Shit happens: Angry on Surf Excel’s Hindu-Muslim amity ad, saffronists target Microsoft Excel!

Mangaluru, July 7: Two working professionals from Mangaluru have lost more than ₹10 lakh in separate incidents of online job fraud, raising alarm over the growing trend of cybercrime exploiting employment seekers.

Case 1: Part-Time Job Scam on WhatsApp & Telegram

A woman professional lost ₹6.5 lakh after falling for a so-called part-time work-from-home job. According to her complaint, she received a WhatsApp message on June 25 from someone claiming to be an HR assistant from the NSE Exchange. The job promised earnings between ₹5,000 and ₹20,000.

She was asked to join via a link and instructed to download the Telegram app, where further communication and tasks were assigned. After completing 30 initial tasks, she received small payments of ₹180 and ₹200 to gain her trust.

However, soon she was assigned "trade tasks" and told to deposit ₹800 to a bank account. Over the next three days (June 26–28), she was made to transfer larger amounts to multiple accounts via UPI and net banking. When no payments were refunded, she realized it was a scam and lodged a complaint with Mangaluru Rural Police.

Case 2: Fake International Hospital Job Offer

In another incident, a medical professional lost ₹4.2 lakh to fraudsters posing as recruiters for NMC Hospital in Dubai. The complainant received a call on June 6 from a woman named Sangeetha, followed by a detailed job offer via email.

A man named Vinay Singh then contacted the complainant and asked for multiple payments — ₹5,499 for registration, ₹25,960 for profile verification, and over ₹82,000 for a DHA licence. Over the next few days, further payments totaling several lakhs were demanded for NOC and other formalities.

Suspicion arose when the fraudsters asked for an additional ₹2.6 lakh. After consulting friends, the complainant discovered the job offer was fake and reported the fraud to Kankanady Town Police Station.

Authorities Urge Caution

Police have urged the public, especially job seekers, to be extremely cautious while responding to unsolicited job offers online, particularly those demanding advance payments or using unofficial platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram for communication.

Bengaluru, July 7: In a significant public health move, the Karnataka government has decided to classify sudden deaths among individuals under 45 years of age as a 'notifiable disease' — requiring mandatory reporting and autopsy — amid rising concerns and speculation linking such deaths to Covid-19 vaccines.

Announcing the decision on Monday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the government would begin systematically monitoring such cases to determine the actual causes. "If someone dies suddenly outside a hospital, it must be reported to the government, and an autopsy will be mandatory," he said.

The decision follows recommendations from an expert committee led by Dr. C.N. Ravindranath, Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research. The panel was tasked with investigating the rise in sudden cardiovascular events, including possible links to Covid-19 vaccination.

The committee, however, found no direct link between vaccines and cardiac deaths among the youth. Dr. Ravindranath explained that while there was a 5–6% rise in cardiac deaths post-Covid, the causes were multifactorial — primarily lifestyle-related, with smoking accounting for over half of the cases.

Minister Rao also clarified that no mRNA vaccines, which have been associated with rare myocarditis cases abroad, were administered in India. He reiterated that Covid-19 vaccines saved lives, and panic over vaccine safety was unwarranted.

The government is expected to issue formal directions soon regarding the classification and mandatory autopsy procedures.

Palestinian authorities in Gaza have released alarming figures on the starving civilians killed by Israeli live fire while waiting in line for humanitarian aid.

The Palestinian authorities condemned the regime forces’ ongoing attacks on Palestinians seeking aid across the territory.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said approximately 580 Palestinians have been killed and over 4200 others injured as a result of Israeli attacks on civilians seeking aid.

It held Israel and its allies, particularly the US, the UK, France, and Germany, legally and morally responsible for supporting the systematic extermination of civilians in Gaza.

The office also urged the international community to pressure Israel to open Gaza’s crossings, lift its blockade, and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid before it is too late.

The new revelation came after Israeli media reported that soldiers have deliberately shot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza after being “ordered” to do so by their commanders.

UN agencies have also condemned the so-called US-Israeli food distribution system in Gaza, calling it a death trap.

Researchers have found that almost 100,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

The figure was published in a new study led by University of London economist Professor Michael Spagat and Palestinian political scientist Khalil Shikaki, who surveyed 2,000 households in the besieged Gaza, comprising almost 10,000 people.

The researchers concluded that, as of January 2025, some 75,200 people died a violent death in Gaza during the Israeli aggression, the vast majority caused by Israeli munitions, along with 8,540 killed via a non-violent death.

Since January, more than 10,000 people have also been reported killed by the Gaza Health Ministry, bringing the combined fatality count to nearly 100,000.

The new death toll shows that the Gaza Health Ministry understates the true scale of the crisis caused by the Israeli aggression, compounded by hunger, disease, and gunfire at food distribution centers