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India News Uttar Pradesh

Central Trade Unions Seek Probe into Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse

The workers have been trapped for 12 days after a portion of the under-construction tunnel collapsed on November 12…reports Asian Lite News

Ten Central Trade Unions (CTUs) express dismay over the Silkyara Tunnel collapse in Uttarkashi, citing a failure of authorities to take responsibility.

In a joint statement, CTUs highlight workplace safety shortcomings, urging the Centre to withdraw the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code and adopt International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions.

They criticised the delayed response to the trapped workers and call for a comprehensive investigation into planning lapses. The CTUs demand swift action, including convening the Indian Labour Conference to address worker concerns on legal codification.

Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways VK Singh and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reached the Silkaya tunnel in Uttarakashi on Thursday to inspect the progress of the rescue operation of 41 workers.

Speaking to reporters about the rescue operations outside the site, CM Dhami said that 45 metres of pipeline have been laid through an auger machine to rescue the workers.

“45 metres of pipeline have been laid through the auger machine. The rescue is in its final stages. There are some obstacles,. but I hope that the workers are rescued as early as possible. Post-rescue preparations have been done”.

Speaking on the post-rescue operations, CM said, “Ambulances and hospitals are ready for their (workers) check-up and treatment”.

He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is receiving updates about the multiple rescue operations on a daily basis.

“PM Modi is taking updates on the rescue every single day. He took the update today as well. Our experts are working day and night to rescue the workers,” He said.

The workers have been trapped for 12 days after a portion of the under-construction tunnel collapsed on November 12.

Meanwhile, Chanchal Singh Bisht, a family member of one of the trapped workers, said while speaking to ANI, “My cousin is inside. It looks like he will come out today… I had a conversation with him, he asked me to go home and said that he was fine.”

Earlier, medical equipment reached the site as efforts to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi continued on the 12th day on Thursday.

According to officials, the workers are expected to be pulled out from the collapsed tunnel today.

The workers have been trapped since November 12, when the under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot got blocked due to debris falling in a 60-meter stretch on the Silkyara side.

The operation to rescue 41 workers trapped inside a Uttarakhand tunnel for the past 12 days is in its critical phase.

As of midnight, rescue teams had said that about 10 metres of debris separated them from the trapped workers.

According to rescue teams, the operation involved drilling through the debris to push wide pipes for the trapped workers to walk out through.

The auger machine, which drills through about 3 metres of debris in an hour, had earlier hit a metal obstruction.

A 41-bed hospital readied at the Community Health Centre in Chinyalisaur for medical examination and care of trapped workers after they are evacuated from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi.

Rescue workers said the workers would go through a detailed medical examination once they reached the hospital. (with inputs from ANI)

ALSO READ-Israeli Forces Uncover 35 Gaza Tunnels, Seize Weapons

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-Top News UK News

Police arrest SNP treasurer in finance probe

Scottish Tory deputy leader Meghan Gallacher, however, said Yousaf should “tackle this scandal head on and prove he is his own man” by suspending both the former first minister and her husband…reports Asian Lite News

SNP treasurer Colin Beattie has been released without charge after he became the second figure in the party to be arrested amid a police investigation into its finances.

The 71-year-old was questioned by detectives on Tuesday and Police Scotland said that evening that he had since been “released without charge pending further investigation”.

The arrest of Beattie, the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, comes less than two weeks after former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s husband was arrested as part of the same investigation.

Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, was questioned by officers on Wednesday April 5 as officers searched the home the couple share. He was later released without charge, pending further inquiries.

Police Scotland have been looking into how more than £600,000 in donations to the party earmarked for an independence referendum had been used, but First Minister Humza Yousaf said on Tuesday that he would not be speaking to Sturgeon about the investigation. Yousaf told journalists at Holyrood: “I haven’t spoken to Nicola in the last couple of weeks, but I will get to speak to Nicola, I am certain I will. But one thing Nicola and I will not be talking about is the police investigation. That would be wholly inappropriate.”

Scottish Tory deputy leader Meghan Gallacher, however, said Yousaf should “tackle this scandal head on and prove he is his own man” by suspending both the former first minister and her husband.

Speaking in Holyrood, Gallacher said: “The SNP is in total meltdown. Its former chief executive and now its current treasurer have been arrested amid a police investigation into the party’s finances. And leaked footage has shown Nicola Sturgeon trying to shut down scrutiny.”

Her comments came after Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy called for Mr Beattie, Murrell and Sturgeon to be suspended from the SNP.

Hoy said: “This extremely serious matter is escalating by the day and everyone in the SNP has a duty to be as transparent as possible about what they knew and when.”

