SUBHADITYA NEWS CHANNEL PRESENTS NEWSWEEK 20/4/2024 : SCIENCE, POLITICAL,SPORTS, MOVIE AND BOOK NEWS OF THIS WEEK

 

1) A puzzling mix of artifacts raises questions about Homo sapiens' travels to China By Bruce Bower

New analysis suggests Shiyu holds the oldest evidence of H. sapiens in northeast Asia

More than half a century ago, Chinese researchers uncovered thousands of pieces of an ancient cultural puzzle.

Their summertime excavation about halfway up a hill overlooking northern China’s Shiyu River unearthed sharp-edged flakes that had been rapidly pounded off small rocks, a common Stone Age practice in the region. Yet the same sediment also contained more complicated types of stone implements.

Another unexpected discovery, part of a round piece of graphite with a hole in its center, resembled a large button. A chiseled bone, possibly a tool, also turned up, along with the bones of horses, gazelles and other animals.To top it off, the investigators found a piece of bone that they identified as a Homo sapiens braincase.

The unusual mishmash of artifacts left the Chinese scientists unable to say precisely what had happened at the Shiyu site, where temperatures stay frigid for much of the year, and how long ago toolmakers hung out there.

That puzzle received little scientific attention until the Shiyu site and its surviving array of stones and bones received fresh scientific scrutiny 50 years after the original excavation.

A new report based on that project portrays last century’s finds at Shiyu as the oldest evidence of H. sapiens in northeast Asia. Shiyu artifacts include rectangular stone implements, called blades by archaeologists, and other elements of what’s known as Initial Upper Paleolithic culture, which has previously been linked with H. sapiens, the scientists report January 18 in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Around 45,000 years ago, hunting groups that had followed animal herds through Siberia and Mongolia turned south and reached a river valley where Shiyu is located, say archaeologist Shi-Xia Yang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and colleagues. From Shiyu, human groups with roots in Africa rapidly forged east to Korea and Japan, researchers suspect.Shiyu’s unusual artifact array reflects a blending of Stone Age cultures, they contend. H. sapiens newcomers adapted to new surroundings and new neighbors by creating a hybrid toolkit. They combined toolmaking practices carried across northern Eurasia with tried-and-true implements made by local Homo groups, possibly Neandertals or Denisovans.

 

Shiyu’s mix of stone tools and other artifacts “represents an exceptionally rare opportunity to identify ancient cultural hybridization in Asia,” says archaeologist Evgeny Rybin of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, in Novosibirsk. Rybin does not belong to Yang’s team.

The new report still leaves big gaps in the Shiyu puzzle. It’s possible that Neandertals or Denisovans were the makers of all the Shiyu artifacts, not just the simpler ones. If that was the case, no cultural blending with H. sapiens foreigners occurred. Or shifts in Shiyu sediment layers over time mixed artifacts from occupations at different times by local groups and H. sapiens, muddying the who-did-what-when picture that researchers are now trying to piece together.

Middle East connection

Much of the argument for H. sapiens’ cultural mingling at Shiyu rests on the presence of what Yang’s team regards as Initial Upper Paleolithic tools.

A 1988 publication based on discoveries at an Israeli site called Boker Tachtit introduced the Initial Upper Paleolithic, or IUP for short. Many archaeologists have since treated IUP artifacts as signs of a cultural transition that occurred as H. sapiens groups trekked from Africa into Eurasia between around 60,000 and 30,000 years ago. That period, sandwiched between two ice ages, featured several shifts from cold, dry conditions to a warm, wet climate that would have aided long-distance travel.

Tools and ornaments unearthed at the Israeli site, which date to around 50,000 years ago, suggested that IUP traditions emerged alongside a much older, Middle Paleolithic way of life. Discoverers of IUP artifacts viewed them as H. sapiens’ first steps into Upper Paleolithic cultural practices, which lasted in various parts of the world until about 12,000 years ago.New-fangled IUP stone blades and triangular points appeared near sharp-edged stone flakes that had been pounded off rocks, known as cores, with prepared striking surfaces. Flakes and cores have a Middle Paleolithic pedigree, dating to as early as 300,000 years ago at sites in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa. Blades and points gained favor starting around 50,000 years ago.

Boker Tachtit investigators also saw signs of an increased interest in items with symbolic meanings among the remnants of IUP culture. Perforated seashells found at the Israeli site, once strung from necklaces, reflected novel IUP social or ritual behaviors, researchers suspected.

Mystery toolmakers

Discoveries in Turkey, southeastern Europe and western and central Asia have since been grouped under the IUP umbrella. Researchers generally attribute IUP artifacts to H. sapiens, although many sites — including Boker Tachtit — have yielded no fossils of their potential hominid toolmakers.

A cave site in southeastern Europe represents one exception. H. sapiens fossils found there, along with IUP artifacts, date to between about 46,000 and 44,000 years ago (SN: 5/11/20).A 21st century revolution in ancient DNA analysis further ramped up uncertainty about who made IUP items. Investigations now indicate that H. sapiens at least occasionally interbred with Neandertals and Denisovans during IUP times. Any of those populations, or their hybrid offspring, might have made IUP items (SN: 8/22/18).Only one other Chinese site, located about 500 kilometers west of Shiyu at the edge of the Mongolian Plateau, includes IUP stone blades. Those discoveries date to between 42,000 and 41,000 years ago. Prior to the new Shiyu report, fossil and ancient DNA evidence indicated that H. sapiens reached northeastern China’s Xiamabei site by around 40,000 years ago (SN: 4/4/07).

Shiyu’s unusual array of finds fits a scenario in which H. sapiens — already known to have arrived in southeastern Asia between around 120,000 and 60,000 years ago — took a separate route into northeastern Asia before mixing IUP-style blademaking with simpler tool practices of a native population, possibly Denisovans, says archaeologist and study coauthor Michael Petraglia of Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Previous excavations have indicated that whoever already lived in the Shiyu region made tools by striking sharp flakes off small, locally abundant rocks with handheld stones.

Regional variations in IUP tools, often influenced by the quality and size of available rocks, “show that once IUP populations spread [across Asia], they adapted to local circumstances, altering their behaviors and culture,” Petraglia says.

An unusual mix

Piecing together the Shiyu puzzle required taking a new, thorough look at the site and its previously excavated artifacts.

Shiyu’s original excavators briefly described their finds in a 1972 Chinese-language report. They had no way to generate reliable age estimates for what they had uncovered.

Aside from the challenge of establishing dates for that material, Yang’s team faced the sad reality that many Shiyu stones and bones had been lost over the years.

The 1963 dig had unearthed more than 15,000 stone artifacts, thousands of animal bones, that black disc with a hole carved in its center, the possible bone tool and the piece of a braincase. A biological anthropologist on the team assigned that fossil to H. sapiens.

A portion of the Shiyu finds, including 750 stone artifacts, 152 animal bones, the black disc and the bone implement were taken to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, where Yang now works. The remaining finds were held in small scientific facilities near Shiyu. Somewhere along the way, most of that material — including the proposed H. sapiens fossil — went missing.

Yang’s team visited Shiyu, a well-known site in archaeological circles, in 2013. The scientists generated dates for sediment layers at the site, including a roughly one-meter-thick layer where stone artifacts and animal bones had been excavated 50 years earlier. Age estimates relied on measures of the approximate time since sediment had last been exposed to sunlight and radiocarbon dates for newly unearthed animal remains.An analysis of surviving Shiyu finds conducted by the researchers identified a portion characterized by an IUP transitional mix of rectangular stone blades and Middle Paleolithic-style implements hammered off prepared chunks of rock. But many Shiyu stone artifacts consisted merely of flakes struck off small, round rocks. That technique dates to as early as about 2.1 million years ago at northern Chinese hominid sites, the scientists say, long before the evolutionary origin of H. sapiens around 300,000 years ago.

Taking the now-lost braincase fragment into account, they suspect that well-traveled H. sapiens combined their own brand of IUP tools with a simple, practical form of toolmaking that was common among locals.

That initial toolmaking exchange may have heralded others. Yang and colleagues have reported that stone tools and other artifacts excavated at the roughly 40,000-year-old Xiamabei site in northern China show signs of cultural give-and-take between H. sapiens and an unidentified Indigenous population (SN: 3/10/22).

