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Mamta Banerjee Allows 100 Per Cent Occupancy in Cinema Halls

By
Neha Kumari
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Amid pandemic, cinema halls in West Bengal is about to open. Notably cinema halls will open with full capacity. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given its permission.

Chief Minister’s Office has said that cinema halls in the state can be opened to their full potential.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government had given permission to open the cinema hall at full capacity. According to the guidelines of the Central Government, the cinema hall can be opened only with 50 percent capacity. However, in other states, cinema halls are being opened only with 50 percent capacity.

CM Mamta Banerjee asked the Chief Secretary of the state Alapan Bandyopadhyay to issue a notification in this regard so that the theater can open with 100 per cent capacity.

She said that Bengal is the cultural capital of the country. Tollywood of Bengal will one day take on Hollywood and Bollywood. Today the 26th film festival has been inaugurated. Let us know that this festival will run till January 15.

While addressing the inauguration ceremony of the 26th edition of the KIFF said, “Because of the pandemic, at present, only 50% occupancy in cinema halls is allowed. I would ask the state’s chief secretary to come up with a notification today so that 100% seats can be occupied.”

“I would urge cinema hall owners to ensure that people wear face masks and use hand sanitizers. Sanitization should be done after every show. Every audience should carry his own sanitizer or tissue paper. Nowadays you also get machines with which you can sanitize the entire hall in just five minutes,” she added.

The 7-day festival began with a tribute to two veterans – Satyajit Ray and Soumitra Chatterjee. A total of 131 films will be screened during the festival in various theaters in the city, including Nandan and Ravindra Sadan. These films will include feature, short films and documentaries.

ATC issued arrest warrant for terrorist Masood Azhar

By
Neha Kumari
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In Pakistan, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Masood Azhar, the head of banned terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM). Masood Azhar is the mastermind of the attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in the year 2001.

Azhar’s name is also included in the UN banned global terrorist list. He is currently reported to be hiding in a ‘safe house’ in his native city Bahawalpur. The action against Masood is being seen as an exercise by Pakistan to pull out of the gray list of financial sanctions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global terrorist funding watchdog, with Pakistan’s name since June 2018 is.

Judge Natasha Nasim Supra of ATC Gujranwala issued an arrest warrant for Masood Azhar and directed the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) to arrest him and produce him in court. The CTD told the judge that Jaish Mohammed was involved in major terrorist financing and selling jihadist literature. He said the ATC judge issued an arrest warrant for Azhar at the request of the CTD inspector. Azhar is believed to be hiding in a safe place in his native city Bahawalpur.

He said that on the request of an inspector of CTD, the ATC judge has issued an arrest warrant for Azhar. Azhar is believed to be hiding in a ‘safe place’ somewhere in his native city Bahawalpur. After the Pulwama terror attack in India in February 2019, the police of Punjab province of Pakistan started a campaign against the financing of terrorism and arrested six JEM activists in Gujranwala in this case. Gujranwala is located about 130 km from Lahore.

GDP to contract by 7.7 % due to pandemic

By
Neha Kumari
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The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the country’s economy. Due to this, gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall by 7.7 percent in the financial year 2020-21. The economy will decline mainly due to poor performance of manufacturing and services sector. This estimate has been revealed in the official data released on Thursday. The first advance estimate of national income, released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), states that all other sectors of the economy are expected to decline except for agriculture and utilities such as electricity and gas supply.

It said that almost all sectors of the economy are expected to decline, except for agriculture and public utility services such as electricity and gas supply.

According to the NSO, ‘Real GDP or GDP at constant price (2011-12) is estimated to be Rs 134.40 lakh crore in 2020-21. At the same time, the initial estimate of GDP in the year 2019-20 has been Rs 145.66 lakh crore. In this context, real GDP will be projected to fall by 7.7 percent in 2020-21 as compared to 4.2 percent growth in GDP last year.

Earlier, India Ratings had lowered its estimate of a decline in GDPto 7.8 per cent in the current financial year 2020-21, in view of the better-than-expected recovery in the economy in the second quarter. However, the rating agency had forecast 11.8 percent decline in the economy in the current financial year.

