Latest news with #AKs
India Today
27-05-2025
- Politics
- India Today
‘Spy' Jyoti Malhotra seen with armed men in Pak in Scottish vlogger's video
Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan, was seen walking through a market in Lahore accompanied by armed men, according to a video shared by a Scottish video, shot by travel vlogger Kalum Abroad, shows him exploring the busy Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore. Kalum points out several men in green uniforms carrying what he claims are AK-47 rifles. A few moments later, Jyoti Malhotra appears in the frame and briefly interacts with their conversation, the armed men can be seen standing close to Jyoti, closely monitoring the surroundings. 'I can see the two guys in front of me holding AKs. In fact, there's four people. In fact, there's four people holding AKs. There's four guys walking in front of me with AKs which is common here in Pakistan. You see a lot of guns in Pakistan,' the vlogger says in the was seen asking the Scottish vlogger how he felt about Pakistan, to which he responded, 'Pakistan Zindabad'. Jyoti replied, 'That's great'.She then asked him if he had ever visited India. The vlogger also asked Jyoti what she thought of Pakistan's hospitality. She replied, 'It's great, and I'm loving it'.After their conversation, the vlogger remarked, 'So, the Indian girl, she's with the group surrounded by security. I don't know why there's a need for so many guns'.advertisementJyoti Malhotra was among the 12 people arrested from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the past three weeks on suspicion of espionage, with investigators suspecting the presence of a Pakistan-linked spy network operating in North was remanded to judicial custody on Monday after the end of her police InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#India-Pakistan#Pakistan
The Citizen
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
When liberation swapped the streets for boardrooms
South Africa's liberation leaders once fought for dignity; now, many chase dividends in corporate suites. The late Tito Mboweni, third from right, during the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies 2017 event in Joburg that celebrated JSE-listed companies that had done well. Picture: Gallo Images There was no drumroll. No grand announcement. No whisper even. But it happened – quietly, suddenly and irrevocably. Somewhere between the last exile's return and the first black economic empowerment (BEE) deal signed, the liberation struggle changed outfits. It swapped khaki fatigues and wood-handled AKs for navy-blue suits, Montblanc pens and private equity portfolios. That day, the struggle went corporate and at first felt like victory. For decades, the architects of the struggle fought not for title deeds and car allowances, but for dignity. For the right to exist, speak, learn and lead. In prison, exile and underground, they endured the unimaginable so that future generations could live unshackled. When the gates of Robben Island opened and negotiations began in earnest, the idea was simple: liberation should now mean transformation. ALSO READ: Workers' rights: Union members tend to become spectators while leaders take decisions It was time to take the reins of power. Politically, yes, but also economically. By the late 1990s, the symbols of victory were shifting. Comrades who once huddled over Marxist pamphlets in Lusaka or Dar es Salaam were now being seen in Sandton skyscrapers and five-star conference centres. The rallying cry of 'the people shall govern' evolved into strategic board appointments, BEE scorecards and shareholder activism. Some wore it well. But for many, especially those groomed in struggle circles but disconnected from post-liberation policy, the new terrain was confusing and seductive. Deals were structured not around need or equity, but access. Who you knew and the struggle resumé you carried. The term 'Struggle Credentials' found new life. ALSO READ: Minister extends date for comments on R100 billion transformation fund No longer just a badge of honour, but a currency. It would be disingenuous to pretend this evolution was all betrayal. For many, it was a genuine shift in the theatre of struggle. If capital had been the tool of oppression, then surely mastering it, reclaiming it, was the next phase of emancipation. Then, the language of freedom became interchangeable with financial jargon. Development was measured not by clinics or clean water, but by returns on investment. Public intellectuals who once challenged state power now issued press releases defending profit margins. And corporate events began with liberation songs, rendered in mezzo-soprano as background entertainment between keynote addresses. The tragic brilliance of the South African story is that it was so well-intentioned. We wanted to believe that wealth could be wielded ethically. That capitalism could be tamed and Africanised. That executive power could be used to empower, not just enrich. But markets have no memory. And soon, neither did we. In the process of 'being taken seriously', the movement adopted the postures of the very structures it once vowed to dismantle. ALSO READ: What problem does government want to solve with R100bn Transformation Fund? Respectability became strategy. The revolution wore a Rolex and arrived late to the AGM. Those who raised questions about extractive economics, about moral drift, about the marginalisation of communities were quietly pushed aside. 'Idealist.' 'Out of touch.' 