But Yousaf said it was a “really important point of natural law that people are presumed innocent until guilty”. He said he would consider the situation if charges are brought by police, saying if that was the case “we may well have to take that course of action”.

The First Minister stated: “Of course if they are guilty I would take the appropriate action, whether that is suspension or going further than that. But it is really important due process takes place.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Police Scotland confirmed Beattie had been arrested “in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party”.

A report will be submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the force added.

ALSO READ-Covert Chinese ‘police station’ in US busted

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-Top News UK News

Boris to face parliamentary probe on partygate

Steve Baker, a hard-line Brexiteer and hitherto a staunch supporter of Johnson, joined the ranks of “Ayes”. “The Prime Mnister should have long gone,” he said in his speech…reports Ashish Ray

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is currently on a visit to New Delhi, will face an investigation by a House of Commons committee into whether he misled Parliament on violating Covid-19 laws by having or attending parties at his 10 Downing Street office-cum-residence.

After a five hour debate on Thursday, the Commons, which corresponds to the Lok Sabha, voted unanimously on the opposition Labour Party’s motion to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee, with ruling Conservative Party MPs either voting in favour or abstaining.

Steve Baker, a hard-line Brexiteer and hitherto a staunch supporter of Johnson, joined the ranks of “Ayes”. “The Prime Mnister should have long gone,” he said in his speech.

Addressing the chamber, Labour leader Keir Starmer stated: “He (Johnson) has stood at that despatch box and point blank denied rule-breaking took place, when it did.”

He had earlier asserted: “Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation.”

Asked on TV for a reaction, Johnson, speaking from India, claimed he had “absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide”.

But even his ardent supporter, The Daily Telegraph newspaper, could not help but write: “Boris Johnson has been embroiled in controversy on the first morning of his long-awaited diplomatic visit to India after inaugurating a new JCB factory, one day after the company’s machines were used to illegally bulldoze Muslim homes and businesses in Delhi.”

JCB’s owner Anthony Bamford is close to Johnson, backed his leadership bid in 2019 and has donated an estimated 14 million pounds to the Conservative Party over the past 20 years.

The Privileges Committee examines accusations of contempt of Parliament by MPs. Misleading the House falls under its purview. It is made up of seven MPs two Labour, one Scottish National Party and four Conservative. Its findings come back to the House for a vote.

However, the committee’s chairman, Labour’s Chris Bryant, has recused himself from the inquiry because he had already commented on the matter publicly. So, it will now be headed by Conservative vice-chair Bernard Jenkin.

The Committe will commence work only after the Metropolitan Police’s work has concluded.

On Wednesday, the Conservative Party had proposed an amendment to the motion to delay the vote. But fearing a massive backlash in upcoming local elections, the party withdrew it on Thursday morning.

Last week, London’s Metropolitan Police found Johnson guilty of being at a gathering to celebrate his birthday and fined him for this. He promptly paid the penalty and on Tuesday grovelingly apologised to the House.

Before he did so, though, historian Peter Hennessy described him as “a rogue Prime Minister”, who had “broken the law, misled parliament, and has in effect shredded the Ministerial Code”.

It’s widely speculated that the Met might find him guilty on two more counts; and the unabridged report by a senior civil servant into the ‘Partygate’ affair, which prompted the police probe, so far held back, could be severely damning. If these were not enough, there is the matter of nationwide local elections, which opinion polls indicate are likely to be a drubbing for the Conservatives, thereby convincing his fellow MPs that far from being a winner, Johnson is now become a liability.

For five months, Johnson has brazened out an avalanche of allegations against him over the scandal of parties at Downing Street during the pandemic. Two months ago, when it appeared that his party MPs were on the verge of asking for a confidence vote on him, he was saved by the diversion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, he began playing up his imminent visit to India. He told the Commons he will be travelling to India “to deepen the strategic trade, defence and people-to-people ties between our two countries”.

If the timing of the India trip was another attempt at distracting attention from the charges heaped on him, it has spectacularly misfired.

Upon landing in Gujarat, he claimed an Anglo-Indian “free trade agreement” would be signed and sealed by the autumn. This, too, is seen in informed British circles as misleading, as what could at best be achieved is “a limited trade pact”.

The heading of an opinion piece in Britain’s leading business daily Financial Times on Wednesday was: “Rhetoric is far ahead of reality when it comes to UK-India ties.”

ALSO READ-Boris pays tribute to Mahatma at Sabarmati Ashram

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-Top News London News UK News

Met issues first 20 fines in ‘Partygate’ probe

The Met’s statement on the first tranche of fines has once again prompted leaders of opposition parties to renew calls for Johnson’s resignation…reports Asian Lite News

British police said on Tuesday that they would issue 20 fixed penalty notices (FPN) over breaches of coronavirus lockdown rules at gatherings in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s offices and residence at Downing Street.

