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Rare ‘singing’ dog thought to be extinct in wild found

By
The Commune
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The New Guinea singing dog is an extremely rare breed, best known for its unique barks and howls and its ability to make harmonic sounds.

Only around 200 captive singing dogs live in conservation centers or zoo. They are the  descendants of a few wild dogs captured in the 1970s.

The animals have been severely inbred due to a lack of new genes. A comparison of DNA extracted from blood collected from three of the Papua New Guinea highland dogs suggested they have very similar genome sequences and are much more closely linked to each other than any other canine. The researchers ultimately hope that it will be possible to breed some of the highland wild dogs with the New Guinea singing dogs, perhaps through the usage of sperm samples, to generate a true New Guinea singing dogs population. Their harmonic vocalization is truly rare and unique and the researchers do not want to lose this natural ability to extinction.

Children have the potential to transmit COVID-19 virus

By
The Commune
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Children`s National Hospital researchers, are trying to understand how long it takes in pediatric patients with the virus to clear it from their systems and at what point they start to make antibodies that work against the coronavirus.

They have found that the virus and antibodies can coexist in young patients.

Burak Bahar, MD, lead author of the study and director of Laboratory Informatics at Children`s National has said that with most viruses, when  antibodies are detected, the virus won’t be detected, but with COVID-19, they are observing both. This means that children would still have the potential to transmit the virus even if antibodies are detected. The next phase of research is being carried out to study such a transmission of the disease.

Source: ANI News

SoftBank invests 150 million USD in Unacademy

By
The Commune
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SoftBank froup corp. a Japanese conglomerate have invested $150 million while leading a round of venture investment in Unacademy.

This raises the Bangalore-based Edutech startup’s market value to $1.45 billion.

This move has catapulted the startup into the Unicorn category of businesses valued over $1 Billion or more. Investors in the $150 million funding include existing backers Facebook Inc. and Sequoia Capital. SoftBank’s money comes from Vision Fund 2, a successor to its initial $100 billion fund. The startup’s valuation has tripled from $510 million in February 2020 due to a surge in digital education due to the pandemic.

Coal India to set up new ₹5,800-cr coal gasification project in West Bengal

By
The Commune
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The State-run Coal India (CIL) is planning to set up a coal-gasification project with an estimated investment of ₹5,800 crore in the Dankuni coal complex in West Bengal.

Tenders for the project are likely to be floated in the September, and it is expected to be completed by January, 2025.

The project, which is now in the planning stage, will convert 1.5 million tonne (MT) of the fuel into other products and reduce emissions.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that ₹20,000 crore will be invested in coal gasification projects by 2030 for eco-friendly utilisation of the fuel, which is abundantly available in the country. With the usage of this technology, coal can be gasified to turn it into a clean syngas or synthesis gas. It is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide which constitutes the basic building blocks of the chemical industry and can be converted into a wide range of downstream products.

World’s richest football league EPL ends £490 million contract with China

By
Balaji Subramanian
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China, which has become one of the preferred destinations for ageing footballers who receive big money to play football for few years, suffered a jolt when then English Premier League severed its ties with China’s video streaming website PPTV.

The reason for severing the relationship was due to the nonpayment of around £160 million in March, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

PPTV is one of the most powerful video streaming website in China that allows hundreds of millions of Chinese to watch sports. A statement released by the Premier League reads, “The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory. The Premier League will not be commenting further on the matter at this stage.”

However, the main reason is the behaviour of the Chinese media and the habit of mingling politics with sports.

China’s state-owned CCTV the online streaming giant had bullied the National Basketball Association (NBA) back in 2019 when Daryl Morey, the general manager for the Houston Rockets, posted an image in support for the democratic protesters in Hong Kong, saying, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”

Last December, German football star Mesut Ozil criticised China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims, the Chinese broadcasters had opted not to televise Arsenal’s Premier League match against Manchester City in protest.

The severance of the English Premier League from China will be a huge blow for Xi Jinping’s plan to transform his nation into a world leader and project its soft power to influence.

A lot of money has been invested in the Chinese Super League to bring it at par with the Europian footballing leagues. However, with the worlds richest football League gone, it will be difficult to propagate the game in China.