'Still stuck in the past.' The real thinkers, agitators and grassroots leaders, many of them women, many of them youth, were left at the periphery. Not everyone succumbed. There were those who tried and are still trying to reimagine power. To hold space between justice and profit. Thinkers like Mamphela Ramphele, who never shied from critiquing the dilution of the liberation dream. Or Neville Alexander, who warned about replacing one elite with another. ALSO READ: Steenhuisen hits back at Sakeliga's claims he is pushing pro-black agriculture policies Thuli Madonsela, who demonstrated that integrity could exist inside high office without being swallowed by it. Duma Gqubule, whose economic commentary continues to call out the illusions of inclusion. Many remain unsung. Men and women who chose less glamorous paths. As once-famous names died, obituaries would reveal their 'covert' roles in the struggle. 'Underground operative,' 'MK combatant,' 'intelligence courier.' Sometimes the claims rang true. Other times, we squinted. The real resistance was, and still is, unglamorous. Unrewarded. The woman who fed exiles with her last meal. The teacher who snuck in black consciousness literature. The nurse who hid activists during curfew. The ones who never got invited to sit on a board and never asked to be. If the first liberation was political, and the second economic (however flawed), then perhaps a third is emerging: a moral and intellectual reawakening. ALSO READ: Sho Madjozi accuses AfriForum of being used by Elon Musk in bid to launch Starlink in South Africa One where liberation is not measured by wealth or status, but by how we care for the most vulnerable. Where blackness is not sold back to us through branding. Where struggle is not a springboard to entitlement, but a commitment to service. This doesn't mean we must abandon ambition or success. It means interrogating its purpose. The day the struggle went corporate was not a betrayal. It was a choice. As history marches forward, we must ask ourselves, honestly: what kind of legacy are we building? – This article first appeared in Global South Media Network –
Economic Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Sun Pharma shares in focus after USFDA nod for next-gen skin disorder device
Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries are set to be in focus on Monday after the company announced that it had received approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its next-generation BLU-U Blue Light Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) device, developed for the treatment of actinic keratosis—a precancerous skin condition. ADVERTISEMENT In a stock exchange filing on Friday, Sun Pharma said the USFDA had approved its upgraded PDT system under the agency's Real-Time Review Program. The device treats actinic keratoses, or AKs, in combination with LEVULAN® KERASTICK®—a liquid containing aminolevulinic acid that is used to target minimally to moderately thick lesions on the face, scalp, and upper extremities. According to the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), actinic keratosis is often associated with chronic sun exposure, (and) individuals with actinic keratosis may present with irregular, red, scaly papules or plaques on sun-exposed regions of the body. The condition can progress to skin cancer if left untreated. Sun Pharma's upgraded BLU-U device replaces the older fluorescent-tube-based model with modern LED technology, making it 'more compact and easier to use,' the company said.'We are pleased to receive the FDA's approval of LED BLU-U and look forward to seeing the positive impact this next generation device will have for those living with actinic keratosis,' said Abhay Gandhi, chief executive officer at Sun Pharma (North America).'As a company committed to innovation, we are confident that this new LED BLU-U model will provide improved efficiency and reliability while maintaining the safety and efficacy that healthcare professionals and people with AKs have come to trust from Sun Pharma,' Gandhi added. ADVERTISEMENT The company's stock has gained 13% over the past year and 2% in the past three months, though it declined 0.6% over the last week. On the technical front, Sun Pharma shares are currently trading below six of their eight key simple moving averages, including the 10-day, 20-day, 30-day, 100-day, 150-day, and 200-day SMAs. The 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 47.7, suggesting a neutral trend. ADVERTISEMENT Also read | Nifty likely to advance towards 25,200-25,800: Analysts (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Sun Pharma shares in focus after USFDA nod for next-gen skin disorder device
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries are set to be in focus on Monday after the company announced that it had received approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its next-generation BLU-U Blue Light Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) device, developed for the treatment of actinic keratosis—a precancerous skin a stock exchange filing on Friday, Sun Pharma said the USFDA had approved its upgraded PDT system under the agency's Real-Time Review Program. The device treats actinic keratoses, or AKs, in combination with LEVULAN® KERASTICK®—a liquid containing aminolevulinic acid that is used to target minimally to moderately thick lesions on the face, scalp, and upper to the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), actinic keratosis is often associated with chronic sun exposure, (and) individuals with actinic keratosis may present with irregular, red, scaly papules or plaques on sun-exposed regions of the body. The condition can progress to skin cancer if left Pharma's upgraded BLU-U device replaces