2nd vaccination dry run all over the country

By
Neha Kumari
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Today, the second phase of the dry run of Corona vaccination is being run in the country. Except UP, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, the vaccine is being run in 736 districts in the rest of the states of the country. Dry approval is being done after the approval of the use of two Corona vaccines – Covishield and Covaxine in the country.

Earlier on January 2 dry run of Corona Vaccination was done. On January 2, almost all states and union territories conducted a dry run to assess the ability and readiness of officers to become aware and trained regarding vaccination. During this time a dry run was organized at 285 session sites in 125 districts.

The Central Health Ministry has said that in every district, like the dry run on January 2, three types of session places will be identified, including a public health establishment, private health establishment and rural or Urban access points will be included.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has given a big statement regarding Corona’s vaccine. Harshvardhan said that in the ‘next few days’ vaccine will be available for ‘our countrymen’. With this, he said that the government has decided that all information about the vaccination program will be made available from the national level to the grassroots. The Health Minister, who visited the hospital in Chennai to take stock of the vaccine’s dry run, said that the vaccine would be given first to the health workers and then to the other front line workers.

1,000 vaccination centers will be built in Delhi, in which there will be about 600 centers in the first phase. Officials said that there will be many booths at every vaccination center and at least 100 people can be given vaccines in each booth.

India to chair 3 key bodies of UN Security Council

By
Jyoti B
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Permanent Representative of India at United Nations Security Council, TS Tirumurti on January 08 informed that India will chair 3 key subsidiary bodies of UN Security Council.

The three committees are Taliban Sanctions Committee, Counter-Terrorism Committee (for 2022) and Libya Sanctions committee. 

“Happy to announce that Flag of India #India will be chairing 3 key subsidiary bodies of @UN #SecurityCouncil during #IndiainUNSC (2021-22): Taliban sanctions committee, #CounterTerrorism committee (for 2022), #Libya sanctions committee,” TS Tirumurti tweeted.

India began its eighth term as a non-permanent member of the UNSC on Monday with the stated objective of raising its voice against terrorism, speaking for the developing world and bringing human-centric inclusive solutions to matters of global peace and security.

“India will also chair the Counterterrorism Committee in 2022, which coincides with the 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence. The chairing of this Committee has a special resonance for India, which has not only been at the forefront of fighting terrorism, especially cross-border terrorism but has also been one of its biggest victims,” he said.

This Committee was formed in September 2001 soon after the tragic terrorist attack of 9/11 in New York, while India had chaired this Committee in the Security Council in 2011-12.

Tirumurti further stated that the Libya Sanctions Committee, also called the 1970 Sanctions Committee, is a very important Subsidiary Body of the Council, which implements the sanctions regime, including a two-way arms embargo on Libya, an assets freeze, a travel ban, measures on illicit export of petroleum, etc. “We will be assuming the Chair of this Committee at a critical juncture when there is an international focus on Libya and on their peace process,” he added.

Priyanka Chopra denies breaking covid-19 norms in UK; Police issues verbal warning

By
Shivani Negi
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Priyanka Chopra was spotted visiting a salon in United Kingdom at a time when the whole nation remains inside their houses amid nationwide lockdown. On Wednesday, the actress along with her mother Madhumalati and pet Diana was seen visiting London based celerbrity stylist Josh Wood’s salon. However, the actress’ team has denied flouting any guidelines and has said that she was legally exempted from the rule.

“‘The salon was opened privately for the production and everyone involved had been tested and followed both the DCMS working guidelines and the film production regulations. As I am sure you are aware, Film and TV production is permitted to continue in the UK, and locations can continue to accommodate shoots and recces that are carried out in-line with government guidelines. The exemption paperwork legally permitting her to be there was provided to the police, and they left satisfied,” her spokesperson was quoted by Metro.co.uk as saying.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan city has given a verbal warning to the actress for breaching lockdown restrictions. But she has not been isssud with any penalty.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told Metro.co.uk, “Police were alerted at around 17:40hrs on Wednesday, 6 January to reports of a Covid breach taking place within a hairdressers on Lansdowne Mews, Notting Hill. Officers attended and the owner of the salon was given a verbal reminder of the important need to comply with all regulations regarding Covid-19 and signposted to other sources of advice. No fixed penalty notices were issued.”