First Pakistan sells its land, now it sells its waters to the Chinese

By
Balaji Subramanian
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After selling Balochistan to China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the fishermen of the city of Karachi the capital of the Sindh province are now faced with the prospect of watching large Chinese fishing vessels take all the fishes from Pakistan’s exclusive economic zone.

This has led to mass protests because the fishing industry is an important part of the livelihood in this area. The Pakistani fishermen mostly own small boats that are not capable of deep-sea fishing. However, the Chinese trawlers are large and more technologically advanced with the capacity to lay large nets and catch more fish.

Which is why fishermen in Pakistan are angry as 20 Chinese deep-sea trawlers have arrived near Karachi.

According to some estimate, fish stocks in coastal areas have already declined by 72% of and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum has announced a campaign against the Chinese trawlers’ arrival.

These modern trawlers they believe will further deplete Pakistan’s dwindling marine resources.

“These vessels threaten the livelihoods of small fishermen by depriving the catch today, and in future by ecologically destroying the sea,” said PFF chairman Muhammad Ali Shah.

The Gwadar port has been developed by China under the USD 50 billion CPEC and many Baloch who is the original settlers there have been forcibly uprooted and prevented them from going into the sea. Their waters are now being fished by Chinese vessels and the fishermen of Balochistan have also announced a protest campaign against these vessels.

Hindu Munnani comes to the rescue of Thandu Mariamman Temple in Mylapore

By
The Commune
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After news of the Thandu Mariamman Temple in Mandaveli, Chennai, shutting doors reportedly due to a non-vegetarian shop cooking and serving non-vegetarian food just outside the temple went viral, the Hindu Munnani has jumped into action to ensure that the temple remains open.

The temple is located opposite Subham Wedding Hall. The shop named ‘Night Spot’ stands just two metres away from the temple.  Not only does the eatery prepare the biryani in close proximity to this temple but the shop also has customers standing outside and eating it causing hindrance to devotees.

The temple priest who had said that he does not have the strength to oppose them placed a board outside the temple that read “The temple is closed due to the nuisance caused by cooking and selling non-vegetarian food near the temple” to get the attention of people.

Taking cognizance of these reports, the Hindu Munnani sent its team to sort the issue and ensure that the temple remains open.

Hindu Munnani’s Chennai City President Elango speaking to The Commune said that their team had gone on the morning of September 4 to get first hand information regarding the matter, post which a police complaint at the Mylapore police station was filed and a CSR copy obtained. Police officials who inspected the spot found merits in the complaint and negotiated with the eatery’s owner to not open the shop. The shop now remains closed.

The Hindu Munnani clarified that the shop owner was a Hindu. He had apparently told them that it was not done intentionally. However, the Hindu Munnani has said that they would proceed legally and take strong action if the issue arises again.

The board that was placed outside the temple was removed and the priest opened the temple for daily rituals.

 

Taiwan Defence Ministry calls viral video that claimed Taiwan bringing down a Chinese jet as ‘fake news’

By
The Commune
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After the video clips of a jet burning and a pilot lying on the ground went viral with #Taiwan trending top on Twitter, the Taiwan Defence Ministry has refuted the claims that the country shot down a Chinese PLAAF aircraft saying that the information is fake news.

The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China confirmed that the information was ‘false’ and ‘completely untrue’.

In its statement, it said that the Air Force Command strongly condemns such malicious acts of deliberating, creating and disseminating false information on the internet in an attempt to confuse people.

The Ministry of National Defense also tweeted urging netizens to not spread fake news and strongly condemned the act.

Earlier, videos surfaced on social media claiming that a Chinese Sukhoi 35 aricraft of the People’s Liberation Army-Air Froce (PLAAF) was shot down by Taiwan’s Air Defence systems.

Chennai Advent Church Bishop arrested for defrauding Trichy businessman of ₹ 3.85 crore

By
The Commune
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Chennai Advent Church Bishop S.D. David was arrested for cheating and defrauding ₹ 3.85 crore from a Trichy businessman.

The Advent Church functions all across Tamil Nadu and own and operates numerous schools and churches to its name.

SD David who is the Bishop of the Chennai district has 100 churches and 50 schools operating under him. He is also closely associated with evangelist Mohan C. Lazarus.

https://twitter.com/by2kaafi/status/1301794330802225152

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He is also a trustee of Adventist schools in Thiruporur and Chitlapakkam regions.

