Earthquakes shake Indonesia, Philippines; no tsunami threat
Jakarta(AP): Strong, shallow underwater earthquakes shook western Indonesia and the Philippine capital region on Monday, but no serious damage was reported and no tsunami warnings were issued.
In Indonesia, a magnitude-6.7 quake that was 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep struck about 169 kilometers (104.8 miles) west of Pariaman, a town in West Sumatra province, the US Geological Survey said.
The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake was felt in many parts of the province but there was no danger of a tsunami.
It occurred just before dawn and was centered about 161 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of South Nias, a district in North Sumatra province.
Another earthquake of 6.4-magnitude shook parts of the Manila region and outlying provinces at dawn but there were no reported damages or injuries, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
The offshore quake was set off by movement along the Manila Trench and its epicenter was about 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Lubang island in Occidental Mindoro province, which lies south of Manila, the Philippine institute said. Its depth was about 28 kilometers (17 miles).
Indonesia and the Philippines lie along the Pacific Ring of Fire the seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
A 6.2 earthquake in Indonesia's West Sumatra province last month killed at least 16 people and injured more than 400. Thousands of homes and other buildings were damaged by the tremors that were felt as far away as Malaysia and Singapore. (AP)
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
