Deepika Padukone has announced her next Hollywood project, four-and-a-half years after she starred in Vin Diesel’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage. The actor has signed a cross-cultural romantic comedy, developed by Eros STX Global Corporations’ division STXfilms. Deepika will not only star in the project but also co-produce it under her banner Ka Productions. STXfilms is also in talks with Temple Hill Productions’ Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, of the Twilight franchise and The Fault in Our Stars fame, to develop the project. In a statement, Deepika said, “Ka Productions was founded with the aim to develop and produce purposeful content with global appeal.
Tag: Apple News
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If you aren’t on your toes, someone else will grab your position: Emraan Hashmi
Bollywood star Emraan Hashmi says it is crucial for actors to constantly strive to do better as complacency can get them out of the race in the highly competitive film industry.
Hashmi, who has been in Bollywood since the early 2000s, said he has been able to do diverse work because he recognised early that only love for his craft could sustain him in the long run.
“Actors, generally, are insecure. Those who say they are not are lying. If you are not going to be on your toes, you won’t be around. Someone else standing in that line, a newcomer or a peer, will grab it from you. It is that quest and struggle,” Hashmi told PTI.
According to the actor, seeking fame is not the right thing to do as one should be passionate about their craft.
“It is not so much the fear of anonymity, that should never be the case. Being famous is just a byproduct of what you do. Seeking fame isn’t the right thing to do, there has to be an inherent love for films and the filmmaking process. That’s what I love, which is why I will never be complacent,” Hashmi added.
The first half of Emraan Hashmi’s career in the 2000s was dominated by commercial hits like Gangster, Jannat and Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai, while in the last decade he switched to dramas like Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai, dark comedy Ghanchakkar and made his digital debut with Netflix series Bard of Blood in 2019.
The 42-year-old actor said he aims to put himself in challenging situations, seeking roles that will “shake” him off of his comfort zone.
“The day I feel that this is giving me the feeling of been there, done that, I will kick myself, to get up and do something that scares me. I have been part of that rut where I have done films that felt like a ”been there, done that” situation and it is not fun. You should constantly try to do films that scare you.”
Hashmi, however, is aware that getting projects which will push him as an actor are not easy as “luck” plays a huge role in finding the right story.
“When something is successful, people want to replicate that. Producers have a different way of looking at things, they factor in economics and I don’t blame them. But as a creative person, you have to walk that fine line and maintain that balance,” he added.
Emraan Hashmi is currently seen in the thriller Chehre, which released theatrically last week. Hashmi will also be seen in the remake of the hit Malayalam film Ezra, which the actor said is most likely to release in October.
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Dwayne Johnson’s Jungle Cruise 2 Announced
Hollywood stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are set to return as wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff and intrepid researcher Dr Lily Houghton, respectively, for the sequel of their film ‘Jungle Cruise’.
Expected to also come back are director Jaume Collet-Serra and the film’s producing team of John Davis, John Fox, Beau Flynn, Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Scott Sheldon returns as executive producer, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
Dwayne Johnson shared his excitement on Twitter by commenting: “ALL ABOARD Mahalo to our buddy @Borys_Kit for breaking the big Jungle Cruise sequel news!!! This is going to be FUN! Oh and cheers to Jungle Cruise just crossing $100M at the domestic box office.”
British comedian Jack wrote: “Boom! Jungle Cruise 2: Jolly up the Thames. #Sequel #ManifestIt.”
‘Jungle Cruise’ opened July 30 to more than $35 million at the domestic box office and more than $30 million in Disney+ Premier Access in its first three days, according to the studio.
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Jennifer Lopez suffers a fashion faux pas
Hollywood singer and actor Jennifer Lopez suffered a fashion faux pas as she arrived at a Dolce & Gabbana event in Venice sporting a floor-sweeping floral cape. It seems that she accidentally forgot to remove the price tag.
The price tag was seen hanging on a green silk floral cape that JLo wore for the event. Jennifer Lopez strutted along a jetty as she left her hotel, making her way to a water taxi to take her to the glam event. She had her security and glam team but her stylists failed to notice the label still attached to the cape, reports dailymail.co.uk. Jennifer Lopez was joined by make-up artist Mary Phillips and hair stylist Chris Appleton, who documented the event on Instagram.
JLo’s dramatic ensemble consisted of a floral teal, green and pink cape with puffed sleeves and a bralette beneath.
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Only fully vaccinated people should gather, says govt as daily Covid cases at 2-month high
New Delhi (TIP): As daily new cases rose to a two-month high of 47,092 on Thursday, Sept 2, with Kerala alone accounting for 69 per cent of new cases last week, the government warned people against mass festive gatherings saying the second wave of the pandemic was not yet over.