Notably, Priyanka has been shooting for her upcoming film Text For You in UK even before the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lockdown on Monday. The actress’ visit to the salon was also due to the shoot of her upcoming film.

Claire Proposal becomes first to officiate in men’s Test cricket in 144 years

By
Harshit
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Claire Polosak, Female umpire in Test cricket,

Claire Polosak from Australia, made history as she became the first female umpire to officiate in a men’s Test match with the beginning of the Sydney Test between India and Australia.

Polosak is also the first female umpire in men’s ODI and men’s domestic league as well.

What records does Polosak hold?

  • * In 2017, Polosak was one of the four female umpires named by ICC for Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
  • * In 2018, Polosak umpired in a warm-up game match involving England men’s cricket team and Cricket Australia XI, she was the first to do so.
  • * First Woman to officiate Men’s One Day International
  • * Youngest woman umpire in international cricket
  • * First female to stand as an on-field umpire in Men’s Domestic game.
  • * Umpired in Men’s Big Bash League

Trailer of Yash and Sanjay Dutt starrer KGF Chapter 2 is out now

By
Jyoti B
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The teaser for KGF: Chapter 2, which was earlier slated to be released on Friday on the occasion of actor Yash’s birthday, was released on Thursday night, following a leak.

After a long and patient wait for more than 2 years, KGF: Chapter 2 is now finally a few steps away from its grand theatrical release.

The film’s entire shooting was wrapped up a few days before and the makers are currently concentrating on the post-production works.

The film is slated for a summer release and this teaser release was to mark the first glimpse into the film, as the filmmakers have only shown first looks of leading star Yash, his heroine Srinidhi Shetty and the new additions to the cast – the villain and Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt and Bollywood heroine Raveena Tandon.

The latter two play pivotal roles in this fiml and their addition has added to the expectations to the cast. The teaser, for now, has been met with fanfare and adulation.

The visuals of the teaser promise an action-packed second chapter in the franchise. The teaser gives the glimpse of Yash’s Rocky stepping up his attack his enemies. In the video, he nonchalantly ntakes down the enemy camp with help of his ‘little friend’, which is a lightweight machine gun.

Teaser also gives a glimpse of Adheera, played by Sanjay Dutt.

The two-part fictional mob drama traces the journey of a dreaded criminal Rocky, portrayed by Yash, and his desire to rule the gold mines of Kolar results in a turf war with Adheera.

The teaser once again shows director Prasanth Neel’s ability to ramp up excitement around his movies.

The makers seem to have only gotten bold and ambitious with the second installment in the KGF franchise. The scale and intensity the teaser promises is simply jaw-dropping.

KGF: Chapter 1 took the entire country by storm and it was a fantastic hit at the box office.

The film, which was originally made in Kannada, had a dubbed release in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam. The film was a massive hit and it received the love of the audience.

When KGF ended, the makers left a lead for the second part and the sequel was always in the plan. The film also made Yash, a pan-Indian star, earning wide popularity.

Michelle Obama calls on tech giants to permanently ban Trump

By
Jyoti B
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Former first lady Michelle Obama condemned what she said was President Trump’s role in kindling dangerous and violent protests in D.C. on Wednesday, calling on the country’s major technology companies to permanently ban the president from their respective platforms.

Obama called the pro-Trump protesters a “gang” who “besieged the United States Capitol,” adding that the social media giants must take action to prevent this type of “monstrous behavior.”

Trump has been blocked from posting to Facebook and Twitter “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday.

A Snapchat spokesperson confirmed late Wednesday evening that the company locked President Trump’s Snapchat account, making it the fourth major platform to take action on Trump’s social media accounts.

But Obama along with civil rights groups say he needs to be banned for good and condemned Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube for failing to stop the flood of extremist and dangerous content from Trump and his supporters that they say fueled Wednesday’s violence.

“Now is the time for companies to stop enabling this monstrous behavior — and go even further than they have already by permanently banning this man from their platforms and putting in place policies to prevent their technology from being used by the nation’s leaders to fuel insurrection,” Obama wrote in her statement, which she shared on Twitter and on Facebook.

