Covid subvariant JN.1: Centre issues advisory to states after first case reported in Kerala
“Considering the upcoming festive season, there is a need to put in requisite public health measures and other arrangements to minimize the risk in transmission of the disease by adherence to maintenance of respiratory hygiene,” the advisory noted.
ED issues fresh summons to Arvind Kejriwal for questioning on Dec 21 in Delhi excise policy case
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were earlier arrested in the excise policy case.
Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor lying in repose at Supreme Court
Former Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is set to lie in repose Monday at the Supreme Court so the public can pay their respects Monday morning ahead of a funeral service tomorrow at the Washington National Cathedral. The Supreme Court said a private ceremony would be held at 9:30 a.m. ET before O’Connor will be viewable from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. inside the building’s Great Hall. O’Connor, who was the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, died in Phoenix on Dec. 1 at the age of 93. The Court said O’Connor passed due to “complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness.” O’Connor is remembered as a history-making woman, a pragmatic conservative, a keen legal mind and a beloved mother and grandmother. SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR, FORMER SURPREME COURT JUSTICE, DEAD AT 93 She was appointed to the Court in 1981 by former President Reagan. O’Connor stepped down in 2006 from the bench, but she remained an active and public voice for a variety of causes, including judicial independence and civics education. In 2018, the then 88-year-old revealed in a letter released to the public that she was in the early stages of dementia. REAGAN HISTORIAN LOOKS BACK AT O’CONNOR APPOINTMENT Following her death, current Supreme Court Justices hailed O’Connor as being a trailblazer, an “American hero” and “hugely influential.” “A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day O’Connor blazed an historic trail as our Nation’s first female Justice. She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor,” Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. said in a statement. “I mourn the passing of another American hero. When Sandra Day O’Connor, the ‘cowgirl from out west,’ became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court, she changed the world and made history,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor added. “Indeed, her entire life was pathbreaking. She served in all three branches of government, was a brilliant champion of women’s rights, and promoted civic education in a way that transformed how children learn about our shared responsibility as citizens.” Fox News’ Bill Mears, Shannon Bream and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
Georgia’s second-largest school system ordered to redraw districts after judge deems map discriminatory
A federal judge has ruled that school board districts in Georgia’s second-largest school system appear to be unconstitutionally discriminatory and must be quickly redrawn ahead of 2024’s elections. U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross on Thursday forbade the Cobb County school district from using a map supported by the current board’s four Republican members, finding in an preliminary injunction that the map is “substantially likely to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” The Cobb County district on Friday asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to step in immediately and set the order aside, saying the district has been unfairly excluded from the litigation. The district warns that if the appeals court doesn’t act quickly, the “plaintiffs’ scheme to use the courts to overthrow the will of Cobb County voters and replace the duly enacted redistricting map with one that advances their own political goals — without opposition — therefore will succeed exactly as plaintiffs envisioned.” GEORGIA PLAINTIFFS CRITICIZE PROPOSED VOTING DISTRICT MAPS AS ‘MOCKERY’ OF FEDERAL LAW Ross ordered state lawmakers to draw a new map by Jan. 10, which will be unlikely unless Gov. Brian Kemp orders a special session. Lawmakers don’t convene until Jan. 8 and normal legislative rules don’t allow a bill to pass in three days. The district called the deadline “impossible,” saying it takes away the legislature’s rightful chance to fix the problems. That means Ross could draw a new map, or could accept a map proposed by the plaintiffs, a group of Cobb County residents and liberal-leaning political groups. Four board seats are up for election in 2024. Any new map could upset the 4-3 Republican majority on the board. The 106,000-student district has been riven by political conflict in recent years, with the GOP majority often imposing its will over the protests of the three Democratic members. GEORGIA’S REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAP NEARS PASSAGE AS SPECIAL REDISTRICTING SESSION APPROACHES LIKELY END “The court’s decision is a resounding victory for voting rights,” said Poy Winchakul, senior staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs. “Fair maps are essential to the democracy process and ensure Cobb County voters of color have an equal voice in schools.” But the district alleges the plaintiffs are pursuing a Democratic takeover of the board through the lawsuit. “This scheme is destined to facilitate plaintiffs’ political seizure of the board as the overriding goal in this litigation,” the board wrote in its appeal. The lawsuit alleges that Republicans illegally crammed Black and Hispanic voters into three districts in the southern part of the suburban Atlanta county, solidifying Republicans’ hold on the remaining four districts. Ross agreed, finding the people who drew the map relied too much on race. The lawsuit is unusual because the school district was dismissed earlier, leaving only the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration as a defendant. That body, like the county commission, is controlled by Democrats, and decided to settle the lawsuit. The decision to settle, which set the stage for Ross’ order, prompted the school board in October to accuse the elections board of colluding with “leftist political activists,” giving them “considerable and inappropriate influence to interfere with the lawfully established” maps. GEORGIA SENATE GOP PROPOSES MAP WITH 2 BLACK-MAJORITY DISTRICTS TO ADDRESS VOTE DILUTION CONCERNS The district calls the elections board and its director “sham defendants” and wants the appeals court to put the district back in the case. It’s also asking the appeals court to overturn all the recent orders, including the preliminary injunction and re-open discovery “giving the district a fair opportunity” to oppose the plaintiffs. It says Ross “completely ignored” its recent arguments. The plaintiffs on Dec. 6 asked the appeals court to dismiss an earlier version of the appeal, saying the school district wasn’t a party to the case and there was no final order ripe for appeal. Oral argument in the appeal is set for Jan. 30, but the district is seeking a quicker decision, saying Ross may impose a map by then. The school board has spent more than $1 million defending the lawsuit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found.