the older fluorescent-tube-based model with modern LED technology, making it 'more compact and easier to use,' the company said.'We are pleased to receive the FDA's approval of LED BLU-U and look forward to seeing the positive impact this next generation device will have for those living with actinic keratosis,' said Abhay Gandhi, chief executive officer at Sun Pharma (North America).'As a company committed to innovation, we are confident that this new LED BLU-U model will provide improved efficiency and reliability while maintaining the safety and efficacy that healthcare professionals and people with AKs have come to trust from Sun Pharma,' Gandhi company's stock has gained 13% over the past year and 2% in the past three months, though it declined 0.6% over the last the technical front, Sun Pharma shares are currently trading below six of their eight key simple moving averages, including the 10-day, 20-day, 30-day, 100-day, 150-day, and 200-day SMAs. The 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 47.7, suggesting a neutral trend.: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
North Florida gun dealer gets prison for trafficking as smugglers move weapons overseas
While he fights his sentence, a North Florida gun dealer faces almost 12 years in prison for selling more than 100 guns that were apparently among thousands that criminals illegally shipped overseas. Melrose resident Matthew Easton, 35, pleaded guilty in January to gun trafficking and acknowledged that as a licensed dealer he understood a 21-year-old man paying cash for dozens of weapons at a time didn't really plan to own them himself, as the law required. Easton's buyer was a middleman moving firearms to another middleman who, according to a lawyer's court filing, provided guns to an illegal immigrant wanted by Interpol who admitted in court papers to smuggling firearms to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico in 2023 and 2024. Guatemalan fugitive Ricardo Fermin Sune-Giron and people he worked with 'trafficked thousands of firearms,' U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in January, after Sune-Giron pleaded guilty in Tampa to crimes that happened while he was living illegally in Central Florida, using his brother's name. Another case: Plans to smuggle guns to Venezuela, plot murder end in prison for Jacksonville immigrants Easton didn't deal with Sune-Giron and court records don't suggest he even knew the fugitive's name. Easton's name isn't mentioned in a separate court case against Sune-Giron that unfolded at about the same time. But it was obvious that Easton's guns were going to someone beside the person paying him, his plea agreement said, pointing out a time when co-defendant Derick Perez Diaz of Orlando discussed buying a dozen Glock 9mm pistols from Easton ― ostensibly for his own use ― and said "let me call my guy to double check with him." When Perez Diaz texted an hour later that "he confirmed he's bringing me the rest of the cash," the plea agreement said, Easton replied: "excellent. pickup today?" In the three months from October 2023 to December 2023, Easton sold Perez Diaz at least 107 guns, the "vast majority" being Glock 9mm handguns, his plea agreement said. Easton told investigators he tried to show Perez Diaz how to become a license gun dealer himself, the agreement said, but added that Easton told an undercover agent he'd sold 100 Glocks and 20 AKs to a group of Puerto Ricans in Orlando and that he thought they planned to resell the guns somewhere further south. The agreement said Easton, whose Melrose home is part of a rural community straddling Clay, Putnam, Alachua and Bradford county lines, agreed repeatedly to drive to Ocala to complete deals with Perez Diaz. The "guy" Perez Diaz bought for was Ernesto Vazquez, a then-22-year-old warehouse worker and one-time evangelist from Seminole County whose lawyer said in a sentencing memo that Sune-Giron had befriended Vazquez when the young man and his girlfriend needed a place to live. Sune-Giron, who had an Interpol 'red notice' warrant for robbery charges in Guatemala, ended up getting scores of guns through Vazquez, who first connected with Perez Diaz through the website according to Vazquez's lawyer's memo. A U.S. Attorney's Office release on Easton and his co-defendants said the weapons they moved reached a person who smuggled them out of the country. Eight guns Sune-Giron bought from one supplier turned up later at crime scenes in the Dominican Republic and another middleman provided guns that were found later at six other crime scenes, according to a 2024 affidavit filed by an investigator for the federal Agency for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sune-Giron pleaded guilty to trafficking firearms, conspiracy, dealing in firearms without a license and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. He was sentenced in March to 14 years in federal prison. Florida is a prominent source of guns shipped illegally to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to a draft version of a March 2025 United Nations report on Haiti. Neither Perez Diaz nor Vazquez are licensed gun dealers, and both were sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring to traffic firearms. Easton, who lives in Alachua County, was sentenced April 17 to 140 months ― 11 years and eight months ― behind bars for firearms trafficking. Easton's lawyer filed notice April 24 that the sentence was being appealed but didn't give details on the argument for doing so. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: North Florida gun dealer prison for selling 100+ guns smuggled overseas
