Your Wire on 4 November

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Harsh censorship by govt reminiscent of Emergency: Editors Guild of India on NDTV row

The Editors Guild of India has strongly condemned the government's decision to black out NDTV India for a day on 9 November and has issued a statement backing NDTV, demanding that the government revoke the order.

The statement from the Editors Guild of India comes in the wake of an inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting ministry asking NDTV India to be taken off air for a day on 9 November due to its coverage of the Pathankot terror attacks on 2 January, 2016.

Stand-off between Chinese, Indian troops at Ladakh over irrigation canal under MNREGA

Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since 2 November after People's Liberation Army(PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work.

The incident took place 2 November afternoon in Demchok sector, located 250 km east of Leh, where the work for linking a village with 'Hot spring' was being undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

Around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene and halted the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) personnel to rush to the spot and stop the high-handedness of Chinese troops, official sources said on 3 November.

Jayalalithaa will be moved out of CCU to a private room; will soon be back to public life

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will now be moved out from the Critical Care Unit (CCU) to a private room, a senior AIADMK leader said on 4 November.

According to an international news agency, senior AIADMK leader and spokesperson C Ponnaiyan said, "The lung infection is under control. She has passed the critical stage. The respiratory system is being weaned away. It is being used on and off."

Jayalalithaa, 68, according to the spokesperson, started interacting with people and was consuming semi-solid food. The Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals with fever and dehydration on 22 September.

Madhya Pradesh govt orders judicial probe in the Bhopal encounter of 8 SIMI men

The Madhya Pradesh Government has ordered a judicial probe into the encounter of eight SIMI operatives, which escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail, in Bhopal.

Retired justice SK Pande will head the inquiry commission. The panel will probe the circumstances under which SIMI operatives escaped and the encounter in which they were killed by police.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the state government on 3 November seeking a detailed report on the encounter.

Maharashtra: Police arrests 11 for allegedly raping a minor in Buldhana district

11 people have been arrested for allegedly raping a minor in Buldhana area of Maharashtra.

It is reported that incident took place on the night of 3 November in a private boarding school, Ninadhi Ashran School in Hivarkheda in Bhuldhana district of Maharashtra, 450 km from Mumbai.

Sanjay Baviskar, Superintendent Of Police (SP), Buldhana said a case under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), POSCO Act and Juvenile Justice Act has been registered against the accused.

The accused include president, secretary and joint secretary of the school.

Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate the case.

Delhi High Court to hear Subramanian Swamy's plea on the National Herald Case today

The Patiala House Court on 4 November will hear a plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy in a case related to the National Herald case.

In August, the court issued notices to Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and five others on Swamy's application seeking presentation of certain documents from Associated Journals Pvt. Ltd (AJL) and Indian National Congress (INC) in connection with the National Herald case.

The court had on March 11 given its nod to Swamy's plea, seeking the balance sheets of the INC and the AJL for the purpose of investigation in this case.

In an application moved before Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen, Swamy sought to summon the balance sheet, receipts, income and expenditure statements for assessment years 2010- 11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 of the INC, AJL and Young Indian Pvt. Ltd. (YI)

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Researchers claim to have possible AIDS cure

In a finding that will come as a huge boost to sufferers of AIDS and HIV worldwide, scientists at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel claim to have identified a protein which can reduce the virus in infected patients by 97% in just 8 days.

HIV virus takes effect by attacking CD4 white blood cells, taking them over and using them to create more copies of itself, thereby killing off the CD4s. The Israeli solution, Gammora, causes multiple HIV viruses to enter a CD4, making the cell go into overdrive and self destruct instead of allowing the spread of the virus.

Scientists are continuing the tests in the hopes of reducing the virus in infected patients to zero.

Average US family causes severe damage to Arctic ice

Climatology experts have warned that just the greenhouse gas emissions caused by a regular 4-person US family is enough to cause the loss of 200 square metres of Arctic ice annually.

The study, published in the journal Science, has also stated that the shrinkage of the Artic ice sheet is directly correlated to human greenhouse gas emissions and that if we were to continue with current levels of consumption and emission then we can expect an ice-free Arctic by 2045.

The study has also drawn comparisons, showing that the average American is responsible for 10 times for Arctic ice loss than the average Indian.

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Shutdown in the valley means board exams will cover only 50% syllabus

Board exams are meant to be the final, most substantive test of a student's learnings, however, in J&K, where there has been a government-ordered shutdown for many months, the scope of the board exams will be severely curtailed.

According to Shoot Ahmed Chatt, Chairman of the J-K Board of School Education, question papers will be set such that even a student who has studied just 50% of the syllabus will be able to answer a 100 mark paper.

With board exams just 2 weeks away, students in the Valley are worried as they have not been able to attend school since July.

Forced by police to name AAP MLA in Quran desecration case

Four months after the Quran desecration case at Malerkotla in Sangrur, the main accused has accused police of pressuring him into naming AAP MLA Naresh Yadav as a co-conspirator.

Reiterating his own innocence, main accused and Delhi-based businessman, Vijay Kumar stated that Punjab police threatened to implicate him in cases of murder and attempt to murder if he didn't agree to name Yadav in the case.

Yadav for his part has maintained that the accusations were made at the behest of Punjab's ruling BJP-SAD dispensation.