Helsinki [Finland], August 6,2020: While vitamin B12 is mainly found in food of animal origin, to help the vegans and ones who consume meat products in a less amount, researchers have found that the grain-based materials fermented with Propionibacterium freudenreichii have enough vitamin B12 to be nutritionally significant.
With the help of Lactobacillus brevis in the fermentation process, vegans can also be guaranteed a sufficient and safe B12 intake directly from grain-based food, without pills.
Vitamin B12 is an essential micronutrient that is needed for functions such as maintaining the nervous system and forming blood cells. However, B12 is mainly found in food of animal origin. Those who consume only small amounts of animal products or are vegan must, therefore, take B12 in the form of pills or eat food, to which industrially produced B12 has been added.
“In situ fortification of B12 via fermentation could be a more cost-effective alternative. And as a commonly consumed staple food, grains are excellent vehicles for enrichment with micronutrients,” explains Chong Xie from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, about the background of his doctoral dissertation.
Xie used 11 different grain-based materials and fermented them with Propionibacterium freudenreichii — the only B12-producing micro-organism accepted for food products.
Propionibacterium freudenreichii, the essential microbe in Emmental cheese, produced nutritionally significant amounts of vitamin B12 in most of the fermented grain materials. During the three-day fermentation process, rice bran and buckwheat bran had the highest B12 production. The addition of Lactobacillus brevis was able to dominate indigenous microbes during fermentation and greatly improved microbial safety during the fermentation process.
New Delhi, Aug 5,2020: After the Pakistan cabinet approved a new political map which includes territories of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Gujarat and Ladakh, India on Tuesday ridiculed Pakistan’s move and called it “an exercise in political absurdity”.
The new political map claimed these territories as belonging to Pakistan. It also claimed Junagadh, Manavadar and Sir Creek in Gujarat as part of Pakistan.
“We have seen a so-called political map of Pakistan that has been released by Prime Minister Imran Khan. This is an exercise in political absurdity, laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian State of Gujarat and our Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
“These ridiculous assertions have neither legal validity nor international credibility,” it said.
“In fact, this new effort only confirms reality of Pakistan’s obsession with territorial aggrandisement supported by cross-border terrorism,” the statement added.
Pakistan launched the map just a day before the one-year anniversary of the Indian government’s decision to revoke Article 370 which gave special powers to the state of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the bifurcation of the state into two Union territories.
Unveiling the new map on Tuesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that it “represents the ambition of the people of Pakistan.”
“Today, we are introducing the new map of Pakistan before the world. This new map has been endorsed by Pakistan’s cabinet, opposition and the Kashmiri leadership. This map is as per the aspirations of the entire nation as well as the people of Kashmir,” Imran Khan said in a press conference.
“This map nullifies the illegal step that India took on August 5 last year with regards to Kashmir. Starting today, this will be the official map of Pakistan,” he added.
Till now, Pakistan has resisted calling all areas of PoK as a part of its territory officially. While it treats Gilgil-Baltistan as its territory, it calls the rest ‘Azad Kashmir’.
New Delhi, Aug 2,2020: Union Home Minister Amit Shah was on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 and was subsequently admitted to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.
Mr Shah, 55, was having minor symptoms and was advised for hospitalization.
The Home Minister himself announced this on twitter.
“On seeing the symptoms of Coronavirus, I got myself tested and the reports have come positive. I am doing fine but as per doctor’s suggestions, I am getting myself hospitalised”, Mr Shah had tweeted.
He also appealed the people, who have come in his contact recently, to get themselves tested for COVID-19 and isolate themselves.
Washington D.C., July 31,2020: Expressing shock and outrage over the killing of an American citizen inside Pakistani courtroom, US on Thursday (local time) asked Pakistan to “immediately reform its often abused blasphemy laws and its court system, which allow such abuses to occur.”
“We are shocked, saddened, and outraged that American citizen Tahir Naseem was killed yesterday inside a Pakistani courtroom. Naseem had been lured to Pakistan from his home in Illinois by individuals who then used Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to entrap him,” Cale Brown, Deputy Spokesperson, US State Department said in a release.
Brown stated that the US government has been providing consular assistance to Naseem and his family since his detention in 2018 and has called the attention of senior Pakistani officials to his case to prevent the type of “shameful tragedy that eventually occurred.”
“We grieve with the family of Naseem. We urge Pakistan to immediately reform its often abused blasphemy laws and its court system, which allow such abuses to occur, and to ensure that the suspect is prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said Brown.
Tahir Ahmad Naseem, from the minority Ahmadi community, was shot dead in a courtroom in Peshawar on Wednesday. He was on trial for blasphemy.
The young assailant, identified as Khalid Khan who managed to get into the court amid tight security was arrested later.
Naseem was arrested two years ago on blasphemy charges.
Ahmadis, a four million-strong minority group in Pakistan, have faced death, threats, intimidation and a sustained hate campaign for decades.
Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law carries an automatic death penalty for anyone convicted of insulting God, Islam, or other religious figures.
Many members of the minority communities in Pakistan – the Ahmadis, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs were charged with blasphemy law.