“We will today initially begin to refer 20 fixed penalty notices to be issued for breaches of COVID-19 regulations. The ACRO Criminal Records Office will then be responsible for issuing the FPNs to the individual following the referrals from the MPS,” the Metropolitan Police Service (Met) said in a statement.

The Met didn’t disclose the names of the individuals being fined and added that they would not confirm the number of referrals from each individual event subject to their investigation as “providing a breakdown at this point may lead to the identification of the individuals.”

Parties held at Downing Street in 2020 and 2021 have enraged the British public who were asked to follow coronavirus restrictions for many months over the past two years to curb the spread of COVID-19. Johnson’s premiership has been precarious following the revelation of these illicit gatherings, with calls from opposition parties and even members of his own Conservative Party for him to resign.

The Met launched an investigation at the end of January into 12 alleged events that include a boozy garden party on May 20, 2020, during the country’s first COVID-19 lockdown, which Johnson said he mistook for a work event, as well as a birthday party given to him on June 19, 2020.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray, who led a separate Whitehall probe into the allegations, said in a report released on Jan. 31 that there were “failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No. 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.”

The Met’s statement on the first tranche of fines has once again prompted leaders of opposition parties to renew calls for Johnson’s resignation.

“After over two months of police time, 12 parties investigated and over 100 people questioned under caution, Boris Johnson’s Downing Street has been found guilty of breaking the law,” said Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the main opposition Labour Party, in a statement.

“The culture is set from the very top. The buck stops with the prime minister, who spent months lying to the British public, which is why he has got to go,” she said.

“We all know who is responsible. The prime minister must resign, or Conservative MPs must sack him,” Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said in a statement. (ANI/Xinhua)

ALSO READ-Boris brings in new staffers to move past ‘partygate’ scandal

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-Top News London News UK News

Labour seeks probe into Lord Lebedev peerage

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for an investigation into the decision to grant Russian-born media mogul Lord Evgeny Lebedev a peerage, claiming it is a “matter of national security”…reports Asian Lite News

The son of Alexander Lebedev, a billionaire Russian banker and former KGB officer, he came to London at the age of eight when his father began working in the Soviet embassy. He holds both Russian and British citizenship.

The Sunday Times reported that security services withdrew an assessment that granting a peerage to the Moscow-born son of an ex-KGB agent posed a national security risk after the prime minister personally intervened.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s relationship with Lord Lebedev – who owns newspapers the London Evening Standard and the Independent – has come under significant criticism for much of his political life. While London mayor and foreign secretary Mr Johnson visited Lord Lebedev’s mansion in Italy every year to attend luxurious parties.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Sir Keir said he was “very concerned” about the reports surrounding Lord Lebedev and insisted the case should be referred to the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).

 “I’m very concerned about that story, because it goes to the heart of national security and there’s at least the suggestion that the government and the prime minister were warned that there was a national security risk in this particular appointment,” the Labour leader told BBC.

 “I think, in the circumstances, what the appropriate thing is for the Intelligence and Security Committee, which is a cross-party committee in Parliament that can have access to confidential material – I think this case should be referred to that committee so they can look into this story.

 “This allegation – which is very serious because, of course, it’s a matter of national security – I hope the government will answer it today.”

 “I think the right thing to do is to refer it to the committee, cross-party committee, that can look at the confidential material and come to a view on what actually happened and the risks that the Government may or may not have taken,” he added.

The Intelligence and Security Committee said it produced a report in July 2020 which said several members of the Russian elite with close links to Vladimir Putin were involved in UK charitable or political organisations, which put them in a position to help the Russian state influence UK public opinion or policy.

The committee said its report also highlighted the number of members of the House of Lords with business interests linked to Russia and contained an unpublished annexe covering these issues in more depth, but which it cannot discuss for national security reasons.

When it was announced Lord Lebedev would be given a peerage, the government came under significant criticism and faced accusations of cronyism. His official title is Baron Lebedev, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation.

Lord Lebedev told the Sunday Times that “all” of the allegations in its report were incorrect and the questions did not “merit an answer”.

Last week, the media mogul appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion of Ukraine, through the Evening Standard newspaper.

The cross-bench peer said: “I plead with you to use today’s negotiations to bring this terrible conflict in Ukraine to an end.”

In a statement published alongside a photograph of a paramedic performing CPR on a girl injured by shelling, Lord Lebedev said: “On this page are the final minutes of a six-year-old child fatally injured by shells that struck her Mariupol apartment block on Sunday.