Indian Council of Medical Research chief Balram Bhargava went to the extent of saying that while mass gatherings need to be absolutely avoided at the moment, only fully inoculated people must gather if meeting is critical.
“Mass gatherings must be discouraged. Full vaccination should be a must if holding a gathering of necessary,” Bhargava said, with the Member Health NITI Aayog VK Paul asking people to celebrate upcoming festivals with families only.
Describing the threat of mutants (WHO classified a new variant of interest Mu on Wednesday) as real, Paul said mutations can devastate health systems leading to loss of current gains.
“There is no systematic strategy to deal with this expect protections of behaviour and through vaccination,” the expert said.
The government, meanwhile, informed that it has expanded the basket of nations for stringent Covid controls on international travellers arriving here.
So far passengers travelling from the UK, EU and the Middle East were required to have an RTPCR negative report before taking a flight and then get a mandatory RTPCR test upon arrival in India.
“In the light of risk of mutations, we have added to the list of UK, EU and Middle East more countries including South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. International travellers from all these countries would now need RTPCR negative reports to get on flights to India and RTPCR testing upon arrival here,” Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.
The government said 39 districts (in Kerala and Northeast) had over 10 per cent Covid positivity as of today and 38 had positivity rate of 5 to 10 per cent.
“Districts with over ten pc positivity need urgent containment measures. In districts with 5 to 10 per cent positivity, states must ensure surveillance,” the Health Secretary said.
The government also hailed Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Dadra and Nagar Haveli for covering full adult population with the first dose.
Himachal has given the second dose to 32 pc adults, Sikkim to 36 per cent.
Overall, 54 per cent of India’s 94 crore adults have received the first dose as of today and 16 per cent has received both doses. Government said vaccine pace was picking up with 80.27 lakh plus doses administered on the last seven days of August.
Overall in August India administered 18.38 crore doses with cumulative doses now reaching over 64 crore which is more than the population of many nations.
Source: TNS
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Bigg Boss 13 winner Sidharth Shukla dies of heart attack at 40
Bigg Boss 13 winner Sidharth Shukla died of a sudden heart attack on September 2 at Cooper Hospital, Mumbai has confirmed his death. He was 40. Hospital sources said he took some medicine before sleeping and didn’t wake up. Later, the hospital confirmed that he passed away due to a heart attack. The postmortem is on at Cooper Hospital and the body will be discharged soon. He is survived by his mother and two sisters. Sidharth Shukla died of a heart attack at the age of 40. He was brought dead to the hospital by his brother-in-law and his relatives were also there. Confirming the same a senior official from Cooper Hospital told PTI, “He was brought dead to the hospital some time ago.”
No injuries were sustained on the body of actor Sidharth Shukla. The cause of the death is yet to be ascertained. A team of police is present at the Shukla’s residence for investigation, Mumbai Police sources told India Today.
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Rs1.5 Lakh Crore UPA-Era Oil Bonds Need To Be Repaid: Hardeep Puri
Amid fuel prices continuing to remain stubbornly high despite international rates falling, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said over Rs 1.5 lakh crore of oil bonds issued by the previous UPA government remains to be paid, limiting fiscal space and restricting financial freedom of oil firms. A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the government for raising cooking gas prices, Mr Puri took to Twitter to blame the “rampant impunity and policy paralysis” of the UPA government. “In “India’s Lost Decade” known for rampant impunity & policy paralysis, UPA Govt saddled future govts with Oil Bonds. More than Rs 1.5 lakh cr of these remain to be repaid, thus tying up crucial resources, limiting fiscal space & restricting financial freedom of OMCs,” he tweeted.
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Section of media gives communal color to news bringing bad name to nation, says Supreme Court
New Delhi (TIP): A section of media gives communal colour to news bringing bad name to the country, the Supreme Court rued on Thursday, Sept 2, expressing serious concern over fake news on social media, including web portals and YouTube, which listen only to “the powerful voices” and not judges and institutions.
The strong observations of the bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana came while hearing a batch of petitions, including the one filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, seeking directions to the Centre to stop dissemination of “fake news” related to last year’s religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz and take strict action against those responsible for it.
“The problem is, everything in this country is shown with a communal angle by a section of media. The country is going to get a bad name ultimately,” said the bench, adding, “Did you (the Centre) ever attempt to regulate these private channels?” The bench also agreed to hear after six weeks the Centre’s plea seeking transfer of petitions to the apex court that are pending in high courts against the validity of new Information Technology Rules which aim to regulate online content.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said, “Not only communal but also planted news” is there and the IT Rules had been framed to regulate content online, including web portals.
