Transgender rights activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, who has watched the upcoming horror comedy Laxmii starring Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, says the film represents the transgender community very respectfully, adding that people spreading negative vibes over the issue should watch the film before passing a judgment.
“Any transgender is equal to any man or woman, which is what comes out from the film in a strong way. I believe the film is wonderful, and instead of criticism, we should appreciate Akshay ji for being such a strong man and doing such a strong film. There are many films I have acted in, nobody bought these, it’s a business. These articles are being written about ‘Laxmii’ without seeing the film, on the eve of its release. I am shocked,” said Laxmi.
Kamal Guru, a 60-year-old transgender, also appreciated Akshay’s performance and treatment in the film, saying: “Itni pyaari lagi film, aaj tak koi film aisi nahi lagi (the film is lovely, never felt this way about any film till date). I have been in the hijra community for years. I cried two to three times while the film was playing. I pray to God this film gets a lot of praise.”
Raghava Lawrence’s horror comedy co-stars Kiara Advani, and is a remake of the director’s 2011 Tamil hit, “Muni 2: Kanchana”. The film is slated for releases on Monday on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar VIP.
Young stars Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday recalled the fun time they had playing the protagonists Blackie and Pooja in the action-comedy Khaali Peeli.
“Neither of us have played such wild, unabashed, free-spirited and adventurous characters in our career so far. Blackie and Pooja are constantly fighting like cats and dogs and yet they have so much love for each other. I like the fact that Pooja is fighting in crisis, she is streetsmart and she is quite refreshing to watch on-screen,” Ananya told IANS.
“Blackie is a street smart Mumbaiya guy, a wild child,” said Ishaan, adding about his charater, Blackie the cabbie: “In this film, I got a chance to do everything — action, drama, dance and, yes, I drove a car like crazy! I did all the driving scenes myself so I had a gala time to indulge in madness!”
What were the favourite characteristics they wished to pick up from Pooja and Blackie? Ananya promptly replied: “Pooja is my spirit animal and I so wish I could be her in real life. She is cool, adventurous and super funny with one-liners! I want to come up with such cool one-liners in real life. I think that is one of the characteristics I wish to acquire from Pooja.”
Shared Ishaan: “I lived like Blackie when I was shooting for the film, I did not keep any stone unturned. I drove a taxi and did all the stunts by myself and walking with that swag!”
Ananya added: “When it comes to my attempt to do stunts in the film, I want to say that sitting behind Ishaan in the taxi, when he was driving it like a madman, was a stunt for me! I remember in one of the scenes Ishaan suddenly started driving the car in reverse and I started shouting ‘Ishaan Ishaan… I was scared and I went out of character!'”
“Khaali Peeli” is directed by Maqbool Khan and also features Jaideep Ahlawat, Satish Kaushik, Swanand Kirkire and Anup Soni. The film releases on Zee5.
The world of the John Krasinski and Emily Blunt-starrer, A Quiet Place, is expanding.
Jeff Nichols, the maker of dramas as “Mud” and “Loving”, has been roped in to write and direct an untitled spinoff connected to the events in the 2018 hit horror movie, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
Krasinski, who directed and co-wrote the original film as well as its still-unreleased sequel, came up with the idea for the new story. He will also produce along with Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller.
“A Quiet Place” is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are the prey of fast-moving creatures who track victims by sound. The 2018 film revolved around a family struggling to survive in a world where making the slightest sound draws the attention of the predators.
The film clicked with critics and audiences alike, doing business of over $340 million worldwide on a budget of less than $20 million.
“A Quiet Place Part II” was originally set to hit the big screen in late March, but was among numerous Hollywood films delayed owing to Covid. It is now scheduled on April 23, 2021.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has once again criticized President Donald Trump’s administration’s vaccine distribution plan, saying its inequities will hurt the country and its people.
“The Trump administration’s proposed plan is such an affront. I tell you today if the Trump administration does not change this plan and does not provide an equitable vaccine process, we will enforce our legal rights, we will bring legal action to protect New Yorkers,” Xinhua news agency quoted Cuomo as saying on Sunday while speaking at the Riverside Church in Manhattan.
“Let me be clear, the black and brown communities that were first on the list of who died cannot be last on the list of who receives the vaccine,” he added.
In his address, the Governor stressed the need to make special efforts with the vaccine to “reach the underserved black, brown and poor communities”, such as enlisting communal and faith-based groups to distribute the vaccine in their communities to help cover the blind spots of the private market, and finding medical and outreach teams to help public housing projects and low-income communities benefit from the vaccination plan.