 “She is still wearing her pink jacket as medics fight to save her. But it is too late. Other children, and other families, are suffering similar fates across Ukraine.

 “As a Russian citizen, I plead with you to stop Russians from killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

 “As a British citizen, I ask you to save Europe from war. As a Russian patriot I plead that you prevent any more young Russian soldiers from dying needlessly. As a citizen of the world I ask you to save the world from annihilation.”

ALSO READ-‘Sanctions on Russian energy on the table’

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-Top News Dubai UAE News

Extensive probe into explosion at Jebel Ali Port

Port of Dubai Emirate, located on Jebel Ali district.(wikipedia)

Dubai Civil Defense, Dubai Police and other related authorities, took rapid action at the site to fully put out the fire in under 40 minutes…reports Asian Lite News

Jebel Ali Port authorities are continuing an extensive investigation into the cause of the fire that broke out uesterday in a container in a ship carrying flammable materials.

In a statement today, Jebel Ali Port said the Dubai Civil Defense, Dubai Police and other related authorities, took rapid action at the site to fully put out the fire in under 40 minutes.

“Prudent action ensured that operations were not affected in any way due to the incident, which occurred in the older Terminal 1, used only for small ships. Terminal 2, 3 and 4 of the Port, where big ships dock and offload their cargo, continued normal operations even during the incident,” it added.

”Casualties were avoided also due to the quick action of Jebel Ali Port’s officials who ordered an evacuation of the vessel and the immediate area when a leakage and smoke was seen,” it went on to say.

Following the fire, Dubai Civil Defense, Jebel Ali Port, Dubai Police and other relevant authorities also took immediate measures to ensure operations across the Port, including Terminal 1 where the incident took place, continued normally without any interruption.

Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Suhail Al Mazrouei , has said that the UAE took swift action in containing the fire at Jebel Ali Port.

“We appreciate and commend the efforts of the teams who contributed to containing the fire that broke out at 11:55pm on Wednesday, July 7th, 2021, due to a blaze onboard the container ship “Ocean Trader”, he said in a media statement on Thursday.

At the helm of the rescue operations were the DP World, UAE Region team, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority and personnel from the Dubai Civil Defence and the Dubai Police, he added, noting that the evacuation procedure of the ship’s crew and workers on the berth was carried out promptly.

While containing the fire and ensuring no fatalities, the rescue team also took the necessary safety measures to ensure that there were no radioactive materials on the ship, the minister said.

ALSO READ: Dubai high-rise construction makes a comeback

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-Top News India News

NIA begins probe on Jammu AFS drone attack

An NIA team had visited the blast scene on Sunday to collect samples from the spot…reports Asian Lite News.

Hours after the Ministry of Home Affairs handed over the probe into the drone attack at an Air Force Station (AFS) in Jammu to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the NIA on Tuesday registered a case to probe the matter.

An NIA spokesperson said that the anti-terror probe agency, in pursuance of the MHA order, has reregistered the case under several sections of the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.

The official said that while the NIA has been working with the other agencies since immediately after the incident, pursuant to the re-registration of the case, requisite actions as per the law have been initiated.

An NIA team had visited the blast scene on Sunday to collect samples from the spot.

In a first of its kind terrorist attack in the country, two drones were used to drop explosives at the vital military installation on the intervening night of June 26-27. Two consecutive explosions took place within a gap of five minutes at the high-security Jammu Air Force Station, injuring two personnel on duty in the technical area. The drones later flew away.

In the two back-to-back explosions, which occurred at 1.37 a.m. and 1.42 a.m., the roof of a building was damaged. However, the explosives missed the aircraft hangar nearby. No valuable equipment was damaged in the attack.

The Air Force Station is about 14-15 km from the nearest point on the International Border (IB) with Pakistan. The farthest that a drone from Pakistan has come so far on the Indian side of the IB and Line of Control (LoC) in the Jammu region is 12 km.

Pakistan-based terrorists are suspected to be behind the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to attack the Air Force Station, officials said.

The attack on the Air Force Station took place a few hours after Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative with an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing nearly 5 kg in Jammu.

ALSO READ-Suspected drone attack at Jammu IAF station

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-Top News COVID-19 UK News

Govt to probe how Hancock footage got leaked

“What Matt did was wrong, he acknowledged that, it’s why he apologised immediately for his behaviour and acknowledged what he did was wrong,” Lewis said…reports Asian Lite News.

Britain’s health ministry has announced plans to investigate how the CCTV footage of former health secretary Matt Hancock embracing his aide was leaked to the press.

