Maharashtra: Nursing student in Ratnagiri sexually assaulted, found unconscious; triggers protests
A 20-year-old nursing student was allegedly sexually assaulted in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.
Conquest, BITS Pilani unveils startup spectacle with demo day
BITS Pilani’s Conquest, the premier student-run startup accelerator, has become a cornerstone of the Indian startup ecosystem, offering early-stage businesses invaluable mentorship, resources, and networks
J-K assembly elections 2024: Afzal Guru’s brother, former militants, separatists form political group, to contest polls
The political atmosphere is charged as various parties ramp up their preparations for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections
‘What are your thoughts on marriage?’: Kashmiri girl students asks Rahul Gandhi, his answer…
Rahul Gandhi, whose wedding plans or the lack thereof have been the subject of endless speculation, was in Jammu and Kashmir last week.
Kolkata ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ Protest: 6000 police personnel deployed, central forces brought in
The area surrounding Nabanna has been fortified with a three-tiered security setup, jointly managed by Kolkata Police and Howrah City Police, for the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ march initiated by the Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj.
In Chicago’s Little Palestine, locals protest and mourn amid Gaza war
Bridgeview, Illinois – Standing outside his local mosque in suburban Chicago, Robhi Gharallah observed that Israel’s war in Gaza is on everyone’s mind in his neighbourhood. “We’re praying. We’re protesting. We’re raising funds. We’re doing all we can for Gaza,” Gharallah said after Friday prayer. But Gharallah said there is one action he and his neighbours are uncertain about — and that is how to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Gharallah lives in Bridgeview, Illinois, an area informally known as Chicago’s Little Palestine. It sits in Cook County, home to an estimated 22,518 Palestinian Americans — one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States. Sporting a cap with the colours of the Palestinian flag — red, white, green and black — Gharallah underscored that the Palestinian diaspora is a prominent presence in Chicago’s cultural and business sectors. But he said Palestinian Americans are facing a dilemma in the next election, with both the Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris showing staunch support for Israel. “There is no good in Ammar nor Amira,” Gharallah said, using male and female names in Arabic to represent Trump and Harris. “We are American citizens, and we want to vote, but we don’t know for whom. Whether you vote for this one or this one, it’s the same thing. And if you don’t vote, it’s like you don’t exist [politically].” Bridgeview was in the national spotlight this month, as the Democratic National Convention arrived in Chicago. Just a day before Gharallah spoke to Al Jazeera, Harris appeared on stage at Chicago’s United Center — only 24km (15 miles) away from Bridgeview — to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency. In her acceptance speech, she pledged to continue arming Israel. For Chicago-area Palestinians confronting the devastating war in their homeland, the convention served as an opportunity to bring awareness to their cause. But residents and community advocates told Al Jazeera that the event was also a bitter reminder that the Palestinian identity continues to be vilified and pushed to the political margins, including by Democrats who claim to value inclusivity. They pointed to the Harris campaign’s refusal to feature a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage of the convention. That exclusion, they said, added insult to injury, given the size of Chicago’s Palestinian community. ‘Not normal’ Jinan Chehade, 26, decried “the moral apathy and dissociation from the reality” she saw as Democrats gathered to celebrate Harris, while US bombs dropped on Palestinian civilians. “That’s why it’s so important for us to bring people together and remind them that this is not normal, that we’re not going to be filtered or drowned out,” Chehade told Al Jazeera, as she sat at a Bridgeview cafe with a mural depicting the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. In Bridgeview, a town of 17,000 people, Palestinian symbols are almost never out of sight. At the cafe, there were several paintings related to the war, including depictions of Palestinian victims such as Hind Rajab, the six-year-old girl who was stranded in her family’s car and gunned down by Israeli tank fire before rescuers were able to reach her. At the front counter, a map of historic Palestine — drawn with coffee beans — was arranged over the word “Palestine” spelled out in Arabic. A sign reads ‘Free Palestine’ on Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, Illinois, on August 23 [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera] Chehade, a lawyer and protest organiser, said that, while Chicago-area Palestinians have always had a strong sense of identity, the community has seen a “transformation” over the past 10 months, with pro-Palestinian activism reaching new heights. “The thing about Palestinians, the first thing you’ll know about them is they are Palestinian especially here because everybody is very proud to be representing a Little Palestinian,” she told Al Jazeera. Little Palestine Like much of the suburban US, Bridgeview has broad stretches of urban sprawl: low-rise buildings and rows of shops connected and separated by multi-lane roads. But in Bridgeview’s Little Palestine area, many of the businesses — restaurants, cafes, barbershops, jewellery stores and clothing boutiques — are distinguished by Arabic signs and Palestinian flags in their windows. During the Democratic convention, some storefronts featured posters promoting the protests outside the United Center. “We will not surrender,” read a mural above a store that sells hijabs and abayas, next to a bakery that raised funds for Gaza by selling pins that say “Free Palestine”. An electronic billboard outside a barbecue spot cycled through several slides: one calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and another showing a Palestinian flag in between advertisements for job openings. Motorists especially put their Palestinian identity on display in their vehicles, with flags, keffiyeh-patterned headrest covers, watermelon air fresheners and bumper stickers calling for an end to the occupation of Palestine. For many of the residents who spoke to Al Jazeera, being Palestinian is not just about the keffiyeh and merchandise. They explained that it is an inherently political state of existence, one that requires them to constantly humanise and highlight the plight of Palestinians under occupation and bombardment in the Middle East. A motorist poses next to a truck covered in Palestinian symbols in Bridgeview, Illinois [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera] Sereen Atieh, a 20-year-old Palestinian American immigrant, said while Little Palestine feels like home, she has struggled with a deep sense of sadness since the start of the war on Gaza. So she has turned to activism on her college campus. “All I can think about is my brothers and sisters being killed in Palestine,” Atieh, draped in a Palestinian flag, told Al Jazeera at a protest outside the Democratic convention. “I’ve been trying to do everything I can to help people understand that this is not just a conflict but a genocide, where Israel is trying to remove the Palestinian identity.” ‘They want to live’ In Bridgeview, Mohammad Numan, who works in digital media and advertising, said people in the community are trying to do everything they can