Covid subvariant JN.1 in India: Know 5 big updates here
The variant, which was already spreading to other countries like China and the US, was discovered in a Kerala woman, as part of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium’s routine surveillance program.
Florida Republican Party suspends chairman, demands resignation amid rape investigation
Christian Ziegler, the chair of the Republican Party of Florida, was suspended during an emergency meeting Sunday and demanded to resign. The moves add to calls by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other politicians for him to step down while police investigate a rape accusation against him. Ziegler is accused of raping a woman with whom he and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, had a prior consensual sexual relationship, according to police records. “Ziegler on soap box trying to defend himself, not working,” Lee County GOP Chairman Michael Thomason posted to the social media platform X. Thomason posted a series of tweets during the closed-door meeting, with the final being a picture of a document titled “motion to suspend authority.” SCHOOL BOARD VOTES TO OUST ‘MOMS FOR LIBERTY’ CO-FOUNDER AMID FLORIDA GOP SEX SCANDAL The party’s executive committee will hold a second vote in the future on whether to remove Ziegler permanently. The Sarasota Police Department is investigating an incident that was reported on Oct. 4, but allegedly occurred inside a woman’s home on Oct. 2. Police documents say the Zieglers and the woman had planned a sexual encounter that day, but Bridget Ziegler was unable to make it. The accuser says Christian Ziegler arrived anyway and assaulted her. While Bridget Ziegler is not accused of any crime, the accusation against her husband has caused turmoil for her. The Sarasota School Board member was asked to resign following a vote on Tuesday. She refused, according to the Associated Press. FLORIDA GOP CHAIRMAN CHRISTIAN ZIEGLER CLAIMS INNOCENCE, WILL NOT RESIGN OVER RAPE ALLEGATION Christian Ziegler has denied the rape allegation, and said the encounter with the woman was consensual. Sarasota police did not immediately respond to a request for an update on the investigation, including whether Christian Ziegler has been charged with a crime. As of Dec. 13, he had not. In addition to DeSantis, Republican Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Florida’s Republican House and Senate leaders have all called for Christian Ziegler’s resignation. The Florida Democratic Party called on Christian Ziegler to step down in November. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
We know who created Syria’s torture programme and how
After 12 years of civil war, hundreds of thousands of people killed and tens of thousands missing, a glimmer of hope for the Syrian people came from the world’s top court. On November 16, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the Syrian state must prevent torture of detainees and refrain from destroying evidence of these unlawful acts. The order was part of ongoing proceedings against Syria for violations of the Convention against Torture which were launched in June after referral by Canada and the Netherlands. Scepticism about the Syrian government’s willingness to comply with this ruling is indeed justified. However, even if it continues to destroy documentation about its torture programme, enough evidence exposing these atrocities has already been gathered. Many activists and civil society organisations have unwaveringly documented the human rights abuses suffered by innocent civilians over the past 12 years. Our organisation, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) has been part of this painstaking journey since 2011. Over the past decade, CIJA investigators have unearthed a staggering trove of more than 1.3 million pages of regime-issued documents. They reveal a story of unhinged power and brutal measures the Syrian regime would resort to in order to maintain its iron grip on power. Documents like these will help the next phase of the ICJ proceedings, as the parties prepare for the presentation of evidence. Based on some of these materials, CIJA published a report revealing the structures that were put in place, and the decisions and orders made in the early months of 2011 that cost so many Syrians their freedom and their lives. The Syrian regime denied the early reports of torture, mass arrests and murders. It primarily attributed the violence reported in 2011 to what it characterised as “armed terrorist groups”. It claimed that these groups were responsible for initiating the violence and destabilising the country. This narrative allowed the government to justify the use of force as a means to restore order and protect national security. But the regime’s own documents paint a different picture. The Syrian authorities knew the demonstrators wanted freedom and democracy. For example, one military intelligence communication CIJA has obtained refers to an early March 2011 meeting at which the demands of the protesters for freedom, democracy and an end to corruption were discussed and presented as a threat; it was decided the intelligence agencies would take immediate action to suppress them. Thereafter, intelligence gathering intensified, with local security branches tasked to send reports to Damascus at 4pm each day. They were required to include detailed statements about any protest or riot along with the “names of the persons against whom legal measures have been taken and those who were arrested amongst the troublemakers, activists and instigators to protests” – according to one document issued by the Head of the Political Security Department of the security intelligence dated March 18, 2011. As demonstrations quickly spread across Syria, growing in size and frequency, the regime unrolled more aggressive policies to repress protesters and opposition figures. On April 18, 2011, the Central Crisis Management Cell (CCMC), a top-level security coordinating body whose decisions President Bashar al-Assad signed off on, declared that the “time of tolerance and meeting demands is over”. It called for a “multifaceted confrontation