But at Shiyu, cultural blending with locals did not make homebodies out of mobile H. sapiens. For instance, ancient Shiyu people made four tools out of obsidian obtained — possibly via a trade network — from sources 800 to 1,000 kilometers away, Yang and colleagues find. And analyses of butchered animal bones from the Chinese site indicate frequent consumption of wild horses, which hunters must have tracked across vast expanses.Two unusual objects from Shiyu may represent innovations by H. sapiens as they mixed with a local culture, the researchers suggest. That disc-shaped object made of graphite, with a hole in its center, may have served as a button, possibly for closing a cloak or a bag, they suspect. The bone tool had uncertain uses.

Despite such cultural tweaks, “IUP technologies have commonality across Eurasia and represent a key transition, suggesting the movement of human populations across great distances,” Petraglia says.

Siberian travelers

Shiyu’s IUP crowd did not exist in a geographic vacuum. Stone tool excavations conducted by different teams indicate that IUP cultures, presumably the products of mobile H. sapiens communities, spread through northern Asia around 45,000 years ago, says Rybin.

Growing evidence documents movements of IUP groups through open grasslands of three northern Siberian river valleys, located near Lake Baikal roughly 2,000 kilometers northwest of China’s Shiyu site, Rybin and colleagues report in the December 2023 Archaeological Research in Asia. Northern Siberian IUP sites excavated so far date to between roughly 45,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Stone tools at these sites include IUP-style stone blades and flakes. Siberian makers of IUP tools followed some distinctive practices, such as snapping large, thick blades in two to use as cores for striking off smaller implements. Different types and qualities of rock found across Eurasia influenced variations in the size and shape of IUP implements, Rybin says.

Hominid fossils have not turned up at Siberian IUP sites. But ancient DNA evidence identified a 45,000-year-old leg bone found near a present-day Siberian settlement in 2008 as that of a H. sapiens man with a small genetic inheritance from Neandertals (SN: 10/22/14). No stone tools accompanied that fossil find.Researchers have not unearthed any hints of IUP populations in northern Siberia encountering culturally distinct groups already living there, in situations akin to the newly proposed scenario at Shiyu, Rybin says.

Dueling scenarios

Hardy H. sapiens travelers possibly merged with Indigenous Homo communities at Shiyu around 45,000 years ago, says archaeologist John Shea of Stony Brook University in New York. But he views other scenarios as equally plausible.

For instance, Neandertals or Denisovans based in northeast Asia may have added stone blades and flakes to their toolmaking repertoire without any input from H. sapiens. These implements could have served as tips of spears or arrows well-suited to hunting animals across grasslands that expanded after around 50,000 years ago.

If that were the case, the now-lost H. sapiens fossil at Shiyu could have been present “because some early human wandered too deep into Neandertal country, got spotted, tracked, killed and eaten,” Shea speculates.

Or perhaps Shiyu’s contrasting types of stone artifacts were made and discarded around the same time by different Homo groups living near one another.

For instance, many Shiyu artifacts, including stone flakes and blades, resemble Middle Eastern and Iranian finds associated at some sites with H. sapiens fossils and at others with Neandertal remains, Shea says.

Using ancient stone tools to determine which hominids hung out at Shiyu 45,000 years ago “is like trying to reconstruct how many cultures contributed to the durable metal and plastic contents of a municipal trash can,” Shea says.

Sedimental journey

Whoever bashed stones at Shiyu, the products of their efforts do not look like classic IUP artifacts, says archaeologist Nicolas Teyssandier. Unlike IUP sites in the Middle East and southwest Asia, excavations at the Chinese site uncovered little debris typically generated during blade production and no triangular stone points, contends Teyssandier, of University Toulouse-Jean Jaurès in France.

“Most of the Shiyu stone artifacts look just like Middle Paleolithic [tools],” he says.

Shiyu artifacts, which were recovered before the adoption of modern excavation techniques, might originally have been deposited in older and younger sediment layers that became mixed over time, he says. If so, Shiyu artifacts could have accumulated during several occupations by Homo populations at different times.

But Petraglia doubts that scenario. Two closely aligned age estimates for different parts of Shiyu’s artifact-bearing layer indicate that this deposit formed rapidly as a geologically undisturbed unit, over perhaps a few hundred years, he says.

It may take just as long for scientists to reach a consensus on who did what at Shiyu 45,000 years ago. As the site’s original excavators would no doubt agree, ancient cultural puzzles come out of the ground far easier than they get reassembled.

2) This newfound longhorn beetle species is unusually fluffy By Saugat Bolakhe

Meet Excastra albopilosa, a newly identified species of longhorn beetle that rocks an unusually fluffy white coat.

Discovered in Australia, the fuzzy-looking arthropod also has distinct, separated eye lobes, short antennal segments and unique variations in the shapes of its legs. All these factors suggest the beetle may warrant being classified as its own genetic family, or genus, researchers report March 19 in the Australian Journal of Taxonomy.

Roughly 18,000 species of all kinds are discovered each year — at least half of which are insects. “I’m actually surprised that this species had not been discovered before,” says Menno Schilthuizen, an evolutionary biologist at Taxon Expeditions in Leiden, Netherlands, who was not involved in the study. The visually striking beetle, measuring nearly a centimeter in length, was found in a popular area among longhorn beetle enthusiasts.While staying at an ecolodge near Lamington National Park in Queensland, entomologist James Tweed had stepped out to brush his teeth when he stumbled across “some white thing” hanging on a long and narrow leaf of basket grass. Upon closer inspection, Tweed suspected the thing might be a type of longhorn beetle (Cerambycidae). He snapped a photo and uploaded it to iNaturalist, an app that helps people identify organisms. Other app users couldn’t identify it. Neither could the senior beetle experts at the Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra.

Together, the researchers scanned through the collection of all longhorn beetle databases of Australia. Given the newfound beetle’s distinct physical appearance, “we were pretty confident that this was a distinct genus and species,” says Tweed, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Its proposed name is derived from the Latin words Excastra, meaning “from a camp,” and albopilosa, meaning “white and hairy.”

Tweed and colleagues remain uncertain about the exact function of the white hairs. If the fluff gives predators the impression that the beetle has a fungal infection, then that might reduce the insect’s chances of getting eaten. Or perhaps the hairs help the beetle regulate its body temperature.

Discovering species that are new to science, Schilthuizen says, is a “very satisfying feeling.” Of the estimated 5 million insect species globally, researchers have named only about a million. The work is a way to “at least safeguard yet another species, add it to the scientific literature and make sure that somebody else recognizes it when they find it,” he says.

3) Scientists navigate the paradox of extreme cold events in a warming world :by Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology

According to Copernicus Climate Change Service, February 2024 was the warmest February ever recorded globally.However, North America, Asia, and parts of Europe experienced record-breaking cold temperatures. In some places, such as China's Mohe and Russia's Yakutsk, temperatures dipped to the life-threatening lowest levels. Alarmingly, this juxtaposition of increasing temperatures amidst extreme coldness pushes the future of our planet's climate into uncertainty.

This paradoxical situation is captured by the Warm Arctic-Cold Continent (WACC) phenomenon, where warm Arctic temperatures lead to sea-ice decline and cold blasts across specific mid-latitude regions. The Arctic's rapid warming indicates global climate change. However, as global warming and the Arctic's temperature keep increasing, it is unclear how WACC events will unfold in the coming decades.

To bridge this gap, a research group led by Professor Jin-Ho Yoon and including Ph.D. student Yungi Hong, both from the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, has recently investigated the dynamics and evolution of extreme winter weather events—technically known as WACC.