Source: PTI
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Amid fear of new Covid strains, RT-PCR test compulsory for those arriving from 7 more nations
New Delhi (TIP): Amid fear of new Covid-19 strains, RT-PCR test is compulsory for passengers arriving from seven more countries, including South Africa, Bangladesh and China, the Centre said on Thursday, Sept 2.
In a letter to all states and Union territories (UTs), the government said considering reports of new mutations in SARS-CoV-2 and rising number of Variants of Concern (VOCs) and Variants of Interest (Vols) globally, seven countries have been added in the list of countries whose travellers will have to get another RT-PCR test done upon landing at Indian airports apart from the one they need to get before embarking on the flight.
These seven countries are South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
In earlier guidelines issued in February, passengers from only the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East had to get the RT-PCR test done again upon landing at Indian airports. The Centre also asked states/UTs to ensure strict compliance to these guidelines so that the import of Vols and VoCs to India from other countries may be prevented.
“The states/UTs must also strengthen their Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) activities being coordinated through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) network of laboratories, by sending a fixed percentage of samples of positive cases among international travelers for genome sequencing to the respective INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories tagged with them,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in the letter.
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Former Rajya Sabha MP and senior journalist Chandan Mitra passes away
Former Rajya Sabha MP and senior journalist Chandan Mitra passed away late last night in Delhi, confirmed his son Kushan Mitra. He was 65.
Mitra was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from August 2003 to 2009. In June 2010, BJP got him elected to the upper house from Madhya Pradesh. His term ended in 2016. He was a close aide of party veteran L K Advani, but was sidelined by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah leadership.
In July 2018, Mitra, Editor and Managing Director of The Pioneer, resigned from the BJP and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to condole Mitra’s demise. “Shri Chandan Mitra Ji will be remembered for his intellect and insights. He distinguished himself in the world of media as well as politics. Anguished by his demise. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti,” the prime minister tweeted.
Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav also expressed his condolences: “Very sorry to hear about the demise of former MP and senior journalist Sh Chandan Mitra. He was a good friend. Served on the India Foundation Board for many years until his health forced him to withdraw from public activism. Condolences to @kushanmitra and other near and dear. Om Shanti.”
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River rafting in Kashmir
There are so many things to do in Kashmir but nothing more challenging than rafting in the white waters of the many rivers that cut through the Kashmir. The two most famous rivers where you can go for this extreme sport is River Indus and Zanskar river. River Lidder also has few stretches that are good enough to keep you enthralled. The rivers run trough few of the most mesmerizing landscapes, giving you the opportunity to explore those wonders of nature, which are other wise unreachable through land routes. Few stretches are long enough that they take days to complete. And in between, you will stay in camps setup under the snow-capped mountains and hilltop monasteries, just by the sides of these roaring rivers. Though there are rafting options in Kashmir region but they don’t compare up to rafting in Ladakh region, especially in Zanskar. In other adventure sports, you get training sessions before you indulge in the real thing, but rafting is something where there can be no trial runs. All you get are few precaution tips and safety presentation. Here only the real thing prepares you for the real thrill.
White River Rafting destinations in Kashmir
The best place in Kashmir where you can indulge in River Rafting is in River Lidder near Pahalgam. The river hosts the two different stretches, which are quite suitable for river rafting. They are great for rafting but they cannot be called treacherous as the slopes are not that steep, and this attribute of the river is idle location for the tourist . One can go for a daylong excursion to the river. You can also take up white water canoeing in rivers like Sindh and Drass and Suru and in the many high altitude lakes like Gangabal, Kaunsarnag and Vishensar. Its worth the time and money that you will spend on it.
White water Rafting destinations in Ladakh
This is the place where you will be face to face with and the roaring and thrashing beast, the Zanskar river. The Zanskar is graded as a class IV, extremely rough river. But the first look of the river will be deceiving and the thought that the said difficulty of the river seems exaggerated will definitely cross your mind. The rafting trip will be few days long and the first two days might not feel that adventurous.But hold on, the real test begins after two days of rapids. The next few days you will be hitting fast rapids in the deep gorges and reveal it yourself why this rated so high. Apart from Zanskar River, Indus River also is a great option for thrilling white water rafting. The best time for rafting in Kashmir is during summer time( May-September)when the rivers are full of water. In winters many rivers and lakes get frozen. Even in summers the water is freezing cold. Rafting is an extremely challenging sport so do not ignore the precautionary measures and warning signs that your tour guide tells you to look out for. Make sure that there are adequate rescue measures before you embark on this adventurous thrilling sport.