The Advent Church has its own piece of land in Velachery which costs ₹ 50 crore. This was appropriated by SD David and had tried to sell it to Sathyamoorthy, a native of Trichy. Sathyamoorthy had agreed to buy the land for ₹26 crores to build a school and had paid ₹3.85 crores as advance in various instalments.

Bishop SD David instead of putting the money in the Church’s account took the money to himself and did not transfer the land to Sathyamoorthy as agreed. Meanwhile, Sathyamoorthy had lodged a complaint with the Trichy Municipal Central Crime Branch Police regarding the fraud of ₹ 3.85 crore. A case against this matter is pending at the Madras High Court

Following this, the Trichy city police arrested SD David at his house in Velachery in Chennai and has taken him to Trichy.

The police have informed that the Bishop has been arrested for defrauding Sathyamoorthy of ₹3.85 crores. They are also on the lookout for Church Secretary Panneer Selvam, Treasurer Stephenson and Broker Nellai Samuel who were complicit in the fraud.

Bishop SD David was put in jail after testing him for COVID19. Though David’s term as Bishop ended in March this year he is now serving an extension.

More details on Advent Church

The American Advent Mission located at 162, Gandhi Street, Velachery, Chennai is an FCRA NGO. According to the annual returns filed for the year 2017-18, the American Advent Mission has received ₹2987324.46 directly from a foreign source. ₹194,709.64 has been  received from Advent Christian Mission, New Zealand and ₹279,264.82 from Advent Christian General Conference. In 2016-17, they had received more than ₹570,320.73 from the same Advent Christian General Conference and had a total foreign contribution of more than ₹14 lakhs. They haven’t filed their annual returns for the year 2018-19.

Although the FCRA funds are not that much, there has been much turbulence within the Advent Church itself. In 2016, the High Court had to intervene to settle a dispute between the members of the Church regarding the election of its President as one of the President’s was alleged to have indulged in malpractice.

With no more free lunch from Saudi Arabia, China is the new “boss” for Pakistan

By
Balaji Subramanian
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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the future of Pakistan’s economy is now firmly linked with China, as it has come to realise that the days of receiving billions of dollars in aid from the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is coming to an end.

In an interview Imran Khan gave to the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, Khan has said that Pakistan’s economic future is now linked to China and said China’s growth rate is faster than any other country and he wants Pakistan to benefit from this and help lift its people out of poverty. However, many experts conclusively believe that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is nothing but a debt trap for Pakistan as China keeps getting ownership of infrastructure it built in Pakistan.

Though Imran Khan said, Saudi Arabia is still a friend and will always remain a friend and wants the Organisation of International Countries (OIC) to take a bigger role on Kashmir, the OIC headed by Saudi Arabia has not shown any interest or willingness to raise the Kashmir issue.

In the interview, Khan called the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A as a violation of human rights of Kashmiris and called upon the world to help Pakistan fight this injustice. However, he also acknowledged that due to India’s economic might and investment opportunities no country wants to help resolve the Kashmir issue which he has claimed many times could become a nuclear flashpoint. 

For decades, the wealthy kingdom gave billions of dollars in aid to its allies to become the leader of not only the Arab world but the entire Umma, Muslim community. In this mission, the Saudis did find a lot of success but with Pakistan moving closer to Turkey there are plans to form an alternative Muslim block with Iran and Qatar.

This has led to a rethinking of its dynamics with Pakistan not to mention the plummeting oil revenues. Fact is, for decades the loan Saudi Arabia gave to Pakistan was rarely paid back. However, the kingdom is now expecting repayment marks a shift in the bilateral relationship.

The issue of growing economic and security relationship between India and Saudi Arabia over the past decade has been a constant thorn in the flesh for Pakistan. India and Saudi Arabia are actually working very closely when it comes to counter-terrorism issues. Which is why Riyadh has repeatedly refused Islamabad’s call for a high-level meeting on Kashmir at the OIC.

The Saudis, it seems have arrived at an impasse wherein a lot of thought is being put on this old alliances because Pakistan has very little to offer in return. The relationship got further strained when Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi issued a warning to Saudi Arabia that it better call for a Foreign Minister-level meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries on Kashmir.

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TheCommune
The Commune is a news and views portal focusing on social and political issues of the southern part of India with a focus on Tamil Nadu.
Contact us: thecommune.news@gmail.com
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