Using simulations of climate datasets, mainly obtained from the Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble Project, they forecasted the trajectory of WACC events in East Asia and North America, spanning from 1920 to 2100. The study's findings were published in the journal npj Climate and Atmospheric Science.Explaining their study, Prof. Yoon emphasizes, "The WACC pattern has significantly influenced winter climates, but what we see currently is merely the start of a drastic shift." The research team found that despite global warming, WACC events have continued to intensify until the 2020s.Prof. Yoon points out, "These events will sharply decline post-2030s. Yet, this decline does not mean reduced extreme weather events in the future. Instead, winters will get warmer as global warming intensifies. Although cold snaps will occur less frequently, they may have more severe consequences when they do happen."This declining trend will likely continue until the WACC phenomenon almost disappears by the late 21st century, bringing new extreme weather events.These findings reshape our understanding of the WACC events and highlight the need to update climate models for accurate predictions, enhancing preparation and response strategies. The findings also resonate with the hardships faced by communities worldwide, especially those in regions historically affected by the WACC.

With the drastic shift in the WACC trajectory lurking closer, immediate action is thus needed to refine global climate strategies and reassess how societies will prepare and adapt. In this regard, Mr. Hong says, "Understanding the impact of the drastic shift in WACC events and devising adaptation and mitigation strategies determines the future of our winter climate, and it's a stark reminder of the complexity of climate systems and the unexpected outcomes of climate change."

Overall, this study is a compelling call for communities, policymakers, and scientists to act. Collaboration and adaptation are needed, now more than ever, as we navigate the path to resilience against climate change.

4) First evidence of human occupation in lava tube cave in Saudi Arabia by Griffith University

Recent strides in interdisciplinary archaeological research in Arabia have unveiled new insights into the evolution and historical development of regional human populations, as well as the dynamic patterns of cultural change, migration, and adaptation to environmental fluctuations. Despite the challenges posed by limited preservation of archaeological assemblages and organic remains in arid environments, these discoveries are reshaping our understanding of the region's rich cultural heritage.

One such breakthrough led by Griffith University's Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), in collaboration with international partners, comes from the exploration of underground settings, including caves and lava tubes, which have remained largely untapped reservoirs of archaeological abundance in Arabia.

Through meticulous excavation and analysis, researchers have uncovered a wealth of evidence at Umm Jirsan, spanning from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age periods (~10,000–3,500 years ago)."Our findings at Umm Jirsan provide a rare glimpse into the lives of ancient peoples in Arabia, revealing repeated phases of human occupation and shedding light on the pastoralist activities that once thrived in this landscape," said Dr. Mathew Stewart, the lead researcher and a Research Fellow at ARCHE.

"This site likely served as a crucial waypoint along pastoral routes, linking key oases and facilitating cultural exchange and trade.".Rock art and faunal records attest to the pastoralist use of the lava tube and surrounding areas, painting a vivid picture of ancient lifeways.Depictions of cattle, sheep, goat and dogs corroborate the prehistoric livestock practices and herd composition of the region.

Isotopic analysis of animal remains indicates that livestock primarily grazed on wild grasses and shrubs, while humans maintained a diet rich in protein, with a notable increase in the consumption of C3 plants over time, suggesting the emergence of oasis agriculture.

"While underground localities are globally significant in archaeology and Quaternary science, our research represents the first comprehensive study of its kind in Saudi Arabia," added Professor Michael Petraglia, Director of ARCHE."These findings underscore the immense potential for interdisciplinary investigations in caves and lava tubes, offering a unique window into Arabia's ancient past."The research at Umm Jirsan underscores the importance of collaborative, multidisciplinary approaches to archaeological inquiry and highlights the significance of Arabia's archaeological heritage on the global stage.Researchers involved in this study work in close partnership with the Heritage Commission, Saudi Ministry of Culture, and the Saudi Geological Survey. Additional partners include King Saud University and key institutions in the UK, the US, and Germany.

5) Evolution's recipe book: How 'copy paste' errors led to insect flight, octopus camouflage and human cognition :by Center for Genomic Regulation

Seven hundred million years ago, a remarkable creature emerged for the first time. Though it may not have been much to look at by today's standards, the animal had a front and a back, a top and a bottom. This was a groundbreaking adaptation at the time, and one which laid down the basic body plan which most complex animals, including humans, would eventually inherit. The inconspicuous animal resided in the ancient seas of Earth, likely crawling along the seafloor. This was the last common ancestor of bilaterians, a vast supergroup of animals including vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals), and invertebrates (insects, arthropods, mollusks, worms, echinoderms and many more).

To this day, more than 7,000 groups of genes can be traced back to the last common ancestor of bilaterians, according to a study of 20 different bilaterian species including humans, sharks, mayflies, centipedes and octopuses. The findings were made by researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona and are published today in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Remarkably, the study found that around half of these ancestral genes have since been repurposed by animals for use in specific parts of the body, particularly in the brain and reproductive tissues. The findings are surprising because ancient, conserved genes usually have fundamental, important jobs that are needed in many parts of the body.

The octopus is helping us become masters of disguise EVO5

When the researchers took a closer look, they found a series of serendipitous "copy paste" errors during bilaterian evolution were to blame. For example, there was a significant moment early in the history of vertebrates. A bunch of tissue-specific genes first appeared coinciding with two whole genome duplication events.Animals could keep one copy for fundamental functions, while the second copy could be used as raw material for evolutionary innovation. Events like these, at varying degrees of scale, occurred constantly throughout the bilaterian evolutionary tree."Our genes are like a vast library of recipes that can be cooked up differently to create or change tissues and organs. Imagine you end up with two copies of a recipe for paella by accident. You can keep and enjoy the original recipe while evolution tweaks the extra copy so that it makes risotto instead.

"Now imagine the entire recipe book is copied—twice—and the possibilities it opens for evolution. The legacy of these events, which took place hundreds of millions of years ago, lives on in most complex animals today," explains Federica Mantica, author of the paper and researcher at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona.

The authors of the study found many examples of new, tissue-specific functions made possible by the specialization of these ancestral genes. For example, the TESMIN and tomb genes, which originated from the same ancestor, ended up independently playing a specialized role in the testis both in vertebrates and insects. Their importance is highlighted by the fact that problems with these genes can disrupt sperm production, affecting fertility in both mice and fruit flies.The specialization of ancestral genes also laid some foundations for the development of complex nervous systems. For example, in vertebrates, the researchers found genes critical for the formation of myelin sheaths around nerve cells, which are essential for fast nerve signal transmission. In humans they also identified FGF17, which is thought to play an important role in maintaining cognitive functions into old age.In insects, specific genes became specialized in muscles and in the epidermis for cuticle formation, contributing to their ability to fly. In the skin of octopuses, other genes became specialized to perceive light stimuli, contributing to their ability to change color, camouflage and communicate with other octopuses.

By studying the evolution of species at the tissue level, the study demonstrates that changes in the way genes are used in different parts of the body have played a big role in creating new and unique features in animals. In other words, when genes start acting in specific tissues, it can lead to the development of new physical traits or abilities, which ultimately contributes to animal evolution."Our work makes us rethink the roles and functions that genes play. It shows us that genes that are crucial for survival and have been preserved through millions of years can also very easily acquire new functions in evolution."It reflects evolution's balancing act between preserving vital roles and exploring new paths," concludes ICREA Research Professor Manuel Irimia, co-author of the paper and researcher at the Centre for Genomic Regulation.

6) Genetic link between Lankan tribe & Indians: Island's earliest inhabitants spring a surprise by G.S. Mudur ,Telegraph

A team of Indian and Sri Lankan scientists has found that the Vedda share a strong genetic similarity with the Austroasiatic Munda-speaking Santhal and Juang tribes in Odisha and the Dravidian-speaking Irula, Paniya and Pallar found in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Sri Lanka’s Vedda people, long believed to be the island’s earliest human inhabitants, share close genetic bonds with five Indian tribal populations, a new study has found, bolstering evidence for their roots in the Indian subcontinent’s earliest modern human populations.

A team of Indian and Sri Lankan scientists has found that the Vedda share a strong genetic similarity with the Austroasiatic Munda-speaking Santhal and Juang tribes in Odisha and the Dravidian-speaking Irula, Paniya and Pallar found in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.Their study, published this week in the scientific journal Mitochondrion, has revealed that the Vedda have a greater genetic similarity with these five tribes than with either Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese or Tamil populations with whom they have shared the island for centuries.

