Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 1639

ISIS wants its followers to annihilate non-believers by becoming corona spreaders

By
The Commune
-

The Sawt-al-Hind “Voice of Hind” of ISIS, an online publication circulated among the ISIS sympathizers in Indianda has asked Muslims to turn COVID19 carriers while claiming that no harm could come to even a “hair of the believer”.

US media outlet association Homeland Security Today reported that the “lockdown special” featuring a cover “It’s time for Kafirs (disbelievers) to fall” asked ISIS supporters to be “ready to launch a severe attack on the enemies of Allah’s religion who are embroiled in a fight against the disease brought about by Allah’s rage against them”.

The magazine said even children could contribute to the cause by “becoming the carriers of this disease and striking the colonies of the disbelievers”

IS journal called coronavirus a weapon “far greater than stones” and said there could be no better chance “to kill the disbelievers in multitudes than COVID 19”.

It called for a “jihad” against the government during the nation-wide lockdown, in force since 25 March, and to target policemen deployed during the lockdown period .

The magazine lauded Maulana Saad Kandhlawi, chief of Aalami Marakaz Nizamuddin in New Delhi, for converting the Tablighi Jamaat congregations in March into a “super spreader”.

Calling Indians as cow- and monkey-worshippers, the IS has called for attacks similar to those in “London, Paris, Brussels and other places”. The magazine is also critical of arrests of some students belonging to the Jamia Milia Islamia University, especially Safoora Zargar, and says an opportunity has been provided to avenge it

Recently a person Jahanzaib Sami and his wife Hina Bashir Beg being arrested by police for their IS links, particularly the Khorasan module in Afghanistan. The couple have been charged with attempting to incite Muslims to take part in a violent struggle against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and the Centre.

ISIS Khorasan in Afghanistan is also the outfit where many Indian Muslims especially from Kerala escape to.

Most massive and hungriest black hole in the Universe

By
The Commune
-

New research done by Australian National University has shown that the fastest growing black hole in the Universe is the most massive as well as eats much. It is 34 billion times the mass of our sun and gobbles up nearly the equivalent of one Sun every day, according to Dr. Christopher Onken and his colleagues.

The giant black hole known as J2157 has a mass 8000 times bigger that the black hole in the centre of Milky Way. If Milky Way swallows two-third of stars in our galaxy then only it can become as big as J2157. J2157 was discovered in 2018 by the same team.

‘We are seeing it at a time when the Universe was only 1.2 billion years old. It is the biggest black hole that has been weighed. We knew we were into a very massive black hole when we realized its fast growth rate. How much black holes can swallow depends on how much mass they already have. So, for this one to be devouring matter at such a high rate, we thought it could become a new world record,” Dr. Fuyan Bian said.

The team including researchers from the University of Arizona used ESO’s very large telescope in Chile to accurately measure the black hole’s mass.

Dr. Onken said, “With such an enormous black hole, we are also excited to see what we can learn about the galaxy in which it is growing. We will have to keep digging.”

Source: ANI

Words are Bridges: Online initiative celebrates Indian literature

By
Preetika Parashuraman
-

Teamworks Arts is set to bring together Jaipur Literature Festival and HarperCollins India to celebrate Indian literary works and its artists. Titled ‘Words are Bridges,’ it is an online literary initiative that starts from 2 July, 2020. It includes 8 episodes in the first season. 

It aims to recognize Indian literary gems and bring together virtually, authors and translators to entertain literature enthusiasts with enlightening discussions.

Each episode kicks off with readings from literary works published in different regional languages such as Kannada, Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, and Bengali. 

The sessions promise a diverse line-up of literary legends. On 2 July, 2020, Joy Goswami, Bengali poet will be in conversation with poet, translator, and fiction writer, Sampurna Chattarji, and art critic and cultural theorist, Ranjit Hoskote.

He will read a selection of his very own verse followed by a discussion of his work alongside Ms. Chattarji and Mr. Hoskote.

“India’s unique literary landscape, with its rich diversity and staggering multi-linguality, will be explored through a fascinating series of sessions that bring together writers, translators, and commentators,” said Namita Gokhale, the co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival 

Jaipur Literature Festival’s Words are Bridges will be streamed starting from 2 July, 2020, every Thursday on their social media handles.

 

Source: JLF 

Anticipatory bail granted for another DMK MLA

By
The Commune
-

Madurai East DMK MLA P. Moorthy who hit a BJP functionary with slippers was granted anticipatory bail by Chennai High Court. He has been asked to deposit ₹50,000 with the Adayar Cancer Institute.

DMK MLA P. Moorthy along with his men had earlier barged into the house of Dr. Sankarapandi, a BJP office bearer and threatened him with dire consequences for his role in the reportage of news about the DMK MLA’s misappropriation of public funds.

Recently, the AIADMK councillors of the region had lodged a complaint with the District Collector claiming that the DMK Union Committee Leader had misappropriated ₹14 lakhs to his name upon the DMK MLA’s guidance.