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 914
As the war enters its 914th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. Fighting At least seven people were killed and 47 injured, including four children, as Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure across 15 regions with waves of drones and missiles, causing severe damage and disrupting supplies. Russia confirmed the attacks, which it said targeted facilities supporting the military-industrial complex. Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine’s Air Force commander, said the country’s forces brought down 102 of the 127 missiles and 99 of the 109 drones Russia launched. He called the attack “the most massive” since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Poland said that an object, probably a drone, had entered its airspace during the Russian bombardment, and may have come down on Polish territory. United States President Joe Biden condemned what he called an “outrageous attack” and reiterated his country’s “unshakable” support for Kyiv. At least one person was killed and four injured after a Russian missile struck a building in the central Ukraine city of Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration said. Five people were still thought to be trapped in the rubble. The Reuters news agency said its journalist Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey was in a critical condition in hospital after a missile hit a Kramatorsk hotel where he was staying with a team of six people from Reuters. Safety adviser Ryan Evans was also killed in the attack, while another journalist, Daniel Peleschuk, was treated for his injuries in hospital and discharged. The three others were safe. Russia said it struck Ukrainian forces in at least 12 different places in its Kursk region with air strikes, artillery and infantry. Moscow said it also repelled attacks at seven additional places in Kursk, where Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border assault on August 6. It added that it had also struck Ukrainian forces at 16 other locations in Ukraine’s neighbouring Sumy region. Monday’s wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine covered half the country [Michael Shtekel/AP Photo] The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said he would personally lead the mission to inspect the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia during a visit on Tuesday, noting the “serious situation”. Local officials in Russia’s Saratov region said four people were injured in the cities of Saratov and Engels in a Ukrainian drone attack. Engels is the location of a military airfield that Ukraine has targeted before. Politics and diplomacy Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the war in Ukraine, the White House said in a statement. Modi visited Kyiv last week in the first visit by an Indian leader to Ukraine since the country got its independence in 1991. Modi posted online that he “reiterated India’s full support for early return of peace and stability”. A Russian court said the trial of Laurent Vinatier, a French citizen accused of unlawfully collecting information on military issues, will start on September 3. If convicted, Vinatier faces up to five years in prison. The researcher for the Geneva-based NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue was arrested in June. Russia was the only member of the United Nations Security Council to skip an informal meeting in Switzerland during which the 14 members present reiterated their commitment to international humanitarian law. Russia’s envoy in New York described the meeting as a “waste of time”. Weapons Ukraine says it has developed a new long-range weapon – the Palianytsia – to strike deep into Russia. Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov said it would provide “answers” to a wave of Russian bombings. Adblock test (Why?)
Elon Musk’s X tweaks chatbot after warning over US election misinformation
Social media platform alters Grok after complaint it produced false information about ballot deadlines in US states. The social media platform X has made a change to its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state in the United States warned it was spreading election misinformation. Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter this month to Elon Musk complaining that the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. The secretaries of state requested that the chatbot instead direct users who ask election-related questions to CanIvote.org, a voting information website run by the National Association of Secretaries of State. Before listing responses to election-related questions, the chatbot now says, “For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. Elections, please visit Vote.gov.” Both websites are “trustworthy resources that can connect voters with their local election officials”, the five state secretaries said in a shared statement. “We appreciate X’s action to improve their platform and hope they continue to make improvements that will ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources in this critical election year,” they said. Grok is available only to subscribers of the premium versions of X. But the secretaries of state who signed the letter said election misinformation from Grok has been shared across multiple social media platforms, reaching millions of people. Grok continued to repeat the false information for 10 days before it was corrected, the secretaries said. The platform did not respond to a request for comment. The change promoting a link to an official voting website does not seem to address Grok’s ability to create misleading AI-generated images related to elections. People have been using the tool to flood the platform with fake images of candidates, including US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Grok debuted last year for X premium and premium plus subscribers and was touted by Musk as a “rebellious” AI chatbot that will answer “spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems”. Social media platforms have faced mounting scrutiny for their role in spreading misinformation, including about elections. The letter also warned that inaccuracies are to be expected for AI products, especially chatbots such as Grok which are based on large language models. Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it to X, watchdog groups have raised concerns over a surge in hate speech and misinformation being amplified on the platform, as well as cuts to the staff that had been moderating content. Adblock test (Why?)
Former Jharkhand CM Champai Soren to join BJP on August 30 in Ranchi
Earlier, Champai Soren hinted at forming a new party, after Soren took to social media to voice his grievances, stating that he had been “insulted” during his tenure as Chief Minister and that all options remained open ahead of the forthcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections.
A new database could give state officials more oversight of Texas’ voter rolls
State election officials say a revamped database all Texas counties can use would allow them to better monitor and clean up voter lists. An upgrade is due next year.