“This was a surprise — it shows Sri Lanka as an amazing place where three populations living side by side interacted very differently with one another,” Gyaneshwer Chaubey, a population geneticist at the Banaras Hindu University who supervised the study, said. The Sinhala and Tamil are massively mixed — you could call them genetically nearly indistinguishable, but the Vedda have remained largely isolated, they’ve maintained their identity by very low mixing,” Chaubey told The Telegraph.Archaeological excavations show that modern humans have been occupying Sri Lanka for the past 30,000 years, perhaps longer. The Vedda, originally hunter-gatherers, are the island’s only indigenous population and are believed to be the direct descendants of the island’s earliest inhabitants.“The Vedda have long intrigued anthropologists, historians and scientists because of their distinct language and culture,” said Kumarasamy Thangaraj, a scientist and study collaborator at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.

Kumarasamy added: “Our study unravels their genetic origins and affinities with Indian populations.”

The Vedda’s original language is linguistically isolated, unrelated to any known language. Chaubey said it was one of three such linguistically isolated languages on the subcontinent, alongside Nihali, spoken in central India, and Kusunda in Nepal.

For their study, the scientists extracted genetic material from blood samples collected from 37 healthy, maternally unrelated Vedda individuals and compared their genomic segments with those from other populations.

Their maternal ancestry analysis suggests that the Vedda are the descendants of people who arrived from the Indian subcontinent some 55,000 years ago and who were likely an offshoot of a branch of modern humans who moved out of Africa into India and Asia.

The genetic proximity of the Vedda with Indian tribal populations that were among the earliest populations in India shows their deep common genetic roots, Chaubey said.

“The study highlights a distinct demographic history of the Vedda,” said Anjana Welikala, a scientist at Colombo University and the study’s first author. The findings show that the Vedda largely remained genetically isolated despite the geographic proximity with the Sinhalese and Tamil populations.

Ruwandi Ranasingh, the study’s lead author at Colombo University, said the study had shown that the Vedda had preserved their distinct genetic makeup with limited gene flow from neighbouring Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil populations.A study by Ranasingh and her Indian collaborators had last year shown that Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese and Tamil populations shared exceptionally high levels of genetic similarities, implying centuries of intermingling despite the differences in their arrival history, ethnicity, and language.The Sinhalese had arrived in Sri Lanka between 800BC and 600BC while the island’s Tamil population are the descendants of arrivals from Tamil Nadu between 600BC and 300BC.British husband-wife anthropologists Charles Seligmann and Brenda Seligmann had in a treatise on the Vedda in 1911 proposed that they were related to the Dravidian jungle tribes in southern India but should be considered more primitive.

 

1) AAP alleges ‘plot to kill’ Arvind Kejriwal in jail, says he's being denied insulin; LG expresses ‘concerns’

VK Saxena expressed concern over allegations of non-provision of insulin to CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail and directed DG Prisons to submit a report within 24 hrs.Delhi cabinet minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi alleged on Thursday that there was a plot to harm Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case.However, these allegations were rejected by the jail authorities.

Atishi's allegations came hours after the ED claimed before a court in Delhi that Kejriwal is eating high-sugar foods like mangoes and sweets every day despite having Type 2 diabetes to create grounds for medical bail or shift to a hospital.Atihsi told a press conference that the Tihar jail administration had denied the Chief Minister's requests for insulin and attempts to arrange a video conference with his doctor were facing opposition from the ED and the prison officials.

“For the past several days, his blood sugar level has been consistently above 300 mg/dL. Despite Kejriwal's repeated requests, he is not being given insulin, and his sugar level is increasing. He is not being given medication because there is a plot to kill him," she alleged.In response to Atishi's statements during her press conference, the Tihar jail administration rejected her claims regarding Kejriwal's health issues. They stated that his fasting sugar level remained within acceptable parameters and never exceeded 300.As reported by PTI, citing a jail official based on anonymity, “As per the court orders, he has been served home-cooked food and medicines. His health is being watched and looked after by two doctors in the jail."The Tihar jail has 250 patients having sugar issues, which include Kejriwal. All of them are looked after by the doctors in their jails," he added.

At her press conference, Atishi said Kejriwal is a severe diabetic and accused the ED of lying about his diet. “Today, the BJP is trying to harm Arvind Kejriwal's health through its 'covert organisation', the ED, attempting to stop his home-cooked meals. The ED has spread rumours and repeatedly lied in the court that Arvind Kejriwal is drinking sweet tea and eating sweets," she said.I would like to tell the ED and BJP to consult any diabetes doctor. They always advise serious diabetes patients to keep two things handy for emergencies. They are advised to keep bananas or any kind of toffee or chocolate because blood sugar levels of serious diabetes patients can suddenly drop, posing a risk to their lives," she said.Furthermore, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has instructed the Director General (DG) of Prisons to provide a ‘factual and comprehensive’ report regarding the AAP's allegations that Kejriwal “did not receive insulin while in Tihar jail."

Additionally, the Delhi LG assured that any negligence concerning CM Kejriwal's health would not be tolerated.

According to an official statement from Raj Niwas issued on Thursday night, the LG expressed concern over reports based on statements by the ministers and ruling AAP leaders alleging non-provision of insulin to CM Kejriwal.“VK Saxena has expressed grave concern over reports based on statements by Ministers & AAP leaders alleging non-provision of insulin to CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is in jail & purported “conspiracies" against him," the Raj Niwas said in a post on X.

“Shri Saxena has asked DG Prisons to submit a factual and comprehensive report on the matter within 24 hrs," it said.

The Raj Niwas further said, “Although Prisons as a transferred subject comes directly & totally under the AAP Govt, LG has assured that no laxity with regards to CM's health will be tolerated."Earlier on Thursday, ED made allegations regarding Arvind Kejriwal's dietary preferences before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, who handles CBI and ED cases. Judge Baweja directed the Tihar jail authorities to submit a report on the matter, including Kejriwal's diet chart.On April 15, the trial court further prolonged Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody until April 23. The ED alleged that the AAP is the primary recipient of the funds generated from the alleged liquor scam.

2) Lok Sabha Elections 2024: How exact are the opinion polls? It's been hit-and-miss affair so far

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The opinion polls during the 1998 Lok Sabha Elections were “almost accurate”, while predictions in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections were complete “shocker” for poll pundits.The accuracy of the opinion polls for the Lok Sabha Elections in the past has been a hit-and-miss affair. As the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) correctly puts it, the opinion polls and seat predictions have been "a mixed bag of successes as well as failures".

Here's what happened in past Lok Sabha elections:

The Delhi-based CSDS  earlier released a detailed analysis of how accurate were the opinion polls during the Lok Sabha Elections from 1998 to 2009. A political party needs to win 272 seats of the total 543 seats to gain a majority in the Lok Sabha in India. The report revealed that the pre-election opinion polls in the 1998 Lok Sabha Elections were "almost accurate", while the prediction in the 1999 elections "slightly overestimated" the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The BJP first rose to power at the Centre in 1996. The party retained the power in the 1998 and 1999 general elections.In the 2004 Lok Sabha poll, the actual results were a "shocker" for many poll pundits. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was "completely underestimated" by the opinion polls/exit polls conducted during the various phases of the elections. As per the CSDS report, all the opinion polls in 2004 had predicted that the NDA would be able to retain power at the Centre. However, it was the Congress that ousted the BJP to form the national government again.

Five years later, the opinion polls during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections once again failed to predict the victory of the Congress-led UPA. Back then, the "predictions had failed to see the Congress upsurge". The UPA had increased its tally from 222 seats in 2004 to 262 seats in 2009.Meanwhile, in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the NDA was estimated to win around 257-340 seats. However, the NDA's actual tally was at over 336 seats. According to reports, some of the opinion/exit polls had then correctly predicted the "lowest-ever" tally for the Congress. The grand-old party had won 44 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. The UPA, in total, had won 59 seats.

Later, in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, pollsters had predicted around 285 seats for the NDA. However, the BJP-led alliance marked a landslide victory by winning 353 seats, with the BJP alone securing 303 seats. This was the result not many thought was possible. The Congress had won 52 seats and its UPA 91 seats.

What's predicted for 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

Most pollsters have predicted a third for the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. However, the alliance may fall short of achieving its 400+ target.