Video: Trump condemns supporters who caused violence at Capitol

By
Shivani Negi
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The United States President Donald Trump took to Twitter to condemn the demonstrators who were involved in the Mayhem at US capitol that shook the entire nation.

In a video, Trump said that the those who attacked the Capitol on Wednesday have sullied the democracy in a country which will always continue to have law and order.

“America is and must always be a nation of law and order,” Trump said. “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”

In a veiled attempt, Trump acknowledged Biden’s victory and said that the new administration will take over the White House duties soon. He also asked his supporters to cool down the temper of 2020 elections and urged them to restore the calm in the country.

Further, the US president added that his aim to take the elections to court was to protect the integrity of voting, while emphasising that elections laws must be reformed to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters. “I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to insure faith and confidence in all future elections,” Trump said.

His recent remarks were contradictory to his Wednesday statement when he said that he will never concede, continuing to push his unproven claim that the election was tampered with.

“We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn’t happen,” Trump said Wednesday.

Trump culminated his video message on Thursday by expressing confidence to his supporters that their journey is only beginning.

Trump’s statements comes after nationwide call to remove Trump from his president status, which will last till January 20, immediately.

Joe Biden holds Donald Trump responsible for violence at US Capitol

By
Shivani Negi
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President-elect Joe Biden condemned the rioters who caused panic at the capitol and accused President Donald Trump for the violence that took the entire nation by storm.

Terming the rioters as “domestic terrorists,” he said that the Trump supporters who breached the security of Congress o Wednesday was “not dissent, was not disorder, was not protest. It was chaos.”

Major violence broke out at the US Capitol Hill to disrupt a joint session of Congress on Wednesday that was called to certify president-elect Biden’s win on Wednesday. The incident in a country like the United States that has held the highest regards for democracy has attracted criticism from all over the world.

Attacking Trump supporters, Biden further said they  “weren’t protesters. Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob — insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It’s that basic,” Biden said.

Biden further said that the kind of support Trump has garnered over the years during his pregnancy and everything that he has stood up for led to the willful damage in the Washington.

“In the past four years, we’ve had a president who’s made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said. “He unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack.”

Later, Trump released a video saying “America is and must always be a nation of law and order,” Trump said.

“The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s spokeswoman on Thursday said that Trump condmens the violence by his supporters “in the strongest possible terms”.

“Let me be clear: The violence we saw yesterday at our nation’s Capitol was appalling, reprehensible and antithetical to the American way,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters.

Sushant Singh Rajput was innocent: Bombay HC

By
Shivani Negi
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The Bombay High Court on Wednesday observed that the deceased actor Sushant Singh Rajput was a sober, innocent and very good human being while hearing the plea of his sisters — Priyanka Singh and Meetu Singh — who had challenged the FIR filed by actress Rhea Chakbraorty.

“From his face, one can make out that he was innocent,” the bench comprising Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik said. “Everyone liked him, specially in that MS Dhoni film,” the judge added.

Meanwhile, HC has reserved its order in the application and has given all parties a week to file for their submission.

“Bombay High Court reserve the order on an application filed by his sisters seeking quashing of FIR filed by Rhea Chakraborty, alleging their involvement in his death. Court also asked all the parties to file their written submissions within a week,” ANI said in a tweet.

Rhea Chakraborty had filed a plea against Sushant’s sisters and a doctor from Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia hospital alleging that they prepared a forged and fabricated prescription for Sushant to buy some anti-depressant drugs without a physical check up which might have led the actor to take such drastic step.

For the uninformed, Sushant was found dead at his Bandra apartment on June 14.  The late actor death is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The probe into his demise also revealed a prevalent drug nexus in Bollywood for which a parallel investigation is being carried out by Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB). A number of people including Rhea Chakraborty and her brother was also released in the same case. However, the siblings have now been released on bail.

The Family Man 2 to release on THIS date

By
Shivani Negi
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Manoj Bajpayee’s much-anticipated web-series The Family Man’s season 2 will release on February 12, the makers announced. The first season of the show was released in September 2019.

