But we are fortunate, for a few reasons, here in New
Zealand.”
“It was amazing to see how fanatical people were, and excited about
being out and seeing live music, and seeing something to drag them out
of a long, brutal year,” Guitarist Ji Fraser said. “It was very
special.”
A fan who lived in lockdown laden Britain during the past year found the experience to be dreamlike.
Maskless fans enjoyed a concert in COVID-free New Zealand on April 24, 2021.AP
“It’s very important for us as humans to be able to get together and
sing the same songs together,” Lucy Clumpas said. “It makes us feel like
we’re part of something,”
Not everyone was thrilled about the show at the large Eden Park rugby stadium, where concerts used to be banned.
Fans listen as New Zealand band Six60 perform at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, on April 24, 2021.AP
Prime Minister Helen Clark said shows there would represent a “home invasion” of noise.
“But the people wanted it. And the people spoke,” Walters said, as he invited the PM to the next gig.
Six60 performs before a sea of fans at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, on April 24, 2021.AP
“Six60 is for everyone. And maybe if she came and enjoyed herself, she’d have a change of heart.”
Only 26 people have died of the coronavirus in the nation of five million, according to Worldometer.
The supply shipment is being undertaken in cooperation with the Adani group and Linde company.
Saudi Arabia is shipping 80 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen to India
as the country is running low on supplies due to an unprecedented spike
in coronavirus cases.
India logged a record of 3,49,691 new
coronavirus infections in a day on Sunday, taking its total tally of
COVID-19 cases to 1,69,60,172. The death toll increased to 1,92,311 with
a record 2,767 daily new fatalities, according to the Union Health
Ministry data.
The supply shipment is being undertaken in cooperation with the Adani group and Linde company.
"Embassy of India is proud to partner with Adani group and M/s Linde in
shipping much-needed 80MT liquid oxygen to India. Our heartfelt thanks
to the Ministry of Health Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for all their help,
support, and cooperation,” the Indian mission in Riyadh tweeted.
"Thank you @IndianEmbRiyadh Indeed, actions speak louder than words. We
are on an urgent mission to secure oxygen supplies from across the
world. This first shipment of 4 ISO cryogenic tanks with 80 tons of
liquid oxygen is now on its way from Dammam to Mundra,” Adani Group
Chairman Gautam Adani said in a tweet.
India is struggling with a
second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new
coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals in
several States are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
To combat the growing demand for oxygen in the country, India has
reached out to various countries to procure containers and oxygen
cylinders under operation 'Oxygen Maitri'.
The
Indian Air Force on Saturday brought four cryogenic tanks, to be used
for transporting oxygen, from Singapore. The containers were airlifted
from Singapore by C17 heavy-lift aircraft of the IAF.
The
aircraft "with 4 cryogenic containers for storage of liquid O2 from
Singapore landed at Panagarh airbase" in West Bengal on Saturday, a home
ministry spokesperson tweeted.
The IAF was also transporting
essential medicines as well as equipment required by the designated
COVID-19 hospitals in various parts of the country.
On Friday, the Union Home Ministry said it was in talks for the import of high-capacity oxygen-carrying tankers from Singapore and the UAE.
Meanwhile, President of the European Council Charles Michel said in a
tweet, "The EU stands in solidarity with Indian people amidst resurgent
COVID19 pandemic. The fight against the virus is a common fight. We will
discuss our support and cooperation at EU-India Leaders' meeting on 8
May with @narendramodi and @antoniocostapm".
French President Emmanuel Macron has also extended support to India.
In a tweet shared by the Indian embassy in France, Mr Macron said, "I
want to send a message of solidarity to the Indian people, facing a
resurgence of COVID-19 cases. France is with you in this struggle, which
spares no one. We stand ready to provide our support."
Armenia celebrated President Joe Biden's
recognition of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during
World War I as genocide on Saturday, as Turkey summoned the U.S.
ambassador and strongly condemned the move.
"Each year on this
day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era
Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity
from ever again occurring," Biden said in a statement released on the
annual Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
In acknowledging of the
deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, Biden went further than his
predecessors in the White House after years of careful language on the
issue. The move risks fracturing America's relationship with Turkey, a
longtime U.S. ally and NATO partner.
Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent Biden a letter praising his
statement. "I highly appreciate your principled position, which is a
powerful step on the way to acknowledging the truth, historical justice,
and an invaluable of support for the descendants of the victims of the
Armenian Genocide," Pashinyan wrote.
In a tweet, Armenian
President Armen Sirkissian stated that the move "opens new prospects for
US-Armenian relations. It also makes this world a better place!"
Meanwhile, officials in Turkey quickly denounced Biden's remarks and summoned the US Ambassador to Ankara.
In a statement,
Turkey said its foreign minister, Sedat Onal, has told ambassador David
Satterfield that Biden's remarks caused "wounds in ties that will be
hard to repair." Onal also reportedly told Satterfield that Turkey
"rejected it, found it unacceptable and condemned in the strongest
terms."\
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
said, "We have lived together in peace in this land for centuries, we
find peace under the shadow of our crescent and star flag."
Ankara
acknowledges that many Armenians were killed amid clashes in the
Ottoman Empire, but refutes the number of deceased and insists that the
events should not be considered a genocide.
During his 2020 presidential race, Biden's campaign promised
that if elected, "Joe will recognize the Armenian Genocide and make
universal human rights a top priority for his administration so that
such a tragedy can never occur again."
Earlier this week, a group of 100 bipartisan lawmakers signed a letter spearheaded by California Rep. Adam Schiff urging Biden to stand by his word and "recognize the Armenian Genocide."
Americans of Armenian descent also celebrated the move on Saturday. In an Instagram
post, reality TV star Khloe Kardashian wrote, "Thank you for honoring
the stories, the pain, suffering and loss of the Armenian people. Today
we honor our ancestors on Armenian Remembrance Day."
A couple of days ago,Morgan Stanley warned that China's new digital renminbi - the first "central bank digital currency" (or CBDC) - could cement its status as the next reserve currency. But
as government and Wall Street continue their embrace of virtual
currencies that, some say, threaten to blow up the industry status quo
and eliminate the need for banks, corporations are also striving to create the stablecoin of the future, challenging governments' long-held monopoly on money.
Years
after Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg first declared his intention to launch
a transnational stablecoin via Facebook's "Libra" project that would,
he hoped, enable cross-border payments on Facebook's platform, the
Facebook-backed digital-currency project Diem is reportedly planning to
launch its first stablecoin in 2021 as a small-scale pilot, according to an anonymously sourced report from CNBC.
But
Libra, which involved a convoluted plan to launch a stablecoin backed
by a potpourri of fiat currencies, was quickly scaled back after
Facebook's talk about creating a new international financial system to
supplant the dollar apparently rattled too many feathers. What
was left was later spun off as Diem, a re-branding that has given life
to a scaled-back vision of corporate stablecoin dominance.
However, When it finally arrives, Diem won’t come with the same fanfare
and controversy of the original idea envisioned by the social media
giant nearly two years ago.
The person, who preferred
to remain anonymous as the details haven’t yet been made public, said
this pilot will be small in scale, focusing largely on transactions
between individual consumers. There may also be an option for users to
buy goods and purchases, the person added. However, there is no
confirmed date for the launch and timing could therefore change.
"It’s really drifted off the radar in a way that’s quite striking," Michael Casey, chief content officer of the cryptocurrency publication CoinDesk and a former financial journalist, told CNBC.
Facebook
won't play an official role in the launch, which instead will be
overseen by the Diem Association, the Switzerland-based nonprofit which
oversees diem’s development.
In comments to CNBC, financial
journalist Michael Casey said he was surprised at how under-the-radar
the diem project has become. It's almost as if the international
community has forgotten about it, he said. "It really drifted off the radar in a way that’s quite striking," said
Casey, the chief content officer of the cryptocurrency publication
CoinDesk who was one of the first reporters at a major American
newspaper (the Wall Street Journal) to cover the rise of crypto.
The
soft reaction to Diem is also surprising considering how much of a
backlash its predecessor created. "It was such a stunning challenge to
the international order, in that the backlash was just really powerful,"
Casey said.
Diem has lost several senior executives over the past
year, as well as the backing of powerful corporations like Mastercard
and Visa, among many others.
But in the wake of its rebranding, Diem is reportedly in talks with
Swiss financial regulators to secure a payment license, a crucial step
that would place the organization further along the path toward getting
its digital currency project off the ground.