Pahalgam
The lush greenery and rocky terrain form an excellent spot for river rafting in Pahalgam. People love to participate in the annual competitions that challenge the rafting skills of participants. The river Lidder offers a great number of turns with challenging highs and lows, the participants are advised to be equipped with the proper gear.
The place has garnered a high rating on the international rafting rating system. With ratings going to levels 4-5, it is indeed considered to be a tough one. To sum it up, white water rafting in Kashmir is best experienced in Pahalgam. A lot of people from around the globe have tested their skills on the river Lidder. Their experiences speak volumes of the thrills that come equipped with a tour like this one.
Sonamarg
Speaking of tough rivers to conquer, the river Sindh offers similar challenges like Lidder. Its harsh terrain, coupled with rapid turns, creates an experience like no other. Sindh is considered to be a dangerous river for its fast flow and white water characteristics. The rocky surface also makes it really hard to point the raft in a particular direction. Sonamarg has a plethora of challenges that can amp up your experience of river rafting in Kashmir. Make sure you go prepared and carry all the essentials with you on the trip.
Kargil
Zanskar is the site in the valleys of Kashmir that houses river rafting in Kargil. It’s said that this location offers an experience similar to the renowned river rafting of Colorado, USA. While gliding down during the activity, you’re going to witness the true beauty of Kashmir depicted by an array of monasteries, snow-clad mountain peaks, and deep gorges. This can be opted by rafters of all expertise levels, given that safety protocols are followed ardently.
Tips For River Rafting In Kashmir
Safety should be a primary concern for rafting in Kashmir. Rafting is a physically demanding sport, and it’s essential to be on the top of your health and take all necessary measures to safeguard yourself.
n Never remove the life jacket.
n Wear comfortable clothes and sports shoes.
n Always listen to your guide.
Always keep your hands on the T-grip.
n Keep yourself hydrated.
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Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court sets up 3-member bench for 2019 Easter attack trial
Colombo (TIP): Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on september 1 appointed a three-member Bench to hear the cases filed against the suspects in connection with the 2019 Easter suicide attack in which over 270 people, including 11 Indians, were killed. Lankan police had filed 23,270 charges against 35 people last month in the case. The charges filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act include conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting, collecting arms and ammunition, and attempted murder.
Colombo High Court Judge Damith Thotawatte will chair the three-judge Bench, while Judges Amal Ranaraja and Navaratne Marasinghe have been appointed as members of the judiciary panel.
The setting up of the special Trial-at-Bar at the Colombo High Court came following a request from Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya last month.
Nine suicide bombers, belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS, carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, killing over 270 people and injuring more than 500 people on April 21, 2019.
The Buddhist-majority nation was about to mark a decade since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war in May 2009 when the bombings in 2019 rocked the country.
The attacks caused a political storm as the then government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was blamed for its inability to prevent the deadly attacks despite the prior intelligence made available on the impending terror strikes.
The Catholic Church has also expressed its dissatisfaction over the ongoing investigations, which they alleged was an attempt for a cover up.
The church has been demanding justice for the victims, asserting that no action has been taken against Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, despite a commission of inquiry finding both of them culpable for their failures to prevent the attack.
The government maintains that investigations are proceeding. Lankan police have arrested hundreds of suspects in connection with the suicide bombings.
During his election campaign in November 2019, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into the attacks and bring the culprits to book.
During his tenure, Sirisena had formed a presidential panel to probe the attacks.
In its report, the panel said former President Sirisena and a host of other top defence officials, including former defence secretaries, former IGPs and intelligence chiefs, were guilty of ignoring prior intelligence. The panel report recommended criminal action against them.
Both the then-police chief and the top defence bureaucrat were sacked and arrested for their inaction to prevent the attacks. Then Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was also blamed for turning a blind eye to the rising Islamic militancy. It was cited as an encouragement to the extremists. Both have denied responsibility. PTI
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Pakistani flag to fly at half mast to mourn Geelani’s death
Islamabad (TIP): Pakistan will mourn the passing away of the separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani by flying the flag at half mast and will also observe a day of official mourning.
“Deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Kashmiri freedom fighter Syed Ali Geelani who struggled all his life for his people & their right to self determination. He suffered incarceration & torture by the occupying Indian state but remained resolute,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a tweet.
“We in Pakistan salute his courageous struggle & remember his words: ‘Hum Pakistani hain aur Pakistan Humara hai’. The Pakistan flag will fly at half mast and we will observe a day of official mourning,” Khan said in another tweet.