“The Reverend Dr. (Martin Luther) King who spoke in this magnificent church said of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane because it often results in physical death. Covid-19 proved Dr. King right.
“New York state will mobilize an army to vaccinate all New Yorkers fairly, equitably. No state will do it better,” said Cuomo.
On November 13 while speaking about the federal government’s vaccination plan, Trump said that a coronavirus vaccine would not be delivered to “New York until we have authorization to do so”.
Cuomo “doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from… These are coming from the greatest companies anywhere in the world, greatest labs in the world, but he doesn’t trust the fact that it’s this White House, this administration”, the President said.
The Governor has refuted the President’s claim, saying: “It’s not that people don’t trust the vaccine companies, the pharmaceutical companies… An overwhelming percentage of Americans are worried about political interference in the vaccination process and the approval process by the president.”
A number of states, including New York, have set up a separate scientific panel that will review the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval to give people confidence in the vaccine approval process, he added.
“The federal government did not create the vaccine. Private drug companies, pharma companies are creating the vaccines. He has created problems for the vaccine because the vaccine is only relevant if people will take it, and we want people to take it,” the Governor said.
In the past weeks, Cuomo has repeatedly criticized the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccination program, saying it relied too much on private entities and overlooked the minorities and the disadvantaged groups.
The National Governors Association, which Cuomo chairs, also sent letters to the federal government for clarification and improvement of its vaccination program.
Peruvian President Manuel Merino, who was appointed last week following his predecessor Martin Vizcarra’s impeachment, has resigned amid protests that broke out across the country after he assumed the post.
“I want to inform the entire country that I presented my irrevocable resignation … and I invoke peace and unity of all Peruvians,” Xinhua news agency quoted Merino as saying in a televised address to the nation on Sunday.
He made the announcement after the country’s Congress held a crisis session on Sunday and asked him to resign amid the social protests, which have left at least two people dead, according to local media reports.
“Nothing justifies that a legitimate protest should trigger the deaths of Peruvians,” Merino said, adding that “these events should be thoroughly investigated by the corresponding authorities to determine all responsibilities”.
“My commitment is to Peru and I will do my best to guarantee the constitutional succession that Congress determines,” he said.
Merino became the third President of Peru to serve during the 2016-2021 presidential term, following Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Vizcarra.
Prior to Merino’s announcement, Luis Valdez, the President of Congress, announced that the Legislative Board of Directors would be renewed to begin the process of choosing a new President.
Members of the Purple Party, who largely voted against Vizcarra’s removal, presented a proposal to return Vizcarra to office.
“Vizcarra and his cabinet will resume their positions immediately to continue with the efforts against the pandemic and the economic crisis. We Peruvians cannot wait,” the party’s proposal stated.
Vizcarra said on Sunday that “a big step has been taken to restore democracy in our country”, which has been mired in protests in recent days.
“The resignation of Merino is a step; but it does not solve the problem, because the call that all of Peru has made is not for Merino to step aside, but to recover democracy in our country,” the ousted leader told the media.
The United States is now home to more than 11 million coronavirus cases, with the latest one million cases coming at breakneck speed in the last week alone, according to Johns Hopkins Covid-19 data. The US death toll has gone past 2,46,000 on November 15.
More than 45 states are seeing record spikes during the pandemic’s winter surge. Hospitals are at capacity in several states and doctors are pleading with Americans to hunker down because the “vaccines are coming, it’s just a matter of a couple of months.”
North Dakota is in such dire straits that hospitals there are allowing infected but asymptomatic nurses to treat Covid-19 patients.
But outside, in malls and grocery stores, Americans are out in full force – a stark contrast to the grim public health crisis that continues to hammer the country.
The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths was more than 1,000 this weekend, ticking higher than in preceding weeks.
Based on current trajectory, America is hurtling towards an ominous coronavirus toll of more than 4,00,000 by next Spring, according to new projections from a predictive model used often by data crunchers in Donald Trump’s White House coronavirus task force.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington is predicting a total of 438,941 deaths in America by March 1, 2021.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who serves on the Trump coronavirus task force, and President-elect Biden are pleading with Americans to wear masks and socially distance until the vaccines arrive – very soon.
Roughly 20 million people could be vaccinated against the coronavirus in December, the chief of the Donald Trump administration’s vaccine coordination program has indicated. Anywhere from 25 to 30 million people could be vaccinated each month afterward.
The US is working with a portfolio of six vaccines, using three different platform technologies and two candidates from each platform: messenger RNA, live viral vectors and recombinant protein.
Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines use the messenger RNA platform, Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca in partnership with Oxford University are on the live vector path while Novavax and Sanofi/ GlaxoSmithKline are building out their vaccine candidates on the recombinant protein platform.