Of course, more
"government sponsored" competitors are in the works: in addition to the
eRMB, the ECB recently concluded a public consultation on a digital euro
and will make a decision this summer, and the Boston Fed is set to
release its initial research in the fall.
With stablecoins seen as
a more practical alternative to bitcoin and ether, we will be closely
watching the rollout of stablecoins as a space where
corporations might win an early victory in the battle to use crypto
technology to seize the money-making monopoly from government - and from
the people.
To sum up, why should readers be
skeptical of Facebook's Diem? Well, Tom Luongo once described it as a
"Trojan Rabbit" that could quietly help Zuck seize the ability to print
money, and launch "the Central Bank of Facebook."
For many people who have lost their significant others, sex dolls
have provided one way to ease the pain of grief and loneliness.
However, sex robot company Lux Botics is taking things one step further – by offering a clone of dead partners using state-of-the-art three-dimensional modeling.
With demand for sex dolls booming amid the ongoing pandemic and lockdowns across the world, Lux Botics is offering “ultra-realistic humanoids” to satisfy the carnal needs of the singles without any other recourse.
The company’s flagship “Adult Companion” model called Stephanie goes for USD $6,000 on the Lux Botics website.
The model includes speech control, facial recognition, a “hyper realistic eyes” option and even the option of implanted real hair, as well as limited AI capabilities.
However, the company also offers the option of creating a facsimile of a lost loved one.
The
company can either create a 3D model through detailed modeling prior to
it being printed in ultra-fine resolution, or it can rely on photos of
the individual.
A mould would then be constructed based on the 3D
model, complete with a robot skeleton. The robot is then painted and
fitted with the lips, nails, eyebrows and other features the customer
chooses.
“We can make robots that talk but we have not made robots that truly walk on their own,” Lux Botics co-founder Bjorn told Daily Star UK.
“We hope to develop this in the near future. We can make a large number of body parts that can move in a realistic manner.”
While the company hasn’t yet created body doubles, Lux Botics is offering the choice to customers.
Since
the start of the pandemic, people have been desperate to cope with the
solitude of self-isolation and lockdown measures. While many have
resorted to traditional measures like purchasing a pet or using dating
apps, sex doll sales have also skyrocketed as people seek an emotional
crutch.
Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images, Getty Images (3)
Foreign-based
actors, principally in China and Russia, are spreading online
disinformation rooted in QAnon conspiracy theories, fueling a movement
that has become a mounting domestic terrorism threat, according to new
analysis of online propaganda by a security firm.
The analysis by
the Soufan Center, a New York-based research firm focused on national
security threats, found that nearly one-fifth of 166,820 QAnon-related
Facebook posts between January 2020 and the end of February 2021
originated from overseas administrators.
An advance copy of the report, which is being released today, was provided to Yahoo News.
“It’s
very alarming,” said Jason Blazakis, a senior research fellow at the
Soufan Center and a former State Department counterterrorism official
who is one of the authors of the report. “We have enough problems
without the amplification of conspiracy theories by foreign actors, and
that foreign impact really does stir up a hornet’s nest.”
The
report injects a new element into the debate about how to counter QAnon —
a bizarre but increasingly widespread conspiracy movement that has
pushed the idea that the U.S. government is secretly run by Satan
worshipers involved in a global sex trafficking ring.
Speaking to lawmakers last week,
FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed concern that the extremist
nature of the movement could lead to violence, citing as an example the
Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He said the bureau is preparing a
formal “threat assessment” of QAnon that he expects to share with
Congress “very shortly.”
QAnon conspiracy theorists protest the California coronavirus lockdown in May 2020 in San Diego. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Despite
the outlandish nature of QAnon claims, the report also suggests that
adherents to the movement’s conspiracy theories may be far more
prevalent than some previous studies have shown. A new poll of 9,308
U.S. adults, conducted for the Soufan Center by Limbik, a data analytics
firm, found that between 20 and 23 percent of respondents
self-identified as a QAnon believer, member or supporter — figures far higher than in some earlier surveys.
The
numbers became even higher when those polled were asked about specific
issues that QAnon has emphasized. For example, when asked whether they
believe “elites, politicians and/or celebrities are involved in global
pedophile rings,” 35.8 percent said they did, up from 26.7 percent from a
similar sample last December.