Conservative Party Member of Parliament Brandon Lewis said the department will be launching an internal investigation into the matter to find out how the footage, which captured the former health secretary and his aide Gina Coladangelo embracing in the halls of Whitehall, was leaked.

Hancock’s party colleague also said that the disgraced minister had accepted his mistake and duly apologised, but his actions had rendered his position indefensible, taking away attention from the government’s wider efforts to combat the ongoing pandemic.

“What Matt did was wrong, he acknowledged that, it’s why he apologised immediately for his behaviour and acknowledged what he did was wrong,” Lewis said.

“It’s ultimately why he’s taken the decision that his position was untenable and distracting from the wider work we all have to do … to move out of the pandemic,” he added.

Hancock resigned on Saturday after being accused of breaking coronavirus restrictions his ministry had imposed at the time of the incident in early May when a deadly mutant strain of the virus was in circulation, and people living in separate households were banned from initiating intimate contact.

The opposition Labour Party slammed Hancock for breaking coronavirus restrictions, raised questions about appointment processes in the government and the use of taxpayer’s money in ruminating government personnel after news emerged of Hancock and Coladangelo being university friends.

Hancock on his part apologised to the general public for breaching “the social-distancing guidance”. He was replaced by Sajid Javid, former chancellor of the exchequer, marking the second-high profile exit in the Boris Johnson-led government.

ALSO READ-SPECIAL: Matt Hancock Must Go

READ MORE-Hancock ‘sorry’ for breaking Covid-19 rules

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-Top News Business UK News

UK opens probe into Amazon, Google

But, the two Big Tech rivals have also faced regulatory blowback over their alleged abuses of power…reports Asian Lite News.

After opening cases against Facebook and Google, the UK’s competition regulator Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a fresh probe into Amazon and Google to assess if they are protecting shoppers from fake reviews.

The move follows the CMA’s initiation of an inquiry last May that raised concerns over the companies’ handling of fake or misleading reviews on their respective sites, Engadget reported.

At the time, the regulator did not specify which websites it was investigating. Instead, it said that it was looking into issues including suspicious behaviour, such as a single user posting multiple reviews for an unlikely range of products or services.

The CMA also examined if businesses were combining reviews for products to manipulate their ranking and how sites were dealing with the shady practice of remuneration for reviews.

This type of behaviour is illegal under UK consumer protection law, with the CMA responsible for enforcing the rules, the report said.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. (File Photo: IANS)

Amazon and Google respectively wield enormous power over e-commerce and online search. Last year, Amazon’s annual net sales grew 38 per cent to $386 billion as people took to shopping online during the pandemic.

While Google majorly revamped its Shopping feature in 2019 with new additions including price tracking and visual search, it followed that by recently making its Shopping search listings mostly free for merchants.

But, the two Big Tech rivals have also faced regulatory blowback over their alleged abuses of power.

As part of an antitrust ruling, the EU handed Google a $2.7 billion fine in 2017 for giving prominence to its own shopping comparison service in results while downgrading rivals. EU regulators are also currently probing Amazon’s use of third-party seller data to boost its own products.

As part of a landmark case in 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission successfully secured a settlement from Cure Encapsulations, Inc over its payments to a third-party website to write five-star Amazon reviews for a weight-loss supplement.

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-Top News Tech Lite World News

UK to probe Apple, Google’s ‘effective duopoly’

Referring to the existing App Store investigation, he added that the CMA had “already uncovered some worrying trends,” and that, “consumers and businesses could be harmed if they go unchecked.”..reports Asian Lite News.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will examine if Apple and Google constitute a duopoly on mobile devices given their control over app stores.

Alongside its existing examination of Apple over the App Store, the CMA has begun investigating whether the dominant iOS and Android platforms represent unfair competition, AppleInsider reported on Tuesday.

“Apple and Google control the major gateways through which people download apps or browse the web on their mobiles — whether they want to shop, play games, stream music or watch TV,” CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli was quoted as saying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIsc5QoUuYs

“We’re looking into whether this could be creating problems for consumers and the businesses that want to reach people through their phones,” he said.

Referring to the existing App Store investigation, he added that the CMA had “already uncovered some worrying trends,” and that, “consumers and businesses could be harmed if they go unchecked.”

This new study would in theory have come under the aegis of the UK’s newly formed Big Tech regulator. However, the Digital Markets Unit will have no authority until new legislation empowers it in 2022.

The CMA is calling for users or businesses to contribute to its study and emphasizes that it is soliciting the views of developers in particular. The closing date for submissions is July 26.

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READ MORE-UK Antitrust probe into Apple App Store