One of them – Pfizer – announced that it has achieved 90 per cent efficacy. The company hopes to file for emergency use authorisation as soon as its final efficacy results arrive in the third week of November.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is self-quarantining after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement Sunday.
The spokesman said the prime minister “will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.”
“The PM is well and does not have any symptoms of Covid-19,” the statement added.
Johnson had a meeting with some MPs in 10 Downing Street on Thursday morning, including Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield, who later developed coronavirus symptoms and tested positive, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The prime minister recovered from Covid-19, the coronavirus-caused illness, after contracting the virus in late March and spending three days in intensive care in early April.
England is currently under a month-long national lockdown until December 2, the second of its kind since the coronavirus outbreak in Britain, in a bid to quell the resurgence of coronavirus.
Another 24,962 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the national tally to 13,69,318, according to official figures released Sunday.
The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 168 to 51,934, the data showed.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.
Apart from providing 750 ICU beds in the DRDO Centre out of which 500 will be made available in the next two days itself and doubling of RT-PCR tests in the national capital to nearly 1.25 lakh tests daily, the Modi government on Sunday decided to provide additional doctors and paramedical staff from the CAPFs, in view of the shortage of doctors in the city.
In view of the shortage of medical staff in Delhi, the Modi government has decided to provide additional doctors and paramedical staff from the CAPFs and they would soon be air-lifted to Delhi, the Union Home Ministry statement said.
In what can be bad news for those who refuse to wear masks in spite of government’s directions and mass media campaigns, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday directed the Delhi government and Delhi Police Commissioner to “strictly enforce the necessary measures, especially wearing of face masks, so that there is no laxity” in observance of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.
Shah, once again taking charge of Delhi’s fight against Covid-19 in his hands against the backdrop of rising number of cases and the increasing strain on the capacity of medical infrastructure in the city hospitals, took the decisions at an emergency meeting.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Health Minister Satyendar Jain were also present at the meeting which was also attended by the Union Home and Health & Family Welfare Secretaries, Niti Aayog’s Dr. V.K Paul, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava, the DRDO Secretary, the Armed Forces Medical Services Director General and other senior officials.
The meeting began with Paul making a presentation, which highlighted the deteriorating situation of Covid-19 in Delhi.
“It was pointed out that the number of active cases per day has increased substantially. While the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) continues to remain in control, the health and medical infrastructure, such as dedicated Covid-19 beds, beds with ventilators, and ICUs, is already showing signs of strain. Accordingly, it is essential to enhance surveillance, strictly enforce containment measures, increase testing, and rapidly build up the requisite medical infrastructure,” the Home Ministry statement said.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Kejriwal said: “Covid cases have been sharply rising ever since October 30. We still have a decent number of Covid beds, but ICU beds are fast getting exhausted. The Centre said that 500 ICU beds will be made available in the DRDO centre in the next couple days and additionally another 250 in the coming days.”
In a series of tweets, Shah informed about the “directions” given in the “high-level meeting” to review the growing cases of Covid-19 and the medical infrastructure in Delhi.
“Today gave various instructions in the meeting. First, the RT-PCR test in Delhi will be increased two-fold. Secondly, mobile testing vans of the Ministry of Health and ICMR will be deployed where there is a high risk of getting Covid and making maximum use of the capacity of labs in Delhi,” he said.
Shah also asked the Kejriwal government to increase capacity of hospitals in Delhi and availability of other medical infrastructure. He added that 250 to 300 ICU beds will be added in DRDO’s Covid hospital located in Dhaula Kuan, where, presently, around 250 beds have been provided with ICUs, out of the total available 1,000 Covid-19 beds.
In a strong message to officials, Shah said that containment strategies cannot be allowed to be taken lightly. “There should be no let up in strictly enforcing these containment strategies. The concerned officers, particularly those at district levels, would be personally responsible for ensuring compliance in this regard, and any deviation observed in this regard would be viewed seriously,” the Home Ministry statement said.
Shah also said that the 10,000-bed Covid Centre in Chhatarpur will be further strengthened with an aim to increase the availability of beds with oxygen facilities. He also said that some identified hospitals of the MCD will be converted into dedicated hospitals for the treatment of Covid patients with mild symptoms.
It was asserted in that meeting that dedicated multi-departmental teams will visit all private hospitals in Delhi to clearly indicate the availability of beds and medical conditions while all previously initiated containment measures, such as the establishment of container zones, contact tracing, and quarantine and screening, will be reviewed.