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Efforts on to evacuate girls’ soccer team from Afghanistan
kabul (TIP): They move from place to place at a moment’s notice in a desperate bid to evade the Taliban — girls whose lives are in danger simply because they chose to play a sport they loved. An international effort to evacuate members of the Afghanistan national girls’ soccer team, along with their family members and soccer federation staff, suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed 169 Afghans and 13 US service members during a harrowing airlift. Frightened and desperate, the girls now worry whether a far-flung coalition of former US military and Intelligence officials, Congressmen, US allies, humanitarian groups and the captain of the Afghanistan women’s national team can get them and their loved ones to safety. TNS
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2 teenage girls gang-raped by 7 men in Lahore
Lahore (TIP): Two teenage girls were allegedly gang-raped by seven men in Lahore, sparking outrage over increase in sexual assault cases in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
The Opposition has demanded resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for his failure to control sexual assault on women in the province of 110-million.
According to the FIR, two female cousins – aged 18 and 16 – had gone from their residence in Shahdara to Fazal Park in the city on a rickshaw on September 1 evening to pick clothes from the house of a customer for sewing. “On their way, some men abducted the girls at gunpoint and took them to a nearby area of a factory and drugged them. The culprits raped the girls throughout the night and fled in the morning,” the FIR says.
The girls called on police emergency number and narrated their ordeal.
On the statements of the victims, Lahore police claim to have arrested all seven suspected rapists including the factory owner. They have been booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Meanwhile, police are conducting the medico-legal of the victims.
Punjab has witnessed an increase in the number of women assault incidents in recent weeks.
The sexual assault of a YouTuber girl on August 14 at the historic Minar-i-Pakistan sparked nationwide outrage and drew international condemnation.
Police had registered a case on Tuesday against 400 unidentified men for assaulting the girl and her companions. Police have arrested 160 suspects so far in this case after identifying them through video footages. PTI
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Justin Trudeau criticised for calling Canadian election in 4th wave
Montreal (TIP): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his decision to call an election during the pandemic in first debate of the campaign for this month’s election.
Trudeau is facing a tough re-election battle against his Conservative Party rival, Erin O’Toole. The vote is on September 20.
“Why did you trigger an election in the middle of a fourth wave?” O’Toole asked Trudeau at the French-language debate in Montreal.
Trudeau said he needs a mandate from voters. “We must give Canadians the choice,” he said.
He criticised O’Toole for not requiring his candidates to be vaccinated.
O’Toole said he believes the country can find reasonable accommodations for those who are unvaccinated, like rapid testing and social distancing.
Four provinces including Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s largest, are bringing in vaccine passports that require citizens to be vaccinated to enter places like restaurants and gyms.
Trudeau called the election last month seeking to win the majority of seats in Parliament but polls show that is unlikely and that he might even lose power to O’Toole and the Conservative party. AP
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Japanese PM Suga denies reports of dissolving parliament in mid-September
Tokyo (TIP): Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters on September 1 that he had no plans to dissolve the country’s lower house because of the severity of the coronavirus situation.
Domestic media reported this week that he intended to dissolve the lower house of parliament in mid-September after a cabinet and party executive reshuffle next week. Reports also said that the premier was considering holding the general election on Oct. 17.
Suga’s denial of these reports comes after several days of tense negotiations and sudden twists involving Suga and the most powerful politicians in the ruling camp as the unpopular prime minister manoeuvres to stay in the top job.
“We can’t dissolve the lower house in this current situation,” said Suga, speaking of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. When asked whether that meant he would let members of the lower house of parliament serve their full terms, which end Oct. 21, Suga avoided a direct answer.
“There are no plans to push back the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, and we will work around the dates available for the general election,” he said. The LDP leadership race is slated to be held on Sept. 29.
On Tuesday, media said Suga planned to remove long-term party ally and current LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai from his post. Nikai threw his backing behind Suga and helped him win the top post in the turmoil to succeed former premier Shinzo Abe last September.
But some parliamentarians have voiced their unease with the amount of power wielded by 82-year-old Nikai, who has held his post since August 2016 – the longest in the party’s history.
Suga’s support ratings are at record lows, as he failed to capitalise on delivering the Olympics amid a fresh wave of coronavirus infections. The government has since declared a fourth state of emergency in most of Japan.
The LDP and its allies are not expected to lose their coalition majority in the powerful lower house in the next general election, but forecasts suggest that the party could lose its outright majority, an outcome that would weaken the LDP leader. Reuters
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Lawyers seek ICC probe into ‘war crimes’ in Yemen
The Hague (TIP): Human rights lawyers representing hundreds of victims of Yemen’s civil war are calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition during the devastating conflict.