Pre-Poll survey            NDA                      INDIA bloc

ABP-CVoter Survey      373 (BJP: 323)    155 (Congress: 65)

India TV-CNX Opinion Poll       393 (BJP: 343)  99 (Congress: 40)

Times Now-ETG Survey           386       118

India Today          335 (BJP: 304)                 166 (Congress: 71)

Zee News-Matriz Opinion Poll  377                   94

Now, how close these numbers get to the actual figure will only become clear on June 4, when the results for the Lok Sabha Elections will be declared. This year, the Lok Sabha polls will take place in seven phases. The voting begins on Friday, April 19.

Exit Polls Vs Opinion Polls

Exit polls and opinion polls are two different things. Exit polls are conducted by researchers who ask voters how they have voted just after they leave the polling station on poll day. But an opinion poll is a voter behaviour survey conducted in order to find out the opinion of the people, including those who may or may not vote, before voting takes place. History of Exit-Opinion Polls

CSDS is considered the pioneer of Exit Polls in India. The Delhi based firm indigenously developed the exercise in the 1960s. The media poll surveys started surfacing in the 1980s, with psephologist Prannoy Roy partnering up with David Butler.

3) Lok Sabha Elections 2024: PM Modi on West UP campaign trail with rally in Amroha today

The Prime Minister is scheduled to address a rally in Western Uttar Pradesh's Amroha on Friday. Thereafter, he will address rallies in Aligarh, Hathras, Bareilly, Agra, to name a few, in the coming days.Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to kick off another campaign drive in Western Uttar Pradesh with rallies and road shows beginning April 19, when voting begins in 102 parliamentary constituencies in the first phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024.The Prime Minister has already addressed three rallies in western Uttar Pradesh, in Meerut, Saharanpur, and Pilibhit. Eight seats in Western Uttar Pradesh are voting in the first phase on Friday. These include Saharanpur, Bijnor, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Nagina, Moradabad, Rampur, and Pilibhit.

The PM will address a rally in Western Uttar Pradesh's Amroha on Friday. Amroha, which will go to polls in the second phase on April 26, is one of the 16 parliamentary seats that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost in the 2019 general elections. Kunwar Danish Ali, who won the seat in 2019 on a BSP ticket, is contesting again in 2024 as a Congress-SP candidate from Amroha. The BJP has fielded Devendra Nagpal from the seat.

A day after PM Modi's rally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav are scheduled to be present for the INDIA bloc's campaigning in Amroha on April 20.

After Amroha, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Hathras and Aligarh Lok Sabha constituencies on April 22. The BJP won both seats in 2019. The saffron party has replaced the sitting member of parliament from Hathras, Rajveer Singh Diler, by fielding Anoop Valmiki from the seat. In Aligarh, the sitting MP Satish Gautam is contesting again. The Hathras and Aligarh rallies will be followed by PM Modi's public meetings in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri on April 25. BJP candidate SP Singh Baghel is a sitting MP from Agra and a Union minister of state. The BJP has fielded sitting MP Raj Kumar Chahar from Fatehpur Sikri.PM Modi is also scheduled to address rallies in Bareilly, Aonla and Shahjahanpur on April 25. The BJP faced discontent in Bareilly after the party denied a Lok Sabha ticket to Santosh Gangwar, a former minister and Bareilly's sitting MP. Gangwar resigned as Union Labour Minister ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 polls.

Earlier this month, supporters of Santosh Gangwar, a Kurmi leader who was allegedly insulted by Bareilly mayor Umesh Gautam, staged a protest outside the home of BJP's state president Bhupendra Chaudhary over the “insult".

4) 'There are two Indias...': In Kerala, Rahul Gandhi takes dig at BJP over rich-poor divide

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: While speaking at a public rally in the Palakkad district of Kerala, Rahul Gandhi said one India ‘belongs to the billionaires, where they can fulfil all their dreams, and the other is where a large mass of Indian people live’.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre over growing disparities in economic prosperity in the country. Addressing an election campaign rally in Kerala's Palakkad district, the senior Congress leader said "there are two Indias". One India "belongs to the billionaires, where they can fulfil all their dreams, and the other is where a large mass of Indian people live", he stated.

With the Lok Sabha elections 2024 just around the corner, he emphasises that a significant “inequality has been created in our country".“There are 22 people in our country who have more wealth than 70 crore people. And there are also 70 crore people in India who earn less than ₹100 a day," Gandhi said.During his speech, he also highlighted the high level of taxes paid by the poor and middle-class people. "The poor and middle class pay taxes. The poorest person in India pays the same GST [Goods and Services Tax] as Mr [Gautam] Adani… The entire GST money goes into the hands of rich people," he said.

Gandhi went on to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “forgiving 16 lakh crore worth of bank loans of the richest 25 Indians".He further targeted the BJP, saying that its idea of 'One Nation, One Language, One Religion' is designed to divide India.

"The idea of the BJP is to create instability and disharmony in India, and make one Indian fight with another Indian. In the end, all they do is give away India's wealth to a few people who are close to the PM," Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi is contesting as a Congress candidate from his stronghold Wayanad seat in Kerala. After filing his nomination, he had promised that he would be with the people of Wayanad on all issues, including human-animal conflicts. "I was always ready to bring Wayanad's issues to the attention of nation and world," he said.

“There is an issue of man-animal conflict, medical college issue. I stand with the people of Wayanad in this fight. We have tried to pressurise the government on the medical college, I have written letters to the CM. But unfortunately, they have not moved forward," Gandhi pointed out.

5) Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase One: Full list of constituencies voting on April 19

Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Phase One Voting schedule: The first phase of polling will be held in 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states on Friday.Lok Sabha Election 2024, Phase One voting: The voting for the high-octane Lok Sabha Elections is set to begin on Friday, April 19. The first phase of polling will be held in 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states on Friday. As per the Elections Commission's schedule, the Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases. The results, to be declared on June 4, will decide the next Prime Minister of the country.

> Arunachal Pradesh: All 2 Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Arunachal West

2. Arunachal East

> Assam: 5 (of 14) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Kaziranga

2. Sonitpur

3. Lakhimpur

4. Dibrugarh

5. Jorhat

> Bihar: 4 (of 4) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Aurangabad

2. Gaya (SC)

3. 39 Nawada

4. Jamui

> Chhattisgarh: 1 (of 11) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Bastar

> Madhya Pradesh: 6 (of 29) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Sidhi

2. 12 Shahdol ST

3. 13 Jabalpur

4. 14 Mandla ST

5. 15 Balaghat

6. Chhindwara

> Maharashtra: 5 (of 48) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Ramtek

2. Nagpur

3. Bhandara - Gondiya

4. Gadchiroli - Chimur

5. Chandrapur

> Manipur: All 2 Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Inner Manipur

2. Outer Manipur

> Meghalaya: All 2 Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Shillong

2. Tura

> Mizoram: 1 Lok Sabha constituency

1. Mizoram

> Nagaland: 1 Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Nagaland

> Rajasthan: 12 (of 25) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Ganganagar

2. Bikaner

3. Churu

4. Jhunjhunu

5. Sikar

6. Jaipur Rural

7. Jaipur

8. Alwar

9. Bharatpur

10. Karauli-Dholpur

11. Dausa

12. Nagaur

> Sikkim: 1 Lok Sabha constituency

1. Sikkim

> Tamil Nadu: All 39 Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Tiruvallur SC 2. Chennai North 3. Chennai South 4. Chennai Central

5. Sriperumbudur 6. Kancheepuram SC7. Arakkonam 8. Vellore 9. Krishnagiri

10. Dharmapuri 11. Tiruvannamalai 12. Arani 13. Viluppuram SC 14. Kallakurichi

15. Salem 16. Namakkal 17. Erode 18. Tiruppur 19. Nilgiris SC 20. COimbatore

21. Pollachi 22. Dindigul 23. Karur 24. Tiruchirappalli 25. Perambalur 26. Cuddalore

27. Chidambaram SC 28. Mayiladuthurai 29. Nagapattinam 30. Thanjavur 31. Sivaganga

32. Madurai  33. Theni 34. Virudhunagar 35. Ramanathapuram 36. Thoothukkudi

37. Tenkasi SC 38. Tirunelveli  39. Kanniyakumari

> Tripura: 1 (of 2) Lok Sabha constituency

1. Tripura West

> Uttar Pradesh: 8 (of 80) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Saharanpur GEN