Manimekalai is the Madurai East Panchayat Union Leader belonging to the DMK. At the urging of DMK MLA Moorthy, she had proposed to transfer ₹14,14,888 from the public funds of the Panchayat Union to the MLA’s funds. This was reported by Avatar News on June 21.

Knowing that Sanakarapandi, who is the Madurai Zonal Head of BJYM had a hand in the reportage of the news, the DMK MLA along with a gang of goons had gone to his house and created ruckus. DMK MLA Moorthy beat Mr. Sankarapandi’s wife with slippers. All this has been recorded in the CCTV camera installed.

Mr. Sankarapandi had told the DMK MLA that he is ready to face all challenges thrown at him legally to which the latter and his men had used abusive language against him and his wife.

5-year-old boy with two prosthetic legs raises $1.2 million by walking 6 miles

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

Tony Hudgell, a five-year-old boy from West Malling, southeast England, has raised one million dollars while walking 6 miles with his prosthetic limbs for the hospital that saved his life while he was a new-born.

Hudgell had lost both his legs while he was a newborn, after having suffered abuse from his biological parents. This had left him on life support at a London children’s hospital. He was treated by the NHS hospital and had gotten prosthetic legs after having been a double amputee at such a young age.

In an attempt to help the hospital that helped him walk again, this little boy, who had only just learned to walk with crutches, had walked six miles for one whole month through June and helped raise $1.2 million, surpassing his original target. His initial goal was to raise around 500 pounds by walking a distance of 10 kilometres throughout June.

Speaking about this, Mark and Paula Hudgell, the proud adopted parents of this wunderkind, said, “The level of donation and the improvement in his walking over the past 26 days has blown away all expectations. It is incredible to think that just a few weeks ago Tony could barely take a few steps. He is such a strong and determined boy and we are so proud”.

Tony says that he was inspired to complete the challenge after watching “Captain Tom” Moore, the 100-year-old war veteran who became a national celebrity after raising more than $40 million for Britain’s National Health Service by doing 100 laps of his back garden. He has garnered support from people all over the world including celebrities like the Duchess of Cambridge, former Prime Minister David Cameron, and Chelsea footballer César Azpilicueta.

The curious case of Tondiarpet: From a COVID hotspot to a bright spot

By
The Commune
-

Switch on any news channel or go to any social media feed – the only thing that is bombarded at us is the daily rise in number of COVID cases. “Tamil Nadu records highest number of cases in single day”, “Chennai sees spike in cases”, “Death toll in Chennai touches 888”, these are the headlines thrown at us for our consumption.

However, amidst the gloomy picture painted, there exist several bright spots that not many wish to focus on. The recovery rate of the city has risen to 59.27% and the active cases percentage is just 40.73% of the overall figures.

Tondiarpet and Royapuram considered as the COVID hotspots and the worst affected zones now have just 27% and 28% active cases respectively.

Thanks to the micro planning and containment strategies of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and team, the number of recovered patients in zones of Chennai has been on a steady rise.

Of particular interest is the Tondiarpet Zone IV in which 72% of the patients (as of July 2, 9:00 AM) who tested positive have recovered. This zone has one of the highest recovery rates in India and the R factor, which is the effective reproductive capacity of the virus has come down below the threshold of 1.

The Tamil Nadu government has stuck to the mantra of 5 Ts (Trace, Track, Test, Treat and Tech). The State COVID control room on an average receives 2000 calls per day and has so far received more than 1.47 lakh calls. Door-to-door surveys are being done on a daily basis to monitor the health of all the residents in an area and fever camps have been arranged for people with symptoms to get tested. An Indian Express article quoted a Corporation health official say that 6.39 lakh people were checked at 9790 camps till June 29. Of them, 26,266 were identified having Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and swab samples of 22,371 of them were collected.

While an average of 1000 samples were collected across the camps put up in the city, the Tondiarpet and Royapuram areas collected 10,000.

On June 30, in the Tondiarpet zone, 15 key market places were identified and team of 16 health officials went on a door-to-door testing spree. Samples from 550 businessmen, vendors and shopowners, were taken and sent to the Kings Institute for testing. The Tondiarpet zone has a 2,200 strong field team.

Apart from this, 5 treatment centres have been commissioned in the Tondiarpet zone, of which the one at Ambedkar College is a Siddha based COVID care facility. The centre has the capacity to treat 224 patients with provisions for high quality satthvic food, herbal bath and Yoga. Testing would be done 3 times – One during the time of admission, and the 2 other times after the 7th day and 14th day.

Minister Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan who is responsible for the zone has been able to coordinate the efforts of various stakeholders which have yielded results. Experts have noted that the recovery rate signals that the spread is under control.

As of July 2 (9:00 AM), the number of recovered cases in Chennai has far surpassed the active cases with 36,826 recovered patients and 22,777 active patients.

China determined to prevent Britain from granting citizenship to Hong-Kong citizens

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

China says that Britain has no right to grant citizenship to Hong Kongers, following the protests related to the New Security Law, that was faced with worldwide backlash. It added that it “vowed to take ‘corresponding measures’ to stop such a move”. It added that the best UK could do was to “coercively force” China if it blocks Hong Kongers from leaving.