British lawyer Toby Cadman filed the request on September 1, highlighting three incidents — an August 2018 airstrike that destroyed a school bus and killed dozens; a missile attack in October 2016 that killed at least 110 people; and allegations of torture and murder of civilians being held in prisons in the south of Yemen.
The filing came a day after a missile and drone attack, blamed on the Houthi rebels, on a key military base in Yemen’s south killed at least 30 troops.
The civil war in Yemen erupted in 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthis swept across much of the north and seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognised government into exile. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year on the side of the government. All sides are accused of atrocities in the years-long conflict.
Lawyer Almudena Bernabeu, representing victims of the school bus attack, said the coalition said it would investigate the deadly strike and bring those responsible to justice.
“Of course, they did no such thing,” Bernabeu said in a statement. “As the court of last resort, victims and families have no choice, but to call on the International Criminal Court to ensure justice is done.” A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not respond to phone calls seeking comment. — AP
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Fighting in Syria kills 4 soldiers
Beirut (TIP): The Syrian government forces shelled rebel-held parts of a volatile southern city september 1 killing at least one person, while insurgents killed four soldiers after Russia-brokered talks to end the presence of opposition fighters in the area collapsed.
Syria’s state media reported that government forces retaliated against fire by opposition fighters inside the city of Daraa and that attacks on army checkpoints in the city left four soldiers dead and 15 wounded.
It said several civilians were wounded in insurgent shelling of government-held parts of Daraa.
The opposition blamed the government for the escalation, saying that troops were pressing an offensive to force insurgents to surrender.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the government’s elite 4th Division and pro-government gunmen tried to storm the rebel-held old quarter of Daraa known as Daraa al-Balad. At least one person was killed and another wounded in shelling on Daraa al-Balad. — AP
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UK’s Raab cites need to engage with Taliban
Doha (TIP): British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on September 2 there was a need to engage with the Taliban on Afghanistan, but Britain had no immediate plans to recognise their government.
Raab was speaking during a joint press conference with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha, where he visited housing for refugees evacuated from Afghanistan after the Taliban swept to power last month.
Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar was talking with the Taliban and working with Turkey for potential technical support to restart operations at Kabul airport.
“We are engaging with them (Taliban), engaging also with Turkey if they can provide any technical assistance on that front. Hopefully in the next few days there will be some good news,” Sheikh Mohammed said. — Reuters
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Premium Indians USA Kings Cricket Team Launched for American Premiere League Season One to be held in NJ from Sept 20 to 30
WOODBRIDGE, NJ (TIP): Finally professional cricket has arrived in USA with American Cricket League (APL) announcing the 1st season of the seven-nation league in New Jersey. Jay Mir, the founder and Chairman of APL with his vision to bring highest quality cricket in T20 format set out and sought the approval from the United States Cricket Board which reports to ICC. A sport which is followed by about two billion fans, cricket is long sought after by cricket lovers in USA. Though the game was 1st played in USA in late 1800s, but it never took roots. Now with about 20 million immigrants from countries where cricket is 2nd religion, the game had to be launched. Jay formed American Sports and Entertainment Group and built his plan on the lines of IPL. He announced the exciting tournament in summer and starting to auction the teams. He sold Pakistani, English, Australian and West Indies team quite quickly but held on to the most coveted and sought-after team of Premium Indians. He was looking for an enterprising businessman who would bring in the best to APL with a premium Indian team.
And Sam Singh, the fast-growing NRI from North India was the best fit. Sam has been growing very quickly in the entertainment space in USA and sports was a natural step forward. Sam with his Chief consultant Sunil Hali, a veteran in marketing, entertainment and media space worked closely with Jay to firm up the offer. Rest is now history as Sam Singh becomes the 1st and proud owner of Premium Indians USA KINGS, the Indian team for APL.
Befitting to the APL and in line with size of Indian community in USA, the announcement was made at a glittering event with cream de la creme at the Lake Chateau in Woodbridge on August 30, 2021. About 100 plus guests from Tri-state with leading media attended the evening as Sam announced his team. Sam said, “Good evening everyone. I am humbled with your presence to join us on this historic day when we are making a dream come true. We all have lived with cricket since childhood. Amongst many other things that we missed all these years IN USA, cricket is certainly on top of the list. We watch Cricket on TV, in cinema halls and online. But we still were missing the real life experience. Now the moment is here. I got the opportunity to explore cricket in reality in USA. And obviously I took the Indian team to represent our nation. I am working day and night with my team and APL to make sure we present true and competitive cricket. While as a sportsman I wish every team a great success but my dream is to win the 1st season and you all to join to cheer our team in every game. I can assure you it will be exciting and satisfying especially when you each come with family and friends. Please join us in every game. to make this a Grand success. I thank Jay Mir, Chairman of APL who has created this event. Let’scelebrate. AMERICAN PREMIERE LEAGUE”.