2. Kairana GEN

3. Muzaffarnagar

4. Bijnor GEN

5. Nagina

6. Moradabad GEN

7. Rampur GE

8. Pilibhit

> Uttarakhand: All 5 Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Tehri Garhwal

2. Garhwal

3. Almora SC

4. Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar

5. Hardwar

> West Bengal: 3 (of 42) Lok Sabha constituencies

1. Coochbehar SC

2. Alipurduars ST

3. Jalpaiguri

> Andaman And Nicobar: 1 Lok Sabha constituencies

1.Andaman and Nicobar islands

> Jammu and Kashmir: 1 (of 5) Lok Sabha constituency

1. Udhampur

> Lakshadweep: 1 Lok Sabha constituency

1. Lakshadweep

> Puducherry: 1 Lok Sabha constituency

1. Puducherry

6) SC directs ECI to look into ‘extra vote to BJP’ allegation in Kerala mock poll; ‘alarming,’ says Supriya Sule

Hearing petitions seeking cross-verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with paper slips generated through the VVPAT system, the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta emphasized the importance of sanctity in the electoral process.The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to investigate the allegations that during a mock poll in Kasaragod, Kerala, four EVMs recorded one extra vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The top court observed that this is an electoral process, and there has to be sanctity to it. Let nobody harbour apprehensions that something expected is not being done.Hearing petitions seeking cross-verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with paper slips generated through the VVPAT system, the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta emphasized the importance of sanctity in the electoral process. They asked the poll body to explain the detailed steps taken to ensure free and fair elections.The court asked ECI counsel Maninder Singh to ‘look into it’.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), cited a report published by Manorama Online about the complaints raised regarding the mock polls conducted on the EVMs in Kerala's Kasargod constituency on April 17.

As per the report, both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) gave complaints to the District Collector that at least four electronic voting machines (EVM) erroneously registered extra votes in favour of the BJP.

According to reports, “At least four VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines printed one extra slip each with the BJP’s lotus symbol during a mock poll in Kerala’s Kasaragod on Wednesday, April 17."The paper slip produced by the VVPAT can be unsealed and is stored in a sealed cover in case of dispute.

Currently, each Assembly segment's five randomly chosen EVMs' VVPAT slips are validated. The petitions ask for a cross-verification of each vote in response to the opposition's concerns and queries about the electronic voting machine technology.

Meanwhile, the opposition leaders have called it alarming, asserting that the incident highlights the urgent need for a thorough examination of voting infrastructure. “This incident once again highlights the urgent need for a thorough examination of our voting infrastructure. Every citizen deserves the assurance that their vote will be accurately recorded and counted," said Supriya Sule, NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader and Lok Sabha MP.

Opposition parties in the INDIA bloc have been demanding complete (100 per cent) counting of VVPATs to increase public confidence in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. The opposition alleges that the poll panel had refused to meet a delegation of party leaders from INDIA bloc on the issue.Introduced first time in India in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, VVPAT is basically a ballot-less vote verification system connected with the EVM. The VVPAT generates a paper slip to be viewed by the voter and allows him/her to verify whether the vote was cast correctly on the EVM. The slip contains the name and symbol of the party they have voted for.

7) SC reserves verdict on EVM-VVPAT cross-verification pleas as EC denies ‘extra vote for BJP’ reports | 10 highlights

SC reserved its verdict on petitions seeking 100% cross-verification of EVM votes with VVPATs. The plea by ADR highlighted the lack of voter verification procedures, suggesting longer display of VVPAT slips. Various suggestions were made during the hearing to enhance electoral transparency The Supreme Court of India on Thursday reserved its verdict on a clutch of petitions demanding 100% cross-verification of votes cast on EVMs with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs). A plea was filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking cross verification of votes cast by voters as ‘counted as recorded’ in the EVM with the VVPAT.

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday reserved its verdict on a clutch of petitions demanding 100% cross-verification of votes cast on EVMs with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs). A plea was filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking cross verification of votes cast by voters as ‘counted as recorded’ in the EVM with the VVPAT. The petitioner had mentioned that there is no procedure marked by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the voter to verify that that their vote has been counted as recorded causing a dent in voter verifiability.

The requirement of the voters verifying that their votes have been "recorded as cast" is somewhat met when the VVPAT slip is displayed for about seven seconds after pressing the button on the EVM through a transparent window for the voters to verify that their vote has been recorded on the internally printed VVPAT slip before the slip falls into the 'ballot box', the plea stated.EVM-VVPAT case: 10 points

-The Supreme Court bench hearing the petition on VVPAT-EVM vote cross-verification told the Election Commission that they need to explain the steps taken to maintain the ‘sanctity’ of the electoral process. "Let nobody have apprehension that something which is expected is not being done," the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said.

-During the hearing Advocate Nizam Pasha suggested that voters be able to take home the VVPAT slip after they have cast their votes.

-The SC bench flagged the aspect of privacy on the suggested solution. To this Pasha said, "Voter privacy cannot be used to defeat voter's rights."

-During the hearing advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioners suggested that the light (currently on for just seven seconds) should be on for a long time so that a voter can see the VVPAT slip going into the box after the vote is cast.-Senior advocate Sanjay Hedge said there should be a separate audit to add greater credibility to the counting process-The petitioners have also sought reversal of the poll panel's 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque glass through which a voter can see the slip only when the light is on for seven seconds.

-The petitioners cited a report on mock poll result in Kerala's Kasaragod, where three extra votes were recorded for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The EC later claimed that the report was false-On April 16, the Supreme Court had deprecated criticism of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and calls for reverting to ballot papers, saying the electoral process in India is a "humongous task" and attempts should not be made to "bring down the system".-The VVPAT is an independent vote verification system that enables an elector to see whether their vote has been cast correctly

-The VVPAT that is placed next to the EVM is a polling booth, generates a paper slip that is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened if there is a dispute in the vote cast. Currently, VVPAT slips of five randomly selected EVMs in every assembly segment are verified

8) Lok Sabha Election 2024 LIVE Updates: Bengal Records Highest Turnout, Bihar Lowest

Voting for the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections commenced on Friday, 19 April at 7 am.

A few of the key contenders who are in the running for Phase 1 are Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Kiren Rijiju, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, DMK leader K Kanimozhi, former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb, and ASP's Chandrashekhar Azad 'Ravan'.

KEY FACTS:

Polling booths opened for voting in Phase 1 at 7am and closed at 6pm.

The highest voter turnout during polling under Phase 1 till 7 pm was recorded in West Bengal at 77.57 percent.

Bihar witnessed the lowest turnout at 47.49 percent till 7 pm.

The estimated average voter turnout stood at 60 percent .

Over 16.63 crore voters are expected to cast their votes at around 1.87 lakh polling stations in Phase 1.

Out of this, 35.67 lakh people will be casting their votes for the first time.

A total of 1,625 candidates were in the fray in states under Phase 1.

The largest number of seats headed to polls in Phase 1 was from south India.

The estimated voter turnout for the first phase of the Lok Sabha till 3 pm stood at 49.78 percent, said the Election Commission of Commission.

SP Candidate Alleges Booth Capturing in Muzaffarnagar

In a letter addressed to the Election Commission, Muzaffarnagar INDIA bloc candidate and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Harendra Singh Malik accused "BJP agents" of capturing a polling booth in Kutba village, according to a report by PTI.

He further requested that paramilitary forces be deployed to the area, the report added.

Three Injured in Firing at Manipur Polling Booth

Miscreants opened fire at a polling station in Thamanpokpi in Manipur's Moirang Assembly segment. The incident has left three individuals injured.

Furthermore, reports of vandalism have also emerged from a polling station in the Thongju Assembly seat, located in Manipur's Imphal East district. These incidents have occurred amidst the ongoing voting process in the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Manipur has registered a voter turnout of over 29 percent till 11am, according to the Election Commission.