The espionage thriller stars Manoj Bajpayee as an NIA agent who juggles in between his job and family.

Besides Bajpayee, the show brings back Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, and Sharad Kelkar. Created, directed and produced by Raj and DK, the show also features Darshan Kumar, Sunny Hinduja, Shreya Dhanwantary, Shahab Ali, Vedant Sinha, Mahek Thakur and Seema Biswas. The series will see Tamil cinema including Mime Gopi, Ravindra Vijay, Devadarshini Chetan, Anandsami and N. Alagamperumal in the cast, too. Meanwhile, it will also mark the debut of south sensation Samantha Akkinenni.

“The response to the first season was overwhelming and it struck a real chord with the viewers. We are hopeful that we can continue to tell a story which is, as compelling and engaging as the first season,” said Raj and DK.

“The one question we were asked for the last 16 months is – when is season 2 coming. Our team has worked from home through the pandemic and amidst all the constraints to complete the season. We wish to thank everyone involved in our show, and fans can be sure that we have plenty of surprises in store for the new season of The Family Man,” they added.

“The fact that the fans had successfully managed to decode the show’s launch date by reading ‘2021′ as ‘1202′ in reverse when we recently unveiled the teaser poster is a testament to the show’s unparalleled fandom! We are excited to present the brand new season of The Family Man to our customers,” said Aparna Purohit of the streaming service Amazon Prime Video, which airs the series.

Thank God: Sidharth Malhotra announces new film with Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh

By
Shivani Negi
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Bollywood actors Sidharth Malhotra, Rakul Preet Singh and Ajay Devgn will team up for Indra Kumar’s new comedy, Thank God. The film will begin shooting on January 21.

This film will mark the first collaboration between Sidharth and Ajay while the former will reunite with his Aiyaarry co-star Rakul Preet.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote, “Stoked to announce my next film, for the first time ever with @ajaydevgn & @Indra_kumar_9 , also starring @rakulpreetThankGod – a slice of life comedy, starts shooting this month. Stay tuned!”

“Happy to announce my next film, #ThankGod – a slice of life comedy starring @SidMalhotra, @Rakulpreet & me. Directed by @Indra_kumar_9,” Ajay tweeted on Thursday.

“We have been waiting for a long time to begin the shoot and finally we will start on 21st of January, ‘Thank God!’. It is an entertaining slice of life comedy with a message and I am quite excited to be working again with Ajay Devgn whom I’ve known since so many years along with the young guns Sidharth and Rakul,” said Indra Kumar.

Ajay Devgn and Indra Kumar have previously worked together in films like Ishq, Masti and Total Dhamaal.

The director added: “Hopefully it all goes well as we have taken all the precautions necessary! Looking forward to a great 2021.”

“‘Thank God’ is a very interesting and entertaining script. Indra Kumar films are hardcore commercial laughter riots and it is a pleasure to collaborate with him and Ashokji (Ashok Thakeria) on this one. I have worked with Ajay sir and he aces this genre while Sidharth and Rakul will show their fans something new with ‘Thank God’,” said producer Bhushan Kumar.

Education Minister announces final dates for JEE Advanced 2021 .

By
Jyoti B
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Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has announced the final dates for JEE Advanced 2021 .

The examination will be conducted by IIT Kharagpur on July 3, 2021. In addition to this, 75 per cent eligibility criteria have also been scrapped.

The government has allowed the qualifying candidates of JEE Main 2020 who were unable to appear for the second stage of the examination due to the COVID-19 pandemic to directly appear for JEE Advanced 2021 . As a result, the number of candidates for the final stage of the exam is going to increase.

The JEE (Main) is offered in English, Hindi and Gujarat. The Times of India reported that “candidates can now also opt to take the test in 10 other vernacular languages – Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.”

The JEE Advanced exam consists of two question papers and has a time duration of three hours each. Both papers are compulsory for students and consist of three separate sections of physics, chemistry, and mathematics.

JEE Advanced, likewise, is conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) for admission to the 23 IITs in the country. While JEE-Mains is conducted for admission to engineering colleges across the country, it is considered as a qualifying test for JEE-Advanced.

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