Mr. Hali expanded on the plans to present the Premium Indians in best possible way and target to win the 1st season which has a winning prize of $75,000 and eye of 5 million plus NRIs. “We plan to have a very competent team that will be highly professional and play the game at the in best way. We are aware of the expectations and building the team with great care. It is a long haul over next few seasons when we will take the game to the highest level and make it an international cricketing event in coming years”.
Jay Mir was highly appreciative of Sam Singh for stepping forward and buying the Premium Indians USA Kings. He looks forward to a close association with Sam to build APL as Premium Indians is the hottest team. Jay has a vision to build APL with more teams in coming years from countries which have strong community presence in USA. Said Jay, “I want to bring communities together and build through cricket”.
Asif Jamal, President of APL and COO of ARY Digital North America was all praises for Mr. Mir for launching such enterprise. He was one of the firsts to join the project from ARY Digital. And provided full support to Jay Mir to get the project off the ground. Said Asif, “ARY Digital has been in forefront when it comes to cricket in sub-continent. And now we are with cricket from 1st day as it enters in USA”.
The event was attended by PadmaShri Dr H R Shah, Chairman and CEO of TV Asia who has been in forefront to promote college cricket in USA. He praised promoter Jay Mir for bringing professional cricket to USA. Mr. Shah confirmed his support to APL from TV Asia all the way as he himself has been a cricketer in his college days and his TV Asia has always served the community in best possible manner.
The ten-day cricket tournament starts on September 20th and is till 30th. With two games during day and one at night in Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls in New Jersey, the league follows T20 format. Opening ceremony is set for September 13, 2021 at the stadium with top performing musical groups of Junoon and world famous Shazia Manzoor. Seven teams involve Indian, Pakistani, England, Australian, West Indies, Bangladeshi and American. For more details visit web site: www.PremiumIndiansUSAKING.com and www.AmericanPremiumLeague.org.
(Press release issued by Sunil Hali)
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DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER FOR KILLING ALLEGED RIVAL
QUEENS, NY (TIP): Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Chaz Reyes, 31, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the July 2017 shooting death of a 26-year-old man near a 21st Street bus stop in the vicinity of the Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, Queens.
District Attorney Katz said, “In pleading guilty, the defendant has admitted to killing a perceived rival when the victim happened to pass by him on a bicycle in broad daylight. Without regard for human life, the defendant fired multiple shots at the victim, who was near a bus stop and various businesses, in the middle of the day. The victim was killed, but anyone in the area could have also been shot. The defendant has now been sentenced by the Court for his actions.”
Reyes, of 36th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, pleaded guilty on May 27, 2021, to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder. Today, Justice Holder sentenced the Reyes to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
District Attorney Katz said, according to court records, on July 16, 2017, at approximately noon, Reyes was walking near a bus stop at the intersection of 36th Avenue and 21st Street in Astoria, Queens, when he encountered Tyrell Smith. The victim was riding a bike at the time. Reyes – armed with an illegal gun – fired multiple shots in Mr. Smith’s direction. Three bullets ripped into the victim’s chest. The defendant ran from the scene and into a nearby apartment building.
Mr. Smith was taken to a local hospital where he died from the injuries.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Adarna DeFrietas, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormick III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John Kosinski and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel Saunders.
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Indian-origin man sentenced to 6-month reformative training for sexually assaulting his friend in Singapore
The accused Hari Kishen Balakrishnan sexually assaulted his victim for about 17 minutes in a bedroom of a friend’s apartment
SINGAPORE (TIP): An Indian-origin man in Singapore was sentenced on Wednesday, September 1, to at least six months’ reformative training, a regimented rehabilitation programme for under 21 years who commit serious crimes, for performing sexual acts on his drunk friend.
Hari Kishen Balakrishnan, 20, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count each of sexual assault by penetration and making an obscene film. Another charge of molestation was taken into consideration for sentencing. He committed the offence on November 7 last year.
Balakrishnan, took seven video clips of him performing sex acts on the drunk and naked 23-year-old victim, a friend whom he had given alcohol, the Today newspaper reported.
Though he had deleted the clips of sexual acts, police later recovered them during forensic investigations, it said.