Poll Violence Reported in Bengal, Chhattisgarh

As three Lok Sabha constituencies (Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, and Jalpaiguri) in West Bengal headed to polls, BJP and TMC workers accused each other of being behind the violence reported in the state on Friday, 19 April.

West Bengal elections violence report TMC polling agent beaten Coochbehar

The BJP alleged that TMC supporters in Chandamari had pelted stones and injured the party's booth president. Meanwhile, the Mamata Banerjee-led party claimed that their workers had been attacked by BJP workers in Sitalkuchi and Chotosalbari Gram Panchayats, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Assembly elections Chhattisgarh phase 1 turnout 71% amid Maoist violence, boycott call

"The instances of violence, whether during elections or otherwise, are very very disturbing. In the last few months, I can only speak about the period I took over as the Governor, I have been focusing on reducing violence in the state. I understand that all stakeholders in the process - the civil society, the government, the political parties, the silent majority, youth, women and media - all have a stake in this. Unless all of them work together, we cannot reduce or end violence in Bengal," West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose was quoted as saying by PTI.

In Chhattisgarh's Bijapur, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan has reportedly suffered injuries from a grenade cell blast on Phase 1 polling day. Voting is underway in the state's conflict-ridden Bastar region where over 29 Maoists were reportedly killed by security forces in a major operation earlier this week.

 

 

 1) Candidates Round 12: Gukesh in a three-way tie for first place with Nepo and Hikaru

The 17-year-old Indian used an opening surprise with Black to win against Nijat Abasov; Caruana defeats Vidit to stay half a point off the lead.India’s D Gukesh is in a three-way tie for first place with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura after Round 12 of the Candidates tournament. Two more rounds remain until the World Championship challenger is decided. Fabiano Caruana who is having a late resurgence, defeated India’s Vidit Gujrathi with the White pieces to find himself half a point off the first place.

Gukesh used a rare and somewhat dubious 4…h6 opening idea in the Nimzo-Indian. His opponent Nijat Abasov was suitably surprised and went into extended periods of thought but still managed to come up with logical moves. The Indian’s plan was clear – to throw off his opponent who hadn’t lost a game with White in the tournament and play for a win. The endgame held drawing chances for Abasov and the Indian was glad that the Azerbaijani didn’t spot it perhaps.Gukesh played out his moves quickly while Abasov struggled with time pressure and ended up making a couple of inaccuracies. “He didn’t take pawn (on a3) and after that my knight was active and I was a pawn up,” said Gukesh. “I think it will come down to whoever plays good chess in the last two rounds, manages to remain focused. I feel pretty good physically and mentally. From the start, I’ve been in good shape. I don’t feel any kind of exhaustion.”

Caruana managed to stay in the hunt after an unimpressive start in the tournament. He found a win with White over India’s Vidit Gujrathi. White moved into a small advantage after bringing on the exchange of bishops with 22…Qxe.

After his painful loss in Round 11, the 29-year-old Indian was outplayed by the world No. 2 who is now trying to keep up with the leaders.

“My results have kept me alive, said Caruana after the game, “I started to play better and feel better and started to win some games finally after a long time..every other tournament doesn’t compare to this in pressure and stakes.”

Nakamura defeated Alireza Firouzja with White for his third straight win to join Nepomniachtchi and Gukesh in the lead. While Praggnanandhaa and Nepomniachtchi played out the only draw in the Open section.

Round 12 results

Open

Hikaru Nakamura (7.5) beat Alireza Firouzja (4.5

Nijat Abasov (3) lost to Gukesh D (7.5)

Fabiano Caruana (7) beat Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (5)

Ian Nepomniachtchi (7.5) drew Praggnanandhaa R (6)

Women

Kateryna Lagno (6) drew Lei Tingjie (7.5)

Anna Muzychuk (4.5) lost to Vaishali Rameshbabu (5.5)

Aleksandra Goryachkina (6) drew Koneru Humpy (6)

Nurgyul Salimova (4.5) drew Tan Zhongyi (8)

Round 13 pairings

Ian Nepomniachtchi - Hikaru Nakamura

Praggnanandhaa R - Fabiano Caruana

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi - Nijat Abasov

Gukesh D - Alireza Firouzja

Women

Nurgyul Salimova - Kateryna Lagno

Tan Zongyi - Aleksandra Goryachkina

Humpy Koneru - Anna Muzychuk

Vaishali Rameshbabu - Lei Tingjie

2) Vinesh, Aman to lead India's charge in Bishkek

Indian wrestling will hope to take a small but significant step towards redemption when the 17-strong contingent takes the mat at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers Around the same time last year, when three of India's most celebrated wrestlers began the second phase of their protest against then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president, few would have envisaged the ripple effect it would have on the fortunes of wrestling itself. With less than 100 days to go for the Olympics and only a solitary quota to show, Indian wrestling will hope to take a small but significant step towards redemption when the 17-strong contingent takes the mat at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers that begin in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

The competition will offer 36 quotas -- two in each of the 18 weight classes -- across freestyle, women, and Greco Roman divisions. The two finalists in each weight category will earn a ticket to Paris for their countries. There will neither be any gold and bronze-medal bouts nor a repechage.

The qualifiers will also mark the return of double World Championships bronze medallist Vinesh Phogat to international competitions after 19 months. Her last international appearance was at the 2022 World Championships in Serbia while much of her 2023 was spent taking on the might of former WFI boss Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Phogat entered the Budapest Ranking Series last July but withdrew on the eve of competition citing fever and food poisoning.

Since then, the 29-year-old has won the Nationals (55kg) as well as the selection trials for Olympic qualifiers while choosing to forego her pet 53kg class. India already has a quota in that weight category through Antim Panghal, and Phogat, desperate for a third Olympic appearance and unsure of weather WFI will conduct a final selection trial, moved to the lighter weight class. Before the trials in Patiala where she competed in both 50kg and 53kg events -- she tanked the 53kg semifinal -- Phogat's last appearance in the 50kg bracket was back in 2019.

With her maintenance weight usually around 55kg, it will be a monumental task for the seasoned wrestler to retain her strength while cutting weight. The run-up to the competition also saw Phogat taking to social media to complain about the delay in accreditation to her persoanl coach Woller Akos and physiotherapist. That issue has now been resolved, and a favourable draw in Bishkek means she will have very little to complain about.With Japan, China and Mongolia having already secured a quota at last year's World Championships, the only real challenge Phogat is likely to encounter is from Asian Games silver medalist from North Kotrrea, Son Hyang Kim. Phogat would remember her from the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018 where the two were pitted in opposite brackets. While the North Korean lost her semi-final to Japan's Yuki Irie, Phogat, then at the peak of her powers, had beaten Irie to claim the gold medal.

Besides Hyang Kim, Uzbekistan's Aktenge Keunimjaeva, the Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist, will also be a challenger.

Tokyo Olympian Anshu Malik (57kg) will be another Indian to watch out for. Brimming with confidence after a fruitful training stint in Japan, Malik has regularly outsmarted the experienced Sarita Mor in domestic meets. In the 76kg division, under-23 world champion Reetika will be up against top-seed Asian Games bronze medalist from China Juan Wang two-time world silver medalist (72kg) Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan.

3) Knee injury ends Sreeshankar's Paris dream

In an emotional social media post on Thursday, Tokyo Olympian Sreeshankar revealed he suffered a knee injury during training on Tuesday

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, who had breached the Paris Olympics qualification mark during a brilliant 2023 season, has been ruled out of the Olympics and the entire year due to a knee injury, in a significant blow to the athlete as well as India's track and field contingent for the Games.In an emotional social media post on Thursday, Tokyo Olympian Sreeshankar revealed he suffered a knee injury during training on Tuesday. After conducting the required tests, it was ascertained that it would require surgery, "ruling me out of the one single thing I have chased relentlessly

all these years", he said.

"Unfortunately, in what feels like a nightmare, but is a reality, my Paris Olympic Games dream is over,” Sreeshankar added in his post.

It is an injury to the patellar tendon, which connects the bottom of kneecap to top of shinbone. Sreeshankar is in Mumbai currently, where he has already consulted Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, member of SAI's Central Core Team of the Central Athlete Injury Management System.Sreeshankar's father and coach S Murali said the athlete has been told that surgery in mandatory.