of demonstrators” which included prolonged detention of those already arrested, the arrest of known “offenders”, the authorisation of the use of weapons in certain conditions and the deployment of armed forces “in cases of extreme need”. The effect was immediate. Only a day after, a violent and now notorious attack by the regime forces on a protest at the Homs Clock Tower took place and the CCMC reported that a number of protesters were shot and killed. Despite the increased security measures, including mass arrests, the mobilisation and use of Ba’athists and other regime loyalists and the deployment of the military, the situation throughout the country continued to deteriorate through the summer. In early August 2011, a document CIJA obtained showed that the security intelligence apparatus was admonished for the “laxness in handling the crisis” and “poor coordination and cooperation among security agencies in sharing information and the results of the ongoing investigations”. Shortly after, a series of steps that took the crackdown to a new level were undertaken. A circular distributed by Military Intelligence Branch 294 on August 17, 2011 reads: “Launch daily joint security-military campaigns in key security sectors of your choice as per security priorities. […] You are requested to arrest such persons, particularly those who are inciting people to demonstrate, funders of demonstrators, members of coordination committees who organise demonstrations, conspirers who communicate with people abroad to keep demonstrations ongoing and those who tarnish the image of Syria in foreign media and international organisations.” The order set up an infrastructure for what was to become a bureaucratic machinery overseeing mass arrests and torture of targeted individuals. “Investigative bodies” were set up, consisting of members of the security and intelligence agencies to interrogate the detainees. The interrogations were supposed to generate new lists of names of people to be targeted in the mass arrest campaigns. The effect of this circular was immediate and chilling. Arrest records secured by CIJA show that a systematic and coordinated campaign of arrests and detention by all of the main security intelligence agencies was launched. In many cases, the records did not indicate any criminal offences as a reason for arrest. They also showed that minors and elderly persons were not spared. In some instances, the same individual appears in a number of detainee lists generated over a period of time, reflecting the pervasive nature of the security state apparatus’ detention campaign. As detainees were passed between different security agencies, the brutality they had gone through would become apparent in internal regime reports: “It is impossible for us to thoroughly interrogate some of the detainees due to their poor medical condition caused by severe beating which, in some cases, has led to permanent disability while being prolongedly detained at some security agencies before
‘Bloodbath’: Israel continues to target Gaza hospitals and civilians
Despite growing international pressure for a respite, Israel is continuing to bombard Gaza’s health facilities and residential areas. Israeli air raids on Sunday and Monday maintained the focus on hospitals and civilian neighbourhoods in the enclave, a tactic that has only encouraged further calls from around the world for a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory as civilian causalities mount. Mass casualties have been reported following strikes on the Jabalia and Nuseirat refugee camps. Israeli artillery shelling targeted multiple residences in the Shujayea, Tuffah and Daraj neighbourhoods in Gaza City. Continuous shooting has been reported at the entrance to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. At least 26 Palestinians were killed in an attack on the hospital earlier, Al Jazeera journalists reported. The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in southern Gaza has been repeatedly targeted over the past 48 hours. An Israeli tank shell hit the maternity building on Sunday, killing a 13-year-old girl, named Dina Abu Mehsen, and injuring several others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. A bomb fell near the building but did not explode, causing a great deal of panic and injuring three people, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah. In a statement to Al Jazeera, Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra denounced Israel for trying to “eliminate” the besieged enclave’s health sector. “What the occupation is doing is part of the scenario that began in northern Gaza from the Shifa complex,” he said. “Targeting Nasser Medical Complex is part of the occupation’s policy to eliminate the health sector and would bring down the health system in the southern Gaza Strip,” he added. The deadliest ever Gaza war began with attacks by Hamas, which rules the enclave, on October 7, when the group killed 1,139 people and abducted about 250, according to updated Israeli figures. Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s campaign in Gaza. It said more than 100 were killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, while dozens more are reported to have died so far on Monday. World Health Organization described the situation at al-Shifa Hospital – once the cornerstone of the territory’s healthcare system – as a “bloodbath” as hundreds of injured patients sheltered inside with “new patients arriving every minute”. The United Nations agency said the hospital, which was occupied by Israeli forces earlier in the war, is providing only basic trauma stabilisation, has no blood for transfusions and hardly any staff to care for a constant flow of patients, after a visit to deliver medicines and surgical supplies to the facility. Dr Rana Hajjeh, from WHO’s Cairo office, told Al Jazeera: “What they saw was a complete horror scene. The injured patients are all over the floor, they are being sutured on the floor. There are not enough beds or stretchers. There isn’t any pain medication. They’re basically just bleeding on the floor.” Thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds as a shelter during a severe shortage of water and food, Hajjeh said. ‘Extremely worried’ Israeli soldiers raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza over several days earlier in the week and killed dozens before evacuating wounded patients and medical staff to the hospital grounds, according to the health authorities in the enclave. Citing the ministry’s reports, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week he was “extremely worried” about the hospital’s situation. The WHO said it was urgently gathering information at the hospital, where Gaza authorities said Israeli forces this week used a bulldozer to smash through the perimeter of a site Israel has said was used by Hamas fighters. The Israeli military said the hospital was being used as a Hamas “command and control centre” and that soldiers had detained about 80 fighters before leaving the site on Saturday. Earlier in the week, authorities in Gaza said some 70 medical staff were detained by Israel in the raid. The group has denied using Kamal Adwan or other hospitals for activities. Israel has also said al-Shifa had been used by Hamas, before occupying it last month. Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila has called for an “urgent probe” after Israeli forces were accused of crushing Palestinians, including wounded patients, using bulldozers in the yard of the hospital. Only four hospitals of 24 working in north Gaza before the war with Israel began have even partial service, and three of those are barely functioning, WHO said. Israeli raids on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed 110 Palestinians on Sunday, according to the Health ministry in the enclave. Another attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 25 people overnight, according to the Al Jazeera team at the site. Strikes and raids are reported to have continued on Monday. Calls for truce The Israeli government is under growing pressure from the international community to pause the fighting and do more to protect civilians. The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Monday on a new resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, calling for a truce and delivery of aid in Gaza. The UN estimates that 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza – about 80 percent of the population – have been displaced by the war. “I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called for an “immediate and durable” truce on a visit to Israel on Sunday. Germany and the United Kingdom also joined the calls for a ceasefire over the weekend, and Israeli protesters demanded the government relaunch talks with Hamas on releasing more hostages after three were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops while waving a white flag. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was expected to press Israel to wind down major combat operations as he arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday. He will also visit Qatar, which brokered a previous
Israel accused of wielding starvation as a weapon of war against Gaza
Human Rights Watch urges world leaders to speak out against ‘abhorrent war crime’. An international NGO has accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement issued on Monday that Tel Aviv is deliberately depriving Palestinians of access to food, water and other basic necessities. The use of hunger against the civilian population is a war crime, the NGO stated, calling for world leaders to act. The press release cites statements from Israeli officials, interviews with survivors, reports from aid organisations, and evidence from satellite imagery to establish that Israel is engaged in the “deliberate use of policies to deprive Palestinians of the resources necessary for daily existence”. “For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population,” he added. The statement comes as Israel faces increasing internal and external pressure regarding mounting civilian casualties resulting from its “indiscriminate” bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Israel has killed 18,787 people and injured another 50,897, according to the latest figures, while thousands are believed to be buried under the rubble. Speeches and statements from Israeli officials promoting a campaign to deliberately block access to necessary resources for the Gaza population as a strategy indicate that Israel has not made these intentions secret, HRW claimed. Even from the beginning of the Israeli offensive, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant infamously stated that Israel was “putting a complete siege on Gaza. … No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed,” justifying the move by describing Palestinians as “beastly people”. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies”, is a war crime, HRW said in the statement. The plight of Gaza’s 2.3 million people has become desperate amid the war, which has now persisted for over two months. Around 80 percent of Palestinians living in the enclave have been displaced by the violence, while efforts to get aid into the enclave have struggled. Images showing the massive devastation of the Gaza Strip, of desperate Palestinians raiding food banks, humanitarian aid delivery trucks and reports of deliberate destruction of agricultural land bolster the allegations. Alarmed humanitarian organisations have been fruitlessly calling for a ceasefire and denouncing the shocking cost of the catastrophic war which amounts to a collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza. The Israeli government hit back at HRW, accusing it of being an “anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli” organisation. “Human Rights Watch … did not condemn the attack on Israeli citizens and the massacre of October 7 and has no moral basis to talk about what’s going on in Gaza if they turn a blind eye to the suffering and the human rights of Israelis,” foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told AFP. Adblock test (Why?)
Dawood Ibrahim dead? Internet shutdown in Pakistan leads to speculations
Several users in Pakistan complained about difficulties in accessing social media sites.