The prosecution pointed out that if Balakrishnan was sentenced as an adult offender, he could have been jailed for at least six years and subjected to caning. Offenders are given a minimum period of reformative training that is subject to how they respond to the rehabilitation. District Judge May Mesenas stressed that rehabilitation was the predominant sentencing consideration for young offenders, but given the seriousness of Balakrishnan’s offences, deterrence had to feature in the punishment as well. The accused sexually assaulted his victim for about 17 minutes in a bedroom of a friend’s apartment. The victim was almost unconscious and had no strength to open her eyes or fight back, but could feel what the accused was doing, the court heard.
Balakrishnan was arrested a day after committing the offence. Police officers seized the phone that he had used to film the victim, the report said. Adult offenders convicted of sexual assault by penetration can be jailed for up to 20 years, as well as fined or caned. For making an obscene film, offenders can be fined between Singapore dollars 20,000 to 40,000 or jailed up to two years, or both.
(Source: PTI)
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Indian-origin youth Vishal Jood pleads guilty for assault on Sikhs in Australia
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (TIP): A court in Australia sentenced ‘Tiranga Warrior’ Vishal Jood, a youth from Haryana living on an expired visa, to a prison term for attacking Sikhs in a series of violent assaults in Sydney.
Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, BJP leader Kapil Mishra, Olympian Yogeshwar Dutt and Delhi BJP spokesperson Tejinder Bagga have sought Jood’s release.
There is also a social media campaign claiming that Jood was actually a ‘Tiranga Warrior’ who was trying to protect the Indian flag from being dishonored by ‘Khalistanis’.
Magistrate K Thompson in a Parramatta Court on Thursday sentenced Jood, in jail since April, said Vivek Asri of NRI Affairs, Australia, who has been tracking the case.
The sentence carries six months of parole. As Jood has already spent 4 months and 17 days in jail, he could become eligible for parole on 15 October. However, his expired visa clouds the prospects of his early release, as it is likely that he will be sent to a detention center awaiting deportation.
In a plea-bargaining process, Jood pleaded guilty to three main charges. These included assault’, ‘occasioning actual bodily harm in company of others’ and ‘armed with intention to commit indictable offence’. The prosecution dropped the other charges.
Jood’s lawyer, Asri, told the court that the Haryana youth comes from a place where Hindus and Sikhs co-exist ‘in peace’ and argued that his action was spontaneous and out of fear. There was no evidence that it was motivated because of the victim’s Sikh faith, he pleaded.
The magistrate noted that it was “one of the burdens of living in the society to not to succumb to provocation”.
He said that the urge to pick up an object and strike someone, especially when they are down on the ground, must be resisted. Such behavior cannot be condoned, Magistrate Thompson added, reported NRI Affairs. Jood was arrested on 16 April and charged with three counts of affray, three counts of armed with intent to commit indictable offence, two counts of destroying or damaging property, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the company of others. He had last appeared before the court on August 12 when the court had set new hearing dates in January 2022.
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Indian-origin In Canada Develops Web System to Limit Covid-19 Misinformation
TORONTO (TIP): A team led by an Indian-origin researcher in Canada has developed a new system that increases the correctness and reliability of online health-related searches by 80 per cent to help people make better decisions about topics such as COVID-19. The team at the University of Waterloo in Canada noted that the Internet search engines are the most common tools the public uses to look for facts about COVID-19 and its effect on their health.
A proliferation of misinformation can have real consequences, so the team created a way to make these searches more reliable. “With so much new information coming out all the time, it can be challenging for people to know what is true and what is not,” said Ronak Pradeep, a PhD student in the Cheriton School of Computer Science at Waterloo and lead author of a study.
“But the consequences of misinformation can be pretty bad, like people going out and buying medicines or using home remedies that can hurt them,” Mr. Pradeep said.
The researchers said even the big search engines that host billions of searches every day cannot keep up since there has been so much scientific data and research on COVID-19 in such a short time.
“Most of the systems are trained on well-curated data, so they don’t always know how to differentiate between an article promoting drinking bleach to prevent COVID-19 as opposed to real health information,” Mr. Pradeep said.
“Our goal is to help people see the right articles and get the right information so they can make better decisions in general with things like COVID,” he added. Mr. Pradeep said the project aims to refine Internet search programs to promote the best health information for users.
The team has leveraged its two-stage neural re-ranking architecture for search which they augmented with a label prediction system trained to discern correct from dubious and incorrect information.
The system links with a search protocol that relies on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and verified information as the basis for ranking, promoting and sometimes even excluding online articles.
“Our design can potentially improve consumer health search to combat misinformation, a challenge recently amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the authors of the study wrote.
Mr. Pradeep and other authors Xueguang Ma, Rodrigo Nogueira and Jimmy Lin, from the University of Waterloo, presented a paper on the preliminary findings of the system at SIGIR “21, a conference on research and development in information retrieval, held between July 11-15 online.”