"It happened on Tuesday evening during training. We were planning for a full jump and after warming up with a small jump when the injury happened. I think it happened during take-off because when he landed he was in pain," said Murali. "We went to hospital and did an MRI instantly. Then he went to Mumbai where Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala said surgery is mandatory. We are planning to go to Doha for one more opinion on where to do the surgery."

Adille Sumariwalla, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president, said it was a “freak injury, from what I understand”.

“He told me he felt fine during training, and it wasn't an impact or anything like that. But then he felt like something snapped (in his knee). It was a freak thing that happened; an injury like this doesn’t happen in training or in competition," Sumariwalla said, adding that the jumper will be out of action for months.

4) Wrestlers Deepak, Sujeet stuck in Dubai, in race against time to reach Bishkek

Continuous flight cancellations owing to rains in Dubai means the wrestlers' chances of making it to Bishkek for the Olympic qualifier hangs by a thread Wrestlers Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalkal are stranded at Dubai International Airport owing to a spate of flight cancellations triggered by unprecedented rains in the Emirates. The situation has put the duo's participation in the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in serious jeopardy.

The wrestlers, along with Punia's coach Kamal Malikov and physiotherapist Shubham Gupta, arrived in Dubai from Dagestan in Russia -- where they had a two-week training stint starting April 2 -- on Tuesday evening to board their flight to Bishkek. Punia competes in the 86kg class while Sujeet fights in 65kg category.

"Both wrestlers were in great spirits in Russia and were confident of winning a quota. It's really unfortunate that they are in such a mess. They were raring to go to Bishkek," Dayanand Kalkal, Sujeet's father and coach, said.

However, their flight, scheduled at around 10:30pm local time, was cancelled, forcing the group to spend the night at the terminal. The airline booked them on the same flight the next day, but that too got cancelled."It's a terrible situation. They are sleeping on the floor. Their diet has gone haywire. They haven't trained for two days. Imagine their mental state at the moment," said Dayanand Kalkal, Sujeet's father and coach.

The wrestlers, both vegetarians, are surviving on sandwiches and slices of bread. "They are eating just enough to quell their hunger. Too much of carbohydrate is not ideal for them since they need to watch their weights too," coach Lalit Kumar, who trains Punia at Delhi's Chhatrasal Stadium, said.

"Punia was 4-5kgs overweight as on Tuesday and he is trying his best to cut the extra kilos. They had planned to reach Bishkek two days before the trials which would have given him enough time to meet the weight," Lalit added. Unable to grapple, the duo has found a small gymnasium at the airport and are using the treadmill for their cardiovascular workout. "Both of them are conscious about maintaining weight, so they were really happy to spot a treadmill," the coach said.

If they manage to board the flight on Thursday, they will land in Bishkek early morning on Friday and will have to rush to the competition venue for the weigh-ins that are scheduled at 8am. The bouts will follow later in the day.

"I am told there is a very little chance of a flight taking off from Dubai airport tonight. But even if it does and the boys make the weigh-in, expecting them to make the final and earn a quota will be too much," said Dayanand. The wrestlers also considered the option of flying to India and board a direct flight to Bishkek, but all flights to India were delayed by at least six hours. "That's why they decided to stay put and wait for the situation to change," Kumar said.

Other wrestlers, including Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Vinesh Phogat (50kg), have reached Bishkek. So far, India has only one Paris quota in wrestling which was won by Antim Panghal in the 53kg division.

5) KKR vs RR IPL 2024

Jos Buttler's unbeaten 107 off 60 balls trumped Sunil Narine's 109 off 56 balls as Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders Jos Buttler almost single-handedly led Rajasthan Royals to a record-equalling chase of 224 against the Kolkata Knight Riders with an unbeaten 107 off 60 balls.(AFP)

RR's much vaunted bowling attack managed to keep KKR's dangerous opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine down. Salt eventually fell in the fourth over due to a stunning catch from Avesh Khan off his own bowling. Narine then managed to make some amends in the remaining two overs and guided KKR to a score of 56/1 in the powerplay.

Narine equalled the record for the fastest IPL century for a Kolkata Knight Riders player as he took the Rajasthan Royals bowlers, particularly the spin duo Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, to the cleaners. He got to his century in 49 balls, his first ton in any kind of senior cricket. Narine eventually fell to Trent Boult in the 18th over, having smashed 109 in 56 balls.

6) PBKS vs MI IPL 2024

Mumbai Indians managed to fend off a valiant effort by Punjab Kings batsman Ashutosh Sharma to win by nine runs in a fiercely fought IPL thriller on Thursday.Mumbai Indians got back to winning ways with a victory over Punjab Kings in a see-saw match that was decided with a run out in the last over. MI scored 192/7 batting first after which Punjab Kings were all out for 183 runs.

MI lost Ishan Kishan early but Rohit Sharma ensured that this didn't affect them. The former MI captain scored 36 in 25 balls Suryakumar Yadav took over for MI after the powerplay, smashing 78 in 53 balls

 ARTICLE 370 – JIOCINEMA

Starring Yami Gautam and Priyamani in lead roles, this political thriller promises to keep you hooked to the screen with his gripping narrative. The film delves into the life of a young field agent working at the Prime Minister’s office who is tasked with the mission of combating terrorism and corruption in various parts of the country.

CHIEF DETECTIVE 1958 – DISNEY+ HOTSTAR

Like Korean dramas? If so, then here’s one that you must add to your watchlist. Titled Chief Detective 1958, the upcoming drama is set before the events of Chief Inspector (1971). It follows detective Park Young-Han and his comrades who wage a war against corruption.

 LOVE, SEX AUR DHOKHA 2 – THEATRES

Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2 explores the complexities of modern relationships in today’s high-tech world. Directed by Dibakar Banerjee, the ensemble cast of the upcoming film features Bonita Rajput. Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia, Rossana Elsa Scugugia, Mouni Roy, and Anupam Joardar, among others.

SIREN – DISNEY+ HOTSTAR

Apart from Article 370, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver, Chief Detective 1958, and other titles, the list of new OTT releases arriving later this week includes Siren, a highly engaging film that revolves around an ambulance driver who was wrongly charged with the murder of his wife and friend. Now, after 14 years, he is out on parole and has limited time to punish the person responsible for killing his wife.

 DO AUR DO PYAAR — THEATRES

Headlined by Ileana D’Cruz, Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, and Sendhil Ramamurthy, this upcoming film delves into the life of a couple that finds new partners outside their marriage. When the time comes for them to share their secrets, the situation takes an unexpected twist that creates more chaos in their lives. The upcoming film is an official adaptation of the 2017 film The Lovers.

REBEL MOON — PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER – NETFLIX

Filmmaker Zack Snyder’s much-awaited adventure sci-fi thriller, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver, will arrive on Netflix this week. Picking up from where the previous part ended, the sequel will focus on Kora and her team of skilled warriors who wage a war against the Realm to protect Veldt and other planets. An exhilarating title on the list of new OTT releases arriving this Friday.

Matilda Paperback – Illustrated, 16 August 2007 :by Roald Dahl (Author), Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it! "Matilda will surely go straight to children's hearts."

Roald Dahl

The son of Norwegian parents, Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 and educated at Repton. He was a fighter pilot for the RAF during World War Two, and it was while writing about his experiences during this time that he started his career as an author.

His fabulously popular children's books are read by children all over the world. Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.

He died in November 1990.

Quentin Blake

In this celebration of one of Britain’s best-loved artists, the illustrator and author Sir Quentin Blake tells the story of his 70-year-long career in his own words and with his own pictures. Specially for this documentary, he has been filmed creating an extraordinary new work: a canvas 30 feet long and seven feet high, on which self-portraits and classic characters emerge in the instantly recognisable, energetic and ebullient style that has taken root in the imaginations of successive generations of children and parents.

Quentin Blake turns 89 in December 2021. His first book was published 61 years ago, and over 500 volumes later, he is still hard at work, drawing every day and determined to break down the barriers between illustration and ‘fine arts’. As he looks back for the first documentary to be dedicated to his life, Blake shares his pleasure in the blank page, the scratch of a quill, and the enjoyable mischief and chaos of childhood.