Liu Xiaoming, China’s Ambassador to the UK, was reported saying, “It is “clear … that all Chinese compatriots residing in Hong Kong are Chinese nationals, whether or not they are holders of the British Dependent Territories Citizens passport or the British National (Overseas) passport”.

This statement has been released after a promise by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, offering nearly 3 million residents of the former British colony, those with British National (Overseas) status (BNO), the right to settle in the UK. A similar statement was also released by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The United States has also approved new Hong Kong-related sanctions.

More than 400 people have been arrested in Hong Kong following the implementation of the new security law, following an opaque legislative process that took less than six weeks. The powers vested in the authorities of Mainland China due to this new law has been widely critiqued for its barbaric nature of treating those who have been arrested under it.

 

Smear campaign and false propaganda against CRPF surfaces

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

The picture of a three-year-old kid sitting atop his grandfather’s dead body after he was shot dead in the Kashmiri town of Sopore has been trending on social media and has caused a nationwide stir. He was shot dead by militants in a crossfire between the CRPF and the militants.

The CRPF, in a statement, had said that they had lost a Head Constable while three of their men were injured. They added that they had got off their vehicles to set up a routine checkpoint when the attack happened. “Militants hiding in the attic of a mosque started firing indiscriminately,” a CRPF spokesman said, identifying the deceased as Head Constable Deep Chand. While they fired back, the CRPF said, the militants managed to escape. This is the second attack on the CRPF in the last three months. In April, terrorists in the valley had fired at a CRPF contingent, killing three personnel.

The area has now been sealed and a search operation has been launched. Officials of the Indian Army and police are also on the spot.

In the light of this incident, a the conspiracy behind the smear campaign targeting the CRPF has surfaced on Twitter, which exposes that there is a coordinated attempt to spread false propaganda against the CRPF. This group, named “Psychological Warfare”, has been operating with the agenda of defaming the CRPF jawans by building a false narrative around this incident using the picture. Messages like “Don’t let them put the blame on the militants” was found in the group. Investigations are underway to find out the whereabouts of the group members.

Putin to remain Russian President till 2036 thanks to landslide vote

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-
Russian President Vladimir Putin shows his passport to a member of an election commission as he arrives to take part in voting at a polling station in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. The vote on the constitutional amendments that would reset the clock on Russian President Vladimir Putin's tenure and enable him to serve two more six-year terms is set to wrap up Wednesday. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Vladimir Putin, the former KGB officer who had been the President of Russia for over two decades now, was elected to continue his presidentship till 2036 after a landslide win. The election commission had released the results after counting 99.9% of ballots. Just 21% of voters had voted against him. The voter turnout was recorded at 65%, in an election period that was stretched over seven days due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Unlike the rest of the world, Russia has six-year terms for its Presidents. This means that this election win has earned Putin the right to run for two more six-year terms after his current term ends in 2024. This grants the Russian President, who is now aged 67, the right to rule until the age of 83.

These results were faced with a lot of dissent, since the opposition leader Alexei Navalny had cried foul play over the results. Navalny was quoted saying that this was nothing but an attempt to legalise Putin’s presidency for life. He said in a video that the opposition would not protest for now because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but would do so in big numbers in the autumn if its candidates were blocked from taking part in regional elections or their results were falsified.

A lot of sources attributed his victory to the prizes ranging from gift certificates to cars and apartments, which were offered as an encouragement to voters. Additionally, Putin had also ordered a Putin ordered one-off payments of 10,000 roubles (£113) to be sent to those with children.

Islamists trend #WhySoProud to conclude pride month, says homosexuality is ‘haram’

By
The Commune
-

As June 30 saw the conclusion of Pride Month, many Muslims on Twitter trended the hashtag #WhySoProud to take a dig at the LGBTQ+ community and condemn homosexuality. They claimed how homosexuality is against the tenets of Islam and is considered as ‘haram’.

https://twitter.com/Nur_1994_/status/1277611735558451210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1277611735558451210%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2020%2F07%2Fislam-haram-whysoproud-pride-month-islamists-quran-homophobic-tweets%2F

Some of them urged their fellow Muslims to be not support homosexuality just because the discourse was getting normalized while others openly came out with homophobic tweets.

https://twitter.com/OmarKhayyamCha1/status/1277606695242362880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1277606695242362880%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2020%2F07%2Fislam-haram-whysoproud-pride-month-islamists-quran-homophobic-tweets%2F

https://twitter.com/ommoath2018/status/1277618249350426630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1277618249350426630%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2020%2F07%2Fislam-haram-whysoproud-pride-month-islamists-quran-homophobic-tweets%2F

It is true that homosexuality is condemned in Islam. In Quran, ‘People of Lot’ were destroyed by the wrath of God as men had sex with men. Some Hadith collections too condemn homosexuality and transgender community. Death penalty is prescribed for male-male homesexual acts. Homosexuality invites death penalty in several Islamic states.

1...1,6381,6391,640...1,713Page 1,639 of 1,713
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
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube

NATIONAL NEWS

© The Commune 2025. All Rights Reserved.