Shah instructed that especially those who are at high risk of getting the disease should be constantly reviewed so that there is no shortage in implementing preventive measures. He also instructed to track those under home isolation and shift them to hospitals, should the need arise, to save more lives.
He also instructed to prepare protocols for plasma donation in severe corona cases and for providing plasma to affected persons. A high level committee headed by Paul, and comprising the AIIMS and ICMR chiefs will report on it soon, Shah added.
“To save more and more people in Delhi, the Central government will provide oxygen cylinders, high flow nasal cannula and all other essential health equipment to Delhi,” the Home Minister assured.
But he asked the Kejriwal government to inform people about Covid appropriate behaviour which he said is the best way to stay safe. He asked for a strong communication strategy to educate people about it and inform them about the negative impact of the disease on long-term medical and health parameters.
The meeting came at a time when the national capital is witnessing skyrocketing cases on a daily basis for the past few days. Earlier also, Shah had stepped in to contain the situation after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia predicted a massive surge.
India has slammed a recent press conference by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry and the Establishment calling it, “Yet another futile anti-India propaganda exercise”.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said in response to a media query, “We have seen media reports on a press conference by the Pakistani establishment. This is yet another futile anti-India propaganda exercise”.
“The so called claims of ‘proof’ against India enjoy no credibility, are fabricated and represent figments of imagination. This desperate attempt will find few takers as the international community is aware of Pakistan’s tactics and proof of its terror sponsorship has been admitted by none other than its own leadership,” he added.
The reaction by India came a day after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi addressed a press conference with Army spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar to claim that India was behind some of the terror attacks in that country.
The MEA spokesperson said, “The face of global terror, Osama Bin Laden, was found in Pakistan; Pakistan’s PM glorified him as a ‘martyr’ from the floor of Parliament; he admitted the presence of 40,000 terrorists in Pakistan; their Science and Technology Minister proudly claimed involvement and success of Pakistan, led by its Prime Minister, in the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Indian soldiers were martyred”.
Despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the ceasefire understanding of 2003 for maintaining peace and tranquillity, Pakistani forces continue to engage in providing supporting cover fire to infiltrators. The incessant infiltration of terrorists and induction of weapons to fuel terror activities continues unabated. Such activities are not possible without the support of Pakistani forces deployed along the LoC, MEA said.
KUWAIT CITY, May 19, 2019 (Xinhua) — Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (Xinhua/Asad/IANS)
The MEA said the press conference was a deliberate attempt on the part of the Pakistani establishment to shift focus from its internal political and economic failures. It also seeks to justify cross-border terrorism, including ceasefire violations and infiltration across the LoC and IB.
“We call upon Pakistan to end its support to cross border terrorism. Pakistani leaders have never hidden the fact that it has become a factory for producing terrorists. India is not the only neighbour to be targeted as underlined by the statements of countries similarly targeted,” he added.
“Distant parts of the world have seen the terror trail lead back to Pakistan. Concocting documents and peddling false narratives will not absolve Pakistan of such actions. We are confident the world will hold it to account,” Shrivastava said.
Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, headed by incumbent State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, has won 920 seats, which is an absolute majority in the November 8 general elections, according to the final result announced by the Union Election Commission (UEC) on Sunday.
In the elections, 5,639 candidates vied for 1,117 parliamentary seats — 315 seats in the House of Representatives (Lower House), 161 seats in the House of Nationalities (Upper House), 612 seats in the Regional or State Parliaments and 29 ethnic minority seats in the Regional or State Parliaments, reports Xinhua news agency.
After the UEC’s voting counts completed on Sunday morning, 920 candidates out of 1,106 candidates fielded by the NLD party were elected to three levels of the parliament — 258 seats in the House of Representatives (Lower House) and 138 in the House of Nationalities (Upper Houses), 501 in the Regional or State Parliaments and 23 ethnic minority seats in the Regional or State Parliaments.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) fielded 1,089 candidates and took total 71 seats for the three levels of the parliament — 26 seats for the House of Representatives (Lower House), 7 for the House of Nationalities (Upper Houses) and 38 for the Regional or State Parliaments, the UEC’s figures showed.
Meanwhile, the rest seats were taken by other political parties and independent runners.
President U Win Myint and Suu Kyi won the elections as representatives in the Lower House, while Vice President Henry Van Thio was elected as a representative in the Upper House for the next term of the parliament.
The 2020 general elections were the third under the country’s 2008 Constitution.
According to the 2008 Constitution, the first regular session of a new term of Parliament begins with the House of Representatives which shall be held within 90 days after the commencement of the general elections.
The ruling NLD party won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the last general elections on November 8, 2015, and has been at the helm since 2016.