Asked whether they believe COVID-19
was created in a lab, 30.6 percent said they did in February compared
to 29.1 percent in December. The survey in February also found that 25
percent supported the actions of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
A
man with a Q sign before a campaign rally featuring Donald Trump and
Republican Senate candidate Rep. Lou Barletta in August 2018 in
Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Matt Rourke/AP)
These
data points, the report concludes, suggest that there may be a
“significant cognitive opening” among the U.S. population “that makes
Americans more susceptible to further radicalization within the QAnon
movement.”
If true, it is an opening that, according to the
report, foreign actors are aggressively seeking to exploit. Limbik,
which uses artificial intelligence and other techniques to sift through
huge volumes of data, analyzed Facebook content that pushed
QAnon-related content and concluded a significant portion was coming
from overseas, apparently for the purpose of sowing societal discord or
distrust about the American political process.
Zach Schwitzky, the
founder of the firm, acknowledged in an interview that identifying
foreign content was not “an exact science” since there is rarely
publicly available account information about individuals or groups who
post on Facebook. But by conducting linguistic analysis of the posts and
logos or photos posted, the firm was able to unmask Russian, Chinese,
Saudi and Iranian actors who were posting messages or stories that
advanced QAnon beliefs about child sex trafficking rings, election
fraud, vaccines and COVID-19 and related issues.
A
Q-Anon conspiracy theorist at a protest at the Oregon Capitol in Salem
in May 2020. (John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
For
much of last year, the report found, Russian actors dominated the
foreign QAnon space on Facebook. But they have been overtaken in recent
months by those based in China as the government there has ramped up its
disinformation efforts in response to increased tensions with the
United States, the report says. From Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2021, 58 percent
of foreign-based QAnon posts came from administrators in China — more
than double that from Russian administrators, the Limbik analysis found.
The
Limbik analysis was unable to say whether the Russian or Chinese
administrators posting the material on Facebook were acting as part of a
government operation. But Blazakis, the former State Department
official, said: “Do I think the Russian and Chinese governments have
awareness of this? I think the answer is absolutely yes.” He noted in
particular the “firewall” the Chinese government uses to block foreign
content it disapproves of from penetrating the internet in that country,
while tightly monitoring content within the country.
“In China,
nothing is going to be done without the Chinese government being aware
of it,” he said. “I think there is at a minimum tacit support for the
amplification we’re seeing.”
A Facebook spokesperson said the
company couldn’t comment on the report because it hadn’t yet had a
chance to review it. But the spokesperson said it took “aggressive
action” to stop the spread of dangerous content on its platform last
year by expanding its “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy
to include foreign conspiracy networks. This has resulted in the removal
of about 3,300 pages, 10,500 groups and 27,300 Instagram accounts that
were spreading QAnon content. “We remain vigilant to this evolving
threat so we can stay ahead of it and keep people safe,” the
spokesperson said.
Everyone’s
version of essential workers is different when it comes to vaccinating
the population. Some think health workers should be at the front of the
line, others think teachers.
In Vancouver, sex workers are now getting priority treatment.
The
PACE Society, an organization in the city’s Downtown Eastside which
“provides support, advocacy, and education by, with, and for current and
former sex workers of all genders,” is hosting a vaccination clinic for
sex workers Thursday.
“Enter through the alley,” the poster says.
PACE Society poster for a vaccination clinic for sex workers in Vancouver.
The clinic is for a first shot only and is being presented as a way to “protect yourself and those around you!”
It
was just days ago that police and other frontline responders in Surrey,
a COVID hotspot in the Lower Mainland, were given their first shot of
the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am pleased to advise you that we have
received approval from the province and Fraser Health for all Surrey
detachment staff (all categories of members and municipal employees) to
receive vaccines on a priority basis,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brian
Edwards wrote in a memo to staff.
Like
many other provinces, British Columbia has been allocating vaccine
doses primarily through age ranges with some occupations getting earlier
access. Right now, with some exceptions, vaccination appointments for
the general public are open to those 50 years of age and older, with
those over 40 able to book appointments starting next week.
So far, more than one million residents have received a COVID-19 vaccination.
A sex trade worker is pictured in downtown Vancouver in this file photo.Photo by Jonathan Hayward /THE CANADIAN PRESS
